giving a killer presentation

How to Give a Killer Presentation: 18 Top Tips

People attend presentations to learn and gain useful insight. But way too often, we see the audience yawn, scroll on their phones or check their watch, wishing that the time would go faster.

Is it that the content of the presentation isn’t interesting enough, or that the speaker doesn’t know how to engage the audience?

Whatever the reason, delivering an engaging presentation is an art that takes some time to master.

Based on my own experience from the stage, and from observing other speakers at industry-leading conferences, I’ve collected these 18 top tips. May they help you give a presentation that will wow your audience:

• Plan your storyline
• Use the rule of three
• Simplify your slides
• Include numbers
• Use the power of visuals
• Practice relentlessly
• Greet the audience in their local language
• Break the ice at the start
• Engage your audience with live polls
• Move around the stage and make gestures
• Smile and make eye contact
• Consider using props
• Go among the audience
• Give rewards for participation
• Prompt a discussion in the audience
• Build in time for Q&A
• Crowdsource questions from the audience
• Gather feedback

1. Plan your storyline

A powerful story can make your whole presentation. Take TED talks, for instance. They’re all based on captivating stories that support the main argument or line of thought of each speech.

Give your presentation a concept. Use a classic narrative structure, from a gripping outset to an impressive end. A presentation designer Nancy Duarte advises presenters to spend twice as much time on framing the storyline than creating the actual slides.

Also, don’t forget to add emotional details and power words. These will make your audience feel much more connected to you. People will eventually forget your slides and your presentation, but they will not forget how you made them feel.

2. Use the rule of three

People can usually remember only three main points from presentations, so take advantage of this psychological phenomenon.

While creating your storyline, think of three key messages that you want your audience to walk out of the room with. To make these three key points stick, you need to make them short, memorable and attention-grabbing.

On the other hand, if your presentation revolves around one main argument, make use of the Aristotelian “triptych” method: “Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell them what you told them.” In a nutshell, you should properly introduce the point you will be making, then make your point, and then wrap up with summarizing the main point.

3. Simplify your slides

No matter how rich in content your slides are, if they’re too crowded, nobody is going to read them. Too much text on slides actually takes your audience’s attention away from your presentation, which hinders the learning process.

Make your slides as simple as possible and try to present only one idea per slide. Sometimes, one powerful sentence, a number, or even one word, can say more than a slide full of bullet points.

4. Include numbers

When used sensibly, numbers can strengthen your point and back up your arguments. To make data easy for your audience to digest, you need to make it specific, relevant and contextual.

When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPod , he did not emphasize its 5GB storage and 185g weight. Instead, he repeatedly said that it could hold 1,000 songs and physically manifested that he could fit it into his pocket. This number was easy for the audience to remember, and called even more attention to its tiny size.

5. Use the power of visuals

Videos or images not only engage the audience but also help to evoke emotions that are otherwise super difficult for speakers to elicit by themselves.

Make sure that the visuals you use support the main point of your presentation, or demonstrate what you’re talking about. This works very well in the creative industry, where visual aids are often necessary to complement the main content.

However, if you’re going to use video, be cautious. A too lengthy or unengaging video may put people to sleep rather than keep them attentive.

6. Practice relentlessly

Attending a presentation where the speaker keeps looking down at his notes is painful so don’t underestimate this point. For instance, Winston Churchill rehearsed for hours, even days, to deliver a 10-minute long speech.

Memorize your presentation flow by heart if need be. Do it to the extent that you won’t need the notes.

During your rehearsals, use a video camera to record yourself in order to see where you stutter, where you seem nervous and how you work with your body language. Don’t be afraid to ask a friend to give you feedback.

Tim Ferris , the author of The 4-Hour Workweek, follows a Spartan’s preparation for his public speeches. He splits his presentation into several segments and he goes through each one of them up to ten times.

7. Greet your audience in their local language

As a speaker, you often find yourself addressing an international audience, whether it is at a big conference or an internal company meeting joined by remote teams.

Greeting international participants in their local language gives a nice personal touch to the offset of your presentation. It helps you create a connection and the feeling of intimacy with the people sitting before you.

I always memorize how to say “Hello” and “How are you?” in the local language, and use them as soon as I come onstage. You can even take it a step further and adjust your presentation ad hoc to the audience, by making local references.

For example, Google’s Digital Marketing Evangelist, Avinash Kaushik , started his talk at the Marketing festival by showing pictures from his tour around the hosting city of Brno, Czech Republic. Moreover, he used the Czech websites that the audience was closely familiar with, instead of international ones, to get his point across.

8. Break the ice at the start

Hook your audience right off the bat. Using an effective icebreaker will help you set the stage and energize your attendees.

Here’s an inspiration for you: At the 2018 World Education Congress (WEC) , I asked people to close their eyes and think of a presentation session that had recently impressed them. After 30 seconds, I invited them to share their dream session with their neighbor and describe it using one word, before submitting it to a Slido word cloud poll.

Next, I asked them to picture the usual experience of attending a presentation and describe it again, using a single word. Seeing the differences in the two consequent word cloud polls was very thought-provoking and sparked up a discussion among the attendees.

Other than using technology, you can liven up your audience with a classic show of hands or other brisk icebreaking activities , such as rock, paper, scissors or live barometer.

Related story: The Complete List of 200 Icebreaker Questions and Tips On How to Use Them

9. Engage your audience with live polls

Once you win your audience over, keep up the pace by creating enough interaction points throughout your presentation.

Live polling is your best bet here. When smartly used, live polls will keep your attendees engaged during the whole length of your presentation. They also help you to effectively collect your audience’s insights, which you can then showcase on screen. This multiplies the learning element of your presentation.

In general, I follow the human attention span and use a poll every 8-10 minutes, which is 5-6 polls for a 60-minute talk, maximum.

To give you an example, during the latest webinar I led, I asked the participants a simple rating poll: “How would you rate interaction in the classroom today?”

The results set a good ground for the main argument I was going to make about insufficient interactivity in education, and really helped me make my point.

On top of that, this strategy allows me to break the long content deliveries into more digestible chunks, regain the audience’s attention, and ignite conversations based on the results.

The last point is particularly important. Live polls make sense only when you facilitate their use. So make sure to always follow up on the results, share your thoughts on them, or get the audience to share why they voted the way they did.

Related story: The Complete Guide: How to Use and Facilitate Slido Polls in Your Presentation

10. Move around the stage and make gestures

If you stand rigidly in one spot or behind a speaker’s stand, you will only appear unconfident and nervous. Think of yourself as an actor on stage, and your presentation as your performance. Use open, big gestures, point in the direction of the audience, or slowly walk about the stage. 

At this year’s Festival of Marketing , Mark Ritson – who was opening the event – reminded me of the importance of using body language. He kept pacing the stage in a natural way and was gesturing throughout the entire length of his speech. It was definitely one of the most engaging sessions I’ve attended this year.

11. Smile and make eye contact

The way you communicate with your audience through your facial expressions makes a huge difference. So don’t look down at your notes, don’t look at your slides, but keep your eyes set on your audience.

Lisa Wentz, a public speaking expert, advises to pick 3 people in the audience that you like, each one at a different corner of the auditorium, and make eye contact with them throughout your presentation. However, avoid staring at one person for too long. Use the selected people only as navigation points that will help you scan the room.

12. Consider using props

Demonstrating the point with the use of props is a powerful way to help the attendees visualize what is being described verbally. Showing a prop at the right moment can help you catch your audience’s attention and enforce your story.

Neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor brought a real human brain on stage during her emotional TED talk to explain what had happened to her when she had a stroke. She touched the audience with this demonstration and left them in complete awe.

13. Go among the audience

Asking people questions may feel impersonal if you stand onstage. On top of that, large auditoriums often make it difficult to create intimacy with your audience.

Draw inspiration from rock singers here and “jump” off the stage. Going among the audience will help you build a stronger bond with them and your presentation will feel more personal.

This approach is invaluable if you hope to collect impromptu answers after you have asked your question. Move slowly around the room, and when someone shuffles or raises a hand, approach them with a mic and elicit an answer.

When another hand shoots up, move to that corner of the room, and so on. The point here is to be as close to your audience as possible.

If possible, check the room advance to get used to the space arrangements. This will help you move around more naturally and with more confidence.

14. Give rewards for participation

Despite all your efforts, the audience might need a bit of a nudge. Giving out small rewards can bring another interactive element to your presentation. You can go with the event merchandise or small treats, like chocolates and candy.

For example, at the Eventex conference , one of the speakers, Victor Neyndorff , encouraged people to share their thoughts by handing out chocolate from the Netherlands, his home country.

To give you another idea, at the Jam London conference , the organizers decided to give away books to those attendees who were the most active in asking questions via Slido. This really helped incentivize the audience to participate and improved the dialogue in the room.

15. Prompt a discussion in the audience

You can give audience engagement another spin by giving your attendees an activity that they can participate in.

For example, you can present a statement for the participants to discuss, or give them a task to solve in groups. Where appropriate, walk around the room, join the conversations, and encourage people to talk to each other.

At the Conventa Crossover conference in Slovenia, moderator Jan-Jaap In der Maur put people in small groups and asked them to share the technological trends that they believed will have the biggest impact on the industry in the near future.

Then he collected a few comments from the floor to open a discussion with the whole room.

Simple. Engaging. Useful.

If facilitated properly, activities like these can work equally well with an audience of 20 people as they can with 2,000.

Related story: 5 Essential Pieces of The Audience Engagement Puzzle

16. Build in time for the Q&A

Even if you incorporate interactive elements to your presentation, your audience will surely have additional questions.

For that reason, don’t be scared to allocate as much as 10-20 minutes to the Q&A, depending on the length of your presentation slot.

After I finish my talk, instead of asking, “Are there any questions?” (which typically leads to silence), I like to ask, “What are your questions?”, or say, “Now, let’s get to your questions.” In case I don’t get an instant reaction from the audience, I get off the stage and walk among the audience to encourage the discussion.

In rare moments when no questions come up, I kick off the Q&A by saying: “What people usually ask me is…” and then give an answer. In 9/10 times, the discussion catches on.

17. Crowdsource questions from the audience

Lack of audience questions doesn’t necessarily mean that your audience doesn’t have questions. They may just be uncomfortable with speaking up in public.

Live Q&A tools like Slido allow you to effortlessly crowdsource questions from your audience throughout your presentation via an app. 

Compared to passing the mic amongst the people in the audience, you will give everyone an equal chance to ask questions, regardless of their level of shyness.

If you’re using a Q&A app, it’s important that you introduce and facilitate it properly. I often say something like: “Take a minute and think about what you’ve just heard. Come up with a question that you have, and submit it to Slido.” It works every single time.

Then, just take a look at the screen, or a confidence monitor, and address the questions that have the most upvotes.

If you display the crowdsourced questions on the screen, read each question out loud when addressing it. It will help your audience – even the ones sitting at the back – to know which question you are answering. 

Extra tip: Sometimes, you get way more questions from your audience than you can answer during your time-limited Q&A slot. Don’t leave them hanging in the air. Here you’ll find 5 tips on what to do with unanswered questions after your Q&A .

18. Gather feedback

Feedback is priceless for improving your presentation skills. There’s never enough of it. You can collect feedback easily via Slido feedback survey . Combine rating polls for quick assessment and open text polls to give your participants space for more in-depth comments.

