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PowerPoint Presentation Best Practices: The Presentation: Public Speaking

  • Slide Content
  • The Presentation: Public Speaking
  • Tips & Resources

Don’t talk too fast. You may want to get your presentation over with, but pace yourself. Otherwise, it'll be hard to understand you. But definitely don't go over your allotted time, or people will start to zone out.

Try an Anecdote

When people hear a speech, they don't usually recall the data afterwards. Try using an anecdote—a quick interesting story—that gets your point across and makes it memorable.

If someone asks a question, remember to be courteous and thank your classmate or instructor for the question. If someone challenges your presentation, your instinct might be to become defensive. But remain calm, take a second, and then give your reasoning for why you stand by your presentation, restating your thesis if need be.

"But what do I do with my hands?!" (Body Language)

Try not to cross your arms, wring your hands, or clutch them together. You'll seem nervous (which of course you are, but they don't need to know that). Try putting a hand in your pocket or on your hip, or use a hand to gesture, or use one hand to hold (not clutch!) your cue cards. Stand up straight with your shoulders pushed back slightly— you'll look taller, cool, and knowledgeable. If you're feeling confident, step away from the podium. All the great presenters walk around the stage like they own it (think Steve Jobs). And of course there's eye contact...

You're a Human Being, Not a Robot

You want to enunciate your words, but without sounding robotic. Here's how: don't read from cue cards you wrote your speech on, word for word . Take it from me, and my personal experience. You think you're being sly, but everyone knows you're basically reading out loud, no matter how often you try to lift your head up to make brief eye contact. You just end up looking like a bobble head. (Or Ross from Friends — see clip below.) Try using cue cards with bullet points for each point you need to make, with key words or phrases—not full sentences, or you'll be tempted to read from it.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Not sounding like a robot is where practice comes in. You need to be familiar with your own presentation, so you don't end up with your nose in your cue cards. Trust me; your presentation will seem so much more natural and you'll seem super confident and extroverted. And the rest of your class will be receptive to that, and pay more attention. Don't sweat! Just practice, take deep breaths, and feel free to make an (appropriate) joke or anecdote to break the ice.

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What did you notice about Ross's presentation?

(He was reading from the cue cards in full sentences, which threw off his eye contact and his ability to sound like a normal human being. Even practice won't help that!)

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  • Last Updated: Dec 8, 2023 12:36 PM
  • URL: https://libguides.hccfl.edu/powerpoint

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Course Resources

Powerpoints.

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A full set of PowerPoint decks is provided for download below. All decks are tightly aligned to the modules in this course. Since they are openly licensed, you are welcome to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute as desired.

These PowerPoint files are accessible. If you do revise them, make sure to follow these  guidelines for creating accessible PowerPoints .

Use the following links to download the PowerPoint decks:

Module 1: Intro to Public Speaking.pptx Module 2: Ethics.pptx Module 3: Listening and Responding.pptx Module 4: Considering the Audience.pptx Module 5: Topic and Research.pptx Module 6: Organizing and Outlining.pptx Module 7: Refining your Speech.pptx Module 8: Delivering your Speech.pptx Module 9: Informative Speaking.pptx Module 10: Persuasive Speaking.pptx Module 11: Special Occasion Speeches.pptx Module 12: Public Speaking Online.pptx Module 13: Public Speaking on the Job.pptx Module 14: Small Groups.pptx Module 15: Presentation Aids.pptx

  • PowerPoints. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
  • Projector Screen. Authored by : Denis Shumaylov. Provided by : Noun Project. Located at : https://thenounproject.com/term/projector-screen/1211212/ . License : CC BY: Attribution

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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

  • Carmine Gallo

powerpoint presentation about public speaking

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.

powerpoint presentation about public speaking

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

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How to make a great presentation

Stressed about an upcoming presentation? These talks are full of helpful tips on how to get up in front of an audience and make a lasting impression.

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The secret structure of great talks

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The beauty of data visualization

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TED's secret to great public speaking

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How to speak so that people want to listen

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How great leaders inspire action

PowerPoint Creatives Singapore

Presentation Techniques, Public Speaking & Communication Skills

The good news is, good public speaking and communication skills can be acquired. Even so-called ‘natural born’ public speakers or communicators have to learn and practise important presentation techniques over time to perfect it. Some of these presentation techniques, public speaking and communication skills are highlighted below.

These presentation techniques are derived from many expert presenters on how to elevate their presentations from “good” to “outstanding”. Whether you are an experienced presenter or novice, these presentation techniques will help you improve on your delivery while minimising any potential pitfalls.

There are three parts to this guide:

  • Planning the presentation
  • Preparing the presentation
  • Delivering the presentation

Planning Your Presentation

“The only sure way to create a successful presentation is to begin with the goal in mind.”

Jerry Weissman, leading corporate presentations coach.

Firstly, determine the purpose of the presentation. For example, is it to publicise a new product, make a sales pitch or to share information about your company or institution. Having a clear purpose will ensure your audience receive the right information.

It is also important to know the profile of your audience such as their age groups, educational background, professions and income levels. Such information will help you to tailor your presentation according to their level of understanding. For instance, if you are presenting to a group of mostly technocrats, more technical terms can be used. If presenting to a general audience, more layman terms will be more appropriate to aid their understanding.

Before the presentation, it is also important to gather information about the presentation venue. These include:

  • Capacity of presentation room and expected audience size.
  • Layout of room – is it squarish, elongated or pillarless?
  • Equipment – are there sufficient projection screens and loudspeakers in the room, what is the projection screen size and what type of projector is in use (standard or widescreen?)
  • Room lighting – is there a dimmer?

Such information is important as it can affect the effectiveness of your presentation. If the room is elongated and has many pillars, your audience may find it difficult to see your projection screen. Hence, more than one projection screen may be required. Also, check whether your audience at the back of the room can hear you clearly.

It is also advisable to arrive at your presentation venue early to check and ensure the room setup is optimised and the equipment are working fine. Even if you have mastered all the presentation techniques and meticulously prepared for your public speaking assignment, equipment failure could compromise everything that you have worked so hard for.

Preparing the Presentation

Decide the outline of your presentation and how your information will flow. Then create a story around your presentation. Story-telling is one of the most effective presentation techniques as it helps to engage and connects your audience emotionally and hence, enables them to digest information more easily. Every presentation should consist of these three parts for it to flow seamlessly:

At the opening, provide your audience with an outline of your presentation and what they are expected to learn or hear from you. A vital presentation technique is to start strongly in order to grab your audience’s attention and hold it. If not, most will switch off. There are three objectives in public speaking – to inform, convince and persuade. If you fail to engage your audience, you would lose these objectives. This is especially so in the middle of your presentation as this is the time when message recall is at its lowest ebb.

Use the 10-20-30 Rule for Slideshows – This is a presentation technique used by Guy Kawasaki, who suggested that slideshows should:

  • Contain no more than 10 slides.
  • Last no more than 20 minutes; and.
  • Use a font size of no less than 30 point.

The last point is particularly important – it ensures your font size is big enough for the audience to see clearly, especially those sitting at the back of the room. It also prevents you from putting too much information on any one slide and eliminate the dreaded ‘Death by PowerPoint’.

If your audience requires more information about your presentation, you can provide them handouts after the session. Don’t give them before the presentation as many may end up reading your notes instead of listening to you. If this happens, your ability to engage them and listen to you will be lost.

Tell Stories – All presentations are a type of theatre and stories can help your audience relate to you, which reinforces what they learn. It also helps to make the presentation more effective and memorable.

“Story persuades by creating a sense of involvement.”

Josh Gordon, author of Presentations that Change Mind.

However, give the audience only what they need to know, and craft your story around it.

“A clear and concise story can give a presenter the clarity of mind to present with poise.” 

Jerry Weissman, renowned corporate presentations coach

To learn more about story-telling techniques, please refer to the article “ 15 Storytelling Tips and How to Apply them Today ”.

Closing the Presentation – After spending a lot of time preparing your presentation and sharing it, make sure that you reinforce the key information by summarising them. By repeating the key points, it will refresh your audience’s memory.

There are many presentation techniques for this, but one of the most frequently used is the ‘Rule of Three’, which suggests that people generally tend to remember concepts or ideas better, when presented in threes. Some examples are ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’, ‘Mind, Body and Spirit’ and the ‘Good, Bad and the Ugly’.

Work out what the three messages that you want your audience to take away before structuring your conclusion. This could be three words, phrases or sentences.

Delivering the Presentation

“Persuasion is the art in which all business presenters must be prepared.”

  Jerry Weissman, leading corporate presentations coach.

Build trust – Communicate to your audience the facts or quality about you, your company, the products you sell or an idea you are advocating. If you are able to gain their trust, what you say will carry more weight and sounds believable.

Be passionate to help connects with your audience – To connect with your audience, project your passion into your presentation. Be honest and enthusiastic with the audience about what you say, and your audience will respond likewise. As mentioned earlier, the objectives of public speaking are to inform, convince and persuade. You will not be able to deliver these objectives if you fail to connect with them.

Focus on you audience’s need – Always remember the main reason your audience is attending your presentation. Always bear in mind their needs and what they want to know, not what you like to tell them. Focus on your audience, make it easy for them to understand and respond to you.

