Our 10 Top Presentation Tips For Students | The Study Guide
Our 10 Top Presentation Tips For Students | The Study Guide
The dreaded university presentation can be the most anxiety-inducing experience for students. Presentation stress is even more commonplace due to the pandemic. Most new students will never have had the opportunity to present in front of a room full of people before university!
Even though nearly 60% of students enjoy next to no restrictions at uni, over a fifth are apprehensive of having none. This anxiety could be related to the change we’ve all been through over the last two years and also the fact you’ve got to learn new skills…again. Just as you’ve mastered online learning, you’ve got to go back in person.
Presenting over Zoom is one thing, but you won’t be able to switch your camera off and mute your mic to scream into the abyss in front of the lecture hall or a seminar room.
Unfortunately, giving presentations will keep popping up after university. Most jobs will require you to give presentations to a team or client, and depending on the industry, this could be an everyday thing.
However, before you click off sweaty and scared, we’re here to help you overcome any worries and nail that existing talent. Here are our top 10 tips to help you succeed in your presentations.
1. Start strong
Audience engagement is key to a successful presentation, so crafting an exciting beginning is vital. There are so many ways you can achieve this; a few examples are:-
- Opening with an anecdote or story. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has got this down to an art.
- Stating a divisive or shocking statistic that is central to your theme.
- Set up the exciting problem or question you will be trying to answer in the presentation.
If you start on the right foot, you’ll smash the rest of the presentation. From flow and delivery to engagement, your presentation will benefit. Amy Cuddy does an excellent intro getting the audience to do a task – the perfect way to engage and get the presentation off to a flying start.
2. Be enthusiastic
If you want people to pay attention to you, you have to give them a reason. You must show the audience that whatever topic you’re talking about is worthy of their enthusiasm and attention. The easiest way to do that is to be your enthusiastic self and show the audience how to do it.
3. Get inspo from others
Now please don’t report us for plagiarism here. We’re defo not advocating that you copy other students’ work! What we are suggesting is that you have a look at inspirational speakers to learn about different techniques for presenting. TED Talks like Simon Sinek and Chris Anderson are brilliant for this! Try to copy their delivery style, watch how they hold themselves on stage and practise developing your stage presence.
4. Remember your body language
So much of human interaction is non-verbal. We’re all constantly and subconsciously assessing other people for social cues. How you stand whilst presenting can considerably impact the audience. Try not to hide behind a podium or notes table. Remember to keep your body open to the audience, maintain eye contact, and stand straight. All of these things will give your presentation added authority beyond just what is being said.
5. Keep it simple
You will likely be expected to produce a PowerPoint with slides to assist your audience. The most simple slide is the best aid for the audience. Don’t fall into the common trap of using your slides in replacement of your notes. You should plan what you are going to say and how you will say it before you even consider working on your PowerPoint. Your PowerPoint should have the highlights, and the key points and be very visual.
6. Project
Delivery is almost as important as the content itself. Your audience must be able to hear you, so practise projecting that amazing voice. There’s obvs a line between good projection and just shouting; it’s something you should work out before stepping up to deliver. Another good tip is to keep any notes away from your face, as this will only block your voice further.
7. Keep it slow
When we’re nervous, there’s a tendency to try and rush through the presentation as quickly as possible to get it over and done with.
This is a big no-no!
Make sure you speak slower than you usually would help the audience understand and absorb what you’re saying. This will calm you down and stop any stumbling over those long, complicated words you will inevitably want to include because… well… you’re a genius…
8. Prep the tech
There are so many options for presentation tech. A lot of the time, there’s a tendency to over-focus on the visual technology side of your presentation. It’s super important to make the tech enhance your presentation, not detract.
People don’t want to watch you read out your presentation from the big screen in front of them. Think, does this video or clip or slide make my point clearer or bring the topic to life? If not, then maybe you could do the presentation without it.
