Presentation Ideas

Need to give a presentation, but want it to stand out from the crowd?

Looking for some ideas?

We have put together some of the best ideas that we have seen. From the wacky to the wonderful, we hope that you will find some inspiration here.

If you are looking for ideas on which topic to give, click on our page about Presentation Topics

Silhouettes

Great for an internal meeting, silhouettes can be a fun ice breaker. It can be a good guessing game – particularly if you can get silhouettes of people who are in the room.

Silhouettes can be made either by using tracing paper or by using a photo-editing package such as Photoshop. This silhouette was produced in about ten minutes using Adobe Photoshop.

Put time in the diary to prepare

Winston Churchill said that it only took him 10 minutes to prepare a two-hour speech, but it took him two hours to prepare a 10-minute one. His maiden speech took six weeks to prepare and was completely memorised.

Sod’s law states that “If it can go wrong, it usually will”

Be prepared. Have a back-up plan. If you have your presentation on a laptop, back it up on a CD ROM or data stick and carry a hard copy with you. Take a spare power lead. Plan what to do if the projector breaks down.

Buy a digital camera

Adding pictures to your presentation can be very powerful. One of the quickest ways to do this is to buy a digital camera. You can then start taking pictures and add them to your talks.

The camera never lies

Well, that used to be the case. Now you can get powerful photo-editing software. One of the best on the market is Adobe Photoshop Elements. This software will allow you to cut down the size of photos, and cut out and combine photos. As an idea, you can cut out a picture of your boss and put him in a different background.

Dressing up

Phil Walker once gave a talk around the theme of CRM and illustrated it by comparing it to Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. To illustrate the point, he and a couple of his assistants dressed up in togas. If you are going to use this technique you need to be sure of your audience.

Use the right fonts

Verdana is a great title font.

Arial or Tahoma are very clear for use in presentations.

Comic Sans MS can work if you want to be light-hearted but can show signs of insecurity.

Avoid Times New Roman – this is best for printed paragraphs.

You may also find more inspiration and presentation ideas on our presentation tips page.

Have you come across any other ideas for your presentation that you have used or you have seen work well? Please leave a message in the comments box below.