Creatively Present a Project

No matter how good your material is, your ability to engage the audience is what makes or breaks a presentation. Framing your project in a creative way is very important, especially if you're counting on your audience to take away something from your work. Although virtually all successful presentations stem from a basis of careful planning, you should put equal thought into the way you'll communicate your ideas to others. All aspects of a presentation, verbal, visual and social, should be considered in your end plan. A creative presentation may seem impossible if you're not used to speaking in front of people, but with the right style, you can get a crowd engaged with virtually anything.

Steps

Communicating a Project Orally

1. Get over your pre-speech jitters. It may be easier said than done, but a key aspect of all successful presenters is their ability to get past negative feelings prior to the presentation. Nervousness is a tough thing to overcome if you struggle with it, but it can be significantly lessened so long as you minimize potential stressors. Make sure you get ample sleep and preparation in advance of your presentation date. Give yourself the time you need to feel confident about your project.
   • Meditating for a few minutes before your presentation may help ease the strain as well.
2. Plan a script beforehand. Although any creative presenter will leave themselves enough room to improvise, a successful presentation will almost always come with a tightly scripted plan to fall back on. Think of your presentation as a verbal essay and organize it into sections.
   • You can have your script on your podium or at hand. It's good to have it close by in case you slip up and need to pick up again.
   • You should take efforts to properly time out your presentation beforehand. Always try to shoot under your recommended time limit.
3. Speak slowly. Keeping your pace of speech slow and steady may not be the first thing you think of when it comes to a creative presentation. Slow speaking in of itself may not be creative, but it offers your creativity to come out more smoothly. Creativity can manifest itself with improvised remarks and quips in your speech, but these can only happen if you're giving your brain enough time to process everything. If you simply slow down the rate at which you speak, you'll have an easier time controlling what comes out of your mouth.
   • Time yourself reading through your speech at a normal rate. After that, time yourself again and try to read through the speech in 120% of the time. Making an explicit goal of slower speech as you practice will train you to a better pace when it comes time to perform.
   • This is especially important if you have a tendency for nervousness during a presentation.
4. Offer a conversational style of presentation. Although you'll want to have a clear idea of where you've been and where you're going during your presentation, it's a good idea to ultimately keep your tone of voice casual. People don't like it when it sounds like you're reading off a script. If you give the false impression that you're improvising your speech as you go along, your audience will be more engaged. This conversational style comes with confidence, and confidence comes with preparation.
   • If you were having an enlightening talk with someone prior to the speech, you can take a quick note of that and work it into your speech's subject somehow.
   • Record yourself talking to someone casually. From there, listen to the ways you naturally inflect your voice. You can use inflections and changes in volume creatively in a presentation setting.
   • Don't mistake a casual style with pure improvising. The best presenters know how to funnel real information through this casual tone, but always know to stay on topic.
5. Practice. Practice and preparation will be your best aids when it comes to a strong presentation. Practice in the mirror, and regulate your tone of voice as best suits the topic at hand. As you rehearse it, you'll begin to see new ways to spruce up your presentation. Fresh insights are a welcome side-effect of practice.
   • Practicing in different areas will make sure you don't keep too accustomed to one setting. Chances are you won't have much time to prepare in the actual venue you'll be presenting in, so you need to be ready to perform regardless of the area.

