business presentations importance

Ideas and insights from Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning

Powerful and Effective Presentation Skills: More in Demand Now Than Ever

When we talk with our L&D colleagues from around the globe, we often hear that presentation skills training is one of the top opportunities they’re looking to provide their learners. And this holds true whether their learners are individual contributors, people managers, or senior leaders. This is not surprising.

Effective communications skills are a powerful career activator, and most of us are called upon to communicate in some type of formal presentation mode at some point along the way.

For instance, you might be asked to brief management on market research results, walk your team through a new process, lay out the new budget, or explain a new product to a client or prospect. Or you may want to build support for a new idea, bring a new employee into the fold, or even just present your achievements to your manager during your performance review.

And now, with so many employees working from home or in hybrid mode, and business travel in decline, there’s a growing need to find new ways to make effective presentations when the audience may be fully virtual or a combination of in person and remote attendees.

Whether you’re making a standup presentation to a large live audience, or a sit-down one-on-one, whether you’re delivering your presentation face to face or virtually, solid presentation skills matter.

Even the most seasoned and accomplished presenters may need to fine-tune or update their skills. Expectations have changed over the last decade or so. Yesterday’s PowerPoint which primarily relied on bulleted points, broken up by the occasional clip-art image, won’t cut it with today’s audience.

The digital revolution has revolutionized the way people want to receive information. People expect presentations that are more visually interesting. They expect to see data, metrics that support assertions. And now, with so many previously in-person meetings occurring virtually, there’s an entirely new level of technical preparedness required.

The leadership development tools and the individual learning opportunities you’re providing should include presentation skills training that covers both the evergreen fundamentals and the up-to-date capabilities that can make or break a presentation.

So, just what should be included in solid presentation skills training? Here’s what I think.

The fundamentals will always apply When it comes to making a powerful and effective presentation, the fundamentals will always apply. You need to understand your objective. Is it strictly to convey information, so that your audience’s knowledge is increased? Is it to persuade your audience to take some action? Is it to convince people to support your idea? Once you understand what your objective is, you need to define your central message. There may be a lot of things you want to share with your audience during your presentation, but find – and stick with – the core, the most important point you want them to walk away with. And make sure that your message is clear and compelling.

You also need to tailor your presentation to your audience. Who are they and what might they be expecting? Say you’re giving a product pitch to a client. A technical team may be interested in a lot of nitty-gritty product detail. The business side will no doubt be more interested in what returns they can expect on their investment.

Another consideration is the setting: is this a formal presentation to a large audience with questions reserved for the end, or a presentation in a smaller setting where there’s the possibility for conversation throughout? Is your presentation virtual or in-person? To be delivered individually or as a group? What time of the day will you be speaking? Will there be others speaking before you and might that impact how your message will be received?

Once these fundamentals are established, you’re in building mode. What are the specific points you want to share that will help you best meet your objective and get across your core message? Now figure out how to convey those points in the clearest, most straightforward, and succinct way. This doesn’t mean that your presentation has to be a series of clipped bullet points. No one wants to sit through a presentation in which the presenter reads through what’s on the slide. You can get your points across using stories, fact, diagrams, videos, props, and other types of media.

Visual design matters While you don’t want to clutter up your presentation with too many visual elements that don’t serve your objective and can be distracting, using a variety of visual formats to convey your core message will make your presentation more memorable than slides filled with text. A couple of tips: avoid images that are cliched and overdone. Be careful not to mix up too many different types of images. If you’re using photos, stick with photos. If you’re using drawn images, keep the style consistent. When data are presented, stay consistent with colors and fonts from one type of chart to the next. Keep things clear and simple, using data to support key points without overwhelming your audience with too much information. And don’t assume that your audience is composed of statisticians (unless, of course, it is).

When presenting qualitative data, brief videos provide a way to engage your audience and create emotional connection and impact. Word clouds are another way to get qualitative data across.

Practice makes perfect You’ve pulled together a perfect presentation. But it likely won’t be perfect unless it’s well delivered. So don’t forget to practice your presentation ahead of time. Pro tip: record yourself as you practice out loud. This will force you to think through what you’re going to say for each element of your presentation. And watching your recording will help you identify your mistakes—such as fidgeting, using too many fillers (such as “umm,” or “like”), or speaking too fast.

A key element of your preparation should involve anticipating any technical difficulties. If you’ve embedded videos, make sure they work. If you’re presenting virtually, make sure that the lighting is good, and that your speaker and camera are working. Whether presenting in person or virtually, get there early enough to work out any technical glitches before your presentation is scheduled to begin. Few things are a bigger audience turn-off than sitting there watching the presenter struggle with the delivery mechanisms!

Finally, be kind to yourself. Despite thorough preparation and practice, sometimes, things go wrong, and you need to recover in the moment, adapt, and carry on. It’s unlikely that you’ll have caused any lasting damage and the important thing is to learn from your experience, so your next presentation is stronger.

How are you providing presentation skills training for your learners?

Manika Gandhi is Senior Learning Design Manager at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. Email her at [email protected] .

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Chapter 18: Business Presentations

Venecia Williams and Olds College

Learning Objectives

• Understand how to use effective interpersonal communication skills in professional presentations
• Learn how to organize a presentation
• Examine how to use visual aids effectively
• Discuss the effective integration of communication and presentation techniques in the delivery of professional presentations

Along with good writing skills, the ability to communicate verbally is vital to many employers today. It is an integral part of the modern business world. People in the workplace spend the majority of their time communicating. Verbal communication in the workplace takes many forms such as staff meetings, discussions, speeches, presentations, informal conversations, and telephone and video conferences. Communicating verbally is more personal and flexible than writing. It allows workers to exchange ideas, information, and feedback more quickly. Verbal communication tends to occur in person, making it easier to negotiate, express emotions, outline expectations, and build trust, all of which are important in today’s workplace. Communication can also occur between people who are not together in person. In these situations, unique skills are necessary to achieve success. Simple conversation skills are also valued in the workplace, but this does not mean using casual or informal language. Rather, what is prized by many employers is the ability to communicate important information professionally but in a meaningful and understandable way. This can be important when making spontaneous presentations as well as more elaborate formal group presentations, which are a part of many work roles today.

What Makes a Successful Speaker?

According to longtime Toastmasters member Bob Kienzle, there are a few key elements that tend to make a successful speaker:

• Voice : Can the person be easily understood?
• Body Language : Does their body support what they’re saying? Are they confident?
• Coherent Structure: Does what they’re presenting make sense? Is it logical?
• Enthusiasm : Do they care about what they’re presenting?
• Expertise: Do they know what they’re talking about? Are they credible?
• Practice : If they haven’t practised or sufficiently prepared, it will likely show up in one or more of the above.

A successful speaker can be inspired by other speeches or speakers but may fall flat if they try to copy someone else. Authenticity and passion can resonate so much with an audience that it can outweigh elements otherwise considered pitfalls. The techniques, tools, and best practices are a guideline, and it’s important to note there is no such thing as “perfection” in public speaking. “Failure” can happen in myriad ways, but it’s more helpful to see them as learning opportunities, or opportunities to make a stronger connection to your audience. The biggest failure, according to Kienzle, is to pass up opportunities to practise your skills in presenting or public speaking.

Preparing a Presentation

Develop your message while keeping in mind the format, audience, style , and tone . First, you’ll need to think about the format of your presentation. This is a choice between presentation types. In your professional life, you’ll encounter the verbal communication channels in Figure 18.1. The purpose column labels each channel with a purpose (I=Inform, P=Persuade, or E=Entertain) depending on that channel’s most likely purpose.

Figure 18.1 | Presentation Communication Channels

There are some other considerations to make when you are selecting a format. For example, the number of speakers may influence the format you choose. Panels and Presentations may have more than one speaker. In Meetings and Teleconferences, multiple people will converse. In a Workshop setting, one person will usually lead the event, but there is often a high-level of collaboration between participants. The location of participants will also influence your decision. For example, if participants cannot all be in the same room, you might choose a teleconference or webinar. If asynchronous delivery is important, you might record a podcast. When choosing a technology-reliant channel, such as a teleconference or webinar, be sure to test your equipment and make sure each participant has access to any materials they need before you begin.

Once you have chosen a format, make sure your message is right for your audience. You’ll need to think about issues such as the following:

• What expectations will the audience have?
• What is the context of your communication?
• What does the audience already know about the topic?
• How is the audience likely to react to you and your message?

Next, you’ll consider the style of your presentation. Analyze your specific presentation styles. Perhaps you prefer to present formally, limiting your interaction with the audience, or perhaps you prefer a more conversational, informal style, where discussion is a key element. You may prefer to cover serious subjects, or perhaps you enjoy delivering humorous speeches. Style is all about your personality!

Finally, you’ll select a tone for your presentation. Your voice, body language, level of self-confidence, dress, and use of space all contribute to the mood that your message takes on. Consider how you want your audience to feel when they leave your presentation and approach it with that mood in mind.

Presentation Purpose

Your presentation will have a general and specific purpose. Your general purpose may be to inform, persuade, or entertain. It’s likely that any speech you develop will have a combination of these goals. Most presentations have a little bit of entertainment value, even if they are primarily attempting to inform or persuade. For example, the speaker might begin with a joke or dramatic opening, even though their speech is primarily informational. Your specific purpose addresses what you are going to inform, persuade, or entertain your audience with the main topic of your speech.

Incorporating Backchannels

Technology has given speakers new ways to engage with an audience in real-time, and these can be particularly useful when it isn’t practical for the audience to share their thoughts verbally—for example, when the audience is very large, or when they are not all in the same location. These secondary or additional means of interacting with your audience are called backchannels, and you might decide to incorporate one into your presentation, depending on your aims. They can be helpful for engaging more introverted members of the audience who may not be comfortable speaking out verbally in a large group. Using publicly accessible social networks, such as a Facebook Page or Twitter feed, can also help to spread your message to a wider audience, as audience members share posts related to your speech with their networks. Because of this, backchannels are often incorporated into conferences; they are helpful in marketing the conference and its speakers both during and after the event.

Developing the Content

As with any type of messaging, it helps if you create an outline of your speech or presentation before you create it fully. This ensures that each element is in the right place and gives you a place to start to avoid the dreaded blank page. Figure 18.2 is an outline template that you can adapt for your purpose. Replace the placeholders in the Content column with your ideas or points.

Figure `18.2 | Presentation Outline

Introduction

The beginning of your speech needs an attention-grabber to get your audience interested right away. Choose your attention-grabbing device based on what works best for your topic. Your entire introduction should only be around 10 to 15 percent of your total speech, so be sure to keep this section short. Here are some devices that you could try:

After the attention-getter comes the rest of your introduction. It needs to do the following:

• Capture the audience’s interest
• State the purpose of your speech
• Establish credibility
• Give the audience a reason to listen
• Signpost the main ideas

Once you have identified an attention-getting, it is time to develop the body of your presentation or speech. In your body, you will focus on the specific points you would like to communicate to your audience.

Rhetoric and Argument:  Your audience will think to themselves, Why should I listen to this speech? What’s in it for me? One of the best things you can do as a speaker is to answer these questions early in your body, if you haven’t already done so in your introduction. This will serve to gain their support early and will fill in the blanks of who, what, when, where, why, and how in their minds.

Organization: An organized body helps your audience to follow your speech and recall your points later. When developing the body of your speech, recall the specific purpose you decided on, then choose main points to support it. Just two or three main points are usually sufficient, depending on the length of your speech. Anticipate one main point per two to three minutes of speaking.

Concluding on a High Note

You’ll need to keep your energy up until the very end of your speech. In your conclusion, your job is to let the audience know you are finished, help them remember what you’ve told them, and leave them with a final thought or call-to-action, depending on the general purpose of your message.

Presentation Aids

Presentations can be enhanced by the effective use of visual aids. These include handouts, overhead transparencies, drawings on the whiteboard, PowerPoint slides, and many other types of props. Once you have chosen a topic, consider how you are going to show your audience what you are talking about. Visuals can provide a reference, illustration, or image to help the audience to understand and remember your point.

Visual aids accomplish several goals:

• Make your speech more interesting
• Enhance your credibility as a speaker
• Guide transitions, helping the audience stay on track
• Communicate complex information in a short time
• Reinforce your message
• Encourage retention

Methods and Materials

There are many different presentation aids available. Before you decide on a presentation aid, think carefully about how you plan on using it and how it will enhance your presentation.

Using Visual Aids

Visual aids can be a powerful tool when used effectively but can run the risk of dominating your presentation. Consider your audience and how the portrayal of images, text, graphic, animated sequences, or sound files will contribute or detract from your presentation. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you prepare yours.

Designing Slide Decks

When you design your slide decks, you might be overwhelmed by the possibilities, and you might be tempted to use all the bells, whistles, and sounds, not to mention the flying, and animated graphics. If used wisely, a simple transition can be effective, but if used indiscriminately, it can annoy the audience to the point where they cringe in anticipation of the sound effect at the start of each slide.

Stick to one main idea per slide. The presentation is for the audience’s benefit, not yours. Pictures and images can be understood more quickly and easily than text, so you can use this to your advantage as you present.

