presentation personality style

PHILADELPHIA, MAY 9-10 PUBLIC SPEAKING CLASS IS ALMOST FULL! RESERVE YOUR SPOT NOW

• Public Speaking Classes
• Corporate Presentation Training
• Online Public Speaking Course
• Northeast Region
• Midwest Region
• Southeast Region
• Central Region
• Western Region
• Presentation Skills
• 101 Public Speaking Tips
• Fear of Public Speaking

Presentation Styles

Presentation styles and how they differ from presentation types – identify your strengths as a presenter to impress your audience.

Are We Talking about Presentation Types?

when you say Presentation Styles, are you talking about Presentation Types? Actually, no. Often, many people confuse “ presentation styles ” and “ presentation types .” Presentation Styles are the public speaking techniques that an individual uses when he or she delivers a speech. Most presenters will develop a style that works for that presenter and stick to it. A presentation type is the purpose of the talk. For instance, some presentations are designed to inform the audience about new material. Others are designed to persuade. Still others are created to entertain. You will often see presentation types labeled in a public speaking class with names like, “Presentation to Inform” or “Persuasive Speech”. So, the type is outcome or purpose of the speech. The Style is the way that the speaker delivers the material. Two different speaker will often be able to deliver the same, exact type of speech with two separate and distinctive styles.

How Do I know My Particular Presentations Style?

When I first began training to be a professional speaker, I decided to join a Toastmaster Club to get more practice. I went to this club for the better part of a year, before I quit in frustration. Since I already had quite a bit of presentation training by that point, I already had a good idea of many of my strengths and weakness as a presenter. The first time that I gave a formal speech in the club, I got good positive feedback. I felt pretty good about myself. However, as I began progressing through the prepared speeches, some of the feedback began to get a little odd. I just assumed that this was because the Grammarian changed each week, and some were better than others at coaching. I didn’t realize until much later what my real resistance was, though.

It turns out that each of these coaches were providing me feedback based on what worked for THEM when they presented. Since each of these people had a different style than mine, some of the feedback was accurate, but a lot of the feedback really fell flat. I noticed the same thing as I took more and more presentation classes. Many of the instructors in these classes were just trying to get their students to do exactly what they did. In fact, if you ask most people who go through a presentation skills class, they will say, “It didn’t really work for me.”

Oddly enough, after I had been a speaking coach for a couple of years, one of my students invited me to his Toastmaster Club. It was a totally different experience. The presenters there were just like me. They had a blunt and frank delivery mixed with humor. I felt right at home. They were using my style.

By the way, I’m not telling you to keep interviewing coaches or keep visiting different clubs until you find a style that suits you. Just the opposite actually. If you do this, you will likely stunt your growth as a presenter. In retrospect, even though I was more uncomfortable at the first club, I would have grown more there if I had stuck with it.

The Solution was Discovered by Hippocrates about 2300 Years Ago.

When I first began training instructors to teach public speaking classes, I realized that I needed a way for these less experienced coaches to identify true strengths and weaknesses of each presenter that they were coaching. Early on, I bought some of these personality temperament tests and had class members complete them. For the most part, that worked pretty well. However, from time to time, the tests would be unbelievably inaccurate. It was odd. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they didn’t. So, I spent months researching, and I eventually traced the theory back to the source. I just read what Hippocrates wrote. When I did, it was SO SIMPLE! Anyone could understand it. Anyone could use it. So, I made it a part of the Fearless Presentations ® class .

This simple understanding is one of the things that makes the Fearless Presentations ® coaches so much better than other speaking coaches.

The Answers to Two Simple Questions will Determine Your Presentation Styles

• Are your INDIRECT or DIRECT?

Indirect people tend to be more cautious. They would rather do things right the first time than redo the action. Direct people tend to be faster to take action. They want to capitalize on opportunities. They realize that they may make a mistake but see mistakes as part of the learning process. Indirect people are often described as being thorough or detailed. Direct people are often described as being energetic.

• Are you EMOTIONAL (People Oriented) or LOGICAL?

Don’t let the word Emotional confuse you. By emotional, we just mean more people oriented. They are more in tune with other people and sensitive to the wants and needs of others. Logical people tend to be more “nuts and bolts” or “black and white” kind of people. They look at data to make decisions. These presenters want facts and proof.

So, the Direct/Logical presentation will deliver just enough facts to prove his or her point, and then move on. They are concise and decisive. The Indirect/Logical is thorough and analytical. For them, a few facts are good and too many facts is just enough. The Direct/Emotional presenter wants things to be upbeat and entertaining. For them, the fewer facts, the better. The Indirect/Emotional presenter will want to please the audience with a few details. They are often the most in-tune with what the audience wants but tend to be more nervous about their performance.

The Four Main Presentation Styles

In this article, I’m just going to give a summary of the four different presentation styles. However, each summary will have a link to more details about each group can maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses. So, once you know your style, click the appropriate link to find out more details about how to become a better speaker.

The Authoritative Style (Direct/Logical)

The Energetic Style (Direct/Emotional)

The Analytical Style (Indirect/Logical)

The Empathetic Style (Indirect/Emotional)

Maximizing Your Strengths While Minimizing Weaknesses.

No single presentation style is going to be perfect for every presentation. However, some presentation styles fit better for some presentations. For instance, an Empathetic Style presenter will do much better delivering a Eulogy than an Authoritative Style. The Energetic presenter will often give a better motivational keynote than the Analytical Style presenter. With all that being said, though, just because your delivery is of a certain style, doesn’t mean that you can’t be a fantastic presenter when you deliver different TYPES of presentations.

The key to making a great impression on your audience is to maximize your natural strengths and minimize your natural weaknesses . An easy way to do this is to look at the strengths of other presentation styles and adopt some of those things to include in your own style. For instance, if you are an Analytical or Empathetic speaker, purposefully speak a little faster to add some energy into your delivery. If you are an Authoritative or Energetic Style of presenter, spend more time researching or preparing your speech. (Don’t just fly by the seat of your pants like you normally do.) If you are an Authoritative or Analytical presenter, interact with your audience a little more. Make your presentations a two-way conversation versus a one-way.

That is one of the main reasons why the Fearless Presentations ® class is so successful. Our instructors aren’t going to try to force each class member into a presenter mold based on their own strengths. The instructor, instead, will identify those natural strengths that each presenter has. Then, the instructor will help nurture those strengths. Finally, the coach will add in a few strengths from other presentation styles so that the speaker is more relatable. This process works 100% of the time.

To look for a Fearless Presentations ® class in your area , click here.

Podcasts , presentation skills | presentation styles

View More Posts By Category: Free Public Speaking Tips | leadership tips | Online Courses | Past Fearless Presentations ® Classes | Podcasts | presentation skills | Uncategorized

What’s Your Presenter Personality Style?

Read time: 5 minutes

Executive Summary

• Introverted styles: Caring (relaxed, informal) and Information (research-based).
• Extroverted styles: Results (top-line facts) and Sociable (light-hearted, entertaining).
• Monkey style: Nervous and anxious about presenting (not an actual personality style).

In order to give High-Performance Presentations every time, you need to base it on your personality. There are four Presenter Personality Styles which are explored in Dee Clayton’s new book “High-Performance Presentations – Public Speaking Tips and Presentations Skills to Engage, Persuade and Inspire!”

The book is based on our Presentation Strengths & Weaknesses Identifier , an in-depth look at your presentation style, with coaching to help you improve your performance. A short quiz will help you assess your style preferences so you are aware of both your strengths and weaknesses. It then details how you can use this information to develop a successful presentation style to suit your personality.

Here’s a taster of the different presenter personality styles discussed in the book:

Introverted Presenter Personality Styles

Introversion, as identified by Carl Jung, is about how people prefer to “recharging their batteries”. To increase your energy levels do you prefer time for yourself (introversion preference) or being with others/groups (extroversion preference)?

Both Caring & Information styles tend to be more suited to introverts who like to spend their energy thinking about concepts and ideas in depth.

This style uses feelings, not just facts, to persuade others. Presenters are more likely to be relaxed, informal, patient and agreeable.

Potential obstacles:

• Speaking too quietly, especially with larger audiences or when you’re less confident in your subject matter.
• Unconsciously looking low status due to your preference for everyone to be equal.
• Inviting too much debate and look to others as if you lack strong opinions.

You may find it beneficial to work on your “Presenter Stance”: click here for tips on body language.

Information

This style tends to use relevant research, information and facts. as a presenter, you’ll have done a lot of research and preparation but you may not feel entirely comfortable presenting them..

• Starting with detail without first presenting the bigger picture (some people may see this as a lack of strategic thinking).
• Taking too long to get to the key points and highlighting all the risks in minute detail rather than summarising key issues.
• Coming across as too cautious.
• Lacking variation of expression or appearing boring/lacking in passion for the subject. Consider developing your voice tonality to bring more emotion into your talks.
• Killing the presentation with too much information (aka “death by PowerPoint”!) You need to show data visually and simply, using a mix of line, pie and bar charts and only pull out data that your audience will value. For more tips on using visual aids well in your presentation take a look here .

Extroverted Presenter Personality Styles

Extroverts gain energy doing things and spending time with people and tend to focus less on the details. Their Presenter Personality styles are Results and Sociable.

This style is used by extroverts who like to present brief top line facts and then move onto the next thing.

• Not pacing the audience by moving too quickly, literally or figuratively, through the material.
• Concentrating more on a “tell” style rather than spending time gaining genuine buy-in.
• Assuming that silence is a buy-in and wondering why no one does what you thought they were going to do.

Top tip: Work on your planning, structure and delivery so that everyone in the audience can come along on the journey with you. This would translate into even better results, such as sales or sign-ups.

For the extrovert who loves presenting, persuading their audience with feelings, not just facts. They like presentations to be light-hearted, entertaining and fun.

• Being unstructured, difficult to follow and lacking clarity.
• Sharing impractical ideas without the supporting detail.
• Unconsciously looking low status due to your preference for informality and playing the joker.

Top tip: You may find it beneficial to live and breathe the concept that “the presentation isn’t about you, it’s about the audience”. Take particular note of the Audience Preparation section and the Simply Amazing Structure (SAS) chapters in Dee’s book

Monkey Personality Style

Monkey isn’t really a Presenter Personality Style but we include it for people who are nervous about presenting. If presenting is part of your job, then it’s time to get over your fear now! Once you’re confident, you may even enjoy it! Get started using Dee Clayton’s other book “Taming Your Public Speaking Monkeys” to overcome that fear, or book onto a  programme with us.

These styles are generalised, so not everything about the type will suit you. It is, however, a useful starting point, allowing you to tailor your approach. If you would like more help with a qualified coach, check out our presentation skills training courses .

Author: Dee Clayton

Posted by Dee Clayton on 10 Oct 2018

Dee Clayton

One-to-One Presentation Skills

Test Your Presentation Skills

Like this blog?

Sign up to get notified about future blogs

Other Blogs

New Year Goal-Setting

Read time: 4 minutes Template for effective goal-setting: Use the provided template to set specific, achievable goals for your personal life and career. Goal ...

Why Executive Coaching Services are Essential for Business Leaders

If you’re a business leader looking to stay ahead of the curve and keep up with the ever-changing business world, then you already know ...

What a Simply Amazing birthday present – selected from 1000s as National Award OVERALL WINNER…again!

Read time: 2 minutes 3 Amazing Facts about the Awards Simply Amazing Training has won the National Business Women’s Award for Overall Winner. On ...

Sign up for our newsletters

© 2024 Simply Amazing Training. | Company Reg No. 05196560 | VAT No. 931704930 Cookie & Privacy Policy | Website Disclaimer | Website designed and developed by Cariad Marketing

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.

• PowerPoint Themes
• Latest PowerPoint Templates
• Best PowerPoint Templates
• Free PowerPoint Templates
• Simple PowerPoint Templates
• PowerPoint Backgrounds
• Project Charter
• Project Timeline
• Project Team
• Project Status
• Market Analysis
• Marketing Funnel
• Market Segmentation
• Target Customer
• Marketing Mix
• Digital Marketing Strategy
• Resource Planning
• Recruitment
• Employee Onboarding
• Company Profile
• Mission Vision
• Meet The Team
• Problem & Solution
• Business Model
• Business Case
• Business Strategy
• Business Review
• Leadership Team
• Balance Sheet
• Income Statement
• Cash Flow Statement
• Executive Summary

30 60 90 Day Plan

• SWOT Analysis
• Flow Charts
• Gantt Charts
• Text Tables
• Infographics
• Google Slides Templates
• Presentation Services
• Ask Us To Make Slides
• Data Visualization Services
• Business Presentation Tips
• PowerPoint Tutorials
• Google Slides Tutorials
• Presentation Resources

Ten Presenting Styles : What Kind Are You?

Do you feel nervous when it comes to public speaking? 

Don’t worry; you’re not alone.

Do you know that according to research, one of the biggest phobias in 2014 was public speaking? Fear of public speaking is in the same range as fear of heights, bugs, snakes, and needles!

And why is this the case? We’ve always been taught that there is a “correct” way to present. That is, if you do not adhere to these guidelines, you will fail as a presenter.

