Turn Boring into Brilliant: 7 Hacks to Improve Your Presentation

Introduction

As HBr says, “While a good presentation has data, data alone doesn’t guarantee a good presentation.” In the age of PowerPoint and Canva, where presenting information has become easier than ever, raise your hand if you haven’t ever heard a presenter say, “It might be hard to see this diagram, but it illustrates…” What could be worse than a presentation struggling to convey its essence?

Every working professional knows the significant efforts that go into enhancing and perfecting tasks. For instance, as a data analyst, you put in extremely hard work to add perfection to your data analysis, staying updated on tech trends, and constructing machine learning models. Yet, an essential skill often overlooked is the capacity to craft engaging presentations. In order to display all your hard work and efforts clearly and efficiently to your audience, you must improve your presentation such that it engages your audience well and promotes information-driven decision-making.

The Power of Effective Presentation

A presentation involves visually depicting information through charts, graphs, maps, and various techniques, enhancing comprehension through visual aids. This graphical depiction, termed data visualization, relies on factors such as format, tools, available data, and dataset size.

When you craft a presentation, keep in mind the essential factors such as target audience, clear content, required graphics, table and charts, simple-to-grasp information, and clear explanations. The power of an effective presentation cannot be overlooked, as it displays your efforts and helps you drive a change in your organization.

Do you wish to improve your presentation skills? You can now master the art of making effective presentations with Analytics Vidhya’s BlackBelt Plus Program. This comprehensive course teaches data visualization for data science professionals covering various tools to visualize data, generate insights, and create captivating presentations.

7 Tips to Make a Super Engaging Presentation

There are multiple key points that you must consider while creating an effective presentation. However, seven major tips to improve your presentation and make it super engaging are listed below:

1. Know Your Audience

Rather than solely emphasizing the findings, you should prioritize tailoring your presentation to the audience. Understanding their background and what they seek from your findings assists in framing the presentation effectively.

This approach doesn’t disregard the data; rather, it involves presenting it in a manner that’s easily understandable and supports the audience’s familiar discussions or arguments. Even the most exceptional presentations might falter if the audience struggles to follow the analyst’s method of conveying findings.

You can improve your presentation by considering the following questions before crafting it:

• Who comprises the audience for this presentation?
• What level of technical proficiency do they possess in your field?
• How acquainted are they with the subject matter?
• What specific interests, needs, and expectations do they have?
• What is the audience’s mental state? Are they fatigued from prior meetings or a lengthy conference?
• Is the setting formal or informal?

By addressing these queries, you’ll gain clarity on what information needs emphasis and how your data can best serve the presentation. Adapting content to suit the audience’s expertise, defining the desired takeaways, and considering the presentation setting will lead to a more impactful presentation.

2. Storytelling with Data

In business presentations, an approach known as Situation-Complication-Resolution (SCR) acts as a structured framework and helps improve your presentation. This method was popularized by Barbara Minto in her book “The Pyramid Principle” during her tenure at McKinsey Consulting, providing an effective structure for constructing a compelling business story. Its simplicity aids in fostering action-oriented outcomes, organizing content, and aligning with the Rule of Three, a principle I’ll explain further.

• Presenting factual information depicting the current state of affairs.
• Identifying the need for action arising from the situation’s assessment.
• Proposing or executing actionable steps to address and resolve the identified complication.

In practical application, additional details would be incorporated as sub-items under each node. Employing SCR facilitates the development of a clear and engaging narrative.

3. Simplify Complex Concepts

It’s natural to feel enthusiastic while preparing a presentation, especially when you’re proud of your work and consider much of the content significant. However, overwhelming your audience with information can diminish the impact of our efforts. The essence of effectively conveying findings lies in keeping the presentation simple. Here are a few pointers for ensuring conciseness and clarity in your visuals:

Ensure visual clarity by refraining from overcrowding with numerous information and images. Strategically employ colors to accentuate different data points while maintaining a consistent text style and color scheme throughout the presentation.