Presenting a Project Visually

1. Use assertive body language. In an in-person presentation, your body is a method of expression like your voice. If people are engaged by the way you present yourself physically, they'll be more engaged by what you have to say. Like an actor, you can use your body creatively to express a point. Your movements should be casual and fluid. Holding true to some of these will have a tangible benefit on your presentation:
   • Outstretch your arms for points of emphasis.
   • Scan your eye contact throughout the crowd.
   • Maintain a tall posture. Try to take up as much physical space as you can while you're on stage.
2. Dress to suit your presentation. Your audience well gather a lot based on the way you present yourself physically. If your manner of dress is neatly-kept, whatever you have to say will be taken more seriously by your audience. Dressing well should be seen to encompass basic hygiene and hair as well. Take extra time in your morning to make sure you work out the kinks in your appearance. Dressing well may have a noticeable effect on your confidence as well.
   • Don't take too much creative license with your dress. Most venues have set expectations for what should be worn. Intentionally breaking free of those norms might make you look like a clown.
3. Keep your visuals simple. Chances are, your audience will only have a few seconds to focus on each of your visuals before you start talking or another slide hits. If you keep your images simple, you'll allow your major points to be digested without distracting your audience with less important details. Any minutiae you include in a presentation should be communicated orally.
   • A colourful pie chart is a great way to express proportions.
   • Although you shouldn't take too much license with the way you present things, the use of colour is a simple way to make your presentation more creative.
4. Include funny images to keep your audience engaged. Even if your audience is interested in the subject itself, chances are they are looking for entertainment as well as information. A funny image helps displace the sense of formality in a presentation. Although humour isn't suitable for all subjects (like genocide) it can be used to your benefit if you think your audience might get bored otherwise.
   • Related internet memes can be incorporated into a presentation, so long as they're relatively appropriate. Remember to keep your prospective audience's age in mind if you use humour.
   • If you thought of something offhandedly witty while you prepared your presentation, it may be worthwhile to illustrate it visually somehow. Clip art is available online for virtually every possible situation.
5. Create handouts. Handouts offer a visual boost for your audience to hold onto. Whether it's a summary of the points you'd like to get across the most, or an introduction to your material, handouts are recommended if your presentation is fairly text-heavy. Text translates onto a handout much better than a slide presentation.
6. Move around your stage. In addition to assertive body language, you should make yourself into a moving target for your audience. The act of covering the space of your stage will make you more interesting to look at.
   • Pace yourself back and forth across the stage. Don't walk too fast, however. Pacing is usually associated with nervousness. Keep your strides confident, and put effort into making your posture tall as you walk.

Getting Your Audience Involved

1. Begin your presentation with an attention-grabber. An attention-grabber is something that will interest your audience in the project at hand, regardless of their prior experience of the subject. You want to keep your opening lines as accessible as possible. You could open up your presentation with something that entertains. Examples include telling jokes, expressing the importance of your subject, or using a poetic description to get to the heart of your subject.
   • Ask a broad question that anyone could relate to. For example, if your presentation is about mortgage rates, you can ask "Who has ever had issues finding a house they both loved and were able to afford?"
   • Telling a story is a great way of getting your audience involved, even if they have no prior interest in the subject your project is about.
2. Encourage audience participation. Your audience is a living, breathing entity. Take advantage of that fact. Audience members may get restless if they're left idle for too long. Although you should remain the focal point of attention for the most part, it' a good idea to encourage some participation on your audience's part. You should tell your audience that you welcome questions and comments. Stop in key sections of your speech and ask people what they think.
   • Stop your presentation after making a big point. Give some information and then ask your audience what their take on the info is. You may be surprised by some of the answers.
3. Quiz your audience. Quizzing your audience turns the presentation into something of a game for everyone involved. People enjoy a sense of friendly competition, and if they know they're going to have to put their knowledge to the test at some point, they'll be all the more likely to stay focused.
   • You can digitize your audience's quiz-taking with quiz apps. Certain apps will send multiple choice questions to your audience's phones where they can answer within 30 seconds of a question being introduced.
4. Survey your audience's opinion. By catching up on what your audience thinks or feels towards a subject partway into the presentation, you offer the possibility of turning your project into an open forum for discussion. Getting fresh insights from people who may be hearing about your subject for the first time adds an organic quality to your presentation. This will make the event more interesting for all involved-- including you.
5. Bring food. Food is a quick way to the hearts of your audience. Offering them something to snack on while they take in your presentation will relax them and ease worries they might have that you're taking up their time. While donuts and muffins are a welcome standard in this regard, you may have better luck if the food you give your audience helps their brain function. Nuts and fruits are perfect for snacking on, and a good portion of your audience should still take you up on the food offer.
   • Putting up a table of stuff at the back of the room will allow people to get what they want without interfering with your presentation.
6. Be passionate about your project. Above all, a successful presentation depends on a strong sense of passion from the presenter. At the end of the day, an attentive audience can tell whether or not a presenter is truly engaged with the material he's talking about. If you have the passion for it, making the material interesting will be simple by comparison.

Tips

• Try to get to the presentation spot as early as you can. The earlier you get there, the more time you'll have to work out kinks. Worrying about getting to your own presentation late is also a fast way to kill confidence when you need it most.

Warnings

• Don't go up and present something unless you have it thoroughly prepared in advance. Improvisation is healthy in small doses, but you'll get nowhere if that's what you ultimately rely on for your effect.

Sources and Citations

See also

• Dress for a Presentation
• Prepare for a Management Presentation
• Plan a Presentation
• Mount a Projector
• Do a Presentation in Class
• Give a Presentation
• Improve Your Presentation Skills
• Start a Presentation
• Do a Project
• Make a Presentation Fun

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