Skills@Library Presentation Skills Workshop

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Skills_at_LibraryPresentation Skills Workshop
Should you require this or any other handout in a
different format, please let us know
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Aims of this workshop

• To increase your understanding of what makes a
  good presentation
• To look at some common pitfalls and how to avoid
  them
• To develop practical strategies for planning and
  delivering effective presentations

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By the end of the session

• you will have had the chance to think about and
  discuss how to
• select material which is appropriate for the
  purpose and the audience
• structure material
• make a good delivery
• deal with nerves
• prepare relevant visual aids using PowerPoint
• resolve problems and issues delivering group
  presentations

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Academic Presentations

• Are they being assessed?
• What criteria is being used?
• What is the markings?
• What is the time allocation?
• Who is your audience?

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Example group research presentation assessment
sheet
Unprofessional approach 0-1-2-3-4-5 Extremely professional approach
Unclear communication 0-1-2-3-4-5 Communicated extremely clearly
Poor planning evident 0-1-2-3-4-5 Excellent planning evident
Poor and/or unclear objectives 0-1-2-3-4-5 Excellent and clear objectives
Inappropriate methods adopted 0-1-2-3-4-5 Extremely appropriate methods adopted
Meaningless results presented 0-1-2-3-4-5 Meaningful results presented
Poor interpretation of results 0-1-2-3-4-5 Excellent interpretation of results
Presentation poorly structured 0-1-2-3-4-5 Presentation extremely well structured
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Four key elements of a good presentation AM PM

• Audience
• where are they coming from?
• what do they need to know?
• Message
• what are the most important things to get across?
• Presenter
• how to present with impact?
• Medium
• whats the most effective medium to use?
• how to control it?

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Message - what?

• Selecting material
• How much time do you have? (Practise to make sure
  it fits!)
• What key messages do you want to get across?
• Brainstorming can be used by groups or
  individuals
• When working in groups must be supportive of
  every contribution
• Visualise ideas create a mind map

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Use mind mapping techniques to generate ideas for
content
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Use MindGenius to generate ideas
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Message - how are you going to structure it?
Middle
Beginning
End
decide the best message order for logical flow of
ideas
outline the content and your angle and grab their
attention
summarise the main points and restate your angle
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or
Tell em what youve just told em
Tell em what you are going to tell em
Tell em
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Delivering your message

• Generate interest by changing pitch, intonation
  and speech pattern.
• Dont just give lots of information.
• Turn statements into questions
• We chose gender stereotyping because it occurred
  in the highest number of situations.

Listening to lots of student presentations can be
boring.
So, why do you think we chose gender
stereotyping? (PAUSE FOR EFFECT) We chose it
because it occurred in the highest number of
situations.
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You the Presenter

• How confident are you in
• Using your voice (clarity and volume)?
• Using body language (gestures, facial
  expression)?
• Timing (speed, detail, length)?
• Dealing with nerves?
• Responding to audience (eye contact, changing
  pace given cues)?

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Feeling tense?
What do you do when you are nervous? What
strategies can you adopt to overcome them?
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Effective Communication

• Know about what you want to say.
• Look at people when you speak to them.
• Speak clearly and keeping what you say simple and
  uncomplicated.
• Ensure that your words, body language and voice
  match what you are saying.
• Give clarity to what you are communicating by
  attending to signs of other peoples confusion,
  resentment or lack of interest.
• Summarise and check that people understand you.

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Breathing exercises

• fuel - lungs
• sound voice box
• shape lips and tongue

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Using different Mediums

• Flip Chart and Poster presentations
• Clear and concise
• Visual impact
• Well organised
• OHTs
• File in ring-binder use clear plastic wallets
  to store and organise
• Test the equipment check focus and visibility
• Prompt cards
• Hole punch and tag
• Subdivide into sections with one or two prompt
  words
• Use highlighters to attract the eye, but not too
  much detail

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Learning About PowerPoint

• Ask someone who knows to show you!
• ISS training http//iss.leeds.ac.uk/info/309/pres
  entation_software
• Surf the web for tutorials.

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Font and Transition

• If you use a small font, your audience wont be
  able to read what you have written
• CAPITALISE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT
  TO READ.
• Avoid complicated / distracting transitions
• Complicated fonts are difficult to read

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Colour

• Using a font colour that does not contrast with
  the background colour is hard to read
• Using colour for decoration is distracting and
  annoying.
• Using a different colour for each point is
  unnecessary
• Using a different colour for secondary points is
  also unnecessary
• Trying to be creative can also be bad

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Background Bad

• Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or
  difficult to read from
• Always be consistent with the background that you
  use

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Your group presentation

• You are a group of tour operators who are
  preparing a presentation to increase visitor
  attendance.
• Agree a destination and pick one of the target
  audiences below
• Cultural experience for over 60s
• Family holiday
• Club 18-30 holiday
• You have 20 minutes to prepare a 4 minute
  presentation.
• Think about the structure. What might some of the
  bullet points be? Think about delivery. You need
  to involve each member of the group in the
  presentation and keep to time.

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Learning from feedback

• Complete the presentation skills self audit
• How do you rate your own presentation skills?
• What have you just learnt about your strengths
  and weaknesses?
• What strategies and techniques will you adopt to
  improve your performance?

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Use Skills_at_Library resources

• Try Skills_at_Library online tutorials

• Book a group working room ask for presentation
  facilities
• Practise in a group working room
• Log into your student account to access your own
  files
• Use your printer credits for handouts
• Save your presentation

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Remember

1. The higher you climb the further you fall
   technology can and often does let you down.
2. Dont make any assumptions about technology. It
   is your responsibility to check what is in a room
   and what you can use confidently.
3. Make sure the equipment you are using to deliver
   your presentation can support the media you wish
   to use.
4. Check all sound card volume controls before
   starting.

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Session Objectives Recap

• To increase your understanding of what makes a
  good presentation.
• To look at some common pitfalls and how to avoid
  them.
• To develop practical strategies for planning and
  delivering effective presentations.