Whether it's presenting a business project or an academic paper, the quality of the presentation matters a lot. Let's see the keys to make it perfect. What catches the eye
It's evident that the quality of the work or project we're going to present is the first thing we must take care of, but if we think that's enough, we're very mistaken: we must put the same effort and dedicate enough time to the presentation so that it leaves the desired impression on the audience. Throughout our career, until we have the
eTítulo and maybe even in our job, we're going to have to do a few presentations. The sooner we lose our fear and master the technique, the better. It's typical to put all the effort into the content and forget about the visual part, and that's a big mistake. Communicating our idea effectively will make the tribunal value it more, pay attention to it, and remember it afterwards. Let's see how to prepare a good presentation step by step:
1. Preliminary script
The first part we have to work on to make a presentation to a tribunal or a class is to create a small script of what we want to say. Which parts are essential, where are we going to summarize, in what order do we want to present it, etc. It's just a small outline that will help us organize our thoughts and also create the audiovisual resources that will support the presentation.
2. Visual resources
Based on the script, it's time to create a visual presentation. It can be done with Prezzi or
other similar tools that allow us to make animated presentations, but the most common, practical, and accepted one is PowerPoint. Designing a presentation with PowerPoint is, as everyone knows, extremely simple, but we must follow
a set of rules so that we don't encounter any obstacles. Since those «rules» are detailed in the previous link, we won't explain them again, but basically, it's important to remember that visual support should not contain too much text and should not be too overloaded to avoid visual stress for the viewer.
3. Cue cards
Once we have the script and the presentation, it's time to prepare the speech. For that, the most convenient thing is to create a series of cue cards or note cards where we write down what to say on each slide. We must associate an image with an explanation and take into account the total time we have been given for the presentation. This way, we will know more or less how much time we can spend on each slide and adapt the content of each card accordingly.
4. Rehearsing is more than just repeating
Giving a good presentation doesn't mean reciting things like a parrot. Having a good memory will help us quickly learn the cue cards and even not have to rely on them during the presentation, but we can't speak to a tribunal reciting something from memory as if it were a rushed prayer. We must pause, breathe, and give meaning to what we say with the appropriate intonation, and that's why what will help us the most is to repeat each card out loud as we progress through the presentation and record ourselves on video at the same time. This way, we can see and hear ourselves, correct our way of speaking or gestures, and even show it to others for suggestions. The time needed to rehearse is not the time needed to memorize a few cards, but to give a good presentation. In fact, it's more important to effectively communicate what we want to say than to have to occasionally look at the cue cards.
5. Articulation, eye contact, movement, attire…
Nervousness and fear of going over time are common in a presentation, but that's no excuse not to make an effort to speak clearly. We must look ahead, raise our voice, and pronounce each word. That's why rehearsing properly is so important. We can't have our gaze fixed on our cue cards or the PowerPoint all the time because we have an audience that will feel neglected. We must scan the room slowly and not be overly serious. It's also good to move or adopt a relaxed and open body language and even interact with our audience by asking simple questions. Our attire should be appropriate for the situation; not too formal, but not looking like we don't care at all. It's good that the clothes we wear make us feel good and are comfortable. Clothes that represent us because if we feel like we're wearing a costume, it will be noticeable that we're not comfortable. The colors should be discreet, and it's better to avoid patterns. We must think about not generating visual fatigue between our clothes and the audiovisual resources. In summary, what must be clear is that to give a good presentation, the most important thing is to dedicate time to rehearsals and not leave anything to chance. It's our presentation, and we must have everything planned to be in control of what happens and make the best impression.
