A presentation holds immense importance in your carrier. Right from making it, preparing it, and finally delivering it, the process is quite joyful. Executing it in a planned and perfect manner can fetch you top grades. Hey, did you know the entire presentation process can be made much easier, faster, and better? Here are some tips for making and presenting a perfect presentation.
- Application – It’s real life and not a Bollywood flick (where you can give a presentation and crack top grades). You need the help of slides which is possible if you have good presentation software. Upgrade your PowerPoint to the 2013 version, which offers you many cool animations, tailor-made templates, and transitions. You can also go with Prezi, which helps you in making presentations in a continuous loop manner.
- Practice makes a man perfect – If you can’t stand in front of the mirror and face yourself, then drop the idea of facing a room full of people staring at you. Practice, practice, and practice before delivering your presentation to find your weak areas and ultimately improve them.
- Get everything done before they come – You think it is a matter of pride for you to enter the class late. The same philosophy could lead you to dumps on your P-Day. First, you entered late, and then you are gearing up for the presentation by experimenting with your PC and projector’s resolution. Congratulations! You just lost precious minutes from your presentation, and you bored your audience to the core. Make a habit of going early to the classroom, at least when you have to present your PPT.
“But my other classmates have their PPT first, and only then am I supposed to give my presentation.” If this is your query, then make sure all your class people pool their PPTs in the same storage device so that your turn requires only two clicks on your presentation.
- Size Matters – Remember it’s a presentation and not a motivational speech that people would be there until they feel motivated. It is therefore advisable to keep the number of slides as few as possible.
- Crisp Content – The slides are there to help, but the talking has to be done by you. Keep the content crisp and always add bullet points and graphs. Strictly avoid never-ending paragraphs.
- We call them slides, not a book – Stop reading from slides. Please look at it when you get carried away from the topic or when the slide changes.
- Keep it interactive – Don’t wait for the Questions and Answers round. Keep some general knowledge questions or discipline-related questions in between the PPT to keep the audience engaged.
- Shift + Delete Unnecessary Slides – Act like a pro from day one. Remove slides such as “Welcome,” “Question Answer Round,” and “Let’s Start.” These phrases you can tell by yourself rather than bombarding them into the presentation.
- Moving pictures are your best friends – Try to add some pictures and videos either in the middle or towards the end of your PPT. This keeps the interest of the audience at the peak.
- Show LOL (Lots of Love) by being hilarious – No matter what the discipline or topic is, if you are funny and sarcastic at some places, then people would be all ears.
- For better GP (Grades and Points), remember this GP (Gestures and Postures) – Don’t put your hands in the pocket while presenting, don’t hide behind the podium with your notebook, don’t lean on wall and table, and most importantly be suited like a pro.
- Eye to Eye doesn’t make the world blind – Maintain proper eye contact with your professor and classmates. They feel ignored otherwise.
- Follow the protocol while presenting in Group – Don’t focus on your part but speak a bit from everyone’s part. Once you are done with your part, don’t say, “This was my part, and I would like to call now…” rather say, “To take the presentation further, I would like to call…” And lastly, always be in sync with other team members in terms of statistics and other heading terms.
These were some cool tips for giving presentations and saving you literally from the hall of shame. Follow the aforementioned tips, and you are sure to crack any presentation with a bang.