Engineers and analysts usually present in the order they did the work: background, method, data, and finally the result. The people listening want the opposite. Most of what I teach about presentations comes down to that one change.
01Start with the answer
- Put the decision you need, or the main finding, on your first content slide.
- Move the method to the end or to an appendix. Show it if someone asks.
- Say in the first minute what you want from the audience: a decision, feedback or just awareness.
Method first
“First, some background on our architecture. In Q2 we started looking at latency, so we set up tracing across the services…”
Answer first
“We can cut checkout latency by a third by moving one service. I need your approval for two weeks of work. Here’s how we know.”
02Three structures that work
You don’t need a new structure for every talk. These three cover almost everything.
What? So what? Now what?
What happened, why it matters to this audience, and what we do next. Ideal for updates and results.
Problem, solution, benefit
The problem in their terms, your proposal, and what they get. Ideal for proposals and asking for budget or time.
Situation, complication, answer
From Barbara Minto’s Pyramid Principle: where we are, what changed, what we should do. Ideal for the first minute of any talk.
03Translate for non-technical listeners
- Turn metrics into effects. Instead of precision and recall: “Of every 100 cases we flag, 80 are real.” Instead of p95 latency: “For the slowest one in twenty users, checkout takes four seconds.”
- Write slide titles as sentences that state the point: “Checkout errors fell after the fix”, not “Error rates”.
- One idea per slide. If you need two sentences to explain why a slide is there, it’s two slides.
- Define each acronym once, or drop it.
04Signposting: the language that holds a talk together
Signposts are short phrases that tell listeners where they are: “There are three parts to this”, “Moving on to the risks”, “To sum up”. In your first language you hardly need them. In English, use more than feels natural. Your listeners lose the thread less often, and you do too.
Write your signposts into your notes. When you’re nervous, they’re the sentences that keep you on track.
05Demos
- Script the path you’ll click through, and test it an hour before.
- Have a backup ready: a recording, screenshots or a second device.
- Say what you will and won’t show before you start.
- If it breaks, say so calmly, switch to the backup and keep your main message.
- Bring a teammate for the deep technical questions, so you can stay on the story.
06Questions and answers
- Repeat or paraphrase the question. It checks you understood, helps people who didn’t hear it, and gives you a few seconds to think.
- Answer in one or two sentences first, then offer more: “Happy to go into detail.”
- Keep backup slides for the questions you expect.
- If you don’t know, don’t guess. Say what you do know and when you’ll follow up, then do it. My guide to speaking to senior stakeholders has phrases for this.
07Phrases for presentations
| Situation | Phrases |
|---|---|
| Opening | “I’ll start with the main point and then show how we got there.” · “By the end, I’d like a decision on X.” |
| Signposting | “There are three parts to this.” · “Moving on to the risks…” · “That’s the context. Now the important part.” · “To sum up…” |
| Explaining simply | “In practice, that means…” · “For users, the effect is…” · “Put simply, …” |
| Demo | “What you’ll see is X. I won’t cover Y today.” · “That’s not what should happen. Let me switch to the recording.” |
| Questions | “Good question. If I understand correctly, you’re asking…” · “Let me come back to that at the end.” · “I don’t have that number here. I’ll send it today.” |