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The Best Free Presentation Icons For Your Project

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By Al Boicheva

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2 years ago

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No matter how awesome the content and your presenting skills, your visuals are equally important when it comes to winning the audience’s attention. One of the best ways to direct attention to certain parts of your presentation is through icons. They look not only great, but also represent entire concepts and can replace a lot of text.  With this in mind, we did a lot of digging and collected a huge variety of free presentation icon sets that you can download and use in your future PowerPoint presentations.

Article overview:

Icons for business presentations.

• Icons for educational and school presentations

Icons for marketing presentations

• More good icons you may need

Business presentations don’t have to be boring. Instead, you can add more “life” to them by adding some icons, which will visually improve your presentations and make them more legible for your audience.

1. Free Business Startup Icons

If you need some flat and colorful icons for your next project, this graphic icon set is the one for you. It uses a couple of colors, but all icons have interesting concepts that can grab the attention.

• Icons Included: 77
• Style: 2D, Flat
• File Formats: SVG
• License: Free for Personal and Commerical Use with Attribution

2. Free Lifestyle and business icon set

A collection of 108 various lifestyle and business icons. You can find a whole lot of interesting icons, including a birthday cake, a bunch of marketing tools, a first-aid kit, etc. What we loved here is that you can access the icon set as PNG images, too, so you won’t have to work with vector files .

• Icons Included: 108
• Style: Glyph
• File Formats: PNG, SVG
• License: Free for Personal use

3. Solid and Linear B&W Business icon pack

What you will find in this vector collection are 152 basic glyph icons that can fit many needs. Among them, there are many marketing and e-commerce icons that can serve your needs. Since they’re vectors, you can easily modify them afterward.

• Icons Included: 152
• Style:  Flat, Glyph
• File Formats:  SVG
• License:  Free for Personal use

4. Business Icons Free Hand-Drawn Set

An amazing hand-drawn doodle collection that consists of 46 EPS business icons. Among them, you will find 4 currency icons (USD, EUR, GBP, CNY), a calendar, a trophy, a crown, and a variety of other marketing tools, such as charts, different-shaped comment balloons, and others. If a green color palette is something that you like, you will definitely like this set.

• Icons Included: 46
• Style: Hand-Drawn, Doodle
• File Formats: EPS
• License: Free for Personal and Commercial Use with Attribution

5. Free Hand-Drawn Business Icon Collection

Not everyone favors colorful icons. If you’re searching for basic black-and-white doodles, then this free hand-drawn business icon collection might be the best fit for you. You will find plenty of business and marketing tools, such as a puzzle, a calendar, a badge, and even a tie!

• Icons Included: 25

6. Free Hand-Drawn Financial Icon Collection

This vector set of 25 financial icons is also attention-grabbing. While the icons aren’t that “playful,” as what we can see on the left, this vector graphic collection is formal and can fit many presentations and designs where attention to detail and clarity is prioritized over cool-looking designs.

• Style: Outlined

7. Realistic Business Set Free Icons

In case you’re looking for something realistic, this amazing set of 3D icons might be your best bet! While the icons are only 9, you will find everything you need to present yourself in a good light.

• Icons Included: 9
• Style: 3D, Realistic

8. 3D Business Icons Free Set

In a similar fashion to the previous set, this one is also coming with nine 3D designs that look realistic. Our favorite is the bow tie, as it looks stunning, and you can’t many 3D icons of that kind.

9. Finance Free Doodle Icons Set

A lovely hand-drawn collection of 20 business icons that can help you with your presentation designs. Among the cool doodles, you can find a bank, exchange, wallets, and even a piggy bank. These are great assets if you’re after financial icons.

• Icons Included: 20
• Style: Doodle, Hand-Drawn

10. Free Business Icons Set

If you’re looking for modern illustrations with a hand holding different business assets, this set of 16 free flat-style business icons might be your next stop. You’ll find a variety of financial instruments, cards, and charts.

• Icons Included: 16
• Style: Flat Style, Illustrations

11. Business Presentation Free Icons Set

A collection of 36 fancy two-color business icons that can help you boost your presentation. You can access this vector set for free, and you can even use the icons for commercial use. Among the designs, you will find plenty of unusual icons, including a lighthouse and a concept map.

• Icons Included: 36
• Style: Outline

12. Free Colorful Business Icons Set

If you like drop shadows, then this collection of 16 circular-shaped business illustrations will grab your attention. You can use all colorful designs free of charge for personal and even commercial use, and you can find everything needed to kickstart your presentations.

• Style: Colorful, Flat, Illustrations

13. Free eCommerce Icons Set

Another set of 16 flat colorful illustrations in a circular shape. The main difference is that, unlike the previous collection, you can find plenty of e-commerce icons here – such as shopping cart, bags, customer service, and different “sale” labels – all perfect for web UIs and presentations.

14. Office Life Free Icons Collection

Hunting for office life icons? Great! This hand-drawn collection of 12 office icons will perfectly suit your needs. The lovely doodles come in grey/white/blue, and you can find everything you need – a checklist, a contract, a printer, a wallet, books, and even a pyramid.

• Icons Included: 12

15. Teamwork Free Icon Set

The teamwork free icon set follows the pattern of the office life collection. It comes with 12 unique, hand-drawn illustrations, all of which are available for personal and commercial use (with attribution). Among them, you can find hands, people, and puzzle pieces, among other vectors.

16. 25 Office Life Yellow Icons Set

Yellow, yellow, yellow! That’s right. It’s a vector pack of 25 free office life vector icons. What we like about the collection is that every icon has a label under the illustration to ensure you have understood what it is about.

