The Art of Presenting

Faculty of Social Sciences

What are we going to look at?

before the presentation during the presentation common mistakes after the presentation

Plan your talk

what are your aims? who is your audience? where are you going to give your talk? have a backup plan (if the computer crashes,

more/fewer people come)

Think about the content

brainstorm your ideas which ideas go best with your audience and

what do you want your audience to learn?

Think about the structure

tell your audience what you are going to say say it using examples and anecdotes tell the audience again what you have said four parts of a typical presentation: - introduction- main body- conclusion- questions

What’s the difference between your audience and an elephant?

The elephant never forgets – the audience occasionally remembers.

Think about using visual aids

graphs, charts and pictures are more comprehensible and easier to remember than a text

keep the same font, minimum 18pt font size on OHPs

not more than 5 bullet points per slide, maximum two lines long

use an overhead projector (OHP), slide projector, whiteboard, screen or flipchart

have handouts prepared

Practise your delivery

rehearse your talk think about the body language, voice quality

and eye contact; try to smile speak slowly, take pauses you can refer to individuals in the audience

During the presentation (I.)

greet the audience and tell them who you are know exactly how to start keep to the time allowed (it’s good to spend

max two minutes for each slide) stick to the plan for the presentation leave time for discussion (about 5 minutes)

During the presentation (II.)

enjoy yourself use examples from everyday life, tell the

audience some amazing facts they didn’t know ask questions, they can be rhetorical treat your audience as equals speak to five hundred people in the same way

you would speak to five

Do not

read your presentation word by word stand with your back towards your audience when

showing something on the screen stand in front of the screen add to OHPs with a pen during the talk (the

audience will be fascinated by your shaking hand) leave one slide on the screen for a long time

!

Do not

move too much use yellow and orange on your slides, these

colours do not show up well make special effort to sound funny

After the presentation

thank the audience have yourself and materials available tell the audience how to contact you