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Deciding the Presentation Method

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There is much to consider in deciding on an appropriate presentation method.

This page assumes that you have already prepared your presentation , or at least decided on the key messages that you wish to get across to your audience, and given at least some thought to how to organise your material .

On this page, then, we focus on the mechanics of your presentation method: how you will present.

This includes using sound systems, how to manage visual aids, how you stand, and how much interaction you want with your audience.

What Helps you to Decide your Presentation Method?

In making a decision about your presentation method, you have to take into account several key aspects. These include:

The facilities available to you by way of visual aids, sound systems, and lights. Obviously you cannot use facilities that are not available. If you are told that you will need to present without a projector, you’re going to need to decide on a method that works without slides.

The occasion. A formal conference of 200 people will require a very different approach from a presentation to your six-person team. And a speech at a wedding is totally different again. Consider the norms of the occasion. For example, at a wedding, you are not expected to use slides or other visual aids.

The audience, in terms of both size and familiarity with you, and the topic. If it’s a small, informal event, you will be able to use a less formal method. You might, for example, choose to give your audience a one-page handout, perhaps an infographic that summarises your key points, and talk them through it. A more formal event is likely to need slides.

Your experience in giving presentations. More experienced presenters will be more familiar with their own weak points, and able to tailor their preparation and style to suit. However, few people are able to give a presentation without notes. Even the most experienced speakers will usually have at least some form of notes to jog their memory and aid their presentation.

Your familiarity with the topic. As a general rule, the more you know about it, the less you will need to prepare in detail, and the more you can simply have an outline of what you want to say, with some brief reminders.

Your personal preferences. Some people prefer to ‘busk it’ (or ‘wing it’) and make up their presentation on the day, while others prefer detailed notes and outlines. You will need to know your own abilities and decide how best to make the presentation.  When you first start giving presentations you may feel more confident with more detailed notes. As you become more experienced you may find that you can deliver effectively with less.

Some Different Methods of Presentation

Presentation methods vary from the very formal to the very informal.

What method you choose is largely dictated by the occasion and its formality: very formal tends to go with a larger audience, whose members you do not know well. Your role is likely to be much more providing information, and much less about having a discussion about the information.

Form Follows Function

It’s not going to be possible, for instance, to present to 200 people from a chair as part of the group, because most of your audience will not see or hear you. You need to apply common sense to your choice of presentation method.

Audience Participation

While much of your presentation method will be dictated by the event, there is one area where you have pretty much free rein: audience interaction with you and with each other.

It is perfectly feasible, even in a large conference, to get your audience talking to each other, and then feeding back to you.

In fact, this can work very well, especially in a low-energy session such as the one immediately after lunch, because it gets everyone chatting and wakes them up. It works particularly well in a room set out ‘café-style’, with round tables, but it can also work in a conference hall.

The key is to decide on one or two key questions on which you’d welcome audience views, or on which audience views could improve your session. These questions will depend on your session, but it’s always more helpful to invite views on:

• Something that you haven’t yet decided; or
• Something that the audience is going to do themselves.

For example, you might ask people to talk to their neighbour and identify one thing that they could do to put your speech into action when they return to work and/or home. You can then ask four or five people to tell you about their action points.

Handling your Notes

You also have a choice over how you manage your text, in terms of notes. For more about this, see our page on Managing Your Notes in a Presentation .

The Importance of Iteration

You will probably find that deciding on the presentation method means that you need to change or amend your presentation.

For example, if you want to include some audience participation, you will need to include that in your slides, otherwise, you might well forget in the heat of the moment.

Fortunately, revisiting your presentation in light of decisions about how you will present is probably a good idea anyway. It will enable you to be confident that it will work in practice.

Continue to: Managing your Presentation Notes Working with Visual Aids

See also: Preparing for a Presentation Organising the Presentation Material Dealing with Questions

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Should you choose contact or distance learning?

Both methods of learning hold benefits, but it can be tricky to choose between them.

While grappling with a global health crisis, teaching staff at campuses across the country have had to find new ways to continue activities that had previously been held in person, in what is known as contact learning. They had to adapt group projects for the online space and use new technologies to help their students.

For those involved in distance learning, however, it was business as usual. Course work and teaching remained relatively unaffected and, in fact, as more people shifted their lives onto the internet during lockdown, they also enrolled in online courses in higher numbers.

Which mode of learning is the best for you?  Take this quiz to find out:

• Do you: a) enjoy the energy of being around people according to a timetable, or b) enjoy your own space and freedom with your time?
• Do you: a) have a solid internet connection (Wi-Fi or data), or b) have transport to and accommodation near a campus?
• Do you: a) have the self-discipline and strong internal motivation to study, or b) need motivation from your fellow students and lecturers to study?
• Do you: a) currently work or want to take up a job, or b) have time to study full-time?
• Do you: a) value affordability and convenience, or b) value world-class facilities and face-to-face interactions (with masks, of course)?

Your answers

If you’ve chosen mostly As, distance learning is a great option for you. You value time, money and convenience without compromising on quality. The advantages of distance learning are, students can learn at any time, learn at their own pace and study anywhere.

If you’ve chosen mostly Bs, you should consider contact learning. You benefit from being around people and learning through tactile methods, and you want the full experience of campus life.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How are you providing presentation skills training for your learners?

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

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15 Essential Presentation Techniques for Winning Over Any Audience

• The Speaker Lab
• April 13, 2024

Table of Contents

Ever found yourself standing before an audience, your heart racing? That’s the moment when knowing effective presentation techniques can prove to be your unwavering ally. But what are presentation techniques? And what makes them so powerful? In this article, we’re going to answer those questions.

Before we can talk about presentation techniques, though, we first have to talk about good communication. The power of effective communication isn’t just in what you say. It’s how you say it; it’s in those deep breaths that steady nerves, and in maintaining eye contact. It’s about turning a room full of strangers into an engaged audience hanging onto your every word. When it comes to public speaking, real success comes from mastering non-verbal cues to punctuate our words and using visual aids not as crutches but as tools for engagement.

As you hone your communication skills, you will begin to form effective presentation techniques. Expect rough patches as you get the hang of things, but view them as mere footholds propelling you towards your ultimate triumph. Keep pushing forward.

Mastering Presentation Techniques for Impactful Delivery

Presentation techniques are more than just standing in front of a crowd and talking. They’re about making connections, telling stories that resonate, and leaving your audience with something to remember you by.

Elements of an Effective Presentation

For your presentation to resonate, ensure the visuals are straightforward and supportive, rather than distracting. Your message should be concise yet powerful enough to stick. And let’s not forget engagement; keeping your audience on their toes is key.

• Visuals: Keep them simple but impactful.
• Message: Make every word count.
• Engagement: Interact with your audience, ask questions, make them think.

We’ve all seen those slides crammed with text or charts. When you make your slides, don’t cram information, because nobody wants to squint at tiny fonts or decipher complex graphs while trying to listen to you speak. This resource suggests focusing on clarity and simplicity when designing slides—advice worth taking.

Strategies for Delivering a Successful Presentation

To deliver a knockout presentation, start strong. Grab attention from the get-go with an intriguing fact or story related directly back into the topic at hand. Maintain eye contact across the room so everyone feels included in the conversation. Finally, end on a memorable note, either with a call to action or insight gained during the time together. Leave them wanting more information and eager to learn about the subject matter discussed today.

• The opener: Hook your audience with a relevant fact or anecdote.
• Maintain connection: Eyes up, engage everyone around.
• Closing remarks : Last chance for impact–what’s your mic drop?

As author Lilly Walters once said, “The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives.” This quote reminds us that the true goal of any speech is the understanding achieved between the speaker and the listeners.

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Engaging Your Audience with Nonverbal Communication

As the name implies, nonverbal communication denotes all of the ways you communicate without using words. This includes eye contact, body language, and facial expressions. Although nonverbal communication might not be the first presentation technique that comes to mind, it’s nevertheless a very powerful tool to have in your arsenal. Let’s take a look.

The Power of Eye Contact, Body Language, and Facial Expressions

Making eye contact isn’t just about looking someone in the eye; it’s about forging a connection. Aim for brief moments of eye contact across different sections of your audience throughout your presentation. Establishing fleeting eye connections across diverse audience segments fosters a sense of trust and keeps them hooked, all while ensuring no one feels on edge.

Body language is similarly important. Stand tall with good posture; it exudes confidence even when you feel nervous. As you grow more confident, mix up standing still with moving around subtly. This dynamic shift holds attention better than being rooted to one spot or nervous pacing. Use your hands to gesture naturally as you speak—it adds emphasis and keeps things lively.

If there’s one thing people can spot from miles away, it’s insincerity. So let those facial expressions match your words. Smile when you share something amusing, and furrow your brow when diving into serious stuff. After all, it’s not just what you say but how visually engaged and passionate you appear while saying it that counts.

Tying these elements together helps you deliver impactful, memorable talks. When done right, folks will leave feeling more connected, understood, and fired up by your presentation, all thanks to your techniques.

Designing Compelling Presentation Materials

Knowing how to design engaging presentation materials is one technique you can’t do without. Far from mere embellishments, these implements are crafted to hammer your message home. Hence, it’s vital to select these aids with great care and discernment.

Tips for Creating Effective Slides

When it comes to crafting slides, think of each as a billboard advertisement for your idea. You want it clear, impactful, and memorable.

• Keep it simple : One idea per slide keeps confusion at bay and attention locked in.
• Use bullet points : Break down your points so your audience can track.
• Pick a font size : Generally speaking, bigger is better.
• Use color : Harness colors that pop without blinding anyone; contrast is key.
• Use images with purpose : A good picture or chart can help illustrate your point, but keep it relevant and don’t overdo it.

With a few helpful visuals, your presentation can go from good to great. For more on creating slides, check out this link here .

Handling Questions and Interactions Professionally

For some speakers, it’s not the presentation itself that makes them nervous—it’s the Q&A session that follows. This is the moment where you get to shine or stumble based on how well you handle those curveballs from your audience. If you want to round off your presentation well, you’re going to want to learn a few techniques for fielding these questions. Let’s look at a few ways of doing this.

Preparing for Audience Questions and How to Address Them Effectively

Below are six techniques that will help you address audience questions effectively.

• Listen Up : The first rule of thumb is to listen like it’s a superpower. When someone throws a question at you, don’t just hear them out—really listen. Demonstrating this level of attentiveness not only conveys your respect but also affords you a brief moment to collect your ideas.
• Stay Calm : You’ve got this. Even if a question catches you off guard, take a deep breath before diving into your answer. No one expects perfection, but showing confidence matters.
• Practice Beforehand : Before presentation day arrives, think about potential questions folks might ask and prep some responses in advance. Practice makes perfect, after all.
• Vary Your Techniques : Not every question needs an essay as an answer; sometimes short and sweet does the trick. Mix up how detailed or brief your answers are depending on what’s asked.
• Show You Care : If you ever get a question that leaves you stumped, say so honestly—but add that magical line: “Let me find out more and I’ll get back to you.” Then actually do it.
• Appreciate Audience Curiosity : Remember that the reason you audience is asking questions is because they’re interested. So no matter what questions you get, keep engaging with enthusiasm.

Go forth with confidence, knowing not only can these moments boost credibility—they make connections too. So next time when facing down those queries remember to listen hard, stay calm & always engage warmly. With these techniques under your belt, answering audience questions after your presentation will feel much less daunting.

Techniques for a Memorable and Effective Presentation

No matter what topic you cover in your presentation, you can easily add in a story, and more likely than not you can add a little humor too. Together, these two presentation techniques are perfect for making your speech memorable.

Incorporating Storytelling into Your Presentation

One great technique for making your presentation stick is telling stories. Stories have the power to touch people profoundly, especially when they depict relatable experiences. So, when you’re up there presenting, kick things off with a story that ties into your main message. It could be personal, something from history, or even an anecdote that gets your point across. Stories are not just fluff; they’re the glue of your presentation. They make complex ideas digestible and memorable.

Using Humor to Connect with the Audience

Another great way of engaging your audience is by using humor. But here’s the deal—use humor wisely. Keep it tasteful and tied closely to the content at hand so it enhances rather than detracts from your message.

• Pick universal themes everyone can relate to.
• Avoid anything potentially offensive.
• Tie jokes back to your key points to make them relevant.

If humor isn’t your thing, or you’re worried about your comedic timing, it’s perfectly okay to skip the jokes. Especially if you’re new to public speaking, humor can be hard to nail immediately. But as you grow and hone your presentation techniques, consider stretching yourself a bit. By starting small, you can practice using humor to connect with your audience. That is your goal, after all—to leave a positive, memorable impression on your audience.

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Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety

For some speakers, stepping in front of a crowd to speak causes immediate anxiety. But fear not! Conquering public speaking anxiety is entirely within your grasp.

Techniques to Manage Stage Fright and Boost Confidence

First off, feeling nervous before taking the stage is completely normal. Even Mark Twain admitted, “There are two types of speakers. Those who get nervous and those who are liars.” So take that flutter in your stomach as a sign you care deeply about delivering value to your audience. In addition, consider the following tips as you prepare to hit the stage.

• Breathe Deep: Before stepping up, take some deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Feel every muscle relax with each exhale.
• Mind Over Matter: Visualization is key. Picture yourself nailing that presentation, because if you can see it, you can achieve it.
• Keep It Simple: Stick to what you know best; this isn’t the time for surprises or untested waters.
• Pace Yourself: Speak slowly but surely—there’s no rush here.

Believe it or not, acting relaxed often leads to actually being relaxed. Remember when we said mind over matter? Well, it applies here big time. The power pose backstage might just be what turns those nerves into excitement.

So next time you feel stage fright coming on, fight back with these techniques. With these tricks up your sleeve, you’re more than ready. So go ahead, breathe deep, and step onto that stage. You’ve got this.

Using Different Presentation Methods to Engage Your Audience

While learning styles is “ little more than urban myth ,” presenting your material in a variety of ways is a great technique for engaging your audience. By switching it up, you increase your chances of explaining something in a way that clicks with individual audience members. This is especially helpful for more complex topics that might be hard to grasp.

There are three main ways of presenting your material to your audience: through visuals, audio, and hands-on activities.

• Visuals: Use slides packed with images, graphs, and bullet points.
• Audio: Tell stories, play audio clips or engage in discussions.
• Hands-on Activities: Include activities or demonstrations that allow audience members to participate physically.

Making sure everyone gets something from your presentation means considering these techniques when planning content. Not only can incorporating various methods increase audience engagement, but it can also elevate your presentation from decent to memorable.

Essential Tips for First-Time Presenters

Stepping onto the stage or logging into that webinar platform as a first-time presenter can feel nerve-wracking. But fear not! With these tips on how to dress appropriately, arrive early, and make your presentation shine, you’ll be ready to confidently nail that presentation.

Dress Appropriately

Your outfit is your armor. Choose something professional yet comfortable. Whether it’s in-person or online, dressing one notch above what you expect your audience to wear usually hits the sweet spot. Aim for solid colors that won’t distract your audience.

Arriving Early

If possible, arrive at the venue before your audience does. This gives you time to settle in, test any tech gear like microphones or projectors, and take those deep breaths. This extra time also lets you chat with early birds. By connecting with people before taking center stage, you can ease nerves significantly.

Making Presentation Time Count

You only have the audience’s attention for so long. Keep an eye on the clock as you present, but avoid rushing through content. It especially helps to pause after key points, letting information sink in. Your end goal? Leave you’re audience wanting more. You’ll know if you succeeded based on the number of questions you get during the Q&A.

So there you have it—the techniques you need to deliver an engaging presentation. By honing nonverbal communication, like eye contact and posture, you can captivate your audience with your energy. And visual aids? They’re not just ornamental; they help bolster your point and drive it home.

We also learned that tackling audience questions is not an art reserved for the eloquent few but a skill sharpened by preparation and presence. While it takes a little work to nail good storytelling and well-timed humor, the ultimate outcome is worth it.

So while standing before an audience may set your heart racing, know that arming yourself with knowledge and technique can transform not just your presentation, but you yourself. So don’t be afraid to try your hand at these skills; in doing so, you build your own confidence and become a better speaker in the process.

• Last Updated: April 11, 2024

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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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Do Presentation Methods Matter? 5 Ways on How to Present Information

Presentation methods may vary, but the objective remains the same: achieve validation for an idea, proposal or action. However, a presentation’s impact depends on several factors. Chief among them is the choice of which methods to employ.

For instance, will a simple speech with no visual aids be enough to carry your message across? Or, will you need visuals like images, graphs, charts and tables to bolster your ideas?

Studies show lack of preparation is the reason 90% of people experience anxiety before a presentation. To overcome that problem, much thought and preparation should go into a presentation before you ever start on the first slide.

All in all, presentation methods matter when you’re conveying a message. But how that message affects your audience depends greatly on how you communicate your ideas.

Presentation Skills Basics

The art of the presentation covers more than just explaining an idea. Everything you do in front of an audience can influence the way it reacts to your presentation. This is why presenters must stay in control when speaking in front of a group of people.

Any small gesture or unscripted words can cause a distraction. How do you think the audience will react if a speaker keeps yawning while delivering a speech? At the same time, listeners would have trouble keeping up when confronted with slides that are crammed full of text.

Here are some ways to keep the audience engaged throughout your presentation:

Show Enthusiasm When Presenting an Idea

Nothing turns off listeners more than watching a presenter who’s bored with his own show. How do you expect to engage others when you can’t even engage yourself?

