example of oral presentation outline

August 13, 2024

How to create a presentation outline (with examples)

Four methods to create a presentation outline and example outlines for inspiration

Co-founder, CEO

Like it or not, if you work in an office or go to school, you'll probably have to make a presentation sooner or later. But creating a great presentation can be challenging, especially if you're short on time or suffering from writer's block.

Luckily, there are many ways to get a head start on your presentation outline. In this article we'll walk through four options for creating a presentation outline and show you several examples of great presentation outlines.

Why should I write a presentation outline?

An outline helps you organize your ideas in a clear and logical way . Instead of getting bogged down on details like formatting or word choice, an outline presents the overarching story of your presentation with just a few main points. This helps to make sure you have a cohesive narrative before you dive into the nitty gritty work of wordsmithing individual bullet points or selecting the perfect slide theme.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it often is! But spending time writing a great outline will save you time and effort down the road because it will be easier to organize your work and create each slide when you understand how it fits in to the broader presentation.

Here are four ways you can get a start on creating your next presentation outline.

Method 1: Create your outline from scratch

Creating an outline from scratch may sound intimidating if you have never written a presentation outline before, but this is the most straightforward way to get started.

Start by jotting down the three main points you want to make in your presentation. Once you have your main ideas in order, write down a few supporting details and examples for each point.

Then, add an introduction (find an interesting image, quote, or question to help grab the audience's audience) and a conclusion (decide on the best way to summarize the takeaways from your presentation) to the outline, and you are ready to go.

This method is great for those who prefer to have complete control over their presentation and want to create a custom outline that works best for their needs.

Method 2: Create a presentation outline using an AI presentation maker

If you're short on time or looking for a quick way to get a first draft of a presentation outline that you can then refine, using an AI presentation maker is a great option.

Plus AI lets you type a short prompt like "Create a presentation that provides an overview of the Norwegian oil industry," and it will automatically generate an outline of a presentation for you. After Plus creates the outline, you can change the titles of slides, rearrange slides, and remove any pieces of the outline that are not necessary.

From there, once your outline is created, you can click the "Generate presentation" button, choose a template, and let the AI create the first draft of your entire presentation.

This method is a good option for those who want to create a polished presentation without getting stuck with a blank piece of paper. Instead, it frees you up to take a first draft presentation and customize it for your needs.

Method 3: Create a presentation outline using ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that can help with a wide variety of tasks - everything from acting as a therapist, to sharing recipes, to helping you come up with presentation ideas and creating content for a presentation .

To have ChatGPT help you generate a presentation, you can take two different approaches:

• Use a custom GPT that has been trained to help people create presentations or
• Ask the general ChatGPT interface to "Create a presentation outline for me on the topic of [XYZ]."

Both approaches will yield similar results, but a custom GPT like Plus AI presentation maker will be more fine-tuned to helping people create presentations. It will also provide additional functionality like providing a visual preview of the slides and feedback on how to improve your presentation.

Method 4: Create a presentation outline using a template

Last but not least, using a template is a good way to speed up the process of creating a new presentation outline. Similar to using an AI presentation maker, a template can give you a first draft of an outline that is easier to edit and refine than starting from scratch.

Presentation templates often come pre-designed with example text and images, so all you have to do is fill in your own content. For example, this TED Talk presentation template provides some instructions on how to create an outline for a TED Talk-style slide deck.

The secret to using this method is to find the closest template to the type of presentation you want to create. You should use detailed search terms to and look across multiple sites and resources to find one that matches the content and style that you would like.

Once you have your template, start by reviewing the overall outline or structure and tweak it to meet your needs. Then, you can fill in the specific content (e.g., text and images) with your materials to make it your own to quickly make a beautiful presentation.

Presentation outline examples

Basic presentation outline example.

Let's take a look at a presentation outline and accompanying notes for a persuasive presentation on encouraging people to meditate every day:

I. Introduction

• Hook - find a striking image and tell a story
• Thesis statement - everyone should meditate for 10 min per day

II. Main point 1 - Meditation is one of the easiest ways to improve your health

• Physical health
• Mental health

III. Main point 2 - Meditation is backed up by thousands of years of practice and research

• One anecdote from antiquity
• One anecdote from recent research

IV. Main point 3 - You can get started with meditation today

• Basic technique
• Tips for newcomers

V. Conclusion

• Summarize key points
• Call to action

As you can see, this is a relatively lightweight plan for the presentation, but it provides an easy-to-understand framework that we can fill in with slides.

There are rough notes on specific content for the different points in the presentation, but we don't need to write out everything in fine detail, just the broad strokes.

Pitch deck outline example

Now let's review an outline for a pitch deck that someone might use to present their startup idea to prospective investors. This is for a startup that uses autonomous food trucks to deliver meals to people's homes and workplaces.

I. Problem statement - "Food delivery sucks, and here's why"

• Hook - pictures of typical food delivery headaches (e.g., late/no show, bad selection, etc)

II. Value prop - "FoodDrive revolutionizes the food delivery model"

• Compare value chain of FoodDrive to traditional restaurant and delivery service
• Show how $50 order gets allocated to different people

III. The product - "Customers love our trucks"

• Picture of food truck and menu
• Customer quotes and reviews

IV. Why now? - "Our self-driving technology is ready for prime-time"

V. Business model - "Each truck can generate $2-3M of revenue per year with a 60% gross margin"

• Show high-level financial forecasts on unit basis

VI. Competitive landscape - "FoodDrive's closest competitors don't come close"

• Comparison table with delivery services, in-house delivery, eating out-of-home, etc.

VII. Go to market strategy - "We've tested FoodDrive in 2 markets so far. Here's how we win in new markets"

• Overview of social media strategy
• Case study on new market launch

VIII. Team - "Our team has experience in autonomous vehicles, food delivery, and quick service restaurants"

IX. Traction - "We generate $5M of revenue per year with our 2 trucks, and we can ramp up new trucks immediately"

• Show revenue growth chart with focus on time to ramp new trucks to productivity

X. Fundraising goal - "We are raising $50M to expand FoodDrive to 10 more markets"

• Highlight key milestones we aim to reach with additional funding

Even though a pitch deck is a specialized type of presentation that often requires specific content, it's helpful to start with an outline to build out the 'story' behind the content. That way, you have a cohesive story rather than a set of disparate slides.

How can I create a presentation from an outline?

Once you have your presentation outline written, it's time to start writing your slides. Since you already know the main points you are trying to make in your presentation, the main decisions here are

• What type of visual style you want to follow
• How many slides you want in your presentation
• How you will present or share the slides

To get a head start on creating a first draft of your presentation, you could enter your outline into an AI presentation maker.

This will provide a first draft of the slides so that you can focus on making sure they tell a cohesive story or tweaking individual slides to leave a memorable impression.

Other tips and tricks for great presentations

Here are some resources to help you create great presentations:

• Make slides look good - Here are six tips for making visually appealing slides.
• Number of slides - Here is a calculator that can help you calculate how many slides you need for a presentation depending on how long you need to present.
• Unique presentation ideas - Here are 250 ideas for presentation topics that will help you create a great presentation.

Creating a presentation outline can be one of the most time-consuming parts of the creative process for making a new slide deck. Luckily, there are many tools and templates that can help you kickstart this process.

With these four methods, you can choose the one that works best for your needs and get started on your presentation outline today.

And once you have your outline, make sure to try out a tool like Plus AI presentation maker to quickly get your slides as well!

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How to Create a Presentation Outline: A Step-by-Step Guide with Examples

Master presentation outlines with our easy, step-by-step guide, complete with practical examples.

Why Should You Write a Presentation Outline?

• Enhanced Focus: It helps keep you focused and prevents you from straying off topic.
• Time Efficiency: You save time when creating the actual presentation because you have a clear plan to follow.
• Audience Engagement: A well-organized flow helps maintain the audience's interest throughout the presentation.
• Stress Reduction: Having a structured plan in place can significantly lower anxiety by making you feel prepared.

Method 1: Create Your Outline from Scratch

• Identify Main Points: Begin by determining the three to five central messages you wish to convey. These should form the backbone of your presentation.
• Support with Details: For each main point, include supporting sub-points or data. This might consist of statistics, case studies, or other relevant information that reinforces your primary arguments.
• Introduction and Conclusion: Craft an engaging introduction that captures your audience's attention right from the start. You might use a striking statistic or a pertinent quote to do this. Conclude with a strong summary of the key takeaways and a compelling call to action.
• Introduction: Begin with a surprising statistic or a relevant quote to grab attention.
• Main Point 1: The importance of digital literacy.
• Sub-point: Provide current statistics on global digital literacy rates.
• Sub-point: Discuss a case study on successful digital education programs.
• Main Point 2: The benefits of improving digital literacy.
• Sub-point: Highlight economic benefits.
• Sub-point: Discuss social implications.

Method 2: Use an AI Presentation Maker

• Provide a Prompt: Enter a brief description of your presentation topic into the AI tool.
• Customize the Output: Examine the generated outline. You may need to modify the titles of the slides and their order to better suit your needs.
• Generate Presentation: Utilize the tool to transform the outline into a preliminary draft of your presentation.
• Introduction to Renewable Energy
• Benefits of Renewable Energy
• Challenges and Solutions
• Case Studies
• Conclusion and Future Outlook

Method 3: The Mind Mapping Technique

• Central Idea: Begin by placing the central topic of your discussion at the center of your map.
• Branch Out: Extend branches from the central idea to outline each primary point or theme.
• Sub-branches: Append sub-branches to these main branches to include supporting details, examples, and data.
• Visual Elements: Incorporate colors, symbols, and images to highlight and distinguish various ideas.
• Importance of Sustainability
• Strategies for Implementation
• Future Trends
• Green Energy
• Waste Management
• Sustainable Supply Chains

Method 4: The Storyboard Approach

• Sketch Scenes: Draw or describe each slide or section of your presentation as a panel in a storyboard.
• Narrative Flow: Arrange the panels to ensure a logical progression of ideas.
• Detailing: Add notes for key points, transitions, and how you plan to engage the audience.
• Feedback: Review and rearrange the panels as needed to improve storytelling and impact.
• Panels: Introduction, Definition of Key Terms, Benefits, Challenges, Solutions, Case Study, Conclusion
• Details for 'Benefits' Panel: List of major benefits, supporting statistics, visual graph

Method 5: The Reverse Engineering Method

• Define Objective: Clearly state what you want your audience to learn or do after your presentation.
• Outcome-based Sections: Create sections that directly contribute to achieving the objective.
• Supporting Information: Add information that reinforces each section.
• Logical Sequence: Arrange sections in a way that naturally leads to your conclusion.
• Objective: Convince stakeholders to invest in renewable energy.
• Sections: Introduction, Benefits of Renewable Energy, Investment Opportunities, Success Stories, Call to Action

Method 6: The Comparative Layout

• Identify Topics: List the topics or elements you will compare.
• Comparison Criteria: Define the criteria or parameters for comparison.
• Matrix Setup: Set up a matrix or table in your outline to systematically compare each element.
• Conclusions: Summarize insights or recommendations based on the comparison.
• Topics: Traditional Marketing vs. Digital Marketing
• Criteria: Cost, Reach, Engagement, ROI, Adaptability
• Matrix: Create a table with criteria as rows and marketing types as columns, filling in details for each.

How to create a Presentation from an Outline?

How to use ai to create presentations from outline.

• Install MagicSlides Extension: Start by installing the MagicSlides extension from the Google Workspace Marketplace.
• Open Google Slides: Launch Google Slides where you’ll create your presentation.
• Activate the Extension: Open the MagicSlides extension within Google Slides.
• Enter Presentation Details: Input the topic of your presentation and specify the number of slides you need. This helps MagicSlides understand the scope of your presentation.
• Customize Your Content: You can also input specific text you wish to include on your slides. This step is optional but helps in personalizing the slides to better fit your presentation's theme and content.

Tips for Great Presentations

• Visual Appeal: Use high-quality images and consistent fonts.
• Conciseness: Keep slides concise; aim for no more than six words per bullet point.
• Engagement: Incorporate stories or questions to engage the audience.
• Practice: Rehearse your presentation multiple times to ensure smooth delivery.

