Present­ing ef­fect­ively: How to make your present­a­tion a complete success

During school, they were a welcome op­por­tun­ity for some to improve their own grades, whilst for others they were an annoying com­puls­ory task: we’re talking about present­a­tions, of course! First you have to gather relevant in­form­a­tion on your chosen topic, create a suitable present­a­tion and then give the present­a­tion in front of the class. This school practice prepares students for working life, since present­a­tions and lectures play an important role in the world of work. However, this kind of learning is not always appealing to everyone, and it is not unusual to see bored or restless faces in the crowd when giving a present­a­tion. It often has nothing to do with a general dislike of present­a­tions, it’s just that the lecture lacks structure and the speaker may not have the most con­vin­cing present­a­tion skills.

So, if you want to inspire your audience or at least arouse their interest in the topic, it is worth­while to fine-tune your own present­a­tion skills. For this reason, we give you tips on how to make your lecture con­vin­cing in terms of content and structure, and pass along a few tricks on how to present yourself suc­cess­fully to the audience.

One thing is obvious: The success of a present­a­tion depends largely on how you present the content. Your rhet­or­ic­al talent and your ability to entertain and engage audiences are factors that will play a role, re­gard­less of the topic you choose. However, thorough pre­par­a­tion is essential if you want to make the most of the time available to you, as well as play to your personal strengths.

Before you begin creating your present­a­tion, you should consider the audience. For example, it makes a dif­fer­ence whether you are giving your present­a­tion in front of 20 or 200 people. In the first case, you can easily respond to the audience and involve in­di­vidu­al listeners with your dialogue. With a larger audience, this will quickly take up an excessive amount of time, so you should limit your in­ter­ac­tions with a larger audience to short votes, small puzzles or other par­ti­cip­at­ory activ­it­ies.

Ir­re­spect­ive of the size of the audience, it is also important to know what prior knowledge they have. In principle, it is advisable to make the present­a­tion as simple and un­der­stand­able as possible. However, if you require a certain basic knowledge to un­der­stand the topic, you should make this known be­fore­hand or in­cor­por­ate an ex­plan­a­tion of the back­ground at the beginning of your present­a­tion. On the other hand, a pro­fes­sion­al audience will likely be bored if you explain basic terms of the industry to them. Be sure to do your research on the type of audience you will have before you create your present­a­tion.

Also, consider the ex­pect­a­tions the audience might have for your lecture: If the event has admission fees, you should expect a more demanding audience than if it were a free, com­puls­ory event.

Anyone giving a present­a­tion today can make use of a large range of technical and visual aids. Fre­quently used aids include:

• Laptops, present­a­tion slides and pro­ject­ors
• Overhead pro­ject­ors
• White­boards
• Flipcharts
• Bulletin boards

All these tools may be a helpful support for your present­a­tion and make content easier to un­der­stand. The pre­requis­ite is that you integrate these tools ef­fect­ively into your present­a­tion. The ap­pro­pri­ate equipment needs to be available on-site. Make sure you check with the or­gan­iszer or the contact people in your company in good time to see whether the planned tools are available and func­tion­ing. If you use your own equipment, on the other hand, you should test it at the venue before the day of the present­a­tion, so that there are no annoying surprises when you are giving the present­a­tion.

As soon as the general con­di­tions have been clarified, you can begin with your present­a­tion’s content. Obtain the necessary material and consider which questions you would like to answer during your present­a­tion and which focal points you would like to set. These pre­lim­in­ary con­sid­er­a­tions will help you to structure the present­a­tion in a mean­ing­ful way and give a suc­cess­ful lecture later on.  

The in­tro­duc­tion is of par­tic­u­lar im­port­ance for lectures of all kinds: Ideally, you want to gain the audience’s interest quickly – in the worst case, you might lose the audience within the first 5 minutes. There are endless pos­sib­il­it­ies when it comes to creating an exciting and engaging in­tro­duc­tion. You can gain the audience’s attention by…

• Putting forward a pro­voc­at­ive thesis
• Telling an anecdote or joke to steer you towards the topic
• Playing a video clip
• Talking about current events
• Putting a question to the audience

Once you have decided which content and themes you want to feature in your present­a­tion, you can begin creating the present­a­tion. Make sure that your aids com­ple­ment your present­a­tion and not vice versa. Also try to keep both the number of slides and the number of text elements as low as possible – otherwise there is a risk that your audience will just pay attention to the slides shown and barely follow the lecture you are giving.

The last step in preparing your present­a­tion is to practice it in detail. For this purpose, go through the lecture step by step and think about key words, phrases or for­mu­la­tions that you can use to refer to or explain certain contents. If you can bring these terms to mind later without having to think about them, you will feel confident and prepared. Usually, it makes sense to take notes or create index cards, which can serve as a memory aid on the day of the present­a­tion, in case you become lost during your speech. If you have the op­por­tun­ity, you should also practice your present­a­tion on other people in advance. In this way, you will receive valuable feedback on the content and com­pre­hens­ib­il­ity of your present­a­tion, as well as on your present­a­tion skills.

Give your present­a­tion com­pletely at least once to make sure you are adhering to your time schedule.