Keep it Simple and Concentrate on your Key Message – Always remember what are the key messages you want your audience to take away. Tell them what benefits they will gain. To do so, communicate to them clearly while reminding them briefly throughout your presentation. You can use the ‘Rule of Three’ to emphasise your key points and make it easy for them to remember.

Smile and Make Eye Contact with your Audience – Surprisingly, even seasoned presenters have failed in this aspect. By smiling and making eye contact, you will build rapport with your audience. This helps them to connect with you and the subject you are talking about. Making eye contact can also help alleviate some of your nervousness because it gives you a feeling that you are talking to individuals instead of a mass of strangers.

Project Your Voice Effectively – Public speaking using monotone is a sure-fire way to put your audience to sleep. To present effectively, vary the speed you talk. Also, use different pitch and tone to emphasise certain points. This will make your presentation more interesting and help capture your audience’s attention.

Body Movement – Body movements can reveal much about you – whether you are confident, nervous, authoritative or weak. Some body language to avoid includes crossed arms, keeping your hands behind your back or in your pockets, looking down instead of making eye contact, and pacing back and forth. To project confidence, make your gestures open and move naturally around the stage, or even among your audience. If you want to emphasise a point on your screen, turn your body towards it while using your hand to gesture in the same direction. Your audience will naturally follow your cue.

Relax, Regulate Your Breathing and Enjoy – If you are nervous, your audience can easily sense it. One way to relax is to regulate your breathing and take deep breaths. Also, have occasional short pauses during your presentation to calm yourself down and collect your thoughts. Do not rush through your presentation and ‘get it out of the way’. You will be doing a great disservice to yourself and your audience.

Practice Makes Perfect – As mentioned earlier, public speaking and communication skills can be learned. To communicate effectively, rehearse your presentation as many times as required. One way is to video yourself presenting and you will notice all sorts of mistakes you are making. This includes the way you speak, your vocal tone, facial expression, body movements and hand gestures. You may even find yourself unconsciously making some involuntary movements. I have witnessed this before during a public speaking course when a participant kept rubbing his hand against his arm. He only realised it when the public speaking coach brought it to his attention.

Presentation Techniques And PowerPoint Design

Although mastering all the important presentation techniques is important, a good PowerPoint design is equally crucial for delivering a successful presentation. In a PowerPoint presentation, the following is a summary about what annoys audiences:

As can been seen, beside acquiring effective presentation techniques, public speaking and communication skills, we must also learn how to design good PowerPoint presentations. Meanwhile, the following resources will help you eliminate the so-called ‘Death by PowerPoint’:

Effective Presentation Design

  • Education PowerPoint Design

Eight Common PowerPoint Presentation Mistakes

However, should you require creative PowerPoint design services or if you encounter any difficulties in crafting a professional-looking PowerPoint presentation, please contact us  for an obligation-free consultation. We offer very competitive and personalised  PowerPoint presentation services . We also provide three design options that will cater to the different needs and budgets. Here are some examples of our design ideas .

In addition, we also offer the following design services for your business presentation, advertising and marketing campaigns:

  • Infographic Design
  • Cinemagraph Design
  • PowerPoint Video Design

Useful Presentation Resources

The following are some other useful presentation resources to help with your PowerPoint design.

  • What PowerPoint Slide Size to Use?
  • How to Change PowerPoint Aspect Ratio?
  • Free PowerPoint Diagrams

Related Posts

Powerpoint design ideas for your next presentation.

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TED’s Official Public Speaking Course

Master a variety of communication skills with TED’s official public speaking course, now available on YouTube Courses. This course will teach you how to identify, develop and share your best ideas with the world.

powerpoint presentation about public speaking

YouTube Courses are currently only available in the United States, but YouTube is working on expanding into other regions in 2023.

The proceeds from this course support TED-Ed's nonprofit mission of creating and distributing free, high-quality animations.

Master the art of public speaking

  • Craft them into compelling narratives.
  • Present so that people want to listen.

Become a better communicator

  • Establish a connection with your listeners.
  • Give more persuasive presentations.
  • Explain complex ideas.

© 2024 TED Conferences, LLC. All rights reserved. Please note that the TED Talks Usage policy does not apply to this content and is not subject to our creative commons license.

The Open Alumni Toastmasters Club

How To Use PowerPoint In Public Speaking

How To Use PowerPoint In Public Speaking

Table of Contents

When To Use PowerPoint In Public Speaking

How to use PowerPoint in public speaking? PowerPoint has become a standard software used in public speaking in our current Information Communication Technology age. With the increasing accessibility and affordability of LCD projectors and even mobile pocket-size projector, it is not difficult to set up a PowerPoint presentation for public speaking . However, how many speakers have actually used PowerPoint effectively and appropriately in public speaking?

LCD Projector

I dare not say that I am an expert nor am I qualified in teaching people how to deliver an effective presentation using PowerPoint.

I am merely speaking from my observation as an audience who has been put through torturous presentations that used PowerPoint.

Instead of being an enhancement to the presentations, the way PowerPoint was used in these presentations distracted and frustrated me as an audience.

First and foremost, as a speaker you first have to decide, whether is there a need for you to use PowerPoint in your speech. Ask yourself these questions.

  • How will the use of PowerPoint enhance your presentation?  
  • What are the things do you need to show your audience that require the use of PowerPoint?  
  • Do you need images, charts and tables?
  • Are you making a technical presentation?

PowerPoint Slides Should Not Contain Too Much Details

Unless you are making a technical presentation or you need to show your audience images, tables or charts, you do not really need to use the PowerPoint software in your presentation. Most toastmasters do not use PowerPoint in their prepared speech projects during their clubs’ chapter meetings unless they are presenting a prepared speech project that specifically required them to use visual aids or they are making a Technical Presentation project.

However, I have noticed that whenever toastmasters were presenting prepared speech projects that were related to their jobs, they would conveniently use the PowerPoint presentations that they had already prepared in their office. They would modify the presentation they had made in the course of their works as their prepared speech projects.

It always turns out that the PowerPoint presentations contained far too much details packed in each slide and they were also packed with far too many jargons for anyone who is not doing the same job as the speakers to absorb in a 7-minute prepared speech project.

After all, public speaking does not necessarily require PowerPoint except those presentations that are required to show many details, charts, images such as technical presentations and board meeting presentations. Try restricting the use of PowerPoints to visual objects that cannot be communicated verbally such as images and charts.  

Use PowerPoint primarily to highlight the main points of what you are saying. Use them to help your audience focus on the key points that you want them to take away from your speech.

Technical Presentation

Perhaps you want to show more than just the main outlines of your presentation. Then sit down and think through what are the important points that you want to emphasise to your audience and for them to remember. Perhaps in a particular point, there are several issues that are connected to one another and together they lead to a certain conclusion. Then under your main point, you can highlight those connective issues and the conclusions with the sub-points under one of the individual main points of your speech.

Your PowerPoint Slides Should Be Readable With Just A Glance

Your audience should only just take a glance at Your PowerPoint slides and then focused on listening to you. If there are too many words on your PowerPoint slides, they will not be able to read all the words in your slides and listen to you at the same time. When they start reading the words on your slides, they cannot listen to what you are saying. Your slides are competing for their attention with you on what you are saying.  

Large Screen Presentation

Most audience especially Singaporeans who grew up in our local education system, has been psychologically trained and compelled to read every single word in a presentation slide just in case they miss out, fall behind and thus lose out on what they are suppose to know.

If your slides contain everything that you have to say, who needs to listen to you?

Too many speakers fill their PowerPoint slides with so many words and details as if they are writing a book. This is particularly true for university lecturers and junior college teachers. 

You need to understand that university lecturers and junior college teachers do that because their PowerPoint slides are meant for the students to copy word for word as their lecture notes for studying.   Speaking as a former teacher, it is unnecessary for teachers to use PowerPoint presentations for their lectures. In my opinion, PowerPoint is ineffective for teaching and in fact it makes the flow of the lesson inflexible.

Do Not Use Your PowerPoint As Your Notes

Perhaps you feel that it is absolutely necessary and important to present all the details and information to your audience. Then it is better for you to prepare all the details you want to present as handouts and give them to your audience instead of putting all these details into your PowerPoint presentation.

Perhaps you are generous enough to give away all the informative details as notes to your audience, or perhaps you are a lecturer or a teacher and you have to give your notes to your students.

You should not be printing out your PowerPoint presentation as notes for your audience. Your notes should be populated with all the important details including elaborations that are not possibly included in your presentation typed out with a word processor software, properly formatted.

Notes

Remember that your PowerPoint slides are not the same as your notes and your PowerPoint should not contain too much details.

Remember this! Notes that are meant to be studied take much time to be read and assimilated. They cannot be read in a short span of time, much less understood and assimilated during your speech. Thus, it does not make sense to put all the details into your PowerPoint slides.

Let Your Notes Be Downloadable

That will bring us to the question of whether you should print out the details of your presentation and give them out to your audience before or perhaps halfway through during your presentation?  

