Presentations
Why do we do presentations?
On many courses students give seminar papers, or make individual or group presentations about their work. Some students have better verbal
than written skills. Presentations provide an alternative way for students to demonstrate their abilities.
Employers want to recruit graduates […] with good verbal skills. Some jobs require you to make oral presentations, others may not but they do
require the same verbal communication skills used when making presentations – presenting information, arguing a case, persuading,
negotiating, explaining. Students are required to give presentations as part of courses to help them practise these skills.
• Drew and Bingham, p. 98
How to do a good
presentation
• Understand the aims and purpose of your
own presentation
• Think about your audience
• Think about how much time you have
• Prepare your material
• Structure your material
• Visual aids
• Delivery
• Nerves
3. Presentations
require you to ….
a) Think about your audience
b) Make the structure clear
c) Be ready to answer questions
d) All of the above
1. Objectives
•Work out the objectives of
your talk. Do you want your
audience to discover
something new, believe
something different or adopt a
new course of action?
Deciding the reason for your
talk will help you to structure
and pitch it.
2. Audience
• It's important to know your audience so you can pitch your presentation
well. Your presentation shouldn't repeat material contained in lectures and
reading. Your job is to tell the audience something they are not likely to
know.
3. Research
Make sure you read widely so you
can make your case and show that
you have considered contrary
evidence. Your material should be
focused on the title of your
presentation and relevant to the
point you are trying to make.
4. Structure AND CONTENT
• your presentation could be structured so as to have a "beginning" (i.e. an
introduction), and "middle" (i.e. a development), and an
• "end" (i.e. a conclusion). Indeed, sub-sections (e.g. introduction) and even
paragraphs could have the same structure (i.e. a beginning, middle, and end).
•
• Your presentation needs to have a clear structure. Organise the material by
themes or issues: do not simply summarise a number of papers in the order you
read them. Focus on a few key points and explain them fully so the audience can
digest and remember them.
Introduction
• • Who you are and why you are giving this presentation.
• What the presentation is about and what you will cover – what is the
research about
• Explain your objectives – what the audience will learn.
• Use an attention grabber at the start: image, quote, shocking statistic
etc.
Middle
• • Give details of your topic in a logical order.
• Recap each section and signpost the next one.
• Use real examples to illustrate your points.
• Tell the audience how the information applies to them.
• Back up the claims that you made at the start.
••
Conclusion
• Summarise your main points.
• Explain the benefits that your solution, options, conclusions etc. will
bring.
• Say what you want the audience to do next.
• Ask for questions.
• Explain how to get in touch with you.
• Use a closing attention grabber.
• Try to end on a high. Avoid saying ‘That's it.'
5. Main points
• Give practical examples that will be relevant to the audience and
show how they illustrate the point. Use concrete rather than abstract
language whenever possible.
6. Beginning and end
•Your opening sentence should
be more dynamic than ‘This
talk is about...' Get right into
the topic.
•The opening and conclusion
are the only sentences that
you should write out in full.
7. Timing
8. Rehearsing
• If you find your talk is too long, work out what can be cut. Remember
to leave time for questions.
• Practise your presentation in advance, ideally in front of an audience.
This will help you to work out how long it takes and you will become
more confident and less reliant on notes. See
Delivering a presentation. It is also possible to record a PowerPoint
presentation with narration with Windows 10, should you wish to
practice. The short video below (recorded in PowerPoint) explains
how:
•
Analysis and Reflection
Analysis is perhaps the single factor which best distinguishes between good and bad
presentations
(followed by the quality of communication). Interpreting, criticising, arguing,
evaluating, synthesising, summarising, concluding, and exploring implications are all forms
of analysis.
Evaluation is the most important. Explain what you have learnt but also evaluate how it will
help you develop. In both academic skills and future development in the workplace.
Analysis needs to be justified (e.g. via empirical evidence, facts, rules of logic, argument,
theory, etc.) to be convincing to the audience back up what you say with examples of why
You may have all the facts in the world within
your head, and possess keen analytical skills, but
unless you
can communicate effectively with (i.e. teach
and/or persuade) the audience, you will have
Communicatio failed to do
n
yourself justice. The comments and the
"Presentation Evaluation Sheet" below indicate
the sorts of factors
you need to consider in order to maximise the
effectiveness of your communication.
Slide design • Include 4-5 points per slide – check the
sequence of points is logical
• Keep it short and simple
• Use approximately one minute per slide in your
presentation (it might be less)
Write in bullet point form, not complete
Write in sentences
Avoid wordiness: use key words and phrases
Avoid only
Slide Design
Do not Do not use distracting animation
use
Be consistent with the animation that you
Be use
· Use different
size fonts for
Use at least a
Slide Design main points and
24-point font secondary
points
· Pictures, Avoid more than
charts and one per slide,
unless making a
graphs are
direct
really effective
comparison
Presence: seeming confident in the role
• Speaking
• Clear, audible
• Breath control
• Reading
• Notes
• Screen
• Don’t be the distraction
• Ensemble: Handover/endings/ introduction
• Faking confidence: stance, friendly, welcoming of questions
• Nerves - adrenalin - stage fright
Story
• Structure
• Logical order
• Flow
• Relevance
• Clear perspective
• TEA (Topic, Evidence, Application)
Costume
• Looking the part…
Audience can trust you
You feel more confident
Costume
• Looking the part…
Audience can trust you
You feel more confident
To conclude…
• All this fails without proper re-HEAR-sal
Rehearse and Practice, Practice, Practice
Look at the presentation guidelines in the assessment
tile and student presentations on Moodle
• Activity in groups discuss
• Do they follow the guidelines – How?
• If not how could they improve?
• What mark would you give them?
Come with a plan for your presentation
• Discuss this in groups with your tutor
