Giving Presentations

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Giving Presentations
OUTLINE Why give presentations? How to give
tutorial presentations General advice on
presentations
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Giving Presentations
Hate giving presentations? You are not
alone Wallechinsky et al (1977) Asked 3000
Americans What do you fear most? 41 placed
public speaking at the top of their list (above
the fear of sickness, loneliness or death) We
are all utterly terrified of making a fool of
ourselves in public.
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Giving Presentations

• Why do we have to give presentations?
• It is highly unlikely that your career path will
  allow you to avoid speaking your mind publicly.
• Information is redundant if it is not shared.
• Organisations are aware that people prefer
  listening to messages rather than reading them.
• Speaking to more than one person allows a
  healthy and dynamic exchange of views.
• There are also many cases outside of a career
  where an ability to speak publicly is incredibly
  useful.

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Giving Presentations

• Why do we have to give presentations?
• In order to produce a good presentation you must
  be able to
• Organise and summarise complex information
  effectively.
• Communicate this information clearly.
• Manage time efficiently.
• Respond appropriately to unpredictable
  questions.
• These are all skills which will help you learn.
• These are also highly marketable skills.

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Giving Tutorial Presentations

• Types of tutorial presentation
• Present a paper (written by someone else)
• Present an argument / answer a question
  (essentially an essay title)
• Presenting a paper is easier than presenting an
  argument.
• But there is plenty of opportunity for
  humiliation in both.

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Giving Tutorial Presentations

• How not to present a research paper
• Go into great detail over the experimental design
  and procedures
• Spend ages describing the results in minute
  detail
• Utterly fail to convey any sense of why the
  experiment was done in the first place
• Utterly fail to convey any sense of what the
  implications of the results are

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Giving Tutorial Presentations

• How to present a research paper
• Describe the background to the paper
• Define key terms
• Outline other relevant findings
• Describe the specific questions the research is
  addressing
• Briefly describe the experimental method
• Describe the most important results
• Discuss how these results relate to other
  findings.
• Discuss the wider implications of the results /
  any criticisms you have.

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Giving Tutorial Presentations

• How not to do an essay based presentation
• Write an essay and then read it out
• How to do an essay based presentation
• Structure say what youre going to say, say it
  and then say what you said.
• Powerpoint Use visual aids to stimulate audience
  and cue the points you want to cover.

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General Presentation Skills

• Finding the right register
• Most speech is conversational.
• Most written text is grammatically convoluted.
• Getting the right balance between formality and
  informality in a presentation is very tricky.

• Avoid colloquialisms (sort of or kinda)
• Try to avoid erms and ums.
• You want your audience to respect you, not
  like you.
• Try to speak more slowly than you would
  normally.
• Use pauses for emphasis (as opposed to
  raising your voice)
• Dont let your voice fade away at the end of
  sentences.

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General Presentation Skills

• Anxiety reduction
• The easiest way to reduce anxiety is to have a
  well prepared and well rehearsed presentation.
• However, if nerves are still a problem, try the
  following
• Visualisation Imagine yourself giving a
  brilliant presentation.
• Breath deeply.
• Relax muscles / Release tension.
• Take a script which you can read if all else
  fails.
• Do something else really stressful just
  before(drastic, but works!)
• Unfortunately, the most effective treatment for
  public speaking anxiety is exposure. E.g. it gets
  better with practice.

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General Presentation Skills

• Know your audience
• This is easy for you - they will be fellow
  students plus a tutor.
• In other words, the majority will know as much or
  less than you do about the topic.
• Academics have to face a wide variety of
  different audiences.
• I have talked about my research to
• Members of the public and NHS managers
• Trainee psychiatrists
• Primary school children
• Psychologists
• In each case, the talk had to be tailored
  appropriately, but a good general rule is that it
  pays to keep things simple.

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General Presentation Skills

• Preparing your overheads
• Use Powerpoint (or Word for text transparencies)
• Dont use anything less than a 24pt font.
• Aim for about 8 slides for a 15 minute talk.
• Do not put more than 4 or 5 pieces of
  information on each slide.
• Make sure the slide contains information which
  will prompt you to make the points you want to
  make.

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Using Powerpoint(This slide and the next need
to be viewed in slide show mode otherwise the
animations wont work)

• DO NOT DO THIS

• OR THIS

• IT IS NOT BIG OR CLEVER

• AND IT GETS ANNOYING

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Visual Aids

• This can also be annoying (if overused)

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Practice

• Practice giving the presentation to a friendly
  audience and ask them for honest and constructive
  criticism.
• Be prepared for it to hurt!
• Act on it.
• Finishing on time is very important, and
  requires practice.
• So practice out loud on your own with a clock.
• Practice can be counter productive - if its just
  winding you up, stop!

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Some general tips

• Make eye contact.
• Talk clearly to the back of the audience.
• Dont mumble the ends of sentences.
• Be enthusiastic (or pretend)
• Ask the tutor to warn you when you have two
  minutes left.
• The only way it gets better is to give more
  talks.
• Book yourself a treat for immediately afterwards.

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Tips for handling questions

• Repeat questions for the benefit of the audience
  (and to give yourself extra thinking time).
• Be honest when answering questions, especially
  if you have no idea of the answer.
• Dont be afraid to ask the questioner to be
  clearer.
• Dont be afraid or ashamed to let someone else
  in the room answer the question.