Public speaking isn’t something easy to do. Especially when you are nervous and don’t have the proper communication skills; however, this issue can be overcome with the correct practices and helps ensure that you carry out the presentation smoothly.
Moreover, the way you set up your presentation greatly matters as well. If you don’t know how to do it properly, you will struggle to keep your audience engaged with your content. So, the whole aim is to keep presentations simple and easy for your audience to understand.
Well, let’s dig deeper into this topic. In this article, we will show you the top tips for creating powerful business presentations.
8 Tips for creating powerful business presentations
1. Focus on your content
Above all, if you want to succeed with your presentation, you need to focus on your content. To keep your presentation attractive and engaging, it’s important to keep your presentation engaging and enjoyable for your audience. Try creating an outline and make sure that all of your points come back to the main idea and according to the topic at hand.
1. Pick an engaging design and template.
Design is just important as content, but above all, you need to keep your presentation simple and not include as much information as you can within your presentation. Good editing is just as important as good writing, and this principle applies to presentations as well.
While you keep your text simple, aim to keep your text as simple as possible. Nevertheless, picking the proper templates for your templates is just as important. In this case, you are presenting for your business, so consider using business presentation templates.
Business presentation templates effectively engage your audience and allow you to set up your presentation within just a few minutes. The best part is that they are free and easy for customization.
2. Start the presentation full of energy.
You can make all the magic happen at the beginning of the presentation, during just a few minutes of the talk. Unfortunately, some of the most common first mistakes many presenters will make is taking up too much time introducing themselves. You want to avoid this altogether and make sure you don’t make the presentation look like you are focusing on yourself more than the audience.
Secondly, avoid telling the audience what will happen, aka, what you will say. A presentation is supposed to be unique, so you want to keep the good parts a secret and shock your audience.
Lastly, avoid saying things like “I know some of you,” “It’s great to be here,” “How was last night?” and more uncommon questions during the presentation. If you have 30 minutes to do a presentation, put your entire focus on it and avoid using these types of words.
Even though some of these things might make you comfortable, your audience may see you as boring and wasting time. However, everyone came there for a reason to gain value from you. So, in short, your goal is to gain value and grab your audience’s attention from the very beginning.
1. Select colors and fonts that won’t distract readers
It’s easy to get distracted by colors, especially when they are in the background. During the presentation, you don’t want users to be paying more attention to the colors in the background than to what you have to say in the presentation. According to a study conducted by presentation experts, blue is classified as the best color for presentations in the background.
Additionally, you can consider using white as well. It’s calm for the eyes and has a color that gives a positive feeling and vibe. Fonts that are simple and have a clean look are the easiest for our brains to process, and thus, they don’t bother our eyes and allow readers to follow what you have to say.
Nevertheless, you can consider using colors that are pleasing to the eye. Blue and white do the trick. You want to avoid including colors like black, brown, and any other really dark colors. They may not be so friendly to the eye.
2. Take a few deep breaths.
Before you go in front of the many people you have to present in front of, you may feel nervous. So take a few deep breaths and say good words to yourself to increase your confidence level. In fact, according to a study, deep breathing lowers blood pressure and manages to relax the blood vessels.
Try the following: inhale for a few seconds, hold it for a few seconds and then exhale. Keep doing this until you feel relieved. Try doing it as soon as you wake up or before you’re about to present. The calmer you are, the better it’s for you.
1. Follow the 10/20/30 rule.
The 10/20/30 rule is one of the most popular rules formulated for presentations today. It was initially developed by Guy Kawasaki, who knew that most presentations are boring and complex to listen to. So, he came up with three rules that differentiated his presentation from the rest and made it enjoyable to listen to. What are those three rules?
- Ten slides: According to Guy Kawasaki, ten slides are the ideal amount of slides a presentation should have. Why so? Most presentations will last around 20 to 60 minutes, so having ten slides is more than enough! However, most experts recommend not exceeding 15 to 20 minutes!
- 20 minutes: As we mentioned before, experts recommend your presentation to be anywhere around 15 to 20 minutes. Guy Kawasaki claims that ten slides and 20 minutes for a presentation are all you need. Most people won’t be interested in listening to you longer, so this will work best. Even if you have more time after the presentation, you can use it to answer questions.
- 30 font size: Many people may not understand this part that well, but Guy Kawasaki recommended a font size of 30 so that the last person in the room (the person in the back) could still see what was on the slide. Moreover, the 30 font size also allows you not to include complex and extended text. This is a good sign for not boring your audience to death.
2. Tell stories
Undoubtedly, stories are one of the most effective ways of engaging an audience during a presentation. According to statistics, 55% of people claimed that stories were one of the most effective ways to engage an audience during a presentation.
Moreover, telling stories is another way of not being boring. However, whenever you tell the story, you want it to have a climax and engage your audience. On the other hand, you don’t want your story to be boring and not have meaning behind it or even be too long. That’s why you should find a balance and try to come up with a way how you can make your presentation a story in general.
1. Rehearse
Before you do anything else, don’t forget to rehearse for your presentation. Rehearsing makes you more prepared, but it also helps you prepare for anything that you might not expect. You try rehearsing in front of your friends or even gather in front of many people you know to feel more comfortable during the presentation. Presentations can be challenging when you don’t do them often; however, you automatically become more confident during the presentation when you consistently practice.
Start by rehearsing with yourself, and after, you can start doing so with your friends and family members. Of course, nothing can ever go perfectly, but it can help until a certain point when you consistently practice. After all, practice makes perfect, and even if something unexpected happens, you’re better off than not being prepared!
Wrapping it up
That’s all for this article. These are the eight tips for creating a powerful business presentation. In short, know the content of your presentation, its main idea, and what kind of value you want to deliver to your audience. Above all, you need to be prepared for questions that your audience may ask you. You can only do this by rehearsing.
Moreover, avoid using dark colors during your presentation, and talk more about yourself than about the presentation. You don’t want anything to get in the way of your presentation, and that is the most important guideline you should follow.
Last but not least, practice! Practice makes perfect, and if you are not practicing enough, don’t expect your presentation to do that well either!
