Class Presentation Guidelines
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
Think about your time limit and your audience: The time limit tells you how much information you can give, and you must target that information to your audience: what do they need to hear in order to go away with a greater understanding of your topic? Take the time to focus and organize your information. Your audience is captive; make your presentation worth their attention by making it relevant to what they already know and interesting enough to care about. Respect them enough to give your best in preparing to address them.
Practice, Practice, Practice
This is the second most important part of a successful presentation, after preparation. Practice aloud, and preferably with an audience (make your roommate listen to you in exchange for an off-campus dinner!), so that you know how much time your presentation will take. You will read and “talk through” your notes much more quickly when you do so mentally instead of orally, probably making your actual presentation over the time limit.
Time
Stay within the time given. Practice your presentation aloud and cut until it fits. It is unspeakably rude to take up time allotted to other students or other purposes. (Note that time given includes any use of technology – setting it up, getting it started, shutting it down – and the time it takes to pass out handouts or any other preparations you must make.)
Use Notes
Do not read a paper or speak from a highlighted text. Make notes – including in them any quotations you plan to use – and speak from your notes. It is annoying to listeners to watch you page through an article for a quotation or a point you wanted to make. It also suggests that you have not put sufficient thought into your presentation: you do not yet “own” the subject matter and cannot be trusted to teach it to others.
This applies to presentations of a paper you have written, as well: you will probably not have time to give all the information in your presentation, and you do not want to bore your listeners by reading it in any case. Choose the most important points for your purpose, make notes, and speak from the notes. Under no circumstances should you bring a copy of your paper with some highlighted sections and try to present from it; you will become confused and lose your audience.
Speech and Vocabulary
Speak clearly. You have information to share in which your audience has an intrinsic interest, so share it confidently. (Of course, excellent preparation and practice help with confidence.) Know the meanings and pronunciations of all words you use (put these into your notes as reminders, if necessary). Don’t avoid learning the vocabulary that belongs to your subject, either; at least some of your listeners will probably notice that you are not using appropriate terminology. If you think some of your listeners might not know a precise term, define it the first time you use it; this will help them grow in knowledge, also. (Be careful not to be condescending in doing this, however.)
Body Language and Speech Habits
Avoid body language that will distract your listeners, such as playing with your hair or clothing or rocking the lectern. This last particularly invites your audience to start wondering when your notes will slide to the floor, or how long it will be before the lectern falls over, instead of listening to you.
As you practice your presentation, listen for habits such as filling spaces with “um” or the constant repetition of “you know” or “like” within your sentences. These are distracting to your listeners and suggest that you are not well-prepared, even if you are.
Attitude
Never apologize for your presentation. Prepare well so that you can both be and act confident. Never apologize for or denigrate your topic, either. You should be proud to present the information you have to your classmates for their attention, and if you act like an expert whose knowledge is valuable, your classmates will enjoy and appreciate learning from you.
Technology
The first principle of using technology is simple: Technology is not required for an excellent presentation; use it only when it enhances your message without distracting your listeners. Most people use the technology available to them poorly. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind.
* If you plan to use power point to put up your notes (or portions of your notes), don’t bother. Your listeners read faster than you talk, so they will get bored with your talk and will tend to miss anything you might add to the notes they have just read, as they re-read them or let their minds wander to other matters. This is especially true of verbal learners – and English majors tend to be verbal learners. However, all people get bored with listening to a speaker say what they have just read.
* If you are using power point to put up nifty pictures, ask yourself these questions:
— Will these pictures give my listeners some kind of actual information that I can’t give them as well in words, such as an author’s appearance, a building or natural site important to my subject, or a costume, event, or other cultural information I am discussing? If not, why am I using them?
— Will these pictures distract my listeners from my presentation? For example, are they clear, not too dark, and easy to see from the back of the room? If not, are they worth using if my listeners will be straining to make out the picture instead of listening to my information? Are these pictures clearly relevant to my topic? Will my listeners be distracted by trying to figure out why I’ve chosen them? This also applies to moving graphics of any sort: don’t be cutesy, and don’t use a graphic that continually moves during your presentation; these guarantee your listeners will be distracted from your message.
* If you want to use a clip from a movie, a reading of a poem, a song, etc., ask yourself these questions:
— Can I use this clip efficiently? Will I be able to go straight to what I want without fussing with the machine, start it quickly, and end it instantly at the right point? If not, don’t waste your listeners’ time and patience with it.
— Am I using the clip because it genuinely furthers my subject – or am I using it to cover up my insufficient knowledge and/or preparation or to avoid taking the time to develop and plan an effective and interesting presentation based on actual information?
To Sum Up:
Don’t use technology
— just because it’s there;
— to tell your listeners what you are saying to them;
— to hide your own deficiency of preparation;
— to look “smart.”
Generally, putting together a technological presentation takes a fair amount of your precious time. If the technology isn’t going to genuinely enhance your presentation by offering actual helpful information in a way that doesn’t distract your listeners from the message, then use your time for better purposes – such as researching, practicing, and polishing your information.
