Mastering the art of project presentations

When presenting a project, do you ever feel like you might as well be talking to yourself? You may be talking, but no one is listening.

Captivating a crowd is never an easy task, but the pressure is even higher when you need their attention to justify investments or explain key concepts. Mastering project presentations can help you stand out and show your value to the team.

Let's break down everything you need to master the art of project presentations.

What is a project presentation?

A project presentation is an opportunity to showcase your project's developments and outputs to stakeholders, investors, and clients. It gives whomever is watching a chance to understand the value of your work and ask questions.

That's why a good project presentation is more than slides and numbers. To retain the interest of your audience and explain the importance of your work, you also need the right tools. Enter Mural, an easy-to-use visual collaboration platform that will help you create engaging presentations. 

Presenting a project is also important to:

• Align stakeholders: Regular presentations demonstrate the value of your project and team, securing stakeholder buy-in and continued support for your initiatives.
• Set clear expectations: By outlining specific deliverables, roles, and responsibilities, you mitigate potential misunderstandings and boost project efficiency.
• Enhance accountability: As a record of the project’s progress and milestones, presentations can reinforce commitment to agreed-upon objectives and promote transparency along the way.

How to create a project presentation

Creating a project presentation that leaves a lasting impact is an art — but it's not hard to master if you follow these steps:

Step 1: Define your structure

Every project presentation, no matter how big or small, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end. So create a structure that has:

• An introduction: It's a moment to present yourself, the project, and your goals. You can also introduce a small group ice-breaker, like a simple question or activity.
• The main content: This is the part where you present your analysis, discussions, and any relevant information about the project. It's the soul of any project presentation.
• A conclusion: Sum up your arguments and remind your audience of the subject and the importance of your presentation.

Step 2: Outline your presentation sections

Defining specific sections to your presentation improves your chances of mentioning every key aspect of the project. 

Effective project presentations normally include:

• Project background: What is the context of this presentation?
• Goals: What does this project aim to achieve?
• Scope and deliverables: What are the project's boundaries? And what are the expected outputs?
• Timeline: What are the phases of your project?
• Budget and resources: What are the costs of this project? Does it need more people or different technologies?
• Potential risks: What are the challenges you might face? How will you address them?
• Next steps: After the presentation, what will you do next?
• Q&A: Are there any questions that you haven't answered?

Step 3: Add data points

Using data points in your project presentation helps you:

• Build credibility: There's a big difference between saying and showing. In project presentations, your opinion and impressions probably won't be enough to convince and engage your audience. So back it up with facts, numbers, and any other proof that shows you know what you're talking about.
• Leave a lasting impact: If you present results and data points in a bold, creative way, your audience will remember them — and remember you. It's also a great way to show that you put effort into your tasks. 
• Aid decision-making: Before making a group decision, your audience will want to know for sure that it will be the right one. Giving them the right data points will ensure that they feel confident enough to leave the meeting with a roadmap, and not with more questions.

How to present a project

Now that you know how to create your presentation, it’s time to prepare yourself to impress the audience by following these tips:

Step 1: Organize your notes

Before any project presentation, you must outline what to say. Instead of writing down a long text, try creating bullet points with concise information you have to remember.

If you work with a team or just need more space to write down ideas and important pointers, try using an online digital whiteboard. That way, everyone can collaborate, at any time and from anywhere. And you can organize all your thoughts in just one place.

A great way to keep your ideas ready and on hand is to use sticky notes. If you’re in a remote meeting, you can hide your notes from other members, so it doesn’t get in the way of your presentation. 

Step 2: Practice 

You know the saying, "Practice makes perfect." And it's true. So, before presenting any projects, rehearsals are welcome. They can improve your speech, make you more comfortable with the subject, and boost your confidence.

You can even do a test run with your team members, or maybe your friends. That way, they can give you constructive feedback and you can refine the final product. 

Step 3: Speak clearly

One of the top three leadership competencies is the ability to communicate clearly. When presenting a project, remember that you're talking to people who don't know about the project or want to learn more about it. Avoid being too technical and using jargon.

If you need to explain complex concepts, use relatable examples. If you can't find a synonym for a technical term, explain what it means. Keep it concise and direct, and make it relatable and interesting to those who don't need to understand the details of the process. 

Step 4: Focus on what matters

To maximize audience engagement and achieve your meeting goals, be brief. Cut out anything unnecessary. Instead of understanding the process of getting where you are, your audience should see the benefits of your journey:

• If they have a problem, how will you solve it? 
• If they want a product, can you create it? 
• If they need context, can you summarize? 

Short, direct meetings make the corporate world grow fonder. Keep your project presentation simple, focus on goals and results, and leave some time for questions if needed. 

Related: 5 tips for running successful board meetings

Step 5: Use visuals to wow your audience

The way you organize your presentation matters. Studies show that people process and store visual information differently than text: visuals are easier to recall and understand, especially in small amounts of time.

