tips on a good presentation

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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.

How to write a speech that your audience remembers

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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Blog Beginner Guides How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

Written by: Krystle Wong Jul 20, 2023

A top-notch presentation possesses the power to drive action. From winning stakeholders over and conveying a powerful message to securing funding — your secret weapon lies within the realm of creating an effective presentation .  

Being an excellent presenter isn’t confined to the boardroom. Whether you’re delivering a presentation at work, pursuing an academic career, involved in a non-profit organization or even a student, nailing the presentation game is a game-changer.

In this article, I’ll cover the top qualities of compelling presentations and walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to give a good presentation. Here’s a little tip to kick things off: for a headstart, check out Venngage’s collection of free presentation templates . They are fully customizable, and the best part is you don’t need professional design skills to make them shine!

These valuable presentation tips cater to individuals from diverse professional backgrounds, encompassing business professionals, sales and marketing teams, educators, trainers, students, researchers, non-profit organizations, public speakers and presenters. 

No matter your field or role, these tips for presenting will equip you with the skills to deliver effective presentations that leave a lasting impression on any audience.

Click to jump ahead:

What are the 10 qualities of a good presentation?

Step-by-step guide on how to prepare an effective presentation, 9 effective techniques to deliver a memorable presentation, faqs on making a good presentation, how to create a presentation with venngage in 5 steps.

When it comes to giving an engaging presentation that leaves a lasting impression, it’s not just about the content — it’s also about how you deliver it. Wondering what makes a good presentation? Well, the best presentations I’ve seen consistently exhibit these 10 qualities:

1. Clear structure

No one likes to get lost in a maze of information. Organize your thoughts into a logical flow, complete with an introduction, main points and a solid conclusion. A structured presentation helps your audience follow along effortlessly, leaving them with a sense of satisfaction at the end.

Regardless of your presentation style , a quality presentation starts with a clear roadmap. Browse through Venngage’s template library and select a presentation template that aligns with your content and presentation goals. Here’s a good presentation example template with a logical layout that includes sections for the introduction, main points, supporting information and a conclusion: 

2. Engaging opening

Hook your audience right from the start with an attention-grabbing statement, a fascinating question or maybe even a captivating anecdote. Set the stage for a killer presentation!

The opening moments of your presentation hold immense power – check out these 15 ways to start a presentation to set the stage and captivate your audience.

3. Relevant content

Make sure your content aligns with their interests and needs. Your audience is there for a reason, and that’s to get valuable insights. Avoid fluff and get straight to the point, your audience will be genuinely excited.

4. Effective visual aids

Picture this: a slide with walls of text and tiny charts, yawn! Visual aids should be just that—aiding your presentation. Opt for clear and visually appealing slides, engaging images and informative charts that add value and help reinforce your message.

With Venngage, visualizing data takes no effort at all. You can import data from CSV or Google Sheets seamlessly and create stunning charts, graphs and icon stories effortlessly to showcase your data in a captivating and impactful way.

5. Clear and concise communication

Keep your language simple, and avoid jargon or complicated terms. Communicate your ideas clearly, so your audience can easily grasp and retain the information being conveyed. This can prevent confusion and enhance the overall effectiveness of the message. 

6. Engaging delivery

Spice up your presentation with a sprinkle of enthusiasm! Maintain eye contact, use expressive gestures and vary your tone of voice to keep your audience glued to the edge of their seats. A touch of charisma goes a long way!

7. Interaction and audience engagement

Turn your presentation into an interactive experience — encourage questions, foster discussions and maybe even throw in a fun activity. Engaged audiences are more likely to remember and embrace your message.

Transform your slides into an interactive presentation with Venngage’s dynamic features like pop-ups, clickable icons and animated elements. Engage your audience with interactive content that lets them explore and interact with your presentation for a truly immersive experience.

8. Effective storytelling

Who doesn’t love a good story? Weaving relevant anecdotes, case studies or even a personal story into your presentation can captivate your audience and create a lasting impact. Stories build connections and make your message memorable.

A great presentation background is also essential as it sets the tone, creates visual interest and reinforces your message. Enhance the overall aesthetics of your presentation with these 15 presentation background examples and captivate your audience’s attention.

9. Well-timed pacing

Pace your presentation thoughtfully with well-designed presentation slides, neither rushing through nor dragging it out. Respect your audience’s time and ensure you cover all the essential points without losing their interest.

10. Strong conclusion

Last impressions linger! Summarize your main points and leave your audience with a clear takeaway. End your presentation with a bang , a call to action or an inspiring thought that resonates long after the conclusion.

In-person presentations aside, acing a virtual presentation is of paramount importance in today’s digital world. Check out this guide to learn how you can adapt your in-person presentations into virtual presentations . 

Preparing an effective presentation starts with laying a strong foundation that goes beyond just creating slides and notes. One of the quickest and best ways to make a presentation would be with the help of a good presentation software . 

Otherwise, let me walk you to how to prepare for a presentation step by step and unlock the secrets of crafting a professional presentation that sets you apart.

1. Understand the audience and their needs

Before you dive into preparing your masterpiece, take a moment to get to know your target audience. Tailor your presentation to meet their needs and expectations , and you’ll have them hooked from the start!

2. Conduct thorough research on the topic

Time to hit the books (or the internet)! Don’t skimp on the research with your presentation materials — dive deep into the subject matter and gather valuable insights . The more you know, the more confident you’ll feel in delivering your presentation.

3. Organize the content with a clear structure

No one wants to stumble through a chaotic mess of information. Outline your presentation with a clear and logical flow. Start with a captivating introduction, follow up with main points that build on each other and wrap it up with a powerful conclusion that leaves a lasting impression.

Delivering an effective business presentation hinges on captivating your audience, and Venngage’s professionally designed business presentation templates are tailor-made for this purpose. With thoughtfully structured layouts, these templates enhance your message’s clarity and coherence, ensuring a memorable and engaging experience for your audience members.

Don’t want to build your presentation layout from scratch? pick from these 5 foolproof presentation layout ideas that won’t go wrong. 

4. Develop visually appealing and supportive visual aids

Spice up your presentation with eye-catching visuals! Create slides that complement your message, not overshadow it. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean you need to overload your slides with text.

Well-chosen designs create a cohesive and professional look, capturing your audience’s attention and enhancing the overall effectiveness of your message. Here’s a list of carefully curated PowerPoint presentation templates and great background graphics that will significantly influence the visual appeal and engagement of your presentation.

5. Practice, practice and practice

Practice makes perfect — rehearse your presentation and arrive early to your presentation to help overcome stage fright. Familiarity with your material will boost your presentation skills and help you handle curveballs with ease.

6. Seek feedback and make necessary adjustments

Don’t be afraid to ask for help and seek feedback from friends and colleagues. Constructive criticism can help you identify blind spots and fine-tune your presentation to perfection.

With Venngage’s real-time collaboration feature , receiving feedback and editing your presentation is a seamless process. Group members can access and work on the presentation simultaneously and edit content side by side in real-time. Changes will be reflected immediately to the entire team, promoting seamless teamwork.

7. Prepare for potential technical or logistical issues

Prepare for the unexpected by checking your equipment, internet connection and any other potential hiccups. If you’re worried that you’ll miss out on any important points, you could always have note cards prepared. Remember to remain focused and rehearse potential answers to anticipated questions.

8. Fine-tune and polish your presentation

As the big day approaches, give your presentation one last shine. Review your talking points, practice how to present a presentation and make any final tweaks. Deep breaths — you’re on the brink of delivering a successful presentation!

In competitive environments, persuasive presentations set individuals and organizations apart. To brush up on your presentation skills, read these guides on how to make a persuasive presentation and tips to presenting effectively . 

Whether you’re an experienced presenter or a novice, the right techniques will let your presentation skills soar to new heights!

From public speaking hacks to interactive elements and storytelling prowess, these 9 effective presentation techniques will empower you to leave a lasting impression on your audience and make your presentations unforgettable.

1. Confidence and positive body language

Positive body language instantly captivates your audience, making them believe in your message as much as you do. Strengthen your stage presence and own that stage like it’s your second home! Stand tall, shoulders back and exude confidence. 

2. Eye contact with the audience

Break down that invisible barrier and connect with your audience through their eyes. Maintaining eye contact when giving a presentation builds trust and shows that you’re present and engaged with them.

3. Effective use of hand gestures and movement

A little movement goes a long way! Emphasize key points with purposeful gestures and don’t be afraid to walk around the stage. Your energy will be contagious!

4. Utilize storytelling techniques

Weave the magic of storytelling into your presentation. Share relatable anecdotes, inspiring success stories or even personal experiences that tug at the heartstrings of your audience. Adjust your pitch, pace and volume to match the emotions and intensity of the story. Varying your speaking voice adds depth and enhances your stage presence.

5. Incorporate multimedia elements

Spice up your presentation with a dash of visual pizzazz! Use slides, images and video clips to add depth and clarity to your message. Just remember, less is more—don’t overwhelm them with information overload. 

Turn your presentations into an interactive party! Involve your audience with questions, polls or group activities. When they actively participate, they become invested in your presentation’s success. Bring your design to life with animated elements. Venngage allows you to apply animations to icons, images and text to create dynamic and engaging visual content.

6. Utilize humor strategically

Laughter is the best medicine—and a fantastic presentation enhancer! A well-placed joke or lighthearted moment can break the ice and create a warm atmosphere , making your audience more receptive to your message.

7. Practice active listening and respond to feedback

Be attentive to your audience’s reactions and feedback. If they have questions or concerns, address them with genuine interest and respect. Your responsiveness builds rapport and shows that you genuinely care about their experience.

8. Apply the 10-20-30 rule

Apply the 10-20-30 presentation rule and keep it short, sweet and impactful! Stick to ten slides, deliver your presentation within 20 minutes and use a 30-point font to ensure clarity and focus. Less is more, and your audience will thank you for it!

9. Implement the 5-5-5 rule

Simplicity is key. Limit each slide to five bullet points, with only five words per bullet point and allow each slide to remain visible for about five seconds. This rule keeps your presentation concise and prevents information overload.

Simple presentations are more engaging because they are easier to follow. Summarize your presentations and keep them simple with Venngage’s gallery of simple presentation templates and ensure that your message is delivered effectively across your audience.

1. How to start a presentation?

To kick off your presentation effectively, begin with an attention-grabbing statement or a powerful quote. Introduce yourself, establish credibility and clearly state the purpose and relevance of your presentation.

2. How to end a presentation?

For a strong conclusion, summarize your talking points and key takeaways. End with a compelling call to action or a thought-provoking question and remember to thank your audience and invite any final questions or interactions.

3. How to make a presentation interactive?

To make your presentation interactive, encourage questions and discussion throughout your talk. Utilize multimedia elements like videos or images and consider including polls, quizzes or group activities to actively involve your audience.

In need of inspiration for your next presentation? I’ve got your back! Pick from these 120+ presentation ideas, topics and examples to get started. 

Creating a stunning presentation with Venngage is a breeze with our user-friendly drag-and-drop editor and professionally designed templates for all your communication needs. 

Here’s how to make a presentation in just 5 simple steps with the help of Venngage:

Step 1: Sign up for Venngage for free using your email, Gmail or Facebook account or simply log in to access your account. 

Step 2: Pick a design from our selection of free presentation templates (they’re all created by our expert in-house designers).

Step 3: Make the template your own by customizing it to fit your content and branding. With Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, you can easily modify text, change colors and adjust the layout to create a unique and eye-catching design.

Step 4: Elevate your presentation by incorporating captivating visuals. You can upload your images or choose from Venngage’s vast library of high-quality photos, icons and illustrations. 

Step 5: Upgrade to a premium or business account to export your presentation in PDF and print it for in-person presentations or share it digitally for free!

By following these five simple steps, you’ll have a professionally designed and visually engaging presentation ready in no time. With Venngage’s user-friendly platform, your presentation is sure to make a lasting impression. So, let your creativity flow and get ready to shine in your next presentation!

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How to make a great presentation

Stressed about an upcoming presentation? These talks are full of helpful tips on how to get up in front of an audience and make a lasting impression.

The secret structure of great talks

The beauty of data visualization

TED's secret to great public speaking

How to speak so that people want to listen

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How to Give a Killer Presentation

• Chris Anderson

For more than 30 years, the TED conference series has presented enlightening talks that people enjoy watching. In this article, Anderson, TED’s curator, shares five keys to great presentations:

• Frame your story (figure out where to start and where to end).
• Plan your delivery (decide whether to memorize your speech word for word or develop bullet points and then rehearse it—over and over).
• Work on stage presence (but remember that your story matters more than how you stand or whether you’re visibly nervous).
• Plan the multimedia (whatever you do, don’t read from PowerPoint slides).
• Put it together (play to your strengths and be authentic).

According to Anderson, presentations rise or fall on the quality of the idea, the narrative, and the passion of the speaker. It’s about substance—not style. In fact, it’s fairly easy to “coach out” the problems in a talk, but there’s no way to “coach in” the basic story—the presenter has to have the raw material. So if your thinking is not there yet, he advises, decline that invitation to speak. Instead, keep working until you have an idea that’s worth sharing.

Lessons from TED

A little more than a year ago, on a trip to Nairobi, Kenya, some colleagues and I met a 12-year-old Masai boy named Richard Turere, who told us a fascinating story. His family raises livestock on the edge of a vast national park, and one of the biggest challenges is protecting the animals from lions—especially at night. Richard had noticed that placing lamps in a field didn’t deter lion attacks, but when he walked the field with a torch, the lions stayed away. From a young age, he’d been interested in electronics, teaching himself by, for example, taking apart his parents’ radio. He used that experience to devise a system of lights that would turn on and off in sequence—using solar panels, a car battery, and a motorcycle indicator box—and thereby create a sense of movement that he hoped would scare off the lions. He installed the lights, and the lions stopped attacking. Soon villages elsewhere in Kenya began installing Richard’s “lion lights.”

