How to Ace Your Next Presentation
- Feb 11
- 7 min read
Updated: Feb 14
Diondra Filicetti is a Learning and Development professional, best-selling author, and two-time TEDx speaker. She specializes in team engagement, leadership effectiveness, and communication, helping organizations create motivated, high-performing teams.
When I was in Grade school, public speaking was part of the curriculum. Everyone from Grade 4 onwards was required to deliver a fully memorized 3-minute speech in front of the class.
My first speech was about the ancient city of Pompeii and the eruption of the Mount Vesuvius volcano. When it was my turn, I remember clutching my cue cards and taking a deep breath to try and calm my nerves so that the audience wouldn’t notice my hands shaking. I began by yelling, “boooommmmm! Mount Vesuvius erupts!” The audience, immediately caught off guard, began listening intently to the story I was about to tell.
At the time, I didn’t love public speaking, but I did want to do a good job. I quickly learned that doing a good job came down to one thing, keeping the audience engaged.
Since then, public speaking has become my career. For a living I deliver keynote speeches and facilitate training workshops that focus on building leadership and communication skills. Between my first presentation in Grade 4 and now, and two TEDx talks later, I’ve learned a great deal about what makes a presentation effective.
So, if your presentation anxiety is creeping up again, I want you to know this, it’s completely normal. In fact, more than 75% of people experience some form of presentation anxiety. Can you believe that the fear of public speaking consistently ranks as the most common phobia ahead of death, spiders, and heights! The National Institute of Mental Health reports that public speaking anxiety, or glossophobia, affects about 40% of the population.[1]
While I may not be able to eliminate your nerves entirely, I can share strategies I’ve learned in my speaking career that ensure your presentation is engaging and effective.
Here are my 5 key takeaways:
Start With the Audience in Mind
Hook Your Audience In
Simplify Complex Ideas
Anything More than 3 Seconds is Too Long
Use Vocal Variety
5 steps to ace your next presentation
Start with the audience in mind
The success of any presentation has less to do with how well you can build a presentation and more to do with whether your audience resonates with it. You might deliver the exact same presentation to two different audiences, and one might be enthralled, while the other audience might be half asleep. Your job as the presenter is to make the necessary adjustments for the audience to whom you’re presenting.
We do this intuitively in communication. The most stark example of this is when we’re speaking to children. When speaking to children we simplify our vocabulary, slow down our speech and talk about topics that we think they would be interested in. Then when speaking to adults our voices find their natural cadence and we use more complex vocabulary.
Similarly, no two audiences are the same. They differ across a wide range of demographic factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, income, education level, occupation, and location. Further, their psychographic qualities will differ, such as lifestyle, personality, values, interests, and attitudes. For you as the presenter, this means you have to analyze your audience and make adjustments to align with their needs, motivations or interests.
Hook your audience in
The truth is, we all judge books by their covers. First impressions, especially in public speaking, matter. In the first minute of a presentation, an audience is deciding how much attention they should pay. So in that first minute, you need to hook them in.
This means beginning your presentation in a way that intentionally captures the audience's attention. There are many different types of hooks.
Common types of speech hooks
Shocking statistic or fact: Startling data to immediately pique interest. For example: "Did you know that glossophobia affects 40% of the population?".
Thought-provoking question: A thought-provoking question to engage the audience's mind. For example: "Do you think the best public speakers were born that way?".
Story: A short, relevant, story that builds rapport and emotional connection. For example: the story I shared about my Grade 4 speech.
Quote: Using a powerful statement from a notable person to add authority. For example: "Mastering public speaking is essential for professional advancement and success." – Robert Moment.
Bold statement: A confident, challenging claim to spark curiosity. For example: "Most people think that public speaking is difficult."
"Imagine" scenario: Asking the audience to picture a specific scene to set the tone. For example, “Imagine being on stage in the middle of a presentation and you notice someone in the audience smiling back at you.”
All of these speech hooks naturally invoke curiosity in the audience, making it easier for you to hold their attention. The key from here is just not to lose their attention.
For more on presentation hooks, watch this video.
Simplify complex ideas
As a presenter, your job is to make information easy to digest. That doesn’t mean overwhelming your audience with complex research or unnecessary detail. Your role is to remove the fluff and clarify what matters.
