How to Be a Great Presenter [When the stakes are real]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- 4 hours ago
- 9 min read
Stan, one of our clients, asked us an honest question while we were working on his presentation for an upcoming keynote.
He said, “I hired you to write and design my slides. But do you have any advice on how I can actually be a great presenter when I’m in the room? I can outsource the slides, but I can’t outsource the delivery. That part is on me. And I don’t want to be good. I want to be great.”
Our Creative Director paused for a second and replied...
“You just gave me an idea. Let’s do this. I’ll write an article tonight, we’ll publish it on our website, and it’ll help you and everyone else who’s stuck in the same place.”
Because if you’re being honest with yourself, Stan’s question probably sounds familiar. You’re wondering what actually separates a great presenter from someone who just gets through their deck.
This article is for you if you’re in Stan’s situation and trying to figure out how to be a great presenter when it really counts.
In case you didn't know, we specialize in only one thing: making presentations. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.
First, let's understand what makes a great presenter.
Most people think a great presenter is someone who keeps the room engaged. People nodding along. A few laughs. Maybe even a round of applause at the end.
That’s not what makes someone great.
A great presenter is someone who achieves their goal by the time the presentation is over.
That goal changes depending on the room.
A keynote speech is meant to shift how people think.
An investor presentation is meant to earn trust and open the door to the next conversation.
A sales presentation is meant to move a decision forward.
In every case, the presentation has a job to do.
You’ve probably heard advice about engagement and audience participation. And yes, those things matter. But only as tools. Engagement without direction is just entertainment. Participation without intent is just noise.
In high-level presentations, success isn’t measured by how the room feels while you’re speaking.
It’s measured by what happens after you stop talking.
Do people remember the one idea you wanted them to remember?
Do they see the problem differently than they did before?
Do they take the action you were hoping they would take?
If they don’t, the presentation failed, even if the room was fully engaged.
This is where most presenters get it wrong. They try to be likable instead of being clear.
They focus on energy instead of intention. They add more slides, more stories, and more data, hoping something sticks.
Great presenters do the opposite. They decide the outcome first, then build everything around making that outcome unavoidable.
So, How to Be a Great Presenter
Once you accept that a great presenter is someone who achieves a specific outcome, the question changes. It’s no longer “How do I sound confident?” or “How do I keep people engaged?” The real question becomes “How do I design this presentation so the result I want is the result I get?”
That’s the shift most people never make. And it’s the shift that separates average presenters from great ones.
Let’s break this down into practical ideas you can actually use.
Start with the uncomfortable question no one wants to answer
Before you open PowerPoint or rehearse a single line, ask yourself one question.
“What do I want people to do differently after this presentation?”
Not what you want to say. Not what you want to explain. Not what you want to show.
What you want them to do.
This question is uncomfortable because it forces clarity. And clarity exposes weak thinking.
If your answer sounds vague, like “I want them to understand our product better” or “I want them to feel inspired,” you’re not ready to present yet. Great presenters can finish this sentence cleanly and confidently.
Try this exercise:
Write your desired outcome in one sentence.
Start it with “After this presentation, the audience should…”
If it takes more than one sentence, you’re not done thinking.
Every great presentation you’ve ever seen was built around a clear outcome, whether the presenter admitted it or not.
Decide what to leave out before deciding what to include
Most presenters think their problem is not having enough content. It’s the opposite.
They have too much.
A great presenter understands that subtraction is a skill. Every extra slide, every extra example, and every extra statistic competes with the thing that actually matters.
If everything feels important, nothing is.
Here’s a simple rule that works surprisingly well. If a slide, story, or point does not directly support your outcome, it does not belong in the presentation.
Try this:
Print your slide titles on paper or list them in a document.
Next to each one, write how it supports your goal.
If you can’t explain the connection in one sentence, remove it.
This is hard because it feels like you’re throwing away effort. But great presenters are not attached to effort. They’re attached to impact.
Structure beats confidence every single time
People obsess over confidence. They assume great presenters are born with it.
They’re not.
What looks like confidence is usually structure doing its job.
When you know exactly where you’re going and why, you stop rambling. You stop apologizing. You stop hiding behind filler words. Structure gives you permission to slow down and speak with intention.
A simple structure that works for most presentations looks like this:
Establish the problem clearly.
Explain why the problem matters now.
Introduce your idea, solution, or perspective.
Show proof or reasoning.
End with a clear next step.
You don’t need to announce this structure out loud. The audience should feel it, not see it.
Try rehearsing your presentation by only speaking the opening and closing line of each section. If those transitions make sense on their own, your structure is solid.
Speak like a human, not like a document
One of the fastest ways to lose a room is to sound like you’re reading a report out loud.
Documents are designed to be scanned. Presentations are designed to be experienced.
Great presenters speak in short, clear sentences. They pause. They repeat important ideas. They let silence do some of the work.
Here’s a practical test. If a sentence sounds strange when spoken out loud, it doesn’t belong in your presentation.
Try this exercise:
Read your script or notes out loud.
Circle any sentence you would never say in a normal conversation.
