This page is designed to help you improve your presentation techniques, from planning and structuring your talk to delivering it with confidence. Whether you're new to presenting or looking to refine your skills, you'll find practical tips and strategies to enhance your academic presentations and communicate your ideas more effectively.
The tabs of this guide will support you with presentations. The sections are organised as follows:
Always check with your faculty and the assignment brief to get key information about what content and information to include.
Your audience is likely to consist of your instructor or assessors. Use your assignment brief to understand the criteria. Generally, this may include the accuracy of the content, analysis, clarity, and presentation skills. Your audience may also include your peers, such as other students, so often this requires ensuring your presentation materials are accessible and you clearly explain concepts.
Note that some university presentations require a touch of 'make believe.' For example, in a marketing module, you might be asked to deliver a pitch presentation to a potential 'client' with specific business needs. Although the 'client' might be a fake company invented for the purposes of the assignment, you may be expected to present to your instructor and/or peers as if they are the actual client. You should take this into account as you shape your content and the language you will use.
Consider how long you have to present. This will help provide a rough guide of how many presentation slides you need to include. It is good practice to be realistic about how much information you can cover in your time limit. Make a list of the key arguments or points you want to convey to the audience, and check that your slides align with this.
A clear structure can guide your audience through key points and arguments.
This section explores design principles, accessibility, and using graphics in your presentation. Using these design principles can improve the clarity of your presentation and your ability to effectively communicate. Additionally, accessible presentation design reflects good academic practice, as it improves the possibility that your audience member can engage and participate in your presentation.
Make sure you are familiar and comfortable with the presentation tool you have chosen and that it is suitable for the purpose. Popular tools include:
Keep your design simple. If you choose a theme, use it consistently throughout the slides. Avoid using background pictures or patterns. Use a solid background with contrasting colour for font.
Colour contrast: Ensure that your colour contrast is sufficient. Generally, light text on a dark background or dark text on a light background should be easier to read.
If you’re using a light background colour, consider using a cream or off-white instead of bright white. Avoid using green and red/pink colours. These design choices will make it easier for audience member with dyslexia or vision impairments to engage with your presentation. Use the WebAIM: Contrast Checker to check that you have sufficient colour contrast.
Fonts: Your assignment brief may provide the exact font type and size. If not, use a clear, easy to read font, such as Times New Roman or Arial. You can use different font sizes for different elements on the slide, for example your headings may be font size 44 – 36 and the main body between 20 – 28.
Transitions and animations: Subtle transitions are best. Avoid using animations that distract from your presentation.
Use visuals: Images, graphs, and charts can be used to explain concepts, where it is appropriate. For accessibility, add alt-text to any images if the presentation will be distributed digitally. When presenting live, explain any visuals aloud to include audience members who may be unable to see them.
Using visual elements, such as images, graphs, and charts, can be a good way to engage your audience. They can be used to communicate complex ideas, support your argument, or highlight key points.
Accessibility: Use clear, contrasting colours and appropriately sized font in your graphics. As noted above, alt-text (for digital distribution) and verbal explanation (during live presentation) will keep these elements accessible.
Keep it simple: Limit how many graphics you add per slide, so it is not overwhelming. The visual elements you use need to complement the text.
Images: Use relevant and high-quality images. Take a look at how to insert a picture in PowerPoint for guidance about adding original, stock, or online images. Remember to reference images you use.
Graphs: Include a title for the graph that communicates the meaning of the graph. Additionally, add label elements to make it understandable to the reader.
If you are designing a presentation for a work project or internship rather than a module, be aware that brand or institutional guidelines may exist for presentation design. For example, the University of Southampton provides presentation templates that are used for corporate or business-related work. Check the handbook or intranet of the company/institution you're working for if presenting outside an academic context.
Getting enough practice can help you feel prepared. Here, we'll share our top tips for rehearsal strategies that will better the chances you feel confident and prepared on the day you present.
First, try practicing by yourself to get to know the content. Then, as it can feel quite different presenting to a group of people, try recording yourself, pretending that your phone or laptop camera is the audience. Watching the recording back will help you refine your body language, delivery pace, and speaking volume and clarity.
