We have condensed all of the presentation techniques down to the most effective. Here are the Top 10 effective presentation techniques.
1. Use visual aids
Using pictures in your presentations instead of words can double the chances of meeting your objectives.
2. Keep it short and sweet
There is an old adage that said – “No one ever complained of a presentation being too short.” Nothing kills a presentation more than going on too long.
There are some college professors who will penalise a short presentation (most lecturers see no problem in droning on) , but for most people a shorter presentation is better. Keep your presentation to under 22 minutes if you can.
3. Use the rule of three
A simple technique is that people tend to only remember three things. Work out what the three messages that you want your audience to take away and structure your presentation around them. Use a maximum of three points on a slide.
4. Rehearse
Practice makes for perfect performance. Many experts say that rehearsal is the biggest single thing that you can do to improve your performance. Perform your presentation out loud at least four times. One of these should be in front of a real scary audience. Family, friends or colleagues. Even the dog is better than nothing.
5. Tell stories
All presentations are a type of theatre. Tell stories and anecdotes to help illustrate points. It all helps to make your presentation more effective and memorable.
6. Lose the bullet points – don’t put your speaker notes up on the screen
Bullet points are the kiss of death for most presentations. Most people use bullet points as a form of speaker notes. To make your presentation more effective put your speaker notes in your notes and not up on the screen.
7. Video yourself
Set up a video camera and video yourself presenting. You will see all sorts of mistakes that you are making, from how you are standing, if you are jangling keys, to how well your presentation is structured.
8. Know what slide is coming next
You should always know when presenting which slide is coming up next. It sounds very powerful when you say “On the next slide [Click] you will see…”, rather than than a period of confusion when the next slide appears.
9. Have a back-up plan
Murphy’s law normally applies during a presentation. Technology not working, power cuts, projector blowing a bulb, spilling coffee on your front, not enough power leads, no loudspeakers, presentation displays strangely on the laptop – all of these are things that have happened in presentations that I have given.
Have a back-up plan. Take with you the following items – a printed out set of slides – (you can hold these up to the audience if you need to), a CD or data stick of your presentation, a laptop with your slides on it. Just in case it goes wrong.
Guess what? When you have back-ups – you seldom need to use them.
10. Check out the presentation room
Arrive early and check out the presentation room. If you can make sure that you see your slides loaded onto the PC and working on the screen. Work out where you will need to stand.
Do you agree or disagree with any of these effective presentation techniques? Have you have any experiences like this? Add it in to the comments box below.
Published On: 2nd Sep 2012
Read more about -Presentation Articles , Hints and Tips, Presentation Openers, Rehearsal Tips
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thanxxx alott for the informationn
they r very usful… -
They are truly powerful which everyone should apply to make his/her presentation a complete success.
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Thank you! Really interesting and important material.
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thank you for the top 10 effective presentation techniques
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Simple yet very powerful
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One thing to add to point 6
Indeed, speaker notes should not be on the slides. Nothing is more boring when sombebody reads exactly what is on the slides, I’d better take a copy home and read it in quietness then. -
well….i thought i wouldn’t be lucky but im just da luckiest person in the world who know these different presentation techniques…. but well done i will use these tips while preparing my presentation for accounting…
thank you …
Nice day… -
thts really an amazing to have these presentation techniques.i’ll do my best to follow it while delivering my presentation.
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i shall teach these techniques to my students when insha Allah i will be an instructor of spoken English.
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Great!
Anything on stage fright? -
A speaker should keep an eye contact with all the people in the room while giving the presentation .
Rest the tips are useful .Thank u
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i think all the technique are excellent
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Its really helpful.
Thanks & Regards
Shiva. -
this is corny
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very interesting for me, when you prepare a presentation
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According to me you have missed the most vital thing “Know your audience”
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Nothing has been said about the element of interaction. It’s clear that a presentation is being made, but, if the audience is engaged, there might be greater attention to the entire presentation.
This is just my take, views may vary.
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I am a facilitator in community forestry.these points are powerful materials. However I would like if you can explain more about the number 6. What to use instead of bullets. I have in my mind that slides are the guide of my presentation so I have to use bullets?.