17. 25 Office Life Colorful Icons Set

Another office work icon set comes in 25 different graphics, this time more colorful. Red, blue, and orange are the standout colors among the beautiful outline icons. Again, you have labels for each illustration which is handy.

Icons for educational presentations

Well, business people are not the only ones who need icons for their presentations. That’s why we will present you with a variety of educational icon packs that you can apply to impress your audience.

18. Free Colorful Education Icon Pack

A collection of 40 two and three-dimensional illustrations that can help you present in front of your students. Among the educational icons, you will find plenty of books, sheets, awards, as well as subject-related icons, such as a telescope, a ruler and a compass, chemistry flasks, and others.

• Icons Included: 40
• Style: 2D/3D
• License: Free for Personal and Commercial use (with Attribution)

19. Free Linear School Icons

If you need to add simplicity to your presentation but want to do it with style, this free vector collection of 20 linear school icons is right for you. All the designs are education-related, and can be used for multiple purposes, as well as for specific subjects.

• Style: Linear , Hand-drawn

20. Free 3D School Icons

3D icons are cool, we have to admit it! On our website, you can find plenty of cool school icons that you can utilize in your practice. Feel free to check them out. The best of all is that you can apply them directly to your presentations, as they come with a transparent background (and a purple one!)

• File Formats: PNG
• License: Free for Personal and Commercial Use

21. Free Education Icons Collection

If you’re looking for more 3D educational icons, then we have another free bundle for you! While the icons are 8, they come in 4 different file formats and can be accessed as vector or raster files, depending on your needs.

• Icons Included: 8
• Style: 3D, Cartoon
• File Formats: AI, EPS, PDF, PNG

22. School Presentation Icons Pack

A collection of 16 free circular icons with drop shadow effects and lots of bright colors to attract attention! The illustrations can cover many school subjects and can perfectly fit educational presentations with their exquisite style!

23. 25 Education Outline Icons Set

On the contrary, the 25 outline educational icons are much simpler in terms of design, but this is where they shine the most. On top of that, each illustration has a text label below which makes the icons easy to guess.

Sales and marketing presentations are a great way to pitch to potential customers and drive success for your company, so any design that can grab attention, is more than welcome. In this section, we’ve selected some of the best marketing icon sets.

24. Free Income and Promotion Icon Set

If you’re looking for some beautiful icons for your marketing presentation, this set can provide you with just that! On top of that, the vector icon set uses modern gradients, so your icons won’t look outdated, and you can create a better experience for current and potential customers.

• Icons Included: 50
• Style: Linear, Gradient
• License: Free for Personal and Commercial use (Attribution is required)

25. Free Data Analytics Flat Style Icons Set

If you’re looking for modern and popular marketing illustrations, this data analytics presentation set is the one for you. What you’ll find in the file are 12 amazing vector designs with different charts and people working on them.

• Style: Flat style

26. Free Digital Marketing Icons Set

If you’re looking for free illustrations to boost your marketing presentations, this vector set of 12 graphics will perfectly suit your needs. You can find everything – from SEO icons, to labels, charts, targets, and even loudspeakers and playback buttons to bolster your slide designs.

27. Free Colorful Marketing Icons Pack

In case you would rather focus on simplicity and original concepts, then the filled outline marketing icons are the best pick. Within the pack of 25 vectors, you will find a concept map, charts, and other marketing tools that you can utilize in your presentations.

• Style: Filled, Outline
• File Formats: SVG, PNG

28. Free 3D Presents Icons Set

If you need free present icons, GraphicMama is at your disposal with 12 3D gift icons that come in 4 different file formats and can be applied directly to your presentations or further edited in any graphic design software. All designs are free for personal and commercial use.

More icons for presentations

In case you’re looking for some cool icons without any particular goal, or you just want to impress your audience with something more, maybe these suggestions might work well with you. Let’s find out what ends our list.

29. 28 Free Cute Icons

You can find 28 free hand-drawn trendy icons that you can apply to your presentation designs. Regardless of your intention and presentation, these icons can fit any need. Among the freebies, you can find emojis, charts, apples, etc.

• Icons Included: 28 Free Graphics
• Style: Hand-drawn

30. 30 Free Cartoon Arrow Icons

Are you looking for a fancy arrow for your presentation? Maybe you can consider GraphicMama’s arrow bundle, where you can find not 1 but 30 buzzing cartoon arrows that you can apply to your slides. And who would suppose that arrow clipart could drag so much attention?

• Icons Included: 30 Free Graphics

31. 18 Free Cartoon Hand Icons

If you need cartoon hands in your presentation designs, you can find 18 free cartoon hand icons that you can apply to your presentation slides. Among the designs, you will find “thumbs up,” “okay,” “the sign of the horns,” and other hand gestures that can set the mood of your presentation.

• Icons Included:   18 Free Graphics
• Style: Cartoon

32. Free Social Media and Contact Icons

Looking for social media icons? Great! In this free collection of 70 social media icons, you will find a combination of colorful and black-and-white icons, depending on your presentation goals. For each social media icon, you’ll get 4 unique versions, plus a variety of contact icons.

• Icons Included:  70
• Style: Material, Dual-Color

Final Words

It’s easy to go one small step further and make your presentations even more visually appealing with the use of the right icons. We hope you found the perfect free icon sets for your next project.

