Skill Tutorial: Work Planning

Skill Tutorial: Preparing for a Presentation
First steps to preparing your Presentation	To begin, ask yourself: Why are you giving the presentation? Do you want to share an opinion, and convince your audience that yours is the correct opinion? If so, what are their likely objections to your thesis? How might you defend your position against their objections or concerns? Do you want to help your audience arrive at a decision? If so, what information will they need to make an informed decision? Who is your audience? What is their level of background knowledge on the topic? What do you need to tell them to help them understand the topic versus what do they already know? What terms and concepts will they be familiar with? Which will require explanation? Are there any guidelines or constraints you need to take into consideration, such as a time limit?
Create an outline	Based on your purpose and thesis, identify your key and supporting points. “What am I trying to say to the audience? What is my key message or thesis?” “What key points do I need to make to help my audience understand and/or agree with this message?” “In what order should I tell the audience these key points?” “For each key point, what information do I need to provide to help the audience come to agree with or understand my key point?” (These are your supporting points.)
Outline your presentation	Now that you know what you want to say to your audience, it’s time to think about how you can best present your thesis, key and supporting points to your audience. Create a detailed outline of your presentation. Your presentation outline should include a beginning, middle, and end, as described below. Note: While you’ll build your presentation in PowerPoint, it’s best to outline your presentation first on paper or using Word. The Beginning · Begin by introducing the topic and capturing the audience’s attention. A creative and captivating introduction can set the backdrop to your presentation. To draw your audience in you might: o Tell a story. An amusing or exciting anecdote related to your topic can win your audience over. o Use an interesting visual that you can talk about or show a short video clip that can help you introduce the topic. o Do an interactive activity with the audience. Ask them a question, take a poll, or play a quiz game. · Then, introduce your thesis, i.e., tell your audience what question your presentation is trying to answer, and/or what your opinion is on that question. The Middle (the body of your presentation) · This section makes up most of your presentation. During this portion of your presentation you should walk your audience through the key points that support your thesis. Each key point should be backed up by supporting points. · To help you organize this portion of your presentation, it can be helpful to turn each of your key points into a sentence, e.g., “Sharks are becoming extinct,” or “Cell phones are ruining people’s free time”. o Then, organize these sentences so that they tell a story. Under each of your sentences, list the supporting points. o Each sentence and its supporting points can become its own slide in the presentation. · Keep in mind: The body of your presentation should include only the most interesting and persuasive pieces of evidence, and provide any background information your audience needs to understand the topic of your presentation. The End · Conclusion. Look over your outline and identify the major points that should be briefly summarized for the audience. · Plan time for audience members to ask questions. Remember that if your audience members are bored are confused, they will not get the most out of your presentation. Your presentation should tell your audience a story, walking them through the information they need to understand your thesis clearly and logically.
Make your points “presentation-friendly”	While it is alright to have your key point sentences at the top of your slides, the supporting points underneath these points should not be full sentences, or your presentation will become cluttered and too difficult to read. (Once you start building your presentation in PowerPoint you will find that very little text can fit on each slide.) To make your presentation easy-to-read, convert your supporting points into talking points. o Talking points are bulleted phrases or sentences that guide you through the presentation. o Though it might be helpful to write out every word you want to say during the presentation, you should never read your notes. Talking points will help give you a quick reference to keep you on track without giving you a lot to read. o Talking points should include just enough information to trigger what you should talk and elaborate on.
