Effective Presentation Techniques

Presentations can be of many different types based on purpose. It can be your weekly review meeting with customer, it can be a seminar in front of college students as a guest lecturer, it can be a presentation to launch a new product of your company when you are sales manager, it can be a presentation to explain newly invented technology, it can be an explanation of quarterly financial results of a company. It can be a group of college students presenting for their final year project or a YouTuber uploading daily VDOs or it can be simply a banner explaining your product or event or it also can be presenting project status report to your seniors.

A play in theater is also an example of presentation. A book reading via podcast is also a presentation where your voice is at stake. When you are writing an article, your writing skills are at stake. 

All those who are presenting something, need to have effective presentation skills to make right impact on audiences or spectators or viewers.

And remember, you just don't have to present effectively but it should be presented in given and limited time. Especially when it comes to TV commercials or social media commercials, you have to pay per seconds and hence, your presentation skills are at stake. Observe how these commercials present all features in very less time. It will give you an idea about an effective presentation. When time is less, you can use symbology and prototypes to convey your message rightly.  

A presentation can be virtual or real. Real means you are actually standing in front of your valuable audiences. Virtual can be of two types. You are sitting at home and presenting to the audiences without live telecasting your VDO neither the audiences cameras are ON. Another is, a still camera is fixed at one place focusing incessantly on you and your VDO of explaining something at whiteboard is telecast to audiences. 

Even a live event of some product launch in itself is a presentation. That should also be well planned to make right impact on the audiences or spectators or viewers.

For a presentation to be effective, first thing is that you should get through knowledge on the subject which you are presenting and the advance preparation should be done diligently. If the the language in which you are presenting is not your mother tongue, you should put extra efforts on learning its grammar and aphorism and idioms and phrases. Avoid verbose at any cost. Avoid too many jargons.

Collect information about your audiences beforehand. Get their educational background, get their field of work, study their level of understanding by interacting with them in advance at a casual tea discussion if the situation permits you. This can help you to make some changes in your way of presentation. You can decide if you have to explain from scratch and involve basic things or can start with the main point. If there is a full day seminar, you must interact with the audiences and get involved with them and talk to them in friendly manner during tea breaks or lunch breaks and straightaway you can ask them whether they are getting the points or not, whether they need more detailed explanation, whether more examples should be included and so on. Take feedbacks from them so that you can make changes in the next session to make your presentation effective.

Don't put each and everything in the ppt slides. Do not overuse the animation and transition effects and visual graphics. Do not use many colors. Keep a pattern of only two to three colors throughout the slides. Keep the presentation simple. Keep only bullet points. Do not write everything in the ppt slides out of the fear of forgetting the contents. For each bullet point, you have to remember many things and information in mind. You can recall it at the time of presentation and should be able to explain then and there. Observe your body language and voice tone in front of mirror and correct something if required. If possible, rehearse the full presentation at home or with your close colleagues or friends to get valuable suggestions and corrections which you may not notice by yourself. 

The font used in a PowerPoint presentation is nearly as important as the message it is delivering, at least in my opinion. Using a non-default font is a great way to individualize your presentation and make your text more interesting and memorable at the same time.

Also, do not tell everything to audiences. Present in such a way that curiosity should rise among audiences and they get incited to ask questions. In my opinion, you should take questions as and when they arise, Few presenters keep "question and answer" session in the last. But, it is not right way and also not much effective and useful. An audience may loose his/her curiosity till the end of session arrives. Instead, give opportunity to raise hand and ask questions during the session. If you think the answer is too lengthy, you can note down the question and address it at the end. That is fine. It will thus not cut the natural flow of the presentation. However, try to answer the queries and questions then and there wherever and whenever possible.

Do not just read the points word by word written in the ppt. Use different sentence but having same meaning than what is written in the slides. Use synonyms of the words written in the slides instead of the same words. However, do not do this for each sentence. Strike a balance.

Use innovative ideas to engage audiences which I have used in many seminars. Carry good quality pens, keep them on table. Before you explain something, ask few questions to the audiences. This will help you to understand their knowledge level. If a person has wrong perception of the topic which you are going to explain, ask the same question after your topic explanation is done. If the same person is now able to answer correctly, gift him a pen. 

Questions should flow from both sides. Audiences and presenters.

If more than one persons are presetting, then ensure that you divide the topics among yourselves based on your expertise. However, all the presenters should be aware of all the contents of presentation. 

Using of visuals is important. Visuals can be very helpful in focusing the attention of the audience and giving additional clarity to the presentation. Visuals should be closely integrated with and supportive on your main points. They should be simple and easy to understand. Make sure that everyone in the room can see the visuals. In explaining visuals, explain (summarize) the whole visual to the audience before explaining its component parts. Tie your words to the visual with gestures to keep the viewers eyes fixed on the visual. Give the audience a few seconds to absorb visuals before proceeding with the presentation.

Keep a positive body language while presenting. Avoid excessive and unnecessary hand gestures. Stand in such a way that audiences from all directions and angles can see the presentation completely. Avoid too many movements from left to right on the stage during presentation. Before and after presentation, you can move on the stage freely but limit your movements once the presentation started. To boost your confidence during your presentation; open your chest and arms and keep your back straight. This position will make you breathe better and you’ll feel more relaxed. To make your audience comfortable, simply smile at them. Smiling is our most powerful weapon. To engage people, gesture with your arms and hands in a natural way, and look your audience in the eye. People tend naturally to pay attention and like people who look them in the eye. To demonstrate authority, keep calm and use small and stiff gestures. This way people will trust you and view you as a confident person. To draw attention to a certain element of the presentation, point directly at it and look at it on the screen at the same time. Your audience will follow your eyes and finger. To encourage audience participation, use open gestures and if possible, walk around and towards people. We tend to participate more when we are near the speaker. Your clothes should be chosen in such a way that they dont distract the unnecessary attention of audiences. Use simple colors. Do not use fancy and dark and sparkling clothes. 

Remember, you must have a message. Tell a story. No one is interested in generic discussion.

Remember that presentation is an unnatural act. Normal speech is spontaneous. Presentation brings a spotlight to an individual and important things hang in the balance. It is no wonder, then, that presenting is difficult, and sometimes scare. Done successfully, though, it is the key to success.

Last but not the least! Do not drink or eat something which will make your throat sore or cause cough and affect your voice. Keep a water bottle near you. Drink water intermittently. You can also start the presentation with a cup of hot coffee. Take small sips of coffee each time you speak something important.

This article is written based on all my experience in the IT industry. Hope it helps you for effective presentation and assists you as a guideline.