To sell an idea, a speaker must first sell themselves. Not only should you know what you’re talking about, but you must also give an air of confidence when sharing your ideas. Combining both attributes can boost a your enthusiasm levels, which can carry over to the audience during the talk.

Control Your Body Language and Mannerisms

Excessive on-stage body movement can distract the audience enough that they stop listening and start watching instead. Remember, communication also involves non-verbal language, so listeners might be tuning into your movements more than they should.

For example, fidgeting on stage can signal nervousness or uncertainty, which the audience might mistake for a lack of confidence. Conversely, acting overly confident and dismissive can come across as negative. The crowd may want to listen and learn, but they don’t want to be lectured.

Keep Things Simple

When discussing an idea or proposal, avoid veering off topic or including so much information that the audience begins to disengage. You should make it simple for listeners to easily grasp what you’re communicating.

Now, this doesn’t mean using friendly terms or talking slowly. What’s more important is the effort you made to understand your audience before your presentation. Are you speaking in front of engineers? Then you should be comfortable using terms and acronyms they’re already familiar with. Are you talking to buyers? Cut down on jargon, focus on solutions and have the numbers ready even before they ask. Knowing your audience and preparing your talk accordingly is a much better approach than simply dialing down your language.  

When presenting, focus on the fact that you have a great idea that can benefit many people. Your immediate goal should be to use your limited time to share this exciting idea as enthusiastically and completely as possible without going overboard.

Importance of Presentation Skills

Communication and presentation skills are important assets to have across all industries. Unfortunately, presentation skills are not inherent traits a person is born with. The good news, however, is that they can be easily learned. Even better, with enough practice and continual refinement, anyone can master the various presentation methods.

Skill in Presentation Methods Can Lead to Corporate Success

Many professions rely on skilled presentation methods to get the job done, including teachers, HR trainers and management executives. These positions depend highly on the employee’s ability to communicate with their audiences. Their presentation skills help them master their jobs every day. Sales representatives are no exception.

A salesperson’s career relies on the ability to convert leads into customers. This includes the extraordinary ability to convince buyers that their proposed solution outshines the rest of the field. More importantly, the savvy sales rep should possess presentation skills that are better than their competitors.

The mastery of various presentation methods can lead an employee to earn a distinctive role in the company. Not everybody can keep an audience engaged, informed and entertained at the same time. If you can master this ability, rest assured that your company will create every opportunity to put those skills to the test. Here are specific instances where skilled presentation methods can ensure professional success:

Acing the Job Interview

For many employees, the earliest part of their successful career path started by acing that final job interview. Having sharp presentation skills can immediately set you apart from other candidates and mark you as a potential leader among recruiters.

By mastering various presentation methods, the ideal candidate has demonstrated they have the confidence and the skills to represent the company both within and outside the office walls. As a result, the company is more than happy to add the necessary training and knowledge to develop the candidate into a model employee.  

Closing the Deal

Of course, the bulk of a sales representative’s work is convincing the client their solution is better than all others combined. While many companies offer products that check all the buyer’s boxes, how the sales rep positions their solution often plays the definitive part in getting the big yes.

It starts with the sales representative clearly demonstrating the company understands the client’s problem. Then, they offer a solution that dovetails with the specific problems. Finally, mastery of presentation methods allows the sales rep to skillfully handle objections and close the deal.  

At some point in their careers, all other non-sales employees will also find the need to act as salespersons to advance the interests of their department. During annual budget meetings, for instance, many employees will be asked to present their department proposals. They’ll need to convince finance bosses and upper management of the importance of their projects to get the budget approvals they need.  

Winning Public Opinion

Many people form their opinions of companies based on what they hear or read about them. Skillful presentation methods can also help a company get out of a potential public relations disaster. Even in the midst of a serious problem, a veteran PR person can convey the company’s utmost sincerity in righting a perceived misstep or inaction. In other cases, an enthusiastic presenter armed with an equally great presentation can highlight a company’s social responsibility programs and show that it gives as much as it takes from the community.

Specific Presentation Skills That Are Valuable in the Workplace

Mastering the art of presenting requires a number of talents. Savvy presenters know they can’t rely on content alone. After all, a successful storyteller might have a very interesting tale to tell, but they’ll also need to apply various other skills to make a story stand out and resonate with its listeners. Outside of confidence, here are additional attributes that can enhance a person’s presentation skills:  

Public Speaking

All presentation methods involve speaking in front of an audience. Therefore, a basic requirement is public speaking. Those without a love for storytelling or the confidence to talk to strangers will soon find presenting a heavy burden that gets harder to perform every time.  

Organization

Another necessary skill to master is the ability to organize thoughts into a coherent and orderly presentation. Like any story, a presentation must have a logical beginning, middle and end. An organized person should have no problems arranging and composing a story that moves in a logical sequence the audience can easily follow. Otherwise, the presentation could become an incoherent mess that’s hard to follow and harder to agree with.      

Time Management

Not all audiences have time to endure a 30-minute presentation. The skilled presenter should know the set limit for a presentation and be able to condense their slideshow into a version that fits the allotted time. In some cases, a busy client won’t even have time to sit in a meeting with a seller, so they’ll settle for an elevator pitch . Given that last-second reprieve, the intrepid salesperson should be ready and take that shot.

Empathy With Audiences

By itself, empathy is already a key skill to learn. Applied to the workplace and to presentation methods, this ability becomes even more valuable. It takes a certain kind of talent to master public speaking, and even more so public listening. Being attuned to what the audience feels in certain situations is a great way to steer your presentation in the right direction. For sales presenters, acknowledging your audience’s pain points reinforces the idea that the proposed solution can solve its specific problems.  

Sense of Humor

The masterful presenter knows how to laugh with their audience. Adding some light moments to heavy presentations can ease the building tension. It also puts the audience in a better mood to accept new ideas or listen to offered solutions. Of course, jokes and witty humor should always remain within the confines of good taste to remain effective.  

Presentation Software Skills

As great presentations require great visual support, skilled presenters know how valuable the right presentation software is. Learning how to operate presentation software to produce awesome content is a valuable skill everybody should strive for.  

The Bottom Line: Improved Presentation Methods

Mastering these abilities will sharpen a person’s presentation skills and improve their presentation methods. By applying these attributes to certain situations, they’re more likely to engage the crowd. Ultimately, this can make your audience more receptive to proposed ideas and less resistant to closing a sale.

More importantly, great presentation skills can lead to better relationships with clients. When the client confirms you have their best interests at heart, they can rightly conclude that your solutions can address their specific concerns. Thanks to a mastery of presentation methods, what started as an opportunity to tell a story can turn into a successful long-term partnership.

The Importance of Presentation Skills in Sales

For sales in particular, possessing refined presentation skills means being ready to talk to clients at all times. Admittedly, not all client encounters end on a happy note. But enhancing your sales team’s presentation methods can help them anticipate and deal with every possible uncertainty.

Presentation skills also encourage sales teams to learn more about their prospects. Crafting a unique presentation that caters to their specific requirements means taking the time to listen to and understand clients. Otherwise, they risk creating and sharing a presentation that’s far from what buyers expected.    

Finally, presentation skills allow sales teams to collaborate with each other and with other departments like marketing and customer service. Using the right cloud-based presentation software, members can remotely share their expertise in every presentation before it goes to the client.  

The Importance of Presentation Skills in Marketing

For marketing, building up presentation skills is equally crucial in achieving the company’s objectives. Digital marketing guru Neil Patel noted that most of the important personality traits found in successful marketers are also found in people with exceptional presentation skills. He added that for marketing personnel, having the right presentation skills can directly help brand efforts.

When presenting before an audience, a savvy marketer can increase brand trust, raise awareness and even drive sales. All it takes is a well-designed, well-crafted and superbly delivered presentation.  

Besides, it’s marketing’s job to deliver the finer points to the rest of the organization, including brand reports, market analysis and even customer profiles. Marketing needs to share this information with the sales team so it can focus efforts in the right places.

Additionally, marketing produces the content that’s responsible for promoting the brand and driving demand. With marketing having a great story to tell, they’ll need an equally great presentation to get sales to buy in. Without the requisite presentation skills and methods, sales may not get the entire picture or understand the whole story.

Presentation Methods and Techniques

Like stories, presentations come in different forms and travel in various ways to arrive at an ending. What works for one presentation might not necessarily produce the same effect in another. Some start with an action-packed opening, while others take their sweet time getting to the conclusion. Meanwhile, other presenters prefer delivering a story that’s short, sweet and to the point.  

The variety of methods is one of the great things about making a presentation. You can mix and match various techniques to come up with your own unique stories the audience will love.

These are some of the more popular presentation methods and techniques used by many successful presenters over the years:

Start With a Hook

Almost all successful artists will say the first few seconds of a show determine its success. Similarly, a presenter needs to jump-start the conversation immediately or risk losing the audience. Forbes is a bit more merciful on attention spans. The media company reported the average audience member will give a presenter a full 10 minutes before starting to tune them out .

Whether 10 seconds or 10 minutes, a presenter must realize that once onstage, they’re living on borrowed time. They need to engage the audience to keep it in the room until the exciting conclusion.

Starting your presentation by muttering “Thank you for coming” and showing an outline isn’t exactly a crowd-pleaser. Instead, jump-start the session by opening with a story (preferably one related to the topic), a humorous anecdote (similarly related) or a question directed at the audience. Whatever opening you decide on, make sure it can capture a drifting audience’s attention and make it stick around.

If you plan on using a hook to catch your listeners off-guard, make sure the intro remains pertinent to the discussion. Note that an off-topic hook can fall flat without additional relevance. Whatever the hook attempt, just make sure that once you have their attention, you make their time worthwhile.

10/20/30 Presentation

How long should a presentation last? We know 10 minutes is the threshold before audiences begin to peel themselves away from the discussion. But a typically compelling presentation will likely take more than 10 minutes unless it’s a TED Talk . A typical TED Talk runs less than 10 minutes, and organizers have said the 18-minute limit is an absolute cut-off and not an approximation.  

Considering a person’s average attention span, former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki thought of the 10/20/30 rule when making a presentation. The 10/20/30 rule simply states that an effective presentation should:

• Have 10 slides
• Take less than 20 minutes
• Use a font size smaller than 30 pts    

Kawasaki said he originally came up with the rule to prevent an attack of Ménière’s disease, which makes listening to any presentation uncomfortable after a few minutes.  As a venture capitalist, he had to listen to an inordinate amount of pitches that often run down the allotted 60 minutes with excessive slides or unnecessary details. For the 10/20/30 rule, a presenter has 10 slides to make his point within 20 minutes. That gives them the remaining 40 minutes to answer any questions or close the deal.

Storytelling

Who doesn’t love hearing stories, especially new ones? Stories have a logical sequence that starts at the origin and ends after a successful resolution of the conflict. In between, the protagonist witnesses the development of conflict and will often arrive at a climactic scene to attempt a resolution.

In telling a story, a presenter usually bridges the narrative with the actual topic to establish relevance. A good, happy ending in the story can also mean happy endings for the audience if it buys the product or uses the offered solution.

Storytelling presentation methods take many forms aside from a heroic journey. They also include nested loops, where a storyteller refers to a story as told to another person. Meanwhile, sparklines describe a real-world situation contrasted with an alternate but more positive scenario. Another story type is the false start, where the hero attempts multiple wrong solutions before ending up with the right one.

Whatever storytelling method a presenter chooses, the presentation story should only take around one and a half minutes to complete. Anything longer or more complicated to narrate might take its toll on a restless audience. Instead of delivering a powerful analogy, listeners might turn against the presenter and the product out of disappointment.  

Presentation Styles

Apart from various presentation methods, there are also a number of presentation styles to choose from. Styles are the manners in which a presentation is made. Here are five of the more common and popular presentation styles used by people to effectively convey their desired message. Often, the complexity of a presentation determines the type of presentation style used.  

1. Freeform Style

As the name implies, the freeform presentation style relies on the presenter knowing their script well enough to present on the spot. This presentation method is great for speakers who don’t require slideshow backgrounds and aren’t afraid to deliver impromptu speeches.

The freeform style is a great presentation method to use when pressed for time or asked on the spot. However, anybody attempting to deliver a freeform presentation without actually knowing the content details will likely get into trouble as questions start flowing.

2. Visual Style

The visual presentation style is the use of graphic elements to support an oral presentation being delivered. This entails the use of slideshow presentation software to display supporting images in the background while the speaker tells the story. Graphs, charts, tables and stock images can enhance the presentation and add more detail to an already informative slideshow.  

Visuals are great when explaining complicated topics or ideas that have data points. However, visuals are useless if the presenter’s topic is abstract and short. In these cases, a freeform style is likely what’s needed.

3. Instructor Style

Similar to the visual style, the instructor style takes on complicated presentation topics requiring lots of analogies, figures of speeches and data points. As the presenter aims to educate the audience, the instructor’s style requires a lot of support images as well as a long, instructional oral presentation. Teachers, trainers and coaches often use this presentation style to explain complicated topics or visually show how products, services or processes work.

The instructor presentation style is great to use when you need to go over a complex set of instructions with your audience. However, be careful when applying metaphors and other figures of speech. Using too many analogies might backfire and confuse your audience more. Unless you have thorough knowledge of what’s being presented, you shouldn’t attempt instructor presentations.

4. Lessig Style

Named after Harvard professor and founder of the Center for Internet and Society Lawrence Lessig , the Lessig style is a rapid-paced presentation style geared toward larger audiences. In this style, each slide can stay onscreen for a maximum of 15 seconds. In addition, text will only appear on a slide if it matches the speaker’s exact words.

The Lessig style is an ideal approach to use when making a fast presentation within a specific time limit. The quick pace is great for engaging and educating large audiences. Conversely, the Lessig style won’t work as well with novice presenters who might find the pace too frantic for their experience level.

5. Takahashi Style

The Takahashi style of presentation, named after its proponent Masayoshi Takahashi, is the opposite of graphics-heavy Lessig and visual styles. In fact, there are no visuals found in the Takahashi style of presentations. Instead, text in super large fonts dominates each slide. Users select a keyword to display for every slide.  

While innovative, the Takahashi style is more suitable for non-Latin alphabet languages such as Japanese and Korean. Also, most of those who attend a Takahashi-style presentation will need to listen more carefully during the presentation due to the lack of supporting visuals.

Why Choosing the Right Presentation Methods Is Important  

Matching the presentation with the presentation style is important. It takes time to develop an actual, effective slideshow. And if you happen to choose the wrong format when developing a presentation, you could find yourself either lacking content to display or severely in need of additional slides.

For example, applying the Takahashi style to an instructor-style presentation can backfire badly . Instructor presentations require a steady stream of visuals such as graphs, tables, charts and images. However, the Takahashi style doesn’t use images in the presentation. Another example would be insisting on applying a Lessig style of presentation to freeform presentations, which don’t require visual backgrounds.

How to Choose the Right Presentation Style

To avoid making costly mistakes, always check the presentation requirements first. Determine if your presentation requires visuals, images or simply supportive background. Then, consider the length and complexity of your presentation. When speaking, will you need more than 15 seconds per slide? If yes, you can eliminate rapid-pace styles like Lessig and freeform and instead focus on visual-rich styles.

You’ll also need to consider your audience before finalizing the style to use. Do listeners need detailed information to appreciate your presentation better? Or, have they heard you present before and somewhat know what you’re talking about? The answer to both questions can help determine whether you need a rapid-fire presentation method or an explainer style that’s heavy on visuals.

Finally, think about how you plan to end the presentation. The call to action can also influence the style required. For instance, pitching for funding or asking the crowd to buy your product will require lots of charts and data proof for your thesis. But for raising brand awareness or increasing your brand visibility, a session of compelling storytelling can do the trick.

Best Practices for Creating a Powerful Presentation

Creating a presentation shouldn’t be a heavy burden, especially when dealing with topics you and your team are very familiar with. Use these popular practices to bring together the best elements for your next presentation:

Present Problems, Then Show Solutions

As a solutions provider, the audience will expect you to be familiar with its problems.  Otherwise, it wouldn’t bother showing up to your presentation. By acknowledging a customer’s pain points and tying them to your offered solutions, you can increase the perceived value of your product or service.

Getting to the root of the audience’s pain points will require heavy research prior to your talk. An exploratory interview can help determine the right people to talk to about their challenges. Once you identify them, have a quick meeting to learn more about their concerns.

However, start in-depth discussions about potential solutions with your team only after you’re sure you understand the client’s predicament. Then, before adopting a solution, have your team attack each proposal to see if they’ll stand to scrutiny. As a result, you’ll come to the next meeting ready and confident the solutions you propose tailor-fit the specific problems the client is facing.

Did you notice that, throughout the process, the word “selling” was never mentioned? That’s because buying will occur naturally once the audience realizes what you have is exactly what it needs.

Be a Showman in Your Presentation

Being a showman doesn’t necessarily mean including a song-and-dance routine in your scheduled pitch. However, making an impact and getting engagement means creating a lasting impression that should linger well after the presentation.

The secret to making a killer presentation is plain old prep work. If you know the information like the back of your hand, you’ll have no problem presenting your case, even among objections and skeptics. Knowing your stuff can also give you a massive boost of confidence, as you can repeatedly get back on track despite a myriad of distractions. In a room full of expectant audience members, stay confident and project a calm and collected but passionate attitude. You’ll know you’ve made it when the crowd sees you as someone genuinely interested in helping others solve a problem.

