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Communication, facilitation, targeted learning, ​powerspeaking blog: tips and strategies for crafting presentations, deliver more powerful technical presentations: 8 techniques.

by Ralf Wolter     Aug 4, 2022 1:36:00 PM

Before moving into training and coaching, I was an IT Consulting Engineer for 25-plus years.  To this day, I have a left-brain bent.  But I remember the experience that changed my perspective on what makes a powerful technical communicator (hint: it involves both hemispheres).

I was watching a very senior engineer at Cisco give a technical presentation.  This engineer was so senior and well-regarded, he held a prestigious Fellow position at the high-tech company.  

What struck me was that he was so good at illustrating his points and keeping the audience rapt.  I approached him after his talk and asked him, ‘What’s your secret sauce?’  He said, ‘Whenever I give a technical talk, I start by explaining in a way that my mum would understand it.’

I really liked the way he dove into deep technical detail only after he introduced the concepts with brief, compelling stories and vivid analogies.  To me, that was a perfect way to make sure everyone understands what you’re talking about, without dumbing down the content.

What I’ve learned since then is that this kind of approach to technical presenting doesn’t take away from the content expert’s credibility; as a matter of fact, it adds to it, especially if they’re addressing a mixed audience.

Delivering clear, complex data in a meaningful way to the people and businesses impacted is more important than ever—at work and in our communities.  

To do it well, you might need to rethink some of the hallmark left-brain preconceptions about how to craft and deliver your talk.  But trust me, it’s well worth the journey.

Here are our top pointers . . .

1. Start With Your Audience in Mind

Who are you presenting to, and how is your main message or proposal relevant to them?  How much detail do they really want or need? Your technical peers might be happy to dive into lots of detailed data.  But how about a mixed audience of engineers, salespeople, and potential customers?  Or maybe senior executives , who just want the bottom line?

For example, let’s say you’re presenting to a mixed audience. The best strategy would be to organize your presentation so you begin with a big-picture overview and main message/proposal for the non-technical people; then a strategic level of detail for technical managers and technical specialists outside your area; and last, a deep dive for content experts who are familiar with your work.  

Senior-level executives prefer content focused on the overall impact of your data or proposal: the cost, ROI, and benefits. They want the high-level view, with executive summaries, solutions, and future business implications. (Check out our downloadable PDF, “ How to Present to Executives: 23 Proven Tips ”)

Non-technical audiences and technical people in different disciplines also appreciate higher-level content.  In addition, they typically want to know how what you’re presenting will affect them directly.  Will it impact their workload or priorities?  Will it delay other projects they’re working on?  Will it shift roles or responsibilities?

Technical audiences want content rich in detailed data analysis, design specifications, theory, and statistics. They expect you to know the jargon and to use technical terms. They want to know about the research behind your data, and they appreciate information such as algorithms, process-flow diagrams, feature lists, and coding examples.

One presenter we worked with noted that with mixed audiences, he starts by announcing, "Today, I'll be doing a split-level presentation. The first 10 minutes will be a big-picture, market-focused summary. In the next 10 minutes, I will provide an overview of the technology involved. In the last 10 minutes I will go into the detail and present the results of our code review. Feel free to leave before the next level of detail if that is not what you want."

So remember, consider your audience before you get too far in crafting your presentation.  By doing so, you will be more . . .

Engaging By directing your presentation to the audience’s needs, you’ll increase attention and retention.

Efficient By creating an audience-centric presentation from the start, you’ll find it easier to plan and deliver a relevant and memorable talk.

Effective By communicating an action the audience can take as a result of the presentation, you’ll have a greater impact (we go into this in “Identify an Action Step,” below).

Here’s a helpful Audience Analysis checklist we developed for workshop participants.

Next, what do you want the audience to do with the data you’re presenting? 

2. Identify an Action Step

Once you’ve analyzed your audience, the next best step is to ask yourself, "What do I want the audience to do, think, or feel as a result of hearing this presentation?" 

One common mistake many presenters make is to assume the audience understands what they’re being asked to do.  Unless your request is clear and concrete, you risk creating confusion and losing their support.

Here are some quick examples of effective vs. ineffective action steps . . .

Now it’s time to dive into the core content of your presentation . . .

3. Develop a Clear Main Message

Even if you have complex ideas or data to discuss, your presentation should have a clearly stated central purpose or key message.  Why are you presenting the data?  What do you want your audience to remember?  

A short, clear, and compelling main message accomplishes several important things . . .

Here are some best practices for developing your main message so it’s clear and memorable . . .

As PowerSpeaking, Inc. Master Facilitator Rita Williams emphasized in the video, repetition of your main message—word for word—is key.  Research has shown that people are much more likely to retain your clear, concise main message if you repeat it at least three times throughout your presentation, at the beginning, middle, and end.