You’ve undoubtedly read a lot about presenting techniques, seen several TED talks , and even attended soft skill sessions. All of this may have,  either directly or indirectly, helped you build a notion of how you should present

However, if you look closely at some of the most well-known speakers, you’ll find that there isn’t just one perfect approach to deliver. You’ll be glad to discover that there are several ways to present and people find the way that matches their style of being.

Your personality naturally influences how you approach a task, such as presenting in front of an audience. To ensure that your presentation runs smoothly, you must first identify what type of presenter you are. We’ve prepared a list of 10 distinct types of presenters, so figure out which one you are and get ready to deliver a compelling presentation.

10 Different Types Of Presenters

There are several methods in which someone might deliver their presentation. The following are some of the most popular types of presenters:

Interactive

Storyteller

Facilitator

Connector presenters usually engage and connect with their audience. This generally comprises the speaker asking questions frequently and promoting audience participation and involvement. 

Connectors generally use this technique to illustrate their shared commonalities with the audience to connect with them more effectively.

If you’re a salesman presenting early in the sales process, this is a terrific presentation style to adopt. It assists you with understanding the audience’s goals and issues, as well as how you can solve these problems.

A coach is always passionate about the subject of his/her presentation. They’re frequently eager to teach their audience, which makes them excited to interact and connect with them. 

This type of presenter frequently focuses on audience participation and role-playing. They’re frequently influencing the audience on concepts rather than the specifics of a particular issue. This type of presenter usually enjoys explaining ideas and making people interested in the topic at hand.

Interactive presenters generally use a range of tools to have multi-way interactions with and between the audience e.g. whiteboards, MIRO boards, Polls, and other aids in their presentations to keep the audience engaged throughout the session.

Keeping it interactive throughout the presentation also allows the audience to follow along and feel like they are a part of the presentation.  These presenters particularly enjoy workshops and problem-solving sessions.

An inspirer presents with vision and a deep sense of mission and takes the audience on a journey. 

With excitement, energy, and a drive to motivate, and make others feel good, these presenters end up having a long-lasting impact and tend to deliver memorable presentations. They don’t tend to rely on too many audio-visual aids and instead deliver based on the force of their personality and oratory skills. 

Instructors keep their content organized rigorously to support topics and cover their material in a methodical manner. They tend to be descriptive and sometimes, prescriptive in their approach to the presentation topic. Instructors are generally those presenters who are extremely educated about their subject.

Many presenters employ this presenting approach while addressing a complicated to their audience. They use a variety of artifacts to do justice to their instructional approach: employing common words, figures of speech, analogies, and pictures to simplify a complex issue for the audience to grasp.

Directorial presenters tend to have a very clear idea of what they want out of the session. They orchestrate many pieces and are very specific in terms of the feedback they need, action items they want to assign, their expectations of the audience, etc.

They normally create and adhere to a concise script, with little to no improvisation throughout the presentation.

Directorial presenters usually prepare for limited points at a given moment throughout the presentation to ensure that they remain in control and on the topic at the same time.

Storytellers do not require a lot of figures, data, or statistics in their content. They frequently use anecdotal and emotional content to capture the audience’s attention and connect with them. 

They usually begin with narratives that relate to the main theme of the presentation. They intuitively understand that most of us are wired for stories and end up paying more attention to the presenter when the content is presented in a story format.

Analysts are obsessed with accuracy, correctness, and advancement, and they rely extensively on logic, data, facts, and figures to convey their points. They can be highly reliant on their material and want to add plenty of evidence eg graphs, charts, and other artifacts to support their arguments.

Analysts enjoy quantifying information. And tend to do well on topics that lend themselves to such treatment. Many Analyst presenters also have enormous potential to improve their talents by thinking of how to win the hearts in addition to the minds of the audience by adding a variety of communication, narrative, and slide design abilities.

The Facilitators’ primary goal is to crowdsource their content during the presentation. Facilitators are already in a good position to flourish as excellent presenters since presenting is all about people. 

Facilitators tend to make heavy use of templates to get inputs from their audience in a structured manner. They are naturally mature communicators who are skilled at leveraging the energy and knowledge of the audience to spur great discussions.

Who says you need fancy slides and extensive scripts to give a successful presentation?

Creativity speakers like Sir Ken Robinson demonstrate that if you know what you want to say, have 2-3 main points in mind, a decent sense of humor, and some tales to relate and illustrate your ideas, you’re set to go even without slides or a script.

This unplanned presenting style may intimidate some, but it may excite others who feel confined by rules and structure.

If you want something a little less intense, you may just create a simple deck with keynotes or parts. Avoid storing significant amounts of info in your mind, as you would with a minimalist approach.

Many free-form speakers just get started, don’t rehearse as much, and feel uneasy presenting a presentation prepared by others.

At SlideUpLift, we offer presentation templates for all kinds of presenters to aid in their visual communication. You can try our free PowerPoint templates and google slides templates to complement your presentation style.

Few Templates For Your Presentation Needs 

Source: 30 60 90 Day Plan by SlideUpLift

Bulb Strategy

Source: Bulb Strategy by SlideUpLift

Business Roadmap

Source: Business Roadmap by SlideUpLift

Customer Journey

Source: Customer Journey by SlideUpLift

Wrapping It Up

Knowing your presenting type will allow you to capitalize on your strengths while protecting against your limitations. Simultaneously, it will help you adopt a style that seems more natural to you.

Armed with this knowledge, and with the force of your nature behind it, the more you practice, the better you will get, and hopefully, there will be one person less in the world who is afraid of public speaking.

Best of luck with your future presentations!

Regardless of the style you like, we’ve got your back when it comes to creating the slides that will enhance your presentation!

Privacy Overview

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

Description

• Sales Productivity
• Sales Intelligence
• Sales Prospecting
• Sales Strategy
• CRM Admininstration
• Company News
• Sales Metrics
• Supercharge Sales Activity
• Book More Meetings
• Sales Leadership
• Team Scheduling
• serious insights
• Sales Activity Data
• Sales Forecasting
• Auto-Sync Everything To Your CRM
• Financial Services
• Getting Started

Subscribe to our Blog for the Latest Insights

Join our blog community to stay informed and receive fresh content and actionable tips directly in your inbox.

How to Deliver an Unforgettable Pitch by Finding Your Presentation Style

• Share this blog post on LinkedIn

You can't expect prospects to remember every word of your pitch.

Hell, you probably shouldn't assume they're going to listen to the entire presentation. For instance, according to research, our attention span typically wanes every 10 – 15 minutes .

You can however help them remember the most important parts (and even listen more attentively).

By using visual aids and clues highlighting the key messages of your pitch .

I've already showed you how to overcome this problem when delivering product demos .

And today I'm going to show you 5 presentation design styles that will help ensure the audience remembers your pitch .

Ready? Let's get cracking then…

What is the Takahashi Method?

Sometimes the best way to make an impact is by putting your message boldly right in front of the audience.

At least that's the premise of the first presentation style on my list, the Takahashi method, named after its creator, Masayoshi Takahashi .

When constructing his presentations, Takahashi uses only text set in a large type on a solid background, isolating the main message of his current state of speech.

According to Takahashi, his goal for using one or just a handful, yet ideally no more than three words, set in a very large type is to deliver a high-impact message in a very short period of time.

Takahashi believes that featuring bullet points or block of text on presentation slides forces the audience to read them instead of listening. Including only the key message however leaves them with nothing else to do but to listen to you instead (while the large type embeds the message in their memory).

You can see Takahashi delivering a presentation here (note: the video is in Japanese but it still gives a good impression of how his method works.)

One drawback of the Takahashi's method is that in order to communicate each important section of your pitch, you'd need to create a larger number of slides than when using a traditional, bullet point style.

What is the Lessig Method?

The Lessig Method is a presentation technique that synchronizes slides with the speaker's presentation. Specifically, this method uses images, quotes, and text to stimulate the audience and emphasize key points. The dynamic approach was coined by Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Stanford University.

Do you remember Bob Dylan's video for the Subterranean Homesick Blues ? If not, here's a reminder.

The premise of this revolutionary at a time clip was to sync slides with words sang by Dylan.

Funnily enough, this is also the premise the Lessig Method.

Lessig method is dynamic in approach, stimulating the audience to focus on the key messages behind the presentation.

Here's how Lessig slides look like in action:

And here you can watch Lawrence Lessig's TED talk to see this presentation style in action:

Note: given the way TED talk is recorded, you can't experience those slides in full.

So here's another example of Lessig slides in action. This time, you can only see the slides and hear the presenter's voice, giving you a good sense of how these slides work in the context.

The Monta Method

The next style is based on … a famous TV show host in Japan, Mino Monta.

You see, when introducing a new topic in his daily program, Monta often holds a board filled with questions and answers. Yet he typically keeps replies covered by strips of paper (or colored bars if he uses a board on screen).

Then, when he's ready to give the answer, he peels off the strip revealing the answer.

According to Shinichiro Oba, one of the first speakers to apply this technique in business presentations, hiding parts of text blocks or graphics on a screen elicits curiosity in the audience.

In turn, involving the audience in the presentation by asking questions and letting them to guess the answer before revealing the correct (and typically shocking and unexpected one) helps to build an emotional connection and keep the listeners engaged.

The Kawasaki Method

When you're trying to get someone to agree with you, you need to present a pitch that's short, easy to absorb and simple to apprehend.

And there seems to be no better style to achieve it than the Guy Kawasaki's 10.20.30 rule.

The method is simple:

Display 10 slides in 20 minutes with text on each slide set in a 30pt font.

What's more, Kawasaki's slides typically consist of one key message spelled out, nothing else.

Here's his reasoning behind the method :

"Ten is the optimal number of slides in a PowerPoint presentation because a normal human being cannot comprehend more than ten concepts in a meeting.

Twenty Minutes . […]  In a perfect world, you give your pitch in twenty minutes, and you have forty minutes left for discussion.

Thirty-point font . The majority of the presentations that I see have text in a ten point font. As much text as possible is jammed into the slide, and then the presenter reads it. However, as soon as the audience figures out that you're reading the text, it reads ahead of you because it can read faster than you can speak. The result is that you and the audience are out of sync."

Here's a great video of Guy Kawasaki explaining his method.

The Godin Method

The final method on the list, professed by the best-selling author and entrepreneur, Seth Godin focuses on using images to support your pitch.

In his booklet, " Really Bad Powerpoint (and how to avoid it) " Godin explains:

"The purpose of PowerPoint is to communicate with your audience. Unfortunately, rather than communicating, PowerPoint is used to accomplish three things, none of which leads to a good presentation.

The first thing that most people use PowerPoint for is a teleprompter ! Think of all the presentations you've been to where the presenter actually reads the slides. Did your audience really have to come all this way to a meeting to listen to you read the slides? Why not just send them over?

The second task is to provide a written, cover-your-ass record of what was presented . By handing out the slides after the meeting (or worse, before), the presenter is avoiding the job of writing a formal report, and is making sure that she can point to the implicit approval she earned at the meeting.

The third task is to make it easier for your audience to remember everything you said . Sort of like reading your slides, but better. After all, if you read your slides, and then give the audience a verbatim transcript of what you read, what could be wrong with that?"

He then concludes:

"Make slides that reinforce your words, not repeat them".

Godin's design style focuses on creating an emotional, interesting and highly visual presentation in which the bulk of storytelling is delivered by visuals not words. He focuses on presenting slides that reinforce the message of the presentation and trigger an emotional reaction from the audience.

Here are a couple of Godin's slides from the "On Tribes" presentation that best illustrate his style:

( watch the entire presentation here )

And here's Godin's TEDtalk showing his use of images in action.

Which one should I adapt for my next pitch?

Good question!

And you know what:

The best way is to pick a style that matches your presentation personality.

If you want to be a person Jim Teteak calls a Fascinator and share information that reassures your audience that you are a valuable resource, use the Lessig's method.

As an Inspirer , someone who strives to build rapports and enjoys sharing their feelings with the audience, you could choose between Seth Godin or Masayoshi Takahashi styles.

If you naturally tend to fire up your audience's energy and have the Energizer personality, design your slides in a way Seth Godin or Guy Kawasaki do.

And finally, if you're a natural Performer , then the Monta method will work best for you.

So…What do you think?

Which of these 5 styles would work for your presentation personality? 

• All Features
• Salesforce Sidebar
• Salesforce Sync
• Smart Scheduler
• Calendar Scheduling
• Buyer Signals
• Sales Cadence
• Email Templates
• Attachment Tracking
• Customer Service Reps
• Account Executive
• Sales Manager
• Book Leads From Your Website
• Book Meetings From Marketing Emails
• Sync Your Inbox With Salesforce
• Forget Data Entry In Salesforce
• Knowledge Base
• Product Betas
• Partner Success
• Guide To Sales Metrics
• Enterprise Guide To Salesforce Email Integrations
• Schedule A Demo
• Write For Us
• Trust, Privacy & Security
• Cookie Settings
• LinkedIn link
• Youtube link

© Copyright 2024 Cirrus Insight® All rights reserved Raleigh, NC a Cirruspath, Inc. company

Ready to Close More Deals?

Like what you're reading?

