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How to create and deliver a winning team presentation

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera May 31, 2024

Team presentations are about creating a dynamic experience for your audience whilst working together to share valuable information.

You might need to do a team presentation in various situations. For example, in a school project, a team presentation lets each member highlight their contributions. In the workplace, team presentations are great for updating projects, pitching ideas to clients, or sharing research findings with stakeholders. 

Using a platform like Prezi can really boost your team’s presentation. Let’s look at what makes team presentations effective and how you can create a successful one.

Team presentations explained

So what exactly is a team presentation? Simply put, in a team presentation you’re working with others to share information or ideas. Each person brings their strengths and viewpoints, making the presentation more engaging.

Typically, the team divides the content so everyone has a part to focus on. This involves planning, creating visual aids like slides, and practicing together. The goal is to ensure everything flows smoothly and the message is clear. By combining everyone’s efforts, you end up with a presentation that effectively shares your team’s insights and knowledge.

How to create a great team presentation: a step-by-step guide

When done right, team presentations can be a really rewarding experience for everyone involved. To make sure the creation process runs smoothly, follow this step-by-step guide.

1. Gather your team

To start, you need to get everybody together. Use this opportunity to discuss the purpose of the presentation and what you want to say. This way, everyone understands the goal and can be on the same page with the project.

2. Divide the responsibilities

During the discussion, pinpoint what each team member is good at and assign roles based on their strengths. For example, one person might be great at research, another at designing slides, and someone else might excel at public speaking. By dividing tasks this way, you ensure a high-quality presentation as everyone gets to contribute the best way they can.

3. Plan the content

When planning your content, outline the key points you want to cover. Break down the presentation into sections and decide who will handle each part. Make sure the content flows logically from one section to the next. This planning phase is crucial for a cohesive presentation.

4. Develop visual aids

Great visuals can make your presentation stand out. That’s where Prezi steps in to help you create engaging visuals that complement your content. Also, make sure to keep the design consistent and not too cluttered. Remember, visual aids should enhance your message, not distract from it.

5. Rehearse together

Practice makes perfect! Schedule a few rehearsals where everyone presents their part. Pay attention to the transitions between speakers to ensure they’re smooth. Rehearsing together helps you catch any issues and make sure everyone is comfortable with their role.

6. Get feedback

To improve your delivery, practice in front of a trusted audience of friends or colleagues, and get their honest opinions. They can give you feedback on any tweaks you can make to improve your presentation. Following this, you can then make any necessary adjustments based on their feedback.

7. Prepare for Q&A

Be ready to answer questions from your audience. To prepare, discuss potential questions with your team and decide who will answer which types of questions. This preparation helps ensure you can handle the Q&A session confidently.

8. Present with confidence

On the day of the presentation, stay calm and confident. Trust in the preparation you’ve done. Remember to engage with your audience, make eye contact, and speak clearly. Most importantly, support each other as a team, and have fun with it.

To learn more about delivering a successful presentation with two or more people, explore our article on co-presenting tips and techniques .

9. Reflect and learn

After the presentation, gather your team to reflect on what went well and what could be improved for next time. Learning from each experience helps you continually improve your presentation skills.

By following these steps, you can be sure that every aspect of creating a team presentation is covered, allowing maximum success. 

What are the advantages of team presentations?

Collaborating as a team for presentations has many advantages, including: 

The opportunity to work together as a team provides a sense of unity. Whether it’s in the workplace or an educational setting, relying on each other and sharing insights can really improve morale in any team. Also, being in a group provides motivation and excitement that you may not necessarily experience in solo presentations. 

Understanding of each other

In education and business settings, working on a team presentation means interacting with other members. Hearing other’s opinions and suggestions can help in getting to know your team better, which can help in other aspects of work or school. 

Promotes teamwork 

The ability to work together effectively for a team presentation can improve other team interactions further down the line. It’s a great opportunity to get everyone involved, especially those who might usually shy away from group discussions. This creates a more forthcoming team for the future. 

Less opportunity for errors

Having more than one person contributing to a presentation means that there’s less chance of making mistakes. There’s going to be more than one person looking over progress, which means that any initial errors will likely be spotted by someone in the team. Even when working on your own sections, the chance to rehearse together means that you can all pick up on potential mistakes before the big day. 

Diverse perspectives

Having a whole team involved means that several different viewpoints are brought together. Having each team member contribute their unique insights can lead to a richer and broader presentation overall. This ensures your presentation has a bigger impact on your audience. 

Shared workload

With a team presentation, the workload is distributed among the group, making it more manageable. This should reduce the pressure off any one individual and allows for more thorough preparation before you take to the stage. 

Improved audience engagement

Having multiple speakers can help to keep your audience interested. Each presenter will have different voices and styles of presenting, which can help maintain the audience’s attention throughout the whole presentation. 

Demonstrates team strength 

For business professionals in particular, creating and presenting a successful team presentation shows the power of your company. It portrays to your audience how reliable you are as a team and how you can work together to deliver great results. This is going to help you with future prospects and gaining the trust of clients, investors, and partners. 

Top tips for creating and presenting your team presentation

Here are some top tips to help you nail a team presentation, with some advice on what to do and what to avoid.

Do: plan early

Start planning your presentation as soon as possible. Early planning gives you ample time to organize content, assign roles, and create visuals. Don’t wait until the last minute – good preparation is key to a smooth presentation.

Don’t: overload slides

Avoid cramming too much information onto your slides. Instead, keep them clean and simple with key points and visuals. Your audience should be listening to you, not reading dense text on the screen.

Do: practice together

Rehearse your presentation as a team several times. This helps ensure smooth transitions between speakers and a cohesive delivery. In addition, practicing together builds confidence and helps you refine your timing.

Don’t: ignore feedback

Constructive criticism can help you improve your presentation. However, don’t take feedback personally – use it to make your presentation stronger.

Do: engage your audience

Keep your audience engaged by incorporating questions or a brief activity into your presentation. This interaction helps maintain their interest and makes your presentation stand out.

Don’t: monopolize the presentation

Ensuring everyone on the team has a chance to speak values each member’s contribution and keeps the presentation dynamic and interesting.

Do: use effective visuals

Visuals are great for engaging your audience and capturing their attention! That’s why make sure to incorporate charts, images, and videos to illustrate your points. Compelling visuals can make complex information easier to understand – just make sure they’re relevant and support your message.

Don’t: forget to smile

A friendly demeanor can make a big difference. Smiling helps you appear confident and approachable, and it can put both you and your audience at ease. Remember, you’ve prepared well, so enjoy the experience!

Do: use Prezi

If you want to stand out, use Prezi for your presentation! Its dynamic, non-linear format can make your content more engaging and visually appealing. Prezi allows you to create a more interactive and memorable presentation experience and makes the presentation creation process even easier with AI-powered functionalities .

Don’t: rush through transitions

Transitions between speakers are crucial. Don’t hurry through them; take your time to smoothly hand over to the next person. This maintains the flow of the presentation and keeps the audience engaged.

Creating a team presentation is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your collective talents and knowledge. By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to delivering a presentation that’s both impressive and enjoyable.

Why Prezi is perfect for team presentations: the power of Prezi AI

Prezi is the go-to platform for team presentations, thanks to its incredible AI features. Prezi AI makes creating a polished, professional presentation a breeze, allowing you to focus on your content while it handles the design.

With Prezi AI, you can simply provide a prompt about your subject, and it will suggest the best layout, color scheme, and design elements. This means you don’t have to be a design expert to create a visually stunning presentation. Prezi AI can even put your entire presentation together for you, ensuring that it looks cohesive and engaging.

One of the standout features is the Prezi AI text tool. It can suggest edits to improve your content, recommend the best way to display your text—whether it be in lists, bullet points, or paragraphs—and even adjust the length of your text to fit perfectly on your slides. This not only saves time but also means you don’t need to constantly double-check your work. You can present with assurance, knowing your presentation is professionally polished.

Presenting with Prezi is incredibly easy, making it ideal for both virtual and in-person settings. For virtual presentations, Prezi Video allows you to display your slides live next to you, creating a more engaging experience for your audience. Prezi’s collaborative features are perfect for team presentations, enabling the entire team to present together virtually. Each member can take turns presenting their sections seamlessly, making it feel as if you’re all in the same room, even if you’re miles apart.

Prezi AI takes the stress out of creating and presenting, making it the best tool for team presentations. With its intelligent design suggestions, text editing capabilities, and seamless virtual presentation features, Prezi ensures your team can deliver an impressive and professional presentation every time.

Here’s a summary of the key things Prezi AI can do

Build your presentation: Prezi AI can literally put together your team presentation for you. It will come up with the best theme and layout and put the whole presentation into action. 

Suggest improvements: Prezi AI can offer suggestions to make sure your presentation looks visually appealing and engaging. By proposing matching color palettes, images, and layouts, Prezi AI helps you create a polished presentation that leaves a lasting impression.