Once you’ve analyzed your audience, identified an action step, and crafted your main message, it’s time to turn to the substance of your presentation . . .

4. Make Your Content Relatable and Memorable

Maybe you want to get a group of teams fired up about the next phase of product development.  Perhaps you need to enlist support from other departments to make a system change. Or maybe your team needs budget approval from senior management to launch a new project.

No matter your purpose, you’re far more likely to succeed if you help your audience relate to your content and remember (and maybe act on) it after the presentation is over.

We’ve found that the best way to do that is to craft a technical presentation that balances analytical and anecdotal evidence— and connects with people on a human level.

Analytical Evidence: Facts and Figures

Analytical evidence is typically evidence drawn from statistical information—especially data collected by systematic methods. for example, the number of component failures reported in a quarter, the percentage of people who had adverse reactions to a new drug, or the roi on a new service offering over a specified period of time would all be considered analytical data. , anecdotal evidence: stories, analogies, case studies, examples.

Anecdotal evidence tells a story rather than drawing solely on numbers or percentages. Examples:  A story about how a seriously ill patient responded to a new drug, reading a letter from a satisfied customer, or talking about an experience you had when calling your own company for customer service. 

Some technical people in our workshops bristle at the idea of storytelling or, as they’ll say, “trying to be entertaining.”  But being an entertainer isn’t the point here.  The point is that we’re all human, and images, metaphors, and stories spark our interest and lodge in our memories more easily than facts and figures alone.

  “In fact, the thickness of the Earth's atmosphere, compared with the size of the Earth, is in about the same ratio as the thickness of a coat of shellac on a schoolroom globe is to the diameter of the globe. That's the air that nurtures us and almost all other life on Earth, that protects us from deadly ultraviolet light from the sun, that through the greenhouse effect brings the surface temperature above the freezing point.”   

In his book “Actual Minds, Possible Worlds,” psychologist Jerome Bruner estimated that facts are about 22 times more memorable when they are delivered via a story.  

When the brain sees or hears a story, it mimics the pattern of the writer’s or speaker's brain. This is known as neural coupling, where in effect,  the storyteller literally shares their sensory experience with another person.  (A much more memorable experience than looking at a spreadsheet in a slide presentation.)

“ You cannot reach a person's head without first touching their heart, and the path to the heart runs through the brain, starting with the amygdala . . . We now know which brain chemicals make us pay attention to a speaker (cortisol) and which make us feel empathy toward another person (oxytocin)." — Carmine Gallo, "Storyteller's Secret.”

  “ You can’t play tennis with a bowling ball.”  

So, remember that research proves you will increase the impact of your data and your message by reaching people through their hearts and minds .

Next, use the power of imagery to help people understand and remember key points . . .

5. Be Creative With Visual Aids

Whether you’re presenting in person or virtually, there are several ways you can hold people’s interest and drive home your message by getting creative with visuals.

Add Imagery to Explain Data

You already know not to clobber your audience with endless data-dense slides, right?  Good.  The more you can convey data/key messages via imagery, the more engaging and memorable your content will be.

Here are a few more examples of combining simple, powerful images with (few) words to deliver a message . . .

Don’t Limit Yourself to Slides

Think about introducing a variety of visual aids to make your presentation more interesting . . .

Whiteboards : A virtual whiteboard or an in-person flip-chart are still great ways to emphasize key points, capture audience feedback or questions, or explain a concept. 

Props: Use props to illustrate a key metaphor or idea from your presentation. A world globe could help illustrate the global marketplace, or an apple could evoke preventive health care (“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”) 

Handouts: A handout allows the audience to take something back to work that can be used as a reference or summary of your content.

Video Clips: These are a great way to break the monotony of still slides, and often introduce a more human factor to the topic. 

6. Use Pattern Disruption to Hold Attention

There’s nothing like breaking a pattern to snap people back to attention.  Think of a presenter who suddenly turns off the screen or introduces music.  Or how about a presenter who’s been talking for five minutes then suddenly . . . stops.  Silence, for like 30 seconds.  You’d look up, right?

Consider places in your presentation where people might need something fresh to keep them engaged.  Some examples . . .

• Stories and analogies
• Video clips or sound recordings
• Style changes (vocal, movement, gestures, pausing)
• Blanking the screen
• Visuals (graphics, illustrations, images)
• Audience participation (small group discussion, brainstorming)

Next, let’s look at one aspect of successful presenting that causes many techies to roll their eyes:  an engaging delivery style.  

Stay with me.  It’s relatively painless . . .

7. Don't Underestimate the Power of Style

A speaker who stands statue-still, stares at their slides or notes, and speaks in a monotone is enough to put anyone to sleep—no matter how interesting the content.  

