Presentations – Writing It Out

admin — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:38:41 +0000

One area where people don’t agree is whether to write out your presentation completely or to just put the main points on cards.
If you write the main points on cards you will probably sound more natural, interesting and confident. However, you may blank completely during your talk and forget what you are trying to say. You need to make sure that your cards contain enough words to help you if you lose your train of thought.
Tips to using cards well:
Use postcard-sized cards.
Write neatly, clearly and in big characters.
Number your cards.
Write on only one side of the cards.
Practice with the cards several times until you feel confident.
If you write out your presentation completely, you won’t sound as natural without a lot of preparation with a voice coach. However, it’s a good solution if you are extremely nervous. You may also need to write out your presentation if the exact wording is vitally important or if you are required to give out a handout of your talk.
Tips to writing it out well.
Use short sentences. What you want to produce is good speaking not good writing.
Write on A4 paper. Don’t put too much on each page and make sure no paragraph runs over onto the next page.
Use a large typeface, at least 16pt.
Number each page.
Don’t attach the pages.

Make your presentation interesting

admin — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:37:20 +0000

Find out as much as you can about your audience before you begin to prepare your presentation.
Who are they?
How many people will there be? What age range? Men or women? Friend or foe? Are they there by choice?
What do they want from your presentation?
What do they know already about my subject? Why have they come to the presentation?
The more you know about your audience, the closer you can pitch your presentation to suit them.
But what do you do if know very little in advance about your audience? Well the best answer is to try and find out more. However, here are some techniques that we have found will keep any audience interested.
Interpret your statistics. Give them figures and then explain what they mean. Is a five per cent increase in sales in China a good result or a great result? Tell them what you think. Put them in a context they can relate to.
Include some fascinating facts to illustrate your subject. For example, as English trainers, we often use the little known fact that the country in the world where the most people speak English is not the USA or India, it’s China.
Use one or two quotes if they reinforce your mission. You don’t have to name the person who said it, especially if they are obscure. You can say ‘As someone said…’
Native speakers can successfully incorporate jokes into their presentations. However, we have found that non-native speakers often can’t. A joke usually requires timing or pronunciation skills that a non-native speaker doesn’t have. Also different cultures can be offended by jokes that we might find funny.

Effective Presentation Skills » interest

Presentations – Writing It Out

Make your presentation interesting