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How to prepare and deliver an effective oral presentation

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• 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

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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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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 →

This page has been archived and is no longer updated

Oral Presentation Structure

Finally, presentations normally include interaction in the form of questions and answers. This is a great opportunity to provide whatever additional information the audience desires. For fear of omitting something important, most speakers try to say too much in their presentations. A better approach is to be selective in the presentation itself and to allow enough time for questions and answers and, of course, to prepare well by anticipating the questions the audience might have.

As a consequence, and even more strongly than papers, presentations can usefully break the chronology typically used for reporting research. Instead of presenting everything that was done in the order in which it was done, a presentation should focus on getting a main message across in theorem-proof fashion — that is, by stating this message early and then presenting evidence to support it. Identifying this main message early in the preparation process is the key to being selective in your presentation. For example, when reporting on materials and methods, include only those details you think will help convince the audience of your main message — usually little, and sometimes nothing at all.

The opening

• The context as such is best replaced by an attention getter , which is a way to both get everyone's attention fast and link the topic with what the audience already knows (this link provides a more audience-specific form of context).
• The object of the document is here best called the preview because it outlines the body of the presentation. Still, the aim of this element is unchanged — namely, preparing the audience for the structure of the body.
• The opening of a presentation can best state the presentation's main message , just before the preview. The main message is the one sentence you want your audience to remember, if they remember only one. It is your main conclusion, perhaps stated in slightly less technical detail than at the end of your presentation.

In other words, include the following five items in your opening: attention getter , need , task , main message , and preview .

Even if you think of your presentation's body as a tree, you will still deliver the body as a sequence in time — unavoidably, one of your main points will come first, one will come second, and so on. Organize your main points and subpoints into a logical sequence, and reveal this sequence and its logic to your audience with transitions between points and between subpoints. As a rule, place your strongest arguments first and last, and place any weaker arguments between these stronger ones.

The closing

After supporting your main message with evidence in the body, wrap up your oral presentation in three steps: a review , a conclusion , and a close . First, review the main points in your body to help the audience remember them and to prepare the audience for your conclusion. Next, conclude by restating your main message (in more detail now that the audience has heard the body) and complementing it with any other interpretations of your findings. Finally, close the presentation by indicating elegantly and unambiguously to your audience that these are your last words.

Starting and ending forcefully

Revealing your presentation's structure.

To be able to give their full attention to content, audience members need structure — in other words, they need a map of some sort (a table of contents, an object of the document, a preview), and they need to know at any time where they are on that map. A written document includes many visual clues to its structure: section headings, blank lines or indentations indicating paragraphs, and so on. In contrast, an oral presentation has few visual clues. Therefore, even when it is well structured, attendees may easily get lost because they do not see this structure. As a speaker, make sure you reveal your presentation's structure to the audience, with a preview , transitions , and a review .

The preview provides the audience with a map. As in a paper, it usefully comes at the end of the opening (not too early, that is) and outlines the body, not the entire presentation. In other words, it needs to include neither the introduction (which has already been delivered) nor the conclusion (which is obvious). In a presentation with slides, it can usefully show the structure of the body on screen. A slide alone is not enough, however: You must also verbally explain the logic of the body. In addition, the preview should be limited to the main points of the presentation; subpoints can be previewed, if needed, at the beginning of each main point.

Transitions are crucial elements for revealing a presentation's structure, yet they are often underestimated. As a speaker, you obviously know when you are moving from one main point of a presentation to another — but for attendees, these shifts are never obvious. Often, attendees are so involved with a presentation's content that they have no mental attention left to guess at its structure. Tell them where you are in the course of a presentation, while linking the points. One way to do so is to wrap up one point then announce the next by creating a need for it: "So, this is the microstructure we observe consistently in the absence of annealing. But how does it change if we anneal the sample at 450°C for an hour or more? That's my next point. Here is . . . "

Similarly, a review of the body plays an important double role. First, while a good body helps attendees understand the evidence, a review helps them remember it. Second, by recapitulating all the evidence, the review effectively prepares attendees for the conclusion. Accordingly, make time for a review: Resist the temptation to try to say too much, so that you are forced to rush — and to sacrifice the review — at the end.

Ideally, your preview, transitions, and review are well integrated into the presentation. As a counterexample, a preview that says, "First, I am going to talk about . . . , then I will say a few words about . . . and finally . . . " is self-centered and mechanical: It does not tell a story. Instead, include your audience (perhaps with a collective we ) and show the logic of your structure in view of your main message.

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14: Oral Presentations

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Chapter Objectives

• Create oral presentation materials that reflect standards of effective presentations.
• Apply the standards of effective presentation to Technical Writing.
• Demonstrate formatting and designing of presentations.
• Evaluate presentations for effectiveness.

A common assignment in technical writing courses—not to mention in the workplace—is to prepare and deliver an oral presentation, a task most of us would be happy to avoid. However, while employers look for coursework and experience in preparing written documents, they also look for experience in oral presentations as well.

Oral presentations will be prepared differently face-to-face than in an online environment. You would see many presenters use flip charts, PowerPoint, and other visuals for face-to-face presentations. If you are presenting online, oral reports can be sent in as "scripts," or audio versions can be transmitted live or recorded. You might also use PowerPoint and Prezi presentations as well.

Most people would rather have root canal surgery without Novocaine than stand up in front of a group and speak. It truly is one of the great stressors. But with some help from the resources that follow, you can be a champion presenter. Learning how to have effective presentations can help you close a big deal or explain information to your colleagues at work.

Topics and Situations for the Oral Presentation

For the oral report in a technical writing course, imagine that you are formally handing over your final written report to the people with whom you set up the hypothetical contract or agreement. For example, imagine that you had contracted with a software company to write its user guide. Once you have completed it, you have a meeting with the chief officers to formally deliver the guide. You spend some time orienting them to the guide, showing them how it is organized and written, and discussing some of its highlights. Your goal is to get them acquainted with the guide and to prompt them for any concerns or questions.

The first step is to figure out a topic. It is important to remember what you did in the writing process and the same steps apply here. Start with brainstorming some possibilities on what you want to present:

• Informative purpose: An oral report can be primarily informative. For example, as a member of a committee involved in a project to relocate the plant, your job might be to give an oral report on the condition of the building and grounds at one of the sites proposed for purchase.
• Instructional purpose: An oral report can be instructional. Your task might be to train new employees to use certain equipment or to perform certain routine tasks.
• Persuasive purpose: An oral report can be persuasive. You might want to convince members of local civic organizations to support a city-wide recycling program.
• Topics: You can start by thinking of a technical subject, for example, solar panels, microprocessors, drip irrigation, or laser surgery. For your oral report, think of a subject you would be interested in talking about, but find a reason why an audience would want to hear your oral report.
• Place or situation: You can find topics for oral reports or make more detailed plans for them by thinking about the place or the situation in which your oral report might naturally be given: at meetings for your employer? at a city council meeting? at a meeting of the board of directors or high-level executives of a company? Thinking about an oral report this way makes you focus on the audience, their reasons for listening to you, and their interests and background. As in all technical writing situations, identifying and understanding your audience is of the utmost importance.

Contents and Requirements for Oral Presentations

Once you have picked a topic for your oral presentation, it is time to organize your thoughts. The focus for your oral presentation is clear, understandable presentation; well-organized, well-planned, well-timed discussion.