Build your presentation	Though there are many kinds of programs for building presentations, PowerPoint is probably the most widely used. PowerPoint allows you to organize information graphically and present it on slides for your audience to view during your presentation. Once you have built the majority of your presentation on paper, you can begin building your presentation on the computer using PowerPoint. As mentioned above, a good presentation will have a beginning, middle, and end just like your report. It should also have the following essential slides: · Title of presentation slide. If your presentation is set up a few minutes before it starts, this is the slide you want your audience to be fixed on. It will have the title of your presentation, your name, and date. · Overview slide. This is the first slide after the title slide. It gives a break down of the presentation so audience members know what to expect. · Conclusion slide. It’s always good to recap and review. The final slide can summarize the main points. Following are some tips for building your presentation: · Remember: Limit amount of information on the slide. You – as the presenter -- want to be the audience’s primary focus, not your slides. You don’t want your audience to spend a lot of time reading (and, you don’t want to be reading directly from the slides, either). The information on a slide should be concise. · As a rule of thumb, limit yourself to between 3 and 5 bullets per slide. o If you have more than five bullets, create a new heading or subheading for better organization. o Break information on more than one slide if information looks too crowded. Find a logical place to break-up the content and carry it over to the next slide. · Avoid using long quotes, long sentences, and long talking points. · Remember, PowerPoint is a visual medium. If you have a picture than can take the place of words, use it. Click on the following resources below for additional tips and instructions on building powerful and effective PowerPoint Presentations: PowerPoint in the Classroom - This tutorial leads you step by step in using PowerPoint to make an academic presentation. Writing with PowerPoint - The Purdue OWL's resource on using PowerPoint. 8 Mistakes When Creating PowerPoint Presentations - This is an article about common technical and presentation mistakes to avoid when using PowerPoint.
Choose a uniform style and design	After you have all the information on your slides, the slides can be stylized: Text Use easy-to-read fonts. Consider the venue of the presentation. Will you be in a small classroom or a large lecture hall? People seated in the far back will need to see so make sure fonts are fonts are large enough for your audience to read. Fonts generally range form 18 to 48 point. · How text appears on screen should be consistent from slide to slide. Bold headings and sub-headings and use larger fonts than what is used for the content. Talking points should all be a uniform font size. Check for grammar and spelling errors. Graphics Use graphics like photos, diagrams, charts and graphs only when it can add to the value of your presentation and give you something to talk about. Use a background color or design that is easy to read text on. Use a design template to ensure consistency. Make sure the background or color does not take away from the information on the slide. Also, make sure the background design is appropriate for the content subject. Be consistent with effects, slide transitions or animation of content. o Find the right balance of bells and whistles in your presentation. An overuse of the above can be a distraction to the audience.
Rehearse your presentation	Once the presentation is designed, it’s important to rehearse your presentation. Doing so allows you to iron out any problems and become comfortable with the material you will be presenting. Keep the following in mind as you rehearse: Don’t read the presentation directly from your notes. It’s ok to have notes and glance at them from time to time but reading your notes is a sign to your audience that you are not prepared and do not know the material. Speak loudly and clearly Make eye contact with your audience · Don’t speak too fast. Make sure to add pauses in between major points and slides. · Know when to stop talking and keep the presentation moving. · Make sure, if there are any transitions between presenters, that you have planned for them and they are smooth. Team Presentations If you are presenting as part of a team where you and others will take turns leading parts of the presentation, think about the following: Rehearse as a team. Iron-out of who is presenting what and when they are presenting. Make transition from the person presenting to the next person presenting seamless and with the least amount of distractions. Come up with a plan for team members who are not currently presenting. Perhaps they will be seated or standing behind or to the side of the presenter. Team members who are not presenting should try their best not to distract the presenter or the audience. When you rehearse independently or as a team, try to: · Rehearse out loud. · Practice with a projector, whenever possible. At the very least run the slides on your computer as your rehearse. · Have friends or teammates to listen to you and offer you constructive feedback. · If you have an audience, ask them to come up with questions so you can practice answering them. · If there is a time limit to the presentation, practice with a timer to make sure your presentation is the right length. If you are running over, you may need to revise your presentation by deleting content/slides and/or not talk as much to better fit the time allotted. · Fix all technical glitches.