Presentation styles: Explore different ways of presenting

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera June 01, 2023

In the realm of public speaking and professional communication, mastering different presentation styles is essential for engaging and captivating your audience. Whether you’re delivering a business pitch, an educational lecture, or a sales presentation, the way you present your content can make a significant impact on conveying your message effectively. This article aims to explore various presentation styles and highlight the versatility of Prezi presentations that can elevate your delivery to new heights. From the classic approach to storytelling and demonstrations, we’ll delve into how Prezi can support and enhance each presentation style.

Why is it important to choose the right presentation style?

Selecting the appropriate types of presentation styles is crucial for effectively delivering your message and engaging your audience. The choice of style can significantly impact the overall effectiveness and success of your presentation. Here are some reasons why it’s important to choose the right style for your presentation.

Audience engagement

Different presentation styles have varying levels of audience engagement. By selecting a style that aligns with your audience’s preferences and expectations, you can enhance their level of engagement and create a more impactful presentation. For example, an interactive style may be ideal for engaging a tech-savvy audience, while a visual style can captivate visually-oriented individuals.

Message clarity 

Each presentation style has its strengths in conveying specific types of information. For instance, a storytelling style is effective for presenting narratives and evoking emotions, while a demonstration style is suitable for showcasing the practical application of a product or process. Choosing the right style ensures that your message is communicated clearly and resonates with your audience.

Retention and memorability

A well-suited presentation style enhances the audience’s ability to remember and retain information. By utilizing visuals, interactive elements, or a freeform approach, you can create a memorable experience that helps your audience internalize and recall key points long after the presentation is over. The right style can make your content more memorable, increasing its impact and effectiveness.

Personal connection

The presentation style you choose can also influence the level of personal connection you establish with your audience. Some styles, such as a freeform or conversational approach, foster a sense of rapport and authenticity. By selecting a style that aligns with your personality and communication style, you can establish a stronger connection with your audience and create a more engaging and relatable experience.

Brand representation

Your presentation style should also align with your brand identity and values. Consistency in style and tone across your presentations helps build brand recognition and reinforces your messaging. Choosing a style that is consistent with your brand image ensures a cohesive and professional representation of your organization or personal brand.

Audience needs and preferences

Understanding your audience’s needs, preferences, and expectations is paramount when choosing a presentation style. By considering factors such as their industry, demographics, and familiarity with presentation formats, you can tailor your style to cater to their specific requirements. This customization enhances their overall experience and increases the likelihood of achieving your presentation goals.

To explore the different presentation styles in a video format, watch our comprehensive video on this topic:

Classic presentation style

The classic style of presentation serves as the foundation for many public speeches and business presentations. It follows a structured and logical approach, with a clear introduction, main points, and conclusion. This style often utilizes bullet points, accompanied by concise explanations. By employing the classic style of presentation, speakers can effectively communicate their ideas, engage their audience, and leave a lasting impact.

Integrating Prezi into the classic style of presentation introduces an interactive dimension, enabling you to craft visually appealing slides that captivate and sustain audience interest. Through Prezi’s dynamic capabilities, such as zooming and panning, you can accentuate essential details and maintain an engaged audience from start to finish. For a classic presentation style, check out the following Prezi presentation templates.

Storytelling presentation style

Storytelling is a powerful technique that can breathe life into your presentations. It goes beyond simply relaying facts and figures. It taps into the power of narrative, engaging the audience’s imagination, emotions, and personal experiences. Through storytelling, you can create a shared experience with your listeners, allowing them to relate to your message on a deeper level. By presenting information in the form of a story, you can captivate attention, maintain interest, and ensure better retention of key points. 

Storytelling also provides a framework for organizing complex information, as it follows a natural progression of beginning, middle, and end. It allows you to introduce characters, conflicts, and resolutions, which help in clarifying concepts and illustrating the practical applications of your ideas. This style invites active participation from the audience, as they become invested in the narrative and eagerly anticipate the outcome. Overall, storytelling is a potent tool that enriches presentations by fostering emotional connections, enhancing understanding, and leaving a lasting impact on your audience.

Prezi offers a range of templates and design options that enable you to create visually stunning storytelling presentations. You can incorporate images, videos, and other multimedia elements to enhance the storytelling experience. With Prezi’s seamless transitions and cinematic effects, you can take your audience on a captivating journey, effectively conveying your message in a memorable way.

Demonstration presentation style

Demonstration presentations are particularly useful when showcasing a product, process, or concept. This style involves actively illustrating how something works or how to perform a task. Furthermore, the demonstration presentation styles cater to different learning styles, accommodating visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. Through a combination of visual aids, live examples, and interactive elements, this style ensures a memorable and impactful experience that resonates with the audience long after the presentation is over.

Prezi’s interactive features allow you to embed videos, animations, or step-by-step visual guides to provide a clear demonstration. You can create a path through the presentation that guides the audience through each step, ensuring a smooth and engaging experience. Prezi’s flexible canvas provides ample space to showcase details and highlight important features, making your demonstration impactful and informative.

Interactive presentation style

The interactive presentation styles break away from the traditional one-way flow of information and encourage active participation from the audience. It involves incorporating interactive elements, such as quizzes, polls, and collective exercises, to engage the audience and promote a two-way communication process. By embracing interactive presentation styles, speakers can transform their presentations into dynamic and engaging experiences that foster collaboration, encourage audience involvement, and create a shared learning environment.

With Prezi’s interactive capabilities, presenters can spark discussions, successfully hold people’s attention, and create a collaborative environment that keeps the audience involved and invested in the presentation. For an interactive presentation, discover the Prezi presentation example below.

Visual presentation style

A visual presentation style relies heavily on visually appealing elements to convey information. It emphasizes the use of graphics, images, charts, and infographics to enhance understanding and capture the audience’s attention. 

This style leverages the principle of visual hierarchy, organizing information in a visually logical manner to guide the audience’s attention and comprehension. Visual presentations not only make information more digestible but also enhance retention and recall. The combination of relevant visuals and concise text creates a harmonious blend that aids in understanding and increases the overall impact of the presentation.

Prezi provides a wide array of visually stunning templates, design elements, and multimedia integration options to create visually impactful presentations. Presenters can leverage Prezi’s drag-and-drop editor to easily incorporate eye-catching visuals, ensuring that complex concepts are simplified and memorable. By combining Prezi’s visual capabilities with storytelling techniques, presenters can create visually engaging presentations that resonate with their audience.

Freeform presentation style

The freeform style of presentation offers presenters the flexibility to adapt their content on the go, responding to audience reactions and tailoring the presentation in real-time. It allows for spontaneity, improvisation, and a more conversational tone. 

While it requires confidence, knowledge, and the ability to think on one’s feet, the freeform style allows for a more fluid and natural presentation that can resonate deeply with the audience. It’s a format that encourages active participation, facilitates meaningful discussions, and provides an opportunity for presenters to truly connect and build rapport with their listeners.

Prezi’s open canvas and non-linear structure provide the perfect platform for freeform presentations. Presenters can navigate freely between topics, zoom in on important details, and adjust the flow based on audience engagement. Prezi’s zooming and panning capabilities enable presenters to have a dynamic and fluid presentation, allowing for seamless transitions and a personalized delivery that connects with the audience.

Prezi for different presentation styles

Mastering various presentation styles is crucial for effectively conveying your message and captivating your audience. Prezi serves as an invaluable tool that enhances each presentation style, allowing you to create engaging, visually stunning, and interactive presentations. Whether you choose the interactive, visual, or freeform style, Prezi’s features and versatility enable you to craft memorable presentations that leave a lasting impact. Embrace the power of Prezi as you embark on your journey to deliver exceptional presentations that captivate, inform, and inspire your audience. Elevate your communication skills to new heights of excellence and unlock the true potential of your ideas with Prezi’s transformative capabilities.

Give your team the tools they need to engage

Like what you’re reading join the mailing list..

• Prezi for Teams
• Top Presentations

Home Blog Presentation Ideas Which Presentation Style Suits You According to the Myers Briggs Test?

Which Presentation Style Suits You According to the Myers Briggs Test?

You might have heard of the Myers Briggs Test. There are numerous websites offering personality tests which place people in one of 16 personality archetypes described by Myers Briggs Type Indicator . This is based upon a system developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers; the latter being the daughter of Katharine Cook.

What is the Myers Briggs Test?

MBTI or the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator is meant to determine psychological preferences in individuals, placing them in one of the 16 personalities defined by the system. The system itself is based on Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types, which was further converted into a more structured approach for the creation of MBTI. Each of the personality types is given an abbreviation of their attributes, where the personality is described according to the individual’s ability of extraversion/introversion, thinking, judgment, sensing, introversion, intuition, feeling, and perception. For example, the ESTJ personality type means E for extraversion, S for sensing, T for thinking, and J for judgment.

How to Present According to Your Personality Archetype?

If you’ve taken a Myers Briggs Test and now want to understand how to translate your personality attributes into your presentations, by making the most out of your abilities; then refer to your personality archetype below.

The Architect (INTJ)

INTJ stands for Introversion, Intuition, Thinking and Judgment. This is one of the rarest personality types and relies mostly on logical reasoning to achieve desired goals. The personality type is estimated to be 2% of the population. INTJs can be quite idealistic and cynical at the same time. As a presenter, INTJ’s should stick what they’re good at, i.e. by focusing on key facts, logical patterns and their intellect to persuade an audience. Since INTJs are introverts, they might feel more at home sticking to what makes them feel comfortable in a presentation topic.

If you’re an INTJ, your strength is your logic, reasoning and the ability to look things through a rational prism. However, don’t make your presentation content too complex, unless you have the audience who understands the intricacies you are trying to explain.

The Logician (INTP)

INTP stands for Introversion, Intuition, Thinking and Perceiving. This is another rare personality type which makes up for an estimated 3% of the population. INTPs can be creative and are good at outside the box thinking. As a presenter, an INTP can rely on the aforementioned to come up with innovative methods to grab the attention of an audience. There is no harm in being a little unconventional, as that is after all your strength.

The Commander (ENTJ)

ENTJ stands for Extraversion, Intuition, Thinking and Judgment. ENTJs are natural leaders with a charisma that can be great to use as a presenter. As an ENTJ you can rely on your charm and strong leadership skills to guide your audience in a discussion. ENTJs can be great for persuasive presentations , since they are extroverts, with a lot of energy and confidence.

The Debater (ENTP)

ENTP or Extroversion, Intuition, Thinking and Perception are the personality attributes of people who like to speak their minds. This also means that they can be controversial figures. ENTPs are energetic, quick thinkers and are good at brainstorming. As a presenter, their biggest strength can also be their weakness, i.e. their ability to not shy away from controversy. If you’re an ENTP, you might want to watch out for that tendency, and test the waters before enrolling yourself into a mess you can’t handle. You might want to see our post about the Rhetorical Triangle Concept to get a few pointers regarding how to present with caution as an ENTP.

The Advocate (INFJ)

With Introversion, Intuition, Feeling and a Judging personality, INFJs are idealists with strong diplomacy skills. Both these can be quite handy as a presenter to discuss things in a manner, which is heartwarming, and at the same time can make the audience think. As an INFJ your strength lies in your sense of perfectionism, idealism and altruism, which is bound to earn you the respect of your audience.

The Mediator (INFP)

INFP entails Introversion, Intuition, Feeling and Perception making up of this personality archetype. INFPs can tend to be too idealistic and don’t like dealing with data. This can be an aspect which might affect INFPs ability to be good presenters. To counter that they can rely on their creativity (e.g. to minimize information using videos, infographics or other means), high energy levels and harmonious nature. The latter can be quite effective in winning hearts and minds using your altruism and idealism, even if it seems a bit too far-fetched for some in the audience.

The Protagonist (ENFJ)

Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling and Judgement makes ENFJs reliable team players. Their strength lies in working with others and working as a unit, something they can also bring into their presentations. Since ENFJs can be plagued by self-doubt, seeking some advice on presentation topics and going with the best possible option might do them some good.

The Campaigner (ENFP)

Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling and Perception make up the personality archetype of ENFPs. They tend to be independent, curious, energetic and popular. All of which are good traits to have for a presenter. However, ENFPs do need to watch out for complacency, and their inability to see things through. If you’re an ENFP, you might also get stressed and procrastinate things, you can overcome this habit by going through our guide on how to overcome procrastination and deliver amazing presentations .

The Logistician (ISTJ)

ISTJ implies Introversion, Sensing, Thinking and Judgment. ISTJs are an abundant archetype, which makes up of people who like following the rules and are traditional. ISTJs tend to be the jack-of-all-trades, which might also mean that they can lack some depth in one specific field of work. While ISTJs can often be plagued by self-doubt, it is usually what makes them get things done in a manner which is practical and effective. So, self-doubt might just push ISTJs to do things right. ISTJs can rely on their abundant skillset, responsible approach and calm demeanor to present like pros.

