how to do presentations on teams

How to Present PowerPoint Slides in Microsoft Teams

Ready to elevate your virtual presentations in Microsoft Teams? Discover three distinct methods to deliver flawless PowerPoint presentations.

A successful PowerPoint presentation extends beyond just the content—its delivery is just as important, especially in a virtual space like Microsoft Teams.

In Microsoft Teams, you can choose to present your slide deck by sharing your entire screen, PowerPoint window, or using the Microsoft Teams' PowerPoint Live feature. Let's explore how you can use each of these three methods and discuss their pros and cons.

Method 1: Share Screen

Sharing your screen in Microsoft Teams is pretty easy and straightforward. It's best to minimize or close unnecessary tabs before joining the Microsoft Teams meeting to avoid exposing sensitive information. Once you're confident in your screen's content, follow the steps below:

• A red border appears around your desktop, indicating you're sharing your screen.
• Present your PowerPoint slideshow.

Sharing your screen is a straightforward method, especially when you want to present other documents besides your PowerPoint slideshow. However, the downside is that you may accidentally reveal sensitive information.

Method 2: Share PowerPoint Window

If you want only to present your PowerPoint slide deck, it's best to share just that window. Here's how:

• A red border will appear around your PowerPoint window, indicating you're sharing just that window.
• Launch your slides in slideshow mode and start presenting.
• Open the Microsoft Teams window and click Stop sharing when you're done presenting.

Sharing just your PowerPoint window prevents accidental display of sensitive desktop content. Even if you switch windows, viewers only see the PowerPoint presentation.

However, this method also has its limitations. One of the main limits is that you can't view your PowerPoint speaker notes without the audience seeing them as well. You also can't access Microsoft Teams features like the chat and reactions during your presentation.

Additionally, If your network connection has low bandwidth or slow upload speed , sharing your screen can result in a blurry and stuttering presentation for the audience. Thankfully, the PowerPoint Live feature provides the solution to these issues.

Method 3: Use PowerPoint Live

Presenting with the PowerPoint Live feature is easy and provides additional benefits. Your audience only sees the slides, while you get to see all the extra controls that come with the presenter view. When using the presenter view in your presentation, you have a few helpful tools at your disposal:

• You can easily adjust the font size of your slide notes to make them more readable.
• To navigate between slides, simply click on the corresponding thumbnail.
• You can use the laser pointer, pen, or highlighter tools to draw attention to specific areas of a slide.
• Use the Standout layout to place your camera feed on the slide without the background.
• Use the Cameo layout to insert yourself into the slide, provided you've set up Cameo to record customized camera feeds .

Here's how you can use PowerPoint Live to share your presentation:

• When it's your turn to present, click Share .
• When you're done presenting, click Stop sharing in the top toolbar.

The PowerPoint Live feature tackles the limitations of sharing your entire screen or PowerPoint window. It also comes with really cool features like co-presenting and allowing attendees to click on links in the presentation.

Your Audience's View When Using PowerPoint Live

In addition to the main slide view, your audience also has access to the slide navigation, grid, and more options controls (the three dots icon below the slides).

This means they can navigate the slides at their own pace and change specific slide settings to suit their preference without affecting your view and that of others. If you find this non-ideal for delivering an engaging presentation , you can disable the audience's navigation control. To do so, enable Private view in the top toolbar.

By default, each meeting attendee joins as a presenter. This means they can share their own content or control someone else's presentation. If that's not what you want, you can change each person's meeting roles in Microsoft Teams to prevent it.

Deliver a Seamless Presentation Experience in Microsoft Teams

Presenting your PowerPoint slides in Microsoft Teams might seem tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's a piece of cake. Practice makes perfect. So before your next Teams presentation, familiarize yourself with your chosen method to ensure an effective delivery.

The right way to present a PowerPoint file during a Microsoft Teams meeting

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You can have your PPT cake and eat it too

PowerPoint is likely one of the most popular apps shared during a Teams meeting. There’s a reason when you bring up the share options, PowerPoint takes up more than a third of it. People present slides all the time. But are they using PowerPoint to its potential when they use Teams? Most people do not. To view a video version of this post (lots of video demos!), press play below. (You should watch it, actually.)

PowerPoint has a lot of really great features and while this isn’t a PowerPoint best practices post, I do really appreciate PowerPoint for many of its professional features, like smooth transitions (Morph can be amazing), slide notes, non-distracting animations, screen annotations, and especially presenter view.

Well, if you’ve ever tried to present a slide deck in Teams, you’ll know that some of these features can be hard to find depending on which method you use to share your slides. There are three main sharing options and these are the only three I’ll cover today.

The three options—and I’m going to stick to this naming convention throughout the post—are The Teams Built-In Share, Desktop Window Share, and Presenter View Share.

TL;DR: For the most part, you want Presenter View Share. Launch your slideshow like you would normally. Alt-Tab to your meeting and share the window (not the screen) , Alt-Tab back to your presentation, right-click, and select Use Presenter View . That's it! Below is a more in-depth review of this way and the most common other ways to share slide decks during a Teams meeting.

Teams Built-In Share

Teams Built-In Share is the first option we’re going to discuss and it uses the built-in PowerPoint option. The sharing drawer shows you all your recent PowerPoint files. Though note that they’re only ones you’ve accessed in SharePoint or OneDrive; you don’t see anything from your local device or other cloud locations like Google Drive. Whether you know it or not, this method makes use of PowerPoint for the web—or formerly known as PowerPointOnline—so you’re getting the “Lite” version of PowerPoint when you present. That can work in many situations, especially if your slides are simple and straight forward.

There are a couple major upsides to this method. First, everything stays right in Teams and you have full control of your computer and its screen, unlike normal presentation mode with PowerPoint, where it completely takes over your screen. The other is that your viewers can actually choose to jump ahead or backward in your slides at their own pace without impacting what others see, which is a benefit you don’t get from any otherPowerPoint sharing option. You can disable this if you want to keep them on the slide you’re presenting, though. I generally don’t like people being able to jump slides on their own; it's usually more a distraction than a benefit. So for me, this isn’t a compelling feature.

