Don’t bore your audience: 5 tips for an engaging presentation

You’re checking your watch – again. Unfortunately, only five minutes have passed since you last looked at the time. You shift in your chair and stifle back a yawn. You’re trying to stay focused on the person speaking at the front of the room, but it’s not easy. The presenter is droning on and on about some technical topic or another. Each slide has lots and lots of numbers and way too many words.  

If you’ve ever sat through a boring presentation, you’ve seen what not to do in action. Don’t be that presenter. Follow these quick tips to deliver an effective and engaging presentation – even when the topic is data based.  

1. Focus on the key points 

Do: Limit your presentation to just the key highlights. Don’t worry about not getting to everything; you can cover a lot of ground in a short time if you plan it well. Even a 5-minute presentation can be insightful. The trick is to stay focused on what really matters – what information will be most relevant to your audience while getting your main points across.  

Don’t: Cram every data point into your slide deck. Not only will you bore your audience (and likely run out of time) if you try to include too much in one presentation, but you also run the risk of your key message getting lost in the noise. Less is often more effective when it comes to presentations.  

2. Use data visualization 

Do: Use charts, graphs and other data visualizations to show key data findings. These visuals can help you communicate more effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences by making data points easy to understand at a glance.  

Don’t: Insert Excel tables with rows and rows of data. While you may want to have more information available in the Appendix section of your presentation as a backup just in case questions come up, you should save that to reference only if needed. Unless you’re dealing with a highly technical audience, showing large data tables or screenshots of data analysis won’t be as effective as taking a more visual approach. 

3. Use text sparingly 

Do: Limit text on your slides. The Rule of Three is a good one to keep in mind here. Rooted in psychology and heavily leveraged in copywriting and storytelling, the rule states that humans are more likely to remember things that are grouped in threes. Consider limiting the text in your presentation to three brief ideas or bullet points per slide. Remember it’s a presentation, not a white paper. 

Don’t: Use your slides as notes. Inexperienced presenters sometimes use their presentation deck as a crutch, reading the text word for word. This makes for a very boring presentation. If you want to keep your audience’s attention, most of the words you say when presenting should not be on your slides. Afraid you’ll forget something? Bring notes – just don’t put them on the slides. 

4. Carry your audience with you 

Do: Tell a story with your data and message points. Think about the key takeaways you want your audience to walk away with from your presentation. Then organize your presentation so that it addresses those main points and flows logically all the way through. 

Don’t: Overlook the flow. If your presentation is not well organized, it will be hard for your audience to follow you, and you may lose them along the way. 

5. Practice, practice, practice 

Do: Practice your delivery. Do a run-through (or several) and time yourself so you can get the pacing right.  If you have a co-presenter, rehearse together to get comfortable with the timing and transition cues. The more you practice, the more likely it will run smoothly on the day of. 

Don’t: Wing it on the day of your presentation. Unless you’re an experienced orator, launching into a presentation without sufficient preparation is not advisable. Of course, there may be times when you have to present on short notice, and in those moments, you’ll have to do the best you can given the time you have. However, if you have the time to practice, use it.  

The next time you have a presentation coming up, follow the tips above to make it more effective. Stick to the key points, take a visual approach to data, make your words count, take your audience with you, and practice in advance to keep your audience engaged from start to finish.