Leading Indian App development company: CodeCraft Technology

Software development is a complex process. And it’s constantly reimagined or repurposed with new features. Unlike the production industry or manufacturing industry, increasing the number of people/resources won’t increase the speed of software development proportionately. The reason being, no other engineering discipline uses Intellectual capital as much as software development. Software development is perhaps the most knowledge-intensive engineering branch. So how does one increase or optimize the speed of an engineering discipline which is more abstract than concrete?

Software development as an activity comprises people, processes, and technology. To increase the speed of development, the math is simple. Assuming everything else is normal, reduce the variables which drag the project down or reduce the speed and increase the variables which speed up the process.

What are these variables which can increase/decrease the pace of development?

Project Management Activities

Clear requirements

The clearer your requirements, the lesser the unknowns. And hence certainty in what needs to be done. Precise requirements are the first step in faster development. It is difficult to freeze requirements because change is inevitable. Therefore, what needs to be done might still be challenging to achieve and, hence, time-consuming. But it’s a known challenge. Hence with precise, documented requirements, there is no avoidable delay in development.

Availability of resources

With precise requirements or defined goals, the next step is to ensure the availability of resources. Resources can be material, people, tools & frameworks, etc. As with requirements, it may not be possible to have the right amount of resources. Or even know what are the right resources at the start of the project. But what is important to realize is that the right resources can make or break the project. Experienced people, the right tools, the proper process can accelerate the execution of a project. Being short-staffed might make economic sense, but it’s a guaranteed way to delay your project.

Project Plan – Backup/Schedule/Risk

A well-defined project plan goes a long way in executing a development project faster. A project faces risks of many types at different stages. Schedules can go awry for a variety of reasons. Data loss because of catastrophic events is a possibility. A well-planned project mitigates all of these risks and has a plan B for all scenarios. By taking out the unknowns in a project, development can be done uninterrupted. With well-defined, realistic schedules, slippage and the delay associated with that are overcome.

Well defined communication points

Modern development projects are cross-functional. There are many departments involved. Not all the departments would be technically savvy, mainly when we are dealing with enterprise projects. Software development has always suffered this problem of business-engineering communication during development. Hence the need to have a clear, single point or channel of contact. Speed of execution gets affected when people across a team are left searching for answers from another department or unit. This might be due to awareness or simply lack of knowledge about who to reach out to. If there is a single source of information or a single point of contact, development speed is greatly improved. This is especially true when the project involves cross-functional teams.

Evaluation of requirements; Feasible-Doable

We discussed precise requirements earlier. Parallel to that is feasible, doable requirements. Far too often, project initiation happens and with clear requirements as well. But some of the requirements won’t be feasible or doable in the current context. Maybe the technology is not yet there, and perhaps compliance is an issue. Maybe the relevant standards do not permit it. Once a project starts, and the discovery of such a non-feasible-doable requirement is made, teams usually try to “band-aid” a solution that is relative to the original feature leading to further delays. Hence it is essential to choose only those features which are possible in the current context. This reduces technical debts.

Engineering

Agile Development Methodology (Tools & Automated Testing)

The software engineering process in the early days was pretty simple. Hence a linear flow of development worked fine. The requirements were given ad-hoc. It was developed as a whole. After testing, it was deployed or delivered. But as technology and the digital world evolved, complexities increased as well. The linear flow or waterfall model could not scale or adapt to these complex requirements. Hence the Agile development methodology became popular. With agile development methods, tools, and automation, development becomes faster. Products are built iteratively. Agile development helps in faster development because of this. Changes, which are a leading cause of delay, are reduced to a minimum with iterative development. The stakeholders are given a periodic review, and hence the final goal is always evident.

DevOps CI/CD

DevOps and CI/CD are a must for fast development. DevOps and CI/CD, which comprises automated development, deployment, and testing, reduce the bottleneck in communication between various stages of development. For example, the development team need not generate or deploy separate builds for quality analysis or other project stakeholders. Thanks to well-scripted and defined pipelines, deployment is faster, and hence feedback is more instantaneous. With automated testing, every commit to the code is tested and verified. With tracking and monitoring also automated, development speed is increased dramatically.

