how to prepare a 15 minute presentation

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How to Create a Great Presentation in Just 15 Minutes

Did you know that the highest paid profession in America is professional speaking? Speakers can earn between $5,000 and $10,000 for a 20 minute keynote presentation.

It’s the reason why great entrepreneurs know how to get up and share their message .  They indirectly get “paid” by moving employees, partners and communities to engage with their business in a way that goes far beyond the financial upside.

Some of the best, like Mark Zuckerberg  (Founder/CEO of Facebook), go even further and learn other languages , so they can share in a more authentic way.

If you can master – or at least be mediocre – at speaking, it will open up the world to you. I’ve been paid to fly around the world sharing stories of lessons learned with amazing entrepreneurial communities.

What I’ve covered below is my approach to creating a great presentation in 15 minutes. Yes, that sounds ridiculous – but it’s true. I can sit down with a piece of paper, write out the structure outlined below and insert the missing elements to be able to get up and speak for 20-60 minutes without skipping a beat and feeling confident in delivering the value to my audience.

It’s taken me years of practice and training to get mediocre at best, but I felt my approach was something worth sharing as I often get asked to help others with their presentations. I would love nothing more than to see more entrepreneurs share their story and lessons learned with a global audience.

Overview of sections below:

Highlevel Outline: How I create my presentations following a system I’ve created and adapted over the years. It’s a simple way to ensure you don’t forget anything major and provides a framework to quickly create your next presentation.

Slide Creation: My approach to creating slides. I borrow a lot of the design sensibility from an old friend, Daniel Burka. 5 years ago, I watched him give a talk and I was so impressed with how visually stunning his slides were, but also in their simplicity.

Highlevel Outline

Here’s a quick overview of the framework I use, inspired by T. Harv Eker , to give a talk:

• Title of Talk
• Teaching(s)

1. Title of Talk

Creating a catchy title can feel overwhelming, but there’s a simple trick based on decades of research and it’s super scientific. Just use magazine covers. Search online for a magazine in your industry and put the words, “Magazine Cover” after it. (ex: Forbes Magazine Cover ). You’ll see 100’s of examples of article headlines designed to capture someones attention. Use them for inspiration and tweak for your own needs.

The best way to open is to state your name and the title of the talk. It’s simple and gets things rolling. If you want to be fancy, you can do a bunch of other things here, it’s your call.

Tell a Story: This is one of my favourite ways to open. If you have a funny story about the city, venue or organizers, tell it. Keep it short – but funny – and if possible, relevant to the topic.

Ask a Question: You’ve probably seen people do this. They ask, “How are you doing?” or “How many of you …?” – either approach is fine and it gets the audience interacting early in your talk to set the mood and to gain audience participation.

One of the perfect way to engage the audience is to thank them. Doing this will leave them feeling a sense of respect for you because you appreciated them. There are 2 groups you’ll want to thank, and in this order:

Attendees: Thank them for coming, for their time and participation over the allotted time.

Organizers: Get the name of the organizers and a few major sponsors. Thank them and then ask everyone to give em’ a big round of applause.

4. What’s In It For Me? (WIIFM)

No one goes to an event for the speaker, they go for themselves. Tell them what they’ll get out of your talk. This is referred to as “WIIFM,” or “What’s In It For Me?”, asked from the attendees point of view. If you don’t tell them, you may lose them.

5. Earn The Right (ETR)

Why are you on stage? Why should anyone listen to you? Be sure to share those reasons at the beginning of your talk or the audience will be sitting there wondering what makes you qualified to even be there. I NEVER assume anyone knows who I am, what I’ve accomplished or the reason I was asked to speak. Tell them.

Tell Your Own Bio: It’s the reason I don’t like having someone else read my bio before I get up.

Share Your Accomplishments: Inline with the topic of your talk, what have you accomplished? Brag a bit. Tell them.

Share Your “Why”: Why are you on stage? What’s your purpose in life? How is that coming along?

6. Teaching(s)

This is the meat of your talk. It can be as simple as a story, or a series of lessons learned. Regardless of how long you have to talk, each learning is a story and usually lasts about 10 minutes.

The optimum way to fill an hour talk is to break things up into 10 minute stories or 10 minute teachings. It makes approaching a big presentation so much more doable. If you follow the structure below with the opening, story and ending – then you can just toss out all the topic teachings (ie. topics) you want to cover up front.

For each teaching: decide on the best way to frame it, the story you feel demonstrates the lesson the best and how you want to end.

Here’s the format I use to accomplish this:

This is usually the point you want to talk about – the  lesson learned, trend or belief that you would like to teach. If you have any powerful statistics or examples to reinforce this, then lead with that. One of my favorite openings I’ve heard recently came from an HR startup at a pitch competition:

“People don’t quit their companies. They quit their boss.”

An excellent way to teach something is by telling a story. I personally like to share stories about my experiences that help reinforce the topic.

There’s been a lot written on the format of stories, but the key in my mind is this: The more vulnerable the story, the more universal the appeal.

Regardless of the topic, everyone likes a good story, so don’t bore your audience with facts & figures, instead, weave that information into a relevant story. Remember, “Facts tell… Stories sell.”

This is where many speakers mess up a great story. They don’t bring the story to a resolution, or explain how the lesson they learned helped them achieve or avoid a similar fate in the future.

I used to be horrible at this. I would always forget to “end” my story. You quickly learn this by the types of questions you’re asked after your talk. If you get the “What happened with the company afterwards?”, or “Did you ever figure out a way to avoid that…”, etc.. Then you’ll know you didn’t end or resolve the story properly. It only takes a few seconds, but it will help the audience stay engaged.

At the end of my talks, I always like to quickly go over the topics I covered, then end with either a “Call to Action” or a “Call to Purpose.”

Call To Action: This is some type of action I would like the audience to take. Most of the time I give them a URL to download links so I can collect their email and build a relationship. It’s also a great way to judge how well you did based on the % of the audience that were motivated to do so. The better your talk, the higher the conversion to email.

Call to Purpose:  If the purpose of my talk was more inspirational than teaching, I’ll end with a call to purpose. This is more of an “ask” to the audience to live their life with purpose. I’ve sometimes asked, “Will you make me a commitment to have no small plans?”, or borrowed from my friend Clay, “I have no doubt you’ll all be successful, but will you matter?”

Both questions are designed to summarize the essence of the talk and leave the audience with a question that will connect them through emotion to the topics covered. It’s like planting a trigger to help connect with the audience.

TIP: The First 7 Minutes: The best way to reduce the stress you might be having for an upcoming talk is to practice and perfect the first 7 minutes. That’s all you need.

If you’ve practiced the opening, all the other elements written above, and maybe the first topic, you’ll be fine. Remember, you’re human, you already know how to tell a story so the key is to remember how you begin and end. The middle will fill itself in.

Creating Your Slides

The best slides are no slides. If you’re an amazing story teller then you should be able to get away with no slides. I’m not there, yet. So in lieu of that, I continuously reduce the amount of information on a slide as well as the total number of slides in my presentation.

Currently, I have the following slides for my talks:

• Earn The Right
• Teaching #1

Title slide:  This is the first slide which has a strong image with the title of my talk, my Twitter handle and the hashtag for the talk or event.

Earn The Right (Your Story) : This is a slide with a picture that represents who I am and allows me to cover the Earn The Right (ETR) part of my talk.

Teaching(s): This slide has the topic I want to cover, relevant image and that’s it. I repeat this format for every 10 minute story I plan to share.

In the past, I would do 4 slides per teaching: teaching title, opener, story and closing. The format didn’t change though, typically a big image with or without a word.

Closing: Last slide is my thank you slide + some kind of call to action, or call to purpose. It usually includes my Twitter handle, the hashtag for the event and maybe a URL if I want them to visit a website and take action. It’s the slide I leave up when I’m doing Q&A with the audience.

When you get on stage and you teach from the heart everyone will notice – and then it has nothing to do with structure – because at a human level, we all just want to connect.

Share your stories. Share your passions. Teach others what you’ve learned. You’ll always get way more out of it than you put into it.

Have you ever been scared to give a talk? How did you overcome it? Was it as bad as you thought it would be? Leave a comment below as I’d love to learn more!

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The 15-Minute, 6-Step Solution for Delivering the Best Presentations

Some people are born with a natural stage presence..

Most aren’t. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn the skills necessary to be an awesome presenter .

Once you have these tools in your kit, you’ll be able to confidently speak to any group – no matter the size.

You’ll discover that each presentation you give should have a defined purpose , as well as the importance of effective beginnings and action-based endings.

Knowing how to breathe properly and the right way to practice are also vital skills for you to possess.

As you learn to read your audience and speak with confidence, you’ll be ready to tackle any presentation.

This guide to giving stellar speaking presentations will equip you with the tools you need. So let’s get started!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.  Purposeful presentations

Know your audience

Prompt action, create a targeted goal.

2.  Keep your focus while presenting

Using your breath

Building confidence, practicing your presentation.

3.  Great presenters read the audience

4.  Be a presenter who speaks with confidence

Understanding action vs. information

Learning the power of bookends.

5.  Awesome presenters provide the optimal environment

How to control your presentation’s physical environment

6.  You’re ready to rock your presentations

1. Purposeful presentations

You never want to give a presentation without a purpose.

Even if your presentation is extremely entertaining, if you don’t have a purpose, the audience will walk away without applying the information.

And that’s really the key to a good presentation .

Figuring out who your audience is and why they’re in attendance are crucial elements upon which to base your actions and purpose.

• Who? Are you speaking to schoolchildren, executives, or senior citizens?
• Why? Is this audience there because they’re required to be or was attendance optional and they’re just excited to learn?

Understanding the audience mindset can help you achieve your purpose.

What do you want your audience to DO as a result of your presentation?

Think of your purpose as the “so what?” for the audience . Build your goals around this.

Ask yourself questions such as:

• What would you like to have happen?
• What change will happen as a result of you taking the time to talk to people?
• How will the actions of your audience be different when they walk out the door after your presentation?

Focus on driving them to take action.

