Presentation how to make a good presentation

Want to give a killer presentation? 8 tips to make it a success

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Public speaking and presenting isn’t everyone’s forte, but it’s a valuable skill, regardless of your job. If you want your voice to be heard, you’ll need to master communicating your thoughts and opinions simply and politely.

It’s okay if you’re nervous; that’s completely normal. In fact, those jitters are your body’s way of preparing. Giving a speech may seem daunting but you can always implement new strategies to face such challenges and deliver an engaging presentation.

What are the main difficulties when giving presentations?

Whether you’re a seasoned pro or first-timer, there’s always room to improve your presentation skills. One key is to prepare in advance and prevent common presentation difficulties.

The most common of worries in school or company presentations include:

Uncertainty of the audience’s attention

Not knowing what content, and how much, to place on slides

Doubts over how much nonverbal movement to incorporate

Presenting more will help you know how to handle these issues. For instance, you’ll figure out the right amount of text and images to add to slides.

How to prepare an effective presentation

Described below are our top five tips to aid you with your next presentation and eliminate associated stress.

1. Keep it simple

You want your presentation’s ideas to be accessible and easy to follow. As you prepare, ask yourself: what are the key points you want people to take away? Nothing is worse than being stuck watching a presentation that goes on and on that you hardly understand.

Simplicity is vital if you’re looking to reach a broad and diverse audience. Try placing important points in bullet points. That way, your audience can identify the main takeaways instead of searching for them in a block of text.

2. Create a compelling structure

Pretend you’re an audience member and ask yourself what the best order is for your presentation. Make sure things are cohesive and logical. To keep the presentation interesting, you may need to add in more slides, cut a section, or rearrange the presentation’s structure.

3. Use visual aids

Aim to incorporate photos or videos in your slides. Props can also help reinforce your words. Incorporating props doesn’t lessen your credibility or professionalism but helps illustrate your point when added correctly.

4. Be aware of design techniques and trends

You can use an array of platforms to create a great presentation. Integrating colors, images, graphs, video clips, and animations can liven things up, especially if the information is dry.

A few standard pointers to consider are:

Place only your main points on the screen. Then, explain them in detail. Keep the presentation stimulating and appealing without overwhelming your audience with bright colors or too much font.

5. Follow 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 no longer than 20 minutes, and use a font size of 30. This strategy helps condense your information and maintain the audience’s focus.

After that, how do I give a memorable presentation?

Here are some tips to keep your audience actively engaged as you’re presenting. With these strategies, the audience will leave the room thinking positively about your work.

Tip #1: Tell stories

Sharing an event from your life or another anecdote increases your relatability. It also makes the audience feel more comfortable and connected to you. This, in turn, will make you more comfortable presenting.

Tip #2: Smile and make eye contact with the audience

Maintaining eye contact creates a connection between you and the audience and helps the space feel more intimate. It’ll help them pay attention to you and what you’re saying.

Tip #3: Work on your stage presence

Using words is only half the battle regarding good communication; body language is also critical. Avoid crossing your arms or pacing, since this suggests an air of unapproachability or boredom. How you present yourself is just as crucial as how your actual presentation slides appear.

Tip #4: Start strong

Like reading a book, watching a movie, or writing an essay, the beginning is what draws your target audience in. Kick-off your presentation on a solid note. If things start entertainingly, it increases the chances of your presentation being well-received.

Tip #5: Show your passion

Let your passion for a topic shine. The best presentations have a speaker who is genuinely excited about the subject.

Tip #6: Plan your delivery

This step encompasses how you convey the information. What is appropriate for the setting? Preparing a PowerPoint presentation? A teleprompter? An online presentation through Zoom? Should you memorize your notes or plan an activity to compliment your notes?

The best TED talks, for instance, are usually committed to memory, but there’s nothing wrong with bringing note cards with you as a safety net.

Tip #7: Practice

As the phrase goes, practice makes perfect! Practice giving your speech in front of the bathroom mirror or your spouse or a friend. Take any feedback they give you and don’t feel discouraged if it’s critical or different than you expected. Feedback helps us continually improve. But remember, you can’t please everyone, and that’s fine.

