what is an effective academic presentation

6 Tips For Giving a Fabulous Academic Presentation

6-tips-for-giving-a-fabulous-academic-presentation.

Tanya Golash-Boza, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California

January 11, 2022

One of the easiest ways to stand out at an academic conference is to give a fantastic presentation.

In this post, I will discuss a few simple techniques that can make your presentation stand out. Although, it does take time to make a good presentation, it is well worth the investment.

Tip #1: Use PowerPoint Judiciously

Images are powerful. Research shows that images help with memory and learning. Use this to your advantage by finding and using images that help you make your point. One trick I have learned is that you can use images that have blank space in them and you can put words in those images.

Here is one such example from a presentation I gave about immigration law enforcement.

PowerPoint is a great tool, so long as you use it effectively. Generally, this means using lots of visuals and relatively few words. Never use less than 24-point font. And, please, never put your presentation on the slides and read from the slides.

Tip #2: There is a formula to academic presentations. Use it.

Once you have become an expert at giving fabulous presentations, you can deviate from the formula. However, if you are new to presenting, you might want to follow it. This will vary slightly by field, however, I will give an example from my field – sociology – to give you an idea as to what the format should look like:

Introduction/Overview/Hook
Theoretical Framework/Research Question
Methodology/Case Selection
Background/Literature Review
Discussion of Data/Results

Tip #3: The audience wants to hear about your research. Tell them.

One of the most common mistakes I see in people giving presentations is that they present only information I already know. This usually happens when they spend nearly all of the presentation going over the existing literature and giving background information on their particular case. You need only to discuss the literature with which you are directly engaging and contributing. Your background information should only include what is absolutely necessary. If you are giving a 15-minute presentation, by the 6 th minute, you need to be discussing your data or case study. At conferences, people are there to learn about your new and exciting research, not to hear a summary of old work.

Tip #4: Practice. Practice. Practice.

You should always practice your presentation in full before you deliver it. You might feel silly delivering your presentation to your cat or your toddler, but you need to do it and do it again. You need to practice to ensure that your presentation fits within the time parameters. Practicing also makes it flow better. You can’t practice too many times.

Tip #5: Keep To Your Time Limit

If you have ten minutes to present, prepare ten minutes of material. No more. Even if you only have seven minutes, you need to finish within the allotted time. If you write your presentation out, a general rule of thumb is two minutes per typed, double-spaced page. For a fifteen-minute talk, you should have no more than 7 double-spaced pages of material.

Tip #6: Don’t Read Your Presentation

Yes, I know that in some fields reading is the norm. But, can you honestly say that you find yourself engaged when listening to someone read their conference presentation? If you absolutely must read, I suggest you read in such a way that no one in the audience can tell you are reading. I have seen people do this successfully, and you can do it too if you write in a conversational tone, practice several times, and read your paper with emotion, conviction, and variation in tone.

What tips do you have for presenters? What is one of the best presentations you have seen? What made it so fantastic? Let us know in the comments below.

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PLoS Comput Biol
v.17(12); 2021 Dec

Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides

Kristen m. naegle.

Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America

Introduction

The “presentation slide” is the building block of all academic presentations, whether they are journal clubs, thesis committee meetings, short conference talks, or hour-long seminars. A slide is a single page projected on a screen, usually built on the premise of a title, body, and figures or tables and includes both what is shown and what is spoken about that slide. Multiple slides are strung together to tell the larger story of the presentation. While there have been excellent 10 simple rules on giving entire presentations [ 1 , 2 ], there was an absence in the fine details of how to design a slide for optimal effect—such as the design elements that allow slides to convey meaningful information, to keep the audience engaged and informed, and to deliver the information intended and in the time frame allowed. As all research presentations seek to teach, effective slide design borrows from the same principles as effective teaching, including the consideration of cognitive processing your audience is relying on to organize, process, and retain information. This is written for anyone who needs to prepare slides from any length scale and for most purposes of conveying research to broad audiences. The rules are broken into 3 primary areas. Rules 1 to 5 are about optimizing the scope of each slide. Rules 6 to 8 are about principles around designing elements of the slide. Rules 9 to 10 are about preparing for your presentation, with the slides as the central focus of that preparation.

Rule 1: Include only one idea per slide

Each slide should have one central objective to deliver—the main idea or question [ 3 – 5 ]. Often, this means breaking complex ideas down into manageable pieces (see Fig 1 , where “background” information has been split into 2 key concepts). In another example, if you are presenting a complex computational approach in a large flow diagram, introduce it in smaller units, building it up until you finish with the entire diagram. The progressive buildup of complex information means that audiences are prepared to understand the whole picture, once you have dedicated time to each of the parts. You can accomplish the buildup of components in several ways—for example, using presentation software to cover/uncover information. Personally, I choose to create separate slides for each piece of information content I introduce—where the final slide has the entire diagram, and I use cropping or a cover on duplicated slides that come before to hide what I’m not yet ready to include. I use this method in order to ensure that each slide in my deck truly presents one specific idea (the new content) and the amount of the new information on that slide can be described in 1 minute (Rule 2), but it comes with the trade-off—a change to the format of one of the slides in the series often means changes to all slides.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is pcbi.1009554.g001.jpg

Top left: A background slide that describes the background material on a project from my lab. The slide was created using a PowerPoint Design Template, which had to be modified to increase default text sizes for this figure (i.e., the default text sizes are even worse than shown here). Bottom row: The 2 new slides that break up the content into 2 explicit ideas about the background, using a central graphic. In the first slide, the graphic is an explicit example of the SH2 domain of PI3-kinase interacting with a phosphorylation site (Y754) on the PDGFR to describe the important details of what an SH2 domain and phosphotyrosine ligand are and how they interact. I use that same graphic in the second slide to generalize all binding events and include redundant text to drive home the central message (a lot of possible interactions might occur in the human proteome, more than we can currently measure). Top right highlights which rules were used to move from the original slide to the new slide. Specific changes as highlighted by Rule 7 include increasing contrast by changing the background color, increasing font size, changing to sans serif fonts, and removing all capital text and underlining (using bold to draw attention). PDGFR, platelet-derived growth factor receptor.

Rule 2: Spend only 1 minute per slide

When you present your slide in the talk, it should take 1 minute or less to discuss. This rule is really helpful for planning purposes—a 20-minute presentation should have somewhere around 20 slides. Also, frequently giving your audience new information to feast on helps keep them engaged. During practice, if you find yourself spending more than a minute on a slide, there’s too much for that one slide—it’s time to break up the content into multiple slides or even remove information that is not wholly central to the story you are trying to tell. Reduce, reduce, reduce, until you get to a single message, clearly described, which takes less than 1 minute to present.

Rule 3: Make use of your heading

When each slide conveys only one message, use the heading of that slide to write exactly the message you are trying to deliver. Instead of titling the slide “Results,” try “CTNND1 is central to metastasis” or “False-positive rates are highly sample specific.” Use this landmark signpost to ensure that all the content on that slide is related exactly to the heading and only the heading. Think of the slide heading as the introductory or concluding sentence of a paragraph and the slide content the rest of the paragraph that supports the main point of the paragraph. An audience member should be able to follow along with you in the “paragraph” and come to the same conclusion sentence as your header at the end of the slide.

Rule 4: Include only essential points

While you are speaking, audience members’ eyes and minds will be wandering over your slide. If you have a comment, detail, or figure on a slide, have a plan to explicitly identify and talk about it. If you don’t think it’s important enough to spend time on, then don’t have it on your slide. This is especially important when faculty are present. I often tell students that thesis committee members are like cats: If you put a shiny bauble in front of them, they’ll go after it. Be sure to only put the shiny baubles on slides that you want them to focus on. Putting together a thesis meeting for only faculty is really an exercise in herding cats (if you have cats, you know this is no easy feat). Clear and concise slide design will go a long way in helping you corral those easily distracted faculty members.

Rule 5: Give credit, where credit is due

An exception to Rule 4 is to include proper citations or references to work on your slide. When adding citations, names of other researchers, or other types of credit, use a consistent style and method for adding this information to your slides. Your audience will then be able to easily partition this information from the other content. A common mistake people make is to think “I’ll add that reference later,” but I highly recommend you put the proper reference on the slide at the time you make it, before you forget where it came from. Finally, in certain kinds of presentations, credits can make it clear who did the work. For the faculty members heading labs, it is an effective way to connect your audience with the personnel in the lab who did the work, which is a great career booster for that person. For graduate students, it is an effective way to delineate your contribution to the work, especially in meetings where the goal is to establish your credentials for meeting the rigors of a PhD checkpoint.

Rule 6: Use graphics effectively

As a rule, you should almost never have slides that only contain text. Build your slides around good visualizations. It is a visual presentation after all, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. However, on the flip side, don’t muddy the point of the slide by putting too many complex graphics on a single slide. A multipanel figure that you might include in a manuscript should often be broken into 1 panel per slide (see Rule 1 ). One way to ensure that you use the graphics effectively is to make a point to introduce the figure and its elements to the audience verbally, especially for data figures. For example, you might say the following: “This graph here shows the measured false-positive rate for an experiment and each point is a replicate of the experiment, the graph demonstrates …” If you have put too much on one slide to present in 1 minute (see Rule 2 ), then the complexity or number of the visualizations is too much for just one slide.