Remember, even scientists, engineers, and system programmers are human.  And research has shown that we humans are moved by nonverbal communication.  We “read” a lot into its presence or absence, which means it can either obscure or make clear what we’re saying out loud.

“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you’re preparing to make a presentation or give a talk, it’s likely you do what most people do: focus solely on your content. While what you have to say is definitely key, how you say it—through nonverbal “language”—is a lot more important than you might think.

Research has shown repeatedly that your posture, gestures, facial expressions, and the tone and cadence of your voice play a huge role not only in getting your message across to an audience, but also, in engaging them, building trust, and increasing your credibility.

Your tone of voice, for example, has a big impact on how your content is received. 

Not being able to hear a speaker, either because of poor audio or a too-soft voice, isn’t just an annoyance. In a USC study that looked at the effects of poor audio in scientific presentations, they found that, “When the video was difficult to hear, viewers thought the talk was worse, the speaker less intelligent and less likable, and the research less important.”

Speaking in a dreary monotone is another way to lose your audience.  Watch how to avoid it and instead, create energy and interest . . .

source: Great Speech Writing, "How to Avoid Speaking in a Monotone," via YouTube

If you’d like more tips on making nonverbal communication work for you, check out our blog, “ Use the Power of Nonverbal Communication to Connect with Your Audience: 7 Tips .”

8. Bring Your Authentic Self to the Table

Speaking of the human factor when it comes to presentations, know that authenticity, openness, and passion go a long way in engaging your audience, building trust—and yes, even establishing your credibility. 

NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson once revealed her childhood passion for numbers in a very simple, relatable way . . .

“I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed ... anything that could be counted, I did.” 

Now, if you had been in the audience when she led with that, she’d have your attention, right?  

No matter how complex the data or the message, an audience-centric, authentic, human approach is a good place to start.

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Top 7 Technical Presentation Templates With Samples and Examples

Nidhi Aswal

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Our PPT Deck on how to perform technical assessments and audits will cut down on pointless chit-chat. This three-stage PPT Slides encompasses business, management, planning, strategy, and marketing. To quickly and effectively counter objections and impact your audience, download this content-ready infographic immediately.

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FAQs on Technical Presentation Template

What should a technical presentation include.

A technical presentation should include several key elements for clarity and engagement. It should start with a clear introduction outlining the topic's importance. Then, present technical content logically with clear explanations, visuals, and examples. Address potential questions or concerns. Summarize the key points, and end with a concise conclusion. Visual aids, diagrams, and data should be used effectively to enhance understanding. Audience interaction, where appropriate, can also improve engagement.

What is most important in technical presentation?

In a technical presentation, effective communication and clarity are of highest significance. It is crucial that highly technical material be presented in a way that is easily understood. Also essential are eye-catching graphics, well-organized text, and an understandable progression of events. A technical presentation may be improved by interacting with the audience, fielding their questions, and using real-world examples to drive home your arguments.

How do you make a technical presentation interesting?

To add interest to a technical presentation, commence with an engaging introduction emphasizing the topic's significance. Utilize relatable examples and narratives to illustrate intricate concepts. Include visually attractive graphics and diagrams on your transparencies. Maintain a dynamic tempo and refrain from overpowering the audience with technical jargon. Engage the audience through questions, discussions, and real-world applications. Conclude with a memorable summary and encourage questions, fostering an interactive and engaging atmosphere.

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7 Steps to Delivering a Technical Presentation

June 21, 2021 - Dom Barnard

So you want to share the fruits of your technical labor with a presentation? Perhaps, you’re an engineer, a maker, a coder, or a designer, and you’re looking to discuss a research study, explain a process, or demonstrate a product.

Regardless of the agenda,  speaking to a group  can be intimidating. However, there are steps you can take to deliver an effective technical presentation that gets your point across and appeals to the audience.

Whether you’re presenting in person or via  web conferencing software , the following tips and best practices will help you be prepared, feel more confident, and set up the tools you need to conduct your presentation without any issues.

Know your subject matter

A great presentation isn’t about reading a bunch of slides – your attendees are capable of reading much faster on their own.

If you are going to pack your slides with dozens of details and bullet points, you might as well ditch the slides and write an article instead. It’s difficult for the audience to listen to a presenter and read a lot of information at the same time.

Your job as a presenter is to be the expert that your attendees expect you to be. Keep your slides simple and minimal. In fact, 91% of people say that  well-designed slides  help  boost their confidence  when giving a presentation.

Remember that your slides are not the star of the show, you are. Help your audience understand and make sense of what they are reading in your slides. To do this, make sure you are using a  suitable structure  for your presentation.

You can do these things only when you’re well-versed in what you’re presenting. The slides are supposed to be your outline, or simply a table of contents to remind you what to cover during the presentation.