The Defender (ISFJ)

ISFJ means Introversion, Sensing, Feeling and Judgment. ISFJs are supportive, patient, reliable, enthusiastic and observant. All of which can be great for presenting a good argument. However, ISFJs can tend to be shy, reluctant to accept change and might be a bit sensitive when it comes to personal and impersonal situations. They tend to have the ability to repress their feelings, which can get bottled up. As a presenter, ISFJs can rely on their supportive, patient and reliable nature to present an argument, while trying to use presentation tools which might suit them best. For example, to overcome shyness ISFJs can focus on more visual aid, where the audience is more geared towards the screen instead of the presenter, as well as make use of their sense of enthusiasm to keep the audience interested in the presentation topic.

The Executive (ESTJ)

ESTJ stands for Extraversion, Sensing, Thinking and Judgment. ESTJs tend to be strong-willed, driven and appreciate order. Which also means that they can be inflexible, stubborn and difficult to appeal to the emotional side of an audience during a presentation. As an ESTJ you can reply on your nature which craves order and stability, which is always easier to sell during a persuasive argument. You can rely on your strong sense of judgment and reasoning to bring forth ideas which might bring order and stability.

The Consul (ESFJ)

ESFJ stands for Extraversion, Sensing, Feeling and Judgment. ESFJs tend to be popular, practical and have good communication skills. These can be used effectively in presentations. If you are popular among a crowd, it is easier to score some extra marks. At the same time, your sense of looking at practical solutions and your clarity in communicating your ideas can be your strength to rely on as a presenter.

Virtuoso (ISTP)

ISTP stands for Introversion, Sensing, Thinking and Perception. ISTPs can bring their very best to presentations by making use of their sense of creativity, optimism, calm demeanor and their ability to brave the storm during a crisis. The only thing they need to watch out for is their risky behavior and their ability to get easily bored, both of which can negatively affect an audience, especially if you end up losing interest in the middle of a presentation or try to venture into areas you are not ready to deal with.

The Adventurer (ISFP)

ISFP entails Introversion, Sensing, Feeling and Perception. ISFPs tend to be charming, sensitive, imaginative, curious and artistic. This also means that they can get lost in translation when making a presentation. ISFPs need to prioritize their work and at times even work on curtailing their overhyped creative sense to complete their presentation tasks on time.

The Entrepreneur (ESTP)

ESTP stands for Extraversion, Sensing, Thinking and Perception. ESTPs tend to be bold, practical, perceptive and social. They can make use of their social skills to win over an audience, such as by conducting an interactive presentation session. ESTPs can be a little unstructured and impatient, so they might need to rely more on their practical mindset and social skills to make up for their presentation deficiencies.

The Entertainer (ESFP)

ESFP stands for Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling and Perception. ESFPs can rely on their showmanship as presenters to win over an audience. They tend to be bold with good people skills, which can help them impress an audience. Moreover, ESFPs are risk averse which can be a good skill to be diplomatic enough during a controversial debate which might spark during a Q&A session.

Final Words

The above-mentioned list is not exhaustive in any way and regardless of what your personality archetype turns out in a Myers Briggs test, you can always look to choose what best suits you as a presenter to improve your presentation skills. Despite your personality archetype, there are no roadblocks which have your weaknesses written in stone, hence, despite your personality archetype, you can always work hard enough to overcome your shortcomings. For example, even the shyest and introverted people can be great presenters and might step up their game just at the time they are most needed; despite being the complete opposite in their regular life.

You can always do things that might even be against your true nature and make the most out of an opportunity with sheer will and hard work. However, knowing what your strengths are can also help you play on your strengths, and that is exactly what a Myers Briggs test can be handy in helping you identify your very best traits.

Like this article? Please share

Extraversion, Feeling, Introversion, Intuition, Judgment, MBTI, Myers Briggs Test, Perception, Personality Test, Risk Averse, Thinking Filed under Presentation Ideas

Related Articles

Filed under Business • April 12th, 2023

The Power Of Divergent Thinking And How It Can Improve Business Processes

Unleash your inner innovator and shake up your business processes with our guide on divergent thinking. Say goodbye to conventional problem-solving methods and welcome innovation in your business.

Filed under Business • May 30th, 2022

3H Personality Theory: Hustler, Hacker, and Hipster for Founding Startups

In this article, we elaborate on the 3H personality types, mention some recent examples, analyze an alternative theory, and in the end, describe how to build the dream team.

Filed under Business • February 28th, 2022

Creative Thinking: The skill to think out of the box

Creative thinking is a skill that helps you develop appealing and valuable ideas. This article explores how to use Creative Thinking techniques to take an inventive approach to issues and cultivate open-mindedness within your team or organization.

Leave a Reply

Express Your Personality in a Presentation | 3 Fun Ways in 2024

Lindsie Nguyen • 08 Apr 2024 • 5 min read

How to have a fun personality? Need to express personality in a presentation ? Everyone is different, and so are presentations by various speakers. However, some people do better at making their presentations unique than others.

The key to this is definitely “individuality”, the level to which you can put your own stamp on your presentations! Although this is seemingly a vague term, we have three tips to make your persona shine!

Table of Contents

• Be genuine with your personality
• Tell your own stories
• Personalise your Slides

Frequently Asked Questions

Tips for better engagement.

• Body Language during Presentation
• Presentation Outfit
• Use  live word clouds  or  live Q&A  to  survey your audience  easier!
• Use  brainstorming tool  effectively by  AhaSlides idea board

Start in seconds.

Get free templates for your next interactive presentation. Take what you want from the template library!

1. Express personality in a presentation? Be genuine with your personality

You may have a bright personality and a sense of humour, be calm and gentle, or even shy introvert. Whoever you are, there is no need to change that and put on a front. Trying to impersonate a figure often makes you look like a robot on the stage and frustrates you and the audience. Would you feel comfortable watching someone trying to spice up the atmosphere with unnatural, prepared jokes?

We tend to be afraid that the opposite of our character makes us a more exciting presenter. Why not take another perspective?

Were you a spectator, you would likely have no preconceptions about how the speaker should be. As a speaker, you’d better show the audience how zealous you are about your topic and wow them with valuable insights!

2. Tell your own stories

The speaker’s credibility is what impresses the audience the most, and a simple way to improve this is to tell stories of your own experience. In this way, they find your speech more “authentic” and more persuasive since they feel they can relate to them.

For example, during her speech on the “Chutzpah” spirits – the endeavouring shades of the Israelis, a young speaker recalled her experience overcoming the typical fearful attitudes toward making a mistake – something she had gotten from the education style of her country. She spoke about how she learned to embrace her mistakes, voice her opinions, and finally discover her true potential after studying in Israel.

What we learn: Through the story, the girl could show her personality, invoke inspiration in the audience and make her presentation truly unique.

However, since storytelling can invoke a strong emotional response, sometimes it can get in the way of the subject you are discussing if you don’t use it in the right context. Think about when it’s better to persuade the audience with logical appeal, and when it’s better to let loose.

3. Personalise your Slides

For personality presentations, this is the most visible way to show your individuality. You should consider many aspects when designing your slides to show your style, but you’d better stick to the rule of simplicity.

The colour scheme is the first thing the audience sees, so choose one that you find communicative of the topic you discuss and best describes your personality. It can be in pastel pink , simple black-and-white , or even in a bunch of colours; it’s your choice!

The way you visualise your information can also tell a lot about your personality. For instance, instead of using a default, boring chart, you can tailor the chart type to each piece of information. Another idea is to make interactive question s on your slides and get the audience to answer them via their mobile phones with AhaSlides. As responses are displayed live on the screen, you can take time to discuss them in more depth. Make good use of images since a picture can speak a thousand words!

This is also one of the reasons why AhaSlides is the far superior alternative to Mentimeter . AhaSlides lets you personalise your presentations with unique backgrounds and colour effects for FREE.

Communicating on a personal level can create a profound impact on the audience.

Take these tips, own them and make them yours! Let AhaSlides be with you to bring the best of your individuality and personality to your presentations!

Why is your personality important when you are making a presentation to others?

Your personality can be important when presenting to others because it can affect how your audience perceives and receives your message. Your personality includes your demeanour, attitude, communication style, and how you express yourself. It can influence how well you connect with your audience and how engaging, credible and trustworthy you appear.

What is presentation personality?

A presenter’s personality plays a significant role in how their audience perceives and receives their message. If a presenter comes across as confident and enthusiastic about their topic, their audience is likelier to engage with them and be receptive to their ideas. On the other hand, if a presenter appears nervous or uncertain, their audience may find it difficult to connect with them or may question their credibility. Overall, presenters need to be aware of their personalities and how they may impact the result of the presentation.

What are the 7 characteristics of a good speaker?

Seven characteristics include Confidence, Clarity, Passion, Knowledge, Interactivity and Adaptability.

Lindsie Nguyen

Public Speaking Trainer. ESL Teacher. Quiz Nut.

More from AhaSlides

Present with Personality: The 4 Types of Presenters

Presentation personalities: four styles of presenters.

PRESENTER PERSONALITY PROFILE: You will complete a Presenter Personality Style Assessment DESCRIPTION:  The concept of “different types presenters” is similar to “different types of learners” and “different types of leaders.” The goal of examining your primary Presenter Personality Style will enable you to leverage your natural strengths to create an authentic connection with your audiences, making you a more effective, credible and confident speaker.

• PRESENTATION PERSONALITY PROFILE:  You will complete a Presenter Personality Style Assessment to learn how you most naturally approach creating and delivering a presentation. From those results, you will learn strategies for leveraging your natural strengths as well as how to customize your messaging to all four types.
• CONTENT STRATEGY:  The “Communication Excellence Roadmap" is introduced as a tool and repeatable methodology to organize and deliver any content. You will start with the “destination,” and create a compelling presentation customized to the four styles to create a true connection and achieve the desired results.
• DELIVERY SKILLS: In addition to learning the neuroscience of presence and delivery skills, you will learn how non-verbal communication is received through the lens of the four styles. You will learn strategies to adjust and refine your style based on your audience.
• PRACTICE and VIDEO:  One of the most critical elements of the process is practicing key concepts immediately. Video recording and playback are key to see yourself from the audience's perspective. You will receive feedback throughout the workshop from the facilitator, the attendees and from custom self-assessments.

LENGTH: One and Two-day programs

SIZE: 12 person max

Next Steps...

Are you ready to sharpen your skills or prepare your team to exceed goals and expectations? Let's work together to determine the best customized approach to incite change and performance in your organization. Call or email me today!

Tailor Your Presentations to Personality Types: Tips&Tricks!

Have you heard it before? Your presentation must be tailored to your target audience to be successful. That’s correct. But have you ever taken a closer look at who your target audience really is, beyond just looking at the usual data? Psychological aspects can also have a significant influence on the success of your content.

Today, we introduce you to different personality types, explain how they can help in the context of presentations, and how you can skillfully align your presentations with your audience.

Why do you need to know your target audience?

Understanding the target audience is crucial for the success of a PowerPoint presentation. An audience is composed of individual personality types, each with different needs, interests, and preferences . To make your presentation and content successful, it is essential to tailor them to these specific needs and interests.

To learn how to conduct a target audience analysis, read our article on “ Target Audience Analysis. “

To create an impactful presentation, it is essential to delve into the potential audience beforehand. Only through a well-founded understanding of the different personality types can the presenter tailor their message effectively to the audience’s needs, engaging them and generating enthusiasm for the content.

Analyzing the personality types of the audience can provide insights into the most effective types of content , examples, and visual aids to capture the audience’s attention and interest.

By knowing the types, you can guarantee a more individualized approac h that appreciates the audience’s diversity and uniqueness, leading to a more positive impact.

Handling the different personalities with empathy not only contributes to the audience’s attention and positive response but can also establish a deeper connection and strengthen trust in the presenter.

What are personality types?

Every individual is different, meaning that each person has their own personality traits . These traits play a central role in interactions between people and significantly influence their perception, reactions, and decisions.

Due to the diversity of personalities, various theories in personality psychology attempt to develop typologies to describe and classify the variety of individual characters. The idea behind this is to identify certain behavioral patterns, traits, and preferences that are typical for specific groups of people. Such typologies can be of great use not only in psychology but also in other areas like communication and presentation to better understand the audience’s behavior and needs.

Various Personality Models

Over time, psychology has developed different models to describe these personality traits and categorize them into typologies. Here, we introduce the most well-known models:

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

One well-known typology is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which classifies personality based on four dimensions.

The model divides people into 16 different personality types, each represented by four letters:

• Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I)

Describes where individuals feel most comfortable. Extraverted individuals are sociable and gain energy from interacting with others. Introverted individuals, on the other hand, feel more comfortable in quiet, withdrawn situations and gain energy through self-reflection.

• Sensing (S) or Intuition (N)

Describes how people perceive and process information. Sensing types prefer concrete facts and information perceived through their senses, while intuitive types are more interested in abstract ideas and connections and rely on intuition and imagination.

• Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)

Describes how decisions are made and how emotions are handled. Thinking types prefer a rational and logical approach, orienting themselves around objective criteria. Feeling types, however, place more emphasis on emotions and empathy, often making decisions by considering others’ feelings.

• Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)

Sheds light on how people interact with their external environment and organize information. Judging types prefer structure, planning, and organization and tend to make decisions and complete tasks. Perceiving types, on the other hand, are more flexible and spontaneous, keeping their options open to adapt to new information.