If you develop a slide deck for your presentation, test these out in the location beforehand, not just on your own computer screen, as different computers and software versions can make your slides look different than you expected. Allow time for revision based on what you learn.

Your visual aids should meet the following criteria:

• Big: legible for everyone, even the back row
• Clear: easy for audience to understand
• Simple: simplify concepts rather than complicating them
• Consistent: use the same visual style throughout

In Figure 18.3 the slide deck on the left has a colour combination which makes the information difficult to understand. The list is not parallel and the slide contains a grammatical error. The slide deck on the right is an improved and more professional version.

Another consideration that you’ll need to make when designing your slide decks is font. As previously mentioned, think about the people at the back of the room when choosing the size of your text, to make sure it can be read by everyone. A common mistake that presenters make is to use decorative fonts or to incorporate many different fonts in their slides. This not only creates a mixed message for the audience but also makes your message difficult to read. Choose legible, common fonts that do not have thin elements that may be difficult to see.

When considering your choice of colours to use, legibility must be your priority. Contrast can help the audience read your key terms more easily. Make sure the background colour and the images you plan to use complement each other. Repeat colours, from your graphics to your text, to help unify each slide. To reduce visual noise, try not to use more than two or three colours. Blue-green colour blindness, and red-green colour blindness are fairly common, so avoid using these colour combinations if it is important for the audience to differentiate between them. If you are using a pie chart, for example, avoid putting a blue segment next to a green one. Use labelling so that even if someone is colour blind, they will be able to tell the relative sizes of the pie segments and what they signify.

Colour is also a matter of culture. Some colours may be perceived as formal or informal, or masculine or feminine. Certain colours have understood meanings; for example, red is usually associated with danger, while green signals “go.” Make sure the colours you use align with your message. If you are discussing climate change or the natural world, for example, you’d be more likely to use blues and greens rather than metallic colours to avoid confusing the audience.

Once you have prepared your visual aid, do not forget to revise. There is nothing more uncomfortable than seeing a typo or grammatical error on your screen in the middle of your presentation. These errors can create a bad impression and affect your credibility with the audience. You want your audience to focus on your message so be sure to revise to maintain the audience’s attention and keep your credibility.

Preparing to Present

You are almost ready to deliver your presentation. What are some final elements you can focus on to ensure a smooth delivery?

To deliver your presentation to the best of your ability, and to reduce your nerves once you take the stage, you need to practise by rehearsing. As you do, try to identify the weaknesses in your delivery to improve on them. For example, do you often misspeak the same words (e.g., pacific for specific; ax for ask) or do your hands or feet fidget? Use your practice time to focus on correcting these issues. These sessions should help you get comfortable and help you remember what you want to say without having to constantly refer to notes. Try practising in front of a mirror, or even recording yourself speaking to a camera and playing it back. It’s also helpful to get feedback from a supportive audience at this stage. Perhaps a few family members or friends could watch you give your presentation and provide some feedback.

Dress for Success

While there are no definitive guidelines for how you should dress for your presentation, your appearance is an important part of your audience’s first impression. If you want them to take you seriously, you’ll need to look the part. While you don’t have to wear a suit each time you present, there are some scenarios where this would be expected; for example, if you are presenting to a corporate audience who wear suits to work, you should do the same. You should dress one step above your audience. If your audience is going to be dressed casually in shorts and jeans, then wear nice casual clothing such as a pair of pressed slacks and a collared shirt or blouse. If your audience is going to be wearing business casual attire, then you should wear a dress or a suit. The general rule is to avoid any distractions in your appearance that can distract your audience’s attention from your message.

Set Up Your Environment

Depending on the circumstances of your speech or presentation, you may have some choices to make about the environment. Perhaps you have a choice of meeting rooms that you can use, or, perhaps you have only one option. If you have some flexibility, it is helpful to think about what sort of environment would best help you get your message across. For example, if you are running a workshop, you might want to assemble participants in a circle to encourage collaboration and discussion. If you are holding a webinar, you’ll need a quiet location with a strong Internet connection and a computer system. It is imperative that you think about what facilities you need well before the day of your presentation arrives. Arriving to find that the equipment you expected isn’t available is not a nice surprise for even the most experienced speaker!

If you have access to the location beforehand, you may need to move tables or chairs around to get things just the way you want them. You might choose to have a podium brought in, if you are aiming for a formal feel, for example, or you may need to position your flip chart. Double-check that you have all the equipment you need, from whiteboard markers to speakers. It is far better if you can get comfortable with the room before your audience arrives, as this will make you feel more prepared and less nervous.

If you are using technology to support your presentation (i.e., PowerPoint slides or a projector), test everything before you begin. Do a microphone check and test its volume, view your slides on the computer you will be using, check any weblinks, play videos to test their sound, or make a call to test the phone connection prior to your teleconference. Your audience will get restless quickly if they arrive and are expected to wait while you fix a technical problem. This will also make you seem disorganized and hurt your credibility as an authoritative speaker.

During the Presentation

You’ve organized your presentation with great visuals and you are ready to present. You now have to deliver your presentation. How do you effectively deliver your presentation calmly and clearly?

Managing Anxiety

Studies have been done to assess how nervous or stressful people typically get during presentations, by examining people’s physiological responses at three intervals: one minute before the presentation, the first minute of the speech, and the last minute of the speech. They discovered that nervousness usually peaked at the anticipation stage that occurs one minute before the presentation. They further found that as the speech progresses, nervousness tends to go down. Here are some things you can do to help you manage your anxiety before the presentation:

• Practice/rehearse in similar conditions/setting as your speech
• Be organized
• Think positively
• Analyze your audience
• Adapt your language to speaking style

During the presentation, there are four main areas where you can focus attention in order to manage your anxiety:

• Your body’s reaction
• Attention to the audience
• Keeping a sense of humour
• Common stress management techniques

Your Body’s Reaction

Physical movement helps to channel some of the excess energy that your body produces in response to anxiety. If at all possible, move around the front of the room rather than remaining behind the lectern or gripping it for dear life (avoid pacing nervously from side to side, however). Move closer to the audience and then stop for a moment. If you are afraid that moving away from the lectern will reveal your shaking hands, use note cards rather than a sheet of paper for your outline. Note cards do not quiver like paper, and they provide you with something to do with your hands. Other options include vocal warm-ups right before your speech, having water (preferably in a non-spillable bottle with a spout) nearby for dry mouth, and doing a few stretches before going on stage. Deep breathing will help to counteract the effects of excess adrenaline. You can place cues or symbols in your notes, such as “slow down” or “smile”, that remind you to pause and breathe during points in your speech. It is also a good idea to pause a moment before you get started to set an appropriate pace from the onset. Look at your audience and smile. It is a reflex for some of your audience members to smile back. Those smiles will reassure you that your audience members are friendly.

Attention to the Audience

During your speech, make a point of establishing direct eye contact with your audience members. By looking at individuals, you establish a series of one-to-one contacts similar to interpersonal communication. An audience becomes much less threatening when you think of them not as an anonymous mass but as a collection of individuals.

Keeping a Sense of Humour

No matter how well we plan, unexpected things happen. That fact is what makes the public speaking situation so interesting. If things go wrong, try to have a sense of humour and stay calm. The audience will respond better if you stay calm than if you get upset or have a breakdown.

Stress Management Techniques

Even when we use positive thinking and are well prepared, some of us still feel a great deal of anxiety about public speaking. When that is the case, it can be more helpful to use stress management than to try to make the anxiety go away. Here are two main tools that can help:

• Visualization: imagining the details of what a successful speech would look and sound like from beginning to end; a way of hypnotizing yourself into positive thinking by using your mind’s eye to make success real.
• Systematic desensitization: Gradual exposure to the thing that causes fear—in this case, giving a speech—can ultimately lead to decreased anxiety. Basically, the more practice you get speaking in front of people, the less fear and anxiety you’ll have about public speaking. Organizations like Toastmasters that help people confront their fears by providing a supportive environment to learn and practise is a good option if you have a true phobia around presenting or public speaking.

Focus on Verbal Communication Techniques

• Pitch : Use pitch inflections to make your delivery more interesting and emphatic. If you don’t change pitch at all, your delivery will be monotone, which gets boring for the audience very quickly.
• Volume : Adjust the volume of your voice to your environment and audience. If you’re in a large auditorium, speak up so that people in the back row can hear you. But if you’re in a small room with only a few people, you don’t want to alarm them by shouting!
• Emphasis : Stress certain words in your speech to add emphasis to them, that is, to indicate that they are particularly important.
• Pronunciation : Make sure that you know the appropriate pronunciation of the words you choose. If you mispronounce a word, it could hurt your credibility or confuse your audience. Your pronunciation is also influenced by your accent. If your accent is quite different from the accent you expect most members of your audience to have, practise your speech in front of someone with the same accent that your audience members will have, to ensure you are pronouncing words in a clear, understandable way.
• Fillers : Avoid the use of “fillers” as placeholders for actual words (like, er, um, uh, etc.). If you have a habit of using fillers, practise your speech thoroughly so that you remember what you want to say. This way, you are less likely to lose your place and let a filler word slip out.
• Rate : The pace that you speak at will influence how well the audience can understand you. Many people speak quickly when they are nervous. If this is a habit of yours, practice will help you here, too. Pause for breath naturally during your speech. Your speaking rate should be appropriate for your topic. A rapid, lively rate communicates enthusiasm, urgency, or humour. A slower, moderated rate conveys respect and seriousness.

Focus on Non-verbal Communication Techniques

• Gestures : You can use your hands or head to help you express an idea or meaning, or reinforce important points, but they can be distracting if overused. If the audience is busy watching your hands fly around, they will not be able to concentrate on your words.
• Facial Expression : Rehearse your speech in front of a mirror to see what facial expressions come across. If you are speaking about an upbeat topic, smile! Conversely, if your topic is serious or solemn, avoid facial expressions that are overtly cheerful, because the audience will be confused by the mixed message. In North American culture, the most important facial expression you can use is eye contact. Briefly catch the eye of audience members as you move through your speech. If you can’t look your audience members in the eye, they may view you as untrustworthy. You’ll want to avoid holding eye contact for too long with any one person, as too much can be unnerving.
• Posture : Try to stay conscious of your posture and stand up straight. This gives the audience the perception that you are authoritative and take your position seriously. If you are slouching, hunched over, or leaning on something, this gives the impression that you are anxious, lacking in credibility, or not serious about your message.
• Silence : Silence is a powerful technique if used well. Pauses are useful for emphasis and dramatic effect when you are speaking. Some speakers are reluctant to pause or use silence because they become uncomfortable with the dead air, but sometimes your audience needs a moment to process information and respond to you.
• Movement : You can use your body movements to communicate positively with the audience. Leaning in or moving closer to the audience helps to bridge the space of separation. Moving from one side of the room to the other in a purposeful way that supports your content is a useful way to keep your audience engaged; their eyes will track your movements. However, pacing rapidly with no purpose and no support to your message may quickly distract from your message.

Coping with Mistakes and Surprises

Even the most prepared speaker will encounter unexpected challenges from time to time. Here are a few strategies for combating the unexpected in your own presentations.

Speech Content Issues

What if a notecard goes missing or you skip important information from the beginning of your speech? Pause for a moment to think about what to do. Is it important to include the missing information, or can it be omitted without hindering the audience’s ability to understand your speech? If it needs to be included, does the information fit better now or in a later segment? If you can move on without the missing element, that is often the best choice, but pausing for a few seconds to decide will be less distracting to the audience than sputtering through a few “ums” and “uhs.” Situations like these demonstrate why it’s a good idea to have a glass of water with you when you speak. Pausing for a moment to take a sip of water is a perfectly natural movement, so the audience may not even notice that anything is amiss.

Technical Difficulties

Technology has become a very useful aid in public speaking, allowing us to use audio or video clips, presentation software, or direct links to websites. But it does break down occasionally! Web servers go offline, files will not download, or media contents are incompatible with the computer in the presentation room. Always have a backup plan in case of technical difficulties. As you develop your speech and visual aids, think through what you will do if you cannot show a particular graph or if your presentation slides are garbled. Your beautifully prepared chart may be superior to the verbal description you can provide. However, your ability to provide a succinct verbal description when technology fails will give your audience the information they need and keep your speech moving forward.

External Distractions

Unfortunately, one thing that you can’t control during your speech is audience etiquette, but you can decide how to react to it. Inevitably, an audience member will walk in late, a cell phone will ring, or a car alarm will go off outside. If you are interrupted by external events like these, it is often useful and sometimes necessary to pause and wait so that you can regain the audience’s attention. Whatever the event, maintain your composure. Do not get upset or angry about these glitches. If you keep your cool and quickly implement a “plan B” for moving forward, your audience will be impressed.

Reading Your Audience

Recognizing your audience’s mood by observing their body language can help you adjust your message and see who agrees with you, who doesn’t, and who is still deciding. With this information, you can direct your attention—including eye contact and questions—to the areas of the room where they can have the most impact. As the speaker, you are conscious that you are being observed. But your audience members probably don’t think of themselves as being observed, so their body language will be easy to read.

