Giving effective oral presentations

Structuring your presentation

Effective presentations start with a clear structure that considers your audience and makes your message easy to understand. What you include in an academic presentation depends on its purpose; whether it is to present research findings, introduce new information, or explain a concept. A focused approach allows for deeper exploration, while a broader one may require simplifying complex ideas. Finding the right balance between how much you cover and how deeply you explore each topic is essential for clarity and impact. Since presentation time is often limited, it is important to focus on a few key points that best support your message. Generally, all presentations should have an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion.

Introduction 

A strong introduction does more than simply state the topic; it positions your work within the bigger picture. This is where the So What? test becomes essential. It answers the critical question: “Why should anyone care?” For every point you plan to include, ask yourself: “What is the one thing I want my audience to remember?” and “Why is this important?” By addressing these questions, you help your audience, especially those outside your specific field, understand the relevance and potential impact of your work. The So What? Test encourages you to you move beyond simply listing facts and instead emphasize the meaning of your work. This approach is particularly important in interdisciplinary settings, where not everyone will be familiar with the technical details of your work. In addition, the introduction serves as a bridge between your work and your audience. It outlines the structure of your talk and highlights the key questions or problems your work addresses. In short, the introduction allows you to

• engage the audience’s attention
• clearly explain the topic and scope of your presentation
• show why your research matters in a broader academic context
• make your ideas understandable and relevant to a diverse audience.

Body

The body is the main part of the presentation where you explain your ideas, theories, and arguments. Each point made should be supported with clear reasoning and evidence. Examples and data should be chosen carefully, as an incorrect example can weaken your argument. In science presentations, the body is often divided into smaller sections to address specific research questions. While the structure may vary by research type, it typically includes the following parts:

Methods and Materials: This section explains how the study was conducted and where it took place. It should include a clear but concise description of the tools, materials, and procedures used.

Results: This section presents the main findings of the study, including key data and outcomes from your study. It is important to highlight the most significant result and avoid just reading, for example, numbers from a slide.

Discussion: In the discussion, you interpret and explain the results. This is your opportunity to explore the meaning behind the findings, compare them with results from other studies, and discuss their broader importance. Use this section to connect your research to the bigger picture and explain why your results matter. Most importantly, this is where you answer the So What? test: Why do these results matter? What do they tell us about the topic, and how might they impact future research? By connecting your findings to the bigger picture, you help your audience understand why your work matters in the field.

Conclusion

A strong conclusion is an essential part of any presentation, yet it is often overlooked. It helps remind the audience of your main points and leaves them with a clear idea of your key message and what you want the audience to do with your message. Since people tend to remember what they hear at the beginning and end of a talk, a powerful conclusion can make your message more memorable.

Connection between ideas

Throughout your presentation, you can show the connection between ideas by using transition words and phrases. They help clarify whether you are expanding on the same topic, introducing a contrasting idea, or moving on to something new. It is important to help your audience know where they are in your presentation. Besides providing a clear outline at the beginning, you should also remind them regularly of what you have covered and what will come next.

Delivering with impact

Delivering with impact means presenting your message clearly, engagingly, and memorably. It is not only about what you say, but how you say it; how you connect with your audience, shape your story, use your body and voice, and guide listeners through complex ideas. Practicing key elements such as audience awareness, storytelling, body language, finding your voice, pausing and pacing, and timing will help you achieve this. 

Audience awareness 

Audience awareness means understanding who you are speaking to and shaping your message to match their background, expectations, and level of knowledge. When you adapt your communication in this way, you create stronger engagement and make your ideas easier to follow. Here are some tips for making your presentation accessible to an audience.

• Try to get a sense of who will be attending, students, specialists, public, etc.
• Clearly define new terms and briefly explain complex ideas as they come up
• Use analogies and real-world examples to make abstract concepts more relatable.
• Encourage questions from all levels and rephrase them so everyone can follow. 

To put audience awareness into practice, it can be helpful to gather information directly from your listeners and keep them actively involved throughout your presentation. One effective tool for doing this is Microsoft Forms, which allows you to easily interact with your audience before, during, and after you speak.

Storytelling 

The best presenters engage their audience, and true engagement is about emotion. Appealing to emotions makes your message memorable, and storytelling is the most powerful way to do it. It helps explain complex ideas by turning them into relatable, real-life examples. A strong academic presentation should do more than just show data; it should tell a clear and compelling story with a beginning (why the research matters), a middle (what you did and found), and an end (what it means and what comes next). 

