make a killer presentation

How to Give a Killer Presentation: 18 Top Tips

People attend presentations to learn and gain useful insight. But way too often, we see the audience yawn, scroll on their phones or check their watch, wishing that the time would go faster.

Is it that the content of the presentation isn’t interesting enough, or that the speaker doesn’t know how to engage the audience?

Whatever the reason, delivering an engaging presentation is an art that takes some time to master.

Based on my own experience from the stage, and from observing other speakers at industry-leading conferences, I’ve collected these 18 top tips. May they help you give a presentation that will wow your audience:

• Plan your storyline
• Use the rule of three
• Simplify your slides
• Include numbers
• Use the power of visuals
• Practice relentlessly
• Greet the audience in their local language
• Break the ice at the start
• Engage your audience with live polls
• Move around the stage and make gestures
• Smile and make eye contact
• Consider using props
• Go among the audience
• Give rewards for participation
• Prompt a discussion in the audience
• Build in time for Q&A
• Crowdsource questions from the audience
• Gather feedback

1. Plan your storyline

A powerful story can make your whole presentation. Take TED talks, for instance. They’re all based on captivating stories that support the main argument or line of thought of each speech.

Give your presentation a concept. Use a classic narrative structure, from a gripping outset to an impressive end. A presentation designer Nancy Duarte advises presenters to spend twice as much time on framing the storyline than creating the actual slides.

Also, don’t forget to add emotional details and power words. These will make your audience feel much more connected to you. People will eventually forget your slides and your presentation, but they will not forget how you made them feel.

2. Use the rule of three

People can usually remember only three main points from presentations, so take advantage of this psychological phenomenon.

While creating your storyline, think of three key messages that you want your audience to walk out of the room with. To make these three key points stick, you need to make them short, memorable and attention-grabbing.

On the other hand, if your presentation revolves around one main argument, make use of the Aristotelian “triptych” method: “Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell them what you told them.” In a nutshell, you should properly introduce the point you will be making, then make your point, and then wrap up with summarizing the main point.

3. Simplify your slides

No matter how rich in content your slides are, if they’re too crowded, nobody is going to read them. Too much text on slides actually takes your audience’s attention away from your presentation, which hinders the learning process.

Make your slides as simple as possible and try to present only one idea per slide. Sometimes, one powerful sentence, a number, or even one word, can say more than a slide full of bullet points.

4. Include numbers

When used sensibly, numbers can strengthen your point and back up your arguments. To make data easy for your audience to digest, you need to make it specific, relevant and contextual.

When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPod , he did not emphasize its 5GB storage and 185g weight. Instead, he repeatedly said that it could hold 1,000 songs and physically manifested that he could fit it into his pocket. This number was easy for the audience to remember, and called even more attention to its tiny size.

5. Use the power of visuals

Videos or images not only engage the audience but also help to evoke emotions that are otherwise super difficult for speakers to elicit by themselves.

Make sure that the visuals you use support the main point of your presentation, or demonstrate what you’re talking about. This works very well in the creative industry, where visual aids are often necessary to complement the main content.

However, if you’re going to use video, be cautious. A too lengthy or unengaging video may put people to sleep rather than keep them attentive.

6. Practice relentlessly

Attending a presentation where the speaker keeps looking down at his notes is painful so don’t underestimate this point. For instance, Winston Churchill rehearsed for hours, even days, to deliver a 10-minute long speech.

Memorize your presentation flow by heart if need be. Do it to the extent that you won’t need the notes.

During your rehearsals, use a video camera to record yourself in order to see where you stutter, where you seem nervous and how you work with your body language. Don’t be afraid to ask a friend to give you feedback.

Tim Ferris , the author of The 4-Hour Workweek, follows a Spartan’s preparation for his public speeches. He splits his presentation into several segments and he goes through each one of them up to ten times.

7. Greet your audience in their local language

As a speaker, you often find yourself addressing an international audience, whether it is at a big conference or an internal company meeting joined by remote teams.

Greeting international participants in their local language gives a nice personal touch to the offset of your presentation. It helps you create a connection and the feeling of intimacy with the people sitting before you.

I always memorize how to say “Hello” and “How are you?” in the local language, and use them as soon as I come onstage. You can even take it a step further and adjust your presentation ad hoc to the audience, by making local references.

For example, Google’s Digital Marketing Evangelist, Avinash Kaushik , started his talk at the Marketing festival by showing pictures from his tour around the hosting city of Brno, Czech Republic. Moreover, he used the Czech websites that the audience was closely familiar with, instead of international ones, to get his point across.

8. Break the ice at the start

Hook your audience right off the bat. Using an effective icebreaker will help you set the stage and energize your attendees.

Here’s an inspiration for you: At the 2018 World Education Congress (WEC) , I asked people to close their eyes and think of a presentation session that had recently impressed them. After 30 seconds, I invited them to share their dream session with their neighbor and describe it using one word, before submitting it to a Slido word cloud poll.

Next, I asked them to picture the usual experience of attending a presentation and describe it again, using a single word. Seeing the differences in the two consequent word cloud polls was very thought-provoking and sparked up a discussion among the attendees.

Other than using technology, you can liven up your audience with a classic show of hands or other brisk icebreaking activities , such as rock, paper, scissors or live barometer.

Related story: The Complete List of 200 Icebreaker Questions and Tips On How to Use Them

9. Engage your audience with live polls

Once you win your audience over, keep up the pace by creating enough interaction points throughout your presentation.

Live polling is your best bet here. When smartly used, live polls will keep your attendees engaged during the whole length of your presentation. They also help you to effectively collect your audience’s insights, which you can then showcase on screen. This multiplies the learning element of your presentation.

In general, I follow the human attention span and use a poll every 8-10 minutes, which is 5-6 polls for a 60-minute talk, maximum.

To give you an example, during the latest webinar I led, I asked the participants a simple rating poll: “How would you rate interaction in the classroom today?”

The results set a good ground for the main argument I was going to make about insufficient interactivity in education, and really helped me make my point.

On top of that, this strategy allows me to break the long content deliveries into more digestible chunks, regain the audience’s attention, and ignite conversations based on the results.

The last point is particularly important. Live polls make sense only when you facilitate their use. So make sure to always follow up on the results, share your thoughts on them, or get the audience to share why they voted the way they did.

Related story: The Complete Guide: How to Use and Facilitate Slido Polls in Your Presentation

10. Move around the stage and make gestures

If you stand rigidly in one spot or behind a speaker’s stand, you will only appear unconfident and nervous. Think of yourself as an actor on stage, and your presentation as your performance. Use open, big gestures, point in the direction of the audience, or slowly walk about the stage. 

At this year’s Festival of Marketing , Mark Ritson – who was opening the event – reminded me of the importance of using body language. He kept pacing the stage in a natural way and was gesturing throughout the entire length of his speech. It was definitely one of the most engaging sessions I’ve attended this year.

11. Smile and make eye contact

The way you communicate with your audience through your facial expressions makes a huge difference. So don’t look down at your notes, don’t look at your slides, but keep your eyes set on your audience.

Lisa Wentz, a public speaking expert, advises to pick 3 people in the audience that you like, each one at a different corner of the auditorium, and make eye contact with them throughout your presentation. However, avoid staring at one person for too long. Use the selected people only as navigation points that will help you scan the room.

12. Consider using props

Demonstrating the point with the use of props is a powerful way to help the attendees visualize what is being described verbally. Showing a prop at the right moment can help you catch your audience’s attention and enforce your story.

Neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor brought a real human brain on stage during her emotional TED talk to explain what had happened to her when she had a stroke. She touched the audience with this demonstration and left them in complete awe.

13. Go among the audience

Asking people questions may feel impersonal if you stand onstage. On top of that, large auditoriums often make it difficult to create intimacy with your audience.

Draw inspiration from rock singers here and “jump” off the stage. Going among the audience will help you build a stronger bond with them and your presentation will feel more personal.

This approach is invaluable if you hope to collect impromptu answers after you have asked your question. Move slowly around the room, and when someone shuffles or raises a hand, approach them with a mic and elicit an answer.

When another hand shoots up, move to that corner of the room, and so on. The point here is to be as close to your audience as possible.

If possible, check the room advance to get used to the space arrangements. This will help you move around more naturally and with more confidence.

14. Give rewards for participation

Despite all your efforts, the audience might need a bit of a nudge. Giving out small rewards can bring another interactive element to your presentation. You can go with the event merchandise or small treats, like chocolates and candy.

For example, at the Eventex conference , one of the speakers, Victor Neyndorff , encouraged people to share their thoughts by handing out chocolate from the Netherlands, his home country.

To give you another idea, at the Jam London conference , the organizers decided to give away books to those attendees who were the most active in asking questions via Slido. This really helped incentivize the audience to participate and improved the dialogue in the room.

15. Prompt a discussion in the audience

You can give audience engagement another spin by giving your attendees an activity that they can participate in.

For example, you can present a statement for the participants to discuss, or give them a task to solve in groups. Where appropriate, walk around the room, join the conversations, and encourage people to talk to each other.

At the Conventa Crossover conference in Slovenia, moderator Jan-Jaap In der Maur put people in small groups and asked them to share the technological trends that they believed will have the biggest impact on the industry in the near future.

Then he collected a few comments from the floor to open a discussion with the whole room.

Simple. Engaging. Useful.

If facilitated properly, activities like these can work equally well with an audience of 20 people as they can with 2,000.

Related story: 5 Essential Pieces of The Audience Engagement Puzzle

16. Build in time for the Q&A

Even if you incorporate interactive elements to your presentation, your audience will surely have additional questions.

For that reason, don’t be scared to allocate as much as 10-20 minutes to the Q&A, depending on the length of your presentation slot.

After I finish my talk, instead of asking, “Are there any questions?” (which typically leads to silence), I like to ask, “What are your questions?”, or say, “Now, let’s get to your questions.” In case I don’t get an instant reaction from the audience, I get off the stage and walk among the audience to encourage the discussion.

In rare moments when no questions come up, I kick off the Q&A by saying: “What people usually ask me is…” and then give an answer. In 9/10 times, the discussion catches on.

17. Crowdsource questions from the audience

Lack of audience questions doesn’t necessarily mean that your audience doesn’t have questions. They may just be uncomfortable with speaking up in public.

Live Q&A tools like Slido allow you to effortlessly crowdsource questions from your audience throughout your presentation via an app. 

Compared to passing the mic amongst the people in the audience, you will give everyone an equal chance to ask questions, regardless of their level of shyness.

If you’re using a Q&A app, it’s important that you introduce and facilitate it properly. I often say something like: “Take a minute and think about what you’ve just heard. Come up with a question that you have, and submit it to Slido.” It works every single time.

Then, just take a look at the screen, or a confidence monitor, and address the questions that have the most upvotes.

If you display the crowdsourced questions on the screen, read each question out loud when addressing it. It will help your audience – even the ones sitting at the back – to know which question you are answering. 

Extra tip: Sometimes, you get way more questions from your audience than you can answer during your time-limited Q&A slot. Don’t leave them hanging in the air. Here you’ll find 5 tips on what to do with unanswered questions after your Q&A .

18. Gather feedback

Feedback is priceless for improving your presentation skills. There’s never enough of it. You can collect feedback easily via Slido feedback survey . Combine rating polls for quick assessment and open text polls to give your participants space for more in-depth comments.

Your feedback survey could look something like this:

• How would you rate this presentation? (rating poll)
• What is your main takeaway from this session? (open text poll)
• What would you improve? (open text poll)

To boost the response rate, make sure that you ask your attendees to fill out the survey while they’re still in the room.