Text editing: To make your message clear and concise, use the Prezi AI text editing tool. It can generate text based on prompts you provide as well as offer edit suggestions on existing text. This way, you know your text is correct and makes sense. 

Team presentation ideas from Prezi

Here are some Prezi presentation examples that would work well as team presentations: 

TED talks: From Inspiration to innovation

The Prezi presentation by Neil Hughes is a great example of a team presentation because it’s divided into sections, giving each participant a chance to share their insights. Incorporating videos for each section, where specific team members speak, effectively ensures that everyone has their say. This approach helps convey the message clearly and makes sure all voices are heard.

Adopting a gratitude frame of mind

The layout chosen for this presentation is ideal for a team effort. With four main points, each delved into further, it allows each team member to take responsibility for one point. This ensures a fair division of speaking time and workload among all team members.

UX design tips for product managers

Similar to the previous example, this serves as great inspiration for team presentations due to its division into five main points, each explored in detail. Assigning one team member to focus on each area allows them to dedicate their full effort to their section, resulting in a high-quality presentation overall. Additionally, this showcases how Prezi’s open canvas can create an immersive experience by zooming in and out of points, making your message much clearer.

Hopefully, these examples have given you more of an insight of what your team presentation could look like. Allocating one team member to each key point is a great idea to split the workload and ensure everyone gets their chance to speak and show off their expertise. 

However, not all team presentations require every team member to be involved in the presenting stage. Sometimes, tasks may be split in a way where some participants focus on the creation process, while others focus on the presenting aspect. It purely depends on where the talents of your team members lie. 

Wow your audience with a team presentation created with Prezi

Team presentations provide many positives that may not be attained with solo presentations. The opportunity to have different ideas and points of view can really broaden the perspective of your audience. They can deliver a sense of team unity and strength, which is particularly important in business. When it comes to educational settings, team presentations are a great opportunity to practice working in a group and identify each student’s strengths and weaknesses. 

Creating a team presentation should be more about the content you’re sharing and less about spending hours on design. This is why utilizing Prezi AI to create your finished product is a great choice, as you can focus more closely on working as a team. 

By using Prezi for your next team presentation, you can take your audience on an immersive journey through your words, ensuring your audience is hooked from start to finish.  

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas Presenting a Team to an Audience

Presenting a Team to an Audience

Introducing the involved team to the audience is vital in academic or business presentation contexts. It boosts the authority over the topic to discuss. In this article, we will discuss the importance of presenting a team to an audience. How to introduce your team members, explain their role within the organization, and tips + examples to succeed.

Table of Contents

What is to present a team to an audience?

Requirements for presenting a team to an audience, how do presentation templates help us introduce the team with style, case studies for presenting a team to an audience, tips for presenting a team to an audience.

As commonly seen in business presentations that involve more than one speaker, the team is introduced to the audience before covering the topic of the meeting. This implies stating each member’s role for the team, the area they worked on, the expertise they bring to the team, and why they joined the project.

For the audience, a well-crafted team presentation by an organization allows them to appreciate the different perspectives that led to the result. Acknowledging which member took a significant role in what area will enable them to tailor the questions that may arise. 

From a trustworthiness point of view, a formal introduction of the team helps build the organization’s reputation. This is particularly crucial in academic presentations , as the team leader conducts the presentation, and team members involved in the research may not even be present. The slide presenting the team gives context about each team member’s contribution, role, and current position in the research team.

Presenting a team to an audience also serves as a motivational factor for the team itself. It boosts confidence and promotes respect among the coworkers since they receive equal credit for their contribution. Presenters could refer to both the professional and soft skills of the team members if they had significance in the project outcome to showcase.

Even if we can label this stage as something “quick to complete,” truthfully, presenting a team to an audience requires a clear vision of the team structure.

The team leader is the person in charge of this process since their work was to assign the tasks to complete each step of the project due to be presented. Therefore, the team leader must keep the team’s organogram in mind.

Taking notes during each stage helps to remember which person was involved in which particular area, especially for last-minute changes. During the team presentation, the org chart template must reflect the hierarchy within the team, roles, and responsibilities .

A background check to introduce each team member is recommended. This helps reduce unnecessary information for the presentation. Some examples are:

• If we talk about a business scenario, briefly expose each team member’s expertise in the niche you’re about to present. This could be either work experience or an academic degree on the topic.
• For research presentations, such as conferences given in scientific congresses, next to each name, add the maximum degree each person achieved. Be sure to include the specific area of research the person is working on right now and mention if they are part of another collaboration team. That last point is essential for young researchers slowly building their academic reputation and seeking to network with other professionals in their area.

Another important aspect is to consider the format in which the team presentation will be made: if live, with the entire team on board, or if the team leader performs the speech and introduces them via photos on a slide. Again, this question entails studying the audience and the kind of event in the first place. 

Presentations involving the presence of the entire team usually happen for entrepreneurism , where the team involved in the development of a product or service is introduced to the audience of potential investors . In this case, we talk about teams with 20 members or less. 

In big tech conferences, the team leader introduces the team, making it optional for them to attend the event. Large corporations opt for videos that brief about the company’s structure, sometimes followed by an organogram presenting the department directors or people strictly involved in the project, plus their role.

Academic conference presentations include a slide that briefs the team members, their roles, and expertise. A friendly practice is adding a photo of the whole team on the following slide since that helps boost the presence of the organization they work. 

One common issue speakers face in this kind of presentation is lacking graphic design skills. Therefore, the resulting slides may look dull, unattractive, or filled with pointless data. This is where presentation templates come to give a helping hand.

The first thing to consider with PowerPoint or Google Slides templates is that you don’t require a broad knowledge of either software or graphic design. The pre-made designs are fully editable, crafted by professionals who seek to help users power up their presentations for quality results. Hence, you don’t need to worry about matching color schemes, font pairing, or how much text to include in the slide – those decisions were pre-made for you.

Secondly, these presentation slides help us save countless hours, as, for instance, an organogram would take to build line by line. You simply drag the photos required into the presentation, insert the text in the placeholder areas, and that’s it.

To further understand this topic, we will introduce three potential scenarios for presenting your team in front of an audience.

Case #1 – Presenting a team at a tech conference for a product release

A medium-sized company – whose trajectory in the mobile phone industry goes back to 2020 – is currently attending a trade show similar to CES . They aim to present themselves as manufacturers of docking stations for phones and tablets with wireless charge technology.

Since their company’s reputation is still developing, this is their most significant trade show attendance. Therefore, it’s vital to present the team backing up the company, to ensure trustworthiness. At the same time, they only count with a limited space area at the exhibition stand.

The HR and Marketing teams envision a strategy that attends to the executives’ demands for presenting the team as innovative while not missing the chance to promote the product in the brief attention span they can get.

The following example shows how to introduce the team; four pillars of innovation with a track record background.

The slide shows experience based on previous company roles. It reinforces the idea that the innovation of the company is driven by people breed in the most important mobile and engineering companies in the world.

Since consumers go around the stands, inquiring about details on products that pick their interest, the stand is designed following these premises:

• A section to show actual product samples that consumers can test to check their quality and performance.
• A big display of the team slide. This will drive the attention of industry resellers.
• A big screen showing a reel that explains in 40 seconds what the product does + 20 seconds about what the company is, its values, and its team.
• Make digital flyers available for the customers; briefing about the product, the company’s history, and testimonials from selected workers with broad expertise in the subject.

By using these four strategies, the company ensures three key points. First, they grab the consumer’s attention by showing an actual product they can try. Secondly, they target people passing by, with the 1-minute reel, which can be seen from afar and a panel of team members well known in the mobile and engineering fields. Finally, the flyer retains the customer’s interest by presenting not just the product but information about the company, contact data, and the names of the people involved in this product release. Such information (company’s website/social media or team members’ names) can be researched later by consumers, helping bring authority and trust to the brand.

Case #2 – Pharmaceutical conference in which a team presents their cutting-edge development

A well-respected team of researchers is attending a pharmaceutical conference. The poster session showcases their latest research paper about a new compound to treat insomnia without rebound effects. Fellow researchers look at what the poster exposes, the data that backs up the research, and the names of the scientists involved in this study.

At the time of delivering the presentation, the team leader for this research group opens the presentation with a slide listing the title for the research and the area group where their study takes place. Since the topic may be a bit controversial, the team leader opts to present the team first, as a couple of his coworkers in this project are respected neuroscientists that researched insomnia, with well-acknowledged articles on the topic.

By doing this team introduction at the beginning of the presentation instead of the usual practice of leaving the team slide to the end, the team leader ensures no spectator would label the research as silly material. The curriculums of the team members speak of their expertise on the subject, their trajectory as respected scientists, and their non-conventional approach to the discipline. The placing of a presenting a team slide is crucial for attracting the audience’s interest and backing up their authority on the subject.

