How to Deliver a Presentation at College or University

Preparation

The first thing you need to do is decide what topic you are going to do your presentation on.

Research

One of things you will have to do is complete your research. This can be done in many ways;

1. Ask someone who is an expert in your chosen topic and write all the facts down in a note book or use a Dictaphone to record the information.

2. Go to your local library and look in books or use their computers to do your research.

There is also the internet. One website page is: www.wikipedia.com and this is a useful source that covers a vast amount of information on all sorts of subjects. Just type in a word and it will take you to whatever you are searching for.

Planning

Once you have got all the information that is needed, you start to do you planning.

You won’t need all the information, you just pick out some keywords and write them down in your notebook. You could also record the information on your Dictaphone too.

You can use photos too.

You can use bullet points for examples, as I have done in the research section.

You can use a spider plan to order your research.

This is a drawn up chart. You draw an oblong in the middle of the paper and you write the title in the middle of it, then you draw vertical lines all around the outside of it, with a number at the top of each line and then write a few key words down for that particular point of action. You do this with each line. The lines represent each chapter.

Style of presentation

What type of presentation can it be?

A lot of people enjoy a presentation that is a mixture of vocal and vision.

This generally helps to keep people more interested in the storyline.

Powerpoint is good for this, because you can use photos, slides and music and words, or a combination of all of these.

What to do next

It’s advisable to do some trial runs first. Why? To enable you to be better prepared.

You can do this in front of a mirror or ask people you know, for an example, your friends or family members; they could be your audience, then ask them for feedback.

Use a timer, for example if your presentation is three minutes, then you set the timer for that amount of time and then you can see if you go over or under this time allowance. You will then be able to re-edit it accordingly.

When it comes to actually delivering the presentation, have a glass of water so that you don’t get a dry throat.

Take some deep breaths, take your time and speak clearly and slowly and enjoy.