Your feedback survey could look something like this:

• How would you rate this presentation? (rating poll)
• What is your main takeaway from this session? (open text poll)
• What would you improve? (open text poll)

To boost the response rate, make sure that you ask your attendees to fill out the survey while they’re still in the room.

With the tips I’ve listed above, you’ll be able to turn your presentation or lecture from a one-way content broadcast into an exciting conversation between you and your attendees.

Engage your attendees with Slido live Q&A and polls.

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How to Give a Good Presentation: 11 Top Tips for Killer Presentations

Written by: Orana Velarde

Giving a good presentation takes practice. Not everyone is born a natural public speaker, which is  why we’re here today.

In this article, we’ll give you some of the best tips for killer presentations. These are techniques used by all the best public speakers, and yes – even they had to practice to get this good.

If you need to give a presentation for work, be it a pitch about a new project or product idea, a quarterly marketing report, a product launch or as an industry expert in a summit, we’ve got you covered.

How to Give a Good Presentation [Presentation]

To learn more about our top 11 tips for giving a killer presentation, keep reading throughout this article. But for those of you who are skimmers, feel free to browse through this presentation rounding up our top tips.

How to Give a Good Presentation

Here’s a quick look at the 11 tips on how to give a good presentation. Plus, you’ll find a bonus resource you won’t want to miss, The Visme Presentation Guru Course.

• Rehearse What You’re Planning to Say
• Prepare Mentally, Emotionally and Technically
• Start Strong
• Follow the Outline You Practiced With
• Finish With Confidence
• Use a Storytelling Technique on Your Slides
• Keep Your Slides Short
• Use Templates
• Learn From Your Mistakes
• Keep Yourself Inspired for the Future

Let’s dive in.

1 Rehearse What You’re Planning To Say

Before you even give a good presentation, you need to prepare.

This part has two steps – to rehearse what you’re going to say and to prepare yourself mentally and emotionally. These two tips go hand in hand, but we’ll explain what each one is about individually.

Notice that we didn’t say “memorize your presentation.” There’s a big difference between memorizing a speech and practicing telling a story. The difference is that a memorized speech can end up sounding robot-like and practiced storytelling sounds effortless. 

You’ll be better off if you have at least a rough outline of your slides before you start rehearsing.

Section 1, Pause, Section 2, Pause, Repeat

Rehearse what you’re planning to say during your presentation by using a written outline, index cards, printed out versions of your presentation slides or whatever works for you.  

Practicing the spoken part of your Visme presentation is easy when you use the presentation notes feature . 

Separate your presentations into sections. The best way to do this is by topic. Try and keep all the sections about the same length, that way you can plan your pauses. 

Presenter’s Notes

Add presenter’s notes to your slides to help you along as you present. Visme makes this easy for you. As you go through each slide, you’re able to see the notes, what slide you’re on and what slide is next. There’s also a timer to help you pace each slide switch.

This tool will help if you can have a computer close by as you give the presentation. But if you are giving a presentation on a stage without a screen to help you, you’ll have to practice without notes. 

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How to Give A Good Presentation With Mnemonic Tools

Create some mnemonic tools into your presentation to help you remember what comes next. For some people, this comes as second nature and is easy. For others, it can become convoluted and cause you to overthink things. 

Try out a variety of different techniques until you find the one you feel the most comfortable and confident with.

Ask For Feedback

For better results and to know if you’re improving, record yourself or ask someone to watch you.  Ask them to give you honest feedback. Don’t accept feedback like “that was great.” Insist they go into the details. Offer them a pen and paper to take notes as you present.

You’ll notice as you practice and rehearse, that when you follow an outline, all the information you want to share is easier to remember. The TED talk below by Dr. Bolte Taylor was rehearsed 200 times and it’s one of the most famous TED Talks ever. 

You don’t need to practice that many times – just enough so it feels effortless. Needless to say, rehearsing is key to learning how to give a good presentation.

2 Prepare Mentally, Emotionally and Technically

It’s highly likely that you’ve already had to give presentations before, most probably at school. But let’s be honest, a classroom and a TED stage are a little different. So is an online summit via Zoom, which as you know are even more common now!

Let’s get one thing straight, though. We’re not talking about just any presentation here – we’re talking high stakes, high-quality presentations.

Preparing yourself mentally and emotionally for a weekly sales report meeting is not as important as doing so for one that will be in front of thousands of people and recorded for posterity.

This tip includes mental, emotional and technical preparation. Let’s focus on each one.

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Mental Preparation

While you’re rehearsing the outline and general speech for your presentation, notice the times when you feel like things flow and when they don’t. 

Why do you think that’s happening? 

If it flows well it’s because you feel comfortable with the content. You know what you’re talking about. You might even be passionate about it!

On the other hand, if you’re having trouble, maybe the content is still new to you. You might need to do a little more research to feel more knowledgeable about that topic. If you are unsure, you might completely forget what you had to say next during the presentation. 

That’s why rehearsing, adjusting and creating mnemonic cues will help.

Emotional Preparation

Not everyone needs to get emotionally prepared before a presentation. Conscientious rehearsing can usually be enough. But not everyone is the same. 

Many people that suffer from glossophobia or the fear of public speaking. Some have anxiety or social anxiety and just being close to that many people is difficult for them. Many successful speakers used to be riddled by fear before their first few presentations. 

Some of them still are, every single time. The difference is that they have learned how to manage their fear and lean into it. As soon as they step on the stage, the fear and anxiety melt away and all the rehearsing and practicing take over. 

To get emotionally prepared, you can try some mindfulness exercises and relaxation techniques. 

Wear clothes that make you feel powerful and confident. Try doing the power pose and high five some people before you go on stage. Sing your favorite song and have a little quick uplifting dance. 

Technical Preparation

You might be wondering what technical things you need to give a good presentation. It’s all in the details. 

Regardless if you’ll be speaking in a venue or an online summit, you have to test all technicalities.

If you’ll be speaking in a venue, visit the space and stand in the place where you’ll speak. Have a look around and pinpoint some elements or aspects that make you comfortable.

If there’s anything that bothers you, like a weird smell or a column in the middle of the room, think of ways to overcome that. 

Always ask to test the technical aspects in the room. Connect your computer or tablet to their system to check if your slides will look good with their setup. Also, test the audio. These detailed checks might not always be possible but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

If your presentation will be online, test all your tech beforehand. Locate a spot with the strongest wifi or hardwire your computer to the router.

Check your background and the lighting. Organize with housemates or family for some quiet time during the time of your presentation.

3 Start Strong

The day and time of your presentation have arrived! Now it’s time to shine.

Starting strong is a huge factor in achieving a good presentation. The first few seconds and minutes that you’re on stage will make a first impression on your audience . And yes, you can leverage that to your advantage!

How To Give A Good Presentation Through Impactful Body Language

The first thing people will notice is your body language. The way you carry yourself says a lot about how confident you are at that specific moment. If you prepared emotionally and mentally before your turn, then you’re as ready as you’ll ever be.

Watch the video below to learn about the power pose and how body language affects both you and your audience.

Make An Impressionable Statement

Starting a presentation with a joke, for example, can make the audience relate or feel more familiar with you. Letting them laugh a little will clear the air in the room and it’ll be easier to continue. 

Other opening techniques include:

• Be Provocative
• Incite Curiosity
• Shock the Audience
• Ask a Question
• Tell A Story

Use your first slide as a visual and impactful complement to start your presentation.

We have an article all about starting strong with plenty of inspiration. Check it out here – it’ll inspire you to think of new ideas for your presentation.

4 Follow The Outline You Practiced With

If you followed our tip above, you used an outline or a ‘section, pause, section’ technique to practice with. Maybe you even used some mnemonic tools or presenters’ notes. 

It’s time to put them all to use.

As long as you follow what you practiced you’re gold. This tip, as you can see, is a short one. It’s more of a reminder that the rehearsing step is more important than you might think at first. 

Only when you practice and rehearse a lot will you feel more comfortable when you present.

5 Use Props

Are you wondering how to give a good presentation with props? Good, that means you’re thinking creatively. Using props is a technique that not many consider when preparing for a presentation. 

Props can help not only to get the message across but also to serve as emotional support for the speaker! Just make sure it’s obviously a prop and not an emotional crutch.

A prop can be as small as a book, as big as a washing machine, or as weird as a preserved human brain. 

Of course, the prop must make sense with your presentation and topic. Not only that, but you must also practice with it. It’s important to be comfortable with your prop or props as you talk and switch slides. 

Actually, if you use props you might not need slides at all!

To get you inspired, watch this TED talk where Hans Rosling uses a washing machine as his prop.

6 Finish With Confidence

The end of the presentation is just as important as the beginning. You have to bring it all full circle. Knowing how to give a good presentation is like knowing how to structure a story, essay or article. The beginning and end are connected and must be relevant to each other.

For example, if you made a joke at the beginning, make the same joke but with a fun twist. If you made a provocative statement, close it up with a similar statement or question about it.

Closing Statement

Your presentation’s closing statement is a section in itself. Even if you do as we suggest above, the entire closing statement must be a conclusion of what you talked about during the entire presentation.

The last sentence you say will stay in your audience’s memory. At least until the next speaker takes the stage. If someone in your audience noted down your last sentence, you’ve hit the mark 100%.

Q and A Session – Yes or No?

Ending a presentation with a Q and A session is a bit iffy. If you ended your presentation with impact, a Q and A section can fizzle that out.

What you can do is ask the host to let the audience know that if they have questions, they can find you in the lobby for a conversation. For a digital summit, offer your Twitter handle where people can get in touch. 

In the case of webinars or instructional lectures though, Questions and Answers is a great idea. These can help familiarize you with the audience and make them more confident to work with you in the future. 

Consider the purpose of your presentation and make a decision according to what impact you’re looking to make.

Here's a great example of the chat section from Visme's webinars , where viewers make comments and ask questions throughout. In our webinars, we have someone help the presenter by gathering questions and ensuring everyone gets answers.

7 Use A Storytelling Structure

Moving on to the tips for the creation of your slides.  It’s important to remember the role your slides will play in your presentation. The audience’s attention should be on you, not your slides. These are meant to be complementary, not a crutch, nor even a text to follow.

With that said, this tip is the most important. It applies to your slides AND your spoken speech. They should both follow a storytelling structure that you and the audience will follow together.

Some of the most common storytelling structures are:

• Fact and Story – Go back and forth between facts and stories, or “what is” and “what could be.”
• The Explanation – Inform about a process or plan to fix something or to learn something new.
• The Pitch – Take your audience uphill over a hurdle and onto a positive resolution.
• The Drama – AKA “The Hero’s Journey,” this follows the plight of a main character from beginning to end.

You can also check out our quick video on how to structure a presentation like the experts to learn even more.

8 Keep Your Slides Short and Visually Balanced

There are two ways to design slides for a good presentation:

• As a standalone presentation
• As visual support, while you speak

Either way, you need to keep your slides short in text and visually impactful. For a visual support deck, the slides need even less text than a standalone presentation. 

If that idea worries you, and you have tons of information to share, you can always create a full-fledged informative PDF version of your deck to give your audience, investors or guests.

