Presentation Skills

Article No: 5

·        Your confidence, fluency and readiness of mind in conducting discussions and debate stand out as attributes of your personality.

·        A presentation is not a lecture.

·        Characteristics of good presentation:
-a clear structure with an introduction, discussion and end.
-facts and figures are visually presented in tables, graphs and charts.
-different colours are used to make presentation more attractive.
-questions are given serious attention and are regarded as an essential part of the presentation.

·        As a presenter you should think and plan the following:
-identify your purpose-achieve
-analyse your audience
-identify the need
-collate your information
-design your communication
-time your presentation
-study the location

·        Ask yourself, “Why am I giving presentation?”

·        Before you make a presentation, know the group you are going to address. Get an idea of the number, nature, needs, level of knowledge. Identify the interest of your audience.

·        Never consider your audience to be a hostile group.

·        Always look for some smiling face among the listeners, They will make you feel at ease. Make eye contact with them.

·        Guidelines for analyzing your audience:
-who is your audience?
-why are their attending your presentation?
-what is their background and their understanding level.
-how many persons will be there be?

·        Tell the audience what they need to know.

·        Introduction – 3 minutes
main body    - 15 minutes
conclusion    - 2 minutes
q and a         -  10 minutes

·        Give the overview of your presentation means introduction about your topic.

·        Prepare a logical sequence of your presentation. This will make the flow of argument clear.

·        ‘Qand A’ is an important opportunity for audience interaction Encourage questions.

·        Answer each question seriously and with honesty. Do not try to bluff. If you do not know be frank.

·        The use of a board helps listeners attend with concentration. You should use it for noting important words and concepts, or doing calculations.

·        You should write in bold and clear letters.

·        To discuss your ideas, you should not read them out. Neither from the screen, nor from anything written by you.

·        You have to explain what you are seeing on the screen.

·        Answer that “why the audience is listening to you”.

·        In the beginning itself, tell the audience the outline of the content of your presentation.

·        If your presentation is followed by a series of questions, it shows that the presentation was able to involve the audience.

·        Your ability to answer questions makes you fully informed on your subject. Self confidence increases and you feel successful as a presenter.

·        A genuine question gives you an opportunity to feel that what you have spoken has been relevant to the interest of the audience.

·        Language of the presentation:
-be clear
-be free of jargon
-use simple sentences
avoid complex and passive words and phrases
-be brief

·        Body language:
-appearance
-maintaining good/ positive posture
-eye contact
-gesture= use positive gestures and hand movements to reinforce your argument.
-smile and look relaxed while answering questions.
-do not stand fixed like a statue.
-move with ease and freedom between your screen and your   position
-minimize your stage fright

·        Face the audience and make eye contact with the audience for as long as possible.

·        Broadly speaking, do all those things which involve the audience and encourage their participation.

·        Avoid doing things which would reduce audience involvement.

·        Stand close to the audience in a way that you are fully visible to the audience.

·        Put interesting questions to the audience.

Compiled By: Chaudhary Amit V.