How to develop Presentation Skills

8/7/2019 How to develop Presentation Skills

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How to Give a

Knockout

Presentation

Dr Archana Shrivastava


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Outline

General Guidelines

Slide Dos and Donts

Handouts

Delivery Dos and Donts

How to Handle Questions Handouts

Final Thoughts


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General Guidelines

A good presentation is a

POPTA presentation

What does POPTA stand for?


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General Guidelines

Purpose

You need to define your purpose for giving

the presentation

Often your goal is a high level overview,even for a technical presentation

Dont tell them everything you did, youll

bore them


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General Guidelines

Organization

Always have an outline

Tell them what youre going to tell them,

then tell them, what you told them

" Hint: I am doing this for this presentation

Problem then solution

" Not just data then solution or solutionthen problem


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General Guidelines

Preparation

An unprepared presenter loses the

audience before even starting

Practice makes perfect and buildsconfidence

Arrive early, make sure everything is set

up

Dress appropriately

Slides should be done well in advance


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General Guidelines

Time Be sure you know how much time you have while

preparing the presentation

" Not 5 minutes before you start

It is better to end early than to go over

" Always have a watch or clock in view

Youll never have enough time to tell everything sostick to the most important

Rule of thumb" At most 1 slide per minute of presentation

" Better to plan 2 minutes for each slide


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General Guidelines

Audience Be sure you know your audience well

Tailor presentation to your audience

" Failure to do this is probably the biggest mistake people

make

Are there multiple audiences?

" If so, direct different slides to different audiences

Watch the audience for clues


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Slide Dos and Donts

You shouldnt put everything on the slide

Do include 50% white space

Your comments should be morecompelling than the slides

- Generally 1 main point for each slide

Do use animation

Dont overuse it

" Makes it difficult and annoying to navigate


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Slide Dos and Donts

Do include written conclusion for every

graph

Dont forget to add meaningful labels, titles,

captions, etc. to graphs

Pe

rcentage

IndustryAcademia

NoYesNoYes

100

80

60

40

20

0

Percentage of People Needing Presentation Skills

Conclusion - It is important to learn presentation skills!


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Slide Dos and Donts

Dont use yellow text

Do use dark text and bold

Do use formatting and color to emphasize

(e.g. POPTA)

Dont include unrelated pictures


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Slide Dos and Donts

Do chek yor speling for mestakes

Typos instantly destroy credibility and convey

lack of preparation

Do have someone else read throughpresentation

Do acknowledge previous work and help

Do use a template if using PowerPoint


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Slide Dos and Donts

Do use a light background like this


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Slide Dos and Donts

Or like this


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Slide Dos and Donts

Or like this


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Slide Dos and Donts

Dont use a dark background like this

Even if using a lighter font color

Harder to read, especially from the back

More likely to put people asleep

Handouts often dont look very good


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Slide Dos and Donts

Do use occasional spice or pacebreakers

Humor

Pictures

Sound

Animation

Questions (Not just

Yes/No)

Surveys

Quizzes

Videos

Physical Objects

Top Ten Lists

Etc.

For example . . .

A pace breaker can do this for your audience


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Dont read or parrot the slides

Otherwise, why give a presentation?

Do use the slides as a cue

Let audience read

Create slides and use animation that

emphasize your points


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Do plan breaks for longer presentations

10 minutes for every hour

Do be passionate about the topic

Have fun, this is your opportunity

If your audience doesnt know why your topic is

important, youve lost them

Dont forget to practice

Record yourself, tape yourself, or use a mirror

Reading through slides does not count as practice


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Do relax, use nerves to your advantage

Breathe deeply, pause as needed

Dont go too fast

Do watch out for mannerisms

" Um . . um

Do empty your pockets and hands

Dont point at computer, point at the

screen


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Do use body language to help make a point

Purposeful movements

Do use appropriate posture

Dont play with keys or coins in your

pocket

Dont use a pointer, pen, pencil or chalk to point atan individual may be perceived as offensive

Dont look at your feet or at the ceiling (indicationof nervousness or timidity)

Dont stare

Dont just look only at the training aids or chalkboard (this can be perceived as impolite)


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Do face audience more than slides

Dont talk to the screen or wall

Do vary your voice

Dont speak in monotone

Most people speak too soft, not too loud

Do memorize slide numbers for key slides

Or transition points

Do get honest feedback from someone you trust


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Dont forget to smile


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Handling Questions

Welcome them

Lots of questions are either a sign of:

" Interest in what you are talking about

Audience internalizing

" Failure to communicate an idea

Meaning that the person still wants tounderstand

Always repeat the question1. For you to make sure you understood it

2. For audience to make sure they heard it


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Handling Questions

Answer the question to the audience

Then check back to the individual for

confirmation

Dont be afraid to say I dont know

Better than mumbling or fumbling an

answer


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Final thoughts

POPTA

Good slides go a long way

Practice, practice, practice

Remember that the audience wants you to

succeed

Use other resources (Books, web, etc.)

Anyone can learn to be a better presenter!


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Thank You ! ! !

Documents

How to develop Presentation Skills