With the tips I’ve listed above, you’ll be able to turn your presentation or lecture from a one-way content broadcast into an exciting conversation between you and your attendees.

Engage your attendees with Slido live Q&A and polls.

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29 Killer Presentation Tips to Wow Your Audience

Written by: Chloe West

Looking for the top presentation tips to help you deliver an unforgettable slideshow?

When you’re preparing to give a presentation, you have one thing on your mind. You want your audience to really love what you’re saying.

There’s no worse feeling when you’re up on stage or at the front of the board meeting presenting your information than when you can visibly watch your viewers’ eyes glaze over, see them start to get bored and antsy, and notice they’re not all that invested in what you have to say.

Here's a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit preseentation templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more below:

Making sure your presentation wows your audience starts at the very beginning, right after you’ve been assigned or chosen your topic .

We want to help you make sure your audience is talking about your presentation for days (and even weeks or months) to come. So we’ve put together a list of presentation tips that cover the design, performance and overall reach of your slideshow.

To really knock the socks off your audience, be sure to check off each one of the tips below.

1 Focus on one idea per slide.

You don’t want to crowd too much information into one slide. If your slide design is cluttered and ugly, your audience is immediately going to zone out of your presentation and look elsewhere.

Instead, use one slide for each thought or idea.

Check out the way this slide from one of our presentation templates was designed.

It’s a testimonial slide that includes nothing but a couple of quotes from past customers.

Whether it’s a new section heading, an about slide, a team slide, etc., you want to keep the information you include on a single slide to a minimum.

There’s no need to try to cram your entire presentation or even a whole section of it onto one slide. Your slideshow will be much more visually appealing if you break your content up into multiple slides.

2 Use two or three fonts max.

Nothing clutters up a design like too many fonts. We recommend sticking to just two fonts throughout your entire presentation, and three at the most.

It's a good idea to find one larger, bold font for your headers and a separate sans serif font for the rest of your copy. But presentations often utilize an accent font like an italicized or serif font.

Take a look at the presentation slides below. There are two different fonts being used on these slides—a thin sans serif for the quotes and a serif for the names and locations.

Choose two or three fonts and use them throughout your presentation. Consistency is key, and you want to make sure your slides look cohesive and like they belong together.

3 Pay attention to visual hierarchy.

Visual hierarchy is a design strategy for organizing elements depending on importance. This goes for font sizes, icon size, contrast and any other visual element in your presentation.

This is an important presentation tip because you want your viewers to know exactly which part of the slide they should be looking at first, second, third and so on.

It’s all about focusing on what can grab the user’s attention first, whether it’s larger font, more space between elements or creating deliberate alignment.

You can learn more about visual hierarchy and how to use it in your next presentation by watching this video.

4 Keep it to less than six lines of text.

Your slide shouldn’t be a huge wall of text. That’s what your speaking is for. Instead, be sure to keep it to less than six lines of text at a maximum. Ideally, you’ll have even less.

The content included on your slide should be limited to your main talking points (or a single point, if you really want to keep your slides minimalistic), and your voice should do the rest.

And if you’re not giving this presentation live?

You can always record your audio over your slides. Visme’s presentation maker allows users to record their own audio right in the design dashboard to create stand alone presentations and webinars.

The presentation slides below are a great example of limiting text. There’s a quick snippet of text, and the rest of the content as well as the speaker’s voice will add any context the viewer needs.

Like we mentioned in point one, don’t try to fit your entire presentation on a single slide. Let your voice do the talking and your slide include the most pertinent information.

Don’t bore your audience with a slide filled with words. Visuals are just as important.

5 Don’t use bullet points.

Here's another one of our “don’t use too much text” presentation tips. Bullet points have plagued presentations for years. But if you want yours to stand out, it’s best to stay away from them.

There are so many other more engaging and visually appealing ways to design your presentation slides. Bullets just aren’t one of them.

Consider this slide template layout below. The icon blocks help to differentiate the different points in a unique way so that you don’t have to revert to overused bullet points.

Customize this presentation template and make it your own!

• Add your own text, images, colors and more
• Add interactive buttons and animations
• Customize anything to fit your design and content needs

And to help you get even more creative with your slide layouts, Visme’s presentation themes offer hundreds of different options to choose from.

6 Create strong contrast.

In your audience, you might have people sitting in the back of the room, relatively far away from your screen. To make sure they can still see your presentation slides , you need to create strong contrast.

This means your text should easily stand out against your background. If you have a dark background, all of your text and design elements should be light in contrast, and vice versa.

Check out this slide from one of our presentation templates . The white and yellow easily pop against the dark background, giving this slide great contrast.

When putting this presentation tip to practice, make sure that your text and other elements are easy to see and don’t blend into your background, even from the back of the room.

7 Stick to two or three colors.

Just like you should use no more than two or three fonts throughout your presentation, the same goes for colors. Don't forget, there's such a thing as too much of a good thing.

We love color, but trying to fit too many colors in a single presentation can easily backfire.

When you start to get four, five, six colors into a presentation, it can start to look messy and like the slides don’t actually match or go together in the same slideshow.

A good presentation tip is to choose a color scheme with up to three different colors, or consider a monochromatic scheme of a single hue, similar to this presentation slide.

The use of different shades of blue/grey help tie the slide together and give it a cohesive color scheme.

Finding a color scheme for your presentation doesn’t have to be the hardest part of your entire design. Choose from a basic scheme like cool or warm colors, match your colors to your topic or incorporate your company colors into your presentation to communicate your brand values and identity.

8 Add audio and video.

One great way to create an interactive presentation is by adding audio and video elements to your slides. This helps you take a break from talking and can give your presentation another dimension. This is especially helpful when you're creating a pitch deck or case study presentation .

Using Visme, you can easily embed videos into your presentation slides, upload audio files, choose audio clips from our free library and even record your own audio over your slides.

Hey executives! Looking to cut design costs?

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9 Stick to one image per slide.

You’re probably finding a theme here. When it comes to fonts, colors, images and other design elements, you don’t want to go crazy. Simple is almost always better.

And when it comes to images and photographs, it’s best to incorporate just one in each slide. There are several different ways to use these images, like as a background, an accent photo or with a color overlay.

This presentation slide is a great example of how to use a single photo to add a little something to your slide so it’s not just text, graphics or charts.

While there are reasons and ways to use multiple images tastefully, a good rule of thumb is to stick to just one main image as a background or accent.

10 Use high-quality graphics.

You don’t want any of the photos, graphics or icons in your presentation to be low-resolution or blurry. Always use high-quality vector graphics that look great no matter how big or small they are.

Icons and graphics can be an effective way to visually represent your words and context and further help your audience understand what you’re saying.

Here’s a sample presentation slide from one of our templates. Each of these graphics are high-quality, represent different words and help to tell more of a story.

Visme’s library includes thousands of free vector icons, shapes and graphics in different styles for users to incorporate into their presentation slides.

11 Use data visualization.

Data visualization can include anything from charts and graphs to radials and icon charts.

It’s essentially taking numbers and statistics and showcasing them in a visual form so that it's easier for your audience to understand at a glance.

This presentation slide template below includes an attractive vertical bar graph illustrating the company’s revenue and funding over the years.

12 Make it interactive.

We talked briefly about how adding audio and video to your presentation slides can help make it interactive, but there are many more ways to do just that.

In fact, we’ve written a blog post with 17 different ways to make your presentation interactive. Some of these have to do with your performance, but we’re talking about design right now.

Adding in links to your presentation, whether it’s between slides or even between elements in a single slide, is a great way to create a unique slideshow that your audience will love.

Watch this quick video to learn more about linking your slides together to create a non-linear presentation.

You can also put together an interactive quiz by linking elements in a single slide to appear on your click and so much more.

13 Keep transitions and animations consistent.

When adding transitions and animations to your slides and design elements, it can be easy to get excited about all of your options and go overboard.

But it’s important to keep all transitions and animations consistent within your presentation or it can easily overwhelm your audience. In fact, we recommend sticking to a single transition and animation type throughout your entire slideshow.

You also don’t have to animate every single one of your elements. Let some of them stay static while other, more important elements are animated on the screen.

14 Be energetic.

Your audience can feel your energy, and if you’re standing up at the front of the room and speaking through each slide with an unenthusiastic and monotone voice, they’re going to quickly lose interest.

You’re on the stage, and you need to command their attention. Practice this presentation tip by being energetic. Move around the front of the room or use hand motions.

It's also a good idea to drink water or fresh juice before your presentation to energize yourself. Don't forget to keep a water bottle with you during your presentation!

Learn how to use your voice to entertain your audience through your presentation. Vocal delivery matters , so practice beforehand and get comfortable changing intonation based on your content.

15 Tell a story.

When you’re able to tell a story that resonates with your audience and grabs their attention, you’ve got them wrapped around your finger for the rest of your talk.

There are many different storytelling techniques that can make your presentation stand out. Think about how you can incorporate one or two of these while putting together your content.

16 Use strong structure.

The structure of your presentation is important. It helps give your story and your presentation depth.

There are many different ways to structure your presentation based on its messaging, and you want to make sure that the one you choose makes sense for your topic.

Learn about seven potential methods for structuring your next presentation in the video below.

17 Know your audience.

Understand who is going to be in your audience—how many people, what their backgrounds are, who else will be speaking at the event that they’d be interested to see and more.

If you’re giving a presentation at a conference or networking event, you should be able to speak with the organizers to get answers to all of these questions. Once you really know your audience, you’ll be able to determine what they want to learn and how you should present the information.

18 Make eye contact.

Another presentation tip to remember while in front of your audience is to make eye contact. It exudes confidence when you’re able to look directly at the people you’re speaking with.

It can also help to persuade them to your point of view and keep your audience focused on you and what you’re saying to them.

Maintaining good eye contact with your presentation audience can even help you to speak more slowly and clearly so they can follow along more easily.

Making eye contact can be nerve-wracking for some presenters, so make sure you keep some tips in your back pocket , like holding eye contact for just four to five seconds, looking at people’s heads or making eye contact during your most critical lines.

19 Be funny.

Want to keep your audience engaged and help them fall in love with your presentation?

Make them laugh!

Incorporating humor into a presentation is always a great way to pass the time and make your information that much more interesting.

You don’t want to force it, because that can make things awkward for all parties involved, so make sure you plan some lighthearted humor that you can easily pull off.

Also ensure the jokes you tell are actually relevant to your content. You don’t want to start off by making your audience laugh and immediately jump into, “Now let’s talk about [entirely different topic]!” That will turn them off faster than if you didn’t use any humor at all.

Avoid controversial topics and sarcasm, and try testing out a few jokes before delivering them during your presentation.

20 Use your hands.

Standing still and straight as a board throughout the duration of your presentation will seem pretty off-putting to your audience.

Even if you don’t necessarily feel confident, you want to create the illusion of confidence, and moving around the stage and using your hands to emphasize your words is a great way to fake it until you make it.

21 Summarize.

Taking time throughout your presentation to summarize what you’ve said so far is a great way to help your audience fully understand the material and remember it for the future.

Create a summary slide after every main point and/or at the end of your presentation to conclude.

You can use a slide like the example below to share your summary or key takeaways for each section.

22 Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

While you don’t want to sound like you’ve just memorized your lines and are badly reading off a script, you do want to be completely comfortable with your material and the way you want to deliver your message.

And you get to that point by continuously rehearsing, re-reading your note cards and scrolling through your presentation slides to ensure you know what to say when and more.

You want your presentation to be a success , and you do that by being fully prepared and rehearsing plenty.

