Tips for doing good presentations
Most people find the idea of presenting to an audience intimidating, if not terrifying. That’s understandable - being in the limelight doesn’t come easy for most people.
There are some things you can do to help you feel more comfortable - and therefore a bit more relaxed - when you’re presenting. Here are some tips we’ve used before.
Before writing any slides, think about your audience and the context in which you’ll be presenting
Are you presenting new ideas to an auditorium of experts?
Or a work update to colleagues who know you well?
Or explaining something to your bosses?
Or training some newcomers?
All of these circumstances are different, and need different sorts of slides and different presenting style.
The better you know your audience, the more relaxed and informal you can be.
So think first about your audience. Consider what they already know about your subject. Consider what they already know about your team, or your organisation. Think about how much context you need to provide before you get to the more important stuff.
Write the first draft on sticky notes
One sticky per slide. Just scribble or sketch your way through it, saying out loud the things you’d say when you present.
Presentations have 2 ingredients: the things you show, and the things you say. You need to write with both.
Stickies are quick and easy to experiment with; you can re-arrange and re-structure your presentation as you go.
Use pictures more than words
Words are fine, some of the time. But try to make most of your slides pictures, most of the time.
That means you need to get into the habit of gathering pictures as you go, so you can use them in future presentations. Take photos or screenshots of everything, all the time. You might not use them all, but you’ll be glad you’ve got them just in case.
Talk through your pictures
Good presentations aren’t about putting words in front of people’s eyes; they’re about saying words into their ears.
Think of the pictures you’re showing as memory-joggers. It’s totally fine to keep saying “This is a picture of…” every time you move to a new slide.
Show your audience the work that’s been happening, no matter how visually dull it seems.
Rehearse, but don’t try to be word-perfect
It’s good to know in advance what you’re going to say when each slide is visible to your audience, so make time to practice the presentation at least once, in front of one or two colleagues who you trust.
You don’t have to remember your lines; you’re not putting on a play. Just try to remember the key point that goes with each picture. If you need to write down a few bullet point notes on paper, that’s fine.
Don’t try to explain everything to everyone, all the time
Your presentation is likely to be about a tiny slice of work, maybe just one sprint among many, on one project among many. Stick to the essentials: talk about the latest news, and the most important news that your audience really needs to hear about.
There will be more detail, and a backstory, but you probably don’t need to go into all that now.
Figure out the most important thing your audience needs TODAY, and just talk about that.
Make it easy for people who want more detail to get it
The detail and the backstory still matter, of course they do. So give your audience an easy way to ask for it, if they want to know more. This can be as simple as putting your email address on a slide at the end, and saying “Email me if you want to go deeper on the details!”
Tell stories like you would over coffee
This is the most important bit. Try to be as informal as you can, as relaxed as you can. Your presentation is just another way of talking to people, like having a chat over coffee.
Try not to worry about the traditional expectations that come with the word “presenting”. The main thing is to tell people things they need to know, in an engaging and memorable way.
Summarise and skip
Keep things simple: if there are rabbit holes to go down, don’t go down them in your presentation unless they’re really really vital. Skip over things if you need to, but be open about doing it. Say things like: “I could talk about that one particular issue for hours but we don’t have time for that today - so let’s move on to what happened next.”
Talk about what you know
The better you know your subject matter, the more confident you’ll be when you’re talking about it.
So stick to what you know, and just talk about that. If and when you have to cover things you don’t know, consider options: can someone else present about them instead of you? Could you just tell your audience “I’m not an expert on this, so here’s what I think is correct,” or something similar?
