How to do a Presentation? Create Effective Presentation

There are 30 million presentations made in a day in the world and 15 million of them are considered unsuccessful. This is a huge number to ignore. Have you wondered why half of them are considered like this? Good! Because in this writing, you will learn how to be in the successful part. Let’s go over the steps on how to do a great presentation.

Making a presentation seems simple but actually, it is harder than it sounds. There are lots of elements to create a great presentation. The audience, presenter, slides, design, tone of voice, communication, storytelling, etc. If you’d like to have a presentation assistant to help you with how to do a presentation, use Decktopus. Even though you have a great assistant, there are some things you need to know.

How to do a presentation? The first essential element is the presenter

This is the most important factor in a presentation. There are more than one elements that are essential for the presenter.

The tone of voice

It shouldn’t be stable. If It is stable, listeners might be distracted. Do you remember that one time you said “I almost fell asleep during the presentation”? That’s what might happen if your tone of voice is stable. Your voice should wave. Its frequency should change during the presentation.

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Interaction

Your focus should be on the audience. You should look at them, not at the slides. Also, it’s not very nice being too personal with the audience. That might depend on your audience, of course. If you are a teacher who is presenting to students, you might be personal but generally, it is wise to avoid being too sincere with the audience. You might avoid making jokes about them, as well.

Posture

Look confident. You’ve studied for what you are presenting. If you look confident, you’ll also seem reliable. In addition to this, covering the screen while presenting is one of the mistakes. You should stand where the audience can see the presentation.

Don't go off-topic

This may sound easy to do but it is one of the common mistakes. To prevent this from happening, you should stick to the slides you’ve prepared. If you realize you’ve gone off-topic in the presentation, try to take that part out.

Notes

It is commonly known that holding notes during the presentation is helpful but it is a common mistake. Holding notes in your hands might cause you’ll stick to them and not focus on the audience. Besides, you shouldn’t read the writings from the slides. The slide is there to remind you what you will talk about. Make sure you don’t always look at the presentation.

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Fluency

Being fluent is significant for a great presentation. Don’t rush your presentation to be fluent. Fluency is speaking easily and well, and not rushing the things you say.

Moving

You shouldn’t move too much. That might distract the audience and make it harder to follow the presentation. You also shouldn’t stay so still. Moving depends on the place, as well. If you are in a small place, move a little. If you are presenting in a larger place, you can move more but as mentioned, not too much.

We've stated what a presenter should have. Let's move on to other factors.

What are the 11 steps of presentation?

Start your presentation by introducing yourself

Give information about yourself. Let them know who you are and why you are here. Therefore, the audience will understand your purpose better.

Your introduction needs to be clear and concise. It should include what you are doing now and what did in the past about your career. You can also add one sentence about your hobbies and interests. Remember, this is not a CV. This is only a summary of your career. So don’t use details, only give general information to the audience.

Giving the outline

Before starting your presentation, give the outline of what you will talk about. Therefore your audience will be ready for what’s coming. When your audience will see the whole presentation from the beginning, it will be easier for them to understand its purpose.

Composition is important for a great presentation

Think of your presentation like it is an essay. What features should it have? There should be an outline, then your information. Afterward, you should talk about your topic. There are subtopics that are related to the main topic. They should line up with each other. In the end, there should be a thank you note. Also, contact information if need be. Having a composition in your presentation will benefit you.

Main message

The presentation needs to have one main message. All other content should support this main message. For this, you should first determine your main goal. Ask yourself, “Why am I doing this presentation?” Is the goal introducing the audience to something new? Or is it changing their attitude? Once you decide on the goal, you can determine what your main message is going to be. Lastly, you should ask the question “Would this presentation appeal to me?” If the answer is no, then you might want to change the main message.

The kiss rule

The kiss stands for keeping it simple. You don’t want to complicate your presentation and make it hard to understand. No matter what your presentation is about, simplicity is the key.

What we mean by simplicity is not having crowded slides. For example, you shouldn’t have too much writing or too many images in a slide. Also, it might need a good design for slides to not seem complex. The colors should conform with each other, writing should come to the forefront from the background. If you’d like to learn more about why design matters, check this blog.

Being understandable

A presentation is what your audience makes of it. 99% of your audience should understand the presentation’s 90%. Make sure you don’t use too much jargon or too many words from a foreign language. Also, you shouldn’t use fancy words that your audience might not know. You might use one or two but that should be it. Remember, you are not presenting on your own. The most significant part of a presentation is to be understood. While preparing your presentation, ask yourself “Will my audience understand this?” To go deeper, you can watch.

Don’t use too much writing on slides

Writings should only summarize what you are talking about for the audience to follow you. The focus of the audience should be on the presenter. There should be minimal writing on the slides. Therefore, the audience will listen to you and look at the slides less.

You can use a bullet list of what you will talk about in a slide. Hence, your presentation will help you and the attention of the audience will be on you. You can also use images instead of a bullet list. That depends on the presentation’s topic.

Use one image for every slide

Unless there is a necessity for multiple images, you should use only one image per slide. Images will make your presentation look nice and more effective. However, using too many images will distract your audience. In order to have a great presentation, there shouldn’t be too many images.

Timing

The time of the presentation depends on your subject. However, it shouldn’t be too short. For instance, if you have writings in the slides, you should give enough time for the audience to read them and listen to you. If you pass the slides in a short time, it will be hard for the audience to follow. You also shouldn’t talk too fast. Give yourself enough time to talk about what you want to.

While not keeping the presentation too short is important, not keeping it too long is also essential. Nobody likes presentations that look like they will never end. In this case, your audience will be distracted and stop listening until the end of the presentation. When you are done preparing your presentation, if it is too long, try taking out the details. If you have 20 minutes for the presentation and it lasts 25, you should exclude some things. Make sure they are not significant parts but are details that can be expendable.  

Q&A session

There might be questions from the audience. It is wise to give them time to ask. This part depends on the topic and the timing. You might have a very brief topic that doesn’t need any questions or you might have limited time. In these cases, you might not add this part to your presentation. If you are talking about a complex topic and if you have the time, you can add extra 5 minutes for Q&A.

Rehearse your presentation

You should practice the presentation before the time comes. You can make yourself a little sheet and keep it in your hands during the rehearsal. It should include the outline of the presentation and important points you will address during the presentation. Also, it will help you remember significant points you need to make.

Rehearsal is important for arranging the time. You should know how long your presentation will take. You can use Decktopus in rehearsal mode. In this mode, you can arrange the timing of slides and change them whenever you want.

You might videotape yourself while rehearsing. Hence, you will understand what you are doing right and wrong. Try to evaluate yourself while presenting. Keep the good features and try to change the bad ones.

We’ve stated what you need for an engaging presentation. You might also check other blogs about it:

‍https://www.decktopus.com/blog/an-effective-presentation-why-does-it-matter

‍https://www.decktopus.com/blog/public-speaking-tips-to-deliver-the-perfect-presentation

‍https://www.decktopus.com/blog/7-mistakes-we-all-made-during-a-presentation

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