how to write an overview of a presentation

How To Write A Presentation 101: A Step-by-Step Guide with Best Examples

Jane Ng • 02 Nov 2023 • 8 min read

Is it difficult to start of presentation? You’re standing before a room full of eager listeners, ready to share your knowledge and captivate their attention. But where do you begin? How do you structure your ideas and convey them effectively?

Take a deep breath, and fear not! In this article, we’ll provide a road map on how to write a presentation covering everything from crafting a script to creating an engaging introduction.

So, let’s dive in!

What is a presentation , what should be in a powerful presentation.

How To Write A Presentation Script
How to Write A Presentation Introduction

Key Takeaways

Tips for better presentation.

How to start a presentation
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Presentations are all about connecting with your audience.

Presenting is a fantastic way to share information, ideas, or arguments with your audience. Think of it as a structured approach to effectively convey your message. And you’ve got options such as slideshows, speeches, demos, videos, and even multimedia presentations!

The purpose of a presentation can vary depending on the situation and what the presenter wants to achieve.

In the business world, presentations are commonly used to pitch proposals, share reports, or make sales pitches.
In educational settings, presentations are a go-to for teaching or delivering engaging lectures.
For conferences, seminars, and public events—presentations are perfect for dishing out information, inspiring folks, or even persuading the audience.

That sounds brilliant. But, how to write a presentation?

How To Write A Presentation? What should be in a powerful presentation? A great presentation encompasses several key elements to captivate your audience and effectively convey your message. Here’s what you should consider including in a winning presentation:

Clear and Engaging Introduction: Start your presentation with a bang! Hook your audience’s attention right from the beginning by using a captivating story, a surprising fact, a thought-provoking question, or a powerful quote. Clearly state the purpose of your presentation and establish a connection with your listeners.
Well-Structured Content: Organize your content logically and coherently. Divide your presentation into sections or main points and provide smooth transitions between them. Each section should flow seamlessly into the next, creating a cohesive narrative. Use clear headings and subheadings to guide your audience through the presentation.
Compelling Visuals: Incorporate visual aids, such as images, graphs, or videos, to enhance your presentation. Make sure your visuals are visually appealing, relevant, and easy to understand. Use a clean and uncluttered design with legible fonts and appropriate color schemes.
Engaging Delivery: Pay attention to your delivery style and body language. You should maintain eye contact with your audience, use gestures to emphasize key points, and vary your tone of voice to keep the presentation dynamic.
Clear and Memorable Conclusion: Leave your audience with a lasting impression by providing a strong closing statement, a call to action, or a thought-provoking question. Make sure your conclusion ties back to your introduction and reinforces the core message of your presentation.

how to write an overview of a presentation

How To Write A Presentation Script (With Examples)

To successfully convey your message to your audience, you must carefully craft and organize your presentation script. Here are steps on how to write a presentation script:

1/ Understand Your Purpose and Audience:

Clarify the purpose of your presentation. Are you informing, persuading, or entertaining?
Identify your target audience and their knowledge level, interests, and expectations.
Define what presentation format you want to use

2/ Outline the Structure of Your Presentation:

Strong opening: .

Start with an engaging opening that grabs the audience’s attention and introduces your topic. Some types of openings you can use are:

Start with a Thought-Provoking Question: “Have you ever…?”
Begin with a Surprising Fact or Statistic: “Did you know that….?”
Use a Powerful Quote: “As Maya Angelou once said,….”
Tell a Compelling Story : “Picture this: You’re standing at….”
Start with a Bold Statement: “In the fast-paced digital age….”

Main Points:

Clearly state your main points or key ideas that you will discuss throughout the presentation.

Clearly State the Purpose and Main Points: Example: “In this presentation, we will delve into three key areas. First,… Next,… Finally,…. we’ll discuss….”
Provide Background and Context: Example: “Before we dive into the details, let’s understand the basics of…..”
Present Supporting Information and Examples: Example: “To illustrate…., let’s look at an example. In,…..”
Address Counterarguments or Potential Concerns: Example: “While…, we must also consider… .”
Recap Key Points and Transition to the Next Section: Example: “To summarize, we’ve… Now, let’s shift our focus to…”

Remember to organize your content logically and coherently, ensuring smooth transitions between sections.

Ending:

You can conclude with a strong closing statement summarizing your main points and leaving a lasting impression. Example: “As we conclude our presentation, it’s clear that… By…., we can….”

3/ Craft Clear and Concise Sentences:

Once you’ve outlined your presentation, you need to edit your sentences. Use clear and straightforward language to ensure your message is easily understood.

Alternatively, you can break down complex ideas into simpler concepts and provide clear explanations or examples to aid comprehension.

4/ Use Visual Aids and Supporting Materials:

Use supporting materials such as statistics, research findings, or real-life examples to back up your points and make them more compelling.

Example: “As you can see from this graph,… This demonstrates….”

5/ Include Engagement Techniques:

Incorporate interactive elements to engage your audience, such as Q&A sessions , conducting live polls , or encouraging participation.

6/ Rehearse and Revise:

Practice delivering your presentation script to familiarize yourself with the content and improve your delivery.
Revise and edit your script as needed, removing any unnecessary information or repetitions.

7/ Seek Feedback:

You can share your script or deliver a practice presentation to a trusted friend, colleague, or mentor to gather feedback on your script and make adjustments accordingly.

How to Write A Presentation Introduction with Examples

How to write presentations that are engaging and visually appealing? Looking for introduction ideas for the presentation? As mentioned earlier, once you have completed your script, it’s crucial to focus on editing and refining the most critical element—the opening of your presentation – the section that determines whether you can captivate and retain your audience’s attention right from the start.

Here is a guide on how to craft an opening that grabs your audience’s attention from the very first minute:

1/ Start with a Hook

To begin, you can choose from five different openings mentioned in the script based on your desired purpose and content. Alternatively, you can opt for the approach that resonates with you the most, and instills your confidence. Remember, the key is to choose a starting point that aligns with your objectives and allows you to deliver your message effectively.

2/ Establish Relevance and Context:

Then you should establish the topic of your presentation and explain why it is important or relevant to your audience. Connect the topic to their interests, challenges, or aspirations to create a sense of relevance.

3/ State the Purpose

Clearly articulate the purpose or goal of your presentation. Let the audience know what they can expect to gain or achieve by listening to your presentation.

4/ Preview Your Main Points

Give a brief overview of the main points or sections you will cover in your presentation. It helps the audience understand the structure and flow of your presentation and creates anticipation.

5/ Establish Credibility

Share your expertise or credentials related to the topic to build trust with the audience, such as a brief personal story, relevant experience, or mentioning your professional background.

6/ Engage Emotionally

Connect emotional levels with your audience by appealing to their aspirations, fears, desires, or values. They help create a deeper connection and engagement from the very beginning.

Make sure your introduction is concise and to the point. Avoid unnecessary details or lengthy explanations. Aim for clarity and brevity to maintain the audience’s attention.

For example, Topic: Work-life balance

“Good morning, everyone! Can you imagine waking up each day feeling energized and ready to conquer both your personal and professional pursuits? Well, that’s exactly what we’ll explore today – the wonderful world of work-life balance. In a fast-paced society where work seems to consume every waking hour, it’s vital to find that spot where our careers and personal lives harmoniously coexist. Throughout this presentation, we’ll dive into practical strategies that help us achieve that coveted balance, boost productivity, and nurture our overall well-being.

But before we dive in, let me share a bit about my journey. As a working professional and a passionate advocate for work-life balance, I have spent years researching and implementing strategies that have transformed my own life. I am excited to share my knowledge and experiences with all of you today, with the hope of inspiring positive change and creating a more fulfilling work-life balance for everyone in this room. So, let’s get started!”

Check out: How to Start a Presentation?

Whether you’re a seasoned speaker or new to the stage, understanding how to write a presentation that conveys your message effectively is a valuable skill. By following the steps in this guide, you can become a captivating presenter and make your mark in every presentation you deliver.

Additionally, AhaSlides can significantly enhance your presentation’s impact. With AhaSlides, you can use live polls, quizzes, and word cloud to turn your presentation into an engaging and interactive experience. Let’s take a moment to explore our vast template library !

Frequently Asked Questions

1/ how to write a presentation step by step .

You can refer to our step-by-step guide on How To Write A Presentation Script:

Understand Your Purpose and Audience
Outline the Structure of Your Presentation
Craft Clear and Concise Sentences
Use Visual Aids and Supporting Material
Include Engagement Techniques
Rehearse and Revise
Seek Feedback

2/ How do you start a presentation?

You can start with an engaging opening that grabs the audience’s attention and introduces your topic. Consider using one of the following approaches:

3/ What are the five parts of a presentation?

When it comes to presentation writing, a typical presentation consists of the following five parts:

Introduction: Capturing the audience’s attention, introducing yourself, stating the purpose, and providing an overview.
Main Body: Presenting main points, evidence, examples, and arguments.
Visual Aids: Using visuals to enhance understanding and engage the audience.
Conclusion: Summarizing main points, restating key message, and leaving a memorable takeaway or call to action.
Q&A or Discussion: Optional part for addressing questions and encouraging audience participation.

A writer who wants to create practical and valuable content for the audience

How to make a presentation outline: a step-by-step guide

Georgina Guthrie

April 07, 2021

Whether you’re building a house, baking a cake, or writing an essay — having all the necessary pieces in place before you begin will make the task much easier.

It may seem counterproductive to spend time sorting things out when you’re in a rush… After all, why spend time organizing when you could dive straight in? But the fact is, the opposite is true: Planning saves time, and the same goes for creating a business presentation. Start with a presentation outline.

A presentation outline is a bare-bones version of your talk. It should take the general direction of your pitch, plus summaries of your key points. Its purpose is to help you shape your thinking, organize your thoughts, and make sure your material is presented logically.

In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at what a presentation outline is, how storytelling can help engage your audience, and how to create a flawless outline of your own. Let’s get stuck in.

What’s the purpose of your presentation?

This is the foundation on which you will build your whole presentation — so make sure you know the answer to this question. A good starting point is to think about the overall purpose. There are six possible purposes your presentation might have:

Inspire action
Inspire or motivate

In a business setting, it’ll usually be ‘to inform,’ along with one or two others. If you’re there to talk about quarterly results, then you’ll want to inform and motivate. If you’re a business coach, your goals will likely be to inspire, motivate, and entertain.

Once you’ve worked this out, you’ll be one step closer to working out the purpose of your pitch. Here are some questions to help you find an answer to this question:

What do I want people to take away from my presentation?
How will what I talk about help others in the room?
What do I want people to do after my meeting?

Note down your ideas and start creating a topline summary of your presentation purpose. Summarize it into one or two sentences, then put that on your first slide. You can change it later, but this is a good starting point.

Create a story arc for your presentation

As humans, we love a good story. We’ve been doing it since, well, forever. The earliest cave paintings helped the painters and those who saw the paintings make sense of the world.

Interesting things happen when you start telling a story. Your brain’s auditory cortex (aka the bit that helps you listen) switches on. This helps you imagine the activities being described. Meanwhile, the frontal and parietal cortices are fired up, which helps us emotionally engage with what’s being said.

Stories have been, and will always be, a powerful tool for bringing people together. Great stories persuade and inform; the best stories inspire and stay with us. But we don’t often see this happening in the boardroom, where graphs and quarterly results preside.

Stats and numbers suck the life out of a presentation. We think these details will speak for themselves. But… they don’t because, well… they’re boring, and they make us switch off. If you want to inspire your audience, you need to weave those stats into a story . But where do you begin, and how do you start?

Storytelling isn’t something only a few select people are good at. Anyone can master the art with a little practice. It doesn’t even require heaps of creativity because the truth is, stories are formulaic, and once you’ve got the formula down, the rest runs on autopilot.

Let’s look at how to build your notes and ideas into a compelling story using one of the formulas below.

1.Fact and Story

Mixing storytelling with facts works in a kind of mutually supportive cycle. Facts add substance to the story; the story adds interest to the facts.

In this structure, you weave the two together and move back and forth between the two.

Start with a ‘what if’ question. For example, if you were pitching a vacuum cleaner, your initial sales pitch might be ‘what if you didn’t have to lose suction?’
From here, work in facts that illustrate the way things currently are. To continue with our example, it might be current stats on traditional vacuums losing suction. Keep alternating facts with fiction throughout the body of your presentation.
End on a high note that makes the listeners feel like they learned something and want to move to action because of it. For example, to invest in your new product, or to sponsor your new app .

2. The hero’s journey

From Odysseus to Chihiro , adventure stories typically feature a hero who goes on a journey fraught with peril and learns a vital lesson at the end of it. It’s a formula employed by thousands of writers — and you can draw from it to add some drama to your presentation.

This structure works really well for inspirational personal stories, or tales about a company from its humble beginnings to the success it is today.

Begin somewhere neutral. The situation is neither ideal nor unbearable.
Introduce a challenge — one that needs to be solved.
Present a worsening situation. The problem is being addressed, but things are still getting worse.
Talk about rock bottom. The situation seems impossible; there is apparently no way forward and all seems lost. Until…
Talk about a new discovery that offers hope.
Armed with your new abilities, you can tackle the issue head-on.
Talk about resolving the problem, but instead of returning to the way things were before, the hero (you) discovers an even better way of living.
Finish with a lesson, which you can share to inspire your audience.

3. The Pitch

The ‘pitch’ style of presentation is commonly used by salespeople. The goal is to show how a product or idea can help an individual overcome a hurdle toward a positive outcome. The story should be relatable, so the audience can picture themselves in the situation and, therefore, benefitting from the solution.

Start with a summary of the way things are in a way that’s easy to relate to.
Introduce the problem or hurdle that you need to solve. Make it relatable to further help your audience put themselves in the situation.
The solution: give your audience a glimpse into a possible solution.
The fork in the road: Give your audience a couple of options for solving the problem. Offer an average option first, then follow up with a better one.
Close: Choose the better option and explain why that’s the best one (and only real suitable choice).
Finish up by telling the audience exactly how to solve the problem, step by step.
But that’s not all: Before you finish, talk about extra benefits that extend beyond simply solving the problem. Finish on an uplifting high.

4. The explanation

This presentation format is for when you want to teach your audience something — whether that’s a process, a new skill, or a way to overcome a problem. It has similarities with the fact and story structure, insomuch as facts should weave into the story.

Explain how things are at the moment, what the goal looks like, and how you plan to get there. You can even start with a story to add emotional interest from the get-go.
Take your first step on the journey toward the final destination.
Add more steps that build on this.
Take a moment to recap on the points you’ve covered so far while tying them into the main point. This will help your audience visualize the ground you’ve covered and see where you’re heading.
Add the finishing pieces to the puzzle and lead your audience to the end.
By the end of your journey, your audience should feel as though they’ve learned something new.

5. The Opportunity

A close relative of the pitch, this three-part structure swaps a hurdle for an opportunity. Here, you want to show your audience that a problem they thought they had actually has an easy fix.

Start with the situation as it is now.
Next, add a ‘but’ — this could be a small hiccup that stops things from being as good as they could be. For example, our chocolate pudding company is doing really well. But we could be doing better if we changed supplier.
Talk about the opportunity, with as many facts and stats as possible to make it feel achievable and real.
Add a conclusion.
Explain why the product or service meets the challenges raised. Add more stats and facts to support your point.

How to plan your presentation

Now you’ve worked out your structure, it’s time to start building your presentation, pulling in all your points and forming them into a story.

Storyboarding is the best way to do this. Directors use storyboards to map out their films scene-by-scene — you’re going to use it to map out your presentation, slide-by-slide.

(Don’t worry, you can do stick people and squiggles if drawing isn’t your strong point.) Image Source

The trick here is to use broad strokes without adding too much detail. Make it too wordy and you’ll lose your top-level view, which is important for assessing the arc of your story. Ideally, have one or two sentences on each slide summarizing what each one will address.

You can do this with pen and paper, but when it comes to final drafts and editing, it’s a good idea to move your drawings over to a digital format. It looks far neater, and it means that if you need to change something, it’s as simple as deleting or editing a cell or slide rather than you having to start over.

Once you’ve got your rough storyboard more or less ready, it’s time to start building your presentation.

Your presentation outline

Using a presentation template will be a big help here. First, choose your template — then start adding pre-made slides according to your storyboard. For those who didn’t plan, this can be a bit of a nightmare that usually ends up with you shuffling slides around indefinitely. For those who planned, it’s simply a matter of putting all your hard work in place, then spicing it up with pictures, video, and audio.

Top Tip : If your slides are there to support your spoken words, try not to make them too wordy. Talking too much will distract your audience, whose attention will be split between what’s on screen and your voice. Instead, opt for images and video. If you’re sharing your presentation slides without presenting them, keep your communication simple and succinct. A wall of text is never engaging.

Finally, rehearse your presentation. According to experts, 10 is the magic number when it comes to practicing speeches . The more you practice, the better it’ll flow, the easier it’ll be for your listeners to get sucked into your story. And when it comes to persuading, inspiring, informing, or selling — having a captive and engaged audience is half the battle.

