Presenting to Gen Z (and every other generation)

By Alastair Greener, presenter of Present Yourself in a Minute · Updated 5 November 2026

Age groups are a blunt instrument. Two people born in the same decade can want different things from a talk, and the best way to learn what a room wants is to ask it. The broad patterns are still useful as a starting point, and Alastair Greener's Generationally Speaking research, a study of 4,067 people, goes deeper into how the generations differ.

Say how long, and keep to it

Present Yourself guidance is that younger audiences often prefer shorter sessions. Tell the room the length at the start, and keep to it. If the content needs longer, break it into named sections with a natural pause between them, so people can see the end of each part.

Earn the first minute

Lead with the most useful thing you have. Do not spend the opening on a long introduction of yourself or on context the room already has. Ask: what will someone do differently after this? Say it early.

Build in participation

Polls, quick quizzes, a show of hands with a clear question, or a question put to the room are all ways to make people part of the talk. Keep them short and make sure everyone can take part, including people who would rather not speak. Gamification, such as a simple score or a quiz with a winner, can help, but only where it fits the subject.

Take questions in the middle

Waiting until the end for questions means the quieter members of the room have had no reason to engage. Invite one or two questions during the talk, and answer them briefly before you go on.

Steps

1. Ask the organiser about the mix of the room and the length of the slot.
2. Decide the length, then cut anything that does not earn its place.
3. Put the most useful point in the first minute.
4. Plan two moments where the room takes part.
5. Mark progress through the talk, such as "three parts, one to go".
6. Close with one action the listeners can take.

A worked example

Here is an invented example. A talk on planning a team's training budget is given to a room of new apprentices and senior managers. The original version opened with a history of the company's training policy. The revised version opens with the one decision the room has to make, uses a poll to ask the apprentices what they need, and gives the managers the figures they came for in the last two minutes.

Common mistakes

• Treating a generation as one kind of listener.
• Pitching at the youngest person in the room, or ignoring them.
• A long throat-clearing introduction before the point.
• Using slang you would not use anywhere else. People can tell.

For the planning questions to ask first, see know your audience. For openings that earn attention quickly, see fifty ways to open. For making a talk work for every listener, see inclusive and neurodiverse-friendly presenting.

Related guides

• Know your audience: questions to ask the organiser
• Inclusive and neurodiverse-friendly presenting
• All guides and tools

The picture at the top of this page is an illustration, not a photograph of a client or a real job.