Rule 7: Design to avoid cognitive overload

The type of slide elements, the number of them, and how you present them all impact the ability for the audience to intake, organize, and remember the content. For example, a frequent mistake in slide design is to include full sentences, but reading and verbal processing use the same cognitive channels—therefore, an audience member can either read the slide, listen to you, or do some part of both (each poorly), as a result of cognitive overload [ 4 ]. The visual channel is separate, allowing images/videos to be processed with auditory information without cognitive overload [ 6 ] (Rule 6). As presentations are an exercise in listening, and not reading, do what you can to optimize the ability of the audience to listen. Use words sparingly as “guide posts” to you and the audience about major points of the slide. In fact, you can add short text fragments, redundant with the verbal component of the presentation, which has been shown to improve retention [ 7 ] (see Fig 1 for an example of redundant text that avoids cognitive overload). Be careful in the selection of a slide template to minimize accidentally adding elements that the audience must process, but are unimportant. David JP Phillips argues (and effectively demonstrates in his TEDx talk [ 5 ]) that the human brain can easily interpret 6 elements and more than that requires a 500% increase in human cognition load—so keep the total number of elements on the slide to 6 or less. Finally, in addition to the use of short text, white space, and the effective use of graphics/images, you can improve ease of cognitive processing further by considering color choices and font type and size. Here are a few suggestions for improving the experience for your audience, highlighting the importance of these elements for some specific groups:

Use high contrast colors and simple backgrounds with low to no color—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment.
Use sans serif fonts and large font sizes (including figure legends), avoid italics, underlining (use bold font instead for emphasis), and all capital letters—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment [ 8 ].
Use color combinations and palettes that can be understood by those with different forms of color blindness [ 9 ]. There are excellent tools available to identify colors to use and ways to simulate your presentation or figures as they might be seen by a person with color blindness (easily found by a web search).
In this increasing world of virtual presentation tools, consider practicing your talk with a closed captioning system capture your words. Use this to identify how to improve your speaking pace, volume, and annunciation to improve understanding by all members of your audience, but especially those with a hearing impairment.

Rule 8: Design the slide so that a distracted person gets the main takeaway

It is very difficult to stay focused on a presentation, especially if it is long or if it is part of a longer series of talks at a conference. Audience members may get distracted by an important email, or they may start dreaming of lunch. So, it’s important to look at your slide and ask “If they heard nothing I said, will they understand the key concept of this slide?” The other rules are set up to help with this, including clarity of the single point of the slide (Rule 1), titling it with a major conclusion (Rule 3), and the use of figures (Rule 6) and short text redundant to your verbal description (Rule 7). However, with each slide, step back and ask whether its main conclusion is conveyed, even if someone didn’t hear your accompanying dialog. Importantly, ask if the information on the slide is at the right level of abstraction. For example, do you have too many details about the experiment, which hides the conclusion of the experiment (i.e., breaking Rule 1)? If you are worried about not having enough details, keep a slide at the end of your slide deck (after your conclusions and acknowledgments) with the more detailed information that you can refer to during a question and answer period.

Rule 9: Iteratively improve slide design through practice

Well-designed slides that follow the first 8 rules are intended to help you deliver the message you intend and in the amount of time you intend to deliver it in. The best way to ensure that you nailed slide design for your presentation is to practice, typically a lot. The most important aspects of practicing a new presentation, with an eye toward slide design, are the following 2 key points: (1) practice to ensure that you hit, each time through, the most important points (for example, the text guide posts you left yourself and the title of the slide); and (2) practice to ensure that as you conclude the end of one slide, it leads directly to the next slide. Slide transitions, what you say as you end one slide and begin the next, are important to keeping the flow of the “story.” Practice is when I discover that the order of my presentation is poor or that I left myself too few guideposts to remember what was coming next. Additionally, during practice, the most frequent things I have to improve relate to Rule 2 (the slide takes too long to present, usually because I broke Rule 1, and I’m delivering too much information for one slide), Rule 4 (I have a nonessential detail on the slide), and Rule 5 (I forgot to give a key reference). The very best type of practice is in front of an audience (for example, your lab or peers), where, with fresh perspectives, they can help you identify places for improving slide content, design, and connections across the entirety of your talk.

Rule 10: Design to mitigate the impact of technical disasters

The real presentation almost never goes as we planned in our heads or during our practice. Maybe the speaker before you went over time and now you need to adjust. Maybe the computer the organizer is having you use won’t show your video. Maybe your internet is poor on the day you are giving a virtual presentation at a conference. Technical problems are routinely part of the practice of sharing your work through presentations. Hence, you can design your slides to limit the impact certain kinds of technical disasters create and also prepare alternate approaches. Here are just a few examples of the preparation you can do that will take you a long way toward avoiding a complete fiasco:

Save your presentation as a PDF—if the version of Keynote or PowerPoint on a host computer cause issues, you still have a functional copy that has a higher guarantee of compatibility.
In using videos, create a backup slide with screen shots of key results. For example, if I have a video of cell migration, I’ll be sure to have a copy of the start and end of the video, in case the video doesn’t play. Even if the video worked, you can pause on this backup slide and take the time to highlight the key results in words if someone could not see or understand the video.
Avoid animations, such as figures or text that flash/fly-in/etc. Surveys suggest that no one likes movement in presentations [ 3 , 4 ]. There is likely a cognitive underpinning to the almost universal distaste of pointless animations that relates to the idea proposed by Kosslyn and colleagues that animations are salient perceptual units that captures direct attention [ 4 ]. Although perceptual salience can be used to draw attention to and improve retention of specific points, if you use this approach for unnecessary/unimportant things (like animation of your bullet point text, fly-ins of figures, etc.), then you will distract your audience from the important content. Finally, animations cause additional processing burdens for people with visual impairments [ 10 ] and create opportunities for technical disasters if the software on the host system is not compatible with your planned animation.

Conclusions

These rules are just a start in creating more engaging presentations that increase audience retention of your material. However, there are wonderful resources on continuing on the journey of becoming an amazing public speaker, which includes understanding the psychology and neuroscience behind human perception and learning. For example, as highlighted in Rule 7, David JP Phillips has a wonderful TEDx talk on the subject [ 5 ], and “PowerPoint presentation flaws and failures: A psychological analysis,” by Kosslyn and colleagues is deeply detailed about a number of aspects of human cognition and presentation style [ 4 ]. There are many books on the topic, including the popular “Presentation Zen” by Garr Reynolds [ 11 ]. Finally, although briefly touched on here, the visualization of data is an entire topic of its own that is worth perfecting for both written and oral presentations of work, with fantastic resources like Edward Tufte’s “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” [ 12 ] or the article “Visualization of Biomedical Data” by O’Donoghue and colleagues [ 13 ].

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the countless presenters, colleagues, students, and mentors from which I have learned a great deal from on effective presentations. Also, a thank you to the wonderful resources published by organizations on how to increase inclusivity. A special thanks to Dr. Jason Papin and Dr. Michael Guertin on early feedback of this editorial.

Funding Statement

The author received no specific funding for this work.

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Open Access

Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America

Kristen M. Naegle

Published: December 2, 2021

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554
Reader Comments

Citation: Naegle KM (2021) Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides. PLoS Comput Biol 17(12): e1009554. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554

Copyright: © 2021 Kristen M. Naegle. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: The author received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The author has declared no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Rule 1: Include only one idea per slide

PPT PowerPoint slide
PNG larger image
TIFF original image

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554.g001

Rule 2: Spend only 1 minute per slide

Rule 3: Make use of your heading

Rule 4: Include only essential points

Rule 5: Give credit, where credit is due

Rule 6: Use graphics effectively

Rule 7: Design to avoid cognitive overload

Use high contrast colors and simple backgrounds with low to no color—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment.
Use sans serif fonts and large font sizes (including figure legends), avoid italics, underlining (use bold font instead for emphasis), and all capital letters—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment [ 8 ].
Use color combinations and palettes that can be understood by those with different forms of color blindness [ 9 ]. There are excellent tools available to identify colors to use and ways to simulate your presentation or figures as they might be seen by a person with color blindness (easily found by a web search).
In this increasing world of virtual presentation tools, consider practicing your talk with a closed captioning system capture your words. Use this to identify how to improve your speaking pace, volume, and annunciation to improve understanding by all members of your audience, but especially those with a hearing impairment.

