Delivering a presentation whether in college or at work could be a terrifying experience. Even if you have the best PowerPoint Presentation of all time, public speaking is no easy task. As a naturally shy person who overcame her fear of crowds and ended up speaking at TEDx, I'm sharing the top five tips on nailing your next presentation.

Go as minimalist as possible with your slides

One major reason why people fail at delivering great presentations is that they put all their faith in a number of slides. While it's necessary to have information on a screen, it's also incredibly distracting for your audience.

If you put your entire speech on the slides, people will immediately start reading and completely interest in what you're saying. So how do we solve that problem?

Go as minimalist as possible when it comes to the text you put in the presentation. In fact, the presentation is meant to be something of a cheat sheet. You want to have a few keywords and bullet points but nothing more than that.

image via Lukas

Think of it not just as something aimed at your audience but as a tool for you to use in order to remember what you're supposed to say at each moment.

Adding some graphics helps because people respond well to visuals, but keep those to a simple one per slide.

Obtaining the undivided attention of the room is key and keeping it is the single most important aspect of nailing your presentation.

Have numerical data

We love numbers. There's a great level of certainty in numbers which makes us feel comfortable with what the presenter is saying and grants them authority.

For example, I could say: "many people are afraid of public speaking." Okay, sounds about right, but is it? You'll have to take out your phone and do a search to verify which let's be honest, no one has the time or is willing to do.

If I said: "According to Forbes Magazine, 10% of the population is genuinely terrified of public speaking," you'd think "oh, that sounds about right, I can believe that!"

Data is your friend so help yourself by using some stats. The only thing to be conscious of here is not to include too much numerical information because just like anything else in life, too much of a good thing ends up being bad.

Hold a pen

This is the simplest trick in the book and it works like a charm every time.

image via energepic

In order to nail your presentation, you have to be super aware of your body language. Shoulders should be relaxed, chest out and chin up. Holding a pen gives you direct control over something and helps you stay on point instead of worrying what to do with your hands and whether you look awkward.

Next time you watch a talk show, notice what the host has in their hand. A pen is a top favorite object to hold as are clickers for presentations on stage.

Remember that motion creates emotion, so own the room and keep your confidence.

Make it interactive

The big problem with presentations is that they can be excruciatingly boring. There's nothing worse than sitting through an hour of someone blabbing about a topic you can't make yourself care about.

In order to avoid boring your audience ti death, include them in the presentation. Begin with a question or a show of hands. Wake them up by asking them to participate.

Starting off this way, or saying that you'll need their assistance during the presentation guarantees you 100% attention because no one wants to be caught dozing off and exposed in front of the whole room.

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Including the audience also takes pressure off of you because it makes them feel like this is their project as well.

Be a storyteller, not a presenter

The word "presenter" sounds so incredibly dry and boring, that there's no wonder people hate to be in that role.Be a storyteller instead.

We're much more inclined to listen to stories with an interesting plot as opposed to a conventional office speech that includes a cool graph here and there.

It makes sense - why do you think children love being read bedtime stories? We often forget this as we get older, but stories make a lasting impression on us and help us recall facts much more easily.

Tell your audience a story and be sure that you'll leave a great impression.

So there you have it - grab a pen, prepare a story and head in with confidence.