Handling Q&A

Question-and-answer sessions can be trickier to manage than the presentation itself. You can prepare for and rehearse the presentation, but audience members could ask a question you hadn’t considered or don’t know how to answer. There are three important elements to think about when incorporating Q&As as part of your presentation:

1. Audience Expectations

At the beginning of your speech, give the audience a little bit of information about who you are and what your expertise on the subject is. Once they know what you do (and what you know), it will be easier for the audience to align their questions with your area of expertise—and for you to bow out of answering questions that are outside of your area.

2. Timing of Q&As

Questions are easier to manage when you are expecting them. Unless you are part of a panel, meeting, or teleconference, it is probably easier to let the audience know that you will take questions at the end of your presentation. This way you can avoid interruptions to your speech that can distract you and cause you to lose time. If audience members interrupt during your talk, you can then ask them politely to hold on to their questions until the Q&A session at the end.

3. Knowing How to Respond

Never pretend that you know the answer to a question if you don’t. The audience will pick up on it! Instead, calmly apologize and say that the question is outside of the scope of your knowledge but that you’d be happy to find out after the presentation (or, suggest some resources where the person could find out for themselves). If you are uncertain about how to answer a question, say something like “That’s really interesting. Could you elaborate on that?” This will make the audience member feel good because they have asked an interesting question, and it will give you a moment to comprehend what they are asking. Sometimes presenters rush to answer a question because they are nervous or want to impress. Pause for a moment, before you begin your answer, to think about what you want to say. This will help you to avoid misinterpreting the question or taking offense to a question that is not intended that way.

A final tip is to be cautious about how you answer so that you don’t offend your audience. You are presenting on a topic because you are knowledgeable about it, but your audience is not. It is important not to make the audience feel inferior because there are things that they don’t know. Avoid comments such as “Oh, yes, it’s really easy to do that…” Instead, say something like “Yes, that can be tricky. I would recommend…” Also, avoid a bossy tone. For example, phrase your response with “What I find helpful is…” rather than “What you should do is…”

Good presentation skills are important to successfully communicate ideas in business. Make sure your presentation has a clear topic with relevant supporting details. Use verbal and non-verbal communication techniques to make your presentation engaging, and don’t forget to practice!

End of Chapter Activities

18a. thinking about the content.

What are your key takeaways from this chapter? What is something you have learned or something you would like to add from your experience?

18b. Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions

• How can a speaker prepare a presentation for a diverse audience? Explain and give some specific examples.
• How can an audience’s prior knowledge affect a presentation?
• Think of someone you have met but do not know very well. What kinds of conversations have you had with this person? How might you expect your conversations to change if you have more opportunities to get better acquainted? Discuss your thoughts with a classmate.
• While managing a Q&A session following a presentation, if you find yourself unable to answer a question posed by one of the audience members which tactics can you use to maintain control of the session?

18c. Applying chapter concepts to a situation

Presenting for success

Akhil works at a software development company in White Rock called Blackball Technologies. It is a medium-sized company that allows its employees to dress casually and occasionally work from home. Akhil likes this because his preference is to wear t-shirts and jeans to the office or work from home in his pyjamas.

Blackball recently created a new software program that has the potential to make a huge profit. However, they need investors to fund their latest innovation. The new software was developed using one of Akhil’s ideas; therefore, the company chooses him to present their proposal to a diverse group of investors from several countries.

Some of the investors are not fluent in English as it is their second language. Additionally, they each have a busy day ahead as they have to listen to proposals from multiple companies. Akhil fears that the investors will not understand him. He is also nervous about the presentation due to its significance to his career. If he is successful, he will get the promotion that he has wanted for the past two years and a pay raise.

What are some of the things that Akhil should consider when presenting to the investors? 

18d. Writing Activity

Watch this video from TED.com on The Secret Structure of Great Talks . Summarize the video. What is the most interesting point made by Nancy Duarte in your opinion?

Attribution

Content attribution.

This chapter contains information from Professional Communications OER by the Olds College OER Development Team used under a CC-BY 4.0 international license.

This chapter contains information from Business Communication for Success  which is adapted from a work produced and distributed under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA) in 2010 by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution. This adapted edition is produced by the  University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing  through the  eLearning Support Initiative .

Media Attribution

Presentation icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com .

Whiteboard icon made by Phatplus from www.flaticon.com .

Handout icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com .

Demonstration icon made by Ultimatearm from www.flaticon.com .

Chapter 18: Business Presentations Copyright © 2020 by Venecia Williams and Olds College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Home Blog Business Business Presentation: The Ultimate Guide to Making Powerful Presentations (+ Examples)

Business Presentation: The Ultimate Guide to Making Powerful Presentations (+ Examples)

A business presentation is a purpose-led summary of key information about your company’s plans, products, or practices, designed for either internal or external audiences. Project proposals, HR policy presentations, investors briefings are among the few common types of presentations. 

Compelling business presentations are key to communicating important ideas, persuading others, and introducing new offerings to the world. Hence, why business presentation design is one of the most universal skills for any professional. 

This guide teaches you how to design and deliver excellent business presentations. Plus, breaks down some best practices from business presentation examples by popular companies like Google, Pinterest, and Amazon among others! 

3 General Types of Business Presentations

A business presentation can be given for a number of reasons. Respectively, they differ a lot in terms of content and purpose. 

But overall, all types of business presentations can be classified as:

• Informative
• Persuasive 
• Supporting 

Informative Business Presentation 

As the name suggests, the purpose of an informative presentation is to discern the knowledge you have — explain what you know. It’s the most common type of business presentation out there. So you have probably prepared such at least several times. 

Examples of informative presentations:

• Team briefings presentation 
• Annual stakeholder report 
• Quarterly business reviews
• Business portfolio presentation
• Business plan presentation
• Project presentation

Helpful templates from SlideModel:

• Business plan PowerPoint template
• Business review PowerPoint template
• Project proposal PowerPoint template
• Corporate annual report template

Persuasive Business Presentation 

The goal of this type of presentation is to persuade your audience of your point of view — convince them of what you believe is right. Developing business presentations of this caliber requires a bit more copywriting mastery, as well as expertise in public speaking . Unlike an informative business presentation, your goal here is to sway the audience’s opinions and prompt them towards the desired action. 

Examples of persuasive presentations:

• Pitch deck/investor presentations
• Sales presentation  
• Business case presentation 
• Free business proposal presentation
• Business proposal PowerPoint template
• Pitch deck PowerPoint template
• Account Plan PowerPoint template

Supporting Business Presentation 

This category of business PowerPoint presentations is meant to facilitate decision-making — explain how we can get something done. The underlying purpose here is to communicate the general “action plan”. Then break down the necessary next steps for bringing it to life. 

Examples of supporting presentations:

• Roadmap presentation
• Project vision presentation 
• After Action Review presentation 
• Standard operating procedure (SOP) PowerPoint template 
• Strategy map PowerPoint template 
• After action review (ARR) PowerPoint template 

What Should Be Included in a Business Presentation?

Overall, the content of your business presentation will differ depending on its purpose and type. However, at the very minimum, all business presentations should include:

• Introductory slide 
• Agenda/purpose slide
• Main information or Content slides
• Key Takeaways slides
• Call-to-action/next steps slides

We further distill business presentation design and writing best practices in the next section (plus, provide several actionable business PowerPoint presentation examples!). 

How to Make a Business Presentation: Actionable Tips

A business presentation consists of two parts — a slide deck and a verbal speech. In this section, we provide tips and strategies for nailing your deck design. 

1. Get Your Presentation Opening Right 

The first slides of your presentation make or break your success. Why? By failing to frame the narrative and set the scene for the audience from the very beginning, you will struggle to keep their interest throughout the presentation. 

You have several ways of how to start a business presentation:

• Use a general informative opening — a summative slide, sharing the agenda and main points of the discussion. 
• Go for a story opening — a more creative, personal opening, aimed at pulling the audience into your story. 
• Try a dramatic opening — a less apparent and attention-grabbing opening technique, meant to pique the audience’s interest. 

Standard Informative Opening 

Most business presentation examples you see start with a general, informative slide such as an Agenda, Problem Statement, or Company Introduction. That’s the “classic” approach. 

To manage the audience’s expectations and prepare them for what’s coming next, you can open your presentation with one or two slides stating:

• The topic of your presentation — a one-sentence overview is enough. 
• Persuasive hook, suggesting what’s in it for the audience and why they should pay attention. 
• Your authority — the best technique to establish your credibility in a business presentation is to share your qualifications and experience upfront to highlight why you are worth listening to. 

Opening best suited for: Formal business presentations such as annual reports and supporting presentations to your team/business stakeholders. 

Story Opening 

Did you ever notice that most TED talks start with a quick personal story? The benefit of this presenting technique is that it enables speakers to establish quick rapport and hold the listener’s attention. 

Here’s how Nancy Duarte, author of “Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations” book and TED presenter, recommends opening a presentation: 

You know, here’s the status quo, here’s what’s going on. And then you need to compare that to what could be. You need to make that gap as big as possible, because there is this commonplace of the status quo, and you need to contrast that with the loftiness of your idea. 

Storytelling , like no other tool, helps transpose the audience into the right mindset and get concentrated on the subject you are about to discuss. A story also elicits emotions, which can be a powerful ally when giving persuasive presentations. In the article how to start a presentation , we explore this in more detail.

Opening best suited for: Personal and business pitches, sales presentations, other types of persuasive presentations. 

Dramatic Opening 

Another common technique is opening your presentation with a major statement, sometimes of controversial nature. This can be a shocking statistic, complex rhetoric question, or even a provocative, contrarian statement, challenging the audience’s beliefs. 

Using a dramatic opening helps secure the people’s attention and capture their interest. You can then use storytelling to further drill down your main ideas. 

If you are an experienced public speaker, you can also strengthen your speech with some unexpected actions. That’s what Bill Gates does when giving presentations. In a now-iconic 2009 TED talk about malaria, mid-presentation Gates suddenly reveals that he actually brought a bunch of mosquitoes with him. He cracks open a jar with non-malaria-infected critters to the audience’s surprise. His dramatic actions, paired with a passionate speech made a mighty impression. 

Opening best suited for: Marketing presentations, customer demos, training presentations, public speeches. 

Further reading: How to start a presentation: tips and examples. 

2. Get Your PowerPoint Design Right

Surely, using professional business PowerPoint templates already helps immensely with presentation deck design since you don’t need to fuss over slide layout, font selection, or iconography. 

Even so, you’ll still need to customize your template(s) to make them on brand and better suited to the presentation you’re about to deliver. Below are our best presentation design tips to give your deck an extra oomph. 

Use Images, Instead of Bullet Points 

If you have ever watched Steve Jobs’s presentations, you may have noticed that he never used bullet-point lists. Weird right? Because using bullet points is the most universal advice in presentation design. 

But there’s a valid scientific reason why Jobs favored images over bullet-point texts. Researchers found that information delivered in visuals is better retained than words alone. This is called the “ pictorial superiority effect ”. As John Medina, a molecular biologist, further explains :

“Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%.”

So if your goal is to improve the memorability of your presentation, always replace texts with images and visualizations when it makes sense. 

Fewer Slides is Better

No matter the value, a long PowerPoint presentation becomes tiring at some point. People lose focus and stop retaining the information. Thus, always take some extra time to trim the fluff and consolidate some repetitive ideas within your presentation. 

For instance, at McKinsey new management consultants are trained to cut down the number of slides in client presentations. In fact, one senior partner insists on replacing every 20 slides with only two slides . Doing so prompts you to focus on the gist — the main business presentation ideas you need to communicate and drop filler statements. 

Here are several quick tips to shorten your slides:

• Use a three-arc structure featuring a clear beginning (setup), main narrative (confrontation), ending (resolution). Drop the ideas that don’t fit into either of these. 
• Write as you tweet. Create short, on-point text blurbs of under 156 symbols, similar to what you’d share on Twitter. 
• Contextualize your numbers. Present any relevant statistics in a context, relevant to the listeners. Turn longer stats into data visualizations for easier cognition. 

Consistency is Key 

In a solid business presentation, each slide feels like part of the connecting story. To achieve such consistency apply the same visual style and retain the same underlying message throughout your entire presentation.

Use the same typography, color scheme, and visual styles across the deck. But when you need to accentuate a transition to a new topic (e.g. move from a setup to articulating the main ideas), add some new visual element to signify the slight change in the narrative. 

Further reading: 23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

3. Make Your Closure Memorable 

We best remember the information shared last. So make those business presentation takeaways stick in the audience’s memory. We have three strategies for that. 

Use the Rule of Three 

The Rule of Three is a literary concept, suggesting that we best remember and like ideas and concepts when they are presented in threes. 

Many famous authors and speakers use this technique:

• “Duty – Honor – Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, and what you will be” . Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
• “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” are the unalienable rights of all humans that governments are meant to protect.” Thomas Jefferson 

The Rule of Three works because three is the maximum number of items most people can remember on their first attempt. Likewise, such pairings create a short, familiar structure that is easy to remember for our brains. 

