Professor Lesser's TIPS FOR PRESENTATIONS
VISUAL
AIDS
- Be
prepared if presentation technology fails. Have "backup
plans" in case PowerPoint crashes, an overhead transparency projector
light bulb burns out, etc.
- Have
extra markers and blank slides handy.
- Have
presentation slides ready in advance (although it can be effective to have
a small portion of them completed or highlighted during the presentation
as part of an interactive style) and test them out to be sure they will
work with the equipment, screen, and room configuration available. If you
need to arrange for additional equipment to be set up, make sure you allow
plenty of time for this.
- For
text-heavy transparencies, have generous margins, do not exceed about 10
lines and leave plenty of space between them. Make sure words are large
enough and dark enough (if using a computer to prepare an overhead
transparency, this means using the bold font with type size at
least 18 point, or even larger for bigger rooms). A xeroxed page from a textbook or article almost never
meets these conditions! Stand in
the furthest corner or side of the room and make sure you can read your
own slides from that distance.
Consider if a picture or diagram could take the place of most of
the words – it will be friendlier to your audience! Make sure there is appropriate color
contrast – it’s hard to read dark-colored words against a dark
background or light-colored words against a light background.
- Consider
whether certain visual aids need to remain in view the entire time during
your talk, even as you show additional charts. If so, figure out a way to
do this (e.g., a second overhead projector, putting a poster on an easel
or against a wall). Consider whether passing out a "handout"
(at the beginning, middle or end of the presentation) may be helpful or
just distracting. If you do give a
handout, be sure to bring a sufficient quantity for the room capacity.
- Consider
how you will advance to the next slide.
Will you be running over to a computer table each time, or use a
hand-held clicker from where you are, or have a friend hit a button?
- Data
displays should be appropriately and meaningfully titled, sized, scaled
and labelled. They should be readily
interpreted. It is usually easier to recognize patterns from a graph than
from a tabulated list of numbers. Pictures drawn by hand need
show exact proportions, but the proportions must be believable.
- Usually,
less is more. The fewer details you
go into, the better chance the audience has of remembering your
details.
- Have
ready a few extra slides that you are prepared either to show or not show
depending on audience interest and remaining time.
- Don’t
use technology just because you can.
Make sure the specific form you choose is best suited to the topic,
venue, and audience. Keep to a
minimum the flashier animated “bells and whistles” of
PowerPoint unless they directly connect to rather than distract from the
content.
- Consider
displaying or giving the audience a written handout that has an outline of
the talk. Or you might want to give
them a copy of your slides (maybe 6 to a page) that could help them take
notes efficiently.
- The
first and last slide should include your professional affiliation and/or
contact information.
- Prepare
some additional slides for “if time remains”, knowing that you
probably won’t get to them, but they are ready in case they can be
used to answer questions during the subsequent discussion time allotted.
SPEAKING
- Practice
the talk (with any visuals) in advance for a friend and for your mirror.
It's not enough to just write the talk; you need to practice saying it as
well. Be sure you are making good eye contact, not "reading"
(from your notes or your slides) to the audience, avoiding monotone
delivery, maintaining a reasonable speed, and staying within the time
limit. (After the trial runs, you may need to do some editing or revising
for clarity or time purposes.) The more you practice, the less you are
likely to be "nervous" when you do speak. It’s amazing how this works, but
you will come up with lots of ideas for improving your talk merely by
going through the practice of saying it out loud and visualizing the
audience, and noticing which parts of the talk you’re practicing
feel like parts you want to “rush through” or “spend
more time unpacking.” To keep
an eye on the time, use a timer (here’s an online stopwatch: http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/Stopwatch/?version=1.4.2_09&browser=MSIE&vendor=Sun_Microsystems_Inc.)
or have someone designated to hold up cards or fingers to tell you when
there’s 5 minutes left, and then 1 minute left.
- It
is usually more effective to talk from an outline than a word-for-word
speech from a full-length paper.
- Don’t
chew gum and be aware of body posture – don’t lean too much
against a board, table or podium.
- Be
aware what key terms or background the audience may not have that they
will need to follow your talk, and give them this at the beginning.
- If
you’re sharing an excerpt of something (e.g., a single activity from
a week-long lesson plan unit), be sure to “set the stage” by
telling us who the target audience is and what activities preceded and
will follow the excerpt you are sharing.
- Make
sure you can pronounce terms and names used (e.g., http://nsm1.nsm.iup.edu/gsstoudt/pronounce.html
or http://www.waukesha.uwc.edu/mat/kkromare/main.html)
- If
using equipment (e.g., overhead projector), make sure it is working
properly, that you are used to using it, and that your use of it does not
distract from your presentation (e.g., don't keep turning away from the
audience to look at the screen; if
your shoulder is lighted by the projector, then it's blocking the
screen! when writing on a transparency, hold the marker far enough
away from the tip that your hand does not block what you are writing)
- Consider
how you will “point” to things on your slides, when
necessary. Will you physically
point with your hand (or a stick), use a laser pointer, lasso it with a
computer mouse, etc.
- Allow
yourself time at the end to "summarize" and answer an audience
question or two (and try to anticipate what those might be and prepare for
them). Elaborate sufficiently and clearly when asked to
"explain."
- Just
in case, have handy a cough drop and a cup/bottle of water.
- In
general, a talk has 3 parts:
“tell them what you’re going to tell them,”
“telling them”, and then “telling them what you told
them.” It can be helpful to refer to an advance
organizer a couple of times during a longer talk to remind the audience of
how the talk is progressing.
- Try
not to chew gum, fidget or lean on furniture. Maintain a relaxed posture
with feet and hands. Don't overly apologize! It's normal to be a
little nervous (some speakers find it helpful to briefly acknowledge this
in a matter-of-fact or even humorous way, and then move on), just rechannel that as enthusiasm and remember that the
audience is human, knows what it's like to "be up there" and
wants to learn from you and see you do well.
- At
the beginning, you may want to mention what kinds of questions, if any,
you want to allow or encourage during the prepared part of the
presentation. (Some people prefer to take only brief, clarifying questions
in midstream, while others are open to any questions at any time.) In any
case, be sure to allow enough time at the end for questions.
- To
engage the listener actively, consider optimum places to insert
interactive moments that are not in straight lecture mode. This could include think-pair-share
questions where audience members turn to their immediate neighbors to
discuss a question you pose. Or you
could facilitate discussion or brainstorming as one huge group on a
particular topic or focused question.
You could record and synthesize results on an easel board or
PowerPoint slide or use a “poll” from some type of Classroom
Response System(CRS).
- Humor
can be effective in the right style and dose, but can also be overused or
even abused. Avoid anything that
could be perceived as sexist, racist, etc.
OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES: http://www.maa.org/students/presentation.pdf
http://techspeaking.denison.edu/Technically_Speaking/Home.html