Today’s academic world requires students to have valuable presentation skills. This not only elevates the academic skills, but also helps you thrive in your career. However, many students and even professionals do not know how to give a good presentation. In this blog, we are going to explore how you can deliver a good presentation, including concrete research findings that will help you create a compelling narrative.
Even before preparing the presentation, make sure you have understood the topic thoroughly. Create a groundwork for your presentation by structuring the topic and focusing on the objective that your presentation is going to address. Different types of academic presentations follow different PowerPoint presentation formats, so make sure you have a clear idea of it.
Things to Keep in Mind When Preparing Your Presentation
While preparing the PowerPoint presentation, here are some key things that you should keep in mind. Combining all these factors, you can be successful in creating an appealing and insightful presentation. Let’s focus on some of these factors:
Understanding Your Audience
Before diving into the content of your presentation, make sure you have spent some time understanding the type of audience you are going to address. In case of academic presentations, you need to understand the knowledge level and expertise of the audience, potentially the assessor or grader.
Once you understand your audience, you can curate a narrative that can resonate with them by maintaining more relevance and engagement. Many students often fail to understand how to make a good presentation by understanding the right audience. Hence, you need to understand what the audience expects from you and how you should structure your presentation to make it compelling for that particular audience.
Planning And Structuring
The secret of a successful presentation lies in the level of planning and preparation you are considering to prepare the content. In the initial slides of the presentation, you should convey the purpose and objectives of your presentation. Plus, it is essential to structure the presentation in a logical and coherent way to outline the topic.
One good way to present the information in slides is by providing supporting evidence. Furthermore, you can also create benchmarks and signposts for audiences when transitioning to the different slides. Ensure that your slides are not overwhelmed with data or graphics. 3 to 5 pointers per slide is considered a satisfactory amount of content.
With the help of our professional PowerPoint creation services, you can ensure an accurate, engaging, and eye-catching presentation that will deliver your narrative.
Creating Engaging Visuals
Rather than using default PowerPoint presentation templates, you can customise the slide layout to make the presentation look more visually appealing. It is suggested to maintain a standard text and graphical ratio, so that it does not feel overcrowded.
Use graphs, charts, and high-resolution images as much as possible to make it more visually engaging for the audience. By presenting statistical data through graphics and images, you can strengthen your claims made in the presentation. Do not forget to briefly label the chart or image used in the presentation.
After your presentation is prepared, it is time to finally deliver the presentation to your target audience. Fun fact is, many people might know how to make a good PowerPoint presentation, but they might not know how to deliver it properly by capturing the attention of the audience.
How to Deliver a Presentation That Appeals to Your Audience?
A successful presentation will still be incomplete if it is not delivered to the audience in a way that grabs their attention or makes them feel interested in the topic. Here is how you can deliver the presentation in a strategic way by attracting their attention.
Maintaining Eye Contact During the Presentation
The primary thing you can do to make your audience feel attracted to your presentation by putting them in the center spot. Every audience likes to feel personally addressed, and a good way to do this is by making eye contact with the audience. Therefore, throughout the presentation, you need to drift your eye contact with different parts of the audience.
A good hack to keep your vision in one place is to look at a fixed point in the room. By maintaining eye contact, you will not only be able to deliver a good presentation, but you will also gain confidence. Gradually, you will understand how to give a good presentation by maintaining eye contact scattered around places.
Use Gestures and Facial Expressions
To make your content sound more professional and emphasise, a great way is to use gestures and facial expressions in the appropriate section of your presentation. Right gestures and body language will not only help you develop a character while you are speaking, but also assist you in conveying the important message through the presentation.
However, it is up to you how you would want to present. Try not to become visibly tense or stressed. Do not make gestures like crossed arms or putting your hands behind your back. As well as knowing how to make a good PowerPoint presentation, it is important to know how to deliver it efficiently by maintaining the appropriate gestures.
Your facial expression should always be friendly and open. Your audience should know that you know about the topic and that you are enjoying working on it.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
We all have heard the saying: ‘Practice makes Perfect.’ If you prepare properly for the presentation, you will feel more relaxed and confident. Therefore, practicing the presentation more will increase the chance of delivering it without making any crucial mistakes.
Here are some effective tips you can follow to practice delivering the presentation:
- Rehearsing in Front of Your Friends: You can present in front of your friends, family, or colleagues, where fear of judgement is low. Observe their reactions and adjust the intensity of delivery accordingly.
- Take Notes: You can use quick notes, which can prompt you with key ideas. This way, you will not divert from the core topic and will always stay on track.
- Consider the Timing: Academic presentations are typically delivered within a restricted time limit. Therefore, students should focus on timing themselves while speaking and ensure that it fits within the allotted time.
- Record Yourself: Recording is a good way to analyze your presentations, body language, and sections in the presentation where you have been uncomfortable. You can utilise this scope to adjust and fine-tune your delivery and improve your presentation.
Confidence is Key to Delivering a Successful Presentation
Being visibly confident may sound difficult, but actually, it is not. By appearing confident and making evidence-backed claims, you convey to your audience that you are knowledgeable in your topic and have given yourself enough time to prepare. Stay relaxed and do not stress more stressed about it.
Wrapping Up
Delivering a presentation is a crucial part of academics that accelerates your learning and growth. Starting from planning the presentation to delivering it to the audience, this is a journey where you will learn, grow, and be able to make your audience resonate with the presentation. These strategies will help you deliver an impactful presentation and fulfill your potential as a student, further building your successful academic and professional career.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Make sure you are not concentrating your eye contact on someone or something. Keep drifting your eye contact around the room. Try not to look much on the floor, index cards, or even the laptop screen.
The length or duration of your presentation depends on the assignment guidelines. Most academic presentations are short, around 2 to 10 minutes.
First thing to do in these scenarios is to stay calm. Take a moment to look at your notes and continue after a brief pause.
Practicing at least five times is generally ideal. You can rehearse in front of a mirror or even to your friends or family members who will not judge you, even if you make mistakes.