When you give your oral presentation, use the following as a requirements list, as a way of focusing your preparations:

• Situation: Plan to explain the situation of your oral report and who you are. Make sure that there is a clean break between this brief explanation and the beginning of your actual oral report.
• Indicate the purpose of your oral report.
• give an overview of its contents.
• find some way to interest the audience.
• Visuals: Use at least one visual—preferably slides using presentation software (such as Powerpoint, Keynote, and Prezi). Flip charts and objects for display are good, but avoid scribbling stuff on the chalkboard or whiteboard or relying strictly on handouts. Make sure you discuss key elements of your visuals. Don't just throw them up there and ignore them. Point out things about them; explain them to the audience.
• Explanation: Plan to explain any technical aspect of your topic clearly and understandably. Don't race through complex, technical stuff—slow down and explain it carefully so that your audience understands it.
• Transitions: Use "verbal headings"—by now, you've gotten used to using headings in your written work. There is a corollary in oral reports. With these, you give your audience a very clear signal you are moving from one topic or part of your talk to the next. Your presentation visual can signal your headings.
• Planning: Plan your presentation in advance and practice it so that it is organized. Make sure that your audience knows what you are talking about and why, which part of the talk you are in, and what is coming next. Overviews and verbal headings greatly contribute to this sense of organization.
• summarize (go back over high points of what you've discussed).
• conclude (state some logical conclusion based on what you have presented).
• provide some last thought (end with some final interesting point but general enough not to require elaboration).
• or some combination of the three.
• Questions: And certainly, you'll want to prompt the audience for questions and concerns.

The sample chart below can help you with your organization and brainstorming.

Figure: Diagram of the 7 minute oral presentation. (CCBY 2019; Tiffani Reardon)

Preparing for the Oral Presentation

Pick the method of preparing for the talk that best suits your comfort level with public speaking and with your topic. However, plan to do ample preparation and rehearsal—some people assume that they can just jump up there and ad lib for so many minutes and be relaxed and informal. It does not often work that way—drawing a mental blank is the more common experience. A well delivered presentation is the result of a lot of work and a lot of practice.

Here are the obvious possibilities for preparation and delivery:

• Write a script, practice it; keep it around for quick-reference during your talk.
• Set up an outline of your talk; practice with it, bring it for reference.
• Set up cue cards, practice with them, and use them during your talk.
• Write a script and read from it.

A good presentation is one that is clear, understandable, well-planned, organized, and on target with your purpose and audience.

It does not matter which method you use to prepare for the talk, but you want to make sure that you know your material. The head-down style of reading your report directly from a script will not work. There is little or no eye contact or interaction with the audience. The delivery tends to be toward a dull, boring monotone that either puts listeners off or is hard to understand. And, most of us cannot stand to have reports read to us!

For many reasons, most people get nervous when they have to give oral presentations. Being well prepared is your best defense against the nerves. The nerves will wear off someday, the more oral presenting you do. In the meantime, breathe deeply and enjoy.

Visuals for Oral Presentations

There are various types of presentation formats you can use:

• Presentation software slides: Projecting images ("slides") using software such as PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides, and Prezi, to name a few. One common problem with the construction of these slides is cramming too much information on individual slides.
• Poster board-size charts: Another possibility is to get some poster boards and draw and letter what you want your audience to see. Of course, it's not easy making charts look neat and professional.
• Handouts: You can run off copies of what you want your audience to see and hand them out before or during your talk. This option is even less effective than the first two because you cannot point to what you want your audience to see and because handouts distract the audience’s attention away from you. Still, for certain visual needs, handouts are the only choice. Keep in mind that if you are not well prepared, the handouts become a place for your distracted audience to doodle.
• Objects: If you need to demonstrate certain procedures, you may need to bring in actual physical objects. Rehearse what you are going to do with these objects; sometimes they can take up a lot more time than you expect.
• Zoom, Teams, Google Hangouts (conference style software): We are seeing more and more companies using these software to conduct business meetings. So, people are conducting virtual meetings and presenting. So learning how to use this software to present your presentations is very important.

Take some time to make your visuals look sharp and professional—do your best to ensure that they are legible to the entire audience.

As for the content of your visuals, consider these ideas:

• Drawing or diagram of key objects: If you describe or refer to any objects during your talk, try to get visuals of them, so that you can point to different components or features.
• Tables, charts, graphs: If you discuss statistical data, present it in some form or table, chart, or graph. Many members of your audience may be less comfortable "hearing" such data as opposed to seeing it.
• Outline of your talk, report, or both: If you are at a loss for visuals to use in your oral presentation, or if your presentation is complex, have an outline of it that you can show at various points during your talk.
• Key terms and definitions: A good idea for visuals (especially when you cannot think of any others) is to set up a two-column list of key terms you use during your oral presentation with their definitions in the second column.
• Key concepts or points: Similarly, you can list your key points and show them in visuals. (Outlines, key terms, and main points are all good, legitimate ways of incorporating visuals into oral presentations when you cannot think of any others.)

During your actual oral report, make sure to discuss your visuals, refer to them, guide your audience through the key points in your visuals. It is a big problem just to throw a visual up on the screen and never even refer to it.

As you prepare your visuals, look at resources that will help you. There are many rules for using PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides, and Prezi down to the font size and how many words to put on a single slide, but you will have to choose the style that best suits your subject and your presentation style.

You may also have heard about the presentation skills of Steve Jobs. The video that follows is the introduction of the I-Phone...and as you watch, take notes on how Jobs sets up his talk and his visuals. Observe how he connects with the audience...and then see if you can work some of his strategies into your own presentation skills. This is a long video...you don't need to watch it all, but do take enough time to form some good impressions.

Steve Jobs iPhone Presentation

Format and Design

Presentation software allows you to take an oral presentation to the next level—engaging your audience verbally and visually as well as aurally. What’s particularly powerful about using presentation software and other visual aids is the ability to use imagery to bridge cultural and language gaps and arrive at a shared understanding of the issue/opportunity at hand.

Using multimedia—images, photos and video and animation—that supports your point also provides repetition and can increase retention.

Common Presentation Tools

There are various formats you can use to create effective presentations. Depending on your operating system there is Keynote for Mac computers, PowerPoint is a Microsoft product, and there are online options such as Prezi. These applications are easy to use and can provide step by step instructions.

Various Types of Presentation tools to consider:

Creating Effective Presentations

Presentations are quite common in both academic and professional settings, and, because they are such an important part of how you’ll likely present your ideas and information to an audience, it’s helpful to have some basic information on how to create an effective presentation.

The basic purpose of a presentation is to give you a way to present key ideas to an audience with visual support. Your presentation shouldn’t be full of text. It is meant to provide you with speaking points, and detailed notes should be kept from your audience. You want to keep your slides clear, clean, short, focused, and you want to keep your audience from using the expression that we sometimes hear in reference to long, boring presentations, “death by PowerPoint.”

When you start to think about the layout of your presentation make sure to have an outline of how you want your presentation to flow. This will help you make sure you cover all your points. Make sure that your presentation is spaced out well and your content does not look cluttered on the slide. Remember that you want the color to be suitable for all audiences. Some people are color blind and cannot see certain colors. So make sure your colors go well together.

Designing the Presentation

When creating a presentation make sure it is visually appealing and easy to read for your audience. You want to have less text and use more bullet points. You want to also have visuals to highlight your topic. The examples below will help you create a slide that highlights bullet points, illustrated points, and speaker props.

Speaker Props

This type of presentation is random pictures that will flash across your screen. You have to be careful when using it as it could be distracting for the audience and some people cannot handle flashes like that. The video below is an example of this type of presentation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RrpajcAgR1E

Fonts and Size for Your Presentation

When you are creating your presentation make sure to pick a font and size that is easy for your audience to read. Your audience needs to be able to read the information being projected in the room. Remember you could be in a conference room or an auditorium. Make sure you are using the same font throughout your presentation and the font is appropriate for your topic and audience. It can be distracting if you have various fonts throughout the presentation.

• Use a font that is easy to read.
• Make sure the font and the background are compatible.
• Make sure your title font is bigger than the content and stands out.
• The common size is 24 font.
• Bold important information.

Aesthetically Pleasing

For our purposes, aesthetics refers to the beauty or good taste of a presentation aid. Earlier we mentioned the universal principles of good design: unity, emphasis or focal point, scale and proportion, balance, and rhythm. Because of wide differences in taste, not everyone will agree on what is aesthetically pleasing, and you may be someone who does not think of yourself as having much artistic talent. Still, if you keep these principles in mind, they will help you to create attractive, professional-looking visuals.

