Presentation Skills.docx

Presentation Skills.docx

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PresentationSkills

PresentationSkills

∙PreparingEffectiveOralPresentations

Emphasizesscientificandacademicsettingsforpresentations.

∙TheVirtualPresentationAssistant

ProducedbytheUniversityofKansas,isanonlinetutorialtohelpyouimproveyourpresentationskills.

∙DealingwithPresentationDisasters

Gearedtothebusinessworld,thissitehassomerelevantinformationforanacademicsetting.

DesigningVisualAids

∙DesigningEffectiveVisuals

Anonlinetutorialaimedtowardsstudentsandacademicsinscientificfields.

PosterPresentations

∙CreatingPostersforHumanitiesandSocialSciences

Hasinformationongivingaposterpresentation.

∙DevelopingaPosterPresentation

Looksatdesigningeffectiveposterpresentationsforsciencemajors.

OtherOnlineResources

∙EffectivePresentations

Ifyou'redoinganassignmentonspeakingorcommunicating,thissitehascomprehensivelistsofrelatedlinks.

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Ihaveseparatedtheprocessofpreparingatalkintoaseriesofstages.Revieweachstageinsuccession,atleastonthefirsttimethroughthetutorial.

1.Planning

2.Preparation

3.Outlining

4.ImportantElements

5.Practice

6.Presentation

7.TheMomentofTruth

8.Handlingquestions

InitialPlanning

Thisiswhereyoubegintotailorthetalktothesituation,andforthatreasonthisstageisveryimportantforasuccessfulpresentation.Talktoyourhostandclarifythesepointsbeforeyouspendmuchpreparationtime.Iftheenvironmentandaudienceareunfamiliartoyou,thisisacriticalstage.Youmayevenwanttodoaliteraturesearchonpotentialaudiencememberstoidentifyareasofcommoninterestorpotentialquestionswhichmayarise.Beginthisstageearly-themoreleadtimeyouallowyourself,themoretimeyouwillhavetothinkupnovelapproachestothetopicandthemoreinterestingandsubstantialyourpresentationwillbe.

Beforeyoubeginpreparingthepresentation,you'llneedtodetermine:

1.Thetypeoftalkyouwillbeexpectedtogive

owillthisbeaninformalchat,aseminardiscussion,oramoreformalpresentation?

odifferenttalkshavedifferentpurposes;theintentofaconferencepresentationisnotthesameasajobtalk.Whenindoubt,askforguidancefromyourhost.

2.Thecompositionoftheaudience

owillyoubespeakingtoageneralaudienceorspecialists?

ohowmanypeopleareexpectedtoattend?

oisthislikelytobeafriendlyaudience?

Aninteractiveaudience?

3.Thetimeallottedforthetalk

othelongerthetalk,themorefreedomyouwillhavetoexplorethetopic

oashorttalkneedstobeveryclearandtoaddressthetopicdirectly

oisquestiontimeincluded?

4.Expectationsforinformationcontent

oisthereaspecificpurposeforhavingyougiveatalk?

Clarifytheexpectationsbeforehandandplantoaddressthemduringthepresentation.

owillyoubepresentingnovelconceptstothisaudience,orbuildingupontheirpriorknowledge?

Eitherway,makesureyoucoverthebasicsclearly,andearlyinthetalk,toavoidloosingtheaudience.

Preparation

Onceyouhaveageneralideaofwhatyouwanttosay,you'llhavetodecidehowtosayit.Unlikeaconversationorawrittendocument,atalkisaone-shotattempttomakeapoint.Bycontrast,aconversationconsistsofrepetitionsandclarification'sbasedonquestionsandimmediatefeedback,whileawrittenpaperallowsareadertopuzzlethroughitscontentsasoftenasnecessary.Itisessentialthatyourtalkbewell-constructedandtidy,andthatyourpointsbepresentedtotheaudiencebothalogicalsequenceandunambiguously.Thisalltakesafairamountofpreparation.Startearly!

Hereareafewpointerstogetyoustarted:

1.Startpreparingfarinadvancebythinkingthroughwhatneedstobesaid.Collectmaterialwhichmayrelatetothetopicfromunusualsources,andsleepontheseideas.Thefinalproductwillbemorefully-developedandinteresting.

2.Usingbiglettersandaboldpen,writeaclearstatementoftheproblemanditsimportance,andthenpinthatstatementonthewallaboveyourdesk.

3.Developthisthemeintoonejargon-freesentencethatwillcatchtheattentionoftheaudience.Next,identifytheissuesyouplantoaddress（brainstorm,thentrimback;seetheportionofthistutorialonoutlining）.

4.Arrangetheseissuesinalogicalsequence（whichmaychangeasyoudevelopthetalk）.Thisprocessiseasierifyouuseindexcardstoorganizeyourtalk,withoneideapercard.

5.Computer-basedpresentationprograms（PowerPoint,Persuasion,etc.）canbewonderfultime-savers.Thetimeinvestedinlearningtousetheseprogramsisrewardedbythespeedwithwhichapresentationcanbecreated,evenbyamoderately-skilleduser.Theseprogramsaregoodtoolsfororganizingyourpresentation（anelectronicversionoftheindexcardsidea）,theycanbeusedtocreatevisualsforthepresentation（e.g.,slidesandtransparencies）,andevenprojectthosevisualsduringthepresentation.