Rule 8: Design the slide so that a distracted person gets the main takeaway

Rule 9: Iteratively improve slide design through practice

Rule 10: Design to mitigate the impact of technical disasters

Save your presentation as a PDF—if the version of Keynote or PowerPoint on a host computer cause issues, you still have a functional copy that has a higher guarantee of compatibility.
In using videos, create a backup slide with screen shots of key results. For example, if I have a video of cell migration, I’ll be sure to have a copy of the start and end of the video, in case the video doesn’t play. Even if the video worked, you can pause on this backup slide and take the time to highlight the key results in words if someone could not see or understand the video.
Avoid animations, such as figures or text that flash/fly-in/etc. Surveys suggest that no one likes movement in presentations [ 3 , 4 ]. There is likely a cognitive underpinning to the almost universal distaste of pointless animations that relates to the idea proposed by Kosslyn and colleagues that animations are salient perceptual units that captures direct attention [ 4 ]. Although perceptual salience can be used to draw attention to and improve retention of specific points, if you use this approach for unnecessary/unimportant things (like animation of your bullet point text, fly-ins of figures, etc.), then you will distract your audience from the important content. Finally, animations cause additional processing burdens for people with visual impairments [ 10 ] and create opportunities for technical disasters if the software on the host system is not compatible with your planned animation.

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

View Article
PubMed/NCBI
Google Scholar
3. Teaching VUC for Making Better PowerPoint Presentations. n.d. Available from: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/making-better-powerpoint-presentations/#baddeley .
8. Creating a dyslexia friendly workplace. Dyslexia friendly style guide. nd. Available from: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/employers/creating-a-dyslexia-friendly-workplace/dyslexia-friendly-style-guide .
9. Cravit R. How to Use Color Blind Friendly Palettes to Make Your Charts Accessible. 2019. Available from: https://venngage.com/blog/color-blind-friendly-palette/ .
10. Making your conference presentation more accessible to blind and partially sighted people. n.d. Available from: https://vocaleyes.co.uk/services/resources/guidelines-for-making-your-conference-presentation-more-accessible-to-blind-and-partially-sighted-people/ .
11. Reynolds G. Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. 2nd ed. New Riders Pub; 2011.
12. Tufte ER. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. 2nd ed. Graphics Press; 2001.

Effective Academic Presentation Tips Your Students Need to Know

Delivering information in a manner that is clear, concise and insightful while providing an audience with great learning opportunities are important components for successful presentations. Today, presentation skills are a basic requirement of every field, and students must practise and aim for mastery in preparation for the workplace. It is integral to students’ academic and career success to learn how to properly present and demonstrate their knowledge while ensuring that their peers are well engaged in the material. Apart from solely providing information, presentations should stimulate interactive learning through a pleasing audio and visual experience for the audience.

Having students do presentations on a regular basis is an effective way of learning by teaching which is proven to improve knowledge retention and overall comprehension. Not only that, but students get to practice their research, communication and leadership skills. Furthermore, presentations enable students to develop their creativity by implementing innovative ways of adding value to their peers’ education in a way that captures their attention and interests.

Presentations provide learning benefits to both the presenter and the audience. In order to extrapolate these benefits, the experience must be authentic and well-delivered. This blog post will show you how to do just that!

Pro Tips for Effective Academic Presentation

Stay passionate to connect with your audience
Focus on your main topic
Maintain eye contact
Use your voice creatively
Keep a fluent body language
Stay calm and confident
Do not read from your slides
Maintain your time limit while presenting [1]

Presentation Skills Students can Acquire and Develop

Using PowerPoint Effectively

Students must learn how to use PowerPoint presentations to create a visual representation of the information that is being shared with the rest of the group. Being well-versed in the software allows for more impactful information delivery. Students can add high-quality images, diagrams and highlight the important elements of their research in bullet points. This allows students to present both qualitative and quantitative information in a digestible manner. [1]

Adapting to your Audience

One of the most common mistakes many presenters make is to under or overestimate their target audience. Students should thoroughly research their audience to understand where they stand and draft an engaging presentation accordingly. Presenters must question themselves about what their audience may already be aware of and what new information can the presenter share with them. To eliminate confusion, conducting a brief question and answer session where the presenter can address all the points of concern throughout the presentation can be helpful to keep everyone on the same page and allow the audience to absorb the content more thoroughly.

Time Management

Most academic presentations have a specified time allotted for each student to showcase his/her work. Students must prepare the material for their presentation, keeping it relevant to the time they have been given. If you're writing your presentation out, 2 minutes per double-spaced page is a good rule of thumb to follow. Make sure you don’t have over 7 double-spaced pages of material for a fifteen-minute talk. [2]

Most students who drift away from their central point of focus in the presentation are seen with long ineffective presentations that bore your audience. Keeping the presentation short and to the point helps outline your presentation's purpose and highlights prominent aspects of the topic.

Keeping your Audience Engaged

Students must understand the essence behind presenting in front of others. It is essential to capture an audience’s attention and share your knowledge with them. Having an impactful opening sentence/slide at the beginning of your presentation prevents the rapid deterioration of your audience’s attention which is common in presentations that feel irrelevant, confusing or generic right from the start.

Effective Preparation

Lastly, with good preparation, a student must have enough practice to present their work with confidence and in an organized manner. Students must be comfortable with their material and slides and practice their presentation both alone and in front of an audience. One can also practice using a laser pointer or props if they will use them during the presentation.

Keep in mind that you and your research are the stars of the show, and therefore one must avoid adding any unnecessary information or images that will take the attention away from your work. Practicing in front of a mirror allows students to assess their body language and how it compliments what they are saying in their presentation. [3]

Mediums for Academic Presentations

Irrespective of the presentation quality in front of an audience, the way it is being presented also impacts the target audience. Specific mediums play a significant role in setting the dynamics with the audience. Different platforms that students can use to give a presentation are as follows:

PowerPoint Presentation

A popular way of presenting in front of an audience includes using a creative slideshow that aids your audience’s greater attention towards you. This also allows a visual representation of both qualitative and quantitative data. This medium allows you to observe your audience’s changing expressions towards your slides and respond accordingly to effectively solidify their learning by complimenting what they see on the screen with verbalized information. It is highly recommended for informative presentations.

Video Conferencing

Living in a digitally advanced era, individuals commonly conduct presentations online. Remote learning today encourages individuals to update their learning style and even present their knowledge in a technologically advanced manner. Video conferencing allows students to present anywhere and participate in the class. With different third-party apps like Zoom and Google Meet, students can also share their screen and share a PPT while they speak.

A simple way to present in front of an audience is to speak to them as is. In this type of presentation, your own body language and dressing play a vital role in setting the right dynamics from the very beginning of your presentation. It is important to start with a creative, open line and remain audibly clear for the audience to understand. It is highly recommended for persuasive presentations.

How to Present in an Online Class?

Remote learning has gained much popularity in recent years, and the pandemic also made it clear for teachers to start adopting various teaching methods and strategies that complement online learning. [4] Educators have started coming up with innovative methods to conduct online classes and encourage their students to participate through class presentations. There are a bunch of ways a student can present in online classes, including:

Your laptop or computer device’s camera can be used to get face to face with your audience. Different platforms like Zoom, Google Meet and Skype can be used to connect with a group of students online and give a live presentation. In such presentations, students need to find a neutral background with minimal disturbance so that their audience does not get distracted during the presentation and focuses on what the presenter has to say. These presentations can be taken to another level as the presenter can also share their screen and support their words with facts, figures and diagrams on their screen.

For this, you must find a quiet place to conduct a presentation with minimum background noise as it can create a lot of chaos during your presentation. As much as possible, students should use good quality headphones with a microphone that only picks up close-range sounds to eliminate further noise from being heard by the audience. It is also highly recommended that students consider dressing appropriately to appear professional in front of their peers.

Pre-Recorded Video

With multiple screen recording options, you can record a complete video clip and add written or oral narrations for your audience. An advantage of this setting is that it allows students to edit their presentations and share the best quality results. With pre-recorded videos, you cannot answer live questions therefore, you must cover the topic comprehensively. A complete breakdown of detailed concepts through step-by-step presentations is recommended for a better understanding of the audience.

Asynchronous Presentations

In this type of presentation, the recorded file is viewed later by the audience. This allows greater access to a wider audience with no time constraints. This is ideal for students who have anxiety and fear public speaking as they can easily keep taking takes until they have the perfect one. However, the audience cannot immediately ask any questions related to the presentations and they have to go through leaving a comment or email and wait for a response. [5]

How Kritik Improves Students' Presentation Skills

Presentations are an effective way of developing several skills that are required for professional growth and academic success. By presenting, students learn by teaching which is an efficient way of consolidating knowledge. Given that presentations play a key role in providing students great learning opportunities, it is important to consider the platform wherein students can present their knowledge and interact with one another. With Kritik, students have the ability to present individually or work with teammates and present as a group. The added benefit of Kritik’s peer-evaluation in presentations is that students can provide structured, professional feedback to the presenter(s) using effective, customized rubrics. Students can upload multiple files of various formats such as audio, video and PPT slides which ensures that students can still deliver information in a manner that is interactive and informative despite the remote learning environment. Here at Kritik, we closely work with hundreds of professors who put an emphasis on developing students’ presentation skills. Kritik provides a great platform for an audience to not just listen but to also provide regular constructive criticism back to the presenter. By using Kritik, your students are empowered to become better presenters through an interactive platform that focuses on rubric-based assessments to facilit

[1] James, C. J., & Linte, C. A. (2014). Improve Your Next Presentation: Tips on Effective Presentation Design and Delivery [Continuing Education]. IEEE Pulse , 5 (3), 78-81.

