How to Write a Presentation in Leadership Studies: What to Consider First

Writing guide
Posted on July 18, 2021

Leaders are among us. Their influence is often invisible but they are important. Leaders do not force someone to do something. They know how to communicate with people and make them follow. Who are they? Politicians, doctors, teachers, bloggers, and even friends and relatives can become leaders. The modern world calls them influencers whose ideas and speeches inspire to actions and changes.

Ohio scientists were first who initiated fundamental studies on leadership in 1940, though, Plato and Machiavelli touched upon that topic in their works as well. Early research papers provide the following characteristics of the leadership.

  • Leaders are able to satisfy the needs of groups thanks to people-oriented policy and distribution of social roles.
  • Leaders regard a job as the prior control arm that gives tasks, improves relations between people, and lets initiative individuals become leaders.
  • Leaders are successful managers who motivate employers.
  • Leaders consider the employer’s interests and are result-oriented.

It is hard to doubt the importance of leaders in human life. College professors and tutors often want to know what their students think about leadership and traits of character required for that. Moreover, they often raise the problem of inborn and acquired abilities to govern and influence others. A presentation on leadership should be informative and catchy. It must explain the most important issues and provide some innovation. Presentations that introduce the already known information are informative and their value is minimal.

How to Write a Presentation in Leadership: Best Topics to Consider

Students can write a presentation on the agreed topic or select the topic individually. Both variants have pros and cons. The first one prevents a person from a waste of time. One just gets a task and proceeds to its performing. The disadvantage is that sometimes the topic is too difficult and a student can hardly create a winning presentation.

On the one hand, the second variant gives a chance to find a worthy topic. On the other hand, students have to provide a list of possible topics and hope that a professor will allow them to choose at least one of them. It consumes much time but a student is no limited and can speak on the idea that interests him or her.

Below one can see 5 topics that introduce the question of leadership in the XXI century.

  1. What is the Leader of the Internet Generation?
  2. What Traits of Character and Skills Must a Leader Possess to Keep Step with Digital Changes in the Contemporary World?
  3. What Leadership Style is the Most Effective for Various Group Ages in the XXI Century?
  4. Can a Political Leader Be Fair with His/ Her Followers?
  5. Is Leadership an Inborn or Acquired Ability?

The best topic for the presentation deals with the urgent problems of the world and something new. A person should investigate various related sources to create a striking title and write a presentation on leadership.

How to Write a Presentation on Leadership Studies: Tips from Professionals

Professionals are not afraid to create presentations. They know how to save time and introduce stellar presentations on leadership. Experts give 8 tips that help to succeed.

Tip 1. Structure is important

When the writing looks messy, nobody will want to sort it out. A presentation must acquaint with the topic, develop it, and conclude. Consequently, there should be an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

Tip 2. Brief and to the point

Seth Godin is an influencer who knows how to present information. . He accents that each slide should have minimum words. It is the hardest task because it is not easy to convey the message within a couple of words. If a slide contains much information, the audience will read it and will not pay attention to the speaker. That is why each word is to be informative and relevant.

Tip 3. Spare space

A slide usually includes pictures and words. It is also important to select a good font and color pattern. It is better to avoid multi coloring and too bright colors. They complicate readability. Moreover, one should stick to one or maximum 2 sizes of font. If a person chooses 2 sizes, they should match.
One more thing to mention is the choice of pictures. They are not to be abstract and blurred. One should use high-quality pictures and give links to their sources due to the copyright policy.

Tip 4. Proofread and edit

It is hard to provide much information using up to 8-10 words per slide. The visual presentation is important because many people have eye memory. So, a student has to polish every slide until everything is perfect. There must be a logical connection and the leading idea that will unite all slides in one presentation.

It will be clever to show the presentation to someone. Friends, relatives, mates, and senior students can point to mistakes and suggest improvements.

Tip 5. Begin strong

‘Good morning! Sit down!’ These words sound like a cliche. School pupils feel unmotivated and bored when they hear such a greeting. One can say the same about the beginning of the presentation. It must be catchy and unique. There are three ways to do that effectively.

  • Ask questions, better rhetorical.
  • Be unique.
  • Study your target audience.

For example, one can look for interesting facts about leadership and start with the most impressive one. One can also add personal experience in the form of an interesting story. One should base the introduction on the curiosity of the target audience. It will hook the target audience and hold their attention.

Tip 6. No need to pretend

It is better to be oneself when introducing the presentation. Listeners will recognize hypocrisy and pretense. As a result, they will not trust the speaker. Such a presentation is doomed to fail. One should speak from the heart and believe in every word.

