Presentations

Prepare the Presentation

Establish Objectives for the Presentation

Your concern should be “why am I giving this presentation?”, as well as “what am I going to put in the presentation?  You want to give your audience (1) some background on the topic, (2) specific experimental details on the apparatus and procedures, (3) a discussion of your results, and (4) your conclusions and recommendations.

Analyze the Audience

The most successful presentations are those that are prepared with a particular audience in mind and tailored to suit the knowledge, attitudes, likes, and dislikes of the members of that audience.  You should be able to understand how deep into the subject it is advisable to go from the point of view of the audience.

Prepare a Preliminary Presentation Plan

This is a blueprint for your presentation - it provides a framework on which an oral presentation may be developed and helps you decide how much and what kind of material you will need.  The heart of the plan is stating the main ideas or concepts which the audience must get if the objectives of the presentation are to be met. These main ideas should, in general, be (a) in conclusion form and preferably in complete sentences, (b) be interesting in themselves or capable of being made so, and (c) be few in number, less than five.  The overall plan should assist the speaker in keeping ideas channeled and in determining emphasis points.  One also needs to identify factual information necessary so that the audience can understand these ideas.

Select Resource Material for the Presentation

For most presentations, in general, finding enough resource (background) material to include is not a problem.  The problem, rather, is one of proper selection. Guiding questions may be:

1. What is the object or purpose of the presentation?
2. What should be covered or eliminated?
3. Amount of detail necessary?
4. What must be said to attain the objectives?
5. What is the best way to say it? (That is, by examples, statistics, comparison, data, etc.)
6. What material should be withheld from the presentation itself- but held in reserve during the question-and-answer period (if raised?)
7. Subject everything to the WHY test?  Examine each item and ask, “Why is this to be used?”  Sometimes there is a natural tendency to include related material that is especially interesting or meaningful to the speaker but not so interesting to the audience, in general.  This material may also dilute the ideas essential to accomplishing the presentation’s objectives.  This is a painful exercise.
8. Don’t talk about areas you are not sure of, unless you have to!  This statement is especially true for extended topics outside the main area of interest.

Organize Material for an Effective Presentation

Organize the selected material into an effective presentation that will (a) fit your abilities, (b) reflect your honest beliefs, (c) meet the objectives, and (d) satisfy the needs of the audience.  The presentation may be divided into: (I) state the idea (Introduction), (ii) develop the idea (Body), and (iii) restate the idea (Conclusion).

Practice the Presentation in Advance

1. Give the presentation aloud to yourself (with your notes and audiovisual aids)
2. Use a tape recorder.  A videotape recording is even more valuable.
3. Give a dry run.  Get some friends and colleagues to listen to your presentation. You will have an opportunity to use the PC projection system to practice.
4. Make adjustments in your final presentation based on results of your practice sessions.

Make the Presentation

Keep your audience in mind when you make a presentation.

Relationship to Your Audience

Communication is a two-way process.  The speaker does not communicate merely by putting ideas into words.  The listener must be receptive to these words despite outside interference so that what the speaker says not only reaches his ear, but also enters his brain.  To test this interaction and understanding the speaker must get FEEDBACK.

Feedback, both positive and negative can be by (a) questions and comments from the listeners, (b) by observation of nodding heads and facial expressions, (c) vacant stares, and (d) attention or the lack of it.

A vital part of good communication lies in effective eye contact.  Maintain eye contact with the listeners and let them feel that you are talking directly to him or her during part of the presentation.  Confidence in you is much stronger if you look your listeners in the eye when you are making your presentation.

Audience Questions

The way questions (raised by the audience) are handled often has a greater effect upon the objectives of your presentation than the actual presentation itself.  Plan exactly how and when questions will be handled.  Anticipate the types of questions you may encounter, and plan how to handle them.

Handling the questions during the presentation can be the most effective method.   The audience reaction gives you excellent feedback as to whether or not your message is being received correctly.  Also, questions along the way will necessarily mean active participation by members of the audience.  However, it does take skill to handle questions effectively and still maintain both control and continuity of the presentation.

Your attitude is most important.  Approach the audience with the idea that the audience is paying you a compliment by asking questions, implying that they are genuinely interested in gaining information that only you can provide.  You will be defensive if you approach audience questions with the idea that someone is trying to put you on the spot or catch you in a mistake.

General Tips

Learn to spot beforehand those potentially weak areas in the presentation so that you are not unduly embarrassed if they are challenged.  Always give some sort of answer, even if it is "I don’t know."  Each question asked must be dealt with in some way or your image will suffer in the collective minds of the audience.  If you don’t have a good answer to the question, admit it, and either refer to someone who can provide the answer or offer to get the answer later.  Do not bluff!

Adapted from: Auburn University and Oklahoma State University