Presentation Tips

[Aiden]

Hey... another thread by me... sorry.

So soon I will be presenting my campaign to three of my teachers to get sent forward to the city competition out of my school. Then I if I get sent through I have to do my presentation again to the police and charity people to win the money for my school...

Do you have any tips for this? Like I'm not shy but it's best to have all the advise possible to win!

It's in 3 weeks.

[Mr-Trainor]

Practice the presentation as much as you can, especially if it's a group presentation. I used to be nervous presenting in secondary school but then during a levels and now at degree level I've always practiced first (along with the rest of the group for any group presentations ofc), and it makes a huge difference to your confidence level because although obviously you don't have to follow the plan exactly, you'll have it in your mind and be able to go with that when you don't know what to do. That may not make sense, but basically just practice presenting . Good luck .

[Aiden]

There's two of us doing it. I'm fairly confident but my parent is shy... she just happens to be my best friend so if she goes wrong I can just tell her haha! I will make sure we both practice and make it perfect!

[Inseriousity.]

Definitely practice. I never used to do it and got 60s and I practiced and ended up getting 78 so it definitely makes a big improvement. Being engaged with what you're actually talking about helps although with school assignments this can vary. Don't look at the floor, look at the audience. People tend to write notes and stare down at them. I personally have never bothered with notes/little cue cards to hold onto. It's never made much sense to me when there's a powerpoint there (usually) with all the information on it already. Engage the audience, tell a few jokes, remember who the audience is.

[Phil]

What type of presentation is it, are you using powerpoint?

[Aiden]

What type of presentation is it, are you using powerpoint?

Not sure yet. We might be. But they normally look a bit odd and it increases the chances of tech errors... but for sake of argument, yes!

[HarrySX]

• Breathe
• Don't put your hands in your pockets/behind your back
• Use your hands to convey points
• Engage w/ audience (ask questions etc)

If you're doing a PowerPoint, don't read from it (hint: your audience won't read it either) and put brief notes on the slides which you can expand further. Definitely one of the biggest mistakes people do is say exactly what's on the PP and it's really embarrassing.

Presentation skills kinda come with experience, if you're not to proficient with them see bullet points ^

Also, save the PowerPoint as .pps, when you open the file it'll go straight into presentation view (and you look like a champ for doing so).

[Matthew]

Like Harry said, if you're using powerpoint, don't just write everything on it and read off it. Use the powerpoint to summarise briefly what you're saying.

As for learning it, start doing so as early as you can. The way I learn presentations is by doing so in blocks, read the first quarter over and over, then remove bits of it (so I have to fill in the gaps etc) and then remove the rest, only leaving what I'd put on a flash card. Once I know the first quarter, then do the same for the next quarter, and put them together etc.

Don't be afraid to use flash cards too, but again don't just write down everything on them or it'll look like you're just reading it. I had to do a presentation for my job/uni application which was 5 minutes long, and I probably wrote down about 20 words on the flash card (I didn't really need it either but I thought it best to have it incase I froze at any point ).

Again has harry said, presentation skills don't necessarily come naturally. I'm assuming this is your first presentation, so don't worry if it doesn't go perfectly- its hard!

[Charz777]

I always rehearse in front of the mirror to see how my own body language looks. Similarly, if you want to make sure you sound confident then record yourself, either video to get the full effect or just sound. I hate the sound of my own voice and never do this as I think it will knock my confidence. Instead I just run through my presentation for a family member.

I also have a whiteboard so I practice writing up on it, or imagining my presentation is up on the screen, making sure I know when and where to point and click.

My biggest piece of advise though is to memorise what you have to say. If you get nervous, small notes or cue cards may not give you enough to go on on the day. Also, if you're like me and get really into it and go off on a tangent then if you've memorised your material it's easier to reel back in to the point and stops you from forgetting what you were talking about in the first place.