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Presentations

If you get asked to give a technical presentation as part of a job interview, congratulations! That means you’ve got your foot firmly in the door, and this is a great opportunity to show off your brilliance in front of your potential future teammates.

Let’s dive in! 🏊🏾

Interview presentations, sometimes called capstone presentations, are an opportunity for you to demonstrate your knowledge and for your interviewers to get to know you better. Sometimes you’re only presenting to 1-2 people, other times you might be in front of a whole panel of 5 or more people.

You should always ask what the format will be: how long are you expected to present? What are the desired topics? Who will be present? Do you need to prepare slides? Etc. That way you can prepare and set yourself up for success.

Since you’ll be communicating in front of a group of people, pretty much all the great advice out there about presentations applies.

General tips

Start off your presentation with an attention-getting fact or statement!

Hey, we’re all suckers for great opening lines, right?

  • “What if I told you that...”
  • “Imagine a world where...”
  • “Everyone assumes X, but it’s actually not true...”

Tell a story.

Humans understand information better when it’s presented in the format of a story.

That means instead of a string of unrelated ideas, you share a narrative where one thing leads to the next.

Include data and facts

That helps give you credibility and shows that you can do the work to back up your ideas. It also helps people understand the scope and details of what you’re communicating.

Incorporate visuals

If allowed, use a slide deck to present a visual representation of your key points.

Some people best understand new information visually, plus it will make you look more prepared and allow you to express yourself more through design choices.

Be minimal with your visuals and keep text to a minimum (use huge text sizes to help you do so!) Less is more with slides.

Focus

Make sure you’re presenting a cohesive narrative that your interviewers can follow and understand.

The more complexity you bring in, the simpler the communication needs to be. It’s better to clearly communicate fewer ideas than poorly communicate many.

Be prepared for questions

If all goes well, you’ll likely get asked some follow-up questions. If you practice presenting to friends or peers (hello Speak_ community!), get some practice answering their questions, too.

Interview-specific tips

Use the tips below to "wow" your interviewers and set yourself apart from other candidates.

Be positive

This is an important theme across all stages of an interview.

Remember, your interviewers are real people, and they’ll gain or lose energy based on your attitude throughout the presentation. Start off on the right foot by introducing yourself and showing enthusiasm for the role and the company.

Know your audience

As mentioned above - before putting together a presentation, you should always know exactly who you will be presenting to.

It wouldn’t make sense to fill your presentation with technical jargon and advanced programming concepts if the person on the other side of the table doesn’t know how to code.

Follow a structure

It doesn’t have to be complicated, just make sure that your presentation has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

It could look like this:

  1. Tell them what topics you are going to present to them.
  2. Tell them about the topics in more detail.
  3. Recap the key points that you made throughout the presentation.

Don’t make stuff up

Someone might interrupt your presentation to ask questions. That’s okay! Honestly answer the questions to the best of your knowledge, but don’t be afraid to say if you don’t know something. In that situation, explain how you might find the answer if you were given more time.

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse

Practice giving your presentation out loud and go in prepared. Know how long your presentation takes. Try giving your presentation to a friend and asking for feedback and constructive criticism.

Remember, the interviewer is on your side! They want you to succeed. You’ve made it through several steps in the interview process already, and they’re simply looking for further confirmation that you’ll be an excellent fit for their team.

Be yourself, be confident, and stay positive.