• CA Chris Anderson is the curator of TED.

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14 effective presentation tips to impress your audience

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera July 15, 2022

An effective presentation can communicate key ideas and opinions, save time, and contribute to your overall success as a business, but good presentation skills don’t come naturally to everyone. In this blog post, you’ll find 14 effective presentation tips you can implement in your next presentation to make it a success. 

Whether you’re preparing for an important presentation at work or school, or you’re looking for ways to generally improve your presentation skills, you’ll find these presentation tips useful. We’ve gathered a list to help you impress your audience from the get-go. You’ll find tips for creating and presenting your slides, talking in front of an audience, and other effective presentation techniques to help you stand out. 

Most common presentation mistakes

Before we list our top effective presentation tips, let’s explore the most common presentation mistakes. If you’ve made one or more mistakes in this list, you’re not alone. Most people have made at least one mistake. However, what’s important is to be aware of these errors and try avoiding them next time.

#1 A poor start

One of the most common mistakes people make is undermining the importance of the first few minutes or seconds of their presentation. 

Let’s say you’ve practiced your key talking points meticulously and gone over your slides a million times, but when you’re in the spotlight and need to say your first line, do you know exactly what to say to wow the audience? 

The start of your presentation is crucial. Not only because how you start sets the tone for the rest of your presentation, but also because people generally require around 8 seconds to decide whether they find the subject interesting enough to keep listening. Starting your presentation with a captivating intro is even more important than you think. To ensure you start off right, read our guide on how to start your presentation . 

#2 Lack of preparation

Yes, even though it’s clear that you should prepare before giving a presentation, it’s still a common mistake amongst presenters. Preparing content and talking points is an obvious start, but there are other steps that you might be overlooking.

Before you even join a meeting or walk into a room where you’re going to present, consider the technical requirements and get familiar with the equipment. If you’re presenting online, make sure to test-run your presentation and the visual aids you’re going to use. The last thing you want is a broken video link, poor audio, or a weak connection when you’re presenting. 

Also, consider the questions your audience might want to ask you about the topic. Think about how you’d answer those questions, or do even further research to really impress the audience with your answers. 

Explore other ways to prepare for a presentation to feel even more confident when presenting.

#3 Losing track of time

It’s great to feel passionate about your topic. However, you’ll have to consider your audience’s level of interest and knowledge. Some details might seem fascinating to you, and you’d like to talk about them for hours, but for your audience, too much information will drain their energy and lose their attention. 

Therefore, make sure to keep track of time. Also, consider your audience’s interests. A concise presentation is always better than a long one with a ton of information. Plus, you’ll have a higher chance of keeping your audience’s attention throughout the presentation. 

Effective presentation tips

Now that we’ve looked at some of the most common presentation mistakes – let’s dive into effective presentation tips that’ll help you excel in future presentations. 

#1 Tell a story

Stories connect, inspire, and empower people. Telling a story can entice action, help understand an idea, and make people feel connected to the storyteller. It’s also one of the most effective presentation tips. A study by organizational psychologist Peg Neuhauser found that a well-told story is easier to remember than facts, which makes it a highly effective learning technique. 

With that in mind, telling a story when you’re presenting can engage your audience and make it a more memorable experience. You can either share a personal story or a historical event, just make sure to have a clear connection between the story and the topic you’re presenting. 

#2 Work on your body language

Body language can make a huge difference in how your presentation is perceived. It’s one of the presentation tips you definitely shouldn’t overlook. 

Body language says a lot about a person’s confidence level, emotions, state of mind, and even credibility. For the audience, it’s a way to understand what the person is saying and how interested they are in the topic. 

Therefore, work on your body language to better convey the message you’re trying to communicate. Practice in front of a mirror before your presentation and be conscious of your hand gestures and facial expressions. 

#3 Understand your audience

Before crafting your presentation, you must know who you’re speaking to. Understanding the interests, demographics, professional background, and other valuable information of your audience is crucial in making your speech successful. 

If you’re speaking at an event, contact the organizers to get more information about other speakers and the audience. If you’re presenting at work, you may already know your audience fairly well. Use this information to your advantage and create content you know they’ll resonate with.

#4 Use high-quality visuals

What’s one of the most effective presentation techniques? Use of visuals. They play a crucial role in your presentation. However, only high-quality visuals will make a good impression and effectively communicate your message. Use high-quality visuals like images, videos, graphs, maps, and others to really land your point. 

Using visuals is a great way to convey your ideas as they’re easier to process than text. If you’re not sure where to find great visuals, check out our blog post on presentation visuals for five free resources.

P.S. the Prezi library holds a variety of images, videos, GIFs, stickers, and other visuals, including different charts and maps to spice up your presentation. It’s all available in your dashboard .

#5 Use data visualizations

Do you want to showcase statistics or other datasets in your presentation? Use data visualizations to make your data stand out and impress your audience. 

There’s nothing more boring than a bunch of data presented in a flat way. If you want to tell a story with your data, use interactive infographics or slides enriched with eye-catching visuals. Showcasing data will make your ideas appear more trustworthy and credible. 

Prezi Design offers a range of templates to choose from. You can start creating data visualizations from scratch or choose a template and edit the data there. 

#6 Make it engaging with interactive elements

It’s not easy to deliver an engaging presentation. People can easily get distracted or try to multitask, especially in the virtual environment. Sometimes, it’s difficult to focus on the speaker and the written text. Other times, the content just isn’t impressive enough to hold the audience’s attention. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

You can make your presentation more engaging for everyone by including interactive content like graphs and charts. With interactive data visualizations, you’ll make the data discovery process more engaging and exciting for your audience. 

Your audience will be able to hover over data points and click on certain icons or datasets to discover information on their own. Interactive visualizations will make the presentation more memorable and impressive. 

As you can see in the example below, you can discover different data by engaging with the infographic. 

#7 Stay consistent with fonts and color styles

You want your presentation to look visually appealing and highlight essential information. To make that happen, stay consistent with font styles and color schemes throughout your presentation. 

Use one or two fonts max to make the text easy to read and understand. Also, use a carefully selected color scheme that’s not too distracting. If you’re using Prezi Design, you can easily copy and paste styles by right-clicking on your data visualizations and selecting “copy styles.” This makes it easier to stay consistent and saves time when picking matching colors. 

#8 Structure your presentation properly

Before creating your presentation, think about its structure. What’s the main idea you want to convey? Use that as your starting point, and only include information that adds value to the narrative. 

Plan out the first topics carefully to properly introduce your argument. Add the essential information in the middle part of your presentation. Lastly, close your presentation with a summary of the main points and leave your audience with an afterthought. Also, plan when you’re taking questions and for how long. 

For more insight, watch this tutorial on how to structure your presentation:

#9 Practice your public speaking skills

Public speaking may not be your forte, but you can get better with practice. Don’t decline a great opportunity to share your ideas with a larger audience just because you feel nervous speaking in front of a group of people. 

One of the best ways to improve your public speaking skills is to practice in front of your family or friends – people you feel comfortable with. Also, focus on the topic you’re presenting and get excited about the idea you want to convey. This way you’ll appear more confident and feel less nervous about public speaking. 

Explore other public speaking tips from Jessica Chen, the founder, and CEO of Soulcast Media: 

#10 Show your slides next to you on-screen

If you’re presenting on Zoom or in a virtual meeting , think twice before you share your screen. The days of hiding behind slides are over. People want to see and connect with other people, not sit through another run-of-the-mill screen share. To do that, use Prezi Video to showcase all your content right next to you in your video feed. 

As a result, your presentation will look more engaging than a traditional virtual presentation . Also, your audience will have the chance to read your body language and follow along with what you’re saying even better. 

If you already have your slides prepared, don’t worry – you can easily integrate them into Prezi. 

See Prezi Video in action and check out our video templates to get started.

#11 Calm down before presenting

Being in front of an audience can feel nerve-racking. However, there are ways to calm down before presenting that will make you feel more centered and confident. The last thing you want is all your hard work to go to waste just because of stress. 

Try breathing exercises or a five-minute guided meditation before presenting. The trick is to remove all distractions and focus on the present moment so you’re not overthinking right before starting your presentation. Also, be fully prepared and know exactly what to say and when which will help you feel more collected. If you want to discover other ways to feel and look more confident, read how not to be nervous before a presentation . 

#12 Use transitions and animations 

Add movement to your slides with transitions and animations. You’ll make your presentation more visually appealing and engaging. However, be careful not to overwhelm your audience with your choice of transitions and animations. 

Choose a transition that matches your presentation visually and use it throughout your presentation. Consider what animations will be relevant to your audience and select a few to add to your slides. Don’t overdo it. Keep the focus on the message you’re trying to convey, and use animations to only support that message. 

#13 Be enthusiastic 

When you’re in a room with a positive and enthusiastic person, you can’t help but feel uplifted as well. High-energy people have this effect on others. Most importantly, a lot of people tend to mimic people’s behavior and mirror their energy when they feel a connection or relate to them. That’s called the chameleon effect . 

When you’re presenting, you want your audience to feel curious about what you’re presenting. You may also want to leave your audience feeling uplifted, interested to know more, or inspired. To have that effect on others, try to convey those emotions when presenting. Practice your speech, slow down your narration at times, or take a pause after you’ve delivered a statement, and use different presentation techniques to present your project and really drive your points home. 

#14 End your presentation in a memorable way

The first few minutes of your presentation are crucial for captivating your audience’s attention. However, don’t underestimate the importance of ending your presentation as powerfully as you started it. 

The way you end your presentation will play a crucial part in how your audience will remember it. You want to make a memorable impression by closing your presentation with a summarizing statement, a rhetorical question, a call to action, or another impactful way. Discover 10 ways you can end your presentation in our guide.  

There are a lot of factors to consider when creating and delivering a presentation. You want your slides to look professional and visually appealing while conveying your main points. You also want to look and sound confident even if you’re nervous about public speaking. Whatever your concerns may be, remember that preparation is essential. Practice and dedication are the keys to giving a successful presentation . Make sure to follow these effective presentation tips to excel in your future presentations. If you’re interested in creating a captivating presentation with Prezi, contact us to learn more or try it for free . 

Elevating presentations with Prezi AI

Embrace the innovation of Prezi to bring your presentations to life. With its unique platform, Prezi AI offers more than just visually appealing templates; it provides an immersive narrative experience, engaging your audience with a story-driven approach. By integrating Prezi AI , our platform’s capabilities are further enhanced, offering intelligent design suggestions and optimizing content layouts to ensure your presentations are not only beautiful but impactful. This integration is a perfect example of effective presentation techniques in action, using technology to create a more engaging presentation.

Interactive elements: transforming passive listening into active engagement

Prezi revolutionizes the way information is presented by incorporating interactive elements that invite audience participation. With Prezi AI, these features become even more accessible, suggesting ways to make your presentation more engaging through clickable areas, zoomable images, and dynamic visualizations. This level of interaction encourages exploration, making your message more memorable and transforming a standard presentation into an effective presentation.

Adding a personal touch in digital presentation with video

Prezi Video stands out by seamlessly integrating your content alongside your video feed, bridging the gap between traditional presentations and personal engagement. This feature is crucial for those looking to follow presentation tips that emphasize the importance of connecting with your audience on a more personal level. Prezi AI enhances this experience, ensuring your content is displayed in the most effective way possible, making your virtual presentations feel as though you’re directly conversing with your audience.

Mastering presentation artistry with Prezi

The journey to becoming a skilled presenter involves continuously refining your approach and embracing tools that elevate your ability to communicate effectively. Prezi, enriched with Prezi AI, is one such tool that transforms ordinary presentations into captivating experiences. By leveraging these advanced features, you can deliver presentations that are successful, memorable, and truly unforgettable, embodying the essence of tips for presentation mastery.

Whether you’re an experienced speaker or preparing for your first presentation, Prezi equips you with the tools to succeed. Engage your audience, tell compelling stories, and deliver your message with confidence and creativity. Following effective presentation tips and exploring how Prezi AI can transform your next presentation is a step towards mastering the art of impactful communication. Delve into the features and begin your journey to presentation mastery today.

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How can you make a good presentation even more effective?

This page draws on published advice from expert presenters around the world, which will help to take your presentations from merely ‘good’ to ‘great’.

By bringing together advice from a wide range of people, the aim is to cover a whole range of areas.

Whether you are an experienced presenter, or just starting out, there should be ideas here to help you to improve.

1. Show your Passion and Connect with your Audience

It’s hard to be relaxed and be yourself when you’re nervous.

But time and again, the great presenters say that the most important thing is to connect with your audience, and the best way to do that is to let your passion for the subject shine through.

Be honest with the audience about what is important to you and why it matters.

Be enthusiastic and honest, and the audience will respond.

2. Focus on your Audience’s Needs

Your presentation needs to be built around what your audience is going to get out of the presentation.

As you prepare the presentation, you always need to bear in mind what the audience needs and wants to know, not what you can tell them.

While you’re giving the presentation, you also need to remain focused on your audience’s response, and react to that.

You need to make it easy for your audience to understand and respond.

3. Keep it Simple: Concentrate on your Core Message

When planning your presentation, you should always keep in mind the question:

What is the key message (or three key points) for my audience to take away?

You should be able to communicate that key message very briefly.

Some experts recommend a 30-second ‘elevator summary’, others that you can write it on the back of a business card, or say it in no more than 15 words.

Whichever rule you choose, the important thing is to keep your core message focused and brief.

And if what you are planning to say doesn’t contribute to that core message, don’t say it.

