7 Best Tips to Ace Presentations in College

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Are you nervous about presentations in college? Maybe you have a huge presentation coming up and you’re worried about your presentation skills. 

First, just know, you’ll be fine and you’re gonna do great!  You want to know why?? 

Because this post gives you 7 of my best tips to ace your next college presentation, from someone who hated giving presentations in college but aced them every time!

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Presentations are a huge part of your college courses! No matter what major or field you’re studying, you’ll always have to deliver some sort of presentation.

And crazy enough, presentations aren’t just busy work in college. Once you enter your career, you’ll still be expected to give presentations in some way or another.

That’s why it’s so important for you to work on your presentation skills while in college! Honestly, it should be one of the first skills you work on during your freshman year. 

Here’s A Gem: If you want to really up your presentation skills game, take a public speaking or debate class! That was how I was really able to utilize each one of these tips to become a better presenter.

Related: 77 Insanely Funny Debate Topics for College Students

Ready to ace your next presentation?

Read on for seven tips to ace presentations in college!

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Do You Have To Do Presentations In College?

Yes, you have to do presentations in college. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but truthfully there’s no way around it. Every major has some sort of presentation as a part of your college classes. 

Even though all majors have presentations, some majors have far less than others. If you’re majoring in something like math or the sciences, you probably won’t spend too much time doing presentations.

But if you’re getting a degree in the College of Arts, or majoring in an area like communication, history, or psychology, then buckle up my friend! You will spend a lot of time creating and delivering presentations in college. 

(and probably doing papers too! I love this writing tool for helping me write the best papers in my classes)

The upside is that this is great preparation for your future career! For example, if you’re majoring in something like marketing, presentations in college are a great way to practice for your future career, where you’ll probably have to do public presentations to a group of people in your office, department, or industry.

How Often Do You Do Presentations In College?

How often you do presentations in college depends on a few different factors like your college, major, class curriculum, professor, and more. Generally speaking, if you’re in a major that requires excellent communication skills, like communication, business, finance, etc. then you’ll probably have at least 1 presentation assignment per class. 

Let’s do the math real quick.

If you are a full-time student taking 5 classes per semester and each class has 1 presentation assignment, that roughly equals 5 presentations per semester or 10 presentations per academic year. 

But again this is all dependent on a ton of different factors, so you may do less or more presentations based on your specific circumstances.

Pro Tip: If you hate public speaking or are really bad at it, you’ll want to choose your major carefully! If you choose a major with lots of presentation expectations you’ll either need to use these tips to get better or go with another major that doesn’t require so many presentations. 

My major was in communications, so I did more presentations than 1 per class.

(I usually had to do 1 small presentation that wasn’t a huge deal and 1 big presentation for finals with most of my major classes)

7 Best Tips to Ace Presentations in College

Tip 1: You’re the Expert

Delivering a good presentation is much easier if you know exactly what you’re talking about! Before you assume your position before the audience, you must become an expert on the topic. 

To reach that level, follow these two steps:

Prepare 

Preparation is the KEY to a successful and effective presentation (and a good grade!)

You will need to research and prepare your topic and presentation structure well. The goal is for you to know exactly what to say within each section of your presentation.

Here’s some areas you’ll need to think about:

• Make sure you are comfortable with whatever platform you are using to deliver your presentation slides. (Most students use either PowerPoint, Canva, or Google Slides)
• Prepare well for the Q&A section. Write down some possible questions your audience could ask and have some answers to you won’t be caught off guard.

Remember, do not wait until the last minute to start preparing!

Practice

Confidence in your presentation skills comes from practice!

Yes, practicing might be boring, but more practice means better performance. For solo presentations, try practicing in front of a mirror. Better yet, practice in front of family or friends to foresee the reaction of your audience. That way, you can assess your intonation and body language.

(I used to practice in my car or sometimes even recorded myself and listened to it on the campus bus)

If you’re doing group presentations, schedule practice sessions a few days before the actual presentation day so you all can work out the kinks and feel ready as a team!

Tip 2: Manage Your Time

College presentations usually have a time limit (can range from anywhere to 5-45 mins).

Give yourself plenty of time to get through the material and have time left for questions at the end. Make sure you don’t go beyond your allocated time. You might risk losing your audience or it could negatively affect your grade.

Here are some excellent guidelines to help you manage your time during a presentation:

• Wear a watch during the presentation to keep check of your time.
• Dedicate 2-3 minutes to each slide.
• Don’t use “transitions” between slides.
• Write a notes script for yourself with key points that you have to touch on for each slide.

