Nine Delivery Recommendations

While there is much that has been written and said about how to deliver a presentation best, it seems that the following strategies are generally accepted as being good starting points:

Be clear about your purpose

Remember that the purpose of a presentation is to connect with the audience and, through this, to deliver information to the audience. This means that the presentation must be aimed at your specific audience. You might ask:

• Who is my audience?
• What are their expectations?
• What is the expected style of presentation in this setting?
• What will my audience most likely already know about my topic?

Know your material

Knowing your material thoroughly will help you decide what information is essential and what can be left out. It will help your presentation flow naturally, allowing you to adjust to unexpected questions or events, and it will help you feel more comfortable speaking in front of an audience.

Don’t memorise

This is, after all, a presentation, not a recital. Every presentation needs two significant components – life and energy. Recite from memory, and your presentation will sadly lack these factors. You will lose your audience and be hard-pressed to adapt to unexpected events that may throw you off your mental script.

Don’t read from the screen/slides

The content of the PowerPoint should be used to direct and guide our presentation. The content should prompt discussion but should never be the discussion.

When the presenter reads at length from the PowerPoint, this presents a ‘double-handling’ situation wherein both the presenter and the audience is reading.

Ideally, the audience should be listening and the content in the PowerPoint should be used to quickly deliver information to the audience visually. Avoid crossing the visual and verbal lanes where possible.

Learn to navigate your presentation

Audiences often ask to see the previous screen again. Practice moving forward and backward through your slides. With PowerPoint, you can also move through your presentation non-sequentially. Learn how to jump ahead or back to a certain slide, without having to go through the entire presentation.

Rehearse your presentation

Rehearse your presentation out loud, accompanied by the slide show. If possible, get someone to listen while you rehearse. Have the person sit at the back of the room so you can practice speaking loudly and clearly. Ask your listener for honest feedback about your presentation skills.

Make changes where necessary and run through the whole show again. Keep repeating until you feel comfortable with the process.

Pace yourself

As part of your practice, learn to pace your presentation. If there are time constraints, make sure that the presentation will finish on time. Rehearse and practice your timing. Avoid going over time.

During your delivery, be ready to adjust your pace in case you need to clarify information for your audience or answer questions.

Do not speak to your slides

Many presenters watch their presentation rather than their audience. You made the slides, so you already know what is on them. Turn to your audience and make eye contact with them. It will make it easier for them to hear what you are saying, and they will find your presentation much more interesting (see note above about avoiding reading the slides).

Check the technology

Well before your presentation, check to make sure that your technology is going to work.

For more (good and bad) strategies watch this video and review the links in the ‘Do You Want to Know More’ section.