Maybe you want to:

• Persuade a committee to raise your budget by 15% for the following quarter.
• Encourage a group of college students to exercise their opportunity to vote.
• Convince a client to start doing business with you as opposed to their current vendor.

Did you notice how specific and targeted each of these goals is?

When the purpose is tied to an outcome, it directs the content and flow of your presentation.

With purpose, you can be so convincing that your audience is moved to:

• Sign off on hiring more people for your project.
• Take on a new exercise regimen.
• Give you a raise.
• Stop littering and start recycling.

Whatever the goal (or purpose), you owe it to your audience to have a “so what?” moment.

How do you do that?

Just keep it simple.

Everything you talk about and all of your visuals should point to one clear purpose.

What you want them to DO .

If you can accomplish that goal, and remove the fluff that distracts, you’ll be a successful presenter.

2. Keep your focus while presenting

Now that we’ve discussed purpose, let’s cover three more important factors – breathing, having confidence, and practicing – that will help you focus on the goal.

You’ve probably heard at least one person brag about not getting nervous before giving  a presentation.

They’re either lying, or they’re a “presenting unicorn.”

Nearly everyone gets nervous about presenting, so stop thinking you shouldn’t be stressed out and focus on what to do about it.

One of the best weapons for dealing with nerves is….your breath.

Breath is an important tool for anyone speaking in front of a group. Actually, it’s the source of your power – if you know how to harness it.

This is how actors, dancers and athletes power through challenging performances, and you can use these techniques to drive yours.

Think about it: When you’re nervous, the first thing to go is your oxygen level. Your breath becomes rapid and shallow. You involuntarily hold your breath, and in some cases, maybe even pass out!

We’ve even seen a CEO faint under the pressure!

Breathing deeply is a great way to calm these physical reactions.

Breathing technique example

Here’s a technique you can use before presentations to harness the power of your breath (based on Dr. Andrew Weil’s breathing exercise called “4-7-8”).

After trying this exercise, people reported feeling focused, calm, and clear-headed.

Be sure to sit down the first time you try this:

• Breathe in through your nose while  counting to four.
• Hold that breath for a count of seven.
• Let the breath out slowly, releasing it through your mouth for a count of eight.
• Repeat four times.

Now, you can step onto the stage with poise.

The best presentations are not just about the information you want to relay.

Sure, your presentation should be hefty on relevant ideas or concepts, but if your delivery is missing one key component, confidence, it’ll detract from the value of your presentation .

Use body language to your advantage

There’s a way to instantly boost your confidence level. All you have to do is make  your body look confident .

This concept is similar to the “power pose.” Just by changing the power and confidence conveyed in your body language , you can change the way you feel inside.

And, amazingly enough, you change the perception of the audience. Even if you are shaking inside, if your body language exudes confidence, they will believe it.

Essentially, if you send a message to your body, it’ll eventually find its way to your brain

Try these poses on for size.

Strike a power pose.

• Stand up and take on a confident posture:  Push your chest out, put your hands on your hips or up in the air, and make sure your spine is erect.
• How do you feel?

Now, try a non-power pose.

• This time, take on a diminishing pose, maybe sitting with your arms and legs crossed and  your head down. Basically, this position is a protective one.

Before you take the stage or get up in front of a group of people, practice confidence-building:

• Take up space.
• Stand up straight.
• Look people in the eye.
• Keep your chin up.

Breathe deeply and let that breath relax your shoulders.

Notice a difference in your confidence?

As a matter of fact, these rules apply even for a sit-down meeting. Plant your feet on the ground,  sit up straight, and make eye contact around the table.

Keep rehearsing these body movements and incorporate them into your next presentation.

You’ve been duped.

The longstanding advice to rehearse your presentation in front of a mirror is the worst  advice we’ve ever heard!

Here’s our best piece of advice: Ditch the mirror .

Think about it: You stand in front of a mirror (your pretend audience), about a foot away, and practice watching yourself. You can’t speak to the audience member at the back of the room or off to the side this way.

Get in front of an audience after rehearsing in front of the mirror, and you’ll be ill-prepared to deliver a presentation that wows. You’ll be wondering how you look and will be thrown off by watching others.

No wonder so many presentations fall flat.

And toss the perfection aside, too, when you ditch that mirror. Audiences prefer real over perfect.

A better rehearsal strategy

Here’s how to start:

• Find a larger room to rehearse, like a conference room or your hotel room.
• Stand in the space and look around. Take your eyes to the back of the room and the sides, and then the front.
• Project your voice and energy to all of these spaces.
• If one is available, gather an audience of friends, family or colleagues, and watch their reactions. Make eye contact. Be energetic. Interact.

Practice. Practice. Practice. And you’ll improve! There’s no getting around it — only on-your-feet practice really makes you better.

Even low-key practice improves your skills

If you have your eye on presenting to larger audiences and moving on from small in-house  presentations, look for a low-risk opportunity .

When there’s not so much at stake, you can take chances.

You don’t even have to present in a professional setting to improve. Look for local groups where you can deliver a speech or a group that shares your common interest or hobby.

After practicing in these kinds of situations, you’ll have a better skillset to deliver bigger-impact presentations to a work committee or at an organizational meeting.

3. Great presenters read the audience

Once you’ve got a handle on who your audience is, why they’ve come to hear you speak, and your purpose is firm in your mind, you need to assess how the audience is responding to you.

Not sure what an engaged listener looks like?

Here are some hints:

• Are they maintaining eye contact with you?
• Are they nodding in agreement?
• Are they leaning forward?

These are signs that your audience is hooked!

But . And this is a pretty big but …

What if you look at your audience and see yawns, a lot of fidgeting and glazed-over expressions?

You have to change course. Improvise.

Remember – the needs of your audience come first.

Keeping your audience absorbed

If they’re not engaged, it’s up to you to shift your behavior in order to reconnect with your listeners.

If you find yourself in a tough situation, here are some things you can do to draw your audience back in.

Make them actively participate by asking them to raise their hands in answer to some questions.

For example:

• “How many of you are familiar with this particular research?”
• “We’ve just covered an important technique. Can someone from HR show us an example of the method in action?”
• “I have two more techniques to cover. Which would you like to hear about first?”

It really is that quick and easy to recreate a connection with your audience.

4. Be a presenter who speaks with confidence

Presentations aren’t just about the words you say and the interesting slides you show, but rather they’re all about what your body is communicating to the audience.

Your audience may not even be doing it consciously, but they’re watching what you do with your body and they’re picking up subtle clues that you’re giving off.

Here’s what you can do to become a confident speaker  –  aside from using your body.

If your main purpose is simply to relay information, you’re better off writing an email.

However, you have a bigger fish to fry when you’re in front of an audience.

Leverage that power to make your audience do something – such as considering a new idea or even getting angry!

The point is that you want to make an emotional connection with the audience that will cause them to follow through on your purpose for them.

Save the information transfer for the internet and use your presentation to motivate your audience to take action .

Maybe you haven’t given it much thought before, but the way you begin and end your presentations has significant implications for the strength of your presentation.

You can  think of your beginnings and endings as bookends .

Starting out with bang

It’s crucial that you grab your audience’s attention right away – as soon as you take the stage.

You have a short window of opportunity with which to pull them in and after that, you risk losing them.

Here are some ideas for getting your audience in the palm of your hand right away.

• Start with a startling tidbit of information in the form of a rhetorical question. For example, “Did you know Ben and Jerry learned how to make ice cream from a $5 Penn State correspondence course? I’m Cindy and I’m here to talk about entrepreneurship.”
• Engage your audience.  “Raise your hand  if you took a multivitamin today. My name is Marc, and I’m here to talk to you about the reasons you should be taking vitamins.”
• Take them by surprise.  If  you come into the room for the first time, singing at the top of your lungs, do you think your audience will remember it? Do you have another talent that you could share as you make your entrance?

Starting your presentation in an exciting way lets your audience know that they’re in for more than the same kind of boring talk they’ve experienced over and over again.

Ending on the right note

You always want to send your audience out with something that they can think about  long after they’ve left. And most importantly, take action upon!

Take a look at some ideas for ending your presentation well.

• Quickly summarize the information you went over. Repetition is key for getting information to stick!
• Conclude with a call to action.  It can be powerful to end your speech with a directive for your audience. Inspire them to take action.

When you begin and end your presentation the right way, you can be sure that your audience will walk away with real value.

5. Awesome presenters provide the optimal environment

As you’re honing your speaking techniques, don’t forget to give some serious thought to the location in which you’re delivering the speech.

You’ve probably been in a situation yourself in which you were too warm so you were nearly nodding off.

Or maybe you found it hard to pay attention because the acoustics in the room were off and you could only catch snippets of what was being said.

An uncomfortable audience is a distracted audience – the exact opposite of what you want!

It’s up to you to make sure the venue is up to your high standards and that your audience is going to have an excellent experience. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to ensure that the environment will enhance  –  not detract from  –  the presentation.

Is the room big enough for the amount of people you’re expecting?

If your audience is too cramped, they won’t be able to pay attention.

Feel free to ask to be moved to a new room if you’re not comfortable with the space-to-people ratio.

How is the temperature of the space?

When you get there, gauge the temperature of the space, keeping in mind that a room full of people will be much warmer than one that’s empty.

It’s a good idea to ask if you’ll be able to adjust it if needed.

What’s the seating arrangement?

You should be able to see the faces of the audience members and they definitely need to be able to see you.

One’s mind can easily wander if they’re stuck staring at the back of someone else’s head!

Where should you stand?

After you’re happy with the arrangement for your audience, think about where you’ll be standing.

That doesn’t mean you aren’t free to move around, of course, but you should have a sort of “home base” as you’re speaking.

Take the time to walk around on the stage and check out how it feels before people arrive.

Where are the cords located?

It may seem trivial, but tripping over cords is NOT what you want the audience to remember.

Ask that the cords be taped down to ensure safety.

What’s the noise situation?

The last thing you want to do while you’re giving an awesome presentation is compete with outside noise that will draw attention away from your message.

When you’re giving the space the once-over before your audience arrives, pay attention to any distracting noises that may be coming from outside the room.

