how is personal presentation important in the workplace

How important is Personal Presentation in the Workplace?

• June 21, 2022

The short answer …VERY!

Personal presentation is how you portray yourself to other people. It includes the way you look, speak and move and is part of your communication skills. Communication is one of the most important life and work skills you need to be successful 🤓

Your personal presentation is made of: 👗Appearance – from wearing well presented clothes. 🗣Body Language – From the way you smile to the way you shake hands and your ability to make eye contact.

🧠Behaviour – your attitudes and behaviours towards situations and people are part of your your personal branding.

Within the first few seconds, we are judged based on our appearance and body language 😬

✨ Tips for making the most out of your Personal Presentation include:

✅ Dressing for the occasion. Don’t change your entire style every time you have to present. This is about adapting your own style to the situation.

✅ Practice power moves – Standing tall, power stances first thing in the morning, shoulders back – these contribute to looking confident.

✅ Affirmations – Make a list of your “I am” statements for those important occasions.

I am currently taking bookings for 1 day corporate workshops on Personal Presentation. If this is something you are interested in please feel free to email me at:  [email protected]

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The Importance of Presentation Skills in the Workplace

Good presentation skills require organisation and confidence. If these two essential items are not ticked off, then it’s time you looked at developing presentation skills. This type of personal development work will really assist you to develop first more confidence, which is the key. Then, by you getting organised, well presented and ultimately building self-esteem, those dream jobs will appear and your ambitions will be realised!

Being well presented in the workplace – in a presentation, in a meeting, during a discussion with a colleague or client is essential. If your career matters to you – develop your presentation skills!

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A presenter or staff member is given an added advantage over someone who is less than polished in public speaking (i.e. someone who actually avoids it like the plague), when he or she can get up and deliver a well-constructed, confident presentation in front of a group of colleagues.

Superiors notice the confident approach, which translates into other parts of their role. Staff who are highly skilled in their area of expertise, but hate public speaking, will still be appreciated, but they may just get more kudos and more accolades if they can articulate their approaches and knowledge in a more confident manner.

“Being well presented in the workplace – in a presentation, in a meeting, during a discussion with a colleague or client is essential. If your career matters to you – develop your presentation skills!”

Presentation and public speaking skills are “learnt” skills – by working on these skills, the quiet and shy person can learn to present with confidence and evidentially “Find their voice”.

Where do Presentation Skills have an impact in the Workplace?

Presentation skills will help in the following workplace or professional circumstances:

• At interviews, as the interviewer or interviewee
• At meetings, face to face or in a conference call
• At networking functions, meeting new people or getting to know ones you already know.
• Speaking to colleagues and staff
• Delivering a presentation to clients detailing a technical topic or selling a product
• Presenting at conferences
• Speaking at large internal meetings
• Speaking at Chamber of Commerce or Rotary promoting your business
• Speaking with suppliers
• Speaking with clients
• Presenting training
• Attending training

And so on …

Want to live a life that makes you excited? Our LH Planners use our Dream | Define | Do framework, based on proven mindset and productivity research, so we know it will help you achieve what you put your mind to!

Presentations are part of the job.

Yes, it’s true. Professionals are expected to give presentations as part of their job. But surely with their education, whether at university or other colleges, delivering a presentation is straightforward? Well, no!

A Gallup poll found that 40% of the population have a fear of speaking in public. It doesn’t matter how big or small the group, there are some people who struggle to give presentations. Does this have an impact on their work? Potentially, yes.

So what are the areas that are important in the workplace, with respect to presentation skills?

“Presentation skills and public speaking are a “learnt” skill – by working on these skills, the quiet and shy person can learn to present with confidence and evidentially “Find their voice””

1. Know Your Audience

Understand what the audience wants to get out of the presentation. You need to be mindful of the people in the meeting or in the conference room. This is so your presentation will meet and exceed the audience’s expectations, and so your audience gets what they came for.

2. Plan your Presentation

Planning the structure of your presentation – and knowing what structure works for your audience – is very important. For your audience to absorb your information, it needs to be delivered in an easy-to-follow format.

3. Make it Interesting

Attention spans are not long, no matter how advanced the audience is. Make sure you’ve included some really interesting points, and vary the type of interest points, as this will help to keep the attention of the meeting.

“A Gallup Poll found that 40% of the population have a fear of speaking in public … Does this have an impact on their work? Potentially, yes”

4. Dress the Part

Your appearance in the workplace matters. Not only are you meant to be a thought leader in your chosen presentation topic, you are also in competition with others wanting to advance. If you are not well presented, with respect to clothes, hair, shoes, paperwork, etc., people will notice and it will have an impact.

5. Show you Care

Your enthusiasm for the topic is essential. If you seem disinterested in the topic you are talking about, your audience will pick up on this.

6. Be Organised

Your audience will appreciate you being organised for a meeting or a presentation. If there are little changes or hiccups, your audience will understand. If you are unorganised and you appear to have not put in an effort, the attendees will not sympathise, and they will get annoyed.

“Make sure you’ve included some really interesting points … this will help to keep the attention of the meeting”

7. Discuss the “Elephant in the Room”

If there is an issue, if something isn’t working, you are experiencing a problem, then make a mention of whatever it is and then move on. If we hold back from discussing something important (which may not have an impact on the meeting topic), then get this discussion done, and then move on. If you don’t, the attendees will be thinking about that rather than the actual topic at hand.

8. Get a Grip on your Nerves

Handling nervousness and building confidence is important – you will struggle to get your message across if you struggle here. Being mindful of how you present at work will really help with your interactions with colleagues and clients. This will ultimately impact on whether you get that important raise, or that desired new job.

Featured Photo Credit: citirecruitment via Compfight cc

Adrienne, with her experience of growing up in a family business, working in the corporate and small business sector plus building her own business, gives an enthusiastic and practical approach to the benefits of presentation skills development, learning to promote yourself and building a successful business. She is a regular presenter, blogger and a contributing author in four recent business publications.

Follow her via Facebook , LinkedIn , Twitter and Google+

2 replies on “ The Importance of Presentation Skills in the Workplace ”

Loved this post, some great points. Some areas where you might think are second nature but its a great reminder to people especially at times that they might be stressed. Its good to have a check list to keep organised and above it all.

Adrienne McLean

Thanks Julia for your feedback, Much appreciated.

Comments are closed.

Ideas and insights from Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How are you providing presentation skills training for your learners?

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

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The Reason Why Your Workplace Presentation Skills Are So Important

Discover the true value of workplace presentation skills, and how they can help you lead and influence!

Discover Why Workplace Presentation Skills Are so Important

When you’re a manager, you need to have good presentation skills so you can lead your team, influence strategy, and even improve results.

Overall, your workplace presentation skills can highly impact your leadership skills. And once you master public speaking and messaging and storytelling becomes your second nature, you’ll be able to motivate others and drive impactful decisions.

Of course, you won’t be able to become a presentation expert overnight – and that’s why we’re here.

Our guide will help you understand why presentation skills in the workplace are so important and what you can do in your next presentation to put the wheels in motion.

Enhancing Leadership through Presentation

Building credibility and respect.

For managers seeking to establish credibility and respect as leaders, mediocre workplace presentation skills simply will not suffice anymore. To earn the trust and buy-in of your team and peers, you must be able to articulate ideas with polish, structure, and command of the subject matter.

Even the most brilliant strategic thinking means little if you cannot convey your vision persuasively. To reach presentation excellence , try the following techniques:

• Carefully modulating vocal tone for gravitas
• Using clear and authoritative language
• Maintaining eye contact
• Integrating narratives and data into speech flow

Sharpening skills in areas like these signals preparation and mastery to audiences. But make no mistake – excelling as a confident speaker requires dedication. With programs like our One-to-One skils training , you can learn how to refine your style and stage presence further.

Motivating and Inspiring Teams

Rallying the troops is not easy – canned corporate speak falls flat fast these days. People need authentic inspiration that sparks passion and purpose from within. The most effective motivators tap into that emotional spark by painting tangible visions folks can envision themselves executing.

Strategic plans remain just words unless infused with meaning. Relatable stories breathe life into dry data and directives. Asking real questions, and fully incorporating feedback makes teams feel truly heard, valued, and invested.

Great leaders convey conviction by speaking from their hearts. They motivate by sharing why the work matters to them personally. When teams see the mission through their leader’s eyes, that purpose becomes personal for them too. Then real commitment flows.

Unlocking these abilities takes time – the principles are straightforward but nuance is everything. With dedication to enhance their narrative skills though, managers discover they can rally teams to astonishing new heights.

Developing workplace presentation skills takes guidance and practice which things like our Storytelling for Business Course can provide in spades. Through hands-on learning, managers discover how to craft inspiring narratives and deliver them masterfully. They emerge as influential motivators ready to ignite real change.

The principles are straightforward but the nuance is immense. With a dedication to enhancing their strategic narrative abilities, managers discover they can rally their teams to astonishing new heights.

Book individuals on our:

Influencing Decision-Making and Strategy

Steering organisational decisions.

When it comes to swaying major strategic decisions , having a seat at the table is just the beginning. To truly influence executive conversations and achieve your desired outcomes, you must command the room with conviction.

Powerful presentation skills allow you to shape discussions by controlling the narrative. 