Here are some important things to remember when designing the slides for your presentation:

• The flow from start to finish
• Visual hierarchy
• Keeping the words to around 6 per slide
• Visual impact
• Balanced compositions

The 29 Best Presentation Layout Templates for 2020 [Plus Design Ideas]

9 Use Presentation Templates

Creating presentation slides doesn’t need to be difficult or a stressful affair. When you use a Visme presentation as a foundation, you’re on your way to being an expert on how to give a good presentation. 

To select a presentation template, you can either go for a topic-based template or a style based template. Both have their merits, you just need to figure out what’s easier for you. 

Topic-based templates are fully designed templates with color themes, graphics, images, icons, etc. You’d only have to adjust the content and maybe the colors and graphics. 

Style-based templates are better for those of you that need more freedom in terms of colors and visuals. The Visme slide library is full of layouts organized into categories that you can choose from. 

Presentation Templates

Ecommerce Webinar Presentation

Buyer Presentation

PixelGo Marketing Plan Presentation

Technology Presentation

Product Training Interactive Presentation

Work+Biz Pitch Deck - Presentation

Create your presentation View more templates

10 Learn From Your Mistakes

When the presentation is over and you feel like you just conquered the world, it’s not the end just yet. Celebrate the moment but remember, there will be more presentations in the future. 

If your presentation was filmed, watch the recording. If there was anyone in the audience that you can fully trust to be honest with their feedback, ask them for it. Take mental notes and the next time you’ll be even more prepared.

The secret sauce to know how to give a good presentation is to always keep learning the ways to improve.

11 Keep Yourself Inspired for Future Presentations

When you keep learning, you keep growing. This also applies to the art of giving good presentations. Follow well-known presentation experts like Nancy Duarte and Carmine Gallo. Read their book, their stories and their theories about giving good presentations. 

Watch famous speeches or TED talks to get inspired. Take notes of what you notice in those speeches that you think would suit your personality. You don’t want to copy how other people speak, but you can definitely be inspired!

Bonus: The Visme Presentation Guru Course

To top off your knowledge base for giving good presentations with killer slides, we present you with the Visme Presentation Guru Course .

How to Give a Good Presentation Every Time

As long as you’re prepared, your slides are well-balanced and your speech is rehearsed, you’re ready to give an impactful presentation.

Plus, never underestimate the power of templates! Check out the Visme slide library to visualize the possibilities. Take our presentation course and improve your abilities as a public speaker and slide creator.

Learn how to give a good presentation with all the resources Visme has in store for you. Sign up for a free Visme account today to get started.

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About the Author

Orana is a multi-faceted creative. She is a content writer, artist, and designer. She travels the world with her family and is currently in Istanbul. Find out more about her work at oranavelarde.com

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10 Tips on Giving a Killer Presentation

Here's how to stand out from the crowd when you're in front of the room..

As presentation software goes, PowerPoint has long been ubiquitously chosen by presenters, but other good options exist, depending on what you want to communicate and how you're putting it all together. For example, Google Drive Slides are great if you need to collaborate with others on content, because all changes are updated and stored on the cloud so you have real-time access to the latest version. Apple users should definitely consider iCloud Keynote , which is also good for collaborating but features an intuitive user interface with a sophisticated look and feel. But if you want to do something fresh,  Prezi is worth checking out. It uniquely uses motion to let you zoom in and out of your content, all of which is visually connected in a path that shows how ideas are related. The online software also makes integrating YouTube videos simple, a nice perk for anyone using video sourced from Google's platform.

Regardless of which software you use, Prezi's blog offers a wealth of tips on how to give a presentation your audience will pay attention to and remember. Here are 10 solid bits of advice from Prezi, which has amassed more than 50 million users in the six years the company has been around.

1. Research your audience.

If you want to influence these people, you need to know what they care about and what motivates them.

2. Include dissenting views.

Identify ways your audience may challenge your ideas and acknowledge them in your talk. Dismissing dissenting views won't make them go away.

3. Start with a good story.

TED Talks speakers use this tactic all the time. Your opening story should be one everyone in the room can relate to.

4. Reiterate your main message three times.

Professional communicators put it this way, "Tell them what you're going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell them what you told them." In other words, introduce the points you will be making, and then spend the meat of your presentation fleshing them out. Conclude by reminding the audience about your points.

5. Practice like crazy.

When you know what you're going to say backward and forward, you don't have to worry about fumbling your words or losing your train of thought. Saying your talk out loud many times in advance also helps you to edit out awkward wordiness. Your audience will appreciate a no-rambling approach.

6. Memorize.

If you've ever seen someone glancing at note cards, you know that it's not only distracting to an audience but also conveys that a speaker may lack confidence. Don't memorize every word, just the flow of your key points and the examples you will use to back them up. Check out Prezi's blog on how you can memorize any presentation in 60 minutes or less.

7. Make eye contact.

You can't persuade someone if you're not looking him or her in the eye. Just make sure to scan the room without staring at any individual for too long.

8. Use a good closing story.

It should be one that relates directly to your message and allows you to reiterate your main points. Less is more when it comes to closing, so keep your story succinct while being authentic. Essentially, your closing story should be close to your heart while summarizing your message.

9. Avoid bullet points.

They're boring. Instead, use a compelling image with text that's no longer than a tweet.

10. Use big gestures.

Holding your arms in close to your body not only looks unnatural, it also makes you look nervous. You're telling stories, so act like it by commanding the space you're inhabiting in front of the room.

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How to give a good presentation that captivates any audience

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What are the main difficulties when giving presentations?

How to create an effective presentation, after that, how do i give a memorable presentation, how to connect with the audience when presenting.

If you’ve ever heard someone give a powerful presentation, you probably remember how it made you feel. Much like a composer, a good speaker knows precisely when each note should strike to captivate their audience’s attention and leave them with a lasting impression.

No one becomes a great public speaker or presenter without practice. And almost everyone can recall a time one of their presentations went badly — that’s a painful part of the learning process.

Whether you’re working within a small creative team or a large organization, public speaking and presentation skills are vital to communicating your ideas. Knowing how to present your vision can help you pitch concepts to clients, present ideas to your team, and develop the confidence to participate in team meetings.

If you have an upcoming presentation on the horizon and feel nervous, that’s normal. Around 15-30% of the general population experience a fear of public speaking . And, unfortunately, social anxiety is on the rise, with a 12% increase in adults over the last 20 years . 

Learning how to give a good presentation can dismantle your fears and break down these barriers, ensuring you’re ready to confidently share your point of view. 

It’s the week before your presentation, and you’re already feeling nervous . Maybe there’ll be an important mentor in the room you need to impress, or you’re looking for an opportunity to show your boss your value. Regardless of your countless past presentations, you still feel nervous. 

Sharing your vision and ideas with any sized group is intimidating. You’re likely worrying about how you’ll perform as a presenter and whether the audience will be interested in what you offer. But nerves aren’t inherently negative — you can actually use this feeling to fuel your preparation.

It’s helpful to identify where your worries are coming from and address your fears. Here are some common concerns when preparing for an upcoming presentation:

Fear of public speaking: When you share your ideas in front of a group, you’re placing yourself in a vulnerable position to be critiqued on your knowledge and communication skills . Maybe you feel confident in your content, but when you think about standing in front of an audience, you feel anxious and your mind goes blank.

It’s also not uncommon to have physical symptoms when presenting . Some people experience nausea and dizziness as the brain releases adrenaline to cope with the potentially stressful situation . Remember to take deep breaths to recenter yourself and be patient, even if you make a mistake.

Losing the audience’s attention: As a presenter, your main focus is to keep your audience engaged. They should feel like they’re learning valuable information or following a story that will improve them in life or business.

Highlight the most exciting pieces of knowledge and ensure you emphasize those points in your presentation. If you feel passionate about your content, it’s more likely that your audience will experience this excitement for themselves and become invested in what you have to say.

Not knowing what content to place on presentation slides: Overloading presentation slides is a fast way to lose your audience’s attention. Your slides should contain only the main talking points and limited text to ensure your audience focuses on what you have to say rather than becoming distracted by the content on your slides.

Discomfort incorporating nonverbal communication: It’s natural to feel stiff and frozen when you’re nervous. But maintaining effective body language helps your audience stay focused on you as you speak and encourages you to relax.

If you struggle to incorporate body language into your presentations, try starting small by making hand gestures toward your slides. If you’re working with a large audience, use different parts of the stage to ensure everyone feels included. 

Each presenter has their own personal brand and style. Some may use humor to break the ice, while others might appeal to the audience’s emotional side through inspiring storytelling. 

Watching online presentations, such as TED talks, is an excellent way to expose yourself to various presentation styles and develop your own. While observing others, you can note how they carry themselves on stage and learn new ways to keep your audience engaged.

Once you’ve addressed what’s causing your fears, it’s time to prepare for a great presentation. Use your past experience as inspiration and aim to outshine your former self by learning from your mistakes and employing new techniques. Here are five presentation tips to help you create a strong presentation and wow your audience:

1. Keep it simple

Simple means something different to everyone.

Before creating your presentation, take note of your intended audience and their knowledge level of your subject. You’ll want your content to be easy for your intended audience to follow.

Say you’re giving a presentation on improving your company’s operational structure. Entry-level workers will likely need a more straightforward overview of the content than C-suite leaders, who have significantly more experience. 

Ask yourself what you want your audience to take away from your presentation and emphasize those important points. Doing this ensures they remember the most vital information rather than less important supporting ideas. Try organizing these concepts into bullet points so viewers can quickly identify critical takeaways.

2. Create a compelling structure

Put yourself in your audience member’s shoes and determine the most compelling way to organize your information. Your presentation should be articulate , cohesive, and logical, and you must be sure to include all necessary supporting evidence to strengthen your main points.

If you give away all of your answers too quickly, your audience could lose interest. And if there isn’t enough supporting information, they could hit a roadblock of confusion. Try developing a compelling story that leads your audience through your thought processes so they can experience the ups and downs alongside you. 

By structuring your presentation to lead up to a final conclusion, you’re more likely to keep listeners’ attention. Once you’ve reached that conclusion, you can offer a Q&A period to put any of their questions or concerns to rest. 

3. Use visual aids

Appealing to various learning styles is a great way to keep everyone on the same page and ensure they absorb your content. Visual aids are necessary for visual learners and make it easier for people to picture your ideas.

Aim to incorporate a mixture of photos, videos, and props to engage your audience and convey your key points. For instance, if you’re giving a presentation on anthropology subject matter, you could show your audience an artifact to help them understand how exciting a discovery must have been. 

If your presentation is long, including a video for your audience to watch is an excellent way to give yourself a break and create new jumping-off points for your speech.

4. Be aware of design techniques and trends

Thanks to cutting-edge technology and tools, you have numerous platforms at your disposal to create a good presentation. But keep in mind that although color, images, and graphics liven things up, they can cause distraction when misused.

  Here are a few standard pointers for incorporating visuals on your slides: 

• Don’t place blocks of small text on a single slide
• Use a minimalistic background instead of a busy one
• Ensure text stands out against the background color
• Only use high-resolution photos
• Maintain a consistent font style and size throughout the presentation
• Don’t overuse transitions and effects

5. Try the 10-20-30 rule

Guy Kawasaki, a prominent venture capitalist and one of the original marketing specialists for Apple, said that the best slideshow presentations are less than 10 slides , last at most 20 minutes, and use a font size of 30. Following this strategy can help you condense your information, eliminate unnecessary ideas, and maintain your audience’s focus more efficiently.