Right Tech Stack

Over the last couple of decades, technology has evolved rapidly. Many tech stacks have become obsolete. Many have become suited for specific applications, and some have become popular with the development community. The right tech stack can make a difference in the development process through greater speed, third-party support, developer community support, vendor support, etc.

Human Centric

Focused time for work and dedicated offline time

Ultimately all software projects or software engineering is done by people. At least that’s the state currently! Skills, intellect, and knowledge vary from person to person. Similarly, emotional attributes like curiosity, temperament, patience also differ from one person to another. People clearly cannot work 24 hours a day to deliver some output. Getting the best out of every person in a beneficial manner to the person and the project is an essential skill for a manager. Motivational programs, skill upgrades, learning opportunities, dedicated downtime, work-life balance, meaningful work go a long way in encouraging an employee to do his best. Ultimately leading to faster output

Finally

Software development projects are unique, diverse, have different scales and complexity. Hence it’s safe to say that what works for one project won’t work for another. The trick to increase the speed of development or optimize the process is by having well-defined goals, eliminating risks, having the right amount plus relevant resources, and planning in the best possible way. Any activity in a particular project which helps these should be encouraged. It is essential to realize that the velocity of the execution can be improved at any stage.

Software development is a complex process. And it’s constantly reimagined or repurposed with new features. Unlike the production industry or manufacturing industry, increasing the number of people/resources won’t increase the speed of software development proportionately. The reason being, no other engineering discipline uses Intellectual capital as much as software development. Software development is perhaps the most knowledge-intensive engineering branch. So how does one increase or optimize the speed of an engineering discipline which is more abstract than concrete?

Software development as an activity comprises people, processes, and technology. To increase the speed of development, the math is simple. Assuming everything else is normal, reduce the variables which drag the project down or reduce the speed and increase the variables which speed up the process.

What are these variables which can increase/decrease the pace of development?

Project Management Activities

Clear requirements

The clearer your requirements, the lesser the unknowns. And hence certainty in what needs to be done. Precise requirements are the first step in faster development. It is difficult to freeze requirements because change is inevitable. Therefore, what needs to be done might still be challenging to achieve and, hence, time-consuming. But it’s a known challenge. Hence with precise, documented requirements, there is no avoidable delay in development.

Availability of resources

With precise requirements or defined goals, the next step is to ensure the availability of resources. Resources can be material, people, tools & frameworks, etc. As with requirements, it may not be possible to have the right amount of resources. Or even know what are the right resources at the start of the project. But what is important to realize is that the right resources can make or break the project. Experienced people, the right tools, the proper process can accelerate the execution of a project. Being short-staffed might make economic sense, but it’s a guaranteed way to delay your project.

Project Plan – Backup/Schedule/Risk

A well-defined project plan goes a long way in executing a development project faster. A project faces risks of many types at different stages. Schedules can go awry for a variety of reasons. Data loss because of catastrophic events is a possibility. A well-planned project mitigates all of these risks and has a plan B for all scenarios. By taking out the unknowns in a project, development can be done uninterrupted. With well-defined, realistic schedules, slippage and the delay associated with that are overcome.

Well defined communication points

Modern development projects are cross-functional. There are many departments involved. Not all the departments would be technically savvy, mainly when we are dealing with enterprise projects. Software development has always suffered this problem of business-engineering communication during development. Hence the need to have a clear, single point or channel of contact. Speed of execution gets affected when people across a team are left searching for answers from another department or unit. This might be due to awareness or simply lack of knowledge about who to reach out to. If there is a single source of information or a single point of contact, development speed is greatly improved. This is especially true when the project involves cross-functional teams.

Evaluation of requirements; Feasible-Doable

We discussed precise requirements earlier. Parallel to that is feasible, doable requirements. Far too often, project initiation happens and with clear requirements as well. But some of the requirements won’t be feasible or doable in the current context. Maybe the technology is not yet there, and perhaps compliance is an issue. Maybe the relevant standards do not permit it. Once a project starts, and the discovery of such a non-feasible-doable requirement is made, teams usually try to “band-aid” a solution that is relative to the original feature leading to further delays. Hence it is essential to choose only those features which are possible in the current context. This reduces technical debts.