The model aims to help understand individual preferences and behaviors and is commonly used in personality development, teamwork, and career choices. Deeper information can be found here .

Regarding presentations , the model can provide insights into decision-making processes, information absorption, and how emotions might influence potential purchases.

The Big Five Model

The Big Five Model is a personality psychology that describes five fundamental personality dimensions:

• Neuroticism
• Extraversion
• Openness to Experience
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness

The model aims to capture and understand individual differences in these dimensions. It is frequently used to examine personality traits, make predictions about behavior, and has applications in various fields such as psychology, organizational development, and human resources.

Regarding presentations, the Big Five Model can be useful in several ways:

It gives insights into the personality traits of the audience, providing a better understanding of the target audience. This enables a targeted adjustment of the presentation to better accommodate various needs and preferences.

You can tailor your content based on the audience’s interests and preferences , making your presentation more relevant, engaging, and attention-grabbing. It can also be helpful in handling questions and feedback . By better understanding personality types, you can respond appropriately to questions or feedback, fostering positive interactions.

The DISC Model

The DISC model categorizes people into four main types :

• D (Dominant)

Individuals with the Dominant type are characterized by their assertiveness, determination, and goal orientation. They are often decisive, confident, and determined. People with this personality prefer clear structures and quick results and tend to like taking control.

• I (Influence)

Here, we have extroverted, enthusiastic, and social individuals. Influential persons are often charismatic, communicative, and sociable. They enjoy being in the spotlight and motivating others. Influence types are usually optimistic and tend to be attracted to new ideas and challenges.

• S (Steadiness)

The Steadiness type is calm, patient, and team-oriented. They are empathetic, loyal, and reliable. They prefer a harmonious environment and work well in cooperative teams.

• C (Conscientious)

Conscientious types are precise, detail-oriented, and analytical. Individuals of this type place great importance on accuracy, quality, and thoroughness. They are often well-organized and responsible. Conscientious personalities have high standards and work diligently and precisely.

In the context of presentations , the model can help you understand your audience’s behavior and needs and adapt your presentation accordingly. It contributes to making your PowerPoint presentations more effective, targeted, and engaging.

The Enneagram Model

The Enneagram model describes nine different personality types , each represented by a number from 1 to 9. The model shows how the nine types are interconnected and how they differ in their thinking, feeling, and behavior. Behavior patterns become clearer.

Regarding presentations , the model also helps not only to understand the audience but also to better understand one’s own personality type . This way, one can consciously utilize their strengths. Similar to the other models, valuable insights can be drawn from the personality types for your presentations, and you can skillfully adapt them.

The Four Basic Personality Types

Fundamentally, all personality models establish four similar personality types:

• The Analyst

This personality type is characterized by their love for detail and thorough approach. Analysts are rational, logical, and careful in their decisions. They prefer clear facts and data and seek precise information. In presentations, they are interested in well-structured content and well-founded arguments.

• The Pragmatist

This type is pragmatic and solution-oriented. Pragmatists prefer concrete information and practical applications to solve problems or face challenges. They are action-oriented and value clear instructions and practical examples. Visual aids and practical tips appeal to them in presentations.

• The Visionary

This type is a creative and imaginative personality type. They think in grand contexts and are interested in abstract ideas and visions of the future. They seek innovative and inspiring content. Presentations that showcase new perspectives and convey a vision capture the attention of visionaries.

• The Socially-Oriented

The socially-oriented personality type is empathetic, compassionate, and team-oriented. Socially-oriented individuals value interpersonal relationships and harmonious interactions. In presentations, they are interested in content that has social impact and promotes cohesion. Interactive elements and consideration of the social dimension in the presentation appeal to them.

Therefore, try to categorize your audience into these categories using the models. Once you have completed the categorization, you can tailor your presentation to the group accordingly.

How to Determine Your Audience Without Models

If you don’t want to delve into complex personality models but still want to recognize the types present in your audience, you can analyze your audience in the following ways:

• Observing Body Language:

Observe your audience while you present. What do their gestures, facial expressions, seating posture, and eye contact look like? These nonverbal signals also provide insights into personality types.

For example, attentive and calm listeners may potentially be Analytical types, while enthusiastic and socially interactive participants may be associated with Visionary or Influence types.

• Questionnaires/Surveys:

By using questionnaires or surveys before or after presentations, you can determine personality types. Include questions from the above-mentioned models so that participants must assess themselves, and you can define their personality types based on their responses.

Surveys after presentations can also provide information on how your presentation impacted the participants . This way, you gain insights into how different personality types received your presentation and can adapt future presentations accordingly.

• Conversations:

In personal conversations with some participants before the presentation, you can also gather information about the audience’s personality types. Informal talks or short interviews can yield insights into what the listeners expect from the presentation, which topics interest them the most, and how they typically react to presentations.

These insights can help you tailor the presentation to the interests and needs of the audience and enable a more personal approach.

How to Adapt Your Presentation to Different Personality Types

Have you identified the personality type(s)? Excellent, you’ve already taken a significant step towards improving your presentation. Now, we’ll show you some helpful tips on how to implement the insights gained for better presentations.

• Choosing the Right Language and Argumentation

A first step is to adapt your language and argumentation style . Different types prefer different approaches. This could range from clear facts and rational arguments for analytical listeners to empathetic arguments and creative ideas for socially-oriented participants.

By choosing the appropriate language and argumentation style, you can build a stronger connection with the audience and emphasize the relevance of the presentation to them.

• Adjusting Visual Aids

Slides and graphics are crucial for an effective PowerPoint presentation, regardless of the personality type. Adapt them for greater success according to the types.

For example, Analytical types may respond well to structured charts and data visualizations, while Visionary types may be intrigued by inspiring images and creative illustrations. Practical participants may feel engaged with practical examples and applications, while socially-oriented listeners may be moved by images emphasizing interpersonal relationships.

• Incorporating Interactive Elements

Interactive elements enhance audience engagement during the presentation. Based on personality types, different types of interactions can have varying impacts on your audience.

Analytical types may benefit from question-and-answer rounds or discussions, while socially-oriented listeners may respond well to group activities or partner exercises. Visionary types may profit from brainstorming sessions or creative prompts, while practical participants may be enthusiastic about practical exercises or case studies.

How to Deal with Different Personality Types in the Audience?

When you have a large group as your audience, it can be a challenge as there may be more than one personality type represented. Effectively managing mixed personality types requires sensitivity and adaptability.

What is the solution? Be flexible. You must offer a balanced mix of content and communication that caters to different preferences. Use various communication styles, incorporate different visual aids, and create engaging interactions with the audience. Only in this way can you have the chance to make each personality type in your audience feel valued and addressed.

Tip: Moderation Techniques for Diverse Audience Types

The use of moderation techniques can be particularly effective with an audience of mixed personality types. Moderation enables a structured interaction between presenters and the audience and promotes active participation from the listeners.

Through targeted questions, discussions, or group exercises , you can address various personality types and integrate their strengths into the presentation. The role of the moderator encourages the audience to contribute their opinions and thoughts, allowing for an interactive and dynamic presentation.

By employing skillful moderation techniques, you can engage different personality types and create a positive experience for the diverse audience.

Conclusion: Effectively Addressing All Personality Types

Defining personality types is not easy. However, with practice, you can assess your audience and tailor your presentations to individual preferences. Give our tips a try the next time.

Do you have any questions about the article? Feel free to contact us at [email protected] . We are here to assist you!

Are you looking for visually supportive and professionally designed slide templates ? Take a look at our shop. We have numerous slides prepared for various (business) topics available for download. Check it out today! ► Go to Shop

You may also be interested in these articles:

• Target Audience Analysis
• Creating Customer Personas
• Storytelling in Presentations
• Preparing Presentations: 11 Tips
• Interactive Presentations
• Focus on the Needs of the Audience

Share this post

• share  
• save  

Design Thinking: Problem Solving with a Difference

Why Corporate Mission Statements Are So Important

7 Tips & Learnings from the Apple Keynote

• Presentation Fun Facts , Presentation Hacks

Presentation Skills for Each Personality Type

• By: Stephanie Fulton

We are a little obsessed with personality tests here at Ethos3. Okay, maybe really obsessed. We created our own personality test, the Badge assessment, modeled after the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Predictive Index . These tests can reveal aspects of your personality that not only help you feel closer to yourself, but also see where you can improve. Since we are pros at presentations, we have tips for how each personality type can improve their presentation skills.

First off, if you do not know your personality type, you can take this free test to find it out! After that, we hope you take our Badge assessment as well to discover your Presentation Persona. Then you will be on your way to mastering your presentation skills for an unforgettable event.

This personality type is reserved and intellectual. While this person will struggle to make connections with the audience, they are goal oriented and love competing ideas. This makes them great at developing the content for their presentation. The slides they write may be too heavy on the content side. Break them up so they are easier to understand. This person will also be to assuming of their audience when it comes to keeping up with their ideas. Use simple language and repetition to make sure everyone in the audience is on the same page.

Someone with this personality type is innovative and creative. They know how to build things with their hands, but don’t always know how to use their words. With some practice, this person can become an excellent speaker because they have a mind full of original ideas. Ask your family or friends to watch you present before you talk in front of a room of strangers. Get helpful feedback on your volume, body language and comfort level so you can improve these areas.

This person is a natural leader. ENTJs are driven to accomplish their dreams, and want to drive others to do the same. Because they believe deeply in their message, they over-prepare for their presentation. The content is rehearsed and the design is compelling. They can command the stage and deliver a passionate call to action. Where the ENTJ needs to improve is audience interaction. Take time to get to know the audience and answer their questions before and after the event. This will help you get others onboard with your message.

ENTPs love a challenge. This personality type loves to debate and make their points loud and clear. They can be hardheaded, which might turn off some audience members. Practice being more open to other’s ideas and reactions. Holding a Q & A session after the presentation will help your audience feel more involved with your great debate.

The INFJ is known for their moral compass. Their passion in life is to spread a message that will contribute to the greater good. This personality loves to help others and is very creative. Content and design development won’t be a problem. It’s public speaking part where this person will run into trouble. Because they are shy, the INFJ will not feel comfortable speaking in front of others or engaging with the audience. Understand that you are helping others with your message, so let your confidence shine. Get in front of a mirror and practice until you feel comfortable with the organization of your presentation.

Someone who is a INFP is a great storyteller. This personality is very intuitive and loves connecting with others. Interacting with the audience will be a breeze, as long as it’s a small crowd. Because they can make anything into a story, there’s not much time put into researching every angle of their presentation topic. This could lead to not knowing how to answer an audience member’s question. Take a few extra minutes to nail down the research before you present.

This is one charismatic and driven speaker. Like the ENTJ, the ENFJ is a natural leader who can rally up a crowd. People are pulled to this personality because of their confidence and optimism. This makes them an inspirational speaker who can spread a message far and wide. The biggest improvement this presenter can make is refining their message to fit each type of audience. Be aware of how long it takes you to deliver a presentation. If it’s more than 30 minutes, make sure you are giving your audience a break every 10 minutes.

This social butterfly is a lovable and friendly personality. People will enjoy watching the ENFP present because of how personable they are. They can make every audience member feel heard. Because the ENFP loves being social, they don’t focus too much on their message. This can cause their presentation to not have as big of an impact. Refine the core of the presentation message to ensure that it is understood.

ISTJs are hardworking people who like to play by the rules. They are guided through logic and practicality. They enjoying working alone and dedicating time to each task until it is complete. This makes the presentation content and design development enjoyable for them. It’s the “talking in front of others” part that is a challenge. Start with presenting your work in front of a small group of peers to get more comfortable with public speaking, and ask for feedback. Then, on the big day of the presentation, relax and open the floor up for discussion with your audience.

This personality type is very caring and devoted to helping others. ISFJs are soft spoken and humble, sometimes downplaying their accomplishments. They love to socialize but don’t like being noticed. This makes them feel uncomfortable with public speaking. By getting more comfortable with their message and audience, they can slowly build up the confidence they need. Let the power of your cause or product instill in you the passion and energy you need to perform.

ESTJs like to roll up their sleeves and lead the way. They have a gift of offering sound advice and guiding people through difficult situations. This personality is an energetic speaker. They enjoy traveling and sharing their message to all ages. Crafting your message with a thoughtful presentation design is a strong point. But realizing that not everyone will agree with that message is a downfall. This person does not react well when someone questions their ideas. Learn how to be understanding with your audience. Recognize that just because not everyone agrees with you does not mean you should abandon your calling.

This is a popular personality type. Think of the homecoming king and queen. They are well-liked by everyone and can draw a big crowd. This person is a people pleaser and is more caught up with appearances than principles. This trait makes them more likely to skip over the research needed for the presentation. Instead of focusing on the purpose of the presentation, they focus on holding people’s attention. The audience will enjoy watching, but will walk away without knowing anything new. Dedicate time to putting more thought into your presentation’s message and this will leave a bigger impact on your audience.

Like the INTP, this personality type likes to create new inventions. They would rather spend time figuring out how to build something themselves instead of asking others for help. The ISTP doesn’t mind having others watch them work, as long as no one gets in their way. This person is more methodical than creative. They can clearly and concisely explain a process step-by-step and they know how to answer any questions. But not much thought is put into the design or the interactions with the audience. Maybe teaming up with a designer will help solve that problem, and think of an activity for your audience like a poll question or ice breaker game.

