How to give a presentation at work – 10 tips for success

Learning how to give a presentation at work is key to getting ahead in your career. Unfortunately, not many of us usually enjoy standing up in front of a crowd and giving a presentation.

In fact, according to the National Social Anxiety Centre, public speaking is the most common phobia of all. More people fear presentations than heights, death and spiders.

However, as we know, work presentations are not a life-or-death situation. You might still feel the familiar symptoms of your fight-or-flight response to public speaking – think nervousness, fast speech and fidgeting – but preparation can help you minimize this.

In this blog, we’ll give you actionable advice on giving a polished, confident and effective presentation at work. We’ll also explore some quick tips on controlling those nerves. Let’s get started.

10 steps to giving a great presentation

Work presentations come down to three key periods:

1. The preparation phase.
2. On the day, before your presentation.
3. During your presentation.

Designing your work presentation

1. Decide on the narrative of your presentation

Consider your presentation as a story you’re telling the audience. If you’re pitching a new campaign or product, think about taking people on a journey from the challenge to how this solves it. Focus on the key areas that your audience needs to know and be prepared to discuss details in response to any follow-up questions. There’s room for creativity here, as long as it’s appropriate and professional.

If you’re presenting data or results, what do these tell us? Is there a narrative that explains the numbers and charts? Give context around this information. Above all, your story should make it easier for people to understand what you’re showing them.

Lastly, consider ending your presentation with a clear call to action, so that everyone leaves with a sense of purpose.

2. Identify your audience

Think carefully about who your presentation is for. What do they want to know? What do you need to tell them? This will make it easier to include relevant information and prepare for follow-up questions. Are they already well-informed on the subject, or will you need to simplify things, so they only need to consume the key points?

3. Make clear and concise slides

In her appearance on our Careers Advice Podcast, presentation coach Jay Surti warns against “death by Powerpoint”. She explains: “There’s a temptation to rely a lot on slides and put a lot of text into the slide. And, quite often, those are the key things to avoid.”

If you’re using a slide deck, avoid cramming all of your information into it. It’s crucial to keep things clean and concise so that the attention stays on you, with the slides there for key takeaways. If you’re presenting data, it’s a good idea to have simple charts as an overview, with more detailed ones ready if you need to go deeper into the numbers.

4. Prepare notes (but not a script)

Like your slides, you should start preparing notes as soon as possible. These will act as a memory aid during the presentation – you shouldn’t read from a script, since you won’t be as engaging to your audience. The most important thing at first is getting your ideas down in a smooth order, rather than making it word perfect. There will be plenty of time to tweak and edit later.

5. Practice your presentation beforehand

Once you know what you’re saying and have the slides ready, start rehearsing. You can have friends, family or colleagues watch and give feedback. You might also feel most comfortable in front of a mirror.

If you’re using Microsoft Office PowerPoint for your slides, AI tools can help. The Speaker Coach extension can help you to spot chances to improve your public speaking and keep your audience’s attention. This support includes hints on presentation styles, pacing, pitch and emphasizing essential points.

Getting ready on the day of your presentation at work

6. Know your audience members

As you get ready to present, it’s important to trust in your preparation. In general, you shouldn’t be making big changes that can disrupt what you’ve planned for.

However, making some tweaks to suit the audience in the room can enhance your presentation. Adapt your delivery style to suit a bigger or smaller group. Think of a specific point you can address to a stakeholder you didn’t know would be there. All of this will help you to grab your listeners’ attention.

7. Distribute handouts covering the main points

If useful, prepare handouts for your audience to highlight specific points or statistics. Remember, you don’t want this to be too detailed – keep it to key points or charts only. You can reference these during your presentation.

Presenting itself: what do you during your presentation

8. Avoid reading

This point is so important it’s worth covering again. There’s nothing less engaging than somebody reading from a script or slides. It’s completely fine to check your notes if you lose track, but focus on speaking, rather than reading.

9. Make eye contact

Make brief but confident eye contact with audience members. This is a big body language win in many areas of business, including presentations. When you’re making a point, scan the room and maintain eye contact with a guest.

Then, pick someone else and move on to the next point. Combined with a strong posture and supporting hand gestures, you’ll come across as knowledgeable and confident.

10. Speak clearly

Speak loudly, clearly and confidently. Even though it’s tempting to speak quickly, especially if you’re nervous, it’s better to slow down. Pay attention to your audience’s responses – you may need to slow down if they’re not engaged.

Tips for dealing with nerves during your work presentation

Following the above steps will vastly increase your chances of delivering an effective presentation, but there are times when you still might find yourself dealing with anxiety. Here are some tips for overcoming these nerves:

• Take deep breaths before you begin to help relax.
• Stop for a sip of water. This will give you time to collect your thoughts and slow things down if you’ve been rushing.
• Pause at the end of a point or slide and slow down. If you’re nervous, you may have started to speak quickly.
• Ensure you’re holding eye contact for at least a few seconds with each member of the audience. Don’t gaze away from them for too long or keep continuously shifting your attention.

If you’re uncomfortable with maintaining eye contact, or you lose your place, take a moment to look at your slides. Don’t just read what’s on the screen, though – turn back to the audience as you make each point and pick somebody to deliver the point to.

How to give a virtual presentation

Most of the 10 tips above will still apply if you’re giving a presentation online. You can still send out a handout before the call, although you don’t want people to focus on this during the presentation.

In advance, set up your slide deck to share in your preferred mode. Do you want notes to appear on another screen, or would you prefer to see how your audience are reacting.

Without you being physically present, the audience’s focus will be on the screen and therefore your slide deck. In this instance, it’s ok to add more information without overwhelming them.

Obviously, it won’t be possible to make eye contact with others but consider choosing relevant people on the call to reference so that they feel involved and engaged.

Looking for more insights on giving a great presentation? Read more:

• Four tips for your interview presentation
• How to improve your presentation skills