Once you’re confident in creating a memorable presentation, it’s time to learn how to give one. Here are some valuable tips for keeping your audience invested during your talk: 

Tip #1: Tell stories

Sharing an anecdote from your life can improve your credibility and increase your relatability. And when an audience relates to you, they’re more likely to feel connected to who you are as a person and encouraged to give you their full attention, as they would want others to do the same.

Gill Hicks utilized this strategy well when she shared her powerful story, “ I survived a terrorist attack. Here’s what I learned .” In her harrowing tale, Hicks highlights the importance of compassion, unconditional love , and helping those in need.

If you feel uncomfortable sharing personal stories, that’s okay. You can use examples from famous individuals or create a fictional account to demonstrate your ideas.

Tip #2: Make eye contact with the audience

Maintaining eye contact is less intimidating than it sounds. In fact, you don’t have to look your audience members directly in their eyes — you can focus on their foreheads or noses if that’s easier.

Try making eye contact with as many people as possible for 3–5 seconds each. This timing ensures you don’t look away too quickly, making the audience member feel unimportant, or linger too long, making them feel uncomfortable.

If you’re presenting to a large group, direct your focus to each part of the room to ensure no section of the audience feels ignored. 

Tip #3: Work on your stage presence

Although your tone and words are the most impactful part of your presentation, recall that body language keeps your audience engaged. Use these tips to master a professional stage presence:

• Speak with open arms and avoid crossing them
• Keep a reasonable pace and try not to stand still
• Use hand gestures to highlight important information

Tip #4: Start strong

Like watching a movie trailer, the first seconds of your talk are critical for capturing your audience’s attention. How you start your speech sets the tone for the rest of your presentation and tells your audience whether or not they should pay attention. Here are some ways to start your presentation to leave a lasting impression:

• Use a quote from a well-known and likable influential person 
• Ask a rhetorical question to create intrigue
• Start with an anecdote to add context to your talk 
• Spark your audience’s curiosity by involving them in an interactive problem-solving puzzle or riddle

Tip #5: Show your passion

Don’t be afraid of being too enthusiastic. Everyone appreciates a speaker who’s genuinely excited about their field of expertise. 

In “ Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance ,” Angela Lee Duckworth discusses the importance of passion in research and delivery. She delivers her presentation excitedly to show the audience how excitement piques interest. 

Tip #6: Plan your delivery

How you decide to deliver your speech will shape your presentation. Will you be preparing a PowerPoint presentation and using a teleprompter? Or are you working within the constraints of the digital world and presenting over Zoom?

The best presentations are conducted by speakers who know their stuff and memorize their content. However, if you find this challenging, try creating notes to use as a safety net in case you lose track.

If you’re presenting online, you can keep notes beside your computer for each slide, highlighting your key points. This ensures you include all the necessary information and follow a logical order.

Tip #7: Practice

Practice doesn’t make perfect — it makes progress. There’s no way of preparing for unforeseen circumstances, but thorough practice means you’ve done everything you can to succeed.

Rehearse your speech in front of a mirror or to a trusted friend or family member. Take any feedback and use it as an opportunity to fine-tune your speech. But remember: who you practice your presentation in front of may differ from your intended audience. Consider their opinions through the lens of them occupying this different position.

Tip #8: Read the room

Whether you’re a keynote speaker at an event or presenting to a small group of clients, knowing how to read the room is vital for keeping your audience happy. Stay flexible and be willing to move on from topics quickly if your listeners are uninterested or displeased with a particular part of your speech.

Tip #9: Breathe

Try taking deep breaths before your presentation to calm your nerves. If you feel rushed, you’re more likely to feel nervous and stumble on your words.

The most important thing to consider when presenting is your audience’s feelings. When you approach your next presentation calmly, you’ll put your audience at ease and encourage them to feel comfortable in your presence.

Tip #10: Provide a call-to-action

When you end your presentation, your audience should feel compelled to take a specific action, whether that’s changing their habits or contacting you for your services.

If you’re presenting to clients, create a handout with key points and contact information so they can get in touch. You should provide your LinkedIn information, email address, and phone number so they have a variety of ways to reach you. 

There’s no one-size-fits-all template for an effective presentation, as your unique audience and subject matter play a role in shaping your speech. As a general rule, though, you should aim to connect with your audience through passion and excitement. Use strong eye contact and body language. Capture their interest through storytelling and their trust through relatability.

Learning how to give a good presentation can feel overwhelming — but remember, practice makes progress. Rehearse your presentation for someone you trust, collect their feedback , and revise. Practicing your presentation skills is helpful for any job, and every challenge is a chance to grow.

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Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

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6 presentation skills and how to improve them, 3 stand-out professional bio examples to inspire your own, tell a story they can't ignore these 10 tips will teach you how, how to make a presentation interactive and exciting, your guide to what storytelling is and how to be a good storyteller, reading the room gives you an edge — no matter who you're talking to, 18 effective strategies to improve your communication skills, writing an elevator pitch about yourself: a how-to plus tips, how to disagree at work without being obnoxious, the importance of good speech: 5 tips to be more articulate, the 11 tips that will improve your public speaking skills, 30 presentation feedback examples, fear of public speaking overcome it with these 7 tips, how to not be nervous for a presentation — 13 tips that work (really), 8 clever hooks for presentations (with tips), stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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How to give a killer presentation – lessons from ted.

On the Harvard Business Review website presenters can find a true gem:  Lessons from Chris Anderson , curator of the TED conference series. While it was originally published in the magazine in 2013, I find this timeless insight for anybody who wants to improve presentation skills.

Chris starts out with a story to demonstrate that  giving a good talk is highly coachable.

He recalls meeting Richard Turere, a 12-year old Masai boy, who came up with a solution to one of the biggest challenges livestock farmers in Kenya face: protecting their animals from lions and other wild animals. He devised a system of lights that created a sense of movement that scared off lions at night. The lights worked as imagined by Richard and soon villagers in other part of Kenya started installing Richard’s “lion lights”.

This is the kind of inspiring story that is perfect for a  TED Talk . The only problem: Richard seemed not an ideal candidate to give a presentation to a large audience used to listening to polished speakers like Bill Gates and Al Gore. Richard was painfully shy and when he tried to explain his invention, the sentences came out incoherently. Despite of this, Chris invited Richard to tell his story at at the 2013 TED conference.

In the months prior to his presentation, the team at TED coached Richard to frame his story – to find the right place to begin, and to develop the story into a killer presentation.

Chris Anderson writes in the HBR article, “When he finally gave his talk at TED, in Long Beach, you could tell he was nervous, but that only made him more engaging — people were hanging on his every word. The confidence was there, and every time Richard smiled, the audience melted. When he finished, the response was instantaneous: a sustained standing ovation.”

So how does the TED team coach their presenters to frame, practice, and deliver their stories? The process to create a killer presentation starts six to nine months before the event. That’s right!

A real killer presentation requires lots of planning, devising, rehearsing, and lots of fine tuning along the way.  The actual task of transforming a presentation from muddled to mesmerizing is a matter of hours…spread over a longer period of time.

How to Give a Killer Presentation Anywhere – Not Only at TED

Frame your story.

We all have good stories to tell. The most vital part of making your story compelling is to conceptualize it and put it in a frame that people want to hear.

Think about taking your audience on a journey. As with any journey, how you start it and where you finish it is vital to the entire experience.  The most engaging speakers quickly introduce the topic, explain why they care so deeply about it, and convince the audience members that they should as well.

Don’t cram everything you know into your presentation. Instead, use a few specific examples to highlight your ideas. Your presentation won’t be rated by how broad it is, but rather by how deep you can involve your listener into a few well explained details about the problem you are solving.

Plan Your Delivery

There are three main ways to give a talk. You can read it off a script or teleprompter. You can develop a set of bullet points that map out what you’re going to cover in each section. Or you can memorize your talk to deliver it word for word as you have practiced it.

Of course, the last method is the most time consuming during your preparation. It will require hours of rehearsing. Memorizing your talk, however, is also the most effective once you are in front of your audience. It is the one the TED team recommends to their presenters for a good reason: many of their best and most popular talks have been memorized word for word.

What if you don’t have the time or the presentation is not as significant as a TED Talk with 1,400 people in the audience and millions behind their computer screens? Go with bullet points on flash cards. As long as you know what you want to say to each point and transition well from section to section, you’ll be fine.

Another point Chris makes in the HBR article is to sound natural. Present your information and story in a conversational tone. Don’t orate, don’t lecture. Be as natural as if you would talk to a group of your friends.

Develop Stage Presence

Just the thought of standing in front of an audience can be extremely frightening. To take off some of this edge, always remember that your words, story, and substance is much more important to the audience than the way you stand or if you are visibly nervous.

Richard seems quite nervous in his presentation about the “lion lights”, but people in the audience didn’t care at all about that. In fact,  he built better rapport because the audience members could identify with this nervousness.  Furthermore, they sensed that he is confident talking about his experience and story. That’s one of the reasons his talk was receiving such a positive feedback.

One of the biggest mistakes the TED team sees in early rehearsals is that people move their bodies too much. They sway from side to side or shift their weight from one leg to the other. They coach their presenters to keep their lower bodies motionless, which can dramatically improve stage presence. Although there are some presenters that are able to walk around the stage during their presentation (the late Steve Jobs was very natural doing it), the majority of presenters is better off standing still and relying on hand gestures and facial expressions.

The one aspect that will do most for your successful presentation is eye contact.   Pick a few audience members and imagine them as friends you haven’t seen in a while.  Make solid eye contact with them while you update them on your work.

Plan the Multimedia

You probably have heard the advice about PowerPoint (or similar presentation software): Keep it Simple!   Don’t use your presentation deck as a crutch, as a substitute for notes. And never, ever read from your slides.  It will only make the audience think that they could do that themselves in the comfort of their home or office. Instead, use powerful images that visualize the key points of your presentation.

In Richard’s presentation about his “lion lights” there are no text slides. They are not needed. There are, however, many photographs that engage the audience to take a short journey into Richard’s world.

Putting it Together

The TED team starts helping their presenters at least six months in advance so that they’ll have plenty of time to practice. They want people’s talks in final form one month prior to the event. Why? The more practice the presenters can put in during the final weeks, the more compelling the presentation will be.

The most important thing to keep in mind though is that  presentations rise and fall on the quality of ideas, the narrative, and the passion of the speaker.  It’s about substance, not speaking style or multimedia pyrotechnics. If you have something to say, you can build a great talk.

Remember, there is no one good way to give a killer presentation. The most memorable talks offer something fresh, engaging, and relevant.

Read the full article on the Harvard Business Review website.

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How to Give a Killer Presentation [2024]

January 05, 2024

When you give a killer presentation, you stand a much greater chance of making it easy for your audience. And if you make it easy for your audience they are more likely to respond.

What does creating a killer presentation mean in reality.

By killer presentation, I mean:

• A presentation that can be remembered.
• A presentation that positions you as someone of note within your organisation.
• A presentation that creates action, change in behaviour or change in thinking

To create a killer presentation you need to be different, and you need to take a few risks. (If there was a simple formula, then everyone would be doing it.) But when I say take risks, I mean doing things that are done outside the typical business setting but are actually best practice presentation skills training shortcuts. Shortcuts that have been tried and tested for hundreds if not thousands of years. You want to follow the cardinal rule of ‘Don’t be boring’.