In the meantime, why not take a look at the related articles to get some more inspiration or grab a couple of freebies:

• Best Free Icon Packs in 2022: 30 Excellent Icon Sets For Every Project
• The Best Free PowerPoint Templates to Download in 2022
• How to Insert GIFs into PowerPoint: The Quick Step-by-Step Guide

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Al Boicheva

Al is an illustrator at GraphicMama with out-of-the-box thinking and a passion for anything creative. In her free time, you will see her drooling over tattoo art, Manga, and horror movies.

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Home Blog Education Presentation Skills 101: A Guide to Presentation Success

Presentation Skills 101: A Guide to Presentation Success

Getting the perfect presentation design is just a step toward a successful presentation. For the experienced user, building presentation skills is the answer to elevating the power of your message and showing expertise on any subject. Still, one can ask: is it the same set of skills, or are they dependable on the type of presentation?

In this article, we will introduce the different types of presentations accompanied by the skillset required to master them. The purpose, as always, is to retain the audience’s interest for a long-lasting and convincing message.

Table of Contents

The Importance of Presentation Skills

Persuasive presentations, instructional presentations, informative presentations, inspirational presentations, basic presentation skills, what are the main difficulties when giving a presentation, recommendations to improve your presentation skills, closing statement.

Effective communication is the answer to reaching business and academic goals. The scenarios in which we can be required to deliver a presentation are as diverse as one can imagine. Still, some core concepts apply to all presentations.

 We define presentation skills as a compendium of soft skills that directly affect your presentation performance and contribute to creating a great presentation. These are not qualities acquired by birth but skills you ought to train and master to delve into professional environments.

You may ask: is it really that evident when a presenter is not prepared? Here are some common signs people can experience during presentations:

• Evasive body language: Not making eye contact with the audience, arms closed tightly to the body, hands in pockets all the time.
• Lack of interest in the presenter’s voice: dull tone, not putting an effort to articulate the topics.
• Doubting when asked to answer a question
• Irksome mood

The list can go on about common presenter mistakes , and most certainly, it will affect the performance of any presented data if the lack of interest by the presenter is blatantly obvious.  Another element to consider is anxiety, and according to research by the National Institute of Mental Health, 73% of the population in the USA is affected by glossophobia , which is the fear of public speaking, judgment, or negative evaluation by other people.

Therefore, presentation skills training is essential for any business professional who wants to achieve effective communication . It will remove the anxiety from presentation performance and help users effectively deliver their message and connect with the audience.

Archetypes of presentations

Persuasive presentations aim to convince the audience – often in short periods – to acquire a product or service, adhere to a cause, or invest in a company. For business entrepreneurs or politicians, persuasive presentations are their tool for the trade.

Unless you aim to be perceived as an imposter, a proper persuasive presentation has the elements of facts, empathy, and logic, balanced under a well-crafted narrative. The central pillar of these presentations is to identify the single factor that gathered your audience: it could be a market need, a social cause, or a revolutionary concept for today’s society. It has to be something with enough power to gather critiques – both good and bad.

That single factor has to be backed up by facts. Research that builds your hypothesis on how to solve that problem. A deep understanding of the target audience’s needs , concerns, and social position regarding the solution your means can offer. When those elements are in place, building a pitch becomes an easy task. 

Graphics can help you introduce information in a compelling format, lowering the need for lengthy presentations. Good presentation skills for persuasive presentations go by the hand of filtering relevant data and creating the visual cues that resonate with what your audience demands.

One powerful example of a persuasive presentation is the technique known as the elevator pitch . You must introduce your idea or product convincingly to the audience in a timeframe between 30 seconds and less than 2 minutes. You have to expose:

• What do you do 
• What’s the problem to solve
• Why is your solution different from others 
• Why should the audience care about your expertise

For that very purpose, using engaging graphics with contrasting colors elevates the potential power of your message. It speaks professionalism, care for details, and out-of-the-box thinking. Knowing how to end a presentation is also critical, as your CTAs should be placed with care.

Therefore, let’s resume the requirements of persuasive presentations in terms of good presentation skills:

• Identifying problems and needs
• Elaborating “the hook” (the element that grabs the audience’s attention)
• Knowing how to “tie” your audience (introducing a piece of information related to the hook that causes an emotional impact)
• Broad knowledge of body language and hand gestures to quickly convey your message
• Being prepared to argue a defense of your point of view
• Handling rejection
• Having a proactive attitude to convert opportunities into new projects
• Using humor, surprise, or personal anecdotes as elements to sympathize with the audience
• Having confidence
• Be able to summarize facts and information in visually appealing ways

You can learn more about persuasive presentation techniques by clicking here .

In the case of instructional presentations, we ought to differentiate two distinctive types:

• Lecture Presentations : Presentations being held at universities or any other educative institution. Those presentations cover, topic by topic, and the contents of a syllabus and are created by the team of teachers in charge of the course.
• Training Presentations : These presentations take place during in-company training sessions and usually comprise a good amount of content that is resumed into easy-to-take solutions. They are aimed to coach employees over certain topics relevant to their work performance. The 70-20-10 Model is frequently used to address these training situations.

Lecture presentations appeal to the gradual introduction of complex concepts, following a structure set in the course’s syllabus. These presentations often have a similar aesthetic as a group of professors or researchers created to share their knowledge about a topic. Personal experience does tell that course presentations often rely on factual data, adequately documented, and on the theoretical side.

An example of a presentation that lies under this concept is a Syllabus Presentation, used by the teaching team to introduce the subject to new students, evaluation methods, concepts to be learned, and expectations to pass the course.

