In any business you want to succeed, you have to practice. It is a practice that leads to excellence. That’s why many good speakers habitually rehearse their presentations as if preparing for a theatrical performance.

Very few designers devote as much time to the presentation as it takes to get the team or the client excited about their ideas. So I put together the recommendations that help me make quality presentations. They will be helpful to you too.

1. Identify the problem you are solving

You solve work problems in the language of Ui/Ux design. And when you present a layout or prototype, the problem may be obscure to some listeners. So make sure when creating your presentation that you outline the problem for the audience, emphasize who your solution is aimed at, who the target audience is, and how your solution will improve the user experience.

2. Start rehearsing your presentation in advance

Make sure to leave presentation preparation to the last minute because you need time to rehearse.

Even Steve Jobs, considered by everyone to be a gifted speaker, according to former Apple software engineer Ken Kocienda, practised a lot. He repeated the material until he had honed all the intonations and knew it thoroughly.

3. Perfect every slide, every line, facial expression and gesture

As a UI/UX designer, you’re expected to know how to analyze your audience and learn how to improve their experience of interacting with the app or product. From this point of view, the presentation is not only about the project but also about your professional skills and experience.

So before the presentation, it is worth reviewing each slide carefully, removing unnecessary elements, and selecting the best illustrations and fonts.

Pay attention to the tempo and rhythm of the speech. Equally important at this stage is to pay close attention to gestures and facial expressions during critical moments in the presentation. You can record a rehearsal video to look at yourself from the outside.

4. Rehearse out loud and watch the timing

Most people I know prepare by flicking through slides and talking to themselves. Such an approach does not help to give you confidence that you will do well in front of an audience, especially if it is an important presentation.

Also, rehearsing out loud will help you determine precisely how much time you need for your presentation. This is important when there are strict time constraints. After all, if you realize during your representation that you don’t have time and start to rush, the most critical part — the summary — will sound crumpled and inaudible and affect the decision on the project or your design proposals.

5. Ask for feedback

If you’re preparing a presentation for people who don’t know much about UX design, asking for feedback will help you find out how clearly you explain your goals, objectives and options and how much your professional vocabulary makes it easier or harder to understand. Even in your team, only some people know what a mental model is. What, then, can we say about a wider audience?

A colleague once asked on Twitter what of the UX jargon you often have to explain. Here are some of the concepts cited: usability analysis, user journey map, cognitive walkthrough, heuristic evaluation and affordance.

Ask your audience to ask you questions about the topic of the presentation. This way, you can prepare clear and concise answers in advance.

As you can see, if you want to make a vivid, clear and concise presentation, you need help and constructive criticism.

6. Conduct a dress rehearsal for the presentation

If the presentation is online, e.g. in Zoom, create a practice conference and invite your friends. Then present the exhibition to them as if you were speaking in front of a team or customers.

You’ll be able to identify all the little things you haven’t thought of before. For example, how do you run your presentation comfortably? Should you change your microphone? Are you gesturing too much in front of the screen? Why do this?

If the presentation is offline, a dress rehearsal is also essential. It will give you an idea of the acoustics in the room, how you want to shift slides etc.

TOP 6 AI Presentation Makers for the best experience in 2023

To dedicate more time to presentation preparation, use AI-powered presentation tools to create a rough draft. This will make you more productive without getting bogged down in routine tasks.

Sendsteps.ai is one of the first AI-powered presentation creation tools. All you have to do is specify your theme, and AI takes care of everything else, from design selection to storyboarding.

Beautiful.ai is an AI-powered programme that focuses on creating presentations that look bright and professional. The slides are visually appealing and consistent in design and layout.

Designs.ai is a platform with the tools to create quality presentations based on AI capabilities. You can customize all the templates and graphics to your goals and objectives.

Presentations.ai is a tool that instantly offers options for a presentation on a given topic. Using it will save a lot of time in creating the first version of your presentation, and start improving your slides immediately.

Kroma.ai is a platform with various design tools, including AI-based presentations. Try it, and you’ll see how much easier it has become to visualize data and make multi-slide presentations with content that works for you and your tasks.

Slidebeanis another valuable tool for AI-powered presentations. You can create your presentation or use a presentation creation service, particularly the ‘Organise with AI’ option, to enhance the design.

No one is born a great public speaker. A quality presentation requires work not only to prepare it but also to improve it.

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