Case #3 – A company meets their new SEO team

The marketing department of an e-commerce company is seeking to delegate the SEO efforts to a specialized team. Their current workload doesn’t allow the marketing members to dedicate the required time to SEO, and their lack of a proper strategy and skills, demotes them in search engine rankings against their competitors.

After a lengthy process, an the company built a team whose values align with the company’s strategy. The first meeting is about to take place between the marketing department and the SEO team. The marketing department only has a brief reference about the SEO team since the HR recruiters managed the entire process.

As an introductory meeting, the location picked is the meeting room for the company, which has a large table and a projector. Seating in front of each other, both teams greet and proceed to continue with the agenda. The SEO team prepared a presentation that exposes their history and expertise, the team members that will take part in this project, under which roles, and KPIs gathered after their initial analysis of the data provided by the company.

The team leader for the SEO crew proceeds to explain their history, previous experiences, and success stories in similar projects. The presenting the team slide features each team member participating. It showcases pictures, names and role; this helps the marketing team to identify each member quickly.

One by one, each of the 10 members of the SEO crew presents themselves, referencing their role in the project and the essential skills that will contribute to this company’s growth. They also explain that they would be using a state-of-the-art SEO management platform to conduct their research, analyze data, and track progress, to complete the tasks efficiently.

Thanks to the detailed presentation, the marketing managers now understand who is in charge of which section and whom to contact for the project’s different parts. The rest of the team members in the marketing department can see similarities and affinities for work areas, which in turn contribute to building a healthy relationship with their new coworkers.

This section will summarize some tips for making a great team presentation.

Tip #1 – Setting the right tone with a presentation template

As mentioned above, presentation templates save countless hours in effort and thinking about design styles for our work. But truthfully, a properly designed presentation template has the impact of expressing our vision in a graphic format.

When selecting the presentation template to use, opt for one whose color range meets your company’s branding. Avoid overdoing transition effects since they can be overbearing for your audience. 

The simpler, the better. Here are some suggestions for about us presentation templates you can check.

Tip #2 – Establish the key message

Presenting a team to an audience is also the perfect opportunity for leveraging why any customer should hire your team’s skills. Write your narrative around that idea, and be clear about which competitive edge your team can bring to the table. Give precise facts about past experience and success stories your crew helped to write for other consumers with similar needs.

Tip #3 – Be clear about roles

This is vital since it speaks about the professionalism of your team. A great team manager must keep in mind the roles of their crew, and the reason why they were assigned. 

Although an organogram can help, it’s best to let the structure of the presentation be the primary asset. If a proper hierarchy is established, your team members can take turns introducing themselves when required according to the narrative constructed about the team’s experience.

Tip #4 – Make transition spaces work for you

Instead of prolonging awkward pauses between the introduction of each team member, make the presentation fluid by letting the next team member continue exposing a similar line of thought. For example, a team member can expose her expertise as a financial analyst in emerging markets, and then her coworker can take the lead by talking about his experience as a corporate investment manager.

Tip #5 – Let your team’s individual success help the narrative

In some situations, it can be ideal to talk about your team members’ previous expertise and why they landed with the current project. We are, after all, the consequence of our decisions and experience; therefore, mentioning key milestones in a team member’s career (if related to the topic) sets the ground for discussing certain approaches.

A “success” story is not always required; even a failed attempt can be seen – in academic research – as profitable since it brings a different perspective from textbook instructions. 

Let your team individuals expose why their experience shaped the perspective in which they can see this upcoming project, and why they consider a creative thinking approach can be beneficial for business results or even mentoring others.

Selected Templates for Preparing Team Presentations

Check our range of products specifically selected to help you create the best introduction for your team.

1. Organizational Charts PowerPoint Template

A collection of 14 slides to create professional-styled organograms for your presentation. Take a look at the different styles and how they will match your presentation style. Fully editable in PowerPoint and Google Slides

Use This Template

2. Meet the Team PowerPoint Template Slides

A presentation template designed to introduce your team members with a photo, title, and a brief placeholder text. Clean, contemporary-styled, and easy to edit.

3. Team Introduction Template for PowerPoint

Modern and vibrant layout to present your team with style! This fully editable template adapts to your desired color theme in just seconds. Use the different slides to change between typical text introductions to showcase the most important skills your coworkers bring to the team.

4. Member Profile PowerPoint Template

Be as detailed as you desire in your team introductions, thanks to this Member Profile PowerPoint Template . This presentation is ideal for small teams; it allows the team leader to be specific about their team members’ skills and experience.

Features a bar chart design to indicate the skills capacity and a placeholder area for quotes or a brief written introduction by the person.

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Presentation Approaches, Presentation Skills, Presenting a Team, Teamwork Filed under Presentation Ideas

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Team Presentations: A Guide to Stitching A Presentation From Multiple Team Members' Work

Collaboration in the workplace is an important element for the success of any business. It’s thought-provoking and facilitates new ideas, enables teams to complete important projects quicker, and helps them meet outstanding deadlines more efficiently. A study conducted by Queens University of Charlotte revealed that 75% of employers believe collaboration and “teamwork” to be very important in the workplace. And rightfully so. Not only does collaborating with team members allow you to divy up tasks to different stakeholders with the expertise and tools to handle them, it shows employees that they are valued and respected. 

By simply delegating tasks and collaborating with colleagues, employees are likely to be more involved and interested in their work. In fact, Harvard Business Review reported that employees spend approximately 50% more time engaged in collaborative work than they do otherwise. Are we surprised? Collaboration can streamline cross-departmental strategies and ideas, be innovative, and influence creativity that might be lacking in more siloed projects. 

Collaboration has the same effect on presentations, too. In many cases, multiple team members may be working together on the same deck. While each employee is likely assigned a couple of slides within their wheelhouse, collaborating on a team presentation can help departments structure their stories in new ways. It’s also much more efficient to work as a team when you’re trying to scale the presentation process and create more content. 

Sure, we can all agree that collaboration is a crucial part of the presentation process when you’re trying to grow your business— but with collaboration comes responsibility. The more cooks you add to the kitchen, the messier it gets. When collaborating on a deck, you have to consider content management, branding control, and security. Plus, with various peers working in tandem in the same deck, you’re a lot more likely to end up with a hodgepodge of slides. So how do you work together on a team presentation without killing the effectiveness of the final deck?

Here are the top tips for stitching together a presentation from multiple team members’ work.

Give every team member a deck designer

Before you ask your team to create a deck, give them the tools for success. Beautiful.ai is the deck designer so your teammates don’t have to be. It’s easy to drop in content and ideas and watch the smart slides adapt in real time. Yeah, that means no design skills are required. 

Our pre-built presentation templates curated by industry experts offer a starting point for every team, and every story. Simply plug and play, and customize each slide to reflect your content. You can start with a template, or start from scratch, but either way our smart slides will help guide you along the way. Let team members choose their slides from our new inspiration gallery and we’ll do the rest as they add in their content. 

Collaboration is key

Now that you have a PowerPoint alternative , collaboration is key for team presentations. Beautiful.ai’s advanced collaboration tools let you invite people—inside or outside your team—with one click. Simply choose your collaborator and send them an invite from within the product. And forget versioning issues. Everything’s on the cloud, so everyone’s always working on the same slide or deck. It’s a collaborative dream. 

With innovative collaboration features , it’s easier to sync up and get sign-off in real time. Multiple collaborators can be working in the same deck, at the same time, and any edits are automatically updated in the cloud so you know everyone has the most updated version at all times.

Stay in-sync with centralized content

Nothing kills collaboration like having to wait for your colleague to complete their slides before you can get started on your own. And once they’re done, you have to make sure you have their most recent deck files. Things can get lost in the mix, which can make combining multiple team members’ work difficult. An important element of collaboration, and team presentations, is centralized content. With Beautiful.ai you’re able to go from scattered slides to a single, searchable library. Create a slide once, tag it, and teams can use it infinitely at their discretion. This helps when team members are looking for a specific piece of data to include, or want to reference a proposal from last month’s presentation. Now the right slide is right in your presentation maker , and everyone has access.

Having centralized content for team presentations means that everything is up to date, at all times. The moment new data comes in, push it live to multiple decks. With a single click, you can update old reports and save coworkers hours of editing every week. 

Create guardrails for consistency

One of the biggest hiccups that comes with taking different slides from various team members’ work is the lack of control and inconsistent branding. You can’t expect everyone to have the same design style which can make it hard to align on content. There’s nothing worse than stitching together slides from various peers and unintentionally creating a frankendeck.

Thankfully, with Beautiful.ai it’s easy to lock in branding. The team lead, or admin, can create custom themes complete with company logos, branded colors and fonts, and pre-approved images, so that collaborators don’t have to guess which design will look best. Shared Themes give teammates guardrails to stay visually consistent from deck to deck. If a slide is created in your pre-designed theme, your branding will automatically be applied to each slide throughout the presentation with no additional work on your end. This eliminates mismatched slides and inconsistent design when colleagues are collaborating together on one presentation. 

