Presentation Types, Styles and Skills

Let's begin with the different types of presentations.

Informal presentations differ from the formal kind by encouraging more feedback from the audience, engaging with viewers and sometimes even letting the audience dictate the next step in a presentation. This informal format is often more interesting as you get to join in with it, may not know where it's going and have clear information presented in quicker succession. Some examples of these informal presentations are as follows:

• TedxTalks are events that feature speakers sharing their ideas in a presentational form. They are short, powerful, and often feature personal stories, humour and engaging visuals.

• Television interviews, especially those hosted on talk shows, are informal as a lot of the time, the interviewee doesn't know exactly what questions they will be asked, and the lack of structure around the interview gives an informal feel. A relaxed discussion (and perhaps lots of questions) about them or their lives or a product they're introducing, in addition to humour involved in these productions, give a laid-back vibe to the presentation.

• Classroom presentations by younger children are informal in the sense that even though there is planning and structure in some ways, generally those in the classroom don't have the experience in presenting subjects to an audience, so there will be more pauses, more questions, more stumbling. This gives an informal feel to the presentation as a whole, but we all have to start somewhere!

Moving onto more formal styles of presentations, these are less engaging directly with the audience and more motivated towards keeping the audience interested in the information the speaker is presenting, with feedback being minimal or held for the end. They also have more structure, typically an introduction, body and conclusion. Examples of formal presentations are below:

• Boardroom presentations are formal talks given to a company's board of directors. This can include updates on the company's performance, future plans or financial reports. This will be structure, fact-based and have little room for feedback, typically until the end when thoughts could be discussed.

• Keynote speeches are given at the opening of a conference or event. It's typically given by a notable person in the conference's industry and the speech is meant to set the tone for the events following.

• Academic talks are delivered by scholars or researchers which presents their work in a formal format so the information is clear, concise and easy to understand. It incudes a detailed overview of their research, methods and findings. A more structured type of presentation. Typically the end of these presentations leave room for questions.

The skills that go into a presentation are plenty; so many components of a person, their personal presentation style and the purpose of their presentation all tie together to set the tone of the talk. Let's isolate 3 and expand on them.

• Effective communication goes a long way; you're not talking for the sake of hearing your own voice. You're there to present information to an audience for a reason. The skill to clearly convey your message, to articulate your ideas in an easy-to-understand way for your audience is paramount, because if they don't know what you're talking about, there will be minimal, if any, engagement or feedback.

• Confidence is another important skill for giving successful presentations. Projecting confidence from start to finish is imperative to keep your audience focused on your message. Good posture, eye contact and a clear speaking voice is a good way to fake it if you don't have it. Breathe, and get the job done!

• Preparation and Organisation. If you're planning on giving a presentation that the audience will be left thinking about even after it's finished, you want to plan ahead and strategise on how to keep them engaged and get them thinking.  Being well-prepared on what you want to say and how you want to convey it is so important, being comfortable with your own material is also key, so do your own research and ensure you understand what you are saying.

Styles:

Pitch, storytelling, connectors, visual, pecha kucha, impromptu, pitch, story style, motivational

• PechaKucha is a fast presentation where the speaker shows 20 slides for 20 seconds each. This encourages concise, visual storytelling. No waffling and no information is wasted.

• Lightning Talks are brief presentations, only lasting in between 5 to 10 minutes. The goal of lightning talks is to present an idea or project in a quick and engaging way.

• Motivational presentations are typically highly emotional and convey powerful messages. This method of presenting is used to invite action from it's audience; charismatic figures will deliver these presentations as a way of dealing with times of great difficulty or uncertainty.