Discover IEUK: Your launchpad to career success

Join us from 17th - 20th June for a transformative 4-day virtual internship experience! Applications are now open. This unique opportunity offers you the chance to take part in real-life case studies and workshops, as well as network with top employers - including British Airways, BT Group, Clyde & Co and PwC. Don’t miss out!

Communicating and presenting: Presentation aids

Book open Reading time: 1 min
Bright Network Logo
Join the network to continue
Advice
Access exclusive career advice
Application tip from industry experts & recent grads
Deadlines
Never miss a deadline
Add all the important dates to your personalised Career Calendar
Employers
Top graduate employers
Discover internships, graduate jobs and events suited to you
Join now

Do not rely too much on your notes. You should know your presentation well enough to get through it with a series of “triggers” or “paragraph headings” designed to ensure you stick to a logical structure and do not leave out anything essential.

Diagrams and visuals (if not too complicated/small to fit on a screen) can help to explain things and liven up your presentation. Similarly, using PowerPoint slides (and equivalents) is fine, if you use them correctly. Avoid too many words on a slide, otherwise your listeners will read the slides instead of listening to you. Also, do not read out entire slides on behalf of your listener. You can blank out a PowerPoint slide (by pressing “B”) whilst you talk, then let the slide appear at the end as a simple summary of what you have just said. Alternatively, you could take a short pause each time you turn to a new slides, as this will give the reader the chance to skim over it without missing your introductory sentence(s).

Try to give out hand-outs at the end if possible, otherwise your listeners may ignore you and read the hand-out whilst you are talking.

See the other parts in our communicating and presenting series to further refine your skills.