Bold Introduction
Body and Discussion
For all entrepreneurs, this portion is for you. To gratify your needs and to enlighten you on how to start a business presentation. Here are the basics.
Always start with a concrete plan to strengthen the body of your presentation. With that, your listeners can’t easily stab your presentation.
If you are discussing in a formal setting, pick a deck with gray colors, choose dominant colors, and then combine.
To balance the whole presentation, put some icebreakers and funny idioms about your topic. Make sure it is sensible.
It helps your audience to get intact through the presentation. Try to use signal transitions, such as words or phrases that would give interconnections.
Of course, images and charts are vital. Make sure to use HD photos and reliable maps from data websites.
After the presentation, evaluate it by asking your listeners if they have any questions.
Questions like these must be considered and answered in your presentation.
Watch this live Speech <p data-sourcepos="3:1-3:271">A form of communication involving spoken language, it is used to express ideas, share information, tell stories, persuade, or entertain. Public speaking is a powerful tool used in diverse contexts, ranging from casual conversations to formal presentations.</p><br /><h2 data-sourcepos="5:1-5:27"><strong>Components of a Speech:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="7:1-10:0"> <li data-sourcepos="7:1-7:73"><strong>Content:</strong> The information, message, or story conveyed through words.</li> <li data-sourcepos="8:1-8:106"><strong>Delivery:</strong> The vocal and physical presentation, including clarity, volume, gestures, and eye contact.</li> <li data-sourcepos="9:1-10:0"><strong>Structure:</strong> The organization of the content, typically following an introduction, body, and conclusion.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="11:1-11:21"><strong>Speech in Action:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="13:1-17:0"> <li data-sourcepos="13:1-13:88"><strong>Informing:</strong> Sharing knowledge and facts, educating an audience on a specific topic.</li> <li data-sourcepos="14:1-14:119"><strong>Persuading:</strong> Advocating for a particular viewpoint, using arguments and evidence to influence thoughts or actions.</li> <li data-sourcepos="15:1-15:93"><strong>Motivating:</strong> Inspiring and energizing an audience, fostering action and positive change.</li> <li data-sourcepos="16:1-17:0"><strong>Entertaining:</strong> Engaging and delighting an audience through humor, storytelling, or creative language.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="18:1-18:32"><strong>Public Speaking and Anxiety:</strong></h2> <p data-sourcepos="20:1-20:227">Many people experience <strong>public speaking anxiety</strong>, a fear of speaking in front of an audience. While it's common, effective preparation, practice, and breathing techniques can significantly reduce anxiety and improve delivery.</p><br /><h2 data-sourcepos="22:1-22:32"><strong>Different Types of Speeches:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="24:1-28:0"> <li data-sourcepos="24:1-24:81"><strong>Informative speech:</strong> Focuses on conveying information clearly and concisely.</li> <li data-sourcepos="25:1-25:102"><strong>Persuasive speech:</strong> Aims to convince the audience to adopt a particular viewpoint or take action.</li> <li data-sourcepos="26:1-26:99"><strong>Motivational speech:</strong> Inspires and energizes the audience, building enthusiasm and commitment.</li> <li data-sourcepos="27:1-28:0"><strong>Entertaining speech:</strong> Aim to amuse and delight the audience, often using humor, storytelling, or anecdotes.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="29:1-29:33"><strong>Crafting a Compelling Speech:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="31:1-35:0"> <li data-sourcepos="31:1-31:106"><strong>Know your audience:</strong> Tailor your content and delivery to their interests, needs, and prior knowledge.</li> <li data-sourcepos="32:1-32:107"><strong>Have a clear message:</strong> Identify the main point you want to convey and structure your speech around it.</li> <li data-sourcepos="33:1-33:111"><strong>Engage your audience:</strong> Use varied vocal techniques, storytelling, and visual aids to keep them interested.</li> <li data-sourcepos="34:1-35:0"><strong>Practice, practice, practice:</strong> Rehearse your speech out loud to refine your delivery and build confidence.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="36:1-36:13"><strong>Remember:</strong></h2> <p data-sourcepos="38:1-38:281">Speech is a powerful tool for communication, connection, and influence. By understanding its elements, addressing potential anxieties, and tailoring your delivery to different contexts, you can harness the power of speech to achieve your intended goals and captivate your audience.</p> " href="https://orai.com/glossary/speech/" data-gt-translate-attributes="[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]" tabindex="0" role="link">speech or business seminar to get different hooks and other strategies to impress your listeners with your business presentation:
As your supervisor and other executives watch you presenting, stand tall and present like a boss through these points.
It organizes the presentation and connects the main points to sub-points. With that, you can have minimal effort but impactful results.
Try to begin asking the “why’s,” furthermore, enlighten them of “hows.” How to conduct, how to execute, and how to surpass their limits.
Stop introducing your presentation with your name. Always start to implore your audience with no cliché intro.
You can be ideological, symbolic, and rhetorical, and these things are not yet easy to comprehend without visuals. That’s why it is essential to develop and expand your data to make it understandable.
Suppose you want to have a good impression when presenting a business proposal to your bosses and other hotshots. Watch this video on striking tips and techniques for a presentation:
Case study presentations are more technical, unlike the other displays. It should be specific, tangible, credible, and substantial.
Also, here are the vital points to follow.
Facing new students is challenging, right? If you want to get a good impression from your class in different situations, take a look at these tips.
Tell them briefly who you are and why you are there in front of them while showing the right conduct and manners.
The material or your material must be the center of any presentation. Discuss its factuality and how tangible it is. Along with these, tell stories that may catch their interest and attention throughout the presentation.
End it with a bang! Make them think and stare at you. You can also give them riddles and some metaphorical set of words as an ending remark .
Indeed, you will gain their participation, plus you are helping your listeners to think critically.
Become a pro presenter. Download Orai and start practicing
To give more emphasis on how to start a business presentation and to help young entrepreneurs. I’ll share with you this detailed outline. I hope you tuck this with you.
Always set the stage with objectives. Since you are presenting to get clients and investment, it would help if you cleared how long it takes your business proposal.
Never underestimate the power of storytelling. Initiate your presentation with real-life stories.
Stating provoking questions can grab attention, positive or negative, is a good result. It helps you to get your listener’s ears and eyes.
This recommendation is similar to a word game, the “4-pics, One Word,” demonstrating the idea or topic with photos will be more immersing.
Visuals are one of the key points to expand a presentation. They are depicting patterns, diagrams, and trends. Lend quick analysis and predictions.
By using graphics, you can easily sustain the interest of your listeners and attract more viewers.
Master your presentation and fill loops. And on your topic. Study the weak points and establish more of the strengths of the presentation.
With that, you can derive the information smoothly. Take note of this. It is also vital on how to start a Board Meeting <p data-sourcepos="3:1-3:200">A formal gathering of a company's board of directors, where they discuss strategic matters, review financial performance, make key decisions, and oversee the organization's governance.</p><br /><h2 data-sourcepos="5:1-5:21"><strong>Key Participants:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="7:1-11:0"> <li data-sourcepos="7:1-7:102"><strong>Board members:</strong> Elected or appointed individuals responsible for guiding the company's direction.</li> <li data-sourcepos="8:1-8:94"><strong>Executives:</strong> Company leaders like the CEO, CFO, and COO, who provide updates and reports.</li> <li data-sourcepos="9:1-9:88"><strong>Secretary:</strong> Oversees logistics, records minutes, and ensures compliance with rules.</li> <li data-sourcepos="10:1-11:0"><strong>Legal counsel:</strong> Offers guidance on legal matters and ensures adherence to regulations.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="12:1-12:12"><strong>Purpose:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="14:1-19:0"> <li data-sourcepos="14:1-14:78"><strong>Strategic planning:</strong> Setting the company's long-term direction and goals.</li> <li data-sourcepos="15:1-15:81"><strong>Financial oversight:</strong> Reviewing financial reports, budgets, and investments.</li> <li data-sourcepos="16:1-16:86"><strong>Risk management:</strong> Identifying and mitigating potential risks to the organization.</li> <li data-sourcepos="17:1-17:76"><strong>Executive evaluation:</strong> Assessing the performance of company leadership.</li> <li data-sourcepos="18:1-19:0"><strong>Decision-making:</strong> Approving key initiatives, investments, and policies.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="20:1-20:11"><strong>Format:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="22:1-25:0"> <li data-sourcepos="22:1-22:43">Varies based on company size and culture.</li> <li data-sourcepos="23:1-23:91">Typically includes presentations, discussions, voting on proposals, and Q&A sessions.</li> <li data-sourcepos="24:1-25:0">It may be formal with strict agendas or more informal with brainstorming sessions.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="26:1-26:26"><strong>Public Speaking Roles:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="28:1-30:0"> <li data-sourcepos="28:1-28:125"><strong>CEO and other executives:</strong> Act as a <strong>public speaker</strong>, presenting reports, answering questions, and defending proposals.</li> <li data-sourcepos="29:1-30:0"><strong>Board members:</strong> May participate in discussions, ask questions, and occasionally propose or speak in favor of motions.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="31:1-31:39"><strong>Addressing Public Speaking Anxiety:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="33:1-36:0"> <li data-sourcepos="33:1-33:87">Many executives and board members face <strong>public speaking anxiety</strong> in these meetings.</li> <li data-sourcepos="34:1-34:93">Preparation, practicing presentations, and visualization techniques can help manage nerves.</li> <li data-sourcepos="35:1-36:0">Some companies hire <strong>public speaking coaches</strong> to offer personalized guidance and improve communication skills.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="37:1-37:248"><strong>Remember:</strong></h2> <p data-sourcepos="37:1-37:248">Effective board meetings require clear communication, active participation, and informed decision-making. By understanding the format, roles, and potential challenges, participants can contribute to a productive and impactful session.</p> " href="https://orai.com/glossary/board-meeting/" data-gt-translate-attributes="[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]" tabindex="0" role="link">board meeting presentation.
Put the top 10 successful corporations, traders, companies, and other information that may help you present your goal. Flash the motto of some famous entrepreneurs. Analyze or contradict it to gain more attention.
Try to spiel some business jokes as an icebreaker. Any possible facts about business that you can use — catch it!
Play videos like a Public Service Announcement (PSA), but make sure it is connected to your topic.
Learn how to start a business presentation that has movement and action for society. With that, your listeners may think your presentation is worth investing in.
Stay calm and don’t even think about drawbacks or shortcomings, especially the night before the presentation.
Make sure to pamper your body. Create also a plan B for unexpected circumstances.
In your run-through, always set a timer. It gives you a heads up if you may look rushing or too slow in explaining each slide.
Being not responsible for other people’s time is a turn-off, especially in business, where time is essential in the industry.
To present other samples wisely. Let me share some videos to rock and how to start a presentation:
Successful presentations like “How Google Works” and “Start with Why” prove the power of Clarity <p data-sourcepos="3:1-3:269">In <strong>public speaking</strong>, <strong>clarity</strong> refers to the quality of your message being readily understood and interpreted by your audience. It encompasses both the content and delivery of your speech, ensuring your message resonates and leaves a lasting impact.</p><br /><h2 data-sourcepos="5:1-5:16"><strong>Key Aspects:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="7:1-13:0"> <li data-sourcepos="7:1-7:133"><strong>Conciseness:</strong> Avoid unnecessary details, digressions, or excessive complexity. Focus on delivering the core message efficiently.</li> <li data-sourcepos="8:1-8:149"><strong>Simple language:</strong> Choose words and phrases your audience understands readily, avoiding jargon or technical terms unless you define them clearly.</li> <li data-sourcepos="9:1-9:145"><strong>Logical structure:</strong> Organize your thoughts and ideas logically, using transitions and signposts to guide your audience through your message.</li> <li data-sourcepos="10:1-10:136"><strong>Effective visuals:</strong> If using visuals, ensure they are clear, contribute to your message, and don't distract from your spoken words.</li> <li data-sourcepos="11:1-11:144"><strong>Confident delivery:</strong> Speak clearly and articulately, avoiding mumbling or rushing your words. Maintain good eye contact with your audience.</li> <li data-sourcepos="12:1-13:0"><strong>Active voice:</strong> Emphasize active voice for better flow and avoid passive constructions that can be less engaging.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="14:1-14:24"><strong>Benefits of Clarity:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="16:1-20:0"> <li data-sourcepos="16:1-16:123"><strong>Enhanced audience engagement:</strong> A clear message keeps your audience interested and helps them grasp your points easily.</li> <li data-sourcepos="17:1-17:123"><strong>Increased credibility:</strong> Clear communication projects professionalism and expertise, building trust with your audience.</li> <li data-sourcepos="18:1-18:111"><strong>Improved persuasiveness:</strong> A well-understood message is more likely to resonate and win over your audience.</li> <li data-sourcepos="19:1-20:0"><strong>Reduced confusion:</strong> Eliminating ambiguity minimizes misinterpretations and ensures your message arrives as intended.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="21:1-21:15"><strong>Challenges:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="23:1-27:0"> <li data-sourcepos="23:1-23:129"><strong>Condensing complex information:</strong> Simplifying complex topics without sacrificing crucial details requires skill and practice.</li> <li data-sourcepos="24:1-24:128"><strong>Understanding your audience:</strong> Tailoring your language and structure to resonate with a diverse audience can be challenging.</li> <li data-sourcepos="25:1-25:85"><strong>Managing nerves:</strong> Nerves can impact your delivery, making it unclear or rushed.</li> <li data-sourcepos="26:1-27:0"><strong>Avoiding jargon:</strong> Breaking technical habits and simplifying language requires constant awareness.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="28:1-28:22"><strong>Improving Clarity:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="30:1-35:0"> <li data-sourcepos="30:1-30:117"><strong>Practice and rehearse:</strong> The more you rehearse your speech, the more natural and clear your delivery will become.</li> <li data-sourcepos="31:1-31:107"><strong>Seek feedback:</strong> Share your draft speech with others and ask for feedback on clarity and comprehension.</li> <li data-sourcepos="32:1-32:161"><strong>Consider a public speaking coach:</strong> A coach can provide personalized guidance on structuring your message, simplifying language, and improving your delivery.</li> <li data-sourcepos="33:1-33:128"><strong>Join a public speaking group:</strong> Practicing in a supportive environment can help you gain confidence and refine your clarity.</li> <li data-sourcepos="34:1-35:0"><strong>Listen to effective speakers:</strong> Analyze how clear and impactful others achieve communication.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="36:1-36:250"><strong>Remember:</strong></h2> <p data-sourcepos="36:1-36:250"><strong>Clarity</strong> is a cornerstone of impactful <strong>public speaking</strong>. By honing your message, focusing on delivery, and actively seeking feedback, you can ensure your audience receives your message clearly and leaves a lasting impression.</p> " href="https://orai.com/glossary/clarity/" data-gt-translate-attributes="[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]" tabindex="0" role="link">clarity and simplicity. Both Schmidt and Sinek captivate audiences with straightforward messages enhanced by visuals (slides or whiteboard) that support, not overpower, their narratives. The lesson: ditch complexity, focus on your core message, and deliver it with a conviction for maximum impact.
Effective group presentations require thorough rehearsal, clean transitions, and speaker handovers. Recap your section, introduce the next speaker, and gesture towards them to link sections and keep the audience engaged.
Ditch the podium! Move around the stage to grab attention, connect with listeners, and emphasize key points. Strategic shifts in location signal transitions, while your energy and passion come alive through purposeful movement. Make your presentation dynamic and memorable – get moving!
To master the “remaining method,” Briefly introduce the controversy, dive deep with your side (logos & pathos!), acknowledge and dissect opposing solutions, and then unveil your “remaining solution” as the superior answer. Wrap up with a strong summary and a call to action. Guide your audience, earn trust, and win them over!
Ditch the dry facts! Captivate your audience with stories. Use classic structures like the hero’s journey or jump into the action with “in media res.” Craft your narrative with a clear plot, relatable characters, and a consistent tone. Tie it all back to your key points for maximum impact. Storytelling makes presentations memorable, engaging, and impactful – go forth and win hearts (and minds)!
Hook them, hit them, fix them! Problem-solution presentations start with a clear pain point, delve deep with causes and impacts (think logic and emotions!), and then unveil your solution as the hero and its amazing benefits. Finish with a call to action – tell them what to do next! Simple, powerful, persuasive.
Forget the slides; show and tell! Demo presentations explain the “what” and “why” of your product, then dazzle with a live showcase. Highlight problem-solving and potential uses to keep them hooked. Leave them curious and wanting more with a glimpse of what your product can truly do. It’s all about interactive understanding and engagement!
Q&A isn’t just an add-on! It’s a chance to clear confusion, recap key points, and answer burning questions. Wrapping up the discussion, offering deeper dives, and inviting audience participation – it’s the perfect way to seal the deal and connect with your listeners.
Ditch the tangents and deliver on your promises! The main body is where you unpack your points. Organize it clearly, hit each topic with evidence and examples, summarize as you go, and link your ideas. Keep it focused, relevant, and audience-friendly – take notes, stay on track, and make your impact!
Hook, roadmap, and expectations – that’s your intro! Briefly introduce the topic, explain why it matters and what you’ll cover, and tell the audience how long they’re in for and if they can participate. Set the stage, guide them through, and make them feel comfortable – then dive in!
Get organized, and get remembered! Structure keeps your audience engaged and learning while boosting your Confidence <p data-sourcepos="3:1-3:305">In the context of <strong>public speaking</strong>, <strong>confidence</strong> refers to the belief in one's ability to communicate effectively and deliver one's message with clarity and impact. It encompasses various elements, including self-belief, composure, and the ability to manage one's <strong>fear of public speaking</strong>.</p><br /><h2 data-sourcepos="5:1-5:16"><strong>Key Aspects:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="7:1-12:0"> <li data-sourcepos="7:1-7:108"><strong>Self-belief:</strong> A strong conviction in your knowledge, skills, and ability to connect with your audience.</li> <li data-sourcepos="8:1-8:95"><strong>Composure:</strong> Maintaining calmness and poise under pressure, even in challenging situations.</li> <li data-sourcepos="9:1-9:100"><strong>Assertiveness:</strong> Expressing your ideas clearly and concisely, avoiding hesitation or self-doubt.</li> <li data-sourcepos="10:1-10:104"><strong>Positive self-talk:</strong> Countering negative thoughts with affirmations and focusing on your strengths.</li> <li data-sourcepos="11:1-12:0"><strong>Strong body language:</strong> Using gestures, posture, and eye contact that project confidence and professionalism.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="13:1-13:27"><strong>Benefits of Confidence:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="15:1-19:0"> <li data-sourcepos="15:1-15:99"><strong>Reduced anxiety:</strong> Feeling confident helps manage <strong>fear of public speaking</strong> and stage fright.</li> <li data-sourcepos="16:1-16:133"><strong>Engaging delivery:</strong> Confident speakers project their voices, hold eye contact, and connect with their audience more effectively.</li> <li data-sourcepos="17:1-17:137"><strong>Increased persuasiveness:</strong> A confident presentation inspires belief and motivates your audience to listen and remember your message.</li> <li data-sourcepos="18:1-19:0"><strong>Greater impact:</strong> Confidently delivered speeches leave a lasting impression and achieve desired outcomes.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="20:1-20:15"><strong>Challenges:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="22:1-26:0"> <li data-sourcepos="22:1-22:112">Overcoming <strong>fear of public speaking</strong>: Many people experience some level of anxiety when speaking publicly.</li> <li data-sourcepos="23:1-23:101"><strong>Imposter syndrome:</strong> Doubting your abilities and qualifications, even when objectively qualified.</li> <li data-sourcepos="24:1-24:92"><strong>Negative self-talk:</strong> Internalized criticism and limiting beliefs can hamper confidence.</li> <li data-sourcepos="25:1-26:0"><strong>Past negative experiences:</strong> Unsuccessful presentations or negative feedback can erode confidence.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="27:1-27:24"><strong>Building Confidence:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="29:1-36:0"> <li data-sourcepos="29:1-29:102"><strong>Practice and preparation:</strong> Thoroughly rehearse your speech to feel comfortable with the material.</li> <li data-sourcepos="30:1-30:101"><strong>Visualization:</strong> Imagine yourself delivering a successful presentation with confidence and poise.</li> <li data-sourcepos="31:1-31:100"><strong>Positive self-talk:</strong> Actively replace negative thoughts with affirmations about your abilities.</li> <li data-sourcepos="32:1-32:106"><strong>Seek feedback:</strong> Ask trusted individuals for constructive criticism and use it to improve your skills.</li> <li data-sourcepos="33:1-33:157">Consider a <strong>speaking coach</strong>: Working with a coach can provide personalized guidance and support to address specific challenges and confidence barriers.</li> <li data-sourcepos="34:1-34:114"><strong>Start small:</strong> Gradually increase the size and complexity of your speaking engagements as you gain experience.</li> <li data-sourcepos="35:1-36:0"><strong>Focus on progress:</strong> Celebrate small successes and acknowledge your improvement over time.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="37:1-37:282"><strong>Remember:</strong></h2> <p data-sourcepos="37:1-37:282"><strong>Confidence</strong> in public speaking is a journey, not a destination. By actively practicing, embracing feedback, and focusing on your strengths, you can overcome <strong>fear of public speaking</strong> and develop the <strong>confidence</strong> to deliver impactful and memorable presentations.</p> " href="https://orai.com/glossary/confidence/" data-gt-translate-attributes="[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]" tabindex="0" role="link">confidence and delivery. It’s a win-win for both the speaker and the listener!