4. Smile and Make Eye Contact with your Audience

This sounds very easy, but a surprisingly large number of presenters fail to do it.

If you smile and make eye contact, you are building rapport , which helps the audience to connect with you and your subject. It also helps you to feel less nervous, because you are talking to individuals, not to a great mass of unknown people.

To help you with this, make sure that you don’t turn down all the lights so that only the slide screen is visible. Your audience needs to see you as well as your slides.

5. Start Strongly

The beginning of your presentation is crucial. You need to grab your audience’s attention and hold it.

They will give you a few minutes’ grace in which to entertain them, before they start to switch off if you’re dull. So don’t waste that on explaining who you are. Start by entertaining them.

Try a story (see tip 7 below), or an attention-grabbing (but useful) image on a slide.

6. Remember the 10-20-30 Rule for Slideshows

This is a tip from Guy Kawasaki of Apple. He suggests that slideshows should:

• Contain no more than 10 slides;
• Last no more than 20 minutes; and
• Use a font size of no less than 30 point.

This last is particularly important as it stops you trying to put too much information on any one slide. This whole approach avoids the dreaded ‘Death by PowerPoint’.

As a general rule, slides should be the sideshow to you, the presenter. A good set of slides should be no use without the presenter, and they should definitely contain less, rather than more, information, expressed simply.

If you need to provide more information, create a bespoke handout and give it out after your presentation.

7. Tell Stories

Human beings are programmed to respond to stories.

Stories help us to pay attention, and also to remember things. If you can use stories in your presentation, your audience is more likely to engage and to remember your points afterwards. It is a good idea to start with a story, but there is a wider point too: you need your presentation to act like a story.

Think about what story you are trying to tell your audience, and create your presentation to tell it.

Finding The Story Behind Your Presentation

To effectively tell a story, focus on using at least one of the two most basic storytelling mechanics in your presentation:

Focusing On Characters – People have stories; things, data, and objects do not. So ask yourself “who” is directly involved in your topic that you can use as the focal point of your story.

For example, instead of talking about cars (your company’s products), you could focus on specific characters like:

• The drivers the car is intended for – people looking for speed and adventure
• The engineers who went out of their way to design the most cost-effective car imaginable

A Changing Dynamic – A story needs something to change along the way. So ask yourself “What is not as it should be?” and answer with what you are going to do about it (or what you did about it).

For example…

• Did hazardous road conditions inspire you to build a rugged, all-terrain jeep that any family could afford?
• Did a complicated and confusing food labelling system lead you to establish a colour-coded nutritional index so that anybody could easily understand it?

To see 15 more actionable storytelling tips, see Nuts & Bolts Speed Training’s post on Storytelling Tips .

8. Use your Voice Effectively

The spoken word is actually a pretty inefficient means of communication, because it uses only one of your audience’s five senses. That’s why presenters tend to use visual aids, too. But you can help to make the spoken word better by using your voice effectively.

Varying the speed at which you talk, and emphasising changes in pitch and tone all help to make your voice more interesting and hold your audience’s attention.

For more about this, see our page on Effective Speaking .

9. Use your Body Too

It has been estimated that more than three quarters of communication is non-verbal.

That means that as well as your tone of voice, your body language is crucial to getting your message across. Make sure that you are giving the right messages: body language to avoid includes crossed arms, hands held behind your back or in your pockets, and pacing the stage.

Make your gestures open and confident, and move naturally around the stage, and among the audience too, if possible.

10. Relax, Breathe and Enjoy

If you find presenting difficult, it can be hard to be calm and relaxed about doing it.

One option is to start by concentrating on your breathing. Slow it down, and make sure that you’re breathing fully. Make sure that you continue to pause for breath occasionally during your presentation too.

For more ideas, see our page on Coping with Presentation Nerves .

If you can bring yourself to relax, you will almost certainly present better. If you can actually start to enjoy yourself, your audience will respond to that, and engage better. Your presentations will improve exponentially, and so will your confidence. It’s well worth a try.

Improve your Presentation Skills

Follow our guide to boost your presentation skills learning about preparation, delivery, questions and all other aspects of giving effective presentations.

Start with: What is a Presentation?

Continue to: How to Give a Speech Self Presentation

See also: Five Ways You Can Do Visual Marketing on a Budget Can Presentation Science Improve Your Presentation? Typography – It’s All About the Message in Your Slides

How to Make Effective Impactful Presentations (Tips & Tools)

Learn how to make a good presentation great - step-by-step with examples. Learn the principles, guidelines & qualities needed to prepare captivating slides.

Dominika Krukowska

12 minute read

Short answer

Short answer: how to make a good presentation.

Start with a surprising statement, a bold promise, or a mystery

Provide context with a bit of background information

Structure your presentation within a story framework

Make every word count, and use as few as possible

Use visuals only to support your presentation text

Use interactive design to make your audience active participants

End by telling your audience what they can do with what they’ve learned

Boring presentations are instantly forgotten. How’s yours?

Lifeless presentations can spell doom for your message, leaving your audience disengaged and your goals unreached.

The price of a mediocre presentation is steep; missed opportunities, unimpressed prospects, and a bad rep.

In a world where everyone has grown to expect a good story, a boring presentation will be instantly forgotten. Like a drop in the ocean.

But not all is lost.

This post will teach you how presentation pros create compelling narratives and leverage the latest tech tools to command attention, drive a powerful message, and get shared like gossip.

Let’s get started!

How to prepare a presentation?

The successful presenter understands the value of small details and thorough preparation like the seasoned chef knows the importance of quality ingredients and careful technique for serving a 5 star dish

But where do you start?

Step-by-step guide for preparing a presentation:

1. Define your objective

Every presentation needs a clear goal. Are you looking to persuade, educate, or motivate? Perhaps you aim to showcase a product, or share insights about a recent project.

Defining your objective early on will guide your content creation process, helping you to focus your message and structure your presentation effectively. Think of your objective as the North Star guiding your presentation journey.

2. Analyze your audience

Next up, who are you talking to? Your audience should shape your presentation as much as your objective does. Understanding their needs, interests, and background will enable you to tailor your message to resonate with them.

Are they experts in your field, or are they novices looking for an introduction? What questions might they have? The more you know about your audience, the more compelling your presentation will be.

3. Research your topic

Once you've defined your objective and analyzed your audience, it's time to delve deep into your topic. Comprehensive research lays the groundwork for a robust, credible presentation.

Don't just scratch the surface – explore different perspectives, recent developments, and key statistics. This will not only enhance your understanding but also equip you with a wealth of information to answer any questions your audience might have.

4. Choose the right delivery format

Finally, consider the best format to deliver your message.

The right format can make all the difference in how your message is received, so choose wisely!

PowerPoint presentations are classic and easy to work with. But PowerPoint and Google slides are not so versatile in terms of their content experience. They're static, packed with information, and all look alike.

Our own presentation maker offers interactive, personalized, and multimedia content experience.

Data from our research of over 100K presentation sessions shows that audiences engage with Storydoc presentations 103% better than PowerPoint.

How to create an effective presentation?

There’s part art and part science in creating high-engagement high-impact presentations.

An effective presentation is the painstaking result of well-organized content, visuals that support and elevate your message, simplifying complex information, and personalizing wherever possible.

I wrote this post to teach you how to do all these, and a few things more.

Ready to learn? Let's dive in!

How to organize your presentation content?

Crafting a compelling presentation is like writing a page-turner.

You need to captivate your audience, maintain their interest, and guide them effortlessly through your narrative.

But how do you transform a heap of information into a well-structured presentation you can’t stop reading? There’s a structure you can follow.

3-step process for organizing a magnetic presentation:

1. Prioritize content

Your presentation should immediately capture interest and demonstrate relevance before moving on to establish understanding .

A) Build interest:

Begin with a strong hook that grabs your audience's attention. This could be an intriguing statistic, a powerful image , or an engaging question. It should stir curiosity and make your audience eager to hear more.

B) Establish relevance:

Once you have their attention it's time to establish why your presentation matters to your audience.

Address your audience's main concerns. Make sure your content directly speaks to these pain points, and address them in order of importance.

2. Build anticipation

A great presentation is like getting a new car – it builds anticipation, takes you on a thrilling ride, and ends with you wanting to share the experience with all your friends.

Start with a compelling problem your audience relates to and follow up with a promise of an amazing way they can solve it. This problem-solution dynamic creates a suspense that keeps your audience glued to your presentation.

3. Use a story framework

Finally, use a story framework to give your presentation structure and flow.

Begin with a big idea that underpins your presentation. Then delve into the problem, showcasing why it needs attention. Present your solution, painting a vision of a better future for your audience.

Weave in concrete examples of how your solution changes lives.

Tell the story of WHO you helped, WHAT the situation was before and after your solution, WHERE and WHEN it happened, WHY it worked and HOW it made them feel.

If you’re writing a business presentation you should follow this with an execution plan that outlines how the solution will be implemented.

Finally, close with clear next steps, guiding your audience on what they should do after the presentation to bring meaningful change into their lives.

Our recommended story framework:

How to design your presentation?

A good presentation is more than just making it look pretty ; it's about communicating your message effectively and creating a lasting impression.

Good presentation design grabs attention, and leads it to where it’s needed most. It takes your hand and leads you through the easiest and most pleasant path to understanding.

Good presentation design supports your message rather than steals the spotlight. Good design is narrated design.

What is narrated design (Scrollytelling)?

Scrollytelling, where "scroll" meets "storytelling", is an interactive content experience that guides readers through a narrative journey with a simple scroll. It connects text, images, videos, and animations into integrated “scenes” where content is both shown and narrated.

Scrollytelling breaks complex content into digestible chunks and gives the reader control over pace. It has been scientifically shown to enhance engagement, understandability and memorability.

Scrollytelling came up as a central thing when Itai Amoza, our Founder and CEO was building the foundations for Storydoc.

He partnered with one of the world’s leading visualization scientists , prof. Steven Franconeri , to help him bring to Storydoc the means to reduce the complexity, friction, and information overload so characteristic of business presentations.

Scrollytelling is part of the solutions that came up, which led to specialized storytelling slides like our narrator slide (in the example below).

An example of Storydoc scrollytelling:

How to design presentation visuals to support your story

Presentation visuals can be unsung heroes or sloppy distractions.

Visuals can bring your message to life, make complex concepts easy to understand, and engage your audience in ways that words alone cannot. Or… they can sit there looking all pretty and distract you from what’s really going on.

4 elements of great presentation visuals:

Support your message: Your visuals should support your text, highlight your main message, and align with your objective. They should reinforce your points and help your audience understand your message.

Represent your audience: The best visuals are relatable. They should resonate with your target audience and reflect their world of associations. Use images and graphics that your audience can identify with – this can enhance their engagement and make your presentation more memorable. Equally important is using clean images - an effective way to do this is by using tools that allow you to remove your image backgrounds . By eliminating distractions and focusing on your subject, you create images that are more impactful and, therefore, can potentially increase audience engagement.

Introduce your product, outcomes, and clients: Wherever possible, use visuals to demonstrate your product, illustrate outcomes, and represent your clients. This can remove doubt and misunderstanding by letting your audience see (and make obvious) what words sometimes struggle to describe.

Follow your branding guidelines: Your presentation is an extension of your brand, so your visuals should conform to your branding guidelines. Consistent use of colors, fonts, and styles not only enhances brand recognition but also creates a cohesive, professional look.

Here’s an example of a well-designed presentation:

How to communicate complex information?

Did you ever have to read a presentation where you felt like you're lost in a maze of jargon, data, and complex concepts?

Are you giving others this same experience?

Communicating complex information is a common challenge in presentations. But there are ways you can simplify your presentation and reengage your audience.

Here’s how you can get complex information across:

1. Use interactive content

Interactive content is your best friend when it comes to simplifying complex information and getting deeply engaged with your content.

It gets the readers more involved in your presentation by letting them play an active part; like choosing the content route they wish to take and controlling the pace.

It keeps your presentation textually lean - giving readers the choice to expand more details on demand (in tabs, live graphs, sliders, accordions, and calculators).

Beyond that, live graphs can illustrate trends, animations can demonstrate processes, and videos can bring concepts to life.

Calculators, questionnaires, and chatbots provide personalized and specific answers to readers as part of your presentation, without them having to get in touch with you or your team.

Elavating your presentations from static to interactive has been tied to increasing the number of people who read your presentation in full by 41% !

Making interactive used to be hard, but now you can just use Storydoc. Go make your first interactive presentation. It’s easy as pie.

2. Show don’t tell

A picture is worth a thousand words. Because no one will read a presentation with a thousand words, do everyone a favor and use images.

Images can be super effective at communicating complex information and save you a lot of needless text.

In fact, visual representation of data and concepts can often convey what words cannot. Use diagrams, infographics, and images to illustrate your points and simplify the complex.

The goal is to create a visual narrative that complements your verbal one.

3. Narrate your content

Storytelling is another powerful tool for communicating complex concepts.

Whether it's through text to speech AI, video bubbles, or a scrollytelling narrator slide, narrating your content can help guide your audience through the complexity.

By giving your information a narrative structure, you can make it more digestible, engaging, and memorable.

According to Sales Hacker’s data, people remember up to 10% of numbers and 25% of images they see. When you center your presentation around a story, this rises to 60-70% .

4. Use examples and allegories

Examples and allegories help unravel the complexity of ideas.

They scaffold your message with concepts we already know and understand, and can easily imagine in our mind. This makes them less new and intimidating and more familiar.

Critically, the real secret lies in selecting examples that are not just familiar but also deeply relevant—those are the ones that will truly ring with your listeners.

If you tailor the allegory to your audience's world, it is guaranteed to lead to an “aha” moment.

5. Open a line of communication

Finally, invite dialogue. This could be through a chatbot or an option to book a meeting for further discussion. This not only helps clarify any confusion but also encourages engagement and deepens understanding.