Internet

If you do so before your presentation, they would begin reading your handout instead of listening to you. Yes, it is very likely that they will, especially Singaporean audience. It is also an extremely bad idea to give your handouts in the midst of your speech. It is extremely disruptive and people will be distracted from your speech checking whether they have gotten the full set of handouts, asking and looking around when they felt that they were overlooked and were missing out.

For you to continue with your speech is pointless amidst such chaos because many of your audience are no longer listening to you while those who are listening are distracted and annoyed by all the noise and movement.

University lecturers and junior college teachers are different. Their notes are meant to be read by their students before they attend the lesson. So the notes are given to the students days before the lesson itself. The drawback of this practice is that students would probably decide not to attend the lessons because they already have the notes. 

To prevent students from skipping lessons, lecturers usually would leave out some information in the notes for the students to fill in during the lessons. Good lecturers would focus more on elaborating and illustrating concepts beyond the notes during the lessons instead of just mere reciting from the notes.

In this current digital age, you can choose to give your audience a url or a QR code where they can download your handouts at the end of your speech. Between url and QR code, QR code is better because they could just scan the QR code with their smart phones whereas for url, more often than not, they will type it wrongly.  

That will also save you the extra money needed to print your handouts on papers, which you probably would end up either printing insufficient handouts for your audience or in excess. 

QR Code

It is also a good opportunity for you to collect some data from your audience such as their names and email addresses for future follow-up and ask them for their feedback before they download your notes.

Do Not Recite Word For Word From Your PowerPoint Slides

Do not recite or worse still, read word for word from your PowerPoint slides. This tends to be the case for speakers who fill their PowerPoint slides with too many words. They made their PowerPoint slides the scripts for their speech.

Reading word for word

Keep the number of words to a minimal, showing mainly the outline of your speech and show them one by one as you elaborate on each point instead of showing them all at the same time. PowerPoint is designed to have several lines of text as well as images on a slide appearing one after the other. Showing all the text and images on a slide all at once defeat the purpose of using PowerPoint. It also overwhelms the audience with too many details all at one go.  

There are advices out there that say that the PowerPoint slides are not your outline. The choice is yours. Do you want to emphasise your outline? If you think that it is unnecessary, then perhaps you do not even need to use PowerPoint in your presentation unless you want to show charts and images. 

Make your speech and your presence (body language) the main attraction and let your slides be the companion that merely enhance your speech.

PowerPoint Cannot Replace The Board And The Marker

The whiteboard and the marker, or the blackboard and the chalk, continue to have their place in presentation, just as essential as the pen and the paper.  

We are living among people who have a herd mentality and follow the latest trend blindly. Even more sadly, we have been led by ignorant leaders who impose on us to follow the trend blindly. Information and Communication Technology has become a hype. Making presentations using so-called primitive tools like the marker and the board are condemned as ineffective and unprogressive.

The key in making an effective presentation is using the right tool to do the right task. Using technology blindly will not make public speaking more effective but the opposite could be true.

If time and effort permit, the use of technology can add “bells and whistles” to your presentation.

Nevertheless, rhetoric devices, body language and your vocal varieties are the real tools to an effective and impactful speech.

White board and marker

Knowledge and information are to be constructed bit by bit. They cannot be thrown out at your audience as a completed, finished product all at one go. Using a whiteboard or flip charts is more helpful in bringing your presentation at a rate where the facts are written or drawn manually during your presentation. Certain diagrams are best drawn up a little by little; first a line, followed by another, then a circle or a triangle.

Although we have been living in an age of high-end technology, we all grew up and are still facing a real world where things are developed slowly before our eyes apart from technologically enhanced animations. We see a person grows from a baby to a toddler, then from a teenager into an adult. They do not evolve before our eyes from a baby into an adult in a span of a few seconds or a few minutes at the rate of a computer animation.

As a former Mathematics teacher, I am fully aware that my students need me to present the solution to a problem by writing symbol by symbol, digit by digit, and not to show the solution line by line from a PowerPoint presentation that has been typed out earlier on. A geometrical diagram has to be constructed and drawn line by line, shape by shape before their very eyes and not reproduced as a completed diagram that they have no idea how it was constructed.

Whiteboards and blackboards are flexible tools where any illustrations can be produced spontaneously. During a live interaction with the audience, you might require to explain and illustrate an idea that was not prepared beforehand and you need to use this so-called ancient tool.  

Moreover, writing on a whiteboard or blackboard comes more naturally than writing on a tablet where the touch and feel of writing is not as natural. Given a choice, anyone would still prefer to write with a pen and paper instead of writing on a tablet. Even erasing a mistake will be easier. A big board gives you the flexibility of how much space you want to use in your presentation without having to hide or erase a page you have written earlier on and provide you the convenience of referring to what have been written or drawn previously.

To sum up this article, remember the following.

  • Your PowerPoint presentation should not replace you. You are the main focus of the your presentation.
  • Do not use PowerPoint in public speaking unless they are really necessary.
  • Use PowerPoint if you need to show images, charts and tables to your audience.
  • Keep the details in your PowerPoint slides to a minimal. Do not overwhelm and confuse your audience with too much details.
  • Do not use your PowerPoint as your notes for the audience. Prepare a separate set of detailed notes for your audience to download from the internet.
  • Unveil the details, be it images or text, in each PowerPoint slide a little each time instead of overwhelming your audience with all the details all at once.
  • PowerPoint does not replace traditional tools like the whiteboard and marker that are best for step-by-step illustrations and spontaneous discussion.

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Leadership Geeks

Effective Public Speaking

Powerpoint presentations.

The Section on  Effective Public Speaking: PowerPoint Presentations  gives you some important principles when using Microsoft PowerPoint in your speeches and presentations.

powerpointlogo

PowerPoint presentations are one of the most widely used format for presentations in the past decade.

They are easy to learn and nicely done Powerpoint slides can help you make a real impression despite you not being a great speaker.

I personally use PowerPoint most of the time when I make public speeches. I find that it is a great complement as a visual aid to help me in whatever point I’m trying to make. While it does take some time to prepare, I find that it is always worth the effort to do so.

Compared to just talking about data, events, people or trying to make a point, the use of Powerpoint slides can really enhance the audience’s ability to absorb what you’re saying because you’re using their eyes as well as their ears.

However, at the same time, I’ve seen PowerPoint disasters as well: PowerPoint slides that in fact don’t work for you, but work against you! I will share with you some common mistakes people commit when creating PowerPoint slides.

Effective Public Speaking Common Mistakes in PowerPoint

1. Putting too much text in a slide

Your PowerPoint slides are NOT a word document.

In case you don’t already know, you are not supposed to place your whole script or your research analysis all on the same slide.

By putting too many words on the slides, the audience will start focusing and reading off the slides instead of focusing on you. In fact, if there are too many words, they may end up just dozing off after reading paragraphs of text.

2. Reading off your slides

One of the cardinal errors of speakers is to put their whole script on their slides and then start reading off them.

Think about it, if your readers needed to hear you read off your slides, they should be going for English lessons instead!

While it is extremely tempting to do so; it is a sign of laziness and unprofessionalism when you just read off your own slides.

3. Over decorating your slides

Remember that your slides are not marketing or advertising posters.

I have seen PowerPoint slides that overuse pictures and colors that are almost overwhelming for anybody seeing it for the first time.

It comes at you like a  *BOOM*  and suddenly you are faced with so much visual information you’re not sure what you should be taking in.

You are using the slides as an aid to your speech, not as a focal point and you don’t want it to be too cluttered or colorful such that the audience’s attention is turned from you.

Here are some of my tips on effective public speaking with PowerPoint slides.

Effective Public Speaking Tips on Using PowerPoint Slides

1. The proper use of color

Use pastel or bright colors that are easy on the eye.

Colors that you use can unconsciously affect the mood of the audience so it’s good that you take some time to study the different meanings of color.

For example, blue is a color for reliability and loyalty; red is the color of passion; purple is the color of royalty. Do a search on the internet to find out more about what color portrays.

With the understanding of the kind of image you would like to portray, pick an appropriate base color for the occasion.

Also, use complementary colors and try to stick to a maximum of three within the same slide.

If you’re not sure what colors are complementary and which are clashing, you can study the color wheel so that you don’t commit the mistake of using clashing colors.

Clashing colors will give an impression of untidiness and unprofessionalism.

Most of all, your whole presentation should have a standard base color. A standard base color will help you communicate consistency and credibility through your whole presentation.

2. Use limited words

As a rule, keep your bullet points to no more than 5 per slide, and no more than 4-5 words per bullet point.

Don’t write full sentences for your bullet points; instead use short phrases to illustrate the point you are trying to make in your speech.

Basically, keep the clutter of words to a minimum and shorten your phrases as much as possible. The words on the slide should only contain the gist of the information you’re trying to convey and the explanation should be done by you in person.

3. Use visuals only if it has relevance to what you’re speak

Do not try to add pictures on your slides in an attempt to make them look more whole and complete; or even to add a picture to every bullet point you have. The use of pictures adds clutter to your slides, causing your audience to be confused about which point in the slide to be focused on.

Use visuals like graphs or a picture only if you are using it to make a point. As a guideline, keep your pictures to 1 and maximum 2 in a page, and only use them if you want the audience to focus on them.