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December 4, 2023

How to create a presentation outline (with examples)

Four methods to create a presentation outline and example outlines for inspiration

Co-founder, CEO

Like it or not, if you work in an office environment or go to school, you'll probably have to make a presentation at some point. But creating a great presentation can be challenging, especially when you're short on time or suffering from writers' block.

Luckily, there are lots of ways to get a head start on your presentation outline, and in this article we'll walk through four options for creating a presentation outline and show you several examples of great presentation outlines.

Why should I write a presentation outline?

An outline helps you organize your ideas in a clear and logical way . Instead of getting bogged down on details like formatting or word choice, an outline presents the overarching story of your presentation with just a few main points. This helps to make sure you have a cohesive narrative before you dive in to the nitty gritty work of wordsmithing individual bullet points or selecting the perfect slide theme.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it often is! But spending time writing a great outline will save you time and effort down the road because it will be easier to organize your work and create each slide when you understand how it fits in to the broader presentation.

Here are four ways you can get a start on creating your next presentation outline.

Method 1: Create your outline from scratch

Creating an outline from scratch may sound intimidating if you have never written a presentation outline before, but this is the most straightforward way to get started.

Start by jotting down the three main points you want to make in your presentation. Once you have your main ideas in order, write down a few supporting details and examples for each point.

Then, add an introduction (find an interesting image, quote, or question to help grab the audience's audience) and a conclusion (decide on the best way to summarize the takeaways from your presentation) to the outline, and you are ready to go.

This method is great for those who prefer to have complete control over their presentation and want to create a custom outline that works best for their needs.

Method 2: Create a presentation outline using an AI presentation maker

If you're short on time or looking for a quick way to get a first draft of a presentation outline that you can then refine, using an AI presentation maker is a great option.

Plus AI lets you type a short prompt like "Create a presentation that provides an overview of the Norwegian oil industry," and it will automatically generate an outline of a presentation for you. After Plus creates the outline, you can change the titles of slides, rearrange slides, and remove any pieces of the outline that are not necessary.

From there, once your outline is created, you can click the "Generate presentation" button, choose a template, and let the AI create the first draft of your entire presentation.

This method is a good option for those who want to create a polished presentation without getting stuck with a blank piece of paper. Instead, it frees you up to take a first draft presentation and customize it for your needs.

Method 3: Create a presentation outline using ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that can help with a wide variety of tasks - everything from acting as a therapist, to sharing recipes, to helping you come up with presentation ideas and creating content for a presentation .

To have ChatGPT help you generate a presentation, you can take two different approaches:

Use a custom GPT that has been trained to help people create presentations or
Ask the general ChatGPT interface to "Create a presentation outline for me on the topic of [XYZ]."

Both approaches will yield similar results, but a custom GPT like Plus AI presentation maker will be more fine-tuned to helping people create presentations. It will also provide additional functionality like providing a visual preview of the slides and feedback on how to improve your presentation.

Method 4: Create a presentation outline using a template

Last but not least, using a template is a good way to speed up the process of creating a new presentation outline. Similar to using an AI presentation maker, a template can give you a first draft of an outline that is easier to edit and refine than starting from scratch.

Presentation templates often come pre-designed with example text and images, so all you have to do is fill in your own content. For example, this TED Talk presentation template provides some instructions on how to create an outline for a TED Talk-style slide deck.

The secret to using this method is to find the closest template to the type of presentation you want to create. You should use detailed search terms to and look across multiple sites and resources to find one that matches the content and style that you would like.

Once you have your template, start by reviewing the overall outline or structure and tweak it to meet your needs. Then, you can fill in the specific content (e.g., text and images) with your materials to make it your own to quickly make a beautiful presentation.

Presentation outline examples

Basic presentation outline example.

Let's take a look at a presentation outline and accompanying notes for a persuasive presentation on encouraging people to meditate every day:

I. Introduction

Hook - find a striking image and tell a story
Thesis statement - everyone should meditate for 10 min per day

II. Main point 1 - Meditation is one of the easiest ways to improve your health

Physical health
Mental health

III. Main point 2 - Meditation is backed up by thousands of years of practice and research

One anecdote from antiquity
One anecdote from recent research

IV. Main point 3 - You can get started with meditation today

Basic technique
Tips for newcomers

V. Conclusion

Summarize key points
Call to action

As you can see, this is a relatively lightweight plan for the presentation, but it provides an easy-to-understand framework that we can fill in with slides.

There are rough notes on specific content for the different points in the presentation, but we don't need to write out everything in fine detail, just the broad strokes.

Pitch deck outline example

Now let's review an outline for a pitch deck that someone might use to present their startup idea to prospective investors. This is for a startup that uses autonomous food trucks to deliver meals to people's homes and workplaces.

I. Problem statement - "Food delivery sucks, and here's why"

Hook - pictures of typical food delivery headaches (e.g., late/no show, bad selection, etc)

II. Value prop - "FoodDrive revolutionizes the food delivery model"

Compare value chain of FoodDrive to traditional restaurant and delivery service
Show how $50 order gets allocated to different people

III. The product - "Customers love our trucks"

Picture of food truck and menu
Customer quotes and reviews

IV. Why now? - "Our self-driving technology is ready for prime-time"

V. Business model - "Each truck can generate $2-3M of revenue per year with a 60% gross margin"

Show high-level financial forecasts on unit basis

VI. Competitive landscape - "FoodDrive's closest competitors don't come close"

Comparison table with delivery services, in-house delivery, eating out-of-home, etc.

VII. Go to market strategy - "We've tested FoodDrive in 2 markets so far. Here's how we win in new markets"

Overview of social media strategy
Case study on new market launch

VIII. Team - "Our team has experience in autonomous vehicles, food delivery, and quick service restaurants"

IX. Traction - "We generate $5M of revenue per year with our 2 trucks, and we can ramp up new trucks immediately"

Show revenue growth chart with focus on time to ramp new trucks to productivity

X. Fundraising goal - "We are raising $50M to expand FoodDrive to 10 more markets"

Highlight key milestones we aim to reach with additional funding

Even though a pitch deck is a specialized type of presentation that often requires specific content, it's helpful to start with an outline to build out the 'story' behind the content. That way, you have a cohesive story rather than a set of disparate slides.

How can I create a presentation from an outline?

Once you have your presentation outline written, it's time to start writing your slides. Since you already know the main points you are trying to make in your presentation, the main decisions here are

What type of visual style you want to follow
How many slides you want in your presentation
How you will present or share the slides

To get a head start on creating a first draft of your presentation, you could enter your outline into an AI presentation maker.

This will provide a first draft of the slides so that you can focus on making sure they tell a cohesive story or tweaking individual slides to leave a memorable impression.

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How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples

August 3, 2018 - Dom Barnard

For many people the thought of delivering a presentation is a daunting task and brings about a great deal of nerves . However, if you take some time to understand how effective presentations are structured and then apply this structure to your own presentation, you’ll appear much more confident and relaxed.

Here is our complete guide for structuring your presentation, with examples at the end of the article to demonstrate these points.

Why is structuring a presentation so important?

If you’ve ever sat through a great presentation, you’ll have left feeling either inspired or informed on a given topic. This isn’t because the speaker was the most knowledgeable or motivating person in the world. Instead, it’s because they know how to structure presentations – they have crafted their message in a logical and simple way that has allowed the audience can keep up with them and take away key messages.

Research has supported this, with studies showing that audiences retain structured information 40% more accurately than unstructured information.

In fact, not only is structuring a presentation important for the benefit of the audience’s understanding, it’s also important for you as the speaker. A good structure helps you remain calm, stay on topic, and avoid any awkward silences.

What will affect your presentation structure?

Generally speaking, there is a natural flow that any decent presentation will follow which we will go into shortly. However, you should be aware that all presentation structures will be different in their own unique way and this will be due to a number of factors, including:

Whether you need to deliver any demonstrations
How knowledgeable the audience already is on the given subject
How much interaction you want from the audience
Any time constraints there are for your talk
What setting you are in
Your ability to use any kinds of visual assistance

Before choosing the presentation’s structure answer these questions first:

What is your presentation’s aim?
Who are the audience?
What are the main points your audience should remember afterwards?

When reading the points below, think critically about what things may cause your presentation structure to be slightly different. You can add in certain elements and add more focus to certain moments if that works better for your speech.

Good presentation structure is important for a presentation

What is the typical presentation structure?

This is the usual flow of a presentation, which covers all the vital sections and is a good starting point for yours. It allows your audience to easily follow along and sets out a solid structure you can add your content to.

1. Greet the audience and introduce yourself

Before you start delivering your talk, introduce yourself to the audience and clarify who you are and your relevant expertise. This does not need to be long or incredibly detailed, but will help build an immediate relationship between you and the audience. It gives you the chance to briefly clarify your expertise and why you are worth listening to. This will help establish your ethos so the audience will trust you more and think you’re credible.

Read our tips on How to Start a Presentation Effectively

2. Introduction

In the introduction you need to explain the subject and purpose of your presentation whilst gaining the audience’s interest and confidence. It’s sometimes helpful to think of your introduction as funnel-shaped to help filter down your topic:

Introduce your general topic
Explain your topic area
State the issues/challenges in this area you will be exploring
State your presentation’s purpose – this is the basis of your presentation so ensure that you provide a statement explaining how the topic will be treated, for example, “I will argue that…” or maybe you will “compare”, “analyse”, “evaluate”, “describe” etc.
Provide a statement of what you’re hoping the outcome of the presentation will be, for example, “I’m hoping this will be provide you with…”
Show a preview of the organisation of your presentation

In this section also explain:

The length of the talk.
Signal whether you want audience interaction – some presenters prefer the audience to ask questions throughout whereas others allocate a specific section for this.
If it applies, inform the audience whether to take notes or whether you will be providing handouts.

The way you structure your introduction can depend on the amount of time you have been given to present: a sales pitch may consist of a quick presentation so you may begin with your conclusion and then provide the evidence. Conversely, a speaker presenting their idea for change in the world would be better suited to start with the evidence and then conclude what this means for the audience.

Keep in mind that the main aim of the introduction is to grab the audience’s attention and connect with them.

3. The main body of your talk

The main body of your talk needs to meet the promises you made in the introduction. Depending on the nature of your presentation, clearly segment the different topics you will be discussing, and then work your way through them one at a time – it’s important for everything to be organised logically for the audience to fully understand. There are many different ways to organise your main points, such as, by priority, theme, chronologically etc.

Main points should be addressed one by one with supporting evidence and examples.
Before moving on to the next point you should provide a mini-summary.
Links should be clearly stated between ideas and you must make it clear when you’re moving onto the next point.
Allow time for people to take relevant notes and stick to the topics you have prepared beforehand rather than straying too far off topic.

When planning your presentation write a list of main points you want to make and ask yourself “What I am telling the audience? What should they understand from this?” refining your answers this way will help you produce clear messages.

4. Conclusion

In presentations the conclusion is frequently underdeveloped and lacks purpose which is a shame as it’s the best place to reinforce your messages. Typically, your presentation has a specific goal – that could be to convert a number of the audience members into customers, lead to a certain number of enquiries to make people knowledgeable on specific key points, or to motivate them towards a shared goal.

Regardless of what that goal is, be sure to summarise your main points and their implications. This clarifies the overall purpose of your talk and reinforces your reason for being there.

Follow these steps:

Signal that it’s nearly the end of your presentation, for example, “As we wrap up/as we wind down the talk…”
Restate the topic and purpose of your presentation – “In this speech I wanted to compare…”
Summarise the main points, including their implications and conclusions
Indicate what is next/a call to action/a thought-provoking takeaway
Move on to the last section

5. Thank the audience and invite questions

Conclude your talk by thanking the audience for their time and invite them to ask any questions they may have. As mentioned earlier, personal circumstances will affect the structure of your presentation.

Many presenters prefer to make the Q&A session the key part of their talk and try to speed through the main body of the presentation. This is totally fine, but it is still best to focus on delivering some sort of initial presentation to set the tone and topics for discussion in the Q&A.

Questions being asked after a presentation

Demonstration

Use the demonstration structure when you have something useful to show. This is usually used when you want to show how a product works. Steve Jobs frequently used this technique in his presentations.

Explain why the product is valuable.
Describe why the product is necessary.
Explain what problems it can solve for the audience.
Demonstrate the product to support what you’ve been saying.
Make suggestions of other things it can do to make the audience curious.

Problem-solution

This structure is particularly useful in persuading the audience.

Briefly frame the issue.
Go into the issue in detail showing why it ‘s such a problem. Use logos and pathos for this – the logical and emotional appeals.
Provide the solution and explain why this would also help the audience.
Call to action – something you want the audience to do which is straightforward and pertinent to the solution.

Storytelling

As well as incorporating stories in your presentation , you can organise your whole presentation as a story. There are lots of different type of story structures you can use – a popular choice is the monomyth – the hero’s journey. In a monomyth, a hero goes on a difficult journey or takes on a challenge – they move from the familiar into the unknown. After facing obstacles and ultimately succeeding the hero returns home, transformed and with newfound wisdom.

Storytelling for Business Success webinar , where well-know storyteller Javier Bernad shares strategies for crafting compelling narratives.

Another popular choice for using a story to structure your presentation is in media ras (in the middle of thing). In this type of story you launch right into the action by providing a snippet/teaser of what’s happening and then you start explaining the events that led to that event. This is engaging because you’re starting your story at the most exciting part which will make the audience curious – they’ll want to know how you got there.

Great storytelling: Examples from Alibaba Founder, Jack Ma

Remaining method

The remaining method structure is good for situations where you’re presenting your perspective on a controversial topic which has split people’s opinions.

Go into the issue in detail showing why it’s such a problem – use logos and pathos.
Rebut your opponents’ solutions – explain why their solutions could be useful because the audience will see this as fair and will therefore think you’re trustworthy, and then explain why you think these solutions are not valid.
After you’ve presented all the alternatives provide your solution, the remaining solution. This is very persuasive because it looks like the winning idea, especially with the audience believing that you’re fair and trustworthy.

Transitions

When delivering presentations it’s important for your words and ideas to flow so your audience can understand how everything links together and why it’s all relevant. This can be done using speech transitions which are words and phrases that allow you to smoothly move from one point to another so that your speech flows and your presentation is unified.

Transitions can be one word, a phrase or a full sentence – there are many different forms, here are some examples:

Moving from the introduction to the first point

Signify to the audience that you will now begin discussing the first main point:

Now that you’re aware of the overview, let’s begin with…
First, let’s begin with…
I will first cover…
My first point covers…
To get started, let’s look at…

Shifting between similar points

Move from one point to a similar one:

In the same way…
Likewise…
Equally…
This is similar to…
Similarly…

Internal summaries

Internal summarising consists of summarising before moving on to the next point. You must inform the audience:

What part of the presentation you covered – “In the first part of this speech we’ve covered…”
What the key points were – “Precisely how…”
How this links in with the overall presentation – “So that’s the context…”
What you’re moving on to – “Now I’d like to move on to the second part of presentation which looks at…”

Physical movement

You can move your body and your standing location when you transition to another point. The audience find it easier to follow your presentation and movement will increase their interest.

A common technique for incorporating movement into your presentation is to:

Start your introduction by standing in the centre of the stage.
For your first point you stand on the left side of the stage.
You discuss your second point from the centre again.
You stand on the right side of the stage for your third point.
The conclusion occurs in the centre.

Key slides for your presentation

Slides are a useful tool for most presentations: they can greatly assist in the delivery of your message and help the audience follow along with what you are saying. Key slides include:

An intro slide outlining your ideas
A summary slide with core points to remember
High quality image slides to supplement what you are saying

There are some presenters who choose not to use slides at all, though this is more of a rarity. Slides can be a powerful tool if used properly, but the problem is that many fail to do just that. Here are some golden rules to follow when using slides in a presentation:

Don’t over fill them – your slides are there to assist your speech, rather than be the focal point. They should have as little information as possible, to avoid distracting people from your talk.
A picture says a thousand words – instead of filling a slide with text, instead, focus on one or two images or diagrams to help support and explain the point you are discussing at that time.
Make them readable – depending on the size of your audience, some may not be able to see small text or images, so make everything large enough to fill the space.
Don’t rush through slides – give the audience enough time to digest each slide.

Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur and author, suggests that slideshows should follow a 10-20-30 rule :

There should be a maximum of 10 slides – people rarely remember more than one concept afterwards so there’s no point overwhelming them with unnecessary information.
The presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes as this will leave time for questions and discussion.
The font size should be a minimum of 30pt because the audience reads faster than you talk so less information on the slides means that there is less chance of the audience being distracted.