Provide feedback in real time

Once your team members’ have completed their slides, it’s easy to sync up. Leave feedback in real-time by adding comments, or tags, to specific slides. Each collaborator will be notified both in the product and via email if there is a comment, so they can receive feedback or sign-off on slides in real time. Rather than having to track down approvals, you can communicate right in the product, making it easier to organize revisions and secure final slides.  

Once all of your questions or concerns have been addressed, and you have a final version of the deck locked down, you can easily drag the slides to rearrange the order so that your team’s slides flow together to tell your story more seamlessly. 

Team presentations

The Team plan is a great place to start if you need help facilitating collaboration across your organization. It’s the secret weapon for businesses who need to scale their presentation process. Create all the beautiful presentations your organization needs: remotely, securely, without putting other work on hold. We centralized everything from branding to billing, so you can scale beautifully, together.

Get started today for your next team presentation and make collaboration beautiful. 

Jordan Turner

Jordan is a Bay Area writer, social media manager, and content strategist.

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12 Strategies to Easily Deliver A Really Great Team Presentation

Last Updated on April 1, 2024 by Lorna Barrow

You have no choice. You do have to organise a team presentation. Let me remind you how you got there.

Because of your networking skills, you got your small business on the very short list of companies to pitch their services to a very big business.

Just when you were thinking that you can handle this, the CEO of the business kinda casually remarked ” by the way, we would love if you could make a team presentation.”

“What?! This woman mad?”

You now have to bring a select group of your employees together to make a hot team presentation. Yes…you can make a fairly decent speech by yourself but pulling a team together? 

I’m sure by now you know, that having 3 or 4 persons presenting  a case, rather than a single person, has now become the rule rather than the exception in business.

So why are you nervous?

Perhaps it’s because you know that when a business, especially a small one, brings a group of their highly skilled professionals together to make a team presentation, the stakes are usually equally high.

Therefore, you need more than speaking skills. You now have to coordinate your in-house talent to speak with one voice. Your business voice. And that requires leadership skills, serious confidence before you speak and some people management.

but the above aside, how would you feel if you could make the best presentation ever and win the contract?

This is where you get lucky. You have access to my over 25 years of public speaking training to help you pull off your best team presentation. Ever!

Here’s how I will help you.

I will tell you what to do before you speak, what to do during the presentation and what you must do after.

If you’re ready, let’s jump right in…

6 strategies to use before you make your team presentation

1.  decide who will be on the team and why.

This seems so obvious that it’s not worth mentioning. Think again!

I’ve seen leaders select people to be part of a team making an important presentation just to “give them a chance to shine” or because “I’m comfortable with him” .

It is true that “Camille” needs to get out of her shell and “Ryan” is easy to get along with. But does that qualify them to be on a team making a presentation to the Ministry of Energy on a new solar plant?

2.  Appoint a leader to coordinate the whole thing

You might not believe this after watching several team presentations – but there is really more to presenting as a team, than each person standing up and speaking.

Even before you get to presenting, you must know:

1.  The objective and overall theme of the presentation

2. Which persuasion strategy you will be using

3.  What data and how much goes into the presentation

4.  Who will be responsible for what, e.g. visual aids, editing, etc 

5.  The order of speeches on the day and any other roles of the speakers

6.  Other details which are specific to the nature of your presentation

If a single person does not assume responsibility for these areas, your team will waste a lot of time either arguing or duplicating effort, instead of focusing on the case that has to be built and presented.

And guess what? Just because you own the business does not mean you’re the best person to do this, especially if you’re part of the team presentation.

3.  Know and plan to exploit the strengths of the team

In a team presentation, each member is required to handle that aspect of the topic where s/he has knowledge and experience.

But remember, a team presentation is still a public speaking activity, so you want to make a big impact on your audience. Therefore, knowledge and experience must be balanced by the speaking skills of the various speakers.

So arrange you points in such a way that you lead off and end with your strongest speakers.

4.  Know your audience

Usually, when you’re making a team presentation, the stakes are very high. With so much at stake, knowing your audience is mission critical.

Therefore, you need to collect some serious intelligence. At minimum this should include the person or persons you will be pitching to, the level of their decision-making and their requirements for detail.

Even when I make a one-woman pitch for business, this is where I start my audience analysis.

5.  Plan the details of the actual presentation

This is a very important step. If you plan these details before, on the big day, you just have to execute…well almost.

In planning, please try to cover:

1.  How you will make the best use of the available time

2.   The way you will structure your presentation

3.  How you will create influence with your presentation

4.  The order of your speeches and what each will cover

5.  Who will be the lead speaker on the day

6.  When and how you will practice

6.  Practice your team presentation… as a team

No, I’m not crazy…just very experienced with most things public speaking.

So I have come across the situation where a small business owner claimed that he did not have a lot of time before his team made the presentation.

So what did he do?

He had each person practice at home the night before, believing that this was all that was required, anyhow.

I am still shaking my head…

So please practice your presentation as a team. Have a minimum of three practice sessions. Know who will be doing the main introductions and who will be summarising. Practice your transitions and practice with your visual aids.

Most of the points that I have listed  above should inform your practice sessions as well. In addition, you can get more tips on practicing a speech in this post . Just apply them to the team as a whole.

5 strategies to use during your team presentation

1.  implement the structure you planned.

In a good structure, your lead speaker will begin with a brief introduction of your team and follow this with your big idea for solving the problem or meeting the need. Be sure to include the benefits for the clients.

Then each speaker will follow in the order which was planned, each one stressing the benefits of their aspect of the offering. 

2.  Keep the presentation flowing

Even though your team presentation has more than one speaker, don’t make the audience wait too long between speakers.

The best way to make your presentation flow is to copy all your presentations on to one flash drive in the order they will be presented.

Another good approach is to place each presentation in one presentation file (Powerpoint?) separated by a blank slide.

3.  Be a good team player even when you’re not speaking

When other team members are speaking, give them your full attention. This might be difficult especially if you’re nervous, because you will feel the urge to read over notes or whisper to your colleagues. 

Instead, stay interested and alert. Listen attentively, smile and laugh at their humour and behave as you would want them to respond when you’re speaking.

Remember, your audience is judging you as a team.

4.  Answer questions effectively

Keep it together now. This is where many team presentations fall apart.

The leader should clarify the questions and then assign them to the team member who can provide the best response.

Furthermore, in your planning and practicing, supported by your understanding of the needs of the potential client,  you should have come up with some questions that are likely to be asked.

Here are some great tips on how to answer questions after a speech. 

5.  Wrap up your entire team presentation professionally

This is where your lead speaker takes over again to restate your big idea, remind the potential client of the key benefits and then deliver your CTA.

Yes, your Call To Action. Tell your potential client what you want them to do, now that your team has so properly built your case. This post gives you some great info on how to work the CTA.

You need to be sure of what you want though, and ask for it confidently. That’s why you start and end with your best speaker.

The #1 strategy you must use after your team presentation

Review your entire presentation process.

You will realise that even though you have done many speeches on your own, speaking as part of a team is well, as they say, a whole new ball game.

When you review, check for your strengths and weakness, not only in the speeches but in the entire process. Tighten up those weak areas because you will be doing it again. And again.

And don’t forget to celebrate that you made it through your team presentation…like pros!

Your next “team presentation” step…

So there you have them!

12 practical strategies to help you just smile the next time you have to organise a team presentation.

You also now have no excuse for avoiding it or winging it. But you have every reason to pull it off with class.

Your business deserves no less.

And don’t forget, if you really want to really up your game, do contact me, I’d be really happy to provide public speaking training for you and the rest of your employees.

To your team presentation success…

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Lorna Barrow

Lorna Barrow is a Business Breakthrough Specialist, an unfiltered Transformational Speaker, a Writer, a Coach and a self-confessed Small Business Junkie. She recognises that small businesses are unique and when it comes to helping you and your business make that BIG breakthrough, she's all in for you!

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Blog Beginner Guides How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

Written by: Krystle Wong Jul 20, 2023

A top-notch presentation possesses the power to drive action. From winning stakeholders over and conveying a powerful message to securing funding — your secret weapon lies within the realm of creating an effective presentation .  

Being an excellent presenter isn’t confined to the boardroom. Whether you’re delivering a presentation at work, pursuing an academic career, involved in a non-profit organization or even a student, nailing the presentation game is a game-changer.

In this article, I’ll cover the top qualities of compelling presentations and walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to give a good presentation. Here’s a little tip to kick things off: for a headstart, check out Venngage’s collection of free presentation templates . They are fully customizable, and the best part is you don’t need professional design skills to make them shine!

