presentation objectives definition

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Objective of Presentation – 12 Common Objectives Explained in Detail | Business Communication

Objective of presentation.

A presentation is a fundamental part of human communication, and it is widely used across a variety of fields including education, business, research, and entertainment. A presentation’s primary objective is to provide information, ideas, or concepts to an audience in an engaging, clear, and organized manner.

In this comprehensive article, we examine the multifaceted objectives of presentations and explore how they can be used to inform, educate, persuade, inspire, and solve problems.

We will demonstrate how presentations effectively share knowledge, influence opinions, and facilitate collaboration by providing a detailed analysis.

Some of the common objectives of the presentation are as follows:

Presenters are primarily responsible for providing information about a specific topic, event, project, product, or service to their audience. In order to improve the audience’s understanding of the subject matter, the presenter will provide essential information and relevant details.

Effective information dissemination is essential to the success of any presentation, whether it is a scientific conference, a business proposal, or an educational lecture.

It is important that presenters carefully structure their presentations, ensuring clarity and coherence. Visual aids, such as slides, charts, and graphs, can complement verbal explanations, simplifying complex information.

Moreover, audience interaction, such as Q&A sessions, can reinforce key points and address specific questions, further facilitating effective communication by addressing specific questions.

2. Educate:

Presentations play a vital role in educational settings, as they are often used to teach new concepts, theories, or skills. A well-designed educational presentation can encourage active engagement and improve knowledge retention in classrooms, workshops, or training sessions. It facilitates learning and enhances the audience’s knowledge of a particular subject.

Presenters must adapt their delivery style to accommodate different learning preferences so that their content reflects the audience’s level of understanding and achieves the educational objective. It is easier to solidify concepts and make the learning experience more enjoyable when real-life examples, case studies, and interactive activities are used.

3. Persuade:

A presentation’s objective is to persuade the audience, particularly in business, marketing, or public speaking situations. In order to persuade an audience, the presenter needs to convince them to accept a particular viewpoint, idea, or proposal using logical arguments, emotional appeal, and credibility.

It is important for presenters to understand their audience’s needs, concerns, and motivations when crafting compelling messages. By using storytelling techniques, testimonials, and persuasive language, the audience can be emotionally connected to the ideas presented, making them more receptive.

The presenter’s position can also be reinforced by strong evidence and data-driven arguments.

4. Inspire and Motivate:

A presentation’s objective is usually to motivate or inspire the audience, particularly when leading, giving a public speaking, or building a team. In order to foster a sense of enthusiasm and commitment towards a shared vision or goal, the presenter is expected to inspire and energize the audience.

In order to achieve this goal, presenters must display passion, authenticity, and leadership skills. By sharing personal anecdotes, success stories, and uplifting quotes, presenters can evoke emotions and build a sense of camaraderie among the audience. In addition, presenting a clear vision and a path to achieving it can motivate the audience to act.

5. Report Findings:

Presentations are commonly used to present research findings, project results, financial results, or other critical data in academic and professional settings. Providing structured and visually appealing results facilitates comprehension and discussion by facilitating the presentation of results.

The methodology, findings, and implications of a research or project should be clearly presented in an effective reporting presentation. Charts, graphs, and infographics are excellent visual aids for enhancing data visualization and simplifying complex information. Further exploration and collaboration can also be enhanced by presenting limitations and future directions.

6. Training and Development:

Organizations use presentations to promote learning, skill development, and knowledge transfer, which make them an essential tool for training and development. This presentation aims to provide the audience with the tools and information they need to excel in their job.

An interactive and engaging training session that encourages active participation is crucial to achieving the training objective. Learning and skill application can be reinforced through hands-on exercises, role-playing, and group discussions. Feedback and follow-up resources can ensure continued growth.

7. Entertain:

Entertainment is a primary objective of some presentations, particularly in conferences, seminars, or social gatherings. A presentation’s primary purpose is to entertain the audience and keep them engaged, alleviate boredom, and create an enjoyable experience.

Presenters can use humor, storytelling, and multimedia elements to achieve the entertainment objective. Also, engaging the audience through quizzes, challenges, and audience participation can make the presentation more lively and enjoyable.

8. Problem-Solving:

A presentation can be used to solve problems and identify solutions, especially in business and decision-making contexts. The objective is to engage an audience in finding viable solutions to specific problems.

Before presenting potential solutions, presenters need to clarify the problem and its implications in order to achieve the problem-solving objective. Audiences can be guided through the decision-making process by using a structured approach such as the problem-solving model or SWOT analysis.

By involving the audience in brainstorming or group exercises, valuable insights and innovative solutions can also be gained.

9. Present Updates:

Presentations serve as an opportunity to share information about ongoing projects, company developments, or industry trends in business environments. Their objective is to keep stakeholders informed and engaged.

In order to achieve this objective, presenters must provide accurate and up-to-date information. By proactively addressing potential concerns or challenges, stakeholders can be instilled with confidence and foster transparency. Visual aids like timelines, charts, or trend graphs can help convey progress and future projections.

10. Facilitate Discussion:

A presentation can serve as a basis for group discussion, where the audience actively contributes ideas and perspectives. This promotes dialogue. A presenter must create an inclusive and open environment that encourages audience participation in order to achieve this objective.

It is beneficial to allow for a variety of viewpoints and experiences to be exchanged. Active listening and thoughtful responses from the presenter can enrich the discussion further.

11. Promote Collaboration:

Collaboration: Presentations encourage collaboration between members of a team by sharing ideas, progress, and goals. They encourage people to align efforts for a common goal.

Teamwork and a shared sense of purpose are essential to achieving the collaboration objective. By inviting input and feedback from all team members, the presenter can create a sense of inclusion and ownership. In order for the team’s efforts to be coordinated and productive, clear action plans and follow-up procedures must be established.

12. Showcase Creativity:

A presentation may be used to present innovative ideas, campaigns, or projects in creative fields such as design, art, or marketing. The objective is to impress and engage the audience through creative thinking.

Presenters must think outside the box and use unconventional presentation techniques in order to achieve the creativity objective. The presentation can be memorable and impactful if it incorporates multimedia elements, interactive experiences, or live demonstrations.

In addition, audience members can gain a deeper understanding of the project’s conception by providing context and explaining the creative process.

A well-organized and delivered presentation can accomplish its objectives effectively, leaving a lasting impression on the audience and fulfilling the presenter’s objectives.

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How to Write Objectives | A Step-to-step Guide | 2024 Updates

Astrid Tran • 22 Apr 2024 • 6 min read

Objectives are needed for every aspect of life, work and education. 

Whether you are setting objectives for academic research, teaching and learning, courses and training, personal development, professional growth, a project, or more, having clear objectives like having a compass to help you stay on track.

So, how to write objectives? Check out this article to get a complete guide on writing realistic and impactful objectives.

Table of Contents

How to write objectives of a project

How to write objectives for a presentation, how to write objectives for lesson plan, how to write objectives for a research, how to write objectives for personal growth.

More tips on how to write objectives

Frequently Asked Questions

Project objectives often focus on tangible results, such as completing specific tasks, delivering products, or achieving certain milestones within a defined timeframe. 

Writing project objectives should follow these principles:

Start early : It is important to set your project objectives at the beginning of your project to avoid unexpected situations and employees misunderstanding. 

Changes : Project objectives can be determined to address challenges of previous projects experience and seek to minimize potential risks prior to the project begins.

Achievement : An objective of a project should mention what success is. Different success is measured by specific and measurable objectives. 

OKR : OKR stands for “objectives and key results,” a managerial model that aims to set goals and identify metrics to measure progress. Objectives are your destination, while key results contribute to the path that will get you there. 

Focus : Different project objectives might consist of related issues such as:

• Customer satisfaction
• Turnover and Retention
• Sales and Revenue
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Sustainability
• Productivity

For example : 

• The goal of the campaign is to improve the traffic by 15% before the end of the first quarter. 
• This project aims to produce 5,000 units of products in the next three months.
• Add five new methods for clients to seek the feedback form in-product within the next three months.
• Increase click through rate (CTR) engagement on email by 20% by the end of the second quarter.

Presentation objectives outline what you intend to accomplish with your presentation, which might involve informing, persuading, educating, or inspiring your audience. They guide the content creation process and shape how you engage your listeners during the presentation.

When it comes to writing presentation objectives, there are some notes to look at:

The questions “Why” : To write a good presentation objective, start with answering why questions, such as Why is this presentation important to your audience? Why should people invest time and money to attend this presentation? Why is your content important to the organization?

What do you want the audience to know, feel and do ? Another important of writing objectives for a presentation is considering the comprehensive impact your presentation has on the audience. This pertains to the informational, emotional, and actionable aspect.

Rule of three : When you write your objectives in your PPT, don’t forget to express no more than three key points per slide. 

Some examples of objectives: 

• Ensure the managers understand that without additional funding of $10,000, the project will fail.
• Get commitment from the director of sales to a three-tier pricing proposal for customer Prime.
• Get the audience to commit to reducing their personal plastic usage by signing a pledge to avoid single-use plastics for at least a week.
• Participants will feel empowered and confident about managing their finances, replacing financial anxiety with a sense of control and informed decision-making.

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Learning objectives, often used in education and training, specify what learners are expected to gain from a learning experience. These objectives are written to guide curriculum development, instructional design, and assessment.

A guide on writing an objective for learning and lesson plan described as follows:

Learning objectives verbs : There is no better way to have learning objectives start with measurable verbs collected by Benjamin Bloom based on level of cognition.

• Knowledge level: tell, uncover, show, state, define, name, write, recall,…
• Comprehension level: indicate, illustrate, represent, formulate, explain, classify, translate,…
• Application level: perform, make a chart, put into action, build, report, employ, draw, adapt, apply,…
• Analysis Level: analyze, study, combine, separate, categorize, detect, examine,…
• Synthesis Level: integrate, conclude, adapt, compose, construct, create, design,…
• Evaluation Level: evaluate, interpret, decide, solve, rate, appraise, verify,…

Student-centered : Objectives should reflect the unique aspirations, strengths and weaknesses of each student, emphasize what students will know or be able to do, not what you will teach or cover. 

Learning Objective Examples:

• To recognize the power of different types of language
• By the end of this course, students will be able to identify and develop data collection instruments and measures for planning and conducting sociological research.
• By the end of this course, students will be able to identify their own position on the political spectrum.

The purpose of research objectives is congruent with research study outcomes.They articulate the purpose of the research, what the researcher intends to investigate, and the expected outcomes.

There are severals principles to follow to ensure a well-written research objectives:

Academic language : It is important to note that research writing is strict on the use of language. It is held to a high standard of clarity, precision, and formality.

Avoid using first-person references to state the objectives. Replace “I will” with neutral phrasing that emphasizes the research’s intention. Avoid emotional language, personal opinions, or subjective judgments.

Pinpoint the Focus : Your research objectives should clearly articulate what your study aims to investigate, analyze, or uncover.

Specify the Scope : Outline the boundaries of your research by specifying the scope. Clearly delineate what aspects or variables will be examined, and what will not be addressed.

Maintain Consistency with Research Questions : Ensure your research objectives align with your research questions.

Frequently used phrases in research objectives

• …contribute to the knowledge of…
• …search for…
• Our study will also document….
• The primary objective is to integrate…
• The purposes of this research include:
• We attempt to…
• We formulated these objective based on
• This study searches for
• The second gold is to test

Objectives for personal growth often focus on individual improvement on skills, knowledge, well-being, and overall development.

Personal growth objectives encompass various aspects of life, including emotional, intellectual, physical, and interpersonal dimensions. They serve as roadmaps for continuous learning, growth, and self-awareness.

• Read one non-fiction book each month to expand knowledge in areas of personal interest.
• Incorporate regular exercise into the routine by walking or jogging for at least 30 minutes five times a week.

Tips to write objectives for personal growth from AhaSlides.

💡 Development Goals For Work: A Step-By-Step Guide For Beginners with Examples

💡 What is Personal Growth? Set Up Personal Goals For Work | Updated in 2023

💡 Work Goals Examples For Evaluation with +5 Steps To Create in 2023

How to write objectives in general? Here are common tips for setting objectives of any field.

#1. Be concise and straightforward

Keep the words as simple and straightforward as much as possible. It is much better to remove unnecessary or ambiguous words that might lead to misunderstanding.

