Source: Tips On Making Presentations

- “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” (Albert Einstein)

- “The best speakers ... grip an audience by telling a story and showing some slides to support that.” (Meinald Thielsch)

- “I'm going to make a long speech because I've not had time to prepare a short one.” (Winston Churchill)

BASIC TIPS:

(A) MIND YOUR BODY LANGUAGE! – The importance of Non-Verbal Communication:

- Say hello and smile when you greet the audience: your audience will probably look at you and smile back: an instinctive reaction.

- Don’t hunch up or shuffle your feet. Have an upright posture. You should look confident and enthusiastic.

- If possible, walk around a little and gesture with your hands. Bad presenters keep their hands on the podium or (even worse) in their pockets! Don’t stand in one place glued to the spot hiding behind the table or the podium. Good presenters move around and look at different parts of the audience.

- Eye contact is crucial to holding the attention of your audience. Look at your audience from time to time, not just at your notes or at the PowerPoint slides.

(B) DELIVER CONFIDENTLY, CLEARLY AND SMOOTHLY:

- Speak clearly, firmly and confidently as this makes you sound in control.

- Don’t speak too quickly: you are likely to speed up and raise the pitch of your voice when nervous. Give the audience time to absorb each point.

- Don’t talk in a monotone the whole time. Your voice is a very flexible and powerful tool. You can use it in many different ways by varying the: volumen, pace and pitch.

- Use silence to emphasise points. Before you make a key point, pause: this tells the audience that something important is coming. Nervous speakers tend to gabble on trying to fill every little gap.

- You could try to involve your audience by asking them a question.

- Don’t read out your talk, as this sounds boring and stilted, but refer to brief notes jotted down on small (postcard sized) pieces of card. Don’t look at your notes too much as this suggests insecurity and will prevent you making eye contact with the audience.

- It’s OK to use humour, in moderation, but better to use anecdotes than to rattle off a string of jokes.

- Build variety into the talk and break it up into sections: apparently, the average person has a three-minute attention span!

(C) PRACTISE! AND KEEP TRACK OF TIME:

- Keep within the allotted time for your talk.

- It can be very helpful to practise at home in front of a mirror.

- You can also record your presentation and play it back to yourself: don’t judge yourself harshly when you replay this – we always notice our bad points and not the good when hearing or seeing a recording of ourselves! Time how long your talk takes.

- Run through the talk a few times with someone who can give you feedback.

- It’s normal to be a little nervous. This is a good thing as it will make you more energised. Many people have a fear of speaking in public. Practising will make sure that you are not too anxious. Take a few deep slow breaths before your talk starts and make a conscious effort to speak slowly and clearly. Research by T. Gilovich (Cornell University) found that people who feel embarrassed are convinced their mistakes are much more noticeable than they really are: we focus on our own behaviour more than other people do and so overestimate its impact. This is called the spotlight effect. If you make a mistake, don’t apologise too much, just briefly acknowledge the mistake and continue on. For more details see "59 Seconds" by Prof. Richard Wiseman

STRUCTURING YOUR PRESENTATION

- Your presentation should have a beginning, a middle and an end.

- Use short sentences.

CONSIDER:

- Who is my audience?

- What points do I want to get across?

- How much time have I got?

- What visual aids are available? PowerPoint projector? Flip chart? (Don’t necessarily use these.)

In preparing your talk, first jot down any interesting points you want to include in your talk, put these in a logical sequence, then try to find an interesting title, and a good introduction and ending.

INTRODUCTION:

- Welcome the audience.

- Say what your presentation will be about: the aims and objectives.

- The introduction should catch the attention.

THE MIDDLE SHOULD OUTLINE YOUR ARGUMENT OR DEVELOP YOUR STORY:

- In five minutes, you will only have time for two or three main points and allow everything else to support these. List your main headings and any key phrases you will use.

- Don’t try to pack too much content in or you will talk non-stop trying to get all your content, and the audience will switch off with information overload long before the end.

- Use graphics or anecdotes to add variety.

CONCLUSION:

- Briefly summarise your main points.

- Answer any questions.

- Thank the audience for listening. Look at the audience again, smile and slow down.

- The end should be on a strong or positive note – not tailing away to “…well that’s all I’ve got to say so thank you very much for listening ladies and gentlemen”. You could try something more appealing, such as: “The danger is increasing – if we don’t all act soon, it could be too late!”

The above has been neatly summarised as "Tell them what you will tell them (introduction), tell them (development), tell them what you told them (conclusion)"