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Presentations and Confident Public

Speaking

ASK Week – Autumn 2012 Courtney Hopf, Academic Skills Adviser

Session Goals

• Understand common presentation pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Learn strategies for structuring a presentation

• Learn the importance of clear, relevant visual aids

• Think about how to conquer nerves and be confident!

Consider what works…

Consider a presentation that you have seen that was very effective. What made it so?

Consider a presentation that you have seen that you thought was unsuccessful. What made it so? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt8YFCveNpY&feature=related

It’s about confidence, baby.

Know your purpose

• What are you hoping to achieve?

• Is your goal to inform, train, persuade, entertain or demonstrate?

• Keep this goal in sight throughout

Know your audience

Who are they and what do they do?

What do they already know about the subject?

What is the relationship between you and them?

What interests them?

Thesis / main point

Set the scene: The ‘Hook’, overview, background

Assertion 1

Explanation/Evidence

Assertion 2

Explanation/Evidence

Assertion 3

Explanation/Evidence

Find a structure

Reflect/Conclude on a high

The Introduction • Who and why - introduce yourself!

• Use an opening attention grabber (‘hook’)

• Tell them what the presentation is about and provide necessary background

• Tell them what your objectives are

• Do not sell yourself short, ie. ‘this may not be that interesting to you, but…’

• Make very clear what your main point is, and state it early!

• Use visual aids to indicate structure/topic

• Use clear verbal cues:

“Next Sarah is going to tell you about…”

“Let’s move on to...”

“The next point to consider is...”

“Having looked at X, let’s look at Y.”

• Change visual aid when changing topic

Signposting throughout

Visual signposting

Consider using a full ‘page’ statement or image to block out the sections of your talk – kind of like headings in an essay.

Sport Opportunities at Brunel

Arts Opportunities at Brunel

Postmodern Theatre

The most common mistake

• According to the Ministry

of Labour, 72% of part-

time workers are women,

which contributes to the

gender pay gap.

• These numbers are

derived from a variety of

statistics blah blah blah

• You are reading this

instead of listening to me,

provided you can see it

enough to do so. Believe

it or not, I’ve seen much

worse at academic

conferences.

KEEP IT SIMPLE.

DISTIL YOUR POINTS.

• According to the Ministry

of Labour, 72% of part-

time workers are women,

which contributes to the

gender pay gap.

• These numbers are

derived from a variety of

statistics blah blah blah

• You are reading this

instead of listening to me,

provided you can see it

enough to do so. Believe

it or not, I’ve seen much

worse at academic

conferences.

72% of part-time workers are women.

This is the key thing about PowerPoint…

Presentations are VISUAL

• So • what’s • a good • student • to do?

The academic standard

• Use minimal text and line it up carefully, with good margins

• Be aware that the smallest shift in placement or alignment can throw your slide off balance

• Use images with care - balance the need to keep audience interest while avoiding overwhelming them visually

Make good use of space

Sans serif (Calibri)

Sans serif (Arial)

Sans serif

(Gill Sans)

Serif

(Times New

Roman)

Serif

(Garamond)

Serif

(Perpetua)

Use just one suitable font

Fonts to avoid

• Anything hard to read • Anything that draws attention away

from your points • Anything juvenile

• And Comic Sans

• Seriously. Just never, ever use it. • No really. • Ever.

Introduce information gradually

• Reading = not listening

• Keep it simple

• Use single words and partial phrases

• ‘Effects’ can have their place, but be wary of going overboard

• Use the ‘Animations’ tab in Power Point to do this

• Try pixlr.com to edit images (it’s free!)

• Crop in interesting ways

• Remove backgrounds for a high-level design (now a feature right in PowerPoint!)

Images get noticed!

Use high quality images

What about nerves?

Rehearse!

• So you don’t rely entirely on your notes or slides

• So you feel comfortable enough to speak naturally

• So you don’t run over your allotted time

• FYI: 1 double-spaced page of A4 = about 2 minutes of speaking

Photo by dpanyikdale, sourced from flickr.com

Feel the fear and do it anyway!

Hello, my name is….

Body language

It can help you convey a certain tone or emotion.

But it can also help you feel a certain way.

Both photos by andjohan, sourced from flickr.com

Body language to avoid

• Continuous eye contact or staring

• Turning ‘upstage’

• Playing with your hair or rubbing your eye or ear

• Repeatedly clearing your throat

• Aggressive or antagonistic movements

• Crossing your arms

• Shuffling your feet or swaying

• Smiling or raising your eyebrows in a way that suggests you don’t respect your audience!

Engaging body language

• Stand up straight, face the audience head-on

• Hold your head high, don’t look at the ground

• Use your hands to emphasise and reinforce points

• Vary your gestures

• Nod your head and smile to emphasise what you are saying, or in response to a contribution from the audience

• Make proper eye contact

In summary

• Remember: a presentation is not the same as an essay – you must distil your points

• Visual aids should be a complement to what you say, not a stand-in for your note cards.

• Think visually • Remember it’s a performance • Feel the fear and do it

anyway!

Know your resources!

ASK Academic Skills is here to help

ask@brunel.ac.uk

Service: practice your presentation for us and we’ll give you feedback!

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ASK Week – Autumn 2012

Find the slides (and much more)

on Blackboard