Do you craft and deliver engaging presentations?

Giving a live presentation in front of an audience can be daunting, whether online or in person. It can also be a thrilling and rewarding experience when you do it well. In order to achieve a great result, presenters should prepare.

Study about presenting

A good starting point is to watch "7 Deadly Presentation Sins" presentation. In this session Samantha and Andrew Coates demonstrate seven sins that must not be committed in a presentation, why and how a presentation can suffer from committing them, and how to avoid accidentally committing them.

Video: 7 Deadly Presentation Sins with Andrew & Samantha Coates (1 hr 16 min)

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You should also consider taking the course Speaking Confidently and Effectively.

Make time for adequate preparation

Structure & learn your content well and then rehearse the delivery for a given audience and context until you are getting it right more often than you are getting it wrong. Don’t wait until the last minute! If you are well prepared you can focus on your delivery instead of worrying about knowing your content or running a demo.

Figure: Bad example – Ill prepared and low energy. They shows you how to fix it though

Figure: Good example - A well prepared presentation with an excellent delivery

Be understood

Make the effort to be understood, speak clearly, and check for understanding as you go along, even if you can't hear the audience.

For more information read about identifying your audience knowledge level

Build resilience in high-pressure situations

Gain repeated exposure to high-pressure situations - staying cool and dealing with problems as they arise without derailing yourself or the audience.

Know mistakes happen and that's OK

Even the most practiced presenters will slip up, but what separates professionals from amateurs is how you deal with it.

Time seems to slow down under pressure situations, but only for you! It doesn’t matter if you take a few moments to figure out the problem, your audience won’t be phased at all, just give them respect and ask them for patience and it will be granted automatically.

Aim for a strong delivery

Presentation delivery is about effectively engaging your audience, maintaining their attention, and guiding them through key points. A polished delivery can make even simple content memorable, leaving a lasting impression on listeners.

A good way to achieve a strong delivery is to avoid using filler and non-words. Watch this video to get rid of your "umms" and "ahhs":

Figure: Good example - Using silence to strengthen your message

Extra tips: Scott Hanselman, a very well-known Microsoft public speaker, gave these tips in his Pluralsight course: The Art of Speaking: Scott Hanselman.

Don't touch your face
Don't put your hands in your pockets, or if you do, don’t have your keys in your pockets
Don't rock back and forth
If you’re moving, move deliberately
- When you're walking, they’ll look at you
- When you stop and turn, they’ll look at the slides
Stay focused on the topic. Don’t just ramble on
Put yourself in the audiences shoes
- Can they see and hear you?
- Can they read your screen?
Be prepared for demo failures

Presentations