4. Use animation to tell a story

Animation is definitely a more advanced use of the PowerPoint slides and the good use of them can help your audience follow you as you go through your presentation.

But remember to keep your animation to sharp and simple ones and not overly exaggerated entrances or exits; they really are just bad taste and end up making you look unprofessional.

If you are new to PowerPoint or the use of animation, the best is to keep these animations to the very basic.

5.Less is more

Above all, when it comes to slides, remember that less is more.

If you have watched a Steve Jobs presentation before, you’ll know what I mean. Steve Jobs uses only one word or one picture per slide most, if not all of the time.

Here’s a YouTube video of one of his hallmark presentations and notice the principles in this article being used in his presentation:

Slides are not meant to be the star of the show; they are meant to be the supporting cast while you shine in front of your audience.

While you should use these PowerPoint slides, you should only use them if it makes you present and communicate better, and makes it an effective public speaking engagement for you.

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Public speaking with Powerpoint – a beginners guide.

Published by admin on july 5, 2019 july 5, 2019.

When public speaking , lecturing, presenting or giving any kind of speech, Powerpoint can be a brilliant tool. However, in most cases it is overused, or used badly. At it’s worst, Powerpoint can distract you from making a brilliant speech.

Many inexperienced public speakers actually build their talk around their powerpoint presentation , and use it as a crutch. Their powerpoint becomes an amateur “autocue” in some ways. This gives the impression that the powerpoint controls the speaker, not the speaker controlling the powerpoint.

Before you begin your public speaking presentation, follow this simple guide to help you decide just how many slides to use.

Does your talk need a Powerpoint at all?

In the vast majority of cases, the answer is “NO” !

You may think you need to spice up your public speaking with images, text, video and slides, but in many cases you do not need it. Did Martin Luther King Jr. famously say “I have a dream” or did he say “I have an animated bullet-point slide deck”?

Many of the greatest speeches in the world have been just that… speeches… not Powerpoints!

Ask yourself this question “If the electricity goes out, and I am forced to not use a powerpoint, could I still deliver this talk?”

In most cases your answer would be “Yes, but I may have to make a few changes.”

If thats true for you, make those changes and deliver your talk without.

Remove unnecessary slides from your public speaking.

If you have already made a Powerpoint deck, and you are determined to use it, take steps to remove as many slides as you possibly can.

Every time you trigger a slide change, the audiences eyes and attention move away from you, and onto your screen. In that millisecond it takes away vital attention and rapport that you may be building. You loses all personal connection, and it can be very difficult to get it back.

Go through your deck, and remove:

Unnecessary introduction slides. – If you have a slide with the title of your talk on it, your name, email address, or other contact details, remove it. You don’t need it. No one cares about that stuff. If they like your talk, they will find your contact details.

Unnecessary ending slides. – Do you have a slide at the end that just says “Thank you for listening”? Take it out.

Are you using 2 slides when 1 will do? – Is there any way you can say the same message with one slide rather than two? Can you compress your message down to a single point?

Are you using “chapter” slides? – A chapter slide is a slide with a simple heading line of text, that helps separate your talk into different sections. If you have a slide that simply communicates “Now we are moving from point 1 to point 2” remove it. Your audience is smart enough to follow a transition in your public speaking.

Does the slide only have text on it? – If you have a slide that just has text, there is no need to show it! Simply add those lines of text into your script and read them as part of your talk.

Does the slide have generic images on it? – If your slide has any kind of clip-art, generic stock photo, or random image that you found online, delete it. Your audience has a good imagination. Use the audiences imagination instead of showing them boring pictures. Use your public speaking skills to describe what might be on the photo in their imaginations, instead of showing them.

Reduce, reduce, reduce – If your presentation has 20 slides in it, ask yourself what it would look like with only 10 slides. Then, when you have selected your 10 best slides, ask yourself what it would look like with only 5 slides… and then 1 slide. And then none. Always be reducing.

Check the slides you do use are “safe”.

When public speaking, bear in mind that your slides and images may be distributed to conference attendees. Make sure that you own the copyright to any of the images you use.

Try to keep to images that you have taken yourself, or images that a professional photographer has taken for you, and has given the rights for you to use and distribute.

Images provided by your company or organisation should also be OK to use, with the correct permissions.

Don’t ever, ever, ever use something you don’t have the rights to use in your public speaking. After all, it is your talk , why should you use someone else’s material?

Check the slides you do use are “needed”.

Slides should ONLY be used to communicate ideas that are impossible to describe using your own spoken words.

To make sure that your slide is 100% needed, try this:

Imagine that you are trying to explain the contents of your slide to a blind person in the audience. The blind person really wants to understand your talk, and get the most out of it, so it’s super important that he understands exactly what is going on. In most cases, you will find that you can explain the contents of most slides with words to a blind person. If you can describe it with words, you don’t need slides.

If you think that it is completely impossible to describe your slide to a blind person, then, and only then, should you include it in your presentation.

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Public Speaking PowerPoint Template

Our Public Speaking PowerPoint Template is a presentation layout with creative illustrations of public speakers and gatherings. Public speaking is not a new trend; for years, people have been using this method for entertainment, informing, marketing, and teaching purposes. Most commonly, public speaking is employed for motivational purposes to endorse a better concept among the audience. The public speakers use pre-planned presentation slides showing some key points. The recorded video lectures of influential speakers are also included. This public speaking presentation template is a multi-purpose slide template, and it can be used either for preparing a public presentation or to educate public speaking skills. 

This Public Speaking PowerPoint Template begins with a cover slide displaying two human characters standing on a speech podium. These characters are created using PowerPoint shapes . Their expressions, hand positions, and mic arrangement depict the speech scene. The slide provides an editable text box to insert the presentation title, company name, or event heading. The following slide adds a target infographic to mention the goals. This diagram allows users to add relevant text in the ribbon shapes boxes conveniently. To showcase the list of guest speakers, users can employ the following slide of this public speaking PPT template carrying a list layout and replaceable avatars. 

Further, our public speaking PowerPoint template includes the slides with:

  • Speaker characters with different expressions & dressings
  • A megaphone infographic with an idea bulb diagram
  • The public gathering scene with a speaker standing along the podium
  • Four-step process diagram with infographic icons
  • Data-driven charts to showcase statistical data

Presenters can modify and add associated descriptions to each slide according to their use case. The template includes creative slides for demos, Q&A sessions, FAQs, and thanking the audience. So, professionals can present diverse concepts using this slide deck. It is ideal for public speaking training and showcasing different concepts involved in public speaking. Presenters can either use these slides or copy these vector images to other destinations. The color scheme of the template slides and creative characters can be changed to match the presentation theme. Download and try this PowerPoint design !

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Public Speaking and Presentations: Tips for Success

This resource includes tips and suggestions for improving your public speaking skills.

Even if you’ve never spoken in front of a large group before, chances are you will encounter public speaking sometime during your life. Whether you’re giving a presentation for your classmates or addressing local politicians at a city council meeting, public speaking allows you to convey your thoughts and feelings in clear ways. Having the right tools can prepare you for successful public speaking and equip you with high-quality communication skills.

Know Your Audience

Different audiences require different modes of public speaking. How you address a room full of preschoolers will vary from how you address a group of professors at an academic conference. Not only will your vocabulary change, but you might alter your pacing and tone as well.

Knowing your audience also helps you decide the content of your speech. For example, if you’re presenting research to a group of scientists, you might not need to define all your scientific language. However, if you present that same research to a group of individuals who are unfamiliar with your scientific field, you may need to define your terms or use simpler language.

Recognizing the extent to which your audience is familiar with your topic helps you center your presentation around the most important elements and avoid wasting time on information your audience either 1) already knows or 2) does not need to know for the purpose of your speech.

Knowing your audience also means tailoring your information to them. Try to keep things straight and to the point; leave out extraneous anecdotes and irrelevant statistics.

Establish Your Ethos and Feel Confident in Your Subject

It’s important to let your audience know what authority you have over your subject matter. If it’s clear you are familiar with your subject and have expertise, your audience is more likely to trust what you say.

Feeling confident in your subject matter will help establish your ethos. Rather than simply memorizing the content on your PowerPoint slides or your note cards, consider yourself a “mini expert” on your topic. Read up on information related to your topic and anticipate questions from the audience. You might want to prepare a few additional examples to use if people ask follow-up questions. Being able to elaborate on your talking points will help you stay calm during a Q & A section of your presentation.

Stick to a Few Main Points

Organizing your information in a logical way not only helps you keep track of what you’re saying, but it helps your audience follow along as well. Try to emphasize a few main points in your presentation and return to them before you conclude. Summarizing your information at the end of your presentation allows your audience to walk away with a clear sense of the most important facts.

For example, if you gave a presentation on the pros and cons of wind energy in Indiana, you would first want to define wind energy to make sure you and your audience are on the same page. You might also want to give a brief history of wind energy to give context before you go into the pros and cons. From there, you could list a few pros and a few cons. Finally, you could speculate on the future of wind energy and whether Indiana could provide adequate land and infrastructure to sustain wind turbines. To conclude, restate a few of the main points (most likely the pros and cons) and end with the most important takeaway you want the audience to remember about wind energy in Indiana.