On the other hand, training presentations are slide decks designed to meet an organization’s specific needs in the formal education of their personnel. Commonly known as “continuous education,” plenty of companies invest resources in coaching their employees to achieve higher performance results. These presentations have the trademark of being concise since their idea is to introduce the concepts that shall be applied in practice sessions. 

Ideally, the training presentations are introduced with little text and easy-to-recognize visual cues. Since the idea is to summarize as much as possible, these are visually appealing for the audience. They must be dynamic enough to allow the presenter to convey the message.

Those key takeaways remind employees when they revisit their learning resources and allow them to ruminate on questions that fellow workers raise. 

To sum up this point, building presentation skills for instructional presentations requires:

• Ability to put complex concepts into simpler words
• Patience and a constant learning mindset
• Voice training to deliver lengthy speeches without being too dense
• Ability to summarize points and note the key takeaways
• Empathizing with the audience to understand their challenges in the learning process

The informative presentations take place in business situations, such as when to present project reports from different departments to the management. Another potential usage of these presentations is in SCRUM or other Agile methodologies, when a sprint is completed, to discuss the advance of the project with the Product Owner.

As they are presentations heavily dependent on data insights, it’s common to see the usage of infographics and charts to express usually dense data in simpler terms and easy to remember. 

Informative presentations don’t just fall into the business category. Ph.D. Dissertation and Thesis presentations are topics that belong to the informative presentations category as they condense countless research hours into manageable reports for the academic jury. 

Since these informational presentations can be perceived as lengthy and data-filled, it is important to learn the following professional presentation skills:

• Attention to detail
• Be able to explain complex information in simpler terms
• Creative thinking
• Powerful diction
• Working on pauses and transitions
• Pacing the presentation, so not too much information is divulged per slide

The leading inspirational platform, TEDx, comes to mind when talking about inspirational presentations. This presentation format has the peculiarity of maximizing the engagement with the audience to divulge a message, and due to that, it has specific requirements any presenter must meet.

This presentation format usually involves a speaker on a stage, either sitting or better standing, in which the presenter engages with the audience with a storytelling format about a life experience, a job done that provided a remarkable improvement for society, etc.

Empathizing with the audience is the key ingredient for these inspirational presentations. Still, creativity is what shapes the outcome of your performance as people are constantly looking for different experiences – not the same recipe rephrased with personal touches. The human factor is what matters here, way above data and research. What has your experience to offer to others? How can it motivate another human being to pursue a similar path or discover their true calling?

To achieve success in terms of communication skills presentation, these inspirational presentations have the following requirements:

• Focus on the audience (engage, consider their interests, and make them a part of your story)
• Putting ego aside
• Creative communication skills
• Storytelling skills
• Body language knowledge to apply the correct gestures to accompany your story
• Voice training
• Using powerful words

After discussing the different kinds of presentations we can come across at any stage of our lives, a group of presentation skills is standard in any type of presentation. See below what makes a good presentation and which skills you must count on to succeed as a presenter.

Punctuality

Punctuality is a crucial aspect of giving an effective presentation. Nothing says more about respect for your audience and the organization you represent than delivering the presentation on time . Arriving last minute puts pressure on the tech team behind audiovisuals, as they don’t have enough preparation to test microphones, stage lights, and projector settings, which can lead to a less powerful presentation Even when discussing presentations hosted in small rooms for a reduced audience, testing the equipment becomes essential for an effective presentation.

A solution for this is to arrive at least 30 minutes early. Ideally, one hour is a sweet spot since the AV crew has time to check the gear and requirements for your presentation. Another benefit of this, for example, in inspirational presentations, is measuring the previous presenter’s impact on the audience. This gives insights about how to resonate with the public, and their interest, and how to accommodate your presentation for maximum impact.

Body Language

Our bodies can make emotions transparent for others, even when we are unaware of such a fact. Proper training for body language skills reduces performance anxiety, giving the audience a sense of expertise about the presented topic. 

Give your presentation and the audience the respect they deserve by watching over these potential mistakes:

• Turning your back to the audience for extended periods : It’s okay to do so when introducing an important piece of information or explaining a graph, but it is considered rude to give your back to the audience constantly.
• Fidgeting : We are all nervous in the presence of strangers, even more, if we are the center of attention for that moment. Instead of playing with your hair or making weird hand gestures, take a deep breath to center yourself before the presentation and remember that everything you could do to prepare is already done. Trust your instincts and give your best.
• Intense eye contact : Have you watched a video where the presenter stared at the camera the entire time? That’s the feeling you transmit to spectators through intense eye contact. It’s a practice often used by politicians to persuade.
• Swearing : This is a no-brainer. Even when you see influencers swearing on camera or in podcasts or live presentations, it is considered an informal and lousy practice for business and academic situations. If you have a habit to break when it comes to this point, find the humor in these situations and replace your swear words with funny alternatives (if the presentation allows for it). 

Voice Tone plays a crucial role in delivering effective presentations and knowing how to give a good presentation. Your voice is a powerful tool for exposing your ideas and feelings . Your voice can articulate the message you are telling, briefing the audience if you feel excited about what you are sharing or, in contrast, if you feel the presentation is a burden you ought to complete.

Remember, passion is a primary ingredient in convincing people. Therefore, transmitting such passion with a vibrant voice may help gather potential business partners’ interest.  

But what if you feel sick prior to the presentation? If, by chance, your throat is sore minutes before setting foot on the stage, try this: when introducing yourself, mention that you are feeling a bit under the weather. This resonates with the audience to pay more attention to your efforts. In case you don’t feel comfortable about that, ask the organizers for a cup of tea, as it will settle your throat and relax your nerves.

