Module 5

Presentation Skills
 What is a Presentation?
• A means of communication that can be adapted to various
speaking situations, such as talking to a group, addressing a
meeting or briefing a team.

• It also be used as a broad term that encompasses other ‘speaking

engagements’ such as making a speech at a wedding, or getting a
point across in a video conference.

• To be effective, step-by-step preparation and the method and

means of presenting the information should be carefully
considered.

• It requires you to get a message across to the listeners and will

often contain a 'persuasive' element.
Elements of Presentation
• Context

• Presenter

• Audience

• Message

• Reaction

• Method
 Prerequisites of effective presentation
1. Show your Passion and Connect with your Audience

• It’s hard to be relaxed and be yourself when you’re nervous.

• But time and again, the great presenters say that the most
important thing is to connect with your audience, and the
best way to do that is to let your passion for the subject
shine through.

• Be honest with the audience about what is important to you

and why it matters.

• Be enthusiastic and honest, and the audience will respond.

2. Focus on your Audience’s Needs

• Your presentation needs to be built around what your audience

is going to get out of the presentation.

• As you prepare the presentation, you always need to bear in

mind what the audience needs and wants to know, not what
you can tell them.

• While you’re giving the presentation, you also need to remain

focused on your audience’s response, and react to that.

• You need to make it easy for your audience to understand and

respond.
3. Keep it Simple: Concentrate on your Core Message

• When planning your presentation, you should always keep in

mind the question: What is the key message (or three key points)
for my audience to take away? You should be able to
communicate that key message very briefly.
• Some experts recommend a 30-second ‘elevator summary’,
others that you can write it on the back of a business card, or say
it in no more than 15 words. Whichever rule you choose, the
important thing is to keep your core message focused and brief.

• And if what you are planning to say doesn’t contribute to that

core message, don’t say it.
4. Smile and Make Eye Contact with your Audience

• This sounds very easy, but a surprisingly large number of

presenters fail to do it.

• If you smile and make eye contact, you are building

rapport, which helps the audience to connect with you and
your subject. It also helps you to feel less nervous,
because you are talking to individuals, not to a great mass
of unknown people.

• To help you with this, make sure that you don’t turn down
all the lights so that only the slide screen is visible. Your
audience needs to see you as well as your slides.
5. Start Strongly
• The beginning of your presentation is crucial. You need to grab your
audience’s attention and hold it.
• They will give you a few minutes’ grace in which to entertain them,
before they start to switch off if you’re dull. So don’t waste that on
explaining who you are.
• Start by entertaining them.

6. Tell a Story
• Human beings are programmed to respond to stories.

• Stories help us to pay attention, and also to remember things. If

you can use stories in your presentation, your audience is more
likely to engage and to remember your points afterwards. It is a
good idea to start with a story, but there is a wider point too: you
need your presentation to act like a story.
 7. Use your Voice Effectively

• The spoken word is actually a pretty inefficient means of

communication, because it uses only one of your audience’s
five senses. That’s why presenters tend to use visual aids, too.
But you can help to make the spoken word better by using
your voice effectively.

• Varying the speed at which you talk, and emphasizing changes

in pitch and tone all help to make your voice more interesting
and hold your audience’s attention.
8. Use your Body Too

• It has been estimated that more than three quarters of

communication is non-verbal.

• That means that as well as your tone of voice, your body

language is crucial to getting your message across. Make sure
that you are giving the right messages: body language to avoid
includes crossed arms, hands held behind your back or in your
pockets and pacing the stage.

• Make your gestures open and confident, and move naturally

around the stage, and among the audience too, if possible.
9. Relax, Breathe and Enjoy

• If you find presenting difficult, it can be hard to be calm and

relaxed about doing it.

• One option is to start by concentrating on your breathing. Slow

it down, and make sure that you’re breathing fully. Make sure
that you continue to pause for breath occasionally during your
presentation too.

• If you can bring yourself to relax, you will almost certainly

present better. If you can actually start to enjoy yourself, your
audience will respond to that, and engage better. Your
presentations will improve exponentially, and so will your
confidence. It’s well worth a try.
Format of a Presentation
1. Greet the audience and introduce yourself:

• Before you start delivering your talk, introduce yourself

to the audience and clarify who you are and your relevant
expertise. This does not need to be long or incredibly
detailed, but will help build an immediate relationship
between you and the audience. It gives you the chance to
briefly clarify your expertise and why you are worth
listening to. This will help establish your ethos so the
audience will trust you more and think you're credible.
2. Introduction
• Here, you need to explain the subject and purpose of your
presentation whilst gaining the audience's interest and
confidence. It's sometimes helpful to think of your
introduction as funnel-shaped to help filter down your topic:
• Introduce your general topic
• Explain your topic area
• State the issues/challenges in this area you will be exploring
• State your presentation's purpose - this is the basis of your
presentation so ensure that you provide a statement explaining
how the topic will be treated, for example,
• "I will argue that…" or maybe you will "compare", "analyse",
"evaluate", "describe" etc.
 continued

• Provide a statement of what you're hoping the outcome of the

presentation will be, for example, "I'm hoping this will be provide
you with...
• Show a preview of the organisation of your presentation.
• In this section also explain:
❑ The length of the talk.