Engineering

Agile Development Methodology (Tools & Automated Testing)

The software engineering process in the early days was pretty simple. Hence a linear flow of development worked fine. The requirements were given ad-hoc. It was developed as a whole. After testing, it was deployed or delivered. But as technology and the digital world evolved, complexities increased as well. The linear flow or waterfall model could not scale or adapt to these complex requirements. Hence the Agile development methodology became popular. With agile development methods, tools, and automation, development becomes faster. Products are built iteratively. Agile development helps in faster development because of this. Changes, which are a leading cause of delay, are reduced to a minimum with iterative development. The stakeholders are given a periodic review, and hence the final goal is always evident.

DevOps CI/CD

DevOps and CI/CD are a must for fast development. DevOps and CI/CD, which comprises automated development, deployment, and testing, reduce the bottleneck in communication between various stages of development. For example, the development team need not generate or deploy separate builds for quality analysis or other project stakeholders. Thanks to well-scripted and defined pipelines, deployment is faster, and hence feedback is more instantaneous. With automated testing, every commit to the code is tested and verified. With tracking and monitoring also automated, development speed is increased dramatically.

Right Tech Stack

Over the last couple of decades, technology has evolved rapidly. Many tech stacks have become obsolete. Many have become suited for specific applications, and some have become popular with the development community. The right tech stack can make a difference in the development process through greater speed, third-party support, developer community support, vendor support, etc.

Human Centric

Focused time for work and dedicated offline time

Ultimately all software projects or software engineering is done by people. At least that’s the state currently! Skills, intellect, and knowledge vary from person to person. Similarly, emotional attributes like curiosity, temperament, patience also differ from one person to another. People clearly cannot work 24 hours a day to deliver some output. Getting the best out of every person in a beneficial manner to the person and the project is an essential skill for a manager. Motivational programs, skill upgrades, learning opportunities, dedicated downtime, work-life balance, meaningful work go a long way in encouraging an employee to do his best. Ultimately leading to faster output

Finally

A professor, to highlight the importance of communication, gave a simple exercise involving the whole class. He wrote a tongue twister

“Fred fed Ted bread and Ted fed Fred bread”

on a piece of paper and gave it to the first student sitting on the first row and asked him to whisper whatever he read in the next student’s ears. The second student was asked to repeat whatever he heard to the third student, and so on. This process was repeated till the student in the last row and finally he/she was asked to say what he heard. He said

“Fred said bake bread, Fred said eat bread”!

Talk about lost in translation!

This simple example helps us understand how much information and, importantly, meaning can be lost in communication. How difficult communication can be even in person, let alone through other mediums like digital. A similar predicament happens when business and I.T. communicate, particularly regarding requirements or expected outcomes.

Businesses and I.T. have their silos, and they speak different languages.

One, the user’s language, expectations, and markets. And the other, the language of technology, of bits and bytes and frameworks. Invariably when

“Fred feeds ted bread,”

it is understood as,

“Fred said bake bread.”

In his seminal work “Business at the Speed of Thought,” Bill Gates wrote `If the 1980s were about quality and the 1990s were about reengineering, then the 2000s will be about velocity’. Speed of development and quick to market products has never been more critical than today. Take the case of the ongoing pandemic. Every single aspect of our life has been upended. Companies and businesses are scrambling to upgrade or modify their delivery chains. In such exceptional circumstances, velocity or speed of delivery is of utmost importance.

A knee-jerk reaction to ensure delivery speed would be to hire the right engineering talent and just put them to work, right? Well, it turns out that’s not always the case. One, talent is scarce, and second, it is expensive. According to a survey by TechRepublic

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/cio-jury-83-of-cios-struggle-to-find-tech-talent/,

a whopping 83% of CIOs found it a struggle to fill positions, particularly engineering. Even if you manage to cross these hurdles, merely increasing the number of people to solve a problem never really works. One could put a case for Automation. Automation is a perfect solution to increase the speed of execution. However, automated tools will still have to be built, configured by the I.T., thereby repeating the whole development process. The challenges enterprises face in the development process, such as speed, clarity of vision, are repeated.

Challenges in current development models

I.T. and business need a common language to convey, communicate, and understand business goals uniformly.