Here are some additional resources for slide design:

7 design tips for effective, beautiful PowerPoint presentations
11 design tips for beautiful presentations
10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea

Group Presentations

Group presentations are structured in the same way as presentations with one speaker but usually require more rehearsal and practices. Clean transitioning between speakers is very important in producing a presentation that flows well. One way of doing this consists of:

Briefly recap on what you covered in your section: “So that was a brief introduction on what health anxiety is and how it can affect somebody”
Introduce the next speaker in the team and explain what they will discuss: “Now Elnaz will talk about the prevalence of health anxiety.”
Then end by looking at the next speaker, gesturing towards them and saying their name: “Elnaz”.
The next speaker should acknowledge this with a quick: “Thank you Joe.”

From this example you can see how the different sections of the presentations link which makes it easier for the audience to follow and remain engaged.

Example of great presentation structure and delivery

Having examples of great presentations will help inspire your own structures, here are a few such examples, each unique and inspiring in their own way.

How Google Works – by Eric Schmidt

This presentation by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt demonstrates some of the most important lessons he and his team have learnt with regards to working with some of the most talented individuals they hired. The simplistic yet cohesive style of all of the slides is something to be appreciated. They are relatively straightforward, yet add power and clarity to the narrative of the presentation.

Start with why – by Simon Sinek

Since being released in 2009, this presentation has been viewed almost four million times all around the world. The message itself is very powerful, however, it’s not an idea that hasn’t been heard before. What makes this presentation so powerful is the simple message he is getting across, and the straightforward and understandable manner in which he delivers it. Also note that he doesn’t use any slides, just a whiteboard where he creates a simple diagram of his opinion.

The Wisdom of a Third Grade Dropout – by Rick Rigsby

Here’s an example of a presentation given by a relatively unknown individual looking to inspire the next generation of graduates. Rick’s presentation is unique in many ways compared to the two above. Notably, he uses no visual prompts and includes a great deal of humour.

However, what is similar is the structure he uses. He first introduces his message that the wisest man he knew was a third-grade dropout. He then proceeds to deliver his main body of argument, and in the end, concludes with his message. This powerful speech keeps the viewer engaged throughout, through a mixture of heart-warming sentiment, powerful life advice and engaging humour.

As you can see from the examples above, and as it has been expressed throughout, a great presentation structure means analysing the core message of your presentation. Decide on a key message you want to impart the audience with, and then craft an engaging way of delivering it.

By preparing a solid structure, and practising your talk beforehand, you can walk into the presentation with confidence and deliver a meaningful message to an interested audience.

It’s important for a presentation to be well-structured so it can have the most impact on your audience. An unstructured presentation can be difficult to follow and even frustrating to listen to. The heart of your speech are your main points supported by evidence and your transitions should assist the movement between points and clarify how everything is linked.

Research suggests that the audience remember the first and last things you say so your introduction and conclusion are vital for reinforcing your points. Essentially, ensure you spend the time structuring your presentation and addressing all of the sections.

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How to Give a Killer Presentation

Chris Anderson

For more than 30 years, the TED conference series has presented enlightening talks that people enjoy watching. In this article, Anderson, TED’s curator, shares five keys to great presentations:

Frame your story (figure out where to start and where to end).
Plan your delivery (decide whether to memorize your speech word for word or develop bullet points and then rehearse it—over and over).
Work on stage presence (but remember that your story matters more than how you stand or whether you’re visibly nervous).
Plan the multimedia (whatever you do, don’t read from PowerPoint slides).
Put it together (play to your strengths and be authentic).

According to Anderson, presentations rise or fall on the quality of the idea, the narrative, and the passion of the speaker. It’s about substance—not style. In fact, it’s fairly easy to “coach out” the problems in a talk, but there’s no way to “coach in” the basic story—the presenter has to have the raw material. So if your thinking is not there yet, he advises, decline that invitation to speak. Instead, keep working until you have an idea that’s worth sharing.

Lessons from TED

A little more than a year ago, on a trip to Nairobi, Kenya, some colleagues and I met a 12-year-old Masai boy named Richard Turere, who told us a fascinating story. His family raises livestock on the edge of a vast national park, and one of the biggest challenges is protecting the animals from lions—especially at night. Richard had noticed that placing lamps in a field didn’t deter lion attacks, but when he walked the field with a torch, the lions stayed away. From a young age, he’d been interested in electronics, teaching himself by, for example, taking apart his parents’ radio. He used that experience to devise a system of lights that would turn on and off in sequence—using solar panels, a car battery, and a motorcycle indicator box—and thereby create a sense of movement that he hoped would scare off the lions. He installed the lights, and the lions stopped attacking. Soon villages elsewhere in Kenya began installing Richard’s “lion lights.”

CA Chris Anderson is the curator of TED.

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Writing Your Presentation

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Few of us feel entirely comfortable writing a presentation. There is something very daunting for many people about the process of moving your thoughts from your head to paper (or a series of slides on the computer).

However, there are things that you can do to help yourself. These include knowing your material well and taking time to consider what you want to say.

This page provides advice on how to write a presentation. It discusses the initial writing, and then also explains how to review and edit your work. This will help to ensure that your presentation is as effective as possible.

Before you start...

Before you start to write your presentation, you need certain information: the objective, the subject, and details of the audience, for example. For more about this, see our page on Preparing Your Presentation .

Based on the information you have gathered, you should also have started to develop your ideas and select the main points to include. For more about this, see our page on Organising Your Material .

Some basic starting points

There are two really important things to remember when starting to write a presentation:

1. Give your presentation an introduction, a main message, and a conclusion.

Some people summarise this as ‘say what you’re going to say, say it, then say what you’ve said’ .

However, that is not the whole story. Your introduction needs to ‘set the scene’ a bit and give a broad outline of what you are going to cover in your presentation. If you are using presentation software such as PowerPoint, this should be a single slide. Your conclusion needs to sum up and present your main message to your audience, probably again in a single slide.

If you are taking questions after your presentation, and you are using PowerPoint, you will probably have a slide up on the screen during questions. You could, of course, have a final slide that says something like “Thank you for listening, any questions?”, or gives your contact details.

However, you could also leave up a final slide that highlights your conclusions.

This will help to ensure that your key messages remain in the minds of your audience.

2. Think about using stories to get your message across

We are hard-wired by thousands of years of evolution to listen to stories. Stories helped us survive by reminding us about important behaviours. We therefore tend to remember them much better than dry lists of facts or bullet points.

It is much easier to work with this than ignore it.

There are two aspects of this.

First, you should try to think about your presentation as telling a story to your audience. What is the point that you are trying to make, and how can you best get it across?

Second, it is helpful to use stories as part of your presentation . For example, if you start by telling a story or anecdote, it will act as a ‘hook’ to draw in your audience. You can also use stories to illustrate each point you want to make. Of course, your story has to link to your main message, because you can pretty much guarantee that your audience will remember the story much longer than the conclusion!

Structuring Your Presentation

The structure and content of your presentation will of course be unique to you.

Only you can decide on the best way to present your messages. However, you might like to consider some standard presentation structures for inspiration:

1. Harnessing the Power of Three

In public speaking and rhetorical debate, as well as in much communication, three is a magic number. The brain finds it relatively easy to grasp three points at a time.

People find three points, ideas or numbers, easier to understand and remember than four or more.

You could therefore structure your presentation using the magic number of three.

For example, your presentation should have three main elements: the introduction, middle and conclusions. Within the main body of your presentation, divide your key message into three elements and then expand each of these points into three sub-points. If you are using a visual aid such as PowerPoint, limit the number of bullet points to three on each slide and expand on each of these as you go along.

What should you do if you have more than three points to make?

Reduce them until you don’t have more than three points!

Your audience will probably only remember three of your five or six points anyway—but which three? Do the work for them, and identify the three most important points, and leave the others out.

2. What, Why, How?

An alternative structure uses the questions “What?”, “Why?” and “How?” to communicate your message to the audience. In a way, this also harnesses the power of three, but is a special case for driving action.

“What?” identifies the key message you wish to communicate. Think about the benefit of your message for your audience. What will they gain, what can they do with the information, and what will the benefit be?

“Why?” addresses the next obvious question that arises for the audience . Having been told “what”, the audience will naturally then start to think “why should I do that?”, “why should I think that?” or “why should that be the case?”. Directly addressing the “why?” question in the next stage of your presentation means that you are answering these questions and your talk is following a natural route through the material. This will ensure that you have the audience on your side immediately.

“How?” is the final question that naturally arises in the audience’s mind . They want to know how they are going to achieve what you have just suggested. Try not to be too prescriptive here. Instead of telling people exactly how they should act on your message, offer suggestions as to how they can act, perhaps using examples.

You should try to back up what you say with evidence. You can use case studies, personal examples or statistics here, but try to ensure that you use them in the form of stories.

There is more about this on our page Presenting Data .

Editing Your Content

Once you have a first draft of your presentation, it is important to review and edit this.

This will help to ensure that it really does get your message across in the most effective way.

When editing presentation content, you should consider:

The language . Make sure that what you are saying will be clear to your audience. Remove any jargon and try to use plain English instead. If necessary, explain terms when you first use them.

Sentence structure . Use short sentences and keep the structure simple. Remember that you will be talking through your ideas and that the audience will be listening rather than reading.

The flow . Make sure that your presentation structure leads your audience through your ideas and helps them to draw your conclusion for themselves.

Use metaphors and stories to aid understanding and retention.

‘Hooks’ to get and hold the audience’s attention . Ensure that you have included several ‘hooks’ at various points in the presentation. This will help you to get and then keep the audience’s attention. These might be stories, or audience participation, or some alternative visual aids , such as a short video.

Check, and double check, for spelling and grammar . Make sure that any presentation slides or illustrations, titles, captions, handouts or similar are free from spelling mistakes.

Ideally, you should take a break from the presentation before editing so that you can look at your writing with a fresh pair of eyes.

You might also want to ask a friend or colleague to have a look, particularly at the flow and the language. If possible, ask someone who is not familiar with the material .

A final thought

The actual writing of your presentation is really the final stage of your preparation.

If you have done your homework, you will already be clear about the reason why you are presenting, the subject matter, and the main points you want to make. Actually putting it down on paper should therefore be relatively straightforward.

Continue to: Deciding the Presentation Method Preparing for a Presentation

See also: Organising the Presentation Material Working with Visual Aids Coping with Presentation Nerves Dealing with Questions

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Presentation Design Guide: How to Summarize Information for Presentations

By Midori Nediger , May 15, 2023

Bad presentations. We’ve all had to sit through them. Heck, we’ve probably all given one or two. I know I have.

You know the type: twice as long as they need to be, slides chock-full of text, no visuals in sight.

How can you ensure you don’t fall victim to these presentation faux-pas when designing your next presentation for your team, class, or clients?

In this blog, I’ll walk you through tips on how to design an impactful presentation and how you can deliver it with style to leave a lasting impression.

Let’s get started:

Include less text and more visuals in your presentation design
Identify one core message to center your presentation design around
Eliminate any information that doesn’t immediately support the core message
Create a strong presentation outline to keep you focused
Use text to reinforce, not repeat, what you’re saying
Design your presentation with one major takeaway per slide
Use visuals to highlight the key message on each slide
Use scaffolding slides to orient your audience and keep them engaged
Use text size, weight, and color for emphasis
Apply design choices consistently to avoid distraction
Split a group presentation by topic
Use a variety of page layouts to maintain your audience’s interest
Use presentation templates to help you get started
Include examples of inspiring people
Dedicate slides to poignant questions
Find quotes that will inspire your audience
Emphasize key points with text and images
Label your slides to prompt your memory

Watch: How to design a presentation [10 ESSENTIAL TIPS]

Tips for designing and delivering an impactful presentation

What makes a presentation memorable?

It usually comes down to three things:

The main idea.
The presenter.
The visuals.

All three elements work together to create a successful presentation. Just like how different presentation styles serve different purposes, having a good presentation idea will give the audience a purpose for listening. A good presenter communicates the main idea so that the audience cares about it. And compelling visuals help clarify concepts and illustrate ideas.

But how the presenter delivers their presentation and what visuals they use can vary drastically while still being effective. There is no perfect presentation style or presentation design.

Here are some top tips to consider to help you design and deliver an impactful presentation:

Tip #1: Include less text and more visuals in your presentation design

According to David Paradi’s annual presentation survey , the 3 things that annoy audiences most about presentations are:

Speakers reading their slides
Slides that include full sentences of text
Text that is too small to read

The common thread that ties all of these presentation annoyances is text. Audiences are very picky about the text found in presentation slide decks .

In my experiences speaking at conferences and in webinars over the past few years, audiences respond much more positively to presentations that use visuals in place of text.

Audiences are more engaged, ask more questions, and find my talks more memorable when I include lots of visual examples in my slide decks.

I’m not the only one who has found this. We recently surveyed nearly 400 conference speakers about their presentation designs and found that 84.3% create presentations that are highly visual.

A great example of a high visual presentation is the iconic AirBnB pitch deck design , which includes no more than 40 words per slide. Instead of repeating the speaker’s script on the slides, it makes an impact with keywords, large numbers, and icons:

Learn how to customize this presentation template:

To help you take your presentations to the next level, I’d like to share my process for creating a visually-focused presentation like the one above. I’ll give you my top presentation design tips that I’ve learned over years of presenting:

Class presentations
Online courses

You can then apply this process to our professional presentation templates or pitch decks , creating unique presentation decks with ease! Our user-friendly editor tools make customizing these templates a breeze.

To leave a lasting impression on your audience, consider transforming your slides into an interactive presentation. Here are 15 interactive presentation ideas to enhance interactivity and engagement.

We’ll cover the most important steps for summarizing lengthy text into a presentation-friendly format. Then we’ll touch on some pre sentation design tips to help you get visual with your slide decks. Read on for the best creative presentation ideas.

Tip #2: Identify one core message to center your presentation design around

We know from David Paradi’s survey that audiences are easily overwhelmed with lots of text and data, especially when presentations are long.

(You when you see a presentation with lots of text and data and it’s long)

So unlike in a white paper , report , or essay , you can’t expect to tackle many complex ideas within a single presentation.

That would be a recipe for disaster.

Instead, identify a single central message that you would like to communicate to your audience. Then build your presentation around that core message.

By identifying that core message, you can ensure that everything you include in your presentation supports the goal of the presentation .

As seen below, a great presentation tells you exactly what you’re going to learn (the core message), then gets right to the facts (the supporting information).

Nutrition Creative Presentation Template

To ensure you create an asset that’s clear, concise, impactful, and easy to follow, design your presentation around a single core message.

Tip #3: Create a strong presentation outline to keep you focused

Think of your outline as a roadmap for your presentation. Creating a strong presentation outline straight away helps make sure that you’re hitting all of the key points you need to cover to convey a persuasive presentation .

Take this presentation outline example:

Introduction and hellos
Vision and value proposition
Financial profit
Your investment
Thanks and questions

These are all things that we know we need to talk about within the presentation.

Creating a presentation outline makes it much easier to know what to say when it comes to creating the actual presentation slides.

You could even include your presentation outline as a separate slide so that your audience knows what to expect:

Topics of discussion presentation outline example template

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.

Tip #4: Eliminate any information that doesn’t support the core message

Next, use that core message to identify everything that doesn’t belong in the presentation.

Aim to eliminate everything that isn’t immediately relevant to the topic at hand, and anything remotely redundant. Cut any information that isn’t absolutely essential to understanding the core message.

By cutting these extra details, you can transform forgettable text-heavy slides:

Into memorable slides with minimal text:

Here’s a quick checklist to help you cut out any extra detail:

Get rid of:

Detailed descriptions
Background information
Redundant statements
Explanations of common knowledge
Persuasive facts and figures
Illustrative examples
Impactful quotes

This step may seem obvious, but when you’re presenting on a topic that you’re passionate about, it’s easy to get carried away with extraneous detail. Use the recommendations above to keep your text in check.

Clarity is key, especially if you’re presenting virtually rather than in-person. However, Lisa Schneider (Chief Growth Officer at Merriam-Webster) has had plenty of experience making that adjustment. She recently shared her tips for adapting in-person presentations into virtual presentations on Venngage that you can check out.

Tip #5: Use text to reinforce, not repeat, what you’re saying

According to presentation guru Nancy Duarte , your audience should be able to discern the meaning of your slides in 6 seconds or less.

Since your audience will tend to read every word you place on each slide, you must keep your text to an absolute minimum. The text on your slides should provide support for what you’re saying without being distracting.

Never write out, word for word, what you’re going to be saying out loud. If you’re relying on text to remember certain points, resist the urge to cram them into your slides. Instead, use a tool like Venngage’s speaker notes to highlight particular talking points. These can be imported into PowerPoint — along with the rest of your presentation — and will only be viewable to you, not your audience.

For the actual slides, text should only be used to reinforce what you’re saying. Like in the presentation design below, paraphrase long paragraphs into short bulleted lists or statements by eliminating adjectives and articles (like “the” and “a”).

Pull out quotes and important numbers, and make them a focus of each slide.

Tip #6: Design your presentation with one major takeaway per slide

As I mentioned above, audiences struggle when too much information is presented on a single slide.

To make sure you don’t overwhelm your audiences with too much information, spread out your content to cover one major takeaway per slide.