To be an effective speaker or presenter, you must master how to start a presentation. Learn the basics and dynamics.
Earn persuasive skills and grasp how to start a PowerPoint presentation with the steps and tips above to disseminate the information in a free-lingual way effectively.
I hope you find this helpful; you are free to use these tips for any goals.
You can try Orai , an AI-powered Speech Coach <p data-sourcepos="3:1-3:411">A <strong>speech coach</strong> is a trained professional who provides personalized guidance and support to individuals seeking to improve their <strong>public speaking</strong> skills. Whether you aim to <strong>master public speaking</strong> for professional presentations, overcome stage fright, or simply hone your everyday communication, a <strong>speech coach</strong> can tailor their expertise to meet your needs and goals.</p><br /><h2 data-sourcepos="5:1-5:32"><strong>What Does a Speech Coach Do?</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="7:1-13:0"> <li data-sourcepos="7:1-7:124"><strong>Conduct assessments:</strong> Analyze your strengths, weaknesses, and communication style through evaluations and observations.</li> <li data-sourcepos="8:1-8:149"><strong>Develop personalized plans:</strong> Create a customized roadmap with exercises, techniques, and feedback to address your specific areas of improvement.</li> <li data-sourcepos="9:1-9:167"><strong>Offer expert instruction:</strong> We will guide you through various aspects of public speaking, including vocal control, body language, content delivery, and overcoming anxiety.</li> <li data-sourcepos="10:1-10:168"><strong>Provide practice opportunities:</strong> Facilitate mock presentations, simulations, and role-playing scenarios to refine your skills in a safe and supportive environment.</li> <li data-sourcepos="11:1-11:114"><strong>Offer constructive feedback:</strong> Identify areas for improvement and suggest strategies for achieving your goals.</li> <li data-sourcepos="12:1-13:0"><strong>Boost confidence and motivation:</strong> Encourage and support you throughout your journey, empowering you to become a confident and impactful communicator.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="14:1-14:40"><strong>Who Can Benefit from a Speech Coach?</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="16:1-20:0"> <li data-sourcepos="16:1-16:174"><strong>Professionals:</strong> Refining public speaking skills can benefit executives, entrepreneurs, salespeople, leaders, and anyone who presents in professional settings.</li> <li data-sourcepos="17:1-17:160"><strong>Students:</strong> Teachers, public speakers, debaters, and students wanting to excel in presentations or classroom settings can gain valuable skills with a coach.</li> <li data-sourcepos="18:1-18:176"><strong>Individuals who fear public speaking:</strong> Coaching can help those who experience anxiety or nervousness when speaking in public develop strategies and gain confidence.</li> <li data-sourcepos="19:1-20:0"><strong>Anyone seeking to improve communication:</strong> A coach can provide guidance to individuals seeking to enhance their communication skills for personal or professional development.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="21:1-21:28"><strong>Types of Speech Coaches:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="23:1-26:0"> <li data-sourcepos="23:1-23:110"><strong>Private coaches:</strong> Work one-on-one with individuals to provide highly personalized attention and feedback.</li> <li data-sourcepos="24:1-24:130"><strong>Group coaches:</strong> Offer workshops or classes in group settings, often at a lower cost but with less individualized attention.</li> <li data-sourcepos="25:1-26:0"><strong>Specialization coaches:</strong> Some coaches specialize in executive communication, storytelling, or presentation design.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="27:1-27:35"><strong>Finding the Right Speech Coach:</strong></h2> <ul data-sourcepos="29:1-33:0"> <li data-sourcepos="29:1-29:91"><strong>Identify your goals:</strong> What areas do you want to improve? What are your specific needs?</li> <li data-sourcepos="30:1-30:109"><strong>Research credentials and experience:</strong> Look for qualified coaches with relevant experience and expertise.</li> <li data-sourcepos="31:1-31:122"><strong>Consider availability and budget:</strong> Set a budget and explore options that fit your schedule and financial constraints.</li> <li data-sourcepos="32:1-33:0"><strong>Schedule consultations:</strong> Talk to potential coaches to assess their personality, approach, and compatibility with your needs.</li> </ul> <h2 data-sourcepos="34:1-34:418"><strong>Remember:</strong></h2> <p data-sourcepos="34:1-34:418">Investing in a <strong>speech coach</strong> can be a transformative experience, enhancing your communication skills, boosting your confidence, and empowering you to achieve your communication goals. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your journey, consider exploring the potential of working with a <strong>speech coach</strong> to unlock your full potential as a communicator and <strong>master public speaking</strong>.</p> " href="https://orai.com/glossary/speech-coach/" data-gt-translate-attributes="[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]" tabindex="0" role="link">speech coach that perfectly suits your budget! They provide instant feedback on you to help with your public speaking needs. Start your free trial with Orai today!
How many words is a 5-minute speech, good attention getters for speeches with 10+ examples, quick links.
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Updated: August 15, 2024
Published: September 13, 2023
The first step in mastering the art of delivering powerful presentations is understanding how to start a presentation properly.
In this post, you'll discover strategies for crafting a solid presentation opening, designing an impactful opening slide, and delivering a memorable presentation.
Table of Contents
How to start a presentation, opening slide examples, best practices for starting a presentation.
Everything you need to become more comfortable and effective during your next presentation, including:
The opening of your presentation sets the tone for your entire session.
Within the first few minutes, most of your audience will decide whether they find your expertise, experience, and topic compelling enough to warrant their attention.
Think of it this way: Your opening is a preview of your presentation like a trailer is a preview of a movie. If the five-minute trailer isn’t engaging or impactful, why should the audience bother sitting through the half-hour movie?
Your opening shapes the expectations of your audience and entices them to stay engaged throughout the session.
And although you’ll still need to work to maintain their attention, getting it right from the start will spare you the challenge of re-engaging a disinterested audience right from the beginning of your presentation.
This opening statement is powerful because rather than lead with his “credentials” or “accolades,” as the audience most likely expects, he defies that expectation.
He creates a sense of intrigue that instantly piques the audience's curiosity and compels them to pay closer attention.
In Tom Thum's TedTalk titled Beatbox Brilliance , he sets a lighthearted tone by stepping on stage wearing oversized sunglasses and declaring, “My name is Tom, and I've come here today to come clean about what I do for money.”
As you might expect, this humorous approach not only elicits laughter but also surprises the audience, who are intrigued and pleasantly surprised at the tone he sets for the presentation.
Graham Shaw's presentation titled “ Why people believe they can’t draw - and how to prove they can ” begins with, “Hi, I've got a question for you - how many people here would say they can draw?”
Seeing as this is a relatively lighthearted question that’s simple to answer, the audience responds immediately.
Now, what makes this a powerful opening technique is that Graham then goes on to say:
“When people say they can’t draw, I think it's more to do with beliefs rather than talent and ability. When you say you can’t draw, that’s just an illusion, and today I’d like to prove that to you.”
By immediately challenging a widely held belief among the audience and promising to debunk it during the presentation, he employs a powerful technique that keeps the audience fully engaged.
This approach makes the audience feel “invested” in the outcome of the presentation and curious as to whether he can back up his claim.
Getting your audience’s attention is just one part of the equation. Once you have it, you must also explain why they should “keep” listening to you. Here are some ways to do this:
In Phil Waknell’s opening section, he talks about how he’s spent the last ten years helping conference speakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs prepare and deliver powerful presentations .
This immediately signals to the audience that he’s someone worth listening to and positions him as a credible source of insights based on the wealth of experience he has gathered.
During the opening section of Dr. Lara Boyd’s presentation titled “ After watching this, your brain will not be the same ,” she says, “I’m Dr. Lara Boyd, and I’m a brain researcher here at the University of British Columbia.”
Sharing her credentials as a brain researcher is crucial to gaining her audience's trust — especially considering the technicality of her topic.
But even while creating presentations outside fields like brain research, sharing qualifications and credentials in your opening section can be a powerful technique.
This helps you position yourself as a credible authority and reinforcing your audience's confidence in your ability to deliver valuable information.
In Mel Robbins’ opening section for her presentation titled “ How to stop screwing yourself over ,” she ends her introduction by saying:
“I’m here for you. I’m going to tell you everything I know in less than 18 minutes about how to get what you want.”
Although she started the section by highlighting her experiences and expertise, she went further by explicitly stating the benefits her audience can expect from her presentation.
Doing this is a great way to create a compelling reason for your audience to invest their time and attention and emphasize the value of the presentation you’re about to deliver.
If your topic is relatively simple to grasp or your audience is particularly knowledgeable, introducing your topic can be as easy as “Today, I’m going to be talking to you about how we’ve built a six-figure software company in 6 months.”
However, if your topic is more complex or unfamiliar to the audience, you must do a bit more heavy lifting in your opening section.
For example, Sam Bern’s “ My philosophy for a happy life ” presentation discusses how he lives a happy life despite having Progeria disease.
However, because this condition might be unfamiliar to some audience members, he takes some time in his opening section to talk about the illness before delving into the meat of his presentation.
Similarly, if you’re presenting on a complex topic or to an audience that isn’t knowledgeable, it’s essential to consider this when crafting your opening section.
Stories can create immersive experiences that captivate the audience and convey a core message.
For example, in the opening section of Sam Bern's presentation, he tells a story about his struggles while trying to achieve his goal of becoming a drummer in his school marching band, despite living with Progeria disease.
This sets the tone for his entire presentation by conveying an inspiring message of fighting against and succeeding despite the odds.
Another great example is the opening section of Josh Kaufman’s presentation, titled “ The First 20 Hours — how to learn anything ,” where he tells a story about his experience as a time-strapped first-time parent.
This story enhances the presentation as Josh eventually shares that this experience triggered his interest in studying how to become an efficient learner.
Finally, Amy Morins’s presentation “ The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong ” is another excellent example of leveraging storytelling.
Amy starts her presentation with a thought-provoking story about observing a Facebook friend's seemingly perfect life.
She then highlights how such comparisons can lead to negative thought patterns and emphasizes the importance of cultivating mental resilience.
This relatable story not only resonates with her audience but also sets the stage for her message on building inner strength.
All these presentations are great examples that highlight how incorporating story-telling in your openings can be a powerful tool for creating memorable and impactful presentations.
Your presentation slides play a crucial role in determining the impact and effectiveness of your presentation.
In this section, you’ll find examples of 8 powerful opening slides across various use cases that not just support but enhance the presentation openings:
Although these are very different methods of injecting humor at the start of a presentation, they show how infusing humor can be a powerful tool for adding a touch of personality and creating a more enjoyable presentation for the audience.
While it's important not to rush through the start of your presentation, keeping your opening concise is equally important. But remember, concise does not mean sacrificing substance; it simply means delivering information efficiently.
Essentially, you want an opening section that allows you to create a solid initial impression without losing the audience's interest.
So, how long should this opening secretion be?
Most successful presentation openings are under three minutes, and many are shorter, often clocking in at under one minute.
Contrary to popular belief, there isn't a specific personality that makes someone a better presenter. In fact, the most impactful presentations have been delivered by individuals with diverse characters.
Take, for instance, the contrasting styles of Tom Thum’s irreverent humor and animated mannerisms and Sam Bern, who adopts a relaxed and conversational approach. Despite their differences, both speakers have garnered millions of views for their talks.
So, rather than emulating or mimicking their presentations, the key takeaway is to embrace authenticity.
Allow your personality to shine through, lean on your strengths, and be human in your delivery.
Starting a presentation is a skill that is as much an art as it is a science. Thankfully, it is also a skill that can be learned and honed.
By implementing the strategies in this guide and refining them through experience, you’ll become a master at delivering impactful presentations that command attention and leave a lasting impression.
All from the moment you step onto the stage.
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Home Blog Presentation Ideas How to Start a Presentation: 5 Strong Opening Slides and 12 Tricks To Test
Knowing how to start a presentation is crucial: if you fail to capture the audience’s attention right off the bat, your entire presentation will flop. Few listeners will stick with you to the end and retain what you have told.
That is mildly unpleasant when you are doing an in-house presentation in front of your colleagues. But it can become utterly embarrassing when you present in front of larger audiences (e.g., at a conference) or worse – delivering a sales presentation to prospective customers.
Here is how most of us begin a presentation: give an awkward greeting, thank everyone for coming, clear our throats, tap the mic, and humbly start to mumble about our subject. The problem with such an opening performance? It effectively kills and buries even the best messages.
Table of Contents
Let’s say you have all of your presentation slides polished up (in case you don’t, check our quick & effective PowerPoint presentation design tips first). Your presentation has a clear storyline and agenda. Main ideas are broken into bite-sized statements for your slides and complemented with visuals. All you have left is to figure out how you begin presenting.
The best way is to appeal to and invoke certain emotions in your audience – curiosity, surprise, fear, or good old amusements. Also, it is recommended to present your main idea in the first 30 seconds of the presentation. And here’s how it’s done.
When you don’t feel like reinventing the wheel, use a classic trick from the book – start with a quick personal introduction. Don’t want to sound as boring as everyone else with your humble “Hi, I’m John, the head of the Customer Support Department”? Great, because we are all about promoting effective presentation techniques (hint: using a dull welcome slide isn’t one of them).
Here’s how to introduce yourself in a presentation the right way.
To ace a presentation, you need to connect with your audience. The best way to do so is by throwing in a simple story showing who you are, where you came from, and why your words matter.
The human brain loves a good story, and we are more inclined to listen and retain the information told this way. Besides, when we can relate to the narrator (or story hero), we create an emotional bond with them, and, again – become more receptive, and less skeptical of the information that is about to be delivered.
So here are your presentation introduction lines:
My name is Joanne, and I’m the Head of Marketing at company XYZ. Five years ago I was working as a waitress, earning $10/hour and collecting rejection letters from editors. About ten letters every week landed to my mailbox. You see, I love words, but decent publisher thought mine were good enough. Except for the restaurant owner. I was very good at up-selling and recommending dishes to the customers. My boss even bumped my salary to $15/hour as a token of appreciation for my skill. And this made me realize: I should ditch creative writing and focus on copywriting instead. After loads of trial and error back in the day, I learned how to write persuasive copy. I was no longer getting rejection letters. I was receiving thousands of emails saying that someone just bought another product from our company. My sales copy pages generated over $1,500,000 in revenue over last year. And I want to teach you how to do the same”
This one’s simple and effective as well. Introduce yourself by sharing an obvious stereotype about your profession. This cue will help you connect with your audience better, make them chuckle a bit, and set a lighter mood for the speech to follow.
Here’s how you can frame your intro:
“My name is ___, and I am a lead software engineer at our platform [Your Job Title]. And yes, I’m that nerdy type who never liked presenting in front of large groups of people. I would rather stay in my den and write code all day long. [Stereotype]. But hey, since I have mustered enough courage…let’s talk today about the new product features my team is about to release….”
After sharing a quick, self-deprecating line, you transition back to your topic, reinforcing the audience’s attention . Both of these formulas help you set the “mood” for your further presentation, so try using them interchangeably on different occasions.
Wow your audience straight off the bat by sharing something they would not expect to hear. This may be one of the popular first-time presentation tips but don’t rush to discard it.
Because here’s the thing: psychologically , we are more inclined to pay attention whenever presented with an unexpected cue. When we know what will happen next – someone flips the switch, and lights turn on – we don’t really pay much attention to that action.
But when we don’t know what to expect next – e.g., someone flips the switch and a bell starts ringing – we are likely to pay more attention to what will happen next. The same goes for words: everyone loves stories with unpredictable twists. So begin your presentation with a PowerPoint introduction slide or a line that no one expects to hear.
Here are a few hook examples you can swipe:
It creates an instant jolt and makes the audience intrigued to hear what you are about to say next – pedal back, continue with the provocation, or do something else that they will not expect.
“You will live seven and a half minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk.”
That’s how Jane McGonigal opens one of her TED talks . Shocking and intriguing, right?
Seasoned presenters know that one good practice is to ask a question at the beginning of a presentation to increase audience engagement. Rhetorical questions have a great persuasive effect – instead of answering aloud, your audience will silently start musing over it during your presentation. They aroused curiosity and motivated the audience to remain attentive, as they did want to learn your answer to this question.
To reinforce your message throughout the presentation, you can further use the Rhetorical Triangle Concept – a rhetorical approach to building a persuasive argument based on Aristotle’s teachings.
A clean slide with some mind-boggling stat makes an undeniably strong impact. Here are a few opening statement examples you can use along with your slide:
Compelling visuals are the ABC of presentation design – use them strategically to make an interesting statement at the beginning and throughout your presentation. Your first presentation slide can be text-free. Communicate your idea with a visual instead – a photo, a chart, an infographic, or another graphics asset.
Visuals are a powerful medium for communication as our brain needs just 13 milliseconds to render what our eyes see, whereas text comprehension requires more cognitive effort.
Relevant images add additional aesthetic appeal to your deck, bolster the audience’s imagination, and make your key message instantly more memorable.
Here’s an intro slide example. You want to make a strong presentation introduction to global pollution. Use the following slide to reinforce the statement you share:
“Seven of nine snow samples taken on land in Antarctica found chemicals known as PFAs, which are used in industrial products and can harm wildlife”
Source: Reuters
The “what if” combo carries massive power. It gives your audience a sense of what will happen if they choose to listen to you and follow your advice. Here are a few presentations with starting sentences + slides to illustrate this option:
Alternatively, you can work your way to this point using different questions:
“Imagine,” “Picture This,” and “Think of” are better word choices for when you plan to begin your presentation with a quick story.
Our brain loves interacting with stories. In fact, a captivating story makes us more collaborative. Scientists have discovered that stories with tension during narrative make us:
That’s why good action movies often feel empowering and make us want to change the world too. By incorporating a good, persuasive story with a relatable hero, you can also create that “bond” with your audience and make them more perceptive to your pitch – donate money to support the cause; explore the solution you are offering, and so on.
The curiosity gap is another psychological trick frequently used by marketers to solicit more clicks, reads, and other interactions from the audience. In essence, it’s the trick you see behind all those clickbait, Buzzfeed-style headlines:
Not everyone is a fan of such titles. But the truth is – they do the trick and instantly capture attention. The curiosity gap sparks our desire to dig deeper into the matter. We are explicitly told that we don’t know something important, and now we crave to change that. Curiosity is an incredibly strong driving force for action – think Eve, think Pandora’s Box.
So consider incorporating these attention grabbers for your presentation speech to shock the audience. You can open with one, or strategically weave them in the middle of your presentation when you feel like your audience is getting tired and may lose their focus.
Here’s how you can use the curiosity gap during your presentation:
What would you do if you attended a presentation in which the speaker remains silent for 30 seconds after the presentation starts? Just the presenter, standing in front of the audience, in absolute silence.
Most likely, your mind starts racing with thoughts, expecting something of vital importance to be disclosed. The surprise factor with this effect is for us to acknowledge things we tend to take for granted.
It is a powerful resource to introduce a product or to start an inspirational presentation if followed by a fact.
In some niches, using statistics as the icebreaker is the best method to retain the audience’s interest.
Say your presentation is about climate change. Why not introduce a not-so-common fact, such as the amount of wool that can be produced out of oceanic plastic waste per month? And since you have to base your introduction on facts, research manufacturers that work with Oceanic fabrics from recycled plastic bottles .