The other aesthetic principle to keep in mind is that your presentation aids are intended to support your speech, not the other way around. The decisions you make in designing your visuals should be dictated by the content of your speech. If you use color, use it for a clear reason. If you use a border, keep it simple. Whatever you do, make certain that your presentation aids will be perceived as carefully planned and executed elements of your speech.

How to Choose Good Color

Color is very important and can definitely make a strong impact on an audience. However, don’t go overboard or decide to use unappealing combinations of color. For example, you should never use a light font color (like yellow) on a solid white background because it’s hard for the eye to read. You should also realize that while colors may be rich and vibrant on your computer screen at home, they may be distorted by a different monitor. While we definitely are in favor of experimenting with various color schemes, always check your presentation out on multiple computers to see if the slide color is being distorted in a way that makes it hard to read.

Visual and Audio Effects

Everyone who has had an opportunity to experiment with PowerPoint, Keynote, and Prezi knows that animation in transitions between slides or even on a single slide can be fun, but often people do not realize that too much movement can actually distract audience members. While all presentation software packages offer you very cool slide movements and other bells and whistles, they are not always very helpful for your presentation. If you’re going to utilize slide transitions or word animation, stick to only three or four different types of transitions in your whole presentation. Furthermore, do not have more than one type of movement on a given slide. If you’re going to have all your text come from the right side of the screen in a bulleted list, make sure that all the items on the bulleted list come from the right side of the screen.

Good writers make conscious choices. They understand their purpose and audience. Every decision they make on the page, from organizing an essay to choosing a word with just the right connotations, is made with their purpose and audience in mind.

The same principle applies to visual communication. As a presenter, you choose the following:

• When to show images or video for maximum impact;
• Which images will best produce the effect you want;
• When to present information using a table, chart, or other graphic;
• How much text to include in slides or informational graphics; and
• How to organize graphics so they present information clearly.

Your goal is to use visual media to support and enhance your presentation. At the same time, you must make sure these media do not distract your audience or interfere with getting your point across. Your ideas, not your visuals, should be the focus.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating an effective presentation:

• Remember to avoid too much text. You should keep your text brief and include talking points only. Detailed notes can be inserted into the notes section (or you can use some other form of notes as you present), but only you should see those notes, unless a professor asks to see your notes to evaluate your presentation as an assignment.
• Be consistent and clear with your font choices. Helvetica is a nice font for presentations. Make sure your font is large enough that an audience in a room would be able to see your text, even if audience members are sitting in the back of the room.
• Be careful with your color choices for text and background. You want to make sure your audience can read your text easily. Black on white text is easiest to read but is also boring for a presentation. Still, when you add color, just be sure you are adding color that works and doesn’t distract.
• Add images. Text on slides for every slide is boring. Add appropriate images to your slides. Relevant charts and graphs are excellent, as are pictures that will connect to your content. Think about moments where an image can more easily convey information or a message. A powerful image on a slide with no accompanying text can be a powerful way to capture your audience’s attention.
• Make sure your main points are clear. Remember to connect your ideas well and provide background information and transitions when necessary.
• Keep your audience in mind. Your audience will affect the overall tone and appearance of your presentation. Sometimes, humor can be appropriate. Other times, a more serious tone may be necessary. Just as you evaluate your situation any time you write a paper, you should evaluate your situation for creating a presentation.

Delivering Oral Presentations

When you give an oral report, focus on common problem areas such as these:

• Timing: Make sure you keep within the time limit. Finishing more than a minute under the time limit is also a problem. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse until you get the timing just right.
• Volume: Obviously, you must be sure to speak loud enough so that all of your audience can hear you. You might find some way to practice speaking a little louder in the days before the oral presentation.
• Pacing, speed: Sometimes, oral presenters who are nervous talk too fast. All that adrenaline causes them to speed through their talk, making it hard for the audience to follow. In general, it helps listeners understand you better if you speak a bit more slowly and deliberately than you do in normal conversation. Slow down, take it easy, be clear...and breathe.
• Gestures and posture: Watch out for nervous hands flying all over the place. This too can be distracting—and a bit comical. At the same time, do not turn yourself into a mannequin. Plan to keep your hands clasped together or holding onto the podium and only occasionally making some gesture. Definitely keep your hands out of your pockets or waistband. As for posture, avoid slouching at the podium or leaning against the wall. Stand up straight, and keep your head up.
• Verbal crutches: Watch out for too much "uh," "you know," "okay" and other kinds of nervous verbal habits. Instead of saying "uh" or "you know" every three seconds, just do not say anything at all. In the days before your oral presentation, practice speaking without these verbal crutches. The silence that replaces them is not a bad thing—it gives listeners time to process what you are saying.
• Practice, Practice, Practice : It is vital to practice using the technology. Nothing is worse than watching a speaker stand up and not know how to turn on the computer, access the software, or launch his or her presentation. When you use technology, audiences can quickly see if you know what you are doing, so don’t give them the opportunity to devalue your credibility because you can’t even get the show going.
• Always Have a Backup Plan : Unfortunately, things often go wrong. One of the parts of being a professional is keeping the speech moving in spite of unexpected problems. Decide in advance what you will do if things break down or disappear right when you need them. If you take this responsibility seriously and check the room where you will be presenting early, you will have time to adapt.
• Face Your Audience : Maintaining eye contact may not be as simple as it sounds. The trick is to focus on one person at a time. Zero in on one person, make eye contact, and maintain it just long enough to establish a connection. (A few seconds will suffice.) Then move on. This way, you connect with your audience, one person at a time. Pay attention to your facial expressions as well. If you have thought about how you want to convey emotion during different parts of your presentation, you are probably already monitoring your facial expressions as you rehearse. Be aware that the pressure of presenting can make your expression serious or tense without your realizing it.

If you are speaking to a very large group, it may be difficult to make eye contact with each individual. Instead, focus on a smaller group of persons or one row of people at time. Look in their direction for a few seconds and then shift your gaze to another small group in the room.

This chapter highlighted how to plan, create, and present oral presentations. There are so many presentation solutions out there that you need to find one that works with your computer and you feel comfortable using. When you create a PowerPoint, Prezi, Google Slide, or Keynote presentation, be sure to consider the principles discussed.

GENERAL PRESENTATION TIPS

When you create a PowerPoint, Prezi, Google Slide, or Keynote presentation, be sure to consider the principles discussed. You now know how to:

• Brainstorm your topic.
• Plan and prepare your presentation.
• Create content for an effective presentation.
• Choose a presentation medium that fits your audience.
• Use a font and size that is appropriate.
• Position objects and content appropriately.
• Avoid distracting colors and text and make sure colors are in contrast with each other.
• Select backgrounds that are easy to read and see - remember some people are color blind.
• Pick effects and visuals that are stimulating and pleasing to the eye.

This work "Oral Presentations" is a derivative of "ENGL210: Technical Writing - Tips for Creating an Effective Presentation” , " Oral Presentations” by David McMurrey and Cassandra Race - Open Technical Communication , Authored by : Excelsior Online Reading Lab , Presentations and Other Visual Aids. Authored by: Nina Burokas. Provided by: Lumen Learning, and VARK Illustration. Provided by: Lumen Learning. "Oral Presentations" is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by Lise-Pauline Barnett.

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20 Tips For Preparing An Effective Oral Presentation

Don’t mind the informal me, I just seem to love that ‘down-to-earthness’ – I personally believe that such disposition is a better facilitator of effective communication.

Without much ado, I am going to share with you some ideas on what I can safely call most people’s nightmare (next to examinations, of course) – An oral presentation.

Organizations and other platforms have also come to discover the essence of an effective oral presentation. How it can move an employee from a zero state of mind to an excited state of mind after a brief but powerful presentation.

Businesses are not left out too as it has become a core value that has to be portrayed to convince potential clients about a business idea.

Read this: How to manage your time effectively

Essentially, oral presentations are nothing to be scared of.

They add some kind of depth to the learning experience.

Not having this depth is what we should be scared of. Self-expression is just one of the core pillars of assessing how much and how well a student or presenter has assimilated the content of instructional material.