Tech Skills

Believe it or not, people still feel challenged by technology these days. Maybe that’s the reason why presentation giants like Tony Robbins opt not to use PowerPoint presentations . The reality is that there are plenty of elements involved in a presentation that can go wrong from the tech side:

• A PDF not opening
• Saving your presentation in a too-recent PowerPoint version
• A computer not booting up
• Mac laptops and their never-ending compatibility nightmare
• Not knowing how to change between slides
• Not knowing how to use a laser pointer
• Internet not working
• Audio not working

We can come up with a pretty long list of potential tech pitfalls, and yet more than half of them fall in presenters not being knowledgeable about technology.

If computers aren’t your thing, let the organization know about this beforehand. There is always a crew member available to help presenters switch between slides or configure the presentation for streaming. This takes the pressure off your shoulders, allowing you to concentrate on the content to present. Remember, even Bill Gates can get a BSOD during a presentation .

Presentations, while valuable for conveying information and ideas, can be daunting for many individuals. Here are some common difficulties people encounter when giving presentations:

Public Speaking Anxiety

Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking, affects a significant portion of the population. This anxiety can lead to nervousness, trembling, and forgetfulness during a presentation.

Lack of Confidence

Many presenters struggle with self-doubt, fearing that they may not be knowledgeable or skilled enough to engage their audience effectively.

Content Organization

Organizing information in a coherent and engaging manner can be challenging. Presenters often grapple with how to structure their content to make it easily digestible for the audience. Artificial Intelligence can help us significantly reduce the content arrangement time when you work with tools like our AI Presentation Maker (made for presenters by experts in presentation design). 

Audience Engagement

Keeping the audience’s attention and interest throughout the presentation can be difficult. Distractions, disengaged attendees, or lack of interaction can pose challenges.

Technical Issues

Technology glitches, such as malfunctioning equipment, incompatible file formats, or poor internet connectivity, can disrupt presentations and increase stress.

Time Management

Striking the right balance between providing enough information and staying within time limits is a common challenge. Going over or under the allotted time can affect the effectiveness of the presentation.

Handling Questions and Challenges

Responding to unexpected questions, criticism, or challenges from the audience can be difficult, especially when presenters are unprepared or lack confidence in their subject matter.

Visual Aids and Technology

Creating and effectively using visual aids like slides or multimedia can be a struggle for some presenters. Technical competence is essential in this aspect.

Language and Articulation

Poor language skills or unclear articulation can hinder effective communication. Presenters may worry about stumbling over words or failing to convey their message clearly.

Maintaining appropriate and confident body language can be challenging. Avoiding nervous habits, maintaining eye contact, and using gestures effectively requires practice.

Overcoming Impersonal Delivery

In virtual presentations, maintaining a personal connection with the audience can be difficult. The absence of face-to-face interaction can make it challenging to engage and read the audience.

Cultural and Diversity Awareness

Presenting to diverse audiences requires sensitivity to cultural differences and varying levels of familiarity with the topic.

In this section, we gathered some tips on how to improve presentation skills that can certainly make an impact if applied to your presentation skills. We believe these skills can be cultivated to transform into habits for your work routine.

Tip #1: Build a narrative

One memorable way to guarantee presentation success is by writing a story of all the points you desire to cover. This statement is based on the logic behind storytelling and its power to connect with people .

Don’t waste time memorizing slides or reading your presentation to the audience. It feels unnatural, and any question that diverts from the topic in discussion certainly puts you in jeopardy or, worse, exposes you as a fraud in the eyes of the audience. And before you ask, it is really evident when a presenter has a memorized speech. 

Build and rehearse the presentation as if telling a story to a group of interested people. Lower the language barrier by avoiding complex terms that maybe even you aren’t fully aware of their meaning. Consider the ramifications of that story, what it could lead to, and which are the opportunities to explore. Then, visualize yourself giving the presentation in a natural way.

Applying this technique makes the presentation feel like second nature to you. It broadens the spectrum in which you can show expertise over a topic or even build the basis for new interesting points of view about the project.

Tip #2: Don’t talk for more than 3 minutes per slide

It is a common practice of presenters to bombard the audience with facts and information whilst retaining the same slide on the screen. Why can this happen? It could be because the presenter condensed the talk into very few slides and preferred to talk. The reality is that your spectators won’t retain the information you are giving unless you give visual cues to help that process. 

Opt to prepare more slides and pace your speech to match the topics shown on each slide. Don’t spend more than 3 minutes per slide unless you have to introduce a complex piece of data. Use visual cues to direct the spectators about what you talk about, and summarize the principal concepts discussed at the end of each section.

Tip #3: Practice meditation daily

Anxiety is the number one enemy of professional presenters. It slowly builds without you being aware of your doubts and can hinder your performance in multiple ways: making you feel paralyzed, fidgeting, making you forget language skills or concepts, affecting your health, etc.

Meditation is an ancient practice taken from Buddhist teachings that train your mind to be here in the present. We often see the concepts of meditation and mindfulness as synonyms, whereas you should be aware that meditation is a practice that sets the blocks to reach a state of mindfulness. For presenters, being in the here and now is essential to retain focus, but meditation techniques also teach us to control our breathing and be in touch with our body signals when stress builds up. 

The customary practice of meditation has an impact on imagination and creativity but also helps to build patience – a skill much needed for connecting with your audience in instructional presentations.

Having the proper set of presentation skills can be quite subjective. It goes beyond presentation tips and deepens into how flexible we can be in our ability to communicate ideas.

