how to make a good presentation v2

8/10/2019 How to Make a Good Presentation v2

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Anxiety / Nervousness : We all get it, even those of us who in effect do it for a living.

Why? We

all

want

to

be

liked and as

a rule

we

see

that

standing

up

in

front

of

a large

group

of

people has great potential for something to be said that those watching us will not like. If they

don’t like what we say they may not like us. Also if they see we are nervous they may perceive

our character in a certain manner that may sit happily or unhappily with them.

It is probably all down

to

genetics and our attraction to the opposite sex therefore if we get it

wrong it hurts and as a rule we perceive setting ourselves up to potentially fail as a risk that

possibly limits our chances in the world.



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Can we avoid nerves? The answer to this is probably not, although we can do many things to

help prevent anxiety.

If we can reduce anxiety by being prepared rehearsed and credible we will have gone a long

way to making sure we are perceived how we wish to be.



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Many writers on the subject advocate the use of the six W’s (Baguley and Bateman, 2003).

Direction – Go

through

the

list

on

the

screen

and

tell

the

audience

that

we

will

then

review

each one in turn.



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Who am I going to address? – It is important we review this first as it shapes the presentation.

An

audience

of

novices

We need to be careful here that we don’t go into too much depth that only more experienced

researches into the topic might understand.

We need to make sure we don’t use technical jargon.

We need to keep things simple

Make some decisions as to how much we need to leave out of the topic. What key points do we

want to get across?

An

audience

of

experts

in

the

subject

We must be careful not to be superficial – We can make assumptions about what is already

known.

We can use technical jargon

We can be more complex

A

mixture

of

both

Probably have the most difficult task here trying not to alienate both parties by either being too

simplistic or too complex.

What size audience will be present?

This will affect your presentation if you want to use group tasks to provide natural breaks. Once

the audience passes a certain size you really have no choice but to present to them in a

passive manner.



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What? – What is it I want to say?

You cannot

tell

them

everything

so

decide

what

is

it

you

want

to

get

across to the

audience?

In

your case what I’m putting over to you is that with proper preparation you can significantly

reduce your anxiety and make good presentations.

That is the main point of today. I know that once you realised you had to do a presentation ALL

of

you

would

be

thinking

about

the

shear

terror you have of doing one and would concentrate

on little else. There is therefore little point in me going on about anything else to do with how to

present that doesn’t address this fear.

You’ll listen to me because what I’m telling you is likely to help you overcome

your

fear

of

presenting, NOT

because

it

may

help

you

make

a better

presentation.



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Where? – Where is the venue?

Do

you

know

where

you

are

going? Is there

a car

park?

What

is

traffic

like

in

the

area?

–

Arriving late is bound to increase your anxiety so think ahead and make plans to get to the

venue well ahead of schedule. Have a back up plan and make sure you have the venue phone

number with you for emergencies.

What

facilities

are

available? Overhead Projector, PowerPoint, no visual aids. – Check

BEFORE

you

start

what

facilities

are

available otherwise a great deal of work can go to waste. Have a

back up plan. Overheads pre‐printed from your PowerPoint slides are always handy as are

copies of the slides ready for distribution. With these, apart from things out of your control such

as fires earthquakes etc, you can always function.

What

is

the

room

layout? Do you need amplification to be heard? If the room is large and you

do not fell you can project then ask what facilities there are for amplification. Many places do

have them but they are locked

away

as

the

get

stolen. So ask. If using amplification test

it

first

to make sure it works and you are not deafening.

Are there any problems being seen? You can be asked to present in odd shaped rooms. Check

everyone can see you. If there are blind spots mark them with some tape on the floor so you

know where not to go.



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When? – When is it?

People will

be

more

alert

at

different

times

of

the

day

‐ After

lunch is not

a good

time

as

everyone is naturally sleepy after a meal [If you ever get this slot try and move it] This again

comes down to preparation and knowing what is happening at a venue before you arrive.

I’d suggest that Monday mornings and Friday afternoons are not good times for students.

How

long

is

your

presentation

for?

Find out how much you have to do. This will affect what you decide to leave in and out of your

presentation. This will also help

you

rehearse your timings correctly. You’ll get no

thanks

for

going

on too long.



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Many times we do presentations because we’ve been told by someone else to do so, often

because they don’t want to do it themselves. View this as positive because if you do a good job

you will be perceived by those in the organisation highly and they will value you so. When it

comes to

negotiating

a pay

rise

or

redundancy

then

you’ll

always

get

the

vote

from

on

high

if

you are doing something they don’t want to do. The downside is that if you do it badly then it

can be damaging.