Additionally, stay aware of your presentation limits. If you have a strict time allotment, make sure you use an applicable presentation method like a 10/20/30 or a controlled but engaging storytelling session.

Being a showman means having the audience buy into your ideas. By keeping listeners interested in the presentation contents, they’re more likely to recognize your proposal’s value and accept your solution.  

Believe in Your Product

Being a pitchman who’s not confident about your product is a losing proposition. You should be the biggest, most excited kid in the room when it comes to showing off what you have to offer. The moment you reveal your product, the audience should stop seeing you as a salesperson and instead see you as a solutions provider.

However, be careful when acting as a product evangelist. Your belief in your product should be authentic and not something motivated by a desire to close a deal. Audiences can spot a shill easily, and pretending can seriously hamper your efforts to come across as genuinely interested in solving their problems.  

Engage Your Audience

Engaging your audience doesn’t mean telling it what it wants to hear. Your choice of presentation methods and styles will greatly affect how your audience reacts to everything you say. So if you took the time to learn what can engage your clients, then you’ll find it even easier to connect with them while you’re onstage.

Audience engagement also means keeping clients in the conversation instead of staying locked in a monologue. Ask audience members questions and let them share experiences. Keep the conversation flowing in the direction that ends with you providing a solution.

Finally, engaging means getting the audience to see things your way before arriving at the conclusion. The trick in doing so lies in two things: how prepared your story is, and how prepared the audience is to listen to that story. Your knowledge of the client’s problems, your confidence in the solution and your genuine interest in helping combine to make your presentation engaging, memorable and productive.

How Tools Help Improve Your Presentation Methods

The tools you use to build your story can help the audience buy into your ideas. For instance, in some cases, a client’s busy schedule means they can only view your presentation on their own time rather than hearing you deliver it in person. If you use the right tools when creating your presentation , then you shouldn’t be afraid of losing your advantage.

Choosing cloud-based interactive presentation software lets you develop a presentation that tells the story in the manner you want it to. Interactive elements allow you to add details that show up when the viewer performs an action. It also helps if you make your presentation dynamic and enable viewers to move back and forth between different sections when reading. That way, they can revisit certain areas and ideas to validate your points. More importantly, it allows for better-looking and more engaging content .

During the development, collaboration features allow you to get input from your team members remotely. Working jointly on a presentation now means logging into a cloud app instead of having an all-nighter at the office. With easier collaboration comes more efficient ways to share ideas and make improvements .

More Tips and Tricks to Help Develop Your Presentation Methods

A presenter is only as good as their last presentation. So, there’s definitely work needed to be done to keep your presentation skills fresh, relevant and engaging.

Practice and Polish

Perfecting your presentation methods requires you to sharpen your skills every chance you get. It also means you’ll have to put in additional work to improve the output of every presentation.

Continuous improvements also mean taking the time to polish your work before sending presentations off to clients. Having your peers review and make comments or suggestions can help you see things you previously didn’t notice. That’s why additional pairs of eyes should always be appreciated when they’re available.

Watch Other Presenters

To become a master in any craft, you must start as a student. Even if you’re already a seasoned presenter, you can’t go wrong looking up other notable presenters and learning how they captivate an audience or save a doomed presentation at the last minute. For the presentation scholar, listening to great speeches from the past can give you ideas on how master orators can keep an audience hanging onto every word.

Take Advantage of Technology

Making use of existing tech tools can give you an edge when competing for attention with your rivals. For example, use cloud-based interactive presentation software to breathe more life into the stories you tell. In addition, take advantage of collaboration and productivity software to share your work with your team and get their input.

Upgrade Your Presentation Methods With Ingage

Presenting is a skill many people desire to have but few want to work on. Selling an idea is easier if you know your audience and are aware of its problems. More importantly, you should believe in your solutions and confidently stand by them. To show the world all this knowledge requires awesome presentation skills and mastery of various presentation methods. While research and practice make perfect, using modern tools can also help improve your presentation skills.  

Ingage is cloud-based interactive presentation software that helps you and your team create engaging content for your clients. Collaboration features allow you to remotely share your work with your team so you can jointly develop the presentation. Once finished, simply send the presentation link to your clients so they can view the pitch at their leisure.

Ingage’s analytics features also allow you to track viewer responses to your presentation. In addition, it can tell you which sections resonated with your audience and which areas need improvement.

Let Ingage turn your presentations into engaging, compelling stories clients can relate to. Contact us today, and we’ll be happy to arrange a free demonstration .

• BEGINNER TRAINING
• ADVANCED PRESENTATION TRAINING
• CORPORATE PRESENTATION TRAINING
• PRESENTATION SKILLS COACHING
• TRAINING OUTLINE
• PRESENTATION REFRESHER
• REFER A COLLEAGUE
• PRESENTATION REHEARSAL
• PRESENTATION REVIEW
• PRESENTATION SEMINAR
• ADVANCED TRAINING
• CORPORATE TRAINING
• ONLINE COURSE
• PUBLIC SPEAKING COACHING
• PUBLIC SPEAKING REFRESHER
• SPEECH REHEARSAL
• EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION TIPS
• CONFIDENT PRESENTATION TIPS
• SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION TIPS
• PRESENTATION DESIGN TIPS
• PUBLIC SPEAKING TIPS
• TIPS FOR SPEAKERS
• PRESENTATION VIDEOS
• Presentation Methods For Your Success
• Presentation Tips You Should Know

Your choice of presentation methods says something about you. And if that sounds just a little bit scary, then it's not intended to be! Because everything you do as a presenter says something to the audience. That's really what a presentation is all about. It's a means for communication between you and your audience. Your job is to make sure that you convey the right set of messages….the messages you really want to transfer.

Your Presentation Methods Are Really Important

Thus your choice of presentation method might suggest the following:

• How well-practised are you?
• Do you know your material?
• What do you know about your audience?

Your audience will notice and will respond accordingly. But, that's not a problem, because your choice of presentation method is influenced by all three.

Presentation Methods: It's Your Choice

Do you know your audience really well? So take inspiration. Try to break the bounds of PowerPoint or Keynote. It might possibly encourage you to try out newer presentation manager alternatives such as  Prezi presentation software . There are some good  alternatives to PowerPoint  out there. So this  list  shows off the presentation features of more than 20 of them.

Therefore, your choice of presentation methods reflects your earlier preparation and your research.

Because when you know your material and your audience, you will have more options for an effective presentation.

As a result, and more importantly, you will have more control over the  presentation methods you use.

A Less-Practised Presenter

A less-practised presenter might use presentation software as a crutch. That’s because they don’t have a good knowledge of their material. So, they use the software to help them get by with their presentation. They might not know their material too well. Or, possibly they haven’t had much time to prepare, practise and rehearse. PowerPoint might help to give them security as it hides the gaps in their work. That’s the theory. However, most audiences can see through this.

A Well-Practised Presenter

A well-practised presenter might choose to use  PowerPoint  or  Keynote for their presentation. So they emphasise key points with some multimedia in their presentation’s slides. Their PowerPoint presentation is visually emphatic. And their slides are clear and consistent. Additionally, their organisation is ordered. And, because of this, their presentation is more effective.

What Presentation Methods Can You Use?

You have a range of presentation methods to choose from. You might use some as a crutch, but others will definitely boost your presentation performance.

• Use  PowerPoint .
• Take advantage of Keynote or PowerPoint For Mac.
• Try one of the many PowerPoint alternatives. We've listed some alternatives to PowerPoint  in this article.
• Use props , a flip-chart or whiteboard. Here are some tips for using a prop when giving a presentation .

You can learn more presentation skills and techniques on a public  presentation training course . Because we organise our courses to a regular schedule, there’s something for everyone. Or, when you want a more intensive approach, then you can always try individual presentation coaching . Whatever your approach, please don’t hesitate to get in touch when the time is right.

“PowerPoint is popular only because it helps disorganized presenters feel more organized.”

Edward Tufte

Related Tips

5 ways to a fully prepared presentation, what’s the purpose of a presentation what you need to know, how to handle feedback after your presentation, grow in confidence with these office party presentation skills, how to be a dynamic communicator with your presentations, 10 ways to improve your powerpoint presentation skills, how to finish your presentation with a bang, how you can achieve a title effect for your next presentation, how to point, turn and talk with powerpoint, how to be a confident presenter with better rehearsal skills, how to take questions during a presentation, how to manage time as a presenter, join our mailing list to get the latest updates.

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A Guide to The Techniques of Presentation

Hrideep barot.

• Body Language & Delivery , Presentation , Public Speaking , Workplace Communication

We’re guessing you are here because you’re either tired of having sweaty palms before giving a presentation or you have vowed to become the Steve Jobs of presentations!

Whatever be your motto, we have sworn to not leave you without guiding you through the numerous techniques of presentation.

Presentation Techniques are all the essential skills you ought to develop to deliver presentations successfully and become a better presenter. Presentation techniques include focusing on the audience, cutting down to the core idea, brainstorming, using visual aids, the 10-20-30 rule, structuring, recording yourself, practice and feedback, and open body language. 

We are going to discuss these techniques in detail in the upcoming sections.

Techniques of Creation

A successful presentation requires a good amount of brainstorming and planning before D-Day dawns. Here are techniques you can focus on to create a stellar presentation.

1. The Topic at Hand

This involves first and foremost choosing a subject or topic to present on.

Why choose a topic that interests you?

If you have the liberty to choose a topic according to your liking, see that it is one that you are passionate about . This will help you look forward to the preparation as well as delivery because it is something you believe so much in. 

But what if you have no choice?

However, if the situation is such that you do not like the topic or it is particularly boring, then don’t dread it yet. You can always tweak it by bringing in humor , using a case study , narrating a story , or a personal anecdote relating to the topic.

How to make a boring topic interesting?

Find fun ways to bring your topic to life. Your presentation need not be restricted to you speaking and showing some visuals. You can be unconventional (Like Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor was when she got an actual human brain on stage during her TED talk!) and make use of sound and video, physical props, or audience engagement activities .

For example, at the beginning of one presentation, a speaker gave out the letters T, E, And M to members of the audience. Towards the end, the speaker highlighted how little difference the letters made individually but when put together, they made a team. 

This shows how simple props can be used to give out a powerful message that generates a great connection through a memorable activity.

2. The Audience

What do you need to know about them?

Form an image of your typical audience member in your head. Jot down things like their psychographic information such as their interests, values, traits, etc. List down their expectations and your aim – to inform, inspire, entertain or prove, persuade and demonstrate.   

This will enable you to tailor your presentation in a way that you can make the audience achieve what you have for them in your mind. Find out how much they know about your topic, then cater your talk, and the language you use to deliver it in accordance with their level and familiarity with the topic. Best to keep the jargon off the stage. 

How can you know get to know them?

If you are presenting at your workplace, you already will have an idea about the interest and values of your colleagues. You can always get to know more about them by sharing your topic with them and asking their opinions on it.

If you are to present in a new setting, try arriving a bit ahead of time and engage yourself in conversation with the audience members by greeting them, introducing yourself, and having a casual conversation over a range of topics.

Be prepared to also face any objections or resistance to your subject and think of ways you can address them in case they arise.

When you have an idea of what they know, believe, and feel about your topic before you present, you can control what they know, believe, and feel about your topic after you are done presenting.

3. Brainstorming

The next thing is to jot down all ideas you have about that topic. Mindmapping is especially helpful when it comes to this. It means sketching out ideas from a central theme, like the branches of a tree. 

Next, categorize your ideas into sub-topics and create a flow for the presentation that you want your audience to follow. 

For example, If you are to give a presentation on the Covid-19 Vaccine, then you can branch out into sub-areas to cover the types of vaccines, the efficacy of vaccines, their advantages, and disadvantages, etc.

4. Cut down to the Core 

We understand the urge to share all knowledge you have on your topic with your audience. But it is crucial to remember that you are presenting to a bunch of normal humans who probably cannot take more than a couple of ideas throughout a presentation. 

If it takes you way too many words and sentences to say what you have in your mind, try giving it more thought. Because when it comes to presentations , less is more .

Hence, condense your presentation to its very core idea and make it a point to repeat it till you reach the end. You can elaborate on this central idea.

Doing this will ensure that if at any point someone asks your audience what you presented about, all of them have the same answer. Thus leaving your audience satisfied with one clear message at the back of their minds.

One thing to pay heed to is the fact that most presentations take longer to deliver than we initially imagine. If you are wondering how to keep it short? We wrote an article that takes you through the 11 steps to help you keep time during your presentation. 

5. Visual Aids

Like it is said, a picture is worth a hundred words. Using visuals will always benefit you because more than 65% of people are visual learners. While data is important to back up your arguments, data alone doesn’t do much if it isn’t presented appealingly. A lot depends on how data is presented.

Keeping up with Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki , came up with this efficient rule for presentations which states that a PowerPoint presentation (or any other app you are using for your slides),

“should have ten slides , last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points. ”

Now we know, certain presentations may be an exception to this rule. But the main idea here is to not let the visual aids override the speaker. 

Death by PowerPoint

This funny, but sadly true phrase refers to a phenomenon caused by poor use of presentation software leading to immense visual discomfort. 

Oftentimes, we observe that very little importance is given to the visual aids of a presentation, even by esteemed organizations and companies. John Medina’s statement reinstates this when he says that

“If companies would have as little respect for business as they have for presentations, the majority would go bankrupt.”

To make certain that you avoid this situation at all costs, we have David Phillips who outlines ways to Avoid Death by Powerpoint in his TED talk where he talks about the following:

1. Limit the text to one message per slide.

2 . Do not put up text sentences on the slide to read when you are speaking at the same time. This makes the brain of the listener choose between the two activities, leaving out important points in the process.

3. The Size of your font influences how well it can catch attention, retain in your head and create an impact. So choose it wisely.

(A method for optimum font size suggested by Guy Kawasaki is to look up the age of the oldest person in your audience and divide it by two to get an idea of the ideal font size) Larger font sizes help you to cut down on unimportant bits of data due to the limitations on space.

4. Creating Contrast Steers focus on the essential part of data. Don’t leave the pesky task of decoding data on your audience; make it easier for them.

5. Six or Fewer Objects Per slide is recommended as it makes it easier for the brain to comprehend the information presented to it at a given time.

6. Having a dark background relaxes your eyes and brain. When your screen is brighter than you, you will have to go out of your way to make yourself noticeable enough. It is essential to remember that you are the presentation and your slides are your visual aids; not the other way round.

While making use of visual aids, keep in mind one thing. You are presenting to your audience, not to your visual aids. So always face your audience and converse with them instead of talking to the data on your screen. 

When presented in the right way, visual aids can do wonders to your presentation by enhancing your message and elevating the credibility of your idea.

6. Structuring 

One reason why most presentations fail to make an impact is cause they haven’t been well conceptualized and framed. Structuring is important, not alone for the audience to understand the presentation better but also for you, the presenter to stay calm and exhibit confidence without harboring the fear of missing out on any points.

Creating an Audience Journey Map

“When I think about compelling presentations, I think about taking an audience on a journey.” Chris Anderson, curator of TED

When you frame your presentation as a journey, you have to decide the point where your journey starts and where it ends. To begin well, you have to create the context of the setting for your audience; by considering what they know about the topic. 

Never try to come off as an expert on the topic or get too technical, because you will lose your audience on the way. Instead, try presenting as a friend who has a new idea and wants to share it with others.

Successful presenters introduce their topic in short, share with the audience why they care about this topic and convince their audience that they should care about it too by taking them on a journey.

Facts and Stories

If your objective as a presenter is to inform your audience and also inspire them to take action, then you must consider taking the approach of facts and stories. 

Nancy Duarte, presentation coach, proposes a way of doing this in her book Resonate . She suggests looking at presentations as a place between two extremes – a record of numerical data and facts, and a story, which has the ability to thoroughly engage the audience. 

Step 1. Start by sharing the realities of the audience’s current world. 

Step 2. Reinforce what is and state what could be . Thus creating an imbalance

Step 3. Go on showcasing the stark contrast in the content of these two extremes, alternating between what is and what could be.

Step 4. Make the audience understand what they need to do to achieve the “ideal” that you’re convincing them for.

Step 5. Conclude the presentation on a higher plane, where everyone now understands your idea and its reward.

Facts share a glimpse of what is, while stories provide the wonderful possibility of what could be. Shifting between these two extremes sparks curiosity in your audience to learn about the next thing to follow.

Techniques of Preparation

Thinking that you’re all set for your presentation once you’ve got your content in place is a little bit like digging your own grave. Inadequate practice is one of the biggest factors contributing to presentation stress and fear.

But as Dr. Rob Gilbert says,

“There is nothing wrong with stomach butterflies. You just have to get them to fly in formation.”

The butterflies resemble fear. And the way to calm the butterflies and direct their flying is this – you must be relaxed; to be relaxed you need to be confident, and to be confident, you ought to be well prepared with your presentation.

Here’s how you can do that.

1. Memory Prompts

If you plan on speaking from memory, you can start by writing notes in full sentences. The first practice usually involves a read-through of your scripted content.

Next, cut the full sentences so that they are bullet points and read with their assistance- in order to rely on notes less. Subsequently, bring it down to just a few words that act as cues or prompts to help you deliver your entire idea. 

2. Aim to be Effortless

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor practiced her famous TED presentation 200 times while another speaker practiced it 12 times. Some people require more time, some don’t. It is subjective, but overall, Carmine Gallo, communications coach and speaker, suggests rehearsing your presentation 10 times from start to finish to be rooted in self-confidence. The idea is always to rehearse it till it comes to you effortlessly. Without the need to constantly think of which word the next slide starts with. 

