What makes a good presentation?
Presentation skills can help in many situations – job interviews, making a sale, negotiating a contract or discussing concerns with coaches and teammates. Presentations are not just about speaking in front of large groups of people. Rather, knowing how to present yourself in any situation – at the negotiating table, discussing concerns with your coach, meeting with sponsors, etc. – can help you make positive impressions that help you stand out and build stronger professional relationships.
In all these situations basic presentation principles can be applied to convey information effectively and potentially influence the actions of others in your favour. Ultimately, you can find more success and generate more opportunities in your personal and professional endeavours as you improve your skills as a presenter.
Similar to any new skill, you will have to practice presentation techniques. Nerves and uncertainty are part of the process. With time, these skills can make a meaningful impact on developing opportunities off-the-court.
There are many tips and techniques to help make you a better presenter. To give an effective presentation, however, there are three elements that you need to keep in mind: have a presentation plan, know your audience, and engage your audience.
Have a presentation plan
As a presenter, you always need to keep the primary goal in mind – what do you want your audience to know, feel or do when they leave your presentation? With a specific end result in mind, you will be more able to outline and develop your presentation. When developing your presentation, there are four basic elements to keep in mind:
Introduction
The introduction should get the audience’s attention by opening a dialogue with them or piquing their interest. Ideas for effective introductions include, making reference to recent events, presenting a dramatic statistic, asking some key questions, or quoting a relevant anecdote or story.
Key concept
The key concept is the primary idea or purpose of the presentation and the common link that connects each element of the presentation – the key concept must be developed before any of the other elements of the presentation.
Supporting facts
You should develop approximately three supporting ideas – statistics, examples, stories, etc. – for each concept. Supporting facts give the key concept credibility and make the presentation more engaging. If you include statistics or quotes, give the source so your audience knows you have done your research.
Conclusion
The end of the presentation should recall the primary points of the presentation and give the audience a call-to-action.
Know your audience
Effective presenters craft their remarks specifically for their audience to have maximum effect or influence. The “right” information given to the “wrong” audience limits your ability to influence. To better understand your audience, you should ask yourself:
Who is in the audience (e.g. colleagues, senior management, prospective employers, etc.)?
Why are they there?
What are their demographics (e.g. age, gender, nationality, etc.)?
What is their attitude toward your objective? (e.g. supportive, sceptical, etc.)
Who are the decision makers and who are the influencers?
What knowledge do they have and what knowledge do they need?
Engage your audience
It is extremely important to engage your audience throughout the duration of your presentation. Studies show that the attention span of today’s audience is about 16.5 minutes (13 minutes for those under 30), so keep your comments brief. If the audience can remember one key point, you’ve done your job as a presenter.
Tips for keeping the audience engaged:
Do not read to the audience
Using visual aids is good; however, do not just read your slides. Instead, use them as supplemental information or a summary of the bigger message that you are sending.
Do not preach to the audience
The best presenters use clever ways to get their audience to act without telling them to.
Excite the audience
Pose questions, tell relevant stories, show interesting clips – using different methods to keep the audience’s attention will help ensure that the key messages are heard.
Establish practical application
Make the audience do something that gives them an opportunity to put your recommendations into practice – it will re-emphasise what they have just learned and encourage them to act following your presentation.
Leave time for questions and comments
This includes one-on-one discussions with your peers, coaches, sponsors, etc. After listening to you, you must leave time for them to respond and share their thoughts and perspective.
Using visual aids
Visuals should be an aid to the presentation – not the focal point. After all, if everything is on a slide, why not just hand it out and answer questions? If too much is on a slide, people will be reading, not listening. Write your presentation and see where a visual aid can add value.
Tips for effectively using visual aids:
Make sure everything is spelled correctly
If possible, practice using the visuals on site
Arrive early on the day of your presentation to have adequate time to set up your equipment and ensure that it works
Make sure your power pack is fully charged or that new batteries have been installed on your laptop
Bring duplicate copies of slides on a memory stick
Make sure your visuals can be seen from every seat
Keep the screen to your left - since we read from left to right, this makes it easier for the audience members to see
Be prepared to speak without visual aids, just in case something unexpected prevents you from using them
It is important to remember that visual aids should not replace your content. They are not supposed to be your presentation notes. Conversely, a visual aid is best used when it relates key points or concepts. Especially valuable are short statements or – better yet – graphics that help audience members remember and act on your messages.
10 Presentation mistakes to avoid
The best presentations can be ruined by a bad presenter. Here are ten of the most common presentation mistakes to try to avoid:
You don’t know your topic in a substantive way
Know your material so well that you could do the presentation without a visual aid. Use key words and phrases and include only essential information to keep the audience focused and interested.
Your slides become your presentation
Remember that YOU are the presentation. PowerPoint and visual aids should only be used to support your speech. Simplify the content by using bullet points for key information (no more than four per slide).
Information overload
Keep it simple when designing a presentation. Stick to three or four bullet points about your topic and then provide additional details. Through this format, the audience is more likely to retain the information.
Poorly chosen design template
It’s important to choose a design that is appropriate for the audience and matches the topic of your presentation. A clean, straightforward layout is best for business presentations. Typically, it is smart to use less text and more diagrams when talking to large audiences.
Unusual colour choices
Good contrast with the background is essential to make your text easy to read. Dark text on a light background is best for small audiences. Whereas, dark backgrounds with light text/shapes are very effective (and easy to read) when speaking with large audiences.
Poor font choices
Stick to using easy-to-read fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman. Additionally, use no more than two different fonts – one for headings, another for content (or just use one font throughout). And make sure the font size is big enough so everyone can read it easily.
Irrelevant photos and graphs
Photos and graphs that are not logically linked to your topic risk the audience to think your presentation lacks substance. Use them only to emphasise the key points of your presentation.
Too many slides
Slides can enhance your presentation, but too many can cause your audience to lose focus. Therefore, keep the number of slides to a minimum – ten to twelve slides are plenty.
Animation overload
Animations and sounds, used appropriately, can heighten interest, but be careful not to distract the audience with too much of a good thing. Design your presentation with the “less is more” philosophy and keep the animation consistent.
Technological malfunctions
Technological malfunctions can always happen so before you present, rehearse with the equipment you will use during the presentation. Also, carry an extra copy of the presentation on a separate USB in case the problem is the USB and not the equipment. If possible, also check the lighting in the room you will be presenting in to ensure the slides can be seen (and how to dim the lights if needed).