Using facts helps to build a better narrative, and also gives leverage to your presentation as you are speaking not just from emotional elements but from actually recorded data backed up by research.
Related to our previous point, we make quite an interesting speech if we contrast a fact vs. a myth in a non-conventional way: using a myth to question a well-accepted fact, then introducing a new point of view or theory, backed on sufficient research, that proves the fact wrong. This technique, when used in niches related to academia, can significantly increase the audience’s interest, and it will highlight your presentation as innovative.
Another approach is to debunk a myth using a fact. This contrast immediately piques interest because it promises to overturn commonly held beliefs, and people naturally find it compelling when their existing knowledge is put to the test. An example of this is when a nutritionist wishes to speak about how to lose weight via diet, and debunks the myth that all carbohydrates are “bad”.
Think about a presentation that discusses the benefits of using alternative therapies to treat anxiety, reducing the need to rely on benzodiazepines. Rather than going technical and introducing facts, the presenter can play a soothing tune and invite the audience to follow an exercise that teaches how to practice breathing meditation . Perhaps, in less than 2 minutes, the presenter can accomplish the goal of exposing the advantages of this practice with a live case study fueled by the proper ambiance (due to the music played in the beginning).
Let’s picture ourselves in an in-company presentation about workspace wellness. For this company, the sedentary lifestyle their employees engage in is a worrying factor, so they brought a personal trainer to coach the employees on a basic flexibility routine they can practice in 5 minutes after a couple of hours of desk time.
“Before we dive in, let’s all stand up for a moment.” This simple instruction breaks the ice and creates a moment of shared experience among the attendees. You could then lead them through a brief stretching routine, saying something like, “Let’s reach up high, and stretch out those muscles that get so tight sitting at our desks all day.” With this action, you’re not just talking about workplace wellness, you’re giving them a direct, personal experience of it.
This approach has several advantages. Firstly, it infuses energy into the room and increases the oxygen flow to the brain, potentially boosting the audience’s concentration and retention. Secondly, it sets a precedent that your presentation is not going to be a standard lecture, but rather an interactive experience. This can raise the level of anticipation for what’s to come, and make the presentation a topic for future conversation between coworkers.
How many times have you heard the phrase: “Before we begin, I’d like to dedicate a few words to …” . The speaker could be referring to a mentor figure, a prominent person in the local community, or a group of people who performed charity work or obtained a prize for their hard work and dedication. Whichever is the reason behind this, acknowledgment is a powerful force to use as a method of starting a presentation. It builds a connection with the audience, it speaks about your values and who you admire, and it can transmit what the conversation is going to be about based on who the acknowledged person is.
Now you know how to start your presentation – you have the opening lines, you have the slides to use, and you can browse even more attractive PowerPoint presentation slides and templates on our website. Also, we recommend you visit our article on how to make a PowerPoint Presentation to get familiarized with the best tactics for professional presentation design and delivery, or if you need to save time preparing your presentation, we highly recommend you check our AI Presentation Maker to pair these concepts with cutting-edge slide design powered by AI.
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Curiosity Gap, Opening, Public Speaking, Rhetorical Triangle, Speech, What If Filed under Presentation Ideas
Filed under Presentation Ideas • August 22nd, 2024
The script of a speech is a vital aspect for a presentation’s success. Join us here to learn the process of writing a presentation script.
Filed under Presentation Ideas • September 5th, 2023
Business professionals, students, and others can all benefit from learning the principles of persuasive speech. After all, the art of persuasion can be applied to any area of life where getting people to agree with you is important. In this article, we get into the basics of persuasive speaking, persuasive speech writing, and lastly persuasive speech topics.
Filed under Presentation Ideas • August 5th, 2023
Sometimes even the best presenters procrastinate their work until the very last moment. And then, suddenly, they get a flow of ideas to complete their slide deck and present like they have been preparing for it for ages. However, doing so has drawbacks, as even professional presenters cannot always elude the side effects of […]
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December 1, 2023
In the world of snooze-worthy presentations, your opening is your moment of truth. Knowing how to start a presentation—be it a sales presentation, an investor pitch, a conference keynote, or an internal team update—sets the tone for everything that follows. The best way to open your presentation? Forget about overly complicated introductions, because you’ll want to use your initial seconds to pique genuine curiosity and capture attention.
Whether it's through a thought-provoking quote, a stunning visual, a brief yet impactful video, an engaging question, or an interactive poll, the goal is to make your audience sit up and take notice, avoiding the common pitfall of starting with an 'about me' narrative. Remember, in these moments, your story is less about you and more about resonating with your audience. Wondering how you can craft an opening that not only grabs attention but also holds it? Here’s how to make sure your message sticks the landing.
The opening of a sales presentation is crucial in setting the stage for what you're offering. It’s your chance to grab the audience's attention and make them eager to hear more about your product or service. We might specialize in PowerPoint design services, but we’re also suckers for punchy openings and clever wordsmithing. Here are five dynamic ways to start your sales presentation to engage your audience effectively. After all, who’s going to buy from you if your presentation isn’t engaging?
Begin your presentation with a statistic that highlights a problem or opportunity relevant to your audience. For instance, if you’re selling a cybersecurity solution, you might start with, "Did you know that cyber attacks are increasing at an alarming rate of 30% per year?" This kind of opening not only grabs attention but also establishes the importance of your product or service. The more attention-grabbing, the better!
Asking a thought-provoking question can immediately engage your audience. It encourages them to think and become active participants. For example, "Have you ever considered how much time we waste on inefficient processes?" This approach works well in highlighting the pain points that your product or service can address.
Stories are powerful tools for connection, no doubt. Start with a short, relatable story that illustrates the need for your product or service. A narrative about a common challenge and how your product provided a solution can be very effective. For instance, "Let me tell you about a client who was struggling with..."
Using a striking visual can be a great way to start a sales presentation. A compelling image or a brief video that gets your message across can make a strong impression. This could be as simple as a before-and-after scenario, showcasing the effectiveness of your product.
Kick off with a bold, intriguing statement that makes the audience sit up and take notice. It should be directly related to the benefits of your product or service. For example, "We're not just changing the game–we're redefining it." This kind of opening sets a confident tone for the rest of your presentation.
Presenting to investors is a unique challenge. You need to quickly establish credibility and capture their interest. Here are five effective strategies for opening your investor presentation to ensure you make a lasting impression.
Begin with a powerful vision statement that encapsulates the essence and ambition of your business. This could be a glimpse into the future that your company is striving to create. For example, "At the heart of our company lies a vision to revolutionize sustainable energy for generations to come." This approach instantly sets a high-level tone and shows investors the potential impact of your business.
Start with a clear and compelling description of the problem your business aims to solve. This not only highlights the need for your solution but also demonstrates your understanding of the market. For instance, "In a world where over 30% of produced food is wasted, our solution offers an innovative way to reduce this drastically."
Share a brief story of a significant milestone or success that your company has achieved. This could be about landing a major client, a breakthrough in your technology, or a notable growth milestone. This kind of opening underlines your company's potential and track record.
Kick off with a surprising fact related to your industry that sets the stage for your presentation. This should be something that highlights the market opportunity or the need for your solution. For instance, "In the $2.2 trillion food industry, a shocking 30% of produce goes to waste. Our solution tackles this inefficiency head-on."
Starting with a brief narrative about why you founded the company can be a powerful way to connect with investors on a more personal level. It adds a human element to your presentation, allowing investors to understand your passion and commitment. For example, "My journey to founding this company began five years ago when I encountered..."
Keynote talks are an opportunity to inspire, influence, and leave a lasting impression on your audience. The opening of your talk is critical in setting the stage for your message. These are our favorite ways to hook your audience from the get-go.
Open with a quote that resonates with the theme of your talk. Choose a saying from a well known person that gets the basic idea of your message across. For instance, "As Nelson Mandela once said, 'It always seems impossible until it’s done.' Today, we explore the 'impossible'." This approach connects your audience to something that feels familiar and sets a reflective tone for the rest of the presentation.
Pose an intriguing question to your audience that provokes thought and relates directly to your topic. This could be a rhetorical question or one that challenges common perceptions. For example, "Have you ever wondered what truly drives innovation in our fast-paced world?" This strategy engages your audience’s curiosity right from the start.
Sharing a personal story that relates to your keynote theme can create an immediate emotional connection with your audience. It adds a personal touch and makes your message more relatable. Begin with, "Let me share a personal experience that profoundly changed my perspective on..." Remember to avoid going on about yourself, and instead focus on how the experience relates to the rest of your presentation.
These are all effective ways to make presentation storytelling lots more engaging. You can also use the previous suggestions of beginning the presentation with a visual hook or surprising fact to hook your audience from the start.
Nobody wants their internal updates to prompt “couldn’t this be an email?” comments from their colleagues. For internal updates, the approach should be distinctively different, focusing on team engagement, shared goals, and collective progress. Here’s what we suggest for your presentation to ensure your team is attentive and motivated.
Begin with a celebration of a recent achievement or milestone. This could be team-centric, like reaching a project goal, or company-wide, such as a notable business success. For example, "I am thrilled to start today by celebrating our team's achievement in surpassing our quarterly targets."
Start by highlighting progress on key projects or initiatives. This could be a brief overview of where things stand or a specific success story. It’s a great way to show the team that their efforts are leading to tangible results. For instance, "Let's kick off by looking at the incredible progress we've made on the X project in the last month."
Open by spotlighting a team member's contribution or achievement. This not only recognizes individual efforts but also fosters a culture of appreciation and motivation. For example, "I want to begin today's meeting by highlighting James' outstanding contribution to our client project last week."
Start with a brief discussion on relevant industry news or trends that might impact your team or company. This keeps the team informed and can start discussions on how these developments might affect your work. For example, "Let's start with some interesting developments in our industry that could present new opportunities for us."
Each of these approaches is designed to create an engaging and inclusive atmosphere for internal updates. The focus is on building team morale, encouraging participation, and keeping everyone aligned with the company’s goals and achievements.
To wrap up, let's compile three actionable examples for each type of presentation we've discussed. These examples are designed to be directly applicable, giving you a practical blueprint for engaging your audience right from the beginning of your presentation.
Statistic-based .
"Every year, businesses lose approximately $1.7 trillion due to inefficiencies in communication. Today, we introduce a solution that turns this challenge into an opportunity."
"How many of you have experienced frustration due to delayed flights? Our app is here to change your travel experience forever."
"Last year, a small business owner faced a daunting challenge with their supply chain. Our software transformed their process, resulting in a 40% increase in efficiency."
Vision statement.
"We envision a future where renewable energy is not a luxury, but a norm for every household. Our technology is the key to this future."
"In a world where online privacy is constantly under threat, our platform provides an unbreachable shield, safeguarding digital identities."
"Just six months ago, our prototype caught the attention of industry giants, leading to a groundbreaking partnership that sets us on a path to revolutionize our field."
"Margaret Mead famously said, 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.' This idea is at the core of our discussion today."
"What if I told you that the biggest barrier to innovation is not a lack of ideas, but a lack of action? Let’s explore this further."
"This image [showing a powerful photograph] represents the drastic change our industry has undergone in the last decade. Let's dive into what this means for us."
"I'm excited to announce that thanks to our team's efforts, customer satisfaction has hit an all-time high this quarter!"
"To get us started, I'd like everyone to share one word that describes their current project experience."
"Recent developments in AI technology have opened new avenues for our projects. Let's discuss how we can integrate these into our workflow."
These examples offer a versatile range of strategies to effectively start your presentations, tailored to the specific context and audience of your talk. Whether it’s a sales presentation, an investor pitch, a conference keynote, or an internal team update, using these examples as a guide can help you grab your audience's attention and keep them engaged throughout. Presenting is not easy, but a good opening will give you the confidence boost that can help you throughout your talk. Here’s to less-boring presentations!
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Written by: Unenabasi Ekeruke
You’ve spent time working on a project that could be a potential game-changer for your company or client. Now you’re buzzing to present it to your team, investors and other key stakeholders.
Creating and delivering project presentations can be nerve-racking and you probably have one question running through your mind.
How do you get the decision-makers to understand your project or secure their buy-in?
Considering that some companies have had about 12% of failed projects in the past year, you want to create presentations that are not only convincing but memorable.
With the right project presentation deck, you can win and keep your audience’s attention long enough to explain project details and why it’s sure to succeed.
Not sure how to create successful project presentations? We’ve got you covered.
This article will show you how to set project goals and create winning presentations that take your project to the next level.
Here’s a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit project presentation templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:
Let's get to it.
Before you dive into the main details of your project presentation, you want to answer these questions:
If you have to make long guesses before answering these questions, you’ve got a lot of work to do.
Here’s what you should know. Beautiful or well-articulated project presentations aren’t a substitute for project planning. Without clear goals, your project is already set up to fail. And your investors might think, “why bother listening?”
Many project managers tend to rush through the goal-setting phase, but we don't recommend this. That’s because you could be setting yourself up for failure.
Once you clearly define your project goals, you can get stakeholders to buy into them.
Now the question is, how do you set goals for your project and achieve them? One way to do that is by using the SMART goal setting method.
SMART is an acronym that stands for S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R elevant and T ime-Bound.
SMART goals are a staple for planning and executing successful projects. It takes a deeper look into the finer details your audience care about, such as:
For example, let's say your project aims to improve customer experience on web and mobile devices. Notice this example describes the end goal. But it doesn’t specify how you’ll work to enhance customer experience.
Here’s how using SMART goals provides direction for your planned project.
When setting your goals, be clear and specific about what you want to achieve in the end.
A specific goal could be: “We want to build a responsive website and mobile app for our company to improve customer experience. This project will require inputs from our product design, software and marketing department”.
During your presentation, you'd have to answer questions like:
Having metrics in place will help you evaluate your project. Plus, you’d be able to monitor progress and optimize your project to achieve better results.
It doesn’t matter if you’re planning a short-term or long-term project. Ensure you set metrics and milestones that count towards your goal.
From our earlier example, a measurable goal could be to have:
One of the most critical questions you want to ask during goal-setting is, “Can we achieve our set goal?” Do we have the resources to accomplish the goal within the available time frame?
If the answer is no, then you’d have to consider what it would take to achieve those goals. This may require adjusting your goals or the resources needed to achieve your goal.
Although it’s okay to be ambitious, you should also be realistic. For example, getting 200,000 app downloads in one week could be overly ambitious if you’ve just launched your app. However, if you set out to achieve that goal in three months, that could make your project practicable.
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Your project goals need to align with your broader business goals. Are your goals relevant to the growth and success of the company? Are they worth allocating resources for?
For instance, if your company is B2B and doesn’t plan to expand to the B2C market, launching an e-commerce website would be an irrelevant goal.
Regardless of your project type and size, you should set time frames. Setting target dates for deliverables creates a sense of urgency and motivates you to hit your goals.
From our example above, a time-bound goal could be “We aim to achieve 100,000 mobile app downloads and a 15% conversion rate by the end of the fiscal year. Our company will launch the mobile app by Q3 with a robust marketing campaign that will run through the end of next fiscal year.”
Setting SMART goals doesn’t have to be a challenging task. Use the template below to set project goals that position your business for success.
After you've set your goals, your team will play a key role in helping you achieve them. So you ensure they understand these things:
Unless you’re clear on this, the project can derail and move in all sorts of unwanted directions.
Rather than slam the goals you’ve set on your team, make it a collaborative effort. Spend time talking to your team and stakeholders about the project goals.
Don't limit your communication to people within your department. You can reach out to people in other departments like sales, operations, finance, etc., to see how well your goals align with theirs.
To give your team a better understanding, you can communicate your project goals in a variety of ways, including:
By doing that, you’re sure to get their valuable feedback, buy-in and commitment to the project. Plus, getting your team on board with your project plan will up your chances of successful execution.
Once you’ve set your goals, the next big step is to outline how you'll achieve them. An excellent place to start is by organizing your project into an actionable plan and steps for execution.
You might wonder why this step is important for creating a successful project presentation.
Whether you’re planning a small or big project, writing a detailed plan, structure and layout puts everything into perspective. It eliminates vagueness and helps your audience grasp the project roadmap without missing the points.
Your project plan should contain the technical and non-technical project details. Therefore, you want to give yourself an edge by using a project presentation template that clearly explains all the activities and steps.
Not only that, your presentation structure should be simple and easy to follow.
Depending on the project type, your plan could include key details such as:
There's no hard and fast rule for laying out your project plan. However, if you want to create a memorable plan that will keep your audience engaged, you could break it down into three parts, including:
Your introduction should provide a brief overview of what you’re going to talk about and why it’s relevant to your audience. You could start by writing down the project name and the executive summary.
Think of your executive summary as an abridged version of the project plan.
If your audience read only your executive summary, would they have all the information they need about your project? If the answer is yes, your executive summary has served its purpose.
The length of your executive summary will depend on what you intend to cover in your project plan. However, we recommend keeping your executive summary one or two pages long.
You can include key information such as:
Keep in mind that not everyone will have the time to dive into the details of your project plan.
Having a snapshot of your project brings clarity to key stakeholders and collaborators. It also enables people who aren't actively involved in the project to understand it at a glance.
The body of your project plan is where you have the full project details and everything relevant to its success.
Here you can break your project into deliverables, tasks, milestones and schedules (start and end dates).
Ensure you precisely define the resources you need to complete the project, including finances, team, time, technology, physical resources and more.
This is the part where you sum up your project plan with key takeaways. Your conclusion should include what you expect from your audience, including key action points and next steps.
Writing your intro, body and conclusion may sound like a lot of information. But instead of writing multiple pages of text, incorporating visuals can make your project presentations more effective.
By using images, videos, infographics and charts , you can capture all the vital information and help your audience understand your message better.
Visme presentation templates are effective for visualizing different sections of your project plan. They are professionally designed and easy for anyone to craft high-quality project plans that keep their team on track.
Use the project plan templates below to kickstart your project planning process.
You've just spent time crafting your project action plan. Now it’s time to communicate your project plan and goals with your audience.
Project presentations are a lot like sales pitches. Whether you’re presenting your project plan to clients or creating a pitch deck for investors, your job is to keep your audience hooked right from the start till the end.
One of the most potent ways of grabbing your audience's attention is by highlighting their pain points.
It’s not enough to have beautiful slides that showcase your amazing product features and project activities.
Make sure you set up your project presentation to:
In a nutshell, your audience should have a clear insight into how your project makes their life better. When they’re clear on this, they’ll most likely listen to the solutions you bring to the table and take the desired action.
Don’t make sweeping assumptions about your audience.
If you’re looking to get them on board, dedicate a slide to discuss their problems and solutions. Make them understand how your project benefits them.
Not sure what your audience's pain points are? Go ahead and do these things:
RELATED: How to Write an Effective Presentation Outline
When creating project presentations, prioritize quality over quantity. Be sure to keep your slides short and simple. When you do this, your audience will be glad you value their time.
Remember, this isn’t the time to slam your audience with lengthy and irrelevant jargon. Instead, keep your slides on topics and hit the main points without the boring and unnecessary details.
Here’s why you need to keep your presentation brief:
How do you keep your project presentations short?
For example, the 10/20/30 rule by Guy Kawasaki is one of the most popular methods used by experts. The rule recommends using ten slides for 20 minutes presentations (about two minutes per slide). It also specifies using a font size of at least 30 for text.
This will enable your audience to digest the messages on your screen while you’re talking.
Keep in mind that this isn’t an iron-clad rule for presentation. There are other rules such as Pecha Kucha method , Takahashi method, Lessig method, etc. You can adapt any of these rules to suit your project presentation needs.
Another great way to keep your slides brief yet interesting is using less text and more visuals.
Remember, your slide should aid your verbal presentation and not replace it. So you want to avoid crowding too much information on one slide.
Cluttering your presentation with too much text could:
Instead, use one slide to present each idea. Marketing guru Seth Godin recommends no more than six words per slide .
People retain more information when it’s presented in bite-size chunks and visuals. This applies to B2B, B2C audiences, project managers and corporate executives.
About 59% of business executives say they’d rather watch a video about a topic than read about it. Hence the need to supercharge your project presentation with compelling visuals that capture and bring your audience’s attention right where you want it.
Steve Jobs’ MacWorld Keynote presentation in 2007 is an excellent example of how to enhance your presentation with compelling visuals.