Speed of development and delivery separates the winners from competitors in business.

As long as corporate I.T. sanctions it, engineering should not be restricted to I.T. only. Ideas and solutions are not the sole purviews of engineers. Engineering can and should be inclusive, i.e., Citizen development and Citizen I.T. as well.

What is the Low-Code Platform?

Forrester defines low-code development platforms as:

“Products and/or cloud services for application development that employ visual, declarative techniques instead of programming and are available to customers at low- or no-cost in money and training time to begin, with costs rising in proportion of the business value of the platforms.”

Gartner characterizes it as platforms that provide “rapid application development (RAD) features for development, deployment, and execution — in the cloud.”

Low-Code Development (LCD Henceforth) is an approach that involves visual development tools and an interactive development process. LCD is declarative in nature. In the declarative style of development, instead of focusing on how to do something, the focus is on what needs to be done. The logic of how to do something is abstracted behind visual components.

How does Low-Code work with visual development tools?

LCD has a strong emphasis on graphical tools. So instead of extensive coding, developers use pre-built components by simply dragging and dropping. Low-Code enables anyone, literally anyone, to build applications and engineer solutions regardless of their technical ability. This empowers the citizen’s I.T. development. Additionally, the requirements are more clearly implemented since the development can be done by the business as well. With LCD, the business and product owners can engineer solutions independently without depending on I.T. So the goals and features, and vision of the business are translated into solutions more accurately.

What are the Features of Low-Code Platform?

At its heart, LCD aims to bring business and I.T. together to deliver on the business goals faster and better. Far too often, bottlenecks caused by inter dept communication drag the development process down. Understanding business requirements into something which can be expressed using technology is challenging. LCD is the perfect solution for this silo induced communication bottleneck.

With LCD, businesses or anyone authorized in the company can deliver or transform an idea or requirement into a working solution. With abstraction and Automation enabled, the time to market is reduced dramatically. Companies no longer need to depend on I.T. to engineer quick solutions such as automated tasks or prototypes.

LCD is perfect for trying out new tools and prototype solutions. Since LCD is based on visual tools such as drag and drop components, the speed of development is fast, and the development process itself is nimble and agile.

Not all applications and solutions can be built using the out of the box solutions provided by LCD platforms. But LCD can be customized to create new components and reusable modules with the standard development process. LCD also works with complex backend and legacy systems. Along with inbuilt tools and IDEs, LCD provides connectors to set up connections to database and APIs

What are the benefits of Low-Code?

With Low-Code or no code used to develop, the speed of development is faster, and time to market is brought down drastically. Ready to use components are tested and ready to be deployed. So testing time and deployment time are brought down considerably.

LCD enables everyone to be an engineer or developer. In a limited way, of course! The concept of citizen I.T. and citizen development are reinforced with LCD. This allows requirements to be easily translated into implementation, mainly when the business uses a low-code platform.

LCD works well with all existing development processes like Agile, Scrum. Additionally, LCD is compatible with APIs, New methods. The addition of new code to configure custom modules is also possible with LCD. The bottom line is that LCD provides an added advantage to the existing development process of an enterprise.

Although I.T. is going nowhere and it will still be relevant, LCD enables development at a fraction of the cost. Mainly when it comes to repeated automated tasks, LCD provides tremendous cost benefits.

The benefits of having citizen developers are manifold. Citizen IT armed with LCD helps in reducing the IT backlog and improves internal processes. Consequently, innovation and digital transformation in an organization happen at a much faster rate.

How does Low-Code work with APIs?

APIs are the building blocks of great software solutions. They are ubiquitous and everywhere. At its heart, APIs are all about abstracting complexity or business logic into a simple, easy to use interface.

Does this sound familiar?

Of course, it does!

That’s a key goal of Low-Code as well.

As we saw above, Low-Code aims to build rapidly complex applications with minimal code so that solutions can be delivered faster and I.T. can closely replicate what the business wants. Almost all Low-Code service providers have prebuilt APIs from various providers like Google Suite, popular Social Media sites, single sign-on. They can be easily chosen and integrated with the App that is being built. Like the drag and drop interface for building low-code apps, app integration with prebuilt APIs is a breeze.