By limiting each slide to a single simple statement, you focus your audience’s attention on the topic at hand.

My favorite way to do this is to pick out the core message of whatever I’m talking about and express it in a few keywords, as seen in this presentation slide below.

This helps ensure that the visuals remain the focus of the slide.

Using the text in this way, to simply state a single fact per slide, is a sure-fire way to make an impact in your presentation.

Alternatively, pull out a significant statistic that you want to stick in your audience’s minds and make it a visual focus of the slide, as seen in this popular presentation by Officevibe .

This might mean you end up with a slide deck with a ton of slides. But that’s totally ok!

I’ve talked to many professionals who are pressured by their management teams to create presentations with a specific number of slides (usually as few as 10 or 15 slides for a 30-minute presentation).

If you ask me, this approach is completely flawed. In my mind, the longer I spend sitting on a single slide, the more likely I am to lose the interest of my audience.

How many slides should I use for a 10 minute presentation?

A good rule of thumb is to have at least as many slides as minutes in your presentation. So for a 10 minute presentation you should have at least 10 slides .

Use as many slides as you need, as long as you are presenting a single message on each slide, (as seen in the lengthy presentation template below). This is especially important if you’re presenting your business, or delivering a product presentation. You want to wow your audience, not bore them.

Tip #7: Use visuals to highlight the key message on each slide

As important as having one major takeaway per slide is having visuals that highlight the major takeaway on each slide.

Unique visuals will help make your message memorable.

Visuals are a great way to eliminate extra text, too.

You can add visuals by creating a timeline infographic to group and integrate information into visual frameworks like this:

Or create a flowchart and funnels:

Or by representing simple concepts with icons, as seen in the modern presentation design below. Using the same color for every icon helps create a polished look.

Using visuals in this way is perfect for when you have to convey messages quickly to audiences that you aren’t familiar with – such as at conferences. This would also make the ideal interview presentation template.

You can alternatively use icons in different colors, like in the presentation templates below. Just make sure the colors are complimentary, and style is consistent throughout the presentation (i.e. don’t use sleek, modern icons on one slide and whimsically illustrated icons on another). In this example, presentation clipart style icons have been used.

Any time you have important stats or trends you want your audience to remember, consider using a chart or data visualization to drive your point home. Confident public speaking combined with strong visualizations can really make an impact, encouraging your audience to act upon your message.

One of my personal favorite presentations (created by a professional designer) takes this “key message plus a visual” concept to the extreme, resulting in a slide deck that’s downright irresistible.

When applying this concept, don’t fall into the trap of using bad stock photos . Irrelevant or poorly chosen visuals can hurt you as much as they help you.

Below is an example of how to use stock photos effectively. They are more thematic than literal and are customized with fun, bright icons that set a playful tone.

The content and visual design of a presentation should be seamless.

It should never seem like your text and visuals are plopped onto a template. The format and design of the slides should contribute to and support the audience’s understanding of the content.

Tip #8: Use scaffolding slides to orient your audience and keep them engaged

It’s easy for audiences to get lost during long presentations, especially if you have lots of slides. And audiences zone out when they get lost.

To help reorient your audience every once in a while, you can use something I like to call scaffolding slides. Scaffolding slides appear throughout a presentation to denote the start and end of major sections.

The core scaffolding slide is the agenda slide, which should appear right after the introduction or title slide. It outlines the major sections of the presentation.

At the beginning of each section, you should show that agenda again but highlight the relevant section title, as seen below.

This gives audiences the sense that you’re making progress through the presentation and helps keep them anchored and engaged.

Alternatively, you can achieve a similar effect by numbering your sections and showing that number on every slide. Or use a progress bar at the bottom of each slide to indicate how far along you are in your presentation. Just make sure it doesn’t distract from the main content of the slides.

You can imagine using this “progress bar” idea for a research presentation, or any presentation where you have a lot of information to get through.

Leila Janah, founder of Sama Group, is great at this. Her Innovation and Inspire talk about Sama Group is an example of a presentation that is well organized and very easy to follow.

Her presentation follows a logical, steady stream of ideas. She seems comfortable talking in front of a crowd but doesn’t make any attempts to engage directly with them.

Tip #9: Use text size, weight and color for emphasis

Every slide should have a visual focal point. Something that immediately draws the eye at first glance.

That focal point should be whatever is most important on that slide, be it an important number, a keyword, or simply the slide title.

We can create visual focal points by varying the size, weight, and color of each element on the slide. Larger, brighter, bolder elements will command our audience’s attention, while smaller, lighter elements will tend to fade into the background.

As seen in the presentation template above, this technique can be especially useful for drawing attention to important words within a long passage of text. Consider using this technique whenever you have more than 5 words on a slide.

And if you really want your audience to pay attention, pick a high-contrast color scheme like the one below.

When picking fonts for your presentation, keep this technique in mind. Pick a font that has a noticeable difference between the “bold” font face and the “regular” font face. Source Sans Pro, Times New Roman, Montserrat, Arvo, Roboto, and Open Sans are all good options.

The last thing to remember when using size, weight, and color to create emphasis on a slide: don’t try to emphasize too many things on one slide.

If everything is highlighted, nothing is highlighted.

Tip #10: Apply design choices consistently to avoid distraction

Audiences are quick to pick out, and focus on, any inconsistencies in your presentation design. As a result, messy, inconsistent slide decks lead to distracted, disengaged audiences.

Design choices (fonts and colors, especially), must be applied consistently across a slide deck. The last thing you want is for your audience to pay attention to your design choices before your content.

To keep your design in check, it can be helpful to create a color palette and type hierarchy before you start creating your deck, and outline it in a basic style guide like this one:

I know it can sometimes be tempting to fiddle around with text sizes to fit longer bits of text on a slide, but don’t do it! If the text is too long to fit on a slide, it should be split up onto multiple slides anyway.

And remember, a consistent design isn’t necessarily a boring one. This social media marketing presentation applies a bright color scheme to a variety of 3-column and 2-column layouts, remaining consistent but still using creative presentation ideas.

Tip #11: Split a group presentation by topic

When giving a group presentation it’s always difficult to find the right balance of who should present which part.

Splitting a group presentation by topic is the most natural way to give everybody the chance to attempt without it seeming disjointed.

When presenting this slide deck to investors or potential clients, the team can easily take one topic each. One person can discuss the business model slide, and somebody else can talk about the marketing strategy.

Tip #12: Use a variety of page layouts to maintain your audience’s interest

Page after page of the same layout can become repetitive and boring. Mix up the layout of your slides to keep your audience interested.

In this example, the designer has used a variety of combinations of images, text, and icons to create an interesting and varied style.

Yellow start up pitch deck presentation template

There are hundreds of different combinations of presentation layers and presentation styles that you can use to help create an engaging presentation . This style is great for when you need to present a variety of information and statistics, like if you were presenting to financial investors, or you were giving a research presentation.

Using a variety of layouts to keep an audience engaged is something that Elon Musk is an expert in. An engaged audience is a hyped audience. Check out this Elon Musk presentation revealing a new model Tesla for a masterclass on how to vary your slides in an interesting way:

Tip #13: Use presentation templates to help you get started

It can be overwhelming to build your own presentation from scratch. Fortunately, my team at Venngage has created hundreds of professional presentation templates , which make it easy to implement these design principles and ensure your audience isn’t deterred by text-heavy slides.

Using a presentation template is a quick and easy way to create professional-looking presentation skills, without any design experience. You can edit all of the text easily, as well as change the colors, fonts, or photos. Plus you can download your work in a PowerPoint or PDF Presentation format.

After your presentation, consider summarizing your presentation in an engaging manner to r each a wider audience through a LinkedIn presentation .

Tip #14: Include examples of inspiring people

People like having role models to look up to. If you want to motivate your audience, include examples of people who demonstrate the traits or achievements, or who have found success through the topic you are presenting.

Tip #15: Dedicate slides to poignant questions

While you might be tempted to fill your slides with decorative visuals and splashes of color, consider that sometimes simplicity is more effective than complexity. The simpler your slide is, the more you can focus on one thought-provoking idea.

Tip #16: Find quotes that will inspire your audience

A really good quote can stick in a person’s mind for weeks after your presentation. Ending your presentation with a quote can be a nice way to either begin or finish your presentation.

A great example of this is Tim Ferriss’ TED talk:

tim ferriss inspiration presentation example

Check out the full talk below.

Tip #17: Emphasize key points with text and images

When you pair concise text with an image, you’re presenting the information to your audience in two simultaneous ways. This can make the information easier to remember, and more memorable.

Use your images and text on slides to reinforce what you’re saying out loud.

Doing this achieves two things:

When the audience hears a point and simultaneously read it on the screen, it’s easier to retain.
Audience members can photograph/ screencap the slide and share it with their networks.

Don’t believe us? See this tip in action with a presentation our Chief Marketing Officer Nadya gave recently at Unbounce’s CTA Conference . The combination of text and images on screen leads to a memorable presentation.

Tip #18: Label your slides to prompt your memory

Often, presenters will write out an entire script for their presentation and read it off a teleprompter. The problem is, that can often make your presentation seem too rehearsed and wooden.

But even if you don’t write a complete script, you can still put key phrases on your slides to prompt jog your memory. The one thing you have to be wary of is looking back at your slides too much.

A good presentation gets things moving! Check out the top qualities of awesome presentations and learn all about how to make a good presentation to help you nail that captivating delivery.

Audiences don’t want to watch presentations with slide decks jam-packed with text. Too much text only hurts audience engagement and understanding. Your presentation design is as important as your presentation style.

By summarizing our text and creating slides with a visual focus, we can give more exciting, memorable and impactful presentations.

Give it a try with one of our popular presentation templates:

Want more presentation design tips? This post should get you started:

120+ Best Presentation Ideas, Design Tips & Examples

How to Start and End a Presentation: 10 Practical Tips to Grab Attention and Make an Impact

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By Al Boicheva

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2 years ago

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No matter how well-crafted and planned the body of your presentation, its impact depends on its opening and ending. On one hand, you have 30 seconds to grab your audience’s attention so people would be interested in hearing what you have to say. On the other, your ending is what your audience will be left with and will shape how they feel about your presentation and how they’ll remember it. This might be like a lot of pressure but the truth is, it’s easier than it sounds. This is why, in this article, we will help you achieve this and more with 10 practical tips on how to start and end a presentation effectively .

Article overview: The Opening: 5 Tips To Get Your Audience Invested 1. The Hook 2. Transition 3. Personal Story 4. Build Tension with Silence 5. Use Startling Statistics The Ending: 5 Tips To Make an Impact 1. The Rule of Three 2. Come Full Circle 3. Food for Thought Question Ending 4. Inspire with Personal Involvement 5. Make Your Audience Laugh

5 Practical Tips on How to Start a Presentation

Imagine you spent weeks preparing an amazing presentation with lots of valuable insight that you just can’t wait to share with your audience. Unfortunately, only a few minutes in, you notice that most of your viewers are on their phones scrolling and barely paying any attention to what you have to say. What happened?

Presenters and speakers often start with a long introduction. They introduce themselves, share how excited they are, thank the audience for attending, explain what they’re going to speak about in a minute, why the topic is important, etc. This might take only one or two minutes, however, when it comes to presentation, two minutes without telling anything interesting might result in losing your audience. In fact, you only have 30 seconds to grab your audience’s attention .

This is why, no matter the topic and goal of your presentation, you must always captivate your audience’s attention first. Leave the introductions and summaries for later .

In this section, we’ll talk about ways to hook your audience in the first 30 seconds and get them invested in what you have to say in your presentation.

1. The Hook

Anything unpredictable that catches you off-guard, will get your attention.

This tactic, masterfully named as a metaphor for attracting fish with a juicy worm on a hook, refers to a few-second short story, metaphor, shocking fact, statistics, analogy, controversial statement, or anything unconventional and unexpected that will capture your viewer’s imagination. We’ll have a look at three examples for hooks.

1.1 Bold Claim

“Here’s all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men are stupid.” This opening line by stand-up comedy legend George Carlin is a great example of a hook in the form of a bold claim. If you’re confident enough with your presentation and you have a bold claim up to your sleeve, don’t save it for the end. Instead, shoot that bullet confidently the second you start your presentation. It will immediately catch your audience off-guard and you will have it paying attention to your every word after that.

Here are some examples for bold claim starters in presentations and public speaking.

“What you’re doing right now at this very moment is killing you.” ( Nilofer Merchant )
“Sadly, in the next 18 minutes when I do our chat, four Americans that are alive will be dead through the food that they eat.” ( Jamie Oliver )
“I’m going to try to increase the lifespan of every single person in this room by seven and a half minutes. Literally, you will live seven and a half minutes longer than you would have otherwise just because you watched this talk.” ( Jane McGonagall )
“I don’t want to alarm anybody in this room. However, it’s just come to my attention that the person to your right is a liar.” ( Pamela Meyer )

1.2 Imagine

One of the greatest ways to get attention and start strong is through storytelling. People love stories and are always interested in hearing one. In fact, many presentations may revolve around a story or just use small anecdotes to enhance their message. With this being said, amongst the best methods to create a compelling story is to get your audience involved. To do so, make them imagine themselves in the shoes of the main character. This attention-grabber invites your viewers to create a mental image and get emotionally invested.

Here are examples of speeches starting with the Imagine play:

“I want you, guys, to imagine that you’re a soldier, running through the battlefield. Now, you’re shot in the leg with a bullet that severs your femoral artery. This bleed is extremely traumatic and can kill you in less than 3 minutes. Unfortunately, by the time a medic actually gets to you, what the medic has on his or her belt can take 5 minutes or more with the application of pressure to stop that type of bleed.” ( Joe Landolina )
“Imagine a big explosion as you climb through 3000 feet. Imagine a plane full of smoke, imagine an engine going clack-clack-clack-clack-clack. Well, I had a unique seat that day.”( Ric Elias )

1.3. Humourous Twists

Great stories have unexpected plot twists. The best stories, however, have a funny plot twist. Depending on your topic, you can start by telling your story, get your audience in the mood for a serious talk, and then contradict all expectations with a hilarious spin.

“I need to make a confession at the outset here. A little over 20 years ago I did something that I regret. Something that I’m not particularly proud of. Something that in many ways I wish no one would ever know. But here I feel kind of obliged to reveal. In the late 1980s, in a moment of youthful indiscretion, I went to law school.” ( Daniel Pink )

2. Transition

Your next step would be to make an organic transition between your hook and the main point of your presentation. You can do this seamlessly or by linking directly with “I tell you this, because”, “This brings us to…”. Mohammed Qahtani, for example, does this transition so smoothly, that you’ll never even catch it.

First, as a hook, he chooses to use a prop. He literally goes on stage and lights a cigarette, capitalizing on unpredictability, originality, bold statement, humor, and immediately uses the second hook in the form of a provocative question, asking the audience “You think smoking kills?”. The third thing he does is strike with shocking data that he immediately admits to being fake. He already has the audience on the tip of his fingers. Having accomplished that, Mohammed Qahtani is ready to finally move to the body of the presentation and reveal his actual message.

3. Personal Story

Another storytelling technique besides making people from your audience imagine themselves in a particular situation, is to start with your own personal story. One that is relevant to the topic of your presentation. Your personal involvement and experience give you credibility in the eyes of the viewers, and, as we mentioned, everyone loves to hear an interesting story. This is because stories are relatable, easy to identify with communicating honesty, openness, and connection.

4. Build Tension with Silence

Interestingly enough, saying nothing is also a very powerful option. In fact, standing in front of an audience and confidently keeping silent is as powerful as making a bold statement. Silence will definitely build tension and pique your audience’s curiosity about what you have to say. Be careful, however, as this technique requires knowing your timing.

5. Use Startling Statistics

Sometimes you just can’t think of a story, a joke, or a specific statement that is bold enough. And that’s okay. As a last resort, but also a pretty effective one, you can always rely on curious shocking statistics, related to your topic, to instantly gain people’s attention. Take your time researching curious statistics that will emphasize the seriousness of your topic or as a tool to start over the top.

To sum it up, your presentation opening follows 5 steps:

Hook: You immediately strike your audience instantly with something interesting and unconventional they wouldn’t expect.
Transition: You link your hook to your main point.
Introduction: Once you already have your audience’s attention, you can finally make a very brief introduction with something relevant to your topic.
Preview: Give your audience a brief preview of what you’re going to talk about.
Benefits: Tell your audience how will they benefit from listening to your presentation. (ex. “By the end, you will already know how to…”)

Keep in mind, that your opening, consisting of these 5 steps, should be brief and ideally not exceed 2 minutes . If you manage to make a great hook, transition, introduction, review and list the benefits in 2 minutes, you already have your audience’s full attention and they will be listening to your every word throughout the body of your presentation.