6.Avoidusinglists（First...,Second...）;youmayconfuselistingsystems（First...,PointB...,andanotherthing...）,oryoumaydiscoverlaterinthetalkthatyou'vemissedapointentirely,andthenyou'llbeforcedtobacktrack.Bothoftheseproblemstendtodistractyouraudienceawayfromthepointsyouaretryingtomake,andbothgivetheappearanceofpoororganizationalskills.

7.Retentionofinformationbytheaudienceisreducedasatalkproceeds,soifyoudowanttomakeaseriesofpoints,organizethemfromthemosttotheleastimportant.Thatway,theaudienceismorelikelytoremembertheimportantpointslater.Youmayevenfindthatthelessimportantpointsbecomeirrelevanttothefocusofthetalkasyoupractice.

8.Determinetransitionelementswhichwillhelpyouraudiencetofollowthelinkfromoneissuetothenext.Theseshouldbelogical,andmaypresentedbyposingaquestion,orexplainingyourowndiscoveryofthelink'sexistence.

9.Useshortsentenceswithsimpleconstructions.Theconceptwillbemademoreclear,andthesentencestructureismoresimilartoconversationalstyles.

10.Runthroughthetalkonce,early.Gobackandre-thinkthesequencing.Discardnon-essentialelements.

11.Don'tassumetheaudiencewillbefamiliarwithbasicconceptsthatformthefoundationofyourtalk.Outlinetheseconceptsbrieflybutclearlyearlyinthetalktoavoidconfusion.

12.Attempttoidentifyproblemsorquestionstheaudiencemayhaveandaddresstheminthetalk,beforetheaudiencehasachancetothinkofthesethingsthemselves.

13.Determinewhichelementswouldbenefitbybeingpresentedwithvisualaids.Spendtimeworkingoutthebestwaytopresentthematerial.Headonovertotheaccompanyingtutorialsforinformationonpresentingmaterialinaneffectivewayusingvisualaids.

14.Preparethumbnailssketchesofthesevisualaids,thenrunthroughthetalkagain.Re-workthemostappropriateandessentialvisualaidsanddiscardtherest.Don'tforgettoproof-readyourvisuals!

Dosowhilethereisplentyoftimetore-printthatcriticalslidewiththeglaringtypo.

15.Theearlieryoustartonthevisuals,thebettertheywillbe.Ontheotherhand,avoidfinetuningeachvisualendlessly;ifyoufindyourselfdiddlingthedetails,goontodosomethingmoreproductiveinstead.

16.Whenindoubtaboutwhichpresentationmediumtouse（transparencies,slides,videos,multimedia,etc.）,choosetheformatwhichistheleastcomplexwhichremainsconsistentwithbothclarityandcontentofthepresentation.Keepinmindthatthemoretechnologyyouuse,themorethingstherewillbewhichcangowrong.Thesetechnologicaldifficultiesmaydevelopintoagruesomepresentationexperience,particularlyifyouaregivingthetalkinanunfamiliarsetting!

17.Ifyoudoneedtousemultimediatechnologyinyourpresentation,callaheadtomakesurethetechnologyyourequireissupportedintheroomwhereyou'llbetalking!

18.ThemostimportantpreparationfactoristoREHEARSE!

Dosoinprivateatfirst.Thenforarealacidtest,videotapeyourselfandwatchtheresultswithacriticaleye.It'softenapainfulandhumblingexperience,buttheresultswillbeworthit.

19.Youcanthentrythepresentationoutinfrontofafewcolleagues.Askforfeedback,thenactonthatinformation.Selectthosewhoknowalittleaboutyourtopic,andnotthosewhoknowalot.Thiswillfocusyourattentiononattemptingtoexplainwhyyoudidwhatyoudidinsimpleterms,ratherthanencouragingattentiontodetailsonlyspecialistscareabout.

20.Ifyoustartpreparingearly,you'llhaveplentyoftimetorefinethepresentationbasedonyourcolleagues'feedback.Thisisalwaysausefulprocess.

21.Don'twasteyourcolleagues'time;ifyouaresincereaboutwantingthatfeedback,don'twaituntilthenightbeforethepresentationtoaskforotherpeople'sinput.

22.Remember,theshorterthetalk,themoredifficultitwillbetocoverthematerialclearlyandcompletely.Bestrictaboutincludingonlywhatisessentialinformationforthepresentation,andremovingallthenon-essentialtidbits.

Outlining

Theprimarypurposeofapresentationistoprovideinformationwhichtheaudiencewillthenrememberatalaterdate.Detailedreferencingofmaterialorextensivereviewofdatawon'tberemembered-andmayputtheaudiencetosleep!

Onewaytomaintaininterestistoorganizeandpresentthematerialinanovelmanner.Usinganon-standardorderingofmaterialwillhelptokeeptheaudienceinterested.Similarly,organizingyourmaterialinanewway（ratherthanre-workinganoldtalk）willhelptokeepyourowninterestinthetopic,andwillresultinatalkwhichis