#2. Keep your number of objectives limited

Don’t confuse your learners or readers with too many objectives. Concentrating on a few key objectives can effectively maintain focus and clarity and prevent overwhelming. 

#3. Use action verbs

You can start each objective with one of the following measurable verbs: Describe, Explain, Identify, Discuss, Compare, Define, Differentiate, List, and more.

#4. Be SMART

SMART objectives framework can be defined with specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. These objectives are clearer and easier to understand and achieve.

⭐ Want more inspiration? Check out AhaSlides to explore the innovative way to get presentations and lesson engaging and fun!

What are the 3 parts of an objective?

According to Mager (1997), objective statements contain three parts: behavior (or, performance), conditions, and criteria.

What are the 4 elements of a well-written objective?

The four elements of an objective are Audience, Behavior, Condition, and Degree, called A-B-C-D method. They are used to identify what a student is expected to know and how to test them.

What are the 4 components of objective writing?

There are four components of an objective include: (1) the action verb, (2) conditions, (3) standard, and (4) the intended audience (always the students)

Ref: Indeed | Batchwood | 

Astrid Tran

I've got my rhythm with words

More from AhaSlides

What is a Presentation? Objectives, Elements, Important skills, Four Ps

• Post last modified: 4 June 2023
• Reading time: 19 mins read
• Post category: Business Communication

What is a Presentation?

A presentation communicates a message, an idea or information to a group. It is similar to a report, but with a key difference–the human element. A presentation conveys the speaker’s personality and enables immediate interaction among all participants.

Table of Content

• 1 What is a Presentation?
• 2.1 To Inform
• 2.2 To Train
• 2.3 To Persuade
• 2.4 To Motivate
• 2.5 To Entertain
• 3 Main Elements of Presentation
• 4.1 Analytical ability
• 4.2 Effective communication ability
• 4.3 Creative ability
• 4.4 Good interpersonal skill
• 4.5 Sound time management
• 4.6 Problem-solving ability
• 4.7 A sense of humour
• 5 Evaluation Wheel
• 6.1 Prepare
• 6.2 Practice
• 6.3 Present
• 7.1 Know Yourself
• 7.2 Know Your Material
• 7.3 Know Your Purpose
• 7.4 Know Your Audience

Objectives of Presentation

The main objectives of a presentation are:

To Persuade

To motivate, to entertain.

A presentation is created to convey some information to a group of people. For example, a presentation may display an organisation’s quarterly performance.

Most training programmes in organisations are done through the presentation mode. Such instructional presentations convey a lot of information and are created with instructional design principles to keep the audience engaged for a long period.

Some presentations are used to convince a group of people to accept a particular idea and/or make a certain choice.

The growing popularity of TED Talks indicates how a presentation can be a powerful motivation tool. These presentations trigger emotions and inspire people to act.

Presentations can also be used to celebrate an event. For example, a farewell presentation of a colleague can be used to narrate the story of his/her overall tenure, experiences and achievement in the organisation.

Main Elements of Presentation

A presentation is said to be effective if it has three main elements, which are as follows:

• Specific content : This refers to the information that a presentation will comprise. The information must be conveyed effectively so that it is absorbed by the audience in one sitting. It should be relevant and meaningful to them.
• Audience : A presentation should be targeted for a specific group of audience who share the same purpose and have a similar level of pre-knowledge.
• Presenter: The presenter should act as the advocate of the information. If his/her conviction and passion in the message are clearly articulated, the audience will also pay attention to the subject.

Important Presentation Skills

In today’s business environment, presentation skills are requisite in almost every professional arena. Employees are often required to give presentations on the targets achieved by them. A presentation can be effective if it is carefully planned and prepared.

However, delivering presentations is not always easy for every individual. Some people take presenting as a probable opportunity to showcase skills, while others find it a challenging task. To provide an effective presentation, a presenter must possess some abilities.

Some of them are explained as follows:

Analytical ability

Effective communication ability, creative ability, good interpersonal skill, sound time management, problem-solving ability, a sense of humour.

It refers to a calibre which empowers an individual to collect, organise, visualise and comprehend data. Such skills enable a person to look at related patterns, draw conclusions and find solutions to problems. In addition, sound analytical skills also enable an individual to forecast future trends using various techniques such as brainstorming, forecasting, data mining and metrics interpretation.

Communication entails much more than mere talking to the audience. To communicate effectively during a presentation, one ought to showcase information lucidly. During a presentation, a person should not just have a good set of slides together; rather he needs to engage and strike a chord with the audience to transmit the intended message.

It refers to the ability to present things in a creative way that have not been explored earlier. Creative skills in presentation enable an individual to invent or develop something path-breaking, such as a new concept, unique way out from a problem, a method, a work of art or new machinery, etc.

It encompasses how an individual portrays or presents himself to the audience and builds a rapport with the audience. During a presentation, sound interpersonal skills empower a speaker to interact, communicate and collaborate with the audience effectively.

Interpersonal skills are prevalent across all personal and professional interactions between people. Interpersonal skills entail empathy, active listening and emotional intelligence.

While delivering a presentation, a person should manage time effectively, set a presentation schedule and end a presentation within a stipulated time. If a presentation is long, there are chances the audience may lose interest and the message may not be delivered.

A speaker cannot expect audience to actively listen to the presentation for hours. At the start of presentation, a speaker should aim to grab audience’s attention and allocate time for questions and answers at the end.

Problem-solving is a requisite skill for a presentation. During a presentation, the audience may ask the speaker any kind of questions. On the other hand, it is important for the speaker to provide an appropriate answer to the audience to make the presentation successful.

A sense of humour is crucial to deliver a quality presentation to make the environment light and engaging. Appropriate usage of light jokes relieves stress and holds the attention of an audience, which makes the presentation a memorable experience for both the speaker and the audience.

Evaluation Wheel

Evaluation wheel is a creative and effective tool that accumulates information on outcomes in a simple and accessible manner. A presenter can opt for the evaluation wheel tool to show the outcomes of the research or reports. This tool is used to provide various types of information and journeys of change within the organisation.

It offers a visual representation of progression and results in the form of a spider diagram. The evaluation wheel measures the exact outcomes for a programme at the start and end. It also helps educators, designers to comprehend information systematically. Figure shows an example of evaluation wheel:

Figure states the scale questionnaire in a circle form wherein respondents will analyse the instances from their discretion and experience and give rating on a scale of 1 to 5.

For instance, service users are appropriately involved. In this case, if the respondent strongly agrees, he/she will give 5 rating and if he/she does not agree, he/she will give 1 rating. The centre of the circle is for 1 and as the respondent agrees, they reach out to edge for 5 rating.

Ps of Presentation

Even the most powerful presentation may fail if the presenter comes unprepared. A presentation is both a mental and a physical effort. There are Ps of presentation that provide a checklist to the presenter for ensuring that the presentation is well-constructed and clear so that the audience gets the message. These four Ps are explained as follows:

A thoroughly prepared presentation captivates the interests of the audience. The topic or content of the presentation must be thoroughly researched. No one would develop interest in a vague or equivocal presentation. A speaker can make use of stories or relatable examples and quote references to give more depth to the presentation and make it intriguing.

Apart from that, it should be ensured that only important points are highlighted in bullets or using other graphical elements. Providing too much of theory or full sentences can create boredom for the audience.

While preparing for a presentation, the presenter should include the following sections:

• Introduction : This section includes the name of the topic and the purpose of the presentation.
• Body : This section contains the main content of the presentation; thus, it must be prepared in a well-organised manner.
• Summary : It provides a recap of the content of the presentation. It outlines the most important points of the presentation to ensure the key message is retained by the audience.

Practice will make a man perfect is an adage that is appropriate across all spheres of life. It helps a speaker become familiar with his/her own voice, words and phrases and adjust accordingly. By practising thoroughly, a speaker can explore how to fit different pieces of information together and practise transition.

Also, a speaker should make notes wherever required as a part of presentation support. Using an index card is a common form of note-taking that provides a quick glimpse of important points.

While delivering a presentation, the speaker needs to demonstrate confidence in front of the audience. The speaker must be polite, but not apologetic in situations, such as if the session is running overtime or the microphone has stopped working.

Instead he/she should expect and ask for discipline and attention. It is important for a speaker to engage with the audience during the presentation in order to assure them that he/she is genuinely interested in talking to them. 4. Pace, pitch and pause: A presenter should deliver the presentation in an easy-to-follow pace and try changing the pace to enliven the presentation.

For example, pauses can be taken intentionally between main points to reinforce them. Along with pace, pitch is equally important. Just as pace varies in normal conversations, it should be used effectively during presentations too. For example, when asking a question, the presenter can raise the pitch and can lower it down when explaining a point.

Four Cornerstones of Making Memorable Presentations

The most crucial aspect of delivering an effective presentation is that the speaker should appear confident and the speech should look effortless. Presentations are a source of anxiety for many individuals. However, getting well-prepared before delivering a presentation can reduce this feeling considerably and ease apprehension.

There are a number of ways to overcome feelings of anxiety, stress and stage fright before the presentation in order to appear confident in front of the audience. The four cornerstones of making a memorable presentation are provided in the upcoming sections.

Know Yourself

Know your material, know your purpose, know your audience.

A presenter should acknowledge his/her strengths and weaknesses. Accordingly, he/she should decide the style of delivering a presentation. For instance, if a presenter has a great sense of humour and can use it comfortably in the speech, he/she can make the presentation more engaging and interesting.

On the other hand, if the speaker who is an introvert and prefers to talk or engage less, he/she can add visuals in the presentation. Therefore, the trick is whosoever is delivering the presentation should feel comfortable.

Knowing the topic thoroughly is the most important step in preparing and delivering a presentation. A presenter with well-versed knowledge of the topic is bound to feel more confident. One should perform extensive research of the topic using credible websites and surveys.

A presenter with minimal information about the topic will not be able to deliver a memorable presentation; rather, it would create a negative image in front of the audience. A good presentation is one that is centred around the main theme, presents relevant information and stimulates thought.

It is crucial to know the purpose of the presentation. A presenter should be aware of whether the purpose is to create awareness or to build new skills or to change attitudes. For instance, professional firms or businesses use presentations for various purposes such as to create awareness, educate, motivate and persuade internal and external audiences.

Therefore, to prepare a presentation, identify its objective/purpose, determine the method of delivery, formulate a structure, include visual aids and rehearse.

One should know the type of audience and what is their purpose of attending the presentation. For instance, whether they are there for gaining knowledge or learning new skills, etc. The age, culture and knowledge base of the audience help a presenter in designing and delivering his/her presentation effectively and in a manner in which audience can easily understand and relate to.

A well-designed presentation uses visual aids effectively to reinforce the main points and enhance the audience’s level of understanding.

Business Communication Notes

( Click on Topic to Read )

• What is Business Communication?
• What is Communication?
• Types of Communication
• 7 C of Communication
• Barriers To Business Communication
• Oral Communication
• Types Of Non Verbal Communication
• What is Written Communication?
• What are Soft Skills?
• Interpersonal vs Intrapersonal communication
• Barriers to Communication
• Importance of Communication Skills
• Listening in Communication
• Causes of Miscommunication
• What is Johari Window?
• What is Presentation?