The major downsides to this method are that you’re stuck with PowerPoint Lite: animations and transitions are sometimes really poor—and yes, animations and transitions are incredibly powerful for your message when they’re used correctly. But more importantly to me, you don’t get presenter view, so no annotations, no notes, and you have absolutely no idea which slide or animation is coming up next (unless you practice your slides a lot, but let's be real: you probably cobbled them together right before the meeting). Those downsides are the reason that I never use this method, even if it is right up in my face when I want to share a slide deck in Teams. The only way you’ll find me using Teams Built-In Share is once presenter view is built into PowerPoint for the web. 

Desktop Window Share

Desktop Window Share, the second option, is a nice little hack for sharing your presentation from the desktop app, complete with all the slick transitions and animations you’d like. You won’t get presenter view with this method, but you will get safety and comfort of all the full-fledged features in the desktop app and it won’t take up your whole screen while you’re presenting. Though it will include a little chrome in the top toolbar.

This method is similar to what people use when they set up kiosks for people to browse at expos or stores, except in this case, it doesn’t take up the whole screen. To present this way, you need to toggle a setting. Jump into the Slide Show tab in PowerPoint and click Set Up Slide Show . Select Browsed by an individual and click OK.

Now when you present this slideshow, it’ll show your entire slide in its own window, without the rest of PowerPoint showing. It’s like a mini PowerPoint presenter mode. To share this window, jump to your Teams meeting, click Share , and select PowerPoint under the Window section. Handy.

Presenter View Share

Note: This feature seems to have been recently removed from PowerPoint on macOS; I haven't been able to test it on Windows to confirm any impact there. I've reached out to Microsoft for some explanation or insights on this. I'll provide an update when I have one.

And lastly, Presenter View Share is my favorite way to present a slide deck during a Teams meeting and it’s really the subject of this post. Presenter View Share gives you all the features of the desktop app—because that’s what you’re using—including presenter view. That means you get notes and annotations, can see the upcoming slide, and can jump around slides as much as you want.

This technique is actually stupidly simple, but it’s not obvious at all. To share your presentation this way, it works best if you’re only using one monitor. If you have a second monitor, I’d actually recommend disconnecting it. And that’s coming from someone who always uses two monitors. The reason for that is the feature isn't available when you have two monitors because you'll already have presenter view on one of them and you can't share PowerPoint as a window when you have two monitors because the app takes up two windows and becomes essentially disqualified from being shared as a window (the only way to share the slides is by sharing the whole screen, which is less private).

First, have your PowerPoint file open and start the presentation the way you normally would. Now, Alt-Tab (Command-Tab on Mac) back to your Teams meeting and share the PowerPoint window—not the whole screen. Alt-Tab back to PowerPoint. And here’s where the magic happens: right-click on your slide and click Use Presenter View . And that’s it!

Wait, you’re worried that the people on the other end are seeing presenter view? They’re not. In fact, they didn’t even see you right-click because the menu isn’t part of the window. For them, nothing happened. While on your side, you just went from low fi to high fi in a matter of two clicks. From here you can do all the stuff you want through presenter mode and everyone on the other end will only see slides.

So, why do I like this method the most? Because I get to have my cake and eat it too! Sure, the slides take up my whole screen, but that doesn’t stop me from jumping around my device all I want. Alt-Tab is your best friend. If you’re not an Alt-Tab person now, you will be moving forward, because it’s a great little trick for jumping between apps.

That means I can be taking notes about a potential customer in my OneNote app during a demo without them knowing. Or I can check in on the meeting itself to see if someone’s raised their hand or said something I need to respond to. All they’ll ever see is the current slide—even if you see another app on top of it—because all I’m sharing with them is the PowerPoint window.

Edit: Some folks have reported they can actually use two monitors and still are able to share the single presented-view of PowerPoint. I can't confirm this because on Mac, the Use Presenter View isn't available when you have two screens (the option is not available in the right-click menu). That said, if you use multiple monitors, you're a power user. So take 2 minutes to check with a colleagues to test if it still works in your situation to pull this off, but with the multiple monitors you're used to. So if one of your original thoughts was, "I can't not use two monitors", test before you knock it. 🙂

Frankly, I’ll never look back on any other presentation options again. At least until Teams Built-In Share—remember, I really mean PowerPoint for the Web when I say this—finally transitions from PowerPoint Lite to a full-fledged version of PowerPoint. Once that day comes, I may convert. But for now, I’m sticking to the desktop app because it’s a beast.

But what do you think? How do you present slides during Teams meetings? What tips do you have when you’re presenting? Share them in a comment below so others can learn some of your tips and hacks for better meetings in Teams.

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Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials How to Share a PowerPoint Presentation on Microsoft Teams

How to Share a PowerPoint Presentation on Microsoft Teams

In recent years many remote meeting tools like Microsoft Teams and Zoom have become the norm for regular remote meetings. If you’re new to Microsoft Teams, the chances are you are still finding your way around various options. One of the most common questions a Microsoft Teams newbie might ask is how to share PowerPoint on Teams.

What is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is a messaging app by Microsoft for online collaboration and remote meetings that comes integrated with Microsoft 365. It provides a real-time workspace where end users can collaborate via chat, Teams Channels, Live calls, etc. Microsoft Teams also integrates with other Microsoft products like PowerPoint and OneDrive, enabling instant file sharing via the cloud.

Why use Microsoft Teams to Present Your PowerPoint Presentations?

Many organizations use Microsoft Teams for online collaboration and remote meetings. Organizations with integrated Microsoft products like its Windows operating system, Microsoft Office, and Azure Active Directory prefer Teams as the primary internal and external communication app. Organizations use Microsoft Teams to provide secure accounts to employees, with two-factor authentication and data encryption. These accounts are integrated into the Active Directory, providing scalability and control for IT administrators to offer people within an organization an online collaboration platform that can be securely used within the limits of the organization’s data protection policies.

While there are many alternatives to Microsoft teams, such as Zoom and Google Meet, the integration of teams with other Microsoft products, such as Azure, Microsoft Office apps, and OneDrive, makes it attractive within a secure enterprise environment.

How to Present PowerPoint in Teams?

