1. Preparing better presentations Adapted from: Sinfield, S & Burns, T Essential Study Skills: the complete guide to success @university Sage, London 2003

2. Why do we set presentations? • An active learning process • As you plan, prepare, practice and perform and later reflect, you are really getting to grips with learning the material • As you think about how to communicate a topic effectively to an audience, you are synthesizing & using information • You are becoming familiar with the academic practices of your subject

3. It is an opportunity! • It’s a different form of assessment • And a job skill – often a presentation is part of the interview process • It enhances your self esteem

4. Success in presentations The 4 “P”s Plan Prepare Practice Present P P P P

5. Plan Your time limit, your topic, your audience Then: • Active & interactive reading to gather information • Make your Audio-Visual Aids • Review your notes • Plan the body of your presentation • Convince yourself – if you don’t believe it, why should your audience?

6. Prepare • Prepare a script – but destroy this later – if you read from it will sound boring and dull! • Prepare a set of prompts such as: • Cue cards • A key word pattern note • Key word list of points

7. Refine and polish Review, revise, edit Make sure any gaps are filled, boring bits tidied up, overlong sentences shortened Practice in front of a critical friend who will tell you what is working and what in unclear Learn The Presentation! Practice

8. And finally – Present! • Before – work on being positive • Get to the room in good time • Organise the seating – do you want the audience in rows, a semi- circle, sitting on the floor? • Check the equipment is working – and have some back up material in case there is a problem

9. And then – reflect and learn • It is useful to learn how to evaluate your presentation • Write down what went well • And what didn’t go well • And ideas from other presentations you saw that might work for you next time……………..

10. Useful web sites http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/college-of-london/ldu/north-campus/study-skills-in-depth