Don't be Afraid to Show Your Personality

Delivering information without any sort of flourish or style can be boring. Allowing your personality to show through your speaking keeps you feeling relaxed and natural. Even if you’re speaking about something very scientific or serious, look for ways to let your personality come through your speech.

For example, when Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek announced in March of 2019 that he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer, he still let his trademark dignity and professionalism set the tone for his address. He began his announcement by saying “it’s in keeping with my long-time policy of being open and transparent with our Jeopardy! fan base.” Later, he joked that he would need to overcome his illness in order to fulfill his contract, whose terms required him to host the show for three more years. Though the nature of Trebek's announcement could easily have justified a grim, serious tone, the host instead opted to display the charm that has made him a household name for almost thirty-five years. In doing so, he reminded his audience precisely why he is so well-loved.

Use Humor (When Appropriate)

Using humor at appropriate moments can keep your audience engaged and entertained. While not all occasions are appropriate for humor, look for moments where you can lighten the mood and add some humor.

For example, just two months after the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, Reagan was in the middle of giving a speech when a balloon loudly popped while he was speaking. Reagan paused his speech to say “missed me,” then immediately continued speaking. This off-the-cuff humor worked because it was appropriate, spontaneous, and did not really distract from his message.

Similarly, at the end of his final White House Correspondents Dinner, Barack Obama concluded his speech by saying “Obama out” and dropping the mic. Once again, the humor did not distract from his message, but it did provide a light-hearted shift in his tone.  

Don't Let Visual Aids Distract From Your Presentation

Visual aids, such as PowerPoints or handouts, often go alongside presentations. When designing visual aids, be sure they do not distract from the content of your speech. Having too many pictures or animations can cause audience members to pay more attention to the visuals rather than what you’re saying.

However, if you present research that relies on tables or figures, having many images may help your audience better visualize the research you discuss. Be aware of the ways different types of presentations demand different types of visual aids.

Be Aware of Your Body Language

When it comes to giving a presentation, nonverbal communication is equally as important as what you’re saying. Having the appropriate posture, gestures, and movement complement the spoken element of your presentation. Below are a few simple strategies to make you appear more confident and professional.

Having confident posture can make or break a presentation. Stand up straight with your shoulders back and your arms at your sides. Slouching or crossing your arms over your chest makes you appear smaller and more insecure. However, be sure you’re not too rigid. Just because you’re standing up tall does not mean you cannot move around.

Eye contact

Making eye contact with your audience not only makes them feel connected to you but it also lets you gauge their response to you. Try to look around the room and connect with different audience members so you’re not staring at the same people the whole time. If you notice your audience starting to nod off, it might be a good time to change your tone or up your energy. 

Avoid distracting or compulsive gestures

While hand gestures can help point out information in a slide or on a poster, large or quick gestures can be distracting. When using gestures, try to make them feel like a normal part of your presentation.

It’s also easy to slip into nervous gestures while presenting. Things like twirling your hair or wringing your hands can be distracting to your audience. If you know you do something like this, try to think hard about not doing it while you’re presenting.

Travel (if possible)

If you are presenting on a stage, walking back and forth can help you stay relaxed and look natural. However, be sure you’re walking slowly and confidently and you’re using an appropriate posture (described above). Try to avoid pacing, which can make you appear nervous or compulsive.

Rehearse (if Possible)

The difference between knowing your subject and rehearsing comes down to how you ultimately present your information. The more you rehearse, the more likely you are to eliminate filler words such as like and um . If possible, try practicing with a friend and have them use count the filler words you use. You can also record yourself and play back the video. The more you rehearse, the more confident you will feel when it comes time to actually speak in front of an audience.

Finally, Relax!

Although public speaking takes time and preparation, perhaps one of the most important points is to relax while you’re speaking. Delivering your information in a stiff way prevents you from appearing natural and letting your personality come through. The more relaxed you feel, the more confident your information will come across.

A public-speaking expert shares 8 tips to perfect — and even enjoy — your next work presentation

  • Nick Gold is managing director of Speakers Corner, a UK agency representing public speakers.
  • He said work presentations should focus on two or three key points and keep slides under 10 words.
  • Gold shared eight strategies to help you deliver an engaging speech and calm nerves.

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Presenting at work can be daunting , whether it's to a screen of faceless avatars or a crowded room.

Nick Gold, the managing director of Speakers Corner, a UK agency for public speakers, shared eight tips for nailing — and even enjoying — your next work presentation so that you keep nerves at bay and colleagues, clients, or investors engaged.

1. Practice your presentation beforehand — but don't memorize

Gold cautioned against learning a presentation by rote. He suggested thinking about a presentation as several stories, each with a point, to allow yourself flexibility while speaking.

"It's about understanding your content and the stories you're telling," he said. "How you deliver those stories might change word-by-word each time, but the underlying stuff doesn't change."

When you're in a meeting room with 15 people in front of you, pretend you're in a coffee shop telling them about the topic, he advised. "By doing that, they'll relax into it and you'll relax into it," he said.

2. Put your own spin on what you're saying

When you're told by your manager or another colleague you have to speak, it can be hard to make it engaging for the audience, Gold said.

The starting point is putting your own spin on it. That will help with nerves, too, he said.

"Don't be fearful about taking it in a direction where you feel comfortable with the subject matter," Gold said.

He suggested starting by telling a story or anecdote for two minutes to help calm nerves and put the audience at ease.

"When you get to the trickier parts and the parts you're slightly nervous about, where you're not as eloquent or you show your nerves, they're already on a journey with you," he said.

"They're going to give you the benefit of the doubt." 

3. Avoid information overload

When giving a presentation, you might get imposter syndrome and feel you have to "validate" your expertise by trying to prove how much you know about a subject, said Gold.

The result, Gold said, is that "people are bombarded with information and therefore they take in much less, and you're not getting the key points you want across."

Related stories

Choosing two or three points to get across to an audience can ensure they take away critical information.

"There's no harm in giving a presentation with less data, and then following up with a handout," Gold added.

4. Keep each slide to 10 words at most

If you rely too much on PowerPoint slides , the audience will focus on reading them and likely zone out, Gold said. He suggested keeping them to seven to 10 words, so that they remain a prompt and not something that distracts the audience.

"You want it to be something that gives them a visual trigger to remember what you said after the presentation rather than being the actual presentation itself," Gold said.

5. Know who's in the audience, but remember this can change

Whether you're talking to senior management or your closest coworkers, you need to tailor your presentation to who's in the room, from different personalities to different demographics, said Gold.

Even if you're told exactly who's going to be there, you should be prepared for last-minute changes, he warned.

"You might know everyone who's going to be in the room, but you have no understanding of what's happened to them that day," he said.

6. Remember the audience is on your side

The audience is actually "desperate" for you to perform well, Gold added.

"The only people who want you to succeed more than yourself are the other people in the room — because they're stuck in that room. All they want, for the 20 or 40 minutes that you are standing up there, is to enjoy themselves," Gold said.

When a speaker goes onstage and tells a joke or a story, you can see the audience visibly relax, he said.

7. It's okay to not know the answer to questions

Set out at the start whether you will take questions from the audience throughout a presentation or at the end, Gold advised.

He suggested that, if you don't know an answer, tell them that it's a great question but you don't want to answer off the cuff. Ask them if you can get back to them with more information the next day, he added.

8. Virtual presentations should be more conversational

"You don't get the energy you get from a person onstage," Gold said of presenting virtually .

No one should speak on-screen for more than seven minutes without interacting with the audience, such as by asking questions or having discussions in virtual breakout rooms, he said, as audiences need more stimulation if they're watching remotely.

"One of the things that came out of virtual presentations is an understanding that the conversation is more important than the presentation itself. Embrace it," Gold added.

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I've spent 20 years helping people become successful public speakers—here's my best advice

A s a speech coach for the past 20 years, I've gathered some of the best public speaking advice for executives not from the boardroom, but from speeches at award ceremonies like the Oscars or Grammys.  

Most of the time, these are painfully forgettable, filled with clichés and excessive thank yous. (How much do I really care about an artist's cascade of producers?) Or even worse, they brim with self-reverence. 

But occasionally, I witness an acceptance speech that takes my breath away.

DON'T MISS: The ultimate guide to becoming a master communicator and public speaker

What exactly makes some speeches so compelling and others cringeworthy? Here are five lessons from some of my favorite acceptance speeches that you can adopt to become a riveting public speaker. 

Lesson 1: Surprise us like Sheryl Lee Ralph

There's an old public speaking adage: "Tell them what you are going to tell them. Then tell them. Then tell them what you told them." 

Unfortunately, this formula leads to boring presentations . It's predictable. Audiences are most attentive when they hear something unexpected. 

Watch Sheryl Lee Ralph deliver her 2022 Emmys acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actress in "Abbott Elementary." She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and belts out Dianne Reeves' 1994 song "Endangered Species." The surprised crowd erupts in a raucous standing ovation.

While you don't need to sing a presentation, look for opportunities to bring in the unexpected. 

One simple way to do this is to use the language of surprise. For example, to draw in their audience, an executive might exclaim, "I knew the product would sell. What I didn't expect is that it would dominate the market." 