Overall, some of the most faced challenges associated with oral presentations are content and stage management which shall be discussed broadly here.

Whether you are a student, employee, professional or businessman , you sure need this skill to make a good impression.

Enjoy these tips, internalize them and start putting them into good practice. At the end of this write-up, you will discover the peculiar challenges of stage fright, how to deal with it and a few tidbits on presentation etiquette.

1. Know the content

Nothing breeds confidence like competence and nothing breeds competence like preparation . Being vast in and thoroughly familiar with whatever the subject of a presentation will, in no small way, reinforce your sense of having something genuinely interesting to offer.

With this in place, the presentation ceases to be a mere talk or some kind of recital. It indeed becomes an active engagement of the audience on a journey of discovery. All you need do is just visualize yourself as a tour guide or a curator in a museum.

All you need do is to relate antecedents, history, origins, facts, figures and aspects of the subject matter in such a way as to stimulate their imagination.

You lead the audience on, not exactly projecting yourself but helping them see what needs to be seen. You wouldn’t want to go to the stage and destroy the expectations of people eagerly waiting to listen to you.

2. Define the purpose of the presentation

A presentation isn’t just a list of random facts. It makes a specific point, just like laboratory reports or essays.

Without a clear purpose in mind, your presentation will most likely be a jumble of unorganized factual information, putting your audience in the dark about your true intent.

What is the most important message you want to convey to the audience? Consider this to be the idea or theme of your presentation.

Your presentation’s goal(s) could include, but are not restricted to, trying to inform, inspire, or persuade.

Remember that what you say as well as how you say it must be consistent with the presentation’s goal.

3. Be natural

The mistake a lot of presenters make is thinking that great presentations are all about big vocabulary and sophisticated terms.  

May I indulge you in a different perspective – great presentations are all about presentations done in the most natural way. Be calm, relax and flow effortlessly .

Do your presentations like they are your daily routines. Help your audience feel like – “yes, I agree with what he is talking about”.

Rather than trying to charm the audience with a sophisticated style, be more committed to capturing their imagination through simple cues and vivid expressions.

There is a child in everyone, no matter how old. If possible, add a little humour here and there but try not to overdo it. Ensure you stay on track.

Read this: How to ask questions smartly

4. Invoke curiosity

This aspect is what makes your audience hooked until the end of your presentation. They want to know where you are headed. They can’t risk being distracted until you finish. All you need do is reawaken that curious infant in the brief moment of your presentation.

It is for this reason that presentations adopt visual aids and graphical tools. The world-famous PowerPoint computer application also goes hand in hand with projectors – large screens for a clearer, broader view.

Where else is such pervasive attention given to pictures and descriptive tools apart from a kindergarten? Such applications show that there is a childlike nature in every man. Invoke it!

Read: How To Celebrate Failure For Success

5. Get your audience involved

Get your audience involved in your presentation. Don’t stand behind a lectern all through, tale a brisk, confident walk and project your words into the minds of your audience. Don’t let the lectern come in between you and the audience.

Try to get your audience out of their seats, laughing, raising hands or even standing by your side to make an analysis. Getting your audience to laugh is not as difficult as you might think. For example, you might try, “Ladies and gentlemen, I was told to announce something very critical to the success of today’s event. Even though I don’t think it’s my place to begin my presentation with an announcement that has nothing to do with my topic.”

“Anyway, I’ve been asked to tell you that in the event that you laugh too hard, don’t cause a stampede or fart too loud.” 😆 

Get free tips and tricks that will help you to achieve success faster 😉

6.  Gesticulate

If you can request a cordless lavaliere mic, pls do, so that you can be as flexible with your hands as possible. A handheld mic might become tiring if your presentation takes a while.

Your audience will only remember 30% of what they hear & see but 70% of what they do will stick to them forever.

7. Project your words

Two things that can make your projection so vivid and impactful are a clear voice and clarity of communication. Try to emphasize the last sound of each word which will help you to sound very polished. This may sound odd to you when you start but eventually sound normal as you get used to it.

8. Take a pause

I cannot stress this enough. Take your time to pause! It kinda helps your audience to brainstorm, evaluate and re-evaluate. You shouldn’t say more than six to eight words at a time without a pause. As longer sentences reduce readability, longer spoken words also reduce absorption.

Use a full voice, then pause. Think of great speakers that utilized a full voice and paused. They did efficiently well. Such presentations drop some value within you.

9. Use acronyms

After you have written all the words on index cards, try to think of an acronym or Slang abbreviation that has every point you want to talk about. Use this strategy to keep your presentation in order.

For example, you may have written on a marriage/relationship index card – ask, support, kiss . Think of the first letter in each word and arrange them to ASK or any other word of your choice.

ASK will keep you on track this way:

A – Ask what he thinks

S – Support his opinion first

K – Kiss him when the discussion ends

You must have practised what you will say about each word beforehand. You will only use the acronym to keep track which the audience has no clue about. They will only think you are so perfect! If your oral presentation takes time and involves longer acronyms, you could keep your index card(s) on you just in case you get lost. 

10. Give life to figures

The best way to do this is to put a ‘Point’ of mind-gripping information (pictures, graphs, a phrase or table, flow charts, diagrams or a statistic) on some slides and speaking to them.

While the audience is fixated on that slide, all you need do is try to make them see the aspects of the slides that are hidden. Hence, you help to make their imagination make up for the rest of the story.

Such information is alike in features such as introduction, plot build-up, themes climax/anticlimax, a hero and his trials/triumph and so on.

And like a good storyteller or the mythical Pied Piper, the story or the music as the case is, becomes the object of the audience’s attention. The presenter is merely an intermediary.

11. Face the object

Sure, it is not bad to feel weird for a moment. Gain your confidence back by becoming the audience for a moment.

Face the presentation with your hands towards the slide, board or what have you? Making this brief move takes a whole lot of burden off as you see that you do not have to be the audience’s object of attention for a while.

You can use this moment to stealthily move from your weak points to your strong points as you gain your confidence back .

Not all presentations have to be a serious one looking like a board meeting. It doesn’t have to be a brainstorming session to close a million-dollar deal. Smile if you can.

In fact, you should smile. It will reduce any pressure you might be feeling. You never know how powerful a smile can be until you smile at a confused child who looks at you and then returns the smile.

While you smile, make good eye contact with them and gesticulate as often as possible. This will create a good impression on your audience and make them connect with you easily.

Read this: Amazing facts about your handwriting

13. Intrigue them with stories

Whether it’s a story your grandfather told you or a story you learnt while growing up, people would love to listen. Stories are interesting ways to give your audience a light mood.

Who doesn’t like the taste of a little icing on the cake or peanuts in the chocolate? Just something a little bit different to ease the whole seriousness of the atmosphere.

Professional speakers are becoming professional storytellers ,  primarily stories about themselves or someone they know so well . If you can tell a story about each word or topic on your cards or slides, your speech will have a better flow.

14. Take corrections politely

One mistake people do is to try to show that they know better than their judges.

Judges, examiners, instructors or even a member of your audience can come into your presentation abruptly. Prepare your mind ahead for this and don’t fidget.

A simple “Noted, sir” “sorry, I skipped that” or “thanks for the feedback” would go a long way in determining your final presentation score.

Be courteous and mindful of harsh emotions as you face arguments or opposition. A wrong approach in dealing with this can ruin everything you have started. So be cool with everyone.

As a matter of fact, who you are and who the audience perceives you to be is a measure of the weight of your words.

Hence, it is safer to use universally acceptable codes of conduct and principles of etiquette that will put you in the good graces of the audience.

15. Define your target audience

The audience’s reaction is the only way to judge a good presentation. What do they currently know about your subject matter?

What are their perceptions about your subject matter: will they accept whatever you say, or will you have to persuade them to change their views? Do they have a good command of the English language?

An effective oral presentation requires much more than simply presenting your ideas or giving a presentation. It is all about clear communication and connecting with the audience.

Preparation is required to create that type of presentation. You must learn about your target audience to tailor your message.

