Presentations and Confident Public Speaking

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+ Presentations and Confident Public Speaking ASK Week – Autumn 2012 Courtney Hopf, Academic Skills Adviser

description

ASK Week workshop

Transcript of Presentations and Confident Public Speaking

Page 1: Presentations and Confident Public Speaking

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Presentations and Confident Public

Speaking

ASK Week – Autumn 2012 Courtney Hopf, Academic Skills Adviser

Page 2: Presentations and Confident Public Speaking

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!

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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

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It’s about confidence, baby.

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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

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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?

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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

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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!

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• 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

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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.

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Sport Opportunities at Brunel

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Arts Opportunities at Brunel

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Postmodern Theatre

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The most common mistake

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• 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.

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KEEP IT SIMPLE.

DISTIL YOUR POINTS.

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• 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.

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72% of part-time workers are women.

This is the key thing about PowerPoint…

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Presentations are VISUAL

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

The academic standard

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• 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

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Sans serif (Calibri)

Sans serif (Arial)

Sans serif

(Gill Sans)

Serif

(Times New

Roman)

Serif

(Garamond)

Serif

(Perpetua)

Use just one suitable font

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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.

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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

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• 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!

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Use high quality images

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What about nerves?

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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

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Feel the fear and do it anyway!

Hello, my name is….

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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

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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!

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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

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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!

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Know your resources!

ASK Academic Skills is here to help

[email protected]

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