Guided Learning: Preparing Presentation Content

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR PRESENTATION

When preparing your presentation some key points are very important, such as how long the presentation is, who your target audience is, and what to put in your slides. This guide gives you these key points and tips on how to deal with them. 

1. Presentation structure

   Introduction 

   A good introduction is about capturing the audience's attention and giving the presentation a    focus.  Start with a strong sentence to capture your audience's attention, for example, you    could ask the audience a question, present an interesting fact, or start with a joke. Then move      onto the outline of the content of the presentation so it is easier for the audience to follow.

   Body 

   The body is the part where you pass on your information to the audience. You explain your    main points and link them to each other 

   Conclusion

 

 

Click here to go to the guide 1.

Click here to go to the guide 2.

The secret sturcture of great talks

2. Standard phrases

To have a better presentation, you might want to avoid some sentences and replace them with better ones. In this phrasebook, you will find all kinds of different sentences for different parts of your academic presentation. Click here for the phrasebook

3. Technical presentations

Click on this LinkedIn article

 

TARGET AUDIENCE

1. Tailor the presentation to your target audience

This guide gives some useful insights into which types of audiences there are and how to tailor your presentation to these types of audiences. Click here to see the guide. Also, it is important to know your audience's expectations and capacity of absorption. For more information and questions to take in mind, click here.

2. Knowing your audience

It might be easy to determine a single target audience, but things become more complex when your target audience has different levels of expertise. Take your thesis presentation for example, where professors, students and even your parents are present. Some tips of how to keep your audience engaged can be found here.

3. Five Tips for Powerful Audience Participation

When a crowd is staring blankly at you, how will you engage them? Here are a few ideas for better audience engagement.Click here to see the tips

 

COMMON MISTAKES

Everybody makes presentation mistakes, even the most trained presenters. In this guide, the top ten most common mistakes are briefly explained, so you can avoid them next time you give a presentation.

Mistake 1: Not Preparing Enough

Though one of the key points to delivering a presentation or pitch is spontaneity and flexibility, the best presentations are concisely well-structured. Great speakers like Barack Obama and Steve Jobs, have always practiced their future speeches endlessly. It goes without saying that without this preparation, their oratory talents would have been considered to be less influential and revolutionary.

Preparing your presentation to a higher level helps you in structuring your presentation, handling your presentation nerves and allows for you to divert your attention from the content of your presentation to delivering your presentation.

Mistake 2: No knowledge concerning your location and material

Whenever you prepare a presentation, know your audience and setting. Do you intend to use a Powerpoint presentation in your talk? Make sure that a beamer is present and functional. Do you want to point out some things in your presentation? Bring along a pointing stick or laser pointer.

This way, you will minimize unwelcome surprises like a non-functioning beamer and strange gestures towards some distant spot on a screen.

Mistake 3: Paying too little attention to your audience

The goal of a presentation is to deliver your ideas or views to your audience. That also means, that the message you try to convey is tailored to your audience. Be sure to check with your audience that your points have come across and that they understand them.

By starting off your presentation with its structure, your audience will know what to expect and they know whether they can intervene during your presentation, or when they are able to ask questions.

Mistake 4: Not tailoring your content to your audience

It is very important to know your audience before you construct a presentation. You will have to present differently to a group of first-graders than to a group of adults. Your presentation will be different when speaking to your peers, compared to a group of laymen.

Try to adapt your presentation to your audience by viewing yourself through their eyes. What is their background, and how up-to-date is their knowledge concerning the topic of your presentation.

Mistake 5: Stretching out your presentation

Try to limit your presentation to a few key points. Presentations will appear dull and endless when you try to address too many subjects and topics. Construct a clear idea of what it is exactly you wish to convey to your audience, and use that as a template for your presentation, and build on from that. In that way, you will be short, but concise and deliver your information and ideas most efficiently.

Presentation planning checklist

Once you think you are done preparing for your presentation, use this checklist to see whether you are indeed completely done or whether you forgot something. Click here for the checklist