9. Embrace the nerves
Nerves are the worst bit about presentations. All of the tension, the sweating and the heart palpitations are enough to make us vow never to stand up and present anything ever again.
You have to find ways to embrace the nerves and stop them from becoming an obstacle to your presentation. The audience expects you to be nervous, and you could even go as far as publicly addressing your nerves at the start. This is a good way to ease a speaker into their rhythm and get the audience on the side.
10. Practice practice practice
The best way to help a good presentation become an amazing one is to give yourself plenty of time to prepare. The best public speakers plan their speeches and presentations months to really iron out the issues by running through practice sessions.
If you can , practice in front of a test audience, but choose your faux audience wisely. You want to avoid those friends who can’t keep their “constructive” criticism to themselves. The last thing your confidence needs when trying to hone your presentation is a host of unfocused advice.
University is a time of change and excitement, but it’s also a time where we are challenged and pushed outside of our comfort zone. This is where personal growth happens, so don’t be intimidated by your upcoming presentation; harness our tips and thrive. Got some online exams you need to prep for? Well, here’s how to utterly smash them and a few tricks on how to get motivated to revise.
10-Minute Presentation Topics | 50 Unique Ideas in 2025
For 10 minutes, what can you really do? A shower? A power nap? An entire presentation?
You might already be sweating at the idea of that last one. Cramming an entire presentation into 10 minutes is tough, but doing it without even knowing what to talk about is even tougher.
No matter where you’ve been challenged to give a 10-minute presentation, we’ve got your back. Check out the ideal presentation structure below and over fifty 10-minute presentation topics, you can use for your big (actually, pretty small) speech.
10 Topics for Presentation for College Students
A 10-minute presentation is all you need as a college student to show your knowledge and forward-thinking values. They’re also great practice for presentations you might be making in the future. If you feel comfortable within 10 minutes, chances are that you’ll be alright in the future, too.
- How to work alongside AI – Artificial intelligence is making huge steps forward daily. We’ll soon be in a different world, so how are you, the worker of the future, going to deal with it? This is a super interesting topic and one that’s very relevant for your classmates.
- Fighting the climate catastrophe – The issue of our age. What is it doing to us and how do we solve it?
- Portable homes – The portable home movement is on the way to revolutionising the way we live. What’s good and bad about having a house you can move around and what does your ideal one look like?
- The thrift life – How to save money on clothes, along with the pros and cons of throwaway fashion for youngsters.
- The future of streaming platforms – Why is TV on demand so great and why is it not universal? Or is it stealing too much of our free time?
- What happened to newspapers? – Newspapers are probably ancient technology to college students like you. A deep dive into history will reveal what they were and why they’re on their way out of print.
- The evolution of the mobile phone – Has any device in history advanced as quickly as mobile phones have? There’s so much to talk about in this 10-minute presentation topic.
- The life and times of your hero – A great chance to show your love for someone who inspires you the most. This can be within or outside of your college subject.
- My permaculture future – If you’re looking for a greener existence in your future, try explaining to your classmates the advantages and logistics of having a permaculture garden.
- E-waste – We dump out so much electrical waste these days. Where does it all go and what happens to it?
10 Interview Presentation Ideas – 10-Minute Presentation Topics
More and more nowadays, recruiters are turning to quick-fire presentations as a means of testing a candidate’s skill and confidence in presenting something.
But, it’s more than that. Recruiters also want to learn about you as a person. They want to know what interests you, what makes you tick and what has changed your life in a profound way.
If you can nail any of these presentation topics in your interview, you’ll be starting next Monday!
- Someone who inspires you – Pick a hero and talk about their background, their achievements, what you’ve learned from them and how it’s shaped you as a person.
- The most eye-opening place you’ve ever been – A travelling experience or holiday that blew your mind. This might not necessarily be your favourite ever abroad experience, but it was one that made you realise something you had not thought about before.