When you create visually appealing presentations, people in the room are more engaged. So why not use visual tools that organize key points in a fun way? 

Here are examples we like:

• Mind maps: Brainstorming with mind maps allows you to organize information visually in a hierarchy. It's a simple and effective strategy to explain how concepts and ideas might be connected.
• Diagrams: Schematic representations facilitate decision-making and comprehension of complex scenarios. Use the cause-and-effect fishbone diagram, for example, to show the potential root causes of a problem and improve understanding of the issue in question.
• Digital vision boards: Creating a vision board helps multiple teams visualize the fundamental aspects of a product or service. When presenting projects in the early stages, use this type of visuals to show your audience the big picture and make them see where you are going. 

Related: How to master meetings using visual collaboration

The best project presentation examples — with templates

Whether you're pitching your product to a prospect, trying to fund a new idea, or sharing results with your team, you need to create an effective project presentation to communicate your vision clearly and persuasively. In each case, you should adapt the tone and find the right elements to capture your audience's attention and convey your message. 

To make your presentations attractive, you don't need to master the art of design by yourself. With Mural's templates, you easily choose the best way to share your thoughts and key points visually. 

Check out our favorite project presentation examples:

Project kickoff

A project kickoff is the initial meeting where all stakeholders come together to discuss details like goals, scope, roles, timeline, and key deliverables. It sets a foundation for alignment among everyone involved.

Make Mural’s project kickoff template part of your project presentation so you can better align expectations. When presenting a new project or working with new teams and departments, use this template to improve communication and get everyone on the same page.

Strategy blueprint

A strategy blueprint is a detailed plan outlining the steps, resources, and approaches to achieving a specific goal. It acts like a visual guide and keeps everyone on the same page. 

If you’re launching a new product, running multi-channel campaigns, restructuring teams, or securing venture capital funding, your project presentation should demonstrate how your actions are structured. 

With our strategy blueprint template, you can show a holistic view of your plan — organizing it into six key elements. That way, you can explain your:

• Challenges: What are the problems that you’re trying to solve?
• Aspirations: What does success look like?
• Focus areas: What are the actions that will bring the best results with less effort?
• Guiding principles: What are the values that inform your decision-making?
• Activities: What can you do to get closer to achieving your goals?
• Outcomes: Which metrics will determine if you’re successful or not?

Workflow

A flowchart is a visual diagram that outlines the sequence of steps or processes needed to complete a specific task. By providing a visual overview of processes and workflows, flowcharts are especially helpful when coordinating multiple teams. They clarify decision points, timelines, and responsibilities.

Use Mural’s workflow template in your project presentation when you need a flowchart to show all the steps of your project and how they're related. You can also use it to show how your team is organized and highlight any areas that need more help, like bottlenecks, when you're asking for more resources or funding.

Customer journey map

A customer journey map is a visual representation of a customer’s interactions and experiences with a brand, service, or product. The goal is to understand their perspectives, identify areas for improvement, and create more satisfying experiences.

Imagine you're launching a new marketing campaign, improving user experience, or redefining a brand's value proposition. Showing how the customer feels every step of the way — from awareness to post-purchase — is a simple method for explaining the challenges you’re facing and the solutions you’re implementing. 

Mural’s customer journey map template is a go-to when you need to introduce customer needs and motivations in a visual, clear way.

Product launch

A product launch involves a series of activities aimed at generating awareness, excitement, and demand for the new product. And even though every launch is different, they all need to be planned carefully. 

With Mural's project launch template, you can establish a baseline of core activities to consider when creating and promoting a new product. From there, you can edit and customize the template as you need and incorporate it into your project presentation to clarify the next steps.

Objectives and key results (OKRs)

OKRs are goal-setting frameworks and metrics that allow organizations and teams to set clear, measurable goals and track their progress. With OKRs, your company can focus on the most important objectives and ensure that everyone is aligned with the company's overall mission and vision.

You can use Mural’s OKRs template on your project presentations to:

• Define and align objects
• Agree on key metrics and determine measurable outcomes
• Monitor performance over time
• Uncover areas for improvements

Create a powerful project presentation with Mural

Presenting a project doesn't have to be nerve-wracking. Mural is a visual work platform that offers an intuitive workspace to help you create well-structured, impactful presentations.

You can use Mural's powerful presentation template to:

• Spark new ideas: Explore fresh approaches and perspectives for your presentation with Mural AI to focus on what really matters: wowing your audience.
• Run interactive presentations: Our facilitation superpowers feature allows you to outline your key topics and time-box activities. Your audience can even participate by reacting to what you're saying — without interruptions. 
• Integrate your presentation with other apps: Mural's integrations make it easier to share your project presentation through different platforms — including Google Workspace, Slack, and Typeform — so you can connect with more people. 

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