Your slides are stealing the spotlight in your pitch. How can you ensure your voice is heard loud and clear?

To ensure your voice remains the main focal point of your pitch, keep your slides simple. Use minimal text, highlighting only key bullet points that complement your spoken words. Make sure your designs are clean, and uncluttered with ample space to avoid overwhelming your audience. Use high-quality images or graphs that reinforce your message without distracting from it. Make sure your slides are visually appealing yet understated, so that your voice and expertise take center stage. Your slides should only be a support to what you are saying. They are a backdrop to your story. You need to be the main person in focus.

Slides are an accompaniment, they shouldn't be the star. Do your best to use a minimal amount of slides. Make sure your point is being made, but also realize that you don't have to over do slides as well. Don't overload your slides with text. Try to use visuals that help convey the story. When presenting data, use graphs to help make your point.

Power Trio: 1) Design Slides to Support, Not Distract - Use a clean, minimalist slide design with key points, visuals, (and data that enhance your narrative.) - Avoid cluttering slides with too much text or overly complex graphics. 2) Narrative Focus: - Make your narrative the centerpiece of the presentation. - Use slides as visual aids to reinforce your points, (not as the primary source of information.) - Tell a compelling story that keeps the audience engaged. 3) Interactive Techniques: - Engage your audience with questions, anecdotes, or live demonstrations. - Encourage participation and make eye contact to create a connection, (ensuring your presence remains central.)

Slides can be a powerful addition to your talk, but they should support your presentation rather than the main focus. As a speaker, I put myself in the shoes of the audience. Listening to the speaker rather than reading a slide is more engaging. When presenting, when I do use words on slides, I keep them minimal and in a simple, large font. Engaging with the audience is crucial, and if they spend more time reading your slides than listening to you, engagement and impact can decline. Consider using a handout or providing the information electronically before or after the session if you need to provide overly detailed information. You've got this!

The best rule of thumb I've found for slide presentation is to make sure the slides require you to tell the story. By having the slides serve as something like lecture notes, they require you to fill in the details but still provide the essence of your message clearly and concisely. The biggest presentation killer is to merely read the slides.

Engaging with the audience is an incredible way to transform your environment into a collaborative, supportive, and fun space while deepening the impact of your message. The type of talk will dictate the style of engagement. For a workshop, involve participants directly by asking questions and encouraging them to share in pairs, at their tables, or with the group. You have great opportunities to engage the audience, even in a keynote setting. Pose thought-provoking questions or incorporate fun and appropriate activities like raising hands, standing up, or giving a high five to their neighbors. The possibilities are endless. Don't limit yourself, and have fun! You've got this!

Creating a quick virtual quiz or posing a question to the audience is a great way to get them involved prior to the presentation, and if the speaker ties that back into the end, audience members can essentially "track their progress."

Using vocal variety is a crucial aspect of your delivery that shouldn't be overlooked. This variation engages the audience and helps ensure your message is effectively communicated. A well-timed pause can set up a critical point while raising or lowering your volume and varying your pace can maintain audience interest throughout your talk. Don't underestimate the power of vocal variety to enhance engagement and deepen your impact. Have fun! You've got this!

A speaker is often so invested in their subject it can be difficult to address from an outside perspective. Sharing slides with family and friends prior to the presentation is a great way to see how slides or presentation can be made clearer to provide the maximum benefit to the audience.

Confidence is critical to commanding the room and comes in many forms, from moving around the room or stage to engaging the audience. Making eye contact and smiling at every section of the audience throughout my talk is helpful. In a workshop or smaller setting, eye contact with everyone is necessary. This approach helps break down barriers, break the ice, and showcase your confidence. Remember, you were asked to speak for a reason, so be confident in your message. If the space allows, move around with purpose to engage everyone. This movement is particularly important in a workshop, but confident gestures and movement are also crucial on stage. While podiums have their place, step away from them if possible. You've got this!

There are a lot of ways which can be used to let the audience hear your message loud and clear but my favourite way of doing it is using keywords on the slides. Most of the time this hack has helped me as even if the focus of the audience goes towards the slides at first, they will have to ultimately listen to you to decode or to figure out what is written. It creates curiosity in the minds of the audience since they are unable to find all the answers on the slide and it also ensures that your audience is with you throughout.

Limit each slide to 5 bullet points, 5 words per bullet, and no more than 5 slides per key concept. This forces conciseness and keeps attention on the speaker. Structure slides with a bold headline that you elaborate on verbally. This creates a synergy between visual and auditory elements.