- An imagined problem – Set out a hypothetical problem at the company you’re applying for. Show the recruiters the steps you would take to eradicate that problem for good.
- Something you’re proud of – We’ve all got achievements we’re proud of, and they do not necessarily work achievements. A quick 10-minute presentation on something you’ve done or made that has made you proud can reveal a lot of good stuff about you as a person.
- The future of your field – Make some interesting, bold predictions about where you think the industry is heading in the upcoming years. Do research, get stats to back up your claims, and avoid being condescending.
- A workflow you’ve fixed – Untidy workflows are rampant in many workplaces. If you’ve had a hand in turning something inefficient into a well-oiled machine, make a presentation about it!
- A book you’d love to write – Assuming you were a top-class wordsmith, what’s the one topic you’d love to write a book about? Would it be fiction or non-fiction? What would the plot be? Who are the characters?
- Your favourite work culture – Choose the job with the best work culture in terms of office atmosphere, rules, after-work activities and trips away. Explain what was so great about it; it might give your potential new boss a few ideas!
- Pet peeves in the workplace – If you fancy yourself as a bit of a comedian, listing out the things that grind your gears in the office could be a good laugh and a nice bit of observational comedy for your recruiters. Make sure it’s actually funny though, as listening to a candidate moan for 10 minutes is not normally something that leads to recruitment.
- The good and bad of remote working – Surely every office worker in the world has experience of remote working. Pry open your own experiences and discuss whether or not they’ve been for the better or for, the worse.
10 Relatable 10-Minute Presentation Topics
People love stuff they can relate to their own experiences. It’s the reason why your presentation on the problems of the post office was a hit, but your one on the use of thermoplongeurs and suspension compression on modern fatigue carousels was an absolute travesty.
Keeping topics nicely open and accessible for everyone is a great way to get a good reaction. Do you need some topics for the presentation that participants can get involved in quickly? Check out these fun presentation topic ideas below.
- The best Disney princess – The best interesting presentation topics! Everyone’s got their favourite; who’s the one that gives you the most hope for generations of strong, independent girls?
- The greatest language ever – Maybe it’s the language that sounds the sexiest, looks the sexiest or the one that just works the best.
- Coffee vs tea – Most people have a preference, but very few have the numbers to back it up. Do some scientific research into what’s better between coffee and tea and why.
- Stand-up – You may not initially think it, but a stand-up comedy performance is definitely a presentation of sorts. 10 minutes is a great time window for some witty observations that make everyone laugh.
- Reasons for procrastination – List out all the things that keep you from doing what you’re supposed to be doing. Remember to tell some stories in this – chances are that almost all of your audience will be able to relate.
- Is social distancing for life? Introverts, assemble. Or actually, don’t. Should we keep social distancing an opt-in, opt-out kind of thing?
- Paper books vs ebooks – This one is all about physical touch and nostalgia against modern convenience. It’s a fight for our age.
- Identity of the decades – We all know the distinction between the 70s, 80s and 90s, but what were the unique cultural points of the 2000s and 2010s? Will we see them later or will they just never get their own identities?
- Pluto’s a planet – Believe it or not, there are a surprising number of Pluto aficionados out there. Talking about how Pluto’s a planet could really get them on your side, and they’re a powerful bunch.
- Observational comedy – A dive into the most relatable of short presentation topics. What makes observational comedy so relatable?
Fear of boring your audience? Check out these interactive multimedia presentation examples to incorporate engaging components into your next talks.
10 Interesting 10-Minute Presentation Topics
This one is the exact opposite of ‘relatable topics’. These short presentation topics are all about super interesting scientific phenomena that a lot of people don’t know about.
You don’t have to be relatable when you can be fascinating!
- Crown shyness – A presentation that explores the phenomenon of the crowns of trees that grow in such a way as not to touch each other.
- Sailing stones – There are rocks that can sail across the floor of Death Valley, but what causes it?
