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10 Tips for Improving Your Presentation and Public Speaking Skills
Early in a technical career, it is easy to assume the work speaks for itself. It rarely does. Talking a client through a drainage strategy, presenting design options at a project review and giving a toolbox talk on site all depend on the same thing: explaining your thinking clearly enough that people act on it.
Employers agree. A 2024 survey of 252 UK employers by CBI Economics, commissioned by University Alliance, found that transferable skills such as communication mattered to 55% of employers when hiring graduates, ranking above grades and well above which institution someone attended. The Engineering Council goes further. Its UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC) lists communication and interpersonal skills as one of the five competence areas you must evidence to achieve Chartered or Incorporated status. Presenting well is part of the job description, not an optional extra.
Most people find this uncomfortable. YouGov research found that around half of British adults report some level of fear about speaking in front of others, and 15% describe it as a genuine phobia. Here are ten practical ways to get better at public speaking, so you can put your best foot forward and represent yourself well in all settings - both inside and outside of the workplace.
1. Start with the one thing you want remembered
Before opening a single slide, write down the sentence you want your audience to repeat to someone else afterwards. A message that cannot be summarised in one line is not ready. Everything else in the presentation exists to support that line.
2. Understand who is actually in the room
A design review with fellow engineers is not the same as a planning committee, a client board or a community consultation. Work out what your audience already knows, what decision they need to make and what they are worried about. Then pitch accordingly.
3. Structure a presentation like a story, not a report
Technical professionals often present chronologically, walking through the work in the order it was done. Audiences follow problem, options, recommendation far more easily. Lead with the issue, show the choices, land the recommendation, and hold the detail in reserve for questions.
4. Rehearse out loud, standing up
Reading through your notes silently is not rehearsal. Say the words aloud, on your feet, at the pace you intend to deliver. You will hear the sentences that do not work, and you will discover you are running over time before your audience does.
5. Cut your slides in half
The Harvard Business Review's guide to persuasive presentations warns about "death by PowerPoint": too many slides, dense text, and speakers who read out what is already on screen. Its advice is to stick to a single idea per slide with no more than six lines of text.[^4] For technical content, one clear drawing, chart or model view will nearly always beat a bulleted wall of specification.
6. Reframe the nerves
Research by Alison Wood Brooks, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General in 2014, found that people who told themselves "I am excited" before speaking performed measurably better than those who tried to calm down.[^5] Anxiety and excitement feel almost identical physically, which makes relabelling the feeling easier than switching it off.
7. Slow down and use silence
Nerves speed everyone up. Pause deliberately after each key point. A two-second silence feels endless to you and entirely natural to your audience, and it gives people time to absorb what you have just said.
8. Watch how the specialists do it
Notice how senior colleagues handle challenge, how much technical detail they include, and how they close. Institutions such as the ICE, CIHT, RTPI and RICS run regional events and young professional networks where you can watch, and eventually present, in a low-stakes setting.
9. Prepare for the questions, not just the talk
Write down the five hardest questions you could be asked and draft an honest answer to each. Admitting you do not know something and offering to follow up builds far more credibility than improvising. The same habit pays off in interviews.
10. Ask for specific feedback
"How was that?" gets you "fine". Ask instead whether your recommendation was clear, whether you lost anyone, and whether there was too much detail. Record yourself once a year to check you are still improving.
Building the skill takes practice
Presenting is a learned competence rather than a personality trait, and it compounds. The graduate who volunteers at a team meeting becomes the engineer trusted with the client pitch, and later the project manager leading the bid.
Our consultants work with early careers professionals across highways, rail, water, nuclear, property, town planning and buildings, helping people find engineering, planning, surveying and technical careers where those skills are valued. Browse our latest vacancies or upload your CV to get started.
Sources
•CBI Economics for University Alliance, To What Degree? Understanding What UK Businesses Look For in Graduates, August 2024. https://www.unialliance.ac.uk/2024/08/14/towhatdegree/
•Engineering Council, UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence and Commitment (UK-SPEC), fourth edition. https://www.engc.org.uk/ukspecy
•YouGov, What Do Britons Say They Have a Phobia Of?. https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/45297-what-do-britons-say-they-have-phobia
•Harvard Business Review, HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations, Nancy Duarte, Harvard Business Review Press.
•Brooks, A.W. (2014), Get Excited: Reappraising Pre-Performance Anxiety as Excitement, Journal of Experimental Psychology