3. Record Yourself

With the help of your video camera or phone , record yourself as giving the presentation. You’ll surely be surprised by the number of times you use filler words or distracting body language or exhibit a disconnect by referring to slides more than often.

Evaluating your presentation will help you make changes to it before it is too late. Unsure how to do this? We’ve got you covered in this article we wrote on 6 Ways You Can Evaluate Your Own Presentation .

4. Mirror real-world

Studies conducted by psychologists brought to light that athletes tend to showcase their best performance in practice sessions that mirror real-world conditions. You can apply this concept to your presentation practice by presenting in front of a smaller group of people – friends, strangers, family members, or mentors. 

It is also crucial to have a rehearsal with all your technicals and visual aids. If you can access the venue of your presentation to do a mock presentation, do not miss the opportunity. Also, be ready to have a backup plan in case your technicals give up on you

5. Constructive Feedback

After you’ve presented in front of a smaller audience, most people will give you a compliment or two saying you did a good job. But that isn’t gonna do much for you. Instead, make an effort to ask them for specific feedback. 

For instance, ask them if your speech was too fast or too slow? Or If you used jargon or terms they didn’t understand? Then go over your content and tweak it wherever necessary.

Fred Pryor Organisation’s studies suggest that good preparation and rehearsal reduces nerves by 75% and also cuts down on the likelihood of making errors. 

Techniques of Delivery

Quality content is essential. Yes. But quality content paired with a poor delivery is the recipe for a presentation that your audience forgets about after exiting the doors.

Now that you are familiar with the ABCs of practice, let’s see how you can effectively deliver your presentation.

1. What about MY Presentation?

Does it matter what you’re wearing? Well, everyone has a different answer to that. But we believe that the first thing people notice about us is our appearance. So it wouldn’t do you any harm to work a little bit on it for your presentation. 

We prohibit you from wearing neon hues unless of course, you have pledged to be the human version of a highlighter pen. What colors should you wear during a presentation then? Read this article to know more. 

It is true that your introduction and its delivery will set the tone for the rest of your presentation. So if you’re looking for alternative ways to introduce yourself other than the usual “Good morning, I am Andy, and today I will be talking about…” Cut it, here is an article we wrote on How you can introduce yourself in a presentation

2. Handling Pre-presentation Nerves

Amy Cuddy , who is a Harvard Business School professor studying the way in which certain body poses affect power, suggests presenters spend the time before their presentation “striding around, extending their bodies and standing tall.” These are poses that help boost confidence and that’s an essential ingredient of great delivery.

Anderson reinforces that 

“Nerves are not a disaster. The audience expects you to be nervous”

Think of the audience as your ally, they want you to do your best and are rooting for you. Or maybe just think that they are happy for you because they aren’t the ones standing on the stage facing an audience and feeling nervous.

If you arrive early for your presentation, take your time to go around and greet the audience members and introduce yourself. This may help to make you feel more at ease.

3. Let your Body do the Talking

Do you shift weight from one leg to the other while giving a presentation? Or sway side to side? This is natural when you’re nervous, but it does seem distracting to the audience. So do you stand as still as a statue then? We’d suggest against that too. 

Instead, you can read this article on the dilemma of  To walk or stand still: How you should present on Stage.

If you want to deliver well, you have to work on improving your stage presence and your body language. You know what we’re gonna say next, don’t you – eye contact! But we wouldn’t say it over and over again if it wasn’t so important, right?

Keeping an Eye

It is actually one of the most crucial physical acts on stage. You can find four or five “friendly-looking” people in your audience and look at them as you speak. Consider them as friends you haven’t spoken to in years. But be sure to look them in the eye since eye contact is powerful enough to make your talk impactful.

Other things to keep in mind include speaking at a good pace, emphasizing your key points with the help of enunciation and pausing, and having open body language. Include your audience to avoid turning your presentation into a lecture. 

Handing out those handouts

You can also share your slides or give out presentation handouts after you present. This is a fantastic way to ensure and encourage engagement after the presentation is over. It also helps the audience recall your content later on. Here’s an article you should read to know everything about Presentation handouts.

Example of Presentation Techniques

An analysis of steve jobs’ presentation technique.

Allow us to exaggerate a bit and say this – if giving a presentation was a religion, Steve Jobs would be the God. 

Don’t believe us? Watch this video and then go on and read the techniques we analyzed from it.

Steve truly mastered the recipe of an electrifying presentation.

No wonder people still take inspiration from his presentations. Hence, we have done our bit to share his effective presentation techniques with you, so that you can go ahead and captivate your audience the way Jobs did.

1. Crisp Headline

Steve Jobs made use of a technique that Carmine Gallo, communications coach, and speaker, has labeled as the “Twitter-friendly” headline – essentially, a crisp, one-sentence summary of an idea /product that captured the main message in the most enthralling manner. 

For example, he introduced the iPod by describing it as “a thousand songs in your pocket”, the MacBook Air as “the world’s thinnest notebook” and launched the iPhone with the words “Apple reinvents the phone”.

Regardless of the length of the topic, he used a crisp, clever headline and set the direction of his presentation.

2. Providing an Outline

Jobs often told his audience what he would be talking about in his presentation by telling them “Today I want to share with you four things”. 

Then he would go on to share them and easily transition into the other section by saying “..and this was the first thing I wanted to share with you this morning”. Doing this helped the listeners to follow the presentation well.

He also employed the use of the Rule of Three in his presentations, the most memorable one of which was his iPhone presentation. He began by saying, “Today we are introducing three revolutionary products. The first, a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device.”

As the applause continued, he kept talking repeatedly about these “three” products and finally went on to say, “Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices, they are one device and we are calling it iPhone!”

3. Passion Paves the Way

If not his heart, Jobs certainly wore his enthusiasm on his black turtle-neck’s sleeve. He himself had so much passion for his topic that it reflected in his presentation and translated into his audience as well. 

While unveiling the iPhone, he smiled and said “it looks pretty doggone gorgeous”. He knew that unless you aren’t excited about an idea, your audience won’t be excited about it. 

Hence he chose his words well to express his passion for the product and thus succeeded in inspiring his audience. 

4. Hero Vs Villain

Similar to the Story and Facts technique that we covered before, Jobs used a comparative model for most of his talks. He talked of products that existed in the current world and then introduced the audience to ideal products that could exist . 

He did this while introducing the iPhone when he said, “Regular cell phones are not so smart and they are not so easy to use. Smartphones are a little smarter but are harder to use. They are really complicated…we want to make a leapfrog product, way smarter than any mobile device has ever been and super easy to use. This is what iPhone is.”

He also went on to expand on what the advantages of his products were and why the audience needed them. Steve Jobs also made an effort to make numbers and statistics meaningful .

Instead of saying that 25 billion songs have been downloaded from iTunes, he said that 15,000 songs are downloaded from iTunes every day. 

Now wasn’t that more effective?

5. Simple Visuals

Simple, to-the-point visuals defined his slides as he used about 19 words, distributed over about 12 slides. Now compare this with your average powerpoint that has at least 30 slides, if not more.

6. Practice, practice, practice

Jobs knew every single detail of his event beforehand – the visuals on his slide, the things to do in case of a technical glitch, every impromptu act. This didn’t come without hours of rehearsal on the stage many weeks prior to the event. 

In one incident of a glitch, he taught a lesson for presenters by laughing at the glitch, narrating a story in the meantime as his team resolved the issue, and then got back to present. Without the sign of a flustered cheek. Practice, ladies and gentlemen.

Now go on and utilize these techniques to make your presentations understandable, memorable, and influential.

And while you’re at it, remember what Lilly Walters said,

“The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives.” 

Like Jobs would often say – just one more thing before you go….if you are wondering whether to drink or steer away from that tempting cup of coffee before your presentation, read this article we wrote about it!

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• Presenting techniques

Presenting is a craft that requires a thoughtful approach. There’s a lot of stuff to include in the good presentation. From quality visuals to a compelling speech, everything matters. Doing a presentation on your own may be quite a challenge especially if it’s your first time experience with the presentations. What can really help though, are the effective presentation techniques. In essence, they are the blueprint for your presentation, that helps you to hit all the right spots. Let’s look into some of those techniques.

Presentation Methods

Before you start thinking of a technique, let’s first understand the presentation methods and how they relate to the audience and the content of your presentation. Among the different presentation methods, the main ones are formal and formal. Their difference is mainly in the style of your delivery and the data presentation methods. The formal presentation is best suited for the business meetings or college level, scientific presentations. The informal methods of presentation can best be used during the smaller meetings with your team to discuss business subjects or, for example, at a Ted-like speech event.

Method 1: Keeping Everything Simple

This is a rather basic technique. Just strip your presentation of all the unnecessary information, leaving only the core statements that you want to address. Simplicity not only helps your audience to understand your points better but even more, this data presentation method lowers the risk of making a mistake, forgetting — and saves you and your audience quite a lot of time! There are different definitions of simplicity — sometimes just a few words are enough, while in other cases several bullet points on the slide may be sufficient. Choose what suits your topic best.

Method 2: Good Start 

This method of presentation is all about attention-grabbing. Starting your presentation with a powerful statement, unusual fact or an interesting question will make the audience engage in your presentation instantly. Another great way to start is a joke, though humor can be quite a landmine, especially when you’re presenting in front of strangers, and you are not sure whether your joke would be fun or actually offensive.  So, try to think of something neutral, yet funny.

Method 3: Use  Visuals in your Presentation

Visuals are a must for any presentation and are able not only to support your speech but also to tell and contribute to the stuff you’re telling about. The pictures, graphs, infographics, and even short videos especially when done by presentation design services are what truly make the presentation, and help you to connect with your audience. A carefully selected visual connects both with your speech and the slide content, making your presentation methods work in complete harmony. What is more, visuals can serve as a great way to help you recall your speech in case you suddenly forgot some of it during the presentation.

Method 4:   Rehearse

Don’t rush to tell your presentation just once you’ve made it. Instead, try to first rehearse your presentation in front of a mirror. This presentation technique allows you to spot the mistakes and downfalls in your speech and visual part and improve powerpoint presentation . What is more, it can also make you more confident, as with each time you rehearse you’ll memorize your stuff better and better. Bonus points for starting rehearsing from the random spots in your presentation — using this presentation technique will allow you to become completely familiar with your information.

Method 5:   10/20/30 Presentation Rule

While it may not be applied to all of the presentations, the ones that you are usually dealing with can really benefit from it. 10 20 30 rule is about the time and size of your presentation: 

• Your presentation should have no more than 10 slides
• The time needed for the presentation should be no more than 20 minutes
• The font you are using for presentation text (if there is any on slides) is no less than 30 point

Method 6:  Storytelling

Telling a story is a powerful presentation technique for keeping the audience interested. In general, people get bored from being fed just straight-up facts and numbers for a long time. However, an interesting story, connected to the subject of your presentation gives that personal touch to it, engaging the audience into what you are talking about. What is more, a good story in the context of the presentation will actually resonate with the audience, causing more approval to you as an expert.

• Tell a personal  story .
• Create suspense.
• Bring characters to life.
• Build up to S.T.A.R moment.

Method 7:   Presentate with your Voice

Speech is the most common method of presentation . When you are presenting, it’s important not only WHAT you say, but also HOW do you say it. Creating a proper voice for presentations is actually one of the things you need rehearsal for. Your goal is to sound confident and interested in the subject you are telling about. What is more, it is important to not make unnecessary pauses and avoid the “ummm”, “oh” and other similar stuff that slows down your presentation and may put off the audience.

Method 8:   Know your Audience

Make sure that the data presentation methods you are using make your data  relevant to your audience. The research of your audience is needed to craft a relatable story, as well as to understand what approach in presenting you may want to take. After you’ve done the research, you can just tell the audience what it wants and expects to hear. Such an approach would result in the satisfied and interested audience enjoying your presentation. And in this case your presentation would surely and up being a huge success!

Method 9:   Back up plan

Even though you may plan everything in advance, something can always go wrong. The strange ability of the hardware to malfunction right in the middle of your presentation is probably one of the most known presentation-related memes. So, plan at least some of the bad scenarios. For example, have a printed set of slides with you during your presentation. Check everything right before you’ll start presenting. A good idea also is to have your script written out so that in case you have completely forgotten some of its parts, you can easily and quickly look into it and goon with the presentation.

Method 10:   Relax

This one is not only a presentation technique , but a great life technique as well. Actually, the most common reason for the mistakes during presentations are the nerves and fear a lot of people feel while presenting. It’s absolutely normal to be a little worried about the presentation, but you have to instill confidence in your knowledge and expertise with the subject among the audience, and it’s hard to do if you feel fear. Try to reason with yourself — you have rehearsed, prepared great visuals, learned about the audience and even have a plan B in case the situation gets worse. There’s nothing to worry about — you have all the right presentation techniques !

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Chapter 6: Developing Presentations

39 Methods of Presentation Delivery

The importance of delivery.

Delivery is what you are probably most concerned about when it comes to giving presentations. This chapter is designed to help you give the best delivery possible and eliminate some of the nervousness you might be feeling. To do that, you should first dismiss the myth that public speaking is just reading and talking at the same time. Speaking in public has more formality than talking. During a speech, you should present yourself professionally. This doesn’t necessarily mean you must wear a suit or “dress up”, but it does mean making yourself presentable by being well groomed and wearing clean, appropriate clothes. It also means being prepared to use language correctly and appropriately for the audience and the topic, to make eye contact with your audience, and to look like you know your topic very well.

While speaking has more formality than talking, it has less formality than reading. Speaking allows for flexibility, meaningful pauses, eye contact, small changes in word order, and vocal emphasis. Reading is a more or less exact replication of words on paper without the use of any nonverbal interpretation. Speaking, as you will realize if you think about excellent speakers you have seen and heard, provides a more animated message.

Methods of Presentation Delivery

There are four methods of delivery that can help you balance between too much and too little formality when giving a presentation.

Impromptu Speaking

Impromptu speaking is the presentation of a short message without advance preparation. You have probably done impromptu speaking many times in informal, conversational settings. Self-introductions in group settings are examples of impromptu speaking: “Hi, my name is Steve, and I’m an account manager.” Another example of impromptu presenting occurs when you answer a question such as, “What did you think of the report?” Your response has not been preplanned, and you are constructing your arguments and points as you speak. Even worse, you might find yourself going into a meeting and your boss says, “I want you to talk about the last stage of the project. . . “ and you had no warning.

The advantage of this kind of speaking is that it’s spontaneous and responsive in an animated group context. The disadvantage is that the speaker is given little or no time to contemplate the central theme of his or her message. As a result, the message may be disorganized and difficult for listeners to follow.

Here is a step-by-step guide that may be useful if you are called upon to give an impromptu presentation in public:

• Take a moment to collect your thoughts and plan the main point you want to make.
• Thank the person for inviting you to speak. Avoid making comments about being unprepared, called upon at the last moment, on the spot, or feeling uneasy.
• Deliver your message, making your main point as briefly as you can while still covering it adequately and at a pace your listeners can follow.
• If you can use a structure, using numbers if possible: “Two main reasons . . .” or “Three parts of our plan. . .” or “Two side effects of this drug. . .” Timeline structures are also effective, such as “past, present, and future or East Coast, Midwest, and West Coast”.
• Thank the person again for the opportunity to speak.
• Stop talking (it is easy to “ramble on” when you don’t have something prepared). If in front of an audience, don’t keep talking as you move back to your seat.

Impromptu presentations:  the presentation of a short message without advance preparation . Impromptu presentations are generally most successful when they are brief and focus on a single point.

For additional advice on impromptu speaking, watch the following 4 minute video from Toastmasters: Impromptu Speaking

Manuscript Presentations

Manuscript presentations  are the word-for-word iteration of a written message . In a manuscript presentation, the speaker maintains their attention on the printed page except when using visual aids. The advantage of reading from a manuscript is the exact repetition of original words. In some circumstances this can be extremely important. For example, reading a statement about your organization’s legal responsibilities to customers may require that the original words be exact.

A manuscript presentation may be appropriate at a more formal affair (like a report to shareholders), when your presentation must be said exactly as written in order to convey the proper emotion or decorum the situation deserves.

However, there are costs involved in manuscript presentations. First, it’s typically an uninteresting way to present. Unless the presenter has rehearsed the reading as a complete performance animated with vocal expression and gestures, the presentation tends to be dull. Keeping one’s eyes glued to the script prevents eye contact with the audience. For this kind of “straight” manuscript presentation to hold audience attention, the audience must be already interested in the message and presenter before the delivery begins.

It is worth noting that professional speakers, actors, news reporters, and politicians often read from an autocue device, commonly called a teleprompter, especially when appearing on television, where eye contact with the camera is crucial. With practice, a presenter can achieve a conversational tone and give the impression of speaking extemporaneously and maintaining eye contact while using an autocue device. However, success in this medium depends on two factors: (1) the presenter is already an accomplished public speaker who has learned to use a conversational tone while delivering a prepared script, and (2) the presentation is written in a style that sounds conversational and in spoken rather than written, edited English.

Extemporaneous Presentations

Extemporaneous presentations  are carefully planned and rehearsed presentations, delivered in a conversational manner using brief notes . By using notes rather than a full manuscript, the extemporaneous presenter can establish and maintain eye contact with the audience and assess how well they are understanding the presentation as it progresses. Without all the words on the page to read, you have little choice but to look up and make eye contact with your audience.

