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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

• Carmine Gallo

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.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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How to prepare and deliver an effective oral presentation

• Related content
• Peer review
• Lucia Hartigan , registrar 1 ,
• Fionnuala Mone , fellow in maternal fetal medicine 1 ,
• Mary Higgins , consultant obstetrician 2
• 1 National Maternity Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
• 2 National Maternity Hospital, Dublin; Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Medicine and Medical Sciences, University College Dublin
• luciahartigan{at}hotmail.com

The success of an oral presentation lies in the speaker’s ability to transmit information to the audience. Lucia Hartigan and colleagues describe what they have learnt about delivering an effective scientific oral presentation from their own experiences, and their mistakes

The objective of an oral presentation is to portray large amounts of often complex information in a clear, bite sized fashion. Although some of the success lies in the content, the rest lies in the speaker’s skills in transmitting the information to the audience. 1

Preparation

It is important to be as well prepared as possible. Look at the venue in person, and find out the time allowed for your presentation and for questions, and the size of the audience and their backgrounds, which will allow the presentation to be pitched at the appropriate level.

See what the ambience and temperature are like and check that the format of your presentation is compatible with the available computer. This is particularly important when embedding videos. Before you begin, look at the video on stand-by and make sure the lights are dimmed and the speakers are functioning.

For visual aids, Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Mac Keynote programmes are usual, although Prezi is increasing in popularity. Save the presentation on a USB stick, with email or cloud storage backup to avoid last minute disasters.

When preparing the presentation, start with an opening slide containing the title of the study, your name, and the date. Begin by addressing and thanking the audience and the organisation that has invited you to speak. Typically, the format includes background, study aims, methodology, results, strengths and weaknesses of the study, and conclusions.

If the study takes a lecturing format, consider including “any questions?” on a slide before you conclude, which will allow the audience to remember the take home messages. Ideally, the audience should remember three of the main points from the presentation. 2

Have a maximum of four short points per slide. If you can display something as a diagram, video, or a graph, use this instead of text and talk around it.

Animation is available in both Microsoft PowerPoint and the Apple Mac Keynote programme, and its use in presentations has been demonstrated to assist in the retention and recall of facts. 3 Do not overuse it, though, as it could make you appear unprofessional. If you show a video or diagram don’t just sit back—use a laser pointer to explain what is happening.

Rehearse your presentation in front of at least one person. Request feedback and amend accordingly. If possible, practise in the venue itself so things will not be unfamiliar on the day. If you appear comfortable, the audience will feel comfortable. Ask colleagues and seniors what questions they would ask and prepare responses to these questions.

It is important to dress appropriately, stand up straight, and project your voice towards the back of the room. Practise using a microphone, or any other presentation aids, in advance. If you don’t have your own presenting style, think of the style of inspirational scientific speakers you have seen and imitate it.

Try to present slides at the rate of around one slide a minute. If you talk too much, you will lose your audience’s attention. The slides or videos should be an adjunct to your presentation, so do not hide behind them, and be proud of the work you are presenting. You should avoid reading the wording on the slides, but instead talk around the content on them.

Maintain eye contact with the audience and remember to smile and pause after each comment, giving your nerves time to settle. Speak slowly and concisely, highlighting key points.

Do not assume that the audience is completely familiar with the topic you are passionate about, but don’t patronise them either. Use every presentation as an opportunity to teach, even your seniors. The information you are presenting may be new to them, but it is always important to know your audience’s background. You can then ensure you do not patronise world experts.

To maintain the audience’s attention, vary the tone and inflection of your voice. If appropriate, use humour, though you should run any comments or jokes past others beforehand and make sure they are culturally appropriate. Check every now and again that the audience is following and offer them the opportunity to ask questions.

Finishing up is the most important part, as this is when you send your take home message with the audience. Slow down, even though time is important at this stage. Conclude with the three key points from the study and leave the slide up for a further few seconds. Do not ramble on. Give the audience a chance to digest the presentation. Conclude by acknowledging those who assisted you in the study, and thank the audience and organisation. If you are presenting in North America, it is usual practice to conclude with an image of the team. If you wish to show references, insert a text box on the appropriate slide with the primary author, year, and paper, although this is not always required.

Answering questions can often feel like the most daunting part, but don’t look upon this as negative. Assume that the audience has listened and is interested in your research. Listen carefully, and if you are unsure about what someone is saying, ask for the question to be rephrased. Thank the audience member for asking the question and keep responses brief and concise. If you are unsure of the answer you can say that the questioner has raised an interesting point that you will have to investigate further. Have someone in the audience who will write down the questions for you, and remember that this is effectively free peer review.

Be proud of your achievements and try to do justice to the work that you and the rest of your group have done. You deserve to be up on that stage, so show off what you have achieved.

Competing interests: We have read and understood the BMJ Group policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: None.

• ↵ Rovira A, Auger C, Naidich TP. How to prepare an oral presentation and a conference. Radiologica 2013 ; 55 (suppl 1): 2 -7S. OpenUrl
• ↵ Bourne PE. Ten simple rules for making good oral presentations. PLos Comput Biol 2007 ; 3 : e77 . OpenUrl PubMed
• ↵ Naqvi SH, Mobasher F, Afzal MA, Umair M, Kohli AN, Bukhari MH. Effectiveness of teaching methods in a medical institute: perceptions of medical students to teaching aids. J Pak Med Assoc 2013 ; 63 : 859 -64. OpenUrl

Principedia

Ten Steps to Preparing an Effective Oral Presentation

• Determine the purpose of your presentation and identify your own objectives.
• Know your audience and what it knows.
• Define your topic.
• Arrange your material in a way that makes sense for your objectives.
• Compose your presentation.
• Create visual aids.
• Practice your presentation (don’t forget to time it!)
• Make necessary adjustments.
• Analyze the room where you’ll be giving your presentation (set-up, sight lines, equipment, etc.).
• Practice again.
• ← Answering Questions
• Novice v. Expert Problem Solvers →

Ideas and insights from Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning

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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How to Prepare and Give a Scholarly Oral Presentation

• First Online: 01 January 2020

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• Cheryl Gore-Felton 2  

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Building an academic reputation is one of the most important functions of an academic faculty member, and one of the best ways to build a reputation is by giving scholarly presentations, particularly those that are oral presentations. Earning the reputation of someone who can give an excellent talk often results in invitations to give keynote addresses at regional and national conferences, which increases a faculty member’s visibility along with their area of research. Given the importance of oral presentations, it is surprising that few graduate or medical programs provide courses on how to give a talk. This is unfortunate because there are skills that can be learned and strategies that can be used to improve the ability to give an interesting, well-received oral presentation. To that end, the aim of this chapter is to provide faculty with best practices and tips on preparing and giving an academic oral presentation.

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Pashler H, McDaniel M, Rohrer D, Bjork R. Learning styles: concepts and evidence. Psychol Sci Public Interest. 2009;9:105–19.

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Newsam JM. Out in front: making your mark with a scientific presentation. USA: First Printing; 2019.

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Ericsson AK, Krampe RT, Tesch-Romer C. The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychol Rev. 1993;100:363–406.

Seaward BL. Managing stress: principles and strategies for health and well-being. 7th ed. Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC: Burlington; 2012.

Krantz WB. Presenting an effective and dynamic technical paper: a guidebook for novice and experienced speakers in a multicultural world. Philadelphia: Elsevier; 2017.