- Bioluminescence – Dive into what makes certain animals and plants light up the night using just their bodies. Include heaps of pictures in this one, it’s a glorious sight!
- What happened to Venus? – Venus and Earth came into existence at the same time, made of the same stuff. Yet, Venus is a real hellscape of a planet – so what happened?
- Music therapy in Alzheimer’s treatment – Music is very effective in treating Alzheimer’s disease. Take a dive into the interesting reason why that is.
- What the hell is slime mould? – An exploration of the mould made up of single cells that can solve mazes when those cells combine forces.
- All about Havana Syndrome – The mysterious illness that struck the US embassy in Cuba – where did it come from and what did it do?
- The origins of Stonehenge – How did people 5000 years ago drag boulders from the Welsh highlands to lowland England? Also, why did they even decide to build Stonehenge?
- Intuition – Gut feeling, sixth sense; whatever you want to call it, scientists don’t really know what it is.
- Deja vu – We all know the feeling, but how does it work? Why do we feel deja vu?
10 Controversial 10-Minute Presentation Topics
Check out some controversial
10-minute presentation topics. Not only are social topics for presentation, but these are also ideal topics for presentation for students in class as they can make positive debates in the learning environment.
- Cryptocurrency: good or bad? – It resurfaces in the news every few months, so everyone’s got an opinion, but we often only hear one side of the cryptocoin and not the other. In this 10-minute presentation, you can introduce the good and bad of crypto.
- Should we ban Black Friday? – Mass consumerism and mass tramplings at store entrances – has Black Friday gone too far? Some will say it’s not gone far enough.
- Minimalism – A new way to live that’s the opposite of everything Black Friday represents. How does it work and why should you try it?
- The best stuff for your health – Another one about which everyone’s got something to say. Do the research and give the facts.
- Disney whitewashing – This one’s definitely a controversial topic. It could be a quick exploration of how Disney seemingly chooses and alters skin tones depending on the story being told.
- Time to eat some bugs – As the world will soon have to move away from meat, what are we going to replace it with? Hope your audience likes cricket sundaes!
- Free speech – Is free speech something we still have? Are you having it right now while you give this presentation? That’s a pretty easy one to answer.
- Gun laws around the world – See how the world’s most gunned-up country compares to other countries in terms of weapons available and its ramifications.
- 1 million vs 1 billion – The difference between $1,000,000 and $1,000,000,000 is much bigger than you think. There are so many ways to highlight the enormous wealth gap in a 10-minute presentation.
- Military spending – We could solve all world issues in a flash if every country dissolved its military and used its funds for good. Is it feasible?
Bonus Topics: Vox
Looking for unique topics for presentation? Being your great idea source, Vox is an American online magazine with a real knack for making insightful video essays on interesting topics you may never have thought about. They were the guys behind the ‘Explained’ series on Netflix, and they’ve also got their own YouTube channel full of topics.
The videos vary in length, but you can choose any of these to present if you feel like it’s interesting enough for your crowd. They are not only the best topics for presentation in college but also unique topics for presentation in the office. Contract or expand the information in the video to 10 minutes and make sure you can present it comfortably.
Some of Vox’s videos include trendy topics for presentation.
- How music on TikTok goes viral.
- London’s super basements.
- The AI behind creating art on demand.
- The end of oil.
- The rise of K-pop.
- Why diets fail.
- Many, many more.
Wrapping Up
10 minutes is, categorically, not a long time, so yes,
10-minute presentation topics can be difficult! Okay, it’s a long time to spend on your turn on the karaoke machine, but it’s not a long time for a presentation. But those also can be the best ideas for video presentations!
Above is your choice of
10-minute presentation topics!
Nailing yours starts with the right topic. Any of the 50 unique ones above would be a great way to kick off a 10-minute presentation (or even a 5-minute presentation).
Once you have your topic, you’ll want to craft the structure of your 10-minute talk and the content. Check out our presentation tips to keep your presentation fun and watertight.
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