Persuading others of our views – Often presenting is used in sales as a method of sale.

Remember it is essential to know what

your

audience

wants to hear in this type of presentation

as this is what will convince them to give you the job.

Presentation is now quite often being used in job interviews as well. Tell us about yourself and

your current role. While you are doing it it also tells them about

your

CREDIBILITY as well which

we’ll address

later.



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Deciding on your format is important and requires pre‐planning again. Contact or check

out the venue to see what is available BEFORE starting.



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Gathering material – You cannot ‘skimp’ on this as you need to know your topic before

you can talk about it. You will always be more relaxed if you know what you are talking

about

and

this

helps

your

CREDIBILITY.



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This is specific to your assessment. Our libraries are academic, not necessarily

vocational, and as a result much of the text they have on vocational topics such as

presentation

is

not

as

up

to

date

as

it

might

be.

In

many

instances

you

might

be

better

accessing your local library for texts.



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Sketch out what you want to achieve and make references to the texts read with page

numbers so you can find what you want when you are finally preparing your

presentation.

The above is an example of my notes that I prepared before I started making this

presentation. I haven’t necessarily kept to all I thought about but it has helped

considerably.



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Give yourself some chance of completing the presentation by having a guide through.

Remember you can be side tracked by questions or disruptions and you want to make sure you

include ALL the points you had in mind.

Some form of map acts as a method of making sure you do this. Also if you cannot get lost

because you have these then you know you cannot get lost which will reduce anxiety. This

helps you relax and by doing so increases credibility.

It will also help you stay

to

time because if you’ve rehearsed including the points you want then

leaving any out will alter your timings and the

flow of what you are saying.



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Last point says it all : Are they presentations or announcements?

You need to be careful with this type of map. ‐ Seem very boring if you just read what is on the

script.

You

tend

to

read

in

a

monotone which

is

very

dull

indeed.

Also your head is down so you do not pick up feedback from your audience. You don’t have eye

contact with your audience either. Good eye contact with a friendly face can really help as it

gives you encouragement.

No spontaneity means it is difficult for you to give an enthusiastic performance.

One way traffic ‐ You

talk

they

listen.

Direction – Example of students in the past who have just put their heads down and read out

loud



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This is the best way in my view although you need to chose which is best for you after you’ve

had some experience. Allows you to ‘flesh out’ what you want to say without reading it. This

means you can have eye contact with your audience and gain their feedback.

You can also put in direction. What do we mean by this? Again rather like a script from a play

where you see things such as ‘Grasps her left arm and falls to the ground begging her to marry

him with the words’ If I use this type of direction I put it in italics in the notes. You will see some

in this presentation when you download and review.



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Cue cards mean committing more to memory. I’d suggest until you have been making the same

presentation a great deal then cue cards are more difficult to use when you first start.

Advantages are your head is up.

You are looking at your audience. This is all about connection and credibility again which we will

get to.

Print cue cards large so you can see them without appearing to look.

Keep them in order so if you drop them they stay in order.

Direction – Tell them the joke about the two comedians on The Royal Variety show – Bob Hope

and a.n.other



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Let’s be straight about this you cannot do it without being rehearsed. What you often

see as spontaneous is not the case.

Direction ‐ Tell the story about Frank Carson in Spain. ‐ Tell the story about Michael

Parkinson and Rod Hull and Emu.

Think of an instance when it has happened to you. Direction – Pause while individuals

consider the question.

Direction – Tell the story of the lecture at CMS with the research student handed the

role instead of the tutor.



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Stagger through ‐ First efforts will let you know where you need to make changes. Make these

changes and then start again with the rehearsal.

Walk

through ‐

You

should

be

familiar

with

what

you

are

going

to

say

and

start

practicing

your

delivery. This is about becoming comfortable with what you are going to say.

Run through ‐ Same as a dress rehearsal – Try and do it at the venue. This will help you

familiarise yourself with the facilities and surroundings.

PowerPoint has some helpful rehearsal tools SLIDE SHOW – REHEARSE TIMINGS. Try and make

use of these in your groups and as individuals when you come to do you section of the

presentation.

Direction – Show this on the overhead screen.



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This is a quite a famous quote. Problem is I can’t remember who said it, so it can’t be

that famous!

Gets the point over though very succinctly. Any of you with hobbies will know this. The

more you do something the more skilled you get. That even includes shopping for the

ladies. You’ll all know where to go and where not to bother for certain items!