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How to Write an Effective Presentation Outline

Written by: Unenabasi Ekeruke

Creating a presentation can be nerve-wracking, especially when you're staring at a blank slate.

You’ve probably got tons of ideas bouncing around, but turning them into a slick, impressive presentation is proving a hard nut to crack.

News flash: You’re not alone.

About 80% of presentations fail to deliver their objectives due to poorly organized information, a lack of preparation and scruffy slide decks.

So, how do you avoid this disaster? It all boils down to having a solid presentation outline. Think of it as a roadmap that helps you organize and share your ideas in a clear and logical way.

With the right presentation outline, you can stay on track, keep your audience hooked and ultimately convey your message with clarity and impact.

So whether you're pitching to investors, partners or clients or preparing a presentation for a conference, this article has everything you need to know about writing an effective presentation outline.

Let’s get to it!

Table of Contents

What is the outline of a presentation, why is a presentation outline important, how to write a presentation outline, how to execute your presentation outline with visme.

• A presentation outline will help you organize your thoughts to communicate with your audience clearly and easily. It clarifies the presenter’s primary ideas and organizes the flow of your presentation.
• A presentation outline consists of critical components that are logically arranged for coherence. Utilize best practices, including formatting, audience analysis and visual cues, to deliver the message with impact.
• Use interactive elements from Visme, such as hotspots, polls, animations and links, to add interactivity to your presentation outline.
• Create a presentation outline by signing up for Visme's extensive online presentation tool without dealing with complicated tool setup or program installation issues.

A presentation outline refers to the barebones version of a talk or a speech that summarizes the main points and takes the general direction of the pitch. It allows presenters to structure the flow of information in a manner that is easy to understand.

Without an outline, your presentation can be a nightmare. You could end up shuffling slides around indefinitely and appearing confused. To avoid this situation, the outline clearly lists out everything you want your presentation to achieve.

Before creating your outline, consider the goal of your presentation, who will listen to it, and what interests them. This will help you organize your content to keep them engaged.

Here’s an excellent example of a presentation with an outline.

An outline for presentation is a valuable tool that can assist you in several ways:

• You can ensure that your thoughts flow smoothly and that important points are highlighted and not overlooked.
• Creating an outline for a presentation can help you generate ideas for your presentation and give you a clear notion of what to focus on.
• A presentation outline acts as a foundation for your speaking notes, allowing you to rehearse and prepare effectively.
• It helps you stay more confident because of your polished presentation.

Now that we know why we need to make a presentation outline, let’s dive deeper into how you can write a presentation outline.

1. Decide the Purpose of the Presentation

Decide on the goal of your presentation before you start writing any notes. It serves as a base for the remainder of your outline. Your presentation may have one of the following six objectives: to inform, convince, motivate, inspire action or entertain.

A business, for instance, might use presentations for various reasons. A sales presentation outline would try to convince potential customers to buy a product, while a training presentation might educate staff members on new techniques.

Once you determine this, answer the following questions to specify the purpose.

• What is the main message you want to convey to your audience?
• What problem are you trying to solve and how can your presentation help?
• What is the desired outcome of your presentation and how will you measure its success?
• What key takeaways do you want your audience to remember after your presentation?
• What challenges or objections may your audience have and how can you address them in your presentation?

Upon answering them, write your purpose and summarize it into one or two sentences, then put that on your first slide.

2. Prepare a Structure

Making an excellent presentation starts with a great outline. But the structure is what amplifies the impact of your delivery.

An eye-catching introduction, a body and a conclusion emphasizing your primary ideas are the three essential components of a successful speech .

Here’s what you should include while creating the structure of your presentation .

• An introduction

3. Flesh out Your Outline

Now that you know what to include in the structure, let’s break it down step by step about how to write the outline.

Gather Ideas

When brainstorming, consider the most important things you want to discuss. These could be key points, stories to share, or facts and numbers you want to tell your audience. Write them all down, even if they initially seem a bit random.

Organize your ideas and determine the main message

Armed with a bucket list of ideas, you must later organize and group them. Look for patterns, connections and relationships between your ideas.

Find the most important idea—the main thing you want to tell your audience. Make sure it's clear, short and something they'll find interesting. Recheck your ideas and remove anything that doesn't match your main message or the people you're talking to.

Create a Skeleton Outline

Now that you’ve gathered ideas, it's time to build the framework for your presentation.

Introduction

Begin by introducing your topic and explaining why it's essential. Think of it as the curtain-raiser that gets your audience's attention. Also, clearly state the main point you'll discuss—your "thesis" or purpose for the presentation.

Create a skeleton outline of your presentation by breaking down this main message into smaller parts. Use bullet points or headings to organize these bits of information.

Think of the main points as the big chapters and the subpoints as the smaller sections within those chapters.

To make your presentation flow smoothly, add transitions between your points. These can be simple phrases like "Let's move on to the next point" or "Now, let's build on what we've just discussed." And when you're nearing the end, use a transition like "In conclusion."

Once you have your skeleton outline, add supporting evidence to each point. It could include statistics, case studies, quotes, images, or videos. Make sure whatever you add fits well and backs up your main message.

As you reach the end of the presentation, tie everything together with a solid conclusion. Start by recapping the main points you covered throughout your presentation. It helps reinforce what you've shared and ensure your message sticks.

Next, emphasize the key takeaways—those crucial nuggets of wisdom you want your audience to remember long after the presentation.

Now, consider including a call to action. It is where you invite your audience to do something based on what they've learned. It could be as simple as asking them to share their thoughts, sign up for more information or even take a specific action related to your topic.

If you're feeling creative, create a unique call to action that inspires your audience to engage further.

For instance, if you’re presenting a project presentation to a group of people, you might seek to win their support for your idea or get them involved in its execution. Your audience should know what they get from taking action.

If you need help generating ideas for your presentation, Visme AI writer can help. You can enhance your outline content with fresh angles, Call to Action (CTAs), examples and data points.

Remind the audience of your central point and express gratitude for their attention in the conclusion if the presentation doesn't require a call to action.

As your presentation winds down, open the floor to questions or discussion. It encourages interaction and lets your audience clarify any doubts they may have.

Lastly, list the sources you used in your presentation and acknowledge any individuals or organizations that contributed to your research or material development. It adds credibility and respect to your work.

Read our guide to learn more about how to close a presentation with style . Also, watch this video to learn how to create CTAs that make your audience do your bidding.

4. Add Visual Content

Consider adding visual content, as it has a higher recall rate than text based or video content. It can add meaning to your message, increase interest and invite the viewer to click and consume your content.

Here’s an example of a presentation outline with a colorful image that makes the slide pop.

Visuals can be anything from infographics, videos, photos, GIFs or memes, screenshots or illustrations. However, if you’re including statistics and research findings in your presentation outline slide, consider creating a visual representation of that data.

Visme’s data visualization tools make this easy. They take your data and turn it into beautiful and comprehensive visuals.

Whether you want to create bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs, area charts, histograms, or donut charts, Visme has a wide range of options.

Remember that you don’t need to include all of these visuals while creating the outline. Just mention where and on which slide you’d place the visual elements. It’ll help you organize your ideas as you dive into the body of the presentation.

5. Pay Attention to Color and Design

You must pay attention to the colors, design, layout and style to capture the audience's attention and interest. It must look consistent to give a neat look and feel.

When creating an outline, finalize what color combination and typography you'll use throughout your creative presentation .

Below are the tips you should consider when deciding on it Use color moderately

Everyone enjoys color; that is obvious. Nevertheless, using too many colors might result in chaotic, unattractive presentations.

Your audience's understanding and reaction to your presentation may depend on your color scheme. For instance, choosing dark and subdued colors when discussing a serious subject may be effective. Bright and bold colors may be preferable if your theme is engaging or imaginative.

You don't want the colors in your design to appear intimidating or overpowering to your audience since every color has both good and bad connotations. Hence, understanding marketing color psychology becomes essential.

Watch this video to learn more about color psychology and how to use it in your upcoming presentation design.

Make use of clear and consistent typography

Optimizing your typography can impact how people interpret your message. Therefore, ensure your presentation slide looks well-organized and polished and conveys the intended information.

Here's how you can accomplish that:

• Use fonts that reflect your brand's essence.
• Throughout your presentation, maintain consistency in your text styles. We advise you to use up to three typefaces.
• Avoid using intricate fonts and small, difficult-to-read text. Use readable fonts like Arial, Times News Roman and Calibri for tiny and large screens.
• For titles and at least the body content, use a font size of 34–36.

When putting out your presentation outline, using a tool like Visme can significantly improve your ability to create visually appealing and polished presentations quickly.

The templates from Visme are professionally designed to help you save hours and effort.

Hear what one of our customers has to say about our designs:

Matt Swiren

Manager of Partnership Marketing

Let’s get started on how you can make a presentation outline.

1. Log in to Visme & Choose a Template

Log in or Sign up free to Visme and then click the "Create New" button.

Select "Presentations" from the "Project" menu to browse through Visme's collection of presentation templates. Use a blank or pre-designed template to start from scratch with your presentation design.

Visme offers 500+ presentation templates split into 20+ topic categories, including pitch decks, interactive, business and more. So even if you have no prior knowledge of presentation design, you will likely find an excellent template to use as a starting point.

2. Find the Right Visuals and Design Assets

After you select the template, decide what visuals you will use in the presentation outline. The visuals you select will significantly impact the presentation's overall appearance and feel

Visme gives you access to thousands of high-quality, royalty-free photos and design assets To find your preferred image, browse and select using a particular keyword.

And still, if you don’t find the perfect image for your design needs, you can use Visme's AI image generator to generate professional-quality photos, graphics, art, drawings and paintings.

You simply need to input an accurate prompt that describes what you want. The wizard will automatically generate and present multiple options for you. Additionally, you may use the Visme AI image photo editor to transform your photos into a masterpiece.

3. Choose Legible fonts

Selecting the right brand fonts for your presentation outline holds the same importance as choosing your brand colors .

If the chosen typefaces are of high quality, i.e., easy to read, it can positively impact the audience's understanding of the presentation's context.

But a font that’s too small or hard to read can lead to waning interest and the oversight of essential information. To overcome this situation, we recommend you check out the list of 20 best fonts for presentations for your upcoming one!

Remember to limit the fonts you use to three: one for the title, one for the subheaders and one for the body of your text.

When creating a presentation outline, use your brand fonts to ensure the presentation better reflects your brand voice. This helps maintain consistency and uniformity.

You can easily create and save your branding elements with the brand kit. Or use paste your website URL into Visme's brand wizard to automatically extract your brand assets (fonts, color and logo).

Moreover, to ensure that your key brand information is accurate across all slides while doing the outline, simply create new dynamic fields or edit existing ones. You can assign values and your data will update in real time, speeding up your editing process.

4. Make your Presentation Interactive

One of the most challenging tasks for a presenter is keeping their audience intrigued and engaged. Adding interactivity to your presentation can help attract and hold your audience's attention throughout the presentation.

The best part is that it doesn’t have to be a tough task. If you’re looking to create an immersive experience for your audience and increase engagement, Visme offers interactivity and animation features such as hotspots, hover effects and clickable menus.

You don't need to do everything while making your presentation outline; just remember where to place interactive elements to create an engaging experience for your audience.

5. Revise the Outline Flow

Once you have finished creating the outline, review your slides again to ensure each section flows into the next without disruption. This step is crucial for creating a smooth presentation overview and maintaining audience engagement.

Additionally, if you want to inform viewers about a new idea between portions, use visual cues. For instance, use an eye-catching design element or an inverted color scheme for every transitional slide.

Employee feedback across the company is often needed while creating a presentation outline. The marketing team may want to highlight your growing customer base, while the finance team may add some income and spending numbers.

After the review, feel free to eliminate any redundant or unnecessary information.

You can collaborate with your team and improve your project with Visme’s collaboration tools . Collaborators can access the document and pin, circle, annotate, highlight, add comments and more. This way, you can see your team members' feedback and resolve the comments in real-time.