For example, finishing your presentation with an interactive calendar to book a meeting instead of a generic “Thank you” slide has proven to boost conversion rate by 27% !

How to personalize your presentation?

Imagine attending a party where the host doesn't remember your name or anything about you. Not a great experience, right? The same holds true for presentations.

In a sea of generic content, personalization can be a lifeline that connects you to your audience on a deeper level. It’s also the single most important predictor of success, getting 68% more people to read your presentation in full .

But how do you add that personal touch?

1. Address reader by name

Just as you wouldn't start a conversation without a greeting, don't start your presentation without acknowledging your audience.

Using your audience's name can make your presentation feel like a personal conversation rather than a generic monologue. It's a simple yet powerful way to engage your audience from the get-go.

2. Use their company logo

Including your audience's company logo in your presentation can make them feel seen and valued. It shows that you've taken the time to tailor your presentation to them, enhancing its relevance and appeal.

Plus, it's a subtle way to reinforce that your message is specifically designed to address their needs and challenges.

3. Add a personal message (video or text)

A personal message can go a long way in building a connection with your audience.

It could be a video message from you, expressing your enthusiasm for the opportunity to present to them, or a text message highlighting why the presentation matters to them.

This personal touch can make your audience feel special and more invested in your presentation.

4. Personalize your Call-to-Action

Finally, cap off your presentation with a call to action that speaks directly to your audience.

Swap out the generic 'Contact us' with something that gets to the heart of their needs, something like, 'Let's roll up our sleeves and tackle your [specific issue] at [their company].'

By tailoring your call to action, you show your audience you've truly got their back, that you're not just here to talk, but to make a real, positive impact on their world.

Here’s an example of a personalized slide:

How to measure the effectiveness of your presentation

Imagine if you could peek into your audience's mind, understand what resonated, what fell flat, and what drove them to action?

Presentation analytics is essential in order to guide you on how to fine-tune it for maximum impact.

But how do you get your hands on presentation analytics?

Any presentation you create with Storydoc comes with an out-of-the-box analytics suite , ready to track and provide insights.

We give you 100% visibility into how people engage with your presentations and send you real-time engagement alerts.

Here’s a video explaining how you can track performance with our analytics panel:

4 critical presentation engagement metrics to keep track of

1. Reading time

Storydoc gives you the precise time prospects spend reading your presentation so you can quickly figure out what's hitting the target and what's not.

Are they soaking up every word or just quickly skimming through? This can help you shape your content to hit the bullseye.

NOTE: Keep in mind that reading time alone might not show you a full picture. A better way is to use a smart engagement score that brings together different metrics like time spent and depth of reading. You can get this kind of total score in Storydoc.

2. Reading completion

Another basic metric we track is how many people read your content from start to finish.

This metric is a strong sign of the prospect’s interest and your content quality. It shows you if they're finding the information relevant, but also worth sticking with till the end.

3. Next step conversion rate

This one tracks how many people take the next step after they check out your presentation. This could be filling out a form, setting up a meeting, or downloading more files.

For business presentations, measuring this can show how well your presentation is pushing people further down the sales funnel.

At the top of your analytics dashboard, you can find a tab that shows you how many people clicked on your CTA divided by presentation, date, and location. If you scroll down to the list of readers, next to each person you can also see whether they clicked on the CTA or not.

Here's what it looks like:

4. Number of shares

This metric is particularly important for B2B sales teams . As more people are getting involved in buying decisions, this measure helps you see if and when your content is being passed around inside your prospect’s company.

On the analytics dashboard, under each presentation version, you can find detailed information on how many people read it. So, the higher the number, the more your presentation has been shared internally.

We'll notify you when your presentation has been shared, and who opened it, so you can time your follow-up perfectly to your buyer’s readiness to advance further.

Here's where you can find this information:

Best tool for making an effective presentation

In the realm of presentation tools, classics like Google Slides and PowerPoint offer simplicity and ease, while Canva and Pitch add a dash of design flair and collaboration.

If you're seeking to elevate your presentations to new heights you’ll need to do better than simple PowerPoints or flashy Canvas. Next-gen AI presentation tools like Storydoc are your game-changer.

They break free from the static concept of slides and offer the creation of interactive, immersive content experiences that sweep us along like a good story.

Grab a template - create your best presentation to date

Ever wished for a secret recipe to whip up a killer presentation? We've got something even better! Our interactive presentation templates are your shortcut to success.

Say goodbye to hours of formatting and hello to captivating, interactive presentations, all with a few clicks.

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Hi, I'm Dominika, Content Specialist at Storydoc. As a creative professional with experience in fashion, I'm here to show you how to amplify your brand message through the power of storytelling and eye-catching visuals.

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10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea, from TED’s in-house expert

When your slides rock, your whole presentation pops to life. At TED2014, David Epstein created a clean, informative slide deck to support his talk on the changing bodies of athletes . Photo: James Duncan Davidson/TED

Aaron Weyenberg is the master of slide decks. Our UX Lead creates Keynote presentations that are both slick and charming—the kind that pull you in and keep you captivated, but in an understated way that helps you focus on what’s actually being said. He does this for his own presentations and for lots of other folks in the office. Yes, his coworkers ask him to design their slides, because he’s just that good.

We asked Aaron to bottle his Keynote mojo so that others could benefit from it. Here, 10 tips for making an effective slide deck, split into two parts: the big, overarching goals, and the little tips and tricks that make your presentation sing.

Aaron used this image of a New Zealand disaster to kick off a slide deck from TED’s tech team — all about how they prepares for worst-case scenarios. He asked for permission to use the image, and credited the photographer, Blair Harkness. View the whole slidedeck from this presentation.

The big picture…

• Think about your slides last . Building your slides should be the tail end of developing your presentation. Think about your main message, structure its supporting points, practice it and time it—and then start thinking about your slides. The presentation needs to stand on its own; the slides are just something you layer over it to enhance the listener experience. Too often, I see slide decks that feel more like presenter notes, but I think it’s far more effective when the slides are for the audience to give them a visual experience that adds to the words. .
• Create a consistent look and feel . In a good slide deck, each slide feels like part of the same story. That means using the same or related typography, colors and imagery across all your slides. Using pre-built master slides can be a good way to do that, but it can feel restrictive and lead to me-too decks. I like to create a few slides to hold sample graphic elements and type, then copy what I need from those slides as I go. .
• Think about topic transitions . It can be easy to go too far in the direction of consistency, though. You don’t want each slide to look exactly the same. I like to create one style for the slides that are the meat of what I’m saying, and then another style for the transitions between topics. For example, if my general slides have a dark background with light text, I’ll try transition slides that have a light background with dark text. That way they feel like part of the same family, but the presentation has texture—and the audience gets a visual cue that we’re moving onto a new topic. .
• With text, less is almost always more . One thing to avoid—slides with a lot of text, especially if it’s a repeat of what you’re saying out loud. It’s like if you give a paper handout in a meeting—everyone’s head goes down and they read, rather than staying heads-up and listening. If there are a lot of words on your slide, you’re asking your audience to split their attention between what they’re reading and what they’re hearing. That’s really hard for a brain to do, and it compromises the effectiveness of both your slide text and your spoken words. If you can’t avoid having text-y slides, try to progressively reveal text (like unveiling bullet points one by one) as you need it. .
• Use photos that enhance meaning . I love using simple, punchy photos in presentations, because they help what you’re saying resonate in your audience’s mind without pulling their attention from your spoken words. Look for photos that (1) speak strongly to the concept you’re talking about and (2) aren’t compositionally complex. Your photo could be a metaphor or something more literal, but it should be clear why the audience is looking at it, and why it’s paired with what you’re saying. For example, I recently used the image above—a photo of a container ship about to tip over (it eventually sank)—to lead off a co-worker’s deck about failure preparation. And below is another example of a photo I used in a deck to talk about the launch of the new TED.com . The point I was making was that a launch isn’t the end of a project—it’s the beginning of something new. We’ll learn, adapt, change and grow.

Here, a lovely image from a slidedeck Aaron created about the redesign of TED.com . View the whole deck from this presentation .

And now some tactical tips…

• Go easy on the effects and transitions . Keynote and Powerpoint come with a lot of effects and transitions. In my opinion, most of these don’t do much to enhance the audience experience. At worst, they subtly suggest that the content of your slides is so uninteresting that a page flip or droplet transition will snap the audience out of their lethargy. If you must use them, use the most subtle ones, and keep it consistent. .

• Try panning large images . Often, I want to show screen shot of an entire web page in my presentations. There’s a great Chrome extension to capture these—but these images are oftentimes much longer than the canvas size of the presentation. Rather than scaling the image to an illegible size, or cropping it, you can pan it vertically as you talk about it. In Keynote, this is done with a Move effect, which you can apply from an object’s action panel. .
• For video, don’t use autoplay . It’s super easy to insert video in Keynote and Powerpoint—you just drag a Quicktime file onto the slide. And when you advance the deck to the slide with the video that autoplays, sometimes it can take a moment for the machine to actually start playing it. So often I’ve seen presenters click again in an attempt to start the video during this delay, causing the deck to go to the next slide. Instead, set the video to click to play. That way you have more predictable control over the video start time, and even select a poster frame to show before starting. .

Lastly, I’d love to leave you with a couple book recommendations. The first is Resonate , by Nancy Duarte. It’s not so much about slides, but about public speaking in general – which is the foundation for any presentation, regardless of how great your slides are. In it, she breaks down the anatomy of what makes a great presentation, how to establish a central message and structure your talk, and more. (One of her case studies comes from Benjamin Zander’s charming TED Talk about classical music, a talk that captivated the audience from start to finish.) Think of this as prerequisite reading for my second recommendation, also by Duarte: Slide:ology . This is more focused on presentation visuals and slides.

Happy slide-making.

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How to make a good presentation great: 8 pro tips.

• 10 Jun 2019

It’s 2am.

You’ve got a huge presentation tomorrow, but you’re afraid to go to bed for fear of having an on-the-stage-in-my-skivvies level nightmare about the big day. We’ve all been there. Learning how to make a presentation (without breaking out into a cold sweat) takes practice.

In our experience, a serious case of the jitters is best fixed by a serious injection of expert wisdom.

We’ve gathered the best advice from experts like Tony Robbins, Steve Jobs, and Guy Kawasaki on how to make a good presentation great, along with insider knowledge on both designing and delivering a presentation.

Plus, as a bonus, we included our best practices for adding video to your next presentation. We also threw in a few of our favorite video presentation templates from Biteable. With Biteable’s online video making software, creating a video presentation is as simple as making a PowerPoint (and far more effective).

Content & Design

How to make a good presentation.

Making a good presentation starts with crafting the content. No matter how compelling your message is, if you don’t get it out of your brain and on to the screen in a simple way, you’ll be met with a sea of blank faces. So, where to begin?

1. Create an easy-to-follow structure

When it comes to what you have to say, break it down into three simple sections: your presentation needs an introduction, body, and conclusion.

A compelling introduction . Your introduction needs to briefly sum up what you’re going to talk about and why it’s useful or relevant to your audience.

Offer a body of evidence . The body of your presentation is where you hit ’em with the facts, quotes, and evidence to back up your main points.

Sum up with key takeaways . The conclusion is where you loop back to your original statement and give the audience some key takeaways on how they can put into practice what they’ve learned.

• No more than 10 slides in total . Who wants to sit through pages and pages of slides? No one, that’s who. By keeping your slide deck to 10 slides, even if your presentation is 30 minutes long, you’ll give the audience a chance to digest the on-screen messages in line with your talk. Using  concept maps  before structuring your slides can help keep to the point.

2. Limit the amount of copy on each slide

Less really is more, especially when it comes to making a good presentation. Too much text and the audience will just be reading the screen instead of looking at you and feeling the emotional impact of your message.

No more than six words per slide . Marketing king Seth Godin says we should have just six words per slide – that’s not a lot of copy. Choose your words carefully and rewrite until you’ve got it just right.

• Think ‘bite-size’ information . We called ourselves Biteable a reason: studies show information is retained better when it’s broken down into bite-sized chunks. Video is a great way to do this, and research suggests it’s  95% more compelling than text.  Consider adding video to your presentation strategy. But regardless, break your information up into smaller, palatable pieces.

3. Be savvy with design details

A well-thought-out design can make all the difference between a good presentation and one that falls flat. Consider these design standards as you make your presentation.

Use color sparingly . Bright colors can dazzle, but too many can be off-putting. Use the colors most relevant to your message. We’d recommend sticking with one or two (not counting black and white) for your palette so it has a consistent look and feel.

Be consistent with your font . Consistent design makes you look more professional. Don’t switch between caps and lower case, Times New Roman and Comic Sans, or 8 and 30 point text size. Stick with one font and one size throughout. You can vary the emphasis with your words later, but keep your on-screen text uniform for a more cohesive message.

• Format for perfection . A wonky line on a slide or a badly pixelated graphic will put some people off, as it will look like you haven’t tried very hard (or worse, that you just aren’t very good). Make sure your text is aligned and neat like in the example below.

4. Polish several times

Just like a pair of well-worn shoes, a good presentation often needs a few rounds of dusting before it’s shiny and sparkly.

Start Messy . Don’t be afraid to start messy. Using a non-linear writing tool like  Milanote  allows you to explore and outline your initial ideas in a flexible way before you even open up PowerPoint or Keynote. Arrange your ideas side-by-side and discover new connections that you didn’t see before.

Edit ruthlessly . At first you might have a huge amount of information and will wonder how you’re ever going get it down to six words per slide. That’s OK. Keep editing ruthlessly until you’ve pared your message down to the bare essentials.