Tip #8: Breathe

Take deep breaths. It’s better to go slow and take time to convey everything you need to instead of rushing and leaving your audience more confused.

How to connect with the audience when presenting

The best leaders are often some of the best presenters, as they excel at communication and bringing together ideas and people. Every audience is different. But as a general rule, you’ll be able to connect with them if you research your topic so you’re knowledgeable and comfortable.

Practicing your presentation skills and remembering that every opportunity is a chance to grow will help you keep a positive mindset.

BetterUp exists for this: to empower and guide you through the ups and downs that compose life’s journey. Presentations can be scary, but BetterUp is here to help you harness your potential and improve your mental fitness, so you’re ready for whatever challenges come along.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Access thousands of high-quality icons and graphics!

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.

Customize this presentation template and make it your own!

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.

How to Make an Effective Presentation (Guide, Tips & Examples)

Written by:
Heleana Tiburca

Learning how to make a presentation is an incredibly useful skill to have in your tool belt, especially since 55% of an effective presentation comes down to non-verbal communication.

We’ve rounded up the best tips for professional presentation-making and a step-by-step guide on how to make a presentation that will keep your audience engaged from start to finish.

If you’re ready to create an engaging presentation, get started with our presentation software. Use hundreds of pre-made presentation templates, access built-in graphics, add multimedia and more.

Table of Contents

Planning Your Presentation

This quote stands true for many aspects of life, but especially for making a presentation that’s powerful and memorable.

If you’re wondering how to make a presentation amazing, then you need to know that it all starts out by choosing a great topic angle, deciding on your presentation’s purpose, and creating a solid structure and outline.

In this section, you’ll find tips and tricks to help you better plan your presentations.

1. Choose the topic of your presentation.

Choosing the topic of your presentation is arguably one of the most important parts of presentation creation.

If you’re a student looking for presentation topics, check out our list of 150+ presentation topic ideas covering various subjects to find something you like.

If you’re a business professional, and you don’t have the luxury of picking out your presentation topic, that’s okay. You can always find a unique angle, such as focusing on a specific problem.

Even if it doesn’t seem to be an exciting topic, you can still make your presentation engaging with the right presentation skills and eye-catching presentation visuals.

2. Research your topic and know it inside and out.

When the time comes to present your presentation, you need to feel confident in yourself and your abilities in order to win your crowd’s trust.

One way you can achieve this is by knowing all the ins and outs of your topic. This way, you’ll feel prepared for any questions and know just how to answer them.

You can do in-depth research on any topic by reading up on related material online or in a library. But if you want to walk the extra mile, you can even get in touch with some of your audience in advance and ask them what they’d like to see in your presentation.

Public speaking expert TJ Walker explains this well in the short video below:

This little trick will help you focus on the important areas, and find answers to legitimate concerns and questions that your audience will likely have.

Another positive note to knowing your topic well is that in case you’re zooming through your presentation and you end up having extra time on your hands, you can add in bonus information about your topic to educate your audience.

3. Consider your audience and speak their language.

Now, not only do you need to know your topic well, but you also need to know and study your future audience just as well. Why?

Because by knowing your crowd’s interests, attention span and pain points, you’ll be able to connect them through your presentation. Plus, you’ll be in a better position to solve their problems and add value to their lives.

For example, an advanced, data-driven presentation full of technical jargon might not be the best idea if you’re presenting to someone who is new to your field and unfamiliar with complicated terms.

It might end up confusing them instead of leaving a strong impact. You need to be able to speak their language and meet them on their level.

Going back to the example above, your presentation would likely be more successful if you simplify the information and start with the basics before jumping into the data and technicalities.

4. Decide on your presentation’s purpose.

For every presentation you create, you need to have an end goal and purpose in mind.

Every presentation’s goal can be summed up within one of the following purposes:

Your presentation’s purpose may even be a combination of the above four.

The idea of pinpointing your presentation’s purpose is to help you create your presentation’s subject matter, outline and structure more easily.

5. Create a solid presentation outline.

In order to make a great presentation, you need to have a great outline to piggyback off of.

According to the University of Arkansas, to create a compelling speech with impactful results, you’ll need three key things in your outline: a compelling intro, a strong body and a conclusion that drives your main points home.