On the other side, could you please send me a short presentation prepared with these techiniques and observe the application. at least, one slide I can to observe how is a slide well prepared.Thanks a million from Colombia
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Thank for this 10 points!
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I have been training and I feel these are the 10 most important points as well
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I find these techniques quite useful, I have to do a presentation on Vending Machines to my head teacher – and you made very strong and strategic points. I’m only in Year 7…
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This is highly informative and without doubt, very effective
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very good and effective…use this techniques to have a successful presention
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I was just making a presentation & I have come to know that my presentation is simply boring & killing.
Any way, very effective & informative points. -
Life changing, thank you.
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I am going to be facilitating a parenting course in a few weeks and loved the idea of of the rule of three to present my message.
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tanks fot the info is so important to my life
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thankx 2 you for providing me such an informative material. . .
but u forget to mention about dressing of a presenter and can u plzzzzzzzzzzz send me a slide which is one of d perfect one’s. . .
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thanks alot………
you khnow i will try to do all these tips
in my presentations…. -
[…] a site which has the top ten effective presentation techniques and they make sense to […]
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Like mpz I also think there should be a section/point on knowing your audience.
Roughly (and shortly) speaking there are three styles of learning that each might influence an otherwise excellent presentation: Visual, auditory and sensitive.
The visual learners prefer imagery (Seeing is believing) and requires few words to every slide. Use images, diagrams, tables and such.
The auditory prefers verbal explanations and responses. Encourage questions during the presentation and be prepared to go outside the presentation if it is appropriate. Watch your tone, pitch and volume of voice. Don’t drone 😉
The sensitive learners needs to be connected to you. Use brief statements and demonstrations immediately followed by Q&A. Don’t focus on logic and external elements. Share personal values and experiences. Show empathy and understanding.
Just a short remark 😉
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Thanks a lot. Its really very helpful for update and improving my life.
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these are realy good tips for presentation.i think there should be some more easy tips which can make our presentation more effective.
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It is really nice and helpful
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Thank you, it was really helpful, I used to put bullets in my slides, now not anymore, thanks again!
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thank u.. that’s really powerful
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Guess this is really useful..as we say nothing is perfect but this can go to a great extent forming base, helping individual to build further on these lines!!
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i hope my presentation would go well
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Thanks a lot, really helpful!
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Very good points the 10 ones; also
Know the subject, know your audience, be confident when you present your concise presentation which might be effective if you add spice to it (related stories / jockes…) and wake up calls (sudden questions at randomly picked up person from the audience), and for better memorisation, make your objectives clear at beggining and summarise the essential points at the end(using primacy and recency effects at work)… I mostly liked the Murphy’s law, the worst sure happens to the one who does not have a back up plan. Thanks a million…
From Ethiopia -
Brilliant trigger points. How can I overcome shyness in students who have the Knowledge but can’t present? It is so frustrating.
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thanks to you, i won my pitch for the new coca cola commercials they are releasing over here in the states! i make that about $4.5 million U.S i owe you for these tips:)!
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Congratulations for your tips on effective teaching presentation!
However , how can a teacher in a remote area of Burundi or Malawi get access to some of the materials you have earlier mentioned such as CD, Laptop,… Fine !
May you please suggest what may replace those HITechs that are not available to most of Third World School?
May God bless you!
Nayingunge from Burundi. -
thank you, i believe that with practice i will get better.
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thanks to providing perfect informatiom about presentation techniques ,they are really so usefull while preparing any kind of ppt or presentation,its everything
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Experience…
Great -
Very nice Techniq
Great Jobs -
very well instructions
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thanks ..tomorrow is my presentation I’ll apply all the points.IT REALLY BOOST ME UP!!!!!!
thanks again -
good presentation advice
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AWESOME ADVICE & IT REALY WORKS
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thank you, i believe that with practice i will get best of the best.
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thanks for the information, now i know how to make a good presentation ..
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THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR SHARING YOUR KNOWLEDGE!!!GODBLESS YOU AND YOUR LOVE ONES:)
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thank you for the information ,its really helpful.
