You want to be well-spoken and confident when presenting and, at the same time, avoid an

aggressive presence. Posture and presence are of the upmost importance. Be aware of how
you are standing, your use of gestures and the mood you are establishing in your presentation.
A good presenter is always measuring the audience and how they are responding to the
presentation, taking special care to set the proper mood that is consistent with the topic. You
always want to appear confident and there are times when you choose the posture and mood
you want to establish. A still posture can make you appear formal and upright, while a relaxed
one gives you a more active and inviting look. Your body movement and gestures are supporting
elements in delivering your topic. While it is good to generally maintain the same posture
throughout your presentation, there are times when you will switch from one to the other
depending on the mood you wish to establish.
. Informative Presentations
Informative presentations can be divided in two distinct categories: reporting and explaining. “The
reporting presentation brings the audience up to date on projects or events, explaining how
things are going (Ober, 2007).” These situations might include shareholder meetings, executive
briefings, or verbal sales reports. The explanatory presentation provides information about
products and procedures, rules and regulations, operations, and other nitty-gritty data.
On using informative presentations, you must keep it brief and to the point. Facts are very
important and you should stick to them. When presenting complicated information, you should
explain it as simply as possible. A suggested organizational structure can be:
You want your audience to do something specific; buy or sell, support an idea or change an
attitude or perspective on something. We can call these presentations transactional; they seek to
motivate people and lead them to a specific action or to make a decision. You seek to convince
your audience to accept a certain proposal. How? Through logic, evidence and emotion. Here
are some tips for all of the above:
● An impressive introduction; you need your audience’s attention and you can get it by
presenting them with a need that you can satisfy.
● Tease the audience by describing all the advantages you have to offer.
● They must be willing to agree with you on how you will fill their real needs.
● Closing with a call to action is the best way to persuade.
● Ask for an order, the decision you want to be made or the course of action to be
followed. Lead them to where you want them to be.

Examples of persuasive presentations can be: the principal of a school telling students to care
about important issues such as the use of drugs or alcohol; cooperative efforts inside a company
in order to reach its goals; a sales department trying to convince upper-level management to
establish a new price for a product or service.
C. Goodwill Presentations
Often designed to be entertaining, they seek to build goodwill, make people feel better or
improve the reputation of a company (or people, colleagues and superiors). They can be
ceremonial, such as award presentations, the unveiling of memorial plaques and so on. Each of
these events may include the following:
● A presentation, most often in the form of a speech.
● Slideshows or some type of multimedia, such as audios or videos.
● They can be after-dinner speeches.
● give and collect information:
 ● influence the attitudes and behavior of others;
● form contacts and maintain relationships;
● make sense of the world and our experiences in it;
● express personal needs and understand the needs of others;
● give and receive emotional support;
● make decisions and solve problems.

As you can see, these are the goals we want to consider when choosing a type of presentation.
To effectively deliver a presentation we need to understand the elements of interpersonal
communication, taking into consideration each one and adapting your own, personal technique
and style. These elements are the ones we found in the communication process: the message,
noise, feedback, context and channel. Let’s take a look at these now:
. Know your PAL
That is Purpose, Audience and Logistics. Briefly discussed before, this is exactly the right place
to start. Actually, you need to begin from the end. That is, you need a fixed goal in your mind as
a starting point. Ask yourself, What is the purpose of my presentation? Is it informational? Try
to deliver something original, fresh or with new approaches on a well-known subject. Is it a
persuasive presentation? Make them believe in your message and give a call for action.
Knowing your audience is a subject we will discuss later on but for now, let’s remember that you
have to find out as much as you can about your audience so you’re not too far above or far below
from what they know and what they expect from you.
Finally, we have logistics. Where is the presentation held? Are there going to be other
expositors? What will they be talking about? (Avoid repeating the same topic they speaking on).
What time does the presentation begin? All of these are helpers for you in tailoring your speech
to the proper venue. With all this in mind, write down your overall objective in one sentence or
less and keep it with you throughout the entire process to help keep you focused.
B. Prepare adequately
Once you clarify your objective, it is time to prepare the presentation. The first step is to collect
the material. Look for analogies and metaphors, stories, examples, audience involvement
techniques and case studies. Once you are done collecting, organize your material to create a
logical progression of ideas. Limit your speaking points and keep the message simple. Write out
your outline to reinforce the main ideas and to repeat without being redundant.

Write your introduction and conclusion only after the body of the presentation is completed. Do
not forget to start with an impact, including the benefits of the presentation and ending with
strength and something unforgettable.