TOP 10 Best Tips - How to Make a Good Presentation at Work

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If you are the kind of person who gets cold feet in front of a big group of people, then making presentations to your team or clients would definitely not be the favourite part of your job. But presentations need not be a nightmare. We give you some handy tips on how to prepare for and make a great presentation at work. Try these and you are sure to breeze through those presentations.

Do your homework: Don't start working on your presentation just the night before the big day (unless that's all the time been given to you). You can't expect to turn out a kick-ass Powerpoint presentation on a few sleep-sacrificing hours. Spend a couple of days doing research on the topic to gain complete understanding of it. After all, exhaustive groundwork is the foundation of any good presentation.




Be organised: Another key to a good presentation is organisation. Firstly, organise your time in such a way that you get to spend an hour or two everyday on your presentation. This is often better spending eight continuous hours on it as you will have a new perspective each time you go over it, add new research to it and put it together in an interesting way. Finally, don't forget to take a back up of your Powerpoint presentation. While you might store it on a pen drive, hard disk or your laptop, do not forget to keep a hard copy of it as well. Technology isn't always the most reliable you know.



Use illustrations and graphs: Illustrations, graphs and other statistics only help supplement the claims you make in your presentation. So be sure to pepper your presentation with these wherever appropriate. Acquire this information from credible sources and credit them too so that your presentation doesn't come off as flaky.

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Be informative, but time conscious: Very often people who work hard on collecting valuable information for their Powerpoint presentations believe that their listeners are eager to hear it all. This couldn't be further from the truth. Only pick out the best and most important information and present the same in a concise manner. P.S. Make the most of the first 20 minutes because that's when you'll have everyone's full attention.



Do a quality check: Once you are done with your Powerpoint presentation, go through each slide to make sure you've included all the necessary bits of information. Also make sure that your presentation is pleasing to the eye (read: appealing colours, background, image size et al) and free from typos and grammatical errors.



Be confident: Have a good night's rest before the presentation. When you are well rested, you will be calm, composed and confident. Keep your tone steady when you talk, do not fidget with your clothes or hair and maintain eye contact with your audience.



Dress well: Avoid eye-popping outfits (read: neon colours, skin show, psychedelic prints) and go with understated elegance instead. Put neatness over style with well-tailored formals and minimal but well-applied make up. A pair of medium-sized heels will complete your look perfectly.

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Make the necessary arrangements: See that everything is in place the day before your presentation to avoid any glitches. Book a boardroom/ auditorium that can accommodate all the people who will be present. Send an e-mail reminder to those who need to be present. And lastly, check if the room has the necessary equipment for your presentation.



Be on time: Be there at least 30 minutes before the scheduled time to set up your laptop, projector or anything else you need. This will give you enough time to get assistance in case of any problem.



Involve your audience: No one wants to listen to someone (regardless of how knowledgeable she is) go on and on talking. Break your presentation up into parts that allow for people to voice opinions, ask questions or simply share information every now and then.