How to present your PowerPoint slides on Microsoft Teams, let us tell you there are at least two methods for sharing presentations. This includes sharing a PowerPoint file directly and presenting your slide deck before one or more meeting participants, or perhaps PowerPoint templates or Google Slides templates to help a colleague design a slide deck.

How to Attach and Share Your PowerPoint Slides on Teams

To share a PowerPoint file on teams, go to an ongoing conversation or meeting window and click Attach files . This will provide you with the option to either fetch a file via OneDrive or from your device. This option can be used for sharing PowerPoint files and other types of files, such as documents, spreadsheets, videos, compressed files, etc.

When sharing a file, you can add a message optionally before hitting Send .

The recipient and the sender can download the file, open it in a browser, or copy the file link for further sharing.

How to Present Your PowerPoint Slides on Teams

Method #1: use the share button in powerpoint.

You can also directly present your slide deck via Microsoft Teams by sharing your screen to start a Live presentation during a remote meeting instantly. Suppose your organization uses Microsoft Teams regularly. In that case, the chances are you will be using it for presentations during remote meetings; therefore, it’s essential to know how to use the screen-sharing option to present online.

Method #2: Share Screen to Present a PowerPoint Presentation

Another way to present a PowerPoint presentation on Teams is by sharing the screen with your audience. If you share your screen, this will show the audience whatever is visible on the entire screen on your device.

Pros of sharing your screen with the audience to present a presentation:

• It is easier to activate
• You can easily switch to other windows besides the PowerPoint presentation and also share them with the audience

Cons of sharing your entire screen on Teams for presenting:

• If you have confidential data in other windows, you may want to avoid switching the windows and keep only the Slideshow window in front.
• You may accidentally switch to other windows, and your audience can lose focus of the presentation.

Method #3: Share PowerPoint Window to Present Your Slides

If you intend to hide parts of your screen, you can simply share the relevant PowerPoint window so that your audience can only view the presentation. During a Live call, click the Share button and select your screen or window to share.

5 Features to Make the Most from Your Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation Sharing in Teams

Microsoft Teams offers a wide array of features that make it a robust remote meeting and online collaboration app since it leverages the full force of Microsoft 365 and other Microsoft products.

1. Translate Slides into a Different Language

This is a private feature that individuals can use to translate slides in their language instantly. As a presenter, you can ask your audience to use this feature if they deem it convenient to help bridge a gap that might exist due to a language barrier.

Slides can be viewed in a different language via More actions > Translate Slides . From the drop-down list, you can pick a preferred language.

2. Use Live Captions

Microsoft Teams supports Live Captions / Closed Captions (CC) to help persons with disabilities, including those suffering from hearing impairment. Closed Captions can also be helpful for people to translate or view text in a preferred language.

Turn on Live Captions: To enable Live Captions on Teams, go to More options > Turn on live captions . Translate Spoken Language: To translate Live Captions, go to Captions settings > Change spoken language .

Turn Off Live Captions: You can turn off Live captions anytime via More actions > Turn off live captions .

3. View Slides in High Contrast

Viewing slides in high contrast on Teams can have several benefits. For example, it helps you focus on the content and is also helpful for people with visual impairment. To configure your slides to appear in high contrast, follow the steps below:

1. Launch your PowerPoint presentation.

2. Click on the Present tab at the top of the window.3. Go to More action > View slides in high contrast .

4. Annotate your Slides in Real Time

Like any standard remote meeting app, Microsoft Teams also provides a number of handy annotation options to help you make the most out of your PowerPoint presentations. You can click on Start annotation when sharing your full screen during presentations to start annotating slides.

Powered by Microsoft Whiteboard, this powerful feature enables one or more meeting participants or the presenter to annotate presentations. It can also be a helpful feature when you’re looking to collaborate online during a Live presentation.

5. Pop Out the Window

You can separate the presentation window from the Teams window to make it easier to work with the two. This feature can be handy when working with multiple monitors or separating the two windows from uncluttering your screen. You can use this option by clicking on the Pop-out option from the toolbar during a screen-sharing session.

How to Stop Presenting on Teams

When presenting your slide deck, you can also present your PowerPoint presentation using any view, be it as a SlideShow or in Normal view. Once you’re done presenting, click Stop Presenting to conclude your session. Furthermore, you can also choose to enable or disable your camera and computer sound when presenting your slides.

To turn off screen sharing during a remote meeting, you can click Stop Sharing .

Present in Teams Button in PowerPoint is Missing. How to Fix it?

Some users might have used the Present in Teams option to share a PowerPoint presentation during a meeting. Suppose you are wondering why the Present in Teams button in PowerPoint Presentations is missing. In that case, this option isn’t available for anyone using the free version of Teams, as only users with a paid subscription, such as a Business Standard or Business Premium Plan. Furthermore, you must share your PowerPoint presentation with OneDrive to use this option. To use the Present in Teams option, upload your PowerPoint presentation to OneDrive. You can do this via File > Save As > OneDrive .

Once done, the Present in Teams button will become available to instantly launch your presentation for sharing during a Teams call.

5 Tips to Make your Presentation a Success on Microsoft Teams

Presenting PowerPoint in Teams can require being mindful of a number of things. This includes accounting for brevity to ensure your presentation does not take more than its designated time, using slides that are suitable for remote meetings. Below is a list of 5 tips to make your presentation successful using Microsoft Teams.

1. Check Your Audio and Video Settings

One of the most annoying problems faced during remote meetings is technical failures such as no or low audio quality. This becomes even more annoying when the meeting organizer or a presenter during their session faces the issue, wasting precious time. This is why you must check your audio and video settings beforehand to ensure everything works correctly. If you need to play a video during your session, make a test call with a colleague and get feedback if the sound and video quality are up to the mark.

2. Make Sure Your Slides are Clear and Concise

Presentations delivered via Microsoft Teams will often take place during scheduled remote meetings. This means that you will have to account for the designated time given for your session, which is why you must ensure that your slides are clear and concise.

3. Use Animations and Transitions Sparingly

Since remote meetings will be attended by participants using different types of computers and mobile devices, some animations and transitions might not be suitable. This is because they can cause Teams to slow down, or the slides might not display appropriately via screen sharing. For example, 3D animations , GIF animations , and objects with elaborate PowerPoint animated sequences might cause issues when displayed via Teams. 