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wow they r really helpfulx
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thank you from Saudi Arabia
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very awesome that is
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thanks it was very useful to me
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yes…..
very nice because i fully unaware about these techniques ….
bye the way i am MBA student ….therefor it is very usefull for me…. -
Great advice. Thanks
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Thanks… Good Tips.
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Its was great list of advice about presentation. Thanks.
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It’s really useful to have these 10 points when doing presentations. I’m a teacher and this will help me to present things well.
Thanks a lot
Regards
Nimal -
this has been really helpful 4 me i mean this step is very good it help me out at my presentation and i got all mos 90% on my presentation. i think more people should take time reading this 10 tip
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THNKS MUCH 4 BRIEF SUMMARY ON PRESENTATION TECHNIQUE,MAY U INCLUDE ATLEAST DRESSING CODE
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thanks for the info regarding presentation techniques,,,it help me out for my presentation some day.
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thank u alot realy it is an important material!
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Thank yo verry much for all the4 informtions which i enjoyed-am practicing..However at one point where you state that “Keep your presentation to under 22 minutes if you can.”
As a technical trainer in my organisation(a tire industry in India)where I have a 5 day sessions (9.00-5.30 p.m)this 22 mts. concept is hard to follow. But inadvertently I don’t dwell on a single topic/concept more than 20 mts, Is it O.K.
Thangarajan.P.K. -
its really nice for understanding
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nice presentation skills
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This is just brilliant
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This is good stuff. I was a trainer in Zimbabwe so to the gentleman from Burundi I would say that you don’t need fancy aids to make an effective presentation. Pre-prepare a series of flip chart pages with your main points on and use a separate blank flip chart for points made by your audience. Also on visual aids I find that so often every slide looks the same – same font, background, company logo in the corner and so on. For the bits you want them to remember, change the slide completely so it stands out.
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gostei muito das técnicas
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I LIKE THE THECNIQUES,THANK YOU
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Nice techniques……..
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thanksfor thes points
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This was very helpful… not only for our Philosophy class, but for all college courses. All 10 recommendations were very good. However, the 2 that seemed the most useful of all were to (1) video record yourself to find out how you look… and (2) have a back-up plan ready.
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Hey,
Hatts off to you man, they are very useful for a layman going for his / her first presentation. -
wonderfull stuff!!!
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these tips maked me to know more about presentation
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tanks .it is very useful in my life
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Thanks for the advice… 🙂
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this website is amazing thanks so much xx
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Ya , friend …..
My Father also likes Powrpoint preaentations & doing commentary …… He & I both likes this two tasks ….. & he is expert explaining ppt presentation in public .. I too wanted to become like him & the tips u had given r the same as what my father always follows ……… So , Thanks -
its good 4 me
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thank you very much this was very helpful
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great
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Thanks a lot for wonderful ideas. I do hope it will be very helpful in my upcoming presentation.
May God bless you! -
I’ll try to do this for my report on Monday. Thank you.
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WORTHY
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When using beamer or slides please also look from audience side! As the outside sun might blind them.
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dont be over confident be confident
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Highly appreciated your tips on business presentation.they will be of my great help in my agribusiness forum next week.
Regards -
rely great!
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Really useful tips, looking forward to have these kinds of tips in future.
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Superb info… Tqz
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very helpful and valuable points
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Very useful info….
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these are very informative tips.any perhaps very effective ones
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Thanks , very useful
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tell stories really helped
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The rule of three is something which Id like to try. I would do presentations using bullets as keys — just learned that it’s not advisable to do it.
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Thank you very much it has greatly helped.Blessed all the content is useful and with this i hope to get better
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Wonderful, l suggest you need to talk like a thought leader as well.
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I’m so grateful for this opportunity of visiting this site. I find them so interesting, all the points outlined in this writing. I so much like the self-videoing part of it. This gives you the clear picture of how bad or good your presentation style is. And also gives you the chance to know if your recent pattern is better than the former or not.
From Nigeria
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All the points are valid, but particularly like point # 5 which talks about stories. Stories bring life and authenticity to your presentation. Great job!