• Get someone else to look at it . A fresh pair of eyes can work miracles when it comes to refining your presentation. Get a trusted mentor or colleague to review your work. If you don’t know anyone who can help, an online writing assistant like  ProWritingAid  or  Grammarly  can help you weed out a lot of problems.

How to give a good presentation

How you deliver your slides is as important as their content and design. Here are some quick pointers to help you get your message across with impact.

5. Have a strong opening

How you start and finish your presentation is extremely important. Audiences usually make up their minds about someone in the first seven seconds, so make those first moments count.

Be different . You’re doing a presentation about saving tree frogs in Costa Rica. You open with an amusing story about one that escaped on a  bunch of bananas  to the UK. A story like this is different and unexpected for your audience, so they’ll sit up and take notice.

Ask a question . Rhetorical questions are a great way to frame a topic and introduce ideas. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’”

• Tailor it to your audience . How much do you know about your audience? The more you know, the better. Especially if you know their likes and dislikes. Inserting a relevant metaphor or popular culture reference. Oprah Winfrey’s Stanford commencement address spoke to the graduates about her lessons learned and how they were entering ‘the classroom of life.’

6. Be genuine

Oscar Wilde said “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” A lack of authenticity will be spotted a mile away. Whatever you’re saying, speak from the heart and don’t try to impress – there’s no need to prove yourself, just to get the point across as you see it. After all, that’s why you’re there, and you can’t do more than that.

Use humor . Humor can be great for giving a presentation, but cut it out if it feels like a stretch. Telling a humorous story can break down any barriers, make you more likeable, and make your message more memorable (and people are surprisingly generous with laughter) but the faintest whiff of desperation will kill a funny vibe.

Don’t be afraid to mess up . The fear of making a mistake can make you inordinately nervous. Relax, even the best speakers mess up or have bad luck. Theresa May, ex-Prime Minister of England, once stumbled and  coughed her way through a presentation , with someone even handing her a resignation letter. She battled through like a pro, though, and simply acknowledged it and moved on. No big deal.

• Open up and be vulnerable . Brené Brown,  a researcher whose presentations  have amassed over ten million views, says that “Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up.” This means speaking your truth and daring to feel a little uncomfortable as you share a meaningful story. It will connect your audience to you like never before.

7. Have a plan for a smooth delivery

With all the prep you’re doing on the content and design of your presentation, it can be easy to overlook other variables that are within your control for a stress-free delivery.

Have a practice run-through . There’s nothing like reading it out loud to ensure your message makes sense before you actually deliver it. Try recording your presentation on video — this way you’ll be able to review with an accurate eye and notice whether your speech matches up with your slides. It’ll also help you sort out your run time.

Use a remote . A clicker or remote will help you face the audience and not have to keep turning back to your laptop. Sought-after public speaker Garr Reynolds says a remote is essential in order to pause and advance your presentation so you have time to be spontaneous and control the flow of your delivery.

Have backup material . Not everything you say is going to resonate with your audience. It’s best to be flexible enough to change the game as and when needed. Steve Jobs had standby anecdotes prepared to fill time when the technology he was using to give the presentation failed. Preparing for every eventuality will help soothe your nerves and allow you to feel more in control.

• Use a timer . When you get into the flow of your message, it’s easy to go off on a tangent or even spend too long on audience questions. Put your phone on airplane mode and set the stopwatch just as you begin speaking. A quick glance down at the table during a pause will allow you to make sure you’re not going overtime.

8. To conclude, focus on audience value

You’re coming to the end of your presentation. How do you wrap it up in a way that will be everlasting in their memories? The experts recommend you focus on the feeling you want the audience to take home.

Leave your audience with an emotional impression .”They might forget what you said, but they’ll never forget the way they made you feel” said the poet Maya Angelou. By leaving them with an emotional impression, from a piece of video with moving music to a line from a song or poem, you’ll strike that resonant chord and end on a high.

Use a pause for key takeaways . Want the audience to remember something specific? Say it slowly and leave a pause at the end. The silence will emphasize what you said and make it meaningful.

• Make your core message sing . A call-to-action is the best way to wrap up your presentation with strength and impact. What do you want your audience to do next? Tony Robbins tells a great story, moving his audience emotionally towards change.

Make your next presentation shine with one of these video templates

You’ve learned from the pros and you feel much more confident about how to make a presentation that stands out. But to really make your presentation one to remember, consider adding video into the mix.

Create a nice change of pace by  embedding a video in your PowerPoint presentation  or go out on a limb and turn your entire presentation into an engaging, thoughtful video.

Either way, make it great with one of the professionally designed video presentation templates available in Biteable.

Make a video presentation with Biteable

With Biteable, making a video presentation has never been easier.

Biteable’s  online video making software  gives you access to hundreds of brandable templates and video scenes, plus over 24 million stock clips, images, and animations all in an easy-to-use platform.

Add text to your video, include a voice over, and even record your screen without ever leaving the app. Once you’re done making video presentation magic, automatically apply your company colors and logo to your entire video with Biteable’s innovative  brand builder  feature.

Anyone can make an impactful video with Biteable. Are you ready to try?

Make stunning videos with ease.

Take the struggle out of team communication.

Try Biteable now.

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29 Killer Presentation Tips to Wow Your Audience

Written by: Chloe West

Looking for the top presentation tips to help you deliver an unforgettable slideshow?

When you’re preparing to give a presentation, you have one thing on your mind. You want your audience to really love what you’re saying.

There’s no worse feeling when you’re up on stage or at the front of the board meeting presenting your information than when you can visibly watch your viewers’ eyes glaze over, see them start to get bored and antsy, and notice they’re not all that invested in what you have to say.

Here's a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit preseentation templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more below:

Making sure your presentation wows your audience starts at the very beginning, right after you’ve been assigned or chosen your topic .

We want to help you make sure your audience is talking about your presentation for days (and even weeks or months) to come. So we’ve put together a list of presentation tips that cover the design, performance and overall reach of your slideshow.

To really knock the socks off your audience, be sure to check off each one of the tips below.

1 Focus on one idea per slide.

You don’t want to crowd too much information into one slide. If your slide design is cluttered and ugly, your audience is immediately going to zone out of your presentation and look elsewhere.

Instead, use one slide for each thought or idea.

Check out the way this slide from one of our presentation templates was designed.

It’s a testimonial slide that includes nothing but a couple of quotes from past customers.

Whether it’s a new section heading, an about slide, a team slide, etc., you want to keep the information you include on a single slide to a minimum.

There’s no need to try to cram your entire presentation or even a whole section of it onto one slide. Your slideshow will be much more visually appealing if you break your content up into multiple slides.

2 Use two or three fonts max.

Nothing clutters up a design like too many fonts. We recommend sticking to just two fonts throughout your entire presentation, and three at the most.

It's a good idea to find one larger, bold font for your headers and a separate sans serif font for the rest of your copy. But presentations often utilize an accent font like an italicized or serif font.

Take a look at the presentation slides below. There are two different fonts being used on these slides—a thin sans serif for the quotes and a serif for the names and locations.

Choose two or three fonts and use them throughout your presentation. Consistency is key, and you want to make sure your slides look cohesive and like they belong together.

3 Pay attention to visual hierarchy.

Visual hierarchy is a design strategy for organizing elements depending on importance. This goes for font sizes, icon size, contrast and any other visual element in your presentation.

This is an important presentation tip because you want your viewers to know exactly which part of the slide they should be looking at first, second, third and so on.

It’s all about focusing on what can grab the user’s attention first, whether it’s larger font, more space between elements or creating deliberate alignment.

You can learn more about visual hierarchy and how to use it in your next presentation by watching this video.

4 Keep it to less than six lines of text.

Your slide shouldn’t be a huge wall of text. That’s what your speaking is for. Instead, be sure to keep it to less than six lines of text at a maximum. Ideally, you’ll have even less.

The content included on your slide should be limited to your main talking points (or a single point, if you really want to keep your slides minimalistic), and your voice should do the rest.

And if you’re not giving this presentation live?

You can always record your audio over your slides. Visme’s presentation maker allows users to record their own audio right in the design dashboard to create stand alone presentations and webinars.

The presentation slides below are a great example of limiting text. There’s a quick snippet of text, and the rest of the content as well as the speaker’s voice will add any context the viewer needs.

Like we mentioned in point one, don’t try to fit your entire presentation on a single slide. Let your voice do the talking and your slide include the most pertinent information.

Don’t bore your audience with a slide filled with words. Visuals are just as important.

5 Don’t use bullet points.

Here's another one of our “don’t use too much text” presentation tips. Bullet points have plagued presentations for years. But if you want yours to stand out, it’s best to stay away from them.

There are so many other more engaging and visually appealing ways to design your presentation slides. Bullets just aren’t one of them.

Consider this slide template layout below. The icon blocks help to differentiate the different points in a unique way so that you don’t have to revert to overused bullet points.

Customize this presentation template and make it your own!

• Add your own text, images, colors and more
• Add interactive buttons and animations
• Customize anything to fit your design and content needs

And to help you get even more creative with your slide layouts, Visme’s presentation themes offer hundreds of different options to choose from.

6 Create strong contrast.

In your audience, you might have people sitting in the back of the room, relatively far away from your screen. To make sure they can still see your presentation slides , you need to create strong contrast.

This means your text should easily stand out against your background. If you have a dark background, all of your text and design elements should be light in contrast, and vice versa.

Check out this slide from one of our presentation templates . The white and yellow easily pop against the dark background, giving this slide great contrast.

When putting this presentation tip to practice, make sure that your text and other elements are easy to see and don’t blend into your background, even from the back of the room.

7 Stick to two or three colors.

Just like you should use no more than two or three fonts throughout your presentation, the same goes for colors. Don't forget, there's such a thing as too much of a good thing.

We love color, but trying to fit too many colors in a single presentation can easily backfire.

When you start to get four, five, six colors into a presentation, it can start to look messy and like the slides don’t actually match or go together in the same slideshow.

A good presentation tip is to choose a color scheme with up to three different colors, or consider a monochromatic scheme of a single hue, similar to this presentation slide.

The use of different shades of blue/grey help tie the slide together and give it a cohesive color scheme.

Finding a color scheme for your presentation doesn’t have to be the hardest part of your entire design. Choose from a basic scheme like cool or warm colors, match your colors to your topic or incorporate your company colors into your presentation to communicate your brand values and identity.

8 Add audio and video.

One great way to create an interactive presentation is by adding audio and video elements to your slides. This helps you take a break from talking and can give your presentation another dimension. This is especially helpful when you're creating a pitch deck or case study presentation .

Using Visme, you can easily embed videos into your presentation slides, upload audio files, choose audio clips from our free library and even record your own audio over your slides.

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9 Stick to one image per slide.

You’re probably finding a theme here. When it comes to fonts, colors, images and other design elements, you don’t want to go crazy. Simple is almost always better.

And when it comes to images and photographs, it’s best to incorporate just one in each slide. There are several different ways to use these images, like as a background, an accent photo or with a color overlay.

This presentation slide is a great example of how to use a single photo to add a little something to your slide so it’s not just text, graphics or charts.

While there are reasons and ways to use multiple images tastefully, a good rule of thumb is to stick to just one main image as a background or accent.

10 Use high-quality graphics.

You don’t want any of the photos, graphics or icons in your presentation to be low-resolution or blurry. Always use high-quality vector graphics that look great no matter how big or small they are.

Icons and graphics can be an effective way to visually represent your words and context and further help your audience understand what you’re saying.

Here’s a sample presentation slide from one of our templates. Each of these graphics are high-quality, represent different words and help to tell more of a story.

Visme’s library includes thousands of free vector icons, shapes and graphics in different styles for users to incorporate into their presentation slides.

11 Use data visualization.

Data visualization can include anything from charts and graphs to radials and icon charts.

It’s essentially taking numbers and statistics and showcasing them in a visual form so that it's easier for your audience to understand at a glance.

This presentation slide template below includes an attractive vertical bar graph illustrating the company’s revenue and funding over the years.

12 Make it interactive.

We talked briefly about how adding audio and video to your presentation slides can help make it interactive, but there are many more ways to do just that.

In fact, we’ve written a blog post with 17 different ways to make your presentation interactive. Some of these have to do with your performance, but we’re talking about design right now.

Adding in links to your presentation, whether it’s between slides or even between elements in a single slide, is a great way to create a unique slideshow that your audience will love.

Watch this quick video to learn more about linking your slides together to create a non-linear presentation.

You can also put together an interactive quiz by linking elements in a single slide to appear on your click and so much more.

13 Keep transitions and animations consistent.

When adding transitions and animations to your slides and design elements, it can be easy to get excited about all of your options and go overboard.

But it’s important to keep all transitions and animations consistent within your presentation or it can easily overwhelm your audience. In fact, we recommend sticking to a single transition and animation type throughout your entire slideshow.

You also don’t have to animate every single one of your elements. Let some of them stay static while other, more important elements are animated on the screen.

14 Be energetic.

Your audience can feel your energy, and if you’re standing up at the front of the room and speaking through each slide with an unenthusiastic and monotone voice, they’re going to quickly lose interest.

You’re on the stage, and you need to command their attention. Practice this presentation tip by being energetic. Move around the front of the room or use hand motions.

It's also a good idea to drink water or fresh juice before your presentation to energize yourself. Don't forget to keep a water bottle with you during your presentation!

Learn how to use your voice to entertain your audience through your presentation. Vocal delivery matters , so practice beforehand and get comfortable changing intonation based on your content.

15 Tell a story.

When you’re able to tell a story that resonates with your audience and grabs their attention, you’ve got them wrapped around your finger for the rest of your talk.

There are many different storytelling techniques that can make your presentation stand out. Think about how you can incorporate one or two of these while putting together your content.

