Presentation Skills: Presentation Delivery
Delivering the presentation is probably going to involve public speaking. Public speaking is not easy. A lot of people find it difficult, if not terrifying. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to make your presentation less stress-inducing. You don't even have to imagine that your audience is naked!
Three things to remember:
- The audience is on your side and what you to do well
- You're the expert here
- The audience won't know if you've made a mistake (see 2, above)
Preparation
The best thing you can do to help your presentation and make you feel better is organise a "dry run". Get a couple of friends or classmates together, present to them and then get their feedback. Also, ask someone to time your dry run.
A dry run is essential because:
- it will identify problems with your content
- it will identify issues with delivery
- it will identify questions the audience might ask
- it will identify how many slides you actually need
- You can time your presentation and therefore see if it needs to be adjusted to meet the time requirement
You might need more than one dry run. That's fine. Just make sure that you give yourself time to act on any feedback you're given. Don't do your dry run the same day as your presentation!
Before you speak
Be prepared! Some tips:
- Before the day of the presentation, if you can, then visit the room where you're speaking and try out the technology, so that you're not messing around on the day.
- Do not write out a script. Instead:
- Write out your main argument or conclusion
- Write out your main points as headings or bullet points on cue cards
- Number these cue cards so you can refer to them in order
- Make sure that you know your content (the cue cards above will help)
On the day:
- Arrive in plenty of time
- Check the equipment again
- Have a glass of water at hand
Speaking
- Act confidently, even if you don't feel it - you should know your content - you're the expert here, so gain confidence from that
- Don't apologise for anything
- If a microphone is available, use it. If there is no microphone, project your voice.
- Make eye contact with audience members
- If eye contact is too nerve-wracking look at people heads and shoulders instead; it'll look like you're making eye contact
- Smile
- Take time to think during your presentation! People tend to speak more quickly when they feel under pressure. Try to speak slowly and remember to pause for breath now and again. Speaking more slowly will also help you avoid excessive filler words and phrases like “em”, "uh" or “you know”. Pausing to take a drink of water will help slow you down too.
- Don't speak in a monotone. Use variations in speed, inflection, and tone to reinforce your meaning and hold audience attention.
- Use introductory phrases to get the audience's attention. For example: “This part is really important...” or “If you listen
to only one thing I say today, remember this . . .”
- Ask for questions at the end
Also, pay attention to Morpheus and the best of luck!
Images: Jerry Seinfeld by slgckgc, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Morpheus image generated at Meme Creator