These valuable presentation tips cater to individuals from diverse professional backgrounds, encompassing business professionals, sales and marketing teams, educators, trainers, students, researchers, non-profit organizations, public speakers and presenters. 

No matter your field or role, these tips for presenting will equip you with the skills to deliver effective presentations that leave a lasting impression on any audience.

Click to jump ahead:

What are the 10 qualities of a good presentation?

Step-by-step guide on how to prepare an effective presentation, 9 effective techniques to deliver a memorable presentation, faqs on making a good presentation, how to create a presentation with venngage in 5 steps.

When it comes to giving an engaging presentation that leaves a lasting impression, it’s not just about the content — it’s also about how you deliver it. Wondering what makes a good presentation? Well, the best presentations I’ve seen consistently exhibit these 10 qualities:

1. Clear structure

No one likes to get lost in a maze of information. Organize your thoughts into a logical flow, complete with an introduction, main points and a solid conclusion. A structured presentation helps your audience follow along effortlessly, leaving them with a sense of satisfaction at the end.

Regardless of your presentation style , a quality presentation starts with a clear roadmap. Browse through Venngage’s template library and select a presentation template that aligns with your content and presentation goals. Here’s a good presentation example template with a logical layout that includes sections for the introduction, main points, supporting information and a conclusion: 

2. Engaging opening

Hook your audience right from the start with an attention-grabbing statement, a fascinating question or maybe even a captivating anecdote. Set the stage for a killer presentation!

The opening moments of your presentation hold immense power – check out these 15 ways to start a presentation to set the stage and captivate your audience.

3. Relevant content

Make sure your content aligns with their interests and needs. Your audience is there for a reason, and that’s to get valuable insights. Avoid fluff and get straight to the point, your audience will be genuinely excited.

4. Effective visual aids

Picture this: a slide with walls of text and tiny charts, yawn! Visual aids should be just that—aiding your presentation. Opt for clear and visually appealing slides, engaging images and informative charts that add value and help reinforce your message.

With Venngage, visualizing data takes no effort at all. You can import data from CSV or Google Sheets seamlessly and create stunning charts, graphs and icon stories effortlessly to showcase your data in a captivating and impactful way.

5. Clear and concise communication

Keep your language simple, and avoid jargon or complicated terms. Communicate your ideas clearly, so your audience can easily grasp and retain the information being conveyed. This can prevent confusion and enhance the overall effectiveness of the message. 

6. Engaging delivery

Spice up your presentation with a sprinkle of enthusiasm! Maintain eye contact, use expressive gestures and vary your tone of voice to keep your audience glued to the edge of their seats. A touch of charisma goes a long way!

7. Interaction and audience engagement

Turn your presentation into an interactive experience — encourage questions, foster discussions and maybe even throw in a fun activity. Engaged audiences are more likely to remember and embrace your message.

Transform your slides into an interactive presentation with Venngage’s dynamic features like pop-ups, clickable icons and animated elements. Engage your audience with interactive content that lets them explore and interact with your presentation for a truly immersive experience.

8. Effective storytelling

Who doesn’t love a good story? Weaving relevant anecdotes, case studies or even a personal story into your presentation can captivate your audience and create a lasting impact. Stories build connections and make your message memorable.

A great presentation background is also essential as it sets the tone, creates visual interest and reinforces your message. Enhance the overall aesthetics of your presentation with these 15 presentation background examples and captivate your audience’s attention.

9. Well-timed pacing

Pace your presentation thoughtfully with well-designed presentation slides, neither rushing through nor dragging it out. Respect your audience’s time and ensure you cover all the essential points without losing their interest.

10. Strong conclusion

Last impressions linger! Summarize your main points and leave your audience with a clear takeaway. End your presentation with a bang , a call to action or an inspiring thought that resonates long after the conclusion.

In-person presentations aside, acing a virtual presentation is of paramount importance in today’s digital world. Check out this guide to learn how you can adapt your in-person presentations into virtual presentations . 

Preparing an effective presentation starts with laying a strong foundation that goes beyond just creating slides and notes. One of the quickest and best ways to make a presentation would be with the help of a good presentation software . 

Otherwise, let me walk you to how to prepare for a presentation step by step and unlock the secrets of crafting a professional presentation that sets you apart.

1. Understand the audience and their needs

Before you dive into preparing your masterpiece, take a moment to get to know your target audience. Tailor your presentation to meet their needs and expectations , and you’ll have them hooked from the start!

2. Conduct thorough research on the topic

Time to hit the books (or the internet)! Don’t skimp on the research with your presentation materials — dive deep into the subject matter and gather valuable insights . The more you know, the more confident you’ll feel in delivering your presentation.

3. Organize the content with a clear structure

No one wants to stumble through a chaotic mess of information. Outline your presentation with a clear and logical flow. Start with a captivating introduction, follow up with main points that build on each other and wrap it up with a powerful conclusion that leaves a lasting impression.

Delivering an effective business presentation hinges on captivating your audience, and Venngage’s professionally designed business presentation templates are tailor-made for this purpose. With thoughtfully structured layouts, these templates enhance your message’s clarity and coherence, ensuring a memorable and engaging experience for your audience members.

Don’t want to build your presentation layout from scratch? pick from these 5 foolproof presentation layout ideas that won’t go wrong. 

4. Develop visually appealing and supportive visual aids

Spice up your presentation with eye-catching visuals! Create slides that complement your message, not overshadow it. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean you need to overload your slides with text.

Well-chosen designs create a cohesive and professional look, capturing your audience’s attention and enhancing the overall effectiveness of your message. Here’s a list of carefully curated PowerPoint presentation templates and great background graphics that will significantly influence the visual appeal and engagement of your presentation.

5. Practice, practice and practice

Practice makes perfect — rehearse your presentation and arrive early to your presentation to help overcome stage fright. Familiarity with your material will boost your presentation skills and help you handle curveballs with ease.

6. Seek feedback and make necessary adjustments

Don’t be afraid to ask for help and seek feedback from friends and colleagues. Constructive criticism can help you identify blind spots and fine-tune your presentation to perfection.

With Venngage’s real-time collaboration feature , receiving feedback and editing your presentation is a seamless process. Group members can access and work on the presentation simultaneously and edit content side by side in real-time. Changes will be reflected immediately to the entire team, promoting seamless teamwork.

7. Prepare for potential technical or logistical issues

Prepare for the unexpected by checking your equipment, internet connection and any other potential hiccups. If you’re worried that you’ll miss out on any important points, you could always have note cards prepared. Remember to remain focused and rehearse potential answers to anticipated questions.

8. Fine-tune and polish your presentation

As the big day approaches, give your presentation one last shine. Review your talking points, practice how to present a presentation and make any final tweaks. Deep breaths — you’re on the brink of delivering a successful presentation!

In competitive environments, persuasive presentations set individuals and organizations apart. To brush up on your presentation skills, read these guides on how to make a persuasive presentation and tips to presenting effectively . 

Whether you’re an experienced presenter or a novice, the right techniques will let your presentation skills soar to new heights!

From public speaking hacks to interactive elements and storytelling prowess, these 9 effective presentation techniques will empower you to leave a lasting impression on your audience and make your presentations unforgettable.

1. Confidence and positive body language

Positive body language instantly captivates your audience, making them believe in your message as much as you do. Strengthen your stage presence and own that stage like it’s your second home! Stand tall, shoulders back and exude confidence. 

2. Eye contact with the audience

Break down that invisible barrier and connect with your audience through their eyes. Maintaining eye contact when giving a presentation builds trust and shows that you’re present and engaged with them.

3. Effective use of hand gestures and movement

A little movement goes a long way! Emphasize key points with purposeful gestures and don’t be afraid to walk around the stage. Your energy will be contagious!

4. Utilize storytelling techniques

Weave the magic of storytelling into your presentation. Share relatable anecdotes, inspiring success stories or even personal experiences that tug at the heartstrings of your audience. Adjust your pitch, pace and volume to match the emotions and intensity of the story. Varying your speaking voice adds depth and enhances your stage presence.

5. Incorporate multimedia elements

Spice up your presentation with a dash of visual pizzazz! Use slides, images and video clips to add depth and clarity to your message. Just remember, less is more—don’t overwhelm them with information overload. 

Turn your presentations into an interactive party! Involve your audience with questions, polls or group activities. When they actively participate, they become invested in your presentation’s success. Bring your design to life with animated elements. Venngage allows you to apply animations to icons, images and text to create dynamic and engaging visual content.

6. Utilize humor strategically

Laughter is the best medicine—and a fantastic presentation enhancer! A well-placed joke or lighthearted moment can break the ice and create a warm atmosphere , making your audience more receptive to your message.

7. Practice active listening and respond to feedback

Be attentive to your audience’s reactions and feedback. If they have questions or concerns, address them with genuine interest and respect. Your responsiveness builds rapport and shows that you genuinely care about their experience.