23 Don’t go over time.

Not only is rehearsing good for knowing your material, but it can also help make sure you don’t start rambling and lose track of time.

If you’re worried about going over on your time, there are apps that can help notify you of how much time you have left and help guide you through your presentation.

When you’re presenting at an event with lots of speakers, you want to make sure you’re being respectful to both the attendees and the presenters by not commandeering the show. Stick to your allotted time, and make sure you’re staying under each time you rehearse.

24 Embed your presentation.

After you’ve designed and given your presentation, what next? It’s over?

You’ve invested all of this time into creating an awesome piece of content, and you should continue to use it to your advantage. There are ways to still reach a broader audience after you’ve given your speech.

When you create a presentation in Visme, you can publish it online and easily embed it on your website.

This way, you can create a webpage or a blog surrounding your recent presentation and let people who weren’t able to see you present live still learn about your content.

Visme provides an embed code that makes it easy to share presentations online and seamlessly include all of your transitions, animations and interactivity.

Check out this example of an embedded Visme presentation below.

While there are many different ways to embed a presentation on a website, Visme’s embed is one of the most seamless and visually appealing, with no ugly outlines and slide changer messing with the design on your page. It’s also responsive and able to adapt to different screens.

25 Create a public link.

Visme also allows you to publish your presentation online so that you can get a public link to share with your audience. You can grab that link and share your content on social media, in email newsletters or even as a link in your email signature.

Plus, if you publish a presentation—or any design you create with Visme—publicly, you have access to analytics so you can view how each of your creations perform with your audience.

You’ll be able to look at how many total views your presentation received, how many people viewed the complete presentation and more.

26 Upload to SlideShare.

SlideShare is an online platform owned by LinkedIn that allows users to upload presentations.

The platform has millions of presentations, as well as powerful search features and categories, which makes it a great way to get your content found.

Create an account with SlideShare and link it to your LinkedIn account so you can easily share your presentation with your connections.

27 Regularly update and adapt.

Even if your presentation was created on an evergreen topic, information is always changing or being discovered. To keep your presentation relevant, make sure you regularly update and adapt your content to be current and accurate.

You can also include an area in the footer of your first or last slide with the creation date alongside the last date of update so your audience knows it’s being revisited often with updated information.

28 Turn it into a webinar.

Visme allows users to record audio directly in the app to add another dimension to a presentation, or even to turn it into a webinar .

Converting your presentation into a webinar can give you a way to connect with your audience on another level, and you can even have people sign up on your website to view it as a way to gather email addresses.

29 Turn it into a lead magnet.

While your webinar can also be considered a lead magnet, we’re covering something slightly different here. You don’t even have to worry about recording audio over your slides or making any changes.

Instead, you can require people to enter an email address directly in Visme before being able to view your content and generate new leads through there without setting up any other processes.

All you have to do is click Share in the top bar of your presentation maker, go to Advanced Settings, click the Social/Engagement tab and toggle Requires registration to On.

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About the Author

Chloe West is the content marketing manager at Visme. Her experience in digital marketing includes everything from social media, blogging, email marketing to graphic design, strategy creation and implementation, and more. During her spare time, she enjoys exploring her home city of Charleston with her son.

How to Give a Killer Presentation [2024]

January 05, 2024

When you give a killer presentation, you stand a much greater chance of making it easy for your audience. And if you make it easy for your audience they are more likely to respond.

What does creating a killer presentation mean in reality.

By killer presentation, I mean:

• A presentation that can be remembered.
• A presentation that positions you as someone of note within your organisation.
• A presentation that creates action, change in behaviour or change in thinking

To create a killer presentation you need to be different, and you need to take a few risks. (If there was a simple formula, then everyone would be doing it.) But when I say take risks, I mean doing things that are done outside the typical business setting but are actually best practice presentation skills training shortcuts. Shortcuts that have been tried and tested for hundreds if not thousands of years. You want to follow the cardinal rule of ‘Don’t be boring’.

An Example of a Killer Presentation

John is the COO of a large utilities company. We trained him to improve his presentation skills.  To deliver killer presentations. He has thousands of employees working daily in dangerous conditions, keeping water running for millions of customers. People have to work at heights, at depth, in the middle of the road, day and night, winter and summer. They work in every dangerous situation you could imagine.

And it is hard keeping everyone safe. Teams are scattered over several hundred square miles and they work autonomously, going to emergencies as and when they happen.

Health and safety is important to the business; it takes up a large part of senior management time. Every year the senior team gathers, and this year safety was again one of the main topics of the day.  

John, was new as COO and determined to make an impact. He know that the presentation skills he learned in his training would be critical.

His HR team had pulled together a big presentation deck discussing health and safety. It had the company history, the key imperatives, the company values, best working practices and updates on recent legislation. It was a comprehensive pack and it had taken weeks to put together. They even brought in professional designers to make sure the presentation looked as important as it was.

John knew from his presentation skills training at Benjamin Ball Associates that starting his presentation with slides – no matter how good – would not work. So he used a story from his early career. He started his killer presentation like this:

“When I was in twenties I was put in charge of a building site. In my first week on that job we had a crane collapse. “That night, I had to knock on a woman’s door and tell her that her husband had been killed on a site where I was in charge. “I don’t want any of you to have to go through what I went through that day. That’s why we are talking about health and safety today.”

In less than 80 words John had grabbed his audience’s attention, had appealed to their emotions and made them realise that he knew what he was talking about.

That was a great example of a killer presentation using advanced presentation skills.

While not every presentation you do will be a killer presentation, it is something that you should aim for. Much better to aim high and fall short than aim low and fall short anyway.

Learn how we can help – schedule a free consultation now

Why is it hard to create killer presentations?

One of the big challenges we face in business is that The Presentation has become a standard way of communicating. Unfortunately, the average presenter and the average presentation is not very good. As a result, time is wasted, money is wasted and we are not as clear and inspiring as we should be.

The average business presentation is completely forgettable. I often challenge clients to count the number of presentations they have seen in the last year, and then to describe any memorable ones. I am lucky if they can speak about one.

Too many people, when they hear the word “presentation”, reach for their computer and start creating slides. They feel as if they are making progress.

They pull information together, they lay it out into a PowerPoint document and admire their handiwork. Then they start to think about how to tell the story. You’ll never give a killer presentation like this.

What you need – A story, a script and a plan to create a killer presentation

BUT…the process for creating a great presentation should be more like that of making a movie. When you make a movie, filming (the equivalent of creating slides) only happens after you have a story, a script and a plan.

The better you have planned your presentation, the easier the process of giving it. At first, it may feel frustrating that you are not writing or creating slides. But when you invest in proper presentation planning, you will benefit many times over.

In the end you will spend less time playing with PowerPoint. You will spend less time editing and you will spend less time searching for a way to link the sections of your presentation together. You will probably find that practising and rehearsing is also easier and more enjoyable.

The other great advantage of improving your presentation skills is that you have formal check points where you can share your work to check that you are on track. This will help with timekeeping and, where necessary, make sure your colleagues are onside.

“There are three things that are important for a film. Number one is story, number two is story, number three is story. Good actors can save a bad script and make it bearable, but good actors can’t make a bad script good – they can just make it bearable.” – Mark Strickson, TV producer & acto r

Summary – how to improve your presentation skills for success

Start by planning, not by writing. This may feel counter intuitive, but you’ll make progress faster.

How to give a killer presentation? 9 steps:

• Use AIM as the first stage of preparing your presentation
• Analyse your AUDIENCE and understand their needs
• Be clear on the single INTENT/purpose of your presentation.
• Decide your one take-away MESSAGE from your presentation
• Agree the three parts of your presentation
• Create and perfect a 90 second summary of your presentation before fleshing it out
• Answer the WHY questions in your presentation before the WHAT or HOW questions
• Imagine your audience asking So What? and What’s in it for me? throughout.
• Check your presentation summary against your Audience, Intent and Message.

How to give a killer presentation. Step #1 – Have you taken AIM?

Summary – aim is an easy-to-apply planning tool that makes your business presentations and talks easier to prepare..

What typically goes wrong? Most people create presentations without proper planning. They start writing or creating visual aids before they have decided what they want to say.

Why does this matter? Without an effective tool for preparing a business presentation you waste time and will be less effective.

So, instead, Use AIM.  Start with a blank sheet of paper and write the three letters AIM across the top. In each of these columns start writing what you know about A: Your Audience, I: Your intent, or Purpose and M: your take-away Message. For Audience ask yourself searching questions about why they are here and what they want from your presentation. For Intent, summarise your intent into one clear line. And for message identify the single message that you’d like your audience to take away from your business presentation. See the next sections for more detail on A, I and M.

“90% of how well the business presentation will go is determined before the speaker steps on the platform.” – Somers White

Improve your presentation skills tips

• Use the AIM approach before all communications.
• Keep working at AIM until you are happy.

How to give a killer presentation. Step #2 – AIM Part 1: Who’s your audience and what do they need?

Summary – your audience, not you, should be centre of attention in your presentation. the better you understand your audience, the better your business presentation will be..

What typically goes wrong?  When people give presentations about their latest project, they talk about their latest project. If they are reporting quarterly results, they report quarterly results. If they are speaking about their new business, they tell the audience about their new business. If explaining a new piece of regulation, they talk about elements of that regulation.

The problem with this approach is they are not including their audience in their presentation. And if they don’t include the audience, The audience will be less engaged.

Why does this matter?  Audiences are selfish. They like being talked about.

Instead, to improve your presentation skills your presentation should be about what your subject means for your audience. For example:

• “What you can learn from our latest project.”
• “Our quarterly results and what they mean for your department next quarter.”
• “How our new business can make you money.”
• “What the new regulations mean for you and your clients”

To do this, you must understand your audience. That means asking questions about them and getting under their skin. For example, some questions you may have could include:

ABOUT BACKGROUND

• Who is coming to this business presentation?
• What common reference points can I use?
• What experiences have they shared?

ABOUT MOTIVATION

• Why are they coming?
• What problems do they have?
• What do they need and want?
• What will make life easy for them?

ABOUT EXPECTATIONS

• What would they like me to business presentation about?
• What would a win feel like for them?
• What will make them sit up?

ABOUT CONNECTING

• What can I say that will show them I am on their side?
• What stories will resonate?
• How can I add value?

ABOUT EMOTIONAL POSITION

• What frame of mind will they be in?
• What should I avoid talking about?
• What will make them feel good?
• What can I say at the start to win them over?

ABOUT MAKING IT EASY FOR THEM

• What specific language should I use?
• How should I position what I am talking about for this audience?
• What phrases will resonate?

The more you learn about your audience, the better you know them and the better you can plan your presentation for them.

“Designing a presentation without an audience in mind is like writing a love letter and addressing it: To Whom It May Concern.” – Ken Haemer, presentation designe r

Top Presentation Improvement Tips

• Before any presentation, analyse your audience
• Research them
• Make sure you really know them and their needs before you start planning what to say

Create a killer presentation. Step #3 – AIM Part 2: What are you trying to achieve?

Summary – decide early the intent or purpose to your presentation. this will help you direct your efforts and target your presentation so that you achieve your goals..

What typically goes wrong?  “I’m going to talk about…” is a typical answer to the question “Why are you doing this business presentation?” But presenting about something is of no use to anyone. It is pointless.

For example:

• “I’m presenting about our new project”
• “I’m presenting about the new regulations”
• “A pitch about our new fund”
• “An introduction to ABCX co”
• “Monthly board report”

Why does this matter?  For a presentation to work it requires a clear purpose. When you know your purpose you can harness your presentation to achieving just that.