Another important thing to consider when planning your presentation structure is how long your presentation is going to be, and how many slides you’re going to add.

That’s where the 10-20-30 rule can help you out.

The 10-20-30 rule represents 10 slides presented in about 20 minutes with a 30 point font minimum.

This is not an end-all-be-all rule, but it is definitely great to follow loosely as it will help you stay on track and not overwhelm your viewers with too many slides with too little time or vice versa.

If you want a more in-depth guide on how to structure your presentation, we’ve created one just for you. Give it a read to take your presentation structure to the next level.

Writing the Presentation Content

Now that you know how to create a presentation outline, let’s talk about what the content of your presentation should look like.

The content is the real “meat” of your presentation — you need to ensure that it’s credible, full of value and crafted in a way that makes it easy for your audience to understand it.

In this section, we’ll look at some tips to help you craft clear, concise and creative content that’s hard to forget.

6. Limit the amount of text on your slides.

Since we’re on the topic of not overwhelming your audience with too much information, it’s a great idea to try to keep your text to about 6-8 lines per slide, like in the example below.

This will help result in clean and pleasing slides to look at and you won’t risk losing your crowd due to overstimulation.

7. Fact-check all your information.

If you want your audience to trust you, then make sure you’re getting all of your information from reputable sources and anyone can fact-check your data.

In fact, you’ll even sound more confident and authoritative when you’re able to prove what you’re saying is true.

Here are some resources to help you fact-check your information:

The worst thing you can do is use faulty information and lose your crowd’s trust because once you do that, it’s near impossible to get it back.

If you’re planning to share your presentation slides online, it’s a good idea to add your sources at the end of your presentation or at the bottom of your slides as footnotes.

8. Use storytelling to your advantage.

People are more inclined to remember stories that touched them rather than statistics simply listed out on a slide.

To make your presentation the most effective, you can use a combination of the two and tell a story to back up your main points and data.

For example, instead of simply presenting the numbers upfront, you can give some context by introducing the problem, and explaining what the statistics mean and who they’re affecting.

Learn more about finding stories in data in our detailed guide. Or, watch the video below for a quick summary:

Another storytelling technique to keep in mind is to focus on characters, not objects and numbers. Humans are innately emotional creatures, and understand things best when they can relate to them on a personal level.

For example, if you’re presenting an environmental problem, talk about how it’s affecting people and animals instead of just introducing the problem in technical terms.

9. Include lots of practical examples.

Including numbers and data in your presentation is great, but if you don’t relate that information to the real world (i.e. give it context), your audience might get lost or bored.

One way to add context to your presentation content is to include a lot of practical examples. Telling people what a certain piece of information can mean for them in their everyday life can leave a much stronger impact than simply telling them the information exists.

Plus, relatable examples can make your presentation’s take-home message easier to digest and understand.

To explain this better, let’s consider an example (see what I did there?)

Look at the slide below — it’s taken from a redesigned Uber pitch deck that explains briefly how the ride-sharing service works and its key features.

On its own, the slide above communicates little value. The audience knows how the service works, but they might not be clear about its real-world applications.

Following up with a slide like this one can help:

Sharing potential use cases with the audience is a great way to show your audience why your idea is interesting, and how it can make a difference. In Uber’s case, it showed investors why the service was worth investing in.

10. Use presenter’s notes for additional information.

If you’re afraid that you’re going to forget important information and you’re tempted to write out all your talking points on your slide, stop right there.

Don’t make the mistake of cluttering your slides with text. If the information is too important to leave out, you can always add it into your presenter’s notes.

If you’re using a presentation software like Visme, you can include your presenter’s notes in the designated area at the bottom without sacrificing beautiful slide design.

These notes will pop up as needed when you’re presenting, and you can choose to have them open on your computer screen while presenting the actual slides on the projector.

11. Incorporate your data in a visual way.

We’ve all been there; those long corporate meetings where you give it your all to pay attention to the statistics and numbers slowly being read off of an interminable spreadsheet.

Don’t make that same mistake in your presentation. Incorporate your data in a visual and engaging way by using charts, graphs, maps and data widgets.

