Three Tips for Better Business Presentations

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‘How can I improve my business presentations?’

This is one of the most common questions I get from my Korean clients. Meetings and presentations can be very intimidating, but are also great opportunities for you to impress your colleagues and show what an asset you are to your company. 

A lot of English learners are worried about making grammar/speaking mistakes during presentations. It’s definitely important to speak correct English as much as possible while presenting, but it’s perhaps even more important to follow a clear, organized presentation structure. If your presentation follows a clear structure, you'll be able to communicate much more effectively even if you aren’t a native English speaker. 

Here are three simple tips that can instantly make your presentations better, clearer, and more organized. 

1. At the beginning of the presentation: Briefly explain the overall goal and each topic you will cover. 

Most people start presentations by saying something like ‘Hello, my name is X and today we’ll talk about Y…’. Then immediately begin the details of the presentation.  

It’s much better to divide the presentation into 2-5 topics, and then briefly introduce each topic at the very beginning. This way, the audience knows everything that will be covered in the presentation at the beginning. It will be easier for them to follow what you say, and your presentation will seem much more organized and prepared. 

Here’s an example: imagine you’re giving a quarterly presentation about your company’s financial situation. Which introduction sounds better to you? 

A: ‘Hello, my name is Grant and today we’ll talk about the company’s finances.’ 

B: ‘Thanks for coming, everyone. Today we’re going to talk about our financial situation. First, we’re going to look at some financial data for our entire industry, including some of our key competitors. Then, we’ll analyze our own current financial position. Last, we’ll look at our financial forecasts for next quarter and discuss what we need to do to reach our financial goals. Alright, let’s start by looking at the industry data…’. 

2. During the presentation: Use transitions and allow for questions in between topics. 

In addition to explaining all of your topics at the beginning or your presentation, it’s also great to use a transition statement whenever you move to a new topic while presenting. Oftentimes, inexperienced presenters will finish discussing one topic and immediately start discussing the next without any sort of transition. You need to include that transition statement because it informs your audience that you’re changing topics. This way, they’ll understand exactly where you are in your presentation and be able to follow you more easily. 

This can be done with a statement such as: 

‘Now that we’ve covered (topic you just finished) let’s move on to (next topic).’

Or you can ask for questions during your transition to make sure you were totally clear to your audience: 

‘Before moving on to (next topic), does anyone have any questions?

Here’s are two examples from the quarterly financial analysis presentation: 

Topic 1: Industry financials → Topic 2: Our company’s financials 

‘Ok, now that we’ve covered the industry financial situation, let’s move on to our own financial data.’

Topic 2: Our company’s financials → Topic 3: Financial forecasts

‘Alright, before moving on to our forecasts for next quarter, does anyone have any questions?’

3. At the end of the presentation: Include a call to action and clearly state the ‘next step’.

The end of your presentation is important, but many presenters end simply by saying, ‘That’s the end. Thank you.’. For business presentations, it’s much better to give a call to action at the end. A ‘call to action’ is an explanation of what your audience should do next, and (if it’s relevant) what you will do next. 

This will make it totally clear to your audience what they need to do, and will help them remember your presentation. 

Let’s imagine in the previous example that you want the sales teams to email you their goals and sales strategies for next quarter. After that, you’ll finalize next quarter’s forecast. Instead of ending your presentation by saying ‘That’s the end, thank you’, it would be much more effective to say something like this: 

‘In summary, (brief summary of your topics). Our next step will be finalizing our forecast, so sales teams please email me your sales goals and strategies by the end of the week. I’ll review them, and we’ll have a follow-up meeting next Friday. Before we end, does anyone have any final questions? Ok great. That’s all for today, thanks for attending, everyone.’

In Conclusion:

Presentations can be difficult, but if you follow a clear structure and remain organized, you can make an awesome impression on your audience regardless of your English ability.

I hope these three tips were helpful. If you’re serious about improving your presentation skills so you can deliver clear, confident presentations that impress your colleagues, bosses, and customers, contact me today. 

Thanks for reading, and best of luck in your next presentation! 

Grant