4. Keep Your Slides on Topic

One of the banes of remote meetings is how a discussion can go off-topic very quickly. This is why it’s best to ensure that your slides remain focused on the topic and additional discussions are discouraged during the presentation session.

5. Use Team Members’ Names Sparingly to Call Out Specific Points

Calling out team members for their opinion or advice during a remote meeting can quickly lead to a very lengthy and off-topic discussion. This is why it’s best to call out team members’ sparingly. If you have been using Teams or other remote meeting apps long enough, you would have learned by now that for some topics, it’s best to ask participants to schedule a separate meeting so that the ongoing discussion remains on track.

Other Issues to Troubleshoot while presenting a PowerPoint presentation on Microsoft Teams

Someone has already set up Teams for your organization’s error

If you’re using a premium subscription for Microsoft Teams managed by your organization’s IT team, you might get an error when logging in to Teams. In such a case, you might get the following error:

“Someone has already set up Teams for your organization.”  

If you see the error message mentioned above, this means that your account isn’t ready yet, and you need to contact your organization’s IT team to ask when your account might be ready for use.

We’re sorry–we’ve run into an issue error.

Another prevalent issue is when the following error message appears:

“We’re sorry–we’ve run into an issue.”

This is a generic message, and usually, it can be resolved by clicking the Restart button that appears below the error. In case the issue isn’t resolved after restarting the Teams app, ensure your Internet connection is working. More often than not, the issue is associated with the Internet connection. If the issue persists, you can clear your cache , reinstall Teams or contact your IT support team. The error can also occur if there is an outage affecting Microsoft products or if there is a configuration issue for Microsoft 365 accounts associated with your organization.

Final Words

Using Microsoft Teams to share a presentation file is easy enough. However, when presenting a PowerPoint presentation in Teams, you must decide how to present your slide deck. If you need to switch back and forth between your slides and another document, spreadsheet, or browser window, it might be best to share your entire screen. However, if you wish to focus only on the slide deck, sharing your Window can help you avoid sharing the rest of your screen with the audience.

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May 9, 2024

Teams enhancements to the Presenter window while screensharing

Teams Public Preview team

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Hi, Microsoft 365 insiders! We’re excited to announce new enhancements to the Presenter window you can use while screensharing. 

Have you ever wanted to see what’s happening in a meeting when you’re sharing your screen? Now you can with the new Presenter window. It shows up to four meeting participants, both video and audio, as well as active speakers, raised hands, reactions, and a preview of shared content.

Meeting notifications are also easier to see, appearing in the center of your screen so you can act on them.

These enhancements help you stay aware of what’s happening in your meeting and make it easier to engage with other attendees while you’re screensharing. You can also manage actions in your meeting such as lowering raised hands and muting participants.

How it works  

• Join a Teams meeting.

• If you’re sharing your screen or window and have your camera turned on, you can expand the self-video tile at the bottom of the presenter window by clicking the arrow button. After it’s expanded, you can minimize the self-video tile again to free up space on the shared screen.
• If you’re using presenter modes while sharing your screen, the self-video tile gives you the option to change the presenter layout during the screen share.

Availability 

To use this feature, you must be a member of the Teams Public Preview or Microsoft 365 Targeted release and use the new Teams client for Windows or macOS. Other meeting participants aren’t required to be members of the Teams Public Preview. 

To enable your Teams client for the Public Preview, IT administrators must enable  Show preview features  in their update policy.  Learn more  

For Targeted release, global admins can go to the Microsoft 365 admin center and give access to a select set of individuals or the entire organization.  Learn more  

Feedback 

We want to hear from you! Select  Settings and more   >   Help  in the top right corner of the Teams app, and then select either  Give feedback  or  Suggest a feature  to share your thoughts about this feature.

Sorry, JavaScript must be enabled to use this app.

14 Practical Tips to Improve Your Presentation Skills

• The Speaker Lab
• May 11, 2024

Table of Contents

Ever felt complete dread and fear at the thought of stepping up to deliver a presentation? If so, you’re not alone. The fear of public speaking is more common than you might think, but with the right presentation skills , it’s a hurdle that can be overcome.

In this article, we’ll help you master basic confidence-building techniques and conquer advanced communication strategies for engaging presentations. We’ll explore how body language and eye contact can make or break your connection with your audience; delve into preparation techniques like dealing with filler words and nervous habits; discuss tailoring content for different audiences; and much more.

Whether you’re prepping for job interviews or gearing up for big presentations, being prepared is key. With adequate practice and the proper attitude, you can crush your speech or presentation!

Mastering the Basics of Presentation Skills

Presentation skills are not just about speaking in front of a crowd. It’s also about effective communication, audience engagement, and clarity. Mastering these skills can be transformative for everyone, from students to corporate trainers.

Building Confidence in Presentations

Becoming confident when presenting is no small feat. But fear not. Even those who feel jittery at the mere thought of public speaking can become masters with practice and patience. Just remember: stage fright is common and overcoming it is part of the process towards becoming an effective presenter.

Taking deep breaths before you start helps calm nerves while visualizing success aids in building confidence. Also, know that nobody minds if you take a moment to gather your thoughts during your presentation—everybody minds more if they cannot understand what you’re saying because you’re rushing.

The Role of Practice in Enhancing Presentation Skills

In line with old wisdom, practice indeed makes perfect, especially when improving presentation skills. Consistent rehearsals allow us to fine-tune our delivery methods like maintaining eye contact or controlling body language effectively.

You’ll learn better control over filler words through repeated drills. Plus, the extra practice can help you troubleshoot any technical glitches beforehand, saving you the sudden panic during your actual presentations.

Remember that great presenters were once beginners too. Continuous effort will get you there sooner rather than later.

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Use The Official Speaker Fee Calculator to tell you what you should charge for your first (or next) speaking gig — virtual or in-person! 

Body Language and Eye Contact in Presentations

The effectiveness of your presentation can hinge on more than just the words you say. Just as important is your body language .

