4 different types of presentations

Before your start building a presentation, you need a good structure. Ask yourself the purpose of your presentation – why are you getting in front of your audience? Are you trying to convince them to care about an issue and take action? Who are you speaking to – colleagues, customers, or investors? Asking yourself these questions will help you start to determine the type of presentation and structure it accordingly. Read on to discover 4 different types of presentations and how to structure them.

Persuasive presentations

What is a persuasive presentation?

A persuasive presentation is one that tries to convince the audience to accept a certain position and to take action. It uses facts, logic, and emotion to help the audience understand the impact of a certain situation and see it from a different perspective.

How to make a persuasive presentation

1. Start your presentation off strong and make the first 30 seconds of your presentation count. This presentation type needs a good hook that draws the audience in and starts getting them invested in the topic.


2. Introduce the problem that needs to be solved and compare it with your solution.


3. Build a narrative around your solution. Use evidence, back up your ideas with statistics and findings, and use emotion to pull your audience through the narrative. You should be building to a strong conclusion at this point.


4. End with a summary of your points and relate them back to the actions that your audience takes.

This type of presentation requires confidence. Show that you feel passionate about your topic and believe in your solution to your audience. They need to feel trust in you in order to follow your ideas. Rehearse your presentation, but not to the point that you have every single line memorized. You want to sound authentic, not as though you’re rattling off facts and figures.

Persuasive presentation examples

Some of the most common types of persuasive presentations are product or business pitch, but there are so many more out there. Seeing how someone persuades their audience might give you some inspiration, so here we’ve compiled a few of our favorite examples of this type of presentation.

Watch this product pitch by Thriftplan, a workspace-saving solution helping companies retain their talent and employees manage their long-term savings.

This presentation on deforestation shows the effects that deforestation has had on the planet and introduces ways to become a “tree hugger” and combat it:

Learn more about what goes into an effective persuasive speech by reading our article on the topic.

Informative presentations

What is an informative presentation?

An informative presentation is a type of presentation that is just there to provide information. Unlike a persuasive presentation, you’re not necessarily delivering it to get your audience to take action or change their minds. This type of presentation is often analytical. It may just “report the facts,” but you might also want to include some analysis of the information.

How to make an informative presentation

1. This type of presentation needs to be about a specific topic, so research your topic thoroughly. Whether that means gathering data from your team or colleagues, or going to the library or interviewing experts, you’ll want to take every step you can in order to seem like an expert in front of your audience.


2. Consider your crowd and write this presentation type for them. If your audience knows a lot about your topic, you can skip some of the background information, like when you deliver a report to your team. A teacher will want to go into much more detail if they’re preparing a lesson plan, though.


3. Write a thesis statement and organize the presentation around that. This will help you structure all the data and information that you’re discussing, rather than just doing a data dump.


4. End on a call to action. This type of presentation is of course different from a persuasive presentation, but it’s good practice to give your audience something to do with the information you just presented.

Informative presentation examples

You have likely come across this type of presentation often throughout your workday. Here’s one by Devin Banerjee describing parental leave policies in the financial sector.

Motivational presentations

What is a motivational presentation?

Motivational speaking might be one of the most enviable types of presentations for people. Motivational presentations can turn a mere story into an inspiring tale. Very similar to a persuasive presentation, a good motivational presentation will convince you to do something, rather than just waiting for it to happen. It has a clear purpose, often pulling from a personal story written for a specific audience, and inspires the audience to make a change in their lives.

How to make a motivational presentation

1. Know your purpose. This is important for any type of presentation, but none more so than for this presentation type. You need to know the purpose of your presentation and build upon a singular message.


2. Understand your audience and write your content for them.


3. Start your presentation with a strong hook, like a question, a personal story, or a compelling statistic.


4. Include a personal narrative or a story that your audience can closely relate to. This helps them understand the core message of your presentation and feel more compelled to take action at the end.


5. Conclude your presentation with a call to action. Your audience is motivated to make a change, so they need an outlet to do so.

Motivational presentation examples

There are so many motivational presentations out there, and many of them live here on Prezi. Look at this presentation on climate change, which compels you to take action and combat climate change on your own.

Instructive presentations

What is an instructive presentation?

An instructive presentation is one that provides specific directions to accomplish a task. It might be a little longer than most types of presentations because you’ll need to discuss it step by step. At the end, your audience should walk away from this type of presentation more informed and with a new skill.

How to make an instructive presentation

1. Determine exactly what you want your audience to learn at the end of your presentation. This type of presentation goes beyond just sharing facts. People want to learn how to do something, so make sure you have a clear idea of what that is.


2. Map out the steps. Be clear about all ideas and information that is packed into your presentation.


3. Have an understanding of your audience’s level of knowledge. Are they an informed audience or fresh to the topic you’re presenting? This type of presentation will be different depending on the audience you’re with.


4. Use visuals and examples throughout your presentation so people new to the topic can more easily follow along.

Instructive presentation examples

Teacher Nucleo Vega teaches how to play and understand eighth note subdivisions in his instructional video:

For even more examples of instructional presentations, read our article on the best instructional videos on Prezi.

There are a lot of types of presentations out there, but they’re only effective if you understand the structure of each and utilize the structure to your advantage. Find more examples of presentations in our Presentation Gallery, or check out Prezi Present to start creating your own presentation today.