How To Give Class Presentations
Giving presentations can be stressful for many students. You can
reduce your stress and give great presentations if:
- You have well researched interesting
content.
- Your material is well organized.
- You have practiced your speech.
- Have good visual aids. (Don't overwhelm
with overuse of Powerpoint features)
- Have good point form notes to remind
you of what to say, but don't monotonously read your speech.
- Time your presentation so that is within
the given requirements.
Powerpoint Tips
Wired had an article saying "PowerPoint is evil". Basically the technology
is being misused with using too many special effects, meaningless graphics
and just too many slides. Powerpoint can be used effectively to support
your speech, but a presenter just reading a slide is far worse than a just
reading a paper since the audience has all ready read it, and has to painfully
wait while you slowly read what is on the screen.
As a guide lines you should have about 3
to 5 bullet points, no more than 40 words on a slide. This should support
your topic, but not just repeat it. You should aim for about one slide per
minute, including your title slide.
PowerPoint
Suggestions
Here is a sample presentation on D-Day where it would be easy to speak
for 5 minutes per slide, yet slides to highlight important dates and has
some useful visuals.
D-Day Presentation.
Tips
Visual Aids
- You should almost always
have some some Visual Aid.
- Make sure the writing
on your Visual Aids is large enough to read.
- Check your spelling.
Teamwork
- Meet together outside
of class (usually) to go over what each participant is responsible for.
- Have a common look and feel to your slide shows. Make it look
like one person did it.
Face the Audience
- Look up and face the
audience
- Speak in a clear voice, loud enough for everyone to hear, that's
pretty loud in some labs.
- Make sure they are listening and paying attention.
Appearance
- Wear your better clothes when presenting.
Look "presentable".
- Show that you
care about what you are doing.
- Be enthusiast about your subject
Links
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