We will begin by going over some very important information about good presentation skills. Be sure you take notes because they will be very helpful in preparing for your oral presentation.
1. Voice Projection
For the first activity, everyone will have to stand up and stand at the back of the classroom. The purpose is to show you the importance of volume when giving a presentation. You should always aim your voice to the person sitting furthest in the room. This is a problem if you are reading off the slides. One suggestion is having small notecards, so that you don’t have to face the screen. Read over the notecards that the instructor passes out, and when you’re ready, go to the front of the classroom and read them to the class as loud as you can so that we can hear you all the way in the back of the room.
2. Connecting with the Audience
Besides speaking loudly, you also want to try to connect with the audience. There are two key factors in doing this: 1) You should try to maintain eye contact if it doesn’t make you too nervous. 2) You shouldn’t read off the slides, so that it seems more like you are talking to them. They already know how to read anyway. Read over the notecards that the instructor passes out and try to memorize the important ideas on the cards. When you’re ready, go to the front of the classroom and explain the main ideas, without looking at the notecard as much as you can, and at the same time, project loudly enough so that the class can hear you in the back. You can underline or circle key words on the cards if that will help you, because you shouldn’t have full sentences on real notecards anyway.
3. Creating a PowerPoint
Even if you already know how to use PowerPoint a little bit, use this as an opportunity to explore some of its more difficult features that nevertheless, make presentations better.
