The 10 Presentation Tips You’ll Need

As a university student, giving a presentation is something that we all can’t run away from. For some of us, it can be incredibly challenging— anxiety, low confidence, stage fright and many more obstacles often block our way to giving a good presentation. Hence, here are 10 tips that can guide you to giving an effective presentation.

1. Sufficient Preparation

The first step towards making a presentation is preparing the message that you want to convey. Hence, sufficient research from various credible sources must be done in order to make sure that your information is correct and informative.

2. Organize Your Information

After you have done your research, it’s time to organize your information. Divide your presentation into three parts – introduction, body, and conclusion.

3. Keep It Simple

Always keep the amount of text on your presentation slides to a minimum. In this case, less is really more. Too much text will make the audience read the screen instead of listening. Too little text or none at all will just leave most of them confused.

4. Concentrate On Your Core Message

While you’re giving your presentation, always remember the key message you want to convey. You should always be able to summarize your content in 30 seconds or less. Also, you should be careful to not go off on a tangent.

5. Body Language Is Important

A good presenter always smiles and makes eye contact with the audience. This may sound easy, but it is actually quite difficult to execute on stage. Positive body language enables you to build rapport with your audience, which in turn helps them connect with your message easier. Always remember to breathe and relax so you don’t look so tense on stage.

6. Be Genuine and Entertaining

One good way to make people pay attention is to be genuine and entertaining. Inserting some humour in your presentation will make people pay more attention and also make you more likable. Besides, for certain topics you may have to open up a little and be vulnerable. Doing so can appeal to their emotions and make you more relatable.

7. Smooth Delivery

No matter how good your speech is, once you start fumbling on the stage, you’ll lose some of your audience’s attention. Hence, focus on maintaining the flow of your presentation. Use a remote to control the flow of your delivery. Practice with a timer to make sure you don’t go overtime. Always have backup material just in case.

8. Interact with the Audience

You should actively engage with your audience and avoid one-way communication. Encourage your audience to speak up and ask questions. Doing so may make your audience more invested in what you have to say, and you can also learn new things from them too.

9. Leave an Impression

When you’re nearing the end of your presentation, wrap it up in a way that will leave a lasting impression. Focus on the feeling you want your audience to take home. This way, they will feel that your presentation was meaningful.

And most importantly…

10. Have Fun!

Enthusiasm is contagious. Having a little passion goes a long way. Remember to enjoy the moment and take it as a chance to grow as a person.