Try approaching your next presentation as "an intimate discussion" by your voice, gestures, eye contact and movement to create engagement and value, writes Stephanie Scotti, who offers 10 areas of potential improvement. "When you step up to speak, instead of trying to be flawless, focus on what's important to your audience and engage them in the conversation," she writes.

Try approaching your next presentation as "an intimate discussion" by using your voice, gestures, eye contact and movement to create engagement and value, writes Stephanie Scotti, who offers 10 areas of potential improvement. "When you step up to speak, instead of trying to be flawless, focus on what's important to your audience and engage them in the conversation," Scotti writes.

PowerPoint is synonymous with slide decks at this point, but you don't always need slides to get your point across, writes Stephanie Scotti. That said, Scotti offers advice for how to put together a concise, thoughtful slide deck and argues for presentations where the audience can "easily glance at your media, grab the key information, and turn their attention to what you are saying."