Wielding true influence over pivotal decisions requires commanding the room. Adopting this level of authority means mastering specific techniques:

• Address likely objections head-on: Anticipate concerns decision-makers may have and dispel them strategically. Displaying a full grasp of the landscape builds confidence in your ideas.
• Lead with compelling data: Back claims with ample evidence so leaders feel assured by your command of the facts. Data-driven arguments hold sway.
• Speak with flexible vocal emphasis: Modulate tone, pace and volume to focus minds on key goals. This verbal dynamism keeps narratives compelling over long meetings.
• Structure seamless storyline flow: Deftly transition between narrative elements to guide discussions to intended conclusions. Crescendos and details should cinch, not confuse.

Refining such advanced skills demands commitment but unlocks influence. With preparation and practice, managers gain the tools to spearhead strategy by steering pivotal conversations with authority and acumen. Let’s discuss how our customised coaching can accelerate your journey.

Aligning Team with Organisational Goals

Savvy navigators take time to decipher why pronounced goals matter, translating numbers and jargon into stories that evoke emotional investment . Compelling visuals help reinforce key concepts too. Inviting input helps uncover disconnects, doubts, or insights to inform updated guidelines. Ongoing forum sustains impulse to execute.

Re-examining goals through field teams’ eyes illuminates aspects previously opaque back at headquarters. People want to advance ideas they helped shape and comprehend. Respecting experience glues collective purpose tighter than relying on demands alone. Harnessing their interests and expertise fuels creativity that propels division over the finish line amid tight margins and clockwork.

Instilling esprit de corps around any sizable undertaking demands recognising each member’s contributions. Dynamic managers embrace the challenge because they understand that sustained achievements on an ambitious scale only emerge when people feel dialled into the values and humanity driving that journey, not just the roles assigned.

If you are looking for In-House Presentation Skills Training for a group or teams, please see our

Advancing Career through Masterful Presentations

Gaining visibility and networking.

If visibility and exposure are critical to your career growth, workplace presentation skills offer the perfect networking opportunity to get yourself noticed. 

Simply taking the stage is insufficient to drive career growth nowadays. To truly showcase leadership abilities, managers must deliver confident , compelling presentations that capture attention .

Want to accelerate your leadership journey? Polished presentations showcase potential. But simply claiming the stage won’t cut it. To truly make an impact, bring your A-game – a confident tone and compelling narrative that clarifies complex ideas.

Weave in stories and data that provide relatable context. Deploy effective questioning to spur meaningful dialogue. Exude quiet authority through verbal fluidity, crisp articulation and open body language. Slides should visually reinforce key points, not dominate.

Mastering such niche workplace presentation skills elevates you above the rest. But Make no mistake – excellence requires commitment. Customised training blends frameworks, coaching and practice for internalising the nuances. Lean into the rigours with dedication and realise the differentiation possible during high-stakes visibility moments. That’s how careers leap.

Refining such niche presentation capabilities accelerates professional advancement but requires commitment. Customised training solutions like Impact Factory’s one and two day presentation skills courses combine robust frameworks, expert coaching, and hands-on practice for mastering key areas. With dedication, managers gain skills to distinguish themselves during high-stakes moments.

Demonstrating Leadership for Promotion

Career advancement hinges on visibility – standing out requires a commanding presence. Mediocre presentations only go so far before hitting ceilings. To seize those coveted promotions, substance and polish must align. Savvy speakers demonstrate gravitas through smooth delivery, strategic narrative , and memorable messaging. They guide audiences fluidly through data visualisations toward intended takeaways. Stories get woven with facts to reinforce recall. Messaging stays crisp but conversational.

Executives refine such niche skills through tailored coaching. Impact Factory’s Personalised Executive Presentation Coaching helps managers master the techniques crucial for career acceleration. Their experts assess strengths, identify growth areas, and provide frameworks and hands-on practice. 

Managers gain confidence in delivering high-stakes presentations with clarity and conviction.

But realisation takes proactivity. Leaders seeking elevation must first acknowledge their next frontier for development. Schedule an initial consultation to evaluate readiness. Whether seeking executive presence, compelling storytelling, or another area of growth, Impact Factory develops customised plans for realising one’s full leadership potential.

Mastering Crisis Management with Presentation Skills

Effective problem-solving communication.

When unprecedented challenges emerge, stakeholders inevitably look to leaders for direction and resolution. These high-pressure moments call for composed, solution-oriented communication.

Experienced presenters acknowledge concerns head-on while succinctly conveying viable solutions and clear next steps. They provide straightforward explanations of the process and address uncertainties. But what can you do in your next presentation?

• Stick to factual information
• Use a clear organisational structure
• Watch your tone and pace for maximum reassurance

If you’re looking to take your skills another step further, our one day media skills course will equip you to steer your team through chaos with calm, focused communication .

Leading in Crisis through Communication

In times of turbulence, employees understandably look to leaders for a steady hand at the wheel. In such situations, the ability to communicate with clarity, confidence , and compassion is critical.

Successful leaders ground their teams by presenting vision, direction and contingency plans with poise. They use a slow narrative pace, crisp articulation, and composed delivery to provide maximum reassurance. To make your message stronger, try:

• Reiterating core values and organisational priorities
• Presenting contingency plans and scenarios
• Inviting audience perspectives and concerns
• Using storytelling to reinforce shared identity and purpose

Truly mastering crisis communication takes rigorous preparation. And with comprehensive programs like the Five-day Intensive Presentation with Impact course, you can gain the needed skills to shine when the stakes are highest.

Elevate Your Presentation Skills With Impact Factory

Mastering leadership communication is a winding journey, not a single summiting. But persevering promises dividends in influence. Progress flows from self-honesty – regularly soliciting blunt feedback exposes one’s gaps. Perhaps nervous tics emerge when conversations turn. Or complex data lacks translation for certain audiences. Once developmental areas come into focus, improvement follows consistent, concentrated effort.

While dedication furthers skills, targeted coaching accelerates them. Wise managers seek external expertise to tackle niche challenges singularly. Impact Factory , for example, offers personalised workshops and one-on-one sessions addressing common leadership pitfalls. From rallying teams around new initiatives to steering crises, our communication training tackles both universal and unique pain points through framework building and repeated practice.

True expertise requires commitment but unlocks otherwise elusive potential. As goals evolve over one’s leadership journey, how can external support further your vision? Please, let us know – an initial consultation may reveal growth possibilities not yet on your radar, unveiling your next positive disruption. The first step starts with asking.

FAQs on Workplace Presentation Skills

What are the five key presentation skills to develop.

In our experience, the fundamentals are clear articulation, polished body language, strong audience engagement, logical structure, and effective visual aid usage. Master these core abilities first.

How can I improve the flow of my presentation?

Creating a clear narrative arc is crucial – outline key points and transitions in advance. Use stories, questions, and eye contact to maintain engagement. Keep slides simple to avoid losing their attention . And be sure to summarise those key takeaways at the end.

What makes for a poor presentation?

Lack of preparation is a big one. A monotone voice and stiff body language won’t help either. Overly text-heavy slides just make people tune out. Failing to actively engage the audience is also a killer. Information overload without clear messaging is another major pitfall.

Why do many people fear public speaking?

Some anxiety is natural, but here’s the thing: focus on mastering your material rather than nerves. With practice delivering to small groups first, it gets much easier. Preparation and experience are key to gaining confidence .

Related Articles:

Are you ready to take the next step? Here are resources to help you take the right direction:

• Presentation Skills Training – Find out how we can tailor the training to the needs of your team and business.
• Benefits Of Presentation Courses – Sharp presentation skills bring benefits to your employees and business at the same time. While your employees gain more confidence, your business can drive higher sales. Explore the benefits in more detail.
• How To Use Body Language To Enhance Your Presentation Skills – Presentations aren’t only about the message. You also need to focus on the way you deliver it and the impression you make on the audience. Here are a few quick tips on how to build a strong stage presence.

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Choosing a Presentation Skills Training Provider

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The Importance of Presentation Skills in the Workplace

For most people, public speaking is akin to visiting the dentist: it’s unavoidable, though avoidance is preferable. But, though you may feel your heartbeat quicken at the mere idea of giving a presentation, it’s important that you acquire and hone these speaking skills.

Delivering presentations is no longer reserved for CEOs and high-level managers. These days, no matter your department or position, you are required and expected to communicate effectively to deliver information for internal and external audiences.

According to a Prezi survey , 70% of employed Americans believe presentation skills are critical to their career path. Yet 20% of respondents said they would do just about anything to avoid having to give a presentation, including pretending to be sick or asking a coworker to speak in their place.

This is problematic because the survey revealed that persuasive stories through presentations is a fundamental job requirement these days.

How Presentation Skills Impact the Workplace

Excellent presentation skills are what help leaders inspire teams and entrepreneurs attract funding. Communication is at the heart of all business transactions. When that communication is effective, careers and bottom lines can both soar.

Here are some other ways presentation skills positively impact the workplace:

During Interviews

Both interviewer and interviewee must communicate well for the best outcome. Building teams is essential to organizational growth and sales.

In Meetings

Whether it’s a conference call, sales call, or face-to-face chat, meetings are where critical decisions are made and careers flourish.

Networking Events

Meeting new people and making new connections is vital to professional success. Presentation skills help individuals make a great first impression.

Speaking with Clients

If you want your business to succeed, you’ve got to form true relationships with clients, and this entails having a knack for talking with them. Customer trust and loyalty are bred from sharing your brand story and vision.

Presenting at Conferences

To be seen as a thought leader you must be able educate and inspire audiences . Good presentation skills help businesses reach potential customers and move them to action.