So, instead, decide your intent. For example, when I asked a Chief Financial Officer recently what was the intent of his presentation, he was clear: he said that he “Wanted to look like the next CEO of this business.” This clear purpose made it easy to help him prepare what he said, how he said it and how he positioned himself.

Someone recently, when giving a presentation about new regulations, was clear that she wanted “to help companies use the new regulations to run better, more profitable businesses”.

An HR director who was introducing a new expense system was clear that her intent was to “get people to use the new system by next month so they can get paid faster and with less effort.’

A fund manager who was pitching a first time fund to new investors had a clear intent of “getting onto their radar screens and securing a second meeting.”

A company looking for a trade buyer had crystallised their intent into “creating excitement about the potential value of buying this business and demonstrate the risk of others buying it.”

“An accountant at an FMCG firm had the intent with his monthly board reports to “Get them to recognise the value my team adds.”

Having a clear intent will make it easier for you to plan your presentation. Identifying that intent is also one of the harder parts of planning a business presentation.

“A presentation is a voyage with purpose and it must be charted. The man who starts out going nowhere, generally gets there.” – Dale Carnegie

• Be absolutely clear on the intent of your presentation.
• Summarise your intent in one line
• Use your intent as your North Star to guide everything you say and how you say it.

Create a killer presentation. Step #4 – AIM part 3: What’s your one big take-away message?

Summary – your presentation needs a take-away message. this means one simple message so when someone asks “what was that presentation about” a listener can confidently answer what you want them to say., what typically goes wrong.

Many presentations have titles such as:

• “Quarterly strategy report”
• “Project X”
• “Manufacturing update”
• “Annual results”

These are all topics, not messages

Why does this matter?  These titles do not help the audience. It only tells them something they already know. With a topic title you miss the opportunity of preparing your audience and getting them in the right mindset to be ready for your presentation.

So, instead, identify a message that summarises your presentation that you can use as its title. Keep improving the title until it properly captures what you want to say. For example:

• “Our strategy remains on track”
• “Launching Project X by December could double revenues next year”
• “Manufacturing: three problems we must address”
• “Profits up 5% this year despite Covid headwinds”

Then test your title on other people. Check if it generates the reaction you want.

“If you can’t write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don’t have a clear idea.”  – David Belasco, theatre producer

Improve Presentation Skills: Tips

• Decide the title of your presentation early.
• Check it generates the reaction you want.
• Use this to build the rest of your presentation.
• Re-test your message against A.I.M.

How to give a killer presentation. Step #5 – What are the three parts of your presentation?

Summary – your brain is naturally tuned to hearing things in sets of three. if you can break your presentation into three parts that work together then it’s more likely to be successful..

What typically goes wrong?  Many presentations are like shopping lists. The presentation covers multiple topics and jumps from one idea to the next.

What’s wrong with a shopping list approach? In the end, a huge amount of information has been transmitted but little has been received.

So, instead, remember that Less is More in a presentation. Help your audience by giving them a structure. A three part structure is one of the most useful planning shortcuts that you can use.

Once you are completely clear about your intent and your message, start developing a three part structure for your presentation. For example, if I wanted to give a presentation that shared advice on how to present, I would consider using one of the following structures:

Mistakes other people make / Tips you can use / How to become a great speaker or How to define your messages / How to structure your presentation / How to deliver your presentation or What bad looks like / what good looks like / what you can do differently

“ In writing and speaking, three is more satisfying than any other number. “ – Carmine Gallow, author

• Find your three part structure early.
• Use the structure to focus your efforts and guide your planning

How to give a killer presentation. Step #6 – What is your story?

Summary – to improve your presentation skills you should underpin your presentation with a story or a narrative. no matter how dry your subject, by using a story it will be more memorable and more effective..

What typically goes wrong?  As an expert, a typical presenter wants to share knowledge. For example, A few years ago, I helped a lawyer give a business presentation to investors. This audience was made up of private equity investors in businesses who also sat on their boards. The subject was the 2006 Companies Act and the Duties and Responsibilities of a Director. A dry subject.

In her first draft, she reviewed sections of the Act and highlighted problems that directors may face. For example, “Section 172 of the Act, sets out your overarching duties as a director. You must act in the way you consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole.”

As you can imagine, it was not the most exciting of business presentations.

Why does this matter?  A precise business presentation may not be an interesting business presentation. And an uninteresting presentation will not be heard.  Your job as a presenter is to make your business presentation interesting and easy for your audience.

What to do instead

What this means is that you need to find a story that fits what you want to talk  about. This is key to improving presentation skills.

For example, for the investor director presentation above, we decided to title the presentation “How to keep your nose clean and yourself out of jail”

Then the presentation was based around a series of situations that anyone in the audience might face. She did not refer to any particular section of the Companies Act at all. Her text was:

“Imagine this situation. You turn up for a board meeting. You are a 10% shareholder and you are a director. At that board meeting the CEO announces that the company is near bankrupt and needs more funding. What should you do? Do you absent yourself, having a connected interest. Or do you declare your interest as a shareholder? Or do you carry as normal assuming business as usual?”

By framing it as a story you involve your audience and you make it easier for them to process what you say.

“Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.” – Jean Luc Godard, film director

• Find stories to tell, narratives to bring your facts to life.
• Tell the story behind the numbers.
• The dryer your subject matter, the more important stories become.

How to give a killer presentation. Step #7 – Have you asked WHY?

Summary – ‘why’ comes before ‘what’ comes before ‘how’.

What typically goes wrong? When a speaker knows a subject well, it is easy for them to assume knowledge and talk about the nuances of what they know. I often describe this as the ‘How’ of a subject.

For example, when speaking about a new engine you have developed, you might say that we made the pistons more accurately, that you mix petrol more precisely and you have added a new technique of managing engine performance.

Why does this matter?  This is one of the most common mistakes that experts make when giving presentations. They spend too much time explaining HOW something works, rather than explaining WHAT it is they are presenting about and WHY it is important.

Instead, to improve your presentation skills, phrase it like this, answering the WHY question:  “We have designed a car engine that is more efficient and will get 100 miles to the gallon.”

“Start with Why” – Simon Sinek

• Check that you are clear why the audience will be interested.
• Imagine someone in the audience asking “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM)

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Create a killer presentation. Step #8 – Can you give a 90 second summary of your presentation?

Summary – the best way to test your planning and improve your presentation skills is by speaking a c 100-200 word summary of your presentation. this summary will test the rigour of your thinking, the clarity of your ideas and the robustness of your plan..

What typically goes wrong?  The average poor presentation meanders from topic to topic and is more like a data dump than a well organised business presentation. It is rich in information but poor in story, structure and planning. It will not easily fit into a short sharp clear summary.

Why does this matter?  Lack of planning = Lack of story = hard on your audience.

So, instead, Create a short summary of your presentation to test your thinking

• You can use it early in your planning to test your ideas.
• If you are working with colleagues you can share your thinking.
• If you are preparing a presentation for someone else, you can share your summary to test their reaction.
• If someone else is preparing your presentation, you can use a summary to check they are on track.

This is one of the most powerful of all shortcuts and will save you a huge amount of wasted time.

“If you can’t write your message in a sentence, you can’t say it in an hour.” – Dianna Booher, Author

• Test your ideas with a short summary.
• Use a critical audience.
• If it is not tight enough, keep refining your summary.

Summary – how to plan your presentation for success

How to give a killer presentation try these steps:.

• Use AIM as the first stage of preparing any presentation
• A – Audience: Analyse your audience and understand their needs
• I – Intent: Be clear on the single purpose of your presentation.
• M – Message: Decide your one take-away message from your presentation
• Decide the three parts of your presentation
• Answer the WHY questions in your presentation before the WHAT or HOW questions.

How to Give a Killer Presentation – Next Steps

Of course, giving a killer presentation is not easy. If it were, our firm would not exist. Every day we help people create winning presentations. With advice and coaching we add value by making your presentations compelling.

We’ve been transforming presentations for 15 years and we do it for some of the most successful businesses in the world. Learn more about how to write a killer presentation and deliver a winning presentation.

If you want help making sure your next presentation is outstanding, get in touch. Call Louise Angus, our client services director for a no obligation chat about how we can help you write and deliver compelling presentations.

Transform your presentation skills with tailored coaching

We can help you present brilliantly. Thousands of people have benefitted from our tailored in-house coaching and advice – and we can help you too .

“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.” Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky

For 15+ years we’ve been the trusted choice of leading businesses and executives throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East to improve corporate presentations through presentation coaching, public speaking training and expert advice on pitching to investors.

Unlock your full potential and take your presentations to the next level with Benjamin Ball Associates.

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email [email protected] to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

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How to give a killer presentation – lessons from ted.

On the Harvard Business Review website presenters can find a true gem:  Lessons from Chris Anderson , curator of the TED conference series. While it was originally published in the magazine in 2013, I find this timeless insight for anybody who wants to improve presentation skills.

Chris starts out with a story to demonstrate that  giving a good talk is highly coachable.

He recalls meeting Richard Turere, a 12-year old Masai boy, who came up with a solution to one of the biggest challenges livestock farmers in Kenya face: protecting their animals from lions and other wild animals. He devised a system of lights that created a sense of movement that scared off lions at night. The lights worked as imagined by Richard and soon villagers in other part of Kenya started installing Richard’s “lion lights”.

This is the kind of inspiring story that is perfect for a  TED Talk . The only problem: Richard seemed not an ideal candidate to give a presentation to a large audience used to listening to polished speakers like Bill Gates and Al Gore. Richard was painfully shy and when he tried to explain his invention, the sentences came out incoherently. Despite of this, Chris invited Richard to tell his story at at the 2013 TED conference.

In the months prior to his presentation, the team at TED coached Richard to frame his story – to find the right place to begin, and to develop the story into a killer presentation.

Chris Anderson writes in the HBR article, “When he finally gave his talk at TED, in Long Beach, you could tell he was nervous, but that only made him more engaging — people were hanging on his every word. The confidence was there, and every time Richard smiled, the audience melted. When he finished, the response was instantaneous: a sustained standing ovation.”

So how does the TED team coach their presenters to frame, practice, and deliver their stories? The process to create a killer presentation starts six to nine months before the event. That’s right!

A real killer presentation requires lots of planning, devising, rehearsing, and lots of fine tuning along the way.  The actual task of transforming a presentation from muddled to mesmerizing is a matter of hours…spread over a longer period of time.

How to Give a Killer Presentation Anywhere – Not Only at TED

Frame your story.

We all have good stories to tell. The most vital part of making your story compelling is to conceptualize it and put it in a frame that people want to hear.

Think about taking your audience on a journey. As with any journey, how you start it and where you finish it is vital to the entire experience.  The most engaging speakers quickly introduce the topic, explain why they care so deeply about it, and convince the audience members that they should as well.

Don’t cram everything you know into your presentation. Instead, use a few specific examples to highlight your ideas. Your presentation won’t be rated by how broad it is, but rather by how deep you can involve your listener into a few well explained details about the problem you are solving.

Plan Your Delivery

There are three main ways to give a talk. You can read it off a script or teleprompter. You can develop a set of bullet points that map out what you’re going to cover in each section. Or you can memorize your talk to deliver it word for word as you have practiced it.

Of course, the last method is the most time consuming during your preparation. It will require hours of rehearsing. Memorizing your talk, however, is also the most effective once you are in front of your audience. It is the one the TED team recommends to their presenters for a good reason: many of their best and most popular talks have been memorized word for word.

What if you don’t have the time or the presentation is not as significant as a TED Talk with 1,400 people in the audience and millions behind their computer screens? Go with bullet points on flash cards. As long as you know what you want to say to each point and transition well from section to section, you’ll be fine.

