18 Steps to Present Your Project Like a Pro

Presenting a project can be a challenge. However, all project managers over the world know that project success directly depends on its presentation. If you arrange the presentation thoroughly, you have many chances to grab your audience’s attention and take them to an agreement.

In this post, we share some essential tips on how to present a timeline of your project without extra effort. We also describe some creative ways to generate a project presentation using online Gantt charts.

So, what are the steps for making your project presentation a true masterpiece?

18 tips for presenting a project

If a project presentation is a nerve-racking activity for you, it is better to follow reliable guiding principles and practices that will help you open many doors. What are these principles and practices?

We’ve combined them in a full tip-list, so now, it’s high time to explore them. Be ready to present your masterpiece to managers, executives, customers, your team, or stakeholders with a passion!

1. Start with clear project goals

When project managers run a presentation, they should define what effect they would like to reach beforehand.

Start with determining project goals by arranging a call-up meeting with the product owner and your teammates. You can even communicate the goals of your project verbally, or with the help of special documentation, visuals, models, or a project timeline.

2. Prioritize

Set priorities for specific tasks within your project. Discuss them with the managers from other departments, discuss, and decide together how these priorities fit into the common goals.

3. Study your audience

Knowing your audience will help to define what points are critical to them and what can be left out. This will also assist you in determining how to present your ideas more effectively.

4. Make research

What does your audience care about? Make sure everyone understands your technical and financial information. Try to compile your research into one place — even a simple timeline or doc will help you organize your findings and research. If you want a more fundamental and professional solution — use an online Gantt chart maker that will help you to identify project progression, assign tasks, set all necessary dates, and consider risk points.

5. Run surveys

It is crucial to study what your target audience thinks about a subject partway into your presentation. This will help you to turn your project into a forum for discussion.

6. Evolve credibility

The goal of any presenter is to convince the audience to know the stuff and impress them. To boost the people’s trust, mention your background, exciting cases, or even rewards you have been given. It will help you to gain credibility and raise interest in the subject.

7. Outline the key points of your introduction

Start your speech with a quote, statistical facts, or an exciting story. Try to avoid goofy jokes that can jeopardize your credibility.

8. Define the key points

Select the key points that will compose your thesis statements. Write down all critical topics that need to be presented and brainstorm what facts should be used to support your claims.

9. Prepare a stunning conclusion

It is not easy to end a business presentation with a bang. The best way to keep your audience on track is to simply summarize and close.

Write a summary, ask for questions, and don’t forget to thank your audience for attention.

10. Care about the presentation style

You can make your project presentation dry or funny or dry. But keep in mind that the quality presentation should be clear, concise, and concrete.

11. Don’t be afraid of silence

Give your audience enough time to internalize what you’re presenting. When you allow for some silence, they can absorb and retain more information. Use pauses after giving big problems or your unique solution.

12. Keep connection with people

Most people don’t have enough attention span to stay engaged for the whole presentation. Usually, they remember only the most exciting facts.

If you want to grab their attention, avoid reading from a script, and talk to one person who is the most interested in the audience.

13. Use analogies and provide stories

Use outstanding and interesting stories to engage your audience. The stories with analogies will allow people to extrapolate the relevant meaning for their personal application. Everyone remembers stories much better than boring facts.

14. Visualize

Add images, graphics, timelines, and other visuals to keep people engaged and ensure the key points remain. Try to avoid complicated slides that could distract participants. Support your statements with actual charts and diagrams. Such great solutions as online Gantt chart makers will help to do this quickly and reliably.

15. Make a rehearsal

Some people never practice their speeches and this is actually not a good idea.

Review your presentation, talk it out, and find good ways to present a project. Consider the tone, the speed, and the moments you wish to emphasize.

16. Temper your anxiety

Remember that when a speaker is relaxed, the audience is also relaxed.

Write notecards to ease your anxiety. Sleep well before the presentation. Do not forget to bring in a glass of water. Make pauses and allow yourself to regroup.

17. Do not dwell on mistakes

The equipment can fail. You can forget the main idea of your presentation or its introduction. Do not panic. Your audience will evaluate the way how you recover. Just continue to perform and take it easy.

18. Enjoy your presentation

Now you know almost everything about an effective project management presentation. You’ve rehearsed everything, and now the presentation of your project looks clean and organized. Your audience will definitely appreciate it!

That was a lot of tips, but each one is worth your attention if you care about effective project presentation. Analyze these recommendations and choose the best way to present a project to your audience.

Well, it seems that only one moment is missed. Literally, you need reliable project management software to prepare your presentation like a pro. This is where GattPRO comes to the rescue.

Presenting projects with a powerful Gantt chart generator

Many teams that appreciate comfort, system, attractive visualization, and ease of use prefer to use GanttPRO for their project presentations. You can also try this online Gantt chart maker to present your project to your colleagues, top management, stakeholders, partners, or customers.

How to do it? There are several ways.

1. Share your project via URL

If you need to demonstrate your project to any 3rd party, there is a solution for you. GanttPRO allows sharing your projects using a “Public URL.”

It is possible to share a dynamic URL to keep any changes you make active. If you don’t want to share a dynamic URL, you can choose a “Snapshot option” that will allow getting a static picture of your Gantt diagram taken when creating the URL (if you do not want to showcase any updates in your presentation).

Once the link is created, you can manage it, choosing any of the following options:

• Copy and send it to anyone you want.
• Make it timely inactive if needed.
• Finally, delete the URL if required.

You can share your project with the URL at any stage.

2. Export it

You may also use the exporting feature in GanttPRO. It allows having your project always at hand as you can export your diagram to PNG, XML, PDF, Excel, and apply lots of other advanced options.

Using the dashboard you can choose the export options:

• A format.
• A paper size.
• An orientation.

3. Import Excel and .mpp files to GanttPRO

Using GanttPRO, you also have an opportunity to import different format files. If you have projects in .xlsx, .csv, or .mpp formats and want to present them more beautifully and professionally, you can easily import them to GanttPRO.

If you manage a project in MS Project, it will also be easy for you to import your .mpp file to GanttPRO.

Final thought

All great project management presentation ideas are based on careful planning.

When choosing the appropriate way to present your project, make sure you are passionate about it. Remember that the attentive audience can tell whether or not presenters are engaged with the material they’re talking about. Organize the order of all steps you will discuss. Practice it and work on grabbing public attention.

By choosing a reliable project management tool, you will be able to make your project presentation a true masterpiece!

Read more about presenting projects here: How to Present a Project https://blog.ganttpro.com/en/how-present-project/.