Impact of Posture on Presentations

Your posture speaks volumes before you utter a word. Standing tall exudes confidence while slouching could signal nervousness or lack of preparation.

If there’s one lesson to take away from our YouTube channel , it’s this: good presenters know their message but great ones feel it through every fiber (or muscle) of their being. The audience can sense that energy when they see open body language rather than crossed arms.

Maintaining Eye Contact During Your Presentation

Eyes are often called windows to the soul for a reason. They’re communication powerhouses. Making eye contact helps build trust with your audience members and keeps them engaged throughout your speech.

Avoid staring at note cards or visual aids too much as this might give an impression that you’re unprepared or uncertain about your chosen topic. Instead, aim to maintain eye contact between 50% of the time during presentations. This commonly accepted “50/70 rule” will help you exhibit adequate confidence to your audience.

If stage fright has gotten a hold on you, take deep breaths before you start speaking in order to stay calm. Make sure that fear doesn’t disrupt your ability to maintain eye-contact during presentations.

If body language and eye contact still feel like a lot to manage during your big presentation, remember our golden rule: nobody minds small mistakes. It’s how you handle questions or mishaps that truly makes a difference—so stay positive and enthusiastic.

Preparation Techniques for Successful Presentations

Presentation skills are like a craft that requires meticulous preparation and practice. Aspects like visual aids and time management contribute to the overall effectiveness of your delivery.

The first step towards delivering an impactful presentation is research and organization. The content should be well-researched, structured logically, and presented in simple language. This will make sure you deliver clear messages without any room for misinterpretation.

Dealing with Filler Words and Nervous Habits

Nervous habits such as excessive use of filler words can distract from your message. Luckily, there are plenty of strategies that can address these issues. For instance, try taking deep breaths before speaking or using note cards until fluency is achieved. In addition, practice regularly to work on eliminating these verbal stumbling blocks.

Avoiding Distractions During Presentations

In a digital age where distractions abound, maintaining focus during presentations has become an even more crucial part of the preparation process. This video by motivational speaker Brain Tracy provides insights on how one could achieve this level of focus required for effective presentations.

Maintaining Confidence Throughout Your Presentation

Confidence comes from thorough understanding of the chosen topic combined with regular practice sessions before the big day arrives. Make use of note cards or cue cards as needed but avoid reading from them verbatim.

Taking control over stage fright starts by arriving early at the venue so that you familiarize yourself with the surroundings, which generally calms nerves down considerably. So next time you feel nervous before a big presentation, remember—thorough preparation can make all the difference.

Engaging Your Audience During Presentations

Connecting with your audience during presentations is an art, and mastering it can take your presentation skills to the next level. Making the message conveyed reach an emotional level is essential, not just conveying facts.

Understanding Your Target Audience

The first step towards engaging your audience is understanding them. Tailor the content of your presentation to their needs and interests. Speak in their language—whether that be professional jargon or everyday slang—to establish rapport and ensure comprehension.

An effective presenter understands who they’re speaking to, what those individuals care about, and how best to communicate complex ideas understandably.

Making Complex Information Understandable

Dense data or complicated concepts can lose even the most interested listener if presented ineffectively. Breaking your key points down into manageable chunks helps maintain attention while promoting retention. Analogies are especially useful for this purpose as they make unfamiliar topics more relatable.

Audience Participation & Questions: A Two-Way Street

Incorporating opportunities for audience participation encourages engagement at another level. It allows listeners to become active participants rather than passive receivers of knowledge.

Consider techniques like live polls or interactive Q&A sessions where you invite questions from attendees mid-presentation instead of saving all queries until the end.

This gives you a chance not only engage but also address any misunderstandings right on spot.

• Treat each question asked as an opportunity—it’s evidence someone has been paying attention. Even challenging questions should be welcomed as they demonstrate an engaged, thoughtful audience.
• Encourage participation. It can be as simple as a show of hands or the use of interactive technologies for live polling during your presentation. This keeps your audience active and invested in the content.

Remember, your presentation isn’t just about putting on a show—it’s about meaningful interaction.

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Presentation Skills in Specific Contexts

Whether you’re nailing your next job interview, presenting an exciting marketing campaign, or delivering insightful educational content, the context matters. Let’s take a look.

The Art of Job Interviews

A successful job interview often hinges on effective communication and confidence. Here, the target audience is usually small but holds significant influence over your future prospects. Body language plays a crucial role; maintain eye contact to show sincerity and interest while open body language communicates approachability.

Bullet points summarizing key experiences are also helpful for quick recall under pressure. This allows you to present your chosen topic with clarity and positive enthusiasm without relying heavily on note or cue cards.

Pitching in Public Relations & Marketing

In public relations (PR) and marketing contexts, presentations need to capture attention quickly yet hold it long enough to deliver key messages effectively. Visual aids are valuable tools here—they help emphasize points while keeping the audience engaged.

Your aim should be highlighting presentation benefits that resonate with potential clients or partners, making them feel as though ignoring such opportunities would mean missing out big time.

Educational Presentations

An educational setting demands its own unique set of presentation skills where deep understanding trumps flashy visuals. You must make complex information understandable without oversimplifying essential details—the use of analogies can be beneficial here.

Keeping the audience’s attention is critical. Encourage questions and participation to foster a more interactive environment, enhancing learning outcomes for all audience members.

Tips for Becoming a Great Presenter

No single method is suitable for everyone when it comes to speaking in public. However, incorporating continuous improvement and practice into your routine can make you an exceptional presenter.

Tailor Your Presentation to Your Audience

Becoming an excellent speaker isn’t just about delivering information; it’s also about making a connection with the audience. So make sure that you’re taking setting, audience, and topic into consideration when crafting your presentation. What works for one audience may not work for another, so be sure to adapt your presentation styles according to the occasion in order to be truly effective.

The Power of Practice

The art of mastering public speaking skills requires practice —and lots of it . To become a great presenter, focus on improving communication skills through practice and feedback from peers or mentors. Try to seek feedback on every speech delivered and incorporate those pointers in your future presentations. Over time, this cycle of delivery-feedback-improvement significantly enhances your ability to connect with audiences and convey ideas effectively.