Lesson 2: Build the energy like Lizzo

A great speaker doesn't merely transmit information — they take the audience on a journey. 

Watch Lizzo's acceptance speech for Record of the Year at the 2023 Grammy Awards. She begins her speech with a soft, reflective tone and gradually builds her volume and pace. By the time she concludes, the audience is on their feet, sharing in her joy and passion. 

Even the most technical business presentation should vary in energy and take the audience on a journey — whether from problem to solution, from confusion to clarity, or from the fear of the unknown to the courage to take a risk.  

When you do that, the audiences becomes much more likely to take your message to heart. Consider using phrases such as:

  • "I struggled with … " 
  • "One thing that was especially hard was … "
  • "We started off … and wound up … "   

Lesson 3: Use silence like Michelle Yeoh

As speakers, we dread silence. We fear an awkward pause and imagine the blank stares of the audience. And so we try to fill the space with noise.

We forget that the audience needs a little silence . 

Watch how Michelle Yeoh uses silence in her 2023 Oscar acceptance speech for Best Actress in "Everything Everywhere All At Once." Her pauses bring us in and allow us to more fully appreciate the power of her words. 

Remember that your audience needs a break from the noise. They need a moment to stop and digest what they're hearing.

A purposeful pause breaks the monotony of speech and grabs the audience's attention.

Lesson 4: Be brief like Alfred Hitchcock

In his acceptance speech for the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the Oscars ceremony in 1968, Alfred Hitchcock walked onto the stage, leaned into the microphone, and proclaimed simply, "Thank you."  

We often make the mistake of giving the audience too much information, because we want to demonstrate our expertise, competence and effort.

Unfortunately, this can backfire. When we overload our presentations with information, we make it harder for the listener to hear what's most important.  

Lesson 5: Focus on the audience like all of these celebrity speakers

What all of these speeches have in common is the speaker's deep focus on the audience. Each of these speakers is fully present with the people in the room. 

They turn the spotlight away from themselves and their moment of glory and instead concentrate on sharing their message with us. 

When you focus your attention on helping your audience — and not your own knowledge or need to impress — you naturally build "presence." 

So ask yourself before a presentation, "What gift am I giving to this audience? What do they need to feel, to know and to do?" Then, like a Hollywood star, let the cameras roll.

Sarah Gershman is CEO of Green Room Speakers , a communications firm based in Washington, D.C. Sarah has coached and trained executives and staff at a variety of national organizations and agencies, including Microsoft, Marriott and Grant Thornton. Sarah is an adjunct professor of communications at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Want to be a successful, confident communicator? Take CNBC's new online course Become an Effective Communicator: Master Public Speaking . We'll teach you how to speak clearly and confidently, calm your nerves, what to say and not say, and body language techniques to make a great first impression. Sign up today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through July 10, 2024.

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Home » Blog » The 4 Public Speaking Gestures And How To Use Them

The 4 Public Speaking Gestures And How To Use Them

  • June 5, 2024
  • Marjia Ahmed

Table of Contents

Using Public Speaking Gestures , when give a public speech is a very important part of your presentation. Also using well designed fashion clothes from the best stores like The Fifth Collection will help you look better when talking in public. If you fail to use gestures properly and you do awkward gestures throughout your presentations,you are probably going to distract your audience and you are not going to get the impact that you want when you presenting.

Here are 4 public speaking gestures you can use as well as how to use them effectively during your presentation.

4 Public Speaking Gestures

I am going to walk you through the four gestures that you can use in your presentations and so you can become more powerful and effective public speaker.

Public Speaking Gestures

1. Descriptive Gestures

These are gestures that we use to describe something or a situation .We might draw comparisons between something that’s really big and something that’s really small or we might use it to contrast certain items or to depict the size.

A great example that I am taking from toastmasters is if you are using a metaphor saying something is “like a tiny little bird” and you hold your hand out in a cup shape. You are reinstating the metaphor of the bird and also implying size being small.

You can also use descriptive gestures to show shapes. You can also talk about movement, you can talk about location and you can even use gestures when discussing numbers.

So descriptive gestures are very helpful because when we are speaking all we have is our words. All we have is what comes out of our mouth and by using descriptive gestures we can actually improve the impact of our public speech and improve the comprehension of our audience.

This means our message gets across more effectively.

2. Emphatic (Emotional) Gestures

Emphatic gestures are like emotional gestures. So if we are sad we could slump down and talk about sad things. If we are angry we could put our fists together and make an angry face.

We can use these gestures to symbolise the feelings that we have.

Emphatic gestures help us to appear more genuine. When you are talking about and you are using angry gestures it actually makes you seem more genuine.

The audience will be thingking “yes he were angry. I can see it in his body language.”

3. Suggestive Gestures

These are gestures that depict moods or expressions. For example: you could say I welcome you in with open arms whilst opening your arms.

4. Prompting Gestures

These are the ones that prompt the audience to do something.

Tony Robbins does this really well. He might say “raise your hand if you want to earn million dollar this year” and he will raise his hands as he is telling people to raise their hands.

Audience members are more likely to do it if they see you doing it first.

Or you could say “let’s jump up and down on the spot”. So you can see in the video I am jumping and so it encourages audience or prompts them to do something that you want to do.

So there you have the four gestures which we can use while giving a presentation and there are some ideas on how you can use them.

Using Public Speaking Hand Gestures Effectively

When it comes down to using them effectively I compiled the tips here. There I have 5 tips on how you can use them more effectively.

At the end of the day it comes down to preparation and practice and being natural in your gestures.

Don’t try and force yourself if you don’t feel natural. If it is flowing like it does in everyday conversation with your friends or family then that’s a good sign that they’re going to be hand gestures that will work.

Try to avoid those hand gestures that just really take away from your presentation and don’t support what you are presenting.

So I guess the rule is – If the gestures are supporting what you are saying then they are probably going to be great. If they take you away from what you are saying (like scratching your face, adjusting clothes or playing with your ring finger) then they are probably taking away from your presentation and you don’t want to use them.

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Female student taking a pubic speaking course during the summer

Students can embrace the power of effective oratory with a  six-week Summer Session course, PMA 3814 Public Speaking: Contexts, Techniques and Analysis .

News directly from Cornell's colleges and centers

Summer Session Spotlight: "Public Speaking: Contexts,Techniques and Analysis"

By shelley preston.

Public speaking is often cited as one of people’s biggest fears, but this summer, Theo Black, of Cornell's Department of Performing and Media Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences , invites students to embrace the power of effective oratory with his six-week Summer Session course, PMA 3814 Public Speaking: Contexts, Techniques and Analysis .

This four-credit class, which runs June 24 to August 2 on the Cornell campus, is open to Cornell undergraduates and visiting students through Cornell’s School of Continuing Education (SCE) . 

“The course will introduce students to public speaking as a pragmatic endeavor,” says Black.  “We’ll also delve into presentational techniques, paired practical exercises and critical analysis.”

SCE asked Black to share more about what students can expect from his course.

How long have you been teaching  “ Public Speaking: Contexts, Techniques and Analysis ?” What inspired you to offer it? I’ve been teaching public speaking for two decades and this course at Cornell for several years now. It’s essential to me to share effective communication skills with any person who wants to harness their power of self-expression and ensure their messages are well-received.

What are some of the things you enjoy about teaching about this course? My favorite aspect of the course is hearing students’ unique, impassioned, entertaining and salient ideas–and watching folks grow in confidence, clarity and dynamism.

What do you hope your students come away with by the end of the course? The ability to quickly take a prompt and organize a clear, engaging message; to speak with a confident, dynamic range and engage with people interpersonally; to hear others’ speeches with an informed point of view; to harness the tools of vocal production, articulation, gestural language and eye contact and to use visual aids to draw in an audience.

What should students know about taking a rigorous, six-week course? I carefully calibrated the modules to ensure the students receive a depth of preparation without being overly taxed in terms of time. I gradually layer in the skills we’ve learned with practice exercises and a bit of homework to get students more comfortable with their abilities to communicate effectively in public.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention about your course? We’ll cover a wide and exciting array of speaking styles and topics. This course allows students to channel what they may already know with increased confidence and stretch their abilities within a safe environment for self-expression.

What activities do you like to do outside of the classroom during the summer? Hiking, kayaking and outdoor Shakespeare (acting and directing).

Any good summer beach or lake reads you can recommend? “The Last Ranger” by Peter Heller and “ H is for Hawk” by Helen Macdonald.

The deadline to enroll in PMA 3814 is June 10 for visiting students and June 26 for Cornell students. To learn more about Summer Session, visit the  Summer Session website .  

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Relieving a fear of public speaking

by Alistair Jones, Singapore Management University

public speaking

If you dread public speaking you are not alone. It is a leading social phobia, one that can cause a state of anxiety that reduces otherwise articulate people to nervous incoherence.

A strong fear of public speaking is known as glossophobia. Academic studies estimate it affects 20% of the population, but depending on the sample and methodology, the figure could be as high as 40%.

As American writer and humourist Mark Twain said, "There are two types of speakers: Those who get nervous and those who are liars."