Try the Title Close Technique

Another popular presentation closing technique is “Title Close” — going back to the beginning of your narrative and reiterating your main idea (title) in a form of a takeaway. Doing so helps the audience better retain your core message since it’s repeated at least two times. Plus, it brings a sense of closure — a feel-good state our brains love. Also, a brief one-line closure is more memorable than a lengthy summary and thus better retained. 

Ask a Question 

If you want to keep the conversation going once you are done presenting, you can conclude your presentation with a general question you’d like the audience to answer.

Alternatively, you can also encourage the members to pose questions to you. The latter is better suited for informational presentations where you’d like to further discuss some of the matters and secure immediate feedback. 

Try adding an interactive element like a QR code closing your presentation with a QR code and having a clear CTA helps you leverage the power of sharing anything you would like to share with your clients. QR codes can be customized to look alike your brand.

If you are looking for a smoother experience creating presentations on the fly, check out the AI PowerPoint maker —it offers everything you can ask forfrom presentation design in a couple of clicks.

12 Business Presentation Examples and What Makes Them Great 

Now that we equipped you with the general knowledge on how to make a presentation for business, let’s take a look at how other presenters are coping with this job and what lessons you can take away from them. 

1. N26 Digital Bank Pitch Deck 

This is a fine business pitch presentation example, hitting all the best practices. The deck opens with a big shocking statement that most Millennials would rather go to the dentist than step into a bank branch. 

Then it proceeds to discuss the company’s solution to the above — a fully digital bank with a paperless account opening process, done in 8 minutes. After communicating the main product features and value proposition, the deck further conceptualizes what traction the product got so far using data visualizations. The only thing it lacks is a solid call-to-action for closing slides as the current ending feels a bit abrupt. 

2. WeWork Pitch Deck

For a Series D round, WeWork went with a more formal business presentation. It starts with laying down the general company information and then transitions to explaining their business model, current market conditions, and the company’s position on the market.

The good thing about this deck is that they quantify their business growth prospects and value proposition. The likely gains for investors are shown in concrete numbers. However, those charts go one after another in a row, so it gets a bit challenging to retain all data points. 

The last part of their presentation is focused on a new offering, “We Live”. It explains why the team seeks funds to bring it to life. Likewise, they back their reasoning with market size statistics, sample projects, and a five-year revenue forecast. 

3. Redfin Investor Presentation 

If you are looking for a “text-light” business presentation example, Redfin’s investor deck is up to your alley. This simple deck expertly uses iconography, charts, and graphs to break down the company’s business model, value proposition, market share, and competitive advantages over similar startups. For number-oriented investors, this is a great deck design to use. 

4. Google Ready Together Presentation 

This isn’t quite the standard business presentation example per se. But rather an innovative way to create engaging, interactive presentations of customer case studies .

The short deck features a short video clip from a Google client, 7-11, explaining how they used the company’s marketing technology to digitally transform their operations and introduce a greater degree of marketing automation . The narrated video parts are interrupted by slides featuring catchy stats, contextualizing issues other businesses are facing. Then transitions to explaining through the words of 7-11 CMO, how Google’s technology is helping them overcome the stated shortcomings.

5. Salesforce Business Presentation Example 

This is a great example of an informational presentation, made by the Salesforce team to share their research on customer experience (CX) with prospects and existing customers.

The slide deck errs on the lengthier side with 58 slides total. But bigger topics are broken down and reinforced through bite-sized statistics and quotes from the company leadership. They are also packaging the main tips into memorable formulas, itemized lists, and tables. Overall, this deck is a great example of how you can build a compelling narrative using different statistics. 

6. Mastercard Business Presentation

This slide deck from Mastercard instantly captures the audience’s attention with unusual background images and major data points on the growth of populations, POS systems, and payment methods used in the upcoming decade.

Perhaps to offset the complexity of the subject, Mastercard chose to sprinkle in some humor in presentation texts and used comic-style visuals to supplement that. However, all their animations are made in a similar style, creating a good sense of continuity in design. They are also using colors to signify the transition from one part of the presentation to another. 

In the second part, the slide deck focuses on distilling the core message of what businesses need to do to remain competitive in the new payments landscape. The team presents what they have been working on to expand the payment ecosystem. Then concludes with a “title close” styled call-to-action, mirroring the presentation title.

7. McKinsey Diversity & Inclusion Presentation 

This fresh business slide deck from McKinsey is a great reference point for making persuasive business presentations on complex topics such as D&I. First, it recaps the main definitions of the discussed concepts — diversity, equity, and inclusion — to ensure alignment with the audience members. 

Next, the business presentation deck focuses on the severity and importance of the issue for businesses, represented through a series of graphs and charts. After articulating the “why”, the narrative switches to “how” — how leaders can benefit from investment in D&I. The main points are further backed with data and illustrated via examples. 

8. Accenture Presentation for the Energy Sector

Similar to McKinsey, Accenture keeps its slide deck on a short. Yet the team packs a punch within each slide through using a mix of fonts, graphical elements, and color for highlighting the core information. The presentation copy is on a longer side, prompting the audience to dwell on reading the slides. But perhaps this was meant by design as the presentation was also distributed online — via the company blog and social media. 

The last several slides of the presentation deck focus on articulating the value Accenture can deliver for their clients in the Energy sector. They expertly break down their main value proposition and key service lines, plus quantify the benefits. 

9. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Technical Presentation 

Giving an engaging technical presentation isn’t an easy task. You have to balance the number of details you reveal on your slides to prevent overwhelm, while also making sure that you don’t leave out any crucial deets. This technical presentation from AWS does great in both departments. 

First, you get entertained with a quick overview of Amazon’s progress in machine learning (ML) forecasting capabilities over the last decade. Then introduced to the main tech offering. The deck further explains what you need to get started with Amazon Forecast — e.g. dataset requirements, supported forecasting scenarios, available forecasting models, etc. 

The second half of the presentation provides a quick training snippet on configuring Amazon SageMaker to start your first project. The step-by-step instructions are coherent and well-organized, making the reader excited to test-drive the product. 

10. Snapchat Company Presentation

Snapchat’s business model presentation is on a funkier, more casual side, reflective of the company’s overall brand and positioning. After briefly recapping what they do, the slide deck switches to discussing the company’s financials and revenue streams.

This business slide deck by Snap Inc. itself is rather simplistic and lacks fancy design elements. But it has a strong unified theme of showing the audience Snapchat’s position on the market and projected vector of business development. 

11. Visa Business Acquisition Presentation 

If you are working on a business plan or M&A presentation for stakeholders of your own, this example from Visa will be helpful. The presentation deck expertly breaks down the company’s rationale for purchasing Plaid and subsequent plans for integrating the startup into their business ecosystem. 

The business deck recaps why the Plaid acquisition is a solid strategic decision by highlighting the total addressable market they could dive into post-deal. Then it details Plaid’s competitive strengths. The slide deck then sums up all the monetary and indirect gains Visa could reap as an acquirer. 

12. Pinterest Earnings Report Presentation 

Annual reports and especially earnings presentations might not be the most exciting types of documents to work on, but they have immense strategic value. Hence, there’s little room for ambiguities or mistakes. 

In twelve slides, this business presentation from Pinterest clearly communicates the big picture of the company’s finance in 2021. All the key numbers are represented as featured quotes in the sidebar with diagrams further showcasing the earning and spending dynamics. Overall, the data is easy to interpret even for non-finance folks. 

To Conclude 

With these business presentation design tips, presentation templates , and examples, you can go from overwhelmed to confident about your next presentation design in a matter of hours. Focus on creating a rough draft first using a template. Then work on nailing your opening slide sequence and shortening the texts in the main part of your presentation when needed. Make sure that each slide serves a clear purpose and communicates important details. To make your business presentation deck more concise, remove anything that does not pertain to the topic. 

Finally, once you are done, share your business presentation with other team members to get their feedback and reiterate the final design.

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• The Complete Guide to Mastering Business Presentations
• Introduction to Business Presentations

What is a Business Presentation?

Aayush Jain

Definition and components of a business presentation, unpacking the core: the what and why of business presentations.

Business presentations are pivotal in the corporate landscape, acting as a bridge between a company and its audience—be it clients, investors, or internal teams. This opening paragraph sets the stage for our exploration, highlighting the essence of a business presentation. It's not merely about presenting a company; it's about crafting a narrative that engages, informs, and compels action. Here, we delve into what makes up a business presentation, emphasizing its importance in achieving business objectives and how it fits into the broader context of corporate communication.

Building Blocks: Anatomy of an Effective Presentation

Diving deeper, we explore the structural components that constitute a business presentation. From the opening slide that sets the tone, through the compelling core where ideas and data intermingle, to the concluding call to action, every element plays a crucial role. This section breaks down the anatomy of a presentation, including the significance of a visually appealing design, the strategic use of visual representations like charts and graphs, and the art of balancing information density to maintain the attention spans of audience. The goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the components that, when combined, create a compelling business presentation.

From Theory to Practice: Stories of Impact

Here, we transition from the theoretical framework to the tangible impact of business presentations in the real world. By presenting examples from various industries, we illustrate how presenting a company effectively can pivot its market position, attract potential customers, or secure funding from potential investors. This narrative brings to life the power of a well-crafted presentation, showcasing real success stories and current trends that underline the importance of design, storytelling, and audience engagement.

Expert Insights and Quantitative Backing

In this part, we lean on expert opinions and quantitative data to underscore the value of professional presentation design. Highlighting insights from industry leaders like Aayush Jain of INK PPT , we discuss the undeniable impact of aesthetics and narrative in making a presentation not just seen but felt. This exploration is reinforced with statistics and research findings, validating the strategic importance of most presentations in business success and decision-making processes.

Vision for the Future: Evolving Presentation Landscapes

Concluding, we look forward to the evolving dynamics of business presentations, especially in the context of digital transformation and virtual engagement. This future outlook article is complemented by a YouTube video link that offers viewers a deeper dive into innovative presentation techniques and the emerging tools reshaping how we convey business narratives. This segment aims to leave readers with a sense of anticipation and readiness for the advancements in presentation strategies, encouraging them to think beyond traditional formats towards more interactive, engaging approaches.

[Explore Innovative Presentation Techniques]

Historical Evolution of Business Presentations

Business presentations have come a long way from the days of overhead professional company presentation has transformed into a sophisticated process that leverages advanced technology like PowerPoint to deliver powerful messages.

Imagine the evolution of business presentations as a journey from the simplicity of a hand-drawn road map to the complexity of a GPS system. For instance, in the 1980s, a company presentation might have been limited to paper handouts and verbal explanations, while today, it involves dynamic PowerPoint slides, videos, and interactive elements.

Research indicates that the use of visual aids in presentations has increased retention rates by up to 65%, highlighting the shift towards more visually oriented communication strategies.

"In the early days, we relied on our words and basic slides to convey our ideas. Now, we use a rich tapestry of visuals, animations, and interactive elements to tell our story," reflects Aayush Jain on the evolution of presentation techniques.

Common Types of Business Presentations

There are several types of business presentations , each designed to fulfill specific objectives. From informational to persuasive, and decision-making presentations, the goal is always to present the company in the best light possible.

Consider the difference between a documentary and a feature film. Both tell stories, but while the documentary aims to inform and educate, the feature film seeks to entertain and perhaps persuade. Similarly, an informational presentation aims to educate the audience about the company profile, while a sales pitch seeks to persuade potential clients to invest.

Statistics show that over 70% of businesses consider presentation skills crucial for career success, underscoring the variety and importance of these presentations in the professional landscape.

"Each type of business presentation requires a unique approach to storytelling and design. Understanding your audience's needs and expectations is key to delivering a successful presentation," advises Aayush Jain.

Purposes and Objectives of Business Presentations

The primary purpose of an organizational presentation varies from presenting a company's achievements to potential investors, to educating new employees about company policies. Each presentation is designed with specific objectives in mind, such as persuading clients or facilitating decision-making processes.

The purpose of a business presentation can be compared to a compass in a ship's navigation. Just as a compass guides the ship towards its destination, the objectives of a presentation guide the content and delivery to achieve the desired outcome. An example of this is using a company presentation to secure new clients by effectively communicating the value proposition.

Data from LinkedIn shows that presentations with clear objectives are 50% more likely to achieve their desired outcomes, highlighting the importance of having a focused message.

"Setting clear objectives at the inception of the presentation design process ensures that every separate slide, every visual element, and every word spoken is aligned with the goal of showcasing the company in the most effective manner," says Aayush Jain.

Understanding the purposes behind business presentations paves the way for exploring the role they play in decision-making, further demonstrating their importance in the corporate world.

The Role of Business Presentations in Decision-Making

Business presentations are pivotal in the decision-making process, providing a structured opportunity for presenting complex information and recommendations. They serve as a crucial touchpoint, influencing the opinions and actions of stakeholders, from internal team members to external partners and clients.

Imagine the idea of a company presentation as a compass guiding a ship through the treacherous waters of corporate decision-making. Just as a captain relies on a compass to navigate, so do leaders rely on presentations to guide their decisions.

For instance, a well-executed presentation that showcases a comprehensive market analysis and competitive advantages can significantly influence the strategic direction of a company.