How to Hone Your Presentation Skills

Now that you know just how important presenting is to your business or personal career path, here are some ways you can begin to hone your skills:

Always be Prepared

Whether it’s standing in front of a large crowd at an industry event or speaking with one single employee, it’s important to be prepared. Is your mind ready to deliver whatever message you have? Can you envision your preferred outcome?

Who is your audience and what do they need from you? How can you best deliver the information? What questions might they have that you need to be able to answer? The more prepared you are, the more confident and able you’ll be to share.

Get Organized

If you have a sales meeting or a local Chamber of Commerce event, it’s important you are organized so you can make the best impression. Have any supplemental materials ready and organized so you can avoid hiccups and distractions.

Relieve Your Nerves

It’s okay and very normal to be nervous before any type of presentation. It simply means you “have skin in the game” and want to do your best. But you can hardly do your best when your nerves have you on edge.

Though you may get nervous, it is possible for you to walk up on that stage or into that boardroom calm and confident. Preparation is a big part of inspiring this calm confidence, as is physically removing nervous energy from your body.

Taking slow deep breaths has been scientifically proven to help calm your mind and body. Try it next time and don’t be surprised if you feel a whole lot better.

Aim for Interesting Not Perfect

At the end of the day, audiences big or small want to be engaged and moved. They are not looking for you to be perfect but rather interesting.

If you’re presenting to a large group , be sure to include some interesting points in your speech. If you are being interviewed for a promotion, tell a personal story that is relevant to the position.

Striving for perfection is a futile endeavour. But being interesting is something most determined people can achieve.

The importance of presentation skills in the workplace cannot be overstated. If you are letting fear hold you back, try to implement these tips so you can begin to make connections and good impressions that will propel your business or career forward.

Ashish, I 100% agree with be interesting not perfect. When you reach a point where you’re “presenting” or leading on a daily basis, you don’t have time to make every presentation of your ideas perfect. But if you can make your points interesting and engage your teammates, you’ll accomplish your end goal. Thanks!!!

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When you give a presentation, it is important to remember the whole package, and that means how you present yourself as well as how you present the material.

It is not good to spend hours and hours preparing a wonderful presentation and neglect the effect of your own appearance.

Whether you like it or not, people make judgements about you based on your appearance.

These judgements may be conscious or subconscious, but they all affect how, and whether, your audience is prepared to take on board your message as presenter.

Our pages on Personal Appearance and Personal Presentation explain the importance of presenting yourself effectively, more generally. This page focuses on the impact of self-presentation in presentations.

The Importance of Expectations

When you stand up to give a presentation, the audience already has certain expectations about how you will behave, and what you will say.

These expectations may be based on the event, the marketing, their knowledge of you, or their previous experience more generally.

Expectations may also be based on societal norms, such as business people are expected to wear suits.

You don’t have to match people’s expectations, of course, but you do need to be aware that, if you don’t, they are going to have to spend time processing that difference. This mismatch will take some of their concentration away from your message.

You also need to be aware that people can only take so much discomfort.

A mismatch between expectations and reality can even lead to a situation called cognitive dissonance , where individuals come into contact with something — whether idea, person, or belief — that causes them to question their own internal beliefs and values.

This can be very uncomfortable, and the normal reaction is to try to avoid it. In a presentation situation, that's going to mean either leaving or just not listening, neither of which is ideal.

This is particularly important if you want to say something that your audience will find difficult to hear.

If you want to say something outrageous, wear a suit.

The late Dr Joe Jaina, Organisational Psychologist at Cranfield School of Management.

Aspects of Personal Presentation

Your personal presentation includes:

• Accessories, which in this context means anything that you’re carrying or wearing, including your notes, although it also includes luggage, bags, phones, jewellery, watches, and scarves;
• Body language; and

Your clothes are probably the most obvious aspect of personal presentation.

In deciding what to wear, there are several things to consider:

What does the audience expect?

It’s not actually as simple as ‘wear a business suit’, because this may not always be appropriate.

It does depend what your audience is expecting. On some occasions, or in some industries, smart casual may be much more appropriate. If you’re not sure, ask the organisers about the dress code. You can also ask someone who has been to the event before, or have a look online.

If it’s a regular event, there will almost certainly be photographs of previous occasions and you can see what other people have worn.

Within the audience’s expectations, what will make you feel comfortable?

You will present best if you are fairly relaxed, so you need to find a balance between the audience’s expectations, and feeling comfortable.

For example, you may have a particular suit that you think makes you look good. For women, it’s also worth thinking about shoes: you’re going to have to stand for the duration of the session, so make sure that you can do that.

If you’re not used to heels, don’t wear them.

Your accessories should be consistent with your clothes.

That doesn’t mean that your bag needs to be the same colour as your jacket.  However, if you’re wearing a suit, your notes should be in a briefcase or smart bag, and you’re not carrying a backpack or plastic carrier bag. Again, it’s about not distracting your audience from your message.

Likewise, your notes should be part of your thinking. Producing a dog-eared sheaf of paper is not going to help you project a good image. Papers tend to flap about, whereas cue cards can be held on your hand, which is why it is worth considering using cue cards, or even memorising most of what you’re going to say and using your visual aids as cues.

See our page: Managing your Presentation Notes for more on this.

The Importance of Self-Presentation

In 2005, the Conservative Party in the UK faced a leadership election as leader Michael Howard announced that he would step down. The actual election was held between October and December that year. In October, at the Conservative Party Conference, each of the announced candidates was given an opportunity to make a 20-minute speech.

Before the speeches, David Davis was very much the front-runner in the competition. However, his conference speech was considered poor. He spoke from notes, and never really came alive. David Cameron, a more junior member of the party and considered by many an outside chance as leader, made a speech that set the hall alight. He spoke without notes, and with passion, presenting himself as the young, upcoming potential leader who could take the party in a new direction.

By the following morning, the bookies had David Cameron as the front-runner and he went on to win the leadership election.

Self-Presentation also Includes Body Language and Voice.

While there are many important elements of body language, perhaps the most important is to project self-confidence .

You need to demonstrate that you believe in what you’re saying. Otherwise, why would anyone else believe it?

For more about this, and other aspects of body language that may help your communication, see our pages on Managing a Presentation Event and Non-Verbal Communication .

Part of projecting self-belief is being able to control your voice, and speak slowly and clearly. You also need to vary your tone and pace to keep people interested.

For more about this, see our page on Effective Speaking .

In conclusion…

When you are making a presentation, you are presenting a package: you and your message. The more you are aware of the impact of every element, the more effective the package will be as a whole.

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Continue to: Presenting to Large Groups Top Tips for Effective Presentations

See also: Coping with Presentation Nerves Giving a Speech Presenting Data Building a Personal Brand

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The Importance of Presentation Skills in the Workplace

I was reminded this week about the importance of presentation skills in the workplace. Three participants in my presentation skills workshop in Detroit taught job placement skills. I noticed a couple of interesting things as the class went on. First, these participants offered tips in their class presentations similar to what I teach. These three class members also developed their presentation skills very quickly. Basically, they had well-developed communication skills that helped them be more successful in business. They developed presentation skills quickly because they already had great communication skills. The opposite is true as well. Presentation skills help you communicate better in the business world. (That is the importance of presentation skills in the workplace!)

Five Ways that Presentation Skills Can Help You in the Workplace

• Leaders Always have Great Presentation Skills

Think of any person who you consider to be a great leader. The moment that you think of this person, an image of that person will often appear in your head. There is a really good chance that the image will be the person speaking in front of a group. If you thought of a President like JFK or Ronald Reagan, you probably thought of a famous speech. “Ask not what your country could do for you..” or “Tear down this wall…” might have actually entered your mind as well. Also, when I think of General Patton, I have an image of George C. Scott standing in front of an American Flag. (He was giving a speech.)

Inspirational Pep Talk from Friday Night Lights

When I played football in college, my position coach was Gary Gaines. If you have seen the movie or read the book Friday Night Lights , you may recognize the name. Coach Gaines is a fantastic leader. He is also a fantastic communicator. Interestingly, when I think of him today, I don’t remember the coaching and reprimands. Instead, I remember the way he used to make us feel during team meetings. Just as an FYI, Billy Bob Thornton did an amazing job portraying him. Although there was a scene in the movie where he yelled at a kid. I never once saw Coach lose his temper or yell at anyone. That’s why we all loved him.

• To Be a Part of the Team, You Have to Speak Up

I was angry at myself. “Why didn’t I say something?” I had an opportunity to help the team and help myself at the same time. The opportunity had passed though. I missed it. So one importance of presentation skills in the workplace is that we gain confidence. When we do, we are more likely to contribute to the team.

• Set Yourself Apart from the Crowd

One major importance of presentation skills in the workplace is the ability to stand out from the crowd. Let’s face it. Most people stink at giving presentations. I sometimes jokingly say in class that you don’t have to be an excellent presenter. You just have to be a little better than the last person that spoke. And in most cases, the bar is set pretty low.

I taught a team-building activity to a department of the Federal Government a couple of weeks ago. As I was teaching, I felt like the energy was a little lower than usual. As I was packing up my stuff, though, one of the participants came up to me. He said, “I’ve been coming to these ‘team meetings’ for almost 25 years. This one was, by far, the best that I’ve ever been to.” He was comparing me to past speakers. Compared to them, it was fantastic. My presentation skills helped me set myself apart from the crowd.