If you notice anything, ask for your event to be moved to a different room or if there’s a way for the sounds to be quieted while you’re speaking.

What about helpers?

Setting up chairs and moving things around are difficult for you to do when you’re preparing to present.

Find out if the venue has someone who does these types of tasks. If they don’t, ask if it’s possible for them to provide someone.

Make sure you’re courteous enough to make this request far enough in advance that you’re not putting a strain on anyone.

It’s up to you

Remember that it’s up to you to make sure the space in which you’re presenting is free of distractions and is an optimum environment in which your message will be received, loud and clear!

6. You’re ready to rock your presentations

Having the tools you need to confidently make a presentation can make all the difference in the world as you prepare to take the stage.

Ensure your presentation has a purpose, keep your focus, and read your audience. Don’t forget that being aware of your body language will help keep your confidence up and the audience engaged and interested in everything that’s coming out of your mouth.

You know how to breathe, how to practice (NOT in front of the mirror!) and how to put your audience first , and take steps to control the environment to your advantage.

With these tips in hand, you can confidently step out and do your thing!

Contact us to talk about how to drive your employee’s career skills.

This article is 100% written by a human named Karen Hough. She is the Founder & CEO of ImprovEdge, in the top 4% of women-owned businesses in the US, a 3-time Amazon bestselling author, Yale grad, wife and mom of three.

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Creating a 10-15 Minute Scientific Presentation

In the course of your career as a scientist, you will be asked to give brief presentations -- to colleagues, lab groups, and in other venues. We have put together a series of short videos to help you organize and deliver a crisp 10-15 minute scientific presentation.

First is a two part set of videos that walks you through organizing a presentation.

Part 1 - Creating an Introduction for a 10-15 Minute Scientfic Presentation

Part 2 - Creating the Body of a 10-15 Minute Presentation: Design/Methods; Data Results, Conclusions

Two additional videos should prove useful:

Designing PowerPoint Slides for a Scientific Presentation walks you through the key principles in designing powerful, easy to read slides.

Delivering a Presentation provides tips and approaches to help you put your best foot forward when you stand up in front of a group.

Other resources include:

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• Northwestern University Interdepartmental Neuroscience (NUIN)

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15 Minute Presentation: Quick Guide

Fifteen minute presentation is one of the most widespread types of public performances. This period of time is perfect – you can express your opinion

You can give your audience new knowledge and impression, ask and answer question, discuss a topic, argue with the audience and get your applause. Sounds impossible? Try it and you'll see – this is a lot of time. And you can use it for achieving your business or personal goals. How to make your 15-minute presentation better?

Keep It Short and Simple

Well-known K.I.S.S. rule really works. Even better than in a case if you prepare a long presentation. When you write down your speech, read it MANY times , delete all "water" words, leave only simple, short, clear messages and sentences. You must tell your idea in 15 words. If you can't do this – you have to work and work more.

What about short? When you train at home, remember that your limit must be divided, at least, in two. We always speak more fluent to our friends or family, or even to ourselves near the mirror. During your presentation there will be many people, always may be some technical troubles etc, so you need to train a lot and tell all you are going to tell in a time period much more shorter than 15 minutes.

Practice more – try to say everything first in 10 minutes , than in 7. In a fast way – in 5 minutes. Try different techniques and ways, this will make you feel free during your public speaking event.

See it like them

Look at every single slide you've prepared. See every single word. How it may look with your attendees' eyes? Will they understand what exactly you are going to tell them? Are these pictures good? Are these words clear? Do your slides give them knowledge, impression, interest ? Imagine that you are one of your attendees. You pay money and come to the presentation. What is a chance for you (him) to be satisfied by the results of this meeting or event? Is it interesting? Is it new or you already know all the information? Is it impressive, interactive, maybe – fun?

Also it is necessary to check a quality of your slides , videos, fonts, your technical systems. There may be a huge problem if you have to deal with software compatibility or installation, so use PodioBox , all-in-one presentation platform which saves your time and money. Nothing to install, just plug and play. And your participants will easily interact every minute of your event.

Check your timing

When you practice before the presentation, write down its short schedule . You must clearly know what to say and what to do on its first, fifth or fifteenth minute. Yes, we've already said that 15 minutes is a big amount of time. But only if you are going to use it properly.

How to make a list of your time-goals?

1 minute – introduce yourself and name the topic. Who are you? Why are you here? What are you going to speak about? Tell them NOW that you will have a minute to ask their questions in the end (this remark will save your common time).

2 minutes – show and emphasize the relevance of the topic. Why it is interesting? Why do they need to listen to you?

5+5 minutes – tell your story, facts and prove them. You can use this time to tell a fact/story and prove it next, then tell next and prove it etc. Or to tell a story and then go to the proved facts. What happens? Why is it so? Who told this?

1 minute – summarize the main points of your presentation. What was the most important to know?

1 minute – talk to your audience, ask and answer. What do you think? What do you want to ask?

Leave your contacts and show you are opened to communicate after the presentation – so your audience can write (or call) you later and continue your interaction. This moment highly increases a number of people who comes back for more to your presentations.

Feel yourself confident. Prepare and practice well. You know this topic. You are an authority.

Go and make your best 15-minute presentation ever!

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Posted in PodioProfy , Tips by PodioBox on Mar 22, 2023.

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Making a short presentation based on your research: 11 tips

Markus goldstein, david evans.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve both spent a fair amount of time at conferences. Given that many conferences ask researchers to summarize their work in 15 to 20 minutes, we thought we’d reflect on some ideas for how to do this, and – more importantly – how to do it well.

• You have 15 minutes. That’s not enough time to use the slides you used for that recent 90-minute academic seminar. One recent presentation one of us saw had 52 slides for 15 minutes.    No amount of speed talking will get you through this in anything resembling coherence. (And quit speed talking, anyway. This isn’t a FedEx commercial !) There is no magic number of slides since the content you’ll have and how you talk will vary. But if you have more than 15 slides, then #2 is doubly important.
• Practice. This is the great thing about a 15-minute talk: You can actually afford to run through it, out loud. Running through it once in advance can reveal to you – wow! – that it’s actually a 25-minute talk and you need to cut a bunch. Of course, the first time through the presentation it may take a bit longer than you will when you present, but if you have any doubts, practice again (bringing your prep time to a whopping 30 minutes plus a little bit).
• You need a (short) narrative. What is the main story you are trying to tell with this paper? Fifteen minutes works better for communicating a narrative then for taking an audience through every twist and turn of your econometric grandeur. Deciding on your narrative will help with the discipline in the points that follow.
• A model or results? Even if your audience is all academics, you don’t have academic seminar time. So the first thing to do is to figure out which is more important to get across – your model or your empirical results. Then trim the other one down to one slide, max. If the results are your focus (usually the case for us), give the audience a sense of how the model is set up, and what the main implications are as they pertain to the results you will show. Conversely, if it’s the model that’s more important, the empirical results will come later and you can just give the very brief highlights that bolster the key points.
• The literature. Really, really minimal. If you do it at all, choose only the papers that you are either going to build on in a major way or contradict. For some types of discussants, it may help to include them, even if they don’t meet the other criteria. Marc Bellemare takes an even stronger stance: “Never, ever have a literature review in your slides. If literature reviews are boring to read in papers, they are insanely boring to listen to during presentations.”
• Program details. Here it’s a bit of a balance. The audience needs a flavor for the program, they need to understand what it did and how it’s different from other things (particularly other things with some kinds of evidence). But only in exceptional cases (as in, it’s a really different program for theoretical reasons, or you don’t have more than process results yet) do you want this to eat up a lot of your time.
• You don’t have time to go through the nitty gritty of the data.   We get that every detail about the survey was fascinating (we spend a lot of our lives thinking about this).   But if it’s not key to the story, save it for a longer presentation (or another paper). And if you’re doing a primarily theoretical paper, this is a bullet on one slide.
• Balance and summary stats. Key summary stats that tell the audience who the people are might make the cut, but 3 slides of every variable that you’ll use are going to be slides you either rip through (telling the audience nothing) or waste most of your time on. Summarize the summary stats. On balance tests: you are either balanced or not.  If you are, this gets a bullet at most (you can also just say that). If you’re not, tell us what’s up and why we should or should not worry.  
• Pre-analysis plan. If you had it, mention it (quickly). If not, don’t. It’s not critical here.
• A picture may be worth 1,000 numbers. Sometimes, taking that really packed table which is currently in 12 point font and turning it into a graph is going to help you with self-control and help your audience with comprehension. Put the significant results in a bar chart, and use asterisks to tell folks which are significant.  
• A special warning about presenting your job market paper. When I (Markus) submitted my job market paper to a journal, the referee report came back noting that this was surely a job market paper since it had 40(!) tables. Key example of how everything matters when you just spent four years of your life collecting each observation. Discipline. You have (or will have) an elevator pitch from the job market – use this to trim your presentation. 
• Marc Bellemare has a great series of “22 tips for conference and seminar presentations,” many of which apply to short presentations: “Always provide a preview of your results. This isn’t a murder mystery: it’s only when people know where you’re taking them that they can enjoy the scenery along the way.”
• Jeff Leek has a great guide to giving presentations of different lengths, and what your goal should be: “As a scientist, it is hard to accept that the primary purpose of a talk is advertising, not science.” This is doubly true for a 15-minute talk.
• The AEA Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession has a top 10 list. “Never cut and paste a table from your paper onto a slide. These tables are never easy to read and only irritate your audience. Instead, choose a few results that you want to highlight and present them on a slide in no smaller than 28 font.” We’ve pretty much all done this. It’s bad practice. (“I’m sorry you can’t read this table.” “Oh really, then why did you cut and paste that giant table from your paper into the presentation?!”)
• I (Dave) go back and re-read Jesse Shapiro’s guide on “ How to Give an Applied Micro Talk ” from time to time. It’s more geared toward a full-length seminar, but the advice is so good I can’t resist plugging it here.

Lead Economist, Africa Gender Innovation Lab and Chief Economists Office

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Scott Berkun

How to present well without slides.