Skill Tutorial: Preparing for a Presentation

Prepare for a Presentation

First steps to preparing your Presentation

To begin, ask yourself:

Why are you giving the presentation?

Do you want to share an opinion, and convince your audience that yours is the correct opinion?

If so, what are their likely objections to your thesis?
How might you defend your position against their objections or concerns?

Do you want to help your audience arrive at a decision?

If so, what information will they need to make an informed decision?

Who is your audience?

What is their level of background knowledge on the topic? What do you need to tell them to help them understand the topic versus what do they already know?
What terms and concepts will they be familiar with? Which will require explanation?

Are there any guidelines or constraints you need to take into consideration, such as a time limit?

Create an outline

Based on your purpose and thesis, identify your key and supporting points.

“What am I trying to say to the audience? What is my key message or thesis?”
“What key points do I need to make to help my audience understand and/or agree with this message?”
“In what order should I tell the audience these key points?”
“For each key point, what information do I need to provide to help the audience come to agree with or understand my key point?” (These are your supporting points.)

Outline your presentation

Now that you know what you want to say to your audience, it’s time to think about how you can best present your thesis, key and supporting points to your audience. Create a detailed outline of your presentation. Your presentation outline should include a beginning, middle, and end, as described below.

Note: While you’ll build your presentation in PowerPoint, it’s best to outline your presentation first on paper or using Word.

The Beginning

· Begin by introducing the topic and capturing the audience’s attention. A creative and captivating introduction can set the backdrop to your presentation. To draw your audience in you might:

o Tell a story. An amusing or exciting anecdote related to your topic can win your audience over.

o Use an interesting visual that you can talk about or show a short video clip that can help you introduce the topic.

o Do an interactive activity with the audience. Ask them a question, take a poll, or play a quiz game.

· Then, introduce your thesis, i.e., tell your audience what question your presentation is trying to answer, and/or what your opinion is on that question.

The Middle (the body of your presentation)

· This section makes up most of your presentation. During this portion of your presentation you should walk your audience through the key points that support your thesis. Each key point should be backed up by supporting points.

· To help you organize this portion of your presentation, it can be helpful to turn each of your key points into a sentence, e.g., “Sharks are becoming extinct,” or “Cell phones are ruining people’s free time”.

o Then, organize these sentences so that they tell a story. Under each of your sentences, list the supporting points.

o Each sentence and its supporting points can become its own slide in the presentation.

· Keep in mind: The body of your presentation should include only the most interesting and persuasive pieces of evidence, and provide any background information your audience needs to understand the topic of your presentation.

The End

· Conclusion. Look over your outline and identify the major points that should be briefly summarized for the audience.

· Plan time for audience members to ask questions.

Remember that if your audience members are bored are confused, they will not get the most out of your presentation. Your presentation should tell your audience a story, walking them through the information they need to understand your thesis clearly and logically.

Make your points “presentation-friendly”

While it is alright to have your key point sentences at the top of your slides, the supporting points underneath these points should not be full sentences, or your presentation will become cluttered and too difficult to read. (Once you start building your presentation in PowerPoint you will find that very little text can fit on each slide.) To make your presentation easy-to-read, convert your supporting points into talking points.

o Talking points are bulleted phrases or sentences that guide you through the presentation.

o Though it might be helpful to write out every word you want to say during the presentation, you should never read your notes. Talking points will help give you a quick reference to keep you on track without giving you a lot to read.

o Talking points should include just enough information to trigger what you should talk and elaborate on.

Build your presentation

Though there are many kinds of programs for building presentations, PowerPoint is probably the most widely used. PowerPoint allows you to organize information graphically and present it on slides for your audience to view during your presentation.

Once you have built the majority of your presentation on paper, you can begin building your presentation on the computer using PowerPoint. As mentioned above, a good presentation will have a beginning, middle, and end just like your report. It should also have the following essential slides:

· Title of presentation slide. If your presentation is set up a few minutes before it starts, this is the slide you want your audience to be fixed on. It will have the title of your presentation, your name, and date.