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Gore-Felton, C. (2020). How to Prepare and Give a Scholarly Oral Presentation. In: Roberts, L. (eds) Roberts Academic Medicine Handbook. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31957-1_42

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Giving an oral presentation is a common part of any business, whether you’re talking to colleagues, clients, or partners. It’s your chance to persuade, inform, or update them. But rushing in unprepared can lead to less-than-stellar results. So, the key to achieving your objective, whatever it may be, depends on one thing: preparation.

This guide is here to help you dedicate the necessary time to make and rehearse your presentation. With the right approach, you’ll deliver an effective oral presentation PPT that leaves a lasting impression. Now, get ready to transform your next meeting into a confident and persuasive experience.

In this article

Part i: what is oral presentation in business communication, informative presentations, instructive presentations, persuasive presentations, sales deck presentations, product marketing presentations, training and development presentations, data-driven presentations, progress report presentations, pitch deck presentations, demonstrations, blackout unnecessary slides, speak slower to avoid filler words, use ai presentation generator, complement texts with visuals, engage your audience.

An oral presentation is a form of verbal communication delivered to an audience. It is a way to share information, persuade them of an idea, or keep them updated. Visual aids like slides, handouts, or demonstrations often support a speaking presentation.

Oral presentations in business communication have several purposes. These include explaining new projects, pitching client ideas, or delivering team updates. Depending on what works, you can do it solo or with a team and keep it short or long.

However, an effective oral presentation doesn’t just happen on its own.

When making oral presentations, ensure they are well-organized, informative, and engaging. They follow a clear structure, with an introduction, body, and conclusion. You should also be confident, enthusiastic, and able to connect with the audience on a personal level.

Now that we’ve laid the groundwork for business oral presentations, let’s dive into the different types you’ll come across. The next part will uncover a variety of business presentations, each with its own goal.

Part II: 10 Different Types of Presentations in Business

Not all speaking presentations are the same. Different business situations call for different styles. Before you think of what you’ll say, figure out which presentation type works best for your audience. Here are the common types of business presentations you can give:

Informative presentations aim to equip attendees with knowledge of a chosen theme. Imagine presenting industry trends to your team or explaining a new company policy. These business presentations focus on clear communication and factual accuracy.

The instructive presentation aims to equip the audience with skills or knowledge they can apply practically. Think of a training session on using a new software program or a workshop on effective negotiation. This business presentation focus shifts to step-by-step guidance and practical exercises.

In a persuasive oral presentation, the goal is to win people over to your viewpoint. Be it convincing investors or pitching a new marketing plan, the deal is to build a solid case. You want compelling arguments, strong data, and a clear call to action.

Designed for sealing the deal, using a sales deck for your oral presentation highlights the value of a product or service. It emphasizes features, benefits, and why it’s better, all while tackling possible concerns. Salespeople often pull these out in client meetings or when pitching to investors.

A product marketing presentation focuses on creating awareness and excitement about a product. It targets a broader audience, not just potential customers, and aims to generate interest and brand recognition. Think of product launches, industry conferences, or social media marketing campaigns.

Training presentations are crucial for giving employees the skills they need. Whether it’s welcoming new hires or boosting leadership skills, the format changes based on the context. Usually, there’s a mix of instruction, practice, and chances to ask questions. You can use this for your oral presentation to ensure everyone’s up to speed in a way that works.

In data-driven presentations, facts and stats take the spotlight. You can add visuals for research, market trends, or data-backed solutions when making oral presentations. The trick is turning complex info into a clear, punchy story with eye-catching charts.

A progress report presentation updates a project, initiative, or campaign. They often involve data and metrics to show progress toward goals and objectives. These business presentations are crucial for maintaining transparency and building trust among stakeholders.

The pitch deck presentation hustles to get funding for a fresh business idea. Picture quick pitches, like selling your vision to venture capitalists. They zoom in on the problem you’re solving, what makes you stand out, and the promise of success. It’s all about packing a punch quickly to make your oral presentation stick.

These oral presentations go beyond words – they show it in action. Whether it’s software, new gear, or tricky procedures, the focus is on demonstrating. It’s a powerful way for the audience to see exactly how things work and throw in questions for a clearer picture.

Knowing the types of business presentations available is crucial. The next section will empower you to deliver effective oral presentations, regardless of your chosen format.

Part III: Techniques for Giving an Effective Oral Presentation

So, you’ve crafted an amazing presentation deck that captures your vision. Or you are starting with an idea for the oral presentation. Now comes the real challenge: delivering it in a way that grabs attention and keeps everyone hooked. Let’s explore some oral presentation techniques to make it a captivating experience.

Imagine a screen packed with text. Boring. No one wants to read a novel on a slide. Instead, blackout slides that reiterate points you’ll cover verbally. Focus on primary points and leave the details for handouts.

Speaking and presenting too fast can sound rushed and nervous. Slow down your pace and articulate clearly. It allows the audience to absorb your message and creates a sense of confidence. Plus, it helps you avoid filler words like “um” and “uh” that can distract from your message.

We all know you’re passionate about your business idea. However, securing investment requires captivating investors and presenting a vision that resonates deeply. Making a compelling pitch deck traditionally meant long hours of wrestling with design software and agonizing over content.

But what if you could lessen the time to create an oral presentation PPT to a few minutes?

Tools like AI presentation generators can help with structure and flow and even suggest visuals. Wondershare Presentory is one of the best in the market that can help automatically create a starting point for your slides. It makes an initial outline for your review. Then, Presentory generates stunning presentations with text, formatting, and imagery in PPT format. All these are based on a keyword or your topic.

Presentory is valuable for busy professionals and people who need to save time without compromising quality. But it doesn’t stop boosting your work efficiency here. This tool also empowers you to customize the design and content of the AI-generated oral presentation PPT. Furthermore, Presentory offers several additional benefits:

• Online and desktop access: Work on the go. This app lets you access your presentations online or offline, allowing you to work from anywhere.
• Personalized design: Make it your own. This app gives you the tools to customize your slides with layouts and templates that feel fresh and engaging.
• Content optimization: Presentory not only generates content. It also provides suggestions for improvement, ensuring professionalism and persuasiveness.
• Ease of use: No design skills? No problem. This app is user-friendly, and anyone can create professional-looking presentations in no time.
• Integration of resources: Level up your PPT slides. The built-in AI helps you find high-quality images and graphics to make your presentation pop.
• One-click streaming: Reach your audience across platforms. Presentory allows you to stream your oral presentation on Teams, YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Google Meet, and more platforms.
• Enhanced visuals: Import pictures and videos or add animations for a more dynamic presentation.
• Recording: Get your presentation ready for the big day. Use the teleprompter to record yourself practicing and feeling confident.

How To Make an Effective Oral Presentation PPT Using AI?

Presentory empowers you to focus on the speaking and presentation aspects while the AI takes care of the rest. Follow these steps below to create an effective oral presentation PPT for free online:

Step 1: Open the Wondershare Presentory app dashboard in your web browser. Sign in with your Google Account or create a new one.

Step 2: Click Create Presentation AI from the Home page to start.

Step 3: Select Begin with a topic to use AI and generate an outline.

Step 4: Enter your topic in the text box, then click Continue to let AI create the content outline. You can also select from one of the suggested keywords to explore first.

Step 5: Review the AI-generated outline and click Continue if satisfied.

Step 6: Select a template you want to use for the presentation, then click Generating to apply.

Step 7: Tailor your presentation. Edit text, switch slides, add images, and experiment with different layouts and themes to personalize your presentation.