Using these tips will help you limit rambling and keep good watch of your timing during the presentation.

Tip 3: One Image Is Worth a Thousand Words

Use graphics instead of wordy slides!

Images can express ideas and capture attention a lot faster than words. Besides, they totally make your presentation more interesting and engaging.

Let the audience see only images that you explain. That makes you seem like someone who doesn’t need help to remember the subject matter. You can even add video clips for more interaction or memes if they relate to your topic and audience.

Another important thing here is not to read the information off the slides. If you use bulky slides, you fall into trouble. 

For starters, you’ll find yourself reading automatically, which makes you seem unprepared. In addition, your audience will also read the slides. You’ll end up losing their attention since they’ll be reading and not listening to you. 

The big point here is to avoid putting lots of words on your slides.

If you need help remembering the content, create a cheat sheet for yourself with bullet points to remind you of the content.

Here’s A Gem: For online presentations, use a split screen! Have one screen for your notes, and another to see the slides and audience. 

Tip 4: Make It Interactive

The key to giving a great presentation is to captivate your audience, so you must try to get the audience members involved!

If you keep the people busy, they’ll listen to you and learn something new, and you won’t end up with sleepy faces all around. (you know the one where people are staring at you but you know they’re not listening)

Luckily, there are several ways to captivate your audience. For instance:

• Maintain eye contact
• Ask questions
• Tell anecdotes and add specific situations to tell a story if you can
• Personalize the information you provide
• Use humor
• Don’t pack your presentation with big words or fancy jargon- keep it clear and simple

Tip 5: Feel Free to Improvise

You don’t have to memorize everything!

(Wooo, are you feeling better after hearing that?!)

No one knows what you’re planning to say. So if you forget something… improvise.

Skip parts, add sentences, or change the order of your lines. That’s totally okay! What you want to avoid is stuttering or having long silences within your speech. Those can make you look unprepared and unconfident.

I love to add some improvisation because it makes your presentation interesting and unexpected. That little nuances really help you capture your audience and gain their attention.

Tip 6:Use Strong Body Language

Body language is super important for your presentations especially if you’re doing in-class presentations vs. a virtual presentation.

If this is your first time doing a presentation in college, it can totally be nerve-racking being at the front of the class with all eyes on you, especially if you have stage fright. Look I get it, presentations get you out of your comfort zone.

That’s why it’s so important to practice, practice, practice!

Practicing your body language is an easy way for you to instantly feel more comfortable. It adds a lot to your work by showcasing your confidence, knowledge, and style. The most important thing you want to make sure of is that you’re comfortable and confident in your knowledge. 

Posture

1. Start strong with the right posture. Don’t droop your shoulders or lower your head. 
2. Maintain good eye contact with your audience. Find a focal point and use that when you’re speaking (like a wall clock!)
3. Use your hands to give dramatic effects when you speak. Don’t keep your hands in your pockets. It can make you look nervous.

Nervous Habits

Avoid nervous habits like nail biting or rocking back and forth. These can be distracting for your audience.

To overcome nervousness, try these steps:

• Take a deep breath and scan your audience.
• Look for a friendly face with a warm smile to make it your focal point.
• Smile to your audience and show confidence.
• Joke about your nervousness.

Voice

Your voice plays a crucial role in the presentation. You want to sound natural and confident. A lot of mistakes college students make is trying to sound like someone they are not during a presentation.

Don’t put on this “fake voice” to sound confident! Use professional language and be yourself!

Tip 7: Employ the Rule of Three

In his book Rhetoric, Aristotle states that people tend to remember three things only out of every speech. Do you know how to use the rule of three for your benefit? Here’s a few key points:

Three Takeaways

Know the three most important takeaways in your presentation!

Make a short list of these three main points of information that you want your audience to remember. Repeat them in every section of your presentation naturally as it fits the flow of your content.

Three Sections

Divide your presentation into three main sections: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. 

Your introduction is by far the most important part of your presentation. A killer opening can captivate your audience longer than you’d expect!

Use a catchy introduction to hook your audience. For example, you can begin with:

•  A joke
• A story
• A question
• A fun fact

Before You Go

Now that you got all the secret sauce to rock your presentations in college, here’s another set of tips you need!

Did you know I have 7 secrets for how to survive your 8am classes in college?

Well now you do! Check out this post for all the GEMs I’m spilling for surviving your dreaded 8am’s!

Click here to read 7 Secrets to Survive 8am Classes in College!

This post was about presentations in college.

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