Different presentations and different audiences shape the outcome of our efforts. Therefore, having a basic understanding of how to connect, raise awareness, and empathize with people can be key ingredients for your career as a presenter. A word of advice: success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes dedication and patience to build communication skills . Don’t condition your work to believe you will be ready “someday”; it’s best to practice and experience failure as part of the learning process.

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Powerful and Effective Presentation Skills: More in Demand Now Than Ever

When we talk with our L&D colleagues from around the globe, we often hear that presentation skills training is one of the top opportunities they’re looking to provide their learners. And this holds true whether their learners are individual contributors, people managers, or senior leaders. This is not surprising.

Effective communications skills are a powerful career activator, and most of us are called upon to communicate in some type of formal presentation mode at some point along the way.

For instance, you might be asked to brief management on market research results, walk your team through a new process, lay out the new budget, or explain a new product to a client or prospect. Or you may want to build support for a new idea, bring a new employee into the fold, or even just present your achievements to your manager during your performance review.

And now, with so many employees working from home or in hybrid mode, and business travel in decline, there’s a growing need to find new ways to make effective presentations when the audience may be fully virtual or a combination of in person and remote attendees.

Whether you’re making a standup presentation to a large live audience, or a sit-down one-on-one, whether you’re delivering your presentation face to face or virtually, solid presentation skills matter.

Even the most seasoned and accomplished presenters may need to fine-tune or update their skills. Expectations have changed over the last decade or so. Yesterday’s PowerPoint which primarily relied on bulleted points, broken up by the occasional clip-art image, won’t cut it with today’s audience.

The digital revolution has revolutionized the way people want to receive information. People expect presentations that are more visually interesting. They expect to see data, metrics that support assertions. And now, with so many previously in-person meetings occurring virtually, there’s an entirely new level of technical preparedness required.

The leadership development tools and the individual learning opportunities you’re providing should include presentation skills training that covers both the evergreen fundamentals and the up-to-date capabilities that can make or break a presentation.

So, just what should be included in solid presentation skills training? Here’s what I think.

The fundamentals will always apply When it comes to making a powerful and effective presentation, the fundamentals will always apply. You need to understand your objective. Is it strictly to convey information, so that your audience’s knowledge is increased? Is it to persuade your audience to take some action? Is it to convince people to support your idea? Once you understand what your objective is, you need to define your central message. There may be a lot of things you want to share with your audience during your presentation, but find – and stick with – the core, the most important point you want them to walk away with. And make sure that your message is clear and compelling.

You also need to tailor your presentation to your audience. Who are they and what might they be expecting? Say you’re giving a product pitch to a client. A technical team may be interested in a lot of nitty-gritty product detail. The business side will no doubt be more interested in what returns they can expect on their investment.

Another consideration is the setting: is this a formal presentation to a large audience with questions reserved for the end, or a presentation in a smaller setting where there’s the possibility for conversation throughout? Is your presentation virtual or in-person? To be delivered individually or as a group? What time of the day will you be speaking? Will there be others speaking before you and might that impact how your message will be received?

Once these fundamentals are established, you’re in building mode. What are the specific points you want to share that will help you best meet your objective and get across your core message? Now figure out how to convey those points in the clearest, most straightforward, and succinct way. This doesn’t mean that your presentation has to be a series of clipped bullet points. No one wants to sit through a presentation in which the presenter reads through what’s on the slide. You can get your points across using stories, fact, diagrams, videos, props, and other types of media.

Visual design matters While you don’t want to clutter up your presentation with too many visual elements that don’t serve your objective and can be distracting, using a variety of visual formats to convey your core message will make your presentation more memorable than slides filled with text. A couple of tips: avoid images that are cliched and overdone. Be careful not to mix up too many different types of images. If you’re using photos, stick with photos. If you’re using drawn images, keep the style consistent. When data are presented, stay consistent with colors and fonts from one type of chart to the next. Keep things clear and simple, using data to support key points without overwhelming your audience with too much information. And don’t assume that your audience is composed of statisticians (unless, of course, it is).

When presenting qualitative data, brief videos provide a way to engage your audience and create emotional connection and impact. Word clouds are another way to get qualitative data across.

Practice makes perfect You’ve pulled together a perfect presentation. But it likely won’t be perfect unless it’s well delivered. So don’t forget to practice your presentation ahead of time. Pro tip: record yourself as you practice out loud. This will force you to think through what you’re going to say for each element of your presentation. And watching your recording will help you identify your mistakes—such as fidgeting, using too many fillers (such as “umm,” or “like”), or speaking too fast.

A key element of your preparation should involve anticipating any technical difficulties. If you’ve embedded videos, make sure they work. If you’re presenting virtually, make sure that the lighting is good, and that your speaker and camera are working. Whether presenting in person or virtually, get there early enough to work out any technical glitches before your presentation is scheduled to begin. Few things are a bigger audience turn-off than sitting there watching the presenter struggle with the delivery mechanisms!

Finally, be kind to yourself. Despite thorough preparation and practice, sometimes, things go wrong, and you need to recover in the moment, adapt, and carry on. It’s unlikely that you’ll have caused any lasting damage and the important thing is to learn from your experience, so your next presentation is stronger.

How are you providing presentation skills training for your learners?

Manika Gandhi is Senior Learning Design Manager at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. Email her at [email protected] .

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More From Forbes

20 strategies for introverts to improve their presentation skills.

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Working in business development requires a high level of personal interaction, which can be challenging for people who are naturally introverted. Along with one-on-one meetings, business development leaders often make presentations, a medium where it can be more difficult to create connections with audience members.