Step 8: Click Share from the upper navigation pane, choose the file format from the pop-up window, then click Export presentation to save the PPT.

Images, infographics, and videos are powerful tools to engage your audience and reinforce your message during oral presentations. But don’t just throw random visuals in there. They should complement your words, not replace them. Choose visuals that are clear, relevant, and support your points.

Giving oral presentations shouldn’t be one-sided lectures. Get your audience involved. Ask questions, encourage participation, and invite discussion. Maybe even throw in a poll or a quick activity to keep them on their toes. Remember, your goal is to present information, connect with your audience, and make them care about your message.

You’ve got the ideas, the passion, the drive. But when it comes to giving an oral presentation , the pressure’s on. Traditional presentation tools can be time-consuming. Relying solely on “best practices” might leave you blending into the background. You need an edge, a way to grab attention and captivate your audience from the get-go.

However, making a compelling oral presentation PPT often takes time and expertise. That’s why you need to incorporate AI tools into your workflow. Try Wondershare Presentory - it is your partner in business communication success. Start creating presentations that win today.

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Importance of Oral Presentations

In the workplace, and during your university career, you will likely be asked to give oral presentations. An oral presentation is a key persuasive tool. If you work in marketing, for example, you will often be asked to “pitch” campaigns to clients. Even though these pitches could happen over email, the face-to-face element allows marketers to connect with the client, respond to questions, demonstrate their knowledge and bring their ideas to life through storytelling.

In this section, we’ll focus on public speaking. While this section focuses on public speaking advocacy, you can bring these tools to everything from a meeting where you’re telling your colleagues about the results of a project to a keynote speech at a conference.

Imagine your favourite public speaker. When Meggie (one of the authors of this section) imagines a memorable speaker, she often thinks of her high school English teacher, Mrs. Permeswaran. You may be skeptical of her choice, but Mrs. Permeswaran captured the students’ attention daily. How? By providing information through stories and examples that felt relatable, reasonable, and relevant. Even with a room of students, Meggie often felt that the English teacher was just talking to  her . Students worked hard, too, to listen, using note-taking and subtle nods (or confused eyebrows) to communicate that they cared about what was being said.

Now imagine your favourite public speaker. Who comes to mind? A famous comedian like Jen Kirkman? An ac

tivist like Laverne Cox? Perhaps you picture Barack Obama. What makes them memorable for you? Were they funny? Relatable? Dynamic? Confident? Try to think beyond  what  they said to  how they made you feel . What they said certainly matters, but we are often less inclined to remember the  what  without a powerful  how — how they delivered their message; how their performance implicated us or called us in; how they made us feel or how they asked us to think or act differently.

In this chapter, we provide an introduction to public speaking by exploring what it is and why it’s impactful as a communication process. Specifically, we invite you to consider public speaking as a type of advocacy. When you select information to share with others, you are advocating for the necessity of that information to be heard. You are calling on the audience and calling them in to listen to your perspective. Even the English teacher above was advocating that sentence structure and proper writing were important ideas to integrate. She was a trusted speaker, too, given her credibility.

Before we continue our conversation around advocacy, let’s first start with a brief definition of public speaking.

Business Writing For Everyone Copyright © 2021 by Arley Cruthers is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Business Presentation: The Ultimate Guide to Making Powerful Presentations (+ Examples)

A business presentation is a purpose-led summary of key information about your company’s plans, products, or practices, designed for either internal or external audiences. Project proposals, HR policy presentations, investors briefings are among the few common types of presentations. 

Compelling business presentations are key to communicating important ideas, persuading others, and introducing new offerings to the world. Hence, why business presentation design is one of the most universal skills for any professional. 

This guide teaches you how to design and deliver excellent business presentations. Plus, breaks down some best practices from business presentation examples by popular companies like Google, Pinterest, and Amazon among others! 

3 General Types of Business Presentations

A business presentation can be given for a number of reasons. Respectively, they differ a lot in terms of content and purpose. 

But overall, all types of business presentations can be classified as:

• Informative
• Persuasive 
• Supporting 

Informative Business Presentation 

As the name suggests, the purpose of an informative presentation is to discern the knowledge you have — explain what you know. It’s the most common type of business presentation out there. So you have probably prepared such at least several times. 

Examples of informative presentations:

• Team briefings presentation 
• Annual stakeholder report 
• Quarterly business reviews
• Business portfolio presentation
• Business plan presentation
• Project presentation

Helpful templates from SlideModel:

• Business plan PowerPoint template
• Business review PowerPoint template
• Project proposal PowerPoint template
• Corporate annual report template

Persuasive Business Presentation 

The goal of this type of presentation is to persuade your audience of your point of view — convince them of what you believe is right. Developing business presentations of this caliber requires a bit more copywriting mastery, as well as expertise in public speaking . Unlike an informative business presentation, your goal here is to sway the audience’s opinions and prompt them towards the desired action. 

Examples of persuasive presentations:

• Pitch deck/investor presentations
• Sales presentation  
• Business case presentation 
• Free business proposal presentation
• Business proposal PowerPoint template
• Pitch deck PowerPoint template
• Account Plan PowerPoint template

Supporting Business Presentation 

This category of business PowerPoint presentations is meant to facilitate decision-making — explain how we can get something done. The underlying purpose here is to communicate the general “action plan”. Then break down the necessary next steps for bringing it to life. 

Examples of supporting presentations:

• Roadmap presentation
• Project vision presentation 
• After Action Review presentation 
• Standard operating procedure (SOP) PowerPoint template 
• Strategy map PowerPoint template 
• After action review (ARR) PowerPoint template 

What Should Be Included in a Business Presentation?

Overall, the content of your business presentation will differ depending on its purpose and type. However, at the very minimum, all business presentations should include:

• Introductory slide 
• Agenda/purpose slide
• Main information or Content slides
• Key Takeaways slides
• Call-to-action/next steps slides

We further distill business presentation design and writing best practices in the next section (plus, provide several actionable business PowerPoint presentation examples!). 

How to Make a Business Presentation: Actionable Tips

A business presentation consists of two parts — a slide deck and a verbal speech. In this section, we provide tips and strategies for nailing your deck design. 

1. Get Your Presentation Opening Right 

The first slides of your presentation make or break your success. Why? By failing to frame the narrative and set the scene for the audience from the very beginning, you will struggle to keep their interest throughout the presentation. 

You have several ways of how to start a business presentation:

• Use a general informative opening — a summative slide, sharing the agenda and main points of the discussion. 
• Go for a story opening — a more creative, personal opening, aimed at pulling the audience into your story. 
• Try a dramatic opening — a less apparent and attention-grabbing opening technique, meant to pique the audience’s interest. 

Standard Informative Opening 

Most business presentation examples you see start with a general, informative slide such as an Agenda, Problem Statement, or Company Introduction. That’s the “classic” approach. 

To manage the audience’s expectations and prepare them for what’s coming next, you can open your presentation with one or two slides stating:

• The topic of your presentation — a one-sentence overview is enough. 
• Persuasive hook, suggesting what’s in it for the audience and why they should pay attention. 
• Your authority — the best technique to establish your credibility in a business presentation is to share your qualifications and experience upfront to highlight why you are worth listening to. 

Opening best suited for: Formal business presentations such as annual reports and supporting presentations to your team/business stakeholders. 

Story Opening 

Did you ever notice that most TED talks start with a quick personal story? The benefit of this presenting technique is that it enables speakers to establish quick rapport and hold the listener’s attention. 