[2] Golash-Boza, T. (2018). 6 Tips for Giving a Fabulous Academic Presentation. Wiley. Retrieved from https://www.wiley.com/network/researchers/promoting-your-article/6-tips-for-giving-a-fabulous-academic-presentation

[3] University of Birmingham. (2021). Tips for effective presentation. Retrieved from https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/metallurgy-materials/about/cases/tips-advice/presentation.aspx

[4] Despite Covid-19, education continues thanks to online learning. ACCA Think Ahead. Retrieved from https://yourfuture.accaglobal.com/global/en/blog/online-learning.html

[5] OWL. (2021). Sharing and Presenting Work in Remote Classrooms. Purdue University. Retrieved from https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/teacher_and_tutor_resources/teaching_resources/remote_teaching_resources/sharing_and_presenting_work_in_remote_classrooms.html

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Effective presentation skills for academics: 12 tips for delivering an AMAZING talk

Giving effective and engaging talks is a skill not a talent this post contains short videos, graphics and a 27-minute recording. 12 easy-to-implement tips for giving an awesome academic presentation..

When I was a PhD student I was extremely nervous (and also extremely bad) at giving talks. But, over time, I learned some KEY SKILLS which anyone can implement to get better and better at presentations. I’ve distilled this information for you in this blog post: 12 tips for creating better presentations! I hope this information will be useful: Giving effective and engaging talks is a SKILL not a TALENT (= You can learn to get better and better and better!).

Your message: Why listen to this talk?

If you have five seconds to spare today then just ask yourself a quick question: How often have you sat through a lecture or public presentation and not known WHY you were there? WHY you were listening? WHAT was the point? Importantly: Did the speaker tell you at the start of the presentation WHY you should listen to their talk?

I bet you that most of the presentations you’ve watched recently will have started with a series of slides that show a title and an outline for the talk but that the speaker did not tell actually tell you WHY you should give up your time to listen. This is a basic mistake that it very, very, very often made when people give presentations of all kinds: Please remember that if you start your talks by telling people WHY they should listen, what they can expect to gain, then you will very quickly capture their attention and energize them. Your audience will be much more attentive and will want to be there: They will understand immediately that they are going to gain some useful information, perhaps to advance their careers or develop their education. And that’s the point. People will be interested and ready to listen to you if they realize that your presentation contains important information.

Who are the audience? Who is going to be listening to your talk?

This is always the first question to ask before starting to prepare a talk. Because the kind of presentation you’ll put together will be different depending on the audience, their experience, and level of interest in your research.

Timing: How long are you going to have to talk for?

We’ve all been in conference talks when the presenter has not prepared properly …. They have to skip through slides to get to the end in time while the session moderator looms over there. Rule of Thumb: One slide per minute and leave time for questions!

Want to learn more and watch the full length video for this presentation? Click through below.

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10 essential tips for your next academic presentation

Using examples and practical tips, Dorsa Amir explains the techniques that ensure your presentation communicates its message effectively – from slide design to structuring your talk

More on this topic

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As a presenter, your main job is to guide the audience through your argument in the clearest, most engaging, most efficient way possible. You must respect the audience’s time and attention. This means being mindful of how long your presentation is, what you’re including in your slides, and importantly, how it is all packaged and presented.

A great presenter is one who is intentional: each element in the presentation serves a clear function and is intended to support the audience’s understanding of the content.

Here are 10 tips to keep in mind to ensure your presentation hits the mark.

1. Any time you put something on your slides, its primary purpose is to help the audience, not you

Many presenters will add copious text or other elements to help themselves remember points they want to make. However, this is usually less helpful for the audience (most of this information belongs in presenter notes, and not on the slides). Think of yourself like a director of a movie. What do you want the audience to focus on at any given moment? What features on your slides will enhance the verbal point you are making and which will distract from it? Be intentional about what you include on your slides, and only include elements that serve a clear and helpful function for the audience.

2. Condense text to the main question or key points of the slide

It may be tempting to write out snippets of the script wholesale and add them to the slides, but this often results in PowerPoint karaoke, where the audience is simply watching you read the text out loud to them. While text is certainly useful for helping to concretise points or make slides more accessible, be judicious about what you include. Each slide should make one or two clear points. It’s better to have more slides with less content than fewer slides that are jam-packed. Of course, the amount of text you include will also be determined by the type of presentation you are giving. If students will be using your slides as a study aid, for example, you may want to include more information than if you are creating a research talk for a conference.

3. Avoid using too many colours, fonts or animations

Consider elements such as fonts, colours and animations as tools in your presentation toolkit. These elements should be used sparingly and only when they serve a clear purpose. I’m sure you’ve all attended a talk with colours bright enough to burn your retinas or crammed with “fun” fonts such as Comic Sans. Try to refrain from doing that. Animations that allow certain elements to appear or disappear along with your presentation — such as bullet points that appear as you say them — can help direct the attention of the audience. Colour contrasts are primarily helpful for visual segmentation or bringing attention to particular elements. Fonts, colours or flashy animations that are purely decorative are more distracting than helpful.

Presentation slide illustrating simple design without too many elements or colours

4. Avoid colour combinations that are hard to read

Be mindful of how colours interact with each other to either facilitate or inhibit comprehension. White text on black (or the reverse) is often a safe bet. Don’t overdecorate! (See above).

5. If you’re showing a graph, orient the audience to the axes before plotting the data and make sure they can actually see all of it

I typically show the axes and labels first, making sure to orient everyone to the variables and how they are going to be visualised, and then I reveal the data. This ensures that everyone understands how to interpret the visualisation they are about to see. It is also helpful to restate the key prediction and tell the audience what they should expect to see if the prediction is true, and then plot the data. Use large sizes and clear fonts. I’ve heard way too many people say things like: “You probably can’t read this but…” To that, I want to say: “But you’re the one making the slide! You did this to us!” Don’t be that person.

Presentation slide illustrating need for clear, legible graphics

6. Use high-resolution images or videos

This is especially true for presentations that will be projected onto a larger surface. If it’s fuzzy on your computer screen, it will look even fuzzier when magnified and projected. Try to integrate high-resolution images and vector graphics to avoid this. When your images contain text, delete those portions and re-enter the text in text boxes that will scale up much more clearly when magnified.

7. When illustrating results, identify one or two key graphs to make your point

The temptation is often to show the audience every single result you found, but this dilutes the overall message you are trying to send. There’s no need to visualise everything: you should focus on the key graphs that tell most or all of the story. If you have built up the presentation in the right way, when the audience see your data visualisation, they will immediately understand what you found and whether it supports your hypothesis. That’s how clear and accessible the graph should be.

Presentation slides illustrating why one or two graphs are clearer than using four

8. Don’t overload the audience with unnecessary complex jargon or acronyms

Every time you introduce a new term or a brand new acronym (BNA), you are asking the audience to do you a favour and commit this new item to working memory. The audience doesn’t know your presentation; they don’t know what’s going to be important later and what isn’t. They’re trusting that you are only presenting information to them that is relevant and they’re doing their best to follow along. Make this process as easy and enjoyable as possible for them. Be judicious with what you ask them to remember or commit to memory. If you can explain a concept without jargon, avoid the jargon!

9. Enhance accessibility

The Web Accessibility Initiative has a great set of guidelines that I will summarise here. Use easy-to-read fonts in large sizes. Make sure there is enough contrast between colours to make them discernible. When giving virtual talks, consider turning on automatic closed captioning. If it’s feasible, provide annotated slide handouts. During the presentation itself, speak clearly and loudly, avoiding unnecessarily complex vocabulary or culturally specific idioms. Where possible, use a microphone. You should also try to verbally describe pertinent parts of visual information on your slides, such as graphics or videos.

10. Use outline slides and marker slides to segment information

Research shows that we understand and remember information better when it comes in bite-size pieces; think of chapters in a book. To incorporate this structure into your talk, break apart the presentation into smaller pieces. Always incorporate an outline slide that previews the structure of the talk and gives the audience a sense of what to expect. Also, use marker slides to communicate that a new section is beginning. And make sure to wrap up each section with a summary slide.

Dorsa Amir is a postdoc in the department of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Academic Module 3: Giving Academic Presentations

17 Giving Academic Presentations: Talks, Power Points, and Posters

As mentioned earlier, students enrolled in college courses, especially in the U.S., are often required to demonstrate their knowledge and perspectives on a given topic in the form of oral presentations. Before we look at the different formats these presentations may occur in, let’s first look at the tasks of preparing and giving presentations through the lens of audience, purpose, and parameters, or APP.

