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Giving a great presentation doesn’t come naturally for everyone. You’ll likely give presentations throughout your educational and professional career. Developing the skills to create an effective presentation comes with practice and they will prove invaluable throughout your career. There are a few simple skills that you can develop to create an effective presentation. Whether you need to give a professional presentation or a modern presentation for school, keep the following tips in mind.
1. Keep it simple.
Less is more when creating a presentation. As a rule of thumb, follow the 10-20-30 rule. A strong PowerPoint presentation includes 10 or fewer slides, is less than 20 minutes, and uses a minimum 30-point font size. This helps you create a clear, direct, and to-the-point presentation that gets the main point across.
Creating a business presentation doesn’t have to take a lot of time. A great way to create a PowerPoint presentation is to use a customizable presentation template. Stinson Design provides presentation design services including event presentations, motion graphics and video, content consulting, and custom PowerPoint templates.
Custom templates allow you to create a presentation design that aligns with your brand identity. You can choose master slide layout, typography, color scheme, insert logos, and more to create unique slides. The PowerPoint company‘s presentation experts can help you craft the perfect template and build effective slides that get your message across.
2. Start strong and tell stories.
Crafting a strong, engaging introduction is key to capturing your audience’s attention. The opening of your presentation should be relevant and supportive of your main message. Presenters often pose an interesting question, problem, or anecdote to get people thinking.
You could also quote someone influential, share a story that leads into the main topic, play a video that sets up your presentation, or present interesting statistics or facts. Visual aids like graphs and diagrams help make concepts and information more relatable. Visuals add context and make it easier for your audience to understand and connect with your message.
3. Leverage body language, eye contact, and facial expressions.
Your nonverbal communications should support the written and verbal content of your presentation. A good presenter knows how to leverage body language, maintain eye contact, and be aware of facial expressions. You should calmly move around while speaking and make fluid movements that align with the presentation. Avoid standing behind an obstacle such as a podium or desk.
Making eye contact with your audience makes the exchange feel more personal and conversational. Facial expressions are a great way to convey emotion, especially when you are discussing something exciting. Your body language should be confident and comfortable. Practice standing up straight with your shoulders back and avoid crossing your arms.
4. Rehearse and prepare.
You don’t need to memorize your presentation, but you do need to rehearse and prepare. Knowing what you will say helps you give a natural-feeling and effortless presentation. It’s a good idea to have an outline of your slides to rehearse with and keep on hand while on stage.
Whether you prefer an agenda slide or written notes, you should separate your presentation into sections. Keeping your points together by topic helps you ensure your sections are the same length and helps you plan pauses for impact.
5. Support your audience.
Think about why your audience is going to be listening to you speak and how you can make it an enjoyable learning experience. Supporting your audience means explaining a difficult concept in detail, moving around on stage, or getting your audience to participate.
You should always be authentic throughout your presentation, be connective, and be conversational with your audience. Presenters talk to their audience, not at their audience.
The key to building an effective presentation is finding a simple, clear way to share a strong message that supports your audience.
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