Presentation skills are one of the most crucial soft-skills that can really impact one’s life, no matter what your job or role in your organization is, without proper presentation skills you won’t be able to convey your ideas properly and make people understand and engage with it.

Presentation skills are of especial importance for entrepreneurs who are always pitching their ideas to investors, customers and partners. The presentation skills we’re covering in this post aren’t about preparing your slide deck but the method by which you should present your idea or solution.

The aim of this post is to present and compare between free online sources that beginners can rely on to understand the basics of presenting and pitching, the sources stated here are full-structured courses that beginners can follow along.

If you just want the bottom line (the road map to learn the basics of presentation skills) and you don’t wish to read the entire article, then go to the “Bottom Line” section at the end of the article.

Getting Started with Presentation Skills Online from Scratch

Alison

Alison is the first free online outlet where beginners can start learning the basics of presenting through a text-based tutorial, you have to register in order to have access to the training.

Structure: The training is divided into 3 modules, each module is divided into lessons, each lesson covers a certain aspect/tips about presenting.

Interface: The interface is very simple, just click on the lesson covering the topic you want to learn about and you’ll be directed to a new window where the lesson resides.

Now the pros and cons:

Pros

1. Free.
2. The training is well structured and organized.

Cons

1. The training is available as a slideshow which might be boring for some beginners.

Verdict: This is a very good free online outlet where beginners can start learning the basics of presenting through a text-based tutorial.

Udemy

Udemy is the second free online outlet where beginners can start learning the basics of presentation skills through video tutorials; you need to register using your email in order to have access to these video tutorials. You can learn nearly anything on Udemy just type what you’re willing to learn in the search box (presentation skills in this case) and hit search, at the time of writing this post the course entitled “Presentation Skills Secrets:Delivering the Talk of Your Life “ was available for free.

Structure: The course is divided into 84 lectures and each lesson/lecture covers a certain aspect of presenting.

Interface: The interface is very simple, just after registering and adding the course to your list, just click on the lesson you’re interested in and the video will start.

Now the pros and cons:

Pros

1. Free.
2. The training is well-structured and organized for beginners.

Cons

1. The training focuses on public speaking as a whole and not just presentations, though that won’t be a problem.

Verdict: This is the best free online outlet where beginners can start learning the basics of presentation skills through video tutorials.

Rice University Website

Rice University Website is the third free online outlet where beginners can start learning the basics of presentation skills. This is a text-based course (that has some explanatory videos) and you don’t need to register in order to have access to the course.

Structure: The training is divided into 10 lessons, each lesson covers a certain aspect of the basics of the presentation skills.

Interface: The interface is very simple, just click on the topic you’re interested in and you’ll be directed to the topic’s window, where you should find the video as well as the text training.

Now the pros and cons:

Pros

1. Free.
2. The training is well structured and organized for beginners.

Cons

1. The training doesn’t cover as many topics as Udemy training.

Verdict: This is an excellent free online outlet where beginners can start learning the basics of presentation skills through text as well as video tutorials.

University of Manchester Website

The University of Manchester Website is the fourth free online outlet where beginners can start learning the basics of presentation skills through an interactive training. You don’t have to register to have access to the training.

Structure: The training is divided into 5 sections, each section covers certain aspects of presentation skills.

Interface: The interface is very simple just use the navigation menu at the bottom to navigate through sections or inside a single section.

Now the pros and cons:

Pros

1. Free.
2. The training is well-structured and organized for beginners

Cons

1. The training has no videos which might be a problem for some.

Verdict: This is the best free online outlet where beginners can start learning the basics of presenting through an interactive tutorial.

Bottom Line

The recipe for learning the basics of presentation skills:

1. Udemy is the best outlet for beginners to start learning the basics of presenting through video tutorials.
2. Rice University Website is the best outlet for beginners to start learning the basics of presenting through text based tutorials.
3. The University of Manchester Website is the best outlet for beginners to start learning the basics of presenting through an interactive tutorial.

Remember that the first step is always the toughest step, and the aim of this post is to provide you with resources that will help you take your first step in learning the basics of presenting.