Audience, Purpose, and Parameters (APP)

Let’s start with the first criterion–the audience.

When you present information orally, whether informally (e.g. while participating in a discussion in the class) or formally (e.g. a graded individual or group presentation on a topic assigned by the professor), who is the target audience? Generally, students present ideas and information to the members of the classroom community, which include both the professor and other students. In this case, you would again need to decide about the language(s) and the appropriate tone or register you would need to use. In other words, who your audience is informs what you say and what you write in a college course. Therefore, it is very helpful to identify clearly who the target audience is for any academic assignment, especially presentations.

Now, let’s look at the second criterion–the purpose.

The purpose of a presentation, individual or group, may vary. Some presentations are informative, others are descriptive, and some tend to be persuasive. Some presentations combine all of these elements. The patterns that are used in composing an essay are used in oral presentations as well. To ensure that the presentation matches the assignment, read the assignment guidelines carefully to gauge what the purpose of the presentation is and then ensure that the information is appropriately crafted.

The final criterion of a good presentation is the parameters.

As you read the guidelines of the presentation, make sure to note what the parameters are: what format are you required to use (speech, Power Point, poster, and so forth); what is the length allowed (how many minutes, for instance); what language(s) and register are you expected to use (e.g. academic English); and so on. In some presentations, there may be time set aside for questions and answers (Q&A) or discussion. Make sure to prepare for that as well, if required.

Common Presentation Formats

The three most common ways in which students formally present information in college courses are as talks/speeches, through Power Points, and with posters.

Talks and Speeches

Many students find the idea of giving a speech or a talk intimidating. That is understandable, but know that all good orators use certain skills and strategies to give interesting and relevant oral presentations. These skills and strategies may vary from one country/culture/context to another. As you adapt your presentation styles to the U.S. college context, think about how a ‘good talk’ is perceived as here.

Watch this video of Chris Anderson, the founder of TedTalk, as he explains how to give great talks. As you watch, try to take notes about strategies that you could use in your talks and presentations in this course and beyond.

Power Points

Students have to often given presentations using such tools as Power Point in college courses. Montgomery College’s Digital Learning Centers offer a helpful workshop titled ‘Power Point Basics’ multiple times in a year. [1]

Another format that is often used to give a presentation is with posters. In academic conferences, for instance, special times and spaces are regularly set aside for poster presentations. In college courses, students may have to work individually or in groups to create and present posters. Some workplaces, as well, may require these skills. A well-organized poster presentation showcases the presenter’s deep understanding of the topic. Convincing facts are provided, and there are many details and explanations — both in the poster and in the presentation itself. A good poster also contains the right balance of graphics and text, and the presenter remains mindful of the audience, purpose, and parameters provided by the instructor.

There are many other similar or more interactive formats available for giving presentations, such as Google Slides and Prezi. Explore these formats in your free time and become more familiar with them. They may come in handy in your future academic and professional presentations. ↵

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What is an effective PowerPoint presentation?

This is the second of three chapters about Using Visual Aids . To complete this reader, read each chapter carefully and then unlock and complete our materials to check your understanding.

– Provide seven rules for creating effective PowerPoint presentations

– Use examples and slides to clarify these rules for the reader

– Introduce the concept of body language, delivery strategies and presentation language

Chapter 1: How are visual aids useful in English academia?

Chapter 2: What is an effective PowerPoint presentation?

Chapter 3: Which presentation methods are ineffective?

Before you begin reading...

video and audio texts
knowledge checks and quizzes
skills practices, tasks and assignments

In Chapter 1 of this short reader on using visual aids and improving presentation skills , we discussed what a visual aid is and how such aids can be used most effectively when conducting academic presentations. Focusing specifically now on when using PowerPoint (PPT) as the primary visual aid, this second reader on the subject next explores the seven most important rules for creating a successful formal presentation. Follow these rules carefully and apply them to your own PPT and you should see a significant increase in both your grades (if submitting work) and in the general engagement of your audience, particularly if you also elect to take our short courses on body language and delivery strategies .

Rule 1: Have a Clear Structure

The first rule when creating a successful academic PowerPoint presentation is to make sure that that presentation provides the audience with a clear structure of its contents. To do this, the presenter may wish to include key slides within their presentation that work as structural markers, including also any relevant headings, subheadings and separated sections that may help to guide the audience. We’ve outlined five such slides below, but students may also wish to dedicate slides to the introduction, the research question, the background information, the methodology, the data analysis and the conclusion depending on their presentation type:

i) First Slide = name of presenter, title of presentation, date, student number, etc.

ii) Second Slide = an outline of the presentation or a bullet-pointed contents list

iii) Divider Slides = slides that inform the reader of a change of topic or important transition

iv) Penultimate Slide = a reminder of the most important content in the presentation

v) Final Slide = references, questions and answers, special thanks, etc.

The two diagrams below are examples of potential introductory slides:

Rule 2: Use Appropriate Language

The second most important rule when creating a presentation is to use appropriate language – which of course means that you must be able to predict your audience. If you’re presenting to non-native speakers of English, for example, you may wish to grade your language so that it’s easier to understand, and if you’re presenting to seasoned academics then don’t forget to include sufficient subject-specific vocabulary to challenge their knowledge. Ultimately, when focusing on academic contexts more specifically, our short course on academic language may be able to help you better understand the points we’ve summarised below:

Rule 3: Be Accurate

Precision, accuracy, consistency – these are all important academic skills , particularly when creating and delivering assessed presentations. If your PowerPoint slides are not only free of typos, spelling errors and grammatical mistakes but are also free of any inconsistencies within your argumentation, then your audience will likely be better persuaded by, and engaged with, your ideas. An academic presentation that includes inaccurate facts, dates or statistics, or that has clearly misinterpreted a theory or subject-specific term is unlikely to be well received.

Rule 4: Explain a Concise Slide

Another key rule is that PowerPoint slides should generally be concise in nature and explained further by the presenter. A slide that’s packed with information, whether across numerous bullet points or within full paragraphs, and that’s identical to the presenter’s speech, is probably unengaging and difficult to read. As can be seen from the examples below, slides that instead contain brief information that the presenter expands upon verbally are much more likely to be successfully received:

Rule 5: Use Evidence and Referencing

Particularly important in academic contexts is that students include evidence and accurate referencing practices within their presentation. Students should use sources such as books, web pages or journal articles to provide supporting evidence for their claims and ideas and then make sure that they accurately cite this information on each relevant slide, including a reference list on one of their final slides also. By forgetting to include citations such as ‘Smith (2019)’, students could be accused of academic misconduct via plagiarism – which could have serious consequences for their grades and future at the university.

Rule 6: Display Data Visually

One of the most significant benefits of using a piece of software to create your presentation (such as PowerPoint or Prezi) is that other types of visual aid can also be easily displayed. A good presenter should in fact do their best to include a variety of visual aids within a presentation to best engage their audience. Whether it’s a graph, a table, a short video or an audio snippet, any information that can be converted from plain text into a more exciting visual format is generally more interactive and thought provoking. Just remember to make sure, of course, that such visual aids are of high quality, are used thoughtfully, consistently and sparingly, and are sufficiently introduced and explained.

Rule 7: Use Language Structures

Finally, a successful presenter should never forget to include the specific language structures that work to signpost a presentation and signal any transitions and new sections. This may come in the form of presentation language or listening and lecture cues . While you may wish to take our short courses to learn more about this subject, we’ve nevertheless provided some examples for your reference below:

Now that we’ve discussed the seven rules of creating effective academic PowerPoint presentations, our final class on this topic is about avoiding the seven most common errors that students have a tendency of making.

Downloadables

Once you’ve completed all three chapters about using visual aids , you might also wish to download our beginner, intermediate and advanced worksheets to test your progress or print for your students. These professional PDF worksheets can be easily accessed for only a few Academic Marks .

Our using visual aids academic reader (including all three chapters about this topic) can be accessed here at the click of a button.

Gain unlimited access to our using visual aids beginner worksheet, with activities and answer keys designed to check a basic understanding of this topic’s chapters.

To check a confident understanding of this reader’s chapters, click on the button below to download our using visual aids intermediate worksheet with activities and answer keys.

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10 Ways to Make Academic Presentations More Interesting

If you’ve ever sat through an academic presentation, you know how quickly you can fall asleep, become bored, confused, or overwhelmed. If you’re given the task of presenting an academic topic, you know the challenges you face in keeping your audience engaged and interested. Applying the 10 tips below will help you overcome the obstacles academic presenters face:

Use less text and even less numbers

We always recommend using visuals as opposed to text when giving a presentation; this advice particularly applies to academic topics because there is a great temptation to mix in a lot of words, numbers, or codes to inform the audience. This may work for speeches but with academic subjects you want to support and interpret words and numbers with visuals and not repeat them. Regardless of the subject being discussed, slides are intended to engage the audience with clear and colorful graphics, graphs, and tables—not as a teleprompter for the speaker. Even an audience of PhD students are like any other human being: highly visual.

