Own. That. Room.

You’ve probably sat through at least one presentation where the speaker relied so heavily on their PowerPoint that they might as well have just handed out the slides and said, “Read this on your own. See ya!”

People don’t like being read to. If you want to impress leadership, take center stage and let your slides be what they’re meant to be—a visual aid.

What does that mean?

1. Ditch full sentences.The moment a slide goes up, your audience starts reading—and you lose them. Stick to bullet points, and you provide the meaning. This means knowing your material, but hey, if you want leadership to see you as competent and credible, you need to show you can do more than read aloud.

2. Control the flow.If you throw up a slide packed with bullet points, charts, and graphs, your audience will skim ahead—and once again, you’ve lost them. Instead, design your slides so each key point appears only when you click. Lead them through the content at your pace, making it easy on their brains and making you look like you have everything under control.

Master this, and you won’t just give a presentation—you’ll command the room.