6. Share It With the Team

We understand the frustration of investing hours of hard work into crafting a presentation only to have it rejected by our superiors or boss.

Sharing and showcasing your work can be beneficial for getting feedback on your presentation outline. You can easily share and publish your presentation online using Visme. It opens the door for simple access and review by enabling you to distribute it quickly using a generated URL or simply embed it on your website.

Watch this video to learn how to collaborate using Visme.

Presentation Outline FAQs

Q. what are the 5 steps to outlining a presentation.

Creating well-structured presentation outlines is essential for successful presentations. Here are the 5 steps:

• Define Your Presentation Goal: What do you want your audience to learn or do after your presentation?
• Brainstorm Ideas: Generate a list of main points and supporting ideas related to your goal.
• Organize Your Thoughts: Arrange your ideas in a logical flow, considering what information builds upon the previous.
• Create a Clear Structure: Craft a compelling introduction, a well-organized body with your main points, and a concise conclusion that reinforces your message.
• Refine and Polish: Review and revise your outline to ensure clarity, conciseness and a smooth transition between sections.

Q. What Are the Three Basic Parts of a Presentation Outline?

A presentation outline typically consists of three main parts:

• Introduction: Hook your audience, introduce your topic, establish your credibility and clearly state your main message or thesis.
• Body: This is the heart of your presentation, where you present your main points and supporting evidence. Use clear transitions between points and maintain a logical flow to keep your audience engaged.
• Conclusion: Briefly summarize your key points, repeat your main message for reinforcement and end with a strong call to action or a memorable takeaway for your audience.

Q. What is a Presentation Script Outline?

A presentation script outline is a detailed, word-for-word plan for your presentation. It includes everything you'll say, from opening to closing remarks. This outline helps ensure you deliver your message smoothly and stay on track, especially if you feel nervous or working on complex information.

Q. What Is the Difference Between a Presentation Outline and a Speaking Outline?

A presentation outline is your presentation's comprehensive blueprint, covering all the main points and supporting details. A speaking outline, or speaker note, is a shorter version used as a reference while presenting. It typically includes key phrases, cues and transitions to guide you through your talk.

Level Up Your Presentations with Visme

As we have explored the ins and outs of making a presentation outline, it's clear that this process goes beyond just putting bullet points in order.

By organizing each part of your outline, arranging sub-points and adding visuals, you're crafting an immersive experience for your audience. This experience grabs attention, helps them understand and keeps them engaged.

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How to Write an Effective Presentation Outline

• By Herwin Jose
• April 17, 2024

Key Takeaways:

• A presentation outline is a structured plan that helps you organize and deliver a well-structured presentation.
• Creating an outline is important for organizing your ideas, ensuring clarity, and engaging your audience.
• Identify your objective, gather content, organize ideas, add supporting details, create an introduction, develop the body, and summarize with a conclusion.
• Tips for creating a compelling outline include keeping it concise, using bullet points, visualizing with headings and subheadings, including engaging elements, and practicing and revising.

What Is a Presentation Outline

A presentation outline is a structured plan that helps you organize and deliver a well-structured and engaging presentation. It serves as a roadmap, guiding you through the content, flow, and key points of your presentation. By creating an outline, you can ensure that your ideas are organized, your message is clear, and your audience remains engaged.

Importance of Presentation Outline

A presentation outline plays a crucial role in ensuring the success of your presentation. Here are some key reasons why having a well-crafted outline is important:

• Organization: A presentation outline will help you structure your thoughts and ideas in a logical and coherent way. It ensures that your presentation flows smoothly and that your main points are effectively conveyed to the audience.
• Clarity: By outlining the main ideas and supporting details of your presentation, you can clarify your message and avoid confusion. It helps you stay focused and deliver a clear and concise presentation.
• Engagement: An outline allows you to plan engaging and interactive elements , such as visual aids, examples, and audience participation. It helps you maintain your audience’s interest throughout the presentation.

Without an outline, your presentation may lack coherence and direction, leaving your audience confused and disengaged. By creating an outline, you can strategically plan the flow of information, ensuring that each point builds upon the previous one.

Elements of an Effective Presentation Outline

A well-crafted presentation outline consists of several key elements. In this section, we will discuss the essential components that make up an effective outline, including the introduction, body, and conclusion. Discover how to structure your outline to create a cohesive and impactful presentation.

• Introduction: The introduction sets the stage for your presentation and grabs the attention of your audience. It should include a compelling opening statement, an overview of what will be covered, and a clear thesis statement that highlights the main purpose of your presentation. By crafting a strong introduction, you can captivate your audience from the start.
• Body: The body of your presentation outline is where you will present your main ideas, supporting evidence, and arguments. Break down your content into logical sections or subsections, making it easy for your audience to follow along. Each point should be clearly articulated and supported by relevant examples or data. Use headings and subheadings to create a structured flow of information.
• Conclusion: The conclusion is your opportunity to wrap up your presentation and leave a lasting impression on your audience. Summarize the main points discussed in the body of your presentation and reiterate your key message. If writing a brief yet information-rich conclusion seems hectic to you, then simply go for an AI conclusion generator to get the job done. It will promptly summarize all the key points of your presentation and write a concise conclusion. Additionally, you can provide a call to action or offer a thought-provoking question that encourages further reflection or engagement. A strong conclusion ensures that your presentation ends on a high note.

Tips for Creating a Compelling Presentation Outline

Crafting a presentation outline requires careful consideration of various elements. To enhance your outline and ensure a compelling presentation, it’s important to organize your ideas effectively, incorporate visual content strategically, and engage your audience from start to finish. Here are some practical tips and techniques to help you create an outline that captivates your audience:

Outline Organization

Start by identifying your main points and structuring your presentation in a logical order. Use headings and subheadings to create a clear hierarchy of ideas. This will help your audience follow along and comprehend the flow of your presentation.

Structure your Content

With your main ideas and supporting evidence in hand, it’s important to structure your content in a logical and coherent manner. This can be done by organizing your ideas into sections or segments that flow smoothly from one to the next.

“A well-structured presentation will capture the attention of your audience and keep them engaged throughout.” – John Smith, Speaker and Presentation Expert

Incorporate Visual Content

Visuals can significantly enhance the impact of your presentation. Consider using images, graphs, charts, and videos to support your key points. Visual content not only adds interest but also helps reinforce your message and make it more memorable.

Engage Your Audience

A successful presentation is interactive and engages the audience throughout. Incorporate interactive elements such as polls, Q&A sessions, or group activities to encourage participation. This will not only keep your audience engaged but also make your presentation more memorable and impactful.

“A well-structured presentation outline acts as a roadmap to guide both the presenter and the audience. It helps maintain a logical flow of ideas and ensures that key messages are effectively communicated.” – Jane Smith, Presentation Expert

Learn from Presentation Outline Examples

Take inspiration from real-life examples of effective presentation outlines. Analyze how others have organized their content, used visuals, and engaged their audience. By studying successful presentation outlines, you can gain valuable insights and ideas to enhance your own.

Pay Attention to Color and Design

Creating a presentation outline is crucial when it comes to making a good presentation. Start by brainstorming ideas on color and design that will create an impact. Using a presentation outline template helps in organizing your thoughts and structuring the main body of your presentation. When creating your outline, make sure to include a slide for each point you want your audience to take away. Consider the font and design of your presentation slides to ensure your audience stays engaged.

Including a Call to Action

To ensure your presentation design is on point, you should make a presentation outline that includes a call to action. When you have created your presentation outline, you can use presentation templates to help you make a presentation that is both visually appealing and engaging for your audience.

When writing a presentation outline for a new product, it’s a good idea to answer these questions:

What should be included in your outline to make a creative presentation? How can you make a presentation that leaves a lasting impact on your audience? By including a call to action as a part of your outline, you can create an effective presentation that encourages your audience to take action after the presentation is over.

Review, Revise, and Refine

Once you have created your initial outline, review it carefully. Ensure that it aligns with your presentation goals, effectively communicates your message, and maintains a logical flow. Revise and refine as needed, keeping your audience’s perspective in mind.

Step-by-Step Guide to Create an Effective Presentation Outline

Creating a presentation outline is an essential step in delivering a successful and impactful presentation. A well-structured outline helps you organize your thoughts, maintain a logical flow, and ensure that you cover all the key points you want to communicate to your audience.

Brainstorm and Define Your Objectives:

Start by brainstorming ideas and determining the main objectives of your presentation. Consider what information you want to convey, the key messages you want to deliver, and the desired outcomes you want to achieve.

Identify Your Main Points:

From your brainstorming session, identify the main points you want to address in your presentation. These should be the key ideas or concepts that support your objectives and help you effectively convey your message to the audience.

Organize Your Thoughts:

Once you have identified your main points, organize them in a logical sequence that flows naturally. Consider using headings and subheadings to create a hierarchical structure that guides your audience through the presentation.

Add Supporting Content:

Think about the supporting content that you need to include for each main point. This can be facts, statistics, examples, case studies, or visuals that help reinforce your message and provide additional context to your presentation.

Summarize Key Takeaways:

At the end of each main point or section, summarize the key takeaways or messages you want your audience to remember. These should be concise and impactful statements that leave a lasting impression.

Review and Refine:

Once you have created a draft of your presentation outline, take the time to review and refine it. Ensure that the structure is clear, the content is well-organized, and the flow is logical. Make any necessary adjustments or additions to improve the overall effectiveness of your outline.

1. What is a presentation outline?

A presentation outline is a roadmap or blueprint that helps you organize your ideas and content for a presentation. It outlines the structure, flow, and key points of your presentation, ensuring a logical and cohesive delivery.

2. How can I engage my audience throughout my Business presentation?

To engage your audience throughout your presentation, consider using storytelling techniques , interactive elements, or thought-provoking questions. Encourage audience participation through activities, discussions, or Q&A sessions. Use visual aids, such as images, videos, or graphs, to enhance understanding and maintain interest. Finally, deliver your content with enthusiasm, clarity, and confidence.

3. What are the three basic parts of a presentation outline?

When creating a presentation outline, it is crucial to include three essential components. The first part is the introduction, which sets the stage for the presentation and provides background information. Following the introduction is the body, where the main points and supporting details are discussed in depth. Finally, the outline should include a conclusion that summarizes the key points and reinforces the main message.

4. What are the 5 pieces of presentation Outline? The 5 key pieces of an outline include the introduction, main points, supporting information, visuals, and conclusion. Each section plays a vital role in delivering a clear and impactful message to the audience.

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Visual Communication: Benefits, Importance, and Examples

7 public speaking tips for enhancing your public speaking abilities, 7 best practices to design slides for a scientific presentation.

• Strategy & planning

How to make a presentation outline: a step-by-step guide

Georgina Guthrie

May 24, 2024

Whether you’re building a house, baking a cake, or creating a killer presentation — having a plan in place before you begin work will make the task much easier. Planning saves time and enhances the quality of your work. This is especially true for business presentations, which is why you should always start with a presentation outline.

A presentation outline is a streamlined version of your talk, capturing the general direction and key points. Its purpose is to shape your thinking, organize your thoughts, and ensure your material is presented logically.

In this article, we’ll explore what a presentation outline is, how storytelling can engage your audience, and how to create a flawless outline. Let’s dive in.

Defining your presentation’s goal

What are you trying to achieve with your presentation? A good starting point is to think about the overall purpose.

Types of presentation goals

There are six main types of presentation goals:

• Inspire action
• Inspire or motivate

In a business setting, ‘to inform’ is most common, but it’s usually coupled with at least one other. For example, if you’re there to talk about quarterly results, then you’ll want to inform and motivate. However, if you’re a business coach, your goals will likely be to inspire, motivate, and entertain.

Once you’ve defined your goal, you’ll want to understand the impact you hope to have on your audience. To answer this, ask these questions:

• What do I want people to take away from my presentation?
• How will what I talk about help others in the room?
• What do I want people to do after my meeting?

