Presentations
fffAll students will do at least one presentation during the course of their study. Presentations can also play an important part in your professional life. And in this case, practice (with reflection and constructive feedback) does make perfect!
- Planning your presentation
- Presentation structure
- Ten tips for overcoming nerves
- How to use visual aids to your advantage (overhead transparencies and PowerPoint presentations)
- What lecturers often look for in students' presentations
Planning your presentation
Take some time to consider these questions:
WHO is your audience?
- What do they know about your topic? How much background information do you need to give? Speak to their level of knowledge, not yours.
- Is the audience likely to be receptive/bored/hostile/tired etc? Prepare yourself for their likely attitude and adjust your presentation accordingly.
WHY are you speaking?
- Is it to practice, to inform, to start a debate, to present an argument etc? This will determine what your presentation will contain.
WHAT does the audience need to know?
- Don't just tell them everything you know.
WHAT do you need for your presentation?
- For example, an overhead projector, video, whiteboard pens, tables in groups etc. Don't presume that everything will be supplied or set up. Speak to your lecturer about arranging a video etc well in advance, as they may need to be booked.
HOW long will you talk for?
- How much time will you allow for questions?
- How will you relate the topic to your audience?
- How will you keep the audience interested?
WHEN will you speak?
- If you are not first, you may have to rearrange the room before you start.
- Will you give out handouts? Giving them out just before or during a presentation leads to the audience reading when they should be listening.
- Do you want questions from the audience? If you do not want to be interrupted, tell them in your introduction to keep questions for the end.
HOW will you remember what you want to say?
- Firstly, know your topic and practice presenting it.
- Have an outline of your presentation on a slide or overhead.
- All overheads should have clear headings and dot points of sub-headings.
- Some people use prompt cards. BEWARE: these should NOT contain your full script to read from. Practice more and reduce your prompt cards.
- If you lose your train of thought, take a few seconds to find your place using your overheads or notes and continue.
- If you use notes, have key sections and points highlighted to help you find them easily.
WHERE will you speak?
- If you are not familiar with the room in which you will present, find it and check out the facilities before your presentation to avoid panic. Schedule time for finding a car park. Plan to arrive 15 minutes early to check everything is working in the room, and for calming yourself down before presenting.
Presentation structure
All presentations have:
- an introduction (in which you tell the audience the main ideas you are going to present and in what order)
- a middle (in which you deliver what you promised them, in more detail)
- a conclusion (in which you summarise for the audience the main ideas you have just presented).
You should always have:
- an overhead transparency showing a clear title
- an overhead transparency showing how your presentation will be structured
- a good summary. Like a good ending to a movie or a book, a good summary gives a sense of completion. A poor ending leaves a sense of disappointment.
Question time
- Tell your audience in the introduction when you want them to ask questions.
- Try to anticipate some of the questions you may be asked.
- Have a couple of questions to ask the audience if nobody has a question for you. This will show you are well-prepared and avoids an uncomfortable silence.
Ten tips for overcoming nerves when presenting
- Prepare thoroughly (this is essential). The best antidote to nerves is to be well prepared!
- Breathe to relax. If you have done Yoga, Tai Chi or other similar breathing techniques you will have learned how to breathe deeply to relax.
- Use props/aids. Handouts, overhead transparencies (overheads), a PowerPoint presentation, a brief video slot, all of these aids will help you focus on your presentation.
- Take attention away from yourself. A planned audience activity will take attention away from you and should make you feel less nervous.
- Prepare brief notes for personal use (we all use aids to help us remember). Aids should not be intrusive but should help you avoid reading your presentation, which is boring for the audience. To have an exact copy of your overheads is a good idea.
- Have practice runs; use friends, family, fellow students and staff from the Communication Skills Centre. Some people display surprising habits when under stress. Have a friend tell you whether you twitch, fiddle, scratch your head etc when presenting.
- Prepare and ask questions. Invite questions from the audience & ask questions of the audience.
- Have someone help you with timing. Have a friend in the audience time you and give you an agreed signal so you know how long you have to go before finishing. Make sure your friend keeps giving you encouraging smiles all the way through!
- Take advantage of opportunities to practice. The more you do public speaking the better and less nervous you will become. Gradually take the opportunity to speak out more in class and in other situations that may present themselves (even giving thank you and goodbye speeches). You will be surprised at how you will start feeling less nervous.
- Don't worry about being nervous. If you are not a little nervous something is wrong (even famous actors get nervous). Realise that most of the audience want to hear what you have to say and are not there to criticise you. Avoid announcing to the audience that you are nervous, they don't need to know. Keep the presentation in perspective. What is half an hour or an hour out of your lifetime?
How to use visual aids to your advantage
Overhead Transparencies (overheads)
- Overheads (or slides) are used to enhance your presentation. They can serve as a reminder for the presenter of what to say next and will keep the audience focused.
- If you put too much information on your overheads (ie more than main headings and brief notes) the audience will stop listening to you and read.
- Overheads allow you to face the class whilst talking about the points being shown. Remember not to look at the screen for prolonged periods so the audience sees only the back of your head.
- Well prepared overheads look professional
- Using too many overheads can be monotonous. Under-use can lead to the audience drifting off or getting confused.
PowerPoint Presentations
- Much of the above advice applies to using PowerPoint to present. PowerPoint allows you to present a more colourful and interesting presentation than overheads, if used well. There is also ease of management: just click to proceed rather than handling and changing overheads.
- Do not go overboard with PowerPoint. Keep slides simple so that your audience focuses more on on your content rather than technological wizardry.
- Always have overheads as a backup in case the computer system is down in critical presentations (such as when you are being assessed, demonstrating your research, presenting for a job interview etc). This can happen when you least want it to, and should still be able to present and show that you are well prepared.
Ten tips for using visual aids
- Overheads should be in note form (not full sentences)
- Use a minimum of 18 point for ease of reading
- Space information out
- Use graphics sparingly (only where relevant)
- Avoid use of upper case except for headings
- Arrange overheads in order of presentation
- Restrict use of fonts, colours and styles. Choose a style and use it consistently throughout your presentation, so that it presents as a package
- As each overhead is used, put it in a 'used' pile to avoid confusion
- Place a piece of paper in between your overheads or they will slip off the table easily
- Referencing rules apply to overheads as well. Reference graphs, diagrams etc too!
What lecturers often look for in students' presentations
Ask your lecturer to provide you with marking criteria so that you can deliver a good presentation, meeting the lecturer's specific requirements, but generally lecturers look for:
- A clear introduction, body and a good conclusion
- Evidence of planning and logical organisation
- The ability to make the purpose of the presentation clear
- Sustained eye contact covering the whole audience
- The ability to talk to (not at) the audience
- Clear, relevant overheads (without errors)
- Competent handling of overheads, computers and other aids
- An ability to handle questions
- An awareness of the time limit
- Remember that reading your presentation alienates your audience. A presentation is not a reading and you will be marked down if you read too much.