To do this effectively, reveal your content gradually, like a good story building toward a climax. Avoid overwhelming your audience with too much data at once. Instead, break your presentation into focused, meaningful parts. This not only helps your audience follow along and stay interested but also makes your message easier to remember. Storytelling benefits not only your audience; it helps you too. It gives your presentation a clear structure, makes it more enjoyable and boosts your confidence. To build a story structure, try planning your ideas with paper storyboarding:

• Write your main ideas or slides on separate cards or sticky notes.
• Spread them out on a table or wall where you can see everything at once.
• Move the cards around to find the best order and flow for your presentation.
• Group related points together to keep your story clear and organized.

Read an example of storytelling with data

Body language 

Your body language has a big impact on how your audience understands and reacts to your message. In fact, more than half of communication is nonverbal, through your posture, gestures, and facial expressions. That is why it is important to look natural and confident when you speak. 

Body language tips for engaging presentations 

• Face your audience – do not turn your back to the screen. Use digital pointers or highlights instead.
• Maintain eye contact by looking at different parts of the audience.
• Move with purpose – step closer when emphasizing an important point.
• Use clear gestures, for example, holding up three fingers when listing three ideas.
• Smile naturally to appear confident and build a good connection with your audience.
• Practice and review by recording yourself to spot habits and improve.

Finding your voice 

One way to make your presentation more engaging is to speak as if you are having a conversation with your audience. When you speak naturally and with your own style, it is easier for people to stay engaged, just like in a real conversation where everyone wants to participate. Finding your own voice in presentations helps you sound authentic and keeps your audience focused, while formal, emotionless speech can quickly lose their attention. 

Pausing and pacing

When you are presenting complex or detailed information such as in a research talk, pausing is a powerful tool that helps both you and your audience. Many students focus on speaking fluently and quickly, but clarity is more important than speed. Pauses give your audience time to process what you have said, especially when you are introducing new terms, explaining data, or making a key argument. 

Natural pause tips for effective presentations

• Start with silence before you begin speaking. Take a moment to breathe and ground yourself. This sets a calm tone and helps you begin with confidence.
• Emphasize key points when you say something important, pause right after. This gives your audience time to absorb it.
• Use short sentences. They are easier to understand, and they give you more natural places to pause.
• Try rehearsing with a friend or recording yourself. You may be surprised to discover that pauses which feel long to you often sound natural to your listeners.

Timing 

One of the most important things to practice before your presentation is timing. You will not really know how long your talk takes until you rehearse it out loud. You might find that you need to shorten or adjust parts to fit your time limit. Practising with a timer helps you stay within your limits and avoid rushing at the end. For this reason, it can be useful to prepare a brief conclusion summary that you can use if you notice you are running out of time. 

Learn more about effective communication techniques in this TED talk by David JP Phillips The 110 techniques of communication and public speaking.

Managing presentation anxiety

It is totally normal to feel nervous before giving a presentation. The best way to reduce anxiety is to prepare and rehearse. When you know your material well, you will feel more confident and ready, just like an athlete before a big game or a musician before a concert. You might still feel “butterflies in your stomach,” but that is okay. Instead of trying to get rid of the nervous energy, try to use it to your advantage. Channel that energy into enthusiasm for your topic. When you are excited and prepared, your audience will feel it too, and your presentation is more likely to go well. Here are a few simple strategies to help you calm your nerves and feel more confident before you present.

Tips for managing presentation anxiety:

Do something physical before your presentation:

• Shake out your hands.
• Roll your shoulders.
• Take a short walk. 

Practice 4-4-4-4 Breathing:

• Inhale slowly through your nose for a count of 4.
• Hold your breath for a count of 4.
• Exhale slowly through your mouth for a count of 4.
• Pause for a count of 4 before inhaling again. 

Rehearse with Energy: When you practice, speak with the same energy you want to have during the real presentation. Record yourself and watch it back. Notice how your energy affects your delivery. 

Focus on the Message, Not Yourself: Shift your attention from “How do I look?” to “What do I want them to learn or feel?”

Using visual aids

Using visual aids is an important part of effective presentations. Well-designed slides, images, charts, or diagrams can help clarify complex ideas, highlight key points, and keep your audience engaged. PowerPoint is one of the most used presentation tools, and when used effectively, it can support your message and make it easier for the audience to follow your ideas.

PowerPoint 

Effective use of PowerPoint starts with audience awareness; understanding what your listeners need and how to communicate your message clearly before you create any slides. You do not need to be a presentation expert to create a good power point presentation; just think like someone in the audience. When it is your turn to present, shift your perspective: imagine yourself sitting in the audience. What would make the message clear, engaging, and worth your attention? Before opening PowerPoint, take a moment to plan your message. Write down your main points, organize your thoughts, put them in a clear order, and mark ideas you want to emphasize. Some concepts may even require more than one slide to explain clearly. Instead of building your presentation around slides, build it around your ideas and then use slides to help tell your story. Ensure that you prioritize your ideas and content not the slides themselves.