5 Practical Tips on How to End a Presentation

Let’s consider this situation. You start watching a movie that instantly opens with a jaw-dropping suspenseful scene that raises questions and makes you want to unravel the mystery. This scene will certainly make your stay through the movie. You are very invested, you love the story, the build-up keeps you on the edge of your seat until the end when the reveal is so underwhelming, you feel disappointed. The ending doesn’t fit the intensity of the story and feels incomplete and rushed. How does this relate to your presentation?

Having a great start for your presentation is what will keep your audience interested in what you have to say. However, the end is what your audience will be left with and will shape how they feel about your presentation and how they’ll remember it. In short, if you fail your opening, you will still be able to catch up with your presentation and capitalize with a great closing line. But an underwhelming conclusion can kill the velocity of a good presentation and ruin the overall experience.

Let’s look at some practical tips and examples by great presenters to get inspired and never let that happen.

1. The Rule of Three

This powerful technique in speech writing refers to the collection of three words, phrases, sentences, or lines. In photography, there’s a similar rule, known as the Rule of Thirds, that serves to divide an image into three. In writing, the Rule of Three combines a collection of thoughts into three entities with combined brevity and rhythm to create a pattern.

Information presented in a group of three sticks in our heads better than in other groups. This is why this principle presents your ideas in more enjoyable and memorable ways for your audience. It also serves to divide up a speech or emphasize a certain message. Let’s see a couple of examples where the rule is applied in different forms.

Examples of the Rule of three in Speeches

“ I came, I saw, I conquered .” (Veni, Vidi, Vici. ) by Julius Caesar in a letter to the Roman Senate
“…this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people , shall not perish from the earth.” from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
“ It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. lt means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.” from Steve Job’s Stanford Commencement Speech

In Veni Vidi Vici, the rule serves to divide the concept of Caesar’s victory into three parts to prolong the conclusion in order to give it more power. The “came” and “ saw” parts are technically obvious and unnecessary in terms of context. However, they serve to build up the conclusion of conquering, creating a story, rhythm, and, ultimately, a memorable and powerful line. A single “I conquered” wouldn’t impress the Senate that much, let alone become such a legendary phrase preserved in history.

Lincoln’s famous speech ending shows an excellent practice of the Rule of Three in the form of repetition to emphasize the new role of the Government. “That Government of the people shaw not perish from the earth.” would still be a good line, however, the repetition makes it way more powerful and memorable.

And last, Steve Job uses the Rule of Three in the form of repetition to accomplish building up the conclusion and emphasizing what “it means”. This repetition gives rhythm and helps the audience to be more receptive, stay focused, and follow the speaker to the final conclusion.

You can also use the Rule of Three to close your presentation by giving your audience two negatives and ending with a positive . Typical structures would be “This is not… this is not… but it is”; “You wouldn’t… you wouldn’t… but you would..”, etc.

For example, you can conclude a speech about self-growth with something similar to “Your future isn’t a matter of chance, it isn’t a matter of circumstances, it’s a matter of choice.”

2. Come Full Circle

In short, this means capitalizing on your message by ending your presentation the exact way you started it . If done right, this is a powerful tool to make an impact. Usually, you begin your presentation with a statement that piques your audience’s curiosity. You use it to set the topic and start building on it. You take your audience on a journey, you make them start at one point, follow them through the entire journey, and make them end at the same point. By repeating the opening line as an ending, now the message makes more sense, it’s way more personal and makes a satisfying logical conclusion .

A good example of this comes from Yubing Zang in her speech “Life Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone.” The speaker opens her TED talk with that same line to take you on a journey. You experience her story, you learn how fear is the biggest thief of dreams while comfort is a drug that keeps you from following them. After that strong message, she finishes with that same phrase. In the end, this phrase isn’t just an abstract quote, now it makes more sense and feels more real and personal.

You can also use the full circle method to start and finish your presentation with the same question. As an opening line, your question will make your audience think. It will compel them to listen to your presentation and learn the answers. As an ending, however, this same question will become rhetorical .

And speaking of questions…

3. Food for Thought Question Ending

The easiest way to end a speech on a good note is to leave your audience with a question. The kind of open-ended question that will inspire your audience to reflect on . Such questions can be so inviting, they will give your audience something exciting to think about and even think of throughout the day.

Examples of open-ended questions, depending on your topic, could sound like this.

What if it doesn’t work out that way?
What does this look like for you?
If you could do it over again, what would you do differently?

Unlike close-ended questions that the viewers can answer immediately on the spot and forget about your speech later, interesting open-ended questions that give them food for thought will inevitably surface on occasion.

For example, Lera Boroditski closes her topic on “How Language Shapes the Way We Think” with ” And that gives you the opportunity to ask: why do I think the way that I do? How could I think differently? And also, what thoughts do I wish to create?”

In order for your open-ended question to become food for thought, make sure your presentation raises it organically . It should sound like a relevant and logical conclusion to what you’ve built during your speech. Otherwise, the question would be forced and would seem like coming from nowhere. The best way to think of such an open-ended question is to reflect on what is the question you wished to answer during your presentation but couldn’t. Something that doesn’t have a solution yet.

Why do people fear losing things that they do not even have yet?
Why do we strive for perfection if it is not attainable?
How much control do you have over your life?
When will we reach a point where terraforming Mars will be our only chance at human survival? How can you influence this deadline?

This will give a great puzzle for your audience to solve and something to remember your presentation with, for a long time.

4. Inspire with Personal Involvement

If you have a story to share, don’t hesitate to inspire your audience with it during your own presentations.

This method is most powerful when we share a personal story or experience . Our vulnerability and personal touch are what will help you inspire your audience without sounding insincere or forcing them a piece of advice out of nowhere. The key here is to have credibility and personal involvement . It might come from your degree, accomplishments, or from your life’s story. Also, make sure the story is relatable and encourages empathy from your audience.

Steve Jobs gave a commencement speech at Stanford University sharing his personal experiences in order to inspire change in his audience’s mindset. He uses his authority and credibility to shape the spirit of leadership and entrepreneurship in young people. He aims to inspire people that they should learn to color outside the lines instead of following the patterns and structure of society. And he serves as a great example with his own life story and accomplishments .

Which makes the ending memorable and impactful: “ Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. Stay hungry. Stay foolish. ”

In conclusion, the entire speech builds up to this conclusion making it powerful as the personal involvement and experience make it sincere and inspirational.

5. Make Your Audience Laugh

If your topic allows it, one of the best ways to make your presentation memorable and a great experience for your audience is to end with a joke. Just make sure to craft a joke that relates to the main point of your presentation.

As an example for this tip, we chose the TED talk of webcartoonist Randall Munroe where he answers simple what-if questions using math, physics, logic, and -you guessed it- humor.

He ends by sharing an allegedly personal experience about receiving an email from a reader with a single subject line “Urgent”. “And this was the entire email: If people had wheels and could fly, how would we differentiate them from airplanes? Urgent. And I think that there are some questions math just cannot answer. ”

Final Words

In conclusion, the start and end of your presentation are crucial to its success. No matter the topic and goal of your presentation, you must always captivate your audience’s attention first, leaving the introductions and summaries for later. Having a great start for your presentation is what will keep your audience interested in what you have to say. However, the end is what your audience will be left with and will shape how they feel about your presentation and how they’ll remember it. We hope we managed to inspire your inner public speaker to rock your presentation like a pro.

In the meantime, you could also check some more insights on related topics, gather inspiration, or simply grab a freebie?

Digital Marketing Trends 2022: How To Win An Audience and Keep It
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Al Boicheva

Al is an illustrator at GraphicMama with out-of-the-box thinking and a passion for anything creative. In her free time, you will see her drooling over tattoo art, Manga, and horror movies.

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What are the main difficulties when giving presentations?

How to create an effective presentation, after that, how do i give a memorable presentation, how to connect with the audience when presenting.

If you’ve ever heard someone give a powerful presentation, you probably remember how it made you feel. Much like a composer, a good speaker knows precisely when each note should strike to captivate their audience’s attention and leave them with a lasting impression.

No one becomes a great public speaker or presenter without practice. And almost everyone can recall a time one of their presentations went badly — that’s a painful part of the learning process.

Whether you’re working within a small creative team or a large organization, public speaking and presentation skills are vital to communicating your ideas. Knowing how to present your vision can help you pitch concepts to clients, present ideas to your team, and develop the confidence to participate in team meetings.

If you have an upcoming presentation on the horizon and feel nervous, that’s normal. Around 15-30% of the general population experience a fear of public speaking . And, unfortunately, social anxiety is on the rise, with a 12% increase in adults over the last 20 years .

Learning how to give a good presentation can dismantle your fears and break down these barriers, ensuring you’re ready to confidently share your point of view.

It’s the week before your presentation, and you’re already feeling nervous . Maybe there’ll be an important mentor in the room you need to impress, or you’re looking for an opportunity to show your boss your value. Regardless of your countless past presentations, you still feel nervous.

Sharing your vision and ideas with any sized group is intimidating. You’re likely worrying about how you’ll perform as a presenter and whether the audience will be interested in what you offer. But nerves aren’t inherently negative — you can actually use this feeling to fuel your preparation.

businesswoman-speaking-from-a-podium-to-an-audience-in-a-conference-room-how-to-give-a-good-presentation

It’s helpful to identify where your worries are coming from and address your fears. Here are some common concerns when preparing for an upcoming presentation:

Fear of public speaking: When you share your ideas in front of a group, you’re placing yourself in a vulnerable position to be critiqued on your knowledge and communication skills . Maybe you feel confident in your content, but when you think about standing in front of an audience, you feel anxious and your mind goes blank.

It’s also not uncommon to have physical symptoms when presenting . Some people experience nausea and dizziness as the brain releases adrenaline to cope with the potentially stressful situation . Remember to take deep breaths to recenter yourself and be patient, even if you make a mistake.

Losing the audience’s attention: As a presenter, your main focus is to keep your audience engaged. They should feel like they’re learning valuable information or following a story that will improve them in life or business.

Highlight the most exciting pieces of knowledge and ensure you emphasize those points in your presentation. If you feel passionate about your content, it’s more likely that your audience will experience this excitement for themselves and become invested in what you have to say.

Not knowing what content to place on presentation slides: Overloading presentation slides is a fast way to lose your audience’s attention. Your slides should contain only the main talking points and limited text to ensure your audience focuses on what you have to say rather than becoming distracted by the content on your slides.

Discomfort incorporating nonverbal communication: It’s natural to feel stiff and frozen when you’re nervous. But maintaining effective body language helps your audience stay focused on you as you speak and encourages you to relax.

If you struggle to incorporate body language into your presentations, try starting small by making hand gestures toward your slides. If you’re working with a large audience, use different parts of the stage to ensure everyone feels included.

Each presenter has their own personal brand and style. Some may use humor to break the ice, while others might appeal to the audience’s emotional side through inspiring storytelling.

Watching online presentations, such as TED talks, is an excellent way to expose yourself to various presentation styles and develop your own. While observing others, you can note how they carry themselves on stage and learn new ways to keep your audience engaged.

Once you’ve addressed what’s causing your fears, it’s time to prepare for a great presentation. Use your past experience as inspiration and aim to outshine your former self by learning from your mistakes and employing new techniques. Here are five presentation tips to help you create a strong presentation and wow your audience:

1. Keep it simple

Simple means something different to everyone.

Before creating your presentation, take note of your intended audience and their knowledge level of your subject. You’ll want your content to be easy for your intended audience to follow.

Say you’re giving a presentation on improving your company’s operational structure. Entry-level workers will likely need a more straightforward overview of the content than C-suite leaders, who have significantly more experience.

Ask yourself what you want your audience to take away from your presentation and emphasize those important points. Doing this ensures they remember the most vital information rather than less important supporting ideas. Try organizing these concepts into bullet points so viewers can quickly identify critical takeaways.

2. Create a compelling structure

Put yourself in your audience member’s shoes and determine the most compelling way to organize your information. Your presentation should be articulate , cohesive, and logical, and you must be sure to include all necessary supporting evidence to strengthen your main points.

If you give away all of your answers too quickly, your audience could lose interest. And if there isn’t enough supporting information, they could hit a roadblock of confusion. Try developing a compelling story that leads your audience through your thought processes so they can experience the ups and downs alongside you.

By structuring your presentation to lead up to a final conclusion, you’re more likely to keep listeners’ attention. Once you’ve reached that conclusion, you can offer a Q&A period to put any of their questions or concerns to rest.

3. Use visual aids

Appealing to various learning styles is a great way to keep everyone on the same page and ensure they absorb your content. Visual aids are necessary for visual learners and make it easier for people to picture your ideas.

Aim to incorporate a mixture of photos, videos, and props to engage your audience and convey your key points. For instance, if you’re giving a presentation on anthropology subject matter, you could show your audience an artifact to help them understand how exciting a discovery must have been.

If your presentation is long, including a video for your audience to watch is an excellent way to give yourself a break and create new jumping-off points for your speech.

4. Be aware of design techniques and trends

Thanks to cutting-edge technology and tools, you have numerous platforms at your disposal to create a good presentation. But keep in mind that although color, images, and graphics liven things up, they can cause distraction when misused.

Here are a few standard pointers for incorporating visuals on your slides:

Don’t place blocks of small text on a single slide
Use a minimalistic background instead of a busy one
Ensure text stands out against the background color
Only use high-resolution photos
Maintain a consistent font style and size throughout the presentation
Don’t overuse transitions and effects

5. Try the 10-20-30 rule

Guy Kawasaki, a prominent venture capitalist and one of the original marketing specialists for Apple, said that the best slideshow presentations are less than 10 slides , last at most 20 minutes, and use a font size of 30. Following this strategy can help you condense your information, eliminate unnecessary ideas, and maintain your audience’s focus more efficiently.

Once you’re confident in creating a memorable presentation, it’s time to learn how to give one. Here are some valuable tips for keeping your audience invested during your talk:

Tip #1: Tell stories

Sharing an anecdote from your life can improve your credibility and increase your relatability. And when an audience relates to you, they’re more likely to feel connected to who you are as a person and encouraged to give you their full attention, as they would want others to do the same.

Gill Hicks utilized this strategy well when she shared her powerful story, “ I survived a terrorist attack. Here’s what I learned .” In her harrowing tale, Hicks highlights the importance of compassion, unconditional love, and helping those in need.

If you feel uncomfortable sharing personal stories, that’s okay. You can use examples from famous individuals or create a fictional account to demonstrate your ideas.

Tip #2: Make eye contact with the audience

Maintaining eye contact is less intimidating than it sounds. In fact, you don’t have to look your audience members directly in their eyes — you can focus on their foreheads or noses if that’s easier.

Try making eye contact with as many people as possible for 3–5 seconds each. This timing ensures you don’t look away too quickly, making the audience member feel unimportant, or linger too long, making them feel uncomfortable.

If you’re presenting to a large group, direct your focus to each part of the room to ensure no section of the audience feels ignored.

Group-of-a-business-people-having-meeting-in-a-conference-room-how-to-give-a-good-presentation

Tip #3: Work on your stage presence

Although your tone and words are the most impactful part of your presentation, recall that body language keeps your audience engaged. Use these tips to master a professional stage presence:

Speak with open arms and avoid crossing them
Keep a reasonable pace and try not to stand still
Use hand gestures to highlight important information

Tip #4: Start strong

Like watching a movie trailer, the first seconds of your talk are critical for capturing your audience’s attention. How you start your speech sets the tone for the rest of your presentation and tells your audience whether or not they should pay attention. Here are some ways to start your presentation to leave a lasting impression:

Use a quote from a well-known and likable influential person
Ask a rhetorical question to create intrigue
Start with an anecdote to add context to your talk
Spark your audience’s curiosity by involving them in an interactive problem-solving puzzle or riddle

Tip #5: Show your passion

Don’t be afraid of being too enthusiastic. Everyone appreciates a speaker who’s genuinely excited about their field of expertise.

In “ Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance ,” Angela Lee Duckworth discusses the importance of passion in research and delivery. She delivers her presentation excitedly to show the audience how excitement piques interest.

Tip #6: Plan your delivery

How you decide to deliver your speech will shape your presentation. Will you be preparing a PowerPoint presentation and using a teleprompter? Or are you working within the constraints of the digital world and presenting over Zoom?

The best presentations are conducted by speakers who know their stuff and memorize their content. However, if you find this challenging, try creating notes to use as a safety net in case you lose track.

If you’re presenting online, you can keep notes beside your computer for each slide, highlighting your key points. This ensures you include all the necessary information and follow a logical order.

Woman-presenting-charts-and-data-to-work-team-how-to-give-a-good-presentation

Tip #7: Practice

Practice doesn’t make perfect — it makes progress. There’s no way of preparing for unforeseen circumstances, but thorough practice means you’ve done everything you can to succeed.

Rehearse your speech in front of a mirror or to a trusted friend or family member. Take any feedback and use it as an opportunity to fine-tune your speech. But remember: who you practice your presentation in front of may differ from your intended audience. Consider their opinions through the lens of them occupying this different position.

Tip #8: Read the room

Whether you’re a keynote speaker at an event or presenting to a small group of clients, knowing how to read the room is vital for keeping your audience happy. Stay flexible and be willing to move on from topics quickly if your listeners are uninterested or displeased with a particular part of your speech.

