12 elements of a successful presentation

Here are 12 elements of a successful presentation that you may consider when creating
your own:

1. Thorough preparation

One important element of a successful presentation is thorough preparation and ensuring

that you tailor your presentation toward your audience and its needs. A presentation for a
group of financial executives, for example, is likely to differ from one for a community
environmental group. Research and preparation can help you create a presentation that
appeals to the right audience. Also, if you're pitching a product or service, it's important to
study your product and its competitors, which allows you to display expertise on your topic.

Read more: How To Prepare a Presentation

2. Rehearsal material

Rehearsing your material is an important step for any presentation and has several benefits:

 Allows you to eliminate unnecessary information that may distract your

audience
 Uncovers issues with your content or equipment before presenting in front
of others
 Reduces stress
 Increases confidence

Consider practicing your presentation in front of a mirror, recording yourself with a video
camera or voice recorder or asking friends or family members to listen. This allows you to
receive immediate feedback and eliminate unnecessary information. If possible, practice
your presentation with the equipment you plan on using in front of your audience to
familiarize yourself with the technology you want to use.

Related: How To Be Confident for a Presentation (With Tips)

3. An effective hook

An engaging start to your presentation helps you quickly build rapport and connect with
your audience's emotions. A hook to begin your presentation may include a surprising
statistic or fact, interesting quotation, relevant question, joke or story. Whatever hook you
choose, it's important to ensure that it clearly connects to your content.

4. Clear objective and agenda

A clear objective and agenda help you effectively outline your presentation and avoid any
unnecessary information. Some presenters may choose to share their objective and agenda
with their audience, which allows them to easily follow a presentation's narrative arc and
understand how each section relates to the main topic. Consider determining your objective
and agenda early in your preparation process.

5. Story-like structure

Most effective presentations have a clear beginning, middle and end. It's important to
maintain a simple structure in your presentation but vary the technical language of your
information according to your audience. Tailoring statistics, stories and product
demonstrations to the experience level of your audience allows your information to remain
understandable and relevant.

6. Audience engagement

Whenever possible, it's important to involve your audience members in your presentation.
Here are a few of the most common audience engagement strategies for a presentation:

 Use audience polls: Whether you are presenting online or in person, a poll
is a great way to determine audience interest and receive feedback on your
topic.
 Ask direct questions: Asking direct questions helps build rapport with your
audience and naturally builds interest in your subject matter.
 Make eye contact: Direct eye contact creates a bond between you and
your audience. This also fosters a more conversational format that an
audience might appreciate.
 Interactive activities: Activities, such as trivia or other team-based games,
allow audience members to use your information to solve problems and
collaborate. This can create a fun environment that makes your
presentation memorable.

Read more: 11 Presentation Tips To Captivate Your Audience

7. Effective delivery

An effective presentation delivery can keep your audience engaged. Some effective delivery
techniques you can practice include:

 Slowing down: Consider speaking more slowly or adding pauses into your
presentation if your material is new to an audience. This technique allows
an audience to absorb and understand the information you present
without getting overwhelmed.
 Avoiding monotone: Another effective presentation technique is varying
the pitch and volume of your voice to emphasize keywords and main ideas.
  Pacing yourself: It's important to maintain a proper pace when presenting
to avoid either overwhelming your audience with a fast pace or boring your
audience with a slow pace. Practicing in front of other prior to your
presentation can help ensure proper pacing.
 Using positive language: Positive language and phrasing can help maintain
audience engagement and participation. This also helps to create a more
enjoyable atmosphere for an audience.
 Simplifying your material: A presentation that is straightforward, focused
and avoids using complicated sentences or excessive statistics helps keep
your audience engaged.
 Adding humor: A humorous story, comment or joke can help foster a
positive mood and relax your audience.
 Using notes, not scripts: Reading from a script may feel impersonal, so
presentation simple notes are a great way to maintain pacing and focus
throughout your.

8. Multimedia tools

Slideshows or video presentations can be effective formats that maintain audience

engagement, but it's important to follow certain tips to optimize your presentation. Here
are some tips you can follow to create effective slideshows or videos:

 Write short, simple lines of text rather than large paragraphs.

 Include large text font that's easy to read for all members of an audience.
 Use visual aids, such as pictures, whenever relevant to your topic.
 Incorporate animation sparingly, as it may distract from your presentation
if used too much.
 Allocate a certain amount of time for each slide you present so your
audience has time to read each one.

9. Contact information

Consider including your contact information, such as your phone number or email address,
at the end of your presentation so audience members can request further information or
ask questions after your presentation's conclusion. Prominently displaying your contact
information is especially important when you're presenting at a conference or other
professional event, as you can develop professional networks from these types of events.

10. Call to action

A clear call to action can help an audience engage with your presentation even after it ends.
Effective calls to action often motivate your audience to act upon the information you
presented or invite your audience into the next step of the process. Common calls to action
include inviting audience members to buy a product, subscribe to a newsletter, learn more
about a topic or join a group.

11. Comfortable setting

If you are conducting an in-person event, ensure that your presentation space has
comfortable seating for your audience. When your audience is comfortable, they can focus
on you and your material. If you're presenting in an unfamiliar place, consider requesting to
see the presentation space beforehand and brainstorming ways to optimize its layout.

12. Question-and-answer session

A question-and-answer session with your audience can occur repeatedly throughout your
presentation or as a separate session at the end of your presentation. Whichever method
you choose, consider following these tips to optimize your question-and-answer session:

 Inform your audience about the time in which they can ask questions at the
beginning of your presentation.
 Repeat questions for the benefit of all audience members.
 Involve the audience by asking for their opinions on certain questions.
 Spend time prior to your presentation preparing answers to commonly
asked questions.
 Remain updated on current issues related to your topic.