If you’re talking to experts in your field, for example, you don’t have to explain all the terms you’re using but if you expect your audience to disagree with your assertions, it’s a great idea to provide additional illustrations and go into greater detail when presenting the evidence.

You can outline your presentation with your audience in mind to explain your main points and maintain a logical flow. The more you understand your target audience, the better you will be able to communicate with them.

16. P redict your audience’s thoughts and tell them

If you’re lucky enough to predict what is on their minds, you’ll get almost 100% attention from your audience. This lowers the barriers between you and them.

They’ll say “hey, he’s so clever hahaha”. Wow, you’re absolutely right! Tell them you know what they are thinking and answer a question they haven’t yet asked you.

17. Practice your presentation beforehand

You should start with yourself first. Talk to yourself, then move on to talking to a friend or small group of friends. When you build more confidence, start by speaking for free to become more professional.

You could begin by speaking to associations and clubs. Your audience may give you more networking opportunities when they enjoy your free presentations. There are business owners in your audience or people who work for businesses looking for speakers.

In fact, t here is much more to learn while you practise. By the time you become well-known, you can start charging a token or your prices can even become non-negotiable. 😉 

18. Explore every possible detail about your subject matter

To prepare an effective oral presentation, you must thoroughly understand your subject matter, which means knowing far more than you will present.

There is no such thing as too much research. The more familiar you are with your content, the more settled and confident you will feel when presenting it to a group.

Take notes as you read about your topic. Then organize your notes for your presentation. The most straightforward structure is an outline.

In most cases, a concise outline will serve as a good template for presenting your topic. The introduction, body, and summary make up a concise outline.

• Introduction

In the introductory part, you must provide a concise context for your discussion. This is where you describe the problem or issue that the presentation will solve.

You want to immediately grab people’s attention, stimulate their interest, and get them pondering about your topic. That is what creating engaging content is all about.

The bulk of your presentation. It provides specific examples to back up your main point. This is where you add important facts, statistics, and details to your discourse.

Make certain that your material is presented articulately, with each point connected to another and clear progressions.

To summarize, highlight the previous points briefly. Use keywords from your introduction to restate your argument.

Take note of transitory phrases or words like “in summary.” Appreciate the audience for their time and, if the presentation format allows, gladly accept their questions.

A clear structure helps to support a clear and focused message, and it prevents you from jumping from concept to concept, which can make it difficult for your audience to grasp your presentation.

Having this in place, the presentation is no longer just a discussion. It truly becomes an active participation of the audience on a discovery journey. All you have to do is relate the subject’s antecedents, background, facts, statistics, and features in a way that stimulates their curiosity.

19. Use visual aids to supplement your content

It is easier to deliver an oral presentation when you employ visual aids. Visual aids, such as PowerPoint slides or printed handouts, provide structure to your presentation and assist the audience in comprehending the key points.

Since the majority of information is deemed and grasped visually, you may need to resolve this in your presentation by including a few visuals.

This would help the audience follow your discourse and possibly discuss a few of your points after the presentation is finished.

A good visual aid , as obvious as it may seem, must remain visual. Visuals can be bulleted lists or outlines, diagrams or figures, or pictures that depict crucial points that would be difficult to explain orally. Visual aids should be used to supplement, not compete with, your presentation. Use them only when they are necessary or beneficial.

20. Anticipate questions and prepare thoughtful answers in advance

A key component of preparing for an effective oral presentation is anticipating questions and creating thoughtful responses beforehand.

It demonstrates that you are knowledgeable about the subject and that you gave the subject some research. It also helps establish credibility and demonstrate your knowledge.

Additionally, it might assist you in remaining composed and assured throughout the presentation, especially if you are posed with unexpected questions. A few strategies for getting ready for questions are as follows:

• Researching your topic thoroughly: This will enable you to answer any questions that may come up about your subject matter.
• Identifying key points of confusion: Think about what aspects of your presentation may be most difficult for your audience to understand and prepare answers accordingly.
• Practicing your responses: Rehearse answering potential questions so you are more comfortable and confident when answering them during the presentation.
• Being open to feedback: Encourage your audience to ask questions and be open to feedback , even if it is critical. Take the opportunity to address any misconceptions or confusion that may have arisen during your presentation.
• Be prepared for the unexpected: Sometimes, the questions you get may be totally out of the blue, be prepared to answer those as well.

In summary, your oral presentation is highly related to your motion, posture, gesture, gesticulation, eye contact, pausing effect, response to applause and so on.

The evolving nature of education has seen many lecturers and teachers adopt oral examinations as an integral part of grading students’ performance.

That is apart from lines of study such as Medicine (Viva) and Law (mock trials) that already have oral-related content as a part of their continuous assessment.

It also affords the teacher the opportunity to do more than just teach but to also be a kind of ‘coach’ that nurtures not only the content but also the delivery of knowledge . As a teacher myself, I do subscribe to this method of teaching; after all, was it not Einstein that said – If you cannot explain it simply, then you do not understand it all.

In oral presentations, especially ones that adopt projected information, the words you speak are more important than the words you display.

However, the pictures you use are just as important as the words you speak. In no place is the saying truer – a picture is worth more than a thousand words.

Therefore, being in a position where you have to present your own perspective, with your own words and in your own style goes a long way in shaping your intellectual capabilities . It also builds self-confidence in those that eventually master it.

I wish you a hitch-free and mind-blowing experience in your next oral presentation. 😉 . Which of these tips has helped you tremendously?

Share with love!

Post Author: Ikeoluwa Ogedengbe

24 replies to “20 tips for preparing an effective oral presentation”.

Wonderful post! Putting these suggestions into practice will make anyone a ‘better’ presenter! Multiple thumbs up!

Sure, they will. Thanks for reading!

Thanks for this post, I believe it will help me gather more confidence in public speaking.

All the best in your next public speaking engagement, Josephine.

Love this post! I have a fear of public speaking so this checklist is so helpful! Thanks for sharing!

I’m glad you love it, Lissy.

Cool, just cool. I like it.

Thanks, Yeahme.

Thank you these are great tips! I have always had a lot of self confidence but always struggle with imposter syndrome so I get so nervous before public speaking!

Aww, I am sure these tips and a lot of practice will take the nervousness away.

This reminds me of my speech 101 class in college. I definitely with these tips — especially the one about knowing the content. Nothing prepares you more than knowing what you are talking about.

That’s absolutely right!

I used to work for a company that offered feedback for corporate leaders on presenting and I agree with everything you say. Bringing your personality into a presentation or speech can make a huge difference but it can take practice to get comfortable enough to bring that energy.

Yes, practice does a lot to make one perfect. Thanks for your input, Sarah.

This is a very helpful post. I wish I had read this when I was still a student. I didn’t like oral presentations and this could have given me a better perspective.

Awww, You may pass on the message to young students to ensure they get it right early.

Great read. Very helpful for my upcoming convention. Thanks for sharing.

I’m glad this helped. I wish you a splendid convention, Allison.

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STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE ORAL PRESENTATIONS

Give a good talk, by dr. curt walker, professor of biology.

An important part of higher education is communicating with others. From classroom teaching to international research meetings, communicating what you’ve learned with others is an important skill. Here are a few tips for doing it well:

Know your audience, and tailor your presentation accordingly. If you are presenting to high school freshmen, you cannot assume that they will have any background in your field, and you must therefore spend a major portion of your time providing background. If you are presenting to college undergraduates from many different fields, you can assume they are familiar with many basic concepts, but you must remember that your biology classmates are less familiar with Shakespeare and Hemingway than English majors. Plan accordingly. If you are presenting at a national meeting of neuroscientists, of course you can assume that everyone present will be familiar with most aspects of the nervous system.

Include an introduction. As you are building your presentation, be certain to include an introduction to give the audience some background, and try to make this portion of the talk especially interesting and attention-getting. You know why you found the topic interesting so let others know too.