If you were having an important conversation with a friend at a restaurant, would you pull out a projector and put your slides on the wall? They’d think you were crazy as would the people at other tables. Rather that look into your eyes or give full attention to your words, your friend would have their minds divided between you and the images you were showing simultaneously.

Which raises the question: why use presentation slides at all? Most important conversations you will have in your lifetime happen without slides. And ask anyone who works in media: if the power went out and they could only show your slides or broadcast your voice, they’d go with your voice. Your voice, what you say and how you say it, is the most important thing. If you listen to This American Life or The Moth , it’s clear how powerful a speaker can be with their voice alone.

Look at any list of the best speeches of all time  and you won’t find a single use of slides or other props. Of course slides and presentation software hadn’t been invented then so it’s unfair to make a direct comparison (For fun  see The Gettysburg Address as a bad Powerpoint deck ). Yet the question is easy to ask: would these speeches have been better if they were narrated over slides?

In many cases, no. You’d have to listen carefully to figure out when ideas would be better presented visually rather than with words alone, which is the secret for thinking about your own presentations: when do you truly need a visual image to express an idea? And when would it be better simply letting your voices tell the story?

Speaking without slides seems more challenging because:

• You feel naked without the familiar crutch of slides behind you
• It may require a different way to prepare
• It demands more thinking and refinement of your ideas

Speaking without slides is often better because:

• Audiences grant you more attention and authority over the room
• You have no fear of slide or A/V malfunctions
• You can never become a slave to your slides
• It forces you to clarify and improve your ideas, making you a better speaker

But slides do have some advantages, including:

• Some concepts are best expressed visually
• They can serve as a handout (but true handouts work better than slideuments )

When is it best to speak without slides?

If I’m asked to speak for 20 minutes or less I often go without slides. More than 20 minutes and the dynamics of attention are more complex and I typically use slides, though less than many speakers do. I give the same advice to others: the shorter the talk, the simpler your presentation should be.

How to prepare a slide-free presentation

In Chapter 5 of Confessions of a Public Speaker (“Do Not Eat The Microphone”) I provide a simple, well-tested method for preparing talks of any kind.  In short it looks like this:

• Take a strong position in the title
• Think carefully about your specific audience (why are they here? what do they already know?)
• Make your 4 or 5 major points concisely (from a draft outline of 10 or 12 points)
• Practice making your points without a single slide.
• Revise #3 and repeat #4 until done.

This approach works with or without slides, but in all cases it forces you to develop your ideas into a solid outline and practice delivering it before you’d even consider making a slide . If you want to go entirely without slides, you’re already prepared for that. And if you decide as you revise that you need slides to best make your points, then add them, but only after you’ve proven their necessity by trying to present without them.

If you want your ideas to take center stage, the slides should come late in the process so that they are used only to support what you’re saying, rather than the other way around. Even if you are a visual thinker and need something to look at to develop your ideas, develop your ideas and rehearse assuming the slide deck is scaffolding you will remove . Don’t fall into the trap of polishing your slides and tweaking fonts when you should be revising your thoughts and practicing how you’re going to express them.

Given a choice between a great talk with lousy slides, and a lousy talk with great slides, what do you think most audiences would choose? Prepare accordingly.

What do you put on the screen if presenting at a slide-dominant event?

I simply put together a slide with my name, the title of the talk and the basic contact information I want to provide. There’s an argument that only having a single slide does far more to make you accessible to an audience interested in your work as the way to contact you is visible the entire time you’re speaking, instead of just at the end. Here are two examples from two different events:

How do you get over the fear of forgetting something?

Many speakers use slides to mitigate fear. Slides used for this reason often come at the audience’s expense. It’s common to see speakers reading their own slides, or facing their slides as they present, clear signs they made their slides first, rather than constructing the presentation first and using slides to support their thoughts. Slides should be for the audience, not for you.

If you work hard to have clear points, and you practice it’s unlikely you’ll forget anything important. Even if you did forget something, only you will know. Since there are no slides, as the speaker only you know what you planned to say. You could skip an entire point or express it in a completely different way than you intended and no one will know but you.  Slides can lock you in and if you are a true expert on the subject you’re speaking about you may find advantages in flexibility.

The notecard

When I speak without slides I usually have one small piece of paper listing my 5 main points. For my recent keynote at Warm Gun 2013 on The Dangers of Faith in Data , here’s what I brought with me on stage:

This notecard is short and simple. Since I’ve thought hard about this topic and have practiced the talk, all that I need the notecard to do is remind me of the next point, and the overall structure. I cheated on #5 as it has sub-bullets, but I simply found while practicing I couldn’t recall all three, so I wrote them down. Churchill and some other famous speakers used similar lightweight systems for their speeches.

You can see the notecard on the conveniently transparent lectern:

What about the handout problem?

If I prepare my talk as described above, it’s easy to write up a blog post with the same structure.

Here’s the blog post, titled The Dangers of Faith In Data , which I wrote in less than an hour while the ideas were still fresh in my mind.

Watch the actual talk based on the above

Now that you know how I prepared and practiced, you can watch the actual talk and judge for yourself. You’ll see me look down at the notecard,  but it’s typically while I’m silent and trying to let the audience digest what I just said, while I collect myself to lead into the next thought.

Free Checklist For Great Talks (with or without slides)

You can download a handy, comprehensive, printable checklist for giving great presentations here  (PDF) based on the bestseller  Confessions of a Public Speaker .

13 Responses to “How to present well without slides”

In the case of scientific seminar talks given to expert audiences, the slides are used to show actual data. So we have no choice but to use slides and make them the focus of the presentation. Although there is a special form of slideless presentation called a “chalk talk”, which entails explaining scientific shit using only a chalkboard, and usually with intensive audience participation: ongoing chiming in with questions, comments, and criticisms. The idea is that a chalk talk reveals whether someone can think on their feet without the crutch of slides, and they are used as an interviewing tool.

I love this! I’ve been doing this for years successfully. Even won an award. I’m glad I’m not alone!

For longer talks (more than 15 minutes) I like to have LOTS of notes when I speak, mostly to keep from getting ahead of myself; I also like to have those notes large enough to read from 10 feet away, so I can move around. “Presenter mode” with the notes section just doesn’t cut it, so I carry two laptops and write two sets of slides. One set is my speaking notes: very dense, lots of words, 100% inappropriate for showing to anyone but myself. The other set is what I show the audience: pictures, graphs, or just a few words to reinforce my point; often these slides will be repeated multiple times in a row so even though I’m clicking through them at a pretty fast clip, the audience sees a new slide only every 1-3 minutes.

The “secret” is to have exactly the same number of slides in each deck, and to have two receivers listening to a single “clicker.” I get as many notes as I want, in nice big fonts with plenty of color; the audience gets a very different “show”; everyone is happy.

Thanks for sharing your method – I hadn’t heard of anyone who makes two sets of slides before.

I’ve found that from speaking so often and experimenting that the less materials I depend on while I’m speaking, the more comfortable I am, not less. But everyone is different of course.

Yes, absolutely. Back when I was doing full-time technical training I practically knew the material by heart. These days, however, I give maybe five presentations a year, only two of which are usually the same talk. Some I’ve done before but often as long as a year ago (and by then I’ve usually updated the material), but the rest are new “this time” and will likely never be given again. Also, most of my “presentations” are actually half-day tutorials, which means about three hours worth of material; I simply can’t remember that much unless I’m teaching it several times per month.

My formal presentations always include slides because I’m talking about a visual subject, but it is ALL visual: no text, and certainly no bullet points (my personal pet peeve). It’s nice to know that I can give a presentation without them too, because any day I can literally be stopped in the hallway and told that there’s a tour group coming through and I need to give a talk *now*. It took me a while to get to that place, but knowing your subject inside and out and having a crazy passion about it helps.

I have to give props to Toastmasters too. I used to have a deathly fear of public speaking, but that environment really helped. Plus, it was all talk, no slides!

Makes sense to me. There are certainly plenty of situations where slides are essential. An artist talking about their work is one of many.

[…] E început de an, deci probabil toți discutăm o strategie, un buget sau planuri pentru 2014. Ce facem când trebuie să prezentăm ceva fără ajutorul unui suport grafic? Scott Berkun, autorul Confesiunile unui vorbitor public ne oferă câteva sfaturi pentru prezentări memorabile. […]

[…] How To Present Well Without Slides […]

[…] Interesting post by Scott Berkun on not using a presentation tool. […]

[…] Secret: Presentation expert Scott Berkun writes out his 3-5 main points on an index card and keeps it in his back pocket when he speaks. […]

[…] How to present well without slides (by Scott Berkun) […]

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How to Prepare for a Presentation, with Examples

February 15, 2021 - Dom Barnard

This guide covers everything you need to know to prepare for your presentation. including what you need to think about beforehand, during and after the presentation.

1. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse (always aloud)

Once you have your presentation worked out, you will need to practice it, but even though you might think it’s the best way to have a flawless presentation, don’t memorise what you’re going to say.

That might sound like incredibly bad advice, but here’s why:

• If you memorise your speech, you’ll get stuck in thinking you can only deliver your ideas in that way, and that stifles your creativity, and the chance for new thoughts and ways to put things that come up as you speak.

Not only that, but every  audience is different . Sometimes they laugh out loud, sometimes they sit and smile, and you never know which type of audience you’ll have until you’re live.

Practice Presentation Skills

Improve your public speaking and presentation skills by practicing them in realistic environments, with automated feedback on performance. Learn More

If you’re going off a memorised presentation, it’s much more difficult to break away from that to go with the flow on the day, and respond naturally to your audience.

• If you forget your speech in the middle of it, you will be thrown, and you’ll have more chance of complete brain freeze, which really will knock your confidence.
• Memorising your presentation gives you a false sense of security, which could leave you high and dry if something goes wrong. If you’ve only got your memorised speech, for example, what will you do if your PowerPoint freezes or your props break, and you can’t do what you were going to do?

Rehearse in front of colleagues, friends, a mirror, in virtual reality – always aloud. Make sure you spend plenty of time practising your presentation, it will make you feel much more relaxed if you know your material.

