Project presentation is an essential part of almost any job. Are you engaged in sales, PR, marketing, development, pitching a project to investors, or being interviewed for a job — you must present yourself and your work as profitable as possible.

As for a business project, even a brilliant idea may never turn into a real business if its author doesn’t know how to present it. Don’t expect that product demonstration is enough to make everyone interested. That’s why many great ideas remain just ideas, never turning into anything more.

It’s essential to realize that a presentation and handouts aren’t beautiful and bright pictures that include high-quality magazine mockups. They are a display of the work results. Your task is to get a response and convince the interlocutor of the value of your project. The presentation requires careful preparation: you should take into account all the details; have a good sense of the time; and, if necessary, think over such points as aspects of partnership cooperation or the conditions for testing a product.

Presentation isn’t just about slides

A presentation, project, or idea doesn’t start from the first slide but your self-presentation, your first word, your performance. Watch your gestures, facial expressions, intonations, and even postures. Don’t let yourself turn your back on the audience and avoid empty phrases. Let your voice sound confident and loud enough to be heard even at the end of the hall without a microphone, but don’t overdo it. Pay attention to your appearance and feel as relaxed and confident as possible.

Highlight

A common mistake many speakers make is to draw the audience’s attention to several factors at the same time — both on the slide and in words. Try to avoid such situations: replace text with pictures, use explanatory graphics and dashboards. If you add a lot of information to the slides, all the audience’s attention will be there, and they will simply stop listening to you.

Practical experience

The theory is good, but it doesn’t compare to practical cases. You will interest the public only when you share real experience and pragmatic results. Moreover, the content of your presentation should be logically structured, have a sequence: introduction, body, and conclusion. Don’t forget to be creative.

When preparing for a performance, you must understand who you are going to present to. Investors, for instance, will expect economic calculations from you, developers — technical information, and a potential employer — completed tasks, applied tools, and understanding of the technology stack. Prepare a couple of questions for your audience and be prepared to answer too. Think about all the possible questions you might be asked and the answers to them.

Speak easier

Don’t overload your speech with specialized terms. It can prevent the audience from understanding you. Avoid using clichés, parasitic words, and catchphrases in your talk. Add a touch of humor, tell a life story, warm up your audience and keep participants awake.

Add more numbers

If you have specific data, use it. If the numbers can’t be divulged, use percentages. That will work too.

People invest because they want to profit from it. Any investor will be interested in your business plan if you can give specific numbers.

 More specificity

Business success comes down to marketing. If you have a marketing idea, marketing techniques, marketing plan, and marketing strategy, you will have a chance to demonstrate them. Despite all the significant benefits, a good product doesn’t sell itself. You sell it. To convince investors, you need to provide them with a clear go-to-market strategy.

The same goes for customer acquisition, first profits, market, and niche conquest. Any audience in front of which you present your project expects more specificity from you.

The technical side of the presentation

Choose a simple design template. Use soft colors and easy-to-read fonts. Try to use a few words on a slide. One message — one slide.

The content of the presentation should be logical and have a sequence. The slides should contain photographs, graphs, pictures, and diagrams, not just beautiful drawings or meaningless landscapes. The text must match the image. It’s appropriate to put on slides figures and facts that are difficult to keep in mind and too monotonous to voice in speech. Furthermore, make multiple copies and save them in various formats.

The main task of the presentation is to attract attention, interest. Follow the above tips, and you will definitely succeed in this matter. We wish you all the best!