During the presentation, Steve Jobs used live and interactive visuals to show how the iPhone 1 works.
Read on to learn more tips on creating engaging presentations that will wow your audience.
With Visme's presentation maker , you can make stunning project presentations with a rich blend of text and compelling visuals. Hook your audience and inspire action with stellar project presentation templates like the one below.
Visuals are important for making successful project presentations. Beyond grabbing the audience’s attention and keeping them engaged, viewers recall 95% of a message when presented in visual form. But when shared via text, they retain only about 10%.
There are many types of visual aids you can use in your presentations, including:
Using images and videos will up your chances of getting audience engagements and positive responses to your call-to-action (CTA).
Gantt charts , whiteboard drawings and mind maps are ideal for visualizing early-stage project designs. You can use charts, diagrams, maps and trees to present the project architecture for technology-related projects.
If you’re working on product development projects, consider adding sketches, flowcharts , models and prototypes to your slide.
Pie charts are excellent for showing percentages. Vertical bar charts indicate changes over time, while horizontal bar charts help you compare quantities.
Infographics are perfect for visualizing data and explaining complex information like market trends.
Here’s the interesting part. Visme has the tools you need for every job. The software allows you to add different visuals, infographics, charts and graphs to your deck and customize them to suit your needs.
You can change design, text and background colors, add or remove legends, animate charts, etc.
You can also use maps to represent geographic information. Or, use progress bars, thermometers, radials and widgets to visualize stats and figures as shown in the template below.
When adding visuals to your slide, don’t go overboard. Stick to a minimum of two images per slide. In addition, make sure your visuals are relevant to your project presentation.
While designing your presentation slides , always stick to high-quality visuals. Blurry or low-resolution images or videos can be a major turn-off for viewers.
With high-quality visuals, your presentations will be crisp and clear, even on large screens.
The slide below is an excellent example of how to power your presentations with compelling visuals.
Want to create impressive presentations that pop? If the answer is yes, you need to pay attention to your design details. Your design can make or break your project presentation.
Whether you are an experienced designer or a novice, design tools like Visme give you an edge. You can create compelling presentation designs for your business in a few minutes.
The beautiful thing is that you don’t have to break the bank to make stunning project presentations. You'll find beautiful ready-made templates and millions of stunning royalty-free images for your slides.
Here are tips you should consider while designing your slides.
If you want to make your presentations appealing, use color moderately.
We get it; everyone loves color. But using too many colors can make your presentations look chaotic and unpleasant.
Your color choice can influence how your audience grasps and responds to your presentation. A general rule of thumb is to pick colors that evoke positive emotions in your audience.
For example, warm colors like yellow, orange and red convey feelings of excitement and positivity. On the other hand, cool colors (blue, green and violet) reflect an aura of calmness.
When combining colors, aim for a balanced color scheme. For example, if your slide or image background is dark, your text and design elements should have bright colors. This contrast will make your project presentation legible and visually appealing.
You can learn about color psychology and how to use it in your next presentation design by watching the video below.
Optimizing your typography can make a difference in how people perceive your message. So you want to make sure your slide looks organized, professional and sends the right message.
Here’s how you can make this happen:
In addition, remember to present your text using the color scheme we mentioned earlier. This will keep your text visible over your background.
Take a look at this slide from one of our presentation templates. Notice how the design, fonts and color combination blends in to make the visuals pop.
Whether you’re a newbie or pro, creating project presentations that pack a punch can be time-consuming.
Let’s say you’ve got a deadline looming. You’d have to deal with writing your project outline, preparing your slide notes, designing your slides, sourcing and incorporating visuals and more.
Handling these things from scratch could slow you down or make your presentations untidy.
Using presentation templates could save you from all the stress. They help you make professional-looking project presentations fast and easy.
Since the slides are pre-designed, you’ll find a place to insert every possible piece of content you need. Be it a progress bar, chart, graph, table, video or image, the design is right there.
All you need to do is type your content, input data or insert the image. And boom, your presentation is ready to go.
In addition, using presentation templates offers brand consistency in terms of font, style, layout, colors and overall design. You can customize and share templates with your project team to keep your presentations uniform.
The title and main body slide, image and chart layout and fonts are set in the template. Therefore formatting your slide becomes a breeze—no more messy or cluttered project presentations.
Visme has a wide selection of templates designed to make your presentations shine. You’ll find millions of pixel-perfect graphics, icons, design elements and professionally designed templates for any purpose, industry and project type.
Regardless of your skill level, you can customize your templates like the one below. Just add your content and your project presentations will be ready in a few minutes.
If you follow all the tips we shared above, you’ve probably got the perfect project presentation on paper. Great stuff, but your job isn’t done yet.
Your delivery is the final piece of the puzzle, and you’ve got to make it count.
Here’s the thing. Your presentation could flop if the delivery isn’t convincing. Hence the need to plan your delivery and drive your message across with passion and enthusiasm.
Here's how to deliver project presentations that leave an impact.
Did you know that Steve Jobs used to spend two days prepping for presentations? Yes, you read that right.
Practice is one of the key steps to nailing your delivery.
You can practice by reading out loud in your quiet space. While you’re at it, make audio and video recordings and watch them repeatedly.
Ask your friends and colleagues to serve as a test audience and give feedback on your presentation.
This run-through will help ensure your presentation captures the main points within the allotted time. It will also help you maintain the correct body posture during your project presentation.
Make time to check if the equipment is working and get familiar with the settings and operations. This is especially important if you plan to use video or audio in your slides.
Your audiences could have short attention spans, so make those first moments count. With solid openings, you can hook your audience and set the mood for a successful presentation.
Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech at Stanford is an excellent example of having a solid opening. With over 4 million views on YouTube, it’s one of the most memorable and watched speeches in history.
Notice how he hooks the audience with powerful anecdotes about his life, beginning from dropping out of college. And then, he goes on to share the lessons he learned in his early days at Apple, losing his job in 1985 and reflections on death.
Here’s how to make an excellent opening speech that grabs the audience’s attention and convinces them you’re worth listening to:
Be sure to tailor your opening hook to your audience. To make this effective, it’d help to know about your audiences, including their likes, dislikes, cultural and ethical dispositions, etc.
If you want to learn more about making captivating presentation openings and more, read our guide on starting a presentation .
While presenting your project, focus on your audience’s needs. By doing this, you’ll build an emotional connection and drive action.
However, don’t go overboard. Be genuine and focus on getting the points across to them. This way, you’ll gain their trust and build excitement about your project.
Keep in mind that everything may not go as planned. It’s best to have backup materials and be flexible enough to make necessary adjustments. Preparing for unexpected events will give you more control over them.
After you've delivered a fantastic presentation, make sure you wrap it up in a memorable way. Doing this will leave a lasting impression and nudge your audiences to take action.
One way to end your project presentation is to use a powerful call to action.
You can also tell memorable stories, summarize the main points and highlight compelling figures about the project.
For example you can mention some really intriguing figures like:
The goal is to hype your audiences and stimulate them to take action.
You can check out our other article to learn more about ending your presentation on a great note.
Creating a successful project presentation starts with setting your goals and having a clear plan to achieve them. It also requires crafting compelling content, paying attention to design and excellent delivery.
If you’re going to close those deals, you need a solid pitch deck to explain your project details and why it will succeed. We recommend using an intuitive project presentation software like Visme .
Visme is the perfect design tool for creating stunning and engaging project presentations . With Visme, you’ll have access to a wide range of features and tools to help bring your project ideas to life.
The tool has hundreds of presentation templates, design elements, font styles, built-in stock images and videos, data visualization tools and more to make your project presentation a hit. You can download your design in different formats and share it across multiple social media channels.
Now you have all the tips and tools for nailing your next project presentations. Go ahead and make it memorable with Visme's project presentation software.
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CHICAGO AUGUST 29-30 PUBLIC SPEAKING CLASS IS ALMOST FULL! RESERVE YOUR SPOT NOW
Of course, we’ve all been there as a speaker. First, we design a powerful presentation. Then, we nervously walk out onto a stage or into the front of the room. The audience stares with skepticism written all over their faces. This stoic crowd has no patience for speakers who waste their time. And their demeanor is showing that fact right now. In a timid voice, we start with a simple, “Good morning.” We get no response from the audience — no warm welcome at all. As a result, our nervousness increases dramatically.
The good news is that your speech doesn’t have to start this way. Your first words will create first impressions.
So, in this session, I’m going to give you the best way to start a successful presentation so you can win over the audience members. Below are a few of my favorite ways to start a speech that will help you capture the attention of your audience and get even the most stoic crowd to want more from you.
Here is the list of effective presentation openers.
(1) give a summary and conclusion at the beginning of a presentation..
As a speaker, you have a lot going against you. The biggest challenge is that most of the people who are in your audience would really rather be somewhere else. So starting with the conclusion gives them a reason to tune in and pay attention to the content.
TV shows and movies do this a lot. The first scene in Titanic is 90-year-old Rose wheeling onto the salvage ship. Immediately, she asked the Captain to see her painting. “Wasn’t I a dish?”
We all know the story of Titanic, but by starting 70 years into the future, we already know that somehow, Rose was going to survive the tragedy. We pay attention because we want to see how she did it.
You probably also recall Netflix series that show a quick introduction and then a flashback to an earlier time.
You can create the same effect in your presentation introduction by making your title a conclusion that you want the audience to draw. Then, lay out each main point that will help them come to that conclusion.
For instance, “My topic today is Five Ways to Get Your Executives to Increase Your Department Budget, and the items we will cover are…” Of course, this technique works best when your title is a result that your audience really wants.
This is an easy way to start a presentation. You can use a single PowerPoint presentation slide as a visual aid to capture the audience’s attention right away! (FYI, you can also use this technique at the end of a presentation.)
More details about this are in Start with a Great Title .
I taught a private presentation class for Mitsubishi once. And I could tell walking into the room that this was going to be a tough crowd. The culture of the predominately Japanese company is fairly quiet and conservative. Most often, when I introduce myself to class members, people are warm and friendly. Since I’m a guest in their office, most try to make me feel at home.
By the way, the Mitsubishi organizer did this here as well. However, as the participants came into the room, each walked in without saying a word. Each sat down, opened their laptops, and quietly began typing on their keyboards.
I did my best to try to get them to open up. But very few of them were laughing at my jokes or smiling at me as I asked them questions. (Tough crowd.)
So, when I started the class, I knew I needed something that would help the group relate to me. I decided to go into a fairly detailed version of an experience where I totally bombed a speech. I added a lot of self-deprecating humor to the story. Afterward, the mood in the room lightened quite a bit. It was an easy way to get the audience to feel more at ease and become more relatable to them.
Stories are easy additions to any speech. For instance, if you are giving a project report, you can start with a memorable event that occurred on the project since the last meeting. Or, if you are giving a financial report where profit is up, just give a great example of something that caused profit to increase.
By doing a little research, you can often find a good (and or startling) statistic that can capture attention quickly. You can also create a good introduction by phrasing the statistic as a provocative statement.
For instance, let’s say you are giving a financial presentation where revenue for your company was up 2.5% last quarter. You might look up the statistics for your industry as a whole in the same quarter. Then, you can start your speech with that data. “The electronics industry as a whole was up 3.4% last quarter. However, our company underperformed the industry with only a 2.5% increase in revenue.”
The easiest way to find statistics about your topic is to just do a Google search [Your Topic} followed by the word “statistic”.
I’ll give some examples. I just did a Google search for “Popular Ted Talks” and came up with an article about the Top 25 Most Shared Ted Talk videos . I just pasted the names of the talks into Google with the word “statistic” added and this is what I came up with.
So, it is really easy to create compelling statistics to get your audience to think differently about your topic just as you begin to speak.
You can combine the last two tips for even more impact. Place a statistic along with a story of how you found the statistic at the beginning of your presentation. This is a great way to start your presentation. “I remember watching Jerry Seinfeld do a stand-up bit. He mentioned that the fear of public speaking was the number one fear in America. Then he looked down the list and saw that the fear of death was number five. So, you are five times more likely to rather be in the casket than up giving the eulogy at a funeral.”
The key to each of these first tips is that they increase the retention of information for your audience.
For instance, using the Summary technique, you give your audience an introduction with your presentation topic and key points. Then as you go through each point, they hear each one again. Finally, you summarize the points one more time at the end of your presentation. The audience is now more likely to remember your important points. because of this subtle repetition.
A good story will also increase retention. Stories have a way of creating visual images in the mind of the audience that is more memorable than just facts alone. A startling statistic gets the audience to think, “Is that really true?” so they pay attention more.
(4) a funny or motivational quote or one-liner..
“There are two types of speakers: Those who get nervous and those who are liars.” — Mark Twain
A powerful quote is an effective way to make a positive first impression. It also adds a little humor. You can find quotes like this for your presentations as well. Just like with statistics, you can Google your topic with the word “quotes” to get ideas.
Walt Disney once said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” But have you ever thought to realize that every single invention ever created by man was once just an idea born from someone’s need?
“In a perfect world, if your team was able to present their ideas to your customers more effectively, what would they be doing that they are not doing now?”
This technique is more challenging for a presenter. You have to be able to take whatever your audience gives you and design a killer presentation on the fly. However, if you have done good research before the meeting, you shouldn’t be surprised by the answers you get.
Keep in mind that only the best presenters use this technique. So, when you add open-ended questions to your speech, you will increase your stature as a speaker as well.
By the way, the question should be open-ended, meaning that the audience is giving you their opinions. Rhetorical questions and show of hands questions can backfire. Your audience may think you are trying to manipulate them. So, the important thing to remember is to ask a question that asks for the opinion of the audience members. That way, as they answer, everyone can be correct..
I will then follow this statement with a list of different tips that people try that don’t work really well. (Things like picturing your audience naked.)
The funny thing is that many of the people in the room will question the truthfulness of the statement the first time I say it. It is a bold claim. They don’t confront me, though. However, when I look around the room, I can see the distrust on their faces.
However, as I begin to list the crazy tips one by one, they begin to realize the truthfulness of the statement. Internally, the checklist sounds like this…
Another shocking statement I use is to foreshadow a future behavior in the speech. When I lead team activities, I often have them play a game to divide into teams. So, I might start the presentation with, “In less than 15 minutes, some of you chivalrous men who opened a door for a young lady when she came into the room will actually be chicken-winging that woman to take something from her.” Of course, when something like that actually happens, everyone erupts in laughter.
Talk radio, television news, and reality TV shows do this brilliantly.
I remember years ago watching season one of Survivor. The season winner was an eccentric guy named Richard Hatch, who was a good fisherman, so he fed the group. However, he also did things to keep the other contestants a little off their game. At the start of one of the episodes, Richard was walking along the beach buck-naked with his bottom blurred out by the producers.
I remember doing a double-take when the image came on the screen. (There are some things that you just can’t unsee.) I didn’t particularly ever want to see Hatch’s bare bum ever again. However, I had an eager want to find how the heck this happened.
Talk radio guys do this by saying, “At the bottom of the hour, we’re going to…” The technique is like a cliffhanger. Everyone wants to know how the story will end. Will Ross marry Emily, or will Rachel stop the wedding? Will Jon Snow die of his stab wounds? Ken Jennings has won 74 times in a row on Jeopardy. When will he get beaten? What is going to happen now that DEA agent Hank realizes his brother-in-law broke bad? And finally, who shot J.R.?
This is a fun technique to use when you start a presentation. And there are many different ways to do this, depending on the purpose of your presentation.
For instance, you could tell your compelling story, as I suggested earlier. However, don’t tell the ending. Stop right as you get to the climax. Then tell the ending in your conclusion. (More details about this in How to End a Speech .)
Or, the hook can be a cliffhanger or foreshadowing of something later in the presentation. “As we did this research, we uncovered a single habit that, once we change it, will generate an extra quarter of a million dollars for our company. And I will share that secret with you in my final point.”
I actually do this on my podcast as well. I might start the episode by saying something like, “In the last ten minutes of this episode, I’m going to share with you my best, overall, foolproof presentation opener.”
(Which, by the way, is right now…)
For instance, one time, just after July 4th, my kids had some leftover fireworks. I also had some decorative mailing tubes left over from a failed marketing campaign.
The next morning, I was to speak at a business breakfast. I got to the hotel meeting room before anyone else and filled a trash can with water. Then, I left the can under the presentation table at the front of the room. I stuck one of the sparklers into the top of the mailing tube and waited until my time to speak. The emcee called my name, and I waited at the back of the room. She called my name one more time, and I waited just a bit longer. When she called my name the third time, I lit the sparkler and went rushing to the front of the room.
Of course, the visual aid looked like I was holding a stick of cartoon dynamite. I pulled the trash can from under the table and threw the prop into the can where it sizzled and smoked. The whole audience was looking around like, “What the heck?” I paused and then said, “Do you want to put some sizzle into your presentations?”
Okay, it was cheesy. It was over the top. But it got the whole audience laughing. Everyone in the room remembered who I was and what I did for a living.
Whatever method that you choose to start your presentation make sure to spend time on developing your content. You don’t want to spend a ton of time creating the perfect opener and then lose the audience with a lackluster presentation afterward.
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Starting a presentation in english: methods and examples.
If you’re going to make it in the professional world, most likely you’ll have to give a presentation in English at some point. No reason to get nervous!
Most of the work involved lies in the introduction. You may or may not need an English presentation PPT file, your topic, audience, or time limit may vary, but a strong opening is a must no matter what! Everything that follows can build from the opening outline you present to your audience.
Let’s look at some guidelines for starting a presentation in English. If you can master this part, you’ll never have to worry about the rest!
While it’s important to have your entire presentation organized and outlined, planning and organization are especially important in the introduction. This is what will guide you through a clear and concise beginning. Let’s look at how to start a presentation with well-organized thoughts .
As we say, it’s as easy as 1-2-3. (No need for a more detailed English presentation script!) Let’s examine the first step.
The self-introduction is your opportunity to make a good first impression. Be sure to open with a warm welcome and use language that is familiar and natural. Based on your audience, there are a few different expressions you can use to start your presentation.
If you’re presenting to coworkers who may already know you:
If you’re presenting to people you’ve never met:
There are certainly more ways to make an introduction. However, it’s generally best to follow this format:
Now that your audience knows who you are and your qualifications, you can state the purpose of your presentation. This is where you clarify to your audience what you’ll be talking about.
So, ask yourself, “ What do I want my audience to get from this presentation? ”
With your goal in mind, you can create the next couple of lines of your presentation. Below are some examples of how to start.
When talking about the purpose of your presentation, stick to your goals. You purpose statement should be only one to three sentences. That way, you can give your audience a clear sense of purpose that sets them up for the rest of the presentation.
The final step in starting your presentation is to give a short outline of what you’ll be presenting. People like a map of what to expect from a presentation.
It helps them organize their thoughts and gives a sense of order. Also, it lets the audience know why they’re listening to you. This is what you’ll use to grab their attention, and help them stay focused throughout the presentation.
Here are some examples of how you can outline your presentation:
That’s it! It’s as simple as 1-2-3. If you have a fear of public speaking or are not confident about presenting to a group of people, follow these three steps. It’s a simple structure that can get you off to a good start. With that in mind, there are other ways to bring your introduction to the next level too! Read on for bonus tips on how to really engage your audience, beyond the basics.
Presentations aren’t everyone’s strongest ability, and that’s OK. If you’re newer to presenting in English, the steps above are the basics to getting started. Once you’re more comfortable with presenting, though, you can go a step further with some extra tricks that can really wow your audience.
Mastering the skill of engaging an audience will take experience. Fortunately, there are many famous speakers out there you can model for capturing attention. Also, there are some common techniques that English-speakers use to gain an audience’s attention.
*How and when you use these techniques in your introduction is at your discretion, as long as you cover the 3 steps of the introduction outline that we discussed earlier.*
The purpose of shocking your audience is to immediately engage them. You can make a loud noise and somehow relate the noise to your presentation. Or, you can say, “ Did you know that… ” and follow with a shocking story or statistic. Either way, the objective is to create surprise to draw their attention.
Telling a story related to your presentation is a great way to get the audience listening to you.
You can start by saying, “ On my way to [location] the other day… ” or “ On my way here, I was reminded of… ” and then follow with a story. A good story can make your presentation memorable.
Sometimes a good introduction that captures attention will involve asking for help from the audience. You can ask the audience to play a quick game or solve a puzzle that’s related to your presentation. Also, you could engage the audience with a group exercise. This is a great way to get people involved in your presentation.