Below, 20 members of Forbes Business Development Council share their advice on how introverts can improve their presentation skills. By making time to prepare, utilizing visual aids and leaning into their natural strengths, introverts can showcase their knowledge and make a lasting impression on their audience.

1. Practice Your Presentation

Introverted biz dev leaders can enhance presentation skills by practicing in low-pressure settings, focusing on their strengths and preparing thoroughly. They can also utilize storytelling and active listening to engage audiences, build rapport and make meaningful connections, ultimately driving better results for their bottom line. - Dr. Saju Skaria , Digitech Services

2. Focus On Building Connections

“Supercommunicators,” as introduced by Charles Duhigg, prioritize connection over mere extroversion or polished presentation skills. They excel at building rapport, demonstrating genuine care and asking insightful questions. To enhance your presentation skills, focus on your audience’s interests and find meaningful ways to connect. - Quyen Pham , Releady

3. Showcase Your Passion

Introverted leaders can significantly improve their presentation skills by harnessing their emotional qualities. They should focus on the passion behind their ideas and connect emotionally with the audience. Visualizing success and truly believing in their perspective can turn nervous energy into the most amazing presentations, making genuine connections with their teams. - Jacob Collins , Collins Ecom

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Here are some strategies through which introverted biz dev leaders can improve their presentation skills: 1. Prepare and practice; 2. Focus on strengths; 3. Utilize visual aids; 4. Engage the audience; 5. Practice active listening; 6. Build authentic connections; 7. Seek feedback and continuous improvement and 8. Leverage technology. - Nandhakumar Purushothaman , Mphasis Limited

5. Be Genuine To Connect With Your Audience

I am an introvert, and a piece of advice that stayed with me was to remember that I was an expert on the topic that I was speaking on. Take a deep breath and look at the experience and expertise that you bring to the table. You are of value. If the topic is interesting to you, then it's likely it will be for others. Be yourself; people connect with those who are genuine. - Sheila Halvorson , Harvest Revenue Group LLC

Forbes Business Development Council is an invitation-only community for sales and biz dev executives. Do I qualify?

6. Draw On Your Personal Experiences

If you are a business development professional and consider yourself an introvert, consider yourself lucky. Your strengths have already overshadowed your perceived weakness in your journey to becoming a professional. Harness your inner introvert power and use it for good. Create presentations that include personal experiences that will resonate with the people you are looking to connect with. - Jason Holden , Akkerman

7. Use Technology To Practice

Introverts may not want to practice presentations in front of their peers or managers. Instead, they can use technology to practice speaking and presentations in a self-paced, bite-size manner. Several AI-powered enablement platforms allow leaders to practice talking points, record themselves and receive AI-generated feedback on their tone, word choice, message delivery and more. - Hayden Stafford , Seismic

8. Focus On Your Strengths

For introverts, preparation is key to success. They have to prepare, prepare, prepare and leverage their inner strengths. So, if someone is passionate about what they do but is introverted, they should focus their presentation on the areas that make that passion come alive. By leaning into those strengths, introverts become more confident and can more easily articulate their ideas. - Wayne Elsey , The Funds2Orgs Group

9. Discover Your Communication Style

Introverted business development leaders can improve their presentation skills by tapping into insights provided by "Human Design" and aligning with one's natural energy patterns. For example, "Projectors" excel when they wait for invitations to share their insights, while "Reflectors" benefit from allowing themselves time to process information, which helps them make more meaningful connections. - Bryce Welker , The CPA Exam Guy

10. Find Opportunities To Hear Feedback

By appraising the total skills to deduce the biz dev resource requirements, diverse team members can enhance team presentation skills. Daily standup for the progress check would be helpful for the introverted leaders because the diverse characters from the team members will create ideas and take charge of the roles in each step to help the biz dev leaders improve their pitch. - Gyehyon Andrea Jo , MVLASF

11. Reduce Presentation Pressure With Small Groups

Introverted leaders should focus on one-on-one or small group interactions, where they're likely to feel more comfortable and can make deeper connections. These settings can be more conducive to building the trust and relationships essential for business development success. Utilizing visual aids and technology can also help by diverting some attention away from the speaker. - Saurabh Choudhuri , SAP

12. Lean On Your Listening Skills

Play to your strengths—thoughtful insights, grounding energy, focused approach and good listening skills. As an introverted leader, you can listen for what's being said (and more importantly, what is not being said) in client and business meetings to drive growth for clients. Introverted biz dev leaders then collaborate effectively to solve client pain points. This creates a win-win situation. - Archana Rao , Innova Solutions

13. Apply Storytelling Techniques

Leveraging deep industry insights, introverted biz dev leaders can hone their presentation skills by focusing on clarity, storytelling and data visualization. Personalizing interactions, even in large settings, fosters stronger connections. By mastering these techniques, they can significantly enhance their impact, driving tangible improvements in their organization's bottom line. - Rahul Saluja , Cyient

14. Stay Focused On Your Audience

Excellent presentations require the presenter to focus on the needs of the recipient, not just the needs of the presenter. Be prepared and rehearse your presentation extensively. During the presentation, manage your anxiety by breathing deeply and building rapport with the audience. - Julie Thomas , ValueSelling Associates

15. Ask Questions For Audience Engagement

Active listening is key. Even when you're presenting to a room full of people, communication is two-way, so listening intently to your audience by asking them thoughtful questions is a tremendous way to foster engagement. This also makes the presentation more of a discussion and could help the introverted leader feel more comfortable and at ease. - Ben Elder , Simpplr

