318 Preparing and Delivering a Presentation

Seite 1

Handouts are an important part of the presentation. Reasons include:

explaining technical terms or concepts for audience members who are unfamiliar with them

Providing background info that presenter doesn't have time to give

Providing statistics that support or explain the presenter's comments

To be used in workshop sessions or brainstorming exercises

Giving hard copies of a diagram or graph that the audience needs to study in detail

Giving the audience a list of topics to be covered

Providing the audience with a hard copy so they can make notes against them

Studies show that most people will only remember 10% of what they heard a few days after a presentation, but well-written handouts significantly increase this. They should be printed on high-quality paper (giving a favourable impression) and contain graphics where possible. Leave space around the margins and between pictures/paragraphs, and generally don't fill more than 2/3 of the page.

Some presenters prefer using a flipchart or a whiteboard, but most will want a slideshow. The equipment needed to present a slideshow will include:

A projector (overhead or digital)

A screen to project the slides on to

Spare projector bulbs

It is a good idea to have a contingency plan. If the presentation is to be given on a remote site, you could email it to the event organisers in advance and ask them to run it on their equipment, to check everything works at their end.

Seite 2

An important part of preparing for a presentation is to produce slides that are suitable for the content of the presentation and the audience.

The slides must look professional. Use a consistent format and typeface, as well as colours that can be seen from the back of the room - although too many colours can be confusing.

Use a master slide to store information about the theme and slide layouts - you can then make changes to every slide without doing them individually. This is useful when you've got lots of slides in a presentation (although avoid too many as this can be boring!)

The first slide in the presentation should give the title of the presentation, the event, the date and the name of the presenter.

The second slide should set the tone. It could contain the main point of the presentation, or a witty quote. If it can be funny or controversial, make it so!

The third slide should list the objectives of the presentation, so that the audience is fully aware of what they can expect.

The fourth slide should list the topics that the presentation will cover. Ideally, there should be 3 themes. Each theme should be covered in three to five slides.

Each slide should have a heading and around thirty words of text. Bullet points are also a really good way of getting a lot of into into few words.

The penultimate slide should recap the objectives of the presentation, and give the audience one last opportunity for questions/issues.

The final slide should give contact details for both the presenter and any other part of their organisation that the audience may wish to contact.

It is wise to avoid graphs, charts and tables that can't be understood quickly. If it takes more than 5 secs to grasp, give the audience a handout and use the slide to make the point the diagram illustrates.

Proofread each slide carefully to make sure that the presenter doesn't look bad when they come across an error.

Ask the presenter to share the feedback they get from the audience with you.

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YOUR OWN PRESENTATION

When thinking about your own presentation, remember that the planning & prep takes two or three times as long as the actual presentation, so leave plenty of time.

Clarify exactly what is required and the facilities will be needed. Check how much time you have, and which presentation you'll be doing, as the audience will make the content vary. There are two main types of presentations:

Informative - training sessions, reports on outcomes or demonstrations of a product/service

Persuasive - promoting sales or persuading an audience of the benefits of a plan

When you put the actual presentation together, you need to be clear about what the main point you want the audience to understand is. It should be possible to present said point in one sentence, no more than twenty or thirty seconds long. This main point should be referred to in the opening part and confirmed in the closing part of your presentation.

You also need to be clear about the objectives of the presentation are. They must be specific and measurable.

Once the presentation has been put together, it is vital that you practise it.

There are lots of different ways to practise.

Practise short sections separately, like actors learning a scene at a time.

Practise in front of people, and ask them for advice - but don't be tempted to change everything last minute!

Practise in a realistic situation - people will move about, ask questions etc during the actual presentation, so doing it to just yourself isn't realistic.

Practice thinking ahead. Try and memorise your presentation - or at least the keywords you're using as prompts. This makes the presentation smoother, as each sentence triggers the next.

Practice your body language. If your hands shake, don't hold papers as this emphasises the shaking. If you're using hand gestures, use them when practising - don't let them flail about.

Practice in front of a video camera. This allows you to see what the audience will see.

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When the day of the presentation arrives, check everything works ahead of time.

Smile, look confident and deliver your opening.

Introduce yourself, and tell them what you're going to be talking about. Emphasise why. Tell them about organised breaks and the opportunity to ask questions, e.g. during the presentation or at the end.

Use language that suits the topic and audience. Remember audiences have very short attention spans - especially young audiences. Each topic will only hold their attention for a few minutes, so break it up wherever possible with pictures of activities.

Use the pace, tone and volume of your voice to emphasise key points. Keep watching the audience; gauge their reaction and adapt your presentation accordingly.

Your body language should give an impression of being interested and enthusiastic - your audience will then feel the same way.

If someone starts talking, stop talking and look them directly in the eye. This will often embarrass them, having behaved badly, and increase your authority in the eyes of the rest of the audience.

Introducing props makes presentations more effective. If it's a new product, pass samples around so the audience can see and touch them.

People also remember if they are able to link what you're telling them with something they already know. Using famous quotes will help put what they're hearing into context, although remember to credit the original user.

Leave the audience on a high. Enforce the message that you had for them. Go back to the objectives you set for the presentation and let them see that they've been met.

Seite 5

EVALUATING YOUR PRESENTATION:

Collecting feedback is important, and helps identify changes necessary to improve future presentations.

There are a number of different ways to collect feedback:

Ask someone to sit in and take notes. You want to know what was good, what was not so good, how they'd describe your technique and where you could improve.

Video your presentation so you can watch it back. Leave it a while, then watch it again. This time, observe the audience's reactions. Note when they reacted the way you expected them to, and when they didn't. Watch the video a third time and listen to what you said. Compare it to what you had to say - did you get distracted and miss points?

Ask the audience to complete feedback sheets.