• You Can Create a Team Atmosphere

The manager who took over was very disorganized. There were about 10 of us who were sales reps for the company. We each had to drive almost an hour to each weekly “team meeting.” The new manager droned on and on about irrelevant stuff. His meetings were an absolute chore. Within a few months, the owner had to “transition” him to a new position. That left an opening, and I got the job. When I took over, I just began to copy Scott. It worked really well, and sales and morale improved immediately.

• Open Doors of Opportunity

For instance, I got a random call out of the blue a couple of weeks ago from a police officer who took my class. After taking Fearless Presentations ®, he volunteered for a community outreach position. He has spent the last few years teaching college students how to improve security on their campus. He told me that he has received two promotions as well.

An entrepreneur from a recent class sent me an email saying that she auditioned for Shark Tank. She said that she would have never done something like that before the class.

These are just a few of the intangible benefits of good presentation skills. In many positions, these skills are vital. For instance, if you are in sales, the better your skills, the more sales you will create. If you are a trainer, your presentation skills will allow you to teach others more easily and effectively. Also, managers and supervisors can lead to more productive meetings. Folks who work with customers are less likely to have miscommunication. The benefits are endless. So, if you want to get ahead in the business world, work on your presentation skills!

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Important Presentation Skills for Workplace Success

• What Are Presentation Skills?

Steps To Create a Presentation

Skills that help make an effective presentation, how to make your skills stand out.

xavierarnau / Getty Images

Whether you’re a high-level executive or an administrative assistant, developing your presentation skills is one key way to climb in an office-based job. Leaders make decisions based on information shared in presentation format, and hardly any business changes its mind without first seeing a persuasive presentation.

It is important for any office employee to know what steps go into creating an effective presentation and what presentation skills are most important to employers. Highlighting these skills will also help you stand out during your job search.

Key Takeaways

• Presentation skills are what you need to know to be able to give an engaging, effective presentation.
• The steps to creating a successful presentation are preparation, delivery, and follow-up.
• Employers want to know you have the necessary skills to research, analyze, and create a presentation, plus the communication skills needed to deliver it and field questions afterward.
• You can highlight your skills to employers through your resume, cover letter, and interview.

What Are Presentation Skills? 

Presentation skills refer to all the qualities you need to create and deliver a clear and effective presentation. While what you say during a presentation matters, employers also value the ability to create supporting materials, such as slides.

Your prospective employer may want you to deliver briefings and reports to colleagues, conduct training sessions, present information to clients, or perform any number of other tasks that involve speaking before an audience.

Giving engaging and easy-to-understand talks is a major component of the strong  oral communication skills  that are a  job requirement  for many positions. Not all presentations take place in a formal meeting. Many presentation skills are relevant to one-on-one consults or sales calls.

Any presentation has three phases: preparation, delivery, and follow-up. All presentation skills fit into one of these three phases.

Preparation 

Preparation involves research and building the presentation. Consider the audience you'll be presenting to and what most interests them. This may mean crafting the entire text (or at least writing notes) and creating any slides and other supporting audio/visual materials.

You will also have to make sure that the appropriate venue is available, properly set up beforehand, and ensure the projector (if you'll need one) works and connects with your laptop.

You'll also want to practice your presentation as many times as you need to to feel comfortable delivering it with ease and confidence within the time allotted for the presentation.

Skills related to preparation include conducting research related to your presentation topic, devising charts and graphs depicting your research findings, and learning about your audience to better tailor your presentation to their needs. You'll also need to create digital slides, using statistics, examples, and stories to illustrate your points and effectively to persuade the audience.

Preparing handouts or digital references is an added courtesy that will help the audience pay attention because they won't be preoccupied with note-taking.

Your delivery is the part of the presentation that the audience sees. A good delivery depends on careful preparation and confident presentation and requires its own distinctive  skill set . 

Skills related to delivery include giving an attention-grabbing opening for a talk, providing a summary of what will be covered to introduce the presentation and provide context, and using  body language  and eye contact to convey energy and confidence.

Make sure you pause to emphasize key points, modulate your vocal tone for emphasis, and articulate your speech clearly and smoothly.

Don't be afraid of injecting humor or speaking with enthusiasm and animation—these techniques can help you in projecting confidence to your audience.

Summarize key points at the conclusion of the presentation, and be sure to have a plan for how you'll field any audience questions.

Presentation follow-up includes properly breaking down and storing any equipment, contacting any audience members with whom you agreed to communicate further, and soliciting, collecting, and analyzing feedback.

In some presentations, you may collect information from audience members—such as names and contact information or completed surveys—that you also must organize and store.

Skills related to follow-up include creating an evaluation form to solicit feedback from attendees, interpreting feedback from evaluations, and modifying the content and/or delivery for future presentations. Other follow-up skills include organizing a database of attendees for future presentations, interviewing key attendees to gain additional feedback, and emailing presentation slides to attendees.

To create and deliver the most effective presentation takes a variety of skills, which you can always work to improve.

You must be able to look honestly at your performance, assess the feedback you get, and figure out what you need to do to get better. That takes  analytical thinking .

More importantly, you need to have a firm grasp of the information you are about to communicate to others. You need to analyze your audience and be prepared to think quickly if asked questions that force you to demonstrate that you are fully aware of the material and its implications.

The kind of analytical skills you need to be an effective presenter include problem sensitivity, problem-solving , reporting and surveying, optimization, and predictive modeling. It also helps to be adept at strategic planning, integration, process management, and diagnostics. With these skills, you'll be better able to objectively analyze, evaluate, and act on your findings.

Organization

You do not want to be the person who spends half of their presentation time trying to find a cable to connect their laptop to the projector. Many things can and do go wrong just before a presentation unless you are  organized .

Presentation preparation also means keeping track of notes, information, and start/stop times. You will want to proofread and fine-tune all the materials you plan to use for the presentation to catch any mistakes. Make sure you time yourself when you rehearse so you know how long it will take to deliver the presentation.

A presentation that's finished in half the time allotted is as problematic as one that's too long-winded.

Some key organizational skills to work on include event planning, auditing, benchmarking, prioritization, and recordkeeping. Make sure your scheduling is on point and pay close attention to detail. Quick thinking is an important skill to have for when things inevitably go wrong.

Nonverbal Communication

When speaking to an audience, the way you present yourself can be just as important as how you present your information. You want to appear confident and engaging. You can do this through good posture, the use of hand gestures, and making eye contact with the audience.

Practice your  nonverbal communication  by filming yourself doing a practice presentation and observing your body language carefully. Your physical bearing and poise should convey a degree of comfort and confidence in front of an audience, while active listening , respect, and emotional intelligence will help you in facilitating group discussions.

Presentation Software

Microsoft PowerPoint is the dominant software used to create visual aids for presentations. Learn to use it well, including the special features outside of basic templates that can really bring a presentation to life. Even if someone else is preparing your slideshow for you, it will help to know how to use the software in case of last-minute changes.

Other software that is good to learn includes Microsoft Office, Apple Keynote, Google Slides, and Adobe Presenter.

Public Speaking

You need to appear comfortable and engaging when speaking before a live audience, even if you're not. This can take years of practice, and sometimes  public speaking  just isn't for certain people. An uncomfortable presenter is a challenge for everyone. Fortunately, public speaking skills can improve with practice . Some skills to work on include articulation, engagement, and memorization. You should be able to assess the needs of the audience and handle difficult questions. Controlling your performance anxiety will help you communicate more effectively.

Research is the first step in preparing most presentations and could range from a multi-year process to spending 20 minutes online, depending on context and subject matter. At the very least, you must be able to clearly frame research questions, identify appropriate information sources, and organize your results. Other useful skills include brainstorming, collaboration , comparative analysis, data interpretation, and deductive and inductive reasoning. Business intelligence is a skill that will help you evaluate what information you need to support the bottom line, while case analysis and causal relationships will help you parse and evaluate meaning.

Verbal Communication

Public speaking is one form of  verbal communication , but you will need other forms to give a good presentation. Specifically, you must know how to answer questions. You should be able to understand questions asked by your audience (even if they're strange or poorly worded) and provide respectful, honest, and accurate answers without getting off-topic. Use active listening, focus, and empathy to understand your audience. Skills such as assertiveness, affirmation, and enunciation will help you restate and clarify your key points as it relates to their questions or concerns.

You may or may not need a written script, but you do need to pre-plan what you are going to say, in what order you will say it, and at what level of detail. If you can write a cohesive essay, you can plan a presentation.

Typical writing skills apply to your presentation just as they do to other forms of writing, including grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and proofreading. The ability to build outlines, take notes, and mark up documents will also be useful.

More Presentation Skills

In addition to the skills previously mentioned, there are other important skills that can apply to your presentation. The other skills you need will depend on what your presentation is about, your audience, and your intended results. Some of these additional skills include:

• Summarizing
• Providing anecdotes to illustrate a point
• Designing handouts
• Recognizing and countering objections
• Posing probing questions to elicit more detail about specific issues
• Awareness of ethnic, political, and religious diversity
• Receiving criticism without defensiveness
• Refraining from speaking too often or interrupting others
• Anticipating the concerns of others
• Product knowledge
• SWOT analysis format
• Supporting statements with evidence
• Multilingual
• Working with reviewers
• Consistency
• Developing and maintaining standard operating procedures (SOPs)
• Developing a proposition statement
• Creating and managing expectations

Include skills on your resume. If applicable, you might mention these words in your  resume summary  or  headline .

Highlight skills in your cover letter. Mention one or two specific presentation skills and give examples of instances when you demonstrated these traits in the workplace.