Research from the Decision Management Association highlights that decks that effectively present relevant data and analysis can improve decision-making speed and accuracy by up to 40%. A study by the International Business Communication Council found that decision-makers cite clarity, conciseness, and relevance as the top three factors that make presentations impactful in their decision-making process. These insights underscore the importance of strategic focus and data-driven content in business decks.

Key Elements of a Successful Business Presentation in showcasing a company

A successful business presentation hinges on several key elements: clear objectives, audience understanding, powerful storytelling, effective visual aids, and confident delivery. These components work in concert to engage the audience, convey the message effectively, and achieve the presentation's intended outcomes.

For example, incorporating visual aids such as bar graphs and slides can help illustrate complex ideas, much like how a vivid solo can highlight a particular emotion in a musical piece.

A study by the Presentation Institute of America found that presentation decks incorporating visual aids are 67% more effective at maintaining the attention. Additionally, Gallup research indicates that presentations that include storytelling elements are twice as likely to result in a positive outcome.

These findings highlight the critical role of integrating multiple elements to craft a driving and successful presentation.

Company Presentation vs. Public Speech: Understanding the Distinctions

While often intertwined, company presentations and public speech serve distinct purposes and require different skill sets. A business presentation is typically more focused on delivering specific information or persuading an audience regarding an organization-related topic, utilizing visuals and structured content.

Public speech, on the other hand, might focus more broadly on inspiring, informing, or entertaining an audience, often without the support of graphics.

Imagine a business presentation as a guided tour through a museum, where the guide (presenter) points out and explains various artifacts (points of discussion) with the help of visual cues and structured narrative.

Public speech, in contrast, is like a storyteller weaving tales under the moonlight, where the power of voice and story alone captures the audience's imagination. For instance, while showcasing an organization to investors, the focus is on persuading through data and strategic insights, distinct from the broader motivational approach of speaking publicly.

According to a study by the Public Speaking Association, 80% of professionals believe that presentation skills are crucial to achieving business success, yet only 40% distinguish these from public speaking abilities.

A survey by Presentation Magazine found that incorporating elements of public speech into business presentations, such as storytelling and audience engagement techniques, can enhance the effectiveness of the presentation by up to 35%. These statistics highlight the importance of understanding and integrating the strengths of both disciplines to enhance communication impact.

Cultural Considerations in Business or Company Presentations

The global organizational environment demands sensitivity to cultural differences in business presentations. Factors such as communication styles, power distance, individualism versus collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance play significant roles in how decks are crafted and delivered.

Consider the analogy of a chef preparing a meal for an international audience. Just as the chef must understand and respect the dietary preferences and restrictions of their guests, so must a talk show presenter be cognizant of the cultural nuances of their audience.

For example, a company presentation in Japan might require a more formal approach and the use of subtle persuasion, in contrast to the more direct and assertive style preferred in the United States.

Research by Hofstede Insights reveals that decks tailored to the cultural expectations of the audience are up to 70% more effective in achieving their objectives. A study by the International Journal of Business Communication supports this, finding that presentation decks that acknowledge and adapt to cultural differences improve comprehension and engagement among international audiences.

These insights underscore the critical role of cultural awareness in the success of business presentations on a global scale.

Adapting Company Presentations for Virtual Platforms

The shift towards virtual meetings and conferences necessitates adaptations in how company presentations are designed and delivered. Virtual platforms offer unique opportunities and challenges, from technical considerations to maintaining audience engagement in a digital format.

Think of transitioning from a live concert to a virtual performance. While the essence of the performance remains, the dynamics change significantly. The artist must engage the audience without the immediate feedback of live interaction, relying more on the quality of the content and presentation. Similarly, when showcasing a company virtually, the presenter must leverage technology to maintain the attention, using visual and interactive elements effectively.

A survey by Zoom Video Communications indicates that 58% of professionals find virtual presentation decks more challenging to engage the audience than in-person events. However, a report by Microsoft found that presentations that are specifically designed for virtual delivery, incorporating interactive elements like polls and Q&A sessions, see a 40% increase in audience engagement.

These findings highlight the importance of adapting presentation strategies to suit the virtual environment, ensuring that the message is not only delivered but also received and acted upon effectively.

Incorporating Storytelling Techniques while presenting a company

Storytelling in business presentations is a powerful tool to engage and connect with the audience, making complex information more relatable and memorable. It involves weaving a narrative through the presentation, using real-life examples, anecdotes, and metaphors to illustrate points and evoke emotions.

Imagine a business presentation as a novel, where instead of chapters, you have sections of your presentation, each contributing to the overall narrative. Just like a compelling novel hooks the reader from the very start, a great presentation uses storytelling to capture the attention of target audience and keep them engaged throughout.

For instance, starting a presentation with a customer success story sets the stage for a narrative that the audience can follow and relate to, making the subsequent data and analysis more impactful.

According to a study by the Stanford Graduate School of Business, stories are 22 times more memorable than facts alone. Additionally, research by the Narrative Institute shows that decks using stories can increase audience persuasion by up to 30%.

These statistics validate the effectiveness of storytelling as a technique to enhance the communicative power of business presentations, making them not just informative but also transformative experiences for the audience.

Conclusion on how company presentation can be a game changer

A business presentation is more than just an act of presentation to an audience; it is a carefully crafted communication tool designed to inform, persuade, and connect. Through a combination of historical evolution, cultural sensitivity, storytelling, and adaptation to digital platforms, business presentations have become an essential component of professional success.

By understanding and implementing the key elements of effective decks, individuals and organizations can significantly enhance their ability to communicate ideas, influence decisions, and achieve their objectives.

Frequently asked questions

How do you introduce a company in a presentation.

To introduce a company in a presentation effectively, start with a compelling opening that grabs the audience's attention from the beginning. Provide a first impression and a brief overview of your company, emphasizing the uniqueness of your brand and the value you bring to clients.

Showcasing milestones can illustrate your company's growth and success, thereby building credibility. When presenting products or services to a client, think on how they address the needs and challenges of your target audience, supported by visuals and concise descriptions.

Incorporating a testimonial can lend authenticity and demonstrate real-world impact. Lastly, introducing your team personalizes your presentation, showing the faces behind the success. Throughout, ensure your presentation is visually appealing and avoid overwhelming your audience with too much information or industry jargon.

What should be in a company presentation?

A company presentation must include a clear visual representation of your company's name, brand identity, and the core products or services you offer, designed to convey feelings of trust and reliability to your client. It should give a brief overview of your company's history, mission, and vision, helping the audience understand who you are and what you stand for. Highlighting key milestones and achievements can demonstrate your company's growth and expertise.

Testimonials or case studies provide social proof and build confidence in your potential customers. Visual elements such as your company logo, color scheme, and visuals like bar graphs or slides should be used to make the presentation more engaging and to help convey complex ideas more effectively.

Remember, the goal is to create a lasting and positive first impression on your audience, making your presentation short and to the point, and ensuring it is visually appealing from start to creating a compelling narrative.

How do I present my company in a presentation?

To present your company effectively in a presentation, begin with a strong and engaging introduction that clearly states what your business is about and why it matters. Be concise throughout, focusing on your bullet points and delivering a clear and impactful message about your company's vision, mission, and what sets you apart from the competition. Use high-quality graphics to support your points, making your presentation more memorable and easier to understand.

Highlight your main products or services, emphasizing their benefits to your target or even test audience. Avoid industry slang and ensure that your presentation progresses smoothly without rushing, allowing your audience to fully absorb the information.

Engaging your audience with relevant examples and compelling storytelling can further enhance the impact of your presentation, making it a powerful tool for presenting your company.

What are the three general types of business presentations?

The three general types of business presentations are:

• Pitch Deck Presentation: This type focuses on showcasing to investors or partners, highlighting the business model, market opportunity, and financial projections to secure funding or strategic alliances.
• Sales Deck Presentation: Aimed at potential clients or customers, this type showcases the company's products or services, demonstrating their value proposition and how they solve specific problems or meet specific needs.
• Product Market Slide Deck: This presentation type is used to introduce a new product or service to the market, detailing its features, benefits, and competitive advantages to generate interest and drive adoption.

What are the three parts of a professional company presentation?

A professional business presentation is structured into three main parts:

• Introduction (10-15%): Start by capturing the audience's attention with an engaging opening, set the context, and briefly outline what the presentation will cover. This sets the tone and expectations from the very beginning.
• Body (75-80%): The core of your presentation, where you delve into the details of your company presentation, highlighting the company profile, showcasing your products or services, and discussing key points in further detail. Use this section to convey your main message, supported by visuals, examples, and data to enhance understanding and retention.
• Conclusion (10-15%): Summarize the key points made throughout the presentation, reinforce the main message, and provide a clear call to action or outline the next steps. The conclusion should leave a lasting impression, ensuring your company and its offerings remain top of mind for your audience.

What is the most important element in a powerpoint company presentation?

The most important element in a business presentation is clarity of message. Showing the company's goals, values, and objectives in a clear, concise manner ensures that the audience understands the company profile core message. Visuals, storytelling, and engaging content support this clarity by reinforcing the message and keeping the audience's attention focused.

How has technology impacted business presentations?

Technology has revolutionized business presentations by enabling more dynamic, interactive, and visually appealing presentation desks. Tools like PowerPoint, video conferencing software, and interactive polls have made it easier to engage with the audience, whether in-person or virtually. Technology also allows for broader reach, enabling slide decks to speak to global audiences through webinars and online meetings.

What are the key differences between business presentations and public speech?

Business presentations often focus on numerous aspects of a company, its products, or services to a specific audience with a clear objective, such as persuading, informing, or decision-making. Public speech, while it can share these goals, is broader and may not always involve creating a business context. It focuses more on the delivery, rhetoric, and engagement with the audience on various topics.

How can storytelling be incorporated into business presentations?

Storytelling can be incorporated by framing the presentation around a compelling narrative point that relates to the audience's experiences or challenges. Using real-life examples, customer testimonials, and a clear narrative arc can make the business presentation more engaging and memorable. Storytelling helps to humanize the company and makes complex information more relatable.

What are the best practices for designing a business presentation?

Best practices include keeping the design simple and professional, using a consistent color scheme and font, minimizing text on slides, and making good use of visuals and graphs. It's also important to tailor the presentation to the audience, focus on key messages, and practice delivery to ensure smooth flow and timing.

How can one adapt a business presentation for an international audience?

To adapt a presentation for an international audience, consider cultural sensitivities, use clear and simple language, avoid local jargon, and incorporate relevant global examples or case studies. It's also helpful to be mindful of time zone differences for live decks and to provide translations or subtitles if necessary.

What are the benefits of practicing a presentation before delivering it?

Practicing a presentation helps in refining the delivery, timing, and transitions between topics. It builds confidence, reduces anxiety, and allows the presenter to adjust pacing and emphasis based on the flow of the presentation. Practice also helps in identifying and correcting any potential issues with the content or delivery.

How can visuals enhance the effectiveness of a presentation?

Visuals, such as charts, graphs, images, and videos, can help illustrate and reinforce key aspects, making complex information easier to understand. They capture and retain the audience's attention, add interest to the presentation, and can evoke emotional responses that enhance persuasion and recall.

What role does the audience play in shaping the content of a presentation?

The audience's needs, interests, and level of knowledge significantly shape the content and delivery of a presentation. Understanding the audience allows the presenter to tailor the content to address their specific questions, concerns, and expectations, making the presentation more relevant, engaging, and effective.

How can feedback be used to improve future presentations?

Feedback provides valuable insights into what worked well and what could be improved in terms of content, delivery, and engagement strategies. Constructive criticism helps identify areas for improvement, while positive feedback can reinforce effective practices. Incorporating feedback into future decks ensures continuous improvement and better audience engagement.

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Business Presentation: Definition, Steps to Create & Tips to Remember!

At some point in your life, you must have given a presentation or at least done some sort of public speaking. If you haven’t, then at some point you will have to, especially if you’re an entrepreneur.

When it comes to giving presentations, it doesn’t matter that you are a seasoned speaker or an amateur as long as you are able to convey your message or achieve your goal in the most engaging way.

And truth be told, even though each presentation has its own subtle differences, there are a few universal guidelines or steps that make it effective.

But the fact of the matter is that giving presentations, especially business presentations, is not exactly a walk in the park and not everyone can easily pull it off.

But don’t worry, that’s why we have got your back! In this blog, we will provide you with the steps involved in creating a killer business presentation and making it stand out!

Before we get to the steps involved, let’s understand what a business presentation is and why it is important to create one!

Ready? Let’s go!

What is a Business Presentation? (Definition)

A presentation is simply an introduction, demonstration, or speech given by an individual or group of individuals to an audience in order to inform, inspire, convince, or motivate them.

So a business presentation can be defined as a formal introduction or information about new business products, ideas, or practices. It is usually carried out using audio-visual materials, such as projectors, documents, presentation software, whiteboards, charts, and more.

Business presentations are often done with the aim to educate or train the audience, sell a product or an idea to them or simply convey or share your vision with them.

Now that we have explained what business presentations are, let’s help you understand the importance of creating one!

Importance of Creating a Business Presentation

More often than not, a business presentation is the first document or introduction about your organization or your organization’s products and services that your clients get to see.