When giving a present­a­tion, you are the focus of attention: all eyes and ears are on you. On the one hand, this gives you a great op­por­tun­ity to present your knowledge on the prepared topic, but on the other hand, it also puts you under a great deal of pressure. Your facial ex­pres­sions and gestures are re­gistered by the audience, as well as your choice of words and voice mod­u­la­tion. If you can excel in these areas, you will radiate con­fid­ence, calmness and com­pet­ence – if not, you may come across as inhibited, over­whelmed and insecure.

When you give a lecture, you need to make the most of your available time, choosing the timing of your actions and video clips carefully. The rest of the time should be filled with your lecture, which is why you need to make sure you have an ap­pro­pri­ate language style. You should adapt your choice of words to the target group – com­mu­nic­at­ing dif­fer­ently with a rather young audience than with an older one. In addition, your audience’s prior knowledge is also important. You should avoid spe­cial­ist vocab­u­lary as much as possible, in case there are audience members who might have limited knowledge on the topic.

Those who want to present suc­cess­fully should also know some rhet­or­ic­al stylistic devices and be able to use them ef­fect­ively. If you enrich your present­a­tion with a few rhet­or­ic­al tools, it will be much more lively and in­ter­est­ing for the audience, without having to make any ad­just­ments to the content. In this way, you can increase the en­ter­tain­ment value of your present­a­tion and gain the attention of your audience easily. The most fre­quently used rhet­or­ic­al figures in speeches are the following:

Al­lit­er­a­tion

If you string together terms that have the same initial sound, you are using al­lit­er­a­tion. This kind of word com­bin­a­tion is very memorable and can capture your audience’s attention. If you sum­mar­isze the core contents of your present­a­tion with al­lit­er­at­ive terms, the audience will be able to remember them easily.

Example: Easy, Exciting, Equal

Anaphora

An anaphora is the de­lib­er­ate re­pe­ti­tion of words at the beginning of a sentence or part of a sentence. This stylistic device not only helps you to structure your present­a­tion, but also ensures that the cor­res­pond­ing content will be easily re­membered by the audience.

Example: IaaS offers you a tailor-made package, IaaS is scalable at any time – IaaS is the model of the future.

Metaphor

In a metaphor, you use a term that actually comes from a different con­tex­tu­al meaning in a new context. For example: A foot is a body part, but in the phrase “at the foot of the mountain”, the word is brought into a new context. Metaphors make your lecture more ima­gin­at­ive.

Example: The curtain of night fell upon us.

However, be careful not to overuse this device, and make sure to use easily un­der­stand­able metaphors. Otherwise, your audience may not be able to follow you or your present­a­tion may become un­in­ten­tion­ally funny.

Climax

A climax also increases the en­ter­tain­ment value of your present­a­tion. With this stylistic device, you express a step-by-step increase, for example by first stating a less sig­ni­fic­ant fact, following by in­creas­ingly important facts.

Example: With the new marketing strategy, you will first conquer the regional, then the national and, in the near future, also the global market.

Rhet­or­ic­al questions

Rhet­or­ic­al questions are questions to which no answer is expected. They do not serve to gain in­form­a­tion, but are intended to activate the listener by provoking approval or rejection of an idea.

Example: Would you jump out of a plane in mid-air without a parachute?

To learn how to present, you have to get a feeling for your own voice and its effects. Speaking loudly and clearly is only half the battle, since aspects like speech speed and mod­u­la­tion (low to high) also play a role in whether you engage your audience. In order to avoid a mono­ton­ous per­form­ance, you should generally pay attention to suf­fi­cient variance in your pitch and speaking speed. Include emphasis and pauses in ap­pro­pri­ate places.

When you give a lecture, you are usually visible to the entire audience. The present­a­tion’s success therefore depends on your body language. Always make sure that you adopt an upright posture and that you face the audience. In addition, you should keep your present­a­tion as free as possible. Try not to read everything directly from your note cards. Make sure to check it before finishing your point, however, just in case you missed out on an important fact.

Gestures and facial ex­pres­sions also play an important role in the present­a­tion. For example, it is important that your en­thu­si­asm and interest in the topic being presented is also being reflected in your face – if you can’t muster en­thu­si­asm for the topic yourself, how is it meant to engage the audience? Also, make sure not to move too frantic­ally, since this may come across as a sign of in­sec­ur­ity to your viewers. However, don’t go to the other extreme of folding your arms rigidly against your body. It will seem like you are building a barrier between yourself and the audience.

Present­a­tion skills are not something you are just born with, despite how naturally com­fort­able some pro­fes­sion­als may seem in front of a room of people. Even the most talented speakers usually have a lot of practice behind them – in front of the mirror at home, as well as in front of a live audience. The first lectures are often the most difficult, since some still have to overcome their stage fright. However, the more often you face the challenge of speaking in front of an audience, the easier it will be for you to in­ter­n­al­isze the tips and tricks given here.

Pre­par­a­tion for a present­a­tion, starting with searching for and gathering material and target group in­form­a­tion going right up to creating the present­a­tion, becomes easier with in­creas­ing ex­per­i­ence and routine. This gives you more time and energy to practice the actual present­a­tion and to perfect your present­a­tion technique.

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