6 insights to help 'awkward' people give the perfect presentation

Whether you are delivering a small pitch to colleagues, or speaking at a public event, giving a presentation can be a daunting experience.

To make it easier and more enjoyable, entrepreneur, public speaker, and c0founder of ContentMarketer.io, Sujan Patel — who admits he was once "an internet nerd" and something of "an awkward human being" — has outlined his key tactics for giving a great presentation.

Sujan's slideshow, "How to give the perfect presentation," has been published below with the permission of Prezi:

Patel was speaking at the Prezi 'Present' conference in London.

He began by introducing himself.

Patel opened with an anecdote, which he explained was crucial to engage people's interest.

Patel then explained the importance of outlining the structure of a presentation at the outset.

Before preparing for a presentation, you must know your audience.

He said the structure of a good presentation should follow this structure: Challenge, Action, Result and Social Proof.

Then Patel moved onto outlining the six key tactics for success in a presentation.

"Make it clear what you are speaking about," Patel said. "It's more important to actually get people to look at you and listen to you, not necessarily [to get them to] listen or look at the slides for tons of information."

"Even if the content of your presentation is crap, you deliver it horribly, if you have a beautiful design, people will take pictures and tweet it," Patel said. "A beautiful design makes a crappy presentation really good."

"Be brief," Patel said. When the slides are simple and are not packed with information, the presenter can adjust his or her "talk to what resonates with the audience."

"If you use social media to explain who you are before you get [to the presentation]," then you do not have to earn the audiences trust during the talk, Patel said. "You have already got their trust before hand."

Patel said that it is important not to try to sell things during your presentation. Instead, try to build your own brand by pointing to other valuable content.

"Customise your presentation to your audience’s challenges," Patel said. "That's why you see three words on this slide, not 100."

Patel ended by explaining the importance of connecting with an audience on a human level.