Show your presentation skills in job interviews. During the interview process, you may be asked to give a sample presentation. In this case, you will want to embody these skills during the presentation. For example, you will want to demonstrate your oral communication skills by speaking clearly and concisely throughout the presentation.

PennState. " Steps in Preparing a Presentation ."

Harvard Division of Continuing Education. " 10 Tips for Improving Your Public Speaking Skills ."

Northern Illinois University. " Delivering the Presentation ."

9 Reasons to have Good Presentation Skills in the Workplace

1. Interviews

 2. meetings,  3. sales pitches  ,  4. conferences and events.

Improve Your Presentation Skills

If you'd like to learn more about delivering presentations, why not take a look at how we can help?

Boost your presentation skills with our online courses. RRP from US$0 – limited time offer just US$0.00

 5. Networking and establishing connections

 6. reputation,  7. training,  8. relationships with customers,  9. online or telephone communication.

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Wellness Gaps

Why is Personal Presentation Important at Work?

By Ion Doaga

There are so many obstacles that stop an employee's growth within a company. And one of these obstacles is the employee's poor personal presentation.

Without a good personal presentation, an employee may never receive positive attention. But he will get enough negative attention. 

Without knowing him well, his coworkers make negative assumptions based on his appearance. They'll say things like "He is not professional", "He's a negative person", or He is a bad team player".

The truth is that they express their concern about his poor personal hygiene. They think that he doesn't want to make their life easier while working in the same team.

What if the employee would try to improve his presentation in the workplace? Would his coworkers consider his efforts to be in the team? Would all the negative perceptions about the employee disappear?

May ... but that's not the only benefit of having a good personal presentation at work.

See below which the benefits of aligning your appearance with the company’s standards .

What is a personal presentation at work?

A good personal presentation speaks about the employee as a responsible employee. That's a message that influences his coworkers, supervisors, and managers. 

Dressing, behaving and communicating  appropriately  leave a good first impression. 

It’s a way of telling everybody that you want to be helpful to their working environment rather than being a hurdle . 

The importance of personal hygiene in the workplace

Effects of inappropriate personal presentation in the workplace.

You heard the saying that you have only one chance to make a good impression on yourself. That’s especially important when you build relationships with coworkers or represent the company meeting clients face to face. Let’s imagine the following situations where Jerry is our hero:

• If, while meeting clients, Jerry dresses inappropriately it may result in lost opportunities and sales . Customers judge their service provider reps by their appearance too. They have a hard time trusting a  poorly dressed person.
• Jerry works in a beauty salon where clients come to make themselves beautiful. In this case, clients expect Jerry to have good personal hygiene and appearance. 
• Now, imagine that Jerry is a real estate broker.  In such a case, any poor sign on Jerry’s appearance takes the client's focus from what Jerry tells them about the features of the house . Every time the client is distracted from the employers' words, his chances to sell the house decreases .
• Now, Jerry arrives into the office looking like he rolled out of bed. He didn’t clean his teeth. He didn’t clean his nails, and his hair spikes due to unwashed hair. He just gave his coworkers a reason to be talked behind his back. In the eyes of management, sloppiness is a sign of disrespect for your job.

Which are the most important personal image standards at work?

1. be well-groomed.

To be well-groomed follow the below basic grooming tips: 

• use deodorant without excesses.
• maintain a clean hairstyle.
• trim your nails.
• shave your face. Or if you have a beard, maintain it regularly.
• wear clean and fresh clothes matching the style and color.
• avoid wearing excessive jewelry. 
• 14 Tips for Maintaining Employee Personal Hygiene at Work

2. Maintain a healthy image

Another element of personal presentation is a healthy physical appearance.

A healthy look speaks about practicing healthy habits, eating well, and exercising.

This keeps the employee energized and positive.

A healthy employee is more efficient and takes fewer sick leaves.

While on the other side, poor health speaks about an employee as having a weak character. That tells his boss or coworkers that if he can’t take care of his health then he can't take care of the company as well.

3. Maintain good hygiene 

• maintain a dental hygiene routine to avoid such hygiene issues such as bad breath, caries, teeth yellowing.  
• maintain good body hygiene to avoid releasing embarrassing odors and skin diseases. 
• wear clean and ironed clothes.
• wash your hands often to avoid the spreading of your microorganisms within the office.

4. Show a friendly attitude

Besides maintaining a good workplace personal hygiene and having a pleasant physical look, you must also behave professionally. This means treating your coworkers and clients with a positive and professional attitude:

• greet and welcome guests appropriately.
• use suitable language.
• show good and friendly manners.
• open doors for guests. 
• offer seats.
•  be confident and maintain good posture.
• be punctual.

Your presentation at work plays an important role in your career growth.

Maintaining a professional appearance helps your coworkers and your boss perceive you as a valuable employee in the company while your clients perceive you as a helpful and useful professional at their job.

ABOUT ION DOAGA

The Importance of Presentation Skills in the Workplace

We all need good presentation skills to excel in our careers. However, if you are a confident presenter, your superiors may give you better opportunities essential for your career growth. For this reason, we have identified seventeen reasons why presentation skills are important in the workplace.

The Importance of Presentation Skills in the workplace

1. having a well-planned presentation, 2. importance of organization, 3. acquaint yourself with your audience, 4. make it worth their time.

One of the most difficult challenges that a presenter faces is to hold the audience’s attention. Therefore, add things that you know that your audience will appreciate and take an interest in your presentation. As a result, it will be worth their time.

5. Dress accordingly

When giving your presentation, dress appropriately. With your appearance, you will be able to impress your audience and perhaps, gain an advantage and have more of an impact on your audience.

6. Building your morale

7. clear communication.

If you have good presentation skills, you will be able to maintain a clear line of communication with your audience. It will help prevent any form of miscommunication and enhance your audience’s understanding and support.

8. More professionalism

You can enhance your professionalism in your industry if you know how to effectively communicate your experience and knowledge during presentations. Better job opportunities may be offered by being an expert in your field. In addition, you will be able to elevate your authority when presenting business operations plans.

9. Management of time

10. nailing interviews, 11. communicating with clients, 12. having conferences.

If you aim to be a conference speaker, you need to be a leader when it comes to your presentation skills. It will help create an impact on your potential customers and educate them about your brand. As a result, for your audience, it will be a call for action.

13. Being the lead speaker in meetings

14. pitching sales.

It is not easy to ask customers to choose your company’s product. But, a good presenter will be able to provide a good sales pitch to offer their client all the information they require to make a favorable decision.

Thus, you can convince your clients to select and purchase your company’s product with good presentation skills.

15. Attending events

It can be difficult for a presenter to give presentations during an event due to their nerves. The presenter may not be able to create the desired impact on the audience.

16. Building your reputation

17. enhancing relationships with clients.

Steve Todd, founder of Open Sourced Workplace and is a recognized thought leader in workplace strategy and the future of work. With a passion for work from anywhere, Steve has successfully implemented transformative strategies that enhance productivity and employee satisfaction. Through Open Sourced Workplace, he fosters collaboration among HR, facilities management, technology, and real estate professionals, providing valuable insights and resources. As a speaker and contributor to various publications, Steve remains dedicated to staying at the forefront of workplace innovation, helping organizations thrive in today's dynamic work environment.

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Why Presentation Skills Are Important For Career Success

• Thoughts & Opinions

Visibility and profile building are essential for career success these days. If people don’t know about your or what you can do, how can they put opportunities your way? There are several ways to build a profile. Jay Surti, WIBF’s Head of Mentoring explains why being a skilful presenter is so important.

Visibility and profile building are essential for career success these days. If people don’t know about you or what you can do, how can they put opportunities your way? There are several ways to build a profile. Having a properly completed profile on LinkedIn is a start – this is no longer just a platform that you join if you are looking for a new job. It’s a place where you can be seen and showcase your interests and experiences. Taking opportunities to speak in meetings or seminars for example is another way to increase visibility.

A good presentation can be a very powerful way to communicate an idea or message. Becoming a skillful presenter will raise your profile and enhance your personal brand.

Presentation skills are important in the workplace both for individual success and business success. In the competitive world that we live in, it is no longer enough to have the necessary capability to carry out your job. You need to be able to communicate effectively as well. It’s a skill that is highly valued and is one that anyone can improve upon.

It doesn’t matter what career or industry sector you’re in, we are all in the business of selling. Whatever roles you take on along your career path, you will need to sell an idea or concept in order to get buy in from others – colleagues, managers or clients.

When we think about presentations we often conjure up images in our mind of formal speeches in front of a large group. In reality we present and influence every day through our daily interactions at work and in our personal lives. Even if you don’t have to give presentations as part of your job right now, you might have to in future.

As you gain seniority your levels of responsibility increase and you begin to manage others. Understanding how to get the best out of your team is incredibly important – as a leader, you need strong communication skills. Honing your presentation skills will help you chair meetings, motivate team members and communicate more effectively with colleagues. You might be asked to speak at short notice, for example to step in for a colleague. Speaking at conferences or giving interviews to press or media to share expert opinions are opportunities that could help raise your profile and that of the company.

Today there is huge global competition for jobs. The traditional career pathway where employers sponsor your education is gone. There is an expectation now that you hit the ground running and can bring more to the party than your fellow applicants. You need to develop a competitive advantage and being able to communicate with your audience persuasively gives you that edge.

You could be the best expert in your area of work but if you can’t articulate what you have to offer and engage your audience then no-one will know how good you are or what you can contribute.

