Presentations are often unavoidable in your student as well as your professional life. Its application increases manifold if you are a researcher or an academic. Stage freight is a common phenomenon in a large proportion of people but there are people on the other extreme too who enjoy giving a presentation. A comforting note for those who dread going up on stage and presenting their work is, that it goes away as you do more. Your non-verbal cues play an astonishing 55% role in making your presentation effective. The rest is your content which can be made effective if you follow the below-mentioned points.
- The first step is choosing the topic. If you have been assigned one and don’t have the luxury to choose one for yourself, try to find a unique take on the topic.
- Thoroughly research your topic and cover it from all angles. Do extensive reading online or consult books/published papers. This will make you ready for any unexpected questions from the audience.
- Make your presentation inclusive and captivating. It must be clear and logical with a proper structure and chain of events. Like if you are highlighting a problem, you must present its possible solutions too.
- You must know your audience. An undergraduate student won’t need much depth in his presentation but for a doctoral-level student, the audience will expect something unique and research-based.
- Be clear about the goal of your presentation. The purpose of the presentation will impact its content and delivery. Whether you are informing, persuading, or inspiring people, the outline will differ.
- Take special care while preparing your content. Only use credible, tested sources. Any misrepresentation of facts will lead to the failure of the whole purpose.
- Long presentations are often boring. Make sure to keep your presentation to a minimum number of slides to keep the audience engaged.
- Presentation is not about preparing material and reading it out loud on the stage. Your presentation holds equal importance in what you are speaking and how you are speaking it.
- Couple theoretical facts with real-life practical examples. Giving context to hard cold facts will increase their impact on your audience.
- Visual graphs, charts, and tables are a great way of imparting loads of information in compact forms. Additionally, it keeps your audience charged.
- Advanced presentation-making programs have enabled the use of multimedia in your presentations. You can use the full engaging force of videos, gifs, pop-ups, audio effects, and much more to make your deliverance more effective.
- The whole point is keeping your audience engaged. One great way is to pose questions that force them to think on your lines. That’s when you will get them hooked.
- Polish your presentation once you are finished making it. Consider it a draft that needs to be reviewed and edited before submission. Get PPT Free download to edit your presentations. If you can get someone else to evaluate it would be a great help.
- Lastly, practice your presentation. Do it in front of the mirror, for some friend et cetera. This will help you identify neglected mistakes and improve them further.