· Overview slide. This is the first slide after the title slide. It gives a break down of the presentation so audience members know what to expect.

· Conclusion slide. It’s always good to recap and review. The final slide can summarize the main points.

Following are some tips for building your presentation:

· Remember: Limit amount of information on the slide. You – as the presenter -- want to be the audience’s primary focus, not your slides. You don’t want your audience to spend a lot of time reading (and, you don’t want to be reading directly from the slides, either). The information on a slide should be concise.

· As a rule of thumb, limit yourself to between 3 and 5 bullets per slide.

o If you have more than five bullets, create a new heading or subheading for better organization.

o Break information on more than one slide if information looks too crowded. Find a logical place to break-up the content and carry it over to the next slide.

· Avoid using long quotes, long sentences, and long talking points.

· Remember, PowerPoint is a visual medium. If you have a picture than can take the place of words, use it.

Click on the following resources below for additional tips and instructions on building powerful and effective PowerPoint Presentations:

PowerPoint in the Classroom - This tutorial leads you step by step in using PowerPoint to make an academic presentation.

Writing with PowerPoint - The Purdue OWL's resource on using PowerPoint.

8 Mistakes When Creating PowerPoint Presentations - This is an article about common technical and presentation mistakes to avoid when using PowerPoint.

Choose a uniform style and design

After you have all the information on your slides, the slides can be stylized:

Text

Use easy-to-read fonts.

Consider the venue of the presentation. Will you be in a small classroom or a large lecture hall? People seated in the far back will need to see so make sure fonts are fonts are large enough for your audience to read. Fonts generally range form 18 to 48 point.

· How text appears on screen should be consistent from slide to slide.

Bold headings and sub-headings and use larger fonts than what is used for the content.
Talking points should all be a uniform font size.

Check for grammar and spelling errors.

Graphics

Use graphics like photos, diagrams, charts and graphs only when it can add to the value of your presentation and give you something to talk about.
Use a background color or design that is easy to read text on.

Use a design template to ensure consistency.
Make sure the background or color does not take away from the information on the slide. Also, make sure the background design is appropriate for the content subject.

Be consistent with effects, slide transitions or animation of content.

o Find the right balance of bells and whistles in your presentation. An overuse of the above can be a distraction to the audience.

Rehearse your presentation

Once the presentation is designed, it’s important to rehearse your presentation. Doing so allows you to iron out any problems and become comfortable with the material you will be presenting. Keep the following in mind as you rehearse:

Don’t read the presentation directly from your notes. It’s ok to have notes and glance at them from time to time but reading your notes is a sign to your audience that you are not prepared and do not know the material.
Speak loudly and clearly
Make eye contact with your audience

· Don’t speak too fast. Make sure to add pauses in between major points and slides.

· Know when to stop talking and keep the presentation moving.

· Make sure, if there are any transitions between presenters, that you have planned for them and they are smooth.

Team Presentations

If you are presenting as part of a team where you and others will take turns leading parts of the presentation, think about the following:

Rehearse as a team. Iron-out of who is presenting what and when they are presenting.
Make transition from the person presenting to the next person presenting seamless and with the least amount of distractions.
Come up with a plan for team members who are not currently presenting. Perhaps they will be seated or standing behind or to the side of the presenter.

Team members who are not presenting should try their best not to distract the presenter or the audience.

When you rehearse independently or as a team, try to:

· Rehearse out loud.

· Practice with a projector, whenever possible. At the very least run the slides on your computer as your rehearse.

· Have friends or teammates to listen to you and offer you constructive feedback.

· If you have an audience, ask them to come up with questions so you can practice answering them.

· If there is a time limit to the presentation, practice with a timer to make sure your presentation is the right length. If you are running over, you may need to revise your presentation by deleting content/slides and/or not talk as much to better fit the time allotted.

· Fix all technical glitches.