Know your audience

Knowing your audience  is crucial for any presentation, but it’s even more important for a technical one. If your audience is as experienced and comfortable with the topic of your presentation as you are, then you don’t want to dumb it down to the extent that it bores them.

On the other hand, you don’t want to give a complex presentation to an audience with no clue of what you’re talking about.

There may also be times when your attendees are people with different levels of technical skill, experience, and interests. Then your job is to make sure that the content of your presentation is relevant and doesn’t alienate any of those segments.

Image Source:  Digital Clarity Group

To understand how technical you need to be, consider what your audience might already know and how much is required for them to understand to meet your goal.

If your objective is to acquire funding, for instance, your audience will be more interested in financial benefits than the technical details of your product. The idea is to meet the needs of your audience, not to fuel your passion for engineering.

Configure your IDE

Since you’re delivering a technical presentation, there may be instances where you’ll want to walk your audience through your development environment, code scripts, software demos, or other technical components.

However, you may have adjusted how things look on the screen according to what’s the most convenient for your usual workflow. And what’s good for working in your day-to-day routine may not render well as you go full screen in presentation mode.

If the attendees can’t decipher what’s on the screen, they’ll get confused and will find it hard to focus on your talk. So it’s important that you customize whatever you’re going to show in your presentation such that it’s easily readable and viewable.

There are several steps you can take to make this happen. First of all, don’t use dark backgrounds. Light-colored backgrounds are easy on the eyes. Second, adjust your font styles and sizes to make sure they’re big enough.

And finally, learn to zoom in on specific areas as required, depending on whether you’re using a  Windows PC  or a  Mac system .

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Minimize distractions

Nothing is more annoying than to keep getting disruptive notifications or popups from in the middle of your presentation. These can be from your operating system (Windows or Mac), or apps such as Slack, Email, Twitter, and more.

At times, these notifications can be personal, embarrassing, or contain confidential information that you don’t want your audience to see.

Therefore, it’s best to make sure in advance that there are no unpleasant surprises. Before you get up to give your presentation, turning off your notifications can go a long way.

This will also reduce the number of processes running on your machine and free up available resources. As a result, the resource-intensive programs that are part of your presentation will run a lot smoother. Here’s how to turn off  notifications for Windows ,  Google Chrome , and  Mac .

Get the right equipment

If you want to be a master presenter, you should have the proper tools for the job. The basics include a desktop or laptop machine with good configuration, a big display screen, presentation software (usually MS Powerpoint or Keynote), and a clicker/pointer device.

A clicking device, like the  Logitech Wireless Presenter , can help you switch slides from wherever you are in the room, point to a specific part of a slide, and add an overall professional touch to your presentation.

In addition, you should have any cables (HDMI, VGA, USD, etc) and adapters required to connect the devices you are going to use for the presentation.

Conrad Delock USB 3.0 Network adapter

If you have no idea about what will be available at your presentation venue, then carry one piece of each of the commonly used cables and adapters. You’ll thank us later.

Rehearse in advance

Practice your slides and your demo multiple times before the presentation, even if you have presented the exact same thing in the past. Do not make any assumptions about your actual presentation environment based on your practice environment.

Technologies and situations change, and you may find things that catch you off guard. Run through everything at least once the night before just to be sure.

Practice your presentations with  interactive exercises .

Even better if you can record yourself during these rehearsal presentations and watch the recordings later to find areas of improvement.

Also, if you’re relying on downloading or doing something in front of the audience that may require a high-speed internet connection, don’t assume you’ll have access to such a network during your presentation. Download and install whatever you need ahead of time.

Finally, enjoy the experience

You’re giving a technical presentation, but that doesn’t mean it has to be boring, or that you have to be serious all the time as you talk.

It’s okay to have fun, crack some jokes,  tell a story ,  ask a rhetorical question  or invite participation from the audience when presenting. In fact, a study showed that presentations that don’t let the audience participate see a  drop of 14%  in engagement.

Don’t worry too much about things going wrong. See every presentation as a dialogue with your attendees and an opportunity to learn and be a better presenter. If you are enjoying yourself, so will your audience.

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The Art of the Technical Presentation: How to Present Technical Topics to Non-Technical People

So, you need to make a technical presentation to people outside of your field. It should be easy, right? All you have to do is let the bounty of your knowledge flow forth. But what if your message gets lost in the gap between your expertise and your audience’s point of view? Find out how to conquer the divide with an artfully designed presentation.

Although great presentations are a mix of education, communication, and collaboration, in the end, they all boil down to persuasion. Luckily, you don’t need a degree in psychology to get through to your listeners. These five tips will help you build a simple presentation that gets your message across, imparts key technical details, and leaves you and your audience feeling like you got what you needed.