Watch the following 10 minute video of a champion speaker presenting his extemporaneous speech: 2017 International Extemporaneous Speaking National Champion — Connor Rothschild Speech

Presenting extemporaneously has some advantages. It promotes the likelihood that you, the speaker, will be perceived as knowledgeable and credible since you know the speech well  enough that you don’t need to read it. In addition, your audience is likely to pay better attention to the message because it is engaging both verbally and nonverbally. It also allows flexibility; you are working from the strong foundation of an outline, but if you need to delete, add, or rephrase something at the last minute or to adapt to your audience, you can do so.

The disadvantage of extemporaneous presentations is that it in some cases it does not allow for the verbal and the nonverbal preparation that are almost always required for a good speech.

Adequate preparation cannot be achieved the day before you’re scheduled to present, so be aware that if you want to present a credibly delivered speech, you will need to practice many times. Because extemporaneous presenting is the style used in the great majority of business presentation situations, most of the information in the subsequent sections of this chapter is targeted toward this kind of speaking.

Memorized Speaking

Memorized speakin g is the recitation of a written message that the speaker has committed to memory. Actors , of course, recite from memory whenever they perform from a script in a stage play, television program, or movie scene. When it comes to speeches, memorization can be useful when the message needs to be exact and the speaker doesn’t want to be confined by notes.

The advantage to memorization is that it enables the speaker to maintain eye contact with the audience throughout the speech. Being free of notes means that you can move freely around the stage and use your hands to make gestures. If your speech uses visual aids, this freedom is even more of an advantage. However, there are some real and potential costs.

First, unless you also plan and memorize every vocal cue (the subtle but meaningful variations in speech delivery, which can include the use of pitch, tone, volume, and pace), gesture, and facial expression, your presentation will be flat and uninteresting, and even the most fascinating topic will suffer. Second, if you lose your place and start trying to ad lib, the contrast in your style of delivery will alert your audience that something is wrong. More frighteningly, if you go completely blank during the presentation, it will be extremely difficult to find your place and keep going. Obviously, memorizing a typical seven-minute presentation takes a great deal of time and effort, and if you aren’t used to memorizing, it is very difficult to pull off. Realistically, you probably will not have the time necessary to give a completely memorized speech. However, if you practice adequately, your approach will still feel like you are being extemporaneous.

Communication for Business Professionals Copyright © 2018 by eCampusOntario is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples

August 3, 2018 - Dom Barnard

For many people the thought of delivering a presentation is a daunting task and brings about a  great deal of nerves . However, if you take some time to understand how effective presentations are structured and then apply this structure to your own presentation, you’ll appear much more confident and relaxed.

Here is our complete guide for structuring your presentation, with examples at the end of the article to demonstrate these points.

Why is structuring a presentation so important?

If you’ve ever sat through a great presentation, you’ll have left feeling either inspired or informed on a given topic. This isn’t because the speaker was the most knowledgeable or motivating person in the world. Instead, it’s because they know how to structure presentations – they have crafted their message in a logical and simple way that has allowed the audience can keep up with them and take away key messages.

Research has supported this, with studies showing that audiences retain structured information  40% more accurately  than unstructured information.

In fact, not only is structuring a presentation important for the benefit of the audience’s understanding, it’s also important for you as the speaker. A good structure helps you remain calm, stay on topic, and avoid any awkward silences.

What will affect your presentation structure?

Generally speaking, there is a natural flow that any decent presentation will follow which we will go into shortly. However, you should be aware that all presentation structures will be different in their own unique way and this will be due to a number of factors, including:

• Whether you need to deliver any demonstrations
• How  knowledgeable the audience  already is on the given subject
• How much interaction you want from the audience
• Any time constraints there are for your talk
• What setting you are in
• Your ability to use any kinds of visual assistance

Before choosing the presentation’s structure answer these questions first:

• What is your presentation’s aim?
• Who are the audience?
• What are the main points your audience should remember afterwards?

When reading the points below, think critically about what things may cause your presentation structure to be slightly different. You can add in certain elements and add more focus to certain moments if that works better for your speech.

What is the typical presentation structure?

This is the usual flow of a presentation, which covers all the vital sections and is a good starting point for yours. It allows your audience to easily follow along and sets out a solid structure you can add your content to.

1. Greet the audience and introduce yourself

Before you start delivering your talk, introduce yourself to the audience and clarify who you are and your relevant expertise. This does not need to be long or incredibly detailed, but will help build an immediate relationship between you and the audience. It gives you the chance to briefly clarify your expertise and why you are worth listening to. This will help establish your ethos so the audience will trust you more and think you’re credible.

Read our tips on  How to Start a Presentation Effectively

2. Introduction

In the introduction you need to explain the subject and purpose of your presentation whilst gaining the audience’s interest and confidence. It’s sometimes helpful to think of your introduction as funnel-shaped to help filter down your topic:

• Introduce your general topic
• Explain your topic area
• State the issues/challenges in this area you will be exploring
• State your presentation’s purpose – this is the basis of your presentation so ensure that you provide a statement explaining how the topic will be treated, for example, “I will argue that…” or maybe you will “compare”, “analyse”, “evaluate”, “describe” etc.
• Provide a statement of what you’re hoping the outcome of the presentation will be, for example, “I’m hoping this will be provide you with…”
• Show a preview of the organisation of your presentation

In this section also explain:

• The length of the talk.
• Signal whether you want audience interaction – some presenters prefer the audience to ask questions throughout whereas others allocate a specific section for this.
• If it applies, inform the audience whether to take notes or whether you will be providing handouts.

The way you structure your introduction can depend on the amount of time you have been given to present: a  sales pitch  may consist of a quick presentation so you may begin with your conclusion and then provide the evidence. Conversely, a speaker presenting their idea for change in the world would be better suited to start with the evidence and then conclude what this means for the audience.

Keep in mind that the main aim of the introduction is to grab the audience’s attention and connect with them.

3. The main body of your talk

The main body of your talk needs to meet the promises you made in the introduction. Depending on the nature of your presentation, clearly segment the different topics you will be discussing, and then work your way through them one at a time – it’s important for everything to be organised logically for the audience to fully understand. There are many different ways to organise your main points, such as, by priority, theme, chronologically etc.

• Main points should be addressed one by one with supporting evidence and examples.
• Before moving on to the next point you should provide a mini-summary.
• Links should be clearly stated between ideas and you must make it clear when you’re moving onto the next point.
• Allow time for people to take relevant notes and stick to the topics you have prepared beforehand rather than straying too far off topic.

When planning your presentation write a list of main points you want to make and ask yourself “What I am telling the audience? What should they understand from this?” refining your answers this way will help you produce clear messages.

4. Conclusion

In presentations the conclusion is frequently underdeveloped and lacks purpose which is a shame as it’s the best place to reinforce your messages. Typically, your presentation has a specific goal – that could be to convert a number of the audience members into customers, lead to a certain number of enquiries to make people knowledgeable on specific key points, or to motivate them towards a shared goal.

Regardless of what that goal is, be sure to summarise your main points and their implications. This clarifies the overall purpose of your talk and reinforces your reason for being there.

Follow these steps:

• Signal that it’s nearly the end of your presentation, for example, “As we wrap up/as we wind down the talk…”
• Restate the topic and purpose of your presentation – “In this speech I wanted to compare…”
• Summarise the main points, including their implications and conclusions
• Indicate what is next/a call to action/a thought-provoking takeaway
• Move on to the last section

5. Thank the audience and invite questions

Conclude your talk by thanking the audience for their time and invite them to  ask any questions  they may have. As mentioned earlier, personal circumstances will affect the structure of your presentation.

Many presenters prefer to make the Q&A session the key part of their talk and try to speed through the main body of the presentation. This is totally fine, but it is still best to focus on delivering some sort of initial presentation to set the tone and topics for discussion in the Q&A.

Other common presentation structures

The above was a description of a basic presentation, here are some more specific presentation layouts:

Demonstration

Use the demonstration structure when you have something useful to show. This is usually used when you want to show how a product works. Steve Jobs frequently used this technique in his presentations.

• Explain why the product is valuable.
• Describe why the product is necessary.
• Explain what problems it can solve for the audience.
• Demonstrate the product  to support what you’ve been saying.
• Make suggestions of other things it can do to make the audience curious.

Problem-solution

This structure is particularly useful in persuading the audience.

• Briefly frame the issue.
• Go into the issue in detail showing why it ‘s such a problem. Use logos and pathos for this – the logical and emotional appeals.
• Provide the solution and explain why this would also help the audience.
• Call to action – something you want the audience to do which is straightforward and pertinent to the solution.

Storytelling

As well as incorporating  stories in your presentation , you can organise your whole presentation as a story. There are lots of different type of story structures you can use – a popular choice is the monomyth – the hero’s journey. In a monomyth, a hero goes on a difficult journey or takes on a challenge – they move from the familiar into the unknown. After facing obstacles and ultimately succeeding the hero returns home, transformed and with newfound wisdom.

Storytelling for Business Success  webinar , where well-know storyteller Javier Bernad shares strategies for crafting compelling narratives.

Another popular choice for using a story to structure your presentation is in media ras (in the middle of thing). In this type of story you launch right into the action by providing a snippet/teaser of what’s happening and then you start explaining the events that led to that event. This is engaging because you’re starting your story at the most exciting part which will make the audience curious – they’ll want to know how you got there.

• Great storytelling: Examples from Alibaba Founder, Jack Ma

Remaining method

The remaining method structure is good for situations where you’re presenting your perspective on a controversial topic which has split people’s opinions.

• Go into the issue in detail showing why it’s such a problem – use logos and pathos.
• Rebut your opponents’ solutions  – explain why their solutions could be useful because the audience will see this as fair and will therefore think you’re trustworthy, and then explain why you think these solutions are not valid.
• After you’ve presented all the alternatives provide your solution, the remaining solution. This is very persuasive because it looks like the winning idea, especially with the audience believing that you’re fair and trustworthy.

Transitions

When delivering presentations it’s important for your words and ideas to flow so your audience can understand how everything links together and why it’s all relevant. This can be done  using speech transitions  which are words and phrases that allow you to smoothly move from one point to another so that your speech flows and your presentation is unified.

Transitions can be one word, a phrase or a full sentence – there are many different forms, here are some examples:

Moving from the introduction to the first point

Signify to the audience that you will now begin discussing the first main point:

• Now that you’re aware of the overview, let’s begin with…
• First, let’s begin with…
• I will first cover…
• My first point covers…
• To get started, let’s look at…

Shifting between similar points

Move from one point to a similar one:

• In the same way…
• Likewise…
• Equally…
• This is similar to…
• Similarly…

Internal summaries

Internal summarising consists of summarising before moving on to the next point. You must inform the audience:

• What part of the presentation you covered – “In the first part of this speech we’ve covered…”
• What the key points were – “Precisely how…”
• How this links in with the overall presentation – “So that’s the context…”
• What you’re moving on to – “Now I’d like to move on to the second part of presentation which looks at…”

Physical movement

You can move your body and your standing location when you transition to another point. The audience find it easier to follow your presentation and movement will increase their interest.

A common technique for incorporating movement into your presentation is to:

• Start your introduction by standing in the centre of the stage.
• For your first point you stand on the left side of the stage.
• You discuss your second point from the centre again.
• You stand on the right side of the stage for your third point.
• The conclusion occurs in the centre.

Key slides for your presentation

Slides are a useful tool for most presentations: they can greatly assist in the delivery of your message and help the audience follow along with what you are saying. Key slides include:

• An intro slide outlining your ideas
• A  summary slide  with core points to remember
• High quality image slides to supplement what you are saying

There are some presenters who choose not to use slides at all, though this is more of a rarity. Slides can be a powerful tool if used properly, but the problem is that many fail to do just that. Here are some golden rules to follow when using slides in a presentation:

• Don’t over fill them  – your slides are there to assist your speech, rather than be the focal point. They should have as little information as possible, to avoid distracting people from your talk.
• A picture says a thousand words  – instead of filling a slide with text, instead, focus on one or two images or diagrams to help support and explain the point you are discussing at that time.
• Make them readable  – depending on the size of your audience, some may not be able to see small text or images, so make everything large enough to fill the space.
• Don’t rush through slides  – give the audience enough time to digest each slide.

Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur and author, suggests that slideshows should follow a  10-20-30 rule :

• There should be a maximum of 10 slides – people rarely remember more than one concept afterwards so there’s no point overwhelming them with unnecessary information.
• The presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes as this will leave time for questions and discussion.
• The font size should be a minimum of 30pt because the audience reads faster than you talk so less information on the slides means that there is less chance of the audience being distracted.

Here are some additional resources for slide design:

• 7 design tips for effective, beautiful PowerPoint presentations
• 11 design tips for beautiful presentations
• 10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea

Group Presentations

Group presentations are structured in the same way as presentations with one speaker but usually require more rehearsal and practices.  Clean transitioning between speakers  is very important in producing a presentation that flows well. One way of doing this consists of:

• Briefly recap on what you covered in your section: “So that was a brief introduction on what health anxiety is and how it can affect somebody”
• Introduce the next speaker in the team and explain what they will discuss: “Now Elnaz will talk about the prevalence of health anxiety.”
• Then end by looking at the next speaker, gesturing towards them and saying their name: “Elnaz”.
• The next speaker should acknowledge this with a quick: “Thank you Joe.”

From this example you can see how the different sections of the presentations link which makes it easier for the audience to follow and remain engaged.

Example of great presentation structure and delivery

Having examples of great presentations will help inspire your own structures, here are a few such examples, each unique and inspiring in their own way.

How Google Works – by Eric Schmidt

This presentation by ex-Google CEO  Eric Schmidt  demonstrates some of the most important lessons he and his team have learnt with regards to working with some of the most talented individuals they hired. The simplistic yet cohesive style of all of the slides is something to be appreciated. They are relatively straightforward, yet add power and clarity to the narrative of the presentation.

Start with why – by Simon Sinek

Since being released in 2009, this presentation has been viewed almost four million times all around the world. The message itself is very powerful, however, it’s not an idea that hasn’t been heard before. What makes this presentation so powerful is the simple message he is getting across, and the straightforward and understandable manner in which he delivers it. Also note that he doesn’t use any slides, just a whiteboard where he creates a simple diagram of his opinion.

The Wisdom of a Third Grade Dropout – by Rick Rigsby

Here’s an example of a presentation given by a relatively unknown individual looking to inspire the next generation of graduates. Rick’s presentation is unique in many ways compared to the two above. Notably, he uses no visual prompts and includes a great deal of humour.

However, what is similar is the structure he uses. He first introduces his message that the wisest man he knew was a third-grade dropout. He then proceeds to deliver his main body of argument, and in the end, concludes with his message. This powerful speech keeps the viewer engaged throughout, through a mixture of heart-warming sentiment, powerful life advice and engaging humour.

As you can see from the examples above, and as it has been expressed throughout, a great presentation structure means analysing the core message of your presentation. Decide on a key message you want to impart the audience with, and then craft an engaging way of delivering it.

By preparing a solid structure, and  practising your talk  beforehand, you can walk into the presentation with confidence and deliver a meaningful message to an interested audience.

It’s important for a presentation to be well-structured so it can have the most impact on your audience. An unstructured presentation can be difficult to follow and even frustrating to listen to. The heart of your speech are your main points supported by evidence and your transitions should assist the movement between points and clarify how everything is linked.

Research suggests that the audience remember the first and last things you say so your introduction and conclusion are vital for reinforcing your points. Essentially, ensure you spend the time structuring your presentation and addressing all of the sections.

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8 Types of Presentations You Should Know [+Examples & Tips]

By Krystle Wong , Aug 11, 2023

From persuasive pitches that influence opinions to instructional demonstrations that teach skills, the different types of presentations serve a unique purpose, tailored to specific objectives and audiences.

Presentations that are tailored to its objectives and audiences are more engaging and memorable. They capture attention, maintain interest and leave a lasting impression. 

Don’t worry if you’re no designer —  Whether you need data-driven visuals, persuasive graphics or engaging design elements, Venngage can empower you to craft presentations that stand out and effectively convey your message.

Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface, extensive presentation template library and customizable design options make it a valuable tool for creating slides that align with your specific goals and target audience. 

Click to jump ahead:

8 Different types of presentations every presenter must know

How do i choose the right type of presentation for my topic or audience, types of presentation faq, 5 steps to create a presentation with venngage .

When it comes to presentations, versatility is the name of the game. Having a variety of presentation styles up your sleeve can make a world of difference in keeping your audience engaged. Here are 8 essential presentation types that every presenter should be well-acquainted with:

1. Informative presentation

Ever sat through a presentation that left you feeling enlightened? That’s the power of an informative presentation. 

This presentation style is all about sharing knowledge and shedding light on a particular topic. Whether you’re diving into the depths of quantum physics or explaining the intricacies of the latest social media trends, informative presentations aim to increase the audience’s understanding.

When delivering an informative presentation, simplify complex topics with clear visuals and relatable examples. Organize your content logically, starting with the basics and gradually delving deeper and always remember to keep jargon to a minimum and encourage questions for clarity.

Academic presentations and research presentations are great examples of informative presentations. An effective academic presentation involves having clear structure, credible evidence, engaging delivery and supporting visuals. Provide context to emphasize the topic’s significance, practice to perfect timing, and be ready to address anticipated questions. 