8. Apply the 10-20-30 rule

Apply the 10-20-30 presentation rule and keep it short, sweet and impactful! Stick to ten slides, deliver your presentation within 20 minutes and use a 30-point font to ensure clarity and focus. Less is more, and your audience will thank you for it!

9. Implement the 5-5-5 rule

Simplicity is key. Limit each slide to five bullet points, with only five words per bullet point and allow each slide to remain visible for about five seconds. This rule keeps your presentation concise and prevents information overload.

Simple presentations are more engaging because they are easier to follow. Summarize your presentations and keep them simple with Venngage’s gallery of simple presentation templates and ensure that your message is delivered effectively across your audience.

1. How to start a presentation?

To kick off your presentation effectively, begin with an attention-grabbing statement or a powerful quote. Introduce yourself, establish credibility and clearly state the purpose and relevance of your presentation.

2. How to end a presentation?

For a strong conclusion, summarize your talking points and key takeaways. End with a compelling call to action or a thought-provoking question and remember to thank your audience and invite any final questions or interactions.

3. How to make a presentation interactive?

To make your presentation interactive, encourage questions and discussion throughout your talk. Utilize multimedia elements like videos or images and consider including polls, quizzes or group activities to actively involve your audience.

In need of inspiration for your next presentation? I’ve got your back! Pick from these 120+ presentation ideas, topics and examples to get started. 

Creating a stunning presentation with Venngage is a breeze with our user-friendly drag-and-drop editor and professionally designed templates for all your communication needs. 

Here’s how to make a presentation in just 5 simple steps with the help of Venngage:

Step 1: Sign up for Venngage for free using your email, Gmail or Facebook account or simply log in to access your account. 

Step 2: Pick a design from our selection of free presentation templates (they’re all created by our expert in-house designers).

Step 3: Make the template your own by customizing it to fit your content and branding. With Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, you can easily modify text, change colors and adjust the layout to create a unique and eye-catching design.

Step 4: Elevate your presentation by incorporating captivating visuals. You can upload your images or choose from Venngage’s vast library of high-quality photos, icons and illustrations. 

Step 5: Upgrade to a premium or business account to export your presentation in PDF and print it for in-person presentations or share it digitally for free!

By following these five simple steps, you’ll have a professionally designed and visually engaging presentation ready in no time. With Venngage’s user-friendly platform, your presentation is sure to make a lasting impression. So, let your creativity flow and get ready to shine in your next presentation!

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Team Presentations: How to Present Better as a Group

Posted by Belinda Huckle  |  On January 29, 2022  |  In Presentation Training, Tips & Advice

In this Article...quick links

1. Choose a team captain

2. map out a cohesive narrative, 3. know your roles within the team, 4. have a strategy in place for question time, 5. all team presentations must have a full group rehearsal, 6. be supportive and put up a united front in your next team presentation, 7. making good, better, follow us on social media for more great presentation tips:.

We’re all getting used to being back in the office and re-learning our in person presentation skills after spending so much time working remotely. So it’s not surprising that the prospect of creating a seamless and cohesive group presentation is even more daunting right now.

It’s safe to say that team presentations involve a lot of moving parts, not least because it brings together different personalities with varying confidence levels and presentation styles.

One of the common pitfalls with group presentations is a diffusion of responsibility – ‘My bit’s OK, that’s all I should worry about, right?’ Wrong.

A group presentation is only as good as its weakest presenter. There are a lot of potential obstacles to overcome, but there are some key reasons why presenting as a team is both relevant and a good idea:

• Showcasing expertise – to showcase different people’s expertise as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).
• Meeting the team – increasingly in new business/pitch situations, clients and customers want to see, and hear from, ‘the team’ – those who will actually be looking after their business i.e. those operating at the ‘coalface’. And so having multiple presenters becomes an imperative.
• Maintaining energy, engagement & attention – breaking up longer presentations with different presenters helps to inject energy (much like in a relay race), keep people’s attention and maintain listeners’ engagement. Remember, variety is the spice of life!

Your people may be seasoned presenters but team them up to present with others, and lots of practical questions arise:

How do you start a team presentation? Who ends a team presentation? How do you seamlessly hand over to the next presenter, or who fields questions from the audience?

In this blog post we discuss how teams can collaborate to plan, practise and present successfully as a group.

Why this is important: Having a strong Team Captain is crucial as they will usually start and finish the presentation. As part of starting and finishing the presentation the role of the Captain also often includes:

• Making sure there is a strong Attention Grab early in the presentation in order to hook the audience from the start.
• Assigning roles within the team.
• Introducing each presenter and their role at the start of the presentation.
• Managing the transitions/handovers between each presenter.
• Fielding questions from the audience on behalf of the team and directing questions to the most relevant speaker as required.
• Summarising next steps or action points after the conclusion to the presentation.

Top Tip: The Captain should typically be either the most senior person in the group, or the most confident speaker. They don’t have to be subject matter experts.

Why this is important: Team members may have differing opinions about the message they want to convey. Having a clear overall goal for the presentation before everyone starts working on their slides is crucial for ensuring the deck, and the message you’re delivering, is clear and cohesive.

The team should decide in advance roughly how long each speaker should be speaking for (and don’t forget to include time for questions), what the structure of the presentation will be and who will cover what.

SecondNature’s Presentation Mapper™ methodology is a great tool for achieving all of this. If you’re not using our Presentation Mapper™ then get together as a team with a stack of A4 paper and, on a large table, storyboard your presentation.

Don’t get bogged down in the details at this stage. Instead, decide collectively what the purpose and end goal of the presentation are, the sections of the presentation (chapters of your story), what the key takeaways for the audience should be, and then roughly the information you want to include. Once you have outlined the storyboard for the presentation you can then discuss how long each section/chapter should be and who will be delivering each element.

Spending a bit of time at the beginning mapping out the narrative and setting a single goal for the presentation will save lots of time at the end of the process because it will ensure there aren’t areas that are needlessly repetitive. And likewise it will mean there aren’t gaping holes in your logic. Missing this step could result in duplication of content, inconsistency in the flow (and impact) of different sections, and not enough clarity about who’s presenting what.

Don’t forget to ensure that every section contributes to your presentation’s main aim, and if data is critical to your presentation, ensure everyone knows the go-to data collection sources, or people to interview, so there are no conflicting numbers.

Top Tip: Everyone needs to know all of the information inside out, even if they’re not presenting it, in case someone can’t make it on the day.

Why this is important: Assigning roles based on peoples’ strengths will create accountability and ensure things don’t fall through the cracks.

Take the time to assess your team – of course you will select people to present certain sections within the presentation based on their expertise and experience. But you should also consider some additional factors. E.g. some people may be better at explaining and simplifying difficult-to-understand ideas while others are good at engaging the audience and providing supporting information through humour, videos and interesting case studies.

Now, let’s assume everyone has been assigned a speaking slot based on their strengths and expertise and you’ve got a strong team captain to open and close the presentation.

But who takes accountability for things like design, delivery, questions and setting the boardroom up?

Here are some ways to make your next team presentation smooth and effective:

• The Team Captain, along with input from the presenters, should assign responsibilities for the smaller moving parts like consistency in design, the order of presenters, organising rehearsals, AV checks, timekeeping and so on.
• Schedule brief, but regular update meetings to ensure everyone is on track to fulfil their roles.
• Put someone in charge of the dry run , which should be scheduled at least a week before the presentation. This is important so people have enough time to work on constructive feedback before the day of the presentation.

Top Tip: Remember that unequal participation can negatively impact the dynamics of your team, so sharing responsibility is important!

Why this is important: Question time can be nerve-wracking . In a group presentation, question time can also cause some confusion if too many people jump in to answer at once, or worse still, if no one seems to know who will answer the question.

It’s best to have the team captain direct questions to the speaker with the most relevant knowledge.

Remember to pause before answering and formulate your thoughts – keep your reply concise and ensure it answers the question. If you don’t understand the question, there’s no harm in asking for a clarification. To learn more about answering questions with confidence during a presentation, read this blog .

Top Tip: If you don’t know the answer, don’t be afraid to say so. You can look into the question and return with the best answer later.

Why this is important: While everyone practising their individual presentations is great, it doesn’t guarantee that once you’ve combined all the slides, it will feel coherent or go well.

As they say, practice makes perfect – and you definitely need to schedule at least one group rehearsal to present and engage a large audience. Here are some things that you should aim to cover in a dry run of your presentation:

• The order of speakers. The team captain should open and close the presentation assuming they are the strongest and most confident presenter. The remaining speakers should follow the order, or natural chapters of the story.
• It’s important that introductions establish the credibility of each speaker i.e. why are they there.
• The transition dialogue to recap the last section and briefly introduce the next section and speaker. For longer presentations, it’s a good idea to provide an agenda for the audience which details who is speaking against each section within the presentation.
• Fine-tuning and adjusting time for each section. This keeps the presentation from being too lengthy, so you don’t lose the audience’s interest. It will also ensure you stick to the time allocated for the presentation – making sure you also allow time for questions!
• At the end of the presentation, ensure you deliver a clear, concise summary that highlights all the key points, and then the overall message or final call-to-action.