So when somebody sits through such a presentation, they expect to get gain some information from it without dozing off halfway through it. That’s why it is important that you have a well-crafted, visually appealing, and engaging business presentation .

A good business presentation offers many benefits, such as:

1. Helps Create Connections

A business presentation focuses on communication, interaction, and bonding between you and your audience. It allows you to build a good impression and brand image. This not only helps you convey messages and convince your audience but also establishes relationships and creates better connections.

2. Provides Information

A good presentation is highly informative and eye-opening. It’s a great opportunity to give out nuggets of details, facts, trivia, and statistics-backed data. It provides the listener with information in the most engaging way, which means that they walk out a better-informed and educated person.

Read more:  6 Awesome Video Presentation Software & Tips to Follow!

3. Offers Inspiration

The impact a good business presentation can have on an individual is far more than you can imagine. Since most business presentations involve the use of audio-visual materials, stories or anecdotes, handouts/pamphlets, or demonstrations, it tends to stick in the minds of the listeners. It keeps them engaged, offers inspiration, and helps influence their decisions.

Clearly, business presentations are an effective way to get across your message and build your brand. They are definitely rewarding and crucial for your business.

And since we don’t want to keep you waiting, let’s jump straight into the nitty-gritty of creating a business presentation!

How to Create a Business Presentation in 9 Simple Steps!

Step 1. create a plan.

The first step in creating an excellent business presentation is to make a plan about what you want to do and how exactly you want to do it. For this, it is always good to set a goal that you seek to achieve through your presentation and then create a roadmap of how you want to achieve it.

In a business presentation plan, you create an outline of your presentation and decide what message you want to convey and the main points and arguments you want to include.

Divide your presentation into an introduction, the main section, and a conclusion, and further incorporate sub-points within each section. This will allow you to easily split your content into a consumable format.

With a plan ready in hand, your presentation will sail through smoothly!

Step 2. Spend Some Time on Your Presentation Slides

Is your presentation even a presentation without visual slides projected in the background? It is a must-have in every business presentation and that’s why you need to invest a little time in how they look.

Choose a professional-looking slide deck that matches the tone of your presentation. Go for colors that suit your brand’s or product’s colors, and avoid too many flashy colors. Also, try to pick a font and font size that aligns with your brand or organization.

Make sure that you select your presentation slide decks based on the content that you are dealing with, such as using professional or neutral slide decks for financial data or research topics and colorful slide decks for informal topics.

Step 3. Establish Your Credibility with a Story

Whenever you start a presentation, it is extremely crucial that you establish your credibility right up front, because people are more likely to listen to you if they are convinced about your authenticity.

No, this doesn’t mean that your drone on about your career highlights, instead you lead your business presentation with a compelling story. This could be anything about the background of your topic, an experience, a relatable story, an anecdote, or any other references that support your subject and make it more interesting.

Here is where you can also add a little humor to get a laugh out of them and put them at ease by setting a positive tone.

Doing so will help you engage with the audience, build a personal connection, and serve as a memorable foundation for your presentation.

Step 4. Support Your Claims

You may have established your credibility with a story or an anecdote, but if you really want to create an authentic image, then you need to back up all your claims during your presentation.

So do not hesitate to use supporting materials liberally. This means that you provide statistics and numbers, reference research, or offer proof supporting your claims. This will cement your credibility and authenticity.

Read more:  15 Best Presentation Blogs and Websites to Follow!

Step 5. Use Visual Elements Liberally

Business presentations can get boring if your slides just have texts, numbers, and tables. Not just that it makes it difficult for your audience to simultaneously read and listen to your presentation. That’s why you need to use visual elements like images, charts, graphics, GIFs, and more.

Adding powerful quotes, full-screen images, and videos will stick in the mind of your audience and will help maintain their attention throughout. Not to mention, it simply makes your presentation visually appealing!

Step 6. Add Animations to Your Presentation Slides

Obviously your format and content matter more, and if they are the cake, then adding a little animation or cinematic style to your slides is like the cherry on top. It simply makes your presentation a little more appealing!

Include fun animation, add smooth transitions, move around your slides horizontally or vertically, and let your content appear on the screen creatively. This will allow you to tell your story effortlessly.

Just try not to go overboard with the animation and make sure to strike a balance while maintaining consistency throughout.

Step 7. Be Prepared for Questions

No presentation is ever complete with a round of question-and-answer sessions towards the end, so it’s always best to be prepared for any difficult question that might be asked.

Your job is to anticipate all the possible questions or concerns that your audience might have and consider all the possible objections and arguments that might arise during a discussion, and prepare answers for them.

You can even get a colleague to listen to your presentation and have a practice session for this.

Step 8. Prepare Questions

It’s crucial to remember that sometimes your audience might not have any questions for you. This can obviously create an awkward moment for you when you open the floor to questions.

For that reason, it is important that you prepare your own set of questions in advance. Here, you can incorporate audience interaction by asking questions to your audience, quizzing them, asking them to vote, making them participate in simple activities, and more.

Doing this will help you avoid awkward pauses and silences while also creating an open environment of active participation and discussion.

Step 9. Wrap Up with a Closing Statement

Once all the questions have been asked and when all the discussions come to an end, you need to include a short closing statement for your presentation. Be sure to prepare a summarized statement that includes your main message, key points, and final call to action.

Follow these steps and you will have prepared a fantastic business presentation for your audience! But the fact is that no matter how good you are at public speaking, there is always room for improvement.

What you need are some simple tips to make your killer presentation even better . And for that, we have compiled for you a list that you can follow!

Scroll down to find out!

Tips for Creating An Awesome Business Presentation

Here are some simple tips that you must follow during your business presentation:

• Keep your presentation crisp and try not to include too many slides for your presentation.
• Avoid using too many colors and fonts. Instead, stick to a color palette and font that matches your attire and your brand image.
• Do not hesitate to seek the help of presentation tools and software
• Focus on your narration and story-telling style.
• Ask rhetorical questions to reinforce your key points and primary message.
• Prepare some business-appropriate jokes, one-liners, and puns to make your presentation fun and engaging.
• Dress in formal business attire and groom yourself to look appealing and presentable.
• Maintain a defining tone and style for your presentation – be it formal, casual, or humorous – and try to be consistent with it throughout.
• Be enthusiastic, and expressive, focus on your body language, and most importantly, maintain eye contact throughout.

With that, we can guarantee that you will put on one heck of a presentation and give your audience a memorable and enriching experience!

Our team at  bit.ai  has created a few awesome business templates to make your business processes more efficient. Make sure to check them out before you go, y our team might need them!

• SWOT Analysis Template
• Business Proposal Template
• Business Plan Template
• Competitor Research Template
• Project Proposal Template
• Company Fact Sheet
• Executive Summary Template
• Operational Plan Template
• Pitch Deck Template

Presentations are all about communication. So it doesn’t matter if it is your first presentation or your hundredth one, if you’re not able to communicate information in an engaging way, then you end up wasting your time and your listeners’ time.

Whether you are trying to sell something to an audience or simply sharing your vision with them, create a business presentation that will not only educate your listeners but also squeeze a laugh out of them.

We only hope that the steps and tips we have provided you will help you along the way in creating a killer business presentation for your audience!

Adios and Happy presenting!

Further reads: 

9 Most Successful Business Models You Should Know About! (With Examples)

10 Business Drivers to Grow Your Business!

Business Markets: Definition, 5 Types (with Examples) & Characteristics!

13 Types of Plans Your Business Must Have!

9 Best Presentation Ideas and Tips You Must Explore!

Brand Voice: What is it & How to Define it for your Business!

Company Profile: What is it & How to Create it?

Sponsorship Proposal: What is it & How to Create it?

3 Project Proposal Examples You Must Check Out!

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Operational efficiency: definition, importance & ways to improve it, top email automation software for marketers, remote employee onboarding checklist and best practices, organizational challenges and how to overcome them, 10+ powerful sales tips every sales rep should know, business markets: definition, 5 types (with examples) & characteristics.

About Bit.ai

Bit.ai is the essential next-gen workplace and document collaboration platform. that helps teams share knowledge by connecting any type of digital content. With this intuitive, cloud-based solution, anyone can work visually and collaborate in real-time while creating internal notes, team projects, knowledge bases, client-facing content, and more.

The smartest online Google Docs and Word alternative, Bit.ai is used in over 100 countries by professionals everywhere, from IT teams creating internal documentation and knowledge bases, to sales and marketing teams sharing client materials and client portals.

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What is the importance of a good business presentation?

By: Author Shrot Katewa

If you one of those who are thinking “Why the heck is a good business presentation important”? Trust me, you are not alone! We get this question A LOT! We also encounter clients who not only don’t understand the importance of a good presentation, but also hesitate to ask. I suppose that they probably feel it must be obviously important to have something which has “good” attached to it.

Honestly, creating a good business presentation does require you to put in a bit of effort. It requires a bit of skills, knowledge, willingness and practise to pull things together. It can also take quite some time to create that perfect business presentation which works for you.

So, WHY is it important to have a good business presentation? It is important to have a good business presentation because a  well-crafted, visually appealing business presentation can say that you are professional and value quality. On the contrary, not-so-good presentation fails to hold your audience’s attention, and can even lead to unfavourable outcomes. A business presentation is often the first document about your organisation that your clients or partners get to see.

Thus, it is important to have a good business presentation in order to build a first impression, a good brand image and most particularly to convince your audience about your business/idea.

Overwhelmed? Don’t worry, in this post we will evaluate the various aspects of creating a good business presentation. Hopefully, you will feel more confident to create a business presentation by the end of this post. Let’s have a look at some of the key things you should know –

Things to keep in mind before starting work on your business presentation?

While there is a lot of thinking one needs to do for the actual presentation, there are few things one should keep in mind even before they start working on their business presentation. You need to know what kind of presentation needs to be created. You need to ask yourself, who am I making this 

business presentation for? Who is my audience? What is the size of my audience? How big will be the screen size on which I’ll be presenting? Do I need to email this deck or is it something that I will be presenting in-person? The amount of time you have with your audience/stakeholders.

These questions essentially help produce a self-created design brief. Answers to these questions can be critical as they sort of give creative direction throughout the presentation. For example –

• Font size – Audience size can help you define the size of the text. If there is a large audience, the possibility of them being further away from the screen increases. In such a scenario, a general rule of thumb we follow is – “larger the audience size, the larger the font size”.
• Amount of information on each slide – This is in direct correlation with the first point. If you are presenting to a larger audience, you should obviously not cram a lot of information in a single slide. You will definitely have more liberty to put in additional information if your deck is viewed by a smaller audience. Even so, one should keep in mind that too much text and too much of the information on any single slide is a recipe for a bad presentation.
• File size and images – If you intend to send the presentation over email to your audience, do keep in mind the size of the file. The size of presentation file can easily get out of control if precautions are not taken. We shall cover this topic on how to keep the image size under control in another blog post.
• Number of slides – In order to identify the number of slides, the first thing you may want to look at is the total time that you have at hand. Next, identify approximately how much time you intend to spend on each slide. Divide the two, and you have an approximate number for the total slides that you should have. Be sure to consider some time for Q&A. For example – if you 30 minutes for a meeting – you may want to set aside at least about 10 minutes for Q&A. You’re then left with 20 minutes. If you intend to spend about 2 minutes per slide, your goal should be to restrict the presentation to about 10 slides.

As per Guy Kawasaki , the creator of the term “Death by Powerpoint” and the “ 10/20/30 rule ”, one should take no more than 10 slides, and 20 minutes to explain their business/idea. Also, one should use no less than 30 point font in order to maintain readability. I feel this is a great benchmark to keep in mind.

What do we mean by a “good business presentation”?

Any good business presentation should be able to do at least the following – 

• Give an overview of your organisation
• Objective of the meeting
• Synergy/next steps in the partnership

A business presentation is a tool or a handy reference document that provides an overview of your business, the purpose of the meeting and possible next steps. As I mentioned earlier, it is often the first document about your organisation that your clients or partners get to see. Thus, it should definitely give a brief overview of your organisation, specify the objective of your meeting and highlight the future roadmap or the next steps envisaged.

What should be included in a good business presentation?

Not every business is the same. Therefore, business presentations also vary based on your business. Thus, it is difficult to have a structure that fits with every specific requirement. Having said that, a general list of contents that should be included in your business presentation are as follows – 

• Cover slide – this slide may have a title and the date
• Vision & mission
• Business overview – objective of the business, sectors/industries, number of years, office locations, team size etc.
• Details of the products or services
• Case study of a project
• Testimonials
• Partnership opportunity – this should take into consideration the areas of business of your potential audience, and also highlight how a partnership would be mutually beneficial to both organisations.

It is of utmost importance that each presentation is customized to your audience, and it should be designed keeping your audience at the core. This means, highlighting specific products or services that may work in favour of the partnership specific to a client. 

Is it worth putting the effort in creating a good business presentation?

Absolutely! While it may seem a lot of effort to create a good business presentation, we’ve seen that a well-designed presentation that is crisp and conveys the right message, and is also visually appealing, has as much as a 63% higher chances of conversion . It is important to note that having a good business presentation isn’t everything, but not having one definitely sets you back by a few steps! We strongly advise organisations to put efforts in ensuring a good business presentation. Through our partnerships, we’ve seen that the most amount of time taken in creating a good business presentation goes into designing it. Now, we understand that not everyone always has the time, skills, or resources to put in the effort for designing a good business presentation. Thus, we have put together some pro-tips that can help you in achieving this task easily.

