PRESENTATIONS

PRESENTATION PLANNING

 

If you have been asked to do a presentation here’s some tips for how to get prepared and what to think about:

 

Five skills to focus on:

 

Verbal; It is important to make sure your voice is clear and not mumbling, it’s an idea to talk slowly and focus on your delivery of your words, choosing a language that is appropriate to the target audience so using words that they will understand. If you were talking to children you would use words that they understand opposed to if you were talking to computer nerds you would use technical terminology that they understand. 

 

Visual; Using imagery to explain more about your chosen topic helps people to have a visual idea of what you are explaining, it is important to make sure that the images are of a good quality and if using slides they are not overloaded with text that distracts the audience.

 

Body Language; It is good practice to try to maintain eye contact when talking to your audience, looking different people in the eye as you talk. This keeps the audience engaged and shows confidence and focus to deliver the presentation. Try not to move around too much when talking but some movement is ideal to not be fixed in one place, also hand movements when needed but not too much.

 

Preparation; Ideally you should consider practising your presentation to other people or at least practice speaking it out aloud together with your slides to make sure you are clear when to the change slides and have some feedback from friends or someone if possible.

 

Check the Tech; Always make sure that the computers, screens or projectors you are using are working correctly and that you will not have any issues during your presentation.

 

Different presentation Styles to think about:

 

Visual Style; Using slides and imagery alongside you talking and explaining your topic, the images complement your talking points and are good for large audiences with broad interests.

 

Free  Form; Doesn’t require slides and is quite impromptu, relating the chosen topic to personal stories and relation to the topic. This style is good for impromptu meetings, networking events and elevator pitches.

 

Instructor; This style is great for delivering lots of information or content, where you can use figures, discuss complex topics using metaphors and wanting to deliver learning. This maybe a good way to present if you’re not comfortable being personal, want to educate and maybe if you’re not so knowledgeable of your subject area.

 

Coach; This style is a way to engage the audience using role play, interaction in an energetic way with lots of personality and charismatic speakers. This is great for speaking at conferences or to audiences that need an energetic presentation.

 

Storytelling;  This style relies on storytelling to connect to their audience, bringing the points and information to life within stories. It is great for sales presentations, networking, conference speaking basically where you have the time to tell stories opposed to extensive factual content.

 

Connector; This often involves freeform Questions & Answers to help the speaker to connect with the audience, showing an interest and knowledge in the chosen subject relating to the audience. During this your feedback is immediate during the discussions.

 

Lessig; This style requires the speaker to discuss slides as they appear usually within a 15 second timeframe. This enables a faster pace of presentation keeping the audience engaged due to its quick pace.

 

Takahashi; This usually contains several slides with large text or words, with the idea that it is for short presentations requiring a memorable kick.

 

There are two types of presentations;

 

Formal presentations are usually for a specific audience, the speaker may be invited by someone to do the talk, it is usually pre-prepared and a place where the speaker is asked to share ideas and given time to prepare for the presentation and organise its delivery.

Three examples of where it would be a formal presentation would be a conference, a speech for being nominated/appointed a position or lectures within educational settings. 

 

Informal Presentations are usually more personal, prepared in a short time scale and have less organisational methods than a formal presentation. They are normally in small group settings with a relaxed manner of delivery. For example seminars talking or educating an audience, ‘stand up’ impromptu meetings like discussing your project/daily work or within a workplace such as a supervisor role informing staff of the work to achieve or health and safety regulations.

 

So the key points to remember after you have decided what your presentation will include, who it is for and how you’re going to present it is just to mainly practice speaking aloud to people, or yourself, till it becomes natural and you feel confident in delivering information to others. Good Luck!