If you’re looking for examples of good speakers, our speech breakdowns on YouTube provide excellent examples of experienced presenters who masterfully utilize speaking techniques. Analyzing their strategies could give you great ideas for enhancing your own style.

Finding Your Style

A crucial part of captivating any audience lies in how you deliver the message rather than the message itself. Developing a unique presentation style lets you stand out as an engaging speaker who commands attention throughout their talk. Through — you guessed it — practice, you can develop a personal presentation style that resonates with listeners while showcasing your expertise on the chosen topic.

Your body language plays a pivotal role here: open gestures communicate confidence and enthusiasm towards your subject matter, two qualities essential for keeping audiences hooked. Similarly, using vocal variety adds dynamism to speeches by emphasizing points when needed or creating suspense during storytelling parts of your talk.

Cultivating Passion & Enthusiasm

Showcasing genuine passion for the subject helps keep listeners engaged throughout even lengthy presentations. Sharing stories related to the topic or expressing excitement about sharing knowledge tends to draw people in more than mere data recitation ever could.

Recognize that everybody is distinctive; don’t expect identical results from every speaker. The path to becoming a great presenter involves recognizing your strengths and working tirelessly on areas that need improvement.

FAQs on Presentation Skills

What are good presentation skills.

Good presentation skills include a clear message, confident delivery, engaging body language, audience understanding, and interaction. They also involve effective preparation and practice.

What are the 5 steps of presentation skills?

The five steps of presenting include: planning your content, preparing visual aids if needed, practicing the delivery aloud, performing it with confidence, and finally post-presentation reflection for improvements.

What are the 5 P’s of presentation skills?

The five P’s stand for Preparation (researching your topic), Practice (rehearsing your talk), Performance (delivering with confidence), Posture (standing tall), and Projection (using a strong voice).

What are your presentation skills?

Your personal set of abilities to deliver information effectively is what we call your presentation skill. It can encompass public speaking ability, clarity in speech or writing as well as visual communication talent.

Mastering presentation skills isn’t an overnight process, but practice and perseverance will put you well on your way to becoming an effective speaker.

You’ve learned that confidence plays a crucial role in effective presentations, so take deep breaths, make eye contact, and keep your body language open. As always, preparation is key. Tackle filler words head-on and get comfortable with visual aids for impactful storytelling.

Remember the importance of audience engagement — it’s all about understanding their needs and tailoring your content accordingly. This way, complex information turns into digestible insights.

Above all else: practice! After all, nothing beats experience when it comes to improving public speaking abilities.

• Last Updated: May 9, 2024

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What is hybrid work and why do employees want it?

Hybrid work is a big departure from the traditional work model. But what exactly is hybrid work—and how has it changed over time? Hybrid, flexible, or distributed work—whatever you choose to call it—has transformed the way we think about work. It’s a flexible, modern way of working that’s been swarming around the working world for years. Yet, despite being popular with so many companies worldwide, hybrid work isn’t one-size-fits-all. Instead, it comes in different forms for different businesses and their employees. In this post, we’ll explore what a hybrid work model is, including how you can transition to one smoothly.

‍ Here’s what we’ll cover:

What is hybrid work?

The benefits of hybrid work (and the disadvantages), 4 types of hybrid work schedules, how hybrid work has evolved—and some key learnings, hybrid work best practices and how to adopt a hybrid work model, technology you need to make hybrid work.

Hybrid work is a flexible approach that combines working in an office environment and working from home. Hybrid work varies in flexibility and supports a variety of different work schedules. Organizations that use a hybrid work model can offer a better work-life balance to their employees. This in turn drives productivity and employee engagement at work, and helps businesses operate more efficiently as a result.

We know employees see the value in hybrid work. A 2023 Gallup survey found that more than half of employees with remote-capable jobs want a hybrid work arrangement. And employers also see the benefits of having people back onsite in some capacity. The same survey showed that spending two to three days in the office during a typical week tends to lead to the highest levels of employee engagement, and tends to reduce burnout and intentions to leave the organization. The result? 90% of companies say they’ll return to the office by the end of 2024 , according to CNBC.

Naturally, hybrid work comes with pros and cons. Let’s look at some of the perks (and non-perks) of hybrid work for employees and their companies.

Benefit #1: Employees can work when and how they’re most productive

In an office-first model, people are expected to be on the clock between 9am and 5pm every workday. In a hybrid work model, employees have more flexibility to get work done when, how, and where they’re most productive. This means flexible schedules and locations. For example, some people work best early in the morning while others do better in the evening. They can also choose to work with teammates onsite or do heads-down work from a remote location.

Benefit #2: Better work-life balance

Flexibility is what powers hybrid work, and finding balance is easier in a flexible work arrangement. When employees have more control of their work schedules, they can free up time to take care of the things that crop up in their personal lives—whether it’s running an errand, picking up kids from daycare, or being home for a delivery. According to our very own VP of Sales, Justin Bullock, hybrid work gave him the flexibility to attend his 10-year-old’s birthday party. “As a parent, hybrid work helps me integrate these kinds of activities into my routine. That means more time for the things that matter most, which makes me happier and more refreshed to do work.”

Benefit #3: Hire talent across the globe

Looking to broaden your talent pool? With a distributed workforce, your company can hire talent from all around the globe. Having access to a wider talent pool means you can hire people with specialized skills. This can give your organization a competitive edge, help you move into new markets, and ensure around-the-clock productivity.

Benefit #4: Save on real estate expenses

In a hybrid work model, fewer people can be onsite at any given time. For some companies, this may mean downsizing their real estate . At the very least, hybrid working will help you figure out how much office space you need to support your employees. Rethinking your workplace strategy can help you lower real estate costs or reinvest those cost savings in new satellite offices and smaller co-working spaces.

Disadvantage #1: Harder to collaborate with remote employees

Hybrid work will see people come into the workplace at different times of the week. It means that people will sometimes miss each other and the chance to collaborate on the fly. To get around this, investing in the right technology is crucial. Workplace management tools can enable your employees to get visibility into when coworkers will be onsite and coordinate accordingly.

