Making Effective Presentations

1
Making Effective Presentations

• and
• Group Working Skills

2
Learning Outcomes

• Be conversant in the necessary elements that
  comprise a good presentation
• Be aware of those skills which are essential in
  the execution of a good presentation
• Have a greater understanding of the advantages
  and disadvantages of working as part of a group
• Appreciate the roles and behaviours needed for
  successful group working
• Know what can go wrong in groups and how to avoid
  the dangers

3
Lecture Outline

• Introduction
• Aims
• Your audience
• Logical questions to ask
• Preparation
• Structure
• Delivery

4
Introduction

• A necessary face-to-face skill in communication
• Both good and bad presentations are remembered
• Presentations may constitute formal and informal
  (assessed and non- assessed)

5
Ask yourself

• increasingly focused questions
• What is the subject?
• What is the theme?
• What is the point or angle?
• What are the objectives? What do you want to
  achieve?

6
Aim of Presentation?

• Do you need to
• INFORM?
• TRAIN?
• PERSUADE?
• ENTERTAIN?
• DEMONSTRATE?
• Your answer will determine your approach

7
Your audience

• Who will your audience be?
• What will they expect or need?
• How many will there be?
• What will their interests and level of knowledge
  be?

8
How topresent badly

• Dont worry about what the lecturer wants
• Dont prepare until the night before
• Dont do any reading
• Make messy notes so you cant read them
• Dont prepare any visual aids
• Think of it as an ordeal
• Read from a script
• Read as quickly as possible and avoid looking at
  your audience

9
Logical Questions to Ask

• What does your lecturer want?
• a review of the literature?
• something well structured/description and
  analysis?
• answer to a question with supporting
  reasoning/arguments with pros and cons?
• lead toward a discussion?
• Your opinion, recommendation and conclusion
• how long? 5/10/20/30/40 minutes?

10
Process of Presenting

• Message
• Visual aids, voice, body language
• Presenter Audience
• Feedback
• Interest, attention, body language

11
Preparation

• Prepare in good time
• Read the relevant material
• Think about it - make it your own
• Decide what you want to say
• Structure it intro/main body/conclusion
• Script or notes?
• Use prompts for conversation with your audience

12
Preparation

• Prepare a script if it helps - security blanket
• Use visual aids - Powerpoint, OHP, other
• Provide handouts
• Practice speaking from your notes
• Think about the audience - what do they know?

13
Preparation

• Selecting Material
• is your material relevant to the audience and the
  topic?
• What are the key messages?
• How long will it take to deliver?
• What could you omit if time runs out?
• What are the absolute essentials?
• What could be added if you have time to spare?

14
Basic Structure

• Tell them what you are going to tell them
• (the beginning)
• Tell them
  (the middle)
• Tell them what you have told them
• (the end)

15
The Beginning

• Clearly explain the format - tell them what to
  expect
• Outline the content you will cover
• Set the tone and grab attention. Include a
• question
• true story
• provocative statement
• visual aid
• a surprising statistic

16
The Middle

• Order the material into chunks
• Dont flit between points
• Ask yourself
• are you explaining something where one step
  follows from another?
• Is date or time order important?
• Do you need to give one side of an argument, then
  the next?

17
The End

• Some possibilities for an end
• briefly repeat the main points and draw them
  together
• emphasise the main point or angle

18
Quality of your Delivery

• Timekeeping keep your watch in view rehearsals
  are essential
• Voice and manner avoid distracting mannerisms
  relate to your audience
• Dealing with questions not difficult if you are
  well prepared check you understand the question
  admit ignorance rather than waffle

19
Visual Aids

• get attention
• aid understanding
• look professional
• help nerves

20
Speaking

• Stand up
• Take deep breaths
• Relax as much as possible
• Look around the audience - puzzled?
• Stop and invite questions
• Speak sufficiently loudly and clearly
• Allow time for audience note taking
• Make eye contact with your audience

21
Things not to do

• DONT
• hold your notes in front of your face
• talk too fast
• talk to your feet
• mumble through your notes
• use colloquialisms or too-familiar language

22
How to overcome nerves

• Prepare carefully - be confident about what you
  say and how you say it
• Make a conscious effort to relax
• Arrive early and satisfy yourself that everything
  is set up the way you need it
• Be in the room before everybody else

23
Giving the Presentation

• Time yourself
• Wait until audience is settled before speaking
• Inform audience when you would like questions
• Remind yourself to speak more slowly and loudly
  than usual
• If possible, speak from cue cards or memory
• Do not apologise for anything you feel could be
  better

24
Giving the Presentation

• Make eye contact with at least some of the
  audience
• At the beginning, summarise what you are going to
  say (in sequence)
• Make each point clearly and pause
• At the end, briefly sum up the main points
• Prepare a good line to end with

25
Successful Team Working

• Clear, shared goals
• Agreed ways of working
• Effective communication
• Support and cooperation between members
• Monitoring of progress

26
Team skills and group behaviour

• Managing the task clear objectives, monitoring
  progress towards them and corrective action when
  needed
• Managing the process stay committed and
  motivated to achieving the teams goals. Support
  and encourage
• Communication vital for managing the task and
  process. Talk and listen to each other

27
Conclusion

• Presentations are a necessary part of your
  education make the best of them
• Valuable transferable skill
• Group work