Sometimes students cannot start talking because of a barrier of unconfidence. Speakers recommend using humor. Jokes help both listeners and a speaker relax. It is a perfect tool to win the audience. Moreover, humor lets people memorize the information and remember it longer thanks to positive association.

Another essential thing is not to be afraid of mistakes. People are often paralyzed with fear because of that and cannot say a word. None is immune from errors. If a person mispronounces words or gives wrong information, it will be necessary to turn it to one’s advantage. People would like to see what the speaker will do if something goes wrong. One should not be nervous and either go on or laugh at it. Such methods always work.

A speaker should not differ from the audience. Listeners like to feel connected with the speaker and hear familiar things. ‘He is just like me. Hold on! You can do it!’

Tip 7. Plan

A person must plan but be ready for force majeure. Professionals suggest using timers to know the required time. A person usually knows the time limit. Nevertheless, it must not be too short. Besides, a plan helps to be goal-oriented and do not confuse things or speak about unnecessary details and overdo. That is why a person uses a timer even during the presentation. Nobody would like to bother the audience.

A student must think of possible questions of the audience and answers he or she could give. Successful influencers always have stories, proverbs, or jokes that come to their rescue when they lose control over the audience or are not able to answer a question.

Today everybody has a camera on a laptop or a smartphone. It is not a problem to make a video with the presentation and watch it. It is the best practice for those who do not feel cozy in front of the public. A person can see what to alter or how to improve the speech and gestures.

Tip 8. Conclude strong

A person will remember something only in case a speaker wraps the presentation up with the WOW effect. That is why the summarizing must be emotional and inspiring. One can conclude with a compelling citation, story, or examples.
One can learn more about leaders that changed the world. Biographical facts that manifest the path lo leadership are always effective. For example, different websites speak about leaders who are mostly males. Angela Merkel is a German Chancellor whose viewpoint and ideas have been influential since 2005. What is her secret? The audience, especially the female part, would surely like to know the answer.

How to Write a Presentation on Leadership Studies: Structure and Language

A presentation on leadership has the same structure as academic essays. It consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

Experienced students start with the body. It is the biggest part of the presentation. It develops the idea and supports it with facts. If the message has several directions, it will be necessary to divide it into several logical slides. When the body is ready, it will be easier to identify the most valuable information and create a thesis statement, an introduction, and a conclusion.
An introduction informs about things a speaker is going to discuss in the presentation. It highlights the essential data, novelty, and the core idea. A conclusion usually offers things for consideration. It explains how the listener can apply the received knowledge in real life. In other words, it tells how to become a leader and what leaders are worth following.

An academic presentation demands academic tone. Language is to be precise and accurate but, at the same time, welcoming. Slides must be without mistakes and the format must correspond to the college requirements. The presentation will not look solid if a person uses symbols like on social networks (:-), ;-(. etc.). Text orientation and alignment are also important.

The best option is to use active voice instead of passive constructions and include sentences that call to action. Such tricks involve the attention of the audience and they can memorize data subconsciously. A person should study samples of presentations on leadership. For example, SlideShare often posts excellent presentations for one to follow the required pattern.

How to Write a Presentation on Leaderships: Useful Books on Amazon

People are to support their information with trustable facts. They can take it on reliable web sources and articles in newspapers and magazines. The presentation will sound more influential when speakers cite books. This is the list of top-rated books about leadership on Amazon to read and introduce in the presentation. Also, you can send your “write my presentation” request to our academic experts.

  1. Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  2. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People will Follow You by John C. Maxwell
  3. Leadership Strategy and Tactics: Field Manual by Jocko Willink
  4. Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek
  5. Leadership: Theory and Practice by Dr. Peter G. Northouse
  6. The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations (J-B Leadership Challenge) by James M. Kouzes & Barry Z. Posner
  7. The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential by John C. Maxwell
  8. The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, & Kaley Klemp
  9. Leadership Is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say – and What You Don’t by L. David Marquet
  10. The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness by Lolly Daskal

As a rule, one devotes the last slide to the bibliography. Presentation is to be formal, so a person must present the used sources in alphabetical order and format it appropriately. APA, Harvard, Chicago, and MLA styles are the most popular formatting styles. A person can find guides that describe details of each style to cite sources. Today students are lucky to get a perfect bibliography list thanks to online generators. They ask to type important information like authors, date of publication, pages, etc. In the case of online literature, one just inserts a URL address, and the algorithm copies all the required information independently. It takes a couple of minutes to create a slide with a bibliography with the help of Cite This for Me or Scribbr.

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