❑ Signal whether you want audience interaction - some presenters

prefer the audience to ask questions throughout whereas others
allocate a specific section for this.

❑ If it applies, inform the audience whether to take notes or whether

you will be providing handouts.
3. The Main Body of Your Talk
• The main body of your talk needs to meet the promises you made in the
introduction. Depending on the nature of your presentation, clearly segment
the different topics you will be discussing, and then work your way through
them one at a time - it's important for everything to be organised logically for
the audience to fully understand. There are many different ways to organise
your main points, such as, by priority, theme, chronologically etc.

• Main points should be addressed one by one with supporting evidence and
examples. Before moving on to the next point you should provide a mini-
summary.
Links should be clearly stated between ideas and you must make it clear
when you're moving onto the next point.

• Allow time for people to take relevant notes and stick to the topics you have
prepared beforehand rather than straying too far off topic.

• When planning your presentation write a list of main points you want to make
and ask yourself "What I am telling the audience? What should they
understand from this?" refining your answers this way will help you produce
clear messages.
4. Conclusion

• In presentations the conclusion is frequently underdeveloped and lacks

purpose which is a shame as it's the best place to reinforce your
messages. Typically, your presentation has a specific goal - that could
be to convert a number of the audience members into customers, lead
to a certain number of enquiries to make people knowledgeable on
specific key points, or to motivate them towards a shared goal.

• Regardless of what that goal is, be sure to summarise your main points
and their implications. This clarifies the overall purpose of your talk
and reinforces your reason for being there.
Follow these steps:
• Signal that it’s nearly the end of your presentation, for
example, "As we wrap up/as we wind down the talk…"

• Restate the topic and purpose of your presentation - "In this

speech I wanted to compare…"

• Summarise the main points, including their implications and

conclusions

• Indicate what is next/a call to action/a thought-provoking

takeaway

• Move on to the last section

5. Thank the audience and invite questions

• Conclude your talk by thanking the audience for their

time and invite them to ask any questions they may
have. As mentioned earlier, personal circumstances will
affect the structure of your presentation.

• Many presenters prefer to make the Q&A session the

key part of their talk and try to speed through the main
body of thepresentation. This is totally fine, but it is
still best to focus on delivering some sort of initial
presentation to set the tone and topics for discussion in
the Q&A.
 Do’s and Don’t of PPT
1. DO: Stay Concise:
• The biggest rookie PowerPoint mistake is to copy and paste all
your information verbatim into the slides.

• Not only is this incredibly boring, but no one is going to have

the time or inclination to read a wall of text. Don’t turn a
presentation into a book.

• There’s no hard rule, but a good general principle is to limit

yourself to five words per line and five lines per slide.
 2. DON’T: Overdo the Special Effects

• After years of updates, PowerPoint is extremely full featured

at this point.

• But, while it can be fun to play with all the bells and
whistles, too often they just end up being distractions,

• Avoid overusing animations, flashy transitions, jarring sound

effects, busy backgrounds, unnecessary drop shadows, ornate
fonts, or any other effect that doesn’t make your information
clearer.
 3. DO: Use Humor
• Because the format is so well established and we’ve all seen thousands of them,
even the best powerpoint presentations can struggle to engage audiences.

• Don’t treat a presentation like an open comic night at the comedy club, but the
occasional comic, snappy pun, or amusing anecdote will liven things up, make
your arguments more memorable, and prevent monotony from setting in.

4. DON’T: Just Read the Slides

• Your audience, presumably, can already read. They don’t want to have the words
on the screen read back to them word for word. Your slides should support an
oral presentation, not just reiterate it.

• Know the material well enough that your bullet points will jog your memory of
the finer details that need to be addressed.
 5. DO: Look Up!
• Even if you aren’t just reading from the slides and are just referring to them,
you should still look up now and then to maintain eye contact with the
audience– how else will you know if they are still awake?

6. DON’T: Rush

• Give you audience ample time to read each slide, but don’t delay so long as
to lose their attention.

• Also, don’t start speaking as soon as the next slide loads. Give the audience
a few moments to scan the slide and get ready to hear what you have to
say about it.