But help may be on the way. Kyong Jin Shim, an Associate Professor of Information Systems at Singapore Management University (SMU), is leading a research project that explores the integration of virtual reality (VR) technology and AI to improve public speaking skills in students.

And while the research specifically focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of utilizing this technology for the development of public speaking skills for university students, the methodology could have wider applications. The project has been awarded an MOE Tertiary Education Research Fund (TRF) grant and the proposed solution is called PresentationPro.

"[Through headsets], presenters will see a three-dimensional virtual environment that mimics a real-world presentation setting, complete with a crowd of AI-driven avatars representing an audience," Professor Shim says.

"These avatars will display behaviors typical of a live audience, such as nodding, making eye contact, showing various expressions and providing real-time feedback to the presenter."

In a high-tech update on practice makes perfect, PresentationPro aims to provide a way for presenters to hone their public speaking skills without the logistical challenges of assembling a live audience for every student.

The team is collaborating with SMU's Centre for English Communication (CEC) to translate their "presentation" know-how and best practices into a digital platform , and eventually to scale CEC's communication coaching.

Avatar triggers

The VR content, including the audience avatars, is generated through a combination of advanced computer graphics and AI algorithms. To make the avatars responsive in real time is no small task.

"This is achieved through sophisticated AI programming that includes natural language processing (NLP) and behavior modeling. The system uses machine learning to analyze the presenter's speech and body language, allowing avatars to respond realistically in real time to both verbal and non-verbal cues," Professor Shim says.

By working with SMU's Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE), Professor Shim's faculty team tapped into CTE's expertise in classroom management and wealth of knowledge in different kinds of behavior that can manifest in classroom "presentation" scenarios. The behaviors of students and faculty/instructors play a crucial role in engineering PresentationPro's "audience avatar " behaviors using AI.

But can the avatars interrupt the presenter?

"Yes, avatars can interrupt and ask questions, simulating a dynamic interaction typical of real audiences. This capability is enabled by integrating NLP and speech recognition technologies, allowing avatars to process spoken language and respond appropriately," Professor Shim says.

The physical cues of presenters will also be monitored.

"In addition to heart rate tracking with Fitbits, the system uses VR headsets such as Meta Quest equipped with head and gaze tracking technology to monitor where the presenter is looking, such as whether they are avoiding eye contact by staring at their feet. Gesture tracking is also employed to catch other physical behaviors like fidgeting," Professor Shim says.

Verbal triggers for the avatars are set up using a combination of speech recognition and sentiment analysis technologies.

"These triggers are calibrated to recognize various speech patterns and anomalies such as tics, stutters, or deviations from the script, which then cue the avatars to react in specific ways that mimic a real audience's response," Professor Shim says.

Behavioral changes

The researchers have generated digital twins, which are highly detailed digital replicas of human behaviors and interactions—much like individuals—ensuring a diverse and realistic audience simulation reflective of a typical SMU classroom.

"Using different avatars helps to avoid repetition and predictability in audience reactions, enhancing the realism of the virtual environment and mimicking a typical seminar or classroom setting," Professor Shim says.

"VR and AI can simulate realistic social interactions, which can help individuals practice and improve their public speaking skills in a low-risk environment. Repeated exposure and positive reinforcement through VR can reduce anxiety, build confidence and lead to behavioral changes ."

"Improvements will be measured through both subjective evaluations (participant and instructor feedback) and objective metrics (performance data collected during VR sessions and traditional in-person assessments). Comparisons will be drawn between control and experimental groups to assess the efficacy of VR training," Professor Shim says.

Transformative tool

Interestingly, for a project that is about behavioral change, no psychologists were among the project's expert investigators when it began.

"The research team primarily consists of specialists in education technology, AI, and public speaking, focusing on the technological and instructional design aspects of the project," Professor Shim says.

"Although psychologists play a crucial role in understanding and addressing anxiety, our project's current scope concentrates on developing and integrating AI-driven solutions for public speaking training. Nevertheless, we recognize the value of interdisciplinary collaboration and are very open to partnering with experts in the social sciences to enhance our understanding of anxiety management."

"Such collaborations could lead to further refinements in our VR system, ultimately enriching the learner's experience by more effectively addressing public speaking anxiety," she added.

Professor Shim has since added SMU Assistant Professor of Psychology Andree Hartanto to the team to explore:

  • Psychological mechanisms through which VR may reduce glossophobia;
  • Long-term impacts of VR training on public speaking anxiety; and
  • Differential effects of VR training across diverse demographic groups

Professor Shim's journey into VR applications began in 2021 with a prototype designed to train new lecturers at SMU.

"My personal experiences as a faculty member, grappling with the challenges of adapting to a new cultural and academic environment, deeply influenced this initiative. During my early years at SMU, I found lecturing to a seminar-style classroom of 45 students from diverse backgrounds to be particularly daunting," she says.

"As I transitioned into a mentorship role for newer faculty members, I realized how beneficial immersive technologies like VR could be in accelerating the on-boarding process for new lecturers. This technology allows them to practice lecturing in their own time and space, repeat sessions as needed, and eliminates the logistical challenges of scheduling real seminar rooms and audiences."

"Inspired by the potential of this initial application, we set out to develop a similar VR system to enhance public speaking skills for students. This project not only leverages my teaching-related research in collaboration with CTE, but also builds upon our foundational work in VR, aiming to provide a transformative educational tool for a wider audience," Professor Shim says.

Provided by Singapore Management University

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Two more boeing whistleblowers go public over plane safety: ‘like a ticking timebomb’.

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They say they just want to make sure the planes don’t crash.

Two former employees of Boeing and its key contractor have told The Post that — despite the deaths of two whistleblowers within two months this year — they are more determined than ever to tell the truth about what they allege are dangerous practices at the once-great but now-scandal-scarred manufacturer.

Roy Irvin, a veteran of Boeing, and Santiago Paredes, who worked at Spirit AeroSystems (not to be confused with Spirit Airlines), are just two of at least 20 whistleblowers in the process of making their concerns about safety and quality issues at the aerospace giant public.

Boeing 737 MAX airplanes parked outside the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington on March 25, 2024

Their testimony comes after years of Boeing being dogged by whistleblower testimony and congressional investigations.

A  scathing House Transportation and Infrastructure report  in September 2020 found that two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 were the “horrific culmination” of “repeated and serious failures” by the company and regulators.

Then in January, a fuselage plug blew off a new Alaskan Airlines Boeing 737 MAX-9 at 10,000 feet.

A whistleblower  told the Seattle Times  that the fault lay with Boeing because after the fuselage was delivered by its manufacturer, Spirit, a panel had been removed at Boeing’s Renton, Washington, factory and reinstalled without four crucial bolts.

Now Irvin and Paredes are speaking out.

Roy Irvin, a bearded whistleblower and former quality investigator at Boeing inspecting 787 Dreamliners.

From 2011 until 2017, Irvin was a quality investigator at Boeing in North Charleston, SC, trying to ensure that $250 million 787 Dreamliner planes were ready to be put to work before they left the factory. He began at the company in 2009.

Irvin said he “pushed back” almost every day at serious safety and quality issues he found on planes that had left the factory floor and were on the “flight line,” meaning they were supposed to have been checked and found to be good to go.

But they weren’t, Irvin alleges, and he was often forced to be “insubordinate” because of how many times he called out the problems he saw.

“Missing safety devices on hardware or untightened hardware means that you’re not going to be able to control the airplane if those fail,” Irvin told The Post.

Quality manager inspecting 737 Max fuselages at Spirit AeroSystems factory

“The safety device is on there. If the fastener is not secured correctly, it’s going to fall off and you’re not gonna be able to control the airplane.”

Irvin worked with Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, 62, who was found dead on March 9 in a hotel parking lot in South Carolina, his silver pistol in his hand, after he failed to show up for the second part of his testimony for a bombshell lawsuit against the company. Police ruled that Barnett died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Then Joshua Dean, 45, a former quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, died in early May from a fast-growing infection.

The deaths, paradoxically, may have empowered others to come forward.

Brian Knowles, a Charleston, SC, attorney who represents whistleblowers including Irvin and Paredes and also represented Barnett and Dean, told The Post his law firm has fielded dozens of new calls from potential whistleblowers in recent weeks.

Damaged fuselage of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 with a gaping hole where a panel blew off, parked in Portland, Oregon

“Most of the people we’re hearing from are current employees,” he said. “These are not disgruntled employees.

“In many cases they love the company. It’s not about bringing down the company — it’s about getting it back on track.

“Boeing says they are open to hearing criticisms but in reality they are not being addressed internally and many are retaliated against for speaking out.”

Paredes was a production inspector for Spirit AeroSystems for 12 years before leaving in 2022.

He told The Post he was shocked when he arrived at the company and, he alleges, saw hundreds of defects on the production line. He was even more horrified, he said, when he was pressured not to say anything.

NTSB Investigator John Lovell examining the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a Boeing 737 Max 9, that made an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon

“I was at the end of the production line and so I was supposed to be looking at the finished product before they shipped it to Boeing.” Paredes said.

“Instead I saw missing parts, incomplete parts, frames that had temporary clamps and missing fasteners, dents in the parts, damaged parts, cut rivets, issues that might occur but should be fixed before they got to me.

