How to give the perfect presentation!

Giving a presentation to a group of people is a nerve wracking experience for even the most confident of people; the only way to get better at it is to keep doing it. The worlds of academia and industry now expect their professionals to be able to communicate at a variety of levels; often interviews require the candidate to deliver a fifteen-minute presentation. GCSE speaking and listening gives future managers and young executives the chance to perfect their skills before million pound accounts depend on it! Your knowledge is exceptional – your audience requires the same level of knowledge and it’s up to you to impart it!

• The message: What do I want the audience to know when I am finished?
• The audience: How do I present my talk such that the audience will understand and remember what I have to say?
• Section your ideas clearly – audiences have a short attention span
• Use short, easy to understand sentences
• Keep it simple – explain any technical terms: USE MNEMONICS TO HELP THE AUDIENCE TO REMEMBER IDEAS
• CLEARLY introduce an idea, explain it, finish it

Ideas:

Keep them chronological or

Follow a clear structure – don’t ‘jump’ your ideas around

Fact – people remember images better than they remember words

Fact – the human brain has capacity enough to retain clearly only nine pieces of information in its short-term memory

Fact – audiences need to be involved – concentration span is short; two minutes of solid talking and no interaction will loose attention

Fact– be sensible during your presentation, don’t distract your audience by becoming a comedian – no one wins!

The more involved the audience are the more they will remember!

Be clear about every idea you are discussing; people are taking notes – they need to be clear.

SPEED-Don't go too fast or too slow.

In the first few sentences catch their attention: a catchy or maybe even provocative statement. Try to capture the message of your presentation in a single sentence

Use a:

White board – to show flow diagrams working

OHT – at the beginning of each section with keywords or points you will be discussingVideo clippings – to support your ideas

Diagrams and Images – A picture is worth a thousand words!

Anything that varies from you standing in front of the room and talking will capture the attention of your audience! (Sensibly!)

Use your audience – get them involved, (short, productive activities are a good idea) AUDIENCE INTERACTION--Giving a presentation means interacting with your audience, not preaching at them.

EYE CONTACT!

It is often a good idea to give your audience something they can keep; a synopsis of your ideas, keywords, key ideas, self explanatory diagrams and mnemonics (memory aids) – detailed enough to be useful to an absentee, yet not merely a copy of your notes!

Sometimes people use these sheets to structure their own notes, or to jot ideas they glean from your presentation.

Keep it interesting

Organise it clearly

Leave room for people to make notes

You could even ask a couple of prompter questions to help the audience gather their thoughts

Above all – enjoy it, relax and don’t panic!