For Custom API integration, Low-Code Apps have plugins and provision to create high-level model extensions. Write custom code for interacting and connecting to cloud services such as AWS, Google Cloud. Almost all low- and no-code platforms provide ways for programmers to create high-level model extensions for applications. Platforms typically support these extensions through APIs.

What is the future of Low-Code development?

Gartner predicts that by 2024, an astounding 65% of application development activity will be via low-code application development.

https://www.outsystems.com/1/low-code-application-platforms-gartner/

And as per an infographic by Impactmybiz.com, LCD will be a 27 billion dollar industry by 2022.

https://www.impactmybiz.com/blog/blog-low-code-trends-2020/#:~:text=In%202019%2C%2037%25%20of%20developers,or%20no%20technical%20development%20skills.

Business Transformation

Uncertainty is the new normal today, with no clear end as well. Businesses, small and large, have been besieged with unprecedented challenges. Any business is constantly in a state of improvement, upgrade and transition. This is necessitated primarily by the current pandemic, then changing market economics, customer preferences, government policies etc. Business transformation is inevitable. It can be defined as changes or modification to business operations necessitated by the need to improve or due to external factors such as Covid. Digital transformation is one of the key steps in Business transformation

What is digital transformation?

Is it simply the adaptation of technology in an organisation?

Using software, tools and other systems to replace manual work?

Does adding more softwares and state of the art hardware transform a business digitally?

Far From it! Adapting technology makes the job easier for sure, but digital transformation is an entirely different subject.

Digital transformation can be defined as a time bound, holistic change in the business culture which involves people, process and physical aspects, driven by technology. It is a mindset that needs to be adopted by a business. To break it down, Digital transformation redefines a business operation, how employees work, how management perceives data and makes decisions. It alters the way of working in a more systematic and automated way with the singular goal of improving the business at all target levels. Digital transformation is not simply adding technology. Like replacing a software with another. Its planning, analysing, conducting & supporting business operations via technology. IDC has predicted that digital transformation will take up 50% of IT budgets by 2023

Need for Digital Transformation

Before we start on defining the need for digital transformation, why does an organisation need digital transformation? Is it mandatory? The answer to that is simply where does the business see itself in a few years down the line? If the goal is to scale, constantly get better, outrank the competition, diversify etc, then digital transformation is a must. Customer experience is being driven by digital mediums at a rapid pace. Cheaper hardware, faster data speed also drive the need for digital transformation. In the post covid world, uncertainty is written large. No one knows for sure if the old ways of working and doing business will return. Take for example RPA or Robotic Process Automation. Gartner has predicted the spending on RPA services to grow to $2.4 billion by 2022

Core Changes across business areas

Employee upskill

Business Process

Client and stakeholders empowerment

Partners, vendors

Business functions

Assets(Moveable and Immoveable)

Digital transformation helps customers, employees and management get information as and when they require. Frictionless experience goes a long way in retaining customers

With information available all the time, efficiency is achieved in process, output and decision making

Digital transformations biggest plus point is the data driven feedback which is priceless when it comes to planning. In a digital work environment, companies can pinpoint which areas, depts are bleeding, which are thriving, which need optimisation

Ease of operations invariably drive lower costs and improved bottom lines

Tools and Frameworks

Digital transformation is applied across a wide array of business functions such as sales, marketing, HR, administration and operations via

Cloud Computing for data storage

Big Data tools to mine data for analytics

Mobility to give customers omni channel experience

Mobility to give field staff best access to resources and sales

CRM tools and process for operations and administration

Digital Road Map

Any organisation that wants to radically change its course of working with Digital Transformation needs to have a Digital road map. This should be time bound and it should clearly list out the aims and objectives of the company in a short period of time frame and long period of time frame.

Prepare a team and leadership that defines the current state of capabilities and builds a road map for the transition. This will be based on company values, shared goals, budget and objectives. List out the benefits, list out the goals, list out the time and levels of transformation desired

Across verticals, identify opportunities, bottlenecks, pivot points and evaluate. Ask questions in this stage. For e.x In a delivery department, try identifying the most time consuming activity for delivery. Or in a marketing department, what’s the average time taken to respond a inquiry email

Identify vendors, evaluate solutions, measure the pros and cons of solutions. Make a comparative study and evaluate which is better. Compare over a large time frame and wide data set

Implement tech driven solutions like automation, RPA, cloud based backup etc at the basic level. Train the employees and field workers on how to adapt to this new mode. Take feedback and incorporate

Update processes to Agile on a per project basis. At each project constantly evaluate the time and efficiency of execution.