Here’s how Nancy Duarte, author of “Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations” book and TED presenter, recommends opening a presentation: 

You know, here’s the status quo, here’s what’s going on. And then you need to compare that to what could be. You need to make that gap as big as possible, because there is this commonplace of the status quo, and you need to contrast that with the loftiness of your idea. 

Storytelling , like no other tool, helps transpose the audience into the right mindset and get concentrated on the subject you are about to discuss. A story also elicits emotions, which can be a powerful ally when giving persuasive presentations. In the article how to start a presentation , we explore this in more detail.

Opening best suited for: Personal and business pitches, sales presentations, other types of persuasive presentations. 

Dramatic Opening 

Another common technique is opening your presentation with a major statement, sometimes of controversial nature. This can be a shocking statistic, complex rhetoric question, or even a provocative, contrarian statement, challenging the audience’s beliefs. 

Using a dramatic opening helps secure the people’s attention and capture their interest. You can then use storytelling to further drill down your main ideas. 

If you are an experienced public speaker, you can also strengthen your speech with some unexpected actions. That’s what Bill Gates does when giving presentations. In a now-iconic 2009 TED talk about malaria, mid-presentation Gates suddenly reveals that he actually brought a bunch of mosquitoes with him. He cracks open a jar with non-malaria-infected critters to the audience’s surprise. His dramatic actions, paired with a passionate speech made a mighty impression. 

Opening best suited for: Marketing presentations, customer demos, training presentations, public speeches. 

Further reading: How to start a presentation: tips and examples. 

2. Get Your PowerPoint Design Right

Surely, using professional business PowerPoint templates already helps immensely with presentation deck design since you don’t need to fuss over slide layout, font selection, or iconography. 

Even so, you’ll still need to customize your template(s) to make them on brand and better suited to the presentation you’re about to deliver. Below are our best presentation design tips to give your deck an extra oomph. 

Use Images, Instead of Bullet Points 

If you have ever watched Steve Jobs’s presentations, you may have noticed that he never used bullet-point lists. Weird right? Because using bullet points is the most universal advice in presentation design. 

But there’s a valid scientific reason why Jobs favored images over bullet-point texts. Researchers found that information delivered in visuals is better retained than words alone. This is called the “ pictorial superiority effect ”. As John Medina, a molecular biologist, further explains :

“Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%.”

So if your goal is to improve the memorability of your presentation, always replace texts with images and visualizations when it makes sense. 

Fewer Slides is Better

No matter the value, a long PowerPoint presentation becomes tiring at some point. People lose focus and stop retaining the information. Thus, always take some extra time to trim the fluff and consolidate some repetitive ideas within your presentation. 

For instance, at McKinsey new management consultants are trained to cut down the number of slides in client presentations. In fact, one senior partner insists on replacing every 20 slides with only two slides . Doing so prompts you to focus on the gist — the main business presentation ideas you need to communicate and drop filler statements. 

Here are several quick tips to shorten your slides:

• Use a three-arc structure featuring a clear beginning (setup), main narrative (confrontation), ending (resolution). Drop the ideas that don’t fit into either of these. 
• Write as you tweet. Create short, on-point text blurbs of under 156 symbols, similar to what you’d share on Twitter. 
• Contextualize your numbers. Present any relevant statistics in a context, relevant to the listeners. Turn longer stats into data visualizations for easier cognition. 

Consistency is Key 

In a solid business presentation, each slide feels like part of the connecting story. To achieve such consistency apply the same visual style and retain the same underlying message throughout your entire presentation.

Use the same typography, color scheme, and visual styles across the deck. But when you need to accentuate a transition to a new topic (e.g. move from a setup to articulating the main ideas), add some new visual element to signify the slight change in the narrative. 

Further reading: 23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

3. Make Your Closure Memorable 

We best remember the information shared last. So make those business presentation takeaways stick in the audience’s memory. We have three strategies for that. 

Use the Rule of Three 

The Rule of Three is a literary concept, suggesting that we best remember and like ideas and concepts when they are presented in threes. 

Many famous authors and speakers use this technique:

• “Duty – Honor – Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, and what you will be” . Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
• “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” are the unalienable rights of all humans that governments are meant to protect.” Thomas Jefferson 

The Rule of Three works because three is the maximum number of items most people can remember on their first attempt. Likewise, such pairings create a short, familiar structure that is easy to remember for our brains. 

Try the Title Close Technique

Another popular presentation closing technique is “Title Close” — going back to the beginning of your narrative and reiterating your main idea (title) in a form of a takeaway. Doing so helps the audience better retain your core message since it’s repeated at least two times. Plus, it brings a sense of closure — a feel-good state our brains love. Also, a brief one-line closure is more memorable than a lengthy summary and thus better retained. 

Ask a Question 

If you want to keep the conversation going once you are done presenting, you can conclude your presentation with a general question you’d like the audience to answer.

Alternatively, you can also encourage the members to pose questions to you. The latter is better suited for informational presentations where you’d like to further discuss some of the matters and secure immediate feedback. 

Try adding an interactive element like a QR code closing your presentation with a QR code and having a clear CTA helps you leverage the power of sharing anything you would like to share with your clients. QR codes can be customized to look alike your brand.

If you are looking for a smoother experience creating presentations on the fly, check out the AI PowerPoint maker —it offers everything you can ask forfrom presentation design in a couple of clicks.

12 Business Presentation Examples and What Makes Them Great 

Now that we equipped you with the general knowledge on how to make a presentation for business, let’s take a look at how other presenters are coping with this job and what lessons you can take away from them. 

1. N26 Digital Bank Pitch Deck 

This is a fine business pitch presentation example, hitting all the best practices. The deck opens with a big shocking statement that most Millennials would rather go to the dentist than step into a bank branch. 

Then it proceeds to discuss the company’s solution to the above — a fully digital bank with a paperless account opening process, done in 8 minutes. After communicating the main product features and value proposition, the deck further conceptualizes what traction the product got so far using data visualizations. The only thing it lacks is a solid call-to-action for closing slides as the current ending feels a bit abrupt. 

2. WeWork Pitch Deck

For a Series D round, WeWork went with a more formal business presentation. It starts with laying down the general company information and then transitions to explaining their business model, current market conditions, and the company’s position on the market.

The good thing about this deck is that they quantify their business growth prospects and value proposition. The likely gains for investors are shown in concrete numbers. However, those charts go one after another in a row, so it gets a bit challenging to retain all data points. 

The last part of their presentation is focused on a new offering, “We Live”. It explains why the team seeks funds to bring it to life. Likewise, they back their reasoning with market size statistics, sample projects, and a five-year revenue forecast. 

3. Redfin Investor Presentation 

If you are looking for a “text-light” business presentation example, Redfin’s investor deck is up to your alley. This simple deck expertly uses iconography, charts, and graphs to break down the company’s business model, value proposition, market share, and competitive advantages over similar startups. For number-oriented investors, this is a great deck design to use. 

4. Google Ready Together Presentation 

This isn’t quite the standard business presentation example per se. But rather an innovative way to create engaging, interactive presentations of customer case studies .

The short deck features a short video clip from a Google client, 7-11, explaining how they used the company’s marketing technology to digitally transform their operations and introduce a greater degree of marketing automation . The narrated video parts are interrupted by slides featuring catchy stats, contextualizing issues other businesses are facing. Then transitions to explaining through the words of 7-11 CMO, how Google’s technology is helping them overcome the stated shortcomings.