Use visual aids sparingly. The main portion of the presentation should flow well, which generally happens when you have a clear logic for what information should be presented in which order. Use visual aids sparingly, and only use the best available, as AUDIENCE MEMBERS WILL LOOK AT THE VISUAL AIDS, NOT YOU, AS LONG AS THEY ARE VISIBLE. If that is your goal, fine, but be certain that you understand this point, and use it accordingly. While examining visual aids, audience members will tend to be unable to focus on your explanations, unless you interact with the visual aids often and in a powerful way.

Practice your presentation, formally, in front of an audience, at least ten times. Each time you practice, you will discover something you could improve, and your speech will become much smoother, with fewer jarring pauses and mistakes. This also allows you to time yourself. You should know exactly how long your presentation would be, within about thirty seconds or so.

Always end your talk before time runs out to allow time for questions. This is crucial, and in many professional meetings, there will be monitors who will literally stand up and stop you if you do not stop yourself on time. Remember that no one ever receives praise for going on and on, even if your presentation is the best ever given. Continuing to speak while taking time from the next presenter is the ultimate in rude behavior. Pauses are fine, as long as they are planned. After making a particularly important statement, or while the audience is examining a new slide, you can be silent. Just be certain that you are relaxed about it, and everyone knows that the pause was planned, not awkward. Pauses are much better than filling the air with sound, especially “ummm” and “like.” While practicing, have audience members count the number of times you use those fillers. Conclude with a short re-hash of the main points. Try to finish with an especially strong sentence or two that makes it clear that you are finished. Something like, “I hope this gives you a greater appreciation for the work that went into Mark Twain’s writing, thanks for your attention,” is so much better than “ummmm, I guess I’m out of time.”

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How to deliver an oral presentation

Georgina wellstead.

a Lister Hospital, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust

Katharine Whitehurst

b Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital

Buket Gundogan

c University College London

d Guy's St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

Delivering an oral presentation in conferences and meetings can seem daunting. However, if delivered effectively, it can be an invaluable opportunity to showcase your work in front of peers as well as receive feedback on your project. In this “How to” article, we demonstrate how one can plan and successfully deliver an engaging oral presentation.

Giving an oral presentation at a scientific conference is an almost inevitable task at some point during your medical career. The prospect of presenting your original work to colleagues and peers, however, may be intimidating, and it can be difficult to know how to approach it. Nonetheless, it is important to remember that although daunting, an oral presentation is one of the best ways to get your work out there, and so should be looked upon as an exciting and invaluable opportunity.

Slide content

Although things may vary slightly depending on the type of research you are presenting, the typical structure is as follows:

• Opening slide (title of study, authors, institutions, and date)
• Methodology
• Discussion (including strengths and weaknesses of the study)

Conclusions

Picking out only the most important findings to include in your presentation is key and will keep it concise and easy to follow. This in turn will keep your viewers engaged, and more likely to understand and remember your presentation.

Psychological analysis of PowerPoint presentations, finds that 8 psychological principles are often violated 1 . One of these was the limited capacity of working memory, which can hold 4 units of information at any 1 time in most circumstances. Hence, too many points or concepts on a slide could be detrimental to the presenter’s desire to give information.

You can also help keep your audience engaged with images, which you can talk around, rather than lots of text. Video can also be useful, for example, a surgical procedure. However, be warned that IT can let you down when you need it most and you need to have a backup plan if the video fails. It’s worth coming to the venue early and testing it and resolving issues beforehand with the AV support staff if speaking at a conference.

Slide design and layout

It is important not to clutter your slides with too much text or too many pictures. An easy way to do this is by using the 5×5 rule. This means using no more than 5 bullet points per slide, with no more than 5 words per bullet point. It is also good to break up the text-heavy slides with ones including diagrams or graphs. This can also help to convey your results in a more visual and easy-to-understand way.

It is best to keep the slide design simple, as busy backgrounds and loud color schemes are distracting. Ensure that you use a uniform font and stick to the same color scheme throughout. As a general rule, a light-colored background with dark-colored text is easier to read than light-colored text on a dark-colored background. If you can use an image instead of text, this is even better.

A systematic review study of expert opinion papers demonstrates several key recommendations on how to effectively deliver medical research presentations 2 . These include:

• Keeping your slides simple
• Knowing your audience (pitching to the right level)
• Making eye contact
• Rehearsing the presentation
• Do not read from the slides
• Limiting the number of lines per slide
• Sticking to the allotted time

You should practice your presentation before the conference, making sure that you stick to the allocated time given to you. Oral presentations are usually short (around 8–10 min maximum), and it is, therefore, easy to go under or over time if you have not rehearsed. Aiming to spend around 1 minute per slide is usually a good guide. It is useful to present to your colleagues and seniors, allowing them to ask you questions afterwards so that you can be prepared for the sort of questions you may get asked at the conference. Knowing your research inside out and reading around the subject is advisable, as there may be experts watching you at the conference with more challenging questions! Make sure you re-read your paper the day before, or on the day of the conference to refresh your memory.

It is useful to bring along handouts of your presentation for those who may be interested. Rather than printing out miniature versions of your power point slides, it is better to condense your findings into a brief word document. Not only will this be easier to read, but you will also save a lot of paper by doing this!

Delivering the presentation

Having rehearsed your presentation beforehand, the most important thing to do when you get to the conference is to keep calm and be confident. Remember that you know your own research better than anyone else in the room! Be sure to take some deep breaths and speak at an appropriate pace and volume, making good eye contact with your viewers. If there is a microphone, don’t keep turning away from it as the audience will get frustrated if your voice keeps cutting in and out. Gesturing and using pointers when appropriate can be a really useful tool, and will enable you to emphasize your important findings.

Presenting tips

• Do not hide behind the computer. Come out to the center or side and present there.
• Maintain eye contact with the audience, especially the judges.
• Remember to pause every so often.
• Don’t clutter your presentation with verbal noise such as “umm,” “like,” or “so.” You will look more slick if you avoid this.
• Rhetorical questions once in a while can be useful in maintaining the audience’s attention.

When reaching the end of your presentation, you should slow down in order to clearly convey your key points. Using phases such as “in summary” and “to conclude” often prompts those who have drifted off slightly during your presentation start paying attention again, so it is a critical time to make sure that your work is understood and remembered. Leaving up your conclusions/summary slide for a short while after stopping speaking will give the audience time to digest the information. Conclude by acknowledging any fellow authors or assistants before thanking the audience for their attention and inviting any questions (as long as you have left sufficient time).

If asked a question, firstly thank the audience member, then repeat what they have asked to the rest of the listeners in case they didn’t hear the first time. Keep your answers short and succinct, and if unsure say that the questioner has raised a good point and that you will have to look into it further. Having someone else in the audience write down the question is useful for this.

The key points to remember when preparing for an oral presentation are:

• Keep your slides simple and concise using the 5×5 rule and images.
• When appropriate; rehearse timings; prepare answers to questions; speak slowly and use gestures/ pointers where appropriate; make eye contact with the audience; emphasize your key points at the end; make acknowledgments and thank the audience; invite questions and be confident but not arrogant.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no financial conflict of interest with regard to the content of this report.

Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article.

Published online 8 June 2017

Types of Technical Documents

Oral/virtual presentations.

• While you may speak many words, oral presentations require you to hone your written language down to essentials to be shown on PowerPoint slides or written on a chart or whiteboard.
• Oral presentations rely heavily on visuals to illustrate concepts and engage your audience.
• Oral presentations rely heavily on tone, which can be more varied than the clear, straightforward tone that characterizes most written technical communications.

Characteristics of Effective Oral Presentations

The following characteristics help to create effective oral presentations:

Clear structure

Presentations should have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

• The introduction should immediately clarify your topic, purpose, and method of approach. Provide a brief overview in the introduction, and find a way to emphasize the importance of your topic, which will help create audience interest.
• The middle should use clear headings for each major concept. Work on transitions when you rehearse the presentation on your own, inserting words that link ideas from topic to topic, so that an audience understands how one piece of information leads into the next.
• The end should briefly summarize your main points and offer a concluding thought. You may also want to leave time to answer audience questions at the end, to make sure they understand your main points.