The slide template below visualizes website traffic data with the help of a line graph.

Imagine if all of this information was written out in the form of a complex table full of intricate rows, columns and numbers — yawning? So are we.

When you use a presentation software like Visme, you can add 15+ different types of charts and graphs to your slides, and customize them to fit your design needs. Change their colors, add or remove legends, and even animate the charts.

You can also drag and drop thermometers, progress bars, radials and other data widgets to visualize percentages and stats. Or, use the map generator to visualize geographical information, like in the slide template below.

You can make this map interactive, too. So, for example, when someone hovers on one of the regions on the map, additional data can be displayed.

Learn more about what data visualization is, why it’s important, and how to create your own impressive visual data.

Or, watch the quick video tutorial below to learn how to create a chart or graph in Visme.

12. Use multimedia to engage your audience.

People’s brains love to be met with the unexpected. Unfortunately, many times presentations are just predictable slides with some text and bullet points on them.

You can make your presentation more exciting for your audience by adding multimedia into the slides. But multimedia presentations include more than just static photos.

They can also include media like embedded videos, GIFs, audio narrations, music, or interactive elements like quizzes, forms, hover effects, links, pop-ups and more.

Here’s a peek at a multimedia presentation we recently created using GIFs to explain Visme’s features:

You can easily create a similar presentation of your own using Visme’s presentation maker, which comes with a built-in GIPHY integration.

Another benefit of adding multimedia is that it will give you a nice little break from talking where you can regroup your thoughts and get ready for your next big point.

If you want to learn more, check out our complete guide on creating a multimedia presentation.

13. Prepare thought-provoking questions.

We humans are curious creatures who love to learn and have our brains picked at.

Use this to your advantage and captivate your audience’s attention by preparing some questions that require deep thinking on their part.

Here are some ideas:

Preparing questions in advance for your audience will have their wheels turning and attention on you for the upcoming answer.

“Ready

14. Simplify your sentences.

One of the best ways to minimize the number of text on your slides is by using punchy phrases that aren’t full sentences.

For example, instead of writing, “The advantages of social media marketing are that it increases brand awareness, generates more inbound traffic, improves search engine rankings, higher conversion rates, provides more brand recognition authority and much more,” you can simplify this idea as:

As you can see, these concise phrases aren’t full sentences and include less punctuation but still communicate the same message without distracting text.

Designing Your Presentation

Now that we know how to create a presentation outline and we also know what kind of content we need to prepare for our presentation, it’s time to jump into the actual design side of our presentation.

There are so many stunning presentation design ideas and trends you can follow, as well as presentation design tips you can implement to your presentation.

We’re going to cover a few of the most important design tips for you to follow to create a sleek presentation design your audience will love.

15. Consider your presentation’s mode of delivery.

Just as it’s important to figure out your presentation’s purpose in order to create its structure, likewise, you need to know how you will deliver your presentation in order to determine the design of it.

For example, for standalone presentations, it’s a great idea to add more text into your slides. But on the other hand, if you’re holding an in-person presentation, it might be a good idea to have less text on your slides.

Once you determine your presentation’s delivery, you can then determine the best presentation design style for it.

16. Choose your fonts carefully.

One of the best tips we can give you for sleek presentation design is to use only up to 3 fonts per slide.

If you end up using more than 3 fonts, you forfeit having a nice presentation design and you’ll risk looking messy and unprofessional.

Not only should you limit yourself to using 3 fonts, but you need to make sure that they are similar in style and complement each other, like in the example below.

One way you can do this is by using font templates from Visme that are predesigned and handpicked by professional designers.

This way, you’ll never have to wonder if your fonts match or look good together ever again.

It’s also important that you keep the fonts you choose consistent throughout your design. This will give your presentation a polished and professional look overall.

If you want to change up the appearance of your font throughout your presentation, then play with the weight, styling, color and size of the text.

17. Use high-quality images, icons and visuals.

It’s very important that whatever visuals you choose to add to your presentation are of high quality.

Avoid using pixelated photos, images that have watermarks on them or blurry vector icons in your presentation. By not using high-quality content, you risk off-putting your audience.