Courses where you can rehearse with interactive exercises:

• Essential Public Speaking
• How to Present over Video

Video showing how you can prepare for your presentation using virtual reality.  Learn more about virtual reality training .

2. Memorise your opening line

Do, however, memorise your opening line. If you know how you’re going to begin, you’ll get a strong start and that will build your confidence.

Many speakers and stage actors find that the minute they’ve actually delivered their first line, the nerves are gone and they’re well into their stride.

3. Practise your speech from written notes

Writing your presentation out in your own handwriting will help you clarify your ideas and may well bring you new ones.

• How to Write a Speech to Engage your Audience

4. Practise presentation flow

As well as practising for the ideas and what you want to say, practise how you want your presentation to flow. Think of it almost as a symphony, with high points, slow movements and crescendos. If it’s important, think about how you want your audience to feel, what emotions you want them to have, and when.

5. The power of silence

Don’t be afraid to pause and use the power of silence. A good pause can have a huge emotional impact. It allows people to really absorb what you are saying and react, and it’s vital to pause if you’re using humour so that the next part of your presentation doesn’t get lost underneath people’s laughter.

For more on the ‘Power of the Pause’, watch this short from video Brian Tracy:  The Power of the Pause

• 10 Effective Ways to use Pauses in your Speech

6. Have a backup

There’s nothing worse than the projector dying or finding that your laptop won’t communicate with the projector for some reason. If you know you have a backup, even if it’s only a pre-prepared flip chart, you’ll feel better, and you’ll be more confident.

7. Arrive early

Following on from that, arrive at least half an hour early so you aren’t feeling rushed, and so you have time to check your equipment and get your notes laid out ready to go. That gives you time to breathe and relax before you go on, knowing everything is as set as it can be.

8. Use physical props for a demo

Use physical props, if possible, for a demo. This can make you stand out and be more memorable among all the other speakers who only use PowerPoint, and it can add greatly to the impact of your presentation.

Video showing an example of using physical props during a live demo.

9. Structure your presentation

First, find out how much time you have to present, is it 10 minutes, 15, an hour? Prepare enough material for this time and have a couple of extra slides as backup – we tend to speak much quicker when nervous so you might find you finish your presentation too early. At some large conference events, timings may change on the day, be aware of this have a shorter version of your presentation in mind (i.e. know which slides to skip over).

• How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples
• Examples of Corporate Presentation Structures

10. Prepare for questions

Have a few backup slides for questions you think will arise from your presentation. It is sometime a tactic to explain a section briefly in your speech, so that you get a question about it afterwards. If you don’t understand the question, ask for it to be rephrased.

If there are no questions, it is not an indication how good or bad your presentation was. You many have explain your material extremely well, or simply that people are tired at the end of the day and want to go home.

• Guide for Handling Questions after a Presentation

11. Prepare for where you are presenting

If you can, go to the room you are speaking in before the actual event. It gives you an idea of furniture layout, podium height, location, room size, audience size and lighting. You can then visualise the room while practising and avoid the shock of suddenly being faced with a huge room when you expected a tiny one.

Ask the organiser if you need any particular props, for example a table to help with your live demo.

Additional planning to think about before your presentation:

1. Purpose  – what outcome are we trying to achieve? How can results be measured? What will success look like?

2. Topic  – Novelty? Complexity? Technical?

3. People  – Who should attend? What do they already know? How are they going to help?

4. Timing  – When will it happen and how long will the presentation take?

5. Location  – Where will the presentation be held? Do you have access to the correct facilities for the presentation?

6. Papers  – Who is keeping minutes? Do you need to send out an agenda before the presentation? Background information required?

7. Visual aids  – Is a  projector required ? Boards?

8. Style  – Structure or unstructured, discussion style? How assertive should you be? How should the meeting items be organised?

12. Choose the signals to give to your audience

Before the presentation, think about these 5 topics:

• Eye contact
• Facial gestures
• Body language

Decide how you will use each of these to reinforce your message. Use the table below for help.

Additional courses to help you prepare for your presentation:

• Presentation Skills Training Courses

Example from Steve Jobs

Think about these 10 techniques while you are preparing your presentation..

• Planning in Analog.  Tell a story, create stunning visuals and videos to complement video, use demonstrations and other speakers, keep the audience engaged.
• Creating a Twitter-Friendly Description  Single description sentence, condensed his message into 140 characters.
• Introduce the Enemy  Story needs villains or a problem to be solved. Jobs highlighted IBM and useless mobile phones (during iPhone release) as his villains.
• Focusing on Benefits  Keep reinforcing the benefits of your product, create top 10 lists, understand this is what customers care about.
• Sticking to Rule of Three  Classic Literary technique, things are best remembered and reinforced in threes. Read this article on  Literary Techniques  for more detail.
• Sell Dreams, Not Products  Create a vision people believe in, create a vision which will make people’s lives better
• Create Visual Slides  Use as few words as possible and use colourful graphics on the slide to highlight points.
• Make Numbers Meaningful  Compare large numbers to things people understand.
• Use Plain English  Use easy to say and easy to remember words, keep it simple.
• Large Reveals  Due to Apple secrecy, Jobs was able to deliver unexpected products to the world at his product launches.

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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

• Carmine Gallo

Five tips to set yourself apart.

Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).

I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.

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

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15 minute training session ideas.

New hire orientation often consists of a rapid-fire series of lectures by various departments.  But how much do you remember from any of your own new hire orientation experiences?  There are ways to make even short presentations memorable, meaningful, and engaging.

I’ve led several presentation skills workshops recently with people who have been invited to speak in hospitals for 15-20 minutes as part of a new nurse orientation program. 

The Challenges of a 15 Minute Training Workshop

The challenges raised by my workshop participants included:

• “We only have 15-20 minutes – maximum – to speak.”
• “Often we get the slot right before lunch, right after lunch or at the end of the day when they new nurses are mentally done with the day.”
•  “Though this is ‘new nurse orientation’, there are times when experienced nurses are in attendance because they have transferred to this hospital from a different hospital. And they’re already familiar with the basic content we have to present in these 15 minutes.”

After spending half a day walking through some various concepts from adult learning theory and dialogue education , my workshop participants felt that all of this information made sense… in theory. 

How can a 15 minute training session be implemented?

The best way I knew how to answer this question was by allowing them to experiment with these ideas of adult learning theory.  Workshop participants were given a little over an hour to work in small groups and design a 15-minute presentation that wasn’t lecture -based. 

When they delivered their practice 15-minute presentation, they were evaluated by their peers as well as the lead facilitators using this training observation form .

15 minute Training Session Ideas for Novice Trainers

Here are some of the ways that novice trainers who were newly exposed to adult learning theory designed short, interactive, and meaningful new hire orientation sessions after only an hour of preparation time:

• One group distributed a set of post-it notes and asked participants to put various steps to a specific process in order. 
• One group listed a set of seemingly random numbers on a flip chart and asked their participants to see if they could decipher the meaning of those numbers over the course of the presentation. 
• One group asked newer nurses to simulate a conversation with a patient’s family while they asked more experienced nurses to play the role of patients’ family members (since they’ve had experience in these types of situations before, they could offer realistic patient family responses) – engaging both new and experienced nurses in a meaningful way over the course of 15 minutes. 

Every group came up with creative 15-minute training session ideas and allowed a dialogue to happen.  Not a single group felt the strategy of just telling the audience what they need to know and then to be done with it was a constructive use of their time or their audience’s time.  And the #1 ah-ha moment for attendees that was captured in the post-training feedback form : even short presentations can be engaging, meaningful and memorable.

To see a ton of great ideas ranging from 15-minute training sessions to full days, try a demo or a trial of Soapbox.

Brian Washburn

Brian has over 25 years of experience in Learning & Development including the last 7 as CEO of Endurance Learning.

Brian is always available to chat about learning & development and to talk about whether Endurance Learning can be your training team’s “extra set of hands”.

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Presentations

Communication, facilitation, ​powerspeaking blog: tips and strategies for crafting presentations, 15 tips: how to prepare for a last minute presentation.

by PowerSpeaking, Inc.     Oct 24, 2013 10:46:00 AM

Did you just find out that you need to give a presentation in 90 minutes? Here are a few easy and effective tips to help organize and present that next mission-critical presentation.

  Organizing Your Content

Develop a short, clear one sentence main message, i.e. "I have a dream."

An analogy, metaphor or memorable phrase for the main message increases retention, i.e. Informix's " The database with the future built in."

Repeat your main message a number of times during the presentation. Use the exact wording each time.

Stories and personal experience create longer retention. Illustrate points with stories, i.e. "Last week when I called on Bob Johnson, the CEO of Acme Jeans in Seattle, he said, 'You know John, using your customer service strategy has doubled our market share.' Then he said..."

PowerPoint Is Not The Talk...You Are!

Build your talk first, then add visuals as you need them. Do not let PowerPoint templates determine your content.

Use fewer visuals, not more. People are persuaded by you and respond to you, not slides.

Begin and end your presentation without visuals. People remember longer what they hear at the beginning and at the end. Your main message will have more impact without slides.

Design the talk so that every, say, seven to ten minutes you can turn off the projector and just talk to people. In PowerPoint you can just hit the "B" button to make your screen go blank. Hit it again to make the slides come back.

When referring to a slide, stand at the screen, facing the audience and use a pointer to highlight the key words or images.

Drive It Home With Style

The way to build style is to practice your presentation in real rehearsal. That is, standing up, moving around, speaking out loud.

In rehearsal, exaggerate everything. Talk louder, use longer pauses, wave your arms around, move from point to point and look 'em in the eye. Strong "in your face" style feels unnatural and phony, yet looks confident to the audience.

This is no time for the soft-spoken, self-effacing, humble approach. Throw back your shoulders and let 'er rip. You almost can't overdo the style, as contrived as it feels.

After asking for questions, wait a few moments. It may take people awhile to think of any. If no ones asks a question, ask your own: "You know, a question that often comes up when I give these talks is..."