Appropriate Content

The content of any presentation needs to be directly aligned with the presentation’s purpose. When speaking, it’s relatively easy to go off on a tangent, but you should avoid straying into other topics that do not relate to your main purpose. Content also needs to be developed and specific enough so that your audience can understand all of your main points. Plan to explain any technical aspect of your topic clearly and understandably. Don’t race through complex, technical information if it’s needed in the presentation; instead, explain it carefully without jargon, so that audience members with varied technical background can understand.

Appropriate Visuals

Use photographs, diagrams, charts, graphs, and tables as appropriate to support the presentation’s content and illustrate key points. Depending on the type and context of your presentation, you might also use posters, infographics, or other types of visual displays. All visuals with text should be large enough so that they are easy to read, although text in visuals should be kept to a minimum. Use at least one visual in an oral presentation, and preferably more. Make sure you discuss key elements of your visuals. Point out things about them; explain them to the audience.

Clear, Appropriate Language

Language should be appropriate to the audience in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure (simpler is better), jargon, and tone. Avoid language that shows bias, and avoid grammatical errors.

Engaging Presentation

The way you deliver a presentation affects the whole presentation.

• Show appropriate enthusiasm through tone of voice. If you’re engaged in the topic, it’s more likely that your audience will engage as well.
• Speak clearly, loudly, and slowly enough so that everyone can follow.
• Be conscious of—and try to eliminate—too many “uh,” “you know,” “OK” and other verbal fillers. It’s OK to take a brief, silent pause, as that gives listeners time to process what you’re saying.
• Make eye contact with audience members or groups, and make sure to look at different places in the room so that you eventually look at everyone or every location.
• Stay alert to signs of disinterest (e.g., texting, flipping through papers) and shift your volume or location in the room to encourage your audience to listen.
• Be conscious of how you’re standing or sitting so that you appear natural. Avoid too much gesturing and, conversely, try not to appear frozen. But do sit or stand straight.
• Above all, although you’ll have notes or a script for your presentation, don’t simply read! Reading takes you away from engaging with your audience and often sounds too stilted and formal, which lessens audience interest. Practice your presentation enough so that you’re familiar with the content and don’t have to read.

Well-designed visuals foster audience engagement. PowerPoint is probably the most common form of visual aid used in presentations, and it has its pros and cons. However, while there are other presentation tools, PowerPoint is a standard workplace tool, so it would be wise to learn how to use it effectively. The key concept to remember is that your PowerPoint slides should  supplement  and  illustrate  what you want to say to your audience.

Five things to do when using PowerPoint:

• In general, use one slide per main idea. After the introductory slide, you should have at least one slide for each important concept in your presentation. Each of these slides should have a heading that identifies that main point.
• If you need more than one slide per main idea, use the same heading with p. 2, p. 3, etc., or with (cont’d). You can also use unique sub-headings for additional slides that relate to a main idea.
• Pare language to just the essential words and phrases, which are often offered in a bulleted list.
• Choose visuals that are easy to read and that illustrate the concept on the slide.
• Although the practice used to be to design all slides within one presentation in similar ways, more recent practice involves switching the slide layout at points, while still using the same template , to maintain visual interest.

Five things not to do when using PowerPoint:

• Do not create text-heavy or all-text slides. Don’t simply put your written report into slides.
• Do not use small size type; you need at least 12-point and usually larger for your audience to be able to read. Also do not choose a fancy font. Use a simple sans serif font such as Calibri or Arial.
• Do not choose a “busy” or too colorful template, as that will distract from the slide’s content. Choose a simple template or a blank one.
• Limit colored text, as it’s harder to read. For the most part, choose high contrast between text and background.
• Do not include animations, swirling text, or anything that flashes.

sample powerpoint slides

To emphasize the need to apply good design principles to PowerPoint slides, look at the following three files.

• The  first example  provides a student PowerPoint  based on a formal proposal. The content is very good for a formal proposal but not for a PowerPoint, as it’s all text.
• The  second example  is a professional presentation which applies some of the design principles discussed, in terms of reducing information on the slides, but uses a standard format.
• The  third example  offers the same information as the second example, but designs and presents that information differently, using visuals and varying the format.

If you were in the audience for these presentations, which one would you want to hear/see?

Also visit Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab page on Data Visualization Best Practices Presentation to see a simple PowerPoint that illustrates basic design principles.

The following videos provide tips for creating effective PowerPoint slides.

Note that if you have never used PowerPoint, Microsoft offers useful PowerPoint for Windows training.

Virtual Presentations

Since virtual presentations are a particular type of oral presentation, most of the characteristics of effective oral presentations apply with just a few differences or additions, which consist of the following:

Ground Rules

Establish ground rules at the start of the presentation.

• Explain how to chat or raise a hand, if such explanation is necessary.
• Let people know whether you or a helper will be monitoring chat during the presentation.
• Let your audience know whether you’ll stop at intervals or wait until the end of the presentation to address questions and comments.
• Ask participants to mute their mikes or mute everyone yourself, if the system allows that, and let your audience know they’ll be muted.
• Explain whether you’ll be sharing your screen or will be presenting live. Especially if presenting live, you may want people to turn off their cameras during your presentation so that your audience’s attention is on you and your information.

Be very brief in virtual presentations. Attention spans wander, and your audience may start multi-tasking if your presentation is too long. Aim for about ten (10) minutes maximum for a straight presentation. If you need more time, incorporate some way to break up the presentation with a poll, a quick activity, or a question for which you briefly take answers. Note that if you use any of these interactive strategies, you need to plan for them in your presentation so that you refer to their outcome when you switch back to solo presentation mode.

Lighting, Background, and Sound

No matter if you’re sharing a PowerPoint presentation from your computer screen, at some point during a virtual presentation, it’s likely that you’ll appear on camera. Test the system beforehand to make sure lighting is appropriate—not too dim or too shadowy. Choose a simple, professional background, even if you’re presenting from home. The pre-established backgrounds that some systems offer may be fun, but if you’re using one, make sure it’s simple, clean, and professional. If you’re using your computer’s microphone rather than a headset, realize that it will pick up other sounds, so move your phone, family, and pets into another room.

You as a Prepared Presenter

Prepare yourself to present professionally, even if you are presenting from home. Dress appropriately. Sit up straight. You may even decide to stand. Look directly into your camera so that it does not seem as though you’re looking elsewhere on the screen. Experiment with the technology beforehand so you can use it smoothly. If you decide to share your screen, turn off other tabs to minimize pop-ups and mistakes going to the wrong tab. If you have a video, PowerPoint slides, or other technology that runs the risk of not functioning properly, have back-up links and files to send to your audience.

The following video illustrates tips for using Skype or any other synchronous, online presentation tool.

• Oral / Virtual Presentations, adapted from Open Technical Communication and Technical Writing Essentials; attributions below. Authored by : Susan Oaks. Provided by : Empire State College, SUNY. Project : Technical Writing. License : CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial
• Oral Presentations (pages 1-4 of 5). Authored by : David McMurrey & Cassandra Race. Provided by : Kennesaw State University. Located at : https://softchalkcloud.com/lesson/serve/XpeRv2NLIfUu8w/html . Project : Open Technical Communication. License : CC BY: Attribution
• 8.2 Developing Presentation Skills. Authored by : Suzan Last and Monika Smith. Provided by : University of Victoria. Located at : https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/technicalwriting/chapter/developingpresentationskills/ . Project : Technical Writing Essentials. License : CC BY: Attribution
• image of person speaking in public and another person filming with an iphone. Authored by : mohamed Hassan. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/photos/video-recording-conference-3767454/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved
• image of an informal, in-person presentation with an engaged group of listeners. Authored by : Free-Photos. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/photos/workplace-team-business-meeting-1245776/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved
• image of a laptop with screen showing a person presenting. Authored by : Tumisu. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/photos/online-meeting-virtual-skype-zoom-5059830/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved
• video How to Give an Awesome (Powerpoint) Presentation. Provided by : Wienot Films. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i68a6M5FFBc . License : Other . License Terms : YouTube video
• video Create Slides People Will Remember. Provided by : Harvard Business Review. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeV2fHEM4RI . License : Other . License Terms : YouTube video
• video Tips for Effective Skype Meetings. Provided by : CreativeBusinessBuild. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO3VJOM9ykQ . License : Other . License Terms : YouTube video

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5 steps to Master the Art of Oral Presentations

Introduction

An oral presentation is a part of effective communication, particularly in business. If you want your project to get funding and ideas to clap, this blog will help achieve that. So, let’s see what factors help present an outstanding oral presentation.