Focus on your purpose

What’s the nitty gritty reason why you’re doing this presentation? Whether you’re seeking funding, partnership, a job, or a sale, you’re essentially trying to persuade your audience to take action. 

What do you want them to do when they’ve heard your spiel? Remember this as you plan each step of your presentation, and make sure that every element you add contributes to your purpose. If you notice your content going off on a tangent, cut that part out. Keep it tight, and you’ll keep their attention.

Find the Gap

Once you’ve got a clear purpose in mind, think about why you need to do this presentation. There must be something that your audience doesn’t know or fully appreciate yet, because otherwise they’d already be with you.

But be careful here. A lot of us fall into the trap of thinking they need to hear everything we know. If you take the time now to tease out the information that’s critical to your message, you’ll save yourself from overwhelming your listeners and losing their support. 

What’s the simplest way you can explain the difference between what they’re doing now, and what will happen if they adopt your idea? An infographic can be a powerful and succinct way to make your message hit home, and Beautiful.ai’s templates can make it easy.

One trick that will help you explain technical things in simpler terms is to empathize with your audience. What do they want to get from working with you? Let’s say you’re speaking to investors. They want a return on their investment, right? So you’ll need to highlight facts, figures, and examples that show why your proposal is going to profit them in the end. Think about who you’re speaking to, and how cooperating with you will make their lives better.

Some other common needs that your project might meet are helping your audience to save time, have less stress, or enjoy better relationships. Make sure you frame your request in terms of how it will benefit your viewers.

Images can be a powerful way to help listeners picture the results that you’re promising in vivid detail. With Beautiful.ai’s image gallery, you’ll have thousands of photos, icons, and visual elements at your fingertips that you can add to your presentation for free. You can also upload your own custom images with an effortless drag and drop.

Keep it short

Another way to make a technical topic easy to digest is to keep your presentation brief. One trick is to create an outline to distill your message into 3-5 key points. Another is to use Guy Kowasaki’s 10/20/20 rule (10 slides, 20 minutes, and a minimum of 30 font) to force yourself to be concise.

Some technical presenters check their urge to splurge by only addressing “ what ” their idea will accomplish, rather than the “how”.

And of course, you can save words and pack a stronger punch by incorporating visual elements into your presentation. Beautiful.ai has templates to help you easily build a pictograph or specialized slide with a Venn diagram, flowchart, bar graph, and more to make your point in fewer words with a greater lasting impression. 

Did you know that people remember things they learned with an accompanying visual over 6x longer than information they only heard verbally?

Use good design

Although you can insert good information into any presentation maker, even the most brilliant thoughts will be lost on your audience if the styling doesn’t flow. Awkward spacing, inconsistent colors and fonts, and illegible sizing are hugely distracting to your audience and can steal your thunder in a heartbeat.

Beautiful.ai uses smart slides technology to automatically adjust these elements on every slide. Whether you work with our templates for slides and presentations or customize a look that’s all your own, no matter what images or elements you add, the rules of good design will be applied. Your slides will come out balanced and beautiful and your message will be crystal clear. It’s like having a pro designer fixing each slide as you work.

No more all-night formatting battles or embarrassing, cluttered messes. Just powerful presentations that persuade your audience and make you proud.

When all is said and done, your technical presentation can get through to non-technical people if you stay focused on your purpose, bridge the gap between what they already know and what they need to learn to get on-board with your plan, empathize with their needs, and boil your message down into its most persuasive elements.

You can make an outstanding impact with even the most technical presentations if you start with an intelligent plan and use specialized design tools like Beautiful.ai. Try it today.

Beautiful.ai Team

Beautiful.ai is an AI-powered presentation tool that makes it fast and easy for anyone to build clean, modern and professionally designed slides that they can be proud of.

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Scott Hanselman

11 top tips for a successful technical presentation.

Here's my five-years-later Updated Tips for a Successful Technical Presentation.

1. Have a Reset Strategy (One-Click)

If you're going to give a talk, you'll probably have to give it more than once. If you have demonstrations of any kind, have a "one-click" way to reset them. This might be a batch file or Powershell script that drops a modified database and reattaches a fresh one, or copies template files over ones you modify during your demo.

Personally, I'm sold on Virtual Machines. I have seven VMs on a small, fast portable USB drive that will let me do roughly 12 different presentations at the drop of a hat. You never know when you'll be called upon to give a demo. With a Virtual Machine I can turn on "Undo Disks" after I've prepared the talk, and my reset strategy is to just turn off the VM and select "Delete Changes." A little up-front preparation means one less thing for you to panic about the day of the talk.

2. Know Your Affectations (Ssssssseriously)

I have a bit of a lisp, it seems. I also hold my shoulders a little higher than is natural which causes my neck to tighten up. I also pick a different word, without realizing it, and overuse it in every talk. This is similar to how Microsoft Employees overuse the word "so" (which is actually Northwestern Americans, not MSFTies) too much.

