How To Give Class Presentations

Notes

• Only well practiced speakers can entertain without notes. Put down the areas of your topic you want to cover in point form. Never write paragraphs and just read them (unless it's an important quote), or just read what is on your slide or poster.
• Remember to have some objectives, what are your main points?

So for your Avril Lavigne speech have notes like:

Objectives: Introduce people to Avril Talk about her music, why it is meaningful Practice speaking without reading.

1. Introduction - Why I choose to speak about her (young Canadian teen star) 2. Upbringing      - born in Napanee Ontario, born ...      - talk about her personality growing up 3. Let Go (play 30 second clip, show/pass around  CD)     - Released ..., Sales ...     - Big hits: Sk8er Boi, Complicated, Anything But Ordinary (talk a little about the meaning of each song) 4. Compare with Alanis, Britney     Talk about her future plans 5. Conclusion - Think she will be a big star, due to good upbringing and great first CD.

Practice so you know what you will say at each point. Use these notes to structure your speech, so you will never feel lost. You want to convey to the audience that you really know what you are talking about.

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.

Links

• Sample Rubric for Presentations
• McMaster University Presentation suggestions