From here, you should be able to create a summary of your presentation’s goals and purpose in one or two sentences. Put that on your first slide for easy reference.

Understanding your presentation’s audience

Knowing your audience is crucial for crafting a presentation that resonates. Consider their knowledge level, interests, and what they hope to gain from your presentation. Tailoring your content to meet their expectations will make your presentation more engaging and effective.

Questions to understand your audience

• What is the demographic makeup of your audience (age, gender, profession)?
• What are their roles in the organization or industry?
• How familiar are they with the topic you will be presenting?
• Do they have any preconceived notions or misconceptions about the topic?
• What are their primary interests related to the topic?
• Why are they attending your presentation? What do they hope to gain?
• What are their current pain points or challenges related to the topic?
• How can your presentation address these challenges?
• Do they prefer visual aids, interactive sessions, or straightforward lectures?
• Are they more inclined towards data-driven insights or anecdotal evidence?

Choosing your story structure

Stories are powerful tools for bringing people and ideas together. Great stories persuade and inform; the best stories inspire and stay with us. But we don’t often see this happening enough in the boardroom.

Stats and numbers are important for supporting claims, but if you want to inspire your audience, you need to weave those stats into a story. T he truth is, most stories are formulaic, so once you’ve chosen your formula, filling in the blanks is pretty easy.

Let’s look at a few popular story structure formulas below.

1. Fact and story

Mixing storytelling with facts works in a kind of mutually supportive cycle. Facts add substance to the story; the story adds interest to the facts.

In this structure, you weave the two together and move back and forth between the two.

• Start with a ‘what if’ question. For example, if you were pitching a vacuum cleaner, your initial sales pitch might be ‘what if you didn’t have to lose suction?’
• Add facts that illustrate the current state of things. To continue with our example, it might be current stats on traditional vacuums losing suction. Keep alternating facts with fiction throughout the body of your presentation.
• End on a high note that makes the listeners feel like they learned something and want to move to action because of it. For example, to invest in your new product, or to sponsor your new app .

2. The hero’s journey

From Odysseus to Chihiro , adventure stories typically feature a hero who goes on a journey fraught with peril and learns a vital lesson at the end of it. It’s a formula employed by thousands of writers — and you can draw from it to add some drama to your presentation.

This structure works really well for inspirational personal stories, or tales about a company from its humble beginnings to the success it is today.

• Begin somewhere neutral. The situation is neither ideal nor unbearable.
• Introduce a challenge — one that needs to be solved.
• Present a worsening situation. The problem is being addressed, but things are still getting worse.
• Define rock bottom. The situation seems impossible; there is apparently no way forward and all seems lost. Until…
• Introduce a new discovery that offers hope.
• Show your work. Armed with your new abilities, you tackle the issue head-on.
• Resolve the problem, but instead of returning to the way things were before, the hero (you) discovers an even better way of living.
• Finish with a lesson, which you can share to inspire your audience.

3. The pitch

The ‘pitch’ style of presentation is commonly used by salespeople. The goal is to show how a product or idea can help an individual overcome a hurdle toward a positive outcome. The story should be relatable, so the audience can picture themselves in the situation and, therefore, benefitting from the solution.

• Start with a summary of the way things are in simple terms.
• Introduce the problem or hurdle that needs solving. Make it relatable to help your audience put themselves in the situation.
• Introduce a solution: give your audience a glimpse into a possible solution.
• Create a fork in the road: Give your audience a couple of options for solving the problem. Offer an average option first, then follow up with a better one.
• Close: Choose the better option and explain why that’s the best one (and only real suitable choice).
• Finish up by telling the audience exactly how to solve the problem , step by step.
• Talk about extra benefits that extend beyond simply solving the problem. Finish on an uplifting high.

4. The explanation

This presentation format is for when you want to teach your audience something — whether that’s a process, a new skill, or a way to overcome a problem. It has similarities with the fact and story structure, insomuch as facts should weave into the story.

• Explain how things are at the moment , what the goal looks like, and how you plan to get there. You can even start with a story to add emotional interest from the get-go.
• Take your first step on the journey toward the final destination.
• Add more steps that build on this.
• Take a moment to recap the points you’ve covered so far while tying them to the main point. This will help your audience visualize the ground you’ve covered and see where you’re heading.
• Add the finishing pieces to the puzzle and lead your audience to the end.
• End your journey so your audience feels as though they’ve learned something new.

5. The opportunity

A close relative of the pitch, this three-part structure swaps a hurdle for an opportunity. Here, you want to show your audience that a problem they thought they had actually had an easy fix.

• Start with the situation as it is now.
• Next, add a ‘but’ — this could be a small hiccup that stops things from being as good as they could be. For example, our chocolate pudding company is doing really well. But we could be doing better if we changed supplier.
• Talk about the opportunity, with as many facts and stats as possible to make it feel achievable and real.
• Add a conclusion.
• Explain why the product or service meets the challenges raised. Add more stats and facts to support your point.

Storyboarding your presentation outline

Now you’ve worked out your structure, it’s time to start building your presentation. Storyboarding is the best way to do this. In the same way that directors use storyboards to map out their films scene-by-scene, you’re going to use it to map out your presentation slide-by-slide.

(Don’t worry, you can do stick people and squiggles if drawing isn’t your strong point.) Image Source

The trick here is to avoid adding too much detail too quckly. Ideally, have one or two sentences on each slide summarizing what each one will address. Stick to one main point per slide and no more than 3 subpoints.

You can do this with pen and paper, but since you’ll likely end up going digital eventually, you might as well start there. It looks far neater, and it means that if you need to change something, it’s as simple as deleting or editing a cell or slide rather than starting over.

If you don’t want to start from scratch, a business presentation template is a great place to start. You can storyboard directly on the template, and then flesh out each of the slides in more detail once you’re ready.

Once you’ve got your storyboard mostly ready, all that’s left is to fill in the details! And of course: make it look great.

Formatting your presentation

Proper formatting is crucial to ensuring your presentation is visually appealing and easy to follow. Effective formatting helps to highlight key points, maintain audience engagement, and enhance overall comprehension. Here are some guidelines and best practices for formatting your presentation:

Choose a consistent theme

• Use a professional and clean template that aligns with your topic and brand.
• Ensure the template is consistent throughout the presentation to maintain a cohesive look.
• Choose a color scheme that is visually appealing and easy on the eyes.
• Stick to 2-3 primary colors to avoid visual clutter.

Organize your slides

• Include a title slide with the presentation topic, your name, and date.
• Add a relevant image or graphic to set the tone.
• Provide an agenda or outline slide to give the audience an overview of what to expect.
• Use section divider slides to clearly separate different parts of your presentation.
• Include a brief title for each section.

Keep text clear and concise

• Use easy-to-read fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, or Calibri.
• Avoid overly decorative fonts that can be hard to read.
• Ensure the font size is large enough to be readable from a distance.
• Titles should be at least 24-30 points, and body text should be 18-24 points.
• Use bullet points to break down information into digestible chunks.
• Keep each bullet point concise, ideally one line each.

Visual elements

• Include high-quality images, charts, and infographics to illustrate key points.
• Ensure visuals are relevant and add value to the content.
• Maintain consistency in the style and size of images and graphics.
• Align visuals properly to avoid a cluttered appearance.
• Use white space effectively to prevent slides from looking overcrowded.
• White space helps to highlight key elements and improves readability.

Multimedia and animation

• Embed short videos to demonstrate concepts or provide visual examples.
• Ensure videos are of high quality and relevant to the content.
• Use animations sparingly to emphasize important points without distracting the audience.
• Stick to simple transitions and avoid overly complex animations.

Data presentation

• Use charts and graphs to present data clearly and concisely.
• Label axes and include legends for clarity.
• Avoid overwhelming the audience with too much data.
• Highlight key data points and trends.

Final touches

• Review the presentation for spelling and grammatical errors.
• Ensure all information is accurate and up-to-date.
• Rehearse your presentation multiple times to ensure smooth delivery.
• Check the flow of slides and the timing of animations and transitions.

By following these formatting guidelines, you can create a presentation that is not only visually appealing but also effective in communicating your message. Proper formatting helps to keep the audience engaged and ensures that your key points are clearly conveyed.

Presentation tools

For those looking for an intuitive and efficient way to create professional presentations, consider using Cacoo , our online diagramming tool. Cacoo allows you to collaborate in real time, offering a variety of templates and design tools that make planning, designing, and presenting a breeze. Whether you’re working solo or with a team, Cacoo helps you streamline the presentation creation process, ensuring that your final product is polished and impactful.

Ready to take your presentations to the next level? Try Cacoo for free today and experience the difference it can make in your workflow.

This post was originally published on April 07, 2021, and updated most recently on May 24, 2024.

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How to Write an Effective Presentation Outline

A well-structured presentation is the key to delivering your message clearly and persuasively. An effective presentation outline not only organizes your content but also ensures a smooth flow that keeps your audience engaged from start to finish. Whether you’re preparing for a sales pitch, a board meeting, or a conference talk, having a strong outline is essential.  

Here’s a guide on how to create a presentation outline, along with tips for each section and examples for different presentation scenarios.

1. Start with a Strong Opening: Grab Attention and Set the Tone

Your opening is your first impression, so it needs to grab your audience’s attention and set the stage for what’s to come. The introduction should clearly state your topic, establish your credibility, and give a preview of what the presentation will cover.

Key Components:

• Attention-Grabbing Hook: Start with a compelling story, a surprising statistic, or a thought-provoking question.
• Introduction of Topic and Purpose: Clearly define what you’ll be discussing and why it matters to your audience.
• Agenda Preview: Briefly outline the key points or sections of your presentation to give your audience a roadmap.

Example for a Sales Pitch:

• Hook: “What if I told you there’s a way to increase your sales by 30% in the next quarter with just one strategy?”
• Topic Introduction: “Today, I’m going to share how implementing targeted automation can help your sales team close more deals.”
• Agenda: “We’ll cover three main areas: why automation is critical, how to implement it effectively, and the results you can expect.”

2. Establish Context and Background: Provide Essential Information

Before diving into your main content, it’s important to set the stage by providing context or background information. This section helps your audience understand the significance of your topic and why it’s relevant.

• Background Information: Offer any necessary context, history, or definitions that your audience needs to follow your presentation.
• Problem or Opportunity Statement: Clearly identify the issue you’re addressing or the opportunity you’re highlighting.
• Audience Relevance: Explain why this issue matters to your audience and how it impacts them.

Example for a Board Meeting:

• Background: “As you know, our company has been focusing on expanding our digital presence over the last year.”
• Problem Statement: “However, recent data shows a decline in website traffic and conversion rates.”
• Audience Relevance: “This trend poses a risk to our growth targets and requires immediate action.”

3. Dive into the Main Content: Present Your Key Points Clearly

The body of your presentation is where you’ll dive into the details of your topic. Organize your content into clear, logical sections, each focused on a specific aspect of your topic. Make sure each point builds upon the last to create a cohesive narrative.

• Clear Sections: Break your content into 2-4 main sections, each with a clear headline.
• Supporting Evidence: Use data, examples, stories, or visuals to support each key point.
• Transitions: Smoothly transition between sections to maintain the flow of your presentation.

Example for a Product Launch Presentation:

• Section 1: “Market Trends: Why the Timing is Right for This Product”
• Section 2: “Product Features and Benefits: What Sets Us Apart”
• Section 3: “Go-to-Market Strategy: How We Plan to Capture Market Share”

4. Add Interactive Elements: Keep Your Audience Engaged

Audience engagement is key to retaining attention and making your presentation memorable. Incorporating interactive elements like Q&A sessions, polls, or short activities can make your presentation more dynamic and participatory.

• Questions: Pose thought-provoking questions to encourage audience participation.
• Activities or Demos: If relevant, include a quick demo or hands-on activity to illustrate your point.
• Check-ins: Periodically ask for feedback or input to ensure the audience is following along.

Example for a Training Session:

• Poll: “How many of you have already implemented this strategy? Let’s see where everyone stands.”
• Demo: “Now, I’ll walk you through a live example of how to set this up in your software.”
• Check-in: “Does everyone feel comfortable with these steps? Any questions before we move on?”