Communication Styles

• Channels of Communication
• Hofstede’s Dimensions of Cultural Differences and Benett’s Stages of Intercultural Sensitivity

Organisational Communication

• Horizontal C ommunication
• Grapevine Communication
• Downward Communication
• Verbal Communication Skills
• Upward Communication
• Flow of Communication
• What is Emotional Intelligence?
• What is Public Speaking?
• Upward vs Downward Communication
• Internal vs External Communication
• What is Group Discussion?
• What is Interview?
• What is Negotiation?
• What is Digital Communication?
• What is Letter Writing?
• Resume and Covering Letter
• What is Report Writing?
• What is Business Meeting?
• What is Public Relations?
• What Is Market Segmentation?
• What Is Marketing Mix?
• Marketing Concept
• Marketing Management Process
• What Is Marketing Environment?
• What Is Consumer Behaviour?
• Business Buyer Behaviour
• Demand Forecasting
• 7 Stages Of New Product Development
• Methods Of Pricing
• What Is Public Relations?
• What Is Marketing Management?
• What Is Sales Promotion?
• Types Of Sales Promotion
• Techniques Of Sales Promotion
• What Is Personal Selling?
• What Is Advertising?
• Market Entry Strategy
• What Is Marketing Planning?
• Segmentation Targeting And Positioning
• Brand Building Process
• Kotler Five Product Level Model
• Classification Of Products
• Types Of Logistics
• What Is Consumer Research?
• What Is DAGMAR?
• Consumer Behaviour Models
• What Is Green Marketing?
• What Is Electronic Commerce?
• Agricultural Cooperative Marketing
• What Is Marketing Control?
• What Is Marketing Communication?
• What Is Pricing?
• Models Of Communication
• What is Sales Management?
• Objectives of Sales Management
• Responsibilities and Skills of Sales Manager
• Theories of Personal Selling
• What is Sales Forecasting?
• Methods of Sales Forecasting
• Purpose of Sales Budgeting
• Methods of Sales Budgeting
• Types of Sales Budgeting
• Sales Budgeting Process
• What is Sales Quotas?
• What is Selling by Objectives (SBO) ?
• What is Sales Organisation?
• Types of Sales Force Structure
• Recruiting and Selecting Sales Personnel
• Training and Development of Salesforce
• Compensating the Sales Force
• Time and Territory Management
• What Is Logistics?
• What Is Logistics System?
• Technologies in Logistics
• What Is Distribution Management?
• What Is Marketing Intermediaries?
• Conventional Distribution System
• Functions of Distribution Channels
• What is Channel Design?
• Types of Wholesalers and Retailers
• What is Vertical Marketing Systems?
• What i s Marketing?
• What i s A BCG Matrix?
• 5 M’S Of Advertising
• What i s Direct Marketing?
• Marketing Mix For Services
• What Market Intelligence System?
• What i s Trade Union?
• What Is International Marketing?
• World Trade Organization (WTO)
• What i s International Marketing Research?
• What is Exporting?
• What is Licensing?
• What is Franchising?
• What is Joint Venture?
• What is Turnkey Projects?
• What is Management Contracts?
• What is Foreign Direct Investment?
• Factors That Influence Entry Mode Choice In Foreign Markets
• What is Price Escalations?
• What is Transfer Pricing?
• Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)
• What is Promotion Mix?
• Factors Affecting Promotion Mix
• Functions & Role Of Advertising
• What is Database Marketing?
• What is Advertising Budget?
• What is Advertising Agency?
• What is Market Intelligence?
• What is Industrial Marketing?
• What is Customer Value
• What is Consumer Behaviour?
• What Is Personality?
• What Is Perception?
• What Is Learning?
• What Is Attitude?
• What Is Motivation?
• Consumer Imagery
• Consumer Attitude Formation
• What Is Culture?
• Consumer Decision Making Process
• Applications of Consumer Behaviour in Marketing
• Motivational Research
• Theoretical Approaches to Study of Consumer Behaviour
• Consumer Involvement
• Consumer Lifestyle
• Theories of Personality
• Outlet Selection
• Organizational Buying Behaviour
• Reference Groups
• Consumer Protection Act, 1986
• Diffusion of Innovation
• Opinion Leaders
• What is Business Law?
• Indian Contract Act 1872
• Essential Elements of a Valid Contract
• Types of Contract
• What is Discharge of Contract?
• Performance of Contract
• Sales of Goods Act 1930
• Goods & Price: Contract of Sale
• Conditions and Warranties
• Doctrine of Caveat Emptor
• Transfer of Property
• Rights of Unpaid Seller
• Negotiable Instruments Act 1881
• Types of Negotiable Instruments
• Types of Endorsement
• What is Promissory Note?
• What is Cheque?
• What is Crossing of Cheque?
• What is Bill of Exchange?
• What is Offer?
• Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008
• Memorandum of Association
• Articles of Association
• What is Director?
• Trade Unions Act, 1926
• Industrial Disputes Act 1947
• Employee State Insurance Act 1948
• Payment of Wages Act 1936
• Payment of Bonus Act 1965
• Labour Law in India
• What is Brand Management?
• 4 Steps of Strategic Brand Management Process
• Customer Based Brand Equity
• What is Brand Equity?

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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

• Carmine Gallo

Five tips to set yourself apart.

Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).

I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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What Are Effective Presentation Skills (and How to Improve Them)

Presentation skills are essential for your personal and professional life. Learn about effective presentations and how to boost your presenting techniques.

At least seven out of 10 Americans agree that presentation skills are essential for a successful career [ 1 ]. Although it might be tempting to think that these are skills reserved for people interested in public speaking roles, they're critical in a diverse range of jobs. For example, you might need to brief your supervisor on research results.

Presentation skills are also essential in other scenarios, including working with a team and explaining your thought process, walking clients through project ideas and timelines, and highlighting your strengths and achievements to your manager during performance reviews.

Whatever the scenario, you have very little time to capture your audience’s attention and get your point across when presenting information—about three seconds, according to research [ 2 ]. Effective presentation skills help you get your point across and connect with the people you’re communicating with, which is why nearly every employer requires them.

Understanding what presentation skills are is only half the battle. Honing your presenting techniques is essential for mastering presentations of all kinds and in all settings.

What are presentation skills?

Presentation skills are the abilities and qualities necessary for creating and delivering a compelling presentation that effectively communicates information and ideas. They encompass what you say, how you structure it, and the materials you include to support what you say, such as slides, videos, or images.

You'll make presentations at various times in your life. Examples include:

Making speeches at a wedding, conference, or another event

Making a toast at a dinner or event

Explaining projects to a team 

Delivering results and findings to management teams

Teaching people specific methods or information

Proposing a vote at community group meetings

Pitching a new idea or business to potential partners or investors

Why are presentation skills important? 

Delivering effective presentations is critical in your professional and personal life. You’ll need to hone your presentation skills in various areas, such as when giving a speech, convincing your partner to make a substantial purchase, and talking to friends and family about an important situation.

No matter if you’re using them in a personal or professional setting, these are the skills that make it easier and more effective to convey your ideas, convince or persuade others, and experience success. A few of the benefits that often accompany improving your presentation skills include:

Enriched written and verbal communication skills

Enhanced confidence and self-image

Boosted critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities

Better motivational techniques

Increased leadership skills

Expanded time management, negotiation, and creativity

The better your presenting techniques, the more engaging your presentations will be. You could also have greater opportunities to make positive impacts in business and other areas of your life.

Effective presentation skills

Imagine yourself in the audience at a TED Talk or sitting with your coworkers at a big meeting held by your employer. What would you be looking for in how they deliver their message? What would make you feel engaged?

These are a few questions to ask yourself as you review this list of some of the most effective presentation skills.

Verbal communication

How you use language and deliver messages play essential roles in how your audience will receive your presentation. Speak clearly and confidently, projecting your voice enough to ensure everyone can hear. Think before you speak, pausing when necessary and tailoring the way you talk to resonate with your particular audience.

Body language

Body language combines various critical elements, including posture, gestures, eye contact, expressions, and position in front of the audience. Body language is one of the elements that can instantly transform a presentation that would otherwise be dull into one that's dynamic and interesting.

Voice projection

The ability to project your voice improves your presentation by allowing your audience to hear what you're saying. It also increases your confidence to help settle any lingering nerves while also making your message more engaging. To project your voice, stand comfortably with your shoulders back. Take deep breaths to power your speaking voice and ensure you enunciate every syllable you speak.

How you present yourself plays a role in your body language and ability to project your voice. It also sets the tone for the presentation. Avoid slouching or looking overly tense. Instead, remain open, upright, and adaptable while taking the formality of the occasion into account.

Storytelling

Incorporating storytelling into a presentation is an effective strategy used by many powerful public speakers. It has the power to bring your subject to life and pique the audience’s curiosity. Don’t be afraid to tell a personal story, slowly building up suspense or adding a dramatic moment. And, of course, be sure to end with a positive takeaway to drive your point home.

Active listening

Active listening is a valuable skill all on its own. When you understand and thoughtfully respond to what you hear—whether it's in a conversation or during a presentation—you’ll likely deepen your personal relationships and actively engage audiences during a presentation. As part of your presentation skill set, it helps catch and maintain the audience’s attention, helping them remain focused while minimizing passive response, ensuring the message is delivered correctly, and encouraging a call to action.

Stage presence

During a presentation, projecting confidence can help keep your audience engaged. Stage presence can help you connect with your audience and encourage them to want to watch you. To improve your presence, try amping up your normal demeanor by infusing it with a bit of enthusiasm. Project confidence and keep your information interesting.

Watch your audience as you’re presenting. If you’re holding their attention, it likely means you’re connecting well with them.

Self-awareness

Monitoring your own emotions and reactions will allow you to react well in various situations. It helps you remain personable throughout your presentation and handle feedback well. Self-awareness can help soothe nervousness during presentations, allowing you to perform more effectively.

Writing skills

Writing is a form of presentation. Sharp writing skills can help you master your presentation’s outline to ensure you stay on message and remain clear about your objectives from the beginning until the end. It’s also helpful to have strong writing abilities for creating compelling slides and other visual aids.

Understanding an audience

When you understand your audience's needs and interests, you can design your presentation around them. In turn, you'll deliver maximum value to them and enhance your ability to make your message easy to understand.

Learn more about presentation skills from industry experts at SAP:

How to improve presentation skills

There’s an art to public speaking. Just like any other type of art, this is one that requires practice. Improving your presentation skills will help reduce miscommunications, enhance your time management capabilities, and boost your leadership skills. Here are some ways you can improve these skills:

Work on self-confidence.

When you’re confident, you naturally speak more clearly and with more authority. Taking the time to prepare your presentation with a strong opening and compelling visual aids can help you feel more confident. Other ways to improve your self-confidence include practicing positive self-talk, surrounding yourself with positive people, and avoiding comparing yourself (or your presentation) to others.

Develop strategies for overcoming fear.

Many people are nervous or fearful before giving a presentation. A bad memory of a past performance or insufficient self-confidence can contribute to fear and anxiety. Having a few go-to strategies like deep breathing, practicing your presentation, and grounding can help you transform that fear into extra energy to put into your stage presence.

Learn grounding techniques.

Grounding is any type of technique that helps you steer your focus away from distressing thoughts and keeps you connected with your present self. To ground yourself, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and imagine you’re a large, mature tree with roots extending deep into the earth—like the tree, you can become unshakable.

Learn how to use presentation tools.

Visual aids and other technical support can transform an otherwise good presentation into a wow-worthy one. A few popular presentation tools include:

Canva: Provides easy-to-design templates you can customize

Powtoon: Animation software that makes video creation fast and easy

PowerPoint: Microsoft's iconic program popular for dynamic marketing and sales presentations

Practice breathing techniques.

Breathing techniques can help quell anxiety, making it easier to shake off pre-presentation jitters and nerves. It also helps relax your muscles and get more oxygen to your brain.  For some pre-presentation calmness, you can take deep breaths, slowly inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.

While presenting, breathe in through your mouth with the back of your tongue relaxed so your audience doesn't hear a gasping sound. Speak on your exhalation, maintaining a smooth voice.

Gain experience.

The more you practice, the better you’ll become. The more you doanything, the more comfortable you’ll feel engaging in that activity. Presentations are no different. Repeatedly practicing your own presentation also offers the opportunity to get feedback from other people and tweak your style and content as needed.

Tips to help you ace your presentation

Your presentation isn’t about you; it’s about the material you’re presenting. Sometimes, reminding yourself of this ahead of taking center stage can help take you out of your head, allowing you to connect effectively with your audience. The following are some of the many actions you can take on the day of your presentation.

Arrive early.

Since you may have a bit of presentation-related anxiety, it’s important to avoid adding travel stress. Give yourself an abundance of time to arrive at your destination, and take into account heavy traffic and other unforeseen events. By arriving early, you also give yourself time to meet with any on-site technicians, test your equipment, and connect with people ahead of the presentation.

Become familiar with the layout of the room.

Arriving early also gives you time to assess the room and figure out where you want to stand. Experiment with the acoustics to determine how loudly you need to project your voice, and test your equipment to make sure everything connects and appears properly with the available setup. This is an excellent opportunity to work out any last-minute concerns and move around to familiarize yourself with the setting for improved stage presence.

Listen to presenters ahead of you.