Rewrite it in simpler language.
Clarity sounds obvious when you hear it. Confusion sounds impressive on slides but falls apart on stage.
Use stories to create meaning, not entertainment
Stories are powerful, but only when they serve a purpose.
Most presenters use stories to be interesting. Great presenters use stories to make a point unforgettable.
A good story in a presentation does three things:
It relates directly to the idea you’re explaining.
It creates emotional context.
It reinforces your core message.
If a story is funny but irrelevant, it’s a distraction. If it’s emotional but unclear, it’s confusing.
When you add a story, ask yourself one question. What should the audience think differently because of this story?
If you can’t answer that clearly, the story doesn’t belong.
Slides should support you, not compete with you
Slides are not your script. They are visual support.
When slides are overloaded with text, the audience reads instead of listens. When slides are visually chaotic, the audience gets distracted instead of focused.
Great presenters use slides to do one of three things:
Reinforce a key idea.
Visualize data or concepts.
Create emphasis through simplicity.
A good rule to follow is this. If you need to explain what the slide means, the slide is doing too much.
Try this:
Remove all unnecessary text from a slide.
Ask yourself what the audience should notice first.
Design the slide so that answer is obvious.
Remember, people came to hear you think, not to read your slides. Don’t make them choose.
Rehearse for clarity, not memorization
Many presenters rehearse by trying to memorize every word. That’s a mistake.
Memorization makes you rigid. Rigid presenters panic when something goes slightly off script.
Great presenters rehearse to understand their flow, not to lock themselves into exact phrasing.
Here’s a better way to rehearse:
Practice explaining each section in your own words.
Focus on transitions between ideas.
Rehearse aloud, not in your head.
If you know your structure and your outcome, you don’t need a perfect script. You need familiarity.
The goal of rehearsal is not perfection. It’s comfort.
Control the pace to control attention
Most people speak too fast when they’re nervous. And nervousness usually comes from uncertainty.
When you slow down, something interesting happens. You sound more confident. Your ideas feel more important. The room listens.
Great presenters are comfortable with pauses. They let ideas land. They don’t rush to fill silence.
Try this:
After making an important point, pause for two seconds.
Take a breath before transitioning to a new idea.
Let the room catch up.
Silence is not a mistake. It’s a tool.
End with intention, not relief
Many presentations end the same way. With relief.
The presenter finishes their last slide, exhales internally, and says something like “That’s it” or “Thank you.”
Great presenters end with intention.
They remind the audience why the presentation mattered. They reinforce the core idea. They clearly signal what should happen next.
Before you finish, ask yourself one final question. What do I want people to remember about this presentation a week from now?
End there. Not with everything you covered. With what mattered most.
How Slide Content and Design Impact Your Ability to Be a Great Presenter?
Slides don’t make you great, but they can make you ineffective
Slide content and design won’t turn you into a great presenter by themselves. But when they’re poorly done, they can undermine even the strongest delivery. Overloaded slides pull attention away from you and force the audience to read instead of listen.
Clarity is the real job of slide content
Great slide content is selective. Each slide should serve one clear purpose, whether that’s reinforcing a key idea, simplifying a complex concept, or guiding attention. When a slide tries to do too much, your message gets diluted.
A useful rule is this. If you have to explain what the slide means, the slide is doing too much work.
Design removes friction, not adds flair
Good design isn’t about decoration. It’s about hierarchy, spacing, and focus. It makes ideas easier to absorb and directs the audience to what matters most. Bad design does the opposite. It creates visual noise and cognitive overload, which quietly drains attention.
The ultimate test of a good slide
Ask yourself this question. Could you deliver this presentation without the slides and still be clear?
If the answer is yes, your slides are supporting you. If the answer is no, they’re acting as a crutch.
Strong slide content and thoughtful design don’t compete with the presenter. They make it easier for you to be heard, understood, and remembered.
FAQ: Do You Have to Be Naturally Charismatic to Be a Great Presenter?
No. Charisma is often mistaken for effectiveness. Some charismatic speakers light up a room and still leave people unsure about what they actually said. Meanwhile, many great presenters are quiet, precise, and composed. What matters is not how expressive you are, but how clearly you communicate what matters.
Great presenting is built on clarity, structure, and intent. When you know your message, understand your outcome, and speak honestly in your own voice, confidence follows naturally. Audiences don’t need a performance. They need direction. And that has far more to do with preparation and purpose than personality.
FAQ: What If You’re Nervous Every Time You Present?
Feeling nervous before a presentation is normal, and it doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. What most people label as fear is often just presentation anxiety, the tension that shows up when the outcome matters. Even experienced presenters feel it. The difference is they don’t let it dictate how they show up.
Presentation anxiety becomes manageable when your focus shifts outward. When you’re clear on your message and intentional about your structure, there’s less mental space for self-doubt. Instead of worrying about how you look or sound, you concentrate on guiding the audience toward a specific outcome. Great presenters don’t try to eliminate presentation anxiety. They learn how to work with it and move forward anyway.
Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?
If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.
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