Taking charge of your brand and improving your presentation skills helps boost your confidence and prepares you for all kinds of situations. The confidence that comes from feeling comfortable speaking in front of groups has a knock on effect in other areas of your life.

How will you plan to include more speaking opportunities as part of your professional development?

Jay Surti is the author of “Ultimate Presentations” – a comprehensive guide to mastering presentations and becoming an engaging speaker. Ultimate Presentations is available at Waterstones, WHSmith and Kogan Page.

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How Personal Presentation plays an important role in the workplace?

What is personal presentation in the workplace and why is personal presentation important?

What is personal presentation in the workplace?

Personal presentation is how you portray yourself to other people. Your personal presentation includes everything from the way you look , to the way you speak and move . Personal presentation is part of the communication skills, and communication is one of the five important life and work skills you need to build as a professional. Personal presentation means the way you present yourself in everyday situations, including the most stressful ones like job interviews.

Your personal presentation is made of several elements including (but not limited to) the following:

Physical appearance

Your physical appearance is a major part of your personal presentation. It includes everything we can see about you from wearing clean clothes, having clean and brushed hair and being well-groomed to the colour and style of your clothes and accessories.

Body language

Your body language plays an essential part in your personal presentation. From the way you smile to the way you shake hands and your ability to make eye contact, your non-verbal communication significantly impacts your personal presentation.

Attitudes and behaviours

We can consider that your attitudes and behaviours towards situations and people are part of your personal presentation (and your personal branding ) . The way you speak to and get along with others definitely impacts your personal presentation and what people think about you. Are you being friendly, kind and polite every time you can?

Why is personal presentation important?

With the above definition of personal presentation, it seems essential to learn how to give the right impression through how we look, what we say, and what we do .

We know that within the first few seconds, we are judged based on our appearance and body language. No matter how relevant and interesting our message is, if our personal presentation is not appropriate, people will hardly listen to our message. Working on our personal presentation is the first step to develop effective presentation skills .

Our personal presentation is helping us to fit in by following certain codes of conduct and corporate styling principles. When getting ready to facilitate a workshop, I always adapt my personal presentation to the company I visit with a focus on the company’s industry. No matter how comfortable and fashionable my workout outfit looks, it is not relevant or appropriate to my activity.

A few years back, I was helping a client getting back to the workplace as a chef. She was having a multiple of interviews, she had amazing cooking skills but still couldn't find a job. She decided to use my personal branding and image consulting services to boost her success. The first (and last) coaching session was enough to understand what was going wrong and to adjust the situation. My talented coachee came to our session dressed for interviews and I could immediately spot that her issue was based on her personal presentation. She looked beautiful but she was overdressed for the occasion. She was wearing high heels, a lot of make-up, a complicated hairstyle and fake nails. I looked at her from a recruiter’s point of view and understood why nobody would hire her! The only thing a recruiter can think is that she will be late in the morning to get ready, she will then spend hours in the bathroom to stay stunning, she will never be able to stand on those heels all day, and she might lose a nail or two in the cooking pots and plates. My client dressed like that with the best intentions, to give a positive first impression; it was just not appropriate and relevant to the situation. Together, we selected a few appropriate outfits making her look like a chef at work instead of a fashion icon. Immediately after our session, she dared to reapply to her favourite opportunity and successfully got the job. I guess the lesson here is to dress for the occasion .

How to make the most from your personal presentation?

As mentioned above, the best thing to do is to dress for the occasion. Dressing for the occasion doesn’t mean that you need to change your entire style and feel like wearing a Halloween costume every time you get out. Dressing for the occasion is about adapting your own style to the situation . It might mean being more classy, trying to look more serious or professional, or if you are evolving in a creative environment it might mean showing off your creativity.

When feeling lost about the dress code, simply observe people around you; how do people dress on such occasions, what do they wear when working in this company? It will give you some guidance to pick and choose your outfit and accessories.

Because your personal presentation isn’t only about your appearance, you will pay attention to your body language and non-verbal signals as well as your behaviours.

Maud Vanhoutte

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Dressing for job interviews: 10 Dos and Don'ts

How to express your style when wearing a medical coat

Why first impression matters

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10 Slides to use in a Personal Presentation

• Personal branding /
• Presentation design /
• Public speaking

We have encountered so far two uses of personal presentation. One of them became more common in the past years, as the freelancing scene is burgeoning. 

As you guessed, the personal presentation is used by freelancers as an extended business card. It includes the services the freelancers provide, their work process, recommendations, and any relevant information they want to share with potential clients. But we will discuss this in a further article. 

In this article, we will cover the other use of the Personal Presentation, also known as the Interview Presentation, as a part of the hiring process for middle – senior positions. You reached a point in your career when a simple interview or CV is not enough to fully convey your potential. So, this is where a personal presentation comes in. 

Giving a presentation will let you showcase your public speaking skills, knowledge about the position you are applying for, and the field you are working in. This will also help potential employers to better understand the value you are to bring to the company. 

Reaching this level in your career comes with high expectations, and the classic PowerPoint templates won’t do you good. There is always the option of going with solid white background and standard font, but take into consideration the aesthetics of the organization. Or choose to work with a specialist that will highlight your attributes and channel your personality. 

1. Cover slide

The first impression matters and we are not talking only about your physical appearance, but also your digital one. No one is judging you for how you look or how you dress, it all varies from company to company. Yes, you do need to give your best professional appearance and your presentation alike. 

Employers can tell from the cover slide how much interest you put in the presentation. Make a first impression that lasts, get their attention from the beginning, and don’t let go. 

You can also download some cover slide templates from here: 

Cover slide templates

2. About me (similar to CV, the most important info)

Your audience has already seen your application, and your CV, they probably went through your social accounts such as Linkedin. This is the time to paint them a picture of yourself, and how you want them to see you from now on, both on a professional and personal level. 

In a middle-senior position, some personal details are essential to creating a bond, as the employer is looking for someone that they can work with, that they can bring into the team. 

Don’t go into specific details in this part, you are going to talk about your career, achievements, and skills later. 

3. Career (where have you worked and what have you done there)

As in a CV, there is no need to present all the jobs you had had. Choose those who are relevant to the job you are applying and if you are specifically fond of one, you can mention it. 

Pick 3 or 4 previous positions, mention the company you worked for, and from there you can extend to your main responsibilities and key learnings. It is important to present them as part of your story, not just bullets on the slide and we also recommend making a connection between those positions and the one you are applying for. 

4. Achievements and Training

This can be a slide or two slides sections. To differentiate yourself from other candidates, ensure the achievements you are listing focus on the results rather than your duties. Quantify your achievements through specific situations and the results you gained.

You don’t need to brag about yourself, but most people forget that they also need to sell themselves (their results and their knowledge) in this personal presentation. Put out those achievements that would apply to the job and can even enter scenarios on how those situations can help you in the new job. 

5. Skill Set

This is about you, about the skills that you worked to get. Again, it’s not about just listing the skills you have, bringing out examples, and experience, and telling on how you acquired that skill. 

Before making out this list, research a few things about the company, what are they looking for in employees, what the job will require of you and what are the values of the company. This way it will come easier when presenting the skills that you have and that will help you with the new position.  

6. Experience in the position applying 

It’s not just the previous jobs you have, it’s the experiences you got from them. So rather than presenting the old jobs, talk about specific projects/situations that would apply to this one. 

Talk about what happened, how you handled it, what were the results, and what have you learned from there. Ask yourself first how will this help me in the position that I am applying for. When you figured that out, the presentation will go smoother.  

7. Your added value to the company

With all the experience you have and the research done on the company and the job, this is the time to tell your interviewers what is your vision of the company. 

Using the skills you presented, explain how can you be an asset to them and what value will you add to the company. 

8. First actions on the job

All the stories have built up the person standing right now in front of the committee. What they want to know now is what actions you would take if you got the position. Don’t go after some revolutionary actions, keep your feet on the ground and analyze what are the needs of the company and what can you do about them.

For every action you put on the presentation, think of the small steps and the resources you need to do that action. As a follow-up to this slide, have prepared a few notes with the results you are expecting from them. 

9.  Final statement 

The final statement needs to be a strong selling point, you can point out some of the skills and experience. Put all of this in a way that will bring benefits to the company.  

Why you are the best candidate for this position and how will that bring value to the company? 

10. References & Contact Info

Ask a previous employer for a short recommendation, remember to mention the name and the position of the author. The other references can be on your CV, and in this slide have just one written recommendation that is relevant for the job. 

You arrived at the final slide, inviting your audience to a small Q&A while the reference is still displayed. They already have your contact info, but it’s recommended to put it on the final slide. Have the presentation ready to be sent to the committee if necessary. 

Before preparing or delivering a personal presentation, consider these tips:

• As you have seen in the article, we mention a lot that the information you put in the presentation is relevant to the job you are applying for; 
• Research the company and the job;
• Keep in mind that your physical and digital appearance can denote how much you have prepared for this interview and how much you want the position;
• You don’t need to be a presentation designer, you can always keep it simple. Though, avoid using regular templates, and personalize the presentation to your aspect;
• Have the presentation ready to be delivered before the interview.

We can always help you prepare the specific presentation and you can take your time to prepare for the interview. Send us a message and let’s talk about you!

For more tips on preparing presentations and free templates subscribe to our newsletter. 

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

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More than 100 reference examples and their corresponding in-text citations are presented in the seventh edition Publication Manual . Examples of the most common works that writers cite are provided on this page; additional examples are available in the Publication Manual .