This is an artistic personality with a keen eye for design. The look and feel of the presentation will come easily to the ISFP. Because they are introverted, they prefer to work alone where they are free to be themselves. But ISFPs have a vision for the world that they can present beautifully with their design ideas. Utilizing the help of a writer will be beneficial to the development of the content. With your message in place, your stunning designs will wow any audience.

The ESTP is the type of person who would volunteer themselves to do something instead of sitting on the sidelines. This person is creative, energetic and loves to talk. Public speaking is not a fear of theirs, but sitting down to do the research for their presentation is. The ESTP would rather improvise and entertain. This may keep audiences engaged, but will not teach them anything. Focus in on the point of the presentation and spread time mastering the message. Then you are ready to show off your presentation skills.

Similar to the ESTP, this personality type loves being the center of attention. They know how to keep an audience entertained and excited. While they may be able to bring the party, they do not have much enthusiasm for preparation. They would rather M.C. an event than present complicated data. Working with a team of writers and designers will help this person accomplish the goal and deliver an educational and energizing presentation.

Want to know more about your public speaking strengths and weaknesses? Take the Badge assessment to unlock your unique Presentation Persona. Our book What’s Your Presentation Persona? is filled with detailed methods for how to enhance your presentation skills with content development and design tips.

More from the Ethos3 blog:

How to Create an Audience-Focused Presentation

The Complete Guide to Editing Presentation Content

The Easiest and Most Effective Presentation Design Tip

Stephanie Fulton

Join our newsletter today.

© 2006-2024 Ethos3 – An Award Winning Presentation Design and Training Company ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

• Terms & Conditions
• Privacy Policy
• Diversity and Inclusion

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

Chapter 11 Presentation Skills

11.1 Interpersonal Presentation Skills

Many people have very limiting beliefs about presentations and their own abilities to give one. Examining your skills, fears, and preferences is your first step in opening yourself up to reaching your full potential as a presenter.

Your voice is a powerful communication tool, and how you use it can make or break your presentation. In this chapter you will learn about how you use verbal elements of presentation by examining techniques like pitch, volume, and pronunciation, among others.

Your non-verbal cues like gestures, facial expressions, and posture can punctuate and strengthen your message or do the opposite. You will learn about these non-verbal elements and have a chance to see how you use them in conjunction with your verbal cues by recording and examining a practice presentation.

After combining all of these elements, you will have a better understanding of who you are as a presenter and what you can bring to the table to develop your presentation strategy in the next chapter.

What Makes a Successful Speech or Presentation?

It’s important to remember that a successful speech or presentation depends on a number of factors. For our purposes we can boil them down to three main factors: the environment, the presenter, and the audience. The presenter is key to a successful presentation. The speaker must have planned the presentation to be engaging and easy to follow, and then must deliver it well to be clearly understood. Often people forget about the other two aspects. The audience is important to consider as well. How much do they already know? What is their interest in the subject? Do you want them to ask questions and be involved in the presentation? Finally, the environment is the third aspect to consider when planning a presentation. Speeches and presentations usually take place in controlled environments, so the environment aspect is often overlooked. But everything from technology failure to a room being too hot or too cold can thwart a presentation’s success. Using a room next to a noisy construction site can ruin even the most beautifully planned presentation. The environment affects both the speaker and the audience. You can’t have a successful speech or presentation without considering all three aspects: the presenter or speaker, the audience, and the environment.

The Speaker

According to longtime Toastmasters member Bob Kienzle, there are a few key elements that tend to make a successful speaker:

• Voice—Can the person be easily understood?
• Body Language—Does their body support what they’re saying? Are they confident?
• Coherent Structure—Does what they’re presenting make sense? Is it logical?
• Enthusiasm—Do they care about what they’re presenting?
• Expertise—Do they know what they’re talking about? Are they credible?
• Practice—If they haven’t practised or sufficiently prepared, it will likely show up in one or more of the above.

A successful speaker can be inspired by other speeches or speakers but may fall flat if they try to copy someone else. Authenticity and passion can resonate so much with an audience that it can outweigh elements otherwise considered pitfalls. The techniques, tools, and best practices are a guideline, and it’s important to note there is no such thing as perfection in public speaking. Failure can happen in a myriad of ways, but it’s more helpful to see them as learning opportunities, or opportunities to make a stronger connection to your audience.

The biggest failure, according to Kienzle, is to pass up opportunities to practise your skills in presenting or public speaking.

The Audience

One of the most anxiety-inducing areas of presenting or speech-making is being in front of the audience. Some people may feel more at ease with relatively small audiences of up to about 10 people. Others feel that 10 people is too intimate and actually feel more comfortable with impersonal numbers in the hundreds or thousands.

People often think of hostile audiences throwing tomatoes and yelling boos if the presenter makes the slightest mistake or slip of the tongue. But the truth is that most audiences desperately want you to succeed. They are overwhelmingly on your side. This means that in most situations they are very forgiving; they know being up there can be tough. If you make a mistake, you can apologize or laugh it off and keep going.

The audience is at least as involved in your presentation as you are. Awareness of yourself and awareness of them is key. If you are so preoccupied with your fear of the audience that you hide your head behind the podium while reading a boring list of facts your audience could read themselves, you will lose them. If you’re not interested, they’re not interested. If you are so frightened of your audience that you never look at them, you will not be able to get cues about their involvement in your presentation.

What you bring to the audience affects what they get from your presentation or speech. For that reason, it is tremendously important to develop enough self-awareness so that you can be present for your audience and have the confidence to make adjustments to keep them on your side and involved in your presentation.

The Environment

Sometimes you have no control over your environment. When you are asked to make a presentation for a class, you are likely confined to the course classroom. But there are usually some factors you will have control over. Regardless, it is a good idea to check out the space where you will be presenting to decide where things will happen.

Some things to check out if possible:

• Room temperature . If the audience is too hot or too cold they can be very distracted. See if you can make sure the temperature is comfortable before starting, and feel free to get feedback from your audience if they look uncomfortable. Your acknowledgement of their discomfort and efforts to do something about it (e.g. send someone to the office to try to fix the problem) goes a long way towards bringing the audience on side.
• Distracting noises . Are there fans, outside noises, or busy adjacent classrooms? If so, try to work around those things. If a noisy first aid class meets every morning from 9-11, and you can hear them through the wall shouting medical instructions in their mock emergency scenarios, this is not a good time to schedule your presentation.
• The lay of the land . Decide where you will stand ahead of time. Decide where your projection screen will be, where your projector will be, and where you want your audience to sit. If you decide on this ahead of time, you’ll avoid mistakes like people not being able to see properly because of an obstruction, the projector not displaying a large enough screen, and the audience being too far away or too spread out. It’s a good idea to move desks around so they are in a seating arrangement that is conducive to the presentation. Do you want them in a big U, or in small groups, or in traditional audience seating style?

Remember to consider all three aspects when planning your presentation: the presenter, the audience, and the environment. Let’s first concentrate on the presenter and the interpersonal skills required.

The Presenter: Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Are you aware of your strengths and weaknesses as a presenter? You may have some ideas already. For example, if you are very soft-spoken, you may consider that to be a weakness if you’re on a stage, especially without a microphone. Soft-spoken people also sometimes keep low-key in other ways; maybe they’re more plain in the way they dress or have less expressive mannerisms. Many people think that to be effective on stage you must be a rip-roaring extrovert. This is not true. No matter who you are, if you are aware of the qualities that make you a unique individual and you spend time getting to know your audience, you can convert perceived weaknesses into potential strengths. Conversely, if you are so overconfident about your abilities that it shows itself in poor preparation and lack of concern for your audience or environment, your strengths can quite quickly become weaknesses.

Your first step in helping define what makes you youself is to look at what you’re good at and what you enjoy doing. At the same time, this helps you distinguish what you’re not so good at and what you don’t enjoy. Make a list as you go through the next sections on your verbal and non-verbal communication techniques to get a reasonable prediction about how to focus your strategy as a presenter.

What Are My Verbal Communication Techniques?

Do you have a deep, low voice, or a high-pitched one? We all have a normal speaking pitch where we are most comfortable, but we can move our pitch up or down. Use pitch inflections to make your delivery more interesting and emphatic. If you don’t change pitch at all, your delivery will be monotone, which gets boring for the audience very quickly. Some people pitch their voices up at the end of sentences, making every statement sound like a question—avoid this common but distracting habit.

Do you speak softly or loudly? Adjust the volume of your voice to your environment and audience. If you’re in a large auditorium, speak up so that people in the back row can hear you. But if you’re in a small room with only a few people, you don’t want to alarm them by shouting! You may need to use volume to compensate for ambient noise like traffic or an air conditioner. You can use volume strategically to emphasize the most important points in your speech.

Stress certain words in your speech to add emphasis to them, that is, to indicate that they are particularly important. You may also use a visual aid to emphasize key points by using photographs or charts.

Pronunciation

Make sure that you know the appropriate pronunciation of the words you choose. If you mispronounce a word, it could hurt your credibility or confuse your audience. Websites such as Wiktionary contain audio files that you can play to hear standard pronunciation of many words. Your pronunciation is also influenced by your accent. If your accent is quite different from the accent you expect most members of your audience to have, practise your speech in front of someone with the same accent that your audience members will have, to ensure you are pronouncing words in a clear, understandable way.

Avoid the use of “ fillers ” as placeholders for actual words ( like , er , um , uh , etc.). You might get away with saying “um” two or three times in your speech before it becomes distracting, but the same cannot be said of “like”—a particularly troubling filler for many North American speakers. If you have a habit of using fillers, practise your speech thoroughly so that you remember what you want to say. This way, you are less likely to lose your place and let a filler word slip out.

Are you a fast or slow speaker? The pace that you speak at will influence how well the audience can understand you. Many people speak quickly when they are nervous. If this is a habit of yours, practice will help you here, too. Pause for breath naturally during your speech. Your speaking rate should be appropriate for your topic. A rapid, lively rate communicates enthusiasm, urgency, or humour. A slower, moderated rate conveys respect and seriousness. By varying your rate within a speech, you can emphasize your main points and keep your audience engaged.

What Non-Verbal Cues Do I Use?

A gesture is “a movement of part of the body, especially a hand or the head, to express an idea or meaning” (OxfordDictionaries.com, 2015). You can use these to channel nervous energy into an enhancement of your speech, reinforcing important points, but they can be distracting if overused. If the audience is busy watching your hands fly around, they will not be able to concentrate on your words.

Take a look at this article, titled “ What to Do with Your Hands When Speaking in Public ” ( The Washington Post , 2015) for dos and don’ts of gesturing when you are speaking.

Facial Expression

You might be unaware of how much your facial expressions say when you are speaking. Facial expression comes so naturally that we are not always in control of the story our face is telling. Rehearse your speech in front of a mirror to see what facial expressions come across. You might find that your face is saying something entirely different about your topic than your words are! Practise using facial expressions consciously. If you are speaking about an upbeat topic, smile! Conversely, if your topic is serious or solemn, avoid facial expressions that are overtly cheerful, because the audience will be confused by the mixed message.

In North American culture, the most important facial expression you can use is eye contact. Briefly catch the eye of audience members as you move through your speech. If you can’t look your audience members in the eye, they may view you as untrustworthy. Remember, though, that eye contact is a culturally sensitive gesture. In some cultures, there are certain accepted behaviours for males looking females in the eye, and vice-versa. You’ll want to avoid holding eye contact for too long with any one person, as too much can be unnerving.

It’s easy to let your posture slip when you’ve been talking for a while, but try to stay conscious of this and stand up straight. This gives the audience the perception that you are authoritative and take your position seriously. If you are slouching, hunched over, or leaning on something, this gives the impression that you are anxious, lacking in credibility, or not serious about your message. Speakers often assume a more casual posture as a presentation continues, but you only get one shot at making a first impression, so make sure you begin with a strong stance.

Silence is a powerful technique if used well, but it is often overlooked. Perhaps you had a teacher in high school who would stand sternly and silently at the front of the room, expectantly waiting for the chatter to die down. His silence and stance were unnerving, so students soon became quiet, didn’t they? And some of the best comedians use the well-timed pause for a powerful and hilarious—rather than serious—effect. Either way, pauses are useful for emphasis and dramatic effect when you are speaking.

Some speakers are reluctant to pause or use silence because they become uncomfortable with the dead air, but sometimes your audience needs a moment to process information and respond to you.

You can use your body movements to communicate positively with the audience. Leaning in or moving closer to the audience helps to bridge the space of separation. Moving from one side of the room to the other in a purposeful way that supports your content is a useful way to keep your audience engaged; their eyes will track your movements. Pacing rapidly with no purpose and no support to your message may quickly distract from your message, however. Standing still without movement when you are listening or responding to a question can show interest. However, standing still without any movement for the duration of your presentation could leave the audience bored. Balance is key, as is using your body as an extension of your content that suits the context of the environment and the audience.

Exercise: Interpersonal Presentation Skills

Consider the factors presented in this section.

