How to Deliver an Excellent Presentation

By Alyssa Laffitte on August 31, 2017

For many students, giving presentations is the hardest part of being a college student. I don’t blame them! Everyone’s eyes are on you, and it’s very easy to accidentally misspeak and make a fool of yourself.

But rather than being fearful and avoiding it, I wanted to write a post about how to prepare yourself to deliver a fantastic presentation, because when it comes to presentations, preparation is key. Here is how to prepare for a successful presentation.

Image via Isorepublic.com

Know what you’re talking about

One great way to deliver a successful presentation is to know the subject you have to present. If you truly know what you’re talking about, you’ll be much more confident when you have to talk about it. This will make your presentation go much smoother. So before you even start your presentation, do some research on your topic. Make sure you understand the subject well enough to answer questions on it.

If you want to take it a step further, make yourself an outline or a script of what you’ll say. This guide will make sure you know the information, that you’re presenting it in a way that makes sense, and that you’re not missing any important pieces of information.

Now that you are familiar with the material, it’ll be easier for you to present it.

Practice, practice, practice!

One of the best things you can do to deliver a great presentation is to PRACTICE. I literally can’t stress how important practice is. The more you practice/rehearse your presentation, the more comfortable you will be giving it. If you rehearse enough, it will become like second nature to you.

You should practice the way you will be giving it. Will you be allowed to have some notes? If not, then learn to practice without your notes. Will you be timed? If so, then time yourself whenever you practice.

I think it’s also a good idea to practice in front of other people you love before you speak in front of strangers. They can give you feedback to help you improve your speech, and it’ll help you practice the all-important eye contact as you’re presenting.

Similarly, you can record yourself giving the speech and you can evaluate your own performance. You might catch yourself unconsciously doing something that’s distracting to your audience (like swinging your arms). Sometimes, the only way you can catch these things is by watching yourself. We are our own worst critics, so if you get to the point where you and your loved ones are satisfied with your performance, you’ll be good to go on the big day.

Make sure your technology is working

Presentations nowadays often involve technological aides, like PowerPoints. Technology can be wonderful and helpful, but it can also be a big pain. For example, what if you accidentally saved your presentation in the wrong file format, one that the school computer REFUSES to open? Or what if that YouTube video you included was deleted? (This may or may not have happened to me when I gave a presentation on my research last summer …)

To avoid these and other similar sticky tech situations, try to do a quick run-through of your presentation on another computer. It’s even better if you can do it on the computer in the presentation room. See if that computer can open your presentation and your videos/graphics properly. If it can’t, you have enough time to fix it to make sure it works on presentation day.

Back up your presentation

Also, don’t forget to back up your work in another place. What if you forget the flash drive you saved your presentation on? What if the computer in the presentation room can’t read your flash drive? To prevent human and technological error from ruining your presentation, you should save your presentation in at least two places. I like to have a copy on my flash drive and another on Google Drive. Sometimes I’ve had a copy of my presentation in my email because my professor wanted us to send her our presentations before the big day. That way, if one of these methods fails, you always have the other one!

Presentations can definitely be nerve wracking, but they don’t have to be! If you know the material you’re presenting, practiced your delivery by yourself and in front of others, made sure your technology worked, and backed up all your data, you should be good to go!

How do you prepare for presentations? Has technology ever failed you during a presentation?

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