How to give presentations.doc

Giving Presentations

When you have to give an oral presentation in front of an audience, there are a few tips you can remember which will help you feel more comfortable and make your speech sound and look more professional. Some of the obvious things to remember are:

· When you first stand up and walk to the front of the room, try to look confident/Try not to look nervous. Instead, take a deep breath and pause for a moment, glancing all around the room, at every person, in the eye in a friendly and confident manner, so you can win their confidence and won’t have to be afraid of them.

· Stand facing the audience, with your shoulders parallel to the front row, with both feet solidly on the ground, and your hands at your sides, keeping your hands and fingers still, except when you sometimes raise a hand or finger or make a gesture for emphasis.

· Keep looking around and maintaining eye contact at all times.

· Keep smiling and looking from person-to-person, so they won’t stop giving you their attention.

· Speak loudly and clearly so everyone can hear you.

· Use a commanding voice to maintain authority.

· Watch your grammar and control your content so your material sounds well-organized. Make it flow smoothly and naturally, like everyday common speech.

· Use an outline if you can, glancing only periodically down at the paper and then up at the members of the audience again.

· Re-establish eye contact before looking down again to remind yourself of the next point.

Some Mistakes to Avoid When Giving Presentations

· Avoid looking at just only one person.
· Don’t avoid eye contact by looking only at your paper.
· Don’t look at the ceiling or the floor or the wall or out the window.
· Don’t make your speech sound memorized.
· Don’t just read out your text, because just reading is deathly boring and will immediately “turn off” the audience and cause everyone will stop listening and go to sleep.
· Don’t hold your notes up in front of your face or wave the paper around and up and down.
· Avoid rolling and fingering the paper or fiddling with the pages.
· Don’t grasp the page too firmly and rigidly with both hands.
· You can relax and loosen up and hold the page in one hand.
· Don’t hold onto your wrist or elbow or ankle when you are talking.
· Don’t make nervous, unconscious facial movements, with your head, hands, arms, legs, or other body appendages.
· Keep your fingers out of your hair, face and mouth.
· If you feel an itch, try not to scratch yourself in front of the class.
· If you feel you can’t control your hands, hold them behind your back.

· Keep your upper body still and don’t sway from side to side.
· Keep your feet still and don’t move around from side to side or back and forth.
· Do not perform an unconscious dance or wriggle about.
· Never stand with you back to the audience under any circumstances.
· Never let them see your backside.
· Never stand sideways with your body at an angle to the audience.

Some More Tips on How to Give Good Presentations

· Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare your materials.
· Make sure you have got your outline and graphics together early so that you have time to go over it and practice your lines for four or five days beforehand and have command of your materials.
· Hold your body erect, and don’t slouch or stand too rigidly.
· Retain a relaxed posture so you don’t get too stressed or tired.
· Hold your head high and speak in a dignified way.

· Make sure all the necessary equipment is in the room before class.
· Practice using overheads or VCR’s if you are not used to them.
· Check early before class to see microphones and equipment are working
· Check to see that you have not forgotten anything like chalk or whiteboard markers or tape, poster paper, etc.
· Don’t hold the microphone too close or too far from your mouth.
· Make sure the volume is set at an appropriate level.
· Before you go into the room look in the mirror to check your appearance.
· Make sure your hair will not flop in your face while you are speaking. If necessary use a hairclip or headband and do not neglect to see that all buttons and zippers and shirttails are in place.
· Don’t forget your eye glasses or contacts if you need them.
· If you use visual aids be sure the writing is large enough so that everyone in the room can see your graphics
· Turn off some lights if you are using overheads.
· If you are unsure of the pronunciation of some of the difficult words, find someone like your teacher, who can coach you to say the words correctly, so that you do not lose face before the audience.

What Happens When Presenters Feel Too Nervous?

Here are some more tips on how to control the jitters.

· Use mind over matter to avoid allowing yourself get nervous before you have to stand up.
· The only one you have to fear is yourself. Don’t let yourself feel uncontrolled anxiety. Don’t be a victim of fear of your peers. Don’t be afraid of the teacher either. She is on your side and wants to see you do well. So does everyone else, for that matter.
· If possible, sit in your chair before it is your turn to speak, with your back upright, and do some deep-breathing exercises to calm yourself.
· To overcome your fear of the audience, imagine that they are all sitting there in scanty swimwear or something like that. This will make you smile and relax and overcome your initial dread.
· While you smile, look around and you will probably see friendly faces smiling back. If you frown or scowl or look stiff and rigid, you will make your audience feel the same way and they will feel and look uncomfortable.
· Continue to control your breathing. Take long and deep breaths rather than gasping and seeming to be out of breath. During each long breath, you will be able to say a sentence or a phrase, and this will get you going on the points of your outline and give you a natural rhythm.
· Stage fright usually goes away the moment you start to talk. Concentrate on the steps of the talk, and you won’t have time to be scared.
· Speak slowly and clearly and loudly, instead of too rapidly and too indistinctly and quietly. Progress at a practiced pace, pausing between ideas, rather than rushing though the words so quickly that no one can catch your meaning.
· Neither should you hesitate in the middle of a thought to break the rhythm.
· Don’t stutter and stammer and mispronounce words because you are racing too quickly and/or have not taken the time to rehearse your speech before the mirror beforehand.

Using Graphics on the Overhead Projector
· When we give an oral presentation, we sometimes/often have to use an Overhead Projector (OHP) to present a part of our information visually, on plastic film transparencies, which make it easier for the audience/viewer to follow and understand. Here are some things to keep in mind when you have to use the OHP.

o Arrive at the room early to check that the
OHP is there and working.
o Test the power source and also the
microphone if any.
o Project one of your transparencies onto the
screen as a test.
o Make sure the screen and projection table are
in line.
o Adjust the focus and angle of projection.
o Check to see that your numbers and words
are large enough to see.
o Test to see you can dim the lighting at the
front of the room.
o When you go up to talk, place the
transparency firmly in place.
o The plastic film should not move when you
are talking.
o Do not touch the plastic and jiggle it about.
o Use a pointer or a pencil to indicate where the
audience should look.
o Don’t let anyone see the shadow of your hand in the light.
o Don’t project your body’s shadow between the light and the screen.
o Keep your transparencies in order to avoid any mix up in sequence.
o Don’t drop everything on the floor through
carelessness.
o Place and remove the films on/from the
OHP in smooth sequence.
o Practice the whole presentation beforehand in
an unused classroom.

More to Remember About Using OHP Graphics
It is natural to make mistakes the first time you give an OHP presentation. Below is a list of common errors speakers often make before they have received some professional guidance and training:

· Never stand sideways to the audience looking at the transparency.
· Maintain eye contact with the audience using a pointer on the OHP.
· Keep you body and shoulders in line with the front row of the room.
· Never stand with your back to the audience, reading from the OHP.
· Glance down at the outline but then look back up when you speak.
· Never face the screen and talk facing the front wall.
· Don’t let anyone see your backside.
· If you want to point to the screen, stand with your back to the wall.
· Never cross an arm across in front of your body to point to the screen.
· Point to the graphic using the arm that is closest to the screen.
· Pin-pointing what you are talking about helps the viewer to focus.
· Don’t forget to keep smiling, even if the room is half darkness.
· Project your voice loudly so it reverberates off the back wall.
· Don’t try to let the graphics do your work for you. Some presenters stand silently and just let the audience read the graphic. You are still the main speaker and center of attraction.
· Don’t hide in the darkness and lose contact and control.
· Don’t forget to use transition words between pictures/diagrams
· Build up to an ending with a sense of final climax and conclusion. Don’t leave the audience hanging.