It's important to know YOUR affectations so you can change them. They may be weakening your talk. Don't try to remember them all, though. Just pick two or three and focus on replacing them with something less detracting. Don't overanalyze or beat yourself up, though. I've spoken hundreds of times over the last 15 years and I'm always taking two-steps forward and one step back. The point is to try, not to succeed absolutely.

3. Know When To Move and When To Not Move (Red light!)

One of the most powerful tips I ever received was this: "When you move, they look at you. When you stop, they look at the screen." Use this to your advantage. Don't pace randomly, idley or unconsciously. Don't rock back and forth on your heels. Also, empty your pockets if you tend to fiddle with lose change or your keys.

4. For the Love of All That Is Holy, FONT SIZE, People (See that?)

It just tears me up. It physically makes me ill. To give a presentation and utter the words "um, you probably won't be able to see this" does everyone in the room a disservice.  Do NOT use the moment of the presentation as your time to do the font resizing.

Lucida Console, 14 to 18pt, Bold.  Consider this my gift to you.  This is the most readable, mono-spaced font out there.  Courier of any flavor or Arial (or any other proportionally spaced font) is NOT appropriate for code demonstrations, period, full stop.  Prepare your machine AHEAD OF TIME.  Nothing disrespects an audience like making them wait while you ask "Can you see this 8 point font? No? Oh, let me change it while you wait."  Setup every program you could possibly use, including all Command Prompt shortcuts, before you begin your presentation.  That includes VS.NET, Notepad, XMLSpy, and any others, including any small utilities.

I've found that the most readable setup for Command Prompts is a Black Background and with the Foreground Text set to Kermit Green (ala "Green Screen."  Yes, I was suspicious and disbelieving also, but believe it or not, it really works.)  I set Command Prompts to Lucida Console, 14 to 18pt, Bold as well, with much success.

Also, set the font size to LARGEST in Internet Explorer and remember that there are accessibility features in IE that allow you to include your own Large Font CSS file for those web pages that force a small font via CSS.

Learn how to use ZoomIt and practice before-hand. It can be an incredibly powerful tool for calling out sections of the screen and making it so even the folks way in the back can see what's going on.

For simplicities' sake, I like to keep a separate user around call "BigFonty" (choose your own name).  He's an Administrator on the local machine and he exists ONLY for the purposes of demonstrations.  All the fonts are large for all programs, large icons, great colors, etc.  It's the easiest way to set all these settings once and always have them easily available.

5. Speak their Language (Know the Audience)

When I was in Malaysia for TechEd, I spent 3 full days exclusively with locals before the talk, I learned snippets of each of the languages, tried to understand their jokes and get an idea about what was important to people in Malaysia.  American analogies, much humor, and certain "U.S. specific" English colloquialisms just didn't make any sense to them.  When it came time to give the presentations, I better understood the Malaysian sense of timing, of tone and timbre, and I began each of my presentations by speaking in Bahasa Malaysia.  I changed aspects of my slides to remove inappropriate content and add specific details that would be important to them.

I've used this same technique in a half-dozen countries with success. While this is an extreme example, the parallels with any audience are clear.  If you're speaking to a room full of IT guys who work in the Automotive field, or the Banking industry, the fact that we are all programmers only gives you a small degree of shared experience.  Remember no matter the technical topic, try to get into the mind of the audience and ask yourself, why are they here and what can I tell them that will not be a waste of their time.  What would YOU want to hear (and HOW would you like to hear it) if you were sitting there?

6. Be Utterly Prepared (No excuses)

Short of an unexpected BSOD (and even then, be ready) you should be prepared for ANYTHING.  You should know EVERY inch of your demos and EXACTLY what can go wrong.  Nothing kills your credibility more than an error that you DON'T understand.  Errors and screw-ups happen ALL the time in Presentations.  They can even INCREASE your credibility if you recover gracefully and EXPLAIN what happened.  "Ah, this is a common mistake that I've made, and here's what you should watch for."  Be prepared with phrases that will turn the unfortunate incident around and provide them useful information.

7. CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT (Have some)

Every move, phrase, mistake, anecdote and slide should actually contain content.  It should be meaningful.  Your mistakes should teach them, your demos should teach them; even your shortcut keys, utilities and menu layout should teach them.  A presentation isn't an opportunity to read your slides.  I'll say that again. Don't READ your slides. I can read faster than you can talk.

Remember that most people can read silently to themselves 5 to 10 times faster that you can read to them out loud.  Your job as a presenter is to read in between the lines, and provide them structure.  Your slides should be treated as your outline – they are structure, scaffolding, nothing more.  If you jam your slides full of details and dozens of bullets, you might as well take your content and write an article.  It's difficult to listen to someone talk and read their slides at the same time – remember that when you design your content. YOU are the content, and your slides are your Table of Contents.