An Example of a Killer Presentation

John is the COO of a large utilities company. We trained him to improve his presentation skills.  To deliver killer presentations. He has thousands of employees working daily in dangerous conditions, keeping water running for millions of customers. People have to work at heights, at depth, in the middle of the road, day and night, winter and summer. They work in every dangerous situation you could imagine.

And it is hard keeping everyone safe. Teams are scattered over several hundred square miles and they work autonomously, going to emergencies as and when they happen.

Health and safety is important to the business; it takes up a large part of senior management time. Every year the senior team gathers, and this year safety was again one of the main topics of the day.  

John, was new as COO and determined to make an impact. He know that the presentation skills he learned in his training would be critical.

His HR team had pulled together a big presentation deck discussing health and safety. It had the company history, the key imperatives, the company values, best working practices and updates on recent legislation. It was a comprehensive pack and it had taken weeks to put together. They even brought in professional designers to make sure the presentation looked as important as it was.

John knew from his presentation skills training at Benjamin Ball Associates that starting his presentation with slides – no matter how good – would not work. So he used a story from his early career. He started his killer presentation like this:

“When I was in twenties I was put in charge of a building site. In my first week on that job we had a crane collapse. “That night, I had to knock on a woman’s door and tell her that her husband had been killed on a site where I was in charge. “I don’t want any of you to have to go through what I went through that day. That’s why we are talking about health and safety today.”

In less than 80 words John had grabbed his audience’s attention, had appealed to their emotions and made them realise that he knew what he was talking about.

That was a great example of a killer presentation using advanced presentation skills.

While not every presentation you do will be a killer presentation, it is something that you should aim for. Much better to aim high and fall short than aim low and fall short anyway.

Learn how we can help – schedule a free consultation now

Why is it hard to create killer presentations?

One of the big challenges we face in business is that The Presentation has become a standard way of communicating. Unfortunately, the average presenter and the average presentation is not very good. As a result, time is wasted, money is wasted and we are not as clear and inspiring as we should be.

The average business presentation is completely forgettable. I often challenge clients to count the number of presentations they have seen in the last year, and then to describe any memorable ones. I am lucky if they can speak about one.

Too many people, when they hear the word “presentation”, reach for their computer and start creating slides. They feel as if they are making progress.

They pull information together, they lay it out into a PowerPoint document and admire their handiwork. Then they start to think about how to tell the story. You’ll never give a killer presentation like this.

What you need – A story, a script and a plan to create a killer presentation

BUT…the process for creating a great presentation should be more like that of making a movie. When you make a movie, filming (the equivalent of creating slides) only happens after you have a story, a script and a plan.

The better you have planned your presentation, the easier the process of giving it. At first, it may feel frustrating that you are not writing or creating slides. But when you invest in proper presentation planning, you will benefit many times over.

In the end you will spend less time playing with PowerPoint. You will spend less time editing and you will spend less time searching for a way to link the sections of your presentation together. You will probably find that practising and rehearsing is also easier and more enjoyable.

The other great advantage of improving your presentation skills is that you have formal check points where you can share your work to check that you are on track. This will help with timekeeping and, where necessary, make sure your colleagues are onside.

“There are three things that are important for a film. Number one is story, number two is story, number three is story. Good actors can save a bad script and make it bearable, but good actors can’t make a bad script good – they can just make it bearable.” – Mark Strickson, TV producer & acto r

Summary – how to improve your presentation skills for success

Start by planning, not by writing. This may feel counter intuitive, but you’ll make progress faster.

How to give a killer presentation? 9 steps:

• Use AIM as the first stage of preparing your presentation
• Analyse your AUDIENCE and understand their needs
• Be clear on the single INTENT/purpose of your presentation.
• Decide your one take-away MESSAGE from your presentation
• Agree the three parts of your presentation
• Create and perfect a 90 second summary of your presentation before fleshing it out
• Answer the WHY questions in your presentation before the WHAT or HOW questions
• Imagine your audience asking So What? and What’s in it for me? throughout.
• Check your presentation summary against your Audience, Intent and Message.

How to give a killer presentation. Step #1 – Have you taken AIM?

Summary – aim is an easy-to-apply planning tool that makes your business presentations and talks easier to prepare..

What typically goes wrong? Most people create presentations without proper planning. They start writing or creating visual aids before they have decided what they want to say.

Why does this matter? Without an effective tool for preparing a business presentation you waste time and will be less effective.

So, instead, Use AIM.  Start with a blank sheet of paper and write the three letters AIM across the top. In each of these columns start writing what you know about A: Your Audience, I: Your intent, or Purpose and M: your take-away Message. For Audience ask yourself searching questions about why they are here and what they want from your presentation. For Intent, summarise your intent into one clear line. And for message identify the single message that you’d like your audience to take away from your business presentation. See the next sections for more detail on A, I and M.

“90% of how well the business presentation will go is determined before the speaker steps on the platform.” – Somers White

Improve your presentation skills tips

• Use the AIM approach before all communications.
• Keep working at AIM until you are happy.

How to give a killer presentation. Step #2 – AIM Part 1: Who’s your audience and what do they need?

Summary – your audience, not you, should be centre of attention in your presentation. the better you understand your audience, the better your business presentation will be..

What typically goes wrong?  When people give presentations about their latest project, they talk about their latest project. If they are reporting quarterly results, they report quarterly results. If they are speaking about their new business, they tell the audience about their new business. If explaining a new piece of regulation, they talk about elements of that regulation.

The problem with this approach is they are not including their audience in their presentation. And if they don’t include the audience, The audience will be less engaged.

Why does this matter?  Audiences are selfish. They like being talked about.

Instead, to improve your presentation skills your presentation should be about what your subject means for your audience. For example:

• “What you can learn from our latest project.”
• “Our quarterly results and what they mean for your department next quarter.”
• “How our new business can make you money.”
• “What the new regulations mean for you and your clients”

To do this, you must understand your audience. That means asking questions about them and getting under their skin. For example, some questions you may have could include:

ABOUT BACKGROUND

• Who is coming to this business presentation?
• What common reference points can I use?
• What experiences have they shared?

ABOUT MOTIVATION

• Why are they coming?
• What problems do they have?
• What do they need and want?
• What will make life easy for them?

ABOUT EXPECTATIONS

• What would they like me to business presentation about?
• What would a win feel like for them?
• What will make them sit up?

ABOUT CONNECTING

• What can I say that will show them I am on their side?
• What stories will resonate?
• How can I add value?

ABOUT EMOTIONAL POSITION

• What frame of mind will they be in?
• What should I avoid talking about?
• What will make them feel good?
• What can I say at the start to win them over?

ABOUT MAKING IT EASY FOR THEM

• What specific language should I use?
• How should I position what I am talking about for this audience?
• What phrases will resonate?

The more you learn about your audience, the better you know them and the better you can plan your presentation for them.

“Designing a presentation without an audience in mind is like writing a love letter and addressing it: To Whom It May Concern.” – Ken Haemer, presentation designe r

Top Presentation Improvement Tips

• Before any presentation, analyse your audience
• Research them
• Make sure you really know them and their needs before you start planning what to say

Create a killer presentation. Step #3 – AIM Part 2: What are you trying to achieve?

Summary – decide early the intent or purpose to your presentation. this will help you direct your efforts and target your presentation so that you achieve your goals..

What typically goes wrong?  “I’m going to talk about…” is a typical answer to the question “Why are you doing this business presentation?” But presenting about something is of no use to anyone. It is pointless.

For example:

• “I’m presenting about our new project”
• “I’m presenting about the new regulations”
• “A pitch about our new fund”
• “An introduction to ABCX co”
• “Monthly board report”

Why does this matter?  For a presentation to work it requires a clear purpose. When you know your purpose you can harness your presentation to achieving just that.

So, instead, decide your intent. For example, when I asked a Chief Financial Officer recently what was the intent of his presentation, he was clear: he said that he “Wanted to look like the next CEO of this business.” This clear purpose made it easy to help him prepare what he said, how he said it and how he positioned himself.

Someone recently, when giving a presentation about new regulations, was clear that she wanted “to help companies use the new regulations to run better, more profitable businesses”.

An HR director who was introducing a new expense system was clear that her intent was to “get people to use the new system by next month so they can get paid faster and with less effort.’

A fund manager who was pitching a first time fund to new investors had a clear intent of “getting onto their radar screens and securing a second meeting.”

A company looking for a trade buyer had crystallised their intent into “creating excitement about the potential value of buying this business and demonstrate the risk of others buying it.”

“An accountant at an FMCG firm had the intent with his monthly board reports to “Get them to recognise the value my team adds.”

Having a clear intent will make it easier for you to plan your presentation. Identifying that intent is also one of the harder parts of planning a business presentation.

“A presentation is a voyage with purpose and it must be charted. The man who starts out going nowhere, generally gets there.” – Dale Carnegie

• Be absolutely clear on the intent of your presentation.
• Summarise your intent in one line
• Use your intent as your North Star to guide everything you say and how you say it.

Create a killer presentation. Step #4 – AIM part 3: What’s your one big take-away message?

Summary – your presentation needs a take-away message. this means one simple message so when someone asks “what was that presentation about” a listener can confidently answer what you want them to say., what typically goes wrong.

Many presentations have titles such as:

• “Quarterly strategy report”
• “Project X”
• “Manufacturing update”
• “Annual results”

These are all topics, not messages

Why does this matter?  These titles do not help the audience. It only tells them something they already know. With a topic title you miss the opportunity of preparing your audience and getting them in the right mindset to be ready for your presentation.

So, instead, identify a message that summarises your presentation that you can use as its title. Keep improving the title until it properly captures what you want to say. For example:

• “Our strategy remains on track”
• “Launching Project X by December could double revenues next year”
• “Manufacturing: three problems we must address”
• “Profits up 5% this year despite Covid headwinds”

Then test your title on other people. Check if it generates the reaction you want.

“If you can’t write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don’t have a clear idea.”  – David Belasco, theatre producer

Improve Presentation Skills: Tips

• Decide the title of your presentation early.
• Check it generates the reaction you want.
• Use this to build the rest of your presentation.
• Re-test your message against A.I.M.

How to give a killer presentation. Step #5 – What are the three parts of your presentation?

Summary – your brain is naturally tuned to hearing things in sets of three. if you can break your presentation into three parts that work together then it’s more likely to be successful..

What typically goes wrong?  Many presentations are like shopping lists. The presentation covers multiple topics and jumps from one idea to the next.

What’s wrong with a shopping list approach? In the end, a huge amount of information has been transmitted but little has been received.

So, instead, remember that Less is More in a presentation. Help your audience by giving them a structure. A three part structure is one of the most useful planning shortcuts that you can use.

Once you are completely clear about your intent and your message, start developing a three part structure for your presentation. For example, if I wanted to give a presentation that shared advice on how to present, I would consider using one of the following structures:

Mistakes other people make / Tips you can use / How to become a great speaker or How to define your messages / How to structure your presentation / How to deliver your presentation or What bad looks like / what good looks like / what you can do differently

“ In writing and speaking, three is more satisfying than any other number. “ – Carmine Gallow, author

• Find your three part structure early.
• Use the structure to focus your efforts and guide your planning

How to give a killer presentation. Step #6 – What is your story?

Summary – to improve your presentation skills you should underpin your presentation with a story or a narrative. no matter how dry your subject, by using a story it will be more memorable and more effective..