2. Persuasive presentation

If you’ve ever been swayed by a passionate speaker armed with compelling arguments, you’ve experienced a persuasive presentation . 

This type of presentation is like a verbal tug-of-war, aiming to convince the audience to see things from a specific perspective. Expect to encounter solid evidence, logical reasoning and a dash of emotional appeal.

With persuasive presentations, it’s important to know your audience inside out and tailor your message to their interests and concerns. Craft a compelling narrative with a strong opening, a solid argument and a memorable closing. Additionally, use visuals strategically to enhance your points.

Examples of persuasive presentations include presentations for environmental conservations, policy change, social issues and more. Here are some engaging presentation templates you can use to get started with: 

3. Demonstration or how-to presentation

A Demonstration or How-To Presentation is a type of presentation where the speaker showcases a process, technique, or procedure step by step, providing the audience with clear instructions on how to replicate the demonstrated action. 

A demonstrative presentation is particularly useful when teaching practical skills or showing how something is done in a hands-on manner.

These presentations are commonly used in various settings, including educational workshops, training sessions, cooking classes, DIY tutorials, technology demonstrations and more. Designing creative slides for your how-to presentations can heighten engagement and foster better information retention. 

Speakers can also consider breaking down the process into manageable steps, using visual aids, props and sometimes even live demonstrations to illustrate each step. The key is to provide clear and concise instructions, engage the audience with interactive elements and address any questions that may arise during the presentation.

4. Training or instructional presentation

Training presentations are geared towards imparting practical skills, procedures or concepts — think of this as the more focused cousin of the demonstration presentation. 

Whether you’re teaching a group of new employees the ins and outs of a software or enlightening budding chefs on the art of soufflé-making, training presentations are all about turning novices into experts.

To maximize the impact of your training or instructional presentation, break down complex concepts into digestible segments. Consider using real-life examples to illustrate each point and create a connection. 

You can also create an interactive presentation by incorporating elements like quizzes or group activities to reinforce understanding.

5. Sales presentation

Sales presentations are one of the many types of business presentations and the bread and butter of businesses looking to woo potential clients or customers. With a sprinkle of charm and a dash of persuasion, these presentations showcase products, services or ideas with one end goal in mind: sealing the deal.

A successful sales presentation often has key characteristics such as a clear value proposition, strong storytelling, confidence and a compelling call to action. Hence, when presenting to your clients or stakeholders, focus on benefits rather than just features. 

Anticipate and address potential objections before they arise and use storytelling to showcase how your offering solves a specific problem for your audience. Utilizing visual aids is also a great way to make your points stand out and stay memorable.

A sales presentation can be used to promote service offerings, product launches or even consultancy proposals that outline the expertise and industry experience of a business. Here are some template examples you can use for your next sales presentation:

6. Pitch presentation

Pitch presentations are your ticket to garnering the interest and support of potential investors, partners or stakeholders. Think of your pitch deck as your chance to paint a vivid picture of your business idea or proposal and secure the resources you need to bring it to life. 

Business presentations aside, individuals can also create a portfolio presentation to showcase their skills, experience and achievements to potential clients, employers or investors. 

Craft a concise and compelling narrative. Clearly define the problem your idea solves and how it stands out in the market. Anticipate questions and practice your answers. Project confidence and passion for your idea.

7. Motivational or inspirational presentation

Feeling the need for a morale boost? That’s where motivational presentations step in. These talks are designed to uplift and inspire, often featuring personal anecdotes, heartwarming stories and a generous serving of encouragement.

Form a connection with your audience by sharing personal stories that resonate with your message. Use a storytelling style with relatable anecdotes and powerful metaphors to create an emotional connection. Keep the energy high and wrap up your inspirational presentations with a clear call to action.

Inspirational talks and leadership presentations aside, a motivational or inspirational presentation can also be a simple presentation aimed at boosting confidence, a motivational speech focused on embracing change and more.

8. Status or progress report presentation

Projects and businesses are like living organisms, constantly evolving and changing. Status or progress report presentations keep everyone in the loop by providing updates on achievements, challenges and future plans. It’s like a GPS for your team, ensuring everyone stays on track.

Be transparent about achievements, challenges and future plans. Utilize infographics, charts and diagrams to present your data visually and simplify information. By visually representing data, it becomes easier to identify trends, make predictions and strategize based on evidence.

Now that you’ve learned about the different types of presentation methods and how to use them, you’re on the right track to creating a good presentation that can boost your confidence and enhance your presentation skills . 

Selecting the most suitable presentation style is akin to choosing the right outfit for an occasion – it greatly influences how your message is perceived. Here’s a more detailed guide to help you make that crucial decision:

1. Define your objectives

Begin by clarifying your presentation’s goals. Are you aiming to educate, persuade, motivate, train or perhaps sell a concept? Your objectives will guide you to the most suitable presentation type. 

For instance, if you’re aiming to inform, an informative presentation would be a natural fit. On the other hand, a persuasive presentation suits the goal of swaying opinions.

2. Know your audience

Regardless if you’re giving an in-person or a virtual presentation — delve into the characteristics of your audience. Consider factors like their expertise level, familiarity with the topic, interests and expectations. 

If your audience consists of professionals in your field, a more technical presentation might be suitable. However, if your audience is diverse and includes newcomers, an approachable and engaging style might work better.

3. Analyze your content

Reflect on the content you intend to present. Is it data-heavy, rich in personal stories or focused on practical skills? Different presentation styles serve different content types. 

For data-driven content, an informative or instructional presentation might work best. For emotional stories, a motivational presentation could be a compelling choice.

4. Consider time constraints

Evaluate the time you have at your disposal. If your presentation needs to be concise due to time limitations, opt for a presentation style that allows you to convey your key points effectively within the available timeframe. A pitch presentation, for example, often requires delivering impactful information within a short span.

5. Leverage visuals

Visual aids are powerful tools in presentations. Consider whether your content would benefit from visual representation. If your PowerPoint presentations involve step-by-step instructions or demonstrations, a how-to presentation with clear visuals would be advantageous. Conversely, if your content is more conceptual, a motivational presentation could rely more on spoken words.

6. Align with the setting

Take the presentation environment into account. Are you presenting in a formal business setting, a casual workshop or a conference? Your setting can influence the level of formality and interactivity in your presentation. For instance, a demonstration presentation might be ideal for a hands-on workshop, while a persuasive presentation is great for conferences.

7. Gauge audience interaction

Determine the level of audience engagement you want. Interactive presentations work well for training sessions, workshops and small group settings, while informative or persuasive presentations might be more one-sided.

8. Flexibility

Stay open to adjusting your presentation style on the fly. Sometimes, unexpected factors might require a change of presentation style. Be prepared to adjust on the spot if audience engagement or reactions indicate that a different approach would be more effective.

Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, and the best type of presentation may vary depending on the specific situation and your unique communication goals. By carefully considering these factors, you can choose the most effective presentation type to successfully engage and communicate with your audience.

To save time, use a presentation software or check out these presentation design and presentation background guides to create a presentation that stands out.    

What are some effective ways to begin and end a presentation?

Capture your audience’s attention from the start of your presentation by using a surprising statistic, a compelling story or a thought-provoking question related to your topic. 

To conclude your presentation , summarize your main points, reinforce your key message and leave a lasting impression with a powerful call to action or a memorable quote that resonates with your presentation’s theme.

How can I make my presentation more engaging and interactive?

To create an engaging and interactive presentation for your audience, incorporate visual elements such as images, graphs and videos to illustrate your points visually. Share relatable anecdotes or real-life examples to create a connection with your audience. 

You can also integrate interactive elements like live polls, open-ended questions or small group discussions to encourage participation and keep your audience actively engaged throughout your presentation.

Which types of presentations require special markings

Some presentation types require special markings such as how sales presentations require persuasive techniques like emphasizing benefits, addressing objections and using compelling visuals to showcase products or services. 

Demonstrations and how-to presentations on the other hand require clear markings for each step, ensuring the audience can follow along seamlessly. 

That aside, pitch presentations require highlighting unique selling points, market potential and the competitive edge of your idea, making it stand out to potential investors or partners.

Need some inspiration on how to make a presentation that will captivate an audience? Here are 120+ presentation ideas to help you get started. 

Creating a stunning and impactful presentation with Venngage is a breeze. Whether you’re crafting a business pitch, a training presentation or any other type of presentation, follow these five steps to create a professional presentation that stands out:

• Sign up and log in to Venngage to access the editor.
• Choose a presentation template that matches your topic or style.
• Customize content, colors, fonts, and background to personalize your presentation.
• Add images, icons, and charts to enhancevisual style and clarity.
• Save, export, and share your presentation as PDF or PNG files, or use Venngage’s Presentation Mode for online showcasing.

In the realm of presentations, understanding the different types of presentation formats is like having a versatile set of tools that empower you to craft compelling narratives for every occasion.

Remember, the key to a successful presentation lies not only in the content you deliver but also in the way you connect with your audience. Whether you’re informing, persuading or entertaining, tailoring your approach to the specific type of presentation you’re delivering can make all the difference.

Presentations are a powerful tool, and with practice and dedication (and a little help from Venngage), you’ll find yourself becoming a presentation pro in no time. Now, let’s get started and customize your next presentation!

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Differences between Presentation Methods in Working Memory Procedures: A Matter of Working Memory Consolidation

Understanding forgetting from working memory, the memory used in ongoing cognitive processing, is critical to understanding human cognition. In the last decade a number of conflicting findings have been reported regarding the role of time in forgetting from working memory. This has led to a debate concerning whether longer retention intervals necessarily result in more forgetting. An obstacle to directly comparing conflicting reports is a divergence in methodology across studies. Studies which find no forgetting as a function of retention-interval duration tend to use sequential presentation of memory items, while studies which find forgetting as a function of retention-interval duration tend to use simultaneous presentation of memory items. Here, we manipulate the duration of retention and the presentation method of memory items, presenting items either sequentially or simultaneously. We find that these differing presentation methods can lead to different rates of forgetting because they tend to differ in the time available for consolidation into working memory. The experiments detailed here show that equating the time available for working memory consolidation equates the rates of forgetting across presentation methods. We discuss the meaning of this finding in the interpretation of previous forgetting studies and in the construction of working memory models.

Forgetting of information crucial to performance in everyday tasks is ubiquitous to the human experience. Surprisingly, more than half a century of research on forgetting has not produced a consensus as to the causes of forgetting over the short-term. Perhaps the largest point of dispute is about whether the passage of time is responsible for forgetting from working memory ( Barrouillet, Bernardin, & Camos, 2004 ; Cowan, 1988 , 1995 , Ricker & Cowan, 2010 ), or if interference alone can account for all forgetting ( Berman, Jonides, & Lewis, 2009 ; Farrell, 2012 ; Lewandowsky, Duncan, & Brown, 2004 ; Oberauer & Kliegl, 2006 ; Oberauer & Lewandowsky, 2008 ; White, 2012 ). To be clear, by working memory we mean memory traces which can be immediately accessed and used to perform a cognitive task. Even among authors who propose that time does contribute to forgetting, some argue that the length of the retention interval contributes to forgetting ( Ricker & Cowan, 2010 ; McKeown & Mercer, 2012 ), while others argue that, in mature individuals, decay is counteracted by processes that refresh the representation, thereby preventing duration-based forgetting ( Barrouillet et al. 2004 ).

The presence or absence of forgetting based on the passage of time is in some ways the most basic question that can be asked about working memory. The proposition that there is a short-term memory faculty separate from long-term memory often depends on the existence of forgetting over time, as in the notion of a temporarily activated portion of long-term memory ( Cowan, 1988 , 1995 ; Barrouillet et al., 2004 ; Barrouillet, Portrat, & Camos, 2011 ). Forgetting over time is also one of the most problematic to investigate because of confounds that occur with the passage of time, such as increased interference with longer retention intervals or the presence of verbal rehearsal during retention. Despite the difficulty, some well-designed investigations in recent years have been able to test the issue, apparently with few, if any, identifiable confounds. In these studies, though, some find no time-based forgetting ( Lewandowsky et al., 2004 ; Lewandowsky, Oberauer, & Brown, 2009 ; Oberauer & Lewandowsky, 2008 ), others find an effect of the relative amount of occupied time but no effect of the length of the retention interval ( Barrouillet et al., 2004 , 2011 ; Barrouillet, De Paepe, & Langerock, 2012 ), and yet others find time-based forgetting based on the length of the retention interval ( McKeown & Mercer, 2012 ; Morey & Bieler, 2012 ; Ricker & Cowan, 2010 , Woodman, Vogel & Luck, 2012 , Zhang & Luck, 2009 ).

We wished to bring some order to these diverse results by exploring what factors may determine when there is or is not an effect of the length of the retention interval. One of the largest methodological differences between those that generally find time-based effects of retention interval duration and those that generally do not is the method of item presentation. Ricker and Cowan (2010) , Morey and Bieler (2012) , Woodman et al. (2012) , and Zhang and Luck (2009) all used brief simultaneous presentation of items and found an effect of retention interval duration on memory performance, whereas those using the complex span task and serial recall paradigms, which have a longer sequential item presentation method, generally have found no effect of retention length (i.e., Barrouillet et al., 2004 ; Lewandowsky et al., 2004 ). Here we detail four experiments in which various factors were held constant while we varied both the retention interval duration and the method of presentation, in which the items were shown either sequentially or simultaneously.

In previous research, most sequential presentation studies have used verbal memoranda, such as words, letters, or digits, whereas many recent simultaneous presentation studies have used non-verbal items that are difficult to label. This difference, however, does not appear to be driving the differences in forgetting rates across methodologies. For example, Verguawe and colleagues used both visual and verbal items following the sequential method of Barrouillet et al. (2004) and found similar patterns of effects with both presentation modalities ( Verguawe, Dewaele, Langerock, & Barrouillet, 2012 ; Vergauwe, Barrouillet, & Camos, 2009 , 2010 ). Nevertheless, in this study we eliminate any such factor by using the same materials, unfamiliar characters, across simultaneous and sequential presentation methods.

As a preview, Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that the simple manipulation of presentation method has a profound effect on forgetting. With basic sequential presentation of items much less forgetting was observed as a function of retention interval duration than was observed under simultaneous item presentation. Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrate the reason for this difference. Studies with sequential presentation tend to have an increased period of working-memory consolidation, which modifies the rate of forgetting. When the time allowed for working-memory consolidation is equated across presentation methods, rates of forgetting become equivalent. This finding has profound implications for the study and modeling of forgetting in working memory.

We hasten to make a distinction between processes we term encoding and consolidation . Encoding is defined here as a phase of stimulus processing establishing the stimulus identity and characteristics, which can be terminated by a pattern mask (for single stimuli see Turvey, 1973 ; for multi-item arrays see Vogel, Woodman, & Luck, 2006 ). In contrast, consolidation is further processing that can occur even after a mask, and that helps makes the representation of the stimulus more resistant to forgetting ( Jolicouer & Dell’acqua, 1998 ). Massaro (1975) could have characterized encoding as the formation of synthesized sensory memory and consolidation as the formation of generated abstract memory . Similarly, in a different theoretical framework, Cowan (1988 , 1995 ) could characterize encoding as the use of a brief, literal phase of sensory memory to create the activation of long-term memory features, and could characterize consolidation as the entry of these activated features into the focus of attention, with a concomitant improvement in the representations and their integration. (We later suggest more specific possible mechanisms for this short-term consolidation but do not try to distinguish it empirically from long-term consolidation, a major and difficult future issue for the field.) To anticipate the findings, the time available for consolidation matters for the stability of representations over time, even if the exposure time and the time available for encoding both have been equated across presentation conditions.

Experiment 1

In Experiment 1 participants had to remember 3 unfamiliar characters over a variable retention period. On some trials the items were presented simultaneously, while on other trials the items were presented sequentially ( Figure 1 ). If presentation method plays a role in determining whether or not increased forgetting occurs as the retention interval increases, then we should see more forgetting as a function of time in the simultaneous presentation condition than in the sequential presentation condition.

An example of a single simultaneous presentation trial, top, and a single seqential presentation trial, bottom, in Experiment 1.

The experiment consisted of the presentation of 3 items that were to be remembered over a variable retention interval. Presentation Method and Retention-Interval Duration were manipulated. Presentation of items was either sequential or simultaneous. Each participant performed the task with both presentation methods and all retention intervals. The presentation method was blocked so that the first half of the experiment consisted entirely of trials of one presentation method and the second half consisted entirely of trials with the other presentation method. Presentation method order was counterbalanced so that half of the participants received the sequential trials first, while the other half received the simultaneous trials first. Retention-Interval Duration for any given trial was randomly chosen from one of three durations (1, 6, or 12s), with the constraint that there were an equal number of trials with each retention interval duration. Following 12 practice trials, there were 108 test trials for each Presentation Method (36 trials for each Retention-Interval Duration).

Participants

Thirty-two college students (28 female, 4 male, ages 18–23) enrolled in introductory psychology at the University of Missouri participated in the experiment in exchange for partial course credit. The participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 counterbalancing orders, with an equal number of participants in each group. All participants were screened to ensure that they did not speak or read any of the languages from which the memory stimuli were taken, and had not lived in any of the countries in which they may have regularly been exposed to the characters used in the experiment.