Avoid information overload

Whether presenting templates, words, graphs, or figures, the rule of thumb is K.I.S.S—keep it short and simple. Your audience can only take so much information. Divide the body of your presentation into the three main points you want the audience to recall and process and limit your diagrams to a maximum of seven components.

Employ nonverbal cues

Experienced presenters know that how something is presented can be more crucial than what is being presented. And presenting important academic material is no exception. Aside from using visual aids, engage the audience’s senses. Establish eye contact, vary your tone of voice, make the appropriate facial expressions and natural gestures, and convey a high level of energy and confidence—in most cases these are more important than the words you say. As long as these nonverbal cues are not distracting, your audience will stay interested and actually believe what you’re saying.

Know your audience

Understand their learning style and knowledge level before giving your presentation including what information they need to know. Most guidelines recommend presenting the bigger picture first before drilling down the details but some actually learn faster the opposite way. Many academia professionals also make the mistake of establishing a rapport with a select group of people in the audience, such as those in the more advanced level, even if the majority of the listeners are unfamiliar with the subject at hand.

Engage your audience

It’s important to check if your audience understands your message every now and then, especially for academic topics. Get your audience to participate by engaging them in a discussion rather than just talking to them.

Employ humor, surprises, and practical examples

Just because an academic topic is serious and complex doesn’t mean you can’t do what presenters of other subjects do to keep their audience interested and awake like telling a joke or structuring your presentation as a unique story . Move beyond PowerPoint slides while speaking, especially when you need your audience to totally focus on the matter at hand.

Go back to the basics

This is another common mistake in presenting academic matters. Many people have a tendency to use complex jargon to make them appear intellectual, credible, or sophisticated but this only makes your topic incomprehensible. Again, the presentation is for the audience so you want to inform the audience about a topic they don’t know, not simply inform them that you know something they don’t.

Practice, practice, practice

There is truth to the saying “practice makes perfect.” Rehearse the presentation, including any jokes or stories, multiple times until it becomes so natural you no longer need a script and will only have to establish rapport with your audience come presentation day. Try recording your presentation to make a realistic assessment.

End your presentation with a summary

Have your audience leave the room with a clear understanding of your message or what they have to do with a brief conclusion using large and readable fonts or graphics. When using fonts for technical matters , avoid using comic sans or fonts smaller than 28 points.

Don’t make your presentation your handout

An academic presentation is a talk about an idea and not the paper itself; your presentation should support rather than document the paper. Hence, prepare a separate handout, if necessary, containing essential words and visuals for the audience.

Indeed, with the right techniques and approach, you can turn even the most boring topic into something interesting, useful, and exciting.

Do you have other ways to perk up your audience during an academic presentation? Let us know by commenting below.

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9 Ideas For Your Next PowerPoint Presentation

10 Tips to Make Your PowerPoint Presentation Effective

5 Design Principles of Improving your Presentation Style

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Blog Beginner Guides How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

Written by: Krystle Wong Jul 20, 2023

A top-notch presentation possesses the power to drive action. From winning stakeholders over and conveying a powerful message to securing funding — your secret weapon lies within the realm of creating an effective presentation .

Being an excellent presenter isn’t confined to the boardroom. Whether you’re delivering a presentation at work, pursuing an academic career, involved in a non-profit organization or even a student, nailing the presentation game is a game-changer.

In this article, I’ll cover the top qualities of compelling presentations and walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to give a good presentation. Here’s a little tip to kick things off: for a headstart, check out Venngage’s collection of free presentation templates . They are fully customizable, and the best part is you don’t need professional design skills to make them shine!

These valuable presentation tips cater to individuals from diverse professional backgrounds, encompassing business professionals, sales and marketing teams, educators, trainers, students, researchers, non-profit organizations, public speakers and presenters.

No matter your field or role, these tips for presenting will equip you with the skills to deliver effective presentations that leave a lasting impression on any audience.

Click to jump ahead:

What are the 10 qualities of a good presentation?

Step-by-step guide on how to prepare an effective presentation, 9 effective techniques to deliver a memorable presentation, faqs on making a good presentation, how to create a presentation with venngage in 5 steps.

When it comes to giving an engaging presentation that leaves a lasting impression, it’s not just about the content — it’s also about how you deliver it. Wondering what makes a good presentation? Well, the best presentations I’ve seen consistently exhibit these 10 qualities:

1. Clear structure

No one likes to get lost in a maze of information. Organize your thoughts into a logical flow, complete with an introduction, main points and a solid conclusion. A structured presentation helps your audience follow along effortlessly, leaving them with a sense of satisfaction at the end.

Regardless of your presentation style , a quality presentation starts with a clear roadmap. Browse through Venngage’s template library and select a presentation template that aligns with your content and presentation goals. Here’s a good presentation example template with a logical layout that includes sections for the introduction, main points, supporting information and a conclusion:

2. Engaging opening

Hook your audience right from the start with an attention-grabbing statement, a fascinating question or maybe even a captivating anecdote. Set the stage for a killer presentation!

The opening moments of your presentation hold immense power – check out these 15 ways to start a presentation to set the stage and captivate your audience.

3. Relevant content

Make sure your content aligns with their interests and needs. Your audience is there for a reason, and that’s to get valuable insights. Avoid fluff and get straight to the point, your audience will be genuinely excited.

4. Effective visual aids

Picture this: a slide with walls of text and tiny charts, yawn! Visual aids should be just that—aiding your presentation. Opt for clear and visually appealing slides, engaging images and informative charts that add value and help reinforce your message.

With Venngage, visualizing data takes no effort at all. You can import data from CSV or Google Sheets seamlessly and create stunning charts, graphs and icon stories effortlessly to showcase your data in a captivating and impactful way.

5. Clear and concise communication

Keep your language simple, and avoid jargon or complicated terms. Communicate your ideas clearly, so your audience can easily grasp and retain the information being conveyed. This can prevent confusion and enhance the overall effectiveness of the message.

6. Engaging delivery

Spice up your presentation with a sprinkle of enthusiasm! Maintain eye contact, use expressive gestures and vary your tone of voice to keep your audience glued to the edge of their seats. A touch of charisma goes a long way!

7. Interaction and audience engagement

Turn your presentation into an interactive experience — encourage questions, foster discussions and maybe even throw in a fun activity. Engaged audiences are more likely to remember and embrace your message.

Transform your slides into an interactive presentation with Venngage’s dynamic features like pop-ups, clickable icons and animated elements. Engage your audience with interactive content that lets them explore and interact with your presentation for a truly immersive experience.

8. Effective storytelling

Who doesn’t love a good story? Weaving relevant anecdotes, case studies or even a personal story into your presentation can captivate your audience and create a lasting impact. Stories build connections and make your message memorable.

A great presentation background is also essential as it sets the tone, creates visual interest and reinforces your message. Enhance the overall aesthetics of your presentation with these 15 presentation background examples and captivate your audience’s attention.

9. Well-timed pacing

Pace your presentation thoughtfully with well-designed presentation slides, neither rushing through nor dragging it out. Respect your audience’s time and ensure you cover all the essential points without losing their interest.

10. Strong conclusion

Last impressions linger! Summarize your main points and leave your audience with a clear takeaway. End your presentation with a bang , a call to action or an inspiring thought that resonates long after the conclusion.

In-person presentations aside, acing a virtual presentation is of paramount importance in today’s digital world. Check out this guide to learn how you can adapt your in-person presentations into virtual presentations .

Preparing an effective presentation starts with laying a strong foundation that goes beyond just creating slides and notes. One of the quickest and best ways to make a presentation would be with the help of a good presentation software .

Otherwise, let me walk you to how to prepare for a presentation step by step and unlock the secrets of crafting a professional presentation that sets you apart.

1. Understand the audience and their needs

Before you dive into preparing your masterpiece, take a moment to get to know your target audience. Tailor your presentation to meet their needs and expectations , and you’ll have them hooked from the start!

2. Conduct thorough research on the topic

Time to hit the books (or the internet)! Don’t skimp on the research with your presentation materials — dive deep into the subject matter and gather valuable insights . The more you know, the more confident you’ll feel in delivering your presentation.

3. Organize the content with a clear structure

No one wants to stumble through a chaotic mess of information. Outline your presentation with a clear and logical flow. Start with a captivating introduction, follow up with main points that build on each other and wrap it up with a powerful conclusion that leaves a lasting impression.

Delivering an effective business presentation hinges on captivating your audience, and Venngage’s professionally designed business presentation templates are tailor-made for this purpose. With thoughtfully structured layouts, these templates enhance your message’s clarity and coherence, ensuring a memorable and engaging experience for your audience members.

Don’t want to build your presentation layout from scratch? pick from these 5 foolproof presentation layout ideas that won’t go wrong.

4. Develop visually appealing and supportive visual aids

Spice up your presentation with eye-catching visuals! Create slides that complement your message, not overshadow it. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean you need to overload your slides with text.