Another point Chris makes in the HBR article is to sound natural. Present your information and story in a conversational tone. Don’t orate, don’t lecture. Be as natural as if you would talk to a group of your friends.

Develop Stage Presence

Just the thought of standing in front of an audience can be extremely frightening. To take off some of this edge, always remember that your words, story, and substance is much more important to the audience than the way you stand or if you are visibly nervous.

Richard seems quite nervous in his presentation about the “lion lights”, but people in the audience didn’t care at all about that. In fact,  he built better rapport because the audience members could identify with this nervousness.  Furthermore, they sensed that he is confident talking about his experience and story. That’s one of the reasons his talk was receiving such a positive feedback.

One of the biggest mistakes the TED team sees in early rehearsals is that people move their bodies too much. They sway from side to side or shift their weight from one leg to the other. They coach their presenters to keep their lower bodies motionless, which can dramatically improve stage presence. Although there are some presenters that are able to walk around the stage during their presentation (the late Steve Jobs was very natural doing it), the majority of presenters is better off standing still and relying on hand gestures and facial expressions.

The one aspect that will do most for your successful presentation is eye contact.   Pick a few audience members and imagine them as friends you haven’t seen in a while.  Make solid eye contact with them while you update them on your work.

Plan the Multimedia

You probably have heard the advice about PowerPoint (or similar presentation software): Keep it Simple!   Don’t use your presentation deck as a crutch, as a substitute for notes. And never, ever read from your slides.  It will only make the audience think that they could do that themselves in the comfort of their home or office. Instead, use powerful images that visualize the key points of your presentation.

In Richard’s presentation about his “lion lights” there are no text slides. They are not needed. There are, however, many photographs that engage the audience to take a short journey into Richard’s world.

Putting it Together

The TED team starts helping their presenters at least six months in advance so that they’ll have plenty of time to practice. They want people’s talks in final form one month prior to the event. Why? The more practice the presenters can put in during the final weeks, the more compelling the presentation will be.

The most important thing to keep in mind though is that  presentations rise and fall on the quality of ideas, the narrative, and the passion of the speaker.  It’s about substance, not speaking style or multimedia pyrotechnics. If you have something to say, you can build a great talk.

Remember, there is no one good way to give a killer presentation. The most memorable talks offer something fresh, engaging, and relevant.

Read the full article on the Harvard Business Review website.

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Chris Anderson shares his tips for giving a killer presentation

In a new essay in The Harvard Business Review ’s June issue , Anderson shares his fine-tuned advice for delivering a powerful talk. A few choice tidbits:

“We all know that humans are wired to listen to stories, and metaphors abound for the narrative structures that work best to engage people. When I think about compelling presentations, I think about taking an audience on a journey.”

“Many of our best and most popular TED Talks have been memorized word for word … Most people go through what I call the ‘valley of awkwardness,’ where they haven’t quite memorized the talk. If they give the talk while stuck in that valley, the audience will sense it … Getting past this point is simple, fortunately. It’s just a matter of rehearsing enough times that the flow of words becomes second nature.”

“Perhaps the most important physical act onstage is making eye contact. Find five or six friendly-looking people in different parts of the audience and look them in the eye as you speak. Think of them as friends you haven’t seen in a year, whom you’re bringing up to date on your work.“

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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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14 Must-Know Presentation Tips for a Killer Presentation [in 2023]

Guru - November 8, 2022 - Leave your thoughts. 18 min read

We're all familiar with the old adage: "A good presentation is like a great conversation."

What makes a presentation great?

Is it a compelling story? Or a good connection with your audience? Or is it about an eloquent delivery by the presenter?

The truth is, there is no “one-size-fits-all solution” for creating great presentations. Every presentation is different, and every audience is different.

When you’re tasked with delivering a presentation, you want to ensure it goes off without a hitch. We all know how important it is for the audience to remember and understand the content.

So if you’re wondering how to make a killer presentation that will stand out and stay in people’s minds for a long time, you’ve come to the right place!

In this article, we have addressed the most frequently asked questions about presentations.

We have also compiled a list of great presentation tips to improve your deck designs, presentation best practices, and effective ways to communicate the subject to your audience.

Here’s what the article covers,

What makes a good presentation?

• 14 Must-Know Presentation Tips to give a killer presentation

What are the difficulties in making a presentation?

Spellbound your audience with these presentation tips.

When we think about presentations, we often think about the content itself. We imagine a long list of facts or figures, a well-rehearsed script, and a PowerPoint slide deck.

But what makes a good presentation? What makes it memorable, engaging, and valuable?

These are questions that any presenter should be asking themselves.

Here are the four characteristics of a good presentation:

• A good presentation makes you want to take action.
• It helps your audience engage and be interested in what you have to say. It educates and entertains at the same time.
• It puts forth information in a way that makes it easy for them to understand and process without overwhelming them.
• If you're one of those people who's always thinking, "What can I add to my own presentation?”

Well, we've compiled some best presentation tips for you that will help make your next presentation memorable—and, more importantly, help you do what you came here to do: share information with the world.

So read on to find out.

14 Must Know Presentation Tips for a killer presentation [in 2023]

Ever felt like you're struggling to make a presentation on time? Worried about how good your presentation will turn out? We have all been there.

This is why we have put together a list of great presentation tips that can make your next presentation a breeze, and we hope it helps!

Here are some tips to help you create a great presentation:

• Do proper homework on the subject
• Have a strong opening
• Follow a presentation structure
• Have a Hook!
• Tell an engaging story
• Use visual elements
• Keep it short
• Add a touch of humor
• Have a parking lot for questions
• Learn to empathize with the audience
• Keep it interactive with Call-to-action
• Incorporate Data when required
• Use Hashtags in your presentation
• Try out unique presentation templates

Tip 1 - Do proper homework on the subject

Whenever a topic is assigned to you for a presentation, it goes without saying that you understand the topic correctly.

You must do proper homework and research on the subject to ensure you know what you're talking about.

Reading articles and books, or even watching videos or podcasts, will help you understand the topic and how the presentation should be structured.

Also, if you need more background information on the topic, don't be afraid to ask for help from other people—you might find that they know more than you think!

Take notes while learning about the topic. This will help you remember key points.

Then, read your notes before you present and practice saying them aloud (this will help with timing and pronunciation).

Use a timer; this helps keep track of how long you take to say things while also keeping yourself from getting too nervous.

Do some fundamental research on your audience and their expectations about your presentation.

For instance, If they're business executives, they might be looking for intellectual information and numbers. Or, If they're a general audience, they may want more details about how your product works or how it can benefit them.

You'll be surprised how much more effective your presentation will be when you know,

Everything about the topic How crucial it is for the audience, and What the audience expects from the presentation

So only present a topic after doing loads of essential research!

Tip 2 - Have a strong opening

An excellent way to ensure that your presentation is successful is by having a solid opening. Plan the intro slides ahead so that you can set the right tone for the pitch.

Have a strong opening statement that tells your audience who they are listening to, why they're here, what they will hear from you, and anything else you want them to know!

Doing so will help keep your audience engaged and interested in what you have to say.

Be prepared for questions from your audience before you start speaking. It is not necessary that the audience must wait till the end to ask questions.

Being prepared will help you answer them well and present yourself as an expert in the field.

Tip 3 - Follow a presentation structure

The first thing you should do is decide on a structure for your presentation. This will help you ensure that you cover all essential topics and leave no gaps in what you say.

The most successful presentations start with a strong introduction, followed by a clear and concise main body, and ending with a proper sign-off.

The body presents the study's research, findings, and conclusions in an organized and engaging way.

The final section/sign-off should close with any additional information or recommendations. Not just that, it must also give the audience space to ask questions related to the presentation.

Each section can have about two or three minutes of content. This would help structure the presentation concisely and make sure to include all important information.

Use transitions between slides that move from one topic to another, rather than just jumping from one slide to another in one continuous flow.

This makes your content more manageable for your audience to follow and gives them more time to digest what they're seeing before moving on to the next thing!

Hence, remember this effective presentation tip - follow a proper structure!

Tip 4 - Have a Hook!

When you're delivering a presentation, keeping your audience's attention is essential.

But how do you make learning a little more fun? What are the best presenting tips and tricks?

Well, one way is by making sure that your presentation has a hook.

A hook can be anything from an element of surprise (like an announcement that will keep them anticipated till the end) to something unexpected (a discount!).

This will help to keep your audience engaged because they won't feel like they're reading through a textbook or manual - they'll feel like they're getting involved in your story.

Ideally, hooks are placed at the start of the presentation. It's the part that acts as a surprise for the audience, keeping them engaged and excited, and would help retain the audience's attention.

However, remember that the fewer distractions in your presentation, the easier it will be for them to see how amazing it is!

Tip 5 - Tell an engaging story

When you're creating a presentation, it’s a thumb rule to make sure your slide decks are memorable and engaging throughout.

One of the best ways to do this is by telling a story—whether that's a story about your business, your life, or anything else related to the subject.

Telling a story is the key to creating an excellent presentation.

Your audience will be more interested if they can relate to what's on your slides. So tell them a story that connects with their lives and work experiences - it may be a funny anecdote or a relatable work prank!

Let's say you're talking about how to create a product. You can start by showing an image or a video of the product. You can develop the flow by telling the product story and how it has grown through the years.

That way, your audience gets to see both sides of the coin: what this product does and how it was made.

The more details you include in your presentation, the better it will be for viewers—not only because they'll get more information but because they'll also have more context for what they see on screen.

Hence, remember to carve your presentation with a well-practiced, engaging story.

Tip 6 - Use visual elements

People love visual aids—they help them remember things better than words alone!

When you're presenting a product or service, you have to look at it from all angles—from the customer's point of view, the provider's point of view, and your own.

It's essential to keep in mind that your presentation must build a connection with the audience. You must consider the audience’s needs and how you can meet them. The best way to bring that connection is not just through words but to incorporate visual proofs in your slide decks.

But the visual elements used must be relevant to the topic at hand.

For example, if your company is doing something great for the community, show pictures of people smiling in joy from being around you!

If you're talking about how much money you've made over the years as an entrepreneur, add pictures of dollar signs!

Finally, make sure that everything in your presentation flows together nicely.

For example, if visual element parts don't match, then consider breaking them up into two separate slides or changing how things are laid out so it doesn't feel so jarring when someone views it.

Use quality screenshots and images that are relevant to the topic at hand. This is especially important when you're speaking in front of an audience who may need to become more familiar with your product or service.

If possible, use photos or videos of people who might be familiar with your topic—people who will help convey your message more effectively than just text alone.

You don't have to go all out on the graphics, but if you can, try to use high-quality images that are easy to understand.

With online presentation makers like Animaker Deck, you get access to the stock images library; you can pick and add high-quality images for your slide decks with a simple click now!

Also, the best part is you can upload screenshots and brand images directly into the app and use them in the presentation.

Tip 7 - Keep it short

Ever wonder why some presentations are so dull? It's because they're dragging!

A good presentation should be at most 20 minutes at maximum and be structured so that even a first-time viewer can easily understand the information conveyed.

Ensure your audience knows what to expect from you and your content. Refrain from crossing the line of being boring or boringly informative. Your audience should never feel like they're being lectured.

One key business presentation tip is to convey the message to the audience most memorably and engagingly possible.

It is really in the hands of the presenter to steer the audience’s attention throughout the presentation without giving too many dull moments.

The shorter, the better. Keep your slides concise, and avoid falling into the trap of talking about things that have nothing to do with your actual point.