Repeat questions for clarity. Answer to the whole group so everyone feels included.

If you don't know the answer, agree to find out and get back to them.

Now, you've got the tools. Knock 'em dead!

Related Blog Posts: Six Strategies For How To Control Timing , "A Shining City On The Hill" How A Metaphor Can Touch Your Audience , Five Game Changing Principles of Presenting Slides

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Topics: Presentation , Organization , Stories , Opening Tips , Style , Core Message , ToolKit , PowerPoint

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How to prepare and deliver a great presentation

The first part of this resource is about how to prepare well, providing the foundations for a successful talk. The final sections focus on confident delivery of your presentation.

• Where – small room or large lecture theatre? On a stage? Familiar or new setting? What are the audience seating arrangements?
• When – time of day? This really affects audience concentration. People are at their most alert in the morning and most lethargic after lunch!
• Length of talk – 45 minutes max. It’s hard to maintain audience engagement for longer;
• Are there other speakers? Where are you in the running order? Make sure not to overrun;
• What equipment or technology will be available? Will you have a microphone, computer, flipchart, table or lectern?

Your presentation is all about establishing a rapport with your audience and keeping them engaged. Before writing your speech, reflect on:

• Size and make-up (age range, gender etc.) of group? Are they there compulsorily or out of interest? Is it a work or leisure event? Do they have an understanding of the material you are covering?
• Are you there to inform, teach, inspire, stimulate, encourage, persuade?
• Audience expectations – what are they there to learn from you?
• Is the presentation formal or informal?
• Audience participation – will you provide opportunities for the audience to interact with you or each other? This can work particularly well in a lower energy after lunch session. Decide on key questions and areas for discussion.

Writing your presentation

Structure your speech carefully, just as you would for a written report. It should have a clear introduction, main section and conclusion:

• Introduction – greet your audience, introduce yourself and gain attention. State your purpose and give a concise preview of the main elements you will cover;
• Body – cover your key elements in more detail, expand on the main points, providing analysis, supporting evidence & examples;
• Conclusion – briefly recap, summarising your key points and conclude decisively with the main subject;
• The Power of 3 – the human brain can best grasp and retain 3 points at a time. As well as the basic structure of intro, body and conclusion, you can divide the main section into 3 elements of key message, and expand each into 3 sub-points;
• What Why How – an alternative structure is to address these questions, providing supporting evidence, examples, case studies and data: What – identify your key message; Why – give reasons behind your key message; How – suggest how to achieve what is being discussed.
• 3 key points – 10-15 minute presentation;
• 6 key points – 30 minutes;
• 8 key points – 45 minutes.

Managing presentation notes

Decide if you will have brief notes or the full text when giving your presentation:

• Full text – it’s useful to have the full text available so you don’t forget anything, but avoid reading direct from a script as this can sound stilted and means you place less attention on engaging with the audience;
• Cue cards – index cards with keywords, brief notes and phrases are easier to handle and look more professional. Only write on one side and number the cards to match presentation slides or in case you drop them;
• Powerpoint note pages are really useful as you can create tailored notes relating to each slide;
• Mindmaps – diagrams with words, ideas, tasks arranged around a central key word or idea can be useful for visualising and illustrating complex relationships.

Learn what you are going to say and rehearse as much as possible – to yourself and colleagues, and get feedback. The more you simplify your prompts, the more you can increase spontaneity and rapport, but the easier it is to lose your thread, so it really helps to make sure you are familiar with your material.

Visual aids

Visual aids can enhance and add impact to your presentation, as well as maintaining interest and increasing understanding. They can be used to illustrate, clarify, simplify and summarise the points you are making as well as to entertain.

Think about how the words and visuals will work together. They obviously require advance preparation and will need to be operated efficiently:

• What type of visuals will you use? PowerPoint, Keynote and Quicktime are the most popular software for creating, editing and sharing presentations, but you can also use a flipchart, handouts, or overhead projector;
• What will your visuals consist of? They could be text, images, bullet points, video/animation, charts and diagrams or a mixture of these things;
• They need to be relevant, don’t be tempted to use too many and keep them simple. Edit carefully – they should only contain the minimum information necessary. As a rough guide, limit your bullet points to 3 each slide and words per slide to a maximum of 10;
• Ensure the text size is readable for your audience;
• Think about design and colour and check your slides for typos, spelling, grammar, consistency of font and layout. Pictorial representations such as graphs and pie charts are more easily understood than numbers but avoid detailed diagrams;
• Using data – it can be helpful to include data to back up your argument and make it more meaningful, but don’t overdo statistics and keep them simple as people may switch off or have problems understanding complex figures;
• Slick and sophisticated presentations can be created by a professional designer, who can also advise on latest presentation techniques, to give truly dynamic and motivational performances when required.
• Greeting and introduction – acknowledge your introduction if you have been given one, introduce yourself again and give some background about your organisation;
• Explain what your presentation is about, present it, and at the end recap;
• Keep to your allotted time – it’s better to finish early than overrun;
• Stick to your plan – don’t be tempted to digress;
• Leave time at the end for questions and discussion;
• Stand tall with your head up – make eye contact with your audience but don’t fix your gaze on one person;
• Speak clearly and check that everyone can see and hear you;
• Pace yourself – don’t rush or talk too slowly, but remember to pause at key points for emphasis, and vary the pace, pitch and your tone of voice every so often to make it more interesting;
• Don’t face or talk to your display screen, or obscure it and avoid moving around too much. You can use your hands for expression and emphasis but don’t overdo it;
• Keep an eye on the audience’s body language – if people are fidgeting and losing interest, know when to stop or omit material.
• Think about your personal presentation – dress appropriately, be aware of your appearance, body language, positioning and tone of voice;
• Try to visit the venue first or arrive early so you can familiarise yourself with computer equipment, microphone, power sockets and light switches etc.
• Make sure the stage or place you are delivering your talk from, and the audience seating, are arranged to your satisfaction;
• Room lighting and temperature – you don’t want it too bright so your screen content is unclear, or too dark and warm so people get sleepy;
• Afterwards, review your performance – did the presentation meet your own and audience expectations, was your message effectively communicated? Try to get feedback and identify action points so you can make improvements for next time.

Coping with nerves

• Taking slow, deep breaths and doing some gentle stretches can help your body relax;
• Have a glass of water to hand;
• Chewing gum can help to calm nerves;
• Eat a banana beforehand – bananas contain vitamin B6, potassium and magnesium, all of which are natural nerve and muscle relaxants;
• Give yourself a mental pep-talk – tell yourself: “I am going to do my best and everything will go smoothly. If I make a mistake, it’s not the end of the world, and likely that no one will notice or mind”;
• Use visualisation techniques – imagine the presentation going really well and it’s more likely to do so;
• Focus on the audience rather than yourself.

Interview presentation preparation tips

The interview presentation is becoming more common in the hiring process. It gives employers a better overview of your general aptitude and provides you with an opportunity to showcase your skills, knowledge, and experience. But how should you prepare for an interview presentation? What should you include? What if it goes wrong?

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What is an interview presentation?

As you progress further in your career, particularly to executive level, you may be asked to give a presentation for interview. Perhaps you’ve been asked to conduct research and present your findings to a panel, complete a task and show how you approached it, put together a business plan and present your ideas, or even give a presentation about yourself and how you would excel in the role. Whatever you are presenting about, how you approach it should remain the same.

Many people find giving presentations intimidating, especially during an interview when you’re already nervous, but it’s something that you may have to do throughout your career – the sooner you tackle this skill, the better.

Why are you being asked to do a presentation for a job interview?

Many employers opt for a presentation-style interview as it gives a better overview of your general aptitude when compared to, or combined with, a traditional question and answer interview, like a competency-based interview . The interviewer is looking for proof that you can do the job and that you possess the required skills and traits.

Additionally, if you put time and effort into your presentation, this will highlight to the hiring manager that you are committed to the role and enthusiastic about joining the company. How many times have you been asked in an interview ‘Why do you want this position?’ or ‘What is it about this role that attracted you to it?’. They want to know how much you want this position, rather than just any position.

How to prepare a presentation for an interview

Where do you start? What should you include? The presentation is your opportunity to showcase your knowledge, experience, and communication skills as well as your organisational skills and diligence – so start with the job description and person specification and pick out key skills and traits that the company is looking for. Then you can prepare your presentation around what they want to see.

For example, if the business is looking for someone creative, pay great attention to the style of your presentation. If it is looking for someone who is a confident public speaker, spend more time perfecting your speech. If attention to detail is paramount in the role, double and triple check your spelling and grammar. This is a great starting point and gives you something to build your presentation around.

What to include in an interview presentation

Although you may be tempted to go all out and show your potential employer that you are committed to the job, don’t fall into the trap of creating a 30-slide presentation with reams of text. Try to keep each slide short and significant and aim for no more than 10 slides. This ensures the information you deliver is memorable and will help you to stand out from other interviewees. Some interviewers may even give you a specific amount of time for your presentation, make sure you factor this in and don’t go over the time limit – otherwise you may appear to have poor time management skills.

Another way to make sure your presentation engages hiring managers is to include a range of formats to help you illustrate your points. Include graphs, statistics, diagrams, video clips, and images to help break up large volumes of text and maintain the attention of the interviewers.

If you are conducting research as part of your presentation, include quotes from industry leaders and/or research pieces. This gives your points authority and demonstrates your commercial awareness.

You should also try to incorporate the company’s colours, fonts, or style in your presentation. This will show that you have done your research and highlights your brand awareness.

Finally, check your spelling and grammar thoroughly! Small mistakes can really undermine the content of your presentation.

Tips for presenting at the interview

Presenting is a skill which can be learnt. Even if you are not a confident public speaker, the more you practice, the better you will become.

Present confidently and enthusiastically - Remember to speak clearly, make eye contact, and use open body language.

Don’t just read the slides - There is nothing worse than watching a presentation where the presenter has their back to you the whole time just reading reams of text from their PowerPoint notes.

Try not to talk too fast - Make sure you breathe, and take your time.