Our presentation software has millions of high-resolution stock images and videos, and thousands of high-quality icons for every occasion for you to choose from.

You can also upload your own images, videos, icons and other visuals from your computer, such as branded graphics or original photos.

By using high-quality visual content for your slides like in the example above, you’ll be taken much more seriously by your audience.

18. Keep everything in line with the grid.

Another key point to mention for optimal presentation design is to make sure every element lines up well with each other and is visually pleasing.

Symmetry is directly correlated with beauty, so integrate this knowledge into your slide design and try to keep everything balanced, symmetrical and pleasing to the eye.

You can easily line everything up to each other by using a grid within our presentation editor, like in the example above.

19. Use a single, eye-catching transition.

Static presentations are a thing of the past. Make your presentation more engaging for your audience by using an animated transition between slides.

Visme has lots of different transitions that you can choose from, as seen above, but we recommend that you use one style of transition for your entire presentation to keep everything cohesive.

20. Focus on one main idea per slide.

In order to keep your design sleek and to not overwhelm your audience, it’s best practice to have one main idea or take away per slide. This way, you stay on track, your audience isn’t overwhelmed and your design will be on point because nothing will be cluttered.

You can also use an entire slide to ask a crucial question or highlight an important quote. If you want to bring attention to your next big point, try displaying a single concept on an entire slide.

This will make for a great change of pace for your audience by quickly going through your slides, thus keeping them engaged with your presentation, and it will also showcase the importance of your next point.

21. Choose a cohesive color scheme.

There’s no doubt that color is important. In fact, studies show that colors can directly affect our mood and the way we feel.

Doing some research into the colors you should use for your presentation will greatly benefit your outcome.

This applies not only to the primary color you choose, but the supporting colors as well. It’s important to have a great complementary color scheme throughout your presentation.

If you’re not sure what colors work well together, you can choose one from Visme’s color theme presets, as seen above, that are hand-picked by professional designers for your presentation.

If you have a business, then using your brand colors in your presentation is a great idea and will help with building brand recognition. With Visme, you can upload your brand colors directly to the editor or extract them from your logo.

It’s also important to note that you don’t use two light shades for both the background and text of your slide. To make your text stand out, you need to use contrasting colors.

For example, you can make the background black and your text a bright shade of green to make it stand out, or vice versa. Just be sure that your text is easily readable for your audience.

22. Proofread and polish your presentation.

As soon as you have a rough draft of your presentation, you need to begin the proofreading and polishing process.

One helpful trick of the trade when it comes to writing is using free grammar and spell-checking tools. Many times, they’ll catch things you may have never even noticed or seen before.

There are lots of free grammar tools out there for you to use. To name a couple, you could use Grammarly or ProWritingAid.

After going over your presentation a few times, it becomes easier for you to start seeing unnecessary information on your slides.

To make your slides more visually pleasing and less cluttered, you can shorten your text and sentences and condense them into main points and ideas. This will increase negative space in your slide and make it more aesthetically pleasing.

Don’t just quickly glance over your presentation once and call it a day. Go over your presentation a second, third time and even fourth time to make sure that it’s absolutely perfect.

In fact, have a second pair of eyes read over your presentation.

Many times, we become desensitized to our own work and miss out on little mistakes here and there. So, it’s important to let someone else have a look over it before you call it in.

23. Keep your slides on-brand

While designing your slides, always keep your brand identity in mind, especially if creating a crucial business presentation. It will distinguish you from competitors, prompt people to refer your products and services to others and connect people with your brand emotionally.

So, consider your brand colors, brand fonts, logo and other elements of your company’s visual identity. If you have not defined any of these elements, try choosing the design elements that match your brand personality and the theme of your presentation.

Use the presentation template below to put together brand guidelines for your company.

However, if you are struggling to define your brand’s visual identity, you can download our free Brand Guide Handbook to get help. If you already have set your brand guidelines, you can use Visme’s Brand Design Tool to create slides according to your branding easily.

Visme’s Dynamic Fields can help you ensure key brand information is accurate across all your slides. Simply create new dynamic fields or edit existing ones and assign values and your data will be updated in real-time.