Pro-tips on creating a good business presentation easily

There are a few ways you can save some time and effort in creating a good business presentation. We’ve listed our top 3 recommendations below-

1. Buy presentation templates – There are quite a few platforms available on the internet that provide you with well designed presentation templates. These templates are great if you don’t wish to spend much time on designing the deck as these are pre-designed by professionals with dummy content and dummy text. However, the flipside is that while the design has been already created, they are generalised and not specific to your content. Therefore, you may still need the necessary skills to edit the presentation, and you still end up spending a lot of time. If this is the course you plan to take, I would recommend Envato Market . 

• You get a professional looking presentation
• Templates are highly generalised
• Customization still requires moderate to high level of expertise and a lot of time
• Since templates are open to use for all, your presentation may end up looking similar to someone else who may have used the same template.
• Doesn’t work if you have many presentations to be designed

2. Hire design interns – this is a great option especially if you have many presentations/designs that you need created. While interns are not experts, good candidates can give you great designs which are more professional than most non-designers. 

• Great for large/high volume design needs.
• Highly customised designs
• High time and effort associated for identifying and hiring good design interns
• Interns will mostly be available for a short period of 3-4 months. Thus, post design changes can be a challenge
• May lack focus on messaging as their expertise is often in design and not in communication

3. Hire a presentation design agency – If there is a lot at stake, we would recommend going with this option. While it might seem a bit cost heavy, however, we’ve seen this to be a great return on investment especially if you are pitching for a project with a total revenue potential of at least 10 times the cost of hiring the agency for this task.  For example, if you’re planning to raise $1 million, hiring a professional agency for a presentation design and spending upto $5000 may not be a bad idea after all. 

• Highly customised designs with great precise messaging
• No further customization needed (generally) – even if needed it is generally carried out by the agency
• Saves time – allows you to parallely work on other areas of business. Also, absolutely useful if you have a short turn-around time. 
• Cost – while high at times, cost-value proposition can easily outweigh this as a con.

In case you intend to hire a professional agency, you can write to us at [email protected]

We’ve established that having a good business presentation is indeed important. While it can take some time and effort, it is worth the investment. A bit of pre-planning can help you reach your end objective faster and easily. Identify which route you may want to take to design your presentation, and soon you will have a great presentation for your business.

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How to Make Killer Business Presentations

Last Updated – Feb 15, 2022 @ 7:49 am

If you are serious about your business , at some point, you need to make a business presentation. Whether you are looking for new investors, training new staff, or selling to an audience, acing your business presentation skills is a must. 

Unfortunately, starting a solid business presentation is a huge undertaking for a lot of entrepreneurs. To help you with this important task, we’ve compiled this guide.

What is a Business Presentation?

A business presentation is a great tool that will help you attract new investors and customers, or let people know about your business. 

This slideshow or demonstration showcases your services, products, and even history. This is usually carried out through audio/visual material such as televisions, laptops, projectors, and statistical documents.   

Business presentations are usually made using a presentation software such as Microsoft PowerPoint but they can also be created using material such as flip charts. 

Types of Business Presentations

Not all business presentations are the same. We’ve gathered its most common types to make it easier for you to assess which one you should make.

Informative presentations

The goal of this business presentation is to provide information and educate the audience. It may cover the following topics:

• Marketing plan
• Status reports
• Monthly reports

The main characteristic of this type of business presentation is it begins with a goal, and it is followed by specific action plans.

Persuasive presentations

This type of business presentation is commonly presented in the middle and upper management of companies. The goal of this presentation is to convince people to support a side.

Usually, this presentation begins with a problem and a proposed solution. Then, it is followed by a situation analysis.

If you plan on presenting a persuasive business presentation, you must highlight the advantages of your viewpoint, as well as present facts and examples. This way, you can persuade your audience to favor your solution. 

Group presentations

The purpose of this type of presentation is to communicate the findings of a team or group. This presentation may be informal, but as with other types of presentations, it seeks to convince people to accept new business strategies and findings.

These presentations are commonly used in corporate meetings where senior executives present their desired corporate direction, followed by team members discussing the topic in detail. 

Presentation aids

Giving presentations made with programs such as PowerPoint has become the new norm in business.

However, you can still use blackboards, whiteboards, and other channels to capture the attention of your audience.

You can even use both to ensure that your audience remembers the details of your presentation more. 

Importance of Business Presentations

Every business owner should know how to make business presentations. Here’s why these types of presentations are vital to the success of your brand .

You’ll be seen as an authority figure

When you make great presentations, you will encourage more people to trust your brand.

Whether the presentation is for a sales campaign or a simple meeting for your company, presentations have the power to influence how people see you. In turn, this can affect their decision-making process.

Another reason why a presentation makes you an authority figure is that it promotes consistency. When you have a standard for presentations, everyone in your company can communicate information more consistently. 

It increases engagement

One of the major upsides of presentations is it makes it easier for the audience to engage. Through a solid presentation, you can hold people’s attention, and make them understand concepts visually.

Presentations are also theatrical in nature so it creates a lasting impact compared to when you simply talk without visual aids. When your audience’s engagement is increased, you’re sure that they get your message. 

It is effective in reaching various audience groups

At its core, presentations are a communication tool. You can use them in face-to-face meetings, Zoom calls, and many more. The same presentation you used for your meeting can even be made available to download for your staff so they can study it more even after the presentation has concluded. 

It gives you flexibility

Another importance of presentation is it allows presenters like you to be more flexible.

When you have a presentation, you don’t need to spend hours editing or changing your content to make way for new information. You can easily modify it depending on its audience.

For instance, if you are making a business presentation in various market sectors, you can incorporate specific content for each audience group. 

Tips on How to Make a Killer Business Presentation

Here are some effective and surprisingly easy tips to follow to ensure to make the best business presentation.

1. Write it down first

When making a business presentation, you don’t immediately open your favorite presentation software the moment you decide to make it.

The goal of your business presentation is to convey a message. But first, you need to define what that message is. 

Considering this, stay away from your computer during the first stage of developing your presentation. Keep in mind that PowerPoint or Keynote, along with other presentation software, are not designed to write presentations. They are only designed to deliver them.

Get your pen and paper out, or open MS Word or any notes app, then create the headlines you want on your presentation.

Once done, assess of everything is cohesive. Your business presentation should tell a story that has a beginning, middle, and end. 

2. Steer clear from black & white presentations

Standard black and white presentations should have no room in your company. This will only bore your audience. 

Leverage beginner-friendly software to design your presentation. There are tons of templates to choose from to make your business presentation more professional-looking.

If you want to take the extra mile, hire someone to do a presentation template for your company. This one-time investment will definitely pay off in the long run. 

3. Use images & visuals

Reading presentations that contain huge blocks of texts is never fun. Effective presenters know the importance of leveraging images and other visual aids in their presentation.

This could be charts, diagrams, or graphs. When you present data this way, your audience will understand it better.

4. Don’t use stock photography

This is one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when making presentations. Nobody likes to see stock photos with annoying watermarks.

Similarly, if you are presenting to a Filipino audience and the stock photos you have on your presentation only use Caucasian models, these people would not relate to your presentation much. 

5. Inject a little humor

We’re not asking you to play Kabulastugan Instagram videos on your business presentation. However, try to inject a few funny anecdotes without making fun of anyone.

Business presentations are notorious for being boring so if you want to prevent your audience from dozing off, lighten up the mood.

6. Don’t overload your business presentation with information

When you make business presentations, your goal is not to make your audiences read, but to make them listen. Do not put all information in slides because this will only decrease the interest of your audience. 

Instead of treating your business presentation like a transcript, use it to guide you when telling the story of the presentation. Here’s an order you can use for your slides:

• Introduction
• Visual data 
• Questions (directed to you by your audience)
• Other backup information to answer possible questions 

7. Use large fonts

The last thing you want is to have people at the back squinting because they can’t see the text in your presentation. As a rule, the text and images in your slides should be clear even for those at the back of the room.

It is also recommended to use simple fonts. Here are some fonts that look professional:

• Didas 
• Josefin Sans
• Times new roman 
• Libre-Baskerville

8. Keep it short

Nobody wants to listen to an hour-long presentation without breaks. As much as possible, cut your business presentation to 20 minutes or less.

This way, you get to arrest the attention span of your audience from beginning to end.

9. Always end on a positive note

When it comes to a business presentation, you should end on a high note by answering the question “what should we do next?”

This call to action will encourage your audience to think beyond your presentation and find ways to apply what they learned.

10. Check the set-up

Whether you are making a business presentation to 10 people or 1,000, you should always check the set-up beforehand, or ask someone to do it for you.

This way, you will minimize the risk of running into technical issues that could affect your presentation’s success. 

11. Don’t forget to practice

An aesthetically-pleasing presentation will only get you so far. At the end of the day, the success of your business presentation solely depends on your presentation skills.

If you haven’t practiced this skill yet, don’t worry. After all, nobody is born a great speaker. This is something you develop over time.

What may help you is to practice in front of a mirror, or do a mock presentation with two people in your team. Ask them for feedback on areas you can improve on, and make adjustments as needed. 

12. Prepare for a Q&A

At the end of your presentation, you must ask your audience for questions or input. When taking note of possible questions, do not leave out the simplest ones.

It is also recommended to the answer by heart instead of simply reading them from your slide. 

You can also prepare some questions at the end if in case your audience is too shy to ask questions. This way, there would be no uncomfortable and awkward silence.

About MJ de Castro

MJ de Castro is the lead personal finance columnist at Grit PH.

MJ started her career as a writer for her local government’s City Information Office. Later on, she became a news anchor on PTV Davao del Norte.

Wanting to break free from the shackles of her 9-to-5 career to live by the beach, she pursued remote work. Over the years, she has developed a wide specialization on health, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, branding, and travel.

Now, she juggles writing professionally, her business centering on women’s menstrual health, and surfing.

Education: Ateneo de Davao University (AB Mass Communication) Focus: Personal Finance, Personal Development, Entrepreneurship, & Marketing

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5 Steps to Preparing an Engaging Industry Presentation You can make a great impression and generate interest with an exciting, informative presentation. Find out my five secrets to creating an industry presentation guaranteed to wow.

By Cyrus Claffey Edited by Chelsea Brown May 28, 2024

Key Takeaways

• This article offers practical advice for delivering impactful presentations at industry events, emphasizing the importance of a comfortable stage presence, understanding your audience, designing effective slides and more.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Industry events are a chance to network with your colleagues and impress distributors — but to really make the most of your time at a conference, you need to learn how to prepare a presentation that engages, informs and leaves an impact.

I've presented at some of the most important real estate and property technology events in the country as the founder of ButterflyMX . Here are a few tricks I've picked up along the way to wow any audience.

Related: 6 Tips for Making a Winning Business Presentation

1. Getting comfortable with the stage

I recommend taking a walk around the stage before your presentation. By familiarizing yourself with your environment, you can prepare yourself better.

And while you're on stage, a relaxed, comfortable presence goes a long way in keeping your audience engaged . Whether you want to play your presentation casually or more formally, audiences can sense discomfort, which prevents them from fully connecting with your message.

To project your sense of comfortability, focus on your body language . You can project confidence by speaking slowly and clearly and by walking across the stage to keep the audience's attention — even if there's already a podium or lectern set up on stage.

Unfortunately, if a speaker spends too long standing behind the podium, an audience might interpret that as a sign of indecision and inaction from the speaker. Instead, you can remove any barriers between yourself and the audience by using the whole length of the stage.

2. Familiarity with industry statistics

An audience that doesn't know me might be wondering why they should be taking my advice. I certainly don't blame them. When I'm watching a new presenter, I ask the same question.

If you can back up your claims with hard data, your presentation will ring true with listeners. You can cite industry-wide statistics or establish your own bona fides by citing stats that buttress your own credibility by establishing your company's success.

In my case, I'm happy to use a couple of statistics that prove how successful my company, ButterflyMX, is in the proptech industry. For instance, we serve more than one million apartment units, and if you're interested in how consumers feel about us, look no further than the internet — we have over 20,000 five-star reviews !

Related: 7 Ways to Captivate Any Audience

3. Knowing your audience

Depending on who your audience is , you'll have to adjust your game plan and prepare for different things.

I've spoken at conferences where the audiences couldn't be more different — a presentation that wows one crowd might have no information that's applicable to another. As the founder of a property technology company, I have the pleasure of speaking at a variety of different conferences that serve different markets.

For example, integrators and installers might value a talk on product features and hardware more than others. And if I'm presenting to an audience of property managers, I'll know to dial down the technical talk and focus on the benefits a robust video intercom offers, such as simplifying their day-to-day workloads.

Depending on your audience, you need to strike the right balance between talking about hardware specs and features.

4. Designing your slides carefully

Slides are a good opportunity to share the aesthetics, tone and values of your company — but you've got to make sure you use them effectively.