Tip #9: Breathe

Try taking deep breaths before your presentation to calm your nerves. If you feel rushed, you’re more likely to feel nervous and stumble on your words.

The most important thing to consider when presenting is your audience’s feelings. When you approach your next presentation calmly, you’ll put your audience at ease and encourage them to feel comfortable in your presence.

Tip #10: Provide a call-to-action

When you end your presentation, your audience should feel compelled to take a specific action, whether that’s changing their habits or contacting you for your services.

If you’re presenting to clients, create a handout with key points and contact information so they can get in touch. You should provide your LinkedIn information, email address, and phone number so they have a variety of ways to reach you.

There’s no one-size-fits-all template for an effective presentation, as your unique audience and subject matter play a role in shaping your speech. As a general rule, though, you should aim to connect with your audience through passion and excitement. Use strong eye contact and body language. Capture their interest through storytelling and their trust through relatability.

Learning how to give a good presentation can feel overwhelming — but remember, practice makes progress. Rehearse your presentation for someone you trust, collect their feedback , and revise. Practicing your presentation skills is helpful for any job, and every challenge is a chance to grow.

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

6 presentation skills and how to improve them

3 stand-out professional bio examples to inspire your own, how to write a speech that your audience remembers, how to make a presentation interactive and exciting, tell a story they can't ignore these 10 tips will teach you how, reading the room gives you an edge — no matter who you're talking to, writing an elevator pitch about yourself: a how-to plus tips, your ultimate guide on how to be a good storyteller, 18 effective strategies to improve your communication skills, similar articles, the importance of good speech: 5 tips to be more articulate, the 11 tips that will improve your public speaking skills, 30 presentation feedback examples, how to not be nervous for a presentation — 13 tips that work (really), how the minto pyramid principle can enhance your communication skills, 8 clever hooks for presentations (with tips), stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas How to Start a Presentation: 5 Strong Opening Slides and 12 Tricks To Test

How to Start a Presentation: 5 Strong Opening Slides and 12 Tricks To Test

Cover image of a How to Start a Presentation article with an illustration of a presenter giving a speech.

Knowing how to start a presentation is crucial: if you fail to capture the audience’s attention right off the bat, your entire presentation will flop. Few listeners will stick with you to the end and retain what you have told.

That is mildly unpleasant when you are doing an in-house presentation in front of your colleagues. But it can become utterly embarrassing when you present in front of larger audiences (e.g., at a conference) or worse – delivering a sales presentation to prospective customers.

Here is how most of us begin a presentation: give an awkward greeting, thank everyone for coming, clear our throats, tap the mic, and humbly start to mumble about our subject. The problem with such an opening performance? It effectively kills and buries even the best messages.

Table of Contents

The Classic Trick: Open a Presentation with an Introduction
Open a Presentation with a Hook
Begin with a Captivating Visual
Ask a “What if…” Question
Use the Word “Imagine”
Leverage The Curiosity Gap
The Power of Silence
Facts as Weapons of Communication
Fact vs. Myths
The Power of Music
Physical Activity
Acknowledging a Person

How to Start a PowerPoint Presentation The Right Way

Let’s say you have all of your presentation slides polished up (in case you don’t, check our quick & effective PowerPoint presentation design tips first). Your presentation has a clear storyline and agenda. Main ideas are broken into bite-sized statements for your slides and complemented with visuals. All you have left is to figure out how you begin presenting.

The best way is to appeal to and invoke certain emotions in your audience – curiosity, surprise, fear, or good old amusements. Also, it is recommended to present your main idea in the first 30 seconds of the presentation. And here’s how it’s done.

1. The Classic Trick: Open a Presentation with an Introduction

When you don’t feel like reinventing the wheel, use a classic trick from the book – start with a quick personal introduction. Don’t want to sound as boring as everyone else with your humble “Hi, I’m John, the head of the Customer Support Department”? Great, because we are all about promoting effective presentation techniques (hint: using a dull welcome slide isn’t one of them).

Here’s how to introduce yourself in a presentation the right way.

a. Use a link-back memory formula

To ace a presentation, you need to connect with your audience. The best way to do so is by throwing in a simple story showing who you are, where you came from, and why your words matter.

The human brain loves a good story, and we are more inclined to listen and retain the information told this way. Besides, when we can relate to the narrator (or story hero), we create an emotional bond with them, and, again – become more receptive, and less skeptical of the information that is about to be delivered.

So here are your presentation introduction lines:

My name is Joanne, and I’m the Head of Marketing at company XYZ. Five years ago I was working as a waitress, earning $10/hour and collecting rejection letters from editors. About ten letters every week landed to my mailbox. You see, I love words, but decent publisher thought mine were good enough. Except for the restaurant owner. I was very good at up-selling and recommending dishes to the customers. My boss even bumped my salary to $15/hour as a token of appreciation for my skill. And this made me realize: I should ditch creative writing and focus on copywriting instead. After loads of trial and error back in the day, I learned how to write persuasive copy. I was no longer getting rejection letters. I was receiving thousands of emails saying that someone just bought another product from our company. My sales copy pages generated over $1,500,000 in revenue over last year. And I want to teach you how to do the same”

b. Test the Stereotype Formula

This one’s simple and effective as well. Introduce yourself by sharing an obvious stereotype about your profession. This cue will help you connect with your audience better, make them chuckle a bit, and set a lighter mood for the speech to follow.

Here’s how you can frame your intro:

“My name is ___, and I am a lead software engineer at our platform [Your Job Title]. And yes, I’m that nerdy type who never liked presenting in front of large groups of people. I would rather stay in my den and write code all day long. [Stereotype]. But hey, since I have mustered enough courage…let’s talk today about the new product features my team is about to release….”

After sharing a quick, self-deprecating line, you transition back to your topic, reinforcing the audience’s attention . Both of these formulas help you set the “mood” for your further presentation, so try using them interchangeably on different occasions.

2. Open a Presentation with a Hook

Wow your audience straight off the bat by sharing something they would not expect to hear. This may be one of the popular first-time presentation tips but don’t rush to discard it.

Because here’s the thing: psychologically , we are more inclined to pay attention whenever presented with an unexpected cue. When we know what will happen next – someone flips the switch, and lights turn on – we don’t really pay much attention to that action.

But when we don’t know what to expect next – e.g., someone flips the switch and a bell starts ringing – we are likely to pay more attention to what will happen next. The same goes for words: everyone loves stories with unpredictable twists. So begin your presentation with a PowerPoint introduction slide or a line that no one expects to hear.

Here are a few hook examples you can swipe:

a. Open with a provocative statement

It creates an instant jolt and makes the audience intrigued to hear what you are about to say next – pedal back, continue with the provocation, or do something else that they will not expect.

TED.com Jane McGonigal Ted Talk - This Game Will Give You 10 Years of Life

“You will live seven and a half minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk.”

That’s how Jane McGonigal opens one of her TED talks . Shocking and intriguing, right?

b. Ask a rhetorical, thought-provoking question

Seasoned presenters know that one good practice is to ask a question at the beginning of a presentation to increase audience engagement. Rhetorical questions have a great persuasive effect – instead of answering aloud, your audience will silently start musing over it during your presentation. They aroused curiosity and motivated the audience to remain attentive, as they did want to learn your answer to this question.

To reinforce your message throughout the presentation, you can further use the Rhetorical Triangle Concept – a rhetorical approach to building a persuasive argument based on Aristotle’s teachings.

c. Use a bold number, factor stat

A clean slide with some mind-boggling stat makes an undeniably strong impact. Here are a few opening statement examples you can use along with your slide:

Shock them: “We are effectively wasting over $1.2 billion per year on producing clothes no one will ever purchase”
Create empathy: “Are you among the 20% of people with undiagnosed ADHD?”
Call to arms: “58% of marketing budgets are wasted due to poor landing page design. Let’s change this!”
Spark curiosity: “Did you know that companies who invested in speech recognition have seen a 13% increase in ROI within just 3 years?”

3. Begin with a Captivating Visual

Compelling visuals are the ABC of presentation design – use them strategically to make an interesting statement at the beginning and throughout your presentation. Your first presentation slide can be text-free. Communicate your idea with a visual instead – a photo, a chart, an infographic, or another graphics asset.

Visuals are a powerful medium for communication as our brain needs just 13 milliseconds to render what our eyes see, whereas text comprehension requires more cognitive effort.

Relevant images add additional aesthetic appeal to your deck, bolster the audience’s imagination, and make your key message instantly more memorable.

Here’s an intro slide example. You want to make a strong presentation introduction to global pollution. Use the following slide to reinforce the statement you share:

Our Iceberg Is Melting Concept with Penguins in an Iceberg

“Seven of nine snow samples taken on land in Antarctica found chemicals known as PFAs, which are used in industrial products and can harm wildlife”

Source: Reuters

4. Ask a “What if…” Question

The “what if” combo carries massive power. It gives your audience a sense of what will happen if they choose to listen to you and follow your advice. Here are a few presentations with starting sentences + slides to illustrate this option:

What if example with an Opening Slide for Presentation

Alternatively, you can work your way to this point using different questions:

Ask the audience about their “Why.” Why are they attending this event, or why do they find this topic relevant?
Use “How” as your question hook if you plan to introduce a potential solution to a problem.
If your presentation has a persuasion factor associated, use “When” as a question to trigger the interest of the audience on, for example, when they are planning to take action regarding the topic being presented (if we talk about an inspirational presentation).

What if technique analysis for a Financial topic

5. Use the Word “Imagine”

“Imagine,” “Picture This,” and “Think of” are better word choices for when you plan to begin your presentation with a quick story.

Our brain loves interacting with stories. In fact, a captivating story makes us more collaborative. Scientists have discovered that stories with tension during narrative make us:

Pay more attention,
Share emotions with the characters and even mimic the feelings and behaviors of those characters afterward.

That’s why good action movies often feel empowering and make us want to change the world too. By incorporating a good, persuasive story with a relatable hero, you can also create that “bond” with your audience and make them more perceptive to your pitch – donate money to support the cause; explore the solution you are offering, and so on.

6. Leverage The Curiosity Gap

The curiosity gap is another psychological trick frequently used by marketers to solicit more clicks, reads, and other interactions from the audience. In essence, it’s the trick you see behind all those clickbait, Buzzfeed-style headlines:

Curiosity Gap example clickbait Buzzfeed

Not everyone is a fan of such titles. But the truth is – they do the trick and instantly capture attention. The curiosity gap sparks our desire to dig deeper into the matter. We are explicitly told that we don’t know something important, and now we crave to change that. Curiosity is an incredibly strong driving force for action – think Eve, think Pandora’s Box.

So consider incorporating these attention grabbers for your presentation speech to shock the audience. You can open with one, or strategically weave them in the middle of your presentation when you feel like your audience is getting tired and may lose their focus.

Here’s how you can use the curiosity gap during your presentation:

Start telling a story, pause in the middle, and delay the conclusion of it.
Withhold the key information (e.g., the best solution to the problem you have described) for a bit – but not for too long, as this can reduce the initial curiosity.
Introduce an idea or concept and link it with an unexpected outcome or subject – this is the best opening for a presentation tip.

7. The Power of Silence

What would you do if you attended a presentation in which the speaker remains silent for 30 seconds after the presentation starts? Just the presenter, standing in front of the audience, in absolute silence.

Most likely, your mind starts racing with thoughts, expecting something of vital importance to be disclosed. The surprise factor with this effect is for us to acknowledge things we tend to take for granted.

It is a powerful resource to introduce a product or to start an inspirational presentation if followed by a fact.

8. Facts as Weapons of Communication

In some niches, using statistics as the icebreaker is the best method to retain the audience’s interest.

Say your presentation is about climate change. Why not introduce a not-so-common fact, such as the amount of wool that can be produced out of oceanic plastic waste per month? And since you have to base your introduction on facts, research manufacturers that work with Oceanic fabrics from recycled plastic bottles .

Using facts helps to build a better narrative, and also gives leverage to your presentation as you are speaking not just from emotional elements but from actually recorded data backed up by research.

9. Fact vs. Myths

Related to our previous point, we make quite an interesting speech if we contrast a fact vs. a myth in a non-conventional way: using a myth to question a well-accepted fact, then introducing a new point of view or theory, backed on sufficient research, that proves the fact wrong. This technique, when used in niches related to academia, can significantly increase the audience’s interest, and it will highlight your presentation as innovative.

Another approach is to debunk a myth using a fact. This contrast immediately piques interest because it promises to overturn commonly held beliefs, and people naturally find it compelling when their existing knowledge is put to the test. An example of this is when a nutritionist wishes to speak about how to lose weight via diet, and debunks the myth that all carbohydrates are “bad”.

10. The Power of Music

Think about a presentation that discusses the benefits of using alternative therapies to treat anxiety, reducing the need to rely on benzodiazepines. Rather than going technical and introducing facts, the presenter can play a soothing tune and invite the audience to follow an exercise that teaches how to practice breathing meditation . Perhaps, in less than 2 minutes, the presenter can accomplish the goal of exposing the advantages of this practice with a live case study fueled by the proper ambiance (due to the music played in the beginning).

11. Physical Activity

Let’s picture ourselves in an in-company presentation about workspace wellness. For this company, the sedentary lifestyle their employees engage in is a worrying factor, so they brought a personal trainer to coach the employees on a basic flexibility routine they can practice in 5 minutes after a couple of hours of desk time.

“Before we dive in, let’s all stand up for a moment.” This simple instruction breaks the ice and creates a moment of shared experience among the attendees. You could then lead them through a brief stretching routine, saying something like, “Let’s reach up high, and stretch out those muscles that get so tight sitting at our desks all day.” With this action, you’re not just talking about workplace wellness, you’re giving them a direct, personal experience of it.

This approach has several advantages. Firstly, it infuses energy into the room and increases the oxygen flow to the brain, potentially boosting the audience’s concentration and retention. Secondly, it sets a precedent that your presentation is not going to be a standard lecture, but rather an interactive experience. This can raise the level of anticipation for what’s to come, and make the presentation a topic for future conversation between coworkers.

12. Acknowledging a Person

How many times have you heard the phrase: “Before we begin, I’d like to dedicate a few words to …” . The speaker could be referring to a mentor figure, a prominent person in the local community, or a group of people who performed charity work or obtained a prize for their hard work and dedication. Whichever is the reason behind this, acknowledgment is a powerful force to use as a method of starting a presentation. It builds a connection with the audience, it speaks about your values and who you admire, and it can transmit what the conversation is going to be about based on who the acknowledged person is.

Closing Thoughts

Now you know how to start your presentation – you have the opening lines, you have the slides to use, and you can browse even more attractive PowerPoint presentation slides and templates on our website. Also, we recommend you visit our article on how to make a PowerPoint Presentation to get familiarized with the best tactics for professional presentation design and delivery, or if you need to save time preparing your presentation, we highly recommend you check our AI Presentation Maker to pair these concepts with cutting-edge slide design powered by AI.

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Curiosity Gap, Opening, Public Speaking, Rhetorical Triangle, Speech, What If Filed under Presentation Ideas

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How to Write an Executive Summary and Translate It Into a Presentation

An executive summary is a crucial document that summarizes the essence of a business proposal, plan, or project. It is the first thing an investor, partner, or executive reads to determine if a project is worth investing in. Because they’re looking for high level updates, it should be concise, clear, and convincing.

It’s one thing to write a killer executive summary and another to translate it into a presentation that keeps your audience engaged and interested. In a presentation, an executive summary is usually a “too long, didn’t read” slide at the end of the deck (although it can be an entire presentation, too). If your summary is effective, executives should be able to pick up the key takeaways from the presentation in just a few points.

In this blog post, we'll explore the key elements of a winning executive summary and how you can include it in your deck.

How to write an effective executive summary

If an executive summary is foreign to you, let’s start with how to write one. Keep these 3 things in mind when writing your next executive summary.

Understand your audience

The first step to crafting an effective executive summary is to understand your audience. Who are they? What are their interests, goals, and challenges? Pinpointing what they care about most, and answering those questions, will help you tailor your summary to their needs. If you're presenting to investors, for example, you'll want to highlight the financial benefits of your proposal. Similarly, if you're presenting to executives, you'll want to focus on the strategic implications.

Focus on the biggest wins

Your executive summary should highlight the biggest wins or benefits of your proposal or project. Think of it as a high level overview— or sparknotes— of your story. What's in it for your audience? What problem does it solve, or what opportunity does it create? Highlight these wins upfront and organize them in a logical and compelling way. You might opt for bullet points, graphics, or charts to emphasize key points and make them easier to digest.

Keep it simple and clear

A good executive summary should be concise and easy to understand. After all, the whole point is to summarize your content. To keep things simple, avoid jargon, technical terms, or complex charts that may confuse your audience. Remember, your goal is to communicate effectively and get to the point quickly, not to impress your audience with your vocabulary.