Tips for smart slide design: 

Text 

• Keep your text short and to the point and avoid full paragraphs.
• Do not overload your slides with information. Remember, slides are meant to support your talk, not replace it. Visual design
• Use simple, clean backgrounds that do not distract from your content.
• Choose fonts that are easy to read and colours that contrast well.
• Use colour purposefully to highlight key points, not just for decoration.
• Group related items by placing them close together, and separate unrelated items with more space.
• Use spacing before adding lines or boxes to organize content as good spacing reduces visual clutter and improves clarity.

Graphs, Diagrams & Tables

• Show only one graph or table per slide to keep things clear.
• Use animations to highlight important data step by step as you explain it.
• Use comparison in visuals to enhance understanding. To make a good comparison:

1. Compare data using the same units and conditions.
2. Show all related data together so patterns are easier to see.
3. Use reference points to make your comparisons meaningful. 

The example graph compares average blood pressure for men and women across age groups using the same unit (mmHg) (1), shows all data together for easy pattern recognition (2), and includes a benchmark line (120 mmHg) (3) to give context and meaning to the comparison.

• Use area alignment for balance: When designing slides or visuals, aligning elements by their edges works well when they are the same size. But when elements are different like a big image next to a small quote, it is better to align them based on their visual weight or area, not just their edges.

Presentations without slides

Sometimes we deliver presentations without any slides, which makes our delivery and connection with the audience even more important. In these situations, these points can guide you to keep the message clear. 

Keep your presentation notes short and simple: Even if you are nervous, avoid using detailed notes during your talk as they can break eye contact and distract you from your audience. Instead, prepare a brief outline with just your main points and a few key reminders. This helps you stay focused, sound natural, and connect better with your listeners.

Guide your audience: When you are giving a presentation without slides, it is important to guide your audience clearly through your talk. Since they cannot see your outline, you need to speak your structure using clear verbal cues and supportive hand gestures. This helps your listeners follow along and stay engaged.

Plan your figures ahead of time: When giving a presentation without slides, whether you are using a whiteboard or chalkboard; decide which key visuals you want to include. Keep them simple and practice drawing them before your talk. This helps you explain your ideas clearly and confidently without struggling in front of your audience.

Using AI tools for presentations

AI tools can help you organize your ideas into a clear and logical structure, which is useful if you find planning your speech difficult. In addition, they can provide well-written points with good grammar, making your presentation easier to follow. However, there are important risks to keep in mind. AI cannot replace human creativity, and if you use it too early, you may skip your own thinking process, which can weaken your critical thinking. Most importantly, AI cannot show empathy; it cannot sense unspoken feelings or adjust your message in the moment. Because of this, good communicators rely on these human skills, which AI simply cannot reproduce. Therefore, if you use AI tools, make sure you review and refine the content, so the content is accurate and it sounds like you.

Read about AI and Learning on KIB’s website

References 

Albuquerque, U. P. (2015). Speaking in public about science: A quick guide for the preparation of good lectures, seminars, and scientific presentations (2015th ed.). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06517-5 

Carter, M. (2021). Designing science presentations: a visual guide to figures, papers, slides, posters, and more (2nd edition). Elsevier: Academic Press. 

Eriksson, M., Carlberg, B., Pennlert, J., Söderberg, S., & Eliasson, M. (2017). Time trends and socioeconomic differences in blood pressure levels: The Northern Sweden MONICA study 1994–2014. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 24(14), 1473–1481. https://doi.org/10.1177/2047487317722263

Giba, J., & Ribes, R. (2011). Preparing and Delivering Scientific Presentations: A Complete Guide for International Scientists (1. Aufl.). Springer-Verlag. 

Krzywinski, M., & Cairo, A. (2013). Storytelling: relate your data to the world around them using the age-old custom of telling a story. Nature Methods, 10(8), 687. 

Lerner, K. (2023, August 3). Tips & Techniques for Pacing & Pausing in Presentations. https://www.presentationteam.com/tips-for-pacing-pausing/ 

Lidwell, W., Holden, K., & Butler, J. (2010). Universal principles of design: 125 ways to enhance usability, influence perception, increase appeal, make better design decisions, and teach through design (Revised and updated.).Rockport Publishers. 

Napkin AI. (2025). [Beta 013.2] orchestrator large language model (LLM) https://www.napkin.ai/ 

Surya, N. (2024, May 7). Using AI To Write Your Presentation: The Pros and Cons. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesagencycouncil/2024/05/07/using-ai-to-write-your-presentation-the-pros-and-cons/ 

Weinschenk, S. (2020). 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People, 2nd Edition (2nd edition). New Riders.