• Likewise, don’t hit the next slide as soon as you finish discussing the
current one. Give readers time to digest the information, and check out the
room to see if they look ready to move on.
7. DO: Be Bold and Direct
• Use bold colors and sharp contrasts, not only because it will enhance legibility
but because it imparts emotion and energy into your presentation.

• Similarly, when it comes to fonts for presentations, bigger is almost always

better. A point size of 18 is just about the bare minimum. Shoot for something
closer to the mid to upper 20s. Also, bear in mind, sans serif fonts are
considered more legible at big sizes.

8. DO: Save Handouts for the End

• There’s some debate about this one. Some authorities believe following a
handout will improve audience recall, but many believe it just pulls awareness
away from the presenter.

• Attendees already have the constant threat of smart phones to distract them.
Don’t give them anything else that might overshadow the main event.

• Be the center of attention at all times. Make your case and make it well, and
then provide supplementary materials for people to look over at their leisure.
9. DON’T: Overuse Statistics
• No one needs to see all the raw data that went into your presentation. They
want you to synthesize that information for them.

• Slides overloaded with too many facts and figures will be tuned out. Besides
anyone who needs all the granular details will ideally be able to get them on
your website or handout materials.

• If you have a stat you think is vital to the story you are telling, try to at least
format it in a visually interesting way like a simple chart or graph.

10. DO: Use Bullets and Numbered Lists

• Humans process information better when it’s organized in discrete chunks.
Take out information and break it down into major sections, and then break
those down into subsections.

• Information should flow in an orderly fashion and be extremely easy to

understand and digest.

• Progressively released bullet points (that pop up one at a time) can also be
useful for helping the audience keep track of where you are in the
presentation.
 DON’T: Be Afraid to Take a Pause

• You don’t have to run through your slides unceasingly.

Some presenters prefer to leave questions to the end, but
others allow questions at any time.

• But, if a question arises that causes a digression, consider

hitting the letter “B” on the keyboard. This will pause the
presentation and clear the screen,

• f you leave the current slide up many eyes will stay fixated
on it even as you are discussing something totally different.
Advantages Of Visual Aids
• The speakers message becomes more interesting and
easy to understand when explained both verbally and
visually.
• Visual aids can increase the persuasiveness of a
speech.
• Visual aids increase the preparedness and credibility
of an average speaker.
• Visual aids help combat stage fright.
• Visual aids heighten audience interest and shift
attention from the speaker giving them greater
confidence in presentation as a whole.
Types of Visual Aids
 Objects
 Models
 Photographs
 Drawings
 Graphs
 Charts
 Transparencies
 Videos
 Multimedia presentations
 Speaker
GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING VISUAL AIDS

• Prepare visual aids in advance.

• Keep visual aids simple.

• Make sure visual aids are large enough.

• Use fonts that are easy to read (or as per specification,

if any).

• Use a limited number of fonts.

• Use colour effectively.

 Guidelines for Presenting Visual Aids

• Avoid using the chalkboard for visual aids.

• Display visual aids where listeners can see them.

• Avoid passing visual aids among the audience.

Body Language

Following affect the way listeners respond to

the speaker :
• Personal appearance
• Movement
• Gestures
• Eye contact
continued

Personal Appearance:
Listeners always see you before they hear you, so a speaker should dress
and groom appropriately to evoke a favorable lasting impression

Movement:
A speaker’s posture gives the audience a good idea of his state of mind.
Slouching and slumping makes you seem weak and ineffectual, and
will cause the audience to lose interest in what you have to say. When
facing an audience, remember to stand with your back straight and your
chest out. The easy way to do this is to pull your stomach in. This will
automatically push your chest out and pull your shoulder back.

Your stance is also an important part of posture. The key is to stay

balanced and relaxed at all times. Ideally you should stand with your
feet apart, at about the length of your shoulders. For added balance,
you may also stand with one foot slightly forward. Do not stand with
your feet too wide apart or too close together. This will weaken your
balance and make you thoroughly uncomfortable.
continued
• Eye Contact
Looking your audience in the eye is essential for making effective
presentations. Eye contact helps bring about a connection to your
audience and makes it difficult for them to focus on anything else but
you. Eye contact connotes confidence, sincerity and openness, while the
lack of it connotes fear, guilt, and dishonesty.
Hand Gestures

Gesturing with your hands can be a useful emphatic tool, provided it’s
done right. You can occasionally gesture with your hands in order to
underscore a point or direct your audience’s attention towards something
interesting. The operative word here is occasionally. You are not
conducting an orchestra. Gesturing too much can distract the audience
from what you’re trying to say, and may even make you look nervous.

If you are not sure what to do with your hands, it’s perfectly alright not to
gesture at all. You may keep your hands at your sides, on the podium, or
holding a microphone. Instead of gesturing, you can underscore your
points by effective pauses, facial expressions, or a change in speaking
tone or inflection.
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