When designing any kind of presentation, there are several key things to consider before you begin. The first is the audience. Who are you presenting to? This will drastically affect the way you present and the style and language you use. If for example you are presenting road safety to a group of ten year olds, you will use simple language and visual aids. This will be vastly different to the way you would present annual revenue figures to a group of people from your own company. In this way you would be using industry jargon and a PowerPoint presentation with graphs. The audience should be the primary consideration because they are the ones who must understand your presentation. It doesn't matter how good you think it is, what matters is how good they think it is.

Presentations must strike a balance between visual aids and spoken words. Presentations that are merely one person speaking at a group of people can fail simply because they are dull. It is your responsibility to keep them interested rather than their responsibility to pay attention. A PowerPoint presentation using graphics and even simple animations can enhance the spoken word. In this case the saying 'a picture can speak a thousand words' is relevant and apt. Visual aids should not detract from the point the speaker is trying to make. This means keeping them to simple bullet points that you will elaborate upon yourself. Do not expect people to be able to read paragraphs full of detailed text and still concentrate on what you are saying. In this way always think about how you will get the points that you need to make across to the audience. What methods of presentation would be appropriate and useful?

It is also necessary to carefully think about how you as a presenter want to be perceived. This includes elements such as dress and speech. For example, a sales presentation would require a clean, smart business suit. It is unlikely to impress anyone if you turn up in jeans and a T-shirt. If on the other hand you are visiting a school to present on the dangers of drugs then wearing a suit may distance yourself from the teenagers you are talking to. Perhaps jeans and a t-shirt may well be appropriate and make them feel comfortable and relaxed with you.

Always practice your presentation in advance, preferably on someone else. You may not realise for example that you are mumbling certain phrases, constant saying 'um' or always looking down at your sheet of paper. Try and speak clearly and make eye contact with the audience. In this way you will be engaging them rather than allowing their attention to drift. Avoid too much unnecessary body language. Try not to constantly wave your arms about as you speak. Keep body language confident and friendly. Do not stand at the front with your arms crossed as this will give a negative impression to those watching since it will make you seem defensive.

Consider how you will present. In a previous job role I worked for a software company that required a new CRM system. We called several companies that came down to present and each one was very different in their approach. One sent three people, each with their own area of expertise. Each one sat behind a laptop and presented their own section. I found this a little disconcerting since the laptops looked provided them the perfect barrier to hid behind. It was also distracting to see the ones that were not talking, drifting off into space or continuing to work on the laptops as if they were checking their emails.

Another of the disappointing ones came when the presenter made his presentation and asked if we had any questions. Unfortunately the answer to almost every question was 'I'll get back to you on that' at which point he would write a note and expect us to move on. To be fair he did send us answers to the questions, but my confidence in him as a presenter was shattered since he only seemed to be able to complete the set presentation. Anything varying from the notes became problematic. Sending out someone with such an obvious lack of knowledge on what they were trying to sell was laughable.

One of the best presentations was a woman who sat down and said 'right, what do you want the system to do for you?' Slightly taken a back I began explaining exactly what I wanted. She nodded and showed us a demonstration of how the system was set up to do it already. This presentation worked for several reasons. One was that I had complete confidence in the presenter because she was able to answer all my questions with evidence on screen so I could see it was working. Her confidence and industry knowledge meant we felt confident in her and the company she worked for. The presentation completely engaged us as an audience and we felt inspired by the additional things she showed us.

One of the most important things about presenting is to make sure that you know your stuff in advance. Everyone will at some point be asked a question they do not know the answer to. In this case do not try and blag an answer or guess, especially to the experts as they will see right through it. Be honest and say that you will find out. Be aware though that if this happens frequently then your audience is likely to lose confidence in your knowledge. They certainly won't buy from someone who knows less about it that they do!