Adding an executive summary to your presentation

Now that you know the basics of how to write an executive summary, let’s add it to your presentation.

As we mentioned, you should limit your executive summary to one slide and only include the most important and meaningful information. Usually, this slide will live at the end of the deck so your audience can refer back to it for a quick recap of the presentation when they need to make a decision.

Tell a compelling story

Imagine your audience skimmed through the entire deck and is relying on the last slide to tell them exactly what they need to know— will it make sense? Even though an executive summary is short and sweet, it should still maintain a nice flow.

People love stories, so use that to your advantage. Compile your key takeaways in a compelling story that captures the essence of your proposal or project. Use anecdotes, examples, or data that demonstrate its value and impact. You might also include one or two visuals, or videos, that bring your story to life and grab the attention of your audience.

Practice and prepare

As with any presentation, practice makes perfect. But chances are, if you’re including an executive summary, you’re presenting to a powerful audience and the stakes are high. Take the time to rehearse your presentation in front of a mirror or a friend to eliminate any kinks. Pay attention to your body language, tone of voice, and timing.

You’ll also want to ensure your presentation is well-organized, and your visuals or videos are working correctly. Lastly, be prepared to answer questions or objections and have backup data or evidence to support your claims in your executive summary.

Jordan Turner

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

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InfoQ Homepage Presentations How Netflix Really Uses Java

How Netflix Really Uses Java

Paul Bakker discusses Netflix’s use of Java, emphasizing the use of microservices, RxJava, Hystrix and Spring Cloud.

Paul Bakker is a Java Champion and developer in the Java Platform team at Netflix. At Netflix he works on evolving the Java tech stack and developer tooling. He is also one of the original authors of the DGS Framework (GraphQL) and co-authored two Java modularity books published by O’Reilly.

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Bakker: I'm going to talk about how Netflix is really using Java. You probably know that Netflix is really just about RxJava microservices, with Hystrix and Spring Cloud. Really, Chaos Monkeys are just running the show. I'm only half getting here because a few years ago, this was actually mostly true, maybe except the Chaos Monkeys. This stack was something that we were building on in the last several years. Things have changed. Quite often, I have conversations with people at conferences like this one, where they're like, yes, we were using the Netflix stack. Like, which stack exactly are you talking about? It's almost never the stack that we're actually using. These are just things that people associate with Netflix, because we've been talking about our technology for so many years, but things might have changed a little bit. We're going to bust some myths. We're going to take a look at what we're actually doing with Java. Things are ever-evolving. Things are literally just changing all the time.

My name is Paul. I'm in the Java Platform at Netflix. Java Platform is responsible for the libraries, frameworks, and tooling that we built around Java, so that all our Java developers have a good time developing Java applications. I'm also a Java champion. I have been in the Java space for quite a long time. In the past, I wrote two books about Java modularity. I'm also one of the first authors of the DGS framework, that's the GraphQL framework we use for Java. We'll talk quite a bit about DGS, and how that all fits in the architecture.

Evolving Architecture

Before we start diving into JVMs and how we use Java, and the framework that we're using, we have to understand a little bit better how our architecture has been evolving. That explains why we did things in a certain way with Java several years ago, and we're doing things quite differently today. What you should understand about Java at Netflix is that we have a lot of Java. We are basically a Java shop, and every backend at Netflix is basically a Java app. We have many applications. At the size of Netflix, there's lots of internal applications to just keep track of things. We're also one of the largest film studios in the world. There's a lot of software being developed just to produce films, basically, again, all Java. Then of course, we have what we call the streaming app, which is basically the Netflix app, as you probably know it. That is what we're looking at here. This screen here is what we call the LOLOMO, the list of list of movies. That is just one example of an application that is backed by Java. You have to understand that pretty much everything that I'm talking about, that is true for basically every backend in Java. We use the same architecture now for pretty much all our different systems, both internal and consumer facing, and we use the same tech stack everywhere. Although I'm giving that example, because it's just a large example to play with, it's much more universal than that.

The Groovy Era

When I joined Netflix almost seven years ago, we were in what I call the Groovy era. What you probably know about Netflix, and this is still true, is that Netflix has a microservices ecosystem. Basically, every piece of functionality and every piece of data is owned by a specific microservice. There's many of them, literally thousands of them. On the slide here, I just made it up, because it makes sense in my head. It's a much-simplified version of what we actually have in production. Think about this LOLOMO screen, this list of list of movies that we just looked at, at a previous slide, you're probably familiar with that screen, that to render that screen, we would have to fetch data from many different microservices. Maybe there's like a top 10 service that we need, because we need a top 10 list of movies. That's backed by a specific service. Then there's an artwork service that gives us the images as we show in the LOLOMO, and these are all personalized as well. There's probably a movie metadata service, which gives us movie titles and actors and descriptions of movies. There's probably a LOLOMO service which is actually giving us what lists to actually render, which again is personalized. I say that we have maybe 10 services to call out to. It will be usually inefficient if your device, let's say, your TV, or your iOS device will just do 10 network calls to these different microservices. It will just not scale at all. You would have a very bad customer experience. It would feel like using the Disney app. It's just not ideal. Instead, we need a single front door for the API where your device is calling out to. From there, we do a fanout to all the different microservices, because now we are in our network, we are on a very fast network. Now we can do that fanout without performance implications. We have another problem to solve, because all these different devices, in subtle ways, they're all a little bit different. We try to make the UI look and behave similar on every different device. All these different devices, like a TV versus an iOS device have very different limitations when it comes to memory, network bandwidth. They actually load data in subtly different ways.

Think about, how would you create an API that would work for all these different devices? Let's say you create a REST API. We're probably going to get either too little or too much data. If we create one REST API to rule them all, it's going to be a bad experience for all these different devices, because we always waste some data, or we have to do multiple network calls, which is also bad. To fix that problem, what we did is we used what we call a backend for frontend pattern. Basically, every frontend, every UI gets its own mini backend. That mini backend is then responsible for doing the fanout and get the data that that UI exactly needs at that specific point. They used to be backed by a Groovy script. That mini backend was basically a Groovy script for a specific screen on a specific device, or actually a version of a specific device. These scripts would be written by UI developers, because they are the only ones who actually know what data exactly they need to render a specific screen. This Groovy script would just live in an API server, which is a giant Java app, basically. It would do a fanout to all these different microservices by just calling Java client libraries. These client libraries are just basically wrappers for either a gRPC service, or a REST client.

Now, here we started seeing an interesting problem, because, how do you take care of such a fanout in Java? That's actually really not trivial. Because if you will do this the traditional way, you create a bunch of threads, and you start to manage that fanout with just minimal thread management, that gets very hairy very quickly, because it's not just managing a bunch of threads, it is also taking care of fault tolerance. What if one of those services are not responding quickly enough? What if it is just failing? Now we have to clean up threads and make sure that everything comes together nicely again. Again, not trivial at all. This is where RxJava and reactive programming really came in. Because reactive programming gives you a much better way to do such fanouts. It will take care of all the thread management and stuff like that you need to do. Exactly because of this fanout behavior, that is why we went so deep into the reactive programming space, and we were partly responsible for making RxJava a big thing many years ago. On top of RxJava, we created Hystrix, which is a fault tolerant library, which takes care of failover and bulkheading, and all these things. This made a lot of sense seven years ago when I joined. This was the big architecture that was serving most traffic. Actually, it is still a big part of our architecture, because depending on what device you're using, if it's a slightly older device, you probably still get served by this API, because we don't have just the one architecture we have many architectures, because it is nicer that way.

Limitations

There are some limitations, although this obviously works really well, because we have been able to grow our member base based on this architecture primarily. One downside is that there's a script for each endpoint. Because, again, we need an API for each of these different UIs. There are just a lot of scripts to maintain and manage. Another problem is that because the UI developers have to create all the mini backends because they are the ones who know what data they need, they have to write those. Now they are in the Groovy Java space and using RxJava. Although they're very capable of doing so, it's probably not a primary language that they are using on a daily basis. The main problem is really that reactive is just really hard. Speaking for myself, I've been doing reactive programming for at least 10 years. I used to be extremely excited about it, and tell everyone about how great it all is. It is actually hard, because even if with that experience, look at a non-trivial piece of reactive code, I have no clue what's going on. It takes me quite a bit of time to actually wrap my head around, ok, this is actually what's happening. These are the operations that are supposed to happen. This is the fallback behavior. It's hard.

GraphQL Federation

Slowly, we have been migrating to a completely new architecture, and that is, we're putting things to a different perspective. That's all based on GraphQL Federation. Comparing GraphQL to REST, one very important aspect of GraphQL is that with GraphQL, you always have a schema. In your schema, you put all your operations, so your queries and your mutations, and you define them, and you tell it exactly which fields are available from the types that you're returning from your queries. Here we have a shows query, which returns a show type, and a show as a title, and it has reviews. Reviews again is another type that we define. Then we can send a query to our API, which is on the right-hand side of the slide. What we have to do there, and this is, again, really important, we have to be explicit about our field selection. We can't just ask for shows and get old data from shows. Now we have to say specifically that you want to get a title and the star score on reviews on a show. If we're not asking for a field, we're not getting a field. It is super important because again, compared with REST, very basically, you get whatever the REST service decides to send you. You're just getting the data that you're explicitly asking for. It's more work if you specify your query, but it solves the whole problem of over-fetching, where you get much more data than you actually need. This makes it much easier to create one API that serves all the different UIs. Typically, when you send a GraphQL query, you will just get the result back encoded as JSON.

We're not just doing GraphQL, we're actually doing GraphQL Federation to fit it back into our microservices architecture. In this picture, we still have our microservices, but now we call them DGSs. They're just a term that we at Netflix came up with. It's a domain graph service. Basically, it's just a GraphQL service. There's really nothing special about it, but we call them DGSs. A DGS is just a Java microservice, but it has a GraphQL endpoint. It has a GraphQL API. That also means it has a schema, because we said that for GraphQL, you always have a schema. The interesting thing is that we have, of course, many different DGSs, many different microservices. From the perspective of a device, so from the perspective of your TV, for example, there's just one big GraphQL schema. The GraphQL schema contains all the possible data that we have to render, let's say a LOLOMO. Your device doesn't care that there might be a whole bunch of different microservices in the backend, and that these different microservices might provide part of that schema. On the other side of the story on the microservices sides, in this example, our LOLOMO DGS is defining a type show, with just a title. The images DGS can extend that type show and add an artwork URL to it. These two different DGSs don't know anything about each other than the fact that there is a show type. It can both contribute parts of that schema, even on the same types. All they need to do is publish their schema to the federated gateway. Now the federated gateway knows how to talk to a DGS because they all have a /GraphQL endpoint. That's it. It knows these different parts of the schema, so if a query comes in where we ask for both title and artwork URL, it knows that it has to call out to these different DGSs, and fetch the data that it needs. On a very high level, not that different from what you previously had, but there's a lot of differences in the details.

I'll also change our story here. First of all, we don't have any API duplication anymore. We don't need a backend for frontend anymore because GraphQL as an API is flexible enough, because of field selection that we don't really need to create those device specific APIs anymore. It also means we don't have server-side development for UI engineers anymore. That's great. We do get a schema to collaborate on. That's a big deal, because now we have closed the gap between UI developers and backend engineers, because now they can collaborate on a schema and figure out, ok, what data do we need in what format? Very importantly, we don't have any client libraries in Java anymore, because the federated gateway just knows how to talk to a generic GraphQL service. It doesn't need specific code to call out to the specific API. It's all just GraphQL. All it needs to know, how to talk to a GraphQL service. That's all. It's all based on the GraphQL specification. We don't need specific code to call to a specific microservice anymore.

What Does that Mean for Our Java Stack?

Now we get into, how does that change our Java stack? There's really no place anymore where we need Rx, or Hystrix, or such things, because previously, we needed this because we needed that specific code to call out, ok, I want to call this microservice and then this microservice, and at the same time, this other microservice. We needed an API for that. We don't need it anymore, because that's now taken care of by the GraphQL Federation specification. That's not completely true, because the federated gateway itself is actually still using a web client to call the different DGSs, and that is still reactive. However, it is not using any specific code for this microservice anymore. It's actually a very straightforward piece of web client code where it knows, ok, I have to call these three services, just go do it. It's all GraphQL, so it's very simple. All the DGSs and the other microservices in the backend, they're all just normal Java apps. There's not really anything specific about them. They don't need to do any reactive style of programming pretty much anywhere.

The Micro in Microservices

Before we dive deep into the rest of our Java stack, I want to speak a little bit about the micro in microservices, because it's another thing that people seem to be confused about how it actually works in practice. It is true that a microservice owns a specific functionality or dataset. More importantly that such microservices are owned by a single team. That is a really important part about microservices. It is all even more true with this GraphQL federated architecture, because it's now even easier to just split things out in different microservices and make it all work very nicely. However, don't be fooled by the size of those microservices, because a lot of those so-called microservices at Netflix are a lot larger, just looking at the code base, than the big monoliths that I've worked at, at many other companies. Some of these systems are really big. There's a lot of code there. Of course, when they get deployed, they might be deployed on clusters of thousands of AWS instances. There's really nothing small about them. That also answers the question, should I do microservices? It depends on your team size. Do you have like the one team that takes care of everything, and it's just a small team? If you would add microservices there, you're just adding complexity at that point for no good reason. If you want to split your team into smaller teams, basically, and just because of team size, then it also makes sense to split up your larger system into smaller pieces so that each team can own and operate one or more of those services.

Java at Netflix

Time to actually really get into the Java side of things. We now know, on a higher level, how and where we're using Java. Now we talk about how it actually looks like. We are now mostly on Java 17. It is about time. We are already also actively testing and rolling out with Java 21. Java 21 just came out officially. We're just using a regular Azul Zulu JVM. It's just an OpenJDK build. We are not building our own JVM, we don't have any plans to build our own JVM. Although there was a very interesting Reddit thread claiming that we do. We really don't, and have no interest in doing so. OpenJDK is really great. We have about 2800 Java applications. These are mostly all microservices of a variety of sizes. Then about 1500 internal libraries. Some of them are actual libraries, and many of them are just client libraries, which is basically just sitting in front of a gRPC or REST service. For our build system, we use Gradle, and on top of Gradle we have Nebula, that's a set of open sourced Gradle plugins. The most important aspect of Nebula, and I highly recommend looking into this, is, first in resolution of libraries. As you know, Java has a flat classpath. You can only have the one version of the library at a given time, if you have more than one version, interesting things happen. To prevent these interesting things from happening, you really want to just pick one, basically, and Nebula takes care of that. The next thing that Nebula does is version locking. Basically, you will get reproducible builds that you always build with the same set of versions of libraries until you explicitly upgrade. That makes it all very reproducible. We're pretty much exclusively using IntelliJ as our IDE. In the last few years, we have also invested a lot of effort in actually developing IntelliJ plugins, to help developers doing the right thing.

The Java 17 Upgrade

We are mostly on Java 17. That is actually a big deal, because this is embarrassing, but at the beginning of the year, we were mostly on Java 8. Java 8 is old. Why were we still on Java 8? Because we had Java 11, and then Java 17 available for a very long time already. Somehow, we just didn't move. One of the reasons is that until about a year ago, about half of our microservices, especially the bigger ones, were still on our old application stack. It was not Spring. It was a homegrown thing based on Guice, and a lot of old Java EE APIs, lots of old libraries that were no longer maintained. At the very beginning when we started upgrading to Java 11 initially, a lot of these older libraries were just not compatible. Then developers just got the impression that this upgrade is hard, and it breaks things, and I should probably just not do it. On the other hand, there was also very limited perceived benefits for developers, because if you compare Java 8 to Java 17, there's definitely some nice language features. Text blocks alone are enough reason for me to upgrade, but it's not that big of a deal. The differences between 8 and 17 is nice, but it's not like changing your life that much. There was more excitement about moving to Kotlin than we did in just upgrading to JDK.

When we finally did start pushing on updating to Java 17, we saw something really interesting. We saw about 20% better CPU usage on 17 versus Java 8, without any code changes. It was all just because of improvements in G1, the garbage collector that we are mostly using. Twenty-percent better CPU is a big deal at the scale that we're running. That's a lot of money, potentially. Speaking about G1, G1 is the garbage collector that we use for most of our workloads, at the moment. We've tested with all the different garbage collectors available. G1 is generally where we got the best balance of tradeoffs. There are some exceptions, for example, Zuul, which is our proxy. It runs on Shenandoah, that's the low pause time garbage collector. For most workloads, Shenandoah doesn't work as well as G1 does. Although G1 isn't that exciting anymore, it is still just really good.