During the rehearsals you should also work out where the presenting team will be seated and/or standing in the room (taking into account where the client/customer might/will be) – when they’re presenting, and also when they aren’t speaking. Think about how you use the room. For tips about ‘The Attention Traingle’ and how to use it check out this blog .

A great option is to have the Team Captain starting and finishing at the front and centre of the room; with those that are speaking early in the presentation standing front and left of the room; and those that are speaking later, front and right of the room.

This is because we read from left to right and this visual positioning will be intuitive for the audience ‘moving through the presentation from start to finish’. And remember, if the presentation is taking place at someone else’s offices, ask to have access to the meeting room at least 30 minutes before the start to allow for adequate set up time.

Top Tip: We always recommend that there is someone outside the presentation group to listen to the presentation, from the audience’s perspective, to make sure the narrative is as clear and as tight as possible. They can also get the team to practise some Q&A and make sure timings are adhered to.

Why this is important: Remember that you’re in this together and teamwork is non-negotiable if you want to inspire confidence in your audience.

There’s nothing that puts a presenter off more than seeing their own team members look disinterested. So regardless of how many times you’ve seen and heard your team-mates present, act as though it’s the very first time.

Put up a united front by being mindful of these small but important details:

• Arrive early so the entire team has enough time to set things up.
• Be an attentive listener as each person presents – laughing, nodding and reacting in a supportive manner throughout the presentation.
• If someone can’t answer a question, step in and answer it for them, but without making them lose face..
• Avoid the urge to go through your notes when others in your team are presenting. It’s disrespectful to whomever is speaking and it will make you come across as unprepared and nervous.
• Watch your timings. The team captain should be keeping an eye on this (or they make have delegated this important task to someone else) so look to him/her to make sure you’re on track.
• Do not overrun because doing so will rob time from others in the team.

Top Tip: Remember that if in the planning process you argue, you’re only human. Work out how you can move forward in a way that makes the most of each presenter’s strengths.

Most of us don’t make group presentations that often. So a PPR (Post Presentation Review) is a great way to sharpen everyone’s skills ever further. Within 24 hours of a group presentation sit down as a team and discuss what worked well and how could things been improved in terms of:

• The process leading up to the presentation
• Handling of the technology
• The clarity of the message and the flow of the narrative
• The level of detail covered
• Overall and individual timings
• Handovers between speakers
• Management and answering of questions
• Non-verbal support from team members
• People’s individual presenting style and confidence

Top Tip: Be honest in your feedback. Remember, feedback is, as the saying goes, the breakfast of champions!

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7 Secrets to a Killer Team Presentation

When you're pitching as a team, it's important not to get in your own way. here's how to make the most of group presentations..

I sit through a lot of presentations. These range from companies pitching me to portfolio companies presenting at board meetings.

Each of these scenarios has a team presenting: almost always the CEO plus members of his or her management team, including tech, marketing, sales and/or product. Some CEOs are masters at communicating when team members are present. Some fare less well.

Investors love teams. They want to see a strong CEO/leader who is in charge, but they also want to see that you can lead talented people. One of the most important traits of a great leader is the ability to attract and retain high-caliber team members. Great leaders are able to empower their team members to make autonomous decisions, and great leaders know when to empower them versus when to step in and course-correct.

So part of seeing you with a team is to get a read on team dynamics -- and, believe me, all VCs discuss the team dynamics after you leave.

Here are some guidelines for you, particularly for VC pitch meetings.

1. Everyone talks.

My golden rule is that if somebody on your team is attending the meeting, they need to talk. Otherwise they end up looking ineffective or insignificant, and this is especially troublesome if you’re raising money. It’s okay to attend a first meeting on your own, but eventually people want to meet the team.

2. Assign out slides.  

The best way to involve your team members is to assign out slides they will own. Help them prepare and practice. Weave in their pitch to an overall pitch narrative. But I find when you don’t assign slides that each person owns, often the quiet team members get silenced.

3. Don’t argue.  

I know there will be times you don’t agree with how somebody answered a question. Make a note. Discuss with them after the meeting. You’d be surprised how often people disagree in front of me, and it’s clear when they don’t agree. I know that back in your office you will disagree with each other -- but never in front of investors, customers, partners, etc. It’s a terrible sign and VCs don’t miss this. Behave.

4. Watch body language.

Remember that more than 90% of all communications are non-verbal. As humans, we pick up a lot of signals even when we don’t realize we do, and you give them off in the same manner. We pick up eye-rolls, sighs, arm-crossing, boredom, etc. We know when you’re disagreeing even if you don’t speak. If you disagree or don’t like what somebody says, pay attention not to give this off in body language. Just take a note to come back to it later. I know I’ll get mocked for saying it, but I actually think it’s important to think positive thoughts when you disagree with somebody. It’s a known fact from NLP. If you’re thinking positive thoughts, your body communicates positivity and you’re less likely to let off negative body language. I do this all the time -- especially when somebody is pissing me off and I don’t want it to show.

5. Quarterback questions.

The hardest thing to coordinate is how to figure out who should answer questions when asked. This is as true for a VC meeting as it is for a sales meeting or any group setting. I always recommend you assign a quarterback in the meeting. Sometimes it is the CEO and sometimes it is the number two person. The goal is that this person listens to the question and then either answers or assigns out somebody to answer as in, "Donna, would you mind picking up that question?" In a perfect world you spread the questions out and resist answering every question yourself.

6. Have the difficult discussions before you come in.  

Any question a VC asks you is fair play. The tougher the question, the better. For example, if two people are co-founders and co-CEOs, I might ask, "If you got an offer for $100 million, would you sell?" or "If you ran out of cash and one of you had to go, who would it be?" I’m just looking to find out how decisions are made, how open you are with each other and whether there is clear leadership. Anything that can go wrong in a company will. I prefer to know how people respond to adverse situations and who is empowered. So have the difficult conversations -- it’s better that you’re all on the same page anyway.

7. Don’t talk over your staff.

This is the main reason I wrote this post. It is the most common form of CEOs undermining team members and is a less-than-admirable sign for leadership. There are two forms of "talking over." The first is when the CEO feels the need to "preamble" every other person’s page. This is really annoying. As the person receiving the presentation you are thinking in your mind, "Why don’t you just let them speak for themselves?" Preamble is BS. It shows that you are domineering, a control freak or don’t trust your team. The second form of "talking over" is when a team member speaks or answers a question and you feel the need to summarize what they said in your own words. Don’t. I know your team member won’t always position things exactly as you’d like. Chances are they do a better job than you think. If you’re really not comfortable with how they position things, let them know after the meeting. If they really say something wrong, then of course you can politely correct them.

Teams matter. Great leaders build great teams and weak leaders or dictators hire weak people or sycophants. You are at your best in a team presentation when your team is perceived as just that. We all love great ball players but the leaders we love the most are those who know when to shoot and also know when to pass the ball.

Don’t be a ball hog.

This story originally appeared on the blog  Both Sides of the Table .

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What Everyone Ought to Know About Delivering Team Presentations

• Dale Ludwig   Presentations

I’ve written a lot about how important it is for presenters to initiate and manage a genuine conversation with their audiences—how it’s the presenter’s responsibility to focus on making listening and understanding easy for everyone.

But what if there is a team involved? What are the challenges unique to that situation?

Features of a Successful Team Presentation

Every team member needs to be engaged.

Let’s say you’re a member of a team that delivers research to the executives in your organization. Or maybe several people in your organization deliver sales pitches to potential clients as a team. How do the requirements for a successful presentation change when there are other people involved?

The answer is that every team member needs to be engaged, whether you’re speaking or not. Success requires not only being attentive but appearing attentive as well.

Being attentive is important for these reasons:

• You need to follow the conversation closely in order to fit the information you’re delivering into the conversation that is actually taking place.
• That means you need to connect dots to what has been said and what will be said.
• You also need to support others on the team in case they need your input or help, especially when questions are asked.

Appearing attentive is also necessary because doing otherwise undermines the cohesiveness of the team and distracts the audience. 

Every Team Member Must Appear Interested

Every team member is “presenting” whether they’re speaking or not. That means that everyone on the team should

• Appear genuinely interested in what others are saying—no matter how many times you’ve heard them say it.
• Sit up, put down your phone, and take notes. Look happy to be there.
• During transitions, treat other team members with respect. That means you may want to thank them after they’ve passed things over to you. Use their names when referring to what they said before you. Use “we” instead of “I” when appropriate.