A slide with too much text looks busy, and it'll distract your audience and draw focus away from you. Instead, consider putting that information into your notes and speaking it aloud. Slides should focus on one or two visual elements, like bullet points, charts and graphs.

As for the actual design of your slides, you should ensure that you adhere to your company's brand guidelines. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, brand guidelines are a single, governing document that goes over important design concepts like the colors and logos that your company has.

Related: 6 Ways to Take Your Next Presentation to the Next Level

5. Asking for audience participation

Asking for audience participation is the ultimate way to ensure everybody is locked in and paying attention — but it's also a double-edged sword. You also need to be prepared in case asking the audience to participate doesn't necessarily go your way.

For example, you might generally ask if an audience has any questions at the end of your presentation. But you run the risk of running into a hostile, bad-faith question — or you might even be met with silence.

That's why I'd recommend you give the audience questions and tasks that have a little more structure. You could do things like asking for a show of hands, asking for specific anecdotes or taking a poll.

Polls have gotten an especially high-tech upgrade recently — see if you can set up an electronic voting system that allows audience members to vote with their smartphones. Then, you'd be able to throw the results on screen and watch them update in real time!

You should pepper these interactive sections throughout your presentation to ensure that audiences are engaged throughout your entire talk.

Entrepreneur Leadership Network® Contributor

Founder of ButterflyMX

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Companies and organizations often use business presentations as a means of selling an idea or product, for training purposes or to motivate the audience. Since much can ride on a presentation, the presenter should prepare and rehearse until he’s confident that he’s ready to present.

In addition to focusing on what information you want to present to your audience, you must also think about how you're going to present your material so that your audience doesn't just hear it, but gets it, as well. Several factors determine the effectiveness of the presentation of business information on an intended audience.

It Must Be Informative

Listeners want to know core nuggets of information, such as how to overcome obstacles, or learn tricks of the trade to improve performance or productivity. Good presentations leave the audience with new information that’s often enlightening and eye-opening.

The most useful presentations are often those that include practical information that’s applicable to the audience such as how to make cold calls, or how to be a better manager. The most effective ones are often based on the direct experiences of the presenter because the delivery is then genuine and heartfelt.

It Should Be Inspiring

It's essential that a business presentation capture the audience's attention. A compelling presentation is anything but a lecture; it contains the elements of a story, complete with conflicts, resolutions, anecdotes, and lessons. To capture the audience's attention, the presentation also needs to focus on the most important points from the start -- rambling away from the key issues results in a loss of impact.

Make it Visually Appealing

Using visual aides during a presentation also affect its impact on the audience. Screen projectors, slides, handouts, colorful posters, as well as the body language of the presenter, all add up to make a presentation stand out. If you're talking about your company's product, have several of the products available to hold and discuss.

However, the effectiveness of the props really depends on their relevance to the presented information. The presenter shouldn’t make the props the focus of the presentation; he should use them as tools to help get the point across, while keeping the focus on key issues.

Connect With Your Audience

Business presentations that are interactive and involve the audience – such as question-and-answer sessions, games, role-playing, and contests that include small prizes – create a memorable bonding experience between the presenter and the audience, as well as among the audience members.

The camaraderie generated by such activities helps drive home the overall message of the presentation. After all, the whole point of a presentation is to inform the audience in a way that also stimulates and uplifts them.

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Why PowerPoint Is Important? (The Benefits Explained)

Presentations can be a great way to share ideas and information, but they can also be overwhelming and dull if not done correctly.

Fortunately, PowerPoint offers a number of features to help you create compelling presentations that can engage your audience and effectively deliver even the most complex concepts.

In this article, we will explore the basics of PowerPoint and why it is important, as well as the many benefits it can offer.

We will discuss how PowerPoint can help improve presentations, the role visuals can play, and the various features available to make the most of your presentations.

By the end of this article, you will be well-equipped to create and deliver powerful and engaging presentations with PowerPoint.

Table of Contents

Short Answer

Powerpoint is an important tool for presenting information in a visual and organized manner.

It allows people to present complex information in an easy to understand and engaging way.

It also enables the presenter to highlight the most important points and helps to keep the audience focused.

Powerpoint is an invaluable tool for anyone looking to present their ideas effectively.

The Basics of PowerPoint

PowerPoint is an important tool for businesses, as it can help to create professional-looking presentations.

It is a presentation software program developed and distributed by Microsoft, and it is available for both Windows and Mac operating systems.

With PowerPoint, users can create slides with text, graphics, animations, and other elements.

It also has features such as the ability to embed audio and video, as well as the ability to animate objects.

Additionally, PowerPoint allows users to easily create attractive visuals and engaging presentations.

PowerPoint also has a number of features that make it easier to organize and deliver complex concepts in an understandable manner.

For instance, it offers a variety of slide layouts to help users structure their presentations in an organized way.

It also provides a range of tools to help create visuals that can help audiences to better retain information.

Furthermore, PowerPoint has a range of animation and transition effects that can be used to make presentations more dynamic and engaging.

In addition, PowerPoint supports the use of templates and themes, which can help to give presentations a more professional look.

It also allows users to easily collaborate and share their presentations with others.

This makes it easier for businesses to collaborate on projects and ensure that all stakeholders have access to the same information.

Finally, PowerPoint offers a number of features that can help to improve presentations, such as the ability to add notes and comments, as well as the ability to insert charts and graphs.

The Benefits of Using PowerPoint

PowerPoint is an incredibly useful tool for businesses, as it provides a range of benefits when it comes to creating presentations.

Firstly, PowerPoint helps users to easily create professional-looking slides with text, graphics and animations.

This makes it easier to create a visually appealing presentation, which can help to engage audiences and make it easier to retain information.

Furthermore, PowerPoint allows users to organize and deliver complex concepts in an understandable manner.

This means that it is easy to break down complex topics into more manageable chunks, making it easier for audiences to understand the concepts being presented.

Additionally, PowerPoint’s features make it easier to create compelling visuals that can help to keep viewers engaged.

Another benefit of using PowerPoint is its ability to help businesses save time.

Presenters can easily create presentations with PowerPoint’s templates and features, allowing them to quickly and efficiently create presentations that are both informative and visually appealing.

This saves businesses time and money, as they dont have to spend time and resources on creating presentations from scratch.

Finally, PowerPoint can be used in a variety of different ways.

It can be used to create presentations for meetings, conferences, seminars, workshops and more.

This makes it a great tool for businesses that need to create presentations for different types of events.

Additionally, PowerPoint can be used to create digital presentations that can be shared online, making it easier to reach a wider audience.

Overall, PowerPoint provides businesses with a range of benefits that make it an essential tool for creating effective and engaging presentations.

With its easy-to-use features, businesses can quickly and easily create visually appealing presentations that are both informative and visually appealing, helping to engage audiences and make it easier to retain information.

Additionally, PowerPoint’s features make it easier to organize and deliver complex concepts in an understandable manner.

Finally, it can be used in a variety of different ways, making it a great tool for businesses that need to create presentations for different types of events.

How PowerPoint Helps Improve Presentations

PowerPoint is an essential tool for businesses, as it helps to make presentations more effective and engaging.

It makes it easy to create professional-looking slides with text, graphics, animations, and other visuals.

This helps to keep audiences engaged and ensure that they are able to retain the information better.

PowerPoint also helps to organize complex concepts and deliver them in an understandable manner.

With its powerful features, businesses can create compelling presentations that are both informative and visually appealing.

This allows them to present their ideas in an organized and easy-to-understand format.

Moreover, the wide range of features that PowerPoint offers makes it easier to create presentations that are both visually appealing and easy to understand.

This includes features such as backgrounds, transitions, images, and animations.

These features can help to add depth and interest to presentations, making them more engaging and memorable.

The use of PowerPoint also makes it possible to quickly and easily update presentations.

This is especially useful for businesses that need to make changes to their presentations on a regular basis.

With PowerPoint, they can make changes in a matter of minutes, without having to start from scratch.

Finally, PowerPoint is a great tool for businesses to share their presentations with the world.

With its easy-to-use sharing options, businesses can easily share their presentations with other people, whether they are in the same office or halfway across the globe.

This helps to ensure that everyone involved in the presentation is able to access it and understand it.

In conclusion, PowerPoint is an invaluable tool for businesses that want to create effective and engaging presentations.

Its features make it easy to create professional-looking slides, organize complex concepts, and quickly and easily update presentations.

Furthermore, PowerPoint provides businesses with the ability to easily share their presentations with a large audience.

All in all, PowerPoint is an important tool for businesses, as it helps to improve presentations in a number of ways.

PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful visual tool that can help businesses craft compelling presentations.

With its simple yet powerful graphical features, it allows users to easily create stunning visuals that are sure to pique viewers interest.

PowerPoints visuals can be used to include text, graphics, animations, and even video clips to clearly illustrate complex concepts in a visually appealing manner.

This not only helps to engage the audience, but also helps viewers to better understand and retain the information.

PowerPoint also offers its users a range of different tools to customize their visuals.

From basic shapes and text boxes to more complex objects like charts and diagrams, there is an endless array of possibilities.

Furthermore, users have the ability to add animation and transitions to their visuals, making them more dynamic and engaging.

The ability to make use of PowerPoints powerful visuals can help businesses create a presentation that will be sure to stand out from the rest.

Organizing and Delivering Complex Concepts

PowerPoint is a great tool for organizing and delivering complex concepts.

Its powerful features make it easy to create visually appealing slides with text, graphics, and animations.

This makes it easier for audiences to understand and retain information more effectively.

For example, you can use PowerPoint to create diagrams to illustrate a concept, or to create an interactive presentation that allows the audience to learn at their own pace.

You can also use different colors and fonts to highlight important information or to draw attention to specific points.

Additionally, PowerPoint allows you to easily and quickly create professional-looking presentations, even with limited design skills.

This makes it a great tool for businesses to use when presenting complex concepts to their audiences.

Additionally, PowerPoint provides tools to help you keep your presentations organized, such as a built-in outline feature and the ability to add notes to slides.

This makes it easy to quickly review your presentation and ensure that you have included all the necessary information.

Finally, PowerPoint allows you to easily share your presentations with others, either online or as a printed document.

This makes it easy for businesses to collaborate and share ideas with colleagues and clients.

Making the Most of PowerPoint’s Features

PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful presentation tool, with a wide array of features and capabilities that make it perfect for creating engaging and informative presentations.

It allows users to easily create professional-looking slides with text, graphics, and animations, as well as a range of tools for organizing and delivering complex concepts.

One of PowerPoint’s most useful features is its ability to create effective visuals that can engage audiences and help them to retain information better.

By using transitions, animations, and other effects, the presenter can create captivating visuals that will help to keep their audience engaged.

Furthermore, users can also make use of the wide selection of templates available to create visually appealing slides in no time.

PowerPoint also offers a range of tools for organizing and formatting presentations.

By using tables, charts, and diagrams, users can easily present complex information in an understandable manner.

Additionally, the Outline View feature allows users to quickly create and organize their presentations, while the Notes and Comments features can help to provide more detailed explanations of the content.

Finally, PowerPoint also includes a range of tools for sharing and collaborating on presentations.

Users can easily share presentations with colleagues, and the SharePoint feature allows for real-time editing of documents.

This makes it easy to collaborate on presentations and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

In short, PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful tool for creating engaging and informative presentations.

Its wide selection of features make it easy to create visually appealing and complex visuals, as well as organize and share presentations with ease.

By making use of its powerful features, businesses can ensure that their presentations are both informative and visually appealing, helping to engage audiences and ensure that they retain information better.

Creating Compelling Presentations with PowerPoint

PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful presentation tool that can help businesses create compelling presentations that engage their audiences and effectively communicate complex concepts.

By combining text, graphics, animations, and other visuals, PowerPoint enables users to easily create attractive presentations that are both informative and visually appealing.

PowerPoint’s features also make it easier to organize and deliver complex concepts in an understandable manner.

The ability to add multiple slides and easily rearrange them allows users to structure their presentation in a logical order that is easy to follow.

Presenters can also use PowerPoint to create animations, transitions, and other visuals that make the presentation more engaging and help audiences retain the information they see more effectively.

Furthermore, PowerPoint allows users to add multimedia content to their presentations.

This can include video clips, audio clips, images and other visuals.

With these features, businesses can create presentations that are more dynamic and engaging, and can further help audiences retain the information.

Overall, PowerPoint is an essential tool for every business, and its features make it easy to create compelling presentations that engage audiences and help them to better retain the information.

By combining text, graphics, animations, and multimedia content, businesses can make use of its powerful features to create engaging presentations that are both informative and visually appealing.

Final Thoughts

PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful tool that can be used to create visually appealing and engaging presentations.

It gives users the ability to easily organize and deliver complex concepts in a way that is understandable and memorable.

By taking advantage of its many features, businesses can make use of PowerPoint to create compelling presentations that can help them to reach their goals.

With the right approach, PowerPoint can help you make a lasting impression on your audiences.

James Wilson

James Wilson has extensive knowledge in the information technology industry.His second love, besides dealing with computers, is smart home technology. He is continually updating information to better comprehend this problem and has a deep understanding of the apartment’s support system.

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