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Alcohol – It does not work. We’ve all been there and woken up the next day either regretting

what we’ve said or done. Why? It lowers you inhibitions as you lose receptivity to those around

you. In presentations knowing whether you’re presentation is working helps a great deal. Also if

you can

tell

you

are

going

down

OK

this

boosts

you

confidence and this

helps

you

relax and

again increases credibility. It also causes you to overestimate your skills and lose timing which

can cause difficulty.

Jokes – Be careful as jokes don’t always travel. Ken Dodd and many comedians have ‘giggle

maps’ of the UK on which they map what jokes go down well in what parts of the country. Also

how receptive is your audience – T.V. shows often have ‘warm up men’ so that when ‘the stars’

come on then they the audience is already warm.

Direction – Tell the Michael Barrymore story

Ad

libs – These are hardly ever real and can be very dangerous as an ill thought out off the cuff

remark can be very offensive to some. If you are going to use them then make sure you plan

before what you are going to do. Most comedians and presenters have a bank of ad‐libs and

have developed what works over the years.

Swearing – Not a good idea. You might think it gets you closer to your audience but in reality all

audiences know that we nearly all swear but also know that doing so within a presentation is

just not right.



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The audience’s view of you is important but when they view you they don’t just ‘See and hear

you’ ‘They interpret what they see’

It

is

the

second

one, the

interpretation,

that

the

influence

of

a

number

of

key

factors

creeps

into the equation.

Your believability will be influenced by:‐

What the audience expects to see – If you turn up in jeans and a T‐shirt to make a formal

presentation to set of accountants then you’ll immediately be out of place, and as such harder

to believe.

What

the

audience

thinks

they

see

– This is difficult to be something you are not be can be

done with courage.

What

sort

of

situation

the

seeing

is

done

in – If you turn up in jeans and a T‐shirt to make a

presentation to

set

of

drug

addicts

then

you

are

more

likely

to

be

believable.

What

the

beliefs

and

attitudes

of

the

audience

are‐ This may come out in the example that

follows. I suspect some sections of the city still turn their noses up at this individual even though

he is very successful. Anita Roddick founder of Body Shop will tell you she always had problems

with city bankers in suits who did not understand a business could be run with other motives

other than profit. Her attitudes and beliefs were different, not wrong.



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There are no doubt good reasons to be an individual. I’ve never really met a successful

businessman or woman who wasn’t in their own way a character. Part of business is

about

getting

your

own

way

and

characters

tend

to

do

this.

Doesn’t

mean

you

cannot

learn from them if you don’t necessarily have their traits.

Direction – Tell them about Brian Gittings at ICI. ‐ Tell them about Stuart from

Stackright.

Your problem at present is that you don’t have any credibility and as a result it is hard for

you to be taken as seriously as what you have to say may merit, if you do not conform.

Therefore it is important that you conform as much as possible if you want to succeed.

That is why in presentations in The Business School we need to get you into the correct

dress so that you start to feel comfortable in the environment.



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It is good policy in the future to try and find out the dress code/organisational culture of

where you are going.

Direction – Tell students about sales to engineers with regard to what was British Rail

and Railtrack – They would not have taken well to someone in a sharp suit who clearly

wasn’t prepared to get their hands dirty!

It is often about blending in so that you gain credibility. Is evidence that we choose are

partners because they look like us. Notice how couples tend to grow alike.



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Quite often we hear students say that group work has been difficult due to other members of

the group not contributing. This is a problem but it is also a fact of life in the workplace as well.

This is one of the reasons we have group work on this module as it is a means of introducing you

to management

of

a group.

Therefore we expect you to sort out any problems amongst yourselves. However if this proves

impossible then when you come to see us you will need to show us evidence of the

management of the group and the none fulfilment of the task by the member. This means

minutes of meetings, e‐mails etc. We will then take action against the group member and advise

you how to proceed. We should make it clear that as

in

industry

we

will

still

expect

a

complete

presentation whatever

the

circumstances and if that means you have to do extra to cover this is

your problem.



Quite often we hear students say that group work has been difficult due to other members of

the group not contributing. This is a problem but it is also a fact of life in the workplace as well.

This is one of the reasons we have group work on this module as it is a means of introducing you

to management

of

a group.

Therefore we expect you to sort out any problems amongst yourselves. However if this proves

impossible then when you come to see us you will need to show us evidence of the

management of the group and the none fulfilment of the task by the member. This means

minutes of meetings, e‐mails etc. We will then take action against the group member and advise

you how to proceed. We should make it clear that as

in

industry

we

will

still

expect

a

complete

presentation whatever

the

circumstances and if that means you have to do extra to cover this is

your problem.

how to make a good presentation v2

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