Deliver Your Best Presentation with These Tools

Everyone can agree that the keys to a great presentation are content and passion. Well researched, compelling content and a passionate presenter can carry a presentation on the driest topic. While there is no substitute for these things, there are a few tools that can help you elevate your presentation. From design to delivery, these tools will enable you to give your best presentation.

Design your best presentation

While content is king, a well-designed presentation can help communicate your key messages visually. There are several software tools that can help you design your presentations. The most common of these tools is Microsoft PowerPoint, which offers a range of templates and the ability to add multimedia such as images and videos. Keynote is a great alternative to PowerPoint for Mac users, offering similar features but with a user interface that some users find easier to navigate. Both PowerPoint and Keynote make designing presentations easy and offer tools for delivering them.

If you’re looking for a polished, design-forward presentation a web-based design tool like Canva might be the answer. Canva offers templates, stock photography, and a variety of other visual elements enabling you to create beautiful designs.

Invest in the right technology

If you’re presenting but don’t know what type of technology will be available for your presentation, it’s best to go in overly prepared. For starters, make sure you have a variety of cables that are compatible with your laptop to help you connect to a projector or screen. I recommend adding a VGA and HDMI cable to your arsenal. If there’s audio in your presentation, you might want to add an audio cable as well.

If all else fails and you can’t connect to the projector or there isn’t one present, it’s great to have a pocket projector with you. These projectors are both portable and affordable and can really save a presentation in a pinch.

Highlight the important things

Depending on the content of your presentation and your presenter style, you might find it helpful to highlight certain points or messages. Laser pointers are extremely useful in this situation, helping you highlight key words or phrases and point out important aspects of diagrams or charts.

Help people follow along

If you’d like to have people follow along and take notes during your presentation, it can be beneficial to hand out a hard copy of it to your audience. While printing on your office printer is a viable option, it can be a time consuming one and the results can look less than professional. For a more polished look, I recommend printing the presentation professionally using a service like Staples Print & Marketing services. This will give you better results, make the process more efficient, and allow you to take advantage of options like binding.