Marketers play a crucial role in attracting customers and driving success for their brands. And today, presentation skills are a key tool in your marketing toolbox.

Strong presentations help you better communicate and make an impression on your audience.

Whether you‘re a seasoned professional or a budding marketer eager to make a lasting impact, there’s always room to improve.

We’ll explore eight essential presentation skills that allow you to stand out, tips for leveling up, and examples of some of our favorite presentations. Let’s dive in.

What are presentation skills?

8 Effective Presentation Skills

How to Improve Your Presentation Skills

Top-Notch Presentation Examples

To engage your audience, weave storytelling into your presentation — more than 5 in 10 people believe stories hold their focus during a presentation.

Consider including a case study or user persona as a throughline during your talk. You could also develop a clever metaphor to explore throughout your presentation.

For example, you could compare your sales team to a group of loyal knights on a quest to share the value of your brand.

9. Memorize structure, not words.

Memorizing your whole talk may seem like a good idea. However, trying to deliver a presentation word-for-word is a mistake. If you forget or stumble on one memorized word, you may interrupt your whole flow.

Repeating every word from memory may also sound stilted to your listeners.

While you don’t want to wing your whole presentation, you also don’t want to seem like you’ve memorized every single word. Instead, memorize the structure of the presentation.

Get comfortable saying the different parts of your talk in many ways.

10. Present slowly and pause frequently.

When you get nervous, you talk faster. To combat this, remember to slow yourself down when practicing.

Place deep pauses throughout your presentation, especially when transitioning between slides, as it gives you time to breathe and your audience time to absorb.

11. Focus on actionable takeaways.

When you start your presentation, you have your audience’s attention. Now is your chance to hook them on what you have to say. A simple overview can be boring.

If you start with too comprehensive of a summary, your audience may feel like they already heard it all and check out.

Instead, focus on what listeners will get from the presentation. What are the actionable takeaways they will leave with? Then, at the end of the talk, you can leave them with actionable steps of what to do next.

12. Get comfortable with technology.

You might use a slide deck in your presentation or set it up over Zoom. To feel more confident when you’re presenting, practice with your specific tech stack in advance.

Familiarize yourself with both the software and hardware involved in your chat. For example, you’ll want to know your conferencing platform and practice setting up a second monitor.

13. Think about movement.

Are you someone who likes to walk and talk? Are you expressive with your hands? Think about how you want to move during your presentation and the space you’ll be in.

Feeling comfortable with your movement can help the flow of the presentation.

14. Ask for feedback.

You will never deliver the perfect presentation, so ask for feedback. Talk to your managers about where you could improve. Consider surveying your audience for an unbiased look into your presentation skills.

You’ll hear about what you can improve specifically in the future. This will help you improve overall.

15. Learn from other presentations.

As mentioned above, learning from past presentations is a good way to improve your presentation skills.

You may not remember every excellent presentation you’ve sat through, so we’ve pulled together a list of ones that we like. You can reference these talks and see critical skills in play.

Just as reading can make you a better writer, watching good presentations can help make you a better presenter.

Here are some examples of presentations we like because we use what we discuss in the paragraphs above, including good timing, thoughtful presentation of materials, and creativity.

1. Elizabeth Gilbert: Your Elusive Creative Genius

You may not know Elizabeth Gilbert by name, but you’ve likely heard of her book Eat, Pray, Love. In this presentation, Gilbert discusses how anyone can be a genius. All you have to do is get out of your way and unlock your own creativity.

What we like: Gilbert weaves humor, lightness, and focus throughout her presentation. Viewers will enjoy her take on creativity, be able to follow her pace, and have actionable takeaways. At the end, listeners leave inspired.

2. Manoush Zomorodi: How Boredom Can Lead to Your Most Brilliant Ideas

As the host of “Ted Radio Hour,” Manoush Zomorodi is a professional presenter. During this presentation, she discusses how boredom can help you discover creativity.

Only during moments of stillness do we become restless and unlock brilliance.

What we like: The hook of the topic brings us in — everyone wants to understand how to make great ideas. However, the presenter and her dynamic energy keep us engaged. Zomorodi uses audio clips to break up the monotony.

She knows where to pause and brings in appropriate visual aids.

3. James Cameron: Before Avatar … A Curious Boy

James Cameron, the esteemed director, knows a thing or two about storytelling. But before he created Avatar and directed Titanic, he was just a kid like everyone else.

During this presentation, Cameron discusses how his curiosity at a young age has propelled him forward.

What we like: This talk is personal, personable, and targeted for his audience to walk away with actionable steps and inspiration. Cameron also has a grasp of his body language. He moves fluidly on stage, even without visual aids.

4. Luvvie Ajayi Jones: Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

Unsure of whether you should speak your mind? In this presentation, activist Luvvie Ajayi Jones shares three questions to ask yourself if you’re considering making waves.

She encourages us to get used to discomfort in order to move the needle and make a change.

What we like: The hook “I’m a Professional Troublemaker” brings us right into the action. The audience is left with questions and an interest in what she’s going to say next.

This talk is memorable, inspirational, and funny at times, striking the important balance we discussed earlier in this article. Audiences will hold onto “In a world that wants us to whisper, I choose to yell” for years to come.

Practice Makes Perfect

Mastering presentation skills is an essential asset for professionals in every field. Effective delivery and engagement are key factors that determine if your words make an impact.

By utilizing techniques such as clear messaging, compelling visuals, and dynamic delivery, you can captivate your audience and leave a lasting impression.