Tip 8 - Add a touch of humor

If you're trying to create an awesome presentation, you can do a few things to ensure it's easy on the eyes and makes people want to engage.

One of the best methods for communicating the message in a light-hearted manner and making your presentation stand out is through humor.

Try to avoid text-heavy slides! You can use witty remarks, analogies, drawings, personal anecdotes, or even memes that suit current trends.

When you tell about something that has happened to you, people may be able to associate with it even more if the story is humorous.

This way, you can easily withhold the audience’s attention through the presentation.

Tip 9 - Have a parking lot for questions

When you're creating a presentation, it's important to keep the audience engaged and excited about what's coming up next. Therefore, it is very necessary to make the presentation a two-way street.

A good way to do this is by asking questions during your presentation and allowing them to answer. This helps keep the audience interested in what they're learning and makes them feel like they're part of the conversation.

The audience should be engaged throughout the presentation and allowed to ask questions to the presenter.

However, it is also vital to ensure that the flow of the presentation is not disrupted by the bombardment of questions in the middle of the presentation.

To tackle this, the presenter can introduce a “parking lot” in their presentation.

So when the audience asks a question about a particular section in the presentation, the presenter can choose to park similar questions together and answer them all together at the end of the presentation.

This way, the presentation’s flow is not affected, and even the audience will get their questions answered.

This is an important skill to be imbibed by every presenter to ensure the audience feels comfortable and gains a good experience from the presentation.

Tip 10 - Learn to empathize with the audience

One of the most important things to remember when creating a presentation is that you are trying to connect with your audience.

Learn to empathize with the audience. You'll want to understand what they're seeing, feeling, and thinking so that you can communicate your message in a way that resonates with them.

By understanding their needs, you can create a more meaningful presentation that will resonate with them. Try to put yourself in their shoes and imagine how they think about this topic.

Are they excited? Are they bored? What are they hoping for? What do they want to see from you?

Know your audience's needs!

It would help if you talked to people with similar backgrounds as your audience and how they would like to be educated on the topic.

Before you start creating content for your presentation, think about who you're speaking to and what they need from you.

When you do this, you will not only speak more clearly, but you'll also be able to connect with them emotionally, making your message stick.

Tip 11 - Keep it interactive with Call-to-action

Have you ever been in a presentation where the speaker makes it look like a one-way conversation? It's not an intentional act of rudeness—the speaker is just trying to get their point across.

But for the audience, it might be very disappointing!

The solution? Keep your presentation interactive with call-to-action buttons that let your audience help move things along.

When something important is being discussed, ask them to take action by clicking on one of the buttons that appear on the screen.

Include a call-to-action that tells your audience what they should do next (like sign up for my newsletter!) or take action on what you've just told them (like buy my product!).

So include call-to-action buttons wherever necessary, so viewers feel like they're partaking in something meaningful rather than just watching someone talk for hours on end!

But one thing, don’t go overboard on those CTAs either. Too many CTAs can be bugging.

Tip 12 - Incorporate Data when required

Creating a presentation is a complicated task, but it's also incredibly important that you need to be able to convey information clearly and effectively.

That's where data comes in!

Data can help you make your point by giving context and supporting the main points of your argument.

Incorporate data when required to present information to the audience quickly. This will make your audience understand what you're talking about more efficiently and allow them to consume the information in a way that makes sense to them.

Use real-life examples and statistics whenever possible because people love those!

With an online presentation maker like Animaker Deck, you get access to the property section, where you can search and add charts, graphs, icons, and other properties directly into your slide decks with just a few clicks.

For example, if you're presenting an overview of how your company's business model works, include graphs or charts that show how the different parts of the model work together so that people who aren't familiar with it can follow along easily.

Or, if you're talking about something more complex, like an industry trend, use graphs or charts to illustrate key points about it, such as growth rates for specific industries over time or changes in consumer demand based on demographics.

You can also use numbers and percentages in charts when comparing different items or events.

Tip 13 - Use Hashtags in your presentation

It’s the era of social media. People are likely tweeting, emailing, or running their entire little business on their phones and sharing every life update on the internet while still doing other chores.

When used correctly, hashtags can: Persuade attendees to share your event on social media, give participants a way to continue the conversation online, and permit you to review tagged comments to evaluate consumer feedback.

You can create a hashtag for your event and use it in the presentation. Promote social media interactions with the hashtag. This will allow you to connect with other users interested in what you have to say!

You can help inspire viewers to share news, ideas, and updates about your presentation by linking this custom hashtag you created. It combines social interaction, event promotion, and word-of-mouth marketing into one.

So if you use social media in your presentation, make sure you promote the hashtag you'll use. This will ensure that people who follow your brand or business see and interact with the hashtag!

Tip 14 - Try out unique presentation templates

We know how hard it is to come up with a good pitch and how hard it is to be creative when you have no time to waste on making something from scratch.

Thanks to online presentation makers like Animaker Deck, creating a presentation online is now easier than ever.

You can access exciting presentation templates with the help of Animaker's online presentation software, hundreds of customizable layouts and branding options, free stock images, properties, transition effects, and animations.

They'll let you get straight to the point and help you win every pitch because they're so easy to use and exceptionally engaging that they'll blow your audience away!

In other words, Animaker Deck handholds you in bringing all your fascinating presentation ideas to life with its one-of-a-kind features and built-in templates, ready for you to use on the go!

Making a presentation can be a daunting task.

The difficulty lies in brainstorming the subject matter, preparing the presentation, and successfully presenting it to the audience. Overall, it is a lengthy and time-consuming process.

A good presentation must be organized and have a logical flow.

Many difficulties are encountered when preparing a presentation. This includes lack of preparation, lack of information about the subject, or worse, lack of interest in learning the subject from an academic perspective, let alone presenting it.

1st , you have to know what you're talking about. You must do your research and be able to explain the topic clearly and concisely.

2nd , you have to make a good impression quickly. You need to get your point across in a way that makes people want to listen—so they don't drift off and tune out!

3rd , your presentation must be not only exciting but also useful. If people don't learn something from your presentation, then it wasn't worth making in the first place!

Sure, you've been doing it for years—but that doesn't mean you're an expert at it. On the contrary, it's a skill that takes practice and dedication to master, and it can be frustrating when things don't go quite as planned.

So if you want to make better presentations every time, implement the above compelling presentation tips and overcome all the difficulties!

That’s all, folks!

We hope you found the above slide Presentation tips very useful, and you will never have to worry about making a presentation anymore!

Now that you know how to make an excellent presentation, it's time to start imbibing these presentation tips in your next presentation and spellbound your audience immediately!

Create a free account with Animaker Deck today to start dominating all of your presentations right away!

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10 Tips on Giving a Killer Presentation

Here's how to stand out from the crowd when you're in front of the room..

As presentation software goes, PowerPoint has long been ubiquitously chosen by presenters, but other good options exist, depending on what you want to communicate and how you're putting it all together. For example, Google Drive Slides are great if you need to collaborate with others on content, because all changes are updated and stored on the cloud so you have real-time access to the latest version. Apple users should definitely consider iCloud Keynote , which is also good for collaborating but features an intuitive user interface with a sophisticated look and feel. But if you want to do something fresh,  Prezi is worth checking out. It uniquely uses motion to let you zoom in and out of your content, all of which is visually connected in a path that shows how ideas are related. The online software also makes integrating YouTube videos simple, a nice perk for anyone using video sourced from Google's platform.

Regardless of which software you use, Prezi's blog offers a wealth of tips on how to give a presentation your audience will pay attention to and remember. Here are 10 solid bits of advice from Prezi, which has amassed more than 50 million users in the six years the company has been around.

1. Research your audience.

If you want to influence these people, you need to know what they care about and what motivates them.

2. Include dissenting views.

Identify ways your audience may challenge your ideas and acknowledge them in your talk. Dismissing dissenting views won't make them go away.

3. Start with a good story.

TED Talks speakers use this tactic all the time. Your opening story should be one everyone in the room can relate to.

4. Reiterate your main message three times.

Professional communicators put it this way, "Tell them what you're going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell them what you told them." In other words, introduce the points you will be making, and then spend the meat of your presentation fleshing them out. Conclude by reminding the audience about your points.

5. Practice like crazy.

When you know what you're going to say backward and forward, you don't have to worry about fumbling your words or losing your train of thought. Saying your talk out loud many times in advance also helps you to edit out awkward wordiness. Your audience will appreciate a no-rambling approach.

6. Memorize.

If you've ever seen someone glancing at note cards, you know that it's not only distracting to an audience but also conveys that a speaker may lack confidence. Don't memorize every word, just the flow of your key points and the examples you will use to back them up. Check out Prezi's blog on how you can memorize any presentation in 60 minutes or less.

7. Make eye contact.

You can't persuade someone if you're not looking him or her in the eye. Just make sure to scan the room without staring at any individual for too long.

8. Use a good closing story.

It should be one that relates directly to your message and allows you to reiterate your main points. Less is more when it comes to closing, so keep your story succinct while being authentic. Essentially, your closing story should be close to your heart while summarizing your message.

9. Avoid bullet points.

They're boring. Instead, use a compelling image with text that's no longer than a tweet.

10. Use big gestures.

Holding your arms in close to your body not only looks unnatural, it also makes you look nervous. You're telling stories, so act like it by commanding the space you're inhabiting in front of the room.

A refreshed look at leadership from the desk of CEO and chief content officer Stephanie Mehta

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How to Give a Killer Presentation

Whether you’re pitching a new idea to investors, presenting a project update to stakeholders, or speaking at a conference, the impact of your presentation can significantly influence your professional trajectory. But what transforms a standard presentation into a killer one?

The First Step to Engagement

The cornerstone of any powerful presentation is a deep understanding of your audience. Tailoring your content to meet their interests, concerns, and level of understanding is crucial. It’s not just about what you want to say, but what they need to hear.

The Power of Storytelling

Great presentations are akin to compelling stories . They have a clear beginning, middle, and end, and they take the audience on a journey. The best presenters are master storytellers who know how to weave facts and data with anecdotes and metaphors, creating a narrative that is both informative and engaging. Remember, facts tell, but stories sell.

Clarity Over Complexity

One common pitfall in presentations is overcomplication. The best presentations are simple and clear. They focus on key messages and avoid clutter. Steve Jobs , renowned for his presentation skills, was a proponent of simplicity. He understood that the more straightforward the presentation, the more likely it is to be understood and remembered.

The Visuals: Enhancing, Not Overpowering

Visual aids, when used correctly, can significantly enhance a presentation. However, they should support, not overshadow, your message. Slides should be visually appealing and minimalistic, with a focus on high-quality graphics and a limited amount of text. The rule of thumb is that if your audience is reading your slides, they’re not listening to you.

Engagement Techniques: Beyond the Words

Engagement is not just about what you say, but how you say it. Effective presenters use a variety of techniques to keep their audience engaged. This includes varying their tone, making eye contact, using gestures, and incorporating moments of interaction, such as Q&A sessions. The goal is to create a two-way dialogue, not a monologue.

Have you read? 

• Friendship and Its ROI in Business Ventures
• How AI is Transforming Client Interactions in Six Key Industries
• Bridging the Divide: The Role of Active Listening in Dialogues of Disagreement

Rehearsal: The Unsung Hero of Presentations

A killer presentation is often the result of rigorous rehearsal. Practice helps in refining your content, timing, and delivery. It also builds confidence, which is key to a successful presentation. Rehearsing in front of a test audience can provide valuable feedback and help you fine-tune your performance.

