How To Become Good Presenter In University

Here all students get details about the How To Become Good Presenter In University. Presentations are ways of communicating ideas and information to a group. A presentation carries the speaker’s personality better and allows immediate interaction between all the participants. Keep it simple though – a complex set of hardware can result in confusion for speaker and audience. Make sure you know in advance how to operate the equipment and also when you want particular displays to appear.

Components Of Presentational Skills:

• Material
• Preparation
• Delivery
• Audio/Visual aids
• Voice
• Body language
• Questions/Answer session

How To Become Good Presenter In University

MATERIAL:

The material of your presentation should be concise, to the point and interesting.

PREPARATION:

Prepare the structure of the presentation carefully and logically. You must know that what are:

•  The objectives of the presentation?
•  The main points you want to make?
• Make a list of these two things as your starting point
• Write out the presentation in rough, just like a first draft of a written report. Review the draft. You will find things that are irrelevant or superfluous – delete them. If there are things you cannot easily express, possibly because of doubt about your understanding, it is better to leave them unsaid.
• Rehearse your presentation to yourself at first.  The initial rehearsal should consider how the words and the sequence of visual aids go together. How will you make effective use of your visual aids?

DELIVERY:

• Speak clearly. Don’t shout or whisper – judge the acoustics of the room.
• Don’t rush, or talk deliberately slowly. Be natural – although not conversational.
• Deliberately pause at key points – this has the effect of emphasizing the importance of a particular point you are making.
• Avoid jokes – always disastrous unless you are a natural expert
• Use your hands to emphasize points but don’t indulge in to much hand waving.
• Look at the audience as much as possible, but don’t fix on an individual.
• Don’t face the display screen behind you and talk to it.
• Standing in a position where you block the screen can be very irritating. In fact, check for anyone in the audience who may be disadvantaged and try to accommodate them.
• Muttering over a transparency and not realizing that you are blocking the projection of the image can also be frustrating.
• Avoid moving about too much. Pacing up and down can irritate the audience.
• Keep an eye on the audience’s body language. You should know when to stop and also when to cut out a piece of the presentation accordingly.

AUDIO/VISUAL AIDS

Visual aids significantly improve the interest of a presentation. However, they must be relevant to what you want to say. A careless design or use of a slide can simply get in the way of the presentation. . What you use depends on the type of talk you are giving.Here are some possibilities:

• Overhead projection transparencies (OHPs)
• Computer projection (PowerPoint, applications such as Excel, etc)
• Video and film,
• Real objects,
• Flipchart or blackboard

VOICE:

The voice is probably the most valuable tool of the presenter. It carries most of the content that the audience takes away. One of the oddities of speech is that we can easily tell others what is wrong with their voice, e.g. too fast, too high, too soft, etc., but we have trouble listening to and changing our own voices.

There are four main terms used for defining vocal qualities .

• Volume:

How loud the sound is. The goal is to be heard without shouting. Good speakers lower their voice to draw the audience in, and raise it to make a point.

• Tone:

The characteristics of a sound. An airplane has a different sound than leaves being rustled by the wind. A voice that carries fear can frighten the audience, while a voice that carries laughter can get the audience to smile.

• Pitch:

How high or low a note is.

• Pace:

This is how long a sound lasts. Talking too fast causes the words and syllables to be short, while talking slowly lengthens them. Varying the pace helps to maintain the audience’s interest.

BODY LANGUAGE:

Your body communicates different impressions to the audience. People not only listen to you, they also watch you. Droopiness tells them you are indifferent or you do not care… even though you might care a great deal! On the other hand, displaying good posture tells your audience that you know what you are doing and you care deeply about it. Also, a good posture helps you to speak more clearly and effective.

Following are the important elements which should be taken care of, for a good body language during presentation.

• Eye contact:

This helps to regulate the flow of communication. It signals interest in others and increases the speaker’s credibility. Speakers who make eye contact open the flow of communication and convey interest, concern, warmth, and credibility.

• Facial Expressions:

Smiling is a powerful cue that transmits happiness, friendliness, warmth, and liking. So, if you smile frequently you will be perceived as more likable, friendly, warm, and approachable. Smiling is often contagious and others will react favorably. They will be more comfortable around you and will want to listen to you more.

• Gestures:

If you fail to gesture while speaking, you may be perceived as boring and stiff. A lively speaking style captures attention, makes the material more interesting, and facilitates understanding.

• Posture and body orientation:

You communicate numerous messages by the way you talk and move. Standing straight and leaning forward communicates that you are approachable, receptive, and friendly. Interpersonal closeness results when you and your audience face each other. Speaking with your back turned or looking at the floor or ceiling should be avoided as it communicates disinterest.

• Physical distance:

Cultural norms dictate a comfortable distance for interaction with others. You should look for signals of discomfort caused by invading other’s space. Typically, in large rooms, space invasion is not a problem. In most instances there is too much distance. To counteract this, move around the room to increase interaction with your audience. Increasing the proximity (closeness) enables you to make better eye contact and increases the opportunities for others to speak.

QUESTION/ANSWERS SESSION

Be mentally and physically prepared for the questions asked by the audience at the end.

Keep yourself calm if a questioner disagrees with you. One thing should be kept in mind that no matter how hard you try, not everyone in the world will agree with you.

Following things should be observed while carrying the questions/answers session:

• Always allow time at the end of the presentation for questions
•  After inviting questions, do not rush ahead if no one asks a question
•  Pause for about 6 seconds to allow the audience to gather their thoughts.
• When a question is asked, repeat the question to ensure that everyone heard it (and that you heard it correctly).
• When answering, direct your remarks to the entire audience. That way, you keep everyone focused, not just the questioner.
•  To reinforce your presentation, try to relate the question back to the main points.
• Make sure you listen to the question being asked. If you do not understand it, ask them to clarify.
• Pause to think about the question for a while.
• If you do not know the answer, be honest, do not waffle. Tell them you will get back to them… and make sure you do!

Answers that last 10 to 40 seconds work best. If they are too short, they seem abrupt; while longer answers appear too elaborate. Also, be sure to keep on track.

If someone takes issue with something you said, try to find a way to agree with part of his or her argument. For example, “Yes, I understand your position…” or “I’m glad you raised that point, but…” The idea is to praise their point and agree with them as audiences sometimes tend to think of “us verses you.” You do not want to risk pushing them away.