5. Salesforce Business Presentation Example 

This is a great example of an informational presentation, made by the Salesforce team to share their research on customer experience (CX) with prospects and existing customers.

The slide deck errs on the lengthier side with 58 slides total. But bigger topics are broken down and reinforced through bite-sized statistics and quotes from the company leadership. They are also packaging the main tips into memorable formulas, itemized lists, and tables. Overall, this deck is a great example of how you can build a compelling narrative using different statistics. 

6. Mastercard Business Presentation

This slide deck from Mastercard instantly captures the audience’s attention with unusual background images and major data points on the growth of populations, POS systems, and payment methods used in the upcoming decade.

Perhaps to offset the complexity of the subject, Mastercard chose to sprinkle in some humor in presentation texts and used comic-style visuals to supplement that. However, all their animations are made in a similar style, creating a good sense of continuity in design. They are also using colors to signify the transition from one part of the presentation to another. 

In the second part, the slide deck focuses on distilling the core message of what businesses need to do to remain competitive in the new payments landscape. The team presents what they have been working on to expand the payment ecosystem. Then concludes with a “title close” styled call-to-action, mirroring the presentation title.

7. McKinsey Diversity & Inclusion Presentation 

This fresh business slide deck from McKinsey is a great reference point for making persuasive business presentations on complex topics such as D&I. First, it recaps the main definitions of the discussed concepts — diversity, equity, and inclusion — to ensure alignment with the audience members. 

Next, the business presentation deck focuses on the severity and importance of the issue for businesses, represented through a series of graphs and charts. After articulating the “why”, the narrative switches to “how” — how leaders can benefit from investment in D&I. The main points are further backed with data and illustrated via examples. 

8. Accenture Presentation for the Energy Sector

Similar to McKinsey, Accenture keeps its slide deck on a short. Yet the team packs a punch within each slide through using a mix of fonts, graphical elements, and color for highlighting the core information. The presentation copy is on a longer side, prompting the audience to dwell on reading the slides. But perhaps this was meant by design as the presentation was also distributed online — via the company blog and social media. 

The last several slides of the presentation deck focus on articulating the value Accenture can deliver for their clients in the Energy sector. They expertly break down their main value proposition and key service lines, plus quantify the benefits. 

9. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Technical Presentation 

Giving an engaging technical presentation isn’t an easy task. You have to balance the number of details you reveal on your slides to prevent overwhelm, while also making sure that you don’t leave out any crucial deets. This technical presentation from AWS does great in both departments. 

First, you get entertained with a quick overview of Amazon’s progress in machine learning (ML) forecasting capabilities over the last decade. Then introduced to the main tech offering. The deck further explains what you need to get started with Amazon Forecast — e.g. dataset requirements, supported forecasting scenarios, available forecasting models, etc. 

The second half of the presentation provides a quick training snippet on configuring Amazon SageMaker to start your first project. The step-by-step instructions are coherent and well-organized, making the reader excited to test-drive the product. 

10. Snapchat Company Presentation

Snapchat’s business model presentation is on a funkier, more casual side, reflective of the company’s overall brand and positioning. After briefly recapping what they do, the slide deck switches to discussing the company’s financials and revenue streams.

This business slide deck by Snap Inc. itself is rather simplistic and lacks fancy design elements. But it has a strong unified theme of showing the audience Snapchat’s position on the market and projected vector of business development. 

11. Visa Business Acquisition Presentation 

If you are working on a business plan or M&A presentation for stakeholders of your own, this example from Visa will be helpful. The presentation deck expertly breaks down the company’s rationale for purchasing Plaid and subsequent plans for integrating the startup into their business ecosystem. 

The business deck recaps why the Plaid acquisition is a solid strategic decision by highlighting the total addressable market they could dive into post-deal. Then it details Plaid’s competitive strengths. The slide deck then sums up all the monetary and indirect gains Visa could reap as an acquirer. 

12. Pinterest Earnings Report Presentation 

Annual reports and especially earnings presentations might not be the most exciting types of documents to work on, but they have immense strategic value. Hence, there’s little room for ambiguities or mistakes. 

In twelve slides, this business presentation from Pinterest clearly communicates the big picture of the company’s finance in 2021. All the key numbers are represented as featured quotes in the sidebar with diagrams further showcasing the earning and spending dynamics. Overall, the data is easy to interpret even for non-finance folks. 

To Conclude 

With these business presentation design tips, presentation templates , and examples, you can go from overwhelmed to confident about your next presentation design in a matter of hours. Focus on creating a rough draft first using a template. Then work on nailing your opening slide sequence and shortening the texts in the main part of your presentation when needed. Make sure that each slide serves a clear purpose and communicates important details. To make your business presentation deck more concise, remove anything that does not pertain to the topic. 

Finally, once you are done, share your business presentation with other team members to get their feedback and reiterate the final design.

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Top 10 Oral Presentation Strategies For Effective Communication

Everybody wants to know about various oral presentation strategies through which he can improve his oral presentation skills. Oral Presentation is one of the basic needs of every business, whether it is small-scale or large-scale.

Usually, professionals get over-excited or more nervous which causes them the lack of speaking in public which is known as Glossophobia . So rather than getting therapy for Glossophobia, or spending much time to erase the fear, the speaker has to do something useful that does not only benefit the speaker but also the organization.

One of the most necessary parts of getting success in a career is to deliver ideas and outcomes logically and clearly. The main purpose of an oral presentation is to grab the audience’s attention and highlight a certain point that may not grab attention when put in written form.

Simply, the entire success relies on the shoulders of the presenter. To achieve a certain target, the presenter has to burn the desire and work on improving the method of delivering ideas.

Oral Presentation Strategies

Oral Presentation Strategies can help a professional decrease the fear of speaking in public or front of a few listeners. These strategies are more than therapy because they not only improve the Business Communication skills of the presenter but also improve the skills with a new form that enhances the career of the presenter.

Sometimes, professionals forget that being in the field of business administration is not so easy, as it requires hard work and the power to speak in public.

The following are a few oral presentation strategies that will surely help a professional/presenter to give a brief view of their ideas, which will grab the attention of the audience and will improve the talking ability of the presenter.

1. Homework

Homework stands on top in the oral presentation strategies, because if you did not do your homework, how you may get better results. It is impossible to deliver a good presentation and put the idea of the presenter in the minds of the audience without spending serious time on preparation.

Sometimes, the audience gets impressed watching the tone of the presenter. The fact is that every presenter who possesses a powerful tone spends huge time at home preparing the presentation.

2. Try the Presentation

After doing the complete preparation of the presentation at home, the next thing is to try it on the office staff or the boss to make sure it is on the right track and the tone of the presenter is exactly according to the presentation.

3. Organize in Parts

An effective presentation is prepared by dividing it into a few parts. It is observed that most effective presentations contain two to three main parts. The presenter should tell the audience what these parts are, before or during the presentation. It may lead to a win.

4. Go Through

A night before the presentation, the presenter should go through the presentation a few times to check the period and ability to deliver the ideas. To make it more convenient, the presenter should ask a friend to pretend like the audience, who will help the presenter to improve the weak spots of the presentation.

Sometimes, the presenter gets stuck at a point, which can create a negative impact on the audience. To prevent such things, the presenter should prepare mental notes and try to remember the difficult points.

5۔ Appearance and Talking

Wearing the highest quality suit is unnecessary, but appearing in the presentation after getting off bed also does not sound good.

