Presentation Tips

You can improve your public speaking by following a few key principles. I have outlined my recommendations below.

Know Your Goal

Why are you presenting? You might be:

  • trying to convince somebody,
  • providing a project status update,
  • telling a funny story,
  • etc.

By the end of the presentation, what do you want the audience to know, do, or feel? Below are a few examples.

  • By the end of my presentation, my audience will know how to use headings in Microsoft Word.
  • By the end of my presentation, my audience will choose to invest in my business idea.
  • By the end of my presentation, my audience will be convinced to drink more water.
  • By the end of my presentation, my audience will feel more comfortable making appointments with guidance counselors.

Know Your Audience

  • What do they want to get from your presentation?
  • What knowledge do they already have?
  • Be careful using acronyms. You can lose people quickly by throwing out acronyms they do not know. The audience might interpret your message incorrectly if they have to guess what your acronyms mean.
  • Some audiences prefer humor and personality in the presentations. Some audiences want more dry, factual presentations.
  • Some audiences will be highly offended by the use of profanity.

You Are the Star

  • Slides support your presentation. You do not support the slides.
  • Be enthusiastic. Act like you want to be presenting. A presentation on bread can be more exciting than a presentation on time travel just based on the presenter's enthusiasm.
  • Use the full capabilities of your voice. Avoid monotonic speech. Vary your pitch, speed, etc.
  • Embrace silence. Silence can help you focus the audience's attention. Avoid filling dead space with "uhms" and "ahs." You might
  • Most communication is nonverbal. Using good posture, gesturing with your hands, and smiling conveys confidence.
  • Face the audience when presenting rather than looking at your slides and reading the content.

Supporting Materials (...slides)

  • Minimize text. You do not want people reading your bullet points instead of listening to you speak.
  • Make fonts big. As a general rule, no font should be less than 18pt.
  • Use impactful images.
  • Use charts to represent data.

Practice

  • Practice your presentation by saying the words of your presentation out loud. Thinking about what you will say is insufficient.
  • Record yourself and watch the recording. You will learn a tremendous amount by watching yourself present.

Never

  • Never read your slides word for word.