Presenting with Impact. How to Give High Impact Presentations

Do you want to give high impact presentations and talks? Do you want to speak with impact and present with impact? Do you want to engage your audience? If your answer to any of these is ‘yes’, then these techniques are for you.

Meet the Author: Benjamin Ball

Ben is the founder of Benjamin Ball Associates and leads the presentation coaching and pitch deck creation teams. Formerly a corporate financier in the City of London, for 20+ years he’s helped businesses win with better pitches and presentations, particularly investor pitches. He is a regular speaker and a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and UCL London.  Follow Ben on LinkedIn or visit the contact page. 

Presenting With Impact is a Core Business Skill

When you present with impact, you make sure that your audience truly hears and understands your message. You grab their attention, keep them engaged, and make them care about what you’re saying. Your skills in communicating clearly and persuasively will set you apart in meetings, pitches, and public speaking events.

If you present with confidence, your colleagues, clients, and stakeholders will trust you more. But if you hesitate or mumble, you risk losing their interest. That’s why you must work on your tone, your body language, and your storytelling. When you master this core business skill, you don’t just share information—you inspire action.

Get Support for Speaking With Impact

We’ve been coaching business leaders to become impressive public speakers for more than ten years. We can transform a nervous presenter into a high impact public speaker in just a few hours with public speaking training. We use these tools from our public speaking toolbox to transform dull performances into impressive, high impact talks and presentations.

How To Give High Impact Presentations

1. Use short phrases

Spoken language works best when delivered in snackable bites, using short, simple words and phrases.

• Speak a few words at a time.
• One idea per phrase.
• Cut long sentences into chunks.
• Take out sub clauses and complex constructions.

2. Include many more personal pronouns

You will find that personal pronouns are more compelling when you use them in your presentations. When you use I, We, Us and You, it means that you are speaking directly to your audience. You’ll find this technique works well. And you’ll find your words easier to say.

Why Pick Benjamin Ball Associates for Your Coaching

At Benjamin Ball Associates, we’ve been coaching business people to improve their business communication skills for over 15 years.  Our coaching is fast and effective.  We work with individuals and with companies, one-to-one and in groups.  Call us today to learn more.

“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.”

Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky

Our most popular training courses include:

• Presentation Coaching
• Public Speaking Coaching
• Investor Pitch Support and Coaching

Trusted by some of the most successful companies globally

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email info@benjaminball.com to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

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3. Introduce more and longer pauses

Say this phrase out loud,{pause] with long pauses. {pause] You would be amazed how long you can pause. {pause] Pauses are so important.{pause] Learn how to use pauses when presenting.

• Pauses give your audience time to think.
• They give you time to compose your next line.
• Pauses also make you look more impressive.

4. Use rhetorical tools

Rhetorical tools are often forgotten, but critical in high impact talks. For example:

• repetition,
• alliteration,
• sets of three,
• and personal stories.

These are some of the most useful and important tools you can adopt. Used well, they will transform your performance.

5. Connect with your audience within 10 seconds

Never start your talk with “Hello, my name is… I am here today to talk to you about….”

Instead, give a high impact start to your presentation and grab their attention immediately. Use one of the many tried and tested ways to hook your audience and lead them straight into your subject.

6. Avoid metatalk

The biggest presentation secret to presenting with impact is not a secret at all.

In a conversation you would never say: “In this sentence you will hear that I am saying…..” or “In my next paragraph I will outline my argument.” This would be “meta-talk”: talk about talking, and it sounds very odd!

That’s the presentation secret. So why do we see so many presenters start their presentation with: “In this presentation I will show you….” or “I will take you through this presentation….” That sort of meta-talk is annoying because it distances you from your audience. You distance yourself at exactly the time when you need to connect.

To avoid this presentation mistake, our presentation skills coaching shows you how to speak directly to your audience rather than narrate the mechanics of your presentation.

Presentation secret: Great presenters avoid metatalk.

What does this mean in practice? Avoid referring to your presentation as a separate entity. Instead, talk to your audience as if to a person – one to one. And only refer to your visual aids as needed.

For example:

You SHOULD NOT say: “Now turn to page 3. Here are the quarterly sales figures. As shown on the presentation, sales this quarter are up 3% and the graph shows the positive trend.”

You SHOULD say: “Sales this quarter are up 3%. That is a good result. This means we have now been increasing sales for the last 6 quarters. It’s a trend we would love to see continue.”

Can you see the difference?

In the second example you don’t mention the slide or the graph. You aren’t narrating a slide, you are talking to the audience and the slide/graph visually supports your argument. It’s a subtle change, but completely changes how effectively you communicate.

If you want to learn more about this and many other techniques for better presentations, please get in touch and find out how we can support you to become a world-class presenter.

Do you want to become a high impact speaker? If so, talk to us.

We have developed a robust toolbox of techniques to help you deliver clear, confident talks and presentations.

We’ll help you look, sound and feel impressive so that you grab your audience’s attention.  In just a few short hours we’ll transform you to deliver clearly, confidently and with impact. You can prepare a specific speech with us, or learn skills that will benefit you all your life.

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email info@benjaminball.com to discuss how we can help you become an impressive public speaker.

Speak to an expert. Get a free consultation

Why Choose Us:
Transform your pitches and presentations with tailored coaching

We can help you present brilliantly. Thousands of people have benefitted from our tailored in-house coaching and advice – and we can help you too.

“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.”

Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky

For 15+ years we’ve been the trusted choice for leading businesses and executives throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East. We’ll help you improve corporate presentations through presentation coaching, public speaking training and expert advice on pitching to investors.

Some recent clients

Unlock your full potential and take your presentations to the next level.

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email info@benjaminball.com to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

Speak to an expert. Get a free consultation

FAQ: Presenting with Impact – How to Give High-Impact Presentations

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