Deliver Great Presentations With These Quick Tips

Over the years, I’ve seen many presenters make common mistakes — from cramming too much information into slides to reading points word for word — that ruin what could have been great presentations. Presenters need to keep several aspects in mind such as the layout and formatting of the slides, the actual content and the delivery. With all that, it is no wonder that many people stress over delivering presentations. However, with these few short tips, you can be one of those individuals who delivers great presentations.

When you’re creating the presentation:

• Use up to a maximum of five points per slide.
• Use key words instead of full sentences. You can speak to the key words during the presentation instead of cramming all the details into the slides.
• Where possible, replace text with graphics, tables, videos, etc. A visual has far more impact that text.
• Consider the lighting in the venue and adjust the background and font color appropriately. For example, don’t use a black background with white text if you are in a lighted room.
• Use a large enough font size. 24 point is usually a good place to start but consider going larger.
• Do a few dry runs of your presentation to ensure the transitions and animations are correct. It also gives you the opportunity to rehearse your timing.

The most important thing to remember when you’re delivering your presentation is to avoid reading directly from the slides or from speaker notes. However, if you followed the tips above and did a few dry runs through the presentation, you should be well prepared to speak to each of the key areas of your presentation without having to read from a script.

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