Conclusion: The Lasting Impact of a Memorable Presentation

Overall, giving a killer presentation is much more than just piecing together different elements. It’s truly an art — a blend of understanding your audience, telling a compelling story, keeping things clear and simple, using visuals that complement your words, actively engaging with your audience, and, of course, practicing until you get it right. When you get a handle on these aspects, you’ll turn your presentations into unforgettable experiences that not only inform but also inspire and persuade your listeners. Always remember, every time you present, you have a unique chance to make an impact. Make every presentation matter.

Want to understand the future of marketing, business and personal finance?

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18 tips for killer presentations.

Jerry Seinfeld has a skit where he points out that studies show public speaking is a bigger fear than death. That means, he claims, that if you are going to a funeral you are better off in the casket than doing the eulogy. While there isn’t a lot you can do to melt away your anxiety, a the best start is simply to make a better presentation.

Becoming a competent, rather than just confident, speaker requires a lot of practice. But here are a few things you can consider to start sharpening your presentation skills:

• 10-20-30 Rule – This is a slideshow rule offered by Guy Kawasaki. This rule states that a powerpoint slide should have no more than 10 slides, last no longer than 20 minutes and have no text less than 30 point font. He says it doesn’t matter whether your idea will revolutionize the world, you need to spell out the important nuggets in a few minutes minutes, a couple slides and a several words a slide.
• Be Entertaining – Speeches should be entertaining and informative. I’m not saying you should act like a dancing monkey when giving a serious presentation. But unlike an e-mail or article, people expect some appeal to their emotions. Simply reciting dry facts without any passion or humor will make people less likely to pay attention.
• Slow Down – Nervous and inexperienced speakers tend to talk way to fast. Consciously slow your speech down and add pauses for emphasis.
• Eye Contact – Match eye contact with everyone in the room. I’ve also heard from salespeople that you shouldn’t focus all your attention on the decision maker since secretaries and assistants in the room may hold persuasive sway over their boss.
• 15 Word Summary – Can you summarize your idea in fifteen words? If not, rewrite it and try again. Speaking is an inefficient medium for communicating information, so know what the important fifteen words are so they can be repeated.
• 20-20 Rule – Another suggestion for slideshows. This one says that you should have twenty slides each lasting exactly twenty seconds. The 20-20 Rule forces you to be concise and to keep from boring people.
• Don’t Read – This one is a no brainer, but somehow Powerpoint makes people think they can get away with it. If you don’t know your speech without cues, that doesn’t just make you more distracting. It shows you don’t really understand your message, a huge blow to any confidence the audience has in you.
• Speeches are About Stories – If your presentation is going to be a longer one, explain your points through short stories, quips and anecdotes. Great speakers know how to use a story to create an emotional connection between ideas for the audience.
• Project Your Voice – Nothing is worse than a speaker you can’t hear. Even in the high-tech world of microphones and amplifiers, you need to be heard. Projecting your voice doesn’t mean yelling, rather standing up straight and letting your voice resonate on the air in your lungs rather than in the throat to produce a clearer sound.
• Don’t Plan Gestures – Any gestures you use need to be an extension of your message and any emotions that message conveys. Planned gestures look false because they don’t match your other involuntary body cues. You are better off keeping your hands to your side.
• “That’s a Good Question” – You can use statements like, “that’s a really good question,” or “I’m glad you asked me that,” to buy yourself a few moments to organize your response. Will the other people in the audience know you are using these filler sentences to reorder your thoughts? Probably not. And even if they do, it still makes the presentation more smooth than um’s and ah’s littering your answer.
• Breathe In Not Out – Feeling the urge to use presentation killers like ‘um,’ ‘ah,’ or ‘you know’? Replace those with a pause taking a short breath in. The pause may seem a bit awkward, but the audience will barely notice it.
• Come Early, Really Early – Don’t fumble with powerpoint or hooking up a projector when people are waiting for you to speak. Come early, scope out the room, run through your slideshow and make sure there won’t be any glitches. Preparation can do a lot to remove your speaking anxiety.
• Get Practice – Join Toastmasters and practice your speaking skills regularly in front of an audience. Not only is it a fun time, but it will make you more competent and confident when you need to approach the podium.
• Don’t Apologize – Apologies are only useful if you’ve done something wrong. Don’t use them to excuse incompetence or humble yourself in front of an audience. Don’t apologize for your nervousness or a lack of preparation time. Most audience members can’t detect your anxiety, so don’t draw attention to it.
• Do Apologize if You’re Wrong – One caveat to the above rule is that you should apologize if you are late or shown to be incorrect. You want to seem confident, but don’t be a jerk about it.
• Put Yourself in the Audience – When writing a speech, see it from the audiences perspective. What might they not understand? What might seem boring? Use WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) to guide you.
• Have Fun – Sounds impossible? With a little practice you can inject your passion for a subject into your presentations. Enthusiasm is contagious.

What tips do you have for making killer presentations?

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How to Create Killer Presentation Slides (Key Components and Tips)

Last updated on April 16th, 2024

Powerful slide presentations are visually appealing, not visually distracting. They effectively convey a specific message to a certain group of people for various purposes. However, not everyone knows about the crucial components of a killer presentation that can impact the listeners’ minds.

Slide shows are easy to produce, update, and present if you know how to grab the attention of your audience . Creating powerful presentations is one of the skills that will let you differentiate from many professionals, business leaders, public speakers as well and students. That is why you must be aware of specific components of engaging presentations with tips to present in front of any listener. So, how to make a good slideshow presentation? In this article, we present tips that will let you make killer presentations that stand out from the crowd.

Why putting in the effort to create killer presentations?

In the modern age of technological revolution, digital means of communication have prevailed in almost every type of industry. If you want to deliver an idea, a message, a business proposal, or an argument, slide decks are one of the most effective tools to achieve these objectives.

1. Presentations are powerful sales tools

PowerPoint presentations are effective sales tools as they are used for selling ideas, products, and services in almost all types of industries and for a variety of business models, B2B sales, B2C, social selling, etc. A speaker or presenter may have his own method of delivering a message but the visual appeal of the sales deck proves to be very helpful in resonating with the minds, thoughts, and ideas of the listeners.

By using sales presentations or sales decks, a salesman can inform his prospective clients by informing them of the potential benefits of his products or services. He can then convince them by identifying their problems and offering his product or service as a solution. In the end, with the aid of a structured sales presentation that includes compelling graphics, diagrams, infographics, and visual slides, he can persuade his listeners to purchase his product or service. A salesman with a top-notch slide presentation can convert his listeners into customers.

2. Presentations are important in public speaking

Being a good orator or public speaker is not enough to leave a long-lasting impact on your audience during your public speaking activities. You will need the assistance of other techniques and tools as well to become a powerful public speaker . That is why presentations are very useful in the public speaking process as they facilitate the speaker in conveying his message through the visual aid.

According to analysts, a piece of visual information gets perceived and understood 60,000 times faster than textual information . So, the recipe to deliver a top-notch public speech is to have a well-organized and audience-focused speech along with organized and structured visuals and graphics in the form of a presentation.

You don’t have to be a graphic designer or Adobe Photoshop expert to create and design a killer presentation for your next event or activity. You can take advantage of free templates and presentation slides provided by sites like FPPT, where you can download thousands of premade PowerPoint Templates for any topic. In this way, you can focus more on your presentation delivery part than on slide designing and preparation stages.

3. Presentations are essential for promoting brands

To outshine your competition in the ever-vibrant markets, you need to be aware of modern and appealing business tactics and techniques to grab the attention of prospective buyers and prospects.

When business leaders and professionals attend various seminars, exhibitions, or virtual video conferences, slide decks become much more effective tools to promote your services, products, and ultimately brands.

Presentations can be regarded as the language of business communication processes. Therefore, mastering the art of making and delivering efficient slide decks has become more relevant and necessary in the modern business landscape. Putting all the effort into making a killer presentation will help you to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

So, how to give a killer presentation? In the next chapters we will explain how to prepare a great presentation and give it to the audience.

What are the Key Components of a Killer PowerPoint Presentation?

In order to develop and present powerful PowerPoint presentations, you need to be aware of a structured approach to organizing your data and information in the form of slides. Here are some actionable key components of a killer presentation that can help you in achieving your desired goals and help you make your presentation look better.

1. Cover Slide 

A cover slide is used to set the tone of the whole presentation topic. Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to create your slides cohesively by offering some basic preset themes and color variations. However, to grab the attention of your listeners, you will need to have a more professionally designed slide presentation. Our website comes in handy in offering a variety of presentation cover PPT slides and designs for almost any kind of presentation topic that you may have. For example, if you want to deliver a presentation on the topic of market trends, you can have a look at the Free Market Trend Analysis PowerPoint Template , to have an idea of how the cover slide will look in this case. You can customize your presentation cover page and slides as per the guidelines of your company’s brand identity or you can choose your own visually appealing graphics to seem more interesting.

2. Agenda or Table of Contents Slide

After designing and setting your cover slide, it is time to provide an overview to your audience about the topic and purpose of your presentation. This is generally done with the help of agenda slides in your presentation.

For example, if you deliver a presentation about a potential product to prospective buyers, you can mention the following upcoming slides in your agenda slide in a numbered manner.

• Who are you?
• What is the problem being faced by users?
• How can you (your company or business) solve this problem?
• Why choose your solution?
• Drawbacks of using other products and the benefits of using your product?
• Questions and Answers Session

Typically, each point in the agenda slide will correspond to a specific slide in your presentation. 

In some interactive presentations, designers can place a link so clicking on each of the agenda items will navigate to the desired section and then get back to the agenda. If you want to consider a ToC instead of Agenda, you can learn more on how to create a Table of Contents for your PowerPoint presentation .

3. Storytelling Approach as a Crucial Component

No matter what type of topic is going to be presented, you should always remember that you are delivering the presentations to fellow human beings who have certain desires, feelings, and emotions. In order to leave a profound impact on your audience, your message should resonate with the feelings, and emotions of listeners. That is why, by using a storytelling approach , you can master the art of persuasion.

You need to tell the idea and story behind your product or service and relate it to the needs, wants, and desires of the prospects. The goal is to make your listeners realize that you are exactly a match for their problems and worries. You need to be aware of your buyer personas to become a more effective presenter.

4. Explaining the Problem under Discussion

You need to be aware of the background of your audience to understand their needs, desires, and problems. At this stage, you must mention the problem under discussion in your slide to demonstrate that you have a clear knowledge of the issues being faced by the target customers. Typically you will use a Problem Slide here.

Explain how the problem affects your customers, other businesses, and, if applicable, the whole world. In this way, you can maintain a solid position on the stage as the listeners will be more attentive to you when you discuss their pain points.

5. Offering Your Solution 

Now, when the problem being faced by the users has been thoroughly discussed, it’s time to introduce your product, service, or idea as a solution. You have grabbed the attention of your audience until now and listeners are now eager to learn about a possible solution for their worries. This is done with the help of Solution slides.

You need to be creative at this stage while explaining multiple solutions for the issues being faced by the users. You can use PowerPoint shapes to give a visual touch to your textual information. You can also use relevant charts (bar charts, pie charts, line charts, etc.), graphs, tables, infographics , images, gifs, and videos to make your slides more interesting. You can also use metaphors and analogies to represent ideas and explain the solution.

6. Persuasion with Data and Proof

After presenting your solution, it is time to persuade your listeners to take an interest in your offer. If you have developed some reports, you can present their conclusions to potential clients. You can show the data in the form of charts or graphs as they combine both textual and visual elements for better understanding.

You can also mention statistics (key stats) about why your product, service, or idea is better than other industry players. By providing concrete sets of data, you can make the decision-making process of your potential audience much easier. Typically you’d use the key statistics slide to present this information, unless you want to compare metrics vs. other competitors or products. In this case, you will use comparison slides.