Practice, practice, practice - Ensure you are well rehearsed so that you are familiar with the structure of your presentation and are able to deliver it smoothly. If possible, practice your presentation with family members or friends to get used to speaking in front of other people.

Arrive early to give yourself time to set up the presentation and settle any nerves - Get comfortable with PowerPoint and presentation equipment. Make sure you know how to work any projectors, screens, or remote controls before you begin to avoid any awkward stumbles or pauses.

Stay within the allocated time - If you have not been given guidance on length, aim for the 10-minute mark. Time your presentation when you are practising to make sure it will fit within the time limit. If you need to reduce the content of your presentation, cut out the least relevant or weakest points.

Be prepared to adapt - You may have practised your presentation in a certain way, but the interviewer might not respond accordingly. Be prepared to be interrupted by questions or further discussion unexpectedly.

Breathe and try to enjoy it - By relaxing, you will find yourself presenting better and, if you enjoy it, your interviewers will respond to that and be better engaged with what you are saying.

Tips for keeping the interview presentation simple

It can take a lot of work to make something simple, yet effective, and when it comes to interview presentations less is often more. Keep it short - As previously mentioned, try to keep each slide short and aim for no more than 10 slides in total.

One idea per slide - To make sure your presentation is clear and concise, each slide should represent a different point/idea you want to make.

Stick to the important bits only - If you don’t think it’s important enough to spend time on, don’t have it on your slide.

Use the 4x6 rule - Aim for either four bullet points with six words per bullet point, or six bullet points with four words per bullet point. This way, your slides won’t look too busy.

Minimal text - Instead of writing paragraphs of text, use bullet points and a minimum font size of 24.

What's better for your interview presentation? Cue cards or presenting from memory?

Should you use cue cards in your presentation for interview or try to present from memory?

The answer to this question depends on what you feel most comfortable doing. If you find that having cue cards will help ease your nerves and ensure that you don’t forget your speech, then there is nothing wrong with that.

However, if you choose to use cue cards, you should not rely too heavily on them. You shouldn’t stand in front of the interviewers and look down at the cards continuously, neither should you write your whole speech out on the cards and read directly from them. They are cue cards for a reason and should only give you prompts on what to talk about. If your interview presentation has a lot of statistics on, using cue cards to remember the figures if you are unable to memorise them all is an excellent strategy.

What to do when things go wrong

You can practice your interview presentation as much as possible, but something may still go wrong and it’s important to be prepared for this eventuality. Here are some things that could go wrong and how to deal with them: Technical issues

There is not a lot you can do to prevent technical issues, especially if you are using someone else’s computer. But there are ways you can prepare just in case. Ensuring you have access to multiple sources of your presentation is key. Email the file to yourself and the recruiter, bring a copy on a USB stick and printed handouts. This way you are covered if anything goes wrong with the file you’re intending to use.

Your mind goes blank

Even those who are pros at presenting can sometimes lose their train of thought and find that their mind goes blank. The key here is not to panic. If possible, take a bottle or glass of water in with you and use this chance to take a sip, breathe and try to relax. Then look at your presentation slide or your cue cards and pick up where you left off. It may be helpful to repeat the last point you made as saying it out loud could spark your memory for your next point.

You are asked a question that you don’t know how to respond to

If you have allotted time at the end of your presentation to allow the interviewer to ask any questions (which is recommended), don’t worry if someone asks a question that you are not sure on. It may be that the interviewer is looking to see how you respond to a challenging question, so how you react is often more important than the answer itself.

If you do not understand the question, ask the person to explain. There is nothing wrong with doing this and shows more confidence than just saying that you don’t know. If you understand the question but are not sure of the answer, then admit that you don’t have the full answer, provide what information you do have, and offer to come back to them at a later date with a complete answer.

10-minute interview presentation template

Below is a presentation for interview example. Use this as a baseline and adapt or reorder where appropriate based on the task you have been set by the interviewer. Slide 1 - Introduction – Reiterate the objectives you have been set and lay out the structure of your presentation so that the interviewers know what to expect. Slide 2 - About you – Detail your professional experience, skills and working style. Slide 3 - Company history – Give a brief summary of the company history, any milestones or awards. Slides 4-7 - Answering the brief – Give your responses to questions you’ve been asked to answer, the benefits and limitations of your suggestions. Slide 8 - Question and answers – Include a slide titled ‘questions and answers’ as a cue to pause for interaction. Slide 9 - Conclusion – Sum up the key points you have made, reach a decision, and explain your reasoning. Slide 10 - Personal achievements – End the interview on a high with a brief slide highlighting achievements that show how you will succeed in the role.

For more information on how to ace your interview, download our free guide, ‘ Getting the best from your interview: Candidate interview tips and tricks ’, or contact your local recruitment specialist today.

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Frequently Asked Questions

A job interview presentation is all about selling yourself. Be confident, speak clearly, and make eye contact with the interviewer. Don’t be afraid to promote yourself and highlight your achievements. This is your chance to really show the interviewer that you are capable and have the necessary skills to do the job. By putting time and effort into your presentation, you can show them how dedicated you are to the role and the company. For more information on how to ace your interview, download our free guide, ‘ Getting the best from your interview: Candidate interview tips and tricks ’.

Using cue cards can support you with your interview presentation, as long as you use them for their intended purpose. Do not write your entire presentation for interview out on cards and read from them word for word or constantly hold them in your hand and fail to make eye contact with the interviewer. Use them only to prompt you or for remembering key facts and figures. For more tips, read our article on ‘interview tips & questions’ .

If you have been sent a presentation brief that you do not understand – don’t panic. If there are words that you are not sure about, do some research and try your best to figure out what the organisation is asking of you. If you are still unsure, you could ask your recruiter as they may have seen this brief before and can give you an idea. If you are dealing directly with the hiring manager, then it may be worth checking that your interpretation of the brief is correct.

It is better to ask the question than present on something completely different to what the interviewer has asked. However, instead of saying to them that you don’t understand the brief and leaving it at that, tell them your understanding of it and ask if this is correct. This will show that even though you are unsure, you have taken the time to try to come to a conclusion yourself before asking for help. Download our free interviewing guide for more tips and advice.

How long your job interview presentation should last depends on what guidance you have been given. Thoroughly read the brief, as the recruiter or hiring manager may have specified the length of time you have for your presentation. If they haven’t given any indication, you should aim for 10 minutes, including time for questions and answers. For more tips on interviewing, read our article on ‘interview tips & questions’ .

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How Long Should It Take to Practice for a Presentation?

Hrideep barot.

• Presentation , Public Speaking , Workplace Communication

Presentations are one of the most effective ways of sharing information or insights, especially when it is aided by visuals through slide decks . However, once we are done with our decks and the script for the presentation, the question that most of us might have is “ How long does it take to practice for a presentation? ”

Presentations take the form of a speech, introduction, demonstration, or even a lecture. Besides presenting a new idea or product, the goal of the presentation could be to inform, educate, inspire, persuade or motivate the audience. The end goal, however, for any presentation is to make sure that you as a speaker are able to reach the audience.

It is thus extremely important for you to rehearse or practice your presentation before getting on stage.

Why practice for a presentation?

So you have researched your topic, made a good outline of all the information you want to add, have even made your PowerPoint and you think you are good to go?

Think again!

Practicing your presentation before going on stage or before presenting it to your audience is more important than you can imagine.

Here is a list of things that you most likely will face when you haven’t practiced for your presentation:

• Unable to recall the flow of your information
• Constantly checking the slides to recall information
• Not having a killer beginning and end for your presentation
• Possibility of going blank or getting confused
• Using tons of filler words like Urms and ums
• Not using appropriate body language to complement your speech

To avoid experiencing any of these on your important day, we suggest you practice your presentation. 

This brings us to the main question that you might have here,

How long should you practice for a presentation?

As a general rule of thumb, it is advised to practice a presentation for at least 30 hours.

Sounds like a lot right?

The other method that you can use is by incorporating the most widely used formula,

1 hour of practice for 1 minute of presentation

If you plan on following this approach then it would take anywhere between 5 hours to 60 hours of practice depending upon the duration of your presentation.

Check out the table below to get a clear idea of how long it takes to practice for a presentation.

Now if you are looking for a specific number of times that you should practice for a presentation, then the magical number is 10.

According to the general rule of thumb, practicing at least 10 times can help you grasp the content of your presentation better.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a more long-term understanding of how much you should practice to improve your presentation skills overall, then Anders Ericsson might be able to help you out. Anders Ericsson has given the world famous 10,000- hours rule.

The rule states something very simple; it takes 10,000 hours of practice over 10 years to excel in anything you wish you excel in .

The same holds for public speaking as well. Spending 10,000 hours over 10 years to consistently gain a better fluency in presenting to a huge audience can help you with refine your presentation skills.

However, these are just numbers and they may or may not work best for you . So try to practice your presentation at least once or twice and try to understand at what point you feel like you are good to go.

Now that you know how long it takes to practice a presentation, why not take a look into some of the best ways to practice your presentation?

Best way to practice for a presentation

The best way to practice for any presentation and I have advocated it a gazillion times, is to Video record yourself .

Recording yourself goes a long way in making you see what your audience might witness when you present. It also helps you notice and come up with improvement areas that others might not be able to point out. This doesn’t mean you cannot practice in front of a mirror or in front of your family or friends.

The only reason we suggest video recording yourself is that a) it gives you a chance to see your improvement and b) it relives your relatives from honestly critiquing you.

Yet another way to practice is by simulating real-world conditions . But this method would require a lot of effort on your part to find the right sources which is very time consuming and hence we won’t encourge you to try it.

We have taken a look at the practicing bit of presentations, but there are other crucial preliminary aspects like how to learn and prepare for presentations that must also be taken a look into.

How long does it take to learn a presentation?

Learning a presentation doesn’t necessarily mean memorizing your presentation. Learning a presentation includes ways in which you can recall the presentation better . Check out a list of strategies you can try while practicing and settle on the one that fits best for you.

1. 20-20-20 rule of rehearsal

The 20-20-20 rule for rehearsal is quite interesting. It states that you must go over your presentation content for 20 minutes , saying it out loud a couple of times. And then you shall repeat the same process twice more , i.e., 20 minutes followed by 2 more sets of 20 minutes.

