PRESENTATION SKILLS: ESSENTIALS OF PRESENTATION SKILLS.

BLOCK 02 UNIT 04

INTRODUCTION: UNDERSTANDING A
PRESENTATION

• A presentation is a way of communicating ideas and information to a group.
• They are commonly used in workplaces for communication in different situations. Presentations also use in academic and job recruitment processes.
• The objective of most presentations is to inform or persuade the listeners about something.
• In order to achieve this objective, the presenter must be clear, logical, and convincing.
• The essentials of presentations include clarity, coherence, and a structured outline.

The presentation can be

1. Academic- presentations on projects, reports, and proposals in colleges and universities.
2. Sale oriented- presentations for existing or prospective clients or customers
3. Business-oriented- presentation on various business activities for business associates, seniors, colleagues, and subordinates.

Qualities of a good presenter( How to make a Good Impression).

• Grabbing the attention of the audience is very crucial and important. If a presenter fails to grab the attention of the audience at the beginning he may not get it through the entire presentation.
• The dress of the presenter needs to be neat, smart, and appropriate to the occasion.
• The next thing the presenter has to pay attention to is the manner of walking and posture.
• A presenter needs to look confident,.
• A presenter needs to avoid looking too stiff and uncomfortable. It is very important to look relaxed and comfortable and at ease with your surroundings.
• Reaching the presentation on time is also important to a presenter. It helps you get comfortable with the presentation place.
• Eye contact is another crucial factor. The audience responds to you better when you look them in the eyes.
• Try to keep a smile on your face. It transmits happiness, friendliness, and warmness between the presenter and the audience
• Appropriate use of voice is another quality of a good presenter. we have to pay attention to tone, pitch, and intonation.
• Voce modulation is also an important one. Good speakers lower their voices to draw the audience in and raise it to make a point.
• The presentation should be well-organized and structured.

Structure of a Presentation

• Before giving a presentation on a subject, it is very important to plan and organize it earlier. it helps us keep on the right track without diverting from the topic.

Basically, there are three parts to a presentation- begging, middle, and ending.

1. BEGINNING
   1. Introduce yourself
   2. State your purpose
   3. Relate the subject to the audience
   4. Give a brief outline of the presentation

1. MIDDLE
   1. Do not present more than four main points/ideas
   2. Support main ideas with facts and evidence
   3. Use signposting or signal words like most important, firstly, etc.
   4. Use visuals like photographs, videos, charts, diagrams, etc.
2. ENDING
   1. Reiterate/reinforce what you have said/summarize the main points
   2. Do not present new ideas
   3. Make a conclusion or recommendation, if necessary
   4. Relate the conclusion to the audience
   5. Invite question

To make your presentation meaningful and enjoyable, try to capture the interest of your audience. Keep asking rhetorical questions, telling an interesting story, quotation, or a joke in a regular inter-vell.

Never read from your notes. But you can use PowerPoint slides or cards with important points.

USING VISUAL AIDS

• Visual aids are the important part of an effective presentation.
• Visual aids make a presentation more attractive and help us reduce the number of words used in the presentation.
• A variety of visual aids, like flip charts, line graphs, bar graphs, pie charts, pictograms, maps, tables, diagrams, and photographs, are commonly used in the presentation.
• Most presentations deal with statistics and other complex data.
• Visual aids help the audience understand complicated data analysis with no confusion.

Visual aids help us

1. to present figures,
2. to make comparisons and contrasts- for example, the growth of two companies can be easily compared and contrasted
3. to project future performances.
4. to talk about past, present, and future trends.

We have to be precautious about the following things

• It is important to ensure that your visuals are relevant, appropriate and clear.
• Never overload the listeners with information.
• Effective presenters always introduce and highlight visual information briefly and clearly.
• Give the audience time to absorb the information.
• Use visuals to reinforce and clarify points or your stand and don’t confuse the audience.

LANGUAGE ASSOCIATED WITH TALKING ABOUT VISUALS

There are certain words and expressions that can be used for explaining visual aids.

Introducing a visual:

There are some phrases commonly used for introducing visuals in a presentation

• First of all let’s look at…………………………
• I’d like to show you……………………….……
• Have a look at this………………..……….……
• This graph shows / represents……….………….
• Here we can see………………………….…..…
• Let’s look at this…………………………..……
• As you can see in this graph/table………………

These are some phrases that are commonly used for introducing and explaining visuals in a presentation.

Talking about visuals

The following are the phrases that are commonly used for talking about visuals

• On analyzing this graph………………………..
• What is interesting in this graph………………..
• It is evident from this diagram………………….
• This visual clearly shows…………………….
• On taking a closer look………………………

Comparisons

The following are the phrases that are commonly used for Comparisons

• This compares x with y……………………………..
• Let’s compare the……………………………….
• Here you see a comparison between……………
• A close look at these two pie charts shows……..
• In sharp contrast to x……………………………