To find the reference example you need, first select a category (e.g., periodicals) and then choose the appropriate type of work (e.g., journal article ) and follow the relevant example.

When selecting a category, use the webpages and websites category only when a work does not fit better within another category. For example, a report from a government website would use the reports category, whereas a page on a government website that is not a report or other work would use the webpages and websites category.

Also note that print and electronic references are largely the same. For example, to cite both print books and ebooks, use the books and reference works category and then choose the appropriate type of work (i.e., book ) and follow the relevant example (e.g., whole authored book ).

Examples on these pages illustrate the details of reference formats. We make every attempt to show examples that are in keeping with APA Style’s guiding principles of inclusivity and bias-free language. These examples are presented out of context only to demonstrate formatting issues (e.g., which elements to italicize, where punctuation is needed, placement of parentheses). References, including these examples, are not inherently endorsements for the ideas or content of the works themselves. An author may cite a work to support a statement or an idea, to critique that work, or for many other reasons. For more examples, see our sample papers .

Reference examples are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Chapter 10 and the Concise Guide Chapter 10

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The state of AI in early 2024: Gen AI adoption spikes and starts to generate value

If 2023 was the year the world discovered generative AI (gen AI) , 2024 is the year organizations truly began using—and deriving business value from—this new technology. In the latest McKinsey Global Survey  on AI, 65 percent of respondents report that their organizations are regularly using gen AI, nearly double the percentage from our previous survey just ten months ago. Respondents’ expectations for gen AI’s impact remain as high as they were last year , with three-quarters predicting that gen AI will lead to significant or disruptive change in their industries in the years ahead.

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by Alex Singla , Alexander Sukharevsky , Lareina Yee , and Michael Chui , with Bryce Hall , representing views from QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and McKinsey Digital.

Organizations are already seeing material benefits from gen AI use, reporting both cost decreases and revenue jumps in the business units deploying the technology. The survey also provides insights into the kinds of risks presented by gen AI—most notably, inaccuracy—as well as the emerging practices of top performers to mitigate those challenges and capture value.

AI adoption surges

Interest in generative AI has also brightened the spotlight on a broader set of AI capabilities. For the past six years, AI adoption by respondents’ organizations has hovered at about 50 percent. This year, the survey finds that adoption has jumped to 72 percent (Exhibit 1). And the interest is truly global in scope. Our 2023 survey found that AI adoption did not reach 66 percent in any region; however, this year more than two-thirds of respondents in nearly every region say their organizations are using AI. 1 Organizations based in Central and South America are the exception, with 58 percent of respondents working for organizations based in Central and South America reporting AI adoption. Looking by industry, the biggest increase in adoption can be found in professional services. 2 Includes respondents working for organizations focused on human resources, legal services, management consulting, market research, R&D, tax preparation, and training.

Also, responses suggest that companies are now using AI in more parts of the business. Half of respondents say their organizations have adopted AI in two or more business functions, up from less than a third of respondents in 2023 (Exhibit 2).

Gen AI adoption is most common in the functions where it can create the most value

Most respondents now report that their organizations—and they as individuals—are using gen AI. Sixty-five percent of respondents say their organizations are regularly using gen AI in at least one business function, up from one-third last year. The average organization using gen AI is doing so in two functions, most often in marketing and sales and in product and service development—two functions in which previous research  determined that gen AI adoption could generate the most value 3 “ The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier ,” McKinsey, June 14, 2023. —as well as in IT (Exhibit 3). The biggest increase from 2023 is found in marketing and sales, where reported adoption has more than doubled. Yet across functions, only two use cases, both within marketing and sales, are reported by 15 percent or more of respondents.

Gen AI also is weaving its way into respondents’ personal lives. Compared with 2023, respondents are much more likely to be using gen AI at work and even more likely to be using gen AI both at work and in their personal lives (Exhibit 4). The survey finds upticks in gen AI use across all regions, with the largest increases in Asia–Pacific and Greater China. Respondents at the highest seniority levels, meanwhile, show larger jumps in the use of gen Al tools for work and outside of work compared with their midlevel-management peers. Looking at specific industries, respondents working in energy and materials and in professional services report the largest increase in gen AI use.

Investments in gen AI and analytical AI are beginning to create value

The latest survey also shows how different industries are budgeting for gen AI. Responses suggest that, in many industries, organizations are about equally as likely to be investing more than 5 percent of their digital budgets in gen AI as they are in nongenerative, analytical-AI solutions (Exhibit 5). Yet in most industries, larger shares of respondents report that their organizations spend more than 20 percent on analytical AI than on gen AI. Looking ahead, most respondents—67 percent—expect their organizations to invest more in AI over the next three years.

Where are those investments paying off? For the first time, our latest survey explored the value created by gen AI use by business function. The function in which the largest share of respondents report seeing cost decreases is human resources. Respondents most commonly report meaningful revenue increases (of more than 5 percent) in supply chain and inventory management (Exhibit 6). For analytical AI, respondents most often report seeing cost benefits in service operations—in line with what we found last year —as well as meaningful revenue increases from AI use in marketing and sales.

Inaccuracy: The most recognized and experienced risk of gen AI use

As businesses begin to see the benefits of gen AI, they’re also recognizing the diverse risks associated with the technology. These can range from data management risks such as data privacy, bias, or intellectual property (IP) infringement to model management risks, which tend to focus on inaccurate output or lack of explainability. A third big risk category is security and incorrect use.

Respondents to the latest survey are more likely than they were last year to say their organizations consider inaccuracy and IP infringement to be relevant to their use of gen AI, and about half continue to view cybersecurity as a risk (Exhibit 7).

Conversely, respondents are less likely than they were last year to say their organizations consider workforce and labor displacement to be relevant risks and are not increasing efforts to mitigate them.

In fact, inaccuracy— which can affect use cases across the gen AI value chain , ranging from customer journeys and summarization to coding and creative content—is the only risk that respondents are significantly more likely than last year to say their organizations are actively working to mitigate.

Some organizations have already experienced negative consequences from the use of gen AI, with 44 percent of respondents saying their organizations have experienced at least one consequence (Exhibit 8). Respondents most often report inaccuracy as a risk that has affected their organizations, followed by cybersecurity and explainability.

Our previous research has found that there are several elements of governance that can help in scaling gen AI use responsibly, yet few respondents report having these risk-related practices in place. 4 “ Implementing generative AI with speed and safety ,” McKinsey Quarterly , March 13, 2024. For example, just 18 percent say their organizations have an enterprise-wide council or board with the authority to make decisions involving responsible AI governance, and only one-third say gen AI risk awareness and risk mitigation controls are required skill sets for technical talent.

Bringing gen AI capabilities to bear

The latest survey also sought to understand how, and how quickly, organizations are deploying these new gen AI tools. We have found three archetypes for implementing gen AI solutions : takers use off-the-shelf, publicly available solutions; shapers customize those tools with proprietary data and systems; and makers develop their own foundation models from scratch. 5 “ Technology’s generational moment with generative AI: A CIO and CTO guide ,” McKinsey, July 11, 2023. Across most industries, the survey results suggest that organizations are finding off-the-shelf offerings applicable to their business needs—though many are pursuing opportunities to customize models or even develop their own (Exhibit 9). About half of reported gen AI uses within respondents’ business functions are utilizing off-the-shelf, publicly available models or tools, with little or no customization. Respondents in energy and materials, technology, and media and telecommunications are more likely to report significant customization or tuning of publicly available models or developing their own proprietary models to address specific business needs.

Respondents most often report that their organizations required one to four months from the start of a project to put gen AI into production, though the time it takes varies by business function (Exhibit 10). It also depends upon the approach for acquiring those capabilities. Not surprisingly, reported uses of highly customized or proprietary models are 1.5 times more likely than off-the-shelf, publicly available models to take five months or more to implement.

Gen AI high performers are excelling despite facing challenges

Gen AI is a new technology, and organizations are still early in the journey of pursuing its opportunities and scaling it across functions. So it’s little surprise that only a small subset of respondents (46 out of 876) report that a meaningful share of their organizations’ EBIT can be attributed to their deployment of gen AI. Still, these gen AI leaders are worth examining closely. These, after all, are the early movers, who already attribute more than 10 percent of their organizations’ EBIT to their use of gen AI. Forty-two percent of these high performers say more than 20 percent of their EBIT is attributable to their use of nongenerative, analytical AI, and they span industries and regions—though most are at organizations with less than $1 billion in annual revenue. The AI-related practices at these organizations can offer guidance to those looking to create value from gen AI adoption at their own organizations.

To start, gen AI high performers are using gen AI in more business functions—an average of three functions, while others average two. They, like other organizations, are most likely to use gen AI in marketing and sales and product or service development, but they’re much more likely than others to use gen AI solutions in risk, legal, and compliance; in strategy and corporate finance; and in supply chain and inventory management. They’re more than three times as likely as others to be using gen AI in activities ranging from processing of accounting documents and risk assessment to R&D testing and pricing and promotions. While, overall, about half of reported gen AI applications within business functions are utilizing publicly available models or tools, gen AI high performers are less likely to use those off-the-shelf options than to either implement significantly customized versions of those tools or to develop their own proprietary foundation models.

What else are these high performers doing differently? For one thing, they are paying more attention to gen-AI-related risks. Perhaps because they are further along on their journeys, they are more likely than others to say their organizations have experienced every negative consequence from gen AI we asked about, from cybersecurity and personal privacy to explainability and IP infringement. Given that, they are more likely than others to report that their organizations consider those risks, as well as regulatory compliance, environmental impacts, and political stability, to be relevant to their gen AI use, and they say they take steps to mitigate more risks than others do.