There are many more ways to engage the audience, so get creative and see what you can think up! Here are some resources that will help you get started.
Also, if you want to get better at public speaking (and help your English speaking too!), a great organization to know about is the Toastmasters . The organization is dedicated to helping you be a better speaker, and there are many local groups in America. They offer free lessons and events to help you master your English speaking, and also offer additional help to paying members.
A presentation in English? No problem, as long as your introduction sets you up for success . Admittedly, this can be easier said than done. Native speakers and non-native speakers alike sometimes struggle with getting a good start on their English presentation. But the advice above can help you get the confidence you need to lay a good foundation for your next speech !
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Blog Beginner Guides How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]
Written by: Krystle Wong Jul 20, 2023
A top-notch presentation possesses the power to drive action. From winning stakeholders over and conveying a powerful message to securing funding — your secret weapon lies within the realm of creating an effective presentation .
Being an excellent presenter isn’t confined to the boardroom. Whether you’re delivering a presentation at work, pursuing an academic career, involved in a non-profit organization or even a student, nailing the presentation game is a game-changer.
In this article, I’ll cover the top qualities of compelling presentations and walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to give a good presentation. Here’s a little tip to kick things off: for a headstart, check out Venngage’s collection of free presentation templates . They are fully customizable, and the best part is you don’t need professional design skills to make them shine!
These valuable presentation tips cater to individuals from diverse professional backgrounds, encompassing business professionals, sales and marketing teams, educators, trainers, students, researchers, non-profit organizations, public speakers and presenters.
No matter your field or role, these tips for presenting will equip you with the skills to deliver effective presentations that leave a lasting impression on any audience.
Click to jump ahead:
Step-by-step guide on how to prepare an effective presentation, 9 effective techniques to deliver a memorable presentation, faqs on making a good presentation, how to create a presentation with venngage in 5 steps.
When it comes to giving an engaging presentation that leaves a lasting impression, it’s not just about the content — it’s also about how you deliver it. Wondering what makes a good presentation? Well, the best presentations I’ve seen consistently exhibit these 10 qualities:
No one likes to get lost in a maze of information. Organize your thoughts into a logical flow, complete with an introduction, main points and a solid conclusion. A structured presentation helps your audience follow along effortlessly, leaving them with a sense of satisfaction at the end.
Regardless of your presentation style , a quality presentation starts with a clear roadmap. Browse through Venngage’s template library and select a presentation template that aligns with your content and presentation goals. Here’s a good presentation example template with a logical layout that includes sections for the introduction, main points, supporting information and a conclusion:
Hook your audience right from the start with an attention-grabbing statement, a fascinating question or maybe even a captivating anecdote. Set the stage for a killer presentation!
The opening moments of your presentation hold immense power – check out these 15 ways to start a presentation to set the stage and captivate your audience.
Make sure your content aligns with their interests and needs. Your audience is there for a reason, and that’s to get valuable insights. Avoid fluff and get straight to the point, your audience will be genuinely excited.
Picture this: a slide with walls of text and tiny charts, yawn! Visual aids should be just that—aiding your presentation. Opt for clear and visually appealing slides, engaging images and informative charts that add value and help reinforce your message.
With Venngage, visualizing data takes no effort at all. You can import data from CSV or Google Sheets seamlessly and create stunning charts, graphs and icon stories effortlessly to showcase your data in a captivating and impactful way.
Keep your language simple, and avoid jargon or complicated terms. Communicate your ideas clearly, so your audience can easily grasp and retain the information being conveyed. This can prevent confusion and enhance the overall effectiveness of the message.
Spice up your presentation with a sprinkle of enthusiasm! Maintain eye contact, use expressive gestures and vary your tone of voice to keep your audience glued to the edge of their seats. A touch of charisma goes a long way!
Turn your presentation into an interactive experience — encourage questions, foster discussions and maybe even throw in a fun activity. Engaged audiences are more likely to remember and embrace your message.
Transform your slides into an interactive presentation with Venngage’s dynamic features like pop-ups, clickable icons and animated elements. Engage your audience with interactive content that lets them explore and interact with your presentation for a truly immersive experience.
Who doesn’t love a good story? Weaving relevant anecdotes, case studies or even a personal story into your presentation can captivate your audience and create a lasting impact. Stories build connections and make your message memorable.
A great presentation background is also essential as it sets the tone, creates visual interest and reinforces your message. Enhance the overall aesthetics of your presentation with these 15 presentation background examples and captivate your audience’s attention.
Pace your presentation thoughtfully with well-designed presentation slides, neither rushing through nor dragging it out. Respect your audience’s time and ensure you cover all the essential points without losing their interest.
Last impressions linger! Summarize your main points and leave your audience with a clear takeaway. End your presentation with a bang , a call to action or an inspiring thought that resonates long after the conclusion.
In-person presentations aside, acing a virtual presentation is of paramount importance in today’s digital world. Check out this guide to learn how you can adapt your in-person presentations into virtual presentations .
Preparing an effective presentation starts with laying a strong foundation that goes beyond just creating slides and notes. One of the quickest and best ways to make a presentation would be with the help of a good presentation software .
Otherwise, let me walk you to how to prepare for a presentation step by step and unlock the secrets of crafting a professional presentation that sets you apart.
Before you dive into preparing your masterpiece, take a moment to get to know your target audience. Tailor your presentation to meet their needs and expectations , and you’ll have them hooked from the start!
Time to hit the books (or the internet)! Don’t skimp on the research with your presentation materials — dive deep into the subject matter and gather valuable insights . The more you know, the more confident you’ll feel in delivering your presentation.
No one wants to stumble through a chaotic mess of information. Outline your presentation with a clear and logical flow. Start with a captivating introduction, follow up with main points that build on each other and wrap it up with a powerful conclusion that leaves a lasting impression.
Delivering an effective business presentation hinges on captivating your audience, and Venngage’s professionally designed business presentation templates are tailor-made for this purpose. With thoughtfully structured layouts, these templates enhance your message’s clarity and coherence, ensuring a memorable and engaging experience for your audience members.
Don’t want to build your presentation layout from scratch? pick from these 5 foolproof presentation layout ideas that won’t go wrong.
Spice up your presentation with eye-catching visuals! Create slides that complement your message, not overshadow it. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean you need to overload your slides with text.
Well-chosen designs create a cohesive and professional look, capturing your audience’s attention and enhancing the overall effectiveness of your message. Here’s a list of carefully curated PowerPoint presentation templates and great background graphics that will significantly influence the visual appeal and engagement of your presentation.
Practice makes perfect — rehearse your presentation and arrive early to your presentation to help overcome stage fright. Familiarity with your material will boost your presentation skills and help you handle curveballs with ease.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help and seek feedback from friends and colleagues. Constructive criticism can help you identify blind spots and fine-tune your presentation to perfection.
With Venngage’s real-time collaboration feature , receiving feedback and editing your presentation is a seamless process. Group members can access and work on the presentation simultaneously and edit content side by side in real-time. Changes will be reflected immediately to the entire team, promoting seamless teamwork.
Prepare for the unexpected by checking your equipment, internet connection and any other potential hiccups. If you’re worried that you’ll miss out on any important points, you could always have note cards prepared. Remember to remain focused and rehearse potential answers to anticipated questions.
As the big day approaches, give your presentation one last shine. Review your talking points, practice how to present a presentation and make any final tweaks. Deep breaths — you’re on the brink of delivering a successful presentation!
In competitive environments, persuasive presentations set individuals and organizations apart. To brush up on your presentation skills, read these guides on how to make a persuasive presentation and tips to presenting effectively .
Whether you’re an experienced presenter or a novice, the right techniques will let your presentation skills soar to new heights!
From public speaking hacks to interactive elements and storytelling prowess, these 9 effective presentation techniques will empower you to leave a lasting impression on your audience and make your presentations unforgettable.
Positive body language instantly captivates your audience, making them believe in your message as much as you do. Strengthen your stage presence and own that stage like it’s your second home! Stand tall, shoulders back and exude confidence.
Break down that invisible barrier and connect with your audience through their eyes. Maintaining eye contact when giving a presentation builds trust and shows that you’re present and engaged with them.
A little movement goes a long way! Emphasize key points with purposeful gestures and don’t be afraid to walk around the stage. Your energy will be contagious!
Weave the magic of storytelling into your presentation. Share relatable anecdotes, inspiring success stories or even personal experiences that tug at the heartstrings of your audience. Adjust your pitch, pace and volume to match the emotions and intensity of the story. Varying your speaking voice adds depth and enhances your stage presence.
Spice up your presentation with a dash of visual pizzazz! Use slides, images and video clips to add depth and clarity to your message. Just remember, less is more—don’t overwhelm them with information overload.
Turn your presentations into an interactive party! Involve your audience with questions, polls or group activities. When they actively participate, they become invested in your presentation’s success. Bring your design to life with animated elements. Venngage allows you to apply animations to icons, images and text to create dynamic and engaging visual content.
Laughter is the best medicine—and a fantastic presentation enhancer! A well-placed joke or lighthearted moment can break the ice and create a warm atmosphere , making your audience more receptive to your message.
Be attentive to your audience’s reactions and feedback. If they have questions or concerns, address them with genuine interest and respect. Your responsiveness builds rapport and shows that you genuinely care about their experience.
Apply the 10-20-30 presentation rule and keep it short, sweet and impactful! Stick to ten slides, deliver your presentation within 20 minutes and use a 30-point font to ensure clarity and focus. Less is more, and your audience will thank you for it!
Simplicity is key. Limit each slide to five bullet points, with only five words per bullet point and allow each slide to remain visible for about five seconds. This rule keeps your presentation concise and prevents information overload.
Simple presentations are more engaging because they are easier to follow. Summarize your presentations and keep them simple with Venngage’s gallery of simple presentation templates and ensure that your message is delivered effectively across your audience.
To kick off your presentation effectively, begin with an attention-grabbing statement or a powerful quote. Introduce yourself, establish credibility and clearly state the purpose and relevance of your presentation.
For a strong conclusion, summarize your talking points and key takeaways. End with a compelling call to action or a thought-provoking question and remember to thank your audience and invite any final questions or interactions.
To make your presentation interactive, encourage questions and discussion throughout your talk. Utilize multimedia elements like videos or images and consider including polls, quizzes or group activities to actively involve your audience.
In need of inspiration for your next presentation? I’ve got your back! Pick from these 120+ presentation ideas, topics and examples to get started.
Creating a stunning presentation with Venngage is a breeze with our user-friendly drag-and-drop editor and professionally designed templates for all your communication needs.
Here’s how to make a presentation in just 5 simple steps with the help of Venngage:
Step 1: Sign up for Venngage for free using your email, Gmail or Facebook account or simply log in to access your account.
Step 2: Pick a design from our selection of free presentation templates (they’re all created by our expert in-house designers).
Step 3: Make the template your own by customizing it to fit your content and branding. With Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, you can easily modify text, change colors and adjust the layout to create a unique and eye-catching design.
Step 4: Elevate your presentation by incorporating captivating visuals. You can upload your images or choose from Venngage’s vast library of high-quality photos, icons and illustrations.
Step 5: Upgrade to a premium or business account to export your presentation in PDF and print it for in-person presentations or share it digitally for free!
By following these five simple steps, you’ll have a professionally designed and visually engaging presentation ready in no time. With Venngage’s user-friendly platform, your presentation is sure to make a lasting impression. So, let your creativity flow and get ready to shine in your next presentation!
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You can mess up any presentation, no matter how good, or useful, or well-researched your content may be.
How? By delivering it without confidence . Opening a presentation confidently means you're off to a good start.
Imagine going up on stage, your shoulders hunched, head bowed. At the podium, you clear your throat and say:
“Yeah. Hi. I’m Jake. (Laughs nervously.) Um… Is this on? So…”
You notice the audience cringing in their seats. You wish you could just die!
At the end of your presentation, you say:
“So, yeah… I mean, that’s what I think,… And, uh, yeah… Questions? Or, um…”
You shrug, put your head down, hunch your shoulders, and shuffle off the stage. The audience gives you polite applause.
All your research, prep, and hard work have gone to waste! But it doesn’t have to be that way. Presentations need not give you the frights or turn your stomach into a knot.
The secret is knowing how to start a presentation strong and end it powerfully. And that’s exactly what we’re going to look at today.
You'll also feel more confident when you use professionally-designed slides like the ones from Envato Elements and GraphicRiver .
Before jumping into this tutorial, c heck out our guide on how to beat anxiety during your presentation:
Also, be sure to grab our free eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations . It'll help you master the presentation process, from idea, through to writing, design, and delivering with impact.
Read on for presentation strategies and killer tips to grab and hold the attention of your audience. First up is how to start your presentation strong. Then, we'll dig into tips on commanding the middle. We'll finish with how to end a presentation powerfully—so that your points resonate with unforgettable surprise.
Starting a presentation strong means being unpredictable .
Research shows that when we know what to expect from a cue, we don’t pay attention to what happens after the cue.
But when we don’t know what to expect, we pay more attention. That's why we love movies with a twist: the unpredictability engages us more deeply.
How can you incorporate unpredictability at the start of a presentation?
There are several ways to achieve this. The choice will depend on your topic, the circumstances, and your presentation style.
The techniques below guide us on how to start a presentation strong.
Everyone knows the “I Have a Dream” speech of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The speech doesn’t begin with “I have a dream.” That's the climax. The speech starts like this:
“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”
The above claim may seem “normal” to us today. We already know the events of history. But can you imagine what it must have been like hearing that claim on that very day?
Bold, to say the least.
Could anyone in the audience help but pay attention after that?
If you're confident your presentation will make a measurable and immediate impact on your audience, don't save that claim for the end.
State it at the beginning and state it with confidence. When your audience understands the gains, they can't help but pay attention to your every word.
Let's look at another way of how to start a PowerPoint presentation in an interesting way. Consider contradicting expectations. This is a classic application of the unpredictability principle.
Start with a claim that contradicts what people expect. That will make them sit up and pay attention. Then use the attention you've earned to ease into your topic.
Sir Ken Robinson does this marvelously in the most-watched Ted Talk of all time. Coming onto the stage after all the other speakers, Robinson says:
“It’s been great hasn’t it? I’ve been blown away by the whole thing. In fact, I’m leaving.”
You can hear in the way the audience laughs that this statement catches them by surprise. And the speaker uses that surprise to lunge into the topic.
Pamela Meyer achieves similar results through a slightly different technique. Meyer begins a presentation on how to spot a liar by accusing the audience of being liars themselves!
“Okay, I don’t want to alarm anybody in this room, but it’s just come to my attention that the person to your right is a liar! Also the person to your left is a liar.”
The audience laughs. They weren't expecting to be called liars. But the contrarian claim isn't off-putting; it's captivating. "Why are we all liars?" they want to know, and now they're paying attention.
One of the most powerful ways to start a presentation is to stimulate curiosity. The human brain relishes curiosity. In fact, research has shown that curiosity prepares the brain for better learning. And that's good news for your presentation.
Why? Because once our curiosity is piqued, we want to know the answer. We must solve the puzzle. So, we pay attention looking for the right clues. It’s simply the way we were built to think and operate.
So how can you stimulate curiosity at the beginning of your presentation?
You could announce that you've got a secret to confess, like Dan Pink does in a famous Ted Talk :
“I need to make a confession, at the outset here. A little over 20 years ago, I did something that I regret. Something that I am not particularly proud of. Something that in many ways I wished no one would ever know, but that here I feel kind of obliged to reveal. In the late 1980s, in a moment of youthful indiscretion, I went to law school.”
The announcement of this confession piques our curiosity. What's the secret? And the contents of the confession heighten it. Why is going to law school such an embarrassing confession? We must solve this puzzle!
And so, there's no option but to pay close attention to every word to find out!
A simple yet effective approach to start a presentation that grips attention is to ask a question. Few things are more unexpected than a speaker beginning a presentation with questions. Isn’t the speaker supposed to be answering our questions?
But these questions are rhetorical. They're not meant to be answered with a simple yes or no. They intend rather, to plant the seed of an idea into our heads. The speaker can then focus our attention on that idea throughout the presentation.
Simon Sinek does this in a talk on how great leaders inspire action. Sinek begins by asking the audience:
“How do you explain when things don't go as we assumed? Or better, how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the assumptions? For example, why is Apple so innovative? [...] Why is it that Martin Luther King led the civil rights movement?”
By this point, we’re all sitting there scratching our chins going: “Huh, how do they do that?”
So, we perk our ears and pay attention.
One of the most gripping ways of start a presentation is to tell a compelling story, especially one that surprises.
Stories are not just an entrainment mechanism. They're a survival mechanism humans have developed and refined over thousands of years. That means as humans, we're naturally wired to pay attention to stories.
And one of the best ways to start your presentation strong is by telling a story. This can be a story about something that happened to you. Or something you heard about. Either way, it should relate to your topic and why you’re giving your presentation.
That's how Brené Brown opens a now-famous Ted Talk about vulnerability . Brown relates the funny story of working with an event planner who didn’t know how to classify Brown for an event. Turns out, Brown didn't know, either!
Should Brown be called a researcher (which sounds boring) or a storyteller (which sounded something like a magic pixie to Brené Brown at the time)? In the end, Brown calls herself a researcher-storyteller.
The story delights and intrigues: What's a researcher-storyteller? And how does research tell a story?
We pay attention to find out.
Before we get to how to end a presentation powerfully, we should mention a few strategies about holding the audience’s attention through the middle of your presentation.
If you’ve watched even a few minutes of the presentations mentioned above, you'll have noticed two things: pauses and visuals .
Good speakers know how and when to pause.
After you’ve made a big claim, pause. Give the audience a few seconds to take in what you said.
Same if you're adding a touch of humor, somewhere. Pause. Let the audience laugh and relax momentarily without missing anything important.
After concluding a section and before moving on to the next point, pause.
If you rush through your presentation, the audience will feel lost. They'll stop paying attention.
For an in-depth view of how to write the main body of your presentation, read the following tutorial:
Even the best Ted Talk presenters who seem to have a natural way with words, use PowerPoint presentations.
Why is that?
Because visuals help us grasp an idea and understand the point better.
By engaging our eyes and our ears, visuals help direct all our attention to the presentation. This eliminates the possibility of getting distracted by something else.
The right PowerPoint presentation can also guide your audience through the various sections of your speech. As a result, they won't feel lost or confused.
To learn how to create a persuasive PowerPoint presentation, have a look at the article below:
The easiest way to create an impressive PowerPoint presentation is to begin with creative slide templates from Envato Elements. All the templates are fully customizable, from the fonts and colors to the special effects.
What's more, your Elements subscription gives you unlimited downloads of PowerPoint templates. You also get everything else you need for a powerful presentation : fonts, photos, videos, icons, and music tracks. You get all that for one low price.
Envato's GraphicRiver allows you to download PowerPoint templates one-at-a-time. It's a good choice if you're looking for a pay-as-you-go template solution. Check out the amazing pay-per-use PowerPoint templates on GraphicRiver, with one of our most popular PPT designs.
You can find more great PPT design options in our Ultimate Guide to the Best PowerPoint Template , or browse through the article below:
No matter what’s the topic of your presentation, one thing is certain. You’re going to need a stellar slide deck to complement your presentation and captivate your audience.
Here’s how you can quickly customize a premium PPT template in five easy steps. For the purposes of this tutorial, I’ll be using the Soaring template from Envato Elements.
The first thing you should do to customize your presentation is to design your cover. The template already comes with a stunning full background image. So, all you've got to do is replace the photo with your own and then change the title of your presentation.
To change the photo, right-click on it and select Change Picture > From File . Locate the image you want to use and select it to use it. Then, double-click the title to enter the title of your presentation.
Next, add the content of your presentation onto the slide. Simply, double-click the text on the slide you’re currently working on, press CTRL+A to select it all, and delete it. You can then paste in or type in your text.
To change out the images used on the slides, right-click on the image. Select Change Picture > From File . Then, select a picture from your computer and press Insert .
To add break slides to signify that the next point is coming, you can simply duplicate the title slide. Right-click on the first slide and select Duplicate . Then, drag it down to the correct position using the sidebar on the left.
The last step is to customize the slides. You can change colors as well as the fonts.
