How to Give a Great Presentation: Follow These Best Practices!
Working from home has changed how meetings work and presentations are given. Instead of just having a quick discussion around a table, you may be expected to run a demonstration or slideshow online for your colleagues. This article will run through how to give a presentation and how to make it as slick as possible by following best practices for presentations.
Include media in your presentation to keep interest up
One of the biggest advantages of online presentations is that it’s very easy to add slideshows, videos, and pictures, and be sure that everyone can see them. Make sure that the text on your slides is nice and big – you can’t be sure what resolution your colleagues’ computers are using and this should help discourage you from putting too much text on the slides. Remember, the slide should give you bullet points to work from, rather than being a teleprompter! You should also avoid reading from an off-screen script too – show that you know your topic inside out by talking off the cuff, whilst using your notes to ensure you don’t forget any points.
XSplit Presenter allows you to add slides, videos, and even a feed from your webcam to your presentations and lets you annotate in real-time when you need to highlight parts of your slides for a question. If you’re demonstrating a piece of software, you can also share part of your screen, without risking showing your desktop.
Make sure you’re organized
Few things are worse when giving a presentation than being part-way through an important pitch and realizing there’s a piece of information that you need to access or show that you don’t have ready and available. Trying to stall while you search for that important document can throw off a well-timed presentation, ruining your concentration and flow as a presenter. This is why XSplit Presenter allows you to add all your media as slides, whether that’s pictures, videos, screen shares – it’s all in one place so you can run through without needing to find the next file.
Of course, the software isn’t everything – while it definitely helps, it’s no substitute for running through the presentation first out loud and by yourself. This is something you can record in XSplit Presenter and watch back so you can see where any problems show up and make edits beforehand! This means you can make sure everything is in the right place, you’re not overshooting your time budget and you know what you’re going to say.
How to give a presentation? Keep it fun and engaging!
This advice does depend somewhat on the topic you’re discussing, however, in the modern workplace, a casual and friendly tone is more appropriate than lecturing your audience. It’s absolutely fine to use a light-hearted tone and have some cartoonish art on your slides as long as it doesn’t take away from the information they show.
Making your audience laugh will get their attention and improve their feeling towards you and your presentation, both making them pay more attention to what you’re saying and to be more likely to come to any future presentations you give. Remember to smile – this will subconsciously lighten your tone and make your audience feel more welcome. Try to involve the audience as well instead of just talking to them by including questions or opportunities for feedback, such as raised hands or polls. It’s also important you engage with and respond to the feedback!
Giving a presentation online shouldn’t be frightening – remember your audience is there because they want to hear what you have to say. That said, being well prepared will make for a more comfortable experience for everyone. We’ve given advice on this before, but there’s always more to learn!