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PRESENTATION SKILLS

SESSION 9

Source: engagingworkshop.com

This session is a collection of tips about how to deliver a professional presentation.
Should you have any doubts about your oral presentation, do not hesitate to contact your teacher. We're here to help you out.

IMPORTANT!!

Presenting your project

WHO, HOW & WHEN

LENGTH OF ORAL PRESENTATION

10-12 minutes in total (3-5 minutes each member of the team).

BLOG LINK

Your blog must be finalised on the edublogs.org platform by 14 April 2023.

SCORING TOP POINTS

Do you need tips? Click to view my marking sheets for your blog and oral presentation.

NOTE: It will take some time to download and check that your videos work correctly, so you may need to wait up to 48 hours for confirmation.

STRUCTURE

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Oral presentation rules

• Presenting your project

Effective blog presentations

• Quiz
• Communication skills
• Slideshows
• Are you an expert?
• Practice
• How to use notes
• Speaking
• Useful phrases
• Project progress check
• Video presentation

Effective blog presentations

INTRODUCTORY QUIZ

How much do you know about presentations already? Answer the following questions to show your level of expertise.

1. My opening sentence will be...

a. "We are here today to present our blog, which deals with extreme sports"

b. "Hello everyone, let's begin by introducing ourselves"

c. "Hi everybody, these guys and I have created this wonderful blog"

d. "Look at this cool blog that my friends and I have created"

2. How much time would you devote to each part of your presentation?

a. Opening (10%), Body (80%), Conclusion (10%)

b. Opening (20%), Body (60%), Conclusion (20%)

c. Opening (20%), Body (80), No conclusion so people will read our blog

d. Body (80%), Conclusion (20%), No opening because people can see our slides

3. My slides will contain...

a. Some full sentences, one or two images

b. Some keywords or short phrases, one or more images

c. Only text, so I can read my presentation from the screen

d. Only images, so the audience will focus on the screen and not on me

4. To contrast text on a presentation slide for better viewing, I will use...

a. Dark text on a dark background

b. Dark text on a light background

c. Light text on a dark background

d. Light text on a light background

5. For better readability, the number of bullet points on a slide should be:

a. Any number

b. More than 7

c. 7 to 10

d. Less than 7

6. The font size of the bullet points on presentation materials should be large enough...

a. for the audience in the first few rows of the presentation to view the presentation clearly

b. for you to be able to read from the screen during the presentation

c. for the audience in the last row of the presentation room to view the presentation clearly

d. for your team members to view the presentation clearly

7. The purpose of your blog presentation is to...

a. show off

b. entertain

c. educate

d. convince

8. When rehearsing a presentation, it is helpful to recognize and prevent...

a. possible gestures

b. possible questions from the audience

c. fillers such as 'umm' and 'ahh'

d. criticism from friends in the courtroom

9. Proper eye contact with the audience when delivering a presentation involves...

a. making a sweeping glance of the audience from left to right in the front row of the room

b. staring at each audience member

c. looking above the audience's heads

d. making a sweeping glance of the audience from the left to the right and front to back of the room

10. What do you need to take into account when rehearsing your presentation?

a. Food and beverages

b. Audience

c. Timing and pace

d. Clothes

11. When delivering a team presentation it is important to...

a. coordinate your portion with others in the team so you can present first

b. make sure that ll the team member's are listed in order on all the presentation materials

c. coordinate your portion with others so everybody has an equal share of time

d. make sure you duplicate each other's presentations

12. When you have finished presenting your part...

a. you can relax leaning against a wall in a separate part of the room

b. you must check how the audience is reacting to your show

c. you can enjoy your colleagues' portions and laugh at their errors

d. you will remain alert and help your colleagues if necessary

13. The version of the blog I will use at the oral presentation is...

a. an offline collection of screenshots, in case the internet will let us down

b. the online version of the blog, because it's more beautiful and functional

c. a pdf version of the blog, because some teachers want this document sent to them

d. a reduced online version of the blog, as we will not have time to show everything

Credit: Northern Illinois University.

Check answers

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IN-CLASS

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Send your guesses to your teacher, using the dedicated iDoceo Connect platform.

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PREVIOUS SESSIONS

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1. Blog types

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2. Writing about yourself

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3. Anecdotes & storytelling

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4. Blog series

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5. Blog posts

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6. Commenting

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7. Fun content

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8. Reviews

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Image credit: Uneveip

I. Communication skills

Preparation

• Practice your speech beforehand in front of a mirror, with a recorder or in front of a friend.
• Preparing a complete script and reading from it is unnecessary. You should train to make your own sentences out of your notes.
• The PowerPoint slides should contain very few full sentences, if any.
• Don't prepare fifteen slides for a five minute presentation! Except for quick examples or pictures, you will probably spend 1 to 3 minutes per slide.
• Make your text legible! Using font 6 to squeeze in as much information as possible is counterproductive. Use more numerous slides, with less information, or simply condense your text if possible. Use charts, diagrams and pictures when appropriate.
• Have a logical order: introduction, middle with your main points and a conclusion.
• Practice reading clearly, confidently, concisely and not too fast.
• The more you practice, the more fluid and confident you will get, and it will help reduce nerves!