When you watch others present, you'll get a feel for the room's acoustics and lighting. You can also listen for any data that’s relevant to your presentation and revisit it during your presentation—this can make the presentation more interactive and engaging.

Use note cards.

Writing yourself a script could provide you with more comfort. To prevent sounding too robotic or disengaged, only include talking points in your note cards in case you get off track. Using note cards can help keep your presentation organized while sounding more authentic to your audience.

Learn to deliver clear and confident presentations with Dynamic Public Speaking from the University of Washington. Build confidence, develop new delivery techniques, and practice strategies for crafting compelling presentations for different purposes, occasions, and audiences.

Article sources

Forbes. “ New Survey: 70% Say Presentation Skills are Critical for Career Success , https://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2014/09/25/new-survey-70-percent-say-presentation-skills-critical-for-career-success/?sh=619f3ff78890.” Accessed December 7, 2022.

Beautiful.ai. “ 15 Presentation and Public Speaking Stats You Need to Know , https://www.beautiful.ai/blog/15-presentation-and-public-speaking-stats-you-need-to-know. Accessed December 7, 2022.

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This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.

Define Goals for Your Presentations – Here’s How to Succeed Every Time!

The way it often goes is that you start with a great idea, and eagerly start to work towards realizing it.  Your goal seems clear!  Then as you go along, more goals start to sprout . 

New ideas and new goals can quickly crowd out your original clarity, and as your thoughts are a mess, the whole project falls apart. To avoid this, it’s absolutely essential that that you define goals as soon as possible.

Why is defining goals so important?   

Goals are totally necessary to success in any situation. Having a fixed goal in mind helps to focus and realize your wishes and ideas, and also helps to measure how close you are to that goal.

Goals also serve as an incentive; when achieved, they boost self-confidence. Without goals, people can become aimless and waste a lot of energy. Whatever the goal is, (e.g. getting a raise, saving enough money for a vacation, completing a qualification) – achieving those goals makes us feel happy and confident.

The Importance of Goals in PowerPoint Presentations

Goal setting is also important in the context of PowerPoint presentations. This is because when you put a presentation together, there is an intention behind that presentation, whether it’s sales-oriented or purely informative. What is the purpose of your presentation? Why do you want to talk about a certain topic? Learning to define concrete objectives helps you create a really effective presentation around your goal.

Goals are also beneficial in these areas within presentations:

• Goals as a guide for the presentation process

Goals serve as a guide in the planning and creation of a PowerPoint presentation . They help structure the entire presentation process and ensure that all content, slides, and arguments align with the desired goals.

By defining clear goals, you can better plan the flow of the presentation and ensure that all relevant information is covered.

For more tips on how to prepare your presentations properly, you can also refer to the article “ Preparing Presentations: 11 Tips “.

• Goals to enhance clarity and effectiveness of your presentation

Defining goals significantly contributes to the clarity and effectiveness of your PowerPoint presentation . When you know exactly what goal you want to achieve with the presentation, you can select and present the content more purposefully.

Goals help avoid irrelevant information and focus on the essentials. This makes the presentation clearer and more concise , facilitating your audience’s understanding and absorption of the message.

• Goals as a guide for your audience

Goals also serve as a guide for the audience. When the audience is aware of the presentation’s goals, they can better understand what is expected and which information is relevant.

Goals help the audience recognize the underlying structure of the presentation and process the information more effectively. By defining clear goals, you ensure that your audience perceives the presentation as relevant and valuable and actively engages with it.

Bring Order into Chaos

You need to get clear and keep in mind why you want to give your presentation and what you want to achieve with it . A structured plan will help you to get chaotic thoughts in order. The ideal way of doing this is to use the SMART method . This article will go through what it entails and how to use it to set effective goals for your presentations.

Here are the steps to define your goals in PowerPoint presentations:

• Analyze the presentation context

The first step is to thoroughly analyze the presentation context . This includes considering the audience, occasion, time frame, and expectations of the presentation. Having a clear understanding of the context allows you to define goals that are appropriate and tailor the content and presentation style accordingly .

It is important to have a basic understanding of your target audience to adapt the presentation to them and choose goals accordingly. Read more in the article “ Target Audience Analysis”.

• Identify the main message

It is important to identify the main message of the presentation. What is the central statement or primary goal that needs to be conveyed? By establishing a clear main message, the presentation becomes focused and concise.

Learn how to identify, define, and communicate your main message in the article “ Developing Key Messages for Presentations “.

• Set specific goals

Building upon the main message, you can define specific goals. These goals should be clear, measurable, and realistic.

For example, a goal could be to convey specific information, promote certain behavior, or elicit a particular response from the audience. The goals should be aligned with effectively communicating the main message.

• Assess goal attainment possibilities

Before finalizing the goals, it is important to assess the possibilities of achieving them . Consider the available resources, time, and the presenter’s skills. It is important to set realistic goals that are achievable and do not exceed the scope of the presentation.

By carefully following these steps, a clear goal definition can be achieved in PowerPoint presentations, supporting the success of the presentation and achieving the desired impact.

Define Goals Optimally with Information Questions

Before we go into more detail about the principle of SMART goals, it’s useful to revisit some basic tips on the subject of goal definition. To be able to grow both professionally and personally, we need goals that help us to make progress. The same applies to companies: it is essential to define goals and to realize visions in order to grow.

Who is giving the presentation?

Even setting a goal can be a challenge. Setting a goal that is too high to reach, or too low to ensure progress, is counterproductive. A good way to help define goals is to ask information questions. When preparing a presentation, it’s really useful to ask yourself the following:

What topic are you covering?

Why this topic, exactly? What in particular do you have to say about it?

What does your audience expect from you?

How will you convey your key messages? How do you want your presentation to look; how can you optimize your slide design to help?

When are you going to give your presentation? Do you have enough time to prepare?

Where will your presentation be taking place? Does it have suitable equipment, such as a projector and screen?

Defining Goals with the SMART Formula

As mentioned above, the SMART method offers a solidly useful way to define goals.

SMART is an acronym for the following terms:

S – Specific : Formulate your goals precisely so that you know exactly what you want to achieve.

M – Measurable: Define clear criteria to measure your goals.

A – Attainable: Make sure your goals are achievable and can be practically implemented.

R – Relevant : Make sure your goals align with your overall vision.

T – Time-bound: Set a deadline for yourself.

Here’s an example of how to apply the SMART method in practice. We’re going to use the goal of “more Facebook fans”, which can obviously also be applied many other things.

1. The specific goal is to reach 50,000 fans.

2. This is measurable as Facebook counts your fans for you.

3. Since you already have 45,000 fans, this is a goal that is achievable. Sufficient funds and time are available for acquiring the additional 5,000.

4. This would benefit your company, since more fans ensure higher traffic.

5. This is scheduled and should be achieved by the end of the year.

SMART Method PowerPoint Templates

In order to help you define your goals as effectively as possible, we offer numerous templates around the topic of Smart working. These can help you to design a PowerPoint presentation around your goal easily and optimally. Our Smart Goals PowerPoint template slide set offers practical working aids, explanations and overviews around the Smart method, and checklists for defining goals and creating presentations.

WOOP – an Alternative to the SMART Method

Like the SMART method, the WOOP method, is an acronym intended as a tool for defining and achieving goals. The method was developed by Professor of Psychology Gabriele Oettingen. The individual letters stand for the following terms :

W – Wish: The starting point is defining what you want to achieve.

O – Outcome: The next step is to visualize the result. What will change if you implement your wish? Will your business be positively changed by the goal? Does thinking about this step fill you with the energy needed to implement it?

O – Obstacle : What are the obstacles that might prevent you from reaching that goal? This is when you identify and and all reasons that may keep you from achieving your goal.

P – Plan : Plan how you will break down these barriers and work consistently toward your goal.

Conclusion: Define Your Goals and Achieve Success!

We hope the above article, setting out really effective means such as the SMART method for defining goals, will mean you are optimally equipped for your next presentation. Get your next presentation in order with a structured plan, and persuade your audience without any difficulty.

If you have any questions about the SMART method and define goals, or about PowerPoint presentations in general, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] .

Other articles which may be of interest to you:

• Use Handouts to Enhance Your Presentations
• The best presentation structure: tips&tricks
• Create a PowerPoint Presentation: helpful tips

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Effective Presentations

Learn how to present like a pro.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Giving presentations can be a daunting task for even the most seasoned public speaker. However, the practical tips outlined here will help you to prepare, deliver and evaluate any presentation you make.

Preparation

• Understand your audience - consider their background, average age, experience and previous knowledge. Think about what they will want to gain from your presentation, as this will help you to pitch it at the appropriate level, and will also help you to anticipate and prepare for potential questions.
• Identify the objectives and key issues or arguments that you will cover during your presentation. List the information that you have or that you need to find for each of these points.
• Do your research - collect all the information you need; for example, graphics, statistics, quotes. Try to use relevant examples or stories to illustrate your key points, as this will help keep your audience engaged with what you are saying.
• Work out a structure for your presentation. Generally, you should begin by welcoming your audience. After the welcome, you will need an introduction, a main body and a conclusion, which should be followed by some words of thanks to the audience for their attention. Make sure that your points are ordered in a logical way.
• Consider how much time you have available and factor in some extra time to allow for contingencies (e.g. interruptions, technology failure etc.).
• Decide on which presentation aids you will use (if any); for example, scripts, cue cards or notes. Make sure that whatever you use is clear and legible. Number each page or card so that they can be reordered quickly and easily if you drop them.
• If you will be using visual aids such as slides, ensure they are clear, legible and easy to read from anywhere in the room you will be presenting in. Check your visuals thoroughly for grammar and spelling errors, and try to include simple graphics and color to add variety. Don't put too much information on visuals - their purpose is to highlight and summarize what you are saying.
• Any handouts you prepare should also be clear, legible and error-free. Make sure you have enough copies for each audience member, plus spares.
• When you have finalized your presentation and are happy with it, practice delivering it several times until it is largely committed to memory. If possible, try it out on a friend/family member or trusted colleague for their feedback.
• On the day of your presentation, arrive at your venue well in advance so that you can check equipment, props, seating arrangements, equipment etc.
• Manage your nerves by taking some deep breaths, and warm up your voice (e.g. by doing some vocal exercises like tongue twisters, or sipping a hot drink).
• Make sure you are comfortable with your position for the presentation, and have a glass of water within easy reach. Arrange your presentation aids such as your cue cards or notes in such a way that it will be easy for you to see and use them.
• Speak clearly and confidently, varying your tone and pitch to help engage your audience. Try not to rush your speech - pause briefly after each sentence to catch your breath before moving on to the next point.
• Be aware of your body language and tailor your gestures and facial expressions to add emphasis to your points. Stand in a natural upright position with your hands by your sides and use open gestures - standing with your arms or legs crossed, or with your hands behind your back, can make you appear nervous. Avoid distracting habits such as fiddling with a pen, or jingling coins in your pocket. Try to maintain eye contact with your audience if you can, and resist the temptation to stare down at your notes or script.
• Give the audience the opportunity to ask questions, either throughout the presentation, or at the end. Answer all questions politely and courteously, and keep your answers brief. If someone wants more information, ask them to come and speak to you afterwards. Don't panic if you don't have the answer to a question immediately to hand: explain that you don't know the answer and invite the questioner to stay behind after the presentation to discuss the issue further.
• If possible, record your presentation and play it back afterwards for a critical self-appraisal. It is important to be honest with yourself about the effectiveness of your presentation. For example, did you cover all the key points? Was your timing right? Did you speak clearly at a moderate pace? Were your visuals clear and visible? Did your audience seem fully engaged ? You could also share your recording with your manager or a coach or mentor for their feedback.
• Solicit feedback directly from your audience. The most common way of doing this is to issue an evaluation form after the presentation has concluded. In this, be sure to include questions regarding content, tone, timing, visuals, vocal pitch, and speed.
• Think about the questions the audience asked you. If they didn't ask any, don't assume this is because you covered everything; you may not have held their attention sufficiently for them to feel inspired to ask anything. If they asked questions regarding points you felt you had covered during your presentation, then it is possible that you were not clear enough.
• Remember: evaluation is important, as reflecting on what went well/less well in your presentation will help you to develop and improve your skills, and to establish which methods and approaches work in which situations.