In short, the presenter should get an attractive dress that creates an impression on the audience. While on the other hand, looking down at papers constantly will bore the audience.

The presenter should talk more than read from the papers. To avoid the certain issue, creating outline notes is a good idea because it will require the presenter to look down only occasionally.

6۔ Using Aids + Keeping Slow Speed

In a few important presentations, it is necessary to use visual aids for defining major points properly. This will make the audience memorize every single idea of the presentation. Sometimes, a couple of things are incomplete without aids.

Same as aids, it is also necessary that the presenter should keep a slow speed while talking. The audience needs to hear and understand everything clearly.

Many inexperienced professionals make this mistake by moving very fast without realizing that the audience does not understand.

7. To the Point Info

Putting unnecessary dates or a huge number of quotations will bore the audience even if the audience is attentive. Simply, including all the data which is to the point will be good because it will engage the audience.

Besides, the presenter should try to show what he/she is. Being a person from another planet will create a bad impact on the presentation.

8. Eye Contract

One of the most important factors of an oral presentation is to keep eye contact with the audience. This will prove that the presenter has efficient communication skills.

The presenter is supposed to look into the eyes of every single person sitting in the room and even at those as well who are just nodding and sitting in the back.

9. Conclusion

Make every listener understand the primary purpose of the presentation by finishing it with a satisfying conclusion. The audience will understand that the presentation has surely taught them anything new and useful.

10. Interruptions

Many speakers think that raised questions from the audience are hurdles, but in fact, two-way communication not only clarifies the idea of the person who asked the question but also clarifies the ideas of others. The presenter should be prepared to answer the relative question to the topic and offer a warm welcome to the interruptions.

At last, the presenter should keep everything in order and on the right track. Knowing when to start the presentation, when to stop, when to take a break for drinking water, when to put an effective issue in front of the audience, and when to stop giving a lecture, all this will prove that the speaker is well familiar with the basic oral presentation strategies, which are important for any sorts of presentation.

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The 70 Best Business Topic Ideas for Presentations and Research Papers for College Students

Find your perfect business degree.

www.business-management-degree.net is an advertising-supported site. Featured or trusted partner programs and all school search, finder, or match results are for schools that compensate us. This compensation does not influence our school rankings, resource guides, or other editorially-independent information published on this site.

Education is not just about listening to instructors expound on theories and learning from their lectures. A good part of life for college students also revolves around doing presentations and writing research papers; therefore, you will need to acquire an excellent research topic about business.

Business topics for presentations and research papers range from traditional ideas, such as business management and economics, to more modern topics, such as digital transformation and e-commerce. In any case, a good research paper and presentation topic will be meaningful, timely, and interesting to an audience.

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A research paper is a good measure of a student’s understanding of the topic. It allows them to apply what they learned by tackling certain subjects relevant to their course. By developing their ability to communicate through oral and written exercises, research papers shape the accuracy and integrity of your thoughts. Let us help you find the right research topic about business!

Why Choose the Right Business Topic Ideas?

A great business research paper requires a topic that is relevant and one that will distinguish it from other papers. While business is prevalent in society and the global stage in general, it is still not that easy to frame a topic that will be fresh and applicable to today’s world.

After all, thousands of research have already been done when it comes to business. It can be a real challenge to find something that has not been studied yet or add anything new and valuable to those that already exist. But it is indeed possible to look into the present situations and developments and identify new angles from existing research to make it applicable in the modern age.

Choosing the right business topic ideas will give you an easier time when you need to do research and start writing it. A good topic considers your field of interest and your subject, leading you to a research paper that will not only help you acquire the best grades but also expand and test your knowledge and research skills. And because writing a research paper should factor in social impact, it requires extensive and consistent study as opposed to sporadic and casual reading.

Tips for Picking the Best Business Topic Ideas

When starting a research paper or class presentation, the most challenging part is always getting started. It is ideal for students to develop the skill of producing a good research topic. These tips might help.

• Brainstorm for ideas on your field of study. You can do this by asking the right questions, such as “ What problems do businesses face these days?” You can also get inspiration from the news regarding business, finance, and economics.
• Prepare a list of keywords and concepts to choose from. Use this to form a more focused research topic as well.
• Read up on the chosen keyword or concept. When you’ve decided, start to learn more about it by reading the background information for a good overview.
• Give the topic a greater focus but be careful not to make it too broad or too narrow. To be sure, keep the subject limited in the areas of geography, culture, time frame, or discipline.

Business Topic Ideas for the Different Fields of Business

Business communication.

It is common for information to be shared between the company and its employees or the company and its customers. Effective communication within or outside of the business is vital for a company to function. Business communication is a continuous process that can be done in many ways and various channels.

When a business has good communication with its internal and external affairs, it can run smoothly. It is vital in transmitting information that can impact the industry and its success. For business communication students, finding a topic that can best suit their research papers is not that hard when they understand its importance and how it can affect the running of a business.

Here is a list of topic ideas that can help business communication students:

• The different ways men and women communicate in the business environment
• The effects of good business communication on business development and growth
• Communication and its relation to marketing effectiveness
• How effective communication can help in dealing with global companies
• The theories of communication and their different roles in the corporate world
• How communication influence decision-making within the company
• The effect of communication in overcoming business challenges
• Effective communication skills in the management sector
• Convincing customers to buy products through good communication
• How business communication and effective marketing go hand in hand

Business Administration

When it comes to business administration programs, students are required to think of research topics that resolve a particular subject in an area of specialization. The issues are not expected to be broad or new; instead, they must be able to get the message across regarding the areas covered by the degree program. It can be ideas on business management, leadership skills, communication methodologies, business policies, trade, and commerce, or financial management.

Here are some of the relevant and exciting topics for business administration:

• How does management affect an organization’s performance?
• The effects of advertisement on consumer behavior
• In what ways can human resources promote industrial harmony?
• The Impact of staff motivation incentives on productivity
• The everyday challenges of small and medium enterprises at the start of trade
• Short-term management and its risks
• How does corporate sustainability affect the organizational process?
• Weighing the pros and cons of startup and established companies
• The strategy of corporate sustainability
• The roles of budget analysis and budgetary controls on an organization’s operation

Business Ethics

There is a connection between ethics and global business. Two of the essential foundations of global commerce are business ethics and corporate responsibility. Studying Business Ethics is vital for many Business majors. This is where they learn how businesses should treat their employees and other organizations in global and local contexts.

Today, the business environment has changed drastically, owing mostly to government policies and political stability. To keep up with the current dynamics, ethical principles and moral-ethical problems must be advanced.

Courses related to business ethics must carefully choose topics that address common issues and improve businesses in terms of ethical practices. Some of the ideas students can explore for Business Ethics research and presentation include:

• The impact of gender discrimination on employees’ performance
• The effects of a company’s environmental practices on consumer trust
• Examine the repercussions of abuse of laborers in the construction industry
• The connection between profit-seeking and product quality
• Misleading advertisements and their impact on consumers’ trust levels
• The importance of trust in modern economics
• How do companies make a difference to global problems?
• Are companies accountable when consumers misuse their products?
• The ways a company can create a healthy and more balanced work environment
• Does workplace diversity play an important role in productivity?

Small Business

he evolution of small businesses in the digital era is an interesting study for many Business major students. It is true that big companies and organizations can shell out massive amounts for advertising and brand enhancement, but they can still lose out to small businesses, especially in niches like flower shops, coffee houses, and bakeries.