Now that we have finally made a big push to Java 17, and we've got most services just upgraded, we also have Java 21 available. We've been testing with that for quite a few months already. Now things really get exciting. The first exciting thing is that if you're on Java 17, upgrading to Java 21 is almost a no-op. It's just super easy. You don't have the problems that we had from Java 8 to newer versions. There's also just a lot more interesting features. The first obvious one that I'm super excited about is virtual threads. This is just copy-paste, it's from the JEP, the specification from Java 21 of virtual threads. It's supposed to enable server applications written in a simple thread-per-request style to scale at near optimal hardware utilization. It sounds pretty good. This thread-per-request style, if you're using something that's based on servlets, so Spring Web MVC, or any other framework based on servlets, thread-per-request is basically what you get. A request comes in, Tomcat or whatever server you're using gives it a thread. That thread is basically where all the work happens, or starts happening for the specific request, and stays through that request until the request is done. That is a very simple style and easy to understand style of programming, and all the frameworks are based on that. It has some scalability limitations, because you can only have so many threads effectively running in a system. If you have a lot of requests coming in, which we obviously have, then the number of threads is just a limiting factor in how you can scale your systems. Changing that model is really important. The alternative to that is, of course, doing reactive again, so do something like WebFlux. That also gets you in reactive programming, again, with all the complexities that we already talked about.

Now, I think that virtual threads is probably the most exciting Java feature since probably lambdas. I think that down the line, it is really going to change the way we write and scale our Java code. I think that, in the end, it is probably going to further reduce reactive code, because there's just not really any need for it anymore. It just takes away that complexity. We have already been running virtual threads in production for the last month or so, experimenting with it a little bit. I'll get back to that in more detail. Then the other interesting feature in Java 21 is the new garbage collector or the updated garbage collector, because ZGZ is not new. That was already available in previous versions. They now made it generational, and that makes it give more benefits over G1 as a garbage collector has. That will make ZGC a better fit for a broader variety of workloads. It's still focused on low pause times, but it will just work in a broader variety of use cases. It's a little bit early to tell because we haven't done enough testing with this yet, but we are expecting that ZGC is now going to be a really good performance upgrade, basically, for a lot of our workloads and a lot of our services. Again, these things are a really big deal, where we could save a lot of money on resources. Shenandoah is also now generational, but that is still in preview. Again, we're going to just run with that and see what happens. Garbage collection is really just too complex of a topic to just know that, drop in this garbage collector with this flex, and it's all going to be magic and super-fast. Just doesn't work that way. It's a business where you just try things out and then you tweak it a bit, and you try it again, and then you find the optimal state. We're not quite there yet. We are expecting to see some very interesting things there. Then, finally, in Java 21, you just also have a lot of nice language features. We get this concept of data-oriented programming now in the Java language. It is really nice. It's the combination of records and pattern matching and things like that. Java is pretty nice right now.

Virtual Threads

Back to virtual threads. Although I said that this is a big deal, and is probably going to change the way we write our code and scale our code, it is also not a free lunch. It's not just that you enable Java 21 on your instances, and now by the magic of virtual threads, everything runs faster. It doesn't work that way. First of all, we have to change our framework library, and to some extent application code to actually start leveraging virtual threads, so step one. There are a few obvious places where we can do that and already started experimenting, so the Tomcat connection pool. Again, these are the pool of threads where it gives threads-per-request. That seems a fairly obvious place where we can just use virtual threads instead. Instead of using a thread pool, you use virtual threads. Before you enable that, you are already running some big services in production with virtual threads enabled. It doesn't automatically make things a lot faster, because you need to do other things as well to really leverage it. It also doesn't make things worse. If you can just safely enable this basically, sometimes get some benefits out of it, sometimes it doesn't really change it because it wasn't a limiting factor. That's something that you should probably start with. Async task execution in Spring that is, again, just a thread pool, and very often you get blocking code for other network calls there anyway. It seems to be a good candidate for virtual threads, so we enabled it there. Then a really big one that we haven't really gotten into yet, but I expect that will be game changing is how we do GraphQL query execution. Potentially with GraphQL, every field can be fetched in parallel. It makes a lot of sense that we would actually do that on virtual threads because, again, this is often work in code where you do more network calls and things like that. Virtual threads just make a lot of sense there, but we have to implement this and test it out, and it'll probably take a little bit of time before we get the optimal model there.

Then we have some other places that seemed obvious. For example, we have a thread worker pool for gRPC clients where the gRPC calls to outgoing services happen. It seemed like such an obvious place like, let's drop in virtual threads there. Then we saw that we actually decreased performance by a few percent. It turns out that these gRPC client worker pools are very CPU intensive. If you then drop in virtual threads, you actually make things worse. That's not a bad thing, necessarily. This is just something that we had to learn. It does show that this is not a free lunch. We actually have to figure out, where does it make sense, where does it not make sense, and implement virtual threads at the right points, basically. The good news is this is mostly all framework work at this point. We can do it as a platform team, and we can do it in open source libraries that we're using. Then our developers will just get faster apps, basically. It's good. In Spring 6.1, or Spring Boot 3.2, there's a lot of work being done to leverage virtual threads out of the box, that will come out next month. We will probably adopt that somewhere early next year. Then there's a really interesting discussion going on on GitHub, in GraphQL Java, about changing the GraphQL query execution, or potentially even rewriting it to fully leverage virtual threads. That is not figured out yet. It's a discussion going on. If you're in that space, that's definitely something to contribute to, I think. Then for the user code, because all this other stuff is mostly framework code, for user code, I think structured concurrency is the other place that we're going to see a lot of replacement of reactive code. Because structured concurrency is finally giving us the API to deal with things like fanouts, and then bringing everything together again. Structured concurrency is still in preview in Java 21. It seems very close to final, so I think it's at least safe to start experimenting with this and try things out. Then a little bit further down the line, we also get scoped values, which is another new specification coming out related to virtual threads. That is going to give us a way to basically get rid of ThreadLocal. This is again mostly framework related work. It's just a much nicer and more efficient way of something similar to ThreadLocal.

Spring Boot Netflix

I've already mentioned a little bit that we use Spring Boot. Since about a year or so we have completely standardized on Spring Boot. Up until a year ago, about 50% of our applications were still on our own homegrown, not maintained at all, Java stack based on Guice, and a bunch of very outdated Java EE libraries. We didn't really make a good push in getting everything on Spring Boot. All the new applications were based on Spring Boot already. That became very messy, especially because that old homegrown framework just wasn't maintained very well. We made a really big effort to just get all the services migrated to Spring Boot. That migration was mostly just a lot of blood, sweat, and tears of a lot of teams. It's just not easy to go from one programming model to another one. As platform teams, we did provide a lot of tooling, for example, IntelliJ plugins to take care of, where possible, the code migrations and configuration migrations and things like that. Still, it was just a lot of work. Pretty painful. Now that we are on Spring Boot, though, we have like the one framework that everyone is using that makes things a lot nicer for everyone. We are trying to mostly just use the latest version of OSS Spring Boot. We're going to be using 3.1, and try to stay as close as possible to the open source community because that's where we get the most benefit. On top of that, we need a lot of integration with our Netflix ecosystem and the infrastructure that we have. That is what we call Spring Boot Netflix, and is basically just a whole set of modules which we build on top of Spring Boot. That's basically just developed in the same way as Spring Boot itself is built, so lots of auto-configurations. That's where we add things like gRPC client and server support that's very integrated with our SSO stack, for AuthZ and AuthN. You get observability, so tracing, metrics, and distributed logging. We have a whole bunch of HTTP clients that take care of mTLS and again observability and integration with the security stack. We deploy all these applications with embedded Tomcat, which is pretty standard for a Spring Boot application.

To give an idea of the features, how that looks like. We have, for example, a gRPC Spring client. This looks very Spring-like, but it is something that we added. Basically, this is referencing a property file, which describes the gRPC service, it tells where the service lives. It configures failover behavior. That way, you can just use a Java API with an extra annotation to call another gRPC service. With that, you also get things like observability completely for free. For any request, either gRPC or HTTP, you get observability for free with tracing, and metrics, and all these things available. Another example is maybe integrate with Spring security, so we can get our SSO color. You get the user basically, that's called your service, even if there were many services in between in a cold chain. As I said, we integrated with Spring Security to also do role-based authentication based on our own authentication models.

Why Spring Boot?

You might be wondering, why are we using Spring Boot, why not some other more fancy framework? Because, of course, there's been a lot of innovation in the Java space in the last few years with other frameworks available. Spring Boot is really the most popular Java framework, that doesn't necessarily make it better, but it does give a lot of leverage when it comes to using the open source community, which is really big, of course, for Spring Boot, and accessing documentation, training, and all these things. More importantly, I think, is just looking at the Spring framework, it has been just so well maintained over the years. I think I started using the Spring framework 15 years ago. It is quite amazing, actually, that that framework has been so stable and so well-evolved, basically, over time, because it's not the same thing as it was 15 years ago, but a lot of the concepts are still there. It gives us a lot of trust, basically in the Spring team that also in the future, this will be a very good place to be basically.

The Road to Spring Boot 3

Almost a year ago, Spring Boot 3 came out, and that was a big deal, because Spring Boot 3 really just involves the Java ecosystem, I think, because the Java ecosystem was a little bit stuck in two different ways. The first reason is that if you look at the open source ecosystem in Java, it was stuck on Java 8, because a lot of companies were stuck on Java 8, and no one wanted to be the first one who would break that basically. Companies didn't upgrade because everything just worked fine on Java 8 anyway. Now, finally, the Spring team has said, we are done with Java 8, Java 17 is your new baseline. Now we force the whole community basically, to say, ok, fine, we'll do Java 17, and everything can start moving again. Now we can start leveraging those new language features. It also makes it possible that although it's just baseline on Java 17, we can actually also start using Java 21 with virtual threads under the hood. That's exactly what they're doing. The second part is the whole mess around Javax to Jakarta, thanks to Oracle. This is just a simple namespace change, but it is extremely complex for a library ecosystem, because a library can either use Javax or Jakarta, and that makes it either compatible with one but not the other. That's super painful now, because the Spring team is now saying, ok, if you're just doing Jakarta, now the whole ecosystem can start moving because it had such a big impact. We finally get past that point that they were stuck on. It is a big change to get on these new things still, so moving to Spring Boot 3 isn't fulfilled, and we've done a lot of tooling work to make that happen. Probably the most interesting one there is we open sourced a Gradle plugin that does bytecode transformation at artifact resolution time. When you download an artifact, a JAR file, it will do bytecode translation if you're on Spring Boot 3 from Javax to Jakarta, so it basically just fixes that whole namespace problem on the fly, and you don't have to change your library. That gets us unstuck.

DGS Framework

Then I talked quite a bit about DGS. DGS is not some concept, GraphQL Federation is the concept. The DGS framework is just a framework that that we use to build our GraphQL services in Java. About three or four years ago, when we started the journey on to GraphQL and GraphQL Federation, there really wasn't any good Java framework out there, that was mature enough for us to use it at our scale. There was GraphQL Java, which is a lower level GraphQL library. That library is great, and we are building on top of it. This is completely crucial for us, but it's too low level to use directly in an application, at least in my opinion. With v1 that is a GraphQL framework for Spring Boot, and basically giving a programming model based on annotation as you are used to in Spring Boot. We needed things like code generation for schema types, and support for federation and all these things. That's exactly what you're getting with the DGS framework. About, I think it's almost three years ago, we decided to open source the DGS framework. It's on GitHub. There's a really large community. There's lots of companies using it now. It's also exactly the version that we were using at Netflix, so we're not using a fork or anything like that. It's really evolved really nicely over the last few years.

You might be wondering if you are actually in the GraphQL and Spring space, you probably have seen that in Spring Boot 3, the Spring team also added GraphQL support, which they called Spring GraphQL. That was not ideal for the larger community, because now the community would have to choose between, ok, do I bet on the DGS framework, or do I go with Spring GraphQL? Both seem interesting, both seem great. Both have an interesting feature set, but a different feature set. What do I bet on? I could go and sell you the DGS framework, how that's better and better evolves, and faster, and all these things which are right now probably true, because we've been around for a little bit longer. That's really not the point, the point is that you shouldn't have to choose. In the last few months, we have been working with the Spring team to get full integration between those two frameworks. What you basically get with that is that you can combine the DGS and Spring GraphQL programming models and its features in the same app, and it will just happily live together. That's possible because we're both using GraphQL Java as the low-level library. That's how it all fits together. We just integrated the framework really deeply. We're still finishing that, and that is probably going to be released early 2024. At least that gives you that idea. It doesn't really matter if you would pick the DGS framework today. It doesn't get you stuck in there and not be able to leverage features coming from Spring team, because very soon you will just be able to combine both very nicely.

Questions and Answers

Participant 1: Are you guys still using Zuul?

Bakker: We are, yes. Zuul is sitting in front of literally every request. Zuul is just a proxy. It's doing a lot of traffic control, basically. It's not the API server that we talked about earlier. Zuul sits in front of either the DGS federated architecture or like the old architecture.

Participant 2: You talked about the upgrade for Java having a limited perceived value there. I think that's interesting. I think a lot of enterprises tend to have this mindset of if it isn't broke, don't fix it, [inaudible 00:44:02]. What did you do to change that perception, or was it just the Spring upgrade that kicked your guys about to do the upgrade?

Bakker: No, actually, the main story was the performance benefit. The fact that we could say that, you get 20% better performance. It depends a little bit on the service, how that number actually looks like and what it actually means. The number is real. The fact that you could say that, that made a lot of service owners more interested in it, but it also gave leadership higher up just to push like, this is going to save money, go do it. That was actually the most helpful thing. The Spring Boot upgrade came later, and also forces the issue, but it was after the fact.

Participant 3: A lot of advancements to OpenJDK, so from 8 to 17, did it directly go from 8 to 17?

Bakker: We had services running on Java 11 because the plan was 8, 11, 17. Java 11, we had services running there, it never really took off because there just wasn't enough benefit. We mostly went from 8 to 17.

Participant 3: Then that's one of the things depending on the collectors as he was talking about, there was some impact with respect to stop-the-world pauses and some background collections that's happening with Shenandoah and ZGC. There's a tradeoff, but a lot of improvements went into reducing the memory sets and everything like that.

Participant 4: You mentioned that 20% was what you needed, but how did you even secure the time to actually experiment with that? How did you convince stakeholders to say, we're going to spend some time doing an upgrade on some services, and then we'll demonstrate the values with that?

Bakker: There is the benefit of having a platform team as we have. If I look at my own time, I could do whatever I want. If I think there is some interesting failure to be had in experimenting with garbage collection, I'm actually not mostly doing performance work, there's actually other folks who are much better at that. It's just an example. If there is potential failure in there, if you can get a time to just experiment with it and play with it, basically, because our time of like one or two people is like drops in the water.

Participant 5: Did you see any difference in the memory footprint between virtual threads versus a traditional one for the same number of request-responses. The second is regarding the GraphQL versus traditional SOAP, because SOAP was superseded by REST back in the days when I was thinking that was very precious, and your network was very important if you don't have a large number of data going through easily. Now that data is cheap, so it has the disadvantage of the schema going between the client and the server. I see that GraphQL also had the same problem now that we have the other query and the schema, going between the client and the server. How do you see the REST, SOAP, and GraphQL in that conjecture?

Bakker: I think SOAP had, conceptually, a few things. For example, the fact that there is a schema, that was a good thing. It was so incredibly hard to use and complex, that the overhead of doing the right things was just too much. Then REST, at least the way everyone is using REST, went the other extreme like no schema, no nothing at all, nothing is defined. You just throw in some data and we're all good. I think GraphQL sits in the middle there. It doesn't have a lot of overhead for developers to implement the schema. It's very easy. It's much easier than SOAP was, just from using it. You do get a schema and that takes away a lot of the downsides of just having REST in the schema. It feels like it has found the sweet spot for APIs. Probably if I'm back here 10 years from now, I will be like, "GraphQL, a terrible idea. How did we ever get to that?" You know how that goes. Right now, it feels like a sweet spot.

There is a difference, that is why we have to be very careful about ending virtual threads where we replace traditional thread pools. Depending on if these thread pools are very CPU intensive or not, it does or does not make a lot of sense. The memory footprint doesn't seem to be a big factor. We haven't seen any significant bumps there at all. Again, it's all very early days, and we're just experimenting with everything. We haven't quite figured it out yet. It seems to be very straightforward from memory.

Participant 6: Then I was just wondering about your Kotlin usage percentage, and what that is looking like?

Bakker: It is fairly low. For a while we had a bunch of teams, including my own team, very excited about Kotlin. The DGS framework itself is written in Kotlin, although it's targeting mostly Java apps. That's my choice. We have microservices written in Kotlin, as well. The only downside that we see with Kotlin is we invest more in developer tooling, so IntelliJ plugins and automated tooling based on Gradle to help with these version upgrades with Spring, and all these things. That story is much harder for a platform team if you have to deal with multiple languages. Because either for an IntelliJ plugin, even if it's both from JetBrains, you need to write your inspections in IntelliJ twice if you want to use both Java and Kotlin. It's just a lot more work. It's just a lot easier for platform teams if everyone is just happily using Java. That doesn't make Kotlin bad, though. We have only seen good things about Kotlin and it works just pretty well. It's a great language.

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Recorded at:

Feb 26, 2024

Paul Bakker

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