The stimuli were presented to participants on standard CRT monitors while seated in a sound attenuated room. Responses were collected by button press on a standard computer keyboard. Participants sat at a comfortable distance from the screen while performing the experiment. The items used as stimuli were black characters presented on a grey background. These items consisted of 231 characters used in written languages other than English and resembling no English letters, English numerals, or other characters likely to be familiar to students attending a university in the rural central United States. These items were used in order to ensure that participants could not easily verbally encode the characters. Ricker, Cowan, & Morey (2010) used a similar item set and demonstrated that verbal recoding of the stimuli did not contribute to memory performance. In the present study, each stimulus subtended roughly 2.3 × 2.3 degrees of visual angle.

The sequence of events for an experimental trial is shown graphically in Figure 1 . Participants began each trial by pressing the space bar. At the beginning of each trial a fixation cross appeared at the center of the screen and remained on screen throughout the trial, except during sequential item presentation. This fixation cross was alone on screen for 500 ms and was followed by the presentation of the memory-set items. In the simultaneous presentation condition all items were presented together for 750 ms (see the upper sequence of Figure 1 ). In the sequential presentation condition each item was presented alone for 250 ms, with 500ms of only the background onscreen between the presentations of items 1 and 2, and items 2 and 3 (bottom sequence of Figure 1 ). In the simultaneous condition, items were presented in the same three locations on every trial. These locations were near the center of the screen with one item above and to the left of fixation, one above and to the right, and one directly below fixation. In the sequential condition, the presentation of items was always in the center of the screen, at the location of the fixation cross.

After item presentation there was 250 ms of only background screen presentation, followed by a post-perceptual mask which was presented for 100 ms. The post-perceptual mask consisted of the two symbols “<“ and “>“ superimposed on top of one another with line thickness approximately equal to the memory stimuli (see Figure 1 for a graphical example). After mask offset the retention interval began. This interval was 1, 6, or 12s in length. At the end of the retention interval a single item memory probe was presented in the same location as one of the memory items. Participants responded to the probe by pressing the “s” key if they believed that the item was the same as the item shown in that position during memory-item presentation, or by pressing the “d” key if they believed that item was different. On half of the trials the item was the same as the originally presented item. Different probe items were never items presented at the non-probed positions in the memory set, rather they were always new items.

Before the experimental trials of each presentation method participants completed 12 practice trials. The practice trials were the same as the experimental trials in all respects except that there were only 2 items to remember and the retention interval duration was always 1s in length.

In all of the experiments, the presentation times of the stimuli were 250 ms for each of three characters in the sequential condition, and 750 ms for the three characters together in the simultaneous condition, equating presentation time per character across conditions. In this first experiment, to prevent characters in the sequential condition from perceptually interfering with one another, a 500-ms blank screen was placed between each two characters, as noted above. The result was that both the encoding time and the consolidation time per item were shorter in the simultaneous condition than in the sequential condition.

Mean proportion correct is presented for all conditions in Figure 2 . Visual inspection of the means shows that performance was better with sequential presentation than with simultaneous presentation. Most time-based forgetting appears between 1s and 6s, with forgetting in the simultaneous condition being greater than in the sequential condition. Forgetting over time appears to occur for both presentations methods, although to a much greater degree with simultaneous presentation of memory items. Mean performance for each serial position under all sequential presentation conditions is given in Table A1 of the appendix .

Mean proportion correct for all conditions in Experiment 1. Error bars represent standard error of the mean.

A 2 (Presentation Method) x 3 (Retention Interval Duration) x 2 (Counter-balance Order) Mixed Factors ANOVA of proportion correct demonstrates several effects. Significant main effects were found for Presentation Method, F(1, 30)=16.84, p <.001, η p 2 = 0.36 (means; sequential=.83, simultaneous=.78), and Retention-Interval Duration, F(2,60)=20.57, p <.001, η p 2 =0.41 (means; 1s=.85, 6s=.77, 12s=.79), indicating that overall performance was better for sequential than simultaneous presentation and that performance was better with shorter retention intervals. Most importantly, there was also a significant interaction of Presentation Method with Retention-Interval Duration, F(2,60)=4.52, p <.05, η p 2 =0.13 (means: sequential 1s=.86, 6s=.82, 12s=.81; simultaneous 1s=.85, 6s=.73, 12s=.76), indicating that the rate of time-based forgetting was different for sequential and simultaneous presentation methods. Inspection of the condition means shows that forgetting time-based forgetting was more severe in the simultaneous condition than in the sequential condition. The main effect of Counter-Balance Order was not significant, and all interactions of Counter-Balance Order with other factors failed to approach significance, all p>.3.

In order to determine whether duration-based forgetting in the sequential condition reached the threshold for significance, a one-factor (Retention-Interval Duration) Repeated Measures ANOVA of accuracy was conducted with the data from the sequential condition only. A significant effect of Retention-Interval Duration was found, F(2,62)=4.11, p <.05, η p 2 =0.12 (means: 1s=.86, 6s=.82, 12s=.81). The same analysis was also conducted using only data from the simultaneous condition. This analysis produced a significant result with a much larger effect size, F(2,62)=18.60, p <.001, η p 2 =0.37 (means: 1s=.85, 6s=.72, 12s=.76).

We also estimated the amount of forgetting across the retention interval by fitting Cowan’s k for all participants at each retention interval. Cowan’s k is a measure of the number of items maintained in working memory after accounting for guessing ( Cowan, 2001 ). The k-values reported here were estimated following the method described by Morey (2011a) , using the WMCapacity package for the R Statistical environment ( Morey, 2011b ). When the sequential presentation method was used participants forgot, on average, 0.19 items between 1 and 12s (mean number of items remembered: 1s=2.20, 6s=2.00, 12s=2.01). When the simultaneous presentation method was used participants forgot, on average, 0.39 items between 1 and 12s (mean number of items remembered: 1s=2.03, 6s=1.57, 12s=1.64). Although we report non-integer values for the number of items remembered and forgotten, it could be that participants only remember whole items on any given trial and that non- integer values simply represent variation in the number of items remembered from trial to trial.

Experiment 1 demonstrated a clear effect of presentation method on performance. Sequential presentation of stimuli resulted in more accurate performance than simultaneous presentation and less forgetting as a function of time. A small amount of forgetting was found with sequential presentation, but roughly double that forgetting rate was found with simultaneous presentation. These results provide clear evidence that, under the present conditions, sequential presentation of memory items led to better performance overall and slower rates of forgetting than simultaneous presentation.

Experiment 2

The conclusion from Experiment 1 is clear: Simultaneous presentation led to greater rates of forgetting than sequential presentation. There is, however, a potential confound which prevents us from identifying the mechanism driving the difference in forgetting rates. In Experiment 1, the total time memory items were onscreen was held constant across presentation methods, but the total time between item offset and mask onset was different (see Figure 1 ). The type of mask we used, a post-perceptual pattern mask, is used to overwrite retinal afterimages and sensory memory representations of the stimuli, thereby halting further encoding ( Massaro, 1970 ; Saults & Cowan, 2007 ; Vogel et al., 2006 ). If longer encoding times lead to a working memory trace that is more robust against time-based forgetting, then this difference in unmasked time should result in lower decay rates with sequential presentation.

In Experiment 2 we tested whether differences in encoding time could account for the greater rate of forgetting with simultaneous presentation. In this experiment, the simultaneous presentation condition remains the same as in Experiment 1, while the sequential condition is changed so as to preserve across conditions the equal presentation times while now also equating the encoding time per character ( Figure 3 ). Recall that in the simultaneous condition, the three-character array is followed by a 250-ms blank screen, and then by a mask. In this experiment, to match this encoding time across conditions, in the sequential condition the blank screen after each character was 83 ms, followed by a mask. Consequently, encoding time per character in both conditions was 250+83 ms (because 250/3 is approximately 83 ms).

An example of a single simultaneous presentation trial, top, and a single seqential presentation trial, bottom, in Experiment 2.

It should be noted that while this change equates across conditions the total time that could be used for sensory and perceptual encoding, it also introduced more interfering events in the sequential presentation conditions. These additional events may drive down overall accuracy in the sequential presentation conditions of Experiment 2 relative to Experiment 1 ( Oberauer & Lewandowsky, 2008 ).

If equating the total encoding time results in equal rates of forgetting for both sequential and simultaneous presentation methods, then it clearly indicates that increasing the amount of time for sensory and perceptual encoding leads to memory traces which are more resistant to time-based forgetting.

Thirty-six college students (18 female, 18 male, ages 18–21) enrolled in introductory psychology at the University of Missouri participated in the experiment in exchange for partial course credit. The participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 counterbalancing orders, with an equal number of participants in each group. All participants were screened to ensure that they did not speak or read any of the languages from which the memory stimuli were taken, and had not lived in any of the countries in which they may have regularly been exposed to the figures used in the experiment.

All materials were the same as in Experiment 1.

The procedure was identical to Experiment 1 except for one change. In the sequential condition, the blank period following each item presentation (see Figure 3 ) was now used differently. After item presentation in the sequential condition there was an 83-ms blank screen, followed by a mask which remained onscreen for 100-ms. There was an additional blank period of 317 ms after the mask following Items 1 and 2, but not following Item 3. This was done in order to maintain the constant 500-ms time period between each memory item offset to onset.

Mean proportion correct is presented for all conditions in Figure 4 . Visual inspection of the means shows that performance tended to be better in the sequential condition than the simultaneous condition. This difference was smaller than in Experiment 1, likely because accuracy was shifted down in the sequential presentation condition of Experiment 2 due to the introduction of multiple interfering masking events and reduced encoding time. Just as in Experiment 1, forgetting over time appears to occur for both presentations methods, and once again it is to a much greater degree with simultaneous presentation of memory items. Mean performance for each serial position under all sequential presentation conditions is given in Table A2 of the appendix .

Mean proportion correct for all conditions in Experiment 2. Error bars represent standard error of the mean.

A 2 (Presentation Method) x 3 (Retention Interval Duration) x 2 (Counter-balance Order) Mixed Factors ANOVA of proportion correct demonstrates several effects. A significant main effect was found for Retention-Interval Duration, F(2,68)=27.28, p <.001, η p 2 =0.45 (means; 1s=.80, 6s=.72, 12s=.71), indicating that performance was better with shorter retention intervals. The main effect of Presentation Method was marginal F(1,34)=3.96, p =.055, η p 2 =.10. Most importantly, there was also a significant interaction of Presentation Method with Retention-Interval Duration, F(2,68)=7.11, p <.005, η p 2 =0.17 (means: sequential 1s=.79, 6s=.74, 12s=.74; simultaneous 1s=.81, 6s=.71, 12s=.68), indicating that the rate of time-based forgetting was different for sequential and simultaneous presentation methods. Inspection of the condition means shows that duration-based forgetting was again greater in the simultaneous condition than in the sequential condition. The main effect of Counter-Balance Order was not significant, and all interactions of Counter-Balance Order with other factors failed to approach significance, all p>.3.

A 2 (Presentation Method) x 3 (Retention Interval Duration) x 2 (Experiment) Mixed Factors ANOVA of proportion correct was conducted in order to confirm that the rates of forgetting were equivalent across Experiments 1 and 2. A change in the overall rate of forgetting would emerge as a significant interaction between Duration and Experiment, while a change in the forgetting rate difference across presentation methods would emerge as a significant three-way interaction between Presentation Method, Duration, and Experiment. While there was a main effect of Experiment, F(1,66)=8.75, p <.005, η p 2 =.12, and a marginal interaction of Experiment with Presentation Method, F(1,66)=3.61, p =.062, η p 2 =.05, the key interactions that included Experiment as a factor were not significant. Duration x Experiment, F(2,132)=1.05, p >.3, η p 2 =.02, Presentation Method x Duration x Experiment, F(2,132)=2.34, p >.1, η p 2 =.03.

We also estimated the amount of forgetting across the retention interval by fitting Cowan’s k ( Cowan, 2001 ) for all participants at each retention interval following the method detailed by Morey (2011a) . When the sequential presentation method was used participants forgot, on average, 0.22 items between 1 and 12s (mean number of items remembered: 1s=1.76, 6s=1.52, 12s=1.55). When the simultaneous presentation method was used participants forgot, on average, 0.67 items between 1 and 12s (mean number of items remembered: 1s=1.87, 6s=1.36, 12s=1.20).

In Experiment 2 the amount of time that could be used for encoding while the memory items were not onscreen was equated across presentation methods. This was implemented through the presentation of a mask 83 ms after the offset of each memory item in the sequential presentation condition. The addition of this mask did not change the rate of forgetting in the sequential condition from that observed in Experiment 1. We again observed a significant interaction between Presentation Method and Retention-Interval Duration due to a larger rate of loss in the simultaneous presentation condition than in the sequential presentation condition (see Figure 4 ). This result indicates that the difference in time-based forgetting does not arise from differences in encoding time, but rather from differences in forgetting processes, maintenance, or some other cognitive process that comes into play after basic encoding processes.

Although the critical comparisons of interest were obtained within Experiment 1 and were replicated within Experiment 2, is worthwhile to compare performance levels across experiments. The simultaneous conditions of Experiments 1 and 2 used identical procedures, and produced mean proportions correct that were similar, perhaps differing only because of sampling differences (Experiment 1,.78; Experiment 2,.74). In contrast, the procedures of the sequential conditions of these experiments differed by the introduction of a mask in Experiment 2, which resulted in a larger decrease in performance level compared to the first experiment (Experiment 1, .83; Experiment 2, .75). Thus, even though limiting encoding time in the sequential condition did not eliminate the time-based loss, it did lower overall performance.

Experiment 3

Jolicouer and Dell’acqua, (1998) differentiate between the processes of encoding, basic sensory and perceptual processing that allow one to recognize and attend to a stimuli, and consolidation of a working memory trace, processes that lead to remembering an item over the short-term. The masking of memory stimuli using pattern masks such as those used in our experiments is thought to overwrite the perceptual afterimage and sensory memory traces of the stimuli which they follow ( Massaro, 1970 ; Saults & Cowan, 2007 ; Vogel et al., 2006 ), thereby ending the encoding of these stimuli, but not necessarily ending the consolidation of already encoded traces. If consolidation into working memory relies on central resources and the existence of an encoded memory trace, as suggested by Jolicouer & Dell’acqua, (1998) , presentation of a mask should not halt it.

In the sequential conditions of Experiments 1 and 2, there was extra free time after each mask that could be used by the consolidation process, if it exists. If working memory consolidation exists and serves to protect memory traces against forgetting, then the decreased rate of forgetting we observed with sequential presentation should be expected. In Experiment 3 we test this consolidation hypothesis by removing the free periods of time between the presentations of memory items in the sequential condition ( Figure 5 ). In this way item presentation time, total encoding time, and total working memory consolidation time are all held constant across both sequential and simultaneous presentations. In both conditions, there was 250 ms per character available for encoding, followed by a 250-ms blank period, and then a mask. This differs from Experiment 2 in that the previous experiment equated only presentation and encoding time, but not the time available for any consolidation of working memory that continues after masking.

An example of a single simultaneous presentation trial, top, and a single seqential presentation trial, bottom, in Experiment 3.

Thirty college students (18 female, 12 male, ages 18–22) enrolled in introductory psychology at the University of Missouri participated in the experiment in exchange for partial course credit. The participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 counterbalancing orders, with an equal number of participants in each group. All participants were screened to ensure that they did not speak or read any of the languages from which the memory stimuli were taken, and had not lived in any of the countries in which they may have regularly been exposed to the figures used in the experiment.

All materials were the same as in Experiments 1 and 2.

The procedure was identical to Experiment 1 except for one change. In the sequential condition, the blank periods following the presentations of items 1 and 2 were removed (see Figure 5 ).

Mean proportion correct is presented for all conditions in Figure 6 . Visual inspection of the means shows that performance tended to be better with simultaneous presentation than with sequential presentation. Time-based forgetting is clearly present for both presentation methods and clearly occurs at a comparable rate. Mean performance for each serial position under all sequential presentation conditions is given in Table A3 of the appendix .

Mean proportion correct for all conditions in Experiment 3. Error bars represent standard error of the mean.

A 2 (Presentation Method) x 3 (Retention Interval Duration) x 2 (Counter-balance Order) Mixed Factors ANOVA of proportion correct demonstrates two significant effects. Significant main effects were found for Presentation Method, F(1,28)= 10.44, p <.01, η p 2 = 0.27 (means; sequential=.69, simultaneous=.73), and Retention-Interval Duration, F(2,56)= 32.07, p <.001, η p 2 = 0.53 (means; 1s=.77, 6s=.69, 12s=.67), indicating that performance was better with simultaneous presentation and shorter retention intervals. Most importantly, unlike Experiments 1 and 2, in this experiment there was no interaction of Presentation Method with Retention-Interval Duration, F(2,56)= 1.11, p =.34, indicating that the rate of time-based forgetting was similar for sequential and simultaneous presentation methods. The main effect of CounterBalance Order was not significant, nor were any interactions of Counter-Balance Order with other factor, all p>.3.

We also estimated the amount of forgetting across the retention interval by fitting Cowan’s k ( Cowan, 2001 ) for all participants at each retention interval following the method detailed by Morey (2011a) . When the sequential presentation method was used participants forgot, on average, 0.41 items between 1 and 12s (mean number of items remembered: 1s=1.44, 6s=1.08, 12s=1.03). When the simultaneous presentation method was used participants quite similarly forgot, on average, 0.45 items between 1 and 12s (mean number of items remembered: 1s=1.69, 6s=1.39, 12s=1.24).