Giving a Memorable Presentation

You can have the most amazing presentation in the world on paper, but without proper delivery, it can turn into a complete flop.

So, now that you have all the knowledge on how to make a presentation, it’s time to discuss how you can deliver that presentation in a powerful way.

In this section, we’ll cover tips on how to give a killer presentation that leaves an impact.

24. Rehearse your presentation.

Practice, practice and practice again. That’s the way to presentation perfection.

That’s right, no matter how crazy you might sound to the downstairs neighbors practicing your speech out loud alone in your apartment, you need to do it.

Why? Because when you can actually hear yourself present your ideas out loud, you may realize that you’re missing key points of information.

While you’re at it practicing out loud, go in front of a mirror and strike some power poses.

Body language is everything when it comes to presenting your presentation in a powerful way. It can make or break your entire speech. So, use open-handed gestures, smile often and loosen up a bit to come across as a confident presenter.

Ready to create your own presentation in minutes?

If you’ve been allotted a certain amount of time for your presentation, then you need to practice while using a timer.

By practicing out loud with a timer, you’ll be able to adjust and readjust the information on your slides to make sure you get all your important information across to your audience.

Another way you can boost your confidence and kick stage fright before the big day of your presentation is to do a practice run of your presentation in front of others.

This will not only help you get used to public speaking, but it also gives them a chance to give you honest feedback on your presentation and let you know if there was anything that could use improvement.

25. Memorize your presentation.

Memorizing your speech for your presentation is no easy task. But the more you can remember while you’re up on stage and the fewer “umm’s” and “uh’s” you say, the better.

We rounded up the best ways to memorize a presentation that will significantly help you with your presentation delivery, but we’ll share a few with you here as well.

Apply the memorization techniques above while you’re rehearsing your presentation, but make sure you also understand each and every word.

26. Start strong to hook your audience.

When it comes to giving presentations, first impressions are extremely important.

The way you start can set the stage for the rest of your talk — you can either have the audience sit up in their seats and give you their full attention, or have them ready to doze off.

There are several proven techniques you can use to start your presentation in a powerful way, such as:

If you want to learn more about these presentation hooks and more in detail, read our guide to starting a presentation with examples from famous TED talks.

If you prefer watching a video instead, we’ve got you covered.

27. Observe your audience’s behavior.

Remember, a presentation — or any talk for that matter — is not a one-way conversation. Effective communication involves constant feedback from the listener, and requires the speaker to react to that feedback appropriately.

So, how does this apply to presentation delivery?

When you’re up on the stage giving your presentation, make sure you constantly observe your audience and their reactions — this includes their facial expressions, body language and even questions.

You might sense your audience is getting bored, for example, if you see a few people fidgeting in their seats, yawning or looking at their phones.

This is your cue to switch things up a bit. For example, you can:

Similarly, if you see your audience is engaged with what you’re saying, continue with your enthusiasm and try to keep them hooked till the end.

28. Be authentic and vulnerable.

When giving a presentation, the worst thing you can do is try to be someone else and come across as pretentious and unoriginal.

In this TED talk, Brene Brown starts by revealing that she felt so vulnerable and embarrassed after one of her talks that she didn’t leave her house for three days.

Successful presenters are authentic, even if they are not perfect. They are relatable, grounded and vulnerable. Instead of hiding their failures, imperfections and insecurities, they share them with the audience and build an emotional connection.

When the audience finds you relatable, they are more inclined to listen to you and take you seriously.

29. Conclude your presentation on a high.

Just like it’s important to start your presentation with a powerful hook, likewise, you need to conclude your presentation in a way that it impacts your audience and leaves them thinking about your take-home message for a long time after.

There are several ways to close your presentation with style:

Here’s an infographic summarizing the main points above and more.

Read our guide to learn more about how to close a presentation in a powerful way.

30. Leave time for questions at the end.

Our last piece of advice for preparing for and presenting an effective presentation is to get your audience involved and allocate time for their comments and questions at the end of your presentation.

Everyone wants to be heard, and if you did your job correctly, you should have sparked some conversation starters from your audience by the end of your presentation.

Give them your time and attention at the end of your presentation to show them you care about your presentation and most importantly, them.

