How to make a presentation that will make you shine

Presentation refers to conveying a message on a particular idea or concept to an audience. Presentations, when done properly, can land you a new contract or even help you market your products or services to high-paying clients. However, if not done properly, it will be hard for your audience to understand the idea, product, or service you are trying to sell. 

Presentation is a great way to effectively communicate ideas, services, and products to a selected audience. Still, very few persons are conversant with how to make it intriguing, value-packed, yet compelling. This Workee article will take you on a tour of how to make your next presentation a bomb. 

How to make a great presentation

Choose a catchy topic

To choose a topic, you need to consider who your audience is and why you want to talk about the topic. In choosing your topic, think of one that is in tune with your discipline or career to present. Ensure it is a topic you are versed in or understand.

In this context, you are to make a presentation about yourself. For example, your name is Monica, and you are a young freelancer that recently broke a record on Upwork due to outstanding performance and reputation and got a top-rated badge on the platform. You can title the presentation Meet Monica, the top-rated freelancer on Upwork.

With such a topic, people will want to know more about you, as it will raise curiosity. But if you choose something like Hello, meet Monica, or Things to know about Monica, it may not give the vibe it should.

Do some research

After choosing a topic, what next? You finally caught your audience's attention, you do not want to sound like you are speaking off-topic, so they do not get disappointed with you. That is why you should research and gather relevant information on what you are presenting.

If you are talking about yourself, make a rough note of relevant information to address, sprinkled with a few fun facts.

Approach your audience in a familiar language 

In this context, language is not a dialect; it means communicating so the people you are talking to will understand or relate. Consider the buzzwords and case studies you bring up while presenting. 

If you are talking to children, you can think of a few funny child-friendly stuff about when you were younger to chip in your presentation, ask one of two questions and maybe give those who answer little gifts to encourage them. Things like this can make those children not forget your face, what you spoke about, and what occurred during your presentation. If it is an adult, you will not use this exact approach. The point is to approach your audience in the best way they will relate to and understand. 

Create an outline for your presentation 

Outline your topic. Your content will come from it. It should cover areas like the introduction, main content, and conclusion.

Work with a given time to present yourself by noting an approximate time duration for each of your bullet points. It will help you optimize your time on each subtopic. Try your best to keep to time.

Focus on delivering great content and stay on track

Your introduction should be as catchy as your topic because it needs to stir up your audience. For example, as a freelancer or remote worker, you can introduce your audience to how you have been smoothly handling your job with a statement like:

“One of the secrets to my efficient work rate as a remote worker is using the Workee platform to manage my clients, co-workers, and engagements. I want the best for you, so after I tell you about myself, I will tell you how the platform has been beneficial.

 Your audience will be curious because many freelancers and remote workers want a better work rate while they build their clients and reputation. Freelancing is already as busy as it can be, so they want to make their workflow as seamless as possible.

Make the body of your presentation informative, motivating, and entertaining. Use legible and appropriate fonts and high-quality visuals so they can appear appealing. Put facts and figures, if possible, and share links your audience can cross-check to make them sound more credible. 

Observe your audience as you present because their reaction may determine if you need to switch things a bit. You can use storytelling as telling stories has a way of grabbing people's attention. It can be a story about yourself or someone else; ensure it is still in line with your topic.

Also, do not forget to chip in videos, random quizzes, and other things to engage your audience and not make them bored. Do not make things so predictable.

Use visuals to make your presentation engaging and retentive

Did you know that approximately 83% of human learning occurs visually? According to research by the United States Department of Labor, "retention of information three days after a meeting or other event is six times greater when the information is presented by visual and oral means than when the information is presented by the spoken word alone."

You can hardly see an aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-remember presentation with all texts and no media. That is to say, put some slides and a few words in the media where necessary. You can design graphics or ask someone to help you do so. Well-set-up slides are visually appealing, as they help the audience note points they didn't get in your speech and also make them understand illustrations.

End with a compelling conclusion

Summarize your key points and use a solid quote or statement to end the presentation. Create a section to ask questions after your presentation, as your audience may have things that need clarification.

Go over your work

Not everyone is good at talking to a group of people or a crowd. Even if you are, it is important to rehearse your presentation a few times. You can rehearse in front of your friends and ask for criticisms so you can do better on the day of your presentation. This will also be a good time to review your presentation materials for errors you did not initially notice.

Always have a backup plan

In life, we create plans B, C, or more when aiming at achieving something. Apply the same when you draft a presentation to ensure it is successful. Anything can happen, from technical issues to logistics problems to being asked a question that can throw you off balance. So, have different plans, which can be in any form, as long as it addresses what they should.

Support your freelancing work with Workee

Workee is a client management platform that business owners, freelancers, and career people use to run their businesses and interact with their clients. What makes it unique is that it is one-click and has features that can suit people from different walks of life. Workee saves time and energy while helping you focus on other things. 

Workee offers

Website builder: It can help you create a no-code personal website where your clients can contact you and know more about you. You can also manage your website from your dashboard. Setting up the website will take you approximately five minutes.

Finance management: Workee provides a platform where clients can pay for your services. It processes the order and manages your invoices. It also has a tax management feature that helps you accurately calculate your tax, thereby saving you the stress of having to rack your brain with calculations.

CRM: With Workee’s CRM, you can better manage your relationship with your clients. You can make video calls, schedule appointments, and do other transactions with your customers. So, you do not have to worry about managing your favorite workspace as they have been integrated with Workee.

Conclusion

Presentations can be physical or virtual. Since the COVID pandemic, some events usually held physically are now virtual, as it helps people attend from various locations and also saves costs. If you are in a situation where as a freelancer, you need to speak with clients and make some presentations virtually, Workee can help you smash it and leave a lasting impression.

You do not have to do so many navigations with various tools because Workee has the combined features to make your meetings and presentations effective. Also, you can use business features to perform seamless transactions.