Presentation Techniques

Do's and Don'ts of Pitch and Presentation
There are many different ways in which a presentation can be good or bad. It all depends on your pitch of it and many different contributing factors. Here are some do's and dont's that I have found out about.
Do's

1. You need to think ahead of time what the audience want to hear. They don't want to hear you going on and on about how fantastic an old idea is, they want to hear how your new idea is great and how it can benefit them.
2. Keep engaged with your audience. If you're not engaged, your audience will get bored and not listen as well as if you engage them. Keeping eye contact and using body language is a very good way to keep your audience engaged. According to research, around 70% of your communication is through body language, so remember that during your pitch and presentation.
3. Speak calmly, clearly and above all, slowly. It never pays to try and cram a long, possibly 30 minute speech into a 10 minute slot. That will not work and your audience will more than likely not understand and take in anything you said.
4. Use visual references in your presentation. Visual references are a lot better than a bunch of text and more engaging for the audience to watch than for them to have to read everything that's onscreen.
5. Make sure the slides are easy to see, even from the back of the room. Its very easy to forget that you are working close to the screen and are able to see everything clearly, but when you present it, most people, especially people who sit in the back, will not be able to see anything you are presenting.
6. For a presentation, use a darker background instead of the normal and generic, light backgrounds. When you have a bright background in a dimly lit room, it will cast light around you and make you seem darker, taking the focus off of you. That's usually considered a good thing, but when doing a pitch, you want people to focus on you mainly, so go for a darker background instead.
7. Use variation in styles throughout your presentation. That will make people engage more and take more interest in your presentation. It will also avoid monotony, which no-one likes, lets be honest here.
8. Focus on different issues, but never more than 3. I suppose you could say its like a rule of three, but variation does help. Explain the problem and situation, visualize it and explain your solution to it.
9. Use spell check! You need to do this. People will notice mistakes and point them out, making it look like you are unprofessional and don't know how to deliver and make a presentation properly.
10. Use cue cards to help you out. If you get stuck, you simply use these cards to remind you of where you are and where you're going with the presentation.

Don'ts

1. Don't talk for more than 10 minutes, unless you engage your audience somehow beforehand. If you do so, people will probably become bored and not listen to you.
2. Do not read your script or the text in your presentation word for word. It will look unprofessional and people will more than likely not listen since they can read it for themselves.