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How to Write Conference Presentation Objectives

Presenter: Robert Maribe Branch, Ed.D., professor, University of Georgia

The purpose of a learning objective is to specify a measurable performance. Learning objectives are what the presenter wants his or her participants to learn because of the conference presentation.   Learning objectives are like the destination for a trip you’re about to take. It is important to note that learning objectives are goals, not the activities performed to achieve those goals. They’re the end that you have in mind as you begin to plan your trip. Categories of learning, such as Bloom’s Taxonomy can be used to specify learning outcomes. Learning objectives specify knowledge, skills or attitudes for change. Bloom's taxonomy specifically targets these by seeking to increase knowledge (cognitive domain), develop skills (psychomotor domain) or develop emotional aptitude or balance (affective domain).

The cognitive domain is divided into several levels with the lowest skill level placed on the bottom level and the higher levels radiating upward:

• Evaluation (Highest level)
• Application
• Comprehension
• Knowledge (Lowest level)

Steps toward writing effective learning objectives:

• Make sure there is one measurable (performance) verb in each objective
• Limit one performance verb per learning objective
• Learning objectives are concise
• Performances are expressed in terms of what the participant will do (not the presenter)
• Objectives are realistic and represent authentic outcomes

View conference objectives  | View learning objectives  | View recording

Module 15: Group Presentations

Objectives, outline, and introduction, chapter 18: group presentations.

By: Jennifer F. Wood, Ph.D. Millersville University, Millersville, PA

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

• Identify the differences between a small group, a team, and a speaking group
• Evaluate your individual presentation skills
• Describe the four coordination elements of group presentations
• List the four common types of group presentations
• Apply chapter concepts for coordinating group communication
• Discuss techniques for coordinating a group assignment
• Plan speech organization for the intended audience
• Practice effective group delivery

Chapter Outline

Introduction.

• Interaction Roles
• Decision Making
• Conflict Resolution
• Type of Group Presentations
• Establishing Clear Objectives
• Logistics for Group Members
• Agreed Outcomes & Debriefing
• Human Element
• Delivering Your Presentation as One
• Review Questions and Activities

Individual commitment to a group effort—that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. – Vince Lombardi

Group presentations in business may range from a business team exchanging sales data; research and development teams discussing business expansion ideas; to annual report presentations by boards of directors. Also, the government, private, and public sectors have many committees that participate in briefings, conference presentations, and other formal presentations. It is common for group presentations to be requested, created, and delivered to bring together the expertise of several people in one presentation. Thus, the task of deciding the most valuable information for audience members has become a coordination task involving several individuals. All group members are responsible for coordinating things such as themes, strong support/evidence, and different personalities and approaches in a specified time period. Coordination is defined in the dictionary as harmonious combination or interaction, as of functions or parts. This chapter focuses on how the group, the speech assignment, the audience, and the presentation design play a role in the harmonious combination of planning, organization, and delivery for group presentations.

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead

• Chapter 18 Group Presentations Objectives, Outline, and Introduction. Authored by : Jennifer F. Wood, Ph.D.. Located at : http://publicspeakingproject.org/psvirtualtext.html . Project : Public Speaking Project. License : CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
• US Navy 110907-N-PO203-063 Dr. Anthony Junior, left, education programs manager for the Office of Naval Research, moderates a panel discussion duri. Authored by : United States Navy. Located at : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_110907-N-PO203-063_Dr._Anthony_Junior,_left,_education_programs_manager_for_the_Office_of_Naval_Research,_moderates_a_panel_discussion_duri.jpg . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright

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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.

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.

Other common presentation structures

The above was a description of a basic presentation, here are some more specific presentation layouts:

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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14.1 Organizing a Visual Presentation

Learning objectives.

• Identify key ideas and details to create a concise, engaging presentation.
• Identify the steps involved in planning a comprehensive presentation.

Until now, you have interacted with your audience of readers indirectly, on the page. You have tried to anticipate their reactions and questions as all good writers do. Anticipating the audience’s needs can be tough, especially when you are sitting alone in front of your computer.

When you give a presentation, you connect directly with your audience. For most people, making a presentation is both exciting and stressful. The excitement comes from engaging in a two-way interaction about your ideas. The stress comes from the pressure of presenting your ideas without having a delete button to undo mistakes. Outside the classroom, you may be asked to give a presentation, often at the last minute, and the show must go on. Presentations can be stressful, but planning and preparation, when the time and opportunity are available, can make all the difference.

This chapter covers how to plan and deliver an effective, engaging presentation. By planning carefully, applying some time-honored presentation strategies, and practicing, you can make sure that your presentation comes across as confident, knowledgeable, and interesting—and that your audience actually learns from it. The specific tasks involved in creating a presentation may vary slightly depending on your purpose and your assignment. However, these are the general steps.

Follow these steps to create a presentation based on your ideas:

• Determine your purpose and identify the key ideas to present.
• Organize your ideas in an outline.
• Identify opportunities to incorporate visual or audio media, and create or locate these media aids.
• Rehearse your presentation in advance.
• Deliver your presentation to your audience.

Getting Started: Identifying and Organizing Key Ideas

To deliver a successful presentation, you need to develop content suitable for an effective presentation. Your ideas make up your presentation, but to deliver them effectively, you will need to identify key ideas and organize them carefully. Read the following considerations, which will help you first identify and then organize key ideas:

• Be concise. You will include the most important ideas and leave out others. Some concepts may need to be simplified.
• Employ more than one medium of expression. You should incorporate other media, such as charts, graphs, photographs, video or audio recordings, or websites.
• Prepare for a face-to-face presentation. If you must deliver a face-to-face presentation, it is important to project yourself as a serious and well-informed speaker. You will often speak extemporaneously, or in a rehearsed but not memorized manner, which allows for flexibility given the context or audience. You will need to know your points and keep your audience engaged.

Determine Your Purpose

As with a writing assignment, determining the purpose of your presentation early on is crucial. You want to inform your readers about the topic, but think about what else you hope to achieve.

Are you presenting information intended to move your audience to adopt certain beliefs or take action on a particular issue? If so, you are speaking not only to inform but also to persuade your listeners. Do you want your audience to come away from your presentation knowing how to do something they that they did not know before? In that case, you are not only informing them but also explaining or teaching a process.

Writing at Work

Schoolteachers are trained to structure lessons around one or more lesson objectives. Usually the objective, the mission or purpose, states what students should know or be able to do after they complete the lesson. For example, an objective might state, “Students will understand the specific freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment” or “Students will be able to add two three-digit numbers correctly.”

As a manager, mentor, or supervisor, you may sometimes be required to teach or train other employees as part of your job. Determining the desired outcome of a training session will help you plan effectively. Identify your teaching objectives. What, specifically, do you want your audience to know (for instance, details of a new workplace policy) or be able to do (for instance, use a new software program)? Plan your teaching or training session to meet your objectives.

Identify Key Ideas

To plan your presentation, think in terms of three or four key points you want to get across. In a paper, you have the space to develop ideas at length and delve into complex details. In a presentation, however, you must convey your ideas more concisely.

One strategy you might try is to create an outline. What is your main idea? Would your main idea work well as key points for a brief presentation? How would you condense topics that might be too lengthy, or should you eliminate topics that may be too complicated to address in your presentation?

1. Revisit your presentation assignment, or think of a topic for your presentation. On your own sheet of notebook paper, write a list of at least three to five key ideas. Keep the following questions in mind when listing your key ideas:

• What is your purpose?
• Who is your audience?
• How will you engage your audience?

2. On the same paper, identify the steps you must complete before you begin creating your presentation.

Use an Outline to Organize Ideas

After you determine which ideas are most appropriate for your presentation, you will create an outline of those ideas. Your presentation, like a written assignment, should include an introduction, body, and conclusion. These components serve much the same purpose as they do in a written assignment.

• The introduction engages the audience’s attention, introduces the topic, and sets the tone for what is to come.
• The body develops your point of view with supporting ideas, details, and examples presented in a logical order.
• The conclusion restates your point of view, sums up your main points, and leaves your audience with something to think about.

Jorge, who wrote the research paper featured in Chapter 11 “Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?” , developed the following outline. Jorge relied heavily on this outline to plan his presentation, but he adjusted it to suit the new format.

Planning Your Introduction

In Chapter 12 “Writing a Research Paper” , you learned techniques for writing an interesting introduction, such as beginning with a surprising fact or statistic, a thought-provoking question or quotation, a brief anecdote that illustrates a larger concept or connects your topic to your audience’s experiences. You can use these techniques effectively in presentations as well. You might also consider actively engaging your audience by having members respond to questions or complete a brief activity related to your topic. For example, you may have your audience respond to a survey or tell about an experience related to your topic.

Incorporating media can also be an effective way to get your audience’s attention. Visual images such as a photograph or a cartoon can invoke an immediate emotional response. A graph or chart can highlight startling findings in research data or statistical information. Brief video or audio clips that clearly reinforce your message and do not distract or overwhelm your audience can provide a sense of immediacy when you plan to discuss an event or a current issue. A PowerPoint presentation allows you to integrate many of these different media sources into one presentation.

With the accessibility provided by the Internet, you can find interesting and appropriate audio and video with little difficulty. However, the clip alone will not sustain the presentation. To keep the audience interested and engaged, you must frame the beginning and end of the clip with your own words.

Jorge completed the introduction part of his outline by listing the key points he would use to open his presentation. He also planned to show various web links early on to illustrate the popularity of the low-carbohydrate diet trend.

Planning the Body of Your Presentation

The next step is to work with the key ideas you identified earlier. Determine the order in which you want to present these ideas, and flesh them out with important details. Chapter 10 “Rhetorical Modes” discusses several organizational structures you might work with, such as chronological order, comparison-and-contrast structure, or cause-and-effect structure.

How much detail you include will depend on the time allotted for your presentation. Your instructor will most likely give you a specific time limit or a specific slide limit, such as eight to ten slides. If the time limit is very brief (two to three minutes, for instance), you will need to focus on communicating your point of view, main supporting points, and only the most relevant details. Three minutes can feel like an eternity if you are speaking before a group, but the time will pass very quickly. It is important to use it well.

If you have more time to work with—ten minutes or half an hour—you will be able to discuss your topic in greater detail. More time also means you must devote more thought into how you will hold your audience’s interest. If your presentation is longer than five minutes, introduce some variety so the audience is not bored. Incorporate multimedia, invite the audience to complete an activity, or set aside time for a question-and-answer session.

Jorge was required to limit his presentation to five to seven minutes. In his outline, he made a note about where he would need to condense some complicated material to stay within his time limit. He also decided to focus only on cholesterol and heart disease in his discussion of long-term health outcomes. The research on other issues was inconclusive, so Jorge decided to omit this material. Jorge’s notes on his outline show the revisions he has made to his presentation.

You are responsible for using your presentation time effectively to inform your audience. You show respect for your audience by following the expected time limit. However, that does not mean you must fill all of that time with talk if you are giving a face-to-face presentation. Involving your audience can take some of the pressure off you while also keeping them engaged. Have them respond to a few brief questions to get them thinking. Display a relevant photograph, document, or object and ask your classmates to comment. In some presentations, if time allows, you may choose to have your classmates complete an individual or group activity.

Planning Your Conclusion

The conclusion should briefly sum up your main idea and leave your audience with something to think about. As in a written paper, you are essentially revisiting your thesis. Depending on your topic, you may also ask the audience to reconsider their thinking about an issue, to take action, or to think about a related issue. If you presented an attention-getting fact or anecdote in your introduction, consider revisiting it in your conclusion. Just as you have learned about an essay’s conclusion, do not add new content to the presentation’s conclusion.

No matter how you choose to structure your conclusion, make sure it is well planned so that you are not tempted to wrap up your presentation too quickly. Inexperienced speakers, in a face-to-face presentation, sometimes rush through the end of a presentation to avoid exceeding the allotted time or to end the stressful experience of presenting in public. Unfortunately, a hurried conclusion makes the presentation as a whole less memorable.

Time management is the key to delivering an effective presentation whether it is face-to-face or in PowerPoint. As you develop your outline, think about the amount of time you will devote to each section. For instance, in a five-minute face-to-face presentation, you might plan to spend one minute on the introduction, three minutes on the body, and one minute on the conclusion. Later, when you rehearse, you can time yourself to determine whether you need to adjust your content or delivery.