5. Address Potential Questions and Concerns: Preempt Common Objections

Anticipating and addressing potential questions or objections before the Q&A session can help reinforce your credibility and make your presentation more persuasive. This section can be woven into your content or addressed in a separate segment.

• Identify Common Questions: Think about concerns or doubts your audience might have and address them head-on.
• Provide Evidence: Use data, testimonials, or case studies to back up your points.
• Clarify Misconceptions: Address any potential misunderstandings or myths related to your topic.

Example for a Funding Pitch:

• Objection: “Some might wonder if our market is already saturated.”
• Response: “However, our research shows that demand is actually increasing, and our unique approach allows us to tap into an underserved segment.”
• Supporting Evidence: “In fact, similar companies in adjacent markets have seen a 20% growth in the past year.”

6. Conclude with Impact: Summarize and Issue a Clear Call to Action

Your conclusion should reinforce your main points, tie everything together, and leave your audience with a strong final impression. Whether you’re aiming to persuade, inform, or inspire, end with a clear call to action or key takeaway.

• Summary of Key Points: Recap the main ideas or solutions you’ve presented.
• Call to Action: Clearly state what you want your audience to do next.
• Memorable Closing Statement: End with a powerful quote, a thought-provoking statement, or a compelling vision.

Example for a Motivational Talk:

• Summary: “We’ve covered three principles that can transform your mindset and drive you toward success.”
• Call to Action: “Starting today, commit to implementing at least one of these strategies in your daily routine.”
• Closing Statement: “Remember, success is not just about reaching goals—it’s about embracing the journey.”

7. Prepare for the Q&A Session: Handle Questions Confidently

If your presentation includes a Q&A session, plan how you’ll manage it. Anticipate tough questions, and be prepared to handle them confidently while staying on topic.

• Encourage Questions: Invite your audience to ask questions and clarify any doubts.
• Stay Composed: Listen carefully to each question, and take a moment to formulate your response if needed.
• Be Honest: If you don’t know the answer, it’s better to admit it than to guess. Offer to follow up later.

Example for a Conference Presentation:

• Encouragement: “I’m happy to answer any questions you have about implementing these strategies.”
• Response Strategy: “That’s a great question—let’s dive deeper into that aspect.”
• Honesty: “I don’t have the exact figure on hand, but I can provide it to you after the session.”

A well-crafted presentation outline serves as the backbone of a successful presentation. By carefully structuring your content and considering each key section, you can guide your audience smoothly from the introduction to the conclusion while keeping them engaged and interested. Whether you’re preparing for a pitch, a seminar, or an internal meeting, following this outline template will help you deliver your message clearly, effectively, and with confidence.

Table of contents

COMM 101: Fundamentals of Public Speaking - Valparaiso

• Delivery Skills
• Stage Fright
• Body Language / Non-Verbal Communication
• Listening Skills
• Quotation Resources
• Speech Outline Examples
• Speech Examples
• More Speech Examples
• Presentation Options
• Citation Resources This link opens in a new window

A basic speech outline should include three main sections:

• The Introduction --  This is where you tell them what you're going to tell them.
• The Body -- This is where you tell them.
• The Conclusion -- This is where you tell them what you've told them.
• Speech Outline Formatting Guide The outline for a public speech, according to COMM 101 online textbook  The Public Speaking Project , p.p. 8-9.

Use these samples to help prepare your speech outlines and bibliographies:

• Sample Speech Preparation Outline This type of outline is very detailed with all the main points and subpoints written in complete sentences. Your bibliography should be included with this outline.
• Sample Speech Speaking Outline This type of outline is very brief and uses phrases or key words for the main points and subpoints. This outline is used by the speaker during the speech.
• << Previous: Quotation Resources
• Next: Informative Speeches >>
• Last Updated: May 16, 2024 10:02 AM
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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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Undergraduate Research

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Steps to Plan Your Presentation

Delivering an effective oral presentation is an essential skill for sharing your research findings with an audience. Tailoring your presentation to your audience, preparing for technical issues, and engaging your listeners with clear, concise content are crucial for the success of your research project. This guide provides comprehensive advice on how to prepare, what to include, and common pitfalls to avoid, ensuring your presentation is impactful and memorable.

For further assistance, contact the Office of Undergraduate Research for individual consultations.

What You Need To Know

 Purpose

The purpose of an oral presentation is to share your research with an audience, typically through PowerPoint or Prezi. It is typically a synopsis of your research. If you've conducted a study, you will probably address the following topics:

• Background research on your topic (with citations to past studies)
• The rationale for your study (how does your study address a gap in the literature?)
• Hypotheses/research questions
• Methodology
• Results (graphs are more interesting than tables or words)
• Conclusions (for example, the implications or applications of your research, limitations, future research directions, a concise summary of your main findings, concluding thoughts)
• References and Acknowledgements (such as grant support, a faculty advisor if he/she is not an author on the presentation, assistance from others who are not listed as authors)

If your scholarship is in a different form (e.g., a film analysis, a presentation of a creative work), the structure will likely be a little different, but in all cases, it should be clear to the audience what the main goals of your research are, why it's important to do this work, and what you found in your research.  

Preparation

• First, make sure you know how much time you have; it is common for oral presentations at conferences to exceed the time limit. Prepare a presentation that is a little shorter than the allotted time to allow for questions and other comments.
• Think about your audience: Will they understand technical terms, jargon, and acronyms? Will they be mostly undergraduates or professors in the field? You should tailor your presentation to your expected audience.
• Think carefully about your central message. What do you want the audience to know by the end of your presentation? Most people will only remember a few take-home points from your carefully constructed presentation (if that!). There's no point in getting bogged down in minutia that the audience can't really process anyway.
• The most important parts are the beginning (to draw the audience in) and the ending (to wrap up, to inspire). Put some thought into how to make these parts of your presentation have impact.
• Think about your speaking style; can you speak loudly and clearly? Can you modulate your voice appropriately, or do you tend to sound monotone when you give presentations? Consider working on your public speaking skills if it's needed; consider joining Legacy Owls Toastmasters Club  for this purpose and check out Toastmasters International public speaking tips .

 Plan for the Unexpected

• Will the conference provide computers or do you bring your own laptop?
• Will there be internet available?
• How reliable is the internet?
• Will there be speakers or a way to use audio (if necessary)?
• Back up your presentation in at least two places (e.g., flash drive, Dropbox, email it to yourself).
• When you prepare a presentation on a Mac and then use a PC (or vice versa), be aware that sometimes things look different.
• Bring a printed copy in case the technology fails, or have a tablet/laptop with you.
• Find the room early, and check out the technology so you’re familiar with it.

What to Avoid

It is usually not required that you use visuals for your presentation, but a PowerPoint or Prezi can often help the audience follow along with your research.

If you use PowerPoint or Prezi:

• Avoid the temptation to put too much text on your slides; the audience can get bored or overwhelmed and might not be able to clearly see all the words if you've used a small font (less than 20-pt is considered "small"). 
• Avoid font types that are hard to read or look unprofessional.
• Avoid putting words on a busy powerpoint background that makes the words hard to read.
• Avoid using font color that doesn't contrast with the background (in other words, your audience can't read gray text on a black background). 
• Avoid tables and graphs that have too much information - you can recreate those tables and graphs with just the most important information instead.

Also, consider your verbal and physical presentation:

• Avoid reading your slides to the audience.
• Avoid reading from prepared notes; the audience will maintain interest better if you can speak extemporaneously directly to them. It's also hard to make eye contact with the audience if you are reading.
• Avoid distracting behaviors or verbal tics (“um,” “like,” “uh”).
• Dress appropriately for the occasion.
• Consider your body language (e.g., arms crossed can come across as you not wanting to be there).

Ways to Stand Out

• Embrace a "Presentation Zen" style: simple (not simplistic), clean, and powerful.
• Have interesting, high-resolution images on your slides.
• You could connect your research to recent events (perhaps asking the audience to summarize the recent event).
• You could ask specific questions throughout the presentation.
• You could poll the audience on a topic relevant to your presentation (perhaps even using a free resource such as Socrative or Poll Everywhere ).
• You could insert a powerful quote into your presentation (perhaps at the beginning or end).
• You can show a short video to illustrate something important about your topic.
• The point is not to be gimmicky; the point is to keep your audience interested and engaged (especially when the audience has been listening to oral presentations all day and might be tired). Be aware, though, that different disciplines have different conventions regarding what is and is not appropriate for an oral presentation; be sure to ask your research advisor for advice first.
• Showing enthusiasm for their work
• Being energetic
• Using emphasis on certain words
• Using hand gestures to keep the audience engaged

Handling Audience Questions

• Be sure to leave some time at the end.
• If a questioner is soft-spoken, repeat the question so everyone hears.
• Avoid long, meandering answers.
• Don’t make something up if you don’t know an answer. Offer to look it up and get back to the person, and be open to someone in the audience knowing the answer.
• Give positive reinforcement to questioners (smiling, nodding, “that’s a good question”).
• If someone is attacking you or otherwise being rude, remember that this usually comes from someone who wants to show off or appear smart in front of everyone The other audience members will recognize the rudeness and be on your side! Stay calm, answer as best you can, and acknowledge it when he/she makes a good point (smiling and nodding can disarm an attacker).
• People will often talk to you right afterwards; try to avoid running out right after your presentation if you can help it.
• Audience members may email for a copy of your presentation or to ask further questions; be sure to follow up with them.

Conclusions

If you have been accepted to present your research at a conference, congratulations! This is a great honor, and you should be proud of this accomplishment. If you would like an individual consultation with someone from the Office of Undergraduate Research about your presentation, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] .

Other online resources to check out include:

• Presentation Tips (Prepare, Design, Deliver)
• 18 Tips for Killer Presentations

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How to Write an Oral Presentation

How to Talk in My First Class Seminar

An oral presentation can be a confusing and intimidating prospect. Often people are unclear as to what it actually is. An oral presentation is a verbal report or lecture or address about a particular topic or set of topics. It may include visual props, slides or video clips, but the bulk of the content is delivered from a speaker to an audience through words. It can be overwhelming to think of how to write an oral presentation, particularly if you've never done it before.

It can also be scary because an oral presentation requires you to speak as the center of attention for a period of at least a few minutes. Many people are afraid of public speaking, and the idea of having to give an oral presentation can cause a great deal of anxiety. However, with preparedness and practice, you'll find that writing an oral presentation is less frightening than it seems.

Oral vs. Written Presentations

Oral presentations are very different from written presentations. For one thing, the language you use in a written presentation, paper or article is significantly more formal than the kind of language that you'll use in an oral presentation. You'll want to make sure that your presentation is accessible to experts and non-experts, so unless they are absolutely necessary, you should take care to eliminate things like jargon, acronyms or insider terms that will make the presentation inaccessible to people who are not experts in your field. Oral presentations also require a connection and interaction with your audience. You'll need to lean heavily on your memory to be sure that you don't forget anything as you won't be reading off of a page. This is why writing an oral presentation requires significant practice and preparation.

Researching for an Oral Presentation

Before preparing your oral presentation you'll likely need to do a decent amount of research. Regardless of whether or not you've written extensively about the topic prior to preparing your oral presentation, research is still a critical piece of preparing. Research is necessary to ensure that the information you're going to be giving is accurate and to the point. You may feel that you're already an expert on the topic you're going to discuss, but there is always the chance that you could learn more, and that the knowledge you gain from some research can change your oral presentation for the better.

Oral presentations, unlike a written report, require that you're able to hold forth on your topic in a relaxed conversational manner. This means that by the time you're ready to give your oral presentation, you'll have become an authority on the subject. The best way to do this is to do extensive research on the topic and get familiar with any adjacent topics that might be relevant or related. First, do a search to get all of the necessary background information on the topic you're planning to focus your oral presentation around. Then see what other research into the area has been done. Is there research that contradicts the research you have already read? Are there sources you have not consulted yet that may have valuable information for you to consider?