Disadvantage #2: Requires oversight and maintenance to keep it working

Hybrid work needs a lot of care and attention to get right. If you want to allow freedom and flexibility for your employees at work, it often means balancing that with appropriate oversight and policies. For example, leaders might opt for a “structured hybrid” approach, with teams onsite on a certain day of the week to boost morale and collaboration. This might conflict with flexibility and autonomy, but it’s necessary to get folks together so they can enjoy other freedoms like working from home for the remainder of their week. Being adaptable is also key to maintaining hybrid work. Peoples’ needs change, so you might find that changing in-office days every now and again is necessary for the overall happiness of the team.

Disadvantage #3: Not suitable for all industries

Hybrid work models might not work for every industry. Some organizations have chosen to be fully remote, while others must be onsite in order to function, like healthcare, education, or manufacturing. Because of this, employees may choose different industries based on the levels of flexibility on offer.

Hybrid work is a flexible work model , which means there is more than one way of making it work for your business. For example, it might be important to you to offer your employees maximum autonomy so they can design their work week with zero restrictions or mandates. You might also decide that requiring your employees to be onsite for a certain number of days will help everyone be more productive and happy at work. Choosing the best hybrid work schedule for your business is important. With each schedule comes different benefits and challenges. Here’s a brief breakdown of the four types of work schedules out there.

• Hybrid at-will: Employees can choose which day(s) to come into the office
• "Structured hybrid" or hybrid split-week: Your company assigns specific days for onsite and remote work overall or by team/function
• Hybrid manager-scheduling: Managers choose which day(s) their team comes into the office
• Hybrid mix: A combo of all three options

Granted, hybrid work doesn’t feel new anymore. In fact, with over 70% of U.S. companies using a form of hybrid work in their businesses today, it feels pretty mainstream for many. But hybrid work has been around a lot longer than you might think. According to Gallup, approximately 32% of the U.S. workforce (around 60 million people) were working in some form of a hybrid work model in 2019 . Over time, there’s been a lot of trial and error for those using hybrid work—and that will continue as organizations figure out how it can serve them best. Here are some key learnings from hybrid work over the last few years.

• Hybrid work needs the right tools to be successful. Hybrid work isn’t just the way people work in your office and at home. It's also the way your office works for your people. Upgrade your office with the right tools. Examples might include hot-desking, room booking, or an easy check-in system for employees. For the right tools to make hybrid work, check out our blog post here .
• Hybrid work serves the renewed purpose of the workplace. If your people are traveling into the office from home, you want it to be for the right reasons. Hybrid work works best when your employees have a purpose in the workplace—whether that’s collaboration with coworkers, team meetings, or heads-down work. Ensure the office offers what they need to work in the best way for them.
• Hybrid work looks different for different companies. Hybrid work is a working model that changes depending on who’s using it and why. When you implement hybrid work, ensure it’s designed in a way that works for you. Some examples might be choosing the right schedule for your employees or offering smaller, co-working spaces alongside your main HQ. Remember that hybrid work isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach.
• The future of hybrid work is still fluid. There is no set destination for hybrid work. We know what it is, but the future of hybrid work will continue to look different as workplace dynamics change.

Now that you know what hybrid work is, the different types of hybrid work schedules, and the benefits and disadvantages, it’s time to implement hybrid work into your organization. To adopt a hybrid work model, you need the right people, processes, and technology. Below are some hybrid work best practices for you to follow.

• Communicate with your employees. Communication is key! When you roll out a new onsite work policy, your decisions will affect everyone in your workforce. It’s important to keep them in the loop and ask for their input when rolling out hybrid work or making changes to your hybrid policy.
• Work with HR and IT. Working cross-functionally is important when adopting hybrid work to ensure your workplace technology is seamless and able to support everyone—no matter where they work.
• Create the right work environment. No more rigid or boring offices. Hybrid work means the office must be a place where employees want to work, so creating a dynamic workplace is important.
• Delight and connect remote and onsite employees. Hybrid work will see some folks work from home while others work from the office. Finding ways to connect and delight everyone is an important part of keeping employee happiness and engagement high.

Following the above hybrid work best practices is important for its success in your organization. Let’s now dive into a few things you should consider when moving to a hybrid work model.

Survey your employees and leaders to find out what they need

To build a hybrid model that works for your company, start by speaking with your workforce to learn about their needs. Asking employees and executives will offer valuable and different perspectives. Be sure to ask questions about the working setup each group would thrive in most, as well as how they use the office currently. By asking a range of people, you can create a work model that gets folks ready to embrace change and keeps them motivated to do their best work. Here are some questions to include in your survey.

• Would you choose to work onsite primarily to focus on your own or collaborate with your team?
• How many days per week do you anticipate wanting to work onsite?
• If you had access to an office space closer to home, would you prefer to use that instead of commuting to the office?

Build the infrastructure that's best for your organization

At its best, hybrid work will bridge the remote and onsite environments so employees can work together with ease. Investing in technology in the workplace , such as remote communication tools and video conferencing equipment, will help enable this. Decide whether you need new tools or if you can leverage existing ones in new ways. Establish company-wide communication best practices and encourage team leads to set clear expectations with their employees. For example, you may adopt an asynchronous style of communication to accommodate employees working in different time zones. Create office schedules to manage workplace traffic and create a productive environment for your employees. There are a number of ways to approach this. For example, your hybrid work model may consist of a hybrid at-will policy where employees choose which day(s) they come into the office. Or, you might choose a hybrid manager-scheduling policy where managers control schedules and select which day(s) their folks come into the office.

Invest in company culture

Company culture is the heart of your organization. It can be a massive competitive advantage—and a major contributor to the success of your hybrid work model. Be intentional about defining your company culture to support a hybrid or distributed workforce. It’s also important to create experiences for the hybrid workplace around your company’s core values. For example, if your organization values teamwork, you might arrange an in-person or virtual team-building activity. At Envoy, we use the Donut Slack integration to encourage employees to meet people on other teams for a virtual coffee chat or peer learning exchange.