In a PowerPoint presentation, it is important that your presentation is visually stimulating, avoids information overload by limiting the text per slide, uses speaker notes effectively, and uses a font that is visible on the background (e.g., avoid white letters on a light background or black letters on a dark background).

Work with the list you created in Note 14.4 “Exercise 1” to develop a more complete outline for your presentation. Make sure your outline includes the following:

• An introduction that uses strategies to capture your audience’s attention
• A body section that summarizes your main points and supporting details
• A conclusion that will help you end on a memorable note
• Brief notes about how much time you plan to spend on each part of the presentation (you may adjust the timing later as needed)

Identifying Opportunities to Incorporate Visual and Audio Media

You may already have some ideas for how to incorporate visual and audio media in your presentation. If not, review your outline and begin thinking about where to include media. Presenting information in a variety of formats will help you keep your audience’s interest.

Use Presentation Software

Delivering your presentation as a slideshow is one way to use media to your advantage. As you speak, you use a computer and an attached projector to display a slideshow of text and graphics that complement the speech. Your audience will follow your ideas more easily, because you are communicating with them through more than one sense. The audience hears your words and also sees the corresponding visuals. A listener who momentarily loses track of what you are saying can rely on the slide to cue his or her memory.

To set up your presentation, you will need to work with the content of your outline to develop individual slides. Each slide should focus on just a few bullet points (or a similar amount of content presented in a graphic). Remember that your audience must be able to read the slides easily, whether the members sit in the front or the back of the room. Avoid overcrowding the slides with too much text.

Using presentation software, such as PowerPoint, allows you to incorporate graphics, sounds, and even web links directly into your slides. You can also work with available styles, color schemes, and fonts to give your presentation a polished, consistent appearance. Different slide templates make it easy to organize information to suit your purpose. Be sure your font is visible to you audience. Avoid using small font or colored font that is not visible against your background.

Use PowerPoint as a Visual Aid

PowerPoint and similar visual representation programs can be effective tools to help audiences remember your message, but they can also be an annoying distraction to your speech. How you prepare your slides and use the tool will determine your effectiveness.

PowerPoint is a slideware program that you have no doubt seen used in class, seen in a presentation at work, or perhaps used yourself to support a presentation. PowerPoint and similar slideware programs provide templates for creating electronic slides to present visual information to the audience, reinforcing the verbal message. You will be able to import or cut and paste words from text files, images, or video clips to create slides to represent your ideas. You can even incorporate web links. When using any software program, it is always a good idea to experiment with it long before you intend to use it; explore its many options and functions, and see how it can be an effective tool for you.

At first, you might be overwhelmed by the possibilities, and you might be tempted to use all the bells, whistles, and sound effects, not to mention the tumbling, flying, and animated graphics. If used wisely, a dissolve or key transition can be like a well-executed scene from a major motion picture and lead your audience to the next point. But if used indiscriminately, it can annoy the audience to the point where they cringe in anticipation of the sound effect at the start of each slide. This danger is inherent in the tool, but you are in charge of it and can make wise choices that enhance the understanding and retention of your information.

The first point to consider is which visual aid is the most important. The answer is you, the speaker. You will facilitate the discussion, give life to the information, and help the audience correlate the content to your goal or purpose. You do not want to be in a position where the PowerPoint presentation is the focus and you are on the side of the stage simply helping the audience follow along. Slides should support you in your presentation, rather than the other way around. Just as there is a number one rule for handouts (do not pass them out at the start of your presentation), there is also one for PowerPoint presentations: do not use PowerPoint slides as a read-aloud script for your speech. The PowerPoint slides should amplify and illustrate your main points, not reproduce everything you are going to say.

Your pictures are the second area of emphasis you will want to consider. The tool will allow you to show graphs, charts and illustrate relationships that words may only approach in terms of communication, but your verbal support of the visual images will make all the difference. Dense pictures or complicated graphics will confuse more than they clarify. Choose clear images that have an immediate connection to both your content and the audience, tailored to their specific needs. After the images, consider using only key words that can be easily read to accompany your pictures. The fewer words the better. Try to keep each slide to a total word count of less than ten words. Do not use full sentences. Using key words provides support for your verbal discussion, guiding you as well as your audience. The key words can serve as signposts or signal words related to key ideas.

A natural question at this point is, How do I communicate complex information simply? The answer comes with several options. The visual representation on the screen is for support and illustration. Should you need to communicate more technical, complex, or in-depth information in a visual way, consider preparing a handout to distribute at the conclusion of your speech. You may also consider using a printout of your slide show with a section for taking notes, but if you distribute it at the beginning of your speech, you run the risk of turning your presentation into a guided reading exercise and possibly distracting or losing members of the audience. Everyone reads at a different pace and takes notes in their own way. You do not want to be in the position of going back and forth between slides to help people follow along.

Another point to consider is how you want to use the tool to support your speech and how your audience will interpret its presentation. Most audiences wouldn’t want to read a page of text—as you might see in this book—on the big screen. They will be far more likely to glance at the screen and assess the information you present in relation to your discussion. Therefore, it is key to consider one main idea, relationship, or point per slide. The use of the tool should be guided with the idea that its presentation is for the audience’s benefit, not yours. People often understand pictures and images more quickly and easily than text, and you can use this to your advantage, using the knowledge that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Incorporate Visual Media

Even if you do not use a slideshow to complement your presentation, you can include visual media to support and enhance your content. Visual media are divided into two major categories: images and informational graphics.

Image-based media, such as photographs or videos, often have little or no accompanying text. Often these media are more powerful than words in getting a message across. Within the past decade, the images associated with major news stories, such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, the Abu Ghraib prison abuses from 2004 to 2006, and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, have powerfully affected viewers’ emotions and drawn their attention to these news stories.

Figure 14.1

Even if your presentation addresses a less dramatic subject, you can still use images to draw in your audience. Consider how photographs, an illustration, or a video might help your audience connect with a particular person or place or bring a historical event to life. Use visual images to support descriptions of natural or man-made phenomena. What ideas lend themselves to being explained primarily through images?

In addition, consider how you might incorporate informational graphics in your presentation. Informational graphics include diagrams, tables, pie charts, bar and line graphs, and flow charts. Informational graphics usually include some text and often work well to present numerical information. Consider using them if you are presenting statistics, comparing facts or data about several different groups, describing changes over time, or presenting a process.

Incorporate Audio Media

Although audio media are not as versatile as visual media, you may wish to use them if they work well with your particular topic. If your presentation discusses trends in pop music or analyzes political speeches, playing an audio clip is an obvious and effective choice. Clips from historical speeches, radio talk shows, and interviews can also be used, but extended clips may be ineffective with modern audiences. Always assess your audience’s demographics and expectations before selecting and including audio media.

Review the outline you created in Note 14.11 “Exercise 2” . Complete the following steps:

• Identify at least two to three places in your presentation where you might incorporate visual or audio media. Brainstorm ideas for what media would be effective, and create a list of ideas. (In Chapter 14 “Creating Presentations: Sharing Your Ideas” , Section 14.2 “Incorporating Effective Visuals into a Presentation” , you will explore different media options in greater depth. For now, focus on coming up with a few general ideas.)
• Determine whether you will use presentation software to deliver your presentation as a slideshow. If you plan to do so, begin using your outline to draft your slides.

Figure 14.2

Source: http://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/media/imagens/2010/01/14/14.01.10RP5978.jpg/view

Planning Ahead: Annotating Your Presentation

When you make a presentation, you are giving a performance of sorts. It may not be as dramatic as a play or a movie, but it requires smooth coordination of several elements—your words, your gestures, and any media you include. One way to ensure that the performance goes smoothly is to annotate your presentation ahead of time.

To annotate means to add comments or notes to a document. You can use this technique to plan how the different parts of your presentation will flow together. For instance, if you are working with slides, add notes to your outline indicating when you will show each slide. If you have other visual or audio media to include, make a note of that, too. Be as detailed as necessary. Jotting “Start video at 3:14” can spare you the awkwardness of searching for the right clip during your presentation.

In the workplace, employees are often asked to deliver presentations or conduct a meeting using standard office presentation software. If you are using presentation software, you can annotate your presentation easily as you create your slides. Use the notes feature at the bottom of the page to add notes for each slide. As you deliver your presentation, your notes will be visible to you on the computer screen but not to your audience on the projector screen.

In a face-to-face presentation, make sure your final annotated outline is easy to read. It will serve to cue you during your presentation, so it does not need to look polished, as long as it is clear to you. Double space the text. Use a larger-than-normal font size (14 or 16 points) if that will make it easier for you to read. Boldface or italics will set off text that should be emphasized or delivered with greater emotion. Write out main points, as well as your opening and closing remarks, in complete sentences, along with any material you want to quote verbatim. Use shorter phrases for supporting details. Using your speaker notes effectively will help you deliver an effective presentation. Highlighting, all capital letters, or different-colored font will help you easily distinguish notes from the text of your speech. Read Jorge’s annotated outline.

Some students prefer to write out the full text of their face-to-face presentation. This can be a useful strategy when you are practicing your delivery. However, keep in mind that reading your text aloud, word for word, will not help you capture and hold your audience’s attention. Write out and read your speech if that helps you rehearse. After a few practice sessions, when you are more comfortable with your material, switch to working from an outline. That will help you sound more natural when you speak to an audience.

In a PowerPoint presentation, remember to have your slides in logical sequential order. Annotating your presentation before submitting it to your audience or your instructor will help you check for order and logical transitions. Too much text or data may confuse your audience; strive for clarity and avoid unnecessary details. Let the pictures or graphics tell the story but do not overload your slideshow with visuals. Be sure your font is visible. Look for consistency in the time limit of your presentation to gauge your level of preparedness.

Begin to annotate your outline. (You will probably add more notes as you proceed, but including some annotations now will help you begin pulling your ideas together.) Mark your outline with the following information:

• Write notes in brackets to any sections where you definitely plan to incorporate visual or audio media.
• If you are presenting a slideshow, add notes in brackets indicating which slides go with each section of your outline.
• Identify and set off any text that should be emphasized.

Key Takeaways

• An effective presentation presents ideas more concisely than a written document and uses media to explain ideas and hold the audience’s interest.
• Like an essay, a presentation should have a clear beginning, middle, and end.
• Good writers structure their presentations on the thesis, or point of view; main ideas; and key supporting details and create a presentation outline to organize their ideas.
• Annotating a presentation outline is a useful way to coordinate different parts of the presentation and manage time effectively.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Home Blog Education Learning Objectives Examples: How to Create High-Quality Educational Slides

Learning Objectives Examples: How to Create High-Quality Educational Slides

Learning objectives are the foundations of any course or training program. They provide a clear roadmap for both educators and learners. They set a direction for the learning journey by outlining the expected outcomes. Therefore, trainers need to ensure their programs are purposeful, engaging, and aligned with their educational goals.

In this article, we’ll explore learning objectives, why they matter, and how they differ from other goals in terms of creating presentation slides to depict them. 

Table of Contents

Defining Learning Objectives

Characteristics of good learning objectives, steps to write learning objectives, training learning objectives examples, lesson objective examples, common mistakes to avoid when writing learning objective examples, tools and resources to represent learning objective examples.

According to Melton (1997), learning objectives, also known as learning outcomes, are concise statements that outline the specific achievements expected from trainees after receiving training or a lesson [1]. Unlike general learning goals, these objectives offer explicit criteria, enabling instructors to evaluate whether students have successfully attained the intended learning outcomes. Using clearly defined and actionable learning objectives enhances your ability to assess texts or activities for appropriateness and relevance.[1] Learning objectives are specific statements that describe the measurable and observable skills, knowledge, or attitudes that learners should acquire after completing a training program. In training programs , these objectives act as a guide, helping to focus instructional efforts and assess the effectiveness of the learning experience.

Learning objectives play a crucial role for instructors and trainers in developing assessments that align with the course’s learning activities and training materials . Alignment is how effectively learning objectives, assessments, and instructional materials collaborate to accomplish the intended learning goals. Learning objectives indicate that assessments are focused on the materials covered in the course, simplifying the process of creating assessment items for instructors [2]. Learning objectives communicate what is essential for learning. Without learning objectives, students struggle to identify their learning and areas that demand specific attention. Clearly, articulated learning objectives contribute to students or trainees adopting more efficient and effective study approaches. Moreover, well-crafted learning objectives help them acquire new knowledge that can be applied flexibly and appropriately across various contexts, both in the short term and in the future. This application of knowledge, termed “transfer,” as emphasized by Barnett and Ceci (2002), is a significant indicator of profound learning [3].