Well-chosen designs create a cohesive and professional look, capturing your audience’s attention and enhancing the overall effectiveness of your message. Here’s a list of carefully curated PowerPoint presentation templates and great background graphics that will significantly influence the visual appeal and engagement of your presentation.

5. Practice, practice and practice

Practice makes perfect — rehearse your presentation and arrive early to your presentation to help overcome stage fright. Familiarity with your material will boost your presentation skills and help you handle curveballs with ease.

6. Seek feedback and make necessary adjustments

Don’t be afraid to ask for help and seek feedback from friends and colleagues. Constructive criticism can help you identify blind spots and fine-tune your presentation to perfection.

With Venngage’s real-time collaboration feature , receiving feedback and editing your presentation is a seamless process. Group members can access and work on the presentation simultaneously and edit content side by side in real-time. Changes will be reflected immediately to the entire team, promoting seamless teamwork.

7. Prepare for potential technical or logistical issues

Prepare for the unexpected by checking your equipment, internet connection and any other potential hiccups. If you’re worried that you’ll miss out on any important points, you could always have note cards prepared. Remember to remain focused and rehearse potential answers to anticipated questions.

8. Fine-tune and polish your presentation

As the big day approaches, give your presentation one last shine. Review your talking points, practice how to present a presentation and make any final tweaks. Deep breaths — you’re on the brink of delivering a successful presentation!

In competitive environments, persuasive presentations set individuals and organizations apart. To brush up on your presentation skills, read these guides on how to make a persuasive presentation and tips to presenting effectively .

Whether you’re an experienced presenter or a novice, the right techniques will let your presentation skills soar to new heights!

From public speaking hacks to interactive elements and storytelling prowess, these 9 effective presentation techniques will empower you to leave a lasting impression on your audience and make your presentations unforgettable.

1. Confidence and positive body language

Positive body language instantly captivates your audience, making them believe in your message as much as you do. Strengthen your stage presence and own that stage like it’s your second home! Stand tall, shoulders back and exude confidence.

2. Eye contact with the audience

Break down that invisible barrier and connect with your audience through their eyes. Maintaining eye contact when giving a presentation builds trust and shows that you’re present and engaged with them.

3. Effective use of hand gestures and movement

A little movement goes a long way! Emphasize key points with purposeful gestures and don’t be afraid to walk around the stage. Your energy will be contagious!

4. Utilize storytelling techniques

Weave the magic of storytelling into your presentation. Share relatable anecdotes, inspiring success stories or even personal experiences that tug at the heartstrings of your audience. Adjust your pitch, pace and volume to match the emotions and intensity of the story. Varying your speaking voice adds depth and enhances your stage presence.

5. Incorporate multimedia elements

Spice up your presentation with a dash of visual pizzazz! Use slides, images and video clips to add depth and clarity to your message. Just remember, less is more—don’t overwhelm them with information overload.

Turn your presentations into an interactive party! Involve your audience with questions, polls or group activities. When they actively participate, they become invested in your presentation’s success. Bring your design to life with animated elements. Venngage allows you to apply animations to icons, images and text to create dynamic and engaging visual content.

6. Utilize humor strategically

Laughter is the best medicine—and a fantastic presentation enhancer! A well-placed joke or lighthearted moment can break the ice and create a warm atmosphere , making your audience more receptive to your message.

7. Practice active listening and respond to feedback

Be attentive to your audience’s reactions and feedback. If they have questions or concerns, address them with genuine interest and respect. Your responsiveness builds rapport and shows that you genuinely care about their experience.

8. Apply the 10-20-30 rule

Apply the 10-20-30 presentation rule and keep it short, sweet and impactful! Stick to ten slides, deliver your presentation within 20 minutes and use a 30-point font to ensure clarity and focus. Less is more, and your audience will thank you for it!

9. Implement the 5-5-5 rule

Simplicity is key. Limit each slide to five bullet points, with only five words per bullet point and allow each slide to remain visible for about five seconds. This rule keeps your presentation concise and prevents information overload.

Simple presentations are more engaging because they are easier to follow. Summarize your presentations and keep them simple with Venngage’s gallery of simple presentation templates and ensure that your message is delivered effectively across your audience.

1. How to start a presentation?

To kick off your presentation effectively, begin with an attention-grabbing statement or a powerful quote. Introduce yourself, establish credibility and clearly state the purpose and relevance of your presentation.

2. How to end a presentation?

For a strong conclusion, summarize your talking points and key takeaways. End with a compelling call to action or a thought-provoking question and remember to thank your audience and invite any final questions or interactions.

3. How to make a presentation interactive?

To make your presentation interactive, encourage questions and discussion throughout your talk. Utilize multimedia elements like videos or images and consider including polls, quizzes or group activities to actively involve your audience.

In need of inspiration for your next presentation? I’ve got your back! Pick from these 120+ presentation ideas, topics and examples to get started.

Creating a stunning presentation with Venngage is a breeze with our user-friendly drag-and-drop editor and professionally designed templates for all your communication needs.

Here’s how to make a presentation in just 5 simple steps with the help of Venngage:

Step 1: Sign up for Venngage for free using your email, Gmail or Facebook account or simply log in to access your account.

Step 2: Pick a design from our selection of free presentation templates (they’re all created by our expert in-house designers).

Step 3: Make the template your own by customizing it to fit your content and branding. With Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, you can easily modify text, change colors and adjust the layout to create a unique and eye-catching design.

Step 4: Elevate your presentation by incorporating captivating visuals. You can upload your images or choose from Venngage’s vast library of high-quality photos, icons and illustrations.

Step 5: Upgrade to a premium or business account to export your presentation in PDF and print it for in-person presentations or share it digitally for free!

By following these five simple steps, you’ll have a professionally designed and visually engaging presentation ready in no time. With Venngage’s user-friendly platform, your presentation is sure to make a lasting impression. So, let your creativity flow and get ready to shine in your next presentation!

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Academic Presentations

Academic presentations are an integral part of university study and assessment. Academic presentations may be presented individually or as a group activity but both require the key skills of planning and structuring key information. The key difference between an academic presentation and a general presentation is that it is usually quite formal and includes academic research to evidence the ideas presented. The presentation will include references to credible sources and demonstrate clearly your knowledge and familiarity of the topic.

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Intro to presentations, academic presentations, presentation phrases , what is an academic presentation , presentation ppt slides, improve your ppt slides, create effective ppt slides, a basic ppt presentation , graphs & charts, presentation feedback, marking criteria, teacher feedback form, peer feedback form, peer-to-peer feedback form, terms & conditions of use, academic presentation information.

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Signposting Language

Giving a good academic presentation

Think about the aim of your presentation and what you want to achieve.
Concentrate on your audience: who they are and what they (want to) know.
Choose the topic that interests you: involvement and motivation are key to confidence.
Give your presentation a clear and logical organization so that everyone can follow.
Present information visually : this adds interest to your talk and makes it easier to follow.
Practise giving your presentation until you are familiar with the key points; this way you may discover any potential problems and check the timing. Besides, practice will also make you feel more confident.

Basic outline / structure

Introduction: introduce the topic, some basic background, thesis (your stance or argument).
Outline: provide basic bullet points on the key parts of the presentation.
Main body: divide the main body into sections.
Evaluation: always include evaluation. This can be a separate section or part of the main body.
Conclusion: summarise key points, restate the thesis and make a recommendation / suggestion / prediction.
Reference list: create one slide with all your sources.
Questions : be prepared to answer questions.
Cope with nerves: breathe deeply; it calms you down and stops you from talking too quickly.
Control your voice: speak clearly and try to sound interesting by changing intonation and rhythm.
Watch your body language: try to give the impression that you are relaxed and confident.
Maintain eye contact with your audience: it keeps them interested in what you are saying. For this reason, you should not read.
Provide visual information, but do not give too many facts at a time. Give your audience enough time to take them in.
Keep attention by asking rhetorical questions.

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An Introduction to Academic Presentations

introduction to presentations (new 2023).

This lesson is designed to introduce students to academic presentations. It contains information on how to plan, structure, and deliver an academic presentation. It includes a listening worksheet, presentation signposting phrases and a mini-presentation activity. Example . Level: ** * ** [B1/B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

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Presentation Phrases (Signposting Language)

presentation phrases sheet : a range of standard english phrases .

Suitable phrases to use for greeting, structuring, examples, transitions summarising and concluding .

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What is an Academic Presentation?

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Improve your Presentation PowerPoint Slides

These are PPT slides from the above video or go here . It’s a great way to explain how to present effective slides by using the correct fonts, focusing on key points and using animation to help audience engagement. The slides can be adapted to sort your style and method of teaching. Video [12:00] Level *** ** [B1/B2/C1] / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

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Create PPT slides people will remember – Duarte Inc [CEO]

Harvard Business Review: How to plan an informed presentation and what is needed to create really effective slides that keep an audience engaged. More HBR listening worksheets are Example Video [03:08] Level: ** * * * [B2/C1] / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

A Basic PPT Presentation

This is a video example of a ‘basic’ presentation on Domestic Violence using signposting language and a basic structure

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A basic criteria that can be used to assess and grade a students’s presentation – full criteria in paid version (below).