To customize fonts, simply select all the text and then select a different font from the drop-down menu.
To change colors, right-click on a colored area and select Format Shape . Then, choose a different color under the Fill tool. From there you can figure out how to end a presentation effectively.
As mentioned earlier, Envato Elements is the best place to find modern, premium PowerPoint templates for all your presentation needs. Here are the top five PowerPoint presentation templates that you can access with your subscription:
The Nicola PowerPoint presentation has an elegant design. It’s suitable for all kinds of business or portfolio presentations. The template comes with a lot of visual slides and plenty of elements such as infographics, charts, and more. You’ll get more than 30 slides based on master slides. All the slides have been designed in full HD resolution and are easy to customize.
If you’re looking for a minimal and clean PowerPoint template, consider Balance. This template would work well for any type of presentation thanks to its minimal design. The template includes more than 145 slides and several color themes to choose from. The template was designed in full HD resolution. It comes with fully editable vector shapes.
The Navajo PowerPoint template has a clean and corporate design. It’s a perfect choice for business presentations as well as pitch decks. The template includes vector shapes and maps as well as charts, graphs, and other visual elements. It comes with 50+ slides including a gallery and portfolio slide.
As the name suggests, this PowerPoint template has a clean and modern design. It can be used for any type of presentation. The template comes with 50 slides designed in full HD resolution. It also includes image placeholders for easy editing.
The Parana template is a creative minimal PowerPoint template. It would work well for a portfolio or a lookbook presentation. It comes with 100+ unique slides based on master slides. This template comes in widescreen and standard screen resolution.
Remember our example at the beginning? Where the speaker ends their speech mumbling, “yeah, so… like… that’s it…” and other such incoherencies?
That’s no way to end your killer presentation! Or you’ll end up killing all the hard work you did in your opening and throughout the main body.
Instead, you should end your presentation in a powerful way that the audience will remember long after you leave the stage.
Again, there are many ways to learn how to end a presentation that are effective. You should choose the one that best fits your presentation and personal style.
If you like these tips, you'll find even more PowerPoint tips here:
If you want to compel your audience to action, you need to take initiative with your closing and the end of the presentation Don’t leave your audience sitting there wondering what to do with all the wonderful information you’ve given them.
Tell them exactly what to do with it and how they’ll benefit from it with a clear and direct call to action.
For inspiration, watch how Brené Brown does this in the speech (starting at 19:01). Once Brown tells the audience:
“There’s another way, and I'll leave you with this.”
And Brown then goes on to explain exactly how the audience can apply the principles of vulnerability to their work and everyday lives.
For more ideas on how to inspire your audience to action, check out the following article:
What will happen if the audience follows the advice or plan of your presentation?
Whether your presentation aims to change your entire community or benefit your customer's business, one way how to end a presentation is to paint a vision of that future with your closing words.
When your audience sees that visions in their mind, they’ll remember it. More than that, they’ll start to believe it as a possibility.
That’s how Martin Luther King, Jr. finishes the legendary “I have a dream” speech . King imagines the day when:
“...all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
But your speech doesn’t have to change the history of the world to end with a vision.
For a different example, listen to how Dan Pink ends the speech (from 17:17 forward) on the vision of strengthening businesses and changing the world. And looking to opening and closing presentation examples for further guidance.
Here's a great example of how to end a presentation dynamically. Sir Ken Robinson moves into the ending crescendo of the Ted Talk with a bleak quote by the American virologist Jonas Salk (starting at 18:13):
“If all the insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years all life on earth would end. If all human beings were to disappear from the earth, all forms of life would flourish.”
Robinson then goes on to tell the audience that the virologist is right.
This contrarian quote goes against our expectations of the human species as a positive force on earth. So, we pay attention. Will we really destroy the earth?
No, Sir Ken Robinson goes on to say, but only if we learn to use our imagination and creativity in a positive and constructive way. And then Robinson goes on to recapitulate the main advice about reforming education.
The contrarian example shakes us out of our comfort zone about the positive impact we've got in the world. It makes for a powerful ending that we're sure to remember long after the presentation is over.
Read this article and dive deeper into how to end your presentation:
Your presentation can only be successful if you capture your audience's attention.
The best way to do that is, to begin with a bang. Make a bold statement, contradict their expectations, and stimulate their curiosity. Ask a rhetorical question or spin a fascinating story. In other words, do something that will intrigue them into finding out what exactly you've got to say.
As for how to end a presentation? It should end also, with a bang.
Don't just leave your thoughts trail off. Call the audience to action and paint a vision of what the future will look like based on your suggestions. Startle them into awareness by using a contrarian example. Whatever you do, make sure you leave a memorable impression when you walk out the room.
If you're currently working on a presentation, think carefully about how you can start your presentation strong and end it powerfully.
What example, quote, claim, or story will you use to capture your audience's attention?
Download The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations eBook now for FREE with a subscription to the Tuts+ Business Newsletter. Get your ideas formed into a powerful presentation that will move your audience!
The beginning and end of a presentation are incredibly important, but so too is the middle—which makes up the bulk of your presentation. You don't want to neglect it.
You'll have more confidence in your presentation when you know you've got a riveting slideshow, made possible with one of thousands of PowerPoint templates in Envato Elements. Remember, with an Elements subscription, you get unlimited downloads of slideshow templates as well as stock photos, fonts, icons, infographics, and so much more.
If you prefer to pay as you go, then browse through our best-selling PowerPoint templates in GraphicRiver. With the vast selection available, you're sure to find one with a powerful design that you can customize quickly.
Also, you can find more awesome PPTs in our Ultimate Guide to the Best PowerPoint Template . It includes many PowerPoint options and tutorials to help you get started fast.
Editorial Note : This post was originally published in 2016. It's been comprehensively revised to make current, accurate, and up to date by our staff—with special help from Lexi Rodrigo and Brenda Barron .
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August 3, 2018 - Dom Barnard
For many people the thought of delivering a presentation is a daunting task and brings about a great deal of nerves . However, if you take some time to understand how effective presentations are structured and then apply this structure to your own presentation, you’ll appear much more confident and relaxed.
Here is our complete guide for structuring your presentation, with examples at the end of the article to demonstrate these points.
If you’ve ever sat through a great presentation, you’ll have left feeling either inspired or informed on a given topic. This isn’t because the speaker was the most knowledgeable or motivating person in the world. Instead, it’s because they know how to structure presentations – they have crafted their message in a logical and simple way that has allowed the audience can keep up with them and take away key messages.
Research has supported this, with studies showing that audiences retain structured information 40% more accurately than unstructured information.
In fact, not only is structuring a presentation important for the benefit of the audience’s understanding, it’s also important for you as the speaker. A good structure helps you remain calm, stay on topic, and avoid any awkward silences.
Generally speaking, there is a natural flow that any decent presentation will follow which we will go into shortly. However, you should be aware that all presentation structures will be different in their own unique way and this will be due to a number of factors, including:
Before choosing the presentation’s structure answer these questions first:
When reading the points below, think critically about what things may cause your presentation structure to be slightly different. You can add in certain elements and add more focus to certain moments if that works better for your speech.
This is the usual flow of a presentation, which covers all the vital sections and is a good starting point for yours. It allows your audience to easily follow along and sets out a solid structure you can add your content to.
Before you start delivering your talk, introduce yourself to the audience and clarify who you are and your relevant expertise. This does not need to be long or incredibly detailed, but will help build an immediate relationship between you and the audience. It gives you the chance to briefly clarify your expertise and why you are worth listening to. This will help establish your ethos so the audience will trust you more and think you’re credible.
Read our tips on How to Start a Presentation Effectively
In the introduction you need to explain the subject and purpose of your presentation whilst gaining the audience’s interest and confidence. It’s sometimes helpful to think of your introduction as funnel-shaped to help filter down your topic:
In this section also explain:
The way you structure your introduction can depend on the amount of time you have been given to present: a sales pitch may consist of a quick presentation so you may begin with your conclusion and then provide the evidence. Conversely, a speaker presenting their idea for change in the world would be better suited to start with the evidence and then conclude what this means for the audience.
Keep in mind that the main aim of the introduction is to grab the audience’s attention and connect with them.
The main body of your talk needs to meet the promises you made in the introduction. Depending on the nature of your presentation, clearly segment the different topics you will be discussing, and then work your way through them one at a time – it’s important for everything to be organised logically for the audience to fully understand. There are many different ways to organise your main points, such as, by priority, theme, chronologically etc.
When planning your presentation write a list of main points you want to make and ask yourself “What I am telling the audience? What should they understand from this?” refining your answers this way will help you produce clear messages.
In presentations the conclusion is frequently underdeveloped and lacks purpose which is a shame as it’s the best place to reinforce your messages. Typically, your presentation has a specific goal – that could be to convert a number of the audience members into customers, lead to a certain number of enquiries to make people knowledgeable on specific key points, or to motivate them towards a shared goal.
Regardless of what that goal is, be sure to summarise your main points and their implications. This clarifies the overall purpose of your talk and reinforces your reason for being there.
Follow these steps:
Conclude your talk by thanking the audience for their time and invite them to ask any questions they may have. As mentioned earlier, personal circumstances will affect the structure of your presentation.
Many presenters prefer to make the Q&A session the key part of their talk and try to speed through the main body of the presentation. This is totally fine, but it is still best to focus on delivering some sort of initial presentation to set the tone and topics for discussion in the Q&A.
The above was a description of a basic presentation, here are some more specific presentation layouts:
Use the demonstration structure when you have something useful to show. This is usually used when you want to show how a product works. Steve Jobs frequently used this technique in his presentations.
This structure is particularly useful in persuading the audience.
As well as incorporating stories in your presentation , you can organise your whole presentation as a story. There are lots of different type of story structures you can use – a popular choice is the monomyth – the hero’s journey. In a monomyth, a hero goes on a difficult journey or takes on a challenge – they move from the familiar into the unknown. After facing obstacles and ultimately succeeding the hero returns home, transformed and with newfound wisdom.
Storytelling for Business Success webinar , where well-know storyteller Javier Bernad shares strategies for crafting compelling narratives.
Another popular choice for using a story to structure your presentation is in media ras (in the middle of thing). In this type of story you launch right into the action by providing a snippet/teaser of what’s happening and then you start explaining the events that led to that event. This is engaging because you’re starting your story at the most exciting part which will make the audience curious – they’ll want to know how you got there.
The remaining method structure is good for situations where you’re presenting your perspective on a controversial topic which has split people’s opinions.
When delivering presentations it’s important for your words and ideas to flow so your audience can understand how everything links together and why it’s all relevant. This can be done using speech transitions which are words and phrases that allow you to smoothly move from one point to another so that your speech flows and your presentation is unified.
Transitions can be one word, a phrase or a full sentence – there are many different forms, here are some examples:
Signify to the audience that you will now begin discussing the first main point:
Move from one point to a similar one:
Internal summarising consists of summarising before moving on to the next point. You must inform the audience:
You can move your body and your standing location when you transition to another point. The audience find it easier to follow your presentation and movement will increase their interest.
A common technique for incorporating movement into your presentation is to:
Slides are a useful tool for most presentations: they can greatly assist in the delivery of your message and help the audience follow along with what you are saying. Key slides include:
There are some presenters who choose not to use slides at all, though this is more of a rarity. Slides can be a powerful tool if used properly, but the problem is that many fail to do just that. Here are some golden rules to follow when using slides in a presentation:
Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur and author, suggests that slideshows should follow a 10-20-30 rule :
Here are some additional resources for slide design:
Group presentations are structured in the same way as presentations with one speaker but usually require more rehearsal and practices. Clean transitioning between speakers is very important in producing a presentation that flows well. One way of doing this consists of:
From this example you can see how the different sections of the presentations link which makes it easier for the audience to follow and remain engaged.
Having examples of great presentations will help inspire your own structures, here are a few such examples, each unique and inspiring in their own way.
This presentation by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt demonstrates some of the most important lessons he and his team have learnt with regards to working with some of the most talented individuals they hired. The simplistic yet cohesive style of all of the slides is something to be appreciated. They are relatively straightforward, yet add power and clarity to the narrative of the presentation.
Since being released in 2009, this presentation has been viewed almost four million times all around the world. The message itself is very powerful, however, it’s not an idea that hasn’t been heard before. What makes this presentation so powerful is the simple message he is getting across, and the straightforward and understandable manner in which he delivers it. Also note that he doesn’t use any slides, just a whiteboard where he creates a simple diagram of his opinion.
Here’s an example of a presentation given by a relatively unknown individual looking to inspire the next generation of graduates. Rick’s presentation is unique in many ways compared to the two above. Notably, he uses no visual prompts and includes a great deal of humour.
However, what is similar is the structure he uses. He first introduces his message that the wisest man he knew was a third-grade dropout. He then proceeds to deliver his main body of argument, and in the end, concludes with his message. This powerful speech keeps the viewer engaged throughout, through a mixture of heart-warming sentiment, powerful life advice and engaging humour.
As you can see from the examples above, and as it has been expressed throughout, a great presentation structure means analysing the core message of your presentation. Decide on a key message you want to impart the audience with, and then craft an engaging way of delivering it.
By preparing a solid structure, and practising your talk beforehand, you can walk into the presentation with confidence and deliver a meaningful message to an interested audience.
It’s important for a presentation to be well-structured so it can have the most impact on your audience. An unstructured presentation can be difficult to follow and even frustrating to listen to. The heart of your speech are your main points supported by evidence and your transitions should assist the movement between points and clarify how everything is linked.
Research suggests that the audience remember the first and last things you say so your introduction and conclusion are vital for reinforcing your points. Essentially, ensure you spend the time structuring your presentation and addressing all of the sections.
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In any business, project managers need to be able to communicate a project strategy to clients effectively. It can bring in new, long-term clients to your agency if done correctly. However, doing so incorrectly could seriously undermine your efforts to acquire or retain clients. One thing that unites business, academic, and corporate meetings is making a project presentation look good.
Professionals need this skill when effectively communicating ideas, outlining goals, and sharing project results. Creating and delivering a project presentation that connects with your target audience will lead to the project’s anticipated outcomes, regardless of your level of presentation experience. This blog will walk you through the art of presenting a project and offer business professionals advice on making their project plan presentation stand out.
A project presentation is a business activity where team members and stakeholders come together to supervise a project from start to finish. It is a formal submission of a project to stakeholders for discussion of a topic and acceptance. One or more business professionals provide a document or slide deck summarizing every project detail during a presentation.
The project manager presents essential information regarding the start of the project and its preparation, including the project scope, requirements collection, deliverables list, schedule, and milestones. A project management presentation is typically made for the first time before the project’s implementation. Then, as the project progresses, you reintroduce it to the stakeholders with timely updates and news.
Team members and organizations involved in the project’s success or failure comprise stakeholders and other team members:
Show the project presentation to the team members who will be working on the project so they are aware of the expectations and the risks involved. Information such as the requirements, the work breakdown structure, the plan, and the deliverables will be required.
Stakeholders
Show your project to the people who can approve funds and resources, i.e., the stakeholders. Demonstrate to them how the project will provide the desired solutions for the problems they raise within the specified time frame.
The stakeholders are interested in the project’s scope , budget breakdowns , scheduling computations, risk assessments, and your plans for mitigating those risks and adapting to changes. Hence, they are the ideal audience for your project management presentation.
Before jumping onto how to present a project, let us see what steps you should follow to create a successful project presentation:
Before delving into the essentials of your project presentation, you should respond to the following queries:
Your project is already doomed to failure if it lacks specific goals. It’s common for project managers to skip the goal-setting stage. However, this is not advised. That’s because you can make things easier for yourself to fail. Stakeholder buy-in can be achieved once project goals are well-defined.
The question now is: How do you set and accomplish project goals? Using the SMART goal-setting process is one way to do that.
SMART project goal-setting:
Outlining your strategy for achieving your goals is a crucial next step after setting them. Putting your idea into an executable plan with steps for execution is a great place to start.
You may be wondering why this is a necessary stage in making a project presentation that works. Well, p lanning a project , no matter how big or small, is easier when you have a thorough strategy, structure, and layout. It eliminates ambiguity and makes it easier for your audience to understand the project roadmap without missing anything.
Both technical and non-technical project aspects should be included in your plan layout. As a result, you should use a project presentation template that outlines all the procedures and activities in detail to offer yourself an advantage. Additionally, the structure of your PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation should be straightforward and understandable.
Depending on the kind of project, your plan might contain important information like:
You can use a pre-made customizable project management presentation template available online, like SlideUpLift . You can make this presentation template uniquely yours by modifying it.
When creating a project plan, there are no hard and fast rules. However, you should divide it into three sections if you want to develop an engaging approach that will stick with your audience:
You have just finished drafting your project action plan . It’s time to let your audience know about your project’s objectives and plan. It’s your responsibility to hold your audience’s attention from the beginning to the end, whether you’re pitching a project plan to clients or an investor deck.
Emphasizing your audience’s problems is one of the best strategies to get their attention. Having stunning slides highlighting your outstanding product features and project activities is insufficient. Ensure that your project presentation is set up to:
If you want the audience on board, discuss their issues and potential solutions in a separate presentation. Make sure they know how your initiative will help them.
Prioritize quality over quantity while designing project presentations. Make sure your slides are brief and easy to understand. Your audience will appreciate that you respect their time when you do this.
The following justify why you should keep your presentation short:
Using more images and less text in your presentations is another excellent method to keep them engaging but succinct. Recall that your slide show should support, not take the place of, your spoken presentation. Therefore, you want to avoid cramming too much data onto a single presentation.
Adding too much text to your presentation could:
When information is presented visually and in bite-sized portions, people remember it better. This holds for corporate leaders, project managers, both B2B and B2C audiences.
Presenting projects successfully requires the use of visuals. Visual aids help viewers retain 95% of a message, drawing them in and holding their interest. However, they maintain just approximately 10% when exchanged by text.
You can employ a wide range of visual aids in your presentations, such as:
Your chances of gaining audience engagement and encouraging answers to your call-to-action (CTA) will increase if you include images and videos. Mind maps, Gantt charts , and whiteboard drawings are excellent tools for visualizing project plans in their early stages. Using maps, graphs, charts , and trees, you can display the architecture for projects, including technology.
Your project presentation may succeed or fail based on its design. Whether you are a rookie or an expert designer, design tools offer you an advantage. In minutes, you can produce visually striking presentation designs for your company.
The good news is that creating eye-catching project presentations doesn’t have to break the cash. Millions of breathtaking royalty-free photos and lovely pre-made layouts are available for your slides.
These are some pointers to keep in mind when creating your slides.
Use color sparingly in your presentations if you want them to look appealing. Everyone loves color, so we get it. However, using too many colors may make your presentations disorganized and unpleasant.
Changing your font can influence readers’ understanding of your words. Therefore, ensure that your slides convey the intended content and look professional and well-organized.
Making powerful project presentations can take much time, regardless of experience level. Suppose you are facing an impending deadline. Writing your project plan, making your slide notes, creating your slides, finding and including images, and other tasks would be on your plate. Creating these things from scratch could take longer and result in messy presentations.
Using presentation templates might relieve all of your worries. They make it quick and simple for you to create project presentations that appear professional. Because the slides are pre-designed, there will be space for you to add any type of content you would require. The design is present in every form—progress bar, chart, graph, table , video , or image. All you have to do is enter text, add data, or add an image. And just like that, your presentation is set to go.
The Cline Avenue Bridge is an example of a difficult project that serves as the basis for the project presentation example. Since it is outside the purview of this article, we are not providing all of the presentation’s components for instructional purposes. Nevertheless, we demonstrate how to create a PowerPoint presentation for a project, how to customize the templates to the content to be presented, and how to show the more typical slides of each component.
This is a case study of a real project and how the project manager uses templates to put together the project presentation using the structure we presented above. Here’s how to create a PowerPoint presentation for a project, along with some project presentation ideas.
The presenter provides a project charter-style summary of the project’s highlights on this slide. The project manager can expand upon the introduction throughout the project lifespan, and the speech can seamlessly transition across several knowledge domains without requiring a slide change or in-depth discussion.
In particular, the Cline Bridge Project narrates its goal, briefly mentions its location, provides a link to a map for additional information, and presents several key statistics (Building Information Modelling Process, Budget, Duration, Sponsor, and Constructor). The final deliverable’s salient features—a concrete segmental bridge measuring 1.7 miles in length and 46 feet in width—are enumerated.