• Which factors do you consider are already personal strengths?
• Which factors do you feel are personal weaknesses?
• Which factors would you like to focus on in upcoming presentations?

This section helped you focus on getting to know your presentation style by understanding yourself better. You learned that elements of the environment, the audience, and the presenter have an impact on what makes for a good speech. You examined several issues related to self-awareness, including dealing with strengths and weaknesses. Finally, you learned about verbal and non-verbal elements of your  presentation style. You should now be able to take what you have learned from this section into the next section as a foundation to build your presentation strategy.

Key Takeaways

• There are three aspects to consider for presentations: the presenter, the audience, and the environment.
• Voice, body language, coherent structure, enthusiasm, expertise, and practice are ingredients that can make a successful speech or presentation.
• The audience wants you to succeed.
• Making a recording of your verbal and non-verbal cues helps to identify your presentation style.
• Verbal elements such as pitch, volume, emphasis, pronunciation, fillers, and rate all impact the presentation.
• Non-verbal elements such as gestures, facial expressions, posture, silence, and movement all impact the presentation.
• Self-awareness of the presenter’s strengths and weaknesses will help to adjust verbal and non-verbal elements for the presentation and can impact the presenter’s planning strategy.

Text Attributions

This chapter has been adapted from the following chapter:

• “ Presenting in a Professional Context ” in Professional Communications OER by Olds College OER Development Team. Adapted by Mary Shier. CC BY .

Media Attributions

• What Makes a Successful Presentation © Laura Underwood is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license

Student Success Copyright © 2020 by Mary Shier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

• PERSONAL SKILLS
• Caring for Your Body

Personal Presentation

Search SkillsYouNeed:

Personal Skills:

• A - Z List of Personal Skills
• Personal Development

Check out our popular eBook now in its third edition.

The Skills You Need Guide to Life: Looking After Yourself

• Personal Skills for the Mind
• Emotional Intelligence
• Stress and Stress Management
• Anger and Aggression
• Assertiveness
• Living Well, Living Ethically
• Understanding Sustainability
• Measures of Wellness
• Wellness Testing and Tracking
• Positive Body Image
• Looking After Your Physical Health as a Teenager
• Self-Care For Teenagers
• Perimenopause and Health
• The Importance of Exercise
• Types of Exercise
• How to Exercise Safely and Effectively
• Top Tips for Exercising on a Budget
• Using Fitness Trackers to Exercise
• What is Sleep?
• The Importance of Sleep
• Food, Diet and Nutrition
• What is Protein?
• What are Carbohydrates?
• What is Sugar?
• Complex Carbohydrates, Sugars and Diet
• What is Fat?
• Cooking Fats and Oils
• What is Fibre?
• Dietary Minerals
• Vitamins - Nutrients Essential to Health
• Ultra-Processed Food
• Dietary Supplements
• Understanding and Improving Your Gut Microbiome
• Veganism and Plant-Based Diets
• Organic Food
• Debunking Some Food and Diet Myths
• Calorie Counting and Food Labelling
• Dieting for Weight Loss
• Body Mass Index - BMI Calculator
• Food Intolerances and Allergies
• Coffee and Health
• Alcohol and Health

Subscribe to our FREE newsletter and start improving your life in just 5 minutes a day.

You'll get our 5 free 'One Minute Life Skills' and our weekly newsletter.

We'll never share your email address and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Personal presentation is how you portray and present yourself to other people. It includes how you look, what you say, and what you do, and is all about marketing YOU, the brand that is you.

What others see and hear from you will influence their opinion of you. Good personal presentation is therefore about always showing yourself in the best possible light.

We all know that you only get one chance to make a first impression. Most of us are probably also aware that it takes quite a long time to undo that first impression—and that if it is negative, we may never get the chance to do so. This page explains some of the skills involved in making a good first impression—and then continuing to impress over time.

Understanding Personal Presentation

Personal presentation is about you and how you present yourself to others.

This includes both in everyday situations and when under pressure, for example, at job interviews. It is best thought of as a form of communication , because it always involves at least two people—the person presenting themselves (you) and the person seeing and hearing you.

Personal presentation covers what other people both see and hear. It includes how you look, what you say, and what you do. It therefore requires a wide range of skills, from improving your personal appearance to your communication skills.

However, all these aspects start from one place: you.

To present yourself well and confidently, you need to believe in yourself—or at least, be able to act as if you do.

Perception is Truth

People who present themselves as confident will be perceived as such by others.

There is also plenty of evidence that once we start acting as if we are confident, we generally feel more confident too.

Confidence—but not arrogance—is a very attractive trait. Having a justified belief in yourself and your abilities helps other people to be confident in you too.

Good personal presentation therefore requires good self-esteem and self-confidence. It means that you have to learn about yourself, and understand and accept who you are, both your positives and your negatives, and be comfortable with yourself. This does not, however, mean that you believe that there is nothing that you can improve—but that you are confident in your ability to achieve, and know how to overcome your flaws.

Paradoxically, therefore, personal presentation is actually not about being self-conscious or overly concerned with what others think about you. People who present themselves well generally do so because they believe in themselves, rather than because they are worried about what other people think. These concepts are closely related to Personal Empowerment .

A complete picture—and a cycle

Personal presentation is about conveying appropriate signals for the situation and for the other individuals involved.

People who lack self-esteem and confidence may fail to convey their message effectively or fully utilise their skills and abilities because of the way they present themselves. However, by improving your communication skills and reducing barriers to understanding, you may also improve your self-esteem and confidence.

Our pages: Communication Skills , Barriers to Communication and Improving Self-Esteem provide more information.

Areas of Personal Presentation

Improving personal presentation therefore requires a look at several different areas.

These include:

Self-esteem and self-confidence – how you feel about yourself and your abilities

Personal appearance – how you look, and how other people see you

Non-verbal communication – your body language, voice and facial expressions

Verbal communication – how you speak and use your words to make an impression

Behaviour – how you behave more generally, including politeness.

Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence

Self-esteem and self-confidence are closely related, but not quite the same thing.

Self-esteem is how you see and value yourself .

Self-confidence is believing in or having faith in your ability , rather than yourself as a person.

Neither self-esteem nor self-confidence are static. They vary as a result of numerous factors, including different situations and the presence of different people, personal stress levels and the level of change. Low levels of self-esteem are often associated with low levels of confidence, but those with good self-esteem can also suffer from low confidence.

To improve your self-esteem and self-confidence, spend time thinking about how you value yourself. Remind yourself of what is good about you, and learn to manage the highs and lows of self-esteem. In particular, try to avoid being affected too much by others’ opinions about you.

It is also worth practising coming across as confident even when you are not, because those who appear confident are not only perceived as confident, but often actually become more confident.

See our pages on Improving Self-Esteem and Building Confidence for more discussion, tips and advice on this area.

Personal Appearance and Non-Verbal Communication

Personal appearance is the way that you dress and take care of your general appearance.

Much as we may hate the idea that appearances matter, this is an important factor in personal presentation. Whether you like it or not, others will make judgements about you based on how you look, which includes how you dress and your accessories. It is therefore worth taking time to think about what messages you are sending to others in the way that you dress.

Case study: The ‘gravitas bag’

Louise was a young graduate, working in a government department. She had been working there about two years, and had just started working for a new boss, a woman just a few years older than her.

One day, on the way to an important meeting, Louise’s carrier bag, in which she was carrying her notebook and pens, broke on the bus. Her boss laughed, but said to her, carefully,

“ You know, you ought to think a bit about how what you wear and carry affects what people think about you. I’m not sure it gives quite the right impression to wander into a meeting with pens and books spilling out of a split carrier bag—that’s why I keep a briefcase in my cupboard for the days when I’ve worn a backpack into work. This may sound stupid, but I always feel that people may be judging me because I’m both female and quite young. I don’t want to give them any reason to doubt my professionalism. ”

Neither did Louise. The next weekend, she went shopping. On the Monday, she proudly showed her boss a new handbag and matching briefcase—her ‘gravitas bag’, as she described it.

Your personal appearance is closely related to the body language, gestures and other non-verbal messages that you use.

Many people are unaware of how they are affected by body language, and also how they are affecting others. By being aware of positive and negative non-verbal signals, you can improve your image and the way people perceive you.

There is more about these ideas in our pages on Personal Appearance and Non-Verbal Communication , including specific pages on Body Language and Face and Voice .

Verbal Communication and Effective Speaking

What you say and how you say it are both important aspects of how you are perceived by others.

Verbal communication is all about the words that you choose. Those who are good at verbal communication understand the impact of their particular choice of words and choose the right words for the situation and the audience. They are skilled at getting their message across to others and ensuring that it has been received.

See our pages on Verbal Communication for more.

Good communicators also use their voices effectively to convey their feelings, and to influence their audience. Your voice says a lot about you and learning how to use it more effectively has many benefits. There are a number of aspects to your voice, including accent, tone, pitch and volume. Some of these are easier to change than others, but it is worth thinking about how each of these affects your audience, so that you can learn to use your voice more effectively. 

See our pages Effective Speaking and Non-Verbal Communication: Face and Voice to learn more.

How you behave, and not just how you speak, will leave a strong impression on others.

For example, if you are habitually late, you may give other people the impression that you do not value their time. Good time management skills can therefore be helpful in giving the right impression—as well as enabling you to work more efficiently.

See our pages Time Management and Avoiding Distractions for some ideas of to improve your time management skills.

More crucially, your general politeness—to everyone, and not just people who ‘matter’—will create an important impression about how you value others.  This is an essential element of personal presentation. It pays to consider your manners.

See our page How to be Polite for more.

Further Reading from Skills You Need

Our Communication Skills eBooks

Learn more about the key communication skills you need to be a more effective communicator.

Our eBooks are ideal for anyone who wants to learn about or develop their interpersonal skills and are full of easy-to-follow, practical information.

And finally…

It is almost certainly impossible to overestimate the importance of personal presentation, especially in creating a good first impression, but also in giving a longer-term view of yourself.

Improving some fairly basic communication skills and increasing your self-awareness will improve your ability to present yourself well. Knowing that you are more likely to say and do the right things, and look the part, will help to increase your confidence. All these will, in turn, help to ensure that you give the right impression.

This is especially true in more formal situations, culminating in improved communication and therefore better understanding.

Continue to: Personal Appearance Self-Presentation in Presentations

See also: Effective Ways to Present Yourself Well Building a Personal Brand That Will Boost Your Career 8 Ways to Effectively Market Yourself as a Professional

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

Partner Center

What is Your Presentation Personality?

Find our your results and watch as Rule the Room CEO Jason Teteak reveals…

• Your natural presentation personality style that defines you best…
• The top 7 traits for your style and how you can use those traits to endear yourself to your audience…
• 3 Steps to be more genuine in front of your audience, and why it’s so important to do so…
• The best way to get people to laugh with you using your genuine presentation personality style.

Pin It on Pinterest

• Bipolar Disorder
• Therapy Center
• When To See a Therapist
• Types of Therapy
• Best Online Therapy
• Best Couples Therapy
• Best Family Therapy
• Managing Stress
• Sleep and Dreaming
• Understanding Emotions
• Self-Improvement
• Healthy Relationships
• Student Resources

Personality Types

• Guided Meditations
• Verywell Mind Insights
• 2023 Verywell Mind 25
• Mental Health in the Classroom
• Editorial Process
• Meet Our Review Board
• Crisis Support

How Personality Impacts Our Daily Lives

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Verywell / Emily Roberts

Personality Characteristics

How personality develops, impact of personality, personality disorders.

Personality describes the unique patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguish a person from others. A product of both biology and environment, it remains fairly consistent throughout life.

Examples of personality can be found in how we describe other people's traits. For instance, "She is generous, caring, and a bit of a perfectionist," or "They are loyal and protective of their friends."

The word "personality" stems from the Latin word persona , which refers to a theatrical mask worn by performers to play roles or disguise their identities.

Although there are many definitions of personality, most focus on the pattern of behaviors and characteristics that can help predict and explain a person's behavior.

Explanations for personality can focus on a variety of influences, ranging from genetic effects to the role of the environment and experience in shaping an individual's personality.

What exactly makes up a personality? Traits and patterns of thought and emotion play important roles, and so do these fundamental characteristics of personality:

• Consistency : There is generally a recognizable order and regularity to behaviors. Essentially, people act in the same way or in similar ways in a variety of situations.
• Both psychological and physiological : Personality is a psychological construct, but research suggests that it is also influenced by biological processes and needs.
• Affects behaviors and actions : Personality not only influences how we move and respond in our environment, but it also causes us to act in certain ways.
• Multiple expressions : Personality is displayed in more than just behavior. It can also be seen in our thoughts, feelings, close relationships, and other social interactions.

There are a number of theories about personality , and different schools of thought in psychology influence many of these theories. Some theories describe how personalities are expressed, and others focus more on how personality develops.

Type theories suggest that there are a limited number of personality types that are related to biological influences.

