The Five Pillars of Great Presenting

What do you want your audience to do, once you’ve finished your presentation? 

You want them to C.L.A.A.P 👏

I’ve spent years around presenters. Broadcasters, leaders, professional speakers, people who talk for a living, and the best ones arrive on stage already oriented. 

They know what they’re doing there. They know what matters. They’re not scrambling at the last moment to work it out.

They know how these five things will get their audience to C.L.A.A.P, before they’ve even started speaking…

1 - Clarity

They know what they’re there to say. Not broadly. Not “some thoughts on…” They know the point. The outcome. The reason they’ve been given the floor.

That’s what allows them to cope when something unexpected happens. Being asked to say a few words. Being put on the spot. Walking into a meeting that suddenly turns into a presentation. If you know what you’re trying to land, you can get there even when the situation isn’t ideal.

Without clarity, you waffle. You circle. You fill the space with words while you search for the point you never decided on.

2 - Less really is more.

People do not remember everything you tell them. They latch onto one idea, one image, one moment that sticks. Everything else fades.

That’s why detail and jargon are so often the enemy. They feel reassuring to the speaker, but they dilute the message. A clear idea, expressed simply, is far more powerful than a technically perfect explanation no one can hold onto.

3 - Audience 

Good presenters know more than just who their audience is. They think about where their audience has come from and how they’re receiving the message. A room full of people who’ve been typing all morning is different from a conference crowd. A Teams call behaves differently to a live room. Walking into an office unannounced is not the same as being invited onto a stage.

Good presenters meet people where they are. They adjust tone, pace, and expectations accordingly. They don’t assume attention; they earn it by understanding the environment they’re speaking into.

4 - Authenticity (+10%)

Being yourself isn’t enough. Stages and screens flatten you. They drain energy, nuance, and presence. If you show up exactly as you are in a normal conversation, you often come across as smaller than you intend.

That’s why the best presenters amplify who they already are. Not by performing someone else’s style, but by turning the dial up slightly on their own. Quiet people don’t need to become loud, they need to become clearer. Warm people need to let that warmth travel. Whatever your baseline is, it usually needs more expression than you think.

5 - Personal Experience

Experience creates trust faster than information ever will. When you talk about what you’ve seen, what you’ve learned, where you’ve failed, people understand where you’re coming from. Credibility follows naturally.

I remember stepping into a leadership role early on and assuming I needed to prove how much I knew. In reality, what built the connection was talking about where I’d been before. Who I’d worked with. What hadn’t worked and what had. That’s what allowed people to place me.

The same principle applies on stage. Facts inform. Experience connects.

Taken together, these five things form a simple mental checklist. Clarity. Less Is More. Audience. Authenticity (+10%). Personal experience.

They’re not tricks. And I won’t tell you they’ll guarantee a standing ovation, but I know first hand they’ll make your audience C.L.A.A.P 👏