The results of Experiment 3 are in clear contrast to Experiments 1 and 2. In Experiment 3 sequential and simultaneous presentation methods resulted in equal rates of forgetting. The key difference between this experiment and the previous two experiments is that the total time from the start of item presentation to the onset of the final mask was held constant across conditions in this experiment. Experiment 1 only held constant the amount time items were shown onscreen and Experiment 2 held constant the amount of time items were shown onscreen and the amount of time from stimulus offset to mask. Neither of these equalities resulted in equal rates of forgetting. Instead it seems that the total amount of time available to consolidate the stimuli into working memory is what is important. (Note, though, that this finding was obtained always with fairly substantial encoding times of at least 250 ms per item.) Critically, this consolidation period is not stopped by overwriting sensory and perceptual information.

Although the rates of forgetting in Experiment 3 were comparable across conditions, the levels of performance were different. The sequential condition now produced poorer performance than the simultaneous condition. This could be explained on the grounds that the sequential condition did not provide the spatial cues available in the simultaneous condition, and did not allow as much flexibility in when attention is allocated to each item. This lower level of performance was presumably not seen in Experiments 1 and 2 because performance did not fall off much across delays in the sequential condition, given the more ample consolidation time available for that condition in those experiments. In Experiment 4, we control consolidation across conditions in a different way, and in doing so we manage to reduce greatly the main effect of condition as well as the interaction between condition and delay.

Experiment 4

The results of Experiment 3 indicate that the amount of time available for consolidation of working memory is the key factor in determining the magnitude of time-based forgetting. If this is true, then lengthening the time available for consolidation in the simultaneous presentation condition should decrease the associated rate of forgetting. In Experiment 4 we replicate Experiment 1, but change the simultaneous presentation condition so that its presentation method matches the timing of the sequential condition. Specifically, in the simultaneous presentation condition the full array is presented 3 times for 250ms each time. These presentations are separated by 500ms of free time without a mask, just as in the sequential presentation condition of both this experiment and Experiment 1 (see Figure 7 ).

An example of a single simultaneous presentation trial, top, and a single seqential presentation trial, bottom, in Experiment 4.

If our hypothesis is correct and consolidation time is what creates a difference between sequential and simultaneous presentation methods, then we should again observe no differences in the rate of forgetting across presentation conditions in this experiment. We might also observe a lower rate of forgetting than in Experiment 3 due to the increased amount of time for consolidation.

Thirty college students (19 female, 11 male, ages 18–23) enrolled in introductory psychology at the University of Missouri participated in the experiment in exchange for partial course credit. The participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 counterbalancing orders, with an equal number of participants in each group. All participants were screened to ensure that they did not speak or read any of the languages from which the memory stimuli were taken, and had not lived in any of the countries in which they may have regularly been exposed to the figures used in the experiment.

All materials were the same as in Experiments 1, 2, and 3.

The procedure was identical to Experiment 1 except for one change. In Experiment 4, item presentation proceeded in the same manner for simultaneous presentation as in the sequential presentation condition, except that the full array was presented during the period that each of the individual items would have been presented in the sequential condition (see Figure 7 ). Thus, in the present condition called simultaneous, the full array was presented for 250ms, followed by a 500ms blank period, then the full array was presented again for 250ms, followed by a 500ms blank period, and then the full array was presented for a final 250 ms.

Mean proportion correct is presented for all conditions in Figure 8 . Visual inspection of the means shows that performance tended to be very similar for both presentation methods. Time-based forgetting is clearly present and occurs at a very comparable rate across conditions. It is noteworthy that the rate of forgetting here appears to be roughly half the rate of forgetting as in Experiment 3. Mean performance for each serial position under all sequential presentation conditions is given in Table A4 of the appendix .

Mean proportion correct for all conditions in Experiment 4. Error bars represent standard error of the mean.

A 2 (Presentation Method) x 3 (Retention Interval Duration) x 2 (Counter-balance Order) Mixed Factors ANOVA of proportion correct demonstrates only one significant effect. This was the main effect of Retention-Interval Duration, F(2,56)=8.81, p <.001, η p 2 =0.24 (means; 1s=.84, 6s=.81, 12s=.78), indicating that performance was better with shorter retention intervals. All other effects main effects and interactions failed to approach significance, all p>.1.

We also estimated the amount of forgetting across the retention interval by fitting Cowan’s k ( Cowan, 2001 ) for all participants at each retention interval following the method detailed by Morey (2011a) . When the sequential presentation method was used participants forgot, on average, 0.22 items between 1 and 12s (mean number of items remembered: 1s=2.04, 6s=1.86, 12s=1.82). When the simultaneous presentation method was used participants forgot, on average, 0.31 items between 1 and 12s (mean number of items remembered: 1s=2.17, 6s=1.99, 12s=1.86).

The results of Experiment 4 are clear and replicate the findings of Experiment 3. When total consolidation time is equated, forgetting rates are equivalent for sequential and simultaneous presentation. Forgetting in Experiment 4 was much less than in Experiment 3, likely due to the increased amount of free time for working memory consolidation.

General Discussion

There has been debate in recent years over whether time-based forgetting exists. We, and others, have argued that time-based forgetting occurs as a function of the length of the retention interval ( Cowan & Aubuchon, 2008 ; McKeown & Mercer, 2012 ; Ricker & Cowan, 2010 ). Our experiments here corroborate these accounts. Significant forgetting was always observed as a function of the retention-interval duration, regardless of presentation method. This time-based forgetting cannot be explained by existent retro-active interference accounts because there are no interfering events introduced between memory item presentation and memory test that would lead to the disruption of memory traces. Here we find, however, that the amount of consolidation, i.e., processing time with or without a mask, is a key determinant of the amount of loss.

Consolidation and Forgetting: Reconciliation of the Literature

Those researchers who generally use serial recall of letters to investigate forgetting in working memory have argued very persuasively that there is little or no time-based forgetting which occurs based on the length of memory retention ( Barrouillet et al. 2004 ; Gavens & Barrouillet, 2004 ; Lewandowsky et al., 2004 ; Oberauer & Lewandowsky, 2008 ). These findings must be reconciled with the present results, and those of Ricker and Cowan (2010) , using arrays of unfamiliar characters that do show loss over time, and those of McKeown & Mercer (2012) using complex tones. We suggest that the difference is in the strength of information consolidated into working memory. We found that greater amounts of time for working memory consolidation lead to slower rates of forgetting. Studies using sequential presentation generally use presentation rates around 1 item per second, with a variable amount of time for further working memory consolidation after each item presentation. This is much longer per item than even the sequential presentation times used here and in other visual array memory studies (i.e., presentation of all memory items concurrently for less than 1 s).

The rate of time-based forgetting we observed across experiments was variable in precise value when similar consolidation times were used but consistent in the general pattern. Long consolidation times always led to much slower rates of time-based forgetting (mean items forgotten between 1 and 12s; Expt. 1 sequential =.19, Expt. 2 sequential =.22, Expt. 4 sequential=.22, simultaneous=.31) than did short consolidation times (mean items forgotten; Expt. 1 simultaneous =.39, Expt. 2 simultaneous =.67, Expt. 3 sequential=.41, simultaneous=.45). Although there may be individual differences in the rate of item consolidation, item decay, or both, the pattern related to consolidation is clear.

Past conclusions from studies using both item presentation methodologies appear to be on target, but bound by method-specific idiosyncrasies. Duration-based forgetting does occur, but can be reduced and possibly alleviated by increasing the amount of time available for working memory consolidation. Even if a small amount of time-based forgetting always remains, detecting the slow rate of forgetting would be very difficult with the sequential presentation methods used by many researchers. Indeed, close inspection of the results of some studies which have been used to argue for no effect of retention-interval duration on accuracy appear to show a small yet consistent duration-based effect (i.e., Altmann & Schunn, 2012 ; Gavens & Barrouillet, 2004 ; Lewandowsky et al., 2004 ) which often fails to reach the threshold for significance.

A study which at first may seem in conflict with our findings is that of Berman et al. (2009) . These researchers used simultaneous presentation of memory items and showed results which they argue offer little to no evidence for an effect of time-based forgetting. In this study, four short highly-familiar words were presented for 2s, a period much longer than is generally used with simultaneous presentation. As such, we would expect a relatively long working memory consolidation period and little time-based forgetting with this procedure. While this study did show interference effects despite the long consolidation period and the lack of time-based forgetting, we make no claim that working memory consolidation must abolish both time-based forgetting and interference-based forgetting equally or completely in all circumstances. We did not manipulate the presence or intensity of interference in our study so we can only speculate as to how working memory consolidation would affect interference-based forgetting. That said, it is possible that if Berman et al. had used a shorter consolidation time they would have observed even larger interference effects. Indeed, when Campoy (2012) used a similar approach to Berman et al. (2009) but made very significant changes to the methodology they did find time-based forgetting, although only over a very brief time period (under 3 s). The differences between our own study, Berman et al. (2009) , and Campoy (2012) , demonstrate the strength of the current work in that here we begin to disentangle the basic reasons behind these differences.

Basis of Consolidation

One explanation of the working memory consolidation process has to do with the relation between memory representations and mnemonic processes that operate on them. Longer periods of free time during item presentation could limit forgetting because they allow executive processes to organize and execute more efficient maintenance strategies which counteract time-based forgetting. Specific examples of this process could be the internal identification of targets for Cowan (1988 ; 1995 )’s focus of attention or Oberauer (2002) ’s region of direct access, or time for refreshing the traces according to Barrouillet et al. (2004) ’s attentional refreshing cycle. Future research will be necessary to differentiate consolidation based on a strengthening trace versus improvement in maintenance mechanisms.

Another interesting candidate for the consolidation process has to do with desyncronization of the firing of neurons which make up the trace. According to some prominent neural theories, (for example, see Lisman & Jensen, 2013 ), a short-term trace consists of synchronized firing of neurons representing different features of an object, with different working memory objects firing in sequence. Forgetting then could result from desynchronization. This is compatible with our own embedded-process modeling framework ( Cowan, 1988 , 1995 ) of memory. Consolidation could be a gradual strengthening of the short-term firing relationship between the neurons that make-up the memory trace. This would occur only when attention is focused upon the trace during the initial life of the memory. Strengthening the firing relationship of neurons within the trace would result in slower desynchronization and forgetting.

A more functional instantiation of the consolidation process could be the identification of known patterns within the memory representation. For example, when unfamiliar visual items are used, as in our own study, consolidation could consist of identifying known patterns within the stimuli which would make them easier to remember by simplifying the memory items. This would increase the functional capacity as more simple items can be maintained than complex items ( Awh, Barton, & Vogel, 2007 ). This process would also include the identification of chunks. For example, a set of oriented line stimuli could be chunked into a single larger shape through the application of attention while the memory representation is still fresh. There is evidence that items that reside in the focus of attention at once can become associated, leading to multi-item chunks ( Cowan, Donnell, & Saults, 2013 ).

An alternative explanation of our results is that verbal rehearsal is responsible for the consolidation effect we observed. This idea seems plausible at first glance, but cannot account for our results given previous research. The argument for a verbal rehearsal explanation would be the following. On each trial verbal labels are given to the symbols and a verbal rehearsal loop is then initiated. This processing would initially require central resources ( Naveh-Benjamin & Jonides, 1984 ) and the longer periods of free time during sequential presentation may have facilitated it. Fortunately, Ricker et al. (2010) showed that articulatory suppression, a manipulation that prevents verbal rehearsal, did not impair memory performance for arrays of unfamiliar characters any more than did finger tapping, an activity that should have no effect on verbal rehearsal, but is otherwise similar to articulatory suppression. If the ability to use verbal rehearsal does not improve memory for arrays of unfamiliar characters it is difficult to imagine how it could change the rate of forgetting.

Impact of Consolidation and Forgetting on Working Memory Research

Those who use methods with longer consolidation periods often compound the difficulty of finding time-based loss by using verbal memory stimuli. Familiar verbal materials have shown a slower rate of forgetting than non-verbal materials ( Ricker & Cowan, 2010 ; Ricker Spiegel, & Cowan, under review ). We believe this is due to two factors. First, in some studies participants are free to rehearse verbal materials at their leisure. This likely counteracts decay of at least some items, leading to no forgetting across the retention interval for the rehearsed items. However, verbal rehearsal is not possible in all studies.

A second, complementary, explanation of why verbal materials lead to slower rates of forgetting is that familiar verbal items may have a faster rate of consolidation than unfamiliar visual items. Jolicouer and Dell’acqua (1998) provide some evidence which supports this claim, showing that symbols are consolidated into working memory more slowly than letters. These authors investigated working memory consolidation by asking participants to remember masked letters or symbols and to perform a tone identification task shortly after post-perceptual mask presentation. When presenting the tone identification task at longer stimulus onset asynchronies from the mask stimuli participants responded faster, indicating less disruption from working memory consolidation. Using symbols instead of letters resulted in longer consolidation periods and slower overall tone task performance. This finding implies that disruption of consolidation should occur less often for letters than for symbols in most experimental paradigms. Our conclusions from the experiments presented in the present work in combination with the findings of Jolicoeur and Dell’acqua (1998) would lead one to predict a lower rate of forgetting for familiar verbal letters than for less familiar characters and symbols.

It is clear from our results that working memory consolidation processes determine the robustness of the trace against time-based forgetting. It will be interesting to test in future research whether the same consolidation processes determine both the vulnerability to time-based and interference-based forgetting. Although questions of how the passage of time leads to forgetting from working memory remain, the present research brings light to an ongoing debate and removes a significant hurdle to further understanding of the nature of forgetting from moment to moment. Whether or not time-based forgetting will be observed in a working memory task is largely determined by the amount of time allowed for consolidation of working memory.

Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to Jeff Rouder and Karen Hebert for helpful comments. Funding for this project was provided by NIMH Grant #1F31MH094050 to Ricker and NICHD Grant #2R01HD021338 to Cowan.

Tables of Mean Accuracy and SEM in Response to Probes Matching Each Presentation Serial Position in the Sequential Condition of Each Experiment.

Mean Accuracy for all Sequential Presentation Conditions by Serial Position in Experiment 1

Note . Standard Errors of the Mean are in parentheses.

Mean Accuracy for all Sequential Presentation Conditions by Serial Position in Experiment 2

Mean Accuracy for all Sequential Presentation Conditions by Serial Position in Experiment 3

Mean Accuracy for all Sequential Presentation Conditions by Serial Position in Experiment 4

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health or the National Institutes of Health.

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What the New Overtime Rule Means for Workers

One of the basic principles of the American workplace is that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. Simply put, every worker’s time has value. A cornerstone of that promise is the  Fair Labor Standards Act ’s (FLSA) requirement that when most workers work more than 40 hours in a week, they get paid more. The  Department of Labor ’s new overtime regulation is restoring and extending this promise for millions more lower-paid salaried workers in the U.S.

Overtime protections have been a critical part of the FLSA since 1938 and were established to protect workers from exploitation and to benefit workers, their families and our communities. Strong overtime protections help build America’s middle class and ensure that workers are not overworked and underpaid.

Some workers are specifically exempt from the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime protections, including bona fide executive, administrative or professional employees. This exemption, typically referred to as the “EAP” exemption, applies when: 

1. An employee is paid a salary,  

2. The salary is not less than a minimum salary threshold amount, and 

3. The employee primarily performs executive, administrative or professional duties.

While the department increased the minimum salary required for the EAP exemption from overtime pay every 5 to 9 years between 1938 and 1975, long periods between increases to the salary requirement after 1975 have caused an erosion of the real value of the salary threshold, lessening its effectiveness in helping to identify exempt EAP employees.

The department’s new overtime rule was developed based on almost 30 listening sessions across the country and the final rule was issued after reviewing over 33,000 written comments. We heard from a wide variety of members of the public who shared valuable insights to help us develop this Administration’s overtime rule, including from workers who told us: “I would love the opportunity to...be compensated for time worked beyond 40 hours, or alternately be given a raise,” and “I make around $40,000 a year and most week[s] work well over 40 hours (likely in the 45-50 range). This rule change would benefit me greatly and ensure that my time is paid for!” and “Please, I would love to be paid for the extra hours I work!”

The department’s final rule, which will go into effect on July 1, 2024, will increase the standard salary level that helps define and delimit which salaried workers are entitled to overtime pay protections under the FLSA. 

Starting July 1, most salaried workers who earn less than $844 per week will become eligible for overtime pay under the final rule. And on Jan. 1, 2025, most salaried workers who make less than $1,128 per week will become eligible for overtime pay. As these changes occur, job duties will continue to determine overtime exemption status for most salaried employees.

The rule will also increase the total annual compensation requirement for highly compensated employees (who are not entitled to overtime pay under the FLSA if certain requirements are met) from $107,432 per year to $132,964 per year on July 1, 2024, and then set it equal to $151,164 per year on Jan. 1, 2025.

Starting July 1, 2027, these earnings thresholds will be updated every three years so they keep pace with changes in worker salaries, ensuring that employers can adapt more easily because they’ll know when salary updates will happen and how they’ll be calculated.

The final rule will restore and extend the right to overtime pay to many salaried workers, including workers who historically were entitled to overtime pay under the FLSA because of their lower pay or the type of work they performed. 

We urge workers and employers to visit  our website to learn more about the final rule.

Jessica Looman is the administrator for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. Follow the Wage and Hour Division on Twitter at  @WHD_DOL  and  LinkedIn .  Editor's note: This blog was edited to correct a typo (changing "administrator" to "administrative.")

• Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
• Fair Labor Standards Act
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