Presentation Definition

A presentation is not a speech, nor is it a training session; it falls between these two. We tend to think of a speech as an occasion for someone to stand up in public and make an announcement or say a “few kind words” in a tribute or a dedication. Politicians make speeches. Presentations, however, are speeches that are delivered in a business-, technical-, professional- or scientific environment, usually accompanied using visual aids. The topic of a presentation, as we will describe later in more detail, is likely to be one of: persuading, challenging, informing, instructing or delivering bad news. The members of the audience are likely to belong to the same organisation or have similar professional interests as yourself. Training, by contrast, is a presentation with a focus on learning by means of modifying in some way the participants’ knowledge, skills or attitudes.