All of these behaviors will communicate a positive impression of your team—that you are cooperative, cohesive, and getting along—and that will help the audience stay focused on the message you are communicating.

Every Team Member Must Practice to Deliver a Cohesive Presentation

The most important thing about a cohesive presentation is that it should look like it’s coming from the same person. Every team member must be able to convey the same point of view, and there should be no disconnect among individual team members. A good team presentation needs preparation. Especially if your team presentation involves people from different functional teams—for example, you might need to include an SME , a product manager, an account manager, and maybe a salesperson—you should allow time and preparation to prioritize talking points, adapt presentation styles, and develop team cohesion.

In order to pull this off effectively, every team member must prepare for the presentation.

Here are a few ways of preparing for a cohesive team presentation:

• Identify one team member who can coordinate each of the following: building the presentation narrative, identifying timelines, creating slides , and getting everyone together for brainstorming.
• Define the ultimate goal of the presentation. It will help in laying out a theme and constructing the overall narrative for the presentation. This will ensure that every team member relays the same message during their portion of the presentation.
• Agree on a frame for the presentation that suits its goals and priorities.
• Build an outline and a template for creating slides as well. This will bring consistency to slides that each team member creates and will help in building the overall cohesiveness of the presentation.

Wondering if it’s time to provide training for your team?  Contact us today.

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Practical Media Training and Public Speaking Tips

5 Steps to a Great Team Presentation

You work for an advertising agency. A national restaurant brand wants a fresh ad campaign, and your firm is one of three agencies invited to deliver a team presentation to the brand’s top executives.

As often happens, the brand gives the agency only a couple of weeks to prepare. The agency quickly spins into motion, assigning a presentation role to managers from key departments: strategy, creative, research, and accounts.

Each of the departmental leaders works on their talk. The day before the big presentation, they gather in the conference room to rehearse their pitch. A few things become clear almost instantly: there’s no unifying theme, each person’s slides look different, and there’s unnecessary repetition throughout the talk.

The presenters panic. They scramble to make last-minute changes, work late into the night, and head into the presentation lacking cohesion and confidence—and a good nights’ sleep.

That’s not a hypothetical scenario. We’ve seen that play out with a client when we were brought in to help the day before they were scheduled to present. It was heartbreaking, because these were brilliant people with great ideas, and they almost certainly would have delivered wonderful work.

They didn’t get the account.

A great team presentation, whether you are pitching an ad campaign, seeking to land a sale, or hoping to raise startup funds, gets its strength from the sum of its parts, and how those parts fit into one unifying theme.

If you follow the proper steps, your team members will be fully aware of their roles and how they relate to one other. That work translates into a presentation with a smooth and seamless flow. The reward is an effective and successful outcome for the team, and a powerful and compelling experience for the audience.

We offer five steps to bring your team members together, find that flow, and focus on the message you want to convey.

5 Steps to a Winning Team Presentation

Step No. 1 – Establish Your Key Message

There is an important question to ask whether you are a single presenter or part of a team: What is the brightest take-home message you’d like your audience to remember after your team finishes its presentation?

We call this your audience-focused bright shiny object , or ABSO . Your ABSO aligns your key point with your audience’s greatest concerns and needs. Here’s an example:

You are a company that provides technological and energy expertise to municipalities that are developing comprehensive initiatives to become more environmentally responsible. You and your team are pitching a panel of town officials.

Your key thought is this: “You should hire us because we not only have the scientific expertise but years of experience in translating that to real-life applications that save money and protect the environment.” The town’s need is this: “We need a program that follows proven scientific principles and incorporates economic best practices. We also need to hit our goal of reducing energy consumption by 20 percent in the next five years.” Here’s your ABSO: “We have a team of scientists, researchers, former municipal leaders, and economists who are as versed in the research as they are in the real-life applications that translate into compliance and economic savings.”

Those nearly three dozen words could be swapped out for just two – “Hire us!” –  but that pitch won’t go anywhere if you don’t answer the question the audience is asking: “Why should we hire you?”

The audience will be more likely to hire you if every speaker’s mini-presentation is guided by and reflects the central idea (or ABSO) that ties the entire presentation together.

Step No. 2 – Assign Roles

If you own a car, how many times do you think about the spark plugs in your engine? We guess that it’s not all that often. But you sure do think about them when the engine stalls. Faulty or worn, perhaps? There’s no spark to get that engine going.

We use this example in context with how you build your team presentation. Every presenter has an important role – no matter how small or big. You want your presentation to hum along, with nary a stall in sight. In other words, every presenter needs a clear understanding of their role and how they fit into the unified whole.

Here is how you build the engine:

• Determine the number of speakers – There is no magic number, but you should consider the impact on the audience. Cramming a dozen speakers into an hour might make it difficult for the speakers to build a rapport with the audience and may strain your audience’s ability to consume and consider the information you present.
• Create the content – What points and supporting evidence will each person cover (discuss this as a group), and what is each segment trying to achieve in connection to your ABSO? Answering those questions will also help to reduce repetition.
• Mind the micro and macro – Each speaker should have a “mini” presentation that conforms to the usual speech formula – open, main points with supporting detail, and close. To avoid appearing predictable , each speaker should vary their delivery (don’t all use opens that focus on statistics, for instance). Perhaps one team member uses PowerPoint, while another passes out a handout. Many team presentations begin with a “big picture” introduction, often presented by the most senior member of the team, followed by talks given by specialists in each topic area. The person who opens the talk may also close it and take on an emcee role to facilitate the Q&A period.
• Establish the lead – The person opening the team presentation should begin with a compelling statement that immediately gets the audience in the tent, establishes the session’s relevance and purpose, and reflects the audience-focused bright shiny object (ABSO). As a group, determine if the opener, who also is often the emcee, will either introduce the team following the open or open the floor for each presenter to briefly introduce themselves and the subject they will cover.

Step No. 3 – Practice, Practice, Practice

Here’s how to make your practice session an exercise in efficiency:

• Listen for the unified theme in every “mini” presentation.
• Identify and eliminate repetition. You can do this by ensuring the point is in the proper segment.
• Ditch the drag. As you time each person’s talk, pay attention to pacing.

How to reassess

After each rehearsal, go back and tinker. Consequently, that may mean you add more compelling material or chop irrelevant statistics. If this is an organic part of the creative process, you will have a more seamless and effective flow when the presentation goes “live.”

Step No. 4 – Your View on Visuals

Visual aids can have a powerful effect on helping your audience to remember your key message and main points. In a team presentation, your approach to the visuals must be cohesive. If every slide presentation follows a different template, and evidences a different style, the audience is likely to be distracted. Worse, as in the advertising agency example that started this post, they may pass on your firm altogether, concluding that the work you would have delivered would be as disjointed as the presentation itself.

Here are some guidelines to visualize:

• Each speaker should work off the same template.
• One person should be assigned to edit the final deck.
• Ensure there is continuity of colors, font sizes, and the overall look.

Step No. 5 – Final checks

Well before you arrive to that conference room to pitch your services, register a sale, or secure funds, make sure, as a group, you’ve paid attention to staging. How are you going to position yourselves? When it’s not your turn to present, how will you stay engaged? How are you transitioning from one segment to another?

Here are some things to consider before the presentation:

• Is the team standing or sitting during the talk?
• Is the team on stage? Are the presenters sitting in the audience or around the conference table?
• Are speakers expected to step forward to speak?

Here are some things to do before the presentation:

Practice all scenarios. With preparation, speakers may be less likely to be thrown off track if the actual presentation reveals a different set-up than had been discussed. Rehearse the choreography. For instance, if you are sharing a single microphone, practice the handoff. If you’re sharing a PowerPoint clicker, practice the exchange. Make eye contact with your co-presenter during the transition and exchange a warm look before turning toward the audience. Stay alert. When others are speaking, practice keeping your eyes on the speaker. You also can take notes if helpful, and imagine observing the audience to see if some points are landing better than others. Plot your Q&A. Will the emcee assign questions to team members in real time or will certain team members field certain topics? Are group members encouraged to jump in? The real goal is to avoid the awkwardness of deciding in front of the audience who should answer which questions. A team that works gracefully with one another sends a powerful message about their ability to work cohesively and efficiently on whatever task is before them. Be there for your teammate. Let’s say your colleague gets stuck in traffic on presentation day. You may be required to step up and fill the gap caused by your absent colleague. Or, you may have to shorten your part of the presentation when questions run long in the segment before you. Snags and challenges, while unfortunate, do happen. As a team, practice for the unexpected.

Total Teamwork

One player can consistently make great plays, but it takes a team to create a winning season. Or, as some recent research has revealed , a team doesn’t need to be a group of superstars to succeed, so much as a group of people who work well together. It’s a finding we can intuitively understand.

In approaching your team presentation, remember that it should reflect the experience, effort, and talent of each member as seen through the team’s collective expertise. With preparation and practice, that expertise will easily shine through.

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