What typically goes wrong?  As an expert, a typical presenter wants to share knowledge. For example, A few years ago, I helped a lawyer give a business presentation to investors. This audience was made up of private equity investors in businesses who also sat on their boards. The subject was the 2006 Companies Act and the Duties and Responsibilities of a Director. A dry subject.

In her first draft, she reviewed sections of the Act and highlighted problems that directors may face. For example, “Section 172 of the Act, sets out your overarching duties as a director. You must act in the way you consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole.”

As you can imagine, it was not the most exciting of business presentations.

Why does this matter?  A precise business presentation may not be an interesting business presentation. And an uninteresting presentation will not be heard.  Your job as a presenter is to make your business presentation interesting and easy for your audience.

What to do instead

What this means is that you need to find a story that fits what you want to talk  about. This is key to improving presentation skills.

For example, for the investor director presentation above, we decided to title the presentation “How to keep your nose clean and yourself out of jail”

Then the presentation was based around a series of situations that anyone in the audience might face. She did not refer to any particular section of the Companies Act at all. Her text was:

“Imagine this situation. You turn up for a board meeting. You are a 10% shareholder and you are a director. At that board meeting the CEO announces that the company is near bankrupt and needs more funding. What should you do? Do you absent yourself, having a connected interest. Or do you declare your interest as a shareholder? Or do you carry as normal assuming business as usual?”

By framing it as a story you involve your audience and you make it easier for them to process what you say.

“Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.” – Jean Luc Godard, film director

• Find stories to tell, narratives to bring your facts to life.
• Tell the story behind the numbers.
• The dryer your subject matter, the more important stories become.

How to give a killer presentation. Step #7 – Have you asked WHY?

Summary – ‘why’ comes before ‘what’ comes before ‘how’.

What typically goes wrong? When a speaker knows a subject well, it is easy for them to assume knowledge and talk about the nuances of what they know. I often describe this as the ‘How’ of a subject.

For example, when speaking about a new engine you have developed, you might say that we made the pistons more accurately, that you mix petrol more precisely and you have added a new technique of managing engine performance.

Why does this matter?  This is one of the most common mistakes that experts make when giving presentations. They spend too much time explaining HOW something works, rather than explaining WHAT it is they are presenting about and WHY it is important.

Instead, to improve your presentation skills, phrase it like this, answering the WHY question:  “We have designed a car engine that is more efficient and will get 100 miles to the gallon.”

“Start with Why” – Simon Sinek

• Check that you are clear why the audience will be interested.
• Imagine someone in the audience asking “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM)

Learn about our executive presentation coaching courses

Create a killer presentation. Step #8 – Can you give a 90 second summary of your presentation?

Summary – the best way to test your planning and improve your presentation skills is by speaking a c 100-200 word summary of your presentation. this summary will test the rigour of your thinking, the clarity of your ideas and the robustness of your plan..

What typically goes wrong?  The average poor presentation meanders from topic to topic and is more like a data dump than a well organised business presentation. It is rich in information but poor in story, structure and planning. It will not easily fit into a short sharp clear summary.

Why does this matter?  Lack of planning = Lack of story = hard on your audience.

So, instead, Create a short summary of your presentation to test your thinking

• You can use it early in your planning to test your ideas.
• If you are working with colleagues you can share your thinking.
• If you are preparing a presentation for someone else, you can share your summary to test their reaction.
• If someone else is preparing your presentation, you can use a summary to check they are on track.

This is one of the most powerful of all shortcuts and will save you a huge amount of wasted time.

“If you can’t write your message in a sentence, you can’t say it in an hour.” – Dianna Booher, Author

• Test your ideas with a short summary.
• Use a critical audience.
• If it is not tight enough, keep refining your summary.

Summary – how to plan your presentation for success

How to give a killer presentation try these steps:.

• Use AIM as the first stage of preparing any presentation
• A – Audience: Analyse your audience and understand their needs
• I – Intent: Be clear on the single purpose of your presentation.
• M – Message: Decide your one take-away message from your presentation
• Decide the three parts of your presentation
• Answer the WHY questions in your presentation before the WHAT or HOW questions.

How to Give a Killer Presentation – Next Steps

Of course, giving a killer presentation is not easy. If it were, our firm would not exist. Every day we help people create winning presentations. With advice and coaching we add value by making your presentations compelling.

We’ve been transforming presentations for 15 years and we do it for some of the most successful businesses in the world. Learn more about how to write a killer presentation and deliver a winning presentation.

If you want help making sure your next presentation is outstanding, get in touch. Call Louise Angus, our client services director for a no obligation chat about how we can help you write and deliver compelling presentations.

Transform your presentation skills with tailored coaching

We can help you present brilliantly. Thousands of people have benefitted from our tailored in-house coaching and advice – and we can help you too .

“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.” Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky

For 15+ years we’ve been the trusted choice of leading businesses and executives throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East to improve corporate presentations through presentation coaching, public speaking training and expert advice on pitching to investors.

Unlock your full potential and take your presentations to the next level with Benjamin Ball Associates.

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email [email protected] to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

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How to Give a Killer Presentation, According to a Former Diplomat

Published: March 04, 2020

Let's say you're gearing up to make your pitch at a potential client's office, a trade show, or even on Shark Tank .

Just a moment ago, you were fine.

Now, your legs are shaking, you can't quite get enough air, and your heart is pounding in your ears. Your ability to manage this case of jitters can make or break your performance.

What's happening is your body preparing itself to respond to danger. According to The American Institute of Stress , physical signs of your fight-or-flight mechanism kicking in include increased heart-rate and breathing, pale or flushed skin, and trembling.

Most people feel some level of physical reaction related to speaking in front of a group. These responses are our primal instincts responding as if the audience were lions and tigers that might attack us.

For some, the jolt is just enough adrenaline to sharpen the senses and create extra energy — which helps them perform better. For others, anxiety around giving marketing and sales pitches can be debilitating.

If your jitters (or fear of jitters) causes you to turn down pitching opportunities, you may be losing out on potential clients, inhibiting your career growth, or hurting your bottom line. Plus, if do you take those stress-inducing pitch opportunities, it will feel considerably better when you can manage your physical responses. That requires preparation, confidence building, and breathing.

As someone with plenty of experience public speaking as a former diplomat and a public speaking coach, I've curated a few tips you can use to excel at your next presentation without letting fear hold you back.

1. Prepare, practice, and bring notes.

I have found nothing so far that eases public speaking stress more than solid preparation and practice. Once you know what you want to say, you have to practice. Stand up and say it out loud. Say it into a mirror, make a video on your phone, and even practice in front of friends and family.

Additionally, it's important you create notes to use in your pitch. Even if you don't feel you will need them, just having notes on-hand makes you feel like you have a safety net. Tighten your notes to as few words as possible — if at all possible, I'd suggest bullet points. Use a big font, number the pages, and staple them together so they can't get out of order. The better prepared you are ahead of an event, the better you will feel when the time comes.

2. Build your confidence through posture and visualization.

Next, it's time to build your fortitude. What makes you feel like you have the strength to overcome a challenge? The fight song from your alma mater? Motivational quotes? I like to envision a parade where everyone is cheering for me as I walk into my event.

Another way to build confidence is power posing . Taking an expansive stance ahead of an event allows our body to send messages of strength and confidence to our brains. Power posing for just two minutes before a pitch can give you a psychological boost that will help reduce your nervous responses.

Finally, visualize success! Envisioning the positive — rather than imagining all the things that might go wrong — can have a transformational impact on the outcome.

3. Take deep breaths.

If your pulse is racing, you have lost your train of thought, and your symptoms are having their way with your smooth exterior, you have to increase oxygen flow to your brain. The quick, shallow breathing that goes with public speaking nerves is working against you. Ahead of your event, it's critical you try a few breathing exercises (like 4-7-8 breathing).

During your pitch, slowing down enough to take a deep breath from your abdomen, rather than your shoulders, can make a difference. Taking this long breath can look to your target customers like a thoughtful moment and can give you the resources you need to get back in the flow.

It's Go Time

The best thing you can do to help yourself overcome public speaking nerves that threaten to hold you back is to have a plan. Most marketers have some kind of physical reaction to speaking in public. Keep in mind that your audience wants you to succeed — even if for no other reason than because it is uncomfortable to watch someone who is outwardly nervous.

Preparation, confidence building, and breathing can empower you to fight those self-conjured lions and tigers. Next time the chance comes to tell your boss you will step up for the big pitch or secure a thought leadership public speaking opportunity to build your brand, take it. You've got the tools. Put them to work for yourself and your bottom line — trust me, it's worth it.

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How to Give a Killer Presentation

Whether you’re pitching a new idea to investors, presenting a project update to stakeholders, or speaking at a conference, the impact of your presentation can significantly influence your professional trajectory. But what transforms a standard presentation into a killer one?

The First Step to Engagement

The cornerstone of any powerful presentation is a deep understanding of your audience. Tailoring your content to meet their interests, concerns, and level of understanding is crucial. It’s not just about what you want to say, but what they need to hear.

The Power of Storytelling

Great presentations are akin to compelling stories . They have a clear beginning, middle, and end, and they take the audience on a journey. The best presenters are master storytellers who know how to weave facts and data with anecdotes and metaphors, creating a narrative that is both informative and engaging. Remember, facts tell, but stories sell.

Clarity Over Complexity

One common pitfall in presentations is overcomplication. The best presentations are simple and clear. They focus on key messages and avoid clutter. Steve Jobs , renowned for his presentation skills, was a proponent of simplicity. He understood that the more straightforward the presentation, the more likely it is to be understood and remembered.

The Visuals: Enhancing, Not Overpowering

Visual aids, when used correctly, can significantly enhance a presentation. However, they should support, not overshadow, your message. Slides should be visually appealing and minimalistic, with a focus on high-quality graphics and a limited amount of text. The rule of thumb is that if your audience is reading your slides, they’re not listening to you.

Engagement Techniques: Beyond the Words

Engagement is not just about what you say, but how you say it. Effective presenters use a variety of techniques to keep their audience engaged. This includes varying their tone, making eye contact, using gestures, and incorporating moments of interaction, such as Q&A sessions. The goal is to create a two-way dialogue, not a monologue.

Have you read? 

• Friendship and Its ROI in Business Ventures
• How AI is Transforming Client Interactions in Six Key Industries
• Bridging the Divide: The Role of Active Listening in Dialogues of Disagreement

Rehearsal: The Unsung Hero of Presentations

A killer presentation is often the result of rigorous rehearsal. Practice helps in refining your content, timing, and delivery. It also builds confidence, which is key to a successful presentation. Rehearsing in front of a test audience can provide valuable feedback and help you fine-tune your performance.

Conclusion: The Lasting Impact of a Memorable Presentation

Overall, giving a killer presentation is much more than just piecing together different elements. It’s truly an art — a blend of understanding your audience, telling a compelling story, keeping things clear and simple, using visuals that complement your words, actively engaging with your audience, and, of course, practicing until you get it right. When you get a handle on these aspects, you’ll turn your presentations into unforgettable experiences that not only inform but also inspire and persuade your listeners. Always remember, every time you present, you have a unique chance to make an impact. Make every presentation matter.

Want to understand the future of marketing, business and personal finance?

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The 30-point rule, and other tips to prepare a killer presentation that will keep your audience off their phones.

