Three tips for better presentations

We all know that the vast majority of presentations are terrible. Transferring them to Teams or Zoom has not improved the situation. In fact, I think they are even worse when you cannot see the presenter. With this in mind, here are three tips for improving (almost overnight) your presentations.

Your presentation is you not the slide deck

Some years ago I was hired to do some training on local government finance. My client wanted my slides in advance and I resisted as long as I could. Eventually I had to send them in and she decided that things were missing and she would, heroically, spend her time adding bullet points and new slides all over the place. The things she thought were missing were not. I knew exactly what I was going to say and do in the training sessions to cover the material and I did not need a list of bullet points on the screen behind me to do. Instead, I had slides that would support me in what I was saying, to reinforce the learning.

In the end I did not do that training. 

My tip, though, is for you to watch this video (15 minutes) by Garr Reynolds. He gives you 10 ways you can improve your presentations today.

If you found the video useful, check out Garr’s three books on presentation — they all have Presentation Zen in the title.

The B and W keys are your friends

Having slides behind you, whether at an in-person or virtual presentation, is fine if the slide is supporting what you are saying. Sometimes you might be at a point in a presentation where you want to change the subject and the slide clashes with what you say. This is where the B and W keys come in. The B key will toggle the screen between your presentation and all-black; and the W key does the same with a white screen. Using those keys you can temporarily remove the slides from view, causing your audience to focus on you.

Bonus tip: if you are presenting in a light, airy room then your slides should be dark text on light backgrounds and use the W key. In a dark room, go for light text on a dark background and use the B key. This helps the audience’s eyes, just like the light and dark modes on smartphones.

Investigate mmhmm

If you make a lot of online presentations (or record videos of yourself giving a presentation) then you might find mmhmm an interesting tool to use. It integrates with Zoom and Teams and allows you and your slides to be on screen at the same time. There’s a lot of customisable options within the app. 

If you want more tips like this, or any other help with your writing projects or presentations, I offer one-to-one coaching for public sector accountants. Find out more here.