One theory suggests there are four types of personality. They are:

• Type A : Perfectionist, impatient, competitive, work-obsessed, achievement-oriented, aggressive, stressed
• Type B : Low stress, even- tempered , flexible, creative, adaptable to change, patient, tendency to procrastinate
• Type C : Highly conscientious, perfectionist, struggles to reveal emotions (positive and negative)
• Type D : Worrying, sad, irritable, pessimistic, negative self-talk, avoidance of social situations, lack of self-confidence, fear of rejection, appears gloomy, hopeless

There are other popular theories of personality types such as the Myers-Briggs theory. The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator identifies a personality based on where someone is on four continuums: introversion-extraversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceiving.

After taking a Myers-Briggs personality test, you are assigned one of 16 personality types. Examples of these personality types are:

• ISTJ : Introverted, sensing, thinking, and judging. People with this personality type are logical and organized; they also tend to be judgmental.
• INFP : Introverted, intuitive, feeling, and perceiving. They tend to be idealists and sensitive to their feelings.
• ESTJ : Extroverted, sensing, thinking, and judging. They tend to be assertive and concerned with following the rules.
• ENFJ : Extroverted, intuitive, feeling, and judging. They are known as "givers" for being warm and loyal; they may also be overprotective.

Personality Tests

In addition to the MBTI, some of the most well-known personality inventories are:

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
• HEXACO Personality Inventory
• Caddell's 16PF Personality Questionnaire
• Enneagram Typology

Personality Traits

Trait theories tend to view personality as the result of internal characteristics that are genetically based and include:

• Agreeable : Cares about others, feels empathy, enjoys helping others
• Conscientiousness : High levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, goal-directed behaviors
• Eager-to-please : Accommodating, passive, and  conforming
• Extraversion : Excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness
• Introversion : Quiet, reserved
• Neuroticism : Experiences stress and dramatic shifts in mood, feels anxious, worries about different things, gets upset easily, struggles to bounce back after stressful events
• Openness : Very creative , open to trying new things, focuses on tackling new challenges

Try Our Free Personality Test

Our fast and free personality test can help give you an idea of your dominant personality traits and how they may influence your behaviors.

Psychodynamic Theories

Psychodynamic theories of personality are heavily influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud and emphasize the influence of the unconscious  mind on personality. Psychodynamic theories include Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stage theory and Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development .

Behavioral Theories

Behavioral theories suggest that personality is a result of interaction between the individual and the environment. Behavioral theorists study observable and measurable behaviors, often ignoring the role of internal thoughts and feelings. Behavioral theorists include B.F. Skinner and John B. Watson .

Humanist theories emphasize the importance of free will and individual experience in developing ​a personality. Humanist theorists include Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow .

Research on personality can yield fascinating insights into how personality develops and changes over the course of a lifetime. This research can also have important practical applications in the real world.

For example, people can use a personality assessment (also called a personality test or personality quiz) to learn more about themselves and their unique strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Some assessments might look at how people rank on specific traits, such as whether they are high in extroversion , conscientiousness, or openness.

Other assessments might measure how specific aspects of personality change over time. Some assessments give people insight into how their personality affects many areas of their lives, including career, relationships, personal growth, and more.

Understanding your personality type can help you determine what career you might enjoy, how well you might perform in certain job roles, or how effective a form of psychotherapy could be for you.

Personality type can also have an impact on your health, including how often you visit the doctor and how you cope with stress. Researchers have found that certain personality characteristics may be linked to illness and health behaviors.

While personality determines what you think and how you behave, personality disorders are marked by thoughts and behavior that are disruptive and distressing in everyday life. Someone with a personality disorder may have trouble recognizing their condition because their symptoms are ingrained in their personality.

Personality disorders include paranoid personality disorder , schizoid personality disorder , antisocial personality disorder , borderline personality disorder (BPD), and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).

While the symptoms of personality disorders vary based on the condition, some common signs include:

• Aggressive behavior
• Delusional thinking
• Distrust of others
• Flat emotions (no emotional range)
• Lack of interest in relationships
• Violating others' boundaries

Some people with BPD experience suicidal thoughts or behavior as well.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact the  National Suicide Prevention Lifeline  at  988  for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911. 

For more mental health resources, see our  National Helpline Database .

If you are concerned that elements of your personality are contributing to stress, anxiety, confusion, or depression, it's important to talk to a doctor or mental health professional. They can help you understand any underlying conditions you may have.

It is often challenging to live with a personality disorder, but there are treatment options such as therapy and medication that can help.

Understanding the psychology of personality is much more than simply an academic exercise. The findings from personality research can have important applications in the world of medicine, health, business, economics, technology, among others. By building a better understanding of how personality works, we can look for new ways to improve both personal and public health.

The Myers & Briggs Foundation.  MBTI basics .

Bornstein RF. Personality assessment in the diagnostic manuals: On mindfulness, multiple methods, and test score discontinuities .  J Pers Assess . 2015;97(5):446-455. doi:10.1080/00223891.2015.1027346

Srivastava K, Das RC. Personality and health: Road to well-being .  Ind Psychiatry J . 2015;24(1):1–4. doi:10.4103/0972-6748.160905

Mayo Clinic. Personality disorders .

Carducci BJ. The Psychology of Personality: Viewpoints, Research, and Applications . Wiley Blackwell. 

John OP, Robins RW, Pervin LA. Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research . Guilford Press.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Researched by Consultants from Top-Tier Management Companies

Powerpoint Templates

Icon Bundle

Kpi Dashboard

Professional

Business Plans

Swot Analysis

Gantt Chart

Business Proposal

Marketing Plan

Project Management

Business Case

Business Model

Cyber Security

Business PPT

Digital Marketing

Digital Transformation

Human Resources

Product Management

Artificial Intelligence

Company Profile

Acknowledgement PPT

PPT Presentation

Reports Brochures

One Page Pitch

Interview PPT

All Categories

Top 5 Personality Trait Templates with Examples and Samples

Samradni Pradhan

 Have you ever wondered what makes you, you? Personality traits play a crucial role in shaping our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. As the famous psychologist Gordon Allport once said, 'Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thought.' In fact, research suggests that personality traits can predict important outcomes such as job performance, academic success, and mental health.

Did you know that there are over 18,000 adjectives in the English language that describe personality traits? With so many options, it can be overwhelming to pinpoint the traits that best describe yourself or others. That's where personality traits templates come in. These templates provide a structured and concise way to identify and describe personality traits, making it easier to communicate about ourselves and understand others.

Best Personality Traits Templates

SlideTeam offers a collection of templates that are designed to help individuals and organizations describe and analyze personality traits. These templates are highly regarded and widely used by business leaders around the world.

The templates are based on research and theories of personality psychology and provide a structured way to identify and describe personality traits that are relevant to business contexts, such as leadership, teamwork, and communication skills.

Let’s explore these content-ready editable templates!

Template 1: Qualities and Personality Traits PPT slide

This template features a human silhouette with speech bubble-like elements that can be personalized to showcase a variety of unique personality traits, like being thoughtful, responsible, having a sense of humor, someone who plays well with others, being hard-working, and being grounded. With eye-catching graphics and editable text placeholders, you can easily create a fun and engaging presentation highlighting individuality and self-expression's importance. Download now!   

Download Now!

Template 2: Brand Archetype Personality Traits with Four Categories

This quirky and unique template features four categories of personality traits that align with your brand archetype, including "The Creator," "The Explorer," "The Rebel," and "The Sage." Whether you're a bold and daring rebel or a wise and knowledgeable sage, this template is the perfect tool to create a memorable and impactful presentation that showcases your brand's personality.

Template 3: Five Key Points Illustrating Individual Personality Traits

This amazing PPT Template features customizable text boxes and visually stunning graphics that allow you to showcase the individual personality traits that make you or your team members unique. Whether you're highlighting conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, extraversion, neuroticism, or any other personality trait, this template is the perfect tool to create an engaging and impactful presentation that captures your audience's attention. With easy-to-edit text and vibrant graphics, you can create a one-of-a-kind presentation that celebrates individuality and promotes the importance of embracing our unique personalities. So, showcase your personality through our template today!

Template 4: Personality Traits or Factor Model for Employee Traits

This unique template features customizable graphics in the shape of a human face/brain and allows you to highlight personality traits in a foolproof manner. With a focus on multiple personality traits, this template is the right tool for creating a fun and engaging presentation that celebrates individuality in the workplace. Bring some personality to your next presentation by downloading this quirky template!

Template 5: Business Idea Marketing Leadership Personality Traits

Are you looking out for a way to showcase your business idea while highlighting your leadership and marketing skills? Our template is here to help! With a focus on creativity, innovation, and strategic thinking, this template is the perfect tool to create a memorable and impactful presentation that highlights your strong points and sets you apart from the competition. Additionally, it includes stunning graphics that literally make all the difference. Go ahead and download this template today!

Template 6: Personality Traits Template

Showcase the unique qualities that make you or your team members stand out with our template! This one-of-a-kind template features customizable text boxes and visually stunning graphics that allow you to highlight the individual personality traits that make you or your team members unique. With this template added to your deck, you really need nothing more to ramp up your presentation. Download it right away!

Template 7: DISC Matrix Icon to Assess Personality Traits

Our DISC Matrix Template features customizable graphics and text boxes that allow you to showcase the four main personality traits - Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. With visually stunning graphics and easy-to-edit text, you can create a fun and engaging presentation that promotes the importance of understanding unique personality traits. Whether you're using it for personal development or team-building exercises, this template is the perfect tool to assess and celebrate individuality. Go ahead and grab this template today!

EXPLORE THESE PERSONALITY TRAIT TEMPLATES TODAY!

A well-designed PowerPoint presentation can make all the major difference in delivering an impactful message to your audience. Incorporating personality trait templates into your presentations allows you to effectively communicate your ideas while keeping your audience engaged and interested. 

The top Personality Trait PowerPoint Templates highlighted in this blog provide a wide range of options, each with unique features and benefits. Whether you're creating a presentation for business, education, or individual use, these templates can help you make a lasting impression. Explore these templates, customize them to suit your needs, and take your presentations to the next level.

Download these premium PPT Slides through our monthly, semi-annual, annual, annual + custom design subscriptions  here .

FAQs on Personality Traits

What are the five personality traits.

The five broad personality traits, known as the "big five" or otherwise referred to as Five-Factor Model (FFM) are:

• Openness To Experience- It reflects an individual's intellectual curiosity, imagination, creativity, and exposure to new ideas, values, and experiences.
• Conscientiousness reflects a person's reliability, responsibility, organization, self-discipline, and goal orientation.
• Extraversion is the sociability, assertiveness, energy level, positive emotionality, and enjoyment of stimulation and social interactions in a person.
• Agreeableness- A person tends to be cooperative, empathetic, and kind.
• Neuroticism- This trait refers to a person's emotional stability and sensitivity to stress.

What are the seven big personality traits?

There are different models and theories of personality, but the most widely recognized and researched model is the Five-Factor Model (FFM), which includes five broad dimensions of traits. However, some psychologists have proposed additional personality traits that complement or expand the FFM. Here are the two additional big personality traits along with

• Honesty-Humility is a person's sincerity, modesty, fairness, and lack of greed or arrogance.
• Impulsivity- This trait reflects a person's tendency to act without forethought, to seek immediate gratification, and to take risks without considering the consequences.

However, it is imperative to understand that the FFM model is just one of many personality systems and that personality traits are complex and multifaceted.

What are the four main personality traits?

The four main personality traits are often referred to as the "DISC" personality system,

which stands for:

• Dominance- A person tends to take charge, be assertive, and strive for control over their environment and others.
• Influence- This trait refers to a person's sociability, persuasiveness, and ability to build relationships and inspire others.
• Steadiness- It determines a person's calmness, stability, and loyalty, as well as their preference for routine and predictability.
• Conscientiousness is a personality of detail-oriented, responsible, and structured order in a person.

The DISC model is often used in workplace and leadership contexts to help individuals and teams better understand their own and others' personality styles and communication preferences.

What are examples of good personality traits?

Good personality traits contribute positively to a person's well-being and social functioning, as well as to well-being and social functioning. Here are some examples of good personality traits:

• Responsibility.
• Open-mindedness.
• Resilience.

Related posts:

• Top 10 Software Cover Letter Templates with Samples and Examples
• 40 Best Lego Blocks PowerPoint Templates To Unlock Your Hidden Talent
• [Updated 2023] Top 25 Brainstorming PowerPoint Templates for Stimulating Out-of-the-box Thinking!
• [Updated 2023] Top 20 Coaching and Mentoring Templates in PowerPoint for Leadership Development

Liked this blog? Please recommend us

The Ultimate Guide to Project Management Excellence: The Playbook PowerPoint Template

Top 10 Brand Plan Templates with Samples and Examples

This form is protected by reCAPTCHA - the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Digital revolution powerpoint presentation slides

Sales funnel results presentation layouts

3d men joinning circular jigsaw puzzles ppt graphics icons

Business Strategic Planning Template For Organizations Powerpoint Presentation Slides

Future plan powerpoint template slide

Project Management Team Powerpoint Presentation Slides

Brand marketing powerpoint presentation slides

Launching a new service powerpoint presentation with slides go to market

Agenda powerpoint slide show

Four key metrics donut chart with percentage

Engineering and technology ppt inspiration example introduction continuous process improvement

Meet our team representing in circular format