16. Solicit Feedback To Find Ways To Improve

Introverted biz dev leaders can boost presentation skills by thoroughly preparing, leveraging strengths like listening, practicing in smaller groups, using visual aids for engaging storytelling and seeking constructive feedback for continuous improvement. These steps enhance connection and impact. - Tina Gada , Vanguard Group

17. Integrate Visual Aids For Impact

In my experience, introverted leaders are deep thinkers and can be dynamic, thought-provoking presenters. What makes them successful is preparing thoroughly, practicing, using visual aids, engaging the audience and seeking networking opportunities. These strategies help build confidence, deliver compelling presentations and foster meaningful connections to their audience. - Scotty Elliott , AmeriLife

18. Have Confidence In Your Expertise

Focus on the fact that this is not a personal situation, and your main goal is to share your know-how or experience with others. Remember what your skill set is and the added value you bring. Your presentation should not be focused on you and your ego, but on the knowledge you bring to the business world. If you realize the value you bring to others, your introverted preoccupations will go away. - Anna Jankowska , RTB House

19. Train Your Presentation 'Muscles'

My first corporate job out of college was a sales role and I was terrified. I took an improv class to help me think on my feet. If improv classes aren't an option, practice, practice, practice. Record yourself giving an important presentation and critique it. Your ability to communicate is your superpower, and you need to train it like you would any other muscle. - Ashleigh Stanford , PracticeTek

20. Explore Different Ways To Engage

You don't have to push yourself to do public talks. You can still share your knowledge and build your reputation comfortably by writing articles, books or sharing reviews and comments online. This way, you can get your ideas out there without feeling uncomfortable, and it won't drop your visibility or impact. It might even help you connect better with others, improving your bottom line. - Dima Raketa , Reputation House

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IGN x ID@Xbox Digital Showcase Returns April 29, 2024

• Brenda Saucedo, Communications Manager, Xbox

• The ID@Xbox Digital Showcase will premiere on April 29, 2024, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST.
• Get the latest updates on games like Vampire Survivors , Dungeons of Hinterberg , 33 Immortals , Lost Records Bloom & Rage , and more!
• If you miss out, IGN will have the ID@Xbox Digital Showcase archived on their channel after the show concludes.

Last year , you got a first-hand look at Karateka, Axiom Verge 2, Sea of Stars , and many other incredible games during the first IGN x ID@Xbox Digital Showcase . Today, we’re excited to announce that the show is returning on April 29, 2024 , with another batch of hotly anticipated indies for you to play across Xbox and PC.

On top of epic trailers, fresh gameplay, and new reveals, the show will feature new details on upcoming games like Dungeons of Hinterberg , 33 Immortals , Lost Records: Bloom & Rage , and many others.

The ID@Xbox Showcase will premiere on April 29, 2024, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST and you can tune in across all IGN Platforms.

• IGN’s Facebook Channel
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• IGN’s Twitch Channel
• IGN’s YouTube Channel
• IGN’s iOS App
• IGN’s Android App
• IGN’s Xbox One App
• IGN App for Android TV
• IGN for Amazon Fire TV
• IGN 1 on Amazon Fire TV

We are also proud to share that the ID@Xbox Digital Showcase will also be available in American Sign Language (ASL): Stream the ID@Xbox Digital Showcase in ASL . We hope you’ll join us for lots of indie goodness, but if you cannot watch live, the showcase will be available on demand post-premiere on IGN’s channels, and of course, we’ll have a recap of everything showcased on Xbox Wire!

Stay tuned to Xbox Wire and IGN for more! 

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Sam Altman says this communication skill will help you level up in life

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared some advice on how to get ahead in life: be a concise communicator.
• The CEO calls the ability to condense five minutes of speech into 30 seconds a "big unlock." 
• Asking a friend to concisely rephrase your thoughts a "few dozen times" can help hone the skill. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared some words of wisdom on how to get ahead in life: be a concise communicator.

"Learning how to say something in 30 seconds that takes most people 5 minutes is a big unlock," Altman recently wrote on X .

Speaking with brevity, according to the face of ChatGPT , is a "surprisingly learnable skill" that the CEO says can be developed with a simple exercise you can do with a friend who excels at talking.

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"If you struggle with this, consider asking a friend who is good at it to listen to you say something and then rephrase it back to you as concisely as they can a few dozen times," Altman said, adding that he's seen this technique work "really well."

learning how to say something in 30 seconds that takes most people 5 minutes is a big unlock — Sam Altman (@sama) April 28, 2024

Learning how to articulate one's thoughts is one way workers can advance their communication skills, which some corporate leaders say is crucial to thriving in business. Alongside active listening and summarizing key conversation points, some execs say that knowing how to speak clearly can help professionals get ahead in their careers.

One tech executive at a job search engine previously told Business Insider that strong communication can be linked to job security, a higher chance of moving into a management role, and a knack for building relationships.

Flexing your communication chops can even help you land your next job. It's why billionaire investor Warren Buffett advised college graduates to develop their communication skills during a commencement address. That advice seems to have checked out for some professionals. One JPMorgan employee credited her succinct answers during the interview process for helping her secure her role at the investment bank.

But for one former OpenAI employee, learning to be articulate can lead to more than just a successful career: it can protect your job from AI replacement.

"Focusing on the skills necessary to effectively communicate with humans will future-proof you for a world with AGI," he said.

Sam Altman didn't immediately respond to BI's request for comment when reached through OpenAI.

Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, has a global deal to allow OpenAI to train its models on its media brands' reporting.

Watch: Conversational style and first-person narratives help brands connect with consumers, says Acxiom CMO

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