8. System Setup (Be unique, but don't be nuts)

When you a presenting, remember that you are looked upon as an authority.  Basically, you are innocent until proven guilty.  It's great to have a personality and to be unique, but don't let your personal choice of editors or crazy color scheme obscure the good information you're presenting.  I appreciate that you may like to use VI or emacs to view text files, but let's just say that sometimes Notepad has a calming effect on the audience. 

I give Microsoft talks, usually, so I tend towards Visual Studio, but 99% of my talks use a limited number of tools. Basically Visual Studio, Notepad, the Command Prompt and a Browser.

Remember that while you may prefer things a certain way while your face is a foot away from the screen, it's very likely the wrong setup when 500 people are more than 100 feet away.

I really like to get Toolbars and things out of the way. I use F11 (Fullscreen) in the Browser a lot, as well as Visual Studio's Shift-Alt-Enter shortcut to FullScreen. Turn off unneeded flair and toolbars. Also, turn on line-numbering so you can refer to lines if you're presenting code.

9. Speaking (Um…)

"Volume and Diction," my High School Drama teacher said to me.  Speak clearly, authoritatively, project your voice to the back of the room.  The best speakers don't even need microphones.  If you have a speaking affectation (I had a lisp growing up) or you tend to say, um, etc, or find yourself overusing a specific phrase ("a priori", "fantastic", "powerful", etc) take it upon yourself to NOTICE this mannerism and avoid it.

Practice multi-tasking.  It seems silly to say, but although we can all multitask to a certain degree, when we hit a real snag in a presentation, many of us tend to freeze.  Silence is deadly.  Remember, since all eyes are on you, complete silence and apparent introspection says "I don't know know what I'm doing."  When you need to get to a particular file, don't make the audience wait for you while you putter through explorer.  Have shortcuts ready (and explain when you use them).  Move fast and efficiently, but annotate your actions.  You should continue to "color-commentate" your actions like a sports announcer.  Don't allow "dead-air," unless it's silence for effect.

10. Advancing Slides (No lasers!)

I always used to hate slide-advancers, you know, those little remotes with forward and backward buttons. Then I tried one and I'm hooked. I use the Microsoft Presenter Mouse 8000 and totally recommend it. It isn't just a great Bluetooth mouse, but flip it over and it's a great Powerpoint slide advancer. 

Take a look at Al Gore's excellent presentation in "An Inconvenient Truth." It's seamless and flows. Now imagine him running over to his laptop to hit the spacebar each time he wanted to advance a slide. My presentations have gotten better as I've started incorporating this technique.

11. Care (deeply)

I really avoid presenting on topics that I don't care about. I avoid it like the Plague and I encourage you to do so as well. There's nothing more important that truly caring about your topic. If you care, it'll show. If you eschew all the other tips, at the very least care.

What are YOUR tips, Dear Reader? What tips, mantras or preparations have you used to make your presentations that much better?

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

Comments are closed.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

How to Deliver a Memorable Technical Presentation

Master the art of technical presentations, whether it's in your project meeting or an industry conference. Unleash your potential with these invaluable tips to ensure your presentation success.

October 26, 2023

What's Inside?

Tips to Ace Your Technical Presentation

Let’s say your company launched a SaaS application a few days ago. As head of the team, the onus is on you to spearhead the sales process. And the first step started with drafting a technical presentation explaining the product. Yes, you are a pro who knows all about the technical aspect, and you might be confident too.

But there are several questions you should ponder over

• Who will you be presenting to?
• How well is everyone aware of SaaS products?
• What should be your approach to drive sales and convince people of the product?

The answers to these questions will change the course of your presentation each time because the content will have to be modified accordingly. 

Technical presentations are lengthy, specific, and involve complex information/ideas (often dreary and detailed), making them difficult to deliver over non-technical ones. And that’s why they require a different approach, which we have covered in this article. 

How to Deliver a Winning Technical Presentation?

Here are some pro tips for creating impeccable slides and leaving your mark.

1. What is the core message and purpose of your presentation?

Structure your presentation around the key goal, which could be anything from sharing information and eliciting feedback to getting funding or a job offer, etc. 

Organizing your presentation around a core theme will help your audience identify and follow the central points that support your content.

For instance, if your goal is to present a scientific result, include more information about what the result means and how it can be used rather than focusing on your methodology.

Or if your goal is to elicit response/feedback on some experiment, focus more on the methods, i.e., advantages, disadvantages of different models, your assumptions, how your model is more useful, etc.

Tell your audience what you want them to do. Why should they do it, and how?

2. Who is your audience?

Knowing your people (audience analysis) will help you stick to the right chord. 