Learning objectives should be short and clear statements about what learners can do after a lesson.  These objectives can be based on three things: what learners know, their skills, and their attitudes [4]. A good learning objective has these characteristics:

Clear and Concise

Learners must understand the objectives clearly. Learning objectives should be expressed straightforwardly, avoiding unnecessary complexity or ambiguity [10]. Everyone needs to be aware of what they are learning and the reasons behind it. They need to grasp how these objectives fit into the broader picture – connecting with the previous lesson, the ongoing course, and the overall goal [5]. Merely writing the objectives on the board and expecting students or trainees to copy them isn’t sufficient. It requires thorough explanation in context, active engagement from the learners, and the ability to articulate and explain the objectives to any observer.

A learning objective should be created with a specific action verb representing an observable and measurable outcome related to the identified knowledge or skills. The use of action verbs conveys what learners are expected to accomplish, ensuring a tangible and quantifiable outcome [7].

Make sure each goal focuses on one thing the learner should be able to show or perform. Actionable goals should start with a word like “recall,” “describe,” “explain,” or “select,” not unclear words like “understand” or “know” that you can’t see or measure. Keep it simple and practical.

Learning objectives, serving as evaluation criteria, should assist trainers in assessing the extent to which learners achieve the intended learning outcomes. Much of the impact training has on learners is internal and remains unseen. Learners may alter their perspectives, shift attitudes, and acquire new knowledge [6]; however, trainers cannot directly observe the internal processes of a trainee’s mind. They must rely on external indicators (observable actions or statements) to gauge the trainee’s progress. Therefore, assessing progress based on what a student “learns,” “understands,” “knows,” or “feels” becomes challenging. Learning objectives, therefore, should focus on observable and measurable changes. An objective can be made measurable by adding specific criteria. It could specify a percentage of accuracy, a number of items, a time frame, or other measurable criteria. For example, the learner will solve 90% of math problems correctly.

Relevant to the Training Program

Objectives must directly contribute to the overall goals and purpose of the training program, maintaining relevance and coherence. Learning objectives should address these questions. Is the objective aligned with the program’s primary goal(s)? Will achieving the objective contribute to reaching the main goal(s)? Design the course or training thoughtfully to ensure that each learning objective is relevant to training.  Likewise, the learning materials, activities, and assessments should be interlinked.

Time-Bound (SMART Objectives)

A learning goal needs a defined timeframe for completion, like the conclusion of a lesson, module, or entire course. It is crucial to allocate sufficient time within the lesson, module, or course to accomplish the necessary steps for reaching the goal.  In short, a learning objective should be smart;

S- Specific : Effective learning objectives divide a broad subject into manageable parts and clearly outline the expected outcomes connected to these components.

M-Measurable: Learning objectives should be quantifiable, allowing for easy assessment of whether the desired outcome has been achieved.

A-Achievable: Considering the available resources, timeframe, Learner’s background, and readiness, set achievable objectives. The cognitive complexity of the learning goals should match both the training level and the learners’ proficiency. Therefore, take into account factors like whether it’s basic or advanced level training before making a learning objective.

R-Result Oriented: Learning objectives should emphasize the outcomes rather than the processes or tasks learners will undertake (such as presenting or completing a task). A good learning goal describes the end results – what knowledge, skills, or attitudes learners should gain based on what the trainer can assess.

T-Time bound: Clearly mention the timeframe if it’s relevant. This can assist in determining the level of performance learners need to demonstrate to be competent.

As you create your learning objectives, you need to follow these steps.

Step 1: Identify the Desired Outcome of the Training Program

Identifying the desired outcome sets the direction for your entire training program. It provides a clear goal for both trainers and learners. It aligns the training program with broader organizational goals. It sets expectations and helps measure the success of the program.

Begin by considering the broader organizational goals. What specific improvements in skills or performance will contribute to these goals?

Break down the outcome into measurable components. What specific skills or knowledge gaps exist? Then, envision the ideal scenario after the training – what should the team be capable of doing? What skills or knowledge do you want participants to gain?

The importance lies in setting a clear, achievable target that aligns with organizational objectives. When you identify the broader goal of the training program, narrow it down into a learning objective [8].

This step is crucial because it sets the direction for your entire training program. It defines what success looks like and guides the subsequent steps in the process.  Consider the current state of the team, the challenges they face, and the skills they need to overcome those challenges.

Imagine you’ve assessed that your sales team struggles with closing deals effectively. The desired outcome, in this case, would be to improve their closing techniques and boost overall conversion rates. In the context of sales training, the desired result could be to enhance the sales team’s ability to close deals and increase conversion rates. Why is this important?

Step 2: Use Action Verbs to Describe What Trainees Will Be Able to Do

Now that we know what we want to achieve, the next step is to articulate it using action verbs. Action verbs make objectives actionable and observable. How do I choose these verbs? They should precisely convey the expected behaviors or skills. It’s essential to avoid vague verbs that can lead to unclear expectations. Action verbs are crucial in learning objectives as they define the observable behaviors or skills that learners should acquire. Choosing the proper verbs is essential for clarity and precision.

Action verbs describe an observable action, giving a clear picture of what learners are expected to do. Action verbs provide clarity on what exactly we expect our learners to do. They help in crafting specific and measurable objectives. When choosing action verbs, consider the level of performance you want to see. Words like ‘understand’ or ‘know’ are vague. Instead, opt for strong verbs that denote observable actions.

In our sales training program, we’ve chosen the action verb ‘demonstrate.’ This emphasizes the sales team’s importance in understanding and actively showcasing effective closing techniques.

We have come up with this learning objective so far;

“By the end of the training program, sales team members will be able to demonstrate effective closing techniques to increase conversion rates.”

‘Demonstrate’ is an intense action verb that implies a visible and practical application of knowledge. In sales, demonstrating effective closing techniques is a tangible and measurable skill.

Step 3: Ensure the Objective is Measurable

Measurability is crucial for assessing the success of your learning objective. It involves defining clear criteria to determine whether the desired outcome has been achieved. Without measurable criteria, evaluating the effectiveness of the training becomes challenging.

Attach specific metrics or criteria that provide a quantitative or observable way to assess success. This could involve percentages, numbers, or other tangible measures.

Think about how you can quantify or assess the outcome. In our example, we set a measurable criterion: a 15% increase in the overall conversion rate within the next quarter.

Step 4: Align the Objective with the Overall Goals of the Training Program

Aligning the objective with the overall goals ensures coherence and relevance. The aim should not be an isolated achievement but a meaningful contribution to the broader success of the training program.

Consider how achieving this specific objective fits into the larger picture. How does it support your training program’s overall goals and objectives and, by extension, your organization?

In our case, the overall goal is to improve the sales team’s performance to meet and exceed quarterly revenue targets. Our learning objective aligns perfectly by directly contributing to this overarching goal.

“By the end of the training program, sales team members will be able to demonstrate effective closing techniques, contributing to a 15% increase in the overall conversion rate within the next quarter, thereby supporting the overall goal of improving the sales team’s performance to meet and exceed quarterly revenue targets.”

Real-Life Case Studies of Learning Objective Examples

So far, we’ve analyzed how to write actionable and measurable learning objectives, but now it’s time to consider how to represent these learning objectives in presentation slides with the idea of stepping into the shoes of an instructor. Thinking about the design aspects can be challenging for some; thus, we will showcase a series of learning objective examples in two different categories: training and lesson planning. Below each case, you can find a visual representation of the learning objective to deliver more audience engagement.

A training is conducted by a firm on Time Management for Managers. This training is vital because effective time management is crucial for managers to maintain productivity and meet deadlines. It is realized that many managers struggle with task prioritization, leading to missed deadlines and increased stress.

Learning Objective Example 01

Use the Eisenhower Matrix to categorize tasks based on urgency and importance within two weeks.

This learning objective is evident in what managers need to do (Use the matrix), measurable by their ability to categorize tasks, achievable within two weeks, relevant to task prioritization, and time-bound.

Learning Objective Example 02

Implement project management software to streamline task organization and meet deadlines within one month.

This objective addresses the broader aspect of time management by introducing a tool. It specifies the action (implement software), is measurable through enhanced task organization, achievable in one month, relevant to meeting deadlines, and time-bound.

A lesson is about understanding literary devices in poetry. Understanding literary devices is crucial for students to appreciate and analyze poetry effectively.

Example of Vague Objective

Learn about poetry devices.

This objective is too broad and lacks specificity. It doesn’t specify which poetry devices students should focus on. To enhance clarity, we should specify the devices, such as “Identify similes and metaphors in assigned poems.

A Well-Established Lesson Objective Example

Identify Similes and Metaphors in Assigned Poems during One Class Period

It is a clear and concise objective focusing explicitly on identifying similes and metaphors in assigned poems. Students will actively read and analyze poems to “identify” and differentiate between similes and metaphors. “Identify” is used as an action verb here, so the objective is actionable. Success is observable when students accurately point out similes and metaphors in the assigned poems during the class period. At the same time, it is relevant to the lesson plan that directly addresses the challenge of understanding and recognizing literary devices in poetry. It is achievable within the timeframe of one class period.

Another example can be visualized in the format of an end-of-unit exercise:

Develop a strategy for effective delegation, reducing workload stress by 20% over the next quarter.

Focusing on delegation, this objective is specific in developing a strategy that is measurable by workload stress reduction, achievable in the next quarter, directly relevant to the issue, and time-bound, providing a clear timeframe for improvement.

Vague or Unclear Objectives

Vague or unclear objectives lack specificity, making it challenging for learners to understand what is expected. When a purpose is unclear, it can lead to confusion and misinterpretation. To address this, learning objectives should be articulated with precision, clearly outlining the specific skill or knowledge area that learners are expected to acquire. This clarity provides a roadmap for both learners and instructors, fostering a more effective learning process.

Example of Lack of Clarity – “Write better essays.”

The term “better” is subjective and doesn’t provide a clear benchmark for improvement. We should define the improvement to enhance clarity, such as “Organize ideas logically within paragraphs using transitions.”

Objectives That Are Not Measurable

Measurability is crucial for assessing progress and achievement. Objectives that lack a measurable component make it challenging to determine whether the desired outcome has been met. Learning objectives should incorporate specific criteria or actions that can be observed, evaluated, or quantified to enhance measurability. This not only provides a clear standard for success but also allows for practical evaluation and feedback. Measurable objectives contribute to a more transparent and accountable learning process.

Example of Non-Measurable Objective – “Enhance academic writing abilities.”

The term “enhance” is vague and lacks a measurable outcome. To make it more effective, we should make it measurable, like “Apply proper citation formats in academic writing.”

Indeed, let’s delve into a detailed discussion on common mistakes to avoid when writing learning objectives without relying on excessive adjectives.

Objectives That Are Not Aligned with the Training Program’s Goals

Alignment between individual learning objectives and the broader goals of the training program is essential for overall program success. When objectives are not in harmony with the program’s goals, there is a risk of diverging efforts that may not contribute to the desired outcomes. Ensuring alignment involves thoroughly understanding the overarching program goals and carefully crafting objectives that directly support those goals. This strategic alignment ensures that every learning objective plays a meaningful role in achieving the overall objectives of the training program. For instance, if a training program aims to enhance customer service skills, an objective like “Master advanced technical troubleshooting” might not align with the program’s focus. To ensure alignment, objectives should directly contribute to the overarching goals of the training program. An aligned objective would be to “Resolve customer issues efficiently following company protocols.”

You need resources like educational content guidelines, collaboration tools, and text editors to write practical learning objectives for courses or training. Presentation templates are crucial for efficiency, consistency, and visual appeal. They save time by providing pre-designed structures, ensuring a professional look, and allowing customization to match the course theme.

In essence, SlideModel offers a comprehensive toolkit for educators and trainers. From visual excellence to efficient customization and alignment with SMART goals , these templates elevate the process of creating learning objectives. 

Using visually engaging graphics and layouts adds more clarity to learning objectives. This makes the content more attractive and facilitates better understanding for your audience. SlideModel offers an extensive collection of Google Slides templates , providing educators and trainers with a visually stunning canvas for crafting learning objectives.