31. Prepare backup content.

No matter how well prepared you are, it’s always better to have a backup because not everything may go the same as you planned.

Despite whatever your intention is, as a presenter, you should always have a plan B, C and sometimes D for your presentation. Put together statements that will cover you if you find yourself upsetting the audience.

Problems may occur due to location changes, technical difficulties and many other factors; you must always be prepared. Your backup content can be anything that can change the game as needed.

For example, you can prepare some backup questions that you can ask according to the situation, some additional relatable examples or even a few slides with different design elements that you might need to meet the requirements of your audience.

Ready to Make a Powerful Presentation?

Creating an impactful presentation requires careful planning, attention to content details and a good eye for design. But even the best presentations can fail if they’re not rehearsed and delivered properly.

If you’re ready to create an engaging presentation, we recommend using an intuitive presentation software like Visme.

Sure, you can whip up a plain-looking presentation in PowerPoint any day. But if you want your presentation to look creative and different from the rest, you need to use an innovative tool.

With features like data visualization tools, built-in stock images and videos, the ability to add your own fonts and brand colors, and hundreds of presentation templates for you to choose from, once you try it, you’ll likely never go back to anything else.

Not only will you be able to create stunning presentations, but you’ll also be able to share them, embed them and present them right from inside the editor.

How to make a good presentation with 8 pro tips

Table of Contents

Make stunning videos really easily

So you’ve got to give a presentation. Fear not, it’s easy when you learn from the best.

Making and giving stellar presentations is an art form and here at Biteable we like to think we know a thing or two about what makes a good presentation.

In this post, we share all of our insider knowledge for presenting like a boss.

Pro tip: After you master the how-to of presentation greatness, head over to Biteable for tons of video presentation templates, brandable video scenes, and unique animations to take your presentation from “ho hum” to “wow” in minutes.

With Biteable’s easy-to-use online video making software, creating a video presentation is as easy as making a PowerPoint.

Create videos that drive action

Activate your audience with impactful, on-brand videos. Create them simply and collaboratively with Biteable.

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.

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.

3. Be savvy with design details

A good design can make or break a presentation. If you haven’t got the budget for a designer, presentation tools such as Visme or Canva will help you make great slides, and Pexels or Unsplash offer stunning royalty-free images.

Use color sparingly. Bright colors can dazzle, but too many can be offputting. 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.

4. Polish several times

Just like some well-worn shoes, a good presentation often needs a few rounds of dusting before it’s all 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.

Did you know? Did you know?

Steve Jobs used to take a 2 days to prepare a 20-minute presentation.

Delivery

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 will make all the difference. Audiences usually make up their minds about someone in the first 7 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?’”

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.

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.

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 next presentation shine with one of these templates

You’ve learned from the pros and now you’re all set to nail your next presentation. Make it one to remember with these high-quality video presentation templates.

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

Written by:
Orana Velarde

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

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

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

How to Give a Good Presentation [Presentation]

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

How to Give a Good Presentation

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

1 Rehearse What You’re Planning To Say

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

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

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

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

Section 1, Pause, Section 2, Pause, Repeat

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

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

Presenter’s Notes

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

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

How to Give A Good Presentation With Mnemonic Tools

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

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

Ask For Feedback

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

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

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

2 Prepare Mentally, Emotionally and Technically

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

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

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

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

Ready to create your own presentation in minutes?

Mental Preparation

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

Why do you think that’s happening?

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

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

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

Emotional Preparation

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

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

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

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

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

Technical Preparation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3 Start Strong

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

How To Give A Good Presentation Through Impactful Body Language

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

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

Make An Impressionable Statement

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

Other opening techniques include:

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

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

4 Follow The Outline You Practiced With

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

It’s time to put them all to use.

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

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

5 Use Props

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

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

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

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

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

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

6 Finish With Confidence

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

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

Closing Statement

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

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

Q and A Session – Yes or No?

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

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

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

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

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

7 Use A Storytelling Structure

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

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

Some of the most common storytelling structures are:

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

8 Keep Your Slides Short and Visually Balanced

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

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

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

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

9 Use Presentation Templates

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

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

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

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