Monday, May 4, 2009

Presentation tips !

What a morning it had been today ! It  was a hectic one for me. I had two classes doing their presentation of their reports.  And the sir-conditioning (what air-conditioning ?-there wasn't any in that room !), didn't help at all !

It started off well but after a few students, I can see where it was going . Definitely the wrong way ! In fact I had to stop a few students while they were doing their presentation because it was getting out if hand, had to ask a few to skip certain irrelevant sections and I even gave a demonstration in the middle of one presentation !

So for the sake of those who'll be doing theirs in the future, here are some tips ...

1.Reading

Never , never but never read off your slide. I can read better and faster than you.  This is not a public reading session. You are there to present and explain.

2. Face your audience

You are communicating with your audience, NOT the screen, therefore FACE your audience. Maintain eye contacts.

3. Voice.

When you face the screen, your voice will not be clear. Maintain a reasonable voulme so that the audience can listen comfortably without having to strain their ears. Vary your voice tone so that you would not sound monotonous.

Your voice should also show enthusiasm and it must be lively.

4.Slides

Select your information wisely.  You DO NOT have to show your whole report . Pick and select the information wisely. Do not spend half your presentation time on your introduction. What is most important would be your Findings. Present and  highlight the main interesting points.

Keepyour slides to MAIN POINTS only ! DO NOT make your slides so wordy. Just read the points, face the audience and do your explaination and/or elaboration confidently.

Use colours --but wisely. Too much of something will have an adverse effect .

5. Conclusion and recommendation

These two can be combined if you plan your facts. 

6. BE PREPARED

Last but not least, PLAN YOUR PRESENTATION. This mornining I could even see one of the students still preparing his slides while the presentation was going on. Needless to say , he scored the lowest. This would solve all your readings , blabberings, stammerings, mutterings and most of all IT WOULD KEEP MY TEMPER AT BAY  !

I hope the above would be of help to future presenters of my subject . 

10 comments:

Alexander said...

most of the students read while presentation is because: sometimes we don't know what we should presented actually... furthermore, we have to presented in English which is the language that we struggle to.. if we do.. sometime we can't find exact word to explain in English tat is why we read..
and problem is maybe because we do nervous standing in front of people and tink wat they might say about us..

tats wat i feel when i do presentation.. we try to do the best..
b4 presentation: we do tink... "I am gonna do Best .. "
While presentation: "What should i do ... oh no i forgot the ting tat shud i said .. gosh.. "
After presentation: " Ah man.. tis is not wat i supposed to do .. i am not plan for tis to happende ahhh"

p/s: tommorow is our interview.. but still i am not prepared it yet.. wish me luck sir..

imsunnysideup said...

Thank for your comment oOo.
Believe you me, I have seen good and very good presentation by students whose level of English is just normal. Some worst than your level !

The key word here is PREPARATION ! And I do not mean preparation the night before the presentation !. You need to know your facts well !
Most students could not give goos presentation NOT BECAUSE THEIR ENGLISH IS POOR, BUT MAINLY DUE TO LACK OF SERIOUS PREPARATION !

i HAVE SEEN STUDENTS WITH GOOD eNGLISH PROFICIENCY , YET GAVE A POOR PRESENTATION SIMPLY BECAUSE HE HAD TO READ THE FACT FROM THE SLIDES AS HE WASN'T PREPARED AT ALL.

"sometime we can't find exact word to explain in English tat is why we read..".. If you prepare them days before the presentation, this wouldn't happen.

You see , even public speaking courses (whether in English or in our mother-tongue') will tell you that the best speeches are always prepared. Spontaneous will always show mistakes and weaknesses.

Even Winton Churchill (Britain's PM during the second world war and famouse for his speeches and quotations), in his famous victory speech outside his residence after the german surtrendered was actually prepared two weeks before the expected victory and victory speeches. But he made it looked as if it was spontaneous.

"p/s: tommorow is our interview.. but still i am not prepared it yet.. wish me luck sir.." prove my point. Looks like you're going to need all of the luck . heheheeheh.

But I appreciate your honest comments.

Azhar85 said...

Thanks sir.. 4 the tips...I'll try my best to follow it...

Helas木村 said...

yupsss..... i have faced all of this.. this tips very2 usefull.. not only english Class/ final project presentation .. but alots of presentation in the future as well.... for me.. i'm not depending on my Level of speaking... plus i often used the simple word that easy for the viewer to understand... The word that evey day u speak... coz the objective here is to make the viewer understand what r u talking about...

sir may i add some hehehhe... always include humor in your presentation.. hehheehehe

correct me if i'm wrong heheh

Alexander said...

tanks sir.. i will try my best for tumoror...

JonyBr said...

Sunny, if u can teach them this one skill i promise i will give u a smoochie, that too in public :p

imsunnysideup said...

helas--you're right. Nothing like humour to soften thing up and release the tension. I had that in my notes but somehow forgot to writenit down .You're also right that this is applicable in all subjects for presentation.

jony---i'll do WITOUT the smoochie, in public or otherwise. aaarrrgggghhhhh !
Excuse me now while I go wash my brain....aaarrrrgggh !!!

sheila said...

thank for the tips...

imsunnysideup said...

my pleasure !

imsunnysideup said...

Azhar
I hope it'll help you in some ways ...