7. Call to Action Slide (or CTA slide)

After presenting your proofs and statistics, it is high time to persuade your listeners to respond to your specific call to action. You need to make them aware of all the options that they have and how they can choose a suitable option as per their requirements and budgetary needs.

The goal is to give a clear call to action to your audience. Do not make anything ambiguous or confusing. Your ideas, solutions, and ultimate CTA must be concise, to the point, and compelling in nature.

Sometimes, this call to action is no more than a Thank you slide with the Contact Information, a last slide with a QR Code to drive the audience to visit your website or call you, or just a summary slide with the important information you want the audience to save in their minds.

8. Questions and Answers 

In order to continue the dialogue between you and your listeners, you can add a Questions and Answers slide in your presentation. In this way, the audience will have the opportunity to ask any further questions that they may have about your ideas, arguments, offers, or solutions. The goal of having a Q&A session or using Q&A slides in your presentation is to make the communication between the speaker and the audience effective to meet the desired objectives of the overall presentation.

9. Reviewing Your Slide Presentation

At this stage, you should review your entire presentation from the beginning to the end to identify any potential grammatical mistakes and errors in your slides. Make sure that all of your slides are coherent and cohesive with respect to each other and present the topic in a seamless flow. 

Ensure all animations, transitions, and visual elements are working and set properly. You can show your presentation to some other professional as well to ask for his opinion. Test the running of the slides in the presentation mode by playing a PowerPoint slideshow and make sure that all points in your slides make sense and seem appealing. Playing the slide show is especially useful if you are applying animations and transitions, or if you want to see how the presentation flows from the first slide to the last slide.

3 Tips for Delivering Powerful Presentations by Defining a Killer Structure

To outshine as a persuasive presenter, here are three useful tips for structuring and delivering your presentations. Here are three effective tips on how to give a killer presentation:

1. Don’t Rely on Pre-set Elements in Your Slides

Every presentation topic has specific customized needs. To fulfill these needs and requirements, the presenter must keep in mind the actual theme of the presentation, the flow of the upcoming topics, and ultimately the desired call to action. 

Even when you use premade templates , you can customize specific points, visual slides, fonts, animations, and transitions in your slides. Your PowerPoint Presentation’s theme must complement your needs. Decide whether using bullet points for your topics is a good idea or not. Bullet points are important but they are not always appropriate for all topics. Professional designers may argue that bullet points are boring, and not recommend using them but instead use one of the possible alternatives to traditional bullet points , like block lists, sections or even icons.

If there is no need for animations or transitions in specific slides, don’t use them. Make sure your presentation is not underwhelming for listeners.

2. Be Aware of the Presentation Tools and Equipment

A presenter must be aware of the usage of the tools and equipment necessary for delivering presentations. You should test all the tools before the actual presentation like the projector, HDMI or VGA Adapter, Presentation Remote, Wireless Keyboard, Microphone, Speakers, Smartpen, and presentation devices like Laptops or PCs. 

If any malfunctioning or mishap happens during your actual presentation, you may lose the interest, and attention of your audience and ultimately the purpose of your presentation. That is why, it is necessary to be aware of all possibilities related to your presentation equipment and you must have some backup solution in case any unwanted activity happens.

The format of your presentation is also important. While you can play any .pptx or .ppt file in PowerPoint, when you present in a different environment, it would be recommended to save it in a different format (e.g. a PDF presentation ) or host the presentation online.

3. Using Premade Presentation Templates

A smart presentation designer always saves time and focuses on the areas that actually matter for the effectiveness of his presentation delivery mechanism. You don’t need to hire a professional designer for your presentation development or design the slides from scratch all by yourself. 

You can save your valued time and resources by downloading professional PowerPoint templates like those offered by SlideModel or the free templates provided by Free PowerPoint Templates totally free of cost. Now, you can focus more on the rehearsal of your presentation than on developing your desired professional pitch deck. Developing and delivering killer  presentations was never this convenient before.

Final Words

Presentations are used for a variety of purposes in the business world like selling your products and services, public speaking in seminars and video conferences, and promoting your brands and businesses in exhibitions. Therefore, it is very important for business leaders and professionals to learn about the potential elements of powerful presentations that can win the attention of any audience and how each level can contribute to delivering a presentation, depending on the type of presentation to be created.

A killer slide presentation starts with a solid cover and agenda slides but it also ends with a solid last slide. It involves a storytelling approach to highlighting the pain points of the potential users and offering a solution. It includes slides that contain visually appealing statistical data and information to convince prospective listeners to respond to a specific call to action (CTA). It concludes with a Questions and Answers session in which all of the ambiguities of the listeners are cleared in an effective manner.

By keeping in mind all the above-mentioned tips and key elements related to presentations, any business professional can achieve his desired presentation goals in an actionable and measurable manner.

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How to create a killer presentation that will make you a video sensation.

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Making an effective video

Did you know we remember 90% of the video messages we watch, but only remember about 10% of the ones we read? Clearly video is an effective tool and should be an integral part of your marketing strategy. Plus—it can be fun.

From Part 1 of my series, we learned about purpose and branding.

Now let’s talk about creating the presentation itself.

The 5 Parts of a Successful Presentation

Keeping your presentation organized and well-structured will make it easier for you to deliver and your audience to absorb. Here’s a way to do that successfully.

Engage with your audience from the beginning

• Start with a catchy opening. “If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results.” This for example, is a quote by Twitter cofounder and CEO Jack Dorsey. It’s catchy, empowering and thought provoking. It grabs the audience’s attention and makes then want to watch more. Try to come up with an opening line, story, joke or piece of advice that will capture the audience’s attention from the get-go.
• Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Look at this like your headline. Tell the audience what you’ll be talking about. This salient point should be the number one message you want the audience to remember when they finish watching. So, make it clear and concise—think of it like a tweet and keep it tight.
• Provide relevant context. Explain the landscape in which you or your product or service is operating. This might include trends that bring rise to a need, changes in lifestyle that create new demand or world events that affect habits or behaviors. Basically, set the stage so listeners understand where your product or service fits into the big picture and why you are the much-needed solution.
• Offer supporting data. Now you need to prove your headline. It can be done effectively using stories, analogies or data. But don’t use too many numbers. The human brain can’t absorb lots of figures at once, especially if it is not physically seeing them written.
• Close with a call to action. Don’t close your video with just a web address or a simple goodbye. By doing that, you miss a huge opportunity. Instead, close with a call to action—to buy, sell, persuade, or even simply engage. Don’t blow it when you’ve come this far.

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Tips For Creating Engaging Content

Think of it this way—the purpose of video content is to provoke, evoke and poke. You want the video to engage with its viewers. Here are a few ways to do that:

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Pretend the camera is your best friend. Treat your camera like it’s an audience member and talk with it , not at it. Pretending it’s a familiar face enables you to be more conversational. And that makes you relatable and trustworthy.

Be a storyteller. While data may be retained, stories are retold. And that’s free marketing! So perfect your ability to tell a story—the more surprising and unexpected the better. Stories capture the imagination of your audience and grab their attention by adding emotion and energy to what could otherwise be a plain vanilla presentation. Stories also humanize the storyteller, creating connection and trust between you and your audience.

  Add emotion. Content that has an emotional appeal is memorable and impacts the audience in a more profound way. It creates engagement which leads to loyalty.

Create viral content

Create viral content. When appropriate, include humor, happiness, excitement and intrigue to increase the likelihood that your video will be shared and potentially go viral, which makes you a video sensation.

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Make Killer Presentations: 6 Tools You Can Use

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Let’s face it, presentations can be nerve-wracking. But with the right tools and techniques, you can deliver a killer presentation that will leave your audience impressed and engaged. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a newbie to the world of public speaking, these 6 presentation tools can help you take your presentation game to the next level. Get ready to dazzle and get your popcorn ready because it’s showtime! 

Tool 1: Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck is a presentation tool that will make you feel like a design mastermind, even if you have no creative bones in your body. It’s like the cheat code to making killer presentations that look like they were crafted by a team of professional designers. And let’s be real, who has the time or money for that? With Haiku Deck, you can choose from a wide selection of templates and stunning images, and customise them to fit your presentation needs. Plus, the tool is so easy to use that even your grandma could create a killer deck with it. 

Tool 2: Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere is a fun and interactive tool that lets you engage with your audience in a whole new way. No more boring and tedious presentations where you feel like you’re just talking to a wall. With Poll Everywhere, you can ask your audience questions, get live responses, and see the results in real-time. It’s like playing a game of trivia with your audience, except you’re also giving a presentation at the same time. And let’s not forget the fun aspect of Poll Everywhere. You can add in some humour and entertainment to your presentation by asking your audience some funny questions or creating a fun quiz. Who knows, you might even discover some hidden talents in your audience that you never knew existed. With Poll Everywhere, the possibilities are endless.

Tool 3: Emaze

Ah, Emaze – the presentation tool that’s so cool, it makes your audience go “ooh” and “ahh” at all the right moments. With Emaze, you can take your boring old PowerPoint slides and turn them into a visual feast for the eyes. It’s like having a personal graphic designer at your fingertips (minus the designer salary, of course). Plus, Emaze has a ton of pre-designed templates to choose from, so you can easily create a presentation that looks like it was made by a pro (even if you’re a beginner). And the best part? Your audience won’t fall asleep halfway through because they’ll be too busy admiring your sleek and stunning presentation skills.

Tool 4: Mentimeter

Want to know the secret to a killer presentation? It’s all about audience engagement! And lucky for you, Mentimeter has got your back. With this interactive presentation tool, you can create live polls, quizzes, and Q&A sessions that will keep your audience on their toes and invested in your presentation. And if you really want to wow them, you can even add a word cloud feature to gather audience input on a specific topic.

Tool 5: Timer

One of the biggest mistakes presenters make is not managing their time effectively. Hey, we’ve all been there – running out of time during a presentation can be a real bummer. That’s why it’s important to use a timer to help you stay on track and avoid going over your allotted time. Whether you’re a pro who prefers a physical stopwatch or a tech-savvy newbie who uses the timer on their phone, using a timer can make a big difference in how smoothly your presentation goes.

Tool 6: Confidence

And lastly, the most essential tool that you can have for your presentation is your own confidence ! Have faith in your message and your abilities, and your audience will undoubtedly believe in you too. Prior to the presentation, rehearse and work on your body language and voice modulation. Keep in mind that the more confident you appear, the more likely your audience will be thrilled and impressed by your presentation. So, let your self-belief shine through and give an outstanding presentation that your audience will remember for a long time! Remember, the more confident you appear, the more likely your audience is to be engaged and impressed by your presentation.

With these 6 presentation tools, you’ll be well-equipped to deliver an outstanding presentation that will leave your audience impressed and engaged. So go forth, unleash your inner presenter, and knock your next presentation out of the park! Remember, a great presentation not only communicates your message effectively but also engages your audience. By incorporating these tools and techniques into your presentation, you can capture your audience’s attention and make a lasting impression. So go ahead, take the plunge, and give that outstanding presentation you’ve been dreaming of!

Present Like A Pro With Mentoria!

Are you looking to take your presentation skills to the next level? At Mentoria, we understand that giving an outstanding presentation is crucial for your career growth. That’s why we offer a range of career guidance services to help you achieve your goals. Our experienced mentors can guide you through the process of creating and delivering a winning presentation, using the latest tools and techniques. But that’s not all – Mentoria’s career guidance services go beyond just presentation skills. We are committed to mentoring you until you land a job you love. Sign up for Mentoria today and take the first step towards presentation greatness.

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