Are presentation skills important in project management? It’s been said that 80% of project management is communication, after all. Some don’t realize it, but every time a project manager leads a project or communicates about a project – no matter if it’s done face-to-face, remotely over the web or even standing in front of a slide deck and a room full of people – they are, in fact, giving a presentation.
Project managers often give visual presentations to a variety of audiences, and each presentation can advance or deter the project’s progress. It’s vital, therefore, that they make every presentation count, engaging audiences with a powerful and effective slide deck.
What is project management?
What is project management? Wikipedia defines it as the process of leading the work of a team to achieve project goals within given constraints. Sure, that might be an accurate enough general definition, but in reality, project management involves much more.
According to the Association for Project Management, “Project management is the application of processes, methods, skills, knowledge and experience to achieve specific project objectives according to the project acceptance criteria within agreed parameters. Project management has final deliverables that are constrained to a finite timescale and budget.”
That’s quite the heavy job description for a project manager! A person must need organizational superpowers to keep track of it all. Fortunately, project managers can use presentations to stay on track.
How can presentations help project managers stay on track?
Not only can presentations help project managers communicate important details to the right audiences, but they can be used to help keep a project on track. After all, nothing beats the power of good communication. A visual presentation can help ensure all team members are familiar with the project’s schedule, and they can help boost collaboration efforts by keeping everyone on the same page.
Unsure how to keep a project on track with an effective presentation? Try a presentation template curated just for that purpose. The Beautiful.ai Project Plan template, for example, is a simple presentation template that takes only minutes to customize and bring to life. The template features all the core elements needed for a successful presentation, including project timelines and goals to requirements and budgets.
The easy-to-create template helps project managers visualize their project plans and sell them to their target audiences in an engaging yet streamlined presentation. It’s perfect for kicking off new projects, detailing specific project plans and pitching new work.
Template not quite right for your objective? That’s OK, Beautiful.ai offers plenty of other presentation templates that are perfect for project managers. The Quarterly Project Update presentation template helps teams identify their objectives while tracking their progress and results.
The customizable presentation template allows project managers to identify their project dependencies and track their milestones in a single concise slide deck. The template includes all the necessary slides, just add your specific content and let artificial intelligence handle the nitty-gritty design details.
Presentation tips for project managers
Project managers might deliver frequent presentations, but even project planning presentations given to an internal team need to be delivered with skill and gusto. Even if a project manager has customized the perfect presentation template, their delivery is still key to success. What good is the presentation if the audience loses focus or, worse, just doesn’t care?
Want your next project management presentation to be a huge success? Consider the following tips for a powerful and engaging project management presentation:
- Understand your purpose – Even if you choose to start with a presentation template, you have to understand your purpose to choose the best one. How can you inform your audience if you haven’t determined your message?
- Know your audience – Who are you presenting to? You might not deliver the same message to your boss as you would give to a group of new recruits, just like you wouldn’t engage a roomful of retirees in the same way you would interact with a kindergarten class.
- Do your research – Your audience has no interest in listening to a presentation full of the same information they already know. Spend some time and research the data you’ll be presenting, ensuring that you are actually informing your audience and not wasting its time.
- Structure your presentation – If you aren’t starting out with a curated presentation template from Beautiful.ai or another PowerPoint alternative presentation software tool, then it’s important to give your presentation a proper structure. Create an outline, including an introduction, main points and closing statement. Be sure you present your information in an orderly manner or you’re likely to confuse your audience.
- Keep slides simple – Your audience can only absorb so much information at a time, and cluttering your slides with too many details is a good way to overwhelm audience members and lose their attention.
- Engage with infographics and images – People are naturally attracted to imagery, and including visual elements in your slides is a great way to keep your audience engaged. Instead of displaying dull and boring data, transform the details into engaging infographics that are sure to capture your audience’s interest.
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