How to Prepare and Give an Effective Presentation

By: Dr. Shirin Nooravi

1. When making your presentation try to focus on a solid 5 points that you want your audience to remember, this will shape your presentation and make it more memorable.

2. Always rehearse your presentation beforehand as if you were in front of your audience at that moment, but be careful not to memorize it word for word.

3. Dress appropriately; look at how formal your presentation is and the people you are presenting to as a measure for the way in which to dress. If you still are not sure, get a second opinion.

4. Use presentation tools, there are so many out there don’t neglect them. Determine what to use based on your audience and subject.

5. Provide Support materials: after your presentation is done hand out carefully constructed
materials that drive your message even further to your audience as they go about their day.

6. Language is Powerful! Grab your thesaurus and dictionary, give meaningful quotes, and add
some well placed humor to make your presentation memorable.

7. Measure your audience: keep an eye on your audience during your presentation. Are
they doodling? Taking notes? On their phone? This is how you can tell what parts of your
presentation are reaching your audience.

8. Pace yourself during your presentation. Make sure you aren’t going too fast or too slow. Keep
the “slides” moving when you are finished with them.

9. Don’t overpower your presentation with too much graphics; the knowledge is the important part.

10. If you are nervous try this technique: Concentrate on just one or two members of the audience that you can “speak” to, don’t forget to observe the others in order to stay in touch with your audience.

11. Decide on how to deal with questions. It’s up to you if you want to have questions during your presentation or to defer them until the end. Remember: Keep your word if you promise to
answer a question at the end.

12. Take control of the audience; don’t hide behind your computer.

13. Be Enthusiastic