Digital transformation for the future

Thesaurus defines presentation as

A meeting at which something, especially a new product or idea, or piece of work, is shown to a group of people

Introduction

Let’s take out the obvious from this statement. Presentations happen at the gatherings of people. Usually, a large number. And it’s usually done by a single person or a small group of people. Presentations are made to showcase new products, provide information, update on progress, describe alternatives, etc. Depending on the context of the gathering, a presentation can serve different purposes. A presentation in a board meeting about sales figures helps in formulating strategies. A presentation to a group of students helps in teaching a new skill. A presentation in a conference like TED helps in spreading an idea. So we can see that irrespective of what a presentation is, it serves different purposes. The audience is diverse, the time and place of presentation will vary. Some presentations have to be brief, and some have to be formal. Some need humour. Some have to be precise. Thus it’s safe to say that Presentations do not have a one size fits all solution. Presentations are, in fact, tailor-made for a specific audience, gathering, and purpose.

Need for Presentation

What is the primary purpose of giving a presentation?

Why can’t the intended audience simply read and understand what the subject matter is?

It certainly will save time and logistics effort. As we discussed above, a presentation is done for a wide array of purposes. Students give presentations to show their understanding of a subject. A tech CEO gives a presentation about his company’s next best product. A government official gives a presentation to the media. It’s safe to conclude that all the presenters have something to share, to tell. The art of sharing, explaining, convincing is best conveyed through a mixture of communication mediums. Like dialogue, audio/video, images. All of which are central to any effective presentation. Unlike reading and learning which do not have all them. A presentation is dynamic by nature. It can be interspersed with humour, Q & A, trivia, genuine emotions to make it more effective. The goal that a presentation strives to achieve,

Inform or show, or teach or tell, can be done with other mediums as well. Like reading, watching videos, etc. But the element of human interaction in presentations and the synergy with dynamic elements like images, videos, facts, figures makes it more appealing

Best Practises

Even though presentations serve different purposes, the scale of a presentation matters, the size of the audience varies. As discussed above, a presentation does have a central tenet

To educate, inform, update, or convince the audience.

Hence there are certain best practices that any presenter can incorporate into his presentation to make it impactful. These best practices are classified into Pre Presentation Practise and during presentation practice.

Pre Presentation

This is the period before the presentation. Everything a presenter does before the actual presentation is summarised here. Let’s have a look at some of the best practices.

Know the Audience

Master the Subject

Timing and amount of data

Styles and Themes

1)Know the audience

This and the next point are perhaps the most important considerations for preparing a presentation. Who are the people who will be attending the presentation? Students, CxOs, Bureaucrats, Media personality, Housewives, layman, a mixture of everyone? Knowing who will attend the presentation will help prepare a presentation that caters to their needs. Other factors that need to be considered are the audience’s cultural sensibilities, the venue, the current mood politically, culturally, if relevant. Ask yourself, if I was in the audience, would I have loved to hear a particular point? If yes, then you have a good candidate for inclusion.

2)Master the subject

An absolute no brainer this one! If you are presenting something and someone is investing their time on it, it’s your responsibility to make it worth everyone’s time. This can only be done by mastering the subject. Understanding the nuances and subtle points about the subject matter helps deliver the information better to the audience.

3)Timing and amount of Data

While preparing the presentation, it is essential to determine at the outset, how much, and what information should be conveyed in the presentation. There are various rules of thumbs for this. E.g., a popular one by renowned venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki is

A presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.