In terms of written content, prioritize inclusivity, using accessible language pertinent to your audience. Emphasize critical keywords or findings by bolding or highlighting them. Simplifying your presentation aids in enabling your audience to grasp your argument and key takeaways. Complexity isn’t necessary to convey your message effectively.

4. Engage with Visuals

Consider your audience’s familiarity with data representation tools when you plan to improve your presentation by designing visuals. Utilize pie graphs to illustrate demographic breakdowns, bar graphs for trend analysis across different years, and flowcharts to visually connect process components.

Opting for these familiar data representation formats enhances the visual appeal of your presentation and ensures effective communication to your audience through easily comprehensible images.

Acknowledge your presentation and ask yourself:

• Is the data properly labeled and annotated in the visuals?
• Are there clear titles, axis labels, legends, and measurement units?
• Are colors utilized in a way that makes my findings clearer?
• Are the slides uncluttered, and the data presented immaculately?
• Are all the visuals presented with the goal of communicating a specific finding to my audience?

Asking yourself these questions will make your presentation stronger and help your audience walk away with a clear understanding of your data-driven proposal.

5. Practice Makes Perfect

Each time you craft a presentation presenting your data, ensure to make some little improvements wherever possible. Moreover, get ideas on how to make your presentation more attractive, engaging, informative, and effective. Hence, with each presentation you make, you will enhance your presentation with perfectation and clarity.

6. Interactive and Engaging Presentations

Utilize techniques like preattentive attributes to draw focus to phrases or keywords beyond mere singular words or numbers on a slide, thereby enhancing their impact. These attributes include using italics, bold, different colors, or sizes to make certain elements stand out, capturing the audience’s attention within the first fraction of a second. An integral aspect of your presentation involves justifying to your audience why they should be invested.

Integrating real-world examples allows your audience to grasp, empathize, and relate the significance of your work. Incorporating case studies or examples that resonate with them facilitates engagement and establishes a practical connection between your presentation’s data and their everyday experiences.

Improve your presentation according to the audience:

• For company presentations, align your content with their values, values, and mission, emphasizing how your proposal benefits their specific organization.
• When presenting to colleagues, emphasize the connections between your work and theirs. Consider discussing with them beforehand to best highlight these connections during your presentation.

When addressing a larger audience, stay updated on broader topics, industry trends, and current events that intersect with your work. Integrate these examples into your presentation to underscore the relevance of your work.

Your objective is to bridge the gap between your work and the audience’s interests. Engage them by linking your content to their work or daily lives, as finding this connection often serves as a crucial step toward audience engagement.

7. Utilize Technology Tools

Integrating technology can enhance your presentation’s engagement and interactivity. Utilize tools for sharing resources, conducting polls, soliciting feedback, and fostering interaction. Platforms like Mentimeter, Google Forms, or Kahoot enable the display of interactive quizzes, word clouds, or surveys. Communication through social media, email, or chat before, during, or after the presentation also contributes to engagement.

However, it’s important to be aware of potential challenges and distractions that technology may present. Avoid multitasking, such as checking your phone or reading directly from slides during the presentation. Monitor online interactions actively, promptly addressing technical issues or audience inquiries to maintain a seamless experience.

Conclusion

Effectively presenting your data is crucial for communicating findings to colleagues, clients, or potential investors. Despite possessing strong technical skills, the inability to present these conclusions to the relevant audience may undermine your efforts. A well-crafted presentation not only conveys confidence in your findings but also reflects pride in the work accomplished.

So, do you want to make brilliant presentations? Enroll in our BlackBelt Plus Program today and get ready to up your presentation game! In this course, you will learn to use Matplotlib and Seaborn for data visualization and create charts, graphs, and maps in MS Excel and PowerBI. Master them all and win over your clients with the charismatic presentations you create!

K.C. Sabreena Basheer

Sabreena Basheer is an architect-turned-writer who's passionate about documenting anything that interests her. She's currently exploring the world of AI and Data Science as a Content Manager at Analytics Vidhya.