Presentation skills - How to improve presentation skills? (Nov/11/2006 )

What do you do when you need to make a Power Point presentation of your work and you have about a week to do it and you are a newbie in PhD world and you do not know where to start to read first from!?!? I feel like I will waste my time reading something not so relevant for my presentation and it will turn out I didn't need that information at all and I will end up staring at the blank presentation slide again!

What do you suggest?! I kind of put it in my head that I will not be capable of connecting all the pieces of my work on my own and it blocks me from doing the right reading and all.

To make things look even worse, my friend in high school used to highlight important things to study for me because I wasn't able to extract the essence but wanted to know everything so I would learn a a whole lecture with all the details and all :'(!

Help?

Hi,
be calm and don´t worry. You will work much better if you´re not nervous.
When I´ve to prepare a lecture, first I think about the people who is going to listen to me, if they are experts or if they are young people inexperienced like me. This is important for me because in case they are newbies, I will explain it much more in a simple style (although always being rigorous with explanations), and not being very very specific. Anyway it´s important to go in order, starting with general concepts and going to the specific ideas.
Don´t explain anything you don´t understand, because this will increase your insecurity and if suddenly you feel lost, it will be very difficult to go on. Only explain what you understand, and so also you will answer possible questions without problems.
It´s very important to learn which are the general ideas and which ones are less important. Sooner or later you will have to learn that, it requires practice but don´t you think you can´t do it. Maybe the first time will be the most difficult but you will learn to extract the essence of a text, this is indispensable when you are reading an article.
Don´t try to remember everything. In my opinion it´s better to say less things but important and with great self-confidence, than remember many unnecessary details and be boring.
You can write on the presentation words or short phrases that help you to remember the ideas and so you can explain them easily. Also, arrows, figures and graphics are nice, help a lot to explain and to understand.
Don´t be worried if you suddenly realize that you forgot to say something, unless it´s absolutely indispensable, just go on with self-confidence.
Finish the presentation at least two days before "the day" in order to practice and avoid so many nervous. It would be great if you can show it to a friend who can help you.
Good luck and don´t worry, next time it will be easier, and the next easier, and the next, and the next... you will learn how to manage in these situations and much before you believe now, you will be able to prepare presentations in one or two days.
Hope this helps.

Your advices do help a lot, will keep it as a note on my desktop;)!
Thanks so much for the support!

I´m so glad to help you.
One more thing: to know which details can be deleted, think how it would be if you were part of the audience. Imagine which things would be too boring for you due to their lack of importance.
I was in a similar situation last year and, believe me, you will learn how to set up good presentations in a short time and you will be more self-confidence every time.
Good luck and tell us next week how the presentation was.

I´m so glad to help you.
One more thing: to know which details can be deleted, think how it would be if you were part of the audience. Imagine which things would be too boring for you due to their lack of importance.
I was in a similar situation last year and, believe me, you will learn how to set up good presentations in a short time and you will be more self-confidence every time.
Good luck and tell us next week how the presentation was.

I will be having some major presentation for my work this coming Saturday. Is there any tips or advices?

For my past presentation, I didn't write out anything I want to say. I just present it based on my slides alone. Apparently, I was pretty nervous and end up eating my own words and forgot some of the points I need to say out.

And I am afraid that I will just read the written points just like that if I am bringing the written papers along. Should I just memorise or just bring the paper on the stage and present the slides?

Thanks alot guys.

Once I attended a presentation workshop which is pretty useful. Something I can remember:
1) Take the dominant position at the podium
2) Pause a few seconds after reaching the podium and before talking
3) Make eye contacts with audience
4) Use body language with appropriate hand gesture or facial expression
5) Don't broadcast your weakness, never apologize. If you’re worried the presentation won’t go well, keep it to yourself
6) Add humor whenever appropriate and possible

Those are pretty wise advises!

I would still add that practicing again and again 3 to 4 days before you presentation helps a lot. The presentations always goes smoother when you know the exact order of the slides, and what they contain. I would also suggest that you practice in front of your colleagues. They are a pretty good audience, since they know you and they can tell you your weaknesses befor the actual presentation. You can therefore make it better, to your own benefit

I used to be very frightened just by the thought of presenting in front of an audience. But as long as you keep practising as much as possible, it should be fine. If possible practice in the lecture hall where you will be presenting actually. Practice even as much as a 100 times, its not a lot. Try to remember the first 2 slides by heart so that even if someone wakes you up in the middle of the night you should be able to start the presentation. Trust me, if the first 2 slides go fine, the whole presentation goes smoothly.

Try to add some humor, creates a relaxed atmosphere.

this is in addition to other suggestions.


good luck !!!

It is a pinned up thread now. Thanks alot, moderator!

Anyway, is it still a good idea to bring along written speeches to the podium?

Thanks alot for all the tips. They are good points that I will take note.

Oh.. one more question, I sometimes feel confidence plays an important role in presenting. Do you agree with it?

Cheers