A strong presentation takes the audience on a clear, easy-to-follow journey toward a conclusion. My approach starts with identifying the key takeaways I want the audience to leave with. From there, I design backwards, structuring the presentation to move the audience from where they are now to where I want them to be by the end.
For example, in this very article, I’ve focused on five key takeaways related to public speaking. For each one, I’ve shared examples, anecdotes, and supporting information to help you understand why it matters. If I had included too much information or layered in overly complex ideas, you’d likely find yourself skimming or skipping entire sections.
The same thing happens in presentations. When your content becomes too complex or filled with irrelevant information, attention starts to drift. You’ll notice it when people start checking their phones, stop taking notes, or wearing expressions of boredom.
Simplicity matters. Focus on what supports your core message and what your audience will find most interesting. When you respect their attention, they’re more likely to give it back to you.
Anything more than 3 seconds is too long
With this, I am referring specifically to your presentation slides or your visuals. If the audience can’t understand what’s going on your slide within 3 seconds, then there’s too much going on. The slides should enhance and not distract from what you’re saying.
What I’ve come to learn are best practices are:
Choose a photo over text where possible. You’ll be able to say more with less.
Minimize text. No paragraphs… ever.
Make sure everything is visible. If it’s less than 18 pt, it’s probably too small.
It should be clear using visual hierarchy, where your audience is supposed to look.
Use colour! Black and white is boring.
Use vocal variety
Once your presentation is prepared, and it's time to deliver, it’s absolutely normal to be nervous. The best advice I can give to you is to practice, out loud, with vocal variety.
Vocal variety is the deliberate use of changes in pitch, tone, pace, and volume to make speech more engaging, expressive, and impactful. It’s the opposite of monotone.
Vocal variety is truly the skill that separates average speakers from great ones. It keeps your audience engaged and leaning in, not just because of what you’re saying, but because how you’re saying it is compelling.
Practicing vocal variety is essential. I’ve seen many speakers rehearse by rushing through their content or quietly running through it under their breath, rather than delivering it with full intention and energy. The problem is this, you can’t expect your brain to magically add the right tone, volume, and pitch in the moment if you haven’t practiced those elements beforehand (especially if you’re not a seasoned speaker).
Practicing out loud trains your brain and body to work together. It helps you know exactly where to raise or lower your pitch, where to take an extra breath because the next line needs more power, and where to pause for emphasis. When you rehearse this way, presentation day is much smoother because you’re not improvising your delivery on the spot.
Bonus tip: Don’t let a strong presentation fade at the finish
As a bonus, you’ll also want to be intentional about how you close your presentation. Too often, speakers deliver a strong message, only to end with something like, “So… yeah, that’s it,” or “Any questions?” A weak close can quietly undo an otherwise effective presentation.
Strong presentation closes typically do one or more of the following:
Reiterate the core message in a simple, memorable way
Call the audience to action
End with a compelling statement, story, or question
Your closing is the moment your audience is most likely to remember. It’s your final opportunity to reinforce your key message, deliver emotional impact, and leave people knowing what to do next. An effective close will bring it all together for your audience.
Watch this video for strong close examples.
Final thoughts & next steps
What I’ve learned over time is that great speakers are built through practice. It’s the repetition, the feedback and the willingness to make mistakes and keep going anyway.
I’ve made plenty of mistakes throughout my own speaking journey. Each one taught me something new, and over time, I was able to refine my approach. If there’s one thing you do after reading this article, it should be to take the time to consider the things that matter most to your audience and then deliver them in an engaging way.
Remember it's not about perfection or about getting rid of the nerves, it’s just about preparation, practice, and having a process you can rely on when you want to ace your next presentation.
P.S. That’s exactly what I teach in my Present Like a Pro webinars and training, where people can learn presentation skills and practice in a supportive, real-world setting. Click here to learn more.
Read more from Diondra Filicetti
Diondra Filicetti, Team Engagement & Communication Expert
Diondra Filicetti is a distinguished Learning and Development professional, best-selling author, and two-time TEDx speaker. As the founder of Driven By Co., she helps organizations enhance performance through engaging workshops, leadership programs, and communication training. Her book Engagement Economics explores how employee engagement drives profitability and success. With expertise in adult learning and instructional design, Diondra has empowered thousands of professionals to lead with purpose, connect effectively, and inspire growth.
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