“Everything I was seeing was like a ticking time bomb.”

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His bosses, he alleged, would pressure him to keep his reports to a minimum — and nicknamed him “Showstopper” because his write-ups on the defects would often delay deliveries.

“They always said they didn’t have time to fix the mistakes,” said Paredes. “They needed to get the planes out.

“I also was afraid to look at the news every day and see that something had happened to a plane in the air. It was a nightmare.”

Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, smiling and with a beard, who worked for Boeing for 32 years

Spirit AeroSystems spokesman Joe Buccino said Spirit “encourages people to come forward with concerns and we’ve made it easier to do that.”

A Boeing spokeswoman emailed a statement that read in part: “Boeing takes very seriously any allegation of improper work or unethical behavior.

Catch up on Boeing's ongoing airplane fiasco

Boeing has recently been plagued by safety concerns that began Jan. 5 after a  door panel blew off a Boeing 737 MAX 9  jet during a flight from Oregon to California. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the plane — which was operated by Alaska Airlines — appeared to be missing four key bolts.

Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, threatened to shun Boeing after the carrier’s fleet of MAX 9 aircraft was grounded in the wake of the  near-disastrous Alaska Airlines door blowout.

Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, warned that another midair door blowout like the Boeing 737 MAX 9 fiasco “can happen again,” adding there was a “problem with the process” of production.

Disaster struck again a week after the initial incident when a Boeing plane was forced to make an  emergency landing in Japan  due to a crack in the cockpit window.

A Boeing 757 lost its front tire as the aircraft was preparing to depart for an international flight in late January. At Atlanta International Airport, a Delta flight bound for Bogota, Colombia, was taxiing across the runway into takeoff position when another plane alerted the control tower that something was amiss.

Later, a UK passenger was alarmed after noticing pieces of tape on the exterior of a Boeing 787 during a flight to India, as seen in shocking photos.

A United Airlines Boeing 777-300 aircraft suffered a midair fuel leak and was forced to make an emergency landing Monday, March 11, marking the fifth incident the airline reported in a little over a week.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary previously said he’s made “loud complaints” to Boeing over quality control.

Whistleblower John Barnett raised safety concerns at the airline’s factories and provided his first testimony at a bombshell lawsuit against Boeing. He was found dead in his truck after he failed to show up for the second part of his testimony on Monday.

“We continuously encourage employees to report concerns as our priority is to ensure the safety of our airplanes and the flying public, and we will take any necessary action to ensure our airplanes meet regulatory requirements.

“Boeing employees can anonymously report concerns through our Speak Up portal or directly to the FAA.”

Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, standing outside with his arms crossed

Both men who spoke to The Post said they were not afraid about speaking out, despite conspiracy theories that took root after the deaths of Barnett and Dean.

But Paredes said, “I’m always looking behind my mirror to make sure nobody’s car’s following me.”

As for Irvin, he remains suspicious about Barnett’s death being a suicide.

“I’m not a conspiracy theorist … but I talked to [Barnett] about a week before he passed away. I can’t imagine him giving up like that. Even if he had other problems. I think he would have fought this to the end.

“I’m not gonna say I don’t believe it [the suicide], but it really doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t add up. You can quote me on that.”

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Boeing 737 MAX airplanes parked outside the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington on March 25, 2024

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Princess Kate is getting 'better' and would have loved to attend D-Day events, Prince William says

LONDON —  Kate, the Princess of Wales , is feeling “better,” Prince William said Wednesday, as his wife continues her cancer treatment out of the public eye.

William, the heir to the British throne, was speaking to a veteran at a D-Day anniversary event in the English port city of Portsmouth. After telling William about his experiences 80 years ago, the veteran asked if Kate was getting better.

“She is better, thanks. She would’ve loved to be here today,” said William, 41, leaning down to respond to the wheelchair-bound veteran.

Kate, 42, has not been seen in public since  she revealed in March that she was receiving cancer treatment . Kate said in a video that she was undergoing “a course of preventative chemotherapy” on the advice of her medical team.

Kensington Palace, the couple's official residence, revealed last week that Kate would miss a military ceremony this Saturday that she would usually take part in.

That continued absence means she is also missing the D-Day commemorations.

William gave a speech at Wednesday's event, as did King Charles III, the monarch's first in public since his own cancer diagnosis.

The king paid tribute to the “courage, resilience and solidarity” of those who took part in the historic invasion of Normandy, a turning point in the fight against Nazi Germany.

“It is our duty to ensure that we and future generations do not forget their service and their sacrifice in replacing tyranny with freedom,” Charles told the crowd in his address.

Follow live coverage of the D-Day 80th anniversary

Queen Camilla, who joined him at the event on Southsea Common in Portsmouth, could be seen in tears as a veteran recounted his memories of the invasion. Charles also appeared to wipe a tear from his eye at one point.

Charles and Camilla D-Dal Commemorations

The king and queen joined other heads of state and world leaders in Normandy on Thursday to mark the day of the landings. They were in Ver-sur-Mer for the U.K. commemorative event at the British Normandy Memorial, along with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, opposition Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.

William was set to give a speech at the Canadian event at Juno Beach, before joining veterans and heads of state for the official international ceremony on Omaha Beach.

Both Charles and Kate have declined to specify what type of cancer they have or details about their prognosis, although the 75-year-old monarch has attended several engagements since he resumed public duties earlier this year.

It remains unclear when Kate will return to public duties, after revealing her diagnosis in the wake of fervent speculation about her whereabouts following what the palace said was planned abdominal surgery.

powerpoint presentation about public speaking

Max Burman is deputy editor in the London bureau of NBC News Digital.

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Public Speaking Academy

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With around 75% of the world’s population being afraid of public speaking, it is ranked as the number one fear in humans! Luckily, your public speaking academy is here to significantly reduce that number. And you won’t be bothering with useless “Imagine your audience not wearing clothes” tips either, but you’ll provide your clients with the tools they need to structure their speech and control their nerves. That’s your area of expertise, and this template will round off your presentation in style! Download and edit it now in Google Slides or PowerPoint!

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COMMENTS

  1. Public Speaking Workshop

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  2. Public Speaking PowerPoint Presentation

    In addition, 9 slides fielding questions and answers, dealing with a hostile audience, and utilizing feedback. Lastly, this Public Speaking PowerPoint contains a built-in running Activity that will keep your audience engaged as they consider and complete these thought provoking activities. Read more. Education Business.

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    When To Use PowerPoint In Public Speaking. How to use PowerPoint in public speaking? PowerPoint has become a standard software used in public speaking in our current Information Communication Technology age. With the increasing accessibility and affordability of LCD projectors and even mobile pocket-size projector, it is not difficult to set up a PowerPoint presentation for public speaking.

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    When public speaking, lecturing, presenting or giving any kind of speech, Powerpoint can be a brilliant tool.However, in most cases it is overused, or used badly. At it's worst, Powerpoint can distract you from making a brilliant speech. Many inexperienced public speakers actually build their talk around their powerpoint presentation, and use it as a crutch.

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    Special Occasion Speaking: Exploring Public Speaking Accessible PowerPoint Slides for Chapter 15 Exploring Public Speaking Accessible PowerPoint Slides is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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  18. Public Speaking PowerPoint Template & Google Slides

    Our Public Speaking PowerPoint Template is a presentation layout with creative illustrations of public speakers and gatherings.Public speaking is not a new trend; for years, people have been using this method for entertainment, informing, marketing, and teaching purposes. Most commonly, public speaking is employed for motivational purposes to endorse a better concept among the audience.

  19. Public Speaking and Presentations

    Public Speaking and Presentations: Tips for Success. This resource includes tips and suggestions for improving your public speaking skills. Even if you've never spoken in front of a large group before, chances are you will encounter public speaking sometime during your life. Whether you're giving a presentation for your classmates or ...

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    1. Understand the Expectations and Learn the Details. "Gather all of the information regarding location, technical setup, time you'll be speaking, dress, topics to include/avoid, type of presentation, etc.," says Tara Goodfellow, a Muse career coach and owner of Athena Consultants. Having all of this information ahead of time will help ...

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    One simple way to do this is to use the language of surprise. For example, to draw in their audience, an executive might exclaim, "I knew the product would sell. What I didn't expect is that it ...

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    3. Suggestive Gestures. These are gestures that depict moods or expressions. For example: you could say I welcome you in with open arms whilst opening your arms. 4. Prompting Gestures. These are the ones that prompt the audience to do something. Tony Robbins does this really well.

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    Public speaking is often cited as one of people's biggest fears, but this summer, Theo Black, of Cornell's Department of Performing and Media Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences, invites students to embrace the power of effective oratory with his six-week Summer Session course, PMA 3814 Public Speaking: Contexts, Techniques and Analysis.. This four-credit class, which runs June 24 to ...

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  30. Public Speaking Academy

    Premium Google Slides theme, PowerPoint template, and Canva presentation template. With around 75% of the world's population being afraid of public speaking, it is ranked as the number one fear in humans! Luckily, your public speaking academy is here to significantly reduce that number. And you won't be bothering with useless "Imagine ...