The framework for the project lifecycle, processes, planning, and execution is shown in the Process Model presentation. In this slide, the project manager will discuss how the model is customized to the project’s particulars. In this instance, the builder has specified the use of BIM (Building Information Modelling) as the process model for the design and construction of the Cline Bridge.
During this slide, the presenter might further detail the knowledge practices involved in each lifecycle phase—Design, Production, Construction, Operation, and Planning. Conceptual and detailed design are the two primary knowledge areas that make up the first stage, for instance, “Design.”
Since the content arrangement for the scope section of the presentation consists of a list of “requirements,” it typically consists of multiple slides. This information leads to a recommended table arrangement that maximizes available space. It’s crucial to portray the set of needs rather than the individual requirements and to refrain from misusing the “list.” If not, the requirements document is transcribed by the project manager.
This example project presentation shows ten categories of requirements covering various project lifecycle stages.
Utilizing a lot of resources is necessary when building a bridge. Organizing this component of a project presentation as a single-level financial table at an executive meeting is advised. Specific resources and cost analysis presentations are tasked with providing more information.
The list of available resources is as follows:
We recommend incorporating visual elements, such as icons and colors that are symbolically tied to each of the items stated, to break up the monotony of table after table throughout the project presentation.
The purpose of the project roadmap , as previously mentioned in the article, is to provide a thorough overview of the critical turning points that will occur over time. Owing to the size of a bridge-building project and its extended duration, it is recommended to provide a roadmap that clearly matches milestones with relevant lifespan stages, especially for such large-scale undertakings. This method helps the viewers visualize the step-by-step development of the building process.
In keeping with earlier slides, we developed a roadmap in the example that included the following high-level benchmarks and subcomponents:
As you can see, the project manager chose a step-by-step plan that was given with minimal scheduling specifics and start and end dates to provide context for the diagram.
Throughout a project, risk management is an iterative process. The risks you face while presenting your initiatives will change based on how well they proceed along the roadmap. In this particular instance, we have chosen to showcase the risks deliberated about at the ideation phase, wherein the developer trades risks with contractors and the bridge construction business.
Our recommended structure for this type of material is a straightforward table with easily readable and visible risks and a description that serves more as a starting point for conversation than a thorough explanation.
It is crucial to categorize the risks given, if just in terms of their “impact” and “probability.” This will lead to some really interesting discussions about them.
Risks outlined in the first phase:
The hazards listed are highly serious, as the reader can see, and each will result in a different Risk Analysis Report.
The project presentation’s quality control component may change depending on the quality process used. A continuous improvement quality approach, which iteratively improves quality over many projects, is typical for large organizations with a consistent portfolio of projects (for example, software businesses). The scenario is the same for construction organizations , such as the example, and the quality control model aligns with the building process model. In this instance, the project manager is outlining the quality control procedure to be used on the BIM model as well as the procedure to be adhered to during the bridge’s actual construction:
Using a simple dashboard, we created in this example, allowing the project manager to show:
A project plan is an official document that follows a set format and flow. Your presentation should follow this flow for maximum impact.
To present a project plan , you should go over the following eight steps:
Here are some templates which will help you make your desired presentations. These will also give you project presentation ideas. Feel free to click on the images to download SlideUpLift’s templates.
Streamline project planning with this template focused on Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) , offering clear visual guidance for breaking down complex projects into manageable tasks.
Perfect for Agile enthusiasts, SlideUpLift’s Scrum Agile Project Management template provides visually engaging slides explaining the Scrum framework, roles, ceremonies, and critical components to enhance Agile project communication.
Enhance project visualization with this template featuring circular diagrams and charts, ideal for representing project cycles, feedback loops, and continuous improvement processes.
Optimize process mapping using this template designed for SIPOC (Supplier, Input, Process, Output, Customer) models, facilitating the illustration of information and resource flows in projects or processes.
Navigate project uncertainties seamlessly with this template tailored for Risk Management . Expect insightful slides on identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks, providing a comprehensive overview to keep your projects on track.
The client project focus ensures that your client’s business goals are sufficiently handled and that transparency is maintained throughout the project. Objectives, milestones, acceptance criteria, etc., are frequently discussed beforehand.
You might still need to ask a few questions, though, and these are the top five:
For new speakers, the Q&A section can often be their biggest worry. The most difficult part of being ready for this is that you never know what queries a client may have.
Client inquiries frequently revolve around their worries about potential problems. You’ll be able to anticipate their questions more accurately when you know about their priorities. Assume that your client has a tight deadline for finishing the project. Among the queries they might have are:
You can prepare well-reasoned responses to their questions by considering their priorities and potential issues beforehand. But what about those unexpected queries that come out of nowhere?
Three pointers to help you handle unforeseen queries from clients during a project presentation are as follows:
Establishing objectives and having a well-thought-out plan to reach them are the first steps in producing an effective project presentation. It also calls for effective delivery, careful attention to design, and the creation of captivating content.
A strong pitch deck that explains the specifics of your idea and its potential for success is essential if you want to seal those transactions. Using a user-friendly project presentation program such as SlideUpLift can be a game changer.
The ideal design tool for producing eye-catching and captivating project presentations is something SlideUpLift specializes in. You can use various features and tools with SlideUpLift to assist you in achieving your ideas for your projects.
To help your presentation succeed, SlideUpLift offers hundreds of presentation templates , graphic components, font styles, data visualization tools, and pre-installed stock photos and videos.
You now have all the advice and resources you need to ace the project presentations for the future. With the presentation templates from SlideUpLift, get tips and tricks on standing out when presenting, go ahead and amaze your audience!
To present your project effectively, focus on clear communication, use visuals, and tailor your message to your audience’s level of understanding.
As a project manager, presenting a project involves clear communication of goals, methodologies, and outcomes while addressing potential risks and solutions.
The best ways to present a project include engaging visuals, storytelling, and addressing key points such as objectives, timelines, and potential challenges.
Several platforms, including SlideUpLift, offer templates specifically designed for project manager presentations .
Effective ways to present your project to clients include emphasizing value, addressing their specific concerns, and showcasing project outcomes.
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By Paola Pascual on November 29, 2021
Giving professional presentations is a fundamental skill to succeed in any global business environment, regardless of your role. And the beginning of your presentation, together with the end of your presentation , might be the most important part of your speech. It can also be the most awkward part, too. In this post, you will learn an easy-to-apply yet effective framework to start your next presentation.
The reason why the beginning and the end are so important is called the Primacy and Recency Effects, which means that people remember the beginning and end best.
Also read: 21 Helpful Tips For Remarkable and Outstanding Presentation Skills
Soft start. Depending on the nature of your presentation, you may be able to do a soft start before actually kicking off your presentation. You can have some small talk with the audience before politely transitioning into your hard start. These few initial minutes will help you engage those who arrived early and allow a brief time for latecomers.
Hard start. Your hard start is your ‘official’ introduction, where you welcome everyone, introduce the people involved and the topic at hand, and transition to the body of your presentation.
Welcome everyone and thank them for attending your presentation. If you feel comfortable, use a hook or a catchy opening to capture the audience’s attention right off the bat . You can use a surprising stat, a famous quote, or a rhetorical question.
When you introduce yourself, establish credibility by describing your relevant experience, responsibilities, and accomplishments. Why should we listen to you?
Make a clear and general statement to explain what benefit the audience will gain from your presentation (this refers back to your WHAT and your WHY, which we covered in our previous lesson).
Use signposting language to tell the audience where you are going and what they can expect next. Use a segue or transition phrase to move smoothly to whatever follows without pause.
Think about your next presentation and use this framework to draft the first few minutes of your presentation and paste it in the comments. Make sure you include all the sections and employ a variety of phrases!
This article works as supporting material for our podcast episode on how to start a presentation effectively. You can read the transcript below. Make sure y ou check out all our other Talaera Talks episodes and subscri be to get new episode alerts.
Continue improving your communication skills for professional situations with our free resources . If you are serious about improving your business English skills, get in touch with Talaera . We will help you take your professional English communication skills to the next level.
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Intro Welcome to Talaera Talks , the business English communication podcast for non-native professionals. My name is Paola and I am co-hosting this show with Simon. In this podcast, we’re going to be covering communication advice and tips to help express yourself with confidence in English in professional settings. So we hope you enjoy the show!
0:24 Welcome to a new Talaera Bit. This is Paola and, in this episode, you will learn an effective way to start your presentation.
0:32 Now, why the start? Well, it turns out the beginning, the start of your presentation, together with the conclusion, are the most important parts of your presentation. And this is due to what’s called the Primacy and Recency effects. Don’t worry, you don’t need to remember the names. But it means that people remember the beginning and the end, best. So today, this is what we will cover –the different parts of the introduction or how to start your presentation so that everyone’s listening to you and actually wanting to hear.
1:11 Depending on the nature of your presentation, you may be able to start or to do like a soft start before actually kicking off your presentation. Here’s where you have a little bit of small talk with the audience before politely transitioning into your heart start. So these few initial minutes where you get to talk a little bit with the audience will help you engage with those who arrived early, but also allow a brief time for late commerce. So that’s a bit the first few minutes a soft start with small talk.
1:51 And then you do have the hard start, which is your official introduction. And I usually this is the part where we will focus on today. And I usually divide this hard start into four small sections, where you welcome everyone you introduce the people involved, and also the topic at hand, and then you transition to the body of your presentation. So let’s have a look at each of those four sections and make sure you pay attention to all the phrases I’m going to provide.
2:25 Alright, so we said the first section is the welcome. Here’s where you welcome everyone and thank them for attending your presentation or talk. And if you feel comfortable, you can also use a hook, which is like a catchy opening to capture the audience’s attention right off the bat. You can use like a surprising stat or a famous quote or a rhetorical question. And here are some phrases you can use for this welcome or first section: “Hi, everyone, thank you so much for joining us today and welcome to the session”, or “In the 30 minutes that it will take me to give this presentation, 7000 businesses in the US will close down”. That’s a bit like a surprising stat, right? Or like a famous quote, as I said, “Somebody once said, ‘A brand is a promise’, but what happens when that promise is broken?” So now you have the first section, the welcome.
3:25 Now you move on to the people involved. This is when you introduce yourself, or perhaps even your co hosts if there are any. And here is where you establish credibility by describing your relevant experience, your responsibilities, your accomplishments, why should we listen to you, here’s where you have to provide the evidence or reasons. And you can use phrases like just the simple ones such as, “My name is Susan and I’m part of the design team here at Globex corporation”, or something like “I was fortunate enough to be part of the team at Globex that developed the original Datatronic 2000”. Or here’s another phrase, “In my 15 years in Silicon Valley, I learned quite a bit about managing risk, and I learned the hard way”.
4:19 So you have number one, the welcome, number two, you introduce the people involved (and if there’s someone else giving the talk or co hosting with you, make sure you introduce them as well), and number three, you can introduce the topic. And here you need to make a clear and general statement to explain what benefit –and I cannot highlight this enough– the benefit that the audience will gain from your presentation. What is your presentation about and why should they listen to it? And here are some phrases: “Today I’d like to talk about…” or “The main goal of this presentation is…” or “What is I hope you’ll get from this afternoon session is a clear idea of how CRM works”. Or “By the end of this morning’s talk, you will know how to say no and feel good about it”. Whatever benefit they will get, make sure you tell them in this heart start.
5:19 And the very last bit is the transition to the main point. Here you can use signposting language, which is what you use to tell the audience where you’re going, and what they can expect next. Something like “Alright, let’s dive right in!” Or “Shall we get the ball rolling?”, or “Great, let’s get down to it”.
5:40 So those are the different parts of the beginning of your presentation. Remember, starting with a soft start is a nice way to engage people at the beginning and allow a little bit of time for those who are late. And then with your hard start, you have the welcome (“Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today”). Number two, you introduce the people involved, then you introduce the topic, giving them a clear benefit of your presentation. And number four, you transition to the main point. And that’s it, I hope you’re able to use all these phrases and tips and I look forward to our next episode.
And that’s all we have for you today. We hope you enjoyed it, and remember to subscribe to Talaera Talks . We’ll be back soon with more! And visit our website at https://talaera.com for more valuable content on business English. You can also request a free consultation on the best ways for you and your team to improve your communication skills. So have a great day and keep learning!
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Five tips to set yourself apart.
Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).
I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.
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Can anything make a project manager’s heart sink faster than being told that they need to give a project presentation to the board of directors? The pressure. The responsibility. Sure, you’re happy that the directors of the company trust you enough that they want your input in the project, but having to present in front of these powerful players is making your stress levels spike.
If you haven’t come across these presentation requests from senior managers yet, you will! These scenarios are common on projects, especially projects that introduce a new product or involve organizational change. But don’t feel overwhelmed. Giving project presentations may feel scary, but you can plan and prepare for them just like any other meeting.
A project presentation is an opportunity for you to explain your project processes and deliverables to key stakeholders. These can be informal, like a quick update via reports with a few individuals, or formal. Formal project presentations often require proper meeting times, thought-out slide decks, goal review and more. We’ll spend most of our time discussing how to prepare and deliver a formal project presentation.
A formal project presentation requires good data. Project management software can provide you with the dashboards and reports you need to supplement your points and progress updates. ProjectManager has real-time dashboards that you can share with stakeholders, and eight different in-depth project reports that you can make with just a few clicks. Get started for free today!
A project presentation is your opportunity to convey the importance of the work you and your team have been doing. If you’re unable to articulate your progress and achievements, key stakeholders won’t understand why money, time and resources are being spent on your project.
When you think of it like that, it’s no wonder why people spend so much time preparing for their project presentations. Read on to see how you can knock your next presentation out of the park.
Preparing for a project presentation can be more important than you actual delivery. That’s because good preparation can set you up for success on the big day. Let’s go through some preparation techniques you can do for your project presentation.
You can’t just expect people to turn up – they need to know that there is an important event that requires their attendance, so get it in their diaries. People plan their meetings and calendar appointments sometimes quite far in advance, giving ample warning. Schedule the presentation as soon as you can, and check with the individuals (or their assistants) if you don’t get a reply about their availability.
If you have been invited to someone else’s meeting to talk about your project, make sure it is in your planner and book some time to plan for it in advance. If you don’t, you risk running out of time to prepare your material.
How are you going to get your message across? If you’ve scheduled a project meeting it’s likely that you are expecting to do a formal presentation. That’s fine, but how? Will you use slides or flip charts or mirror your iPad on a monitor? Do you expect the audience to participate in any part of the presentation? Can you speak without notes or would it be better to have some pointers with you on the day?
You should also consider where you will be giving the presentation. For example, a format that is suitable for a small room and a limited audience, such as a loosely-structured project update with a couple of slides, is not going to be appropriate for a room full of stakeholders, laid out like a lecture theatre with you at a lectern at the front.
Giving presentations is a skill. Practice, practice, practice. Before your big project presentation, volunteer to do some smaller ones, like staff briefings or shorter updates at team meetings. You want to feel comfortable both standing up in front of the room and with the material. Run through your presentation at home or in an empty meeting room so that you remember where the slide transitions are. Practice using the projector and a clicker to move the slides forward. Write out your flip charts several times so that it becomes second nature.
Practice and training will make your delivery much more polished and professional and give your audience a far better experience.
Whether you are using slides or flip charts, write big or use big fonts. It is often difficult to see what is on the screen, even in a small room – and that means your message is not getting across. And it’s an excuse for audience members to check their phones instead of listening to you.
A good tip is to print out your slides and put them on the floor. If you can still read them clearly from a standing position, then the text is big enough. If you can’t read the words or you have to bend down to read them, make the font size larger!
Projectors break, meeting rooms don’t have conference phones in, pens run out just at the critical moment. Plan for everything to go wrong. Your presentation audience is made up of busy people and they don’t want to sit there watching you fiddle with the technology. Get it all working before they arrive, and if it doesn’t work when you get going, make sure that you have a contingency plan (like a printout of your slides) so that you can carry on anyway.
When the fateful day arrives, there are some important things to keep in mind when giving your project presentation. Follow these best practices and you’ll portray your project and your team in the best possible light.
Presentations depend on clarity and good communication . If you bog down your presentation with jargon and convulated reasoning, you’re going to lose your audience. Make sure that you use language that your audience will understand, so they can follow along with all of the key points you need to make.
Remember, not everyone in that meeting is going to understand all the intricasies of your project, in fact, none of them likely will. So speak slowly, clearly and ensure that you communicate.
When giving your project presentation, don’t lose sight of the original goals and requirements of the project. Your stakeholders agreed on certain goals at the beginning, how are you trending towards reaching those goals? Sometimes it’s easy to focus on setbacks or difficulties, or things that you may find fascinating. However, it’s best to recenter on critical business objectives.
It’s important to use data to supplement your project presentation as you address key goals and initiatives. But don’t use too much data! People will get lost in the numbers and stop listening to what you have to say. It’s a delicate balance.
You have probably sat through a fair few presentations in your time, and I expect you’ve tried to stop yourself from nodding off in some of them. Project status updates can be boring. If the subject matter isn’t dull, often the speaker is. Don’t let that be you.
One way to keep the attention of the audience is to structure your presentation in the most interesting fashion. Consider what they will find interesting (and it won’t be the same as what you find interesting). Telling the story of your project is a good idea. Think about a start, a middle and an end to your presentation. Perhaps follow the lifecycle from the perspective of a customer.
Focus on the benefits and not the project management process. If you don’t know if your presentation material makes sense, run it past a friend or family member who doesn’t know anything about your project. If they don’t fall asleep, it’s OK!
When your presentation is over, ask for feedback. You could do this directly at the end of the session before people leave the room, or a couple of days later. It’s good to get some feedback as it helps you work on what to improve for next time.
Ask people to give you their impressions both of your presentation skills and also of the presentation content. You could find that the content was really good but you lacked confidence delivering it, or conversely that you were an engaging presenter but the material was not relevant to them. All this is useful stuff to know and it will help you improve your presentation skills for next time.
Giving presentations isn’t an everyday occurrence on projects but it is likely that you will have to give one or two during the project lifecycle – more if your project involves a lot of workshops or user sessions.
Don’t panic – presentation skills are something that you can learn and you will get better with practice! Once you have cracked it, you’ll feel confident delivering presentations and you’ll find that it gets easier to prepare for them in the future.
The scheduling features of our software can be used to book your presentations on the team calendar, which can be easily seen on the project dashboard. With it you have the ability to share agendas and slides after the presentation with the online document library. Then you can carry on the discussion after the meeting by using the great chat tool. Try the software from ProjectManager free for 30 days and see how helpful it really is.
Start planning your projects.
Before delving into the article, imagine you are sitting in the audience as an investor, waiting for presentations by two groups on the ‘Clean Water Project’ to begin.
The first presenter starts by simply listing his statistics and discussing technical data. He claims that he put over a dozen of purifiers, his project helped plenty of people in the area, and he showed some numbers and calculations and left the stage.
The second presenter enters and commences with a story of how his installations of water plants uplifted the lives of innumerable people. He shares anecdotes about his visit to designated places, visually describes the challenges those communities face, and then changes the narrative to how his team uplifted them and brought them out of misery. With each slide, he showcases numbers and backs them with an anecdote.
Which presenter are you more likely to finance? Of course, it would be the second one because he presented his project by incorporating all necessary details and left behind an indelible mark on you with his presentation.
Thus, one great project presentation can change your career forever, and its importance cannot be overstated. It serves as a critical platform for conveying a project’s vision, goals, and impact. Effective presentations also allow you to receive feedback, gather suggestions, and improve your plans.
In this blog, we will provide a complete guide to creating a project presentation, including certain templates that you can use to bring another level of charm to your slides.
1. open with a strong title.
Commencing with a strong title holds immense importance as it sets the stage for success. A compelling heading can ignite the audience’s curiosity and draw them toward your slides. It also serves as a clear focal point, giving them a preview of what to expect and guiding their expectations.
For instance, if you are delivering a presentation on a Solar Project, instead of saying, “Solar Project Presentation,” you can begin with, “Powering the Future: Brightening Lives with Our Solar Project.”
Such a well-crafted title not only intrigues the viewer but also helps establish the main theme or message of the presentation.
Defining your audience is crucial to ensure effective communication and engagement.