16 Use strong structure.

The structure of your presentation is important. It helps give your story and your presentation depth.

There are many different ways to structure your presentation based on its messaging, and you want to make sure that the one you choose makes sense for your topic.

Learn about seven potential methods for structuring your next presentation in the video below.

17 Know your audience.

Understand who is going to be in your audience—how many people, what their backgrounds are, who else will be speaking at the event that they’d be interested to see and more.

If you’re giving a presentation at a conference or networking event, you should be able to speak with the organizers to get answers to all of these questions. Once you really know your audience, you’ll be able to determine what they want to learn and how you should present the information.

18 Make eye contact.

Another presentation tip to remember while in front of your audience is to make eye contact. It exudes confidence when you’re able to look directly at the people you’re speaking with.

It can also help to persuade them to your point of view and keep your audience focused on you and what you’re saying to them.

Maintaining good eye contact with your presentation audience can even help you to speak more slowly and clearly so they can follow along more easily.

Making eye contact can be nerve-wracking for some presenters, so make sure you keep some tips in your back pocket , like holding eye contact for just four to five seconds, looking at people’s heads or making eye contact during your most critical lines.

19 Be funny.

Want to keep your audience engaged and help them fall in love with your presentation?

Make them laugh!

Incorporating humor into a presentation is always a great way to pass the time and make your information that much more interesting.

You don’t want to force it, because that can make things awkward for all parties involved, so make sure you plan some lighthearted humor that you can easily pull off.

Also ensure the jokes you tell are actually relevant to your content. You don’t want to start off by making your audience laugh and immediately jump into, “Now let’s talk about [entirely different topic]!” That will turn them off faster than if you didn’t use any humor at all.

Avoid controversial topics and sarcasm, and try testing out a few jokes before delivering them during your presentation.

20 Use your hands.

Standing still and straight as a board throughout the duration of your presentation will seem pretty off-putting to your audience.

Even if you don’t necessarily feel confident, you want to create the illusion of confidence, and moving around the stage and using your hands to emphasize your words is a great way to fake it until you make it.

21 Summarize.

Taking time throughout your presentation to summarize what you’ve said so far is a great way to help your audience fully understand the material and remember it for the future.

Create a summary slide after every main point and/or at the end of your presentation to conclude.

You can use a slide like the example below to share your summary or key takeaways for each section.

22 Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

While you don’t want to sound like you’ve just memorized your lines and are badly reading off a script, you do want to be completely comfortable with your material and the way you want to deliver your message.

And you get to that point by continuously rehearsing, re-reading your note cards and scrolling through your presentation slides to ensure you know what to say when and more.

You want your presentation to be a success , and you do that by being fully prepared and rehearsing plenty.

23 Don’t go over time.

Not only is rehearsing good for knowing your material, but it can also help make sure you don’t start rambling and lose track of time.

If you’re worried about going over on your time, there are apps that can help notify you of how much time you have left and help guide you through your presentation.

When you’re presenting at an event with lots of speakers, you want to make sure you’re being respectful to both the attendees and the presenters by not commandeering the show. Stick to your allotted time, and make sure you’re staying under each time you rehearse.

24 Embed your presentation.

After you’ve designed and given your presentation, what next? It’s over?

You’ve invested all of this time into creating an awesome piece of content, and you should continue to use it to your advantage. There are ways to still reach a broader audience after you’ve given your speech.

When you create a presentation in Visme, you can publish it online and easily embed it on your website.

This way, you can create a webpage or a blog surrounding your recent presentation and let people who weren’t able to see you present live still learn about your content.

Visme provides an embed code that makes it easy to share presentations online and seamlessly include all of your transitions, animations and interactivity.

Check out this example of an embedded Visme presentation below.

While there are many different ways to embed a presentation on a website, Visme’s embed is one of the most seamless and visually appealing, with no ugly outlines and slide changer messing with the design on your page. It’s also responsive and able to adapt to different screens.

25 Create a public link.

Visme also allows you to publish your presentation online so that you can get a public link to share with your audience. You can grab that link and share your content on social media, in email newsletters or even as a link in your email signature.

Plus, if you publish a presentation—or any design you create with Visme—publicly, you have access to analytics so you can view how each of your creations perform with your audience.

You’ll be able to look at how many total views your presentation received, how many people viewed the complete presentation and more.

26 Upload to SlideShare.

SlideShare is an online platform owned by LinkedIn that allows users to upload presentations.

The platform has millions of presentations, as well as powerful search features and categories, which makes it a great way to get your content found.

Create an account with SlideShare and link it to your LinkedIn account so you can easily share your presentation with your connections.

27 Regularly update and adapt.

Even if your presentation was created on an evergreen topic, information is always changing or being discovered. To keep your presentation relevant, make sure you regularly update and adapt your content to be current and accurate.

You can also include an area in the footer of your first or last slide with the creation date alongside the last date of update so your audience knows it’s being revisited often with updated information.

28 Turn it into a webinar.

Visme allows users to record audio directly in the app to add another dimension to a presentation, or even to turn it into a webinar .

Converting your presentation into a webinar can give you a way to connect with your audience on another level, and you can even have people sign up on your website to view it as a way to gather email addresses.

29 Turn it into a lead magnet.

While your webinar can also be considered a lead magnet, we’re covering something slightly different here. You don’t even have to worry about recording audio over your slides or making any changes.

Instead, you can require people to enter an email address directly in Visme before being able to view your content and generate new leads through there without setting up any other processes.

All you have to do is click Share in the top bar of your presentation maker, go to Advanced Settings, click the Social/Engagement tab and toggle Requires registration to On.

This will require your viewers to input their name and email address before they’re able to access the content. You can go into your Visme dashboard to download your form results and import them into your email software or CRM.

Get started with these presentation tips.

Ready to create a presentation that will wow your audience? Take all of these tips and use them to create a beautiful and memorable slideshow.

Try out one of our premade presentation templates and sign up for a free Visme account to create, present and promote your next presentation.

Did you find these presentation tips helpful? We'd love to know. Let us know your questions, thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below.

Create beautiful presentations faster with Visme.

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About the Author

Chloe West is the content marketing manager at Visme. Her experience in digital marketing includes everything from social media, blogging, email marketing to graphic design, strategy creation and implementation, and more. During her spare time, she enjoys exploring her home city of Charleston with her son.

How-To Geek

8 tips to make the best powerpoint presentations.

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Microsoft Office vs. Google Docs, Sheets, Slides: Which Is Best?

Pixel 9 pro vs. iphone 15 pro: google is finally catching up, always do this before handing your android phone to someone, quick links, table of contents, start with a goal, less is more, consider your typeface, make bullet points count, limit the use of transitions, skip text where possible, think in color, take a look from the top down, bonus: start with templates.

Slideshows are an intuitive way to share complex ideas with an audience, although they're dull and frustrating when poorly executed. Here are some tips to make your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations sing while avoiding common pitfalls.

It all starts with identifying what we're trying to achieve with the presentation. Is it informative, a showcase of data in an easy-to-understand medium? Or is it more of a pitch, something meant to persuade and convince an audience and lead them to a particular outcome?

It's here where the majority of these presentations go wrong with the inability to identify the talking points that best support our goal. Always start with a goal in mind: to entertain, to inform, or to share data in a way that's easy to understand. Use facts, figures, and images to support your conclusion while keeping structure in mind (Where are we now and where are we going?).

I've found that it's helpful to start with the ending. Once I know how to end a presentation, I know how best to get to that point. I start by identifying the takeaway---that one nugget that I want to implant before thanking everyone for their time---and I work in reverse to figure out how best to get there.

Your mileage, of course, may vary. But it's always going to be a good idea to put in the time in the beginning stages so that you aren't reworking large portions of the presentation later. And that starts with a defined goal.

A slideshow isn't supposed to include everything. It's an introduction to a topic, one that we can elaborate on with speech. Anything unnecessary is a distraction. It makes the presentation less visually appealing and less interesting, and it makes you look bad as a presenter.

This goes for text as well as images. There's nothing worse, in fact, than a series of slides where the presenter just reads them as they appear. Your audience is capable of reading, and chances are they'll be done with the slide, and browsing Reddit, long before you finish. Avoid putting the literal text on the screen, and your audience will thank you.

Related: How to Burn Your PowerPoint to DVD

Right off the bat, we're just going to come out and say that Papyrus and Comic Sans should be banned from all PowerPoint presentations, permanently. Beyond that, it's worth considering the typeface you're using and what it's saying about you, the presenter, and the presentation itself.

Consider choosing readability over aesthetics, and avoid fancy fonts that could prove to be more of a distraction than anything else. A good presentation needs two fonts: a serif and sans-serif. Use one for the headlines and one for body text, lists, and the like. Keep it simple. Veranda, Helvetica, Arial, and even Times New Roman are safe choices. Stick with the classics and it's hard to botch this one too badly.

There reaches a point where bullet points become less of a visual aid and more of a visual examination.

Bullet points should support the speaker, not overwhelm his audience. The best slides have little or no text at all, in fact. As a presenter, it's our job to talk through complex issues, but that doesn't mean that we need to highlight every talking point.

Instead, think about how you can break up large lists into three or four bullet points. Carefully consider whether you need to use more bullet points, or if you can combine multiple topics into a single point instead. And if you can't, remember that there's no one limiting the number of slides you can have in a presentation. It's always possible to break a list of 12 points down into three pages of four points each.

Animation, when used correctly, is a good idea. It breaks up slow-moving parts of a presentation and adds action to elements that require it. But it should be used judiciously.

Adding a transition that wipes left to right between every slide or that animates each bullet point in a list, for example, starts to grow taxing on those forced to endure the presentation. Viewers get bored quickly, and animations that are meant to highlight specific elements quickly become taxing.

That's not to say that you can't use animations and transitions, just that you need to pick your spots. Aim for no more than a handful of these transitions for each presentation. And use them in spots where they'll add to the demonstration, not detract from it.

Sometimes images tell a better story than text can. And as a presenter, your goal is to describe points in detail without making users do a lot of reading. In these cases, a well-designed visual, like a chart, might better convey the information you're trying to share.

The right image adds visual appeal and serves to break up longer, text-heavy sections of the presentation---but only if you're using the right images. A single high-quality image can make all the difference between a success and a dud when you're driving a specific point home.

When considering text, don't think solely in terms of bullet points and paragraphs. Tables, for example, are often unnecessary. Ask yourself whether you could present the same data in a bar or line chart instead.

Color is interesting. It evokes certain feelings and adds visual appeal to your presentation as a whole. Studies show that color also improves interest, comprehension, and retention. It should be a careful consideration, not an afterthought.

You don't have to be a graphic designer to use color well in a presentation. What I do is look for palettes I like, and then find ways to use them in the presentation. There are a number of tools for this, like Adobe Color , Coolors , and ColorHunt , just to name a few. After finding a palette you enjoy, consider how it works with the presentation you're about to give. Pastels, for example, evoke feelings of freedom and light, so they probably aren't the best choice when you're presenting quarterly earnings that missed the mark.

It's also worth mentioning that you don't need to use every color in the palette. Often, you can get by with just two or three, though you should really think through how they all work together and how readable they'll be when layered. A simple rule of thumb here is that contrast is your friend. Dark colors work well on light backgrounds, and light colors work best on dark backgrounds.

Spend some time in the Slide Sorter before you finish your presentation. By clicking the four squares at the bottom left of the presentation, you can take a look at multiple slides at once and consider how each works together. Alternatively, you can click "View" on the ribbon and select "Slide Sorter."

Are you presenting too much text at once? Move an image in. Could a series of slides benefit from a chart or summary before you move on to another point?

It's here that we have the opportunity to view the presentation from beyond the single-slide viewpoint and think in terms of how each slide fits, or if it fits at all. From this view, you can rearrange slides, add additional ones, or delete them entirely if you find that they don't advance the presentation.

The difference between a good presentation and a bad one is really all about preparation and execution. Those that respect the process and plan carefully---not only the presentation as a whole, but each slide within it---are the ones who will succeed.

This brings me to my last (half) point: When in doubt, just buy a template and use it. You can find these all over the web, though Creative Market and GraphicRiver are probably the two most popular marketplaces for this kind of thing. Not all of us are blessed with the skills needed to design and deliver an effective presentation. And while a pre-made PowerPoint template isn't going to make you a better presenter, it will ease the anxiety of creating a visually appealing slide deck.

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14 Must-Know Presentation Tips for a Killer Presentation [in 2023]

Guru - November 8, 2022 - Leave your thoughts. 18 min read

We're all familiar with the old adage: "A good presentation is like a great conversation."

What makes a presentation great?

Is it a compelling story? Or a good connection with your audience? Or is it about an eloquent delivery by the presenter?

The truth is, there is no “one-size-fits-all solution” for creating great presentations. Every presentation is different, and every audience is different.

When you’re tasked with delivering a presentation, you want to ensure it goes off without a hitch. We all know how important it is for the audience to remember and understand the content.

So if you’re wondering how to make a killer presentation that will stand out and stay in people’s minds for a long time, you’ve come to the right place!

In this article, we have addressed the most frequently asked questions about presentations.

We have also compiled a list of great presentation tips to improve your deck designs, presentation best practices, and effective ways to communicate the subject to your audience.

Here’s what the article covers,

What makes a good presentation?

• 14 Must-Know Presentation Tips to give a killer presentation

What are the difficulties in making a presentation?

Spellbound your audience with these presentation tips.

When we think about presentations, we often think about the content itself. We imagine a long list of facts or figures, a well-rehearsed script, and a PowerPoint slide deck.

But what makes a good presentation? What makes it memorable, engaging, and valuable?

These are questions that any presenter should be asking themselves.