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Preparation is key to a memorable presentation

You’ve got 10 minutes.

That’s the span of time most people can stay mentally engaged with a presentation before they check out. So, unless you can create stimulating content and deliver it masterfully, you will find your audience scrolling through TikTok and checking their email. Studies have shown that 4 in 5 business professionals, regardless of age, shifted their focus away from the speaker in the most recent presentation they watched!

But keeping your audience engaged is no easy task – public speaking, both in person and via video, can easily get your heart racing and your palms sweating. If that happens to you, you’re not alone. It’s estimated that more than 80% of all people fear speaking in public.

This series will help allay those fears, offering tips from preparation through delivery, helping you give a presentation that is enjoyable, informative and, most importantly, memorable.

Let’s start with your preparation. Here are 8 important tips to prepare you for the big day:

1. Know who will be in the room . Knowing your audience is the single most important aspect of developing your presentation. Learning about their values, attitudes and beliefs will keep you from making mistakes …like saying the wrong thing or telling a joke that may be offensive. Things to consider include the geographical location of your presentation and the age, gender, ethnicity, religion, culture and education level of your audience.

2. Understand your purpose. It’s important to understand the goal of your presentation. Are you trying to educate the audience or entertain them? Are you hoping to achieve something actionable at the end? Before drafting your presentation, fill in this sentence: “My goal in this presentation is for the audience to know ____ and do _____.” This will help direct your content and inform your call to action at the end.

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3. Less is more . As French philosopher Blaise Pascal famously said, “ If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter. ” You’re giving this presentation because you are perceived as an expert on the topic. But you don’t want to cram ten pounds of information into a 5-pound bag. Stick to the salient points or else your listeners will be overwhelmed with information and won’t remember much of it.

4. Practice a confident intro. The most difficult part of public speaking is actually getting started. Your open should be an attention grabber—you can start with a shocking number (note my intro above!), a rhetorical question, a poll, a question or even a joke. This immediately gets the audience engaged. But whatever you do, make sure to practice it in front of a mirror enough times that you are familiar with it so you start off smoothly and confidently.

5. Land the plane. Create a powerful conclusion, which oftentimes is a call to action. In other words, after listening to you speak, what do you want your audience to do (this goes back to #2 above, understanding your purpose.) Did you teach them something they now should put into action? Do you want them to buy something or were you simply there to entertain?

Here are four effective strategies for a strong close:

- Set up a question during the introduction and finish your speech by answering it.

- Tell a story … or you could be finishing a story you started during your presentation. People are 22 times more likely to remember something if it’s wrapped in a story.

- Give your presentation a memorable title and then use the title to conclude the speech.

- Use a powerful quote, but make sure it’s not a cliché.

6. Make your slides easy on the eye. Think of your slides like a billboard - you should be able to digest the information in the amount of time it takes to drive by. Also, your slides should never have a font smaller than 30 point and should include one main topic and a few supporting bullets. And don’t overwhelm the audience with a ton of numbers (they will likely tune out). Using captivating images on a slide is a great way to keep the audience’s attention. Studies have shown that 3 days after a presentation, people who only heard a speaker remembered about 10% of the information, while people who also saw images remembered 65%.

7. Videos reign supreme . Audiences love to watch videos because they break up the monotony of hearing one voice speaking. But a clip needs to be short—no more than thirty seconds. And don’t use videos that sound self-promotional; that will compromise your credibility.

8. Give yourself props. Think about using props during your presentation to mix things up a bit. The prop might be an example of what you’re selling or something you’ve used that further supports your topic. But make sure that it’s big enough for the audience to see, and most importantly, practice when and how you will use it. If something goes awry mid-presentation, it can be very distracting.

90% of anxiety over public speaking comes from a lack of prep. When someone tells me they are “winging it”, I wince. Adequate preparation can make the difference between a “meh” performance and a memorable one.

This is Part 1 of a three-part series on how to give the most effective presentation that will keep your audience off their phones. Stay tuned for my next article on Preparing to Walk Out on Stage.

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Giving Killer Presentations: Our Favorite Reads

• Vasundhara Sawhney

Don’t worry — your nerves are a good thing.

In college, I hated giving presentations . I’d be the first one in a group to raise my hand when it came to making the deck, but then I’d pretend to pick up something off the floor when the team was deciding who would present. My feelings about presentations haven’t changed much since then, but I’ve gotten so much better at delivering them.

• Vasundhara Sawhney is a senior editor at Harvard Business Review.

Partner Center

• August 28, 2023

How to Give a Killer Presentation? Lessons For Entrepreneurs

Unleash your entrepreneurial prowess with our comprehensive guide on giving killer presentations. master storytelling, engagement, and impact to captivate any audience..

Dear Fellow Entrepreneurs,

Imagine standing before a room full of eager eyes, hearts beating with anticipation, all waiting for you to deliver a presentation that leaves them inspired, informed, and thoroughly impressed. As entrepreneurs, presentations are our platforms for showcasing our ideas, influencing stakeholders, and driving our ventures forward. A killer presentation has the potential to not only captivate the audience but also generate substantial revenue and open doors to unimaginable opportunities.

In this fast-paced world of business, where attention spans are fleeting and competition is fierce, the art of delivering an exceptional presentation has become a cornerstone skill. Whether you’re pitching your startup to investors, unveiling a game-changing product, or sharing insights at a conference, mastering the art of presentation is non-negotiable. And that’s exactly what we’re here to guide you through – a comprehensive journey into the strategies and tactics that can turn your presentations into game-changers.

We’ve all witnessed the electrifying power of a great presentation – the way it holds the audience in a spell, conveys complex information effortlessly, and instills a sense of confidence in the speaker. Behind this magic lies a combination of meticulous planning, skillful execution, and an understanding of human psychology. Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur looking to sharpen your skills or a newcomer wanting to make your mark, the principles we’re about to unveil are universal and adaptable.

Through this blog, we’re offering you more than just pointers; we’re sharing a blueprint to transform your presentation style from ordinary to extraordinary. We’ll dive deep into each step, providing insights, real-world examples, and practical tips that you can implement immediately. So, let’s embark on this journey to unleash your presentation prowess and elevate your entrepreneurial venture to new heights.

Are you ready to captivate, influence, and conquer with your presentations? Let’s dive in!

So How To Give a Killer Presentation?

• Know Your Audience: Understand the demographics, needs, and preferences of your audience to tailor your message effectively.
• Crystalize Your Message: Craft a clear, concise, and compelling core message that encapsulates the essence of your presentation.
• Storytelling Mastery: Weave narratives that resonate emotionally, making your content memorable and relatable.
• Structural Brilliance: Organize your presentation logically, with an attention-grabbing opening, insightful body, and impactful conclusion.
• Engaging Openings: Start with a bang – a thought-provoking quote, a surprising statistic, or a compelling anecdote.
• Visual Excellence: Utilize visuals that support and enhance your message without overwhelming the audience.
• The Power of Simplicity: Keep slides uncluttered, use concise text, and avoid jargon for easy understanding.
• Dynamic Delivery: Master your tone, pace, and body language to keep the audience engaged and attentive.
• Audience Interaction: Incorporate Q&A sessions, polls, or discussions to foster engagement and address queries.
• Confidence and Authenticity: Embrace your unique style and exude confidence to establish credibility and build trust.
• Visual Aids as Enhancements: Leverage multimedia, props, and slides as supplements, not substitutes, to your presentation.
• Data Utilization: Interpret data visually, using charts and graphs to simplify complex information.
• Transitions and Flow: Ensure smooth transitions between ideas, maintaining a seamless and easy-to-follow narrative.
• Embrace Technology: Familiarize yourself with presentation tools and have a backup plan for technical glitches.
• Practice Like a Pro: Rehearse extensively to eliminate stage fright, refine timing, and boost overall delivery.
• Feedback and Iteration: Seek constructive feedback to refine content, delivery, and impact.
• Overcoming Obstacles: Anticipate possible challenges and prepare contingencies to maintain composure.
• Inspire Action: Conclude with a compelling call to action that prompts your audience to take the desired steps.

Conclusion:

Fellow Entrepreneurs,

The journey of mastering the art of delivering a killer presentation is not just about speaking to an audience – it’s about igniting minds, stirring emotions, and inspiring action. The steps we’ve uncovered are not mere guidelines; they are the keys to unlocking your potential as a presentation powerhouse. Embrace them, adapt them, and make them your own.

Remember, every presentation is an opportunity to shine, to establish your authority, and to make an indelible mark. From crafting your message to mesmerizing your audience with storytelling, from using visuals to your advantage to conquering the stage with your delivery – each step is a building block in the monument of your success.

So, go forth with confidence, armed with the tools you need to captivate any audience, convert skeptics into believers, and propel your entrepreneurial journey to greater heights. The stage is set, and you are the star. Let your presentations resonate, inspire, and drive your ventures forward.

To your presentation success!

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How to Give a Killer Presentation?

Know Your Audience

Start with a strong opening, keep it concise and focused, use visuals effectively, practice, practice, practice, maintain eye contact, speak with confidence and enthusiasm, use storytelling to engage your audience, be authentic and genuine, include interactive elements, pace yourself and vary your tone, control nervous habits, use humor strategically, dress appropriately for the occasion, be prepared for questions, use gestures to emphasize key points, stay organized and structured, end with a memorable closing statement.

Did you know that according to a study conducted by Harvard University, 70% of employed professionals believe that presentation skills are critical to career success? Moreover, research from Stanford University suggests that 30 million PowerPoint presentations are created daily worldwide. With these staggering statistics in mind, it's evident that giving a killer presentation can significantly impact your ability to influence, persuade, and inspire your audience.

This guide will provide you with practical tips, strategies, and insights on how to give a killer presentation that leaves a lasting impression:

Conduct comprehensive audience research, including demographic data, psychographics, and previous interactions with similar content. Utilize surveys, focus groups, or social media analytics to gather insights into their preferences and pain points.

Segment your listeners into distinct personas to tailor your messaging and delivery style effectively. Incorporate feedback loops during and after the presentation to continuously refine your approach and ensure relevance.

If you’re out of time, simply say, ‘ write my paper ,’ and our experts will address your concert quickly, allowing you to focus on the presentation at hand.

To captivate your audience's interest, experiment with attention-grabbing presentation techniques, such as provocative questions, startling statistics, or compelling anecdotes. Write a narrative-driven introduction that establishes an emotional connection and foreshadows the journey ahead.

Experts of our college paper writing service recommend integrating multimedia elements such as videos or interactive polls to create a multi-sensory experience that immerses your peers from the outset.

Employ the 10/20/30 rule popularized by Guy Kawasaki – limit your presentation to 10 slides, delivered in 20 minutes, with a font size of at least 30 points. Prioritize clarity and brevity, distilling complex ideas into digestible nuggets of information. Use visual metaphors or analogies to simplify abstract concepts and enhance comprehension. Produce a compelling narrative arc that guides your interlocutors through a logical progression of ideas without veering off track.

Adopt a storytelling approach to slide design, with each visual element contributing to the overarching narrative. Leverage the power of imagery to evoke emotions and convey complex ideas succinctly.

Use high-quality graphics or custom illustrations to differentiate your presentation and leave a lasting impression. Utilize slide transitions or animations judiciously to enhance the visual appeal without overshadowing your spoken content.