Next, it's a good idea to practice in front of a real person: for example, friends, family, or your study group. The scarier this idea sounds to you, the more important it is to give it a shot! Working through some of your nerves with a no-stakes audience will help you feel calmer when you present in class. Please come to an Academic Skills Drop-In if you would like to rehearse your presentation for an advisor in the Hub! Remember to practice making eye contact if this will feel difficult for you.
When you are rehearsing, it's important to make it as 'real' as possible. For example, if you intend to use any props or slides on the day you present, you should also use them when you rehearse. If you will be standing or walking around the front of the room when you present, don't sit still while you rehearse. This also applies to volume and pacing. If you only rehearse your presentation by whispering it really quickly to yourself on the treadmill, you won't feel prepared to project your voice at a comfortable pace on the day.
Run through your presentation multiple times to get a sense of how long your presentation is. Each time you deliver a presentation at uni, get in the practice of reflecting on how it went. People tend to either go overtime or finish too soon with presentations.
You can also add an approximate time mark to each of your speaker notes, which estimates about how many minutes should have passed by the time you hit that slide. This lets you adjust your pace as you deliver on the day.
It’s completely normal to feel nervous before delivering a presentation! Using speaker notes can be an effective way to alleviate some of those nerves. Speaker notes are helpful prompts and remind you of the key points and information you want to deliver.
When you are rehearsing your presentation, make sure to practice using your speaker notes. You need to feel comfortable using your notes as a prompt. This process can also help you to make edits or changes to your verbal presentation and the prompts you need, such as adjustments along these lines:
In terms of memorization, some people like to plan and practice what they will say word for word; other people like to make notes of what to cover and then improvise the exact language used. Consider what works best for you so you can practice in your preferred style.
Explore the Skills for Study Presentation Skills collection for help with nerves, planning, and finding your approach to public speaking. Select 'University of Southampton' as your institutional log-in.
Making sure to rehearse thoroughly will help you feel prepared and confident on the day. Next, create a checklist to work through on the morning you present.
When you are presenting, keep an eye on the time. If you find you are running out, try to cover the final point and conclusion, rather than stopping abruptly halfway through a slide or speaking faster. If your presentation is meant to have a Q&A after, use this period to cover topics you missed (please check your assignment brief or talk to your lecturers to find out if there is time for questions).
When we feel nervous, we often speak faster. Your audience may find it more difficult to understand if you speak quickly. Try to speak more slowly in your rehearsals to practice this. Pause and have a sip of water during your speaking if you’re feeling nervous.
Eye contact can help engage your audience and make you appear more confident when you are presenting. You can scan the room as you present: you might mentally divide the audience into sections, and make brief eye contact with people sat in the different sections. This will help engage the whole audience. If you’re feeling nervous, start by making eye contact with familiar or friendly faces.
Uncomfortable with eye contact? Don't worry: there are several strategies you can use to imply or minimise eye contact:
Some presentations will be followed by a Q&A, or question and answer session. It is helpful to prepare potential answers to questions. Common questions may ask for clarification about concepts or more information. To prepare for questions you can:
Having prepared ahead of time, you may still wonder how to manage a Q&A session. First, remember to repeat each question aloud before answering it. Repeating the question gives you time to consider your response, and it also helps accessibility as those seated farther away might not have heard what was asked:
'Thank you for asking. The question I just received from the fourth row was whether my proposal makes allowances for customer acquisition costs.'
Second, if the question wasn't clear, request clarification. This is preferrable to 'winging it' and potentially wasting time on an answer that doesn't address what the audience member was curious about:
'Thank you for the question. You asked about my risk mitigation strategy: do you mean its entire structure, or a specific element of it?'
Next, if you don't know the answer, that's okay! No one knows everything. Consider suggesting a resource or offering to follow up:
'Thanks for asking! Sandra asked about [XYZ]. I don't know the exact numbers, but I believe the 2022 projections published by the EU would provide that data.'
Finally, you will notice that each example above includes a word of thanks. Whether you thank questioners at the start of your answer or at the end, do make sure to express quick gratitude for their interest and engagement with your presentation.