Let us understand this with the help of an example. Assume that you are presenting a project to a group of investors. Here, understanding their perspective is key to success. You can tailor your content to address their specific interests, such as potential return on investment, environmental impact, or market trends. By highlighting the project’s financial benefits and long-term sustainability, you can capture their attention and make a persuasive case for investment.
On the other hand, if you are presenting to your managers and team members, including data on project status, timeline, potential threats, change in market status, etc., can be more relevant.
Thus, defining your audience allows you to deliver a presentation that speaks directly to their needs, interests, and motivations, increasing the chances of achieving your goals.
Preparing for questions in a project presentation is crucial for maintaining credibility and demonstrating expertise. It shows that you have thoroughly considered potential concerns and have comprehensive knowledge of your project.
By anticipating challenging questions, you can gather necessary information and rehearse your responses to ensure clarity. It is also crucial to thoroughly understand every aspect, such as project objectives, methodology, strategies, etc.
You can also support your responses with evidence such as data, research, or examples that might strengthen your arguments. Remember to stay calm and composed and answer with sheer confidence.
Imagine transporting your audience to a world where your project comes to life through a captivating story . What a wonderful way it would be to convey and convince simultaneously.
Weaving a narrative gives you the power to captivate, engage, and leave a lasting impact on your audience.
For instance, let’s consider a project aimed at developing a sustainable fashion brand. You can begin by painting a picture of the current garment cycle- low-wage workers, dump yards filled with tons of unworn clothing items, and lack of awareness amongst people. Then, introduce your project, where every clothing item is fairly priced, wages are regularized, and garments are sustainable and biodegradable, which leads to a better environment for all of us.
As you progress, share the challenges encountered – limited resources, conflicting visions – but emphasize the resilience and determination to overcome obstacles. Illustrate the transformation with anecdotes of individuals rediscovering the joy of slow fashion and how it completely changed the face of the industry.
By showcasing the project as a story of empowerment, environmental stewardship, and social cohesion, you can connect with your audience on an emotional level, inspiring them to support and be part of the narrative. The power of storytelling lies in its ability to create an immersive experience that transcends facts and figures, resonating with the hearts and minds of your audience and compelling them to take action.
In any project presentation, addressing the problem and presenting a clear solution is essential. By clearly outlining the issue at hand, you establish the context and set the stage for your audience to understand the significance of your project. Then, by presenting a well-defined solution, you demonstrate how your project directly addresses the identified problem.
Let’s consider an example of a project focused on reducing plastic waste in a coastal community. Here you can start by describing the alarming levels of plastic pollution on the local beaches and its detrimental impact on marine life and the environment. Highlight the consequences, such as polluted waters, endangered species, and negative effects on the local economy.
Then, introduce your project as a comprehensive solution that involves community education programs, recycling initiatives, and the promotion of sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics. Present evidence of similar projects that have successfully reduced plastic waste in other communities.
By clearly articulating the problem and offering a solution, you create a sense of urgency and showcase the value and impact of your project. This approach engages your audience by highlighting the importance of your work and rallying support for a cause that resonates with their values and the well-being of the community and the environment.
When showcasing numerical data in a project presentation, utilizing charts and visuals is a powerful strategy to enhance understanding and engagement. Rather than overwhelming your audience with a barrage of numbers, graphs provide a clear representation of the data.
For example, if you’re presenting financial projections for a business project, you can create a bar chart that displays revenue growth over time, allowing your audience to quickly grasp the upward trend. However, suppose you want to depict budget allocations. In that case, you can use pie charts to showcase the division across different components, making it easier for stakeholders to comprehend the distribution of resources.
You can even use annotations and symbols to highlight the most crucial numbers and showcase key achievements.
By presenting data in a visual format , you enable your audience to make connections, spot patterns, and conclude more efficiently. It also helps emphasize key points and support your ideas by visually highlighting significant milestones or achievements.
Design plays a critical role in determining the interaction and engagement of your audience. By focusing on design details and elements, you can craft slides that stand out and speak for themselves.
This includes using a consistent brand palette and picking fonts that are clear, inclusive, and easy to read. You must also focus on the layout and organization of your content and ensure that it is easy to follow and visually balanced. Further, incorporating white space can help improve readability.
Creating visuals, illustrations, and graphics from scratch is quite a burdensome task. Not only does it consume much of your time, but it also draws attention away from the content to the design.
Thus, we recommend using expert-designed templates that can be easily added to your slides and are completely customizable. You can adjust the fonts, change colors, and tailor them according to your requirements.
Here are seven such templates that are a must-have for a successful project presentation.
Every project has a timeline that ensures all tasks are being completed as per schedule and allows stakeholders to have a bird’s eye view of important dates and events.
Including a project timeline in your presentation can provide the audience with a visual organization of various stages and milestones of the project. It can foster clear communication amongst team members, help them manage their time effectively, and enhance overall productivity.
Template Link
For a project to be successful, it must be well-organized and divided into multiple stages. Right from its conceptualization and initiation to closure, each phase must be outlined properly and presented in a manner that is easy for the audience to comprehend.
With this template, you can showcase even the smallest details, such as the charter, KPIs, tracking, risks involved, lessons learned, and much more.
Template Link
Imagine you’re embarking on a journey to conquer a challenging project. As you gather your team and prepare for it, you realize the importance of having a reliable roadmap that guides you through every twist and turns. That’s precisely what the project management infographic provides.
This template helps you showcase different aspects of the project and allows you to provide insights to your team into monitoring progress, identifying bottlenecks, and making timely adjustments.
We all have big visions and dreams. But it is true that dreams alone won’t get us there – we need a well-crafted action plan that can transform aspirations into actionable steps.
Thus, using an Action Plan template allows you to depict your project’s goals, objectives, vision, and desired outcome. This template is not just a tool – it’s a catalyst for transformation that allows you to guide your team in the right direction.
A roadmap is just a simple visual representation of the goals that you need to achieve at particular time periods to finish your project on time. Using a template saves you from the hassle of crafting a graphic from scratch and saves much of your time.
This template serves as a crucial element that can showcase various phases, deliverables, quarterly goals, etc., in one place. It communicates your project’s trajectory and becomes a common reference point for all stakeholders, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and aligned with the project’s objectives.
The success of a project depends on its careful financial management. Thus, using a Project Budget template, you can present estimated costs, from personnel and resources to equipment and overhead expenses. You can also depict the allocation of resources and how funds will be distributed across various project activities and phases.
By harnessing the power of this template, you can flawlessly communicate the project’s financial aspects to investors or team members.
Every project requires effort from all individuals on the team. Each member has a unique role to play and a responsibility to shoulder. Therefore, incorporating a Roles and Responsibilities template allows you to showcase everybody’s duties and tasks clearly.
By visually representing the interdependencies and interactions between different roles, you can help team members understand how their contributions fit into the larger project puzzle. This understanding enhances coordination, minimizes gaps, and maximizes the collective impact of the team.
Project presentations are not just about numbers and data. Rather, they are about inspiring, connecting, and convincing the audience. They serve as an excellent tool to showcase your ideas and achievements and support them with concrete facts.
We hope this article acts as a guiding light for your next presentation and helps you successfully create and deliver it.
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Project success belongs to the way you adapt to present it. If you present your project in an effective way that you grab the intention of your client and take him/her to an agreement but if you create blunders and skip important points that you need to discuss while presenting your project .
Presenting a project effectively is crucial for several reasons. It can significantly impact the project's success and your ability to communicate its value to stakeholders. However, here we have some key reasons why you must present your project correctly:
In short, presenting a project correctly is not just about creating a visually appealing slide. It is also about conveying information and aligning stakeholders. You must ensure that everyone involved has a clear understanding of the purpose, progress, and potential challenges of the project. Therefore, effective project presentation is a skill that you must learn.
Do not panic, and be confident about the content and visuals you have prepared to present your project. You should have command of all the information about your project, and you should also know each word you have included in your presentation so that you can explain it deliberately and confidently. You should follow some important steps to present your project:
You should know the goals of the project you are doing as a project manager or being an owner of the project. First, you should discuss the project and fix its goals by having a warm call-up meeting with your teammates and the owner of the company or the client for whom you are doing the project. It is important when it comes to how to present a project.
Goal setting and owning are most important to make a project successful. It is the winning spot you set to win the race. If you do not do this, it means you do not have directions for where you will go, and all your efforts are useless.
After setting the goals, you need to convince the audience by sharing the goals of your project in a way that they could have a better understanding of it. You can explain your project by
If you explain the goals very well, you have done half of the work .
After setting and explaining the goals of your project, you need to convince the audience or your client by explaining the ways to achieve these goals that seem. For that purpose, you should prepare well. You should make a layout of your presentation in which all the steps are organized and explained.
It will provide you with backbone support in presenting the project in an organized and ordered way. This organization will help you remember all key points and give you confidence about what you are saying. You know its meaning.
It is just like writing a speech. The delivery of words plays an important role in convincing the audience. If you know how to play the game of words well, you will easily take the audience to your platform. Therefore, before speaking in front of a crowd, keep in mind that you will be judged based on the words you deliver.
So, prepare for speaking and know the meaning of every word you have included. It can prove your strength or your weakness. It all depends on your preparation.
When you work with your team, the pressure of work is minimized, and the moral support of your team also encourages you to give your best. While presenting your project, make your team ready to collaborate with you; you can divide the presentation into chunks and share it with your team members asking them to explain that specific part.
Team collaboration encourages success step-wise with the best quality in a short time as the work is divided and you are not burdened. Have trust in your team and get unique ideas by having a healthy discussion with them. Show value to others' ideas by considering and appreciating them.
Prepare your team-mate on standby if there appears to be a need to get their services while presenting the project. They provide you support to answer some critical questions asked by the client if you have pre- planned with your team members . You should keep this in mind when you are talking about how to present a project.
Another effective way to present the project is to put your ideas on the slides and mention the most important content about them. You can use the images to clarify the concept of your presentation and its purpose, as the images also describe the stories behind them. The images you use for visual description should be very clear and easy to understand.
Several tools in a presentation can help you present your project in the form of image illustration. You can play these slides automatically by setting the time duration. Do practice over these slides after fixing the duration for playing the.
You can present your project not only in the form of words or images but also through videos or graphics. The message you want to convey should not be lengthy or complicated. It should be simple and perfectly visible. Video audio presentation can be of more advantage in this regard.
If you talk a lot and change slide after slide, this will cause boredom among the audience. Here, you need to engage the audience while conveying your serious message in such a way that it seems entertaining. You can relate the bullet points or images with funny day-to-day activities to create humor, or you can also add some funny pictures or illusions to make fun of during heavy, serious discussions.
You will indirectly and silently decently engage the audience. If you do so, you will not feel the need to ask or make a request to the people to listen to you. They will do so willingly . It is an art, and if you know how to do it without realizing the audience you are doing this intentionally, you are a successful speaker.
In this way you will easily grab the attention of the client of your audience, they will love to listen and understand you, and even they will wait and expect the next bouncer from your side.
It is human nature that we feel hesitant when we address a crowd who is sitting to judge us and ready to argue with us when it is our first time. But slowly, you will learn to deal with such a situation.
No matter if you are a beginner, you do not need to get worried. Just stay confident that you have prepared your presentation and practiced as well, and you can answer every query raised by the audience.
Focus on your body language; avoid doing the things that reveal your nervousness, like pressing your hands and playing with a pen by producing the sound of a tick-tock. It looks so odd and leaves a bad impression on your audience.
Keep a checklist with you on paper or a computer slide and check with it whether you have explained important parts of your project, your client must know about them, or one of them is left by mistake. If it is left, it is okay; make a turn and explain it in a way that it seems you did not explain it before to maintain the surprising effect of your project.
I will say again that practice is the key to making your project presentation successful and completed within the expected or allocated time limit. It is important when you come up with the question of how to present a project.
Project presentation can sometimes be a real headache, even for pros. However, when you are presenting your project presentation, you must explain everything you have prepared without getting nervous.
It would be better to keep these steps in mind to make the most out of this experience:
When you present your project, there will be many questions among the audience that are mostly related to the project type, but some of them will ask such questions just to confuse you or let your morals down. Here, you need to play the mind game; do not let these questions disturb you, but answer them with patience whether you know the answer or not.
If you do not answer, simply tell them you do not know about it but want to know and ask for an explanation in the sense to add up your knowledge. If these questions are shits just to disturb you, they will not be thrown towards you next time.
You must be prepared for your question-answer session during and after your project presentation. It is because your audience may ask you some difficult or tricky questions. Regardless of what you have been asked for, it is always important to take proper time and answer their questions with the information they are looking for.
After discussing every aspect of the project with the client in detail, answering the queries, and getting suggestions, you need to end the session by wrapping up the project presentation in the form of a summary and giving a short review. In this way, all important parts of the projects will be recalled and finalized.
When presenting a project, avoiding common mistakes is essential for ensuring clarity, engagement, and effectiveness. So, here are the common mistakes that you must avoid in your project presentation:
Inadequate project presentation can affect you in multiple ways. For example, you may stumble over your words during the presentation, lose your thought process while explaining some concepts, or even don’t have your project material ready to present.
Effective preparation is key to a satisfied audience. Therefore, you should also focus on preparing your project presentation. The process involves researching your topic thoroughly, creating a structured outline, and practicing your presentation multiple times to build confidence and fluency.
When it comes to presenting a project, people usually make the mistake of overwhelming their audience with the overload of information. They add excessive data, statistics, and technical details of the project that may be hard to digest for the audience.
The best practice here is to focus on adding the most important and relevant information only to your project presentation. Additionally, you can also add some statistics to support your key points. The best practice to simplify complex or technical project information is adding visuals in your presentation.
Without clear objectives, your audience may leave the presentation unsure. It is because they don’t get what actions they should take, the scope of the project , or what they will get from the project.
You should overcome this problem by stating the purpose of your project early on. Moreover, it would be better to outline what you want to achieve with this project and what others will get from it.
Visuals in your project presentation should complement your spoken words. The visuals in the presentation should not distract your audience from what you are saying.
Remember that cluttered or confusing slides can lead to disengagement.
You must keep slides simple, with clear headings, bullet points, and visuals that reinforce your message. Use a consistent design template and appropriately designed visuals for improved engagement.
An engaging introduction sets the tone for your presentation. It gives you an opportunity to capture the attention of your audience and increase it consistently.
For this, you have to craft a compelling opening, such as a relevant story, a surprising fact, or a provocative question. These practices will certainly help you to draw your audience in.
Failing to clearly define the problem your project addresses can leave your audience wondering why the project is necessary. As a presenter, you must provide a concise and relatable problem statement early on. It should demonstrate the relevance and importance of your project.
Stories help make your presentation memorable and relatable. They add a human element to your content. Therefore, it would be better to incorporate relevant anecdotes, case studies, or real-world examples into your project presentation. These will help you to illustrate your points and connect with your audience emotionally.
A disorganized presentation structure can confuse. Even your audience will find it difficult to follow your thoughts. So, you must create logical sections with clear sections, transitions, and signposts. These will help you to guide your audience through your content seamlessly.
If you are new to project management and do not know how to present a project to your client or the crowd of the audience, please do not be worried and panic at all. It is not a big deal. You can do it by maintaining your confidence level, organizing the order of steps you are going to discuss, practicing and being tricky about grabbing the attention of the audience.
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11. "Let's embark on a journey through our discussion on…". 12. "I'm delighted to have the chance to share my insights on…". 13. "Thank you for the opportunity to present to such an esteemed audience on…". 14. "Let's set the stage for an engaging discussion about…". 15.
Use humor or wit. Sprinkle some humor and wit to spice things up. Cracking a clever joke or throwing in a witty remark can break the ice and create a positively charged atmosphere. If you're cracking your head on how to start a group presentation, humor is a great way to start a presentation speech.
It helps you to feed your audience with a large amount of information in a shorter period. Step 5: Practice the Presentation with Spiels in Every Portion. Practice helps you to attain presentation skills. You can interact with your audience, disseminate the messages clearly, and analyze your listeners' mindset.
The Project Risks. All projects present risks, and to control them, they must be identified, assessed, evaluated, and mitigated. Visualize your risk assessment with a risk matrix and include it in the project presentation. Use this slide to explain to stakeholders how you plan to mitigate the identified risks.
3. " State of the Cloud 2023—The AI era ". Image Source. This is the opening slide of a presentation that explores the impact of the "AI era" and the "cloud economy" on the financing ecosystem. What we like: This is another excellent example of opening a presentation with an attention-grabbing hook.
It effectively kills and buries even the best messages. Table of Contents. The Classic Trick: Open a Presentation with an Introduction. Open a Presentation with a Hook. Begin with a Captivating Visual. Ask a "What if…". Question. Use the Word "Imagine". Leverage The Curiosity Gap.
1 Make a provocative statement. "I want to discuss with you this afternoonwhy you're going to fail to have a great career." One surefire way to get your audience's attention is to make a provocative statement that creates interest and a keen desire to know more about what you have to say. The presentation above, for example, does just that by ...
Begin with a powerful vision statement that encapsulates the essence and ambition of your business. This could be a glimpse into the future that your company is striving to create. For example, "At the heart of our company lies a vision to revolutionize sustainable energy for generations to come."
2 Lay Out Your Project Plan. Once you've set your goals, the next big step is to outline how you'll achieve them. An excellent place to start is by organizing your project into an actionable plan and steps for execution. You might wonder why this step is important for creating a successful project presentation.
Here is the list of effective presentation openers. 7 Dynamic Ways to Start Your Next Presentation. Give Your Presentation Summary and Conclusion First. Start the Presentation with a Compelling Story. Use a Startling Statistic to Start a Presentation. A Funny or Motivational Quote or One-Liner. Start with an Opinion Asking Question.
Start with a polite welcome and state your name. Follow with your job title and/or the reason you're qualified to speak on the topic being discussed. 2. State the Purpose of Your Presentation. Now that your audience knows who you are and your qualifications, you can state the purpose of your presentation.
Apply the 10-20-30 rule. Apply the 10-20-30 presentation rule and keep it short, sweet and impactful! Stick to ten slides, deliver your presentation within 20 minutes and use a 30-point font to ensure clarity and focus. Less is more, and your audience will thank you for it! 9. Implement the 5-5-5 rule. Simplicity is key.
Replacing images in the Soaring template from Envato Elements is another way to simplify learning how to start a PowerPoint presentation. To change out the images used on the slides, right-click on the image. Select Change Picture > From File. Then, select a picture from your computer and press Insert. 4.
1. Tell your audience who you are. Start your presentation by introducing yourself. Along with sharing your name, give your audience some information about your background. Choose details that are relevant to your presentation and help establish you as an expert in your chosen topic. Example: "Good morning.
Write a summary, ask for questions, and don't forget to thank your audience for attention. 10. Care about the presentation style. You can make your project presentation dry or funny or dry. But ...
This clarifies the overall purpose of your talk and reinforces your reason for being there. Follow these steps: Signal that it's nearly the end of your presentation, for example, "As we wrap up/as we wind down the talk…". Restate the topic and purpose of your presentation - "In this speech I wanted to compare…". 5.
Consider using the tips below to engage your audience before your next presentation: 1. Tell your audience who you are. Introduce yourself, and then once your audience knows your name, tell them why they should listen to you. Example: "Good morning. My name is Miranda Booker, and I'm here today to talk to you about how Target Reach Plus ...
A project plan is an official document that follows a set format and flow. Your presentation should follow this flow for maximum impact. To present a project plan, you should go over the following eight steps: Give an overview. Provide a brief overview of the project, outlining its goals and rationale.
Number two, you introduce the people involved, then you introduce the topic, giving them a clear benefit of your presentation. And number four, you transition to the main point. And that's it, I hope you're able to use all these phrases and tips and I look forward to our next episode. 6:21.
Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired ...
When the fateful day arrives, there are some important things to keep in mind when giving your project presentation. Follow these best practices and you'll portray your project and your team in the best possible light. 1. Speak Clearly and Don't Rely on Jargon. Presentations depend on clarity and good communication.
In any project presentation, addressing the problem and presenting a clear solution is essential. By clearly outlining the issue at hand, you establish the context and set the stage for your audience to understand the significance of your project. ... Here you can start by describing the alarming levels of plastic pollution on the local beaches ...
First, you should discuss the project and fix its goals by having a warm call-up meeting with your teammates and the owner of the company or the client for whom you are doing the project. It is important when it comes to how to present a project. Goal setting and owning are most important to make a project successful.