Giving effective presentations is an art and one can get good at it with experience and the right attitude. Everyone can speak to a set of audience , but few can do it right and leave a lasting impression.  The central purpose of any form of presentation, written, visual or oral, is communication. To communicate effectively, you must state your facts in a simple, concise and interesting manner.

Here are the top 5 essentials for effective presentations:

1.    Be prepared: Well, this might seem obvious, but a presenter should always be through with the material that needs to be presented. Be it a speech, a PowerPoint slide or facts and figures, a presenter needs to know his content in and out. The ability to present a subject with confidence directly affects your audience’s impression and will help keep their attention.

2.    Induce emotion: The purpose of any kind of presentation is to bring your listeners from their current state of mind (usually uninterested) to such an emotional state that they here your point and take a favorable action. Try to present your content not just like raw facts but make them like a series of emotions.  For example: Amazed, Curious, Inspired and finally activated.

3.    Humor is important: While making a presentation, it is good to have some form of “natural” humor. Don’t try to be a stand up comedian, leave that for the professionals and always remember not to pick on anyone from the audience and make fun. People will laugh with you when you poke fun at yourself but never try to overdo it.

4.    Tell stories: Memorable presentations are all about telling intriguing stories. A story might be something as short as an explanation of how you arrived at a particular fact or figure in your presentation or an entire five-minute-long story about a life experience. Make sure you stories are concise and relevant, so that they give you the desired emotional response.

5.     Keep it simple: Last but not the least, always try to keep your information and data as simple as possible. Never overwhelm your audience  with complex graphs and themes that are hard to comprehend. Always try to keep your story relevant to the core content so that you can easily make a point at the end of your presentation. Irrelevant information and haphazard flow of ideas will leave the listener confused and disinterested.

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