Create a great workplace experience

Workplace experience is the number one ingredient to your hybrid work model actually working. While your employees may not come onsite every single day, it’s important to ensure that each day in the workplace is purposeful, productive, and seamless. The more people onsite, the better the experience is for those who are there to meet and collaborate in-person. Creating a great workplace experience requires a focus on three elements: space, technology, and people. Thinking about how each component works together will elevate your hybrid work model. For example, creating more purposeful spaces in your office will improve your workplace experience because employees have different areas to choose from. That might be quiet zones, meeting pods, collaboration rooms, or lounge areas. Supporting different types of people and work will help support your hybrid work model. If you need some tips on how to create a workplace people want to visit, check out our ultimate guide to improving the workplace experience.

Gather continuous feedback

As you continue to build a hybrid workplace that’s ideal for your company, remember to gather employee feedback. Be sure to provide more than one way for employees to share their thoughts. For example, you might have an “always-on” Slack channel dedicated to employee feedback. In addition to that, you might send out quarterly feedback surveys to your workforce. Collecting this feedback will help you iterate as you go and build a hybrid workplace that works for everyone. Check out our blog post for more ideas on how to get real, unfiltered employee feedback .

This ultimate guide has armed you with everything you need to know to implement hybrid work successfully in your organization. Now, it’s time to run over the hybrid work software that will power your work model and help transform your workplace. Here are four tools that will help uplevel your hybrid work game.

• Desk/room booking technology. Hot-desking and room-booking allows your employees to book spaces through their mobile app . Employees can book a desk for heads-down work or larger meeting spaces for collaborative work. 
• Workplace schedules. Sync your schedule with your coworkers and team to ensure you don’t miss each other in the office. With workplace schedules, you can easily see who’s coming in and when, as well as invite coworkers to join you for collaboration and onsite meetings.
• Office wayfinding. The literal map to hybrid work success! Office wayfinding uses a map of your office so your employees can search for coworkers, available desks, meeting rooms, and more. ‍
• Workplace analytics software . Get visibility on your foot traffic and space utilization, so you can continue to design a workplace that supports your employees’ best work.

The hybrid model is no longer an alternative style of work—it’s here to stay. But, like any work model, there are benefits and disadvantages. As workplace leaders, you must meet the needs of your workforce or risk losing your talent to employers that do. Use this guide to adopt hybrid working into your organization. Ready to dive deeper into maximizing your space in the era of hybrid work? Read our step-by-step guide to occupancy planning for your hybrid workforce. 

What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Amy is a content creator and storyteller at Envoy, where she helps workplace leaders build a workplace their people will love. Outside of work, you can usually find Amy exploring new places, planning her next trip, or enjoying a coffee and croissant in her favorite cafe.

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• Create an email message
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• Out of office replies
• Delay or schedule
• Recall a message
• Automatic forwarding
• Read receipt
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• More to explore

Recall an email message that you sent in Outlook

Message recall is available after you select  Send and is available only if both you and the recipient have a Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Exchange email account in the same organization . Messages sent to or from a Hotmail, Gmail, or live.com account can't be recalled.

Note:  This feature isn't available in Outlook for Mac. See  Can I recall a sent email in Outlook for Mac?

Note:  If the steps under this New Outlook tab don't work, you may not be using new Outlook for Windows yet. Select the Classic Outlook tab and follow those steps instead.

Select Sent Items  in the left folder pane, then double-click the sent message to open it in a separate window.

Shortly thereafter, you'll receive a Message Recall Report in your inbox. Select the link in that message to see whether your recall has succeeded, is pending, or failed.

With message recall, a message that you sent is retrieved from the mailboxes of the recipients who haven’t yet opened it. You can also substitute a replacement message. For example, if you forgot to include an attachment, you can try to retract the message, and then send a replacement message that has the attachment.

To recall and replace a message

In the folder pane on the left of the Outlook window, choose the Sent Items folder.

Open the message that you want to recall. You must double-click to open the message. Selecting the message so it appears in the reading pane won't allow you to recall the message.

If you have the Classic Ribbon, from the Message tab, select Actions > Recall This Message .

If you don’t see the Recall This Message command, you probably don’t have an Exchange account or the feature isn’t available within your organization.

You can't recall a message that's protected by Azure Information Protection.

You can't recall a message in Outlook on the web.

Select  Delete unread copies of this message or Delete unread copies and replace with a new message , and then select  OK .

If you’re sending a replacement message, compose the message, and then select  Send .

To check on the recall

After submitting a recall request, usually less than 30 seconds later, you will get an email notification with the subject "Message Recall Report for message [original message subject]".  

Select the  View Message Recall Report  link to view the report in your browser. If you’re prompted, log in with your mailbox credentials to view the report.

Recall actions are usually quick, regardless of how many recipients are involved. But if the recall request can’t be executed right away for some reason (e.g., the recipient’s mailbox is temporarily unavailable) we'll continue to retry for up to 24 hours before marking the recall as failed.

Status updates are usually pretty quick as well but can sometimes take up to five minutes for a message with up to a few hundred recipients. For a large number of recipients (tens of thousands) the recall itself is still fast, but it can take up to thirty minutes to retrieve the recall status for all recipients.

Note:  Outlook on the web is the web version of Outlook for business users with a work or school account.

Recall a message in Outlook on the web

Note:  Outlook.com is the web version of Outlook for users signing in with a personal Microsoft account such as an Outlook.com or Hotmail.com account.

Can I recall a message in Outlook.com?

Let's say you've just sent an email message to someone by mistake in Outlook.com. How do you recall it?

Unfortunately, you can't.

Message recall is not available for users with email addresses ending in @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @live.com, or @msn.com. These are web-based email services where once you send an email message, it's gone from your email server and out of your control.

Set up undo send in Outlook.com

Although you can't recall a message once it's been sent, when you turn on the undo send option, Outlook.com delays sending the message so you can cancel it if you change your mind.

You can delay sending your message for 5 or 10 seconds. To turn on the undo send option:

Under Undo send , choose the how long Outlook.com will wait to send your messages.

Select Save .

Undo sending in Outlook.com

Once undo send is set up, you'll see an Undo send prompt at the bottom of the message list whenever you send a new message. The prompt will be available for the length of time you set in Compose and reply.

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Can I recall a sent email in Outlook for Mac?

Cloud-based Message Recall in Exchange Online - Microsoft Community Hub

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Check if you have an Exchange account in classic Outlook

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