That is only one aspect of small businesses. There are many more areas that students can explore to understand the issues and ideas that surround small companies and their ability to compete with their giant counterparts. Take a look at some of these research topics:

• What struggles do small business owners encounter in marketing?
• Digital marketing and its impact on small businesses
• How should small companies deal with a crisis?
• Is relationship building important for small businesses?
• The common products that consumers purchase from small companies
• The impact of online marketing strategy on conversion and revenue growth
• The challenges of starting a small company
• How can small companies contribute to global change?
• The effect of a business plan on small business growth
• Finance models for different spheres of small business

Business Management

As one of the most significant tasks for many businesses and organizations, business management focuses on planning and organizing. Like the Business Administration programs, Business Management includes marketing, accounting, economics, and finance as its core subjects.

Professors often give research assignments to business students to measure their analytical skills and understanding of supervising a business or managing people.

We’ve gathered some of the most interesting research topics for Business Management courses:

• How did the rapid technological developments revolutionize marketing?
• What is sustainable development and what is its impact on modern businesses
• Frugal innovations to help small to medium businesses create value for profits and return?
• Why companies should enshrine corporate social responsibility
• Keeping the balance between employee expectations and the organization’s profit
• The role of financial managers in maintaining records of business expenses
• How does employee motivation increase the earnings of organizations?
• The importance of a digital marketing strategy to small businesses
• Understanding the process of taxation and its relation to the profit of the business
• How to handle a crisis in an organization

Global Business

The age of globalization has dawned, and businesses must adapt to the changes and repercussions it brings. Globalization has a way of influencing the trends in the market and how companies should approach consumers. It can also determine the emerging marketing methods that can contribute to the success of an organization.

Students who study global business aim to understand how companies around the world are connected. When they look at the industry from an international perspective, they will be able to navigate the impact of boundaries and cultures on the operation and management of global companies. Developing a global mindset is essential.

Keep these ideas in mind when exploring topics for their research paper:

• The challenges of company expansions to different countries
• Examining world markets and how they benefit from globalization
• How does globalization affect consumer behavior
• The rise of the foreign exchange market in the era of globalization
• Going digital and its effects on international business
• The influence of culture on marketing and branding
• The advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing the business
• The many ways for foreign companies to handle scam
• How can war impact company profits around the world?
• The different structures suitable for international business

Business Law

Also known as mercantile law or commercial law, business law governs the dealings between people and commercial matters. It can be divided into two areas. One is the regulation of commercial entities with a basis on laws of partnership, company, and bankruptcy.

The other is the regulation of commercial transactions through the laws of contract. Students who are in the field of business law must know how to stop problems before they can hurt the organization or bring about legal repercussions.

Searching for topics in this field can be daunting but doable. To inspire students, we have listed down some ideas that can help them with their research and presentation:

• The various ways a company can curtail harmful human behaviors in the workplace
• Examining the effectiveness of penalties on serious work infractions
• How companies offer treatment in cases of workplace accidents
• When are data confidentiality policies applicable in a business?
• The lawful ways to regulate online gambling websites
• The importance of copyright and trademark on businesses
• A comparative analysis of business laws in the Western and Eastern World
• How do laws impact e-Commerce?
• The implications of data privacy on businesses and consumers
• Looking at data privacy laws from an international perspective

When the most viable picks for research topics have been provided, it is time to choose the most suitable one for a specific area of specialization and field of interest. A careful study of the issue at hand and selecting a topic that encompasses the academic course or specialization will do the trick.

While you are at it, it is vital to find the balance between a relevant and original topic and an interesting one. Remember, a presentation and research paper do not have to be uninteresting to be effective. Your selected research topic about business is important, so choose wisely. Pick something that you are interested in, and the rest will follow.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the basic things to know about delivering a successful presentation.

• Have Effective Content: Make sure the content of your presentation is relevant, organized, accurate, and concise. Use visuals and examples to support your points.
• Practice: Take the time to practice your presentation. Practicing out loud may help you identify any issues in the presentation, as well as anticipate how your audience may respond.
• Engage your Audience: Establish a connection with your audience by using eye contact, gestures, and speaking clearly.
• Use Visual Aids: Incorporate visuals like PowerPoint slides, posters, and other props to make your presentation more dynamic.
• Be Positive: Present your material with enthusiasm and confidence. Even if you don’t feel confident in what you’re presenting, practice your material until you feel more comfortable.

What are the top components of a business presentation?

• Visuals: Visuals such as slides, graphs, diagrams and videos help draw and keep the audience’s attention and ensure that the message is clear.
• Content: Content is the main part of a business presentation and is made up of talking points, summaries, facts and figures.
• Delivery: Delivery refers to the style and method used to present the content and visuals. This includes the presenter’s body language and vocal delivery.

What must be avoided in any presentation?

• Rambling or becoming distracted
• Being overly verbose or using unduly complicated language
• Reading from written notes most of the time
• Not rehearsing and/or not knowing the material
• Not engaging with the audience
• Glancing at the slides too often
• Focusing on slides with too many words or too much detail
• Apologizing for the presentation
• Failing to make connections and summarize key points
• Talking too quickly or loudly

Watch this YouTube video for examples of do’s and dont’s:

Check this out: THE BEST BUSINESS PROGRAMS WITH NO APPLICATION FEE

Rowan Jones Chief Editor

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iRubric: Business Plan Oral Presentation Rubric

• Presentation/Marketing
• Presentation

2022 BUSINESS STUDIES SBA Task Term 2 Grade 12 Presentation

SUBJECT: BUSINESS STUDIES GRADE : 12 TASK : PRESENTATION TERM : 2 YEAR : 2022

BUSINESS STUDIES GRADE 12 PROGRAMME OF ASSESSMENT 2022

Terms of references for all tasks CASE STUDY

• Teachers must provide learners with the topics on which the case study will be based for assessment.
• Learners to be given one week to collect resources on the topics
• The case study must be administered and completed within two hours under controlled conditions.
• Case studies are a very good way of keeping the subject up to date and relevant.
• Learners are presented with a real-life situation, a problem, or an incident related to the topic.
• Each formal assessment task must consist of only one assessment activity
• They should draw on their own experience or prior learning to interpret, analyse and solve a problem or set of problems and make suggestion/s and or recommendation/s to defend their arguments.
• Case studies may be taken from newspaper articles, magazine articles, video clips, or radio recordings and all sources must be acknowledged.

CONTROLLED TESTS Two tests, written under controlled conditions, are prescribed for Grades 10 - 12. These tests must adhere to the following:

• They must be completed by all classes in the same grade on the same day.
• Where there is more than one teacher, an agreement must be reached on the scope as well as the date and time of the tests.
• All learners write the same test under examination conditions.
• The duration of each of these tests must be one and half hours for 100 marks.
• The two tests must be written in Terms 1 and 3 as per the revised programme of assessment
• Tests must cover the different cognitive levels in examinations. See the table on cognitive levels under Examinations in the following section.
• Tests must also include problem-solving questions.
• Tests must cover a range of integrated topics, as determined by the annual teaching plan work schedule and the assessment plan.
• Questions must comply with year-end examination standards.