Here are the four characteristics of a good presentation:

• A good presentation makes you want to take action.
• It helps your audience engage and be interested in what you have to say. It educates and entertains at the same time.
• It puts forth information in a way that makes it easy for them to understand and process without overwhelming them.
• If you're one of those people who's always thinking, "What can I add to my own presentation?”

Well, we've compiled some best presentation tips for you that will help make your next presentation memorable—and, more importantly, help you do what you came here to do: share information with the world.

So read on to find out.

14 Must Know Presentation Tips for a killer presentation [in 2023]

Ever felt like you're struggling to make a presentation on time? Worried about how good your presentation will turn out? We have all been there.

This is why we have put together a list of great presentation tips that can make your next presentation a breeze, and we hope it helps!

Here are some tips to help you create a great presentation:

• Do proper homework on the subject
• Have a strong opening
• Follow a presentation structure
• Have a Hook!
• Tell an engaging story
• Use visual elements
• Keep it short
• Add a touch of humor
• Have a parking lot for questions
• Learn to empathize with the audience
• Keep it interactive with Call-to-action
• Incorporate Data when required
• Use Hashtags in your presentation
• Try out unique presentation templates

Tip 1 - Do proper homework on the subject

Whenever a topic is assigned to you for a presentation, it goes without saying that you understand the topic correctly.

You must do proper homework and research on the subject to ensure you know what you're talking about.

Reading articles and books, or even watching videos or podcasts, will help you understand the topic and how the presentation should be structured.

Also, if you need more background information on the topic, don't be afraid to ask for help from other people—you might find that they know more than you think!

Take notes while learning about the topic. This will help you remember key points.

Then, read your notes before you present and practice saying them aloud (this will help with timing and pronunciation).

Use a timer; this helps keep track of how long you take to say things while also keeping yourself from getting too nervous.

Do some fundamental research on your audience and their expectations about your presentation.

For instance, If they're business executives, they might be looking for intellectual information and numbers. Or, If they're a general audience, they may want more details about how your product works or how it can benefit them.

You'll be surprised how much more effective your presentation will be when you know,

Everything about the topic How crucial it is for the audience, and What the audience expects from the presentation

So only present a topic after doing loads of essential research!

Tip 2 - Have a strong opening

An excellent way to ensure that your presentation is successful is by having a solid opening. Plan the intro slides ahead so that you can set the right tone for the pitch.

Have a strong opening statement that tells your audience who they are listening to, why they're here, what they will hear from you, and anything else you want them to know!

Doing so will help keep your audience engaged and interested in what you have to say.

Be prepared for questions from your audience before you start speaking. It is not necessary that the audience must wait till the end to ask questions.

Being prepared will help you answer them well and present yourself as an expert in the field.

Tip 3 - Follow a presentation structure

The first thing you should do is decide on a structure for your presentation. This will help you ensure that you cover all essential topics and leave no gaps in what you say.

The most successful presentations start with a strong introduction, followed by a clear and concise main body, and ending with a proper sign-off.

The body presents the study's research, findings, and conclusions in an organized and engaging way.

The final section/sign-off should close with any additional information or recommendations. Not just that, it must also give the audience space to ask questions related to the presentation.

Each section can have about two or three minutes of content. This would help structure the presentation concisely and make sure to include all important information.

Use transitions between slides that move from one topic to another, rather than just jumping from one slide to another in one continuous flow.

This makes your content more manageable for your audience to follow and gives them more time to digest what they're seeing before moving on to the next thing!

Hence, remember this effective presentation tip - follow a proper structure!

Tip 4 - Have a Hook!

When you're delivering a presentation, keeping your audience's attention is essential.

But how do you make learning a little more fun? What are the best presenting tips and tricks?

Well, one way is by making sure that your presentation has a hook.

A hook can be anything from an element of surprise (like an announcement that will keep them anticipated till the end) to something unexpected (a discount!).

This will help to keep your audience engaged because they won't feel like they're reading through a textbook or manual - they'll feel like they're getting involved in your story.

Ideally, hooks are placed at the start of the presentation. It's the part that acts as a surprise for the audience, keeping them engaged and excited, and would help retain the audience's attention.

However, remember that the fewer distractions in your presentation, the easier it will be for them to see how amazing it is!

Tip 5 - Tell an engaging story

When you're creating a presentation, it’s a thumb rule to make sure your slide decks are memorable and engaging throughout.

One of the best ways to do this is by telling a story—whether that's a story about your business, your life, or anything else related to the subject.

Telling a story is the key to creating an excellent presentation.

Your audience will be more interested if they can relate to what's on your slides. So tell them a story that connects with their lives and work experiences - it may be a funny anecdote or a relatable work prank!

Let's say you're talking about how to create a product. You can start by showing an image or a video of the product. You can develop the flow by telling the product story and how it has grown through the years.

That way, your audience gets to see both sides of the coin: what this product does and how it was made.

The more details you include in your presentation, the better it will be for viewers—not only because they'll get more information but because they'll also have more context for what they see on screen.

Hence, remember to carve your presentation with a well-practiced, engaging story.

Tip 6 - Use visual elements

People love visual aids—they help them remember things better than words alone!

When you're presenting a product or service, you have to look at it from all angles—from the customer's point of view, the provider's point of view, and your own.

It's essential to keep in mind that your presentation must build a connection with the audience. You must consider the audience’s needs and how you can meet them. The best way to bring that connection is not just through words but to incorporate visual proofs in your slide decks.

But the visual elements used must be relevant to the topic at hand.

For example, if your company is doing something great for the community, show pictures of people smiling in joy from being around you!

If you're talking about how much money you've made over the years as an entrepreneur, add pictures of dollar signs!

Finally, make sure that everything in your presentation flows together nicely.

For example, if visual element parts don't match, then consider breaking them up into two separate slides or changing how things are laid out so it doesn't feel so jarring when someone views it.

Use quality screenshots and images that are relevant to the topic at hand. This is especially important when you're speaking in front of an audience who may need to become more familiar with your product or service.

If possible, use photos or videos of people who might be familiar with your topic—people who will help convey your message more effectively than just text alone.

You don't have to go all out on the graphics, but if you can, try to use high-quality images that are easy to understand.

With online presentation makers like Animaker Deck, you get access to the stock images library; you can pick and add high-quality images for your slide decks with a simple click now!

Also, the best part is you can upload screenshots and brand images directly into the app and use them in the presentation.

Tip 7 - Keep it short

Ever wonder why some presentations are so dull? It's because they're dragging!

A good presentation should be at most 20 minutes at maximum and be structured so that even a first-time viewer can easily understand the information conveyed.

Ensure your audience knows what to expect from you and your content. Refrain from crossing the line of being boring or boringly informative. Your audience should never feel like they're being lectured.

One key business presentation tip is to convey the message to the audience most memorably and engagingly possible.

It is really in the hands of the presenter to steer the audience’s attention throughout the presentation without giving too many dull moments.

The shorter, the better. Keep your slides concise, and avoid falling into the trap of talking about things that have nothing to do with your actual point.

Tip 8 - Add a touch of humor

If you're trying to create an awesome presentation, you can do a few things to ensure it's easy on the eyes and makes people want to engage.

One of the best methods for communicating the message in a light-hearted manner and making your presentation stand out is through humor.

Try to avoid text-heavy slides! You can use witty remarks, analogies, drawings, personal anecdotes, or even memes that suit current trends.

When you tell about something that has happened to you, people may be able to associate with it even more if the story is humorous.

This way, you can easily withhold the audience’s attention through the presentation.

Tip 9 - Have a parking lot for questions

When you're creating a presentation, it's important to keep the audience engaged and excited about what's coming up next. Therefore, it is very necessary to make the presentation a two-way street.

A good way to do this is by asking questions during your presentation and allowing them to answer. This helps keep the audience interested in what they're learning and makes them feel like they're part of the conversation.

The audience should be engaged throughout the presentation and allowed to ask questions to the presenter.

However, it is also vital to ensure that the flow of the presentation is not disrupted by the bombardment of questions in the middle of the presentation.

To tackle this, the presenter can introduce a “parking lot” in their presentation.

So when the audience asks a question about a particular section in the presentation, the presenter can choose to park similar questions together and answer them all together at the end of the presentation.

This way, the presentation’s flow is not affected, and even the audience will get their questions answered.

This is an important skill to be imbibed by every presenter to ensure the audience feels comfortable and gains a good experience from the presentation.

Tip 10 - Learn to empathize with the audience

One of the most important things to remember when creating a presentation is that you are trying to connect with your audience.

Learn to empathize with the audience. You'll want to understand what they're seeing, feeling, and thinking so that you can communicate your message in a way that resonates with them.

By understanding their needs, you can create a more meaningful presentation that will resonate with them. Try to put yourself in their shoes and imagine how they think about this topic.

Are they excited? Are they bored? What are they hoping for? What do they want to see from you?

Know your audience's needs!

It would help if you talked to people with similar backgrounds as your audience and how they would like to be educated on the topic.

Before you start creating content for your presentation, think about who you're speaking to and what they need from you.

When you do this, you will not only speak more clearly, but you'll also be able to connect with them emotionally, making your message stick.

Tip 11 - Keep it interactive with Call-to-action

Have you ever been in a presentation where the speaker makes it look like a one-way conversation? It's not an intentional act of rudeness—the speaker is just trying to get their point across.

But for the audience, it might be very disappointing!

The solution? Keep your presentation interactive with call-to-action buttons that let your audience help move things along.

When something important is being discussed, ask them to take action by clicking on one of the buttons that appear on the screen.

Include a call-to-action that tells your audience what they should do next (like sign up for my newsletter!) or take action on what you've just told them (like buy my product!).

So include call-to-action buttons wherever necessary, so viewers feel like they're partaking in something meaningful rather than just watching someone talk for hours on end!

But one thing, don’t go overboard on those CTAs either. Too many CTAs can be bugging.

Tip 12 - Incorporate Data when required

Creating a presentation is a complicated task, but it's also incredibly important that you need to be able to convey information clearly and effectively.

That's where data comes in!

Data can help you make your point by giving context and supporting the main points of your argument.

Incorporate data when required to present information to the audience quickly. This will make your audience understand what you're talking about more efficiently and allow them to consume the information in a way that makes sense to them.

Use real-life examples and statistics whenever possible because people love those!

With an online presentation maker like Animaker Deck, you get access to the property section, where you can search and add charts, graphs, icons, and other properties directly into your slide decks with just a few clicks.

For example, if you're presenting an overview of how your company's business model works, include graphs or charts that show how the different parts of the model work together so that people who aren't familiar with it can follow along easily.

Or, if you're talking about something more complex, like an industry trend, use graphs or charts to illustrate key points about it, such as growth rates for specific industries over time or changes in consumer demand based on demographics.

You can also use numbers and percentages in charts when comparing different items or events.

Tip 13 - Use Hashtags in your presentation

It’s the era of social media. People are likely tweeting, emailing, or running their entire little business on their phones and sharing every life update on the internet while still doing other chores.

When used correctly, hashtags can: Persuade attendees to share your event on social media, give participants a way to continue the conversation online, and permit you to review tagged comments to evaluate consumer feedback.

You can create a hashtag for your event and use it in the presentation. Promote social media interactions with the hashtag. This will allow you to connect with other users interested in what you have to say!

You can help inspire viewers to share news, ideas, and updates about your presentation by linking this custom hashtag you created. It combines social interaction, event promotion, and word-of-mouth marketing into one.

So if you use social media in your presentation, make sure you promote the hashtag you'll use. This will ensure that people who follow your brand or business see and interact with the hashtag!

Tip 14 - Try out unique presentation templates

We know how hard it is to come up with a good pitch and how hard it is to be creative when you have no time to waste on making something from scratch.

Thanks to online presentation makers like Animaker Deck, creating a presentation online is now easier than ever.

You can access exciting presentation templates with the help of Animaker's online presentation software, hundreds of customizable layouts and branding options, free stock images, properties, transition effects, and animations.

They'll let you get straight to the point and help you win every pitch because they're so easy to use and exceptionally engaging that they'll blow your audience away!

In other words, Animaker Deck handholds you in bringing all your fascinating presentation ideas to life with its one-of-a-kind features and built-in templates, ready for you to use on the go!

Making a presentation can be a daunting task.

The difficulty lies in brainstorming the subject matter, preparing the presentation, and successfully presenting it to the audience. Overall, it is a lengthy and time-consuming process.

A good presentation must be organized and have a logical flow.

Many difficulties are encountered when preparing a presentation. This includes lack of preparation, lack of information about the subject, or worse, lack of interest in learning the subject from an academic perspective, let alone presenting it.

1st , you have to know what you're talking about. You must do your research and be able to explain the topic clearly and concisely.

2nd , you have to make a good impression quickly. You need to get your point across in a way that makes people want to listen—so they don't drift off and tune out!

3rd , your presentation must be not only exciting but also useful. If people don't learn something from your presentation, then it wasn't worth making in the first place!

Sure, you've been doing it for years—but that doesn't mean you're an expert at it. On the contrary, it's a skill that takes practice and dedication to master, and it can be frustrating when things don't go quite as planned.

So if you want to make better presentations every time, implement the above compelling presentation tips and overcome all the difficulties!

That’s all, folks!

We hope you found the above slide Presentation tips very useful, and you will never have to worry about making a presentation anymore!

Now that you know how to make an excellent presentation, it's time to start imbibing these presentation tips in your next presentation and spellbound your audience immediately!

Create a free account with Animaker Deck today to start dominating all of your presentations right away!

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Eight tips for delivering a great presentation.

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Ira M. Gostin, MBA, APR is the chief strategist at G8 Strategies LLC , helping global companies tell their stories & move the needle.

In the corporate world, the PowerPoint, or pitch deck, is still a relevant communications tool. CEOs, COOs and CFOs, as well as their teams, use these decks to communicate to investors, analysts, shareholders, the media and others.