However, you shall make sure of repeating the next set within 30 minutes as it helps in better recall and easy learning.

Now if you follow this, then it should not take you more than 150 minutes to learn your presentation.

2. Mind Maps

Mind maps are yet another interesting way to learn and remember the content of your presentation. Unlike the usual chronological or sequential flow of information, mind maps help in understanding the concept more thoroughly.

Using mind maps can help you in continuing with your presentation if in any case you end up forgetting a couple of lines as you would be able to recall the concept better.

Psychologists like Dr. Georgi Lozanov have provided evidence of how music can enhance our capacity to learn more and learn faster.

You can try to use music as you practice your presentation. This learning method would work wonders if you are aware of the background music (if any) that will be played while you present in front of an audience.

The reason is that your brain tends to associate information you are learning with musical notes . And if you practice using the same song or tones, the chances of you recalling information on the big day drastically increase.

4. Trigger words

Another psychological trick to learn your presentation and enhance its recall is by using trigger words.

Trigger words are simple words that act as landmarks in your presentation and bombard you with the necessary information when required .

For an instance, let’s assume you are giving a speech on impromptu presentations and want to explain the P oint, R eason, E xample, P oint model. You can simply say something thing “how do you prep for an impromptu presentation?”

5. Consistency

The last suggestion to help you learn better is to spread out practicing your presentation rather than keeping it for the last day.

This will give you more time to learn and unlearn your own style of presenting.

If we have to take a step further back, then we might ask,

How long does it take to prepare for a presentation?

In this blog, we have gone from practicing to learning a presentation and now we come to the very initial point of any presentation, preparing for the presentation.

Preparing for any presentation can be very time-consuming. It is because it involves not only researching and outlining the presentation but also designing the slide decks .

The general rule of time taken to prepare for a presentation is

1 minute of presentation = 1 hour of preparation

This involves framing your copy and designing your slides which may take up about 20+40 minutes respectively or 30+30 minutes respectively.

However, these are just the usual trends and the amount of time required to prepare for a presentation may be very different for you.

How to prepare for a presentation?

Preparing for presentations may involve different steps for different kinds of presentations. Let’s take a look at some of the diverse ways of presenting.

How to prepare for a big presentation ?

Big presentations are presentations made in a big auditorium or a big screen (Kidding!).

These are the presentations that matter a lot to you. These big presentations could be life-changing for some individuals or businesses thus making it 10x important to be well prepared for them.

1. Focus on your takeaways

For any big presentation, it is very important for you to focus on your key takeaways. These takeaways are nothing but your goal or outcome you would want to see from the audience .

Your takeaway could be that you want the audience to be more informed about something or for them to be more open to accepting new ideas or technologies. You might also want to motivate the audience to do something like try to be a little more sustainable.

2. Outline your presentation

Practice and outline your presentation in a smooth flowing manner so that the audience can easily link one subtopic to the other. This would also ensure that there is little to no confusion on neither their or your part.

3. Practice eye contact and expressions

For your big presentation, your confidence would be the key to acing it. And the most effective way of projecting your confidence is through your body language, expressions, and maintaining eye- contact .

Apart from that, be more open , and occupy more space if the stage provides you space. Try using your hands to complement your words.

4. Video record yourself

As suggested before, while practicing, video record yourself. Once done, go back to the video and try to identify all the areas where you can improve upon. Then implement it the next time you record yourself and continue the process until you are satisfied with your presentation.

5. Seek the guidance of experts

If everything still seems overwhelming to you then take a deep breath and dial in an expert who can help you navigate through your big presentation better. If you have no idea where to find one, then check out frantically speaking , we are always happy to help.

How to prepare for a blind presentation?

Blind presentations are impromptu presentations.

In many interviews, you might be asked to give a blind presentation. However, unlike impromptu speeches, you are often given some time to prepare for blind presentations like 30 minutes.

These sorts of presentations are primarily done to test how you perform under stress and how creative you can be .

A few things to keep in mind while preparing for a blind presentation are:

1. Research

Utilize the time that is given to you to briefly research the topic . Try to spend enough time in researching the company in terms of their goals, recent achievements, and more. The idea is to relate the topic to the company if the blind presentation is for an interview.

While you might not have a lot of time to sit and script out your entire presentation speech, what you can do is just make a broad outline of how you plan on going about the presentation.

If you have no idea how you can do that, try out the PREP model.

PREP stands for Point, Reason, Example, Point . It is a very comprehensive way to structure any impromptu speech. You begin with a point, give a reason for focusing on that point, follow it up with an example and then end the segment by revisiting the point.

3. Use Props (if possible)

This isn’t a mandatory requirement but if you can make use of anything available around you and use it as a prop, it might add extra points in terms of your creativity .

However, if you aren’t able to come up with any such prop, we advice you to rather focus on the content of the presentation and not waste a lot of your time on finding a prop.

4. Practice (if possible)

Yet another situational suggestion is to go through your presentation at least once if time permits. This might also help you gain a little more confidence in your presentation.

How to prepare for a pitch presentation?

Pitch presentations are often short, detailed yet to the point . A couple of things to take into account while preparing for a pitch presentation are:

1. Understand the audience’s pain points

Before you begin writing your pitch, understand your audience and understand their problems. Once you have an idea of their pain points, try to navigate your pitch in a way that provides solutions to these pain points of your audience.

2. Tell a story

Tell a story to your audience, preferably one to which they can relate to. If we have to give an example of frantically speaking here, (you can find it in our youtube introduction as well) we say,

I started this Channel because after giving more than 100 talks, whether it’d be public speeches, pitches to board presentations or hosting events in large scale auditoriums, I embarrassed myself so many times that I wish I had a resource like this that could’ve helped me communicate more effectively during those times..

3. Include all elements

When you are preparing for a pitch presentation, it is important to focus on all elements of your business or all features of your products. So, give a glimpse of your unique selling points, market competition, finances, intellectual property, and more in case the pitch is for a business.

4. Use props or examples

If you are pitching for a product, make sure to use the product as a prop so as to give your audience an exact idea of what they can expect from the same. But if you are pitching your business plan or idea, then you can make use of some examples .

How to practice for an online presentation?

When we have questions related to preparing for online presentations, we also cover questions like:

• How to practice a presentation on teams?
• How to practice a presentation on zoom?

Preparing for online presentations is similar to preparing for any other presentation, except you might have to take a look at the connectivity and working of devices here a little more.

For online presentations, the best way to practice is to record yourself but using the software or application which you will be using for the final presentation . So let’s say you will be presenting on zoom, then record yourself presenting in zoom itself. This will help you navigate through the software and at the same time improve your presentation skills.

How to prepare for an oral presentation?

Oral presentations can be very tricky to prepare for. The reason is that now the audience’s attention is completely on you. Further, in the absence of a visuals, you might have to focus more on your body language , tonality , and expressions .

Check out the video below to know more about non-verbal communication.

Besides that, you can try working on your opening lines and come up with a killer closing line as well.

How to prepare for a poster presentation?

Another way of aesthetically presenting your data is through poster presentations.

The only difference between a PowerPoint presentation and a poster presentation is that all the information has to be condensed into one poster as opposed to n number of slides.

Couple of things to make sure you take a look into while preparing for a poster presentation are:      

1. Determine the size of your poster

It is very crucial to know the size of your poster before you begin your presentation as it will also determine the amount of information you will be able to add to the poster.

2. Avoid cluttering

We might be tempted to present all the information to the evaluators. However, because of the space constraint, it is always suggested to filter out all the not-so-important findings or information. Focus only on the key points and include them in your poster to not make it look much cluttered. 

3. Use visible fonts

Since we end up adding a lot of information to the posters, we might overlook the importance of using visible fonts.

Try to stick to fonts that would be easily visible from at least 3-5 feet away from the poster. Also try sticking to 3 font sizes , one of the main headings, sub-headings, and lastly the content. Using too many fonts and font sizes could make the poster look not so aesthetically pleasing. 

4. Follow the IMRAD rule

If you are presenting the poster for academic or scientific research then you should try following the IMRAD rule, i.e., Information, Methods, Results, and Discussion .

The reason is that not only is it most popularly used by scholars around the world, but it also includes all the important segments of any research . However, feel free to add any other subtopics or information as per your requirements. 

How to prepare for a presentation the night before?

You have a presentation tomorrow and are wondering if you will be able to prepare yourself for the same?

Don’t worry; we have all been there at least once.

Here are a couple of things you can do when preparing for a presentation the night before

1. Writing the presentation

Since you do not have much time on your hand, it is advised to not focus on writing a well-laid-out script or speech for your presentation.

Stick to the main pointers and develop the speech around those main points. While you can still go about writing a script, it might put some pressure on you in terms of memorizing the speech.

2. Outlining the presentation

Outlining or understanding how you will be going about with the main points is just as important as coming up with the points. The reason for this is that it would help you in delivering a smooth and effective presentation .

A few ways you can structure your presentation are given below:

Problem-solution : This involves introducing your speech by emphasizing a problem and then providing solutions for the same.

PREP (Point, Reason, Example, and Point) : A very simple strategy to structure your presentation is the PREP model where you begin by emphasizing a point. You can follow it up by giving a reason to back that point and then add an example to make it more personal. Lastly, end the segment by revisiting the point.

3. Delivering the presentation

While delivering the last-moment presentation, rather than complicating your delivery by focusing more on body language and expressions, you can try to use Functional gesturing.

Functional gesturing is the use of hands and expressions that support or complement what you are saying.

Check out our youtube video below to understand the concept in detail.

Final Words

While we can definitely give you an idea about the number of hours people usually end up spending on a certain type of presentation, at the end of the day it is important to understand the fact that every presentation has its own unique set of requirements. And by this we mean that the amount of time, efforts and energy you put into a presentation would not always be the same.

So, the answer to your “How long does it take to practice for a presentation?” is that practicing and preparing for a presentation is not about the numbers but rather about committing to the process and going through it .

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