Step 1: Analysing Your Audience

While planning an oral presentation, the first thing is analysing your audience. It will help you to develop and change the oral presentation content and language. Business presentations often have potential investors, stakeholders, or senior executives.

Your speech and body language can leave a long impact during the presentation. You also need to consider their expertise, interests, and preferences. Know your audience, and captivate their presence.

Step 2: Crafting an Engaging Narrative

Tell them your story, and captivate them. How you deliver your story will determine your audience’saudience’s patience to listen till the end. Start by outlining the key points you want to convey and arrange them. Start by outlining the key points you want to convey and arrange them.

Introduce your audience and the agenda. Follow it through your business idea and planning. Conclude with a memorable closing that delivers your key message and call to action.

Step 3: Creating Visual Aids

When we see, we tend to understand better, isn’t it. Use the right visual aids, such as a projector and pointers, to enhance your presentation. Design your visuals to be appealing, concise, and supportive of your narrative.

Use relevant charts, graphs, images, or infographics to illustrate data and complex concepts. They should be clear, easy to read, and align with your speech.

Step 4: Rehearsing and Refining

Once you have developed your presentation, divide the time for practice and refinement. Rehearse speech to become comfortable with the content and pacing. Pay attention to your body language, voice, and gestures to leave your imprint. Make sure that you have eye contact with your audience. Seek feedback from trusted colleagues or mentors and make necessary adjustments. Refining your presentation will build your confidence and ensure a polished performance.

Step 5: Engaging the Audience

Have you ever slept when someone gave an oral presentation?? We all must have it once in our lifetime. Want an energised audience, talk to them. During your oral presentation, engage your audience to create a memorable experience.

Make your oral presentation interactive. Develop and place Q&A sessions, group activities, or real-life examples. Be receptive to questions and address them. Connect with them to get heard.

While planning an oral presentation for your business? Don’t forget your audience, content, and delivery. Use the best visual tools, be a storyteller and engage with them. Remember, the more they are with you, the greater the chance of success. Oral presentation makes you heard; make; make them heard. Go get your dream business with a fantastic oral presentation.

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5-Step Guide of How to Prepare for an Oral Presentation

Oral presentations provide an essential method of demonstrating the results of your learning or research process. In the social sciences, where communication with people is a central issue, oral speech is recognized as a necessary academic skill. The success of your oral presentation depends on how professionally and effectively you can narrate, organize, and demonstrate the material. In this guide, you will learn how to prepare for making a public address, organize your material, and deliver it in a manner that will help you achieve your goals.

Step 1. Preparation

Always consider your audience.

You are unlikely to gain any attention or credit for inappropriately addressing the needs of your target audience. For example, when presenting research results to college students or a group of professors, you will likely choose a different style, structure, and delivery depending on the audience. Thus, it is vital that from the start, you consider your audience, including age ranges, professional occupations, and the level of information your listeners have on the topic you intend to present.

Establish goals for your speech

Without a proper motivation or aim, your speech will probably meander through a collection of disorganized facts, leaving your audience unenlightened regarding your intentions. Therefore, next one to consider is the goal or goals for your speech. These may include but not be limited to informing, motivating, or convincing. Keep your goal in mind throughout the process of arranging the content and delivering it to the audience.

Create effective notes

While it is not usually acceptable to confine yourself to reading from your notes during an oral speech presentation, it is appropriate to use brief notes with key information or a structure to remember. If you rely solely on your memory and eschew written assistance, you may forget to address crucial topics due to nervousness or distractions. Thus, it is also an excellent practice to include important names and spellings of terms you will use, or leave blank spaces to be able to edit the note before the speech if it requires immediate changes.

Step 2. Content Arrangement

Write an outline.

An outline that has a clear structure including an introduction, body, and conclusion will, in most cases, become a solid framework for delivering your thoughts or results of your study. A speech that follows a clear structure will serve your aim better than a simple list of facts or items you would like your audience to know. As the outline stage is generally a continuous process, it may be necessary to include blank spaces or rearrange the content to achieve the best possible composition.

• Introduction In the introduction section, similar to the introductory portion of an essay, you need to concisely present the background for your discussion topic, let your audience know why it is worth speaking about and researching, and explain the point of your presentation. It is also important to give your audience a preview of the structure of your speech and the topics included. Thus, the purpose of an introduction is to grab the listeners’ attention. After all, one of your goals should be to spark your audience’s interest in your material.
• Body The body should present a logical order for your claims in defense of your main argument, supported by evidence. Using examples to illustrate various points can be helpful in informing or convincing an audience. Ensure that you present your material coherently, connecting each point to the next and employing clear transitions. This section should take up most of your presentation time in order to cover your topic sufficiently.
• Conclusion In the conclusion section, sound academic practice suggests that a concise summary of all presented material can help the audience revisit the material they have just received for better retention. Thus, you should restate the purpose of the speech or research with reference to how it was achieved so that the oral presentation reaches a logical end. When wrapping up a speech, be aware of the use of transitional words or phrases to mark this section, such as “in conclusion.” If the format of the presentation permits, you may thank the audience for lending you their attention and welcome their questions.

Step 3. Summarize your ideas

In each section of your speech’s framework, you need to begin with a short synopsis of what you achieved or want to deliver. Oral presentations in an academic environment are allocated a limited amount of time, so there is a need to deliver your content and achieve your goal in a concise manner. In addition, lengthy thoughts can be difficult to follow, and you may risk losing your audience’s attention or creating confusion. However, it is also important not to shorten the ideas excessively and to always ensure the completeness of the message.

Step 4. Support your content with visual materials

As a majority of information is perceived and understood visually, you as a presenter may need to address this in your speech by including some material that the audience can see. This will help the audience follow your narration and perhaps discuss some of your points after you have finished the presentation. It may be tempting to place text on the presentation slides and read from them directly, but it is best to use bullet points, pictures, graphs, and other illustrative materials. The reason for this is that the audience may cease to pay attention to you, instead reading what you have written on the slide. To address that, you need to include only the key information in bullet points (if you include text at all) that you also explain in your speech. When using video or PowerPoint presentations to assist you in a speech, you must refer to and interact with it to truly utilize its potential. Otherwise, it will only serve as a distraction and will detract from your speech rather than assisting you.

Step 5. Delivery

Create text for a speech, not for reading.

The oral presentation format requires the speaker to deliver material intended to be listened to, as written text may be comprehended poorly within the limited presentation time. Given the differences between written and oral speech, you might need to use shorter sentences in order to be easily understood. Even if you are presenting research results to academics, there is no need for excessive use of terminology. However, you should avoid using colloquial language in order to remain within professional boundaries.

Highlight key ideas

To make sure the audience remembers the core parts, you may use memorable quotes, images, varied tone of voice, or language constructs. All of these techniques can help you emphasize the items the listeners need to remember. While the summary and restatement of goals in the conclusion section assists in this, using additional aspects of delivery for the most important points is rarely excessive. It ensures that the audience understands why these ideas are critical, without which you risk failing to achieve your presentation goals.

Demonstrate the mastery of oral communication

You should consider practicing delivery of the material to an audience beforehand, paying particular attention to the tone of voice, volume, speed, clarity, and other parameters. It is crucial to speak at a normal—or even slightly slower—pace to ensure everyone has the time to comprehend the information you relay. Here you need to accept the notion that not everyone might be equally knowledgeable of the topic you present, so by keeping an average pace of delivery, you will be considerate of their level of understanding. Pausing after key moments may also be appropriate in oral presentations, as it aids the audience’s comprehension.

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