Make sure that your research is thorough and extensive, to avoid missing important information about your topic. It's also a good idea to see if there are any video presentations available on similar topics. This way you can see how other people have dealt with your topic in this context before, and perhaps get some tips on what to include and what to leave, and possibly get some help with the format and structure of your presentation.

Preparing to Write an Oral Presentation

As you begin to prepare for your oral presentation, you'll want to keep the focus of your presentation firmly in mind. Having a focus or organizing principle will help you with one of the key pieces of preparing for an oral presentation: creating an outline. Another word for an organizing principle is a thesis statement. As with a paper or an article, the thesis statement is the main point that you're trying to make. If you're speaking about more than one topic in your oral presentation, you may have more than one thesis or one for each topic.

An outline will help you organize your thoughts and the flow of the presentation, so you can take listeners through information that may be very complex in a way that makes sense to them. Many people may find listening to a presentation of new material confusing or challenging, so something to keep in mind is clarity and simplicity. This is where an outline is helpful.

Before beginning your outline, you'll want to get a rough list of everything you want to cover in your presentation. You can look for ideas by searching for an oral presentation example speech online or oral presentation tips for students. Make a list of bullet point topics that come to mind when you imagine the kinds of things you want to talk about. Then go back and cross out any points that are redundant and repetitious, and indicate if any points can be nested under a larger umbrella topic. Once you have a clear list of the items you want to discuss in your oral presentation, you can begin to create an outline.

The Importance of an Outline

An outline is a way to set up your oral presentation before you give it. This will help you structure the presentation and ensure that the information you're giving makes sense and has context. It's also a good idea to make an outline, so you can be sure that you don't leave out or forget any critical information during the course of your presentation. Armed with your list of bullet points, you're ready to begin to organize your presentation from beginning to end. An outline is a sort of like a map for your presentation. Where do you want to begin? What will be the conclusion?

Write down the topic you're planning to open with, then think logically about the sequence of points you want to make to follow it up. Figure out what the most natural flow is; in other words, find out where it makes sense to begin and where to go next. Paying attention to flow in your presentation is a key part of writing an oral presentation that will make sense to listeners. Jumping from topic to topic in a disjointed way can make your presentation confusing to the people listening. Try to make sure all the topics in your outline lead naturally from the one before it to the one after. The clearer your organizational method is, the better understood your oral presentation will be.

Outline Structure and Topic Sentences

Because you're not going to be reading the presentation, the outline can be written in a note format made up of topic sentences that will prompt you to begin discussing the topic, rather than reading a pre-written text. It's important to keep in mind that you aren't going to write out your entire oral presentation. Speaking to an audience is very different than reading to an audience. You don't want the people listening to your oral presentation to feel like they're hearing someone read a paper. Instead, make your presentation as conversational as you can. This requires mastery of the material and a clear outline.

Under each bullet point in your outline, write down any words, phrases or notes that will help you to remember the content for that particular part of the presentation. Build your whole outline this way, laying out the topic sentences at the heading of each section and using them as a jumping off point to start speaking about each one. Once you've arranged your list of bullet points in the order you plan to discuss them, you'll want to jot down the particular topic sentences and points you hope to make in each section. While you want to make sure that you include all the relevant topics in your oral report,

Practicing Your Oral Presentation

Once you have completed your outline, you're ready to do a "dry run" of your presentation. Starting at the beginning, give the oral presentation once all the way through. For the first dry run, do the presentation alone. See if it makes sense, if it feels clear and if you're able to move from topic to topic in a way that flows naturally and seems cohesive. If there are any problems, or if things seem unclear during the presentation, go back and revise your outline. If you find yourself stuck for things to say about a certain part of the outline, that's a sign that you need to go back and do more research on that particular topic to make sure that it all flows together without an issue.

Besides things like speaking slowly, clearly and with authority, a practice run is also to help you weed out unnecessary content in your oral presentation. Very often, people who are preparing for an oral presentation are most used to writing essays and reports and including background details that they feel are necessary or enlightening but may be excessive for an oral presentation.

Practice With an Audience

Once you've gotten your presentation tweaked to your liking, and you can perform it for yourself in a mirror with a feeling of confidence, it's time to bring in an audience. Ask one or two friends, family members or coworkers to help you with your oral presentation by listening to you run through it. After you've finished, ask them if it made sense, if you spoke clearly and if they had any questions. These topics are now very familiar to you, but they may not be familiar to your audience, so listen to their questions and feedback. They may be able to point out places where you need more information or need to be clearer.

Getting feedback from people unfamiliar with your topic is also a good way to find out what questions an audience may have that you hadn't yet thought of. This can be helpful for you in terms of rewriting your outline or rewriting your oral presentation altogether to make it clearer, easier to understand and thus a more effective presentation.

Practicing with an audience will also help you relax and talk about your topic in a more conversational and less stiff manner. Once you give your oral presentation to your audience, you may find that some of the things you wrote in your outline feel redundant or unnecessary. If that's the case, you should plan to revise and remove anything that you think doesn't serve your message. Once you've practiced a few times and feel that you've made all necessary adjustments, keep running through the presentation again, either alone or with an audience, to further help you remember the flow of the topics and guarantee that you won't need to read too much from your outline.

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• Recommended Reading
• Practice your oral presentation in front of a trusted colleague or loved one. Modify the content of your presentation and your delivery style as needed. Don't be afraid to rewrite entire note cards if necessary.
• Improvise during your oral presentation. Take cues from your audience. You do not have to follow your note cards to the letter.
• You can tell your presentation is going in the wrong direction when the people in the room start talking among themselves or eyes start wandering toward the window. If you see this happening, an immediate change in the direction of your presentation is necessary.

Ashley Friedman is a freelance writer with experience writing about education for a variety of organizations and educational institutions as well as online media sites.

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Oral Presentation Tips

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How To Make an Oral Presentation of Your Research

You’ve been working on your research for months, and now that it’s finished, or almost there, you need to make an oral presentation. Perhaps you are applying to attend the ACC Meeting of the Minds undergraduate research conference. Maybe you would like to participate in the Undergraduate Research Symposium in the spring semester here at UVA. Here are some tips to help you bring order to the ideas swirling in your head—and communicate the key points about your research to an audience.

Timing. Find out how long your talk should be. As you decide what to present, keep in mind that a ten-minute talk is very different from a 45-minute lecture. If you only have ten minutes, you’ll need to focus on the most important points. With more time, you’ll still need to focus on those points, but you’ll be able to present additional supporting detail. Time yourself giving your talk, and make cuts if you need to. It is fine to end a bit early. Going overtime shows your lack of preparation.

Audience. Find out what sort of audience will listen to your talk. Specialists in your field will bring a different sort of understanding to your presentation from a general audience; you may be able to use certain technical terms without defining them, but always beware of jargon and acronyms. With a general audience, you need to ask yourself what educated people not in your field will know, define any terms that may be unfamiliar to them, and make an effort to explain the significance of your research in terms the listeners are likely to understand.

Content. Students often think they need to explain every single thing they know or be perceived as knowing too little. This is not true. Giving a talk is a great opportunity to think about the big picture rather than focusing on details. This can be hard if you are immersed in the specifics of your project.

Step back for a moment to before you became the expert on your particular topic. What piqued your interest? Why did you start asking the questions you asked? Now step into the future. When you look back on this research, what will you remember as the most interesting or compelling thing you learned? Were there surprises?

Now you are ready to ask yourself: What are the points I want to convey? What do I want the audience to learn? When audience members remember my talk the following day, what main point do I want them to remember?

• introduce yourself;
• present your research question and why it matters;
• describe how you conducted your research,
• explain what you found out and what it means; and
• conclude with a summary of your main points.

Depending on your topic, you may need to provide background information so that the audience understands the significance of your inquiry. Be judicious in the amount of information you give, and do not let this discussion get you off track. Once you’ve provided sufficient background, bring the focus back to your research by reminding the audience of your research question.

Do not even think of opening PowerPoint until you have organized your ideas and decided on your main points. If you need guidance, see below for a sample oral presentation outline.

PowerPoint. You should treat PowerPoint as a useful tool. You can use it to incorporate images into your presentation , to emphasize important points , and to guide your audience in following your argument . You should not use it for anything else.

This means:

Don’t present too much information on the slides. The audience cannot read a long section of text and simultaneously listen to you speak about it. If you really must provide a long quotation, then highlight the words and phrases you want to emphasize, and read the quote out loud, slowly, so the audience can absorb it.

Do explain to your audience what each chart or graph indicates. Use charts and graphs to convey information clearly, not simply to show that you did the work.

Don’t spend extra time on making a fancy PowerPoint presentation with moving images and graphics unless they are vital for communicating your ideas.

Do be prepared to give your talk even if technology fails. If your charts don’t look quite right on the screen, or you forget your flash drive, or there’s a power outage, or half the audience can’t see the screen, you should still be able to make an effective presentation. (Bring a printout to speak from, just in case any of these disasters befalls you.)

Tone. It is best to approach your prepared talk as a somewhat formal occasion. Treat your audience—and your topic—with respect. Even if you know everyone in the room, introduce yourself. Don’t address audience members as “you guys.” Dress neatly. Most of all, share your enthusiasm for your subject.

Practice speaking slowly and clearly. If you want to emphasize an important point, repeat it. Practice speaking slowly and clearly.

You don’t need to read your talk, and in fact you should avoid doing so. But you should speak it out loud enough times that you know when there are points that tend to trip you up, where you might have a tendency to throw in something new and get off track, and whether some of your transitions are not smooth enough.

And, of course, time yourself. Make cuts if you need to.

Practice again.

Sample Oral Presentation Outline

Introduction Hello, my name is ____.  I am a ___-year student at the University of Virginia majoring in ____.  I’m going to talk to you today about my research on _____. 

Context of research

• I had the opportunity to join Professor ____’s lab, where the research focus is____.
• This is research for my Distinguished Majors thesis….
• I got interested in this area because ….

Research question and significance

• I wanted to find out _______[insert your research question].
• This is an important question because _____. OR This question interested me because ______.

Research methods/design

• I thought the best way to answer this question would be by ______. 
• I chose this method because….

Research activity Here’s what I did:  _______.

Results Here’s what I found out:  ______.

Significance of results/where this research might lead

• This result matters because….
• Now that I’ve learned this, I see that some other questions to ask are….

Conclusion/Summary of main points I set out to answer ______ [research question] by _______ [research methods].  And I discovered that ______ [brief statement of results].  This was interesting because _____ [significance]/This will help us understand ____.<

Acknowledgments

• I am grateful to my advisor, Professor _____, for her guidance.…
• My work was supported by a _____ award.  OR I’d like to thank the ____ Family for their generosity.

Questions I would be happy to take your questions.

Presentation Examples

Presentation Examples Website

Presentation outline example

Oral speech planning

By completing a presentation outline you are planning you speech: what exactly you are going to tell the audience step by step to make your public speaking successful. Thorough organization will help you to get prepared more carefully and present a speech in a structured fashion by delivering a logical consequence of statements without any confusing and awkward jumps between various aspects of the subject.

General structure of almost any types of oral and written forms of reports is following:

• Introduction

This is a skeleton that should be expanded with sub points and filled up with the information you would like to share. Introduction section is aiming at acquainting audience with the topic of the presentation and attracting public interest to it. Introductory part is actually the first impression you are producing with your work so its importance can hardly be underestimated. Think how you can inform, persuade, and entertain your audience while planning a speech.

In the body of your speech you are concisely and clearly bringing core messages of your work. You need to make sure the flow of your speech is fluent and you are smoothly moving from the one idea or claim to the next one. For these purposes using logical connectors and transitional expressions may be possible to establish logical connection in the body’s presentation of case.

Closing stage includes presenting a summary of results (or an overview of these results). It fulfills the following functions: outlining various implication and contributions of the study; gives the achievements and anticipated findings; announces the research importance by highlighting usefulness and relevance of the project. Authors also may specify here theoretical and practical implications and plans for the further investigations in this particular area.