There are articles that state the “slide deck is dead,” but people still use it effectively in daily practice. The slide deck is not dead if you create a great storytelling deck with visual impact—and rehearse and present it with authority.

The core of the pitch deck is the combination of the oral presentation with a visual one. However, a failure to excel in either domain can create a situation where the merged program is less effective than the combination of the two.

The following are eight critical points that can help you ensure that your presentations are as effective as possible and deliver on your presentation goals.

1. Control Your Modulation

Your voice leads your presentation and is one of the most overlooked aspects of the presentation world. If your goal is to present at a level (loudness, excitement and authority) of an eight, you should actually project your voice at a nine or 10. Many times people fail to rehearse and come across as flat, lifeless or not committed to the story.

2. Practice, Rehearse And Practice Again

Many CEOs hate to practice or rehearse, but I believe it’s imperative. No matter how many talks they have given, put them in a staged room, videotape it and make them go through the presentation. Look for traps in the slide deck or areas where they might stumble. Count the “ums” and “ahs” they use to help eliminate these unnecessary fillers.

3. Work On Your Posture

Stand with authority. Rehearsing and videotaping will help with this, but a good speaker will stand up straight, have their microphone pre-positioned and make sure they’re not swaying back and forth or hanging onto the podium. I saw one CEO at an event who was draped over the podium and mumbled through his entire presentation. That’s not a company I want to invest in.

4. Make Sure Your Slides Visually Represent Your Company

Your brand should be prominent. Use colors purposefully. Graphics should be clean and vibrant and not pixelated and hard to read. Buy stock photos; don’t clip other people’s photos from the internet.

5. Don’t Overuse Bullets

Slide after slide of numerous bullets will put your audience in a trance. To create a dynamic visual storytelling deck, you can insert a slide or two with bullets, but keep them simple. I recommend using odd numbers of bullets and using no more than five per slide. Three is better if you insist on using bullets.

6. Don’t Read The Slides

Your script should augment the slides. If you have bullets, pick one bulleted item to expand on, but never read the slides. Give additional information that supports the information on the slide.

7. Find Your Cadence

When you rehearse a program, you build a sort of muscle memory. Your cadence keeps people engaged in the audio part of the story. A weak cadence and soft voice can lead to “drone on” symptoms, something you never want to be associated with.

8. Tell A Story

The most important part of any presentation is telling a story. It should always have a beginning, middle and end, and the end should wrap up your entire presentation.

The brain captures information in a variety of ways, and in many cases, it does so in different ways at the same time. Your visuals, tone, emphasis, authority, expertise and passion for the subject should all come across when you’re presenting your subject.

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PRESENTATION DESIGN

How to Create Engaging Virtual Presentations: Tips and Best Practices

While virtual presentations sit alongside in-person and keynote as their own distinct style, in recent years the lines between each type have become increasingly blurred. Virtual presentations are now the norm, and virtual presenters or audience members are typically present during in-person meetings as well, leading to a new hybrid style of presentation that requires a unique approach to designing slides.

In this guide to creating engaging visual presentations, we’ll walk you through the key ideas, tips, and best practices to help you keep audiences focused on your story no matter where they are!

Start by understanding your audience

Your audience matters: Every presentation should start with a clear understanding of your audience. In the case of virtual presentations, it’s even more important as you aren’t just competing with generally short attention spans, you’re also competing with all the other things happening on their devices.

How to understand your audience: There are two main questions to answer when you assess an audience: 1) who is in the room, and 2) what do they want from your presentation. Of course you can go deeper into your analysis, but at a high level these are the primary questions you need to answer.

Who is in the room can be as simple as the names and titles of the audience. Are they new, or have you previously engaged with them? Are they in sales, marketing, development, etc? Are they high-level executives, or in-the-trenches workers?

Each of these distinctions (and many others) can help you to better understand who you are presenting to, so that you can more clearly answer the second question: what do they want from your presentation?

Different audiences prefer to see different things in a presentation. For example, an executive audience might want lots of data visualization, while a sales or marketing audience might want to see visuals that communicate the brand or product story.

If you present a deck full of brand-focused visual storytelling to an executive audience, you might make it three slides before they interrupt with pointed questions. Similarly, if you go right into the data with a marketing audience, they might tune out entirely. 

So understanding your audience isn’t just about knowing what you should say to that person – instead, it’s a way to help you get a handle on how to present your information most effectively. For more help with adapting content for the audience of you presentation, download our free “Understand Your Audience” guide .

Structure your presentation like a story

Stories are the core of communication:  Storytelling techniques help you communicate in familiar and relatable ways. They are a clear and relatable way to present information, and help you craft content that is engaging throughout, as opposed to a long list of random slides on a topic.

Techniques for presentation storytelling:  The simplest way to format your presentation like a story  is to break the content out into three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Seems obvious, right? But few presentations follow this format. Instead, they are typically organized around content chunks: here’s the challenges section, here are the opportunities, here are the tactics, etc.

While this can get the job done, it’s not really helping you to create more engaging content for your audience.​​ Specifically, the problem is this structure lessens the narrative tension that a speaker can create by alternating between opposing ideas.

With a three-part structure, your presentation has a momentum and directionality that keeps it moving forward. For example, if you are walking through the major challenges your sales team will face in the coming year, by chunking all your challenges and opportunities, the tension is resolved quickly. 

But if you break each one out and put a little time and focus on the challenge before resolving it, now you’ve created a situation where there is consistent narrative tension that your audience will want to see resolved. This means they have a strong reason to stay focused and engaged, as opposed to quickly reading your slide and then moving on.

These moments of contrast are key drivers of narrative, and help frame your content in more dramatic ways.

Make your virtual presentation slides (even more) visual

Visual slides keep audiences interested: For many old-school presenters, there are only two things on a slide – words, and pictures. Words are essential, and they are what the audience cares about, and pictures are just nice-to-haves. These days, this approach no longer works.

Now, a highly visual slide is the best way to get an audience engaged with your content. There are a few reasons why.

First, content-heavy slides mean the audience will read ahead of your presentation, and they will be done reading before you are done speaking. During that whole time, they haven’t been paying attention to you, and now they are done and you’re still going through the slide. In both of these instances, you’ve lost their focus and attention.

Second, using visual storytelling  helps to reinforce your content, not just make slides look prettier. The idea is to choose visuals (pictures, icons, infographics, video, etc) that help to communicate your point and add nuance and detail to your ideas.

Third, visuals are what people are conditioned to look for from brands. From social media to YouTube and beyond, content is becoming more and more visual in all channels. By ignoring this change in audience preference, you are missing an opportunity to speak to them on their terms, which is much more engaging than forcing them to follow an outdated presentation style.

How to make your slides more visual:  The easiest way to craft more visually appealing slides is to reduce the amount of content on each. Start by editing your slides to have 50% less content and see if the message is still clear. Remember that the words on the slides are only one part of the equation – images should contribute to rounding out the message, and the voiceover should really drive the message. 

For a more visually engaging virtual presentation, your slide content should never be your script. As noted above, if you are just reading off of your slides, your audience can do it faster than you. And if you are simply reading back the slide to them, what’s the point of having a presentation? They can do that themselves on their own time. Instead, the presenter's job is to bring the story together, connecting the words and images on the slide and completing the story with their own voiceover.

So focus on simple, uncluttered slides, with minimal text and thoughtful images. 

Get the audience involved

Interactivity is engagement: The biggest challenge with virtual presentations is that you are battling against the entire internet for their attention. When email, online shopping, and social media are just a tab away, it’s hard to get audiences to stay focused on a presentation that isn’t designed for engagement.

How to get audiences involved:  While we aren’t advocating for turning presentations into open forums, we do think it’s valuable to find moments in a presentation to get the audience involved in the action. 

This could be a poll at the beginning, a pause to ask if anyone has experience with a point you make, a Q&A at the end, or using feedback tools like a poll to gauge engagement.

But be strategic in how you deploy these tools. Overusing audience interactivity can dramatically shift the tone of a presentation, and can disrupt the flow and timing of a tightly-organized story.

Gather feedback for continuous improvement

Great presentations are iterative: The best presentations aren’t typically created and given just one time. They are edited, practiced, refined, tested, and repeated again and again until they are perfect. But without the right feedback, it can be hard to know what areas to focus your efforts on.

How to gather feedback for a presentation:  There are a few ways you can ask for feedback from your audience.

First off, you can assess any of the responses and engagement from the interactive elements described above. What questions were asked? What type of interactivity was most effective? These simple points can give you insights on where to focus your efforts before the next presentation.

Polls are another great way to gather information about your presentation. Some presenters will send out a poll after the presentation, but another approach is to share out some follow up materials, like a leave-behind of your presentation or a key infographic, and then embed the feedback form into that communication.

You can also debrief with any of your own teammates who attended the call. Getting feedback on your delivery, any sticking points, and parts that worked well, from a more objective perspective can really help you focus on the places where you can make the most improvements.

Creating more engaging virtual presentations is easier than it sounds, and the return on a rather small time investment that it offers can be huge. Let’s recap the key points:

Start by understanding your audience and the best way to present to them

Structure your content like a story for more engaging slides

Make your slides more visually appealing by removing content and choosing visuals intentionally

Build audience engagement into your presentation

Get feedback from attendees and integrate those changes

By following these steps, you can make your next virtual presentation more engaging and interesting, sharper and more streamlined, and more visually appealing to modern audiences.

Looking for more information about virtual presentations and beyond? Check out our resources for expert advice and tested strategies.

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About the author

Danielle John is the founder of VerdanaBold. She has more than 25 years as an award-winning designer and creative lead, directing the visual expression and production of thousands of high-value new business pitches, C-level presentations and internal presentations for major global brands. When she’s not busy at VerdanaBold, she can be found antique shopping and spending time with her husband and two kids.

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Presentation 101: How to Conclude Your Presentation with a Strong End

What do you do when you're ready to close a presentation? Maybe you'll just summarize the main points to end the topic, or make a call to launch an initiative, or play a video related to the topic, and so on. Typically, there are many methods to have a strong ending in presentation. Different presenters can have different methods. Overall, presenters should end their presentation with a strong end to motivate their audience. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the benefits of a strong end in presentation and the methods to conclude a presentation well.

What are the benefits of a good ending in presentation?

1.Leave a deep impression on the audience. At the end of the presentation, we can summarize the content of the presentation, emphasize the key points, or use a vivid metaphor to summarize the whole text, so that the audience has a clear impression of the content of the presentation, which can make the audience remember our presentation more deeply.

2.Enhance the persuasive power of the presentation. At the end of the speech, we can re-emphasize our own position and point of view, or use some thought-provoking words to impress the audience, so that they will resonate with our point of view, to enhance the persuasive power of the presentation.

3.Leave the audience with good feelings. At the end of the presentation, we can use some warm words to thank the audience for listening and support, or to express our good wishes for the future, so that the audience will still be immersed in a good emotion when they leave the presentation.

4.Add a sense of completeness to the presentation. At the end of the presentation, we can summarize the whole presentation, review the key content of the presentation, so that the whole presentation presents a complete structure, so that the audience feels that the content of the presentation is clear and logical, so as to increase the attractiveness of the presentation.

5.Provide a strong call to action: A well-crafted ending can prompt your audience to take action, whether it's to implement your suggestions, support your cause, or purchase your product or service

Seven Tips for have a strong end in your presentation:

1.Call to Action. At the end of the speech, he used his profound understanding and unique insights to offer hope and appeal to the audience. This kind of ending can inspire the audience's enthusiasm and make the audience take action.

E.g. "Now that we've discussed the importance of saving water resource, I urge each of you to commit to one small change in your daily lives to reduce water pollution. Whether repeatedly use water or reduce bath time, every action counts towards a more sustainable future."

2.Reiteration of Key Points. This is the most common way to end. Generally speaking, restating a point can help the audience review the speech and deepen their memory and understanding.

E.g. "In conclusion, our three main strategies for improving customer satisfaction are proactive communication, personalized service, and swift issue resolution. By implementing these strategies consistently, we can strengthen our relationships with customers and drive long-term loyalty."

3.Quotations or Anecdotes. This method uses a poem or a famous quote to summarize the key points. It not only makes the speech dramatic but also better conveys the speaker's emotions.

E.g. "As Lao Tzu said, ‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.’ Let's remember these words as we are going to implement our plan.”

4.Visuals or Demonstrations. Using tools such as video at the end of a speech can better capture the audience's attention, increase the visual impact of the speech, and convey the message more vividly.

E.g. "Before we conclude, let me show you a brief video showcasing the impact of protect the marine environment. the beautiful sight of the sea serves as a powerful reminder of why our work is so important."

5.Open-Ended Questions. By using open-ended questions to elicit responses from your audience, you can effectively engage your audience and make your presentation more memorable.

E.g. "Finally, I'd like to leave you with a question: What role can each of us play in promoting diversity and inclusion within our organization? I encourage you to reflect on this question and share your thoughts with your colleagues."

6.Give a Storytelling. Sharing a story at the end is equivalent to responding to the speech with an example. This not only attracts the audience's interest, but also emphasizes the content of the speech.

E.g. "Let me share a story with you. Years ago, a small team of passionate individuals set out to change the world with nothing but an idea and a relentless drive to succeed. Today, that idea has transformed into a global movement, touching the lives of millions. Remember, it all started with a vision and the courage to pursue it."

7.Inspiring or Motivational Statements. This method can directly express the speaker's ideas. Give the audience a powerful attraction.

E.g. "As we conclude today's presentation, I want to leave you with this thought: No matter how daunting the challenges may seem, never underestimate the power of perseverance and innovation. Together, we have the ability to overcome any obstacle and create a brighter future for generations to come."

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