Gen AI high performers are also much more likely to say their organizations follow a set of risk-related best practices (Exhibit 11). For example, they are nearly twice as likely as others to involve the legal function and embed risk reviews early on in the development of gen AI solutions—that is, to “ shift left .” They’re also much more likely than others to employ a wide range of other best practices, from strategy-related practices to those related to scaling.

In addition to experiencing the risks of gen AI adoption, high performers have encountered other challenges that can serve as warnings to others (Exhibit 12). Seventy percent say they have experienced difficulties with data, including defining processes for data governance, developing the ability to quickly integrate data into AI models, and an insufficient amount of training data, highlighting the essential role that data play in capturing value. High performers are also more likely than others to report experiencing challenges with their operating models, such as implementing agile ways of working and effective sprint performance management.

About the research

The online survey was in the field from February 22 to March 5, 2024, and garnered responses from 1,363 participants representing the full range of regions, industries, company sizes, functional specialties, and tenures. Of those respondents, 981 said their organizations had adopted AI in at least one business function, and 878 said their organizations were regularly using gen AI in at least one function. To adjust for differences in response rates, the data are weighted by the contribution of each respondent’s nation to global GDP.

Alex Singla and Alexander Sukharevsky  are global coleaders of QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and senior partners in McKinsey’s Chicago and London offices, respectively; Lareina Yee  is a senior partner in the Bay Area office, where Michael Chui , a McKinsey Global Institute partner, is a partner; and Bryce Hall  is an associate partner in the Washington, DC, office.

They wish to thank Kaitlin Noe, Larry Kanter, Mallika Jhamb, and Shinjini Srivastava for their contributions to this work.

This article was edited by Heather Hanselman, a senior editor in McKinsey’s Atlanta office.

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Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot – your copilot for work

Mar 16, 2023 | Jared Spataro - CVP, AI at Work

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Humans are hard-wired to dream, to create, to innovate. Each of us seeks to do work that gives us purpose — to write a great novel, to make a discovery, to build strong communities, to care for the sick. The urge to connect to the core of our work lives in all of us. But today, we spend too much time consumed by the drudgery of work on tasks that zap our time, creativity and energy. To reconnect to the soul of our work, we don’t just need a better way of doing the same things. We need a whole new way to work.

Today, we are bringing the power of next-generation AI to work. Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot — your copilot for work . It combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data in the Microsoft Graph and the Microsoft 365 apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet.

“Today marks the next major step in the evolution of how we interact with computing, which will fundamentally change the way we work and unlock a new wave of productivity growth,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “With our new copilot for work, we’re giving people more agency and making technology more accessible through the most universal interface — natural language.”

Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 in two ways. It works alongside you, embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps you use every day — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more — to unleash creativity, unlock productivity and uplevel skills. Today we’re also announcing an entirely new experience: Business Chat . Business Chat works across the LLM, the Microsoft 365 apps, and your data — your calendar, emails, chats, documents, meetings and contacts — to do things you’ve never been able to do before. You can give it natural language prompts like “Tell my team how we updated the product strategy,” and it will generate a status update based on the morning’s meetings, emails and chat threads.

With Copilot, you’re always in control. You decide what to keep, modify or discard. Now, you can be more creative in Word, more analytical in Excel, more expressive in PowerPoint, more productive in Outlook and more collaborative in Teams.

Microsoft 365 Copilot transforms work in three ways:

Unleash creativity. With Copilot in Word, you can jump-start the creative process so you never start with a blank slate again. Copilot gives you a first draft to edit and iterate on — saving hours in writing, sourcing, and editing time. Sometimes Copilot will be right, other times usefully wrong — but it will always put you further ahead. You’re always in control as the author, driving your unique ideas forward, prompting Copilot to shorten, rewrite or give feedback. Copilot in PowerPoint helps you create beautiful presentations with a simple prompt, adding relevant content from a document you made last week or last year. And with Copilot in Excel, you can analyze trends and create professional-looking data visualizations in seconds.

Unlock productivity. We all want to focus on the 20% of our work that really matters, but 80% of our time is consumed with busywork that bogs us down. Copilot lightens the load. From summarizing long email threads to quickly drafting suggested replies, Copilot in Outlook helps you clear your inbox in minutes, not hours. And every meeting is a productive meeting with Copilot in Teams. It can summarize key discussion points — including who said what and where people are aligned and where they disagree — and suggest action items, all in real time during a meeting. And with Copilot in Power Platform, anyone can automate repetitive tasks, create chatbots and go from idea to working app in minutes.

GitHub data shows that Copilot promises to unlock productivity for everyone. Among developers who use GitHub Copilot, 88% say they are more productive, 74% say that they can focus on more satisfying work, and 77% say it helps them spend less time searching for information or examples.

But Copilot doesn’t just supercharge individual productivity. It creates a new knowledge model for every organization — harnessing the massive reservoir of data and insights that lies largely inaccessible and untapped today. Business Chat works across all your business data and apps to surface the information and insights you need from a sea of data — so knowledge flows freely across the organization, saving you valuable time searching for answers. You will be able to access Business Chat from Microsoft 365.com, from Bing when you’re signed in with your work account, or from Teams.

Uplevel skills. Copilot makes you better at what you’re good at and lets you quickly master what you’ve yet to learn. The average person uses only a handful of commands — such as “animate a slide” or “insert a table” — from the thousands available across Microsoft 365. Now, all that rich functionality is unlocked using just natural language. And this is only the beginning.

Copilot will fundamentally change how people work with AI and how AI works with people. As with any new pattern of work, there’s a learning curve — but those who embrace this new way of working will quickly gain an edge.

The Copilot System: Enterprise-ready AI

Microsoft is uniquely positioned to deliver enterprise-ready AI with the Copilot System . Copilot is more than OpenAI’s ChatGPT embedded into Microsoft 365. It’s a sophisticated processing and orchestration engine working behind the scenes to combine the power of LLMs, including GPT-4, with the Microsoft 365 apps and your business data in the Microsoft Graph — now accessible to everyone through natural language.

Grounded in your business data. AI-powered LLMs are trained on a large but limited corpus of data. The key to unlocking productivity in business lies in connecting LLMs to your business data — in a secure, compliant, privacy-preserving way. Microsoft 365 Copilot has real-time access to both your content and context in the Microsoft Graph. This means it generates answers anchored in your business content — your documents, emails, calendar, chats, meetings, contacts and other business data — and combines them with your working context — the meeting you’re in now, the email exchanges you’ve had on a topic, the chat conversations you had last week — to deliver accurate, relevant, contextual responses.

Built on Microsoft’s comprehensive approach to security, compliance and privacy. Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 and automatically inherits all your company’s valuable security, compliance, and privacy policies and processes. Two-factor authentication, compliance boundaries, privacy protections, and more make Copilot the AI solution you can trust.

Architected to protect tenant, group and individual data. We know data leakage is a concern for customers. Copilot LLMs are not trained on your tenant data or your prompts. Within your tenant, our time-tested permissioning model ensures that data won’t leak across user groups. And on an individual level, Copilot presents only data you can access using the same technology that we’ve been using for years to secure customer data.

Integrated into the apps millions use every day. Microsoft 365 Copilot is integrated in the productivity apps millions of people use and rely on every day for work and life — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more. An intuitive and consistent user experience ensures it looks, feels and behaves the same way in Teams as it does in Outlook, with a shared design language for prompts, refinements and commands.

Designed to learn new skills.  Microsoft 365 Copilot’s foundational skills are a game changer for productivity: It can already create, summarize, analyze, collaborate and automate using your specific business content and context. But it doesn’t stop there. Copilot knows how to command apps (e.g., “animate this slide”) and work across apps, translating a Word document into a PowerPoint presentation. And Copilot is designed to learn new skills. For example, with Viva Sales, Copilot can learn how to connect to CRM systems of record to pull customer data — like interaction and order histories — into communications. As Copilot learns about new domains and processes, it will be able to perform even more sophisticated tasks and queries.

Committed to building responsibly

At Microsoft, we are guided by our AI principles and Responsible AI Standard and decades of research on AI, grounding and privacy-preserving machine learning. A multidisciplinary team of researchers, engineers and policy experts reviews our AI systems for potential harms and mitigations — refining training data, filtering to limit harmful content, query- and result-blocking sensitive topics, and applying Microsoft technologies like InterpretML and Fairlearn to help detect and correct data bias. We make it clear how the system makes decisions by noting limitations, linking to sources, and prompting users to review, fact-check and adjust content based on subject-matter expertise.

Moving boldly as we learn  

In the months ahead, we’re bringing Copilot to all our productivity apps—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Viva, Power Platform, and more. We’ll share more on pricing and licensing soon. Earlier this month we announced Dynamics 365 Copilot as the world’s first AI Copilot in both CRM and ERP to bring the next-generation AI to every line of business.

Everyone deserves to find purpose and meaning in their work — and Microsoft 365 Copilot can help. To serve the unmet needs of our customers, we must move quickly and responsibly, learning as we go. We’re testing Copilot with a small group of customers to get feedback and improve our models as we scale, and we will expand to more soon.

Learn more on the Microsoft 365 blog and visit WorkLab to get expert insights on how AI will create a brighter future of work for everyone.

And for all the blogs, videos and assets related to today’s announcements, please visit our microsite .

Tags: AI , Microsoft 365 , Microsoft 365 Copilot

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