The ready-made nature of PowerPoint templates significantly accelerates the aim of the learning creation process. Instead of starting from scratch, you can use these templates to structure your content quickly. This time-saving advantage allows you to focus on the substance of your learning objectives without getting bogged down by formatting complexities.

1. E-Learning Objective Examples PowerPoint Template

If you intend to harness the power of visuals to boost your lesson objective examples, this is the slide deck to use. Filled with hand-made vector graphics, this learning objectives examples for training template allows us to present exercises to students, establish deadlines with clear requirements, express the learning objectives of each course unit, and more.

Use This Template

2. Employee Training Objectives PowerPoint Template

Display the learning objectives for your in-company training program, evaluate the training needs and where your employees currently stand, and properly plan the agenda for these professional training courses using a minimalistic layout PPT template. Easy to customize, we also include a roadmap and two slides for 3-month and 6-month training plans.

3. Course Syllabus Lesson Plan Objectives PowerPoint Templates

Teachers can easily connect with their students about the expected outcome of the course and learning objective examples by using this best PPT template. Explain the expectations for the course, the content that will be shared, the main learning objectives, and the required materials.

4. Creative Lessons Learned PowerPoint Template

Summarize the core points to be covered as learning objectives for any course or training program by using this slide deck. It allow us to work lesson by lesson, which is ideal for online courses, and also to brief students about the key takeaways of each unit.

5. Math Symbols PowerPoint Template

Present math-related learning objectives in a visually appealing format by using our Math Symbols PowerPoint Template. Instructors can find slides with math symbols, compass, calculators, and other relevant vector graphics to reinforce the topic they want to present as a lesson objective.

The Objective slide and other templates in SlideModel are customizable to suit the specific needs of your learning objectives. You can easily modify text, insert relevant images, and adapt the layout to align with your educational context. This customization feature ensures your learning objectives are visually appealing and tailored to your unique instructional requirements. Whether you are creating a detailed training module or a standalone learning objective presentation, these templates enhance the overall visual consistency, contributing to a polished and professional look.

Learning objectives are like guides in the learning world. Think of them as maps showing the way to knowledge and skills. With practical examples, we’ve made creating these objectives less of a mystery. They’re not just fancy educational talk; they’re like step-by-step plans for success. Whether you’re a trainer, someone designing lessons, or just curious about learning, nailing down these objectives becomes a shared way of talking about goals. The principles of specificity, measurability, relevance, and alignment are emphasized, showcasing the characteristics that make learning objectives genuinely effective.

[1] Melton, R. 1997. Objectives, Competencies, and Learning Outcomes: Developing Instructional Materials in Open and Distance Learning. London, UK: Kogan Page.

[2] Stapleton-Corcoran, E. 2023. Learning Objectives , Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence. University of Illinois Chicago. https://teaching.uic.edu/learning-objectives/ .

[3] Barnett, S. M., & Ceci, S. J. 2002. When and Where Do We Apply What We Learn? A Taxonomy for Far Transfer. Psychological Bulletin , 128(4), 612-637.

[4] https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/learning-objective

[5] Course Objectives & Learning Outcomes. https://resources.depaul.edu/teaching-commons/teaching-guides/course-design/Pages/course-objectives-learning-outcomes.aspx

[6] Course design (no date) CTE Resources. https://cteresources.bc.edu/documentation/learning-objectives/

[7] Learning Objectives – Eberly center – Carnegie Mellon University (no date) Learning Objectives – Eberly Center – Carnegie Mellon University. https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/learningobjectives.html

[8] Course design CTE Resources. https://cteresources.bc.edu/documentation/learning-objectives/

[9] Chatterjee, D., & Corral, J. (2017). How to Write Well-Defined Learning Objectives. The journal of education in perioperative medicine : JEPM, 19(4), E610.

[10] http://batchwood.herts.sch.uk/files/Learning-Objectives.pdf

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Academic Presentation Skills and Tools

• Define your goal & learning objectives
• Understanding your audience
• Basic presentation outline
• Images and Screencasts
• AV and Animation Software
• Website Creation
• Active Learning
• Visual Aids
• Public Speaking
• Library Resources

Define your goal

Understand the complex idea well enough to be able to discern its most critical components from just the necessary but minor details.

It is a fact that you are NOT going to have enough time to get through everything that you want to say on your topic.

3-4 points = 50 min

5-6 points = 75 min

image source: http://www.thethingswesay.com/img/2787.jpg

Setting a learning objectives can help you as a teacher or presenter identify what it is that you want your students or audience to take away.  It can help keep you focused and not get off on a tangent either.

What are learning objectives?   It is a statement of what students will be able to do when they have completed instruction. 

 Learning objectives fall into 6 categories moving from lower level to high level learning: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Lower level: Students will be able to locate the major organs that make up the circulatory system.

High level: Students will be able to evaluate the impact of an increase of interest rates on the housing market.

Identifying the learning outcomes also helps you decide what active learning activities can be incorporated into your lecture.

Learning objective verbs

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Ideas and insights from Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning

Powerful and Effective Presentation Skills: More in Demand Now Than Ever

When we talk with our L&D colleagues from around the globe, we often hear that presentation skills training is one of the top opportunities they’re looking to provide their learners. And this holds true whether their learners are individual contributors, people managers, or senior leaders. This is not surprising.

Effective communications skills are a powerful career activator, and most of us are called upon to communicate in some type of formal presentation mode at some point along the way.

For instance, you might be asked to brief management on market research results, walk your team through a new process, lay out the new budget, or explain a new product to a client or prospect. Or you may want to build support for a new idea, bring a new employee into the fold, or even just present your achievements to your manager during your performance review.

And now, with so many employees working from home or in hybrid mode, and business travel in decline, there’s a growing need to find new ways to make effective presentations when the audience may be fully virtual or a combination of in person and remote attendees.

Whether you’re making a standup presentation to a large live audience, or a sit-down one-on-one, whether you’re delivering your presentation face to face or virtually, solid presentation skills matter.

Even the most seasoned and accomplished presenters may need to fine-tune or update their skills. Expectations have changed over the last decade or so. Yesterday’s PowerPoint which primarily relied on bulleted points, broken up by the occasional clip-art image, won’t cut it with today’s audience.

The digital revolution has revolutionized the way people want to receive information. People expect presentations that are more visually interesting. They expect to see data, metrics that support assertions. And now, with so many previously in-person meetings occurring virtually, there’s an entirely new level of technical preparedness required.

The leadership development tools and the individual learning opportunities you’re providing should include presentation skills training that covers both the evergreen fundamentals and the up-to-date capabilities that can make or break a presentation.

So, just what should be included in solid presentation skills training? Here’s what I think.

The fundamentals will always apply When it comes to making a powerful and effective presentation, the fundamentals will always apply. You need to understand your objective. Is it strictly to convey information, so that your audience’s knowledge is increased? Is it to persuade your audience to take some action? Is it to convince people to support your idea? Once you understand what your objective is, you need to define your central message. There may be a lot of things you want to share with your audience during your presentation, but find – and stick with – the core, the most important point you want them to walk away with. And make sure that your message is clear and compelling.

You also need to tailor your presentation to your audience. Who are they and what might they be expecting? Say you’re giving a product pitch to a client. A technical team may be interested in a lot of nitty-gritty product detail. The business side will no doubt be more interested in what returns they can expect on their investment.

Another consideration is the setting: is this a formal presentation to a large audience with questions reserved for the end, or a presentation in a smaller setting where there’s the possibility for conversation throughout? Is your presentation virtual or in-person? To be delivered individually or as a group? What time of the day will you be speaking? Will there be others speaking before you and might that impact how your message will be received?

Once these fundamentals are established, you’re in building mode. What are the specific points you want to share that will help you best meet your objective and get across your core message? Now figure out how to convey those points in the clearest, most straightforward, and succinct way. This doesn’t mean that your presentation has to be a series of clipped bullet points. No one wants to sit through a presentation in which the presenter reads through what’s on the slide. You can get your points across using stories, fact, diagrams, videos, props, and other types of media.

Visual design matters While you don’t want to clutter up your presentation with too many visual elements that don’t serve your objective and can be distracting, using a variety of visual formats to convey your core message will make your presentation more memorable than slides filled with text. A couple of tips: avoid images that are cliched and overdone. Be careful not to mix up too many different types of images. If you’re using photos, stick with photos. If you’re using drawn images, keep the style consistent. When data are presented, stay consistent with colors and fonts from one type of chart to the next. Keep things clear and simple, using data to support key points without overwhelming your audience with too much information. And don’t assume that your audience is composed of statisticians (unless, of course, it is).

When presenting qualitative data, brief videos provide a way to engage your audience and create emotional connection and impact. Word clouds are another way to get qualitative data across.

Practice makes perfect You’ve pulled together a perfect presentation. But it likely won’t be perfect unless it’s well delivered. So don’t forget to practice your presentation ahead of time. Pro tip: record yourself as you practice out loud. This will force you to think through what you’re going to say for each element of your presentation. And watching your recording will help you identify your mistakes—such as fidgeting, using too many fillers (such as “umm,” or “like”), or speaking too fast.

A key element of your preparation should involve anticipating any technical difficulties. If you’ve embedded videos, make sure they work. If you’re presenting virtually, make sure that the lighting is good, and that your speaker and camera are working. Whether presenting in person or virtually, get there early enough to work out any technical glitches before your presentation is scheduled to begin. Few things are a bigger audience turn-off than sitting there watching the presenter struggle with the delivery mechanisms!

Finally, be kind to yourself. Despite thorough preparation and practice, sometimes, things go wrong, and you need to recover in the moment, adapt, and carry on. It’s unlikely that you’ll have caused any lasting damage and the important thing is to learn from your experience, so your next presentation is stronger.

How are you providing presentation skills training for your learners?

Manika Gandhi is Senior Learning Design Manager at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. Email her at [email protected] .

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• Nov 22, 2022

Presentation Objectives That Give You the Edge

Updated: Jan 31, 2023

Presentation Objectives That Give You The Edge

A compelling presentation begins with a clear objective. It takes the audience on a fascinating journey from where they are now to your ultimate destination—your presentation objective. Your objective identifies what you want to accomplish with your presentation in one or two sentences. This is harder than you think. Too many presenters simply open a PowerPoint deck and start creating a presentation before they identify the objective.

To help you create your objective, answer these questions before creating your presentation:

What is the “ why” of your presentation?

Why is this presentation important to your audience? Why will investing time in attending your presentation benefit those who experience it? Why is your content important to the organization? To you? To your manager? Customers? Others?

Take the time to respond to these questions. Be specific. Your responses will help you create a clear, concise and compelling presentation objective.

What do you want the audience to know, feel and do?

There is so much to know! It is important to be specific about what exactly you will include so you resist over-stuffing your presentation and confusing your audience.

A few examples might help:

Know that without additional funding of $22,000, the project will fail.

Know that one of our biggest customers is meeting with a competitor because they need lower pricing.

Know that new FDA regulations require an increase of 20% in time for current lab protocols.

After you identify your " know ," think through how you want your audience to feel and what you want them to do about this. For example (A) you may want them to feel anxious so that they are willing to commit the additional funding. For (B), you may want the audience to feel nervous about losing a customer so that they will agree to providing lower pricing options. For (C), you may want the audience to feel supportive and so they will agree to hiring an intern.

Create your objective (more info here)

Review your answers to the questions above, and then capture your objective in writing. Here are possible objectives for each of the earlier scenarios:

Get commitment for $22,000 in incremental funding by the end of the quarter to keep project Optimus on track.

Get commitment from director of sales to a three-tier pricing proposal for customer Prime.

Get commitment from lab manager to hire an intern by May 15 to handle new workload created by recent FDA regulation changes.

Don’t simply think about your objective: write it down! Your objective is your North Star. Put this on the top of the page where you create your presentation outline. Include your objective in the introduction section in your slide deck. Review each main point to be sure it supports your objective.

Put in the time to answer these questions so that your next presentation will be clear, concise and compelling.

This article comes from our series on presentation coaching from author Susan Garrity Bish's new book, Clear, Concise & Compelling: How to Present to Change Minds and Influence Outcomes. You can learn more about the book here , or purchase it directly from Amazon here.

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