Sometimes a presentation is followed by a time for audience to ask you some questions. The purpose of such comments is to check whether the report is sophisticated enough to stay the criticism and to uncover some issues missed in the presentation but interesting to the public. Oral presentation speech is your chance to promote and share new knowledge and discoveries within scientific communities, national and more importantly international.

Here is a possible example of the presentation outline:

Presentation Outline Example

• Presenting yourself and getting audience attention
• Theme of the presentation. Object and subject
• Background information.
• Aims and main tasks
• Topicality and Gap in the field of study
• Evidences and facts to support point 1
• Analysis/ research made in this area
• Vivid examples to support point 1
• Summing up of the first main point
• Evidences and facts to support point 2
• Vivid examples to support point 2
• Summing up of the second main point
• Evidences and facts to support point 3
• Vivid examples to support point 3
• Summing up of the third main point
• Review of the results
• Achievements

Check out these entries:

• Oral Presentation Outline Format
• Preparing an Outline for your Informative Presentation
• How to Deliver an Oral Presentation

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Presentation Outline

The thought of giving a presentation in front of other people is enough to make your hands sweat and knees shake. Being tasked to do a project presentation can cause a person to overthink and worry about things. What happens if you forget what to say next? What happens if you end up giving a poor performance? Erase all these negative thoughts by preparing a presentation outline.

10+ Presentation Outline Examples

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What Is a Presentation Outline?

A presentation outline is a document that will list the organized flow of a presentation. You can use this outline as a guide or as a note in planning for your presentation. In addition, you can also use this in case you forget something when presenting in front of the audience.

How to Construct an Organized Presentation Outline

Both students and business professionals would have to give a class or sales presentation more than once in their lives. If you have given one, you surely have realized the importance of preparing an outline before your presentation. To learn how to create a reliable one,  continue reading this article and learn presentation outline writing tips .

1. Choose a Software

In reporting, it is always better to use creative visual aids such as a PowerPoint presentation. Generating visuals can help in capturing the attention and increasing the clarity of the topic you are presenting. There are plenty of presentation tools and software you can choose from in generating your business presentation or academic report , but you should go for the one you’re most familiar with and comfortable using.

2. Compose an Introduction

Before composing your introduction, it is advisable to conduct your audience analysis and write your presentation agenda . Undergoing these steps will help you determine whether your audience already has prior knowledge about the topic you are about to present and will give an idea of where to start. After this, you can proceed with coming up with a brief introduction speech.

3. Structure Your Presentation

Split your topic into separate slides. In deciding the order of your slides, make sure the sequence makes sense. After organizing your content, create your outline following the order in your visual slides. Label each slide in your presentation outline with the necessary things you should include in your discussion. Setting how long you should discuss each concept would also be helpful. You can use a blank outline template, process flow chart , or roadmap to make it easier to review.

4. Devise Your Conclusion

Your presentation would be incomplete unless you wrap everything up. In devising the conclusion to your project outline , you don’t have to go through everything in detail again. You should summarize and reiterate only the main points of your presentation. You should ensure to meet the objectives that you set beforehand. Don’t forget to note to let your audience ask if they have any questions regarding your discussion.

What do you mean by the 10,20, 30 rule?

The 10 20 30 rule means that an oral presentation should have a maximum of ten slides and not last more than twenty minutes. The thirty in 10 20 30 stands for the rule of not using fonts smaller than thirty. Assuming that an adult’s attention span lasts for 15-30 minutes, this rule is widespread in the business world.

What are the elements of a presentation?

There are components a speaker should consider to make his or her presentation effective. The first one is to establish a connection with your audience. Don’t look at your slides too much. It is necessary to maintain eye contact. Also, you should choose a design that’s not too distracting. Lastly, try considering using diagrams and charts that would better present data and ideas.

What are the necessary skills of a presenter?

A good presenter should be confident and should also know how to command the room. Being good at using gestures and facial expressions are also necessary characteristics of a presenter. Aside from that, they should also be enthusiastic, good at delivering their presentation speech , and they should also have a vast knowledge about what they are discussing.

Aside from your nervousness, other factors can also affect your presentation. Despite that, a good outline can combat them all. You know, you can never be too prepared. If your presentation outline is reliable enough, you can be more ambitious of your end goal and aim to deliver a presentation that would leave them in awe of your presentation skills.

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How to prepare and deliver an effective oral presentation

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• Peer review
• Lucia Hartigan , registrar 1 ,
• Fionnuala Mone , fellow in maternal fetal medicine 1 ,
• Mary Higgins , consultant obstetrician 2
• 1 National Maternity Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
• 2 National Maternity Hospital, Dublin; Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Medicine and Medical Sciences, University College Dublin
• luciahartigan{at}hotmail.com

The success of an oral presentation lies in the speaker’s ability to transmit information to the audience. Lucia Hartigan and colleagues describe what they have learnt about delivering an effective scientific oral presentation from their own experiences, and their mistakes

The objective of an oral presentation is to portray large amounts of often complex information in a clear, bite sized fashion. Although some of the success lies in the content, the rest lies in the speaker’s skills in transmitting the information to the audience. 1

Preparation

It is important to be as well prepared as possible. Look at the venue in person, and find out the time allowed for your presentation and for questions, and the size of the audience and their backgrounds, which will allow the presentation to be pitched at the appropriate level.

See what the ambience and temperature are like and check that the format of your presentation is compatible with the available computer. This is particularly important when embedding videos. Before you begin, look at the video on stand-by and make sure the lights are dimmed and the speakers are functioning.

For visual aids, Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Mac Keynote programmes are usual, although Prezi is increasing in popularity. Save the presentation on a USB stick, with email or cloud storage backup to avoid last minute disasters.

When preparing the presentation, start with an opening slide containing the title of the study, your name, and the date. Begin by addressing and thanking the audience and the organisation that has invited you to speak. Typically, the format includes background, study aims, methodology, results, strengths and weaknesses of the study, and conclusions.

If the study takes a lecturing format, consider including “any questions?” on a slide before you conclude, which will allow the audience to remember the take home messages. Ideally, the audience should remember three of the main points from the presentation. 2

Have a maximum of four short points per slide. If you can display something as a diagram, video, or a graph, use this instead of text and talk around it.

Animation is available in both Microsoft PowerPoint and the Apple Mac Keynote programme, and its use in presentations has been demonstrated to assist in the retention and recall of facts. 3 Do not overuse it, though, as it could make you appear unprofessional. If you show a video or diagram don’t just sit back—use a laser pointer to explain what is happening.

Rehearse your presentation in front of at least one person. Request feedback and amend accordingly. If possible, practise in the venue itself so things will not be unfamiliar on the day. If you appear comfortable, the audience will feel comfortable. Ask colleagues and seniors what questions they would ask and prepare responses to these questions.

It is important to dress appropriately, stand up straight, and project your voice towards the back of the room. Practise using a microphone, or any other presentation aids, in advance. If you don’t have your own presenting style, think of the style of inspirational scientific speakers you have seen and imitate it.

Try to present slides at the rate of around one slide a minute. If you talk too much, you will lose your audience’s attention. The slides or videos should be an adjunct to your presentation, so do not hide behind them, and be proud of the work you are presenting. You should avoid reading the wording on the slides, but instead talk around the content on them.

Maintain eye contact with the audience and remember to smile and pause after each comment, giving your nerves time to settle. Speak slowly and concisely, highlighting key points.

Do not assume that the audience is completely familiar with the topic you are passionate about, but don’t patronise them either. Use every presentation as an opportunity to teach, even your seniors. The information you are presenting may be new to them, but it is always important to know your audience’s background. You can then ensure you do not patronise world experts.

To maintain the audience’s attention, vary the tone and inflection of your voice. If appropriate, use humour, though you should run any comments or jokes past others beforehand and make sure they are culturally appropriate. Check every now and again that the audience is following and offer them the opportunity to ask questions.

Finishing up is the most important part, as this is when you send your take home message with the audience. Slow down, even though time is important at this stage. Conclude with the three key points from the study and leave the slide up for a further few seconds. Do not ramble on. Give the audience a chance to digest the presentation. Conclude by acknowledging those who assisted you in the study, and thank the audience and organisation. If you are presenting in North America, it is usual practice to conclude with an image of the team. If you wish to show references, insert a text box on the appropriate slide with the primary author, year, and paper, although this is not always required.

Answering questions can often feel like the most daunting part, but don’t look upon this as negative. Assume that the audience has listened and is interested in your research. Listen carefully, and if you are unsure about what someone is saying, ask for the question to be rephrased. Thank the audience member for asking the question and keep responses brief and concise. If you are unsure of the answer you can say that the questioner has raised an interesting point that you will have to investigate further. Have someone in the audience who will write down the questions for you, and remember that this is effectively free peer review.

Be proud of your achievements and try to do justice to the work that you and the rest of your group have done. You deserve to be up on that stage, so show off what you have achieved.

Competing interests: We have read and understood the BMJ Group policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: None.

• ↵ Rovira A, Auger C, Naidich TP. How to prepare an oral presentation and a conference. Radiologica 2013 ; 55 (suppl 1): 2 -7S. OpenUrl
• ↵ Bourne PE. Ten simple rules for making good oral presentations. PLos Comput Biol 2007 ; 3 : e77 . OpenUrl PubMed
• ↵ Naqvi SH, Mobasher F, Afzal MA, Umair M, Kohli AN, Bukhari MH. Effectiveness of teaching methods in a medical institute: perceptions of medical students to teaching aids. J Pak Med Assoc 2013 ; 63 : 859 -64. OpenUrl

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Creating a 10-15 Minute Scientific Presentation

In the course of your career as a scientist, you will be asked to give brief presentations -- to colleagues, lab groups, and in other venues. We have put together a series of short videos to help you organize and deliver a crisp 10-15 minute scientific presentation.

First is a two part set of videos that walks you through organizing a presentation.

Part 1 - Creating an Introduction for a 10-15 Minute Scientfic Presentation

Part 2 - Creating the Body of a 10-15 Minute Presentation: Design/Methods; Data Results, Conclusions

Two additional videos should prove useful:

Designing PowerPoint Slides for a Scientific Presentation walks you through the key principles in designing powerful, easy to read slides.

Delivering a Presentation provides tips and approaches to help you put your best foot forward when you stand up in front of a group.

Other resources include:

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30 Perfect Presentation Outline Templates (+Examples)

A presentation outline template gives you an overview of what encompasses an entire presentation. Based on the outline, you can start dealing with one slide at a time and then into the nitty-gritty of it. You may consider as a roadmap that leads to a successful final presentation and impress the attendees .

• 1 Presentation Outline Templates
• 2 What is the outline of a presentation?
• 3 Presentation Outline Examples
• 4 How do you write an outline for a presentation?
• 5 PowerPoint Outline Examples

Presentation Outline Templates

What is the outline of a presentation.

You can make a presentation outline template using just a sheet of paper or a word processing software of your choice. For instance, if you intend to make a PowerPoint presentation, it would be best to create the whole thing from your computer itself.

Using presentation outline examples and templates can make it easier for you to come up with a standout presentation. Moreover, the template helps you organize your ideas in a logical way. This method ensures that you will include all of the most important details of your presentation.

The template allows you to collect all of the information needed to communicate with your target audience throughout your presentation. You can use headers, bullet points, footers, and even graphics that you need in your presentation. The outline helps you create and put together the perfect message that you want to deliver.

Since you will use the presentation outline template as your guide when presenting, it is therefore important to organize the points logically. For instance, the outline must begin with an introduction where you will invite your audience to your presentation.

Here, you will highlight what your presentation involves. The introduction plays a crucial role in your presentation since this is where you grab your audience’s attention from the start. You might feel stressed at the start but just try to remain calm. Making an amazing first impression isn’t as difficult as you may think.

After your introduction, you will come to the substance of your presentation – and you can find this in the body. This section consists of your main points followed by their own sub-points.

After the body comes the conclusion where you will give a summary of your whole presentation. If you’re making a sales pitch, have to conclude with a CTA. Another great way to conclude your presentation is with an entertaining anecdote or a powerful quote.