Presentations should be concise. To the point, every word should have some purpose. General facts, widely known theories, repetition is a strict no-no. Remember to keep it relevant and to the point

4) Styles & Themes

It is necessary to have a beautiful, clean, and minimalistic presentation to convey your ideas/data/facts better. What is the definition of beautiful? It is a very relative term. The style, theme, colours of the presentation should match the information it seeks to convey. Colour psychology is an essential aspect of human understanding. The style and the theme of your presentation should match the occasion and mood of the event as well. Leveraging the power of a beautiful themed UX helps in building an excellent presentation. However, take care that it’s not over-styled as well. The theme should boost the presentation, not overshadow it.

Presentation

Now that the prep work is done, it’s time to walk the talk! It’s presentation time.

What are the best practices for that?

Rehearsing

Body Language, Interacting

Present Facts and Fiction

1)Rehearsing

This is not precisely a pre-presentation step, but rehearsing a presentation is of great help. Preferably with a mock audience like a friend. It helps to identify where more time is being spent.

Where does the pronunciation need correction?

What is the tone of the presentation?

Is the presentation speed okay?

Are there any typos?

Essentially, all such things that need a second look. By filtering or rectifying such things that we identify in a rehearsal, a presentation can be improved. Rehearsing helps in calming the nerves and helps you in identifying any unknowns in your presentation

2)Body language, Interacting

How you present yourself and how you present the subject influences the outcome a lot. The audience is always receptive to a confident demeanour of the presenter. Make eye contact with the audience, particularly the ones who are receptive. Avoid excess gesturing with hands. Just let your natural moments come and go as you present the facts. Equally important is the tone of your voice. It should be authoritative, yet sympathetic at the same time. A stressed-out, condescending tone will elicit a negative response from the audience.

3)What to present Facts and Fiction

An ideal presentation should contain just the right amount of facts wrapped in a description with examples. Avoid presentations which are nothing but slides and slides of numbers. At the same time, presentations should contain enough numbers and stats to prove your point. It should not be too informal. A presentation can begin with an anecdote, story, which is an indirect reference to what is going to follow. An ideal presentation should have an objective, description of what it’s aiming to achieve and a solution.

Bad Practise

What we saw are standard practices to give an excellent presentation. Similarly, there are some standard practices to avoid while giving presentations.

Over Explanation

OverSimplification

Negative Traits, talking about self

Being Nervous about being Nervous

1)Over explanation

This is a common mistake many presenters make. Over explaining a topic. Other than sounding condescending, it leads to a waste of time and a failed presentation. While researching a topic, a presenter should make certain assumptions about shared knowledge and facts. In the rare event of this being proved wrong, a presenter can extemporaneously explain the same.

2)Oversimplification

Over-explanation is a strict no-no. On the other side, we have oversimplification. Oversimplification is also a mistake. Never forget the presentation is intended to provide some information to the audience about which they have no concrete idea so far. Otherwise, there was no point in the presentation. The heart of the matter or the presentation’s crux must be conveyed in a simple and easy-to-understand manner. A vague description or passing reference to the central point will not go well with the audience, particularly the ones who are really looking forward to taking away something from the presentation. The line between oversimplification and over-explanation is relatively narrow. The presenter has to tread it carefully.

3)Negative traits, talking about self

Avoid being critical of anything. If your presentation’s objective is to highlight something wrong, highlight it constructively. Avoid blaming, mocking, or offending statements. Similarly, do not use the venue as a way of soapboxing your opinion or extolling personal virtues. Remember, the objective is to educate the listener about something. The objective is not to present yourself or your presentation as better than something. Let the audience decide that!

4) Being nervous about being nervous

Putting yourself in a position where it’s easy to be judged is fairly nerve-wracking for many. In all probability, the audience understands that. Moreover, it’s quite reasonable as a human trait. Please do not focus on what might go wrong; focus on the presentation matter. No matter how you see yourself, do not try to present it in someone else’s manner. Present it the way it comes to you vis a vis style, body language, tone. Practicing in front of small gatherings before the main event is always helpful.

Ending

Just like an exciting introduction that involves capturing the attention of your audience, the finale of a presentation should leave the audience asking for more. It should ignite their curiosity by making them ask questions to themselves long after the presentation is done. A fitting conclusion helps in solidifying the presentation in the minds of the audience. The ending should mark the beginning of something new in the audience’s mind. For example, something to question values, a poignant question to consider, a disturbing number/figure to spur action, a positively provoking inquiry.

Conclusion