BUSINESS STUDIES CONSOLIDATION SCHEDULE

NAME OF LEARNER:________________________________________ SCHOOL :____________________________________

We hereby certify that these marks are a true reflection of the above learner’s work

DECLARATION BY THE LEARNER SCHOOL NAME : _____________________________ NAME OF THE LEARNER : ______________________________ TEACHER’S NAME : ______________________________

I hereby declare that all pieces contained in this learner portfolio are my original work and that if I have used any sources, I have acknowledged them. I will endeavour to keep my work original and not plagiarize other sources/people’s work. I agree that if it is determined by the relevant authorities that I have engaged in any fraudulent activities whatsoever in connection with my SBA mark, I shall forfeit completely for this assessment (s) _______________________ ______________ LEARNER’S SIGNATURE              DATE ________________________ ______________ PARENT/ GUARDIAN                     DATE

As far as I know, the above statement by the learner is true and I accept that the work offered is his/her name _________________________ _______________ TEACHER’S SIGNATURE                 DATE

ANNEXURE C EVIDENCE OF GRADE 12 SCHOOL MODERATION

____________________ _____________ ___________ HOD MODERATOR            SIGNATURE         DATE __________________ ____________ ____________ TEACHER                      SIGNATURE         DATE ____________________   __________    ___________ CLUSTER MODERATOR  SIGNATURE       DATE

BUSINESS STUDIES GRADE 12 TERM: 2 NAME OF SCHOOL:_________________ TASK: 02 PRESENTATION MARKS: 50 ISSUE DATE: __________________SUBMISSION DATE:________________ SURNAME OF LEARNER: _________________________________________ NAME OF LEARNER: __________________________________________

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT: Business sectors and their environments BUSINESS OPERATIONS: Quality of performance BUSINESS VENTURES: Management and leadership Investment: securities and insurance FINAL MARK: 50 Marks

INSTRUCTIONS TO LEARNERS

• Business sectors and their environments
• Quality of performance,
• Management and Leadership
• Investment: Securities and Insurance
• Read the instructions for each question and respond appropriately.
• Attach your evidence of research for QUESTION 1.8 and 1.9
• You are required to use the links and the websites to get enough information.
• You must adhere to the written and oral presentation dates to avoid unnecessary penalties

PART A: WRITTEN PRESENTATION 1.1 Name TWO business environments and their extent of control. (4) 1.2 Outline the differences between quality control and quality assurance. (4) 1.3 Read the scenario below and answer the questions that follow NATHI COMMUNICATIONS (NC) Nathi Communication offers performance incentives to their employees in order to improve productivity. Charmaine a manager at NC, sets an example of behaviour that is expected from employees' work ethics. NC has structured norms in place so that control mechanisms can be implemented. 1.3.1 Quote TWO quality indicators of the general management from the scenario above. (2) 1.3.2 Explain other quality indicators of the general management function.(3) 1.4 Discuss the negative impact of continuous skills development/education and training as an element of total quality management (TQM) on large businesses.(3) 1.5 Recommend ways in which TQM can reduce the cost of quality. (4) 1.6 Read the scenario below and answer the questions that follow: NJABULO CATERING ( NC) Njabulo, the owner of Njabulo Catering. He regularly requests experienced employees to contribute ideas on how to increase their sales. Nomsa, the top salesperson recently received a bonus cheque for exceeding the monthly sales target. 1.6.1 Identify the leadership style applied by Njabulo. Motivate your answer by quoting from the scenario above. (2) 1.6.2 Explain the positive impact of the leadership style identified in QUESTION 1.4.1 (3) 1.7 Read the scenario below and answer the questions that follow: Delisiwe won 5000 from the lottery she wanted to invest in a form of ownership where she would have a percentage of ownership in the financial assets of the company. 1.7.1 Identify the form of investment applicable to Delisiwe in the scenario above. (1) 1.7.2 Evaluate the impact of the form of investment identified in QUESTION 1.7.1. (4) 1.8 Use the link below to research types of preference shares that are applicable to your notes. 1.8.1 Describe FIVE (5) types of preference shares and present the article as evidence of research. (5) https://thebusinessstudies.com/share-public-limited-company-different-typesshares/ 1.9 Visit the following websites to research the Benefits of Unemployment Insurance Fund. www.employment&labour.gov.za www.labourguide.co.za/uif/907-uif-unemployment-benefits. https://www.legalwise.co.za/help-yourself/legal-articles/unemploymentinsurance-benefits. 1.9.1 Explain the benefits of UIF using the links above and print the article as evidence of research. (5) [40]

RUBRIC TO ASSESS THE GRADE 12 PRESENTATION

Related items

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• LIFE SCIENCES GRADE 12 MEMORANDUM - NSC PAST PAPERS AND MEMOS JUNE 2022
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• HISTORY PAPER 2 GRADE 12 MEMORANDUM - NSC PAST PAPERS AND MEMOS JUNE 2022
• HISTORY PAPER 2 GRADE 12 QUESTIONS - NSC PAST PAPERS AND MEMOS JUNE 2022

University of Nebraska at Kearney 2024 Graduate Research Awards

Posted: April 25, 2024 10:00:00 PM CDT

Graduate Writing Award

1st Place: Sunanda Rajput – “Androgen Receptor Signaling Protects Male Mice from the Development of Immune Response to Peanut” Biology, Mentor: Joseph Dolence 2nd Place: Scott Pate – “A Brief History of Homel Meatpacking and Iowa Labor, 1891-1982”  History, Mentor: Nathan Tye

Graduate Oral Presentation Award

Professional & applied studies.

1st Place: Tatiana Moore –  “Public History in Western Nebraska: Interpreting the History of the Sioux Ordnance Depot” Public History, Mentor: Will Stoutamire

Fine Arts & Humanities

1st Place: Kiley Truex – “The Basic Writing Classroom” English, Mentor: Amanda Sladek

Graduate Poster Presentation Award

Natural & physical sciences.

1st Place: Sunanda Rajput – “Sex Differences in Innate Immune Response Following Peanut Exposure”  Biology, Mentor: Joseph Dolence

Behavioral & Social Sciences

1st Place: Brenna Erdman & Rachel Rhetus – “New Challenges: Recent Updates to Title IX and Implications for Counselor Education” Counseling, School Psychology & Family Studies, Mentor: Doug Tillman

1st Place (tie): Preston Davis – “Gesture Use in Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder during a 25-Minute Play Task” Communication Disorders, Mentor: Philip Lai

Hannah Hardy – “Emergency Medical Services Preparedness for Athletic Healthcare in Nebraska” Kinesiology and Sports Sciences, Mentor: Elena Robinson

1st Place: Gwendolyn Folk – “Communicating Biology Concepts in a Local Context in Central Nebraska”  Public Communication, Advisor: Mary Harner

Outstanding Graduate Thesis Award

1st Place: Michael Nelson – “Is This Your Boy? The Spirit of the American Doughboy in World War I Memorialization” History, Advisor: Will Stoutamire 2nd Place: Brenda Lopez Adame – “Los Dictados Como Herramienta Útil en el Aula de Español para Hablantes de Herencia” Modern Languages, Advisor: Janet Eckerson

3 - Minute Thesis (3MT) Award

1st Place: Kristen Wetovick  – “Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education” Learning, Design, & Technology, Mentored: Martonia Gaskill

Graduate Research Mentor of the Year

Martonia Gaskill , Teacher Education

Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year

College of arts & sciences.

Katherine Moen , Psychology

College of Business & Technology

Heather Meyer , Marketing

College of Education

Elena Robinson , Kinesiology and Sport Sciences

By: Heidi Knake

Category: Psychology, Business and Technology, UNK Online, Graduate Studies, General, Education, Natural and Social Sciences

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