Body language

• Before you even begin, show your enthusiasm! Or at the very least, avoid showing negative emotions. A big sigh before starting cannot lead to great expectations.
• Do not move too much! The audience has to be able to concentrate on what you are saying, not what you are doing.
• Do not fidget (= play) with your pen, your jewelry or your hair.
• Avoiding eye contact or trying to hide leads to communication failure.
• Pointing at things as you refer to them might help.

Miscellaneous tips

• You should not deliver an entire speech without pausing. Try to do so before moving to another point, and not right in the middle of a sentence.
• If you are looking for a particular word in English, think of changing the structure. If you cannot, using a more generic word is better than being too creative with language.
• Silence is not your friend. Think aloud if necessary. If you are writing something on the board, you should not remain silent for more than a few seconds. Explain what you are doing and its relevance.
• Correct yourself if you make grammar mistakes. After all, this is an English exercise. However, communication is important and if you have a fluid flow, you will be forgiven more easily for minor mistakes.
• Look at your audience! You will see if something seems to be unclear (or plainly wrong) and may have the opportunity for immediate explanation or correction.
• Do not just read from your PowerPoint! Only the main points should be written down in a few words, then it is up to you to provide extra content.
• Build a rapport with you audience. You may get them involved by asking or encouraging questions, and you may even use humour if appropriate.

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READ AT HOME

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Revise on your own and use these tips to prepare your presentation.

II. Slideshows

Good and bad slides.

a. Click on this image to watch a very short and interesting presentation on good and bad slides.

b. Here are three bad PowerPoint slides. Indicate what is wrong with them and/or how you could make them better.

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ONLINE

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Section a: Do on your own at home.

Slide #1

Slide #2

Slide #3

Are you an expert already?

Quiz #2

Taking into consideration all the information you have learnt, decide whether the following statements are True or False.

1. It's generally best to stand in one position for the whole presentation.

True

False

2. One thing you could do is move your body as much as you can.

True

False

3. Using gestures that have clear meanings works for me.

True

False

4. The most important thing to do is to carefully read the information off the Powerpoint slides.

True

False

5. Avoiding eye contact would probably work.

True

False

6. Pointing at things as you refer to them might help.

True

False

7. Preparing a script is worth a try.

True

False

8. Putting all the information on the Powerpoint slides is the best you can do.

True

False

9. Fifteen slides for a five minute presentation is acceptable.

True

False

10. Using a font size of 6-8 pixels is highly recommended.

True

False

Check answers

Practice

Bad presentation

The following video is a collection of embarrassing errors during a presentation. How many of them can you spot? Write your notes in the box below.

Check answers

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IN-CLASS

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Do this exercise on your own, and then discuss your answers with your nearest classmate.

III. How to use notes

Types of notes

• Postcard-sized cards work well as a way to remind yourself of the key elements of your presentation. They should only include:
• the outline of your presentation
• keywords listed in a relevant order
• a couple of useful phrases to help you articulate your presentation
• Hint: number the cards. In the unlikely event that you drop them, you'll be glad you did.

How to use notes

You have to learn to use them so that they support your presentation rather than detract from it. When preparing notes you should:

1. Never write in full sentences. Simply include key phrases or headlines in bullet form. The point of the notes is to jog your memory.
2. Make sure your notes are easy to read, which means writing large enough and leaving lots of white space.
3. Learn how to interact with the physical cards, slides or paper. Don't shuffle the cards, don't switch them from hand to hand, don't gesture with them, don't keep putting them in and pulling them out of a pocket.
4. Remember it's OK to look at your notes... that's what you have them for! But do so in a deliberate manner; don't glance surreptitiously at them as if you're trying to make it seem that you're not consulting them. Break eye contact with the audience, glance at your notes and absorb the next point, then re-establish eye contact with the audience and deliver that section.
5. Remember it’s NOT OK to just read from your notes. This is the trap with full sentences, and gives you a monotonous tone, no interaction, and most probably a bad mark even if your English is more or less correct.
6. Practice, practice, practice until you can use your notes smoothly and seamlessly.

Adapted from: http://andnowpresenting.typepad.com/professionally_speaking/2009/05/presentation-tip-use-notes.html

TEACHER'S ADVICE

You should NOT write down everything. Even the left card in the following picture contains too much information. After enough preparation, the right card should be sufficient and will enable a real oral, not just a reading exercise which may sound too monotonous.

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READ AT HOME

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Revise on your own and use these tips to prepare your presentation.

Speaking

Presentation practice game

Each student will think of a sentence, then they will write it down on a small piece of paper. The teacher will collect them all and put them inside a bag or box. Next, students will pick one out of the container and will have 5 minutes to prepare for a 1-minute presentation using all the techniques explained in class.

Sentences do not need to be true, and they can be imaginary, contradictory or impossible.

Have fun!