The Art of Presenting

1. The Art of Presenting Faculty of Social Sciences

2. What are we going to look at? • before the presentation • during the presentation • common mistakes • after the presentation

3. Plan your talk • what are your aims? • who is your audience? • where are you going to give your talk? • have a backup plan (if the computer crashes, more/fewer people come)

4. Think about the content • brainstorm your ideas • which ideas go best with your audience and what do you want your audience to learn?

5. Think about the structure • tell your audience what you are going to say • say it using examples and anecdotes • tell the audience again what you have said • four parts of a typical presentation: • introduction • main body • conclusion • questions

6. What’s the difference between your audience and an elephant? The elephant never forgets – the audience occasionally remembers.

7. Think about using visual aids • graphs, charts and pictures are more comprehensible and easier to remember than a text • keep the same font, minimum 18pt font size on OHPs • not more than 5 bullet points per slide, maximum two lines long • use an overhead projector (OHP), slide projector, whiteboard, screen or flipchart • have handouts prepared

8. Practise your delivery • rehearse your talk • think about the body language, voice quality and eye contact; try to smile • speak slowly, take pauses • you can refer to individuals in the audience

9. During the presentation (I.) • greet the audience and tell them who you are • know exactly how to start • keep to the time allowed (it’s good to spend max two minutes for each slide) • stick to the plan for the presentation • leave time for discussion (about 5 minutes)

10. During the presentation (II.) • enjoy yourself • use examples from everyday life, tell the audience some amazing facts they didn’t know • ask questions,they can be rhetorical • treat your audience as equals • speak to five hundred people in the same way you would speak to five

11. Do not ! • read your presentation word by word • stand with your back towards your audience when showing something on the screen • stand in front of the screen • add to OHPs with a pen during the talk (the audience will be fascinated by your shaking hand) • leave one slide on the screen for a long time

12. Do not • move too much • use yellow and orange on your slides, these colours do not show up well • make special effort to sound funny

13. After the presentation • thank the audience • have yourself and materials available • tell the audience how to contact you