Implement deliberate practice techniques to refine your presentation skills systematically. Record video rehearsals to objectively analyze your body language, vocal delivery, and overall presence.

Seek constructive feedback from mentors, colleagues, or professional coaches to identify blind spots and areas for improvement. Simulate real-world scenarios by rehearsing in different environments or with diverse personas to build adaptability and resilience. Although constant presentation practice is the king of success, sometimes you have to pay for research paper when deadlines are too short.

Develop a strategic eye contact presentation strategy that balances inclusivity and engagement. Establish rapport by making initial eye contact with each member before transitioning into a fluid scanning pattern.

Use prolonged eye contact selectively to emphasize key points or convey sincerity and conviction. Practice maintaining eye contact while managing distractions or interruptions to project confidence and authority consistently.

Cultivate a growth mindset by reframing nervousness as excitement and anticipation. Engage in visualization or positive affirmations to harness pre-presentation jitters and channel them into dynamic energy.

Experiment with vocal warm-up exercises or mindfulness techniques to center yourself and regulate physiological responses. Infuse your delivery with infectious enthusiasm and passion to inspire your spectators and leave a lasting impression.

Employ a narrative arc that follows the classic hero's journey structure, with your audience as the protagonist. Establish relatable characters, conflicts, and resolutions that mirror your onlooker's aspirations and challenges.

Incorporate sensory details and vivid imagery into your presentation to transport your conference into the heart of your story and evoke emotional resonance. Utilize narrative hooks or cliffhangers to sustain suspense and encourage active participation. The same approach can be used for article review writing , which is another widespread scholarly assignment.

Embrace vulnerability as a strength by sharing personal anecdotes or lessons learned from failure. Cultivate self-awareness to recognize and celebrate your unique strengths, quirks, and idiosyncrasies.

Practice radical transparency by acknowledging uncertainties or limitations, fostering trust and credibility with your attendees. Embody authenticity through congruent verbal and nonverbal communication, allowing your natural charisma to shine effortlessly.

Integrate interactive elements such as live polls, quizzes, or collaborative activities to foster active participation and co-creation. Leverage technology platforms or mobile apps to facilitate real-time engagement and feedback from your beholders.

Encourage peer-to-peer interaction through group discussions or breakout sessions, promoting knowledge sharing and collective problem-solving. Design gamified presentation experiences or challenges to incentivize engagement and reward participation.

Adopt strategic pausing to emphasize key points and allow for hearers’ reflection. Adopt a rhythmic speaking cadence that alternates between moments of intensity and relaxation to sustain interest and anticipation.

Incorporate vocal modulation techniques such as pitch, pace, and volume to convey nuance and emotional resonance. Use tonal inflections or rhetorical flourishes to punctuate important insights and evoke a sense of urgency or conviction.

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Cultivate mindfulness practices such as meditation or breathwork to manage physiological arousal and regulate autonomic responses. Replace nervous habits such as fidgeting or self-touching with purposeful gestures or strategic movements that reinforce your verbal message.

Anchor yourself in the present moment by focusing on sensory stimuli or grounding techniques to mitigate performance anxiety effectively. Reinterpret nervous energy as a sign of readiness and anticipation, reframing it as a source of empowerment rather than inhibition.

Tailor your humor to align with your audience's cultural context and sensibilities, avoiding potentially divisive or offensive content. Experiment with comedic styles, from witty banter to self-deprecating humor, to gauge receptivity and preferences. Integrate humor organically into your presentation to underscore key insights or break the tension during intense moments. Practice comedic timing and delivery to refine your humor and adapt to spontaneous reactions.

Curate a wardrobe that balances professionalism, authenticity, and personal style to project confidence and credibility. Research your meeting's dress code, cultural norms, or event venue to ensure expectations align.

Invest in versatile wardrobe staples that transition seamlessly between formal presentations and casual networking events. Pay attention to grooming and hygiene to present a polished, put-together appearance that inspires trust and respect.

Anticipate common questions or objections from your auditorium by conducting thorough research and scenario planning. Develop concise and well-articulated responses to address potential inquiries or challenges effectively. Foster a collaborative dialogue by encouraging participation and soliciting diverse perspectives.

Demonstrate humility and openness by admitting when you don't have all the answers and offering to follow up with additional resources or expertise. Please explore these definition essay topics to understand what quotations you can potentially address from your audience.

Harness the power of nonverbal communication to augment your verbal message and enhance engagement. Adopt open and expansive gestures to convey confidence and authority, creating a sense of connection and rapport.

Integrate purposeful movements or hand gestures that align with your presentation and reinforce key themes or concepts. Practice gesture mirroring or synchronization to establish resonance and rapport with your interlocutors, fostering a deeper connection and understanding.

Develop a comprehensive presentation outline or storyboard delineating key themes, transitions, and visual aids. Utilize mnemonic devices or memory aids to reinforce the sequence and structure of your content.

Practice modular presentation techniques that allow flexible adaptation and customization based on feedback or time constraints. Embrace improvisation as a tool for spontaneity and authenticity while maintaining adherence to your overall presentation framework.

Think of a compelling closing that synthesizes key insights, inspires action, and leaves a lasting impression. Summarize the main takeaways and actionable next steps to reinforce learning and facilitate retention.

Utilize rhetorical devices such as repetition or parallelism to imbue your closing remarks with emotional resonance and significance. Invite reflection or participation through open-ended questions or calls to action, fostering a sense of ownership and commitment to your message.

Changed the article structure.

• https://hbr.org/2013/06/how-to-give-a-killer-presentation
• https://scdd.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2016/08/2017.SSAN_.Handout.3.07.pdf
• https://www.washington.edu/doit/presentation-tips-0

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How to Give Killer Presentations as a PhD Student

It is said that the fear of public speaking is the greatest fear that most people have, and it is true. Fear of public speaking is greater than even the fear of death.

As a PhD student, you will be required to give public presentations on numerous occasions: during class work, during meetings with your supervisors, at scientific conferences, and when defending your proposal and thesis.

Developing effective presentation skills is therefore important for all PhD students to enable them give killer presentations.

In this article, I cover some useful tips that will help PhD students (and anyone else for that matter) give killer presentations.

Preparing for your presentation

Practice makes perfect, brainstorm on the key messages, get feedback on your presentation before your presentation day, address your fear ahead of time, creating your powerpoint/keynote slides, giving your presentation, final thoughts on giving killer presentations.

The difference between a killer presentation and a boring one lies in the amount of effort and time that goes into preparation.

To prepare for a presentation, you need to:

Finalise the presentation at least a week before the presentation day.

Rehearse the presentation on video and play it to see your areas of weakness that need improvement.

Repeat the rehearsal while working on the areas of improvement until you are comfortable with what you see.

Narrow down your key messages to what you want your audience to know.

Prepare a few stories relevant to your presentation; each key message with its own story. Stories help your audience remember your key points and ideas.

Share your video recording with a few trusted friends and colleagues and seek their honest feedback.

Constructive feedback includes: which key points they remember and which slides are memorable to them. If they remember something from your presentation, then you have done a good job.

It is normal to be afraid of giving presentations.

Fear mostly comes when one is uncertain of what to say.

To address your fear, practice your presentation until you can give it without referring to your slides. This will help to build your confidence.

Whichever medium you use for your presentation, whether PowerPoint or Keynote or Google slides, does not matter. What matters is how you create the slides. To create memorable and interesting slides:

• Use less text and more of visuals: it is easier for people to understand and remember visuals rather than chunks of text. Visuals can be charts and graphs, pictures, tables, maps, animations, etc. Use one visual per slide.
• If your slide must have text, use few bullet points.
• Have as few number of slides as possible; a handful of slides is the ideal.
• If you have a lot of data and information to share with your audience, it is better to prepare a separate handout and share with your audience either earlier (if possible), or just before you give your presentation. Limit your PowerPoint presentation to just the key ideas.
• Each slide should reflect one distinct idea.
• Make sure the fonts, font size and font colours used in the PowerPoint slides are legible.
• The sequence of the slides should be done thoughtfully and should enable a smooth flow of ideas and information.
• Always rehearse your PowerPoint presentation including the duration of the presentation. If you have 10 minutes to present, then time yourself to present within 10 minutes during the rehearsal.

The following are useful tips to follow during the presentation:

• Always carry your own laptop and other supplies that you will need for your presentation, for instance, a remote control. Do not assume that the host will provide. Having your own laptop and supplies also ensures that you don’t waste time trying to learn someone else’s supplies.
• If presenting in a new location, arrive at the place at least an hour before the event starts so that you familiarise yourself with the room and where everything is including the lighting, the lantern, the projector etc. If possible practice giving the presentation at that location. This will help calm your nerves and build your confidence.
• Do not start your presentation with the boring introductions that most presenters give; instead give a statement, share a short story, ask a question; something out of the ordinary but which is relevant to what you are presenting on.
• Do not put up your slides first; instead converse and engage with your audience and then put up your slides. This will force your audience to really pay attention to what you are saying rather than focusing on what is on the slides. This applies to every time you want to move to a new slide; talk about the idea and then put up the slide to emphasise what you have talked about. The advantage of this strategy is that your audience is not forced to multi-task by reading the slides and listening to you talk. Instead they are able to focus on one thing at a time.
• You as the presenter should lead the show, not the slides. This means that for every idea you want to talk about, introduce it, give some details about it, provide examples, stories or case study on it, and then put up the slide. This is the preferred sequence of your presentation.
• You should always carry a sheet of paper with the main ideas for your presentation, written or printed in large fonts. This sheet of paper comes in handy when you forget your next point of discussion or when you want to quickly check what you will present next without putting up the slides. It is also useful in case technology fails and your PowerPoint or the laptop refuses to open. In such a case, the show will not be interrupted or stopped but will simply continue because you have the key ideas on the piece of paper.
• While discussing your ideas, make sure the slides are blank (you can hit the letter B on your keyboard to make the slides go blank, or letter W to whiten the screen). This will force your audience to look at you instead of at the slides.
• Your body language is key when giving presentations. Your hands, eyes and body should move naturally as if conversing with friends and colleagues. Do not stand stiff in one place; instead move around the place naturally. Your eyes should also look at individual members of your audience, each at a time without staring at them. Your hands should also move and gesture naturally. Body language tells your audience whether you are relaxed, comfortable and confident, or not.
• Besides body language, the audio should also be audible enough to ensure that your audience is not struggling to hear what you are saying. Practicing and recording yourself on video or audio helps to diagnose any voice problems and to work on them before your presentation.
• Your voice should not be too low, too loud, too monotonous, too high-pitched. You should sound as normal as possible and as if you are conversing with your audience. You should also vary the tone of your voice to reflect what you are presenting.

No one was born knowing how to give killer presentations. Public speaking is a learned and acquired skill. Anyone can become a great public speaker and give killer presentations. All it requires is to prepare in advance, learn from great speakers, and practise until you perfect the skill.

How to Network as a PhD Student

Grace Njeri-Otieno

Grace Njeri-Otieno is a Kenyan, a wife, a mom, and currently a PhD student, among many other balls she juggles. She holds a Bachelors' and Masters' degrees in Economics and has more than 7 years' experience with an INGO. She was inspired to start this site so as to share the lessons learned throughout her PhD journey with other PhD students. Her vision for this site is "to become a go-to resource center for PhD students in all their spheres of learning."

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