Effective Presentation Techniques

I think pretty much everyone has slight nerves before doing a presentation, so this was quite helpful for getting into the right frame of mind before doing one. 

Effective Evaluation Guide

Presentations are about effectively sharing your ideas, thought, concepts, progress or the resolution of a project with others, it is an opportunity to receive helpful constructive feedback from both your peers and tutors.

The presenter should know his or her audience, and assume that they themselves barely know anything about whatever it is he or she is about to present, and hence they can commence with informing them about it. The presenter should begin with explaining who they are, what they are doing, how they got there… OR plan to get there, and conclusively how they are planning to move forward from there.

A presentation is NOT about why the presentation sounds or looks like (While the presenter should of course give off a good impression to his or her audience, it is always best to be one's self and show the utmost confidence). Hence the overall presentation should never be stressed over, as long as one is prepared, and knows their subject, as well as know how to keep it simple, all should go well.

On the visual aspect, clip art should be avoided, proper imagery should be used when illustrating a point when necessary. Obviously during a presentation, one should not present too much text for their audience to read, or for they themselves to decipher and summarise right then and there. Each slide is considered important and should hence be communicated clearly.

Always consider how large the presentation area will be and make sure your text size is readable for those sitting at the far back (Consider the 8ft or 2.45m rule).

Rest assured that there is nothing to fear, for the audience is there for they want to listen. Be enthusiastic about whatever it is you wish to present to them, be persuasive, expressive, do not show your anxiety, better yet, try your hardest to push it far back. Even if a mistake is made right in the middle of that presentation, calmly correct yourself and carry on.

To summarise, know your subject, audience, yourself, prepare yourself, your script (With cue cards post its, or the notes feature on presentation softwares). Don't leave it until the last minute, prepare it early, practice it early, arrive and set it up early and finally, try to enjoy yourself.

10 Things to Avoid During Presentations

1. Avoid Jargon (Only use it when chatting casually with your nerdiest of buddies)
2. Make sure the type used on your slides are big and legible (Again consider the 8ft file)
3. Present only the essentials, keep things simple
4. Try to make sure every slide has a point
5. Titles help and getting a point across (Even faster than labels do)
6. Understand what type of presenter you are, don't try to copy others, be yourself
7. Try to avoid throwing in random charts and tables
8. Avoid clipart
9. Keep your presentation solidly structured
10. Try avoid using too many bullet points (At most try to use just three)

Presentation Anxiety Tips

Try exercising a little before a presentation, just to get the blood flowing, exercising has proven a positive effect on the nerves, lasting up to 12 hours, so just make sure you go for a walk or run within 12 hours of your presentation.

Rehearse, don't memorise, there is a difference. Rehearsing implies that you are prepared and confident. Memorising implies that you are dependent, unconfident, and are controlled by your talk (Which you are not).

Show that you care and appreciate your audience, and they will in return appreciate you, especially since you are trying to share with them something you consider interesting.