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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

Carmine Gallo

Five tips to set yourself apart.

Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).

I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.

Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman (St. Martin’s Press).

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How to give a great academic presentation.

Read a summary or generate practice questions using the INOMICS AI tool

Whether you’re a graduate student giving a presentation for a course or a researcher presenting at a conference, being able to give an engaging and well-prepared presentation is a valuable skill for anyone in academia – in COVID times it is invaluable . Today, hardly a talk is given without an accompanying PowerPoint presentation full of flashy graphs, images, exploding sub-titles, and often far too many bullet points.

In this post, we will offer you specific tips on how to hone your presentation and sharpen your speech in order to give an interesting, memorable and overall successful academic presentation. Building on past blog articles including Dress Code for Academic Conferences and How to Write a Cover Letter , this post will offer you advice that can be applied across a range of situations that you will face time and again throughout your career. So, without further ado.

1. Tailor your talk to your audience

Although you never want to underestimate the intelligence and experience of your audience, you also need to be aware of the specific crowd to which you are speaking. If you are at a highly technical conference for researchers in your subfield, going into great detail and skipping over any basic background research would be a good idea. If you are attending an interdisciplinary seminar the following month, however, simply adapting the same presentation is not a good idea.

Take the time to make sure your presentation reflects the education level, interests and general make-up of your audience, and your talk will necessarily have a better reception.

2. Keep text to a minimum

The idea of a visual aid is that it should accompany your presentation, not replace it. Thus, your slides should offer complementary information, rather than forcing your audience to try to simultaneously read and listen to you talk.

Always use a font that is easy to read and keep the size large enough so that even those at the back of the room or lecture hall can see every word. However, images and graphs are always better than words – a simple slide accompanied by a great verbal description is your best option.

3. Practice, practice, practice

Even if you feel completely confident in your presentation skills, it’s always a good idea to rehearse in order to give the best talk possible. Through practice you become more comfortable each element of your presentation and are less likely to forget small but important things such as an introduction of who you are and where you work or study.

By practicing you can make sure that your slides are organized in such a way as to create a good flow for your points, you become more comfortable with all of the transition points and you have the chance to make any necessary changes before you find yourself on stage.

4. Harness your nerves

Even if you’ve practiced like crazy, it’s normal to still feel nervous. If you make the conscious choice to channel that nervous energy into enthusiasm, you can actually boost your own performance and simultaneously build confidence. Taking long pauses and deep breaths are fine practices, and if done in a controlled manner they can add emphasis to specific points within your talk while also calming you down.

How to Give a Great Academic Presentation

5. Respect your time limit

It is natural to get caught up in your talk and forget to keep track of time. A presentation that drags on forever invariably loses favor with the audience, however, so it’s important to keep to the schedule. Setting a watch or clock on the podium is one way to give yourself a physical reminder of the time without being too obvious about it.

Another option is to ask a friend or colleague to give you a reminder when you’ve hit the halfway point or when you only have five minutes remaining of your allotted time. If you choose to use a reminder, remember not to speed up or rush even if you feel like you’re running out of time and still have lots to say. Prepare for this scenario ahead of time and choose which slides you could skip if need be. Regardless of whether you’ve had to skip certain sections, always have a strong conclusion planned. People tend to remember the beginning and end of events the best, so going out strong is important. Finally, always thank your audience and your host before leaving the stage.

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How to Prepare and Give a Scholarly Oral Presentation

First Online: 01 January 2013

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Cheryl Gore-Felton Ph.D. 2

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An important function of being an academic faculty member is building an academic reputation, and one of the best ways to build a reputation is by giving scholarly presentations, particularly those that are oral. Earning the reputation of someone who can give an excellent talk often results in being invited to give keynote addresses at regional and national conferences, which increases a faculty member’s visibility along with his or her area of research. Given the importance of oral presentations, it is surprising that few graduate or medical programs provide courses on how to give a talk. This is unfortunate because there are skills that can be learned and strategies that can be used to improve one’s ability to give an interesting, well-received oral presentation. To that end, the aim of this chapter is to provide faculty with best practices and tips on preparing and giving an academic oral presentation.

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Strategies for the Preparation and Delivery of Oral Presentation

ELF Oral Presentations in a Multilingual Context: Intelligibility, Familiarity and Agency

Pashler H, McDaniel M, Rohrer D, Bjork R. Learning styles: concepts and evidence. Psychol Sci Publ Interest. 2009;9:105–19.

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Gore-Felton, C. (2013). How to Prepare and Give a Scholarly Oral Presentation. In: Roberts, L. (eds) The Academic Medicine Handbook. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5693-3_37

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COMMENTS

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Tip #4: Practice. Practice. Practice. You should always practice your presentation in full before you deliver it. You might feel silly delivering your presentation to your cat or your toddler, but you need to do it and do it again. You need to practice to ensure that your presentation fits within the time parameters.
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Not all presentations are the same and an academic presentation is different to a TED talk, a business pitch, or public speaking. When used for assessment, academic presentations often require you to demonstrate your knowledge on a topic and the ability to do something with that knowledge, as well as your presentation delivery skills.
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Apply the 10-20-30 rule. Apply the 10-20-30 presentation rule and keep it short, sweet and impactful! Stick to ten slides, deliver your presentation within 20 minutes and use a 30-point font to ensure clarity and focus. Less is more, and your audience will thank you for it! 9. Implement the 5-5-5 rule. Simplicity is key.
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An academic guide to giving presentations 4 List some characteristics of the talks that bored you: When you give a presentation what do you think are your strong and weak points? Try to keep these characteristics in mind when planning your own talk. 2. Planning a talk Giving an effective talk is largely about thinking ahead and thorough ...
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The rest of the paper discusses the findings from the survey with a focus on three main aspects: 1) the core principles of effective academic presentations, 2) shared additional characteristics contributing to the effectiveness of presentations, and 3) the source/s of language recommendations offered in the guidebooks. The survey was carried ...
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Take the time to make sure your presentation reflects the education level, interests and general make-up of your audience, and your talk will necessarily have a better reception. 2. Keep text to a minimum. The idea of a visual aid is that it should accompany your presentation, not replace it. Thus, your slides should offer complementary ...
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Taken altogether, the structure of an academic presentation can best be described by the following steps: (1) ... audio, or demonstrative illustrations. This is an effective way to bring the information to "life" by capturing the listener's attention using different style preferences of learning. Practice. Excellent speakers are made, not ...
What is an Academic Presentation?
In this video, we discuss what an academic presentation is and things to consider when creating one. For more information: https://www.rug.nl/language-centre...
What is an effective academic presentation?
Watch Aditi to find out how to deliver presentations effectively!☛ For English subtitles, click on subtitles/closed captions.This video is found in the follo...
PDF Developing Skills for Effective Academic Presentations in EAP
oral presentations (Chirnside, 1986; Richards, 1989; Koh, 1988). It is increasingly important for teachers to learn more about what makes a presentation effective in school and how explicit instruction can help prepare students for the kinds of presentation activities they will need in academic and professional settings.

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Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides

Introduction

Rule 1: Include only one idea per slide

Rule 2: Spend only 1 minute per slide

Rule 3: Make use of your heading

Rule 4: Include only essential points

Rule 5: Give credit, where credit is due

Rule 6: Use graphics effectively

Rule 7: Design to avoid cognitive overload

Rule 8: Design the slide so that a distracted person gets the main takeaway

Rule 9: Iteratively improve slide design through practice

Rule 10: Design to mitigate the impact of technical disasters

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

Funding Statement

Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides

Introduction

Rule 1: Include only one idea per slide

Rule 2: Spend only 1 minute per slide

Rule 3: Make use of your heading

Rule 4: Include only essential points

Rule 5: Give credit, where credit is due

Rule 6: Use graphics effectively

Rule 7: Design to avoid cognitive overload

Rule 8: Design the slide so that a distracted person gets the main takeaway

Rule 9: Iteratively improve slide design through practice

Rule 10: Design to mitigate the impact of technical disasters

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

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Your message: Why listen to this talk?

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10 essential tips for your next academic presentation

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1. Any time you put something on your slides, its primary purpose is to help the audience, not you

2. Condense text to the main question or key points of the slide

3. Avoid using too many colours, fonts or animations

4. Avoid colour combinations that are hard to read

5. If you’re showing a graph, orient the audience to the axes before plotting the data and make sure they can actually see all of it

6. Use high-resolution images or videos

7. When illustrating results, identify one or two key graphs to make your point

8. Don’t overload the audience with unnecessary complex jargon or acronyms

9. Enhance accessibility

10. Use outline slides and marker slides to segment information

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17 Giving Academic Presentations: Talks, Power Points, and Posters

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What is an effective PowerPoint presentation?

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