Presentation Outline Examples

How do you write an outline for a presentation.

In analogy, you can compare your presentation outline template to a roadmap you will use as a guide to move your audience from where they are at the start of your presentation to where you want them to be by the end of it. Here are some points to consider when composing your own PowerPoint outline example:

• Determine your goal When writing an outline for your presentation, the first thing you have to decide on is your goal. You should be specific with your goals and make sure these are highly achievable in the situation and timeframe you have. For instance, when making an oral presentation example, make sure you have enough time to discuss all of the points in your outline.
• Analyze your audience This determines the starting point of your presentation. Consider all of the aspects of your audience to help you determine where you should begin with your message. For instance, when making a sales presentation outline, you may want to present your audience with a problem that you know they all have. Then you can present the solution in the form of the products or services you offer.
• Plan the content of your presentation As soon as you have formulated your goal and analyzed your audience, you are now prepared to plan the content of your presentation. You can think about having 3 levels in your presentation outline template: The highest levels consist of the topics that you want to discuss – usually about 3 to 5 topics Break each of these topics into the points you want to make Decide on the supporting information you will use to prove or support each point.
• Ask for feedback and opinions To deliver an impactful presentation, it is important to ask for other people’s feedback and opinions. These people could be a mentor or somebody who gives a lot of presentations. These persons may help you make important changes that you might have overlooked. In the absence of this kind of help to criticize your outline, you may rehearse your presentation on your own then record yourself. Then send the recording to someone through email for their feedback and comments.
• Include visual elements Whenever possible, it’s a good idea to incorporate visual elements in your outline as they help greatly in improving your overall presentation. By nature, people understand visual content more than they do words. Besides, even a simple illustration or diagram can potentially summarize a significant amount of written text. It pays to use graphs, images, diagrams, and the like in your outline. To make it more effective, use a clear and standard font that’s easy to read for the text. Also, make sure that everyone can read the size of the text that you choose.
• Think about the most important information Usually, in presentations, you cannot accommodate all of the details. As such, it becomes vital to include only special information that you can easily forget like as names, locations, and dates. You should maintain a clear statement of what your presentation is all about. Remember that your thesis statement serves as a guide on what to include in your presentation. In addition, this also prevents you from straying away from your main topic. Also, you must keep your outline clear but simple.
• Consider creating an alphanumeric outline Consider the use of alphanumeric characters to organize your outline better. For instance, you can use capital letters for the main points and small letters for sub-points. Make sure to itemize each level of your outline. You can use Arabic numbers, Roman numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters, and so on.
• Follow a clear and logical structure There should be a logical sequence in the order of points or events in your outline. This enables your audience to easily understand your message without getting confused. For instance, when you’re creating a narrative – this should begin with an introduction, a body of content, and a conclusion. You will have an easier time with your presentation if your outline has a clear and logical structure.

PowerPoint Outline Examples

Related posts, 40 perfect recommendation letters for internship [word], 40 useful roles and responsibilities templates [word, ppt], 37 product requirements document templates [word].

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CSEC English School-Based Assessment (SBA) Outlined

 Paper 031,  School-Based Assessment  –  (SBA – 21% of Total Assessment)  

One  SBA will be required to complete both aspects of the English Syllabus: English A and English B. 

A student who does English A only OR English B only OR English A and B will be required to submit ONLY one SBA.  The SBA will be credited for both English A and B. 

The SBA is expected to be done by each student working as an individual, and as a member of a small group approved by the teacher where:   

1. individual refers to each student, who has responsibility for his/her own portfolio;   

2. group refers to 4 – 5 students sharing a general topic, who work together to discuss and solve problems, explain ideas, learn from peers, improve oral skills, and practise social skills and leadership roles.    

The marks assigned to a student will consist of:    1. his/her individual mark (Plan of Investigation, Oral Presentation, Reflection, Participation Measure);   

2. the mark assigned to the group ( Quality of Group Behaviour, Written Report).   

PORTFOLIO   Each student will create a Portfolio on an issue/topic/theme/event selected by the students in the group and approved by the teacher.  The issue/topic/theme/event will also be orally presented.  The issue/topic/theme/event selected should allow for meaningful research and presentation.   

The Portfolio should include the following:  

1.  PLAN OF INVESTIGATION:

An introduction to the issue/topic/theme/event (A satisfactory response should be no more than 100 words).  

(a) Why did you choose this issue/topic/theme/event? 

(b) What are the expected benefits to you as a student of English? 

(c) How do you intend to collect relevant information on your issue/topic/theme/event and use this in your presentation?  

2.  PARTICIPATION MEASURE  – A measure of the candidate’s individual participation assessed by self and teacher.  

3.  INDICATORS OF GROUP ACTIVITY  :

A minimum of THREE pieces of material, for example, print, audio, visual media must be collected and presented in the Portfolio and should address the issue/topic/theme/event selected.  

One of the three pieces must be printed.  

These pieces will form the basis for the process of enquiry and group work activities (cognitive, psychomotor, affective) in which students will become aware of and practise English language skills.  

4.  REFLECTION  : THREE  entries in which the student reflects on the issue/topic/ theme/ event selected should be completed.

In the first entry, the student must indicate how each piece of material helped to shape his or her thinking about the issue/topic/ theme/event. 

The second entry should discuss the use of language in the material selected and the third entry should state how the process of doing the SBA helped the student to become a better person.

The reflection should be written in class under the teacher’s supervision.   

5.  WRITTEN REPORT:

A written report of the investigation should be a summary of the processes, procedures and outcomes of the research. 

It should include the material collected, reasons for selection and analysis of the material. 

A satisfactory report should be about  250-300 words  in total.  

6.  ORAL PRESENTATION:

A personal response related to the issue/topic/ theme/ event should be delivered orally in 3 to 5 minutes.  

The oral presentation should be delivered predominately in standard English and in a genre of the student’s choosing, for example, drama, poetry, prose, role play, speech, argument, or exposition.  

The student should deliver a brief overview of the presentation including the genre chosen, the sources used and a comment on the kind of language used. 

A brief plan of the Oral Presentation must be submitted in the Portfolio. 

97 thoughts on “CSEC English School-Based Assessment (SBA) Outlined”

Hey I need help writing my sba I’m doing online class and the teacher stop come class since she tell us to do the sba, she gives we sample but that alone can’t get me to fully understand what its about.

Hi Demetri,

You can check out our SBA video lessons. This will help you to understand how to write the SBA. Here is the link: https://csecenglishmadeeasy.com/2022/02/how-to-write-the-csec-english-a-b-sba/ . You can also check out our YouTube for other lessons: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSgy4YqpiAwTzGSWbB7_K4g

http://csecenglishmadeeasy.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-breakdown-of-csec-english-sba.html This post should answer all your questions. ]]>

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http://csecenglishmadeeasy.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-breakdown-of-csec-english-sba.html I how you find this helpful.]]>

I need help my topic is effects of teenage pregnancy on the family

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Outline Templates

Presentation outline template – 28+ free sample, example, format download.

Are you about to offer a presentation to your office team soon? Well, presentation is a serious business no doubt, and hence you have to ensure proper projection. Thus, you should go for a speech outline templates beforehand so that you can have the entire structure of your presentation before you- before preparing the final delivery. It will keep your delivery organized and consistent. Whether it’s for a web conference, a training class, or a key assignment on an APA or MLA paper, we’ve got sample presentation templates that are suitable to work on and present through any software.

The Presentation Outline You Gave Was Very Helpful Template

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How to Write an Outline for a PowerPoint Presentation?

• Start by writing the topic at the top.
• Go ahead and using bullets, list down the sub-topics and sections that have been included in the presentation.
• In case there are sub-topics under sections, these should also be listed under these.
• The outline script should begin with a small introduction, followed by the purpose of the presentation and the objectives.

What to Include in a Presentation Outline

• Title of the presentation
• A small description of the topic
• The sections and subsections included
• The purpose of the presentation
• The benefits of the presentation
• The objective of the presentation

Tips for Making an Effective PowerPoint Presentation

• Make sure not to include more than one design template for the slides. This will bring about very important uniformity.
• You can alter the content layout by using bullets, 2-columns, images & text, etc.
• The slide should not comprise a lot of content. The sentences should be small and clear.
• Do not get carried away when using animation effects. Additionally, stick with one or two effects rather than trying to include everything in one presentation.
• In case you are using images in the slides, opt for high-quality ones.
• It helps you summarize the presentation into small points
• It gives the user an idea of what to expect from the presentation
• It helps the presenter to carry on with the presentation in a smooth, flowing manner

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Best Oral Presentation Examples

The outline for this oral presentation is going to be a series of slides that describe each part of the process for authorship in a curated series of quality articles. This outline will also help you prepare questions for any audience that is unfamiliar with the topic in this particular presentation.

Here are some oral presentation examples ideas you could use. Use these as a guide to making your own presentations. If you need more ideas, check out the WPS blog or simply download the WPS application to get free access to the best oral presentations example templates.

1. Graduation Thesis Defense Presentation Template

The thesis defense is the end of a graduate student's journey and the culmination of many years of hard work. This template is designed to help you organize your thoughts and present your work in a concise, structured, and persuasive manner to convince your grad school's dean to grant you your thesis.

2. Medical Oral Defense of Graduation Presentation Template

Through the use of templates, you can make sure you're giving a strong, well-organized, and gripping presentation to a large audience of your peers and professors. You can record the audio portion, speak from notes (important notes on the screen do not work well), or just present from your flash drive.

3. Cartoon Oral Defense for Graduates presentation

An oral defense of graduation thesis is a formal, official document that is written to defend a student's merits of graduating. The thesis is written to defend a thesis graduate's thesis. This defense of graduates will provide the speeches, outlines, and materials of the defense with the graduate's defense of their thesis.

4. Yellow and Green Presentation Template

The different uses of oral presentations in life and in the work world will be shown, covering a variety of various examples. Whether you come from an education background, an engineering background, or a non-academic area, there are likely to be examples provided that might help to inspire you to engage in more oral presentations.

5. Fresh General Graduation Thesis Defense Presentation Template

It is important to make sure that your oral defense of a thesis is done well with care and precision. When preparing this type of presentation, it is necessary to consider the audience and the occasion. You should identify who will be attending, outline the most important aspects of your research, and plan the presentation talk accordingly.

6. General Oral Defense of Graduation Presentation Template

If you are required to give a speech in front of a large audience at graduation, you need to have a good plan. Here are some handy oral defense of graduation speech templates you can use. These will help you adjust your speech to the intended audience and make sure that your speech is focused and well-planned.

7. Blue Oral Defense for Graduation presentation template

Give your oral defense a strong start by using a visually stimulating bullet-point presentation for your introduction. Then remind your audience about the purpose of your oral defense and use a broad introduction before diving into the meat of your presentation, with focus points that include: ideas, key points, and audience benefits.

8. Graduation Thesis Presentation Template

Every student has given an oral defense of their thesis, yet few are great. This document is designed to help students prepare for their graduation oral defense. It is easy for students to learn from and emulate common mistakes or to see potential pitfalls to avoid. It is important that students use this template to gain insight into what makes for a memorable oral defense.

9. Blue & White Defense for Graduation Presentation Template

These are all examples of oral presentations that you might use to demonstrate your thesis defense during your graduation ceremony. Use the one that best describes your work and personal style. Several of the templates presented may have only one or two of the needs you need to be fulfilled, so you can swap out templates for ones that better fit your needs.

10. Education Oral Presentation Template

Your Oral Presentation is the one in which all your hard work, research, preparation, and audience involvement happen. It is also the one that you will most likely reference, show to an audience, and be judged on. Your Oral Presentations are pivotal,

Learning to present with good oral communication skills is a very important part of a future career. It is important to have an oral presentation for both jobs interviewing and public speaking. These Oral presentation examples templates will help you with the basics of preparing for these types of presentations. Always have a purpose statement, introduction, and conclusion. Keep your information condensed and relevant.

Download the WPS Office application and find your best presentation templates, as well as access to free tools.

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• 2. Free examples of oral presentations
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