How to do presentations

Presentations. You can't escape them at university and college or in the real world.

They're a great opportunity to bring your idea and thoughts to life so make them effective and interesting. At RB we're straight-speaking and fast-moving so presentations need to be informative and persuasive. Here are some tips for presenting the RB way:

Preparation

When putting together your presentation, consider:

The audience: Who they are and what they already know. What questions are they likely to ask?

The subject: What is the purpose of the presentation. Do you have a clear understanding of what is being asked of you? Have you researched enough?

The venue: Check the presentation location and make sure you have all of the resources you need, such as a computer, flip chart or projector.

Content

Introduction: Give a clear outline of the presentation and the topic to be covered.

Slides: Don't be tempted to write too much on the slides. They should act as a reminder for you and a guide for the audience. If you put the entire content of your presentation on the slides, your audience will sit and read them instead of listening to you.

Extra materials: Handouts or notes can be a good way of helping the audience connect with your presentation, just don't give them the whole thing on a piece of paper or they'll spend the entire time reading that.

Questions: Invite questions at the end. Answer honestly and clearly. If you don't know the answer, assure the enquirer that you'll find out for them or suggest another research resource.

Timing: Keep to within your time limit and practise beforehand to make sure it's not too long or short.

Delivery

• Be direct, assertive and convincing.
• Engage in eye contact with as many people as possible.
• Practise aloud so you can establish the best speed for delivery. If you speak too fast, you might lose your audience.
• Adopt a confident and solid posture.
• If your mind goes blank, don't panic. Just move onto the next point. You can always backtrack if necessary.
• Try not to stand reading from your notes. It's boring to watch and makes you look unprepared. Refer to your notes every now and again, but try and practise sufficiently before the presentation so that you know your content inside out.

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