It will also help you know how much technical jargon you can rely on and whether images and analogies would suit the audience better.

Your audience might be diverse (investors, clients, customers, etc.) with different interests, knowledge bases, goals, and concerns. And, mind you, they are as central to your presentation as you are. So, know as much as you can about them and structure your presentation accordingly. Highlight how your message overlaps with what these people care about, and remember to include the diverse backgrounds and experiences in the introductory part. And you will have everyone’s attention right from the start. 

3. Define a clear outline

You can divide the content into three sections for clear structure and easy comprehension. The first section gives an outline/summary of the main topic and illustrates why it was important enough to become the subject.

The second part can elaborate on the main subject with its minute technical details and everything that the audience needs to know.

The third section can highlight the resolution, solution, CTA, and course of action to the problem presented.

An effective presentation is not one where you detail every possible information about the topic or include as many issues as possible. It is when you can get people to build understanding and support for your central message. 

4. Take help of everything that can explain the concept 

For any presentation, words/text are not enough. And it becomes all the more imperative in a technical presentation slide.

According to a survey, people prefer 1/4th of the slide composed of text at most.

Since you will have to use jargon here and there, you can’t rely just on your speech. Use pre-designed PowerPoint templates comprising graphs, diagrams, animations, videos, infographics, etc., to help people understand technical concepts and information clearly. You can also use other experiential methods like prototypes, handmade models, or real-time experiments. 

For a better understanding, go through this video showcasing paper prototyping of a mobile application :

5. Remember to be consistent

When your presentation slides differ in size, display, structure, etc., it can distract or confuse people and make them lose attention. Creating a consistent theme is important to help people focus and keep your presentation aligned.

Take the help of these tips to incorporate consistency in your work-

• Go for colors that complement each other, following the preferred color scheme.
• Choose fonts that are easy to read in a presentation or digital content like Serif or Sans-serif.
• Go for the same layout for a similar kind of content. Use one kind of layout for cover slides, one kind for section introduction, and one for content slides. It will help your audience categorize the content and know where to look for what information. 

And, of course, don’t forget how immensely it will help you as a presenter.

And yes, keep your presentation short – not more than 10 slides. You can go for the 10/20/30 rule, i.e., 10 slides, 20 minutes, and 30 font size.

6. Leave space for questions and queries

Since your presentation is technical and the audience might be diverse, be prepared to answer questions. The major cause of anxiety before a presentation is a lack of preparation. Being thorough with the subject matter will also aid you in answering any questions being asked, apart from avoiding presentation jitters.

Allocate a well-designated time to interact with the audience. You can also do that during the course of the presentation if it doesn’t interfere with your speech. It will keep people engaged and alert as they get small windows to pose queries throughout. 

7. Practice sessions

You might be confident about your content, but when you speak/deliver, your words and ideas might come out in a different way and not as you intend. 

It could so happen that you are not too good with voice modulation or at specifying relevant points. That’s why it is imperative that you have multiple practice talks before delivering the presentation.

Keep your practice audience small and diverse so that you get relevant opinions and everyone has something to share. 

You can share hard copies and remember to number your slides as well. It will help people annotate them and return them at the end. You can videotape yourself as well to see how you come across and improve accordingly.

8. A few quick tips  

Keep in mind where you want to take your audience through the presentation. What perspective shift do you seek? 

Do you want them to invest in the product? Or is it just an internal meeting highlighting the attributes of the product?

WIIFY is an acronym for What’s in It for You. Make sure you present it to your audience. For example, in the case of the SAAS application, your WIIFY to your potential investors would be - Investing in our product will get you an excellent ROI. 

Let them know the USP of your proposition and the concept you are presenting. For example, you could highlight your USP as the one place for everything from website development to QA testing.

Use a short statement to capture everyone’s attention. It may be anecdotes, statistics, analogies, aphorisms, a question, etc. 

For example, you could start with a statement like - Keep track of how many times I shall say ‘if’ when I explain the success of this product.

Or an analogy like - SAAS is like traveling by train where you have assigned routes and co-ride with other passengers. 

Do’s and Dont's  

• The presentation should start with the motivation, i.e., why this particular thing needs to be presented.
• Every presentation slide should contain only relevant information and not more than that.
• Titles should be enough on their own (self-explanatory); the rest of the text should be there to support the visuals, comprising relevant graphs, charts, histograms, etc. 
• And most importantly, the audience properly understands the message the presenter desires to convey. Also, be mindful of overusing jargon. 

In a Nutshell

Be thorough about the topic, learn about your audience, take the help of props and visual aids, and structure your presentation well. Don’t forget to interact with your audience as and when you get the chance. Also, make sure your audience knows what to do with the information you shared, i.e., give them a proper course of action.

Keeping these points in mind will help you create a coherent technical presentation that can serve its purpose. 

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