Presentation skill is an important soft-skill
that college students need to learn. This skill requires students to
communicate their thought and ideas on a particular subject, to a group
of people. Students need to develop this skill throughout their years in
college so when they go to job interviews or work in the industry, they
will not feel uncomfortable. Presentation skill is not difficult to
learn but it requires a lot of practices to be effective.
The most important thing for a presentation is to prepare as early as possible. Do not wait until the last minutes because you need to gather all information to prepare for it. Typically a presentation has an introduction, the main topic with key points that you want the audiences to know, and a conclusion. Your goal is to make the audiences understand what you want them to know before you get to the conclusion. How much detail your presentation is will depend upon the time you have to speak. For most students, my advice is to keep the presentation to no more than fifteen minutes. Even when you work in the industry, you may not have to present longer than that, unless you get to position levels of senior manager or executive. However, you need to know that any presentation of more than an hour will make audiences lose interest, as few people can keep their attention that long. After the conclusion, you may want to ask the audiences if they have any question on what you have said. Sometimes, the discussion afterward between speaker and audience is more interesting than the presentation.
Many people believe presentation skill as difficult and require a lot of trainings. The fact is it may only apply to public speaker or politician, but as students and future engineer, you do not need a lot of trainings. Most of what you present is probably technical things that you already know so all you need is practice to gain confidence.
There are many presentation techniques, each person may find certain technique more useful but there are two things that you must avoid: Never read from a prepared written speech and never read the slide. The audiences have limited attention and do not like someone to read a speech. Reading from a written speech means you are not prepared and have to rely on something. By doing that, you give the audience the impression that maybe someone else is preparing it for you instead. I always advise students to have a short outline with few key points written on a small piece of paper to remind them, just in case they forget. The rule is no technical presentation should be written as a speech. You do not want to “lecture” the audiences but “converse” with them because lecture or speech is boring where conversation is interesting.
Today, people often give presentation using multimedia equipment and PowerPoint and some read from the slide. The fact is audiences can read the slide faster than you can read. They will lose attention if you just read the slide to them. My advice is you should avoid given presentation by reading from a prepared written speech or read slides with a lot of text. It is better to keep it simple by given presentation just like you talk to a friend to helps the audience focus on what you say instead of something else.
A presentation should be organized to lead the audience from the beginning to the end. It is like telling a story, you must start with general things then narrow down to each important point in detail until the audience understands what you want them to know. It is also important to add example for each key points to illustrate why it is important. Just like a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in designing software product, you should break the presentation into several key points so if needed, you can add, delete or change the details without much effort.
A good speaker is flexible to adapt to the time constraints. Sometime you may talk fast when under pressure and sometime you may talk slow when stumble into something that you are not prepared. That is why practice is important. The best is practice it loud in front of a mirror and measure the time so you know how long it is. Prepare an extra example or short story in case you have extra time. Similarly, you should put the most important point first so that if you run out of time, the audience still has the most important things. You must practice your presentation until you feel prepared. You should practice the entire presentation, including the use of slide and multimedia equipment that you will be using. The best way is giving the entire presentation to a few friends and asks them for feedbacks. This will help you identify any problems so you can adjust and make it a successful presentation.
I often advise students to start the presentation with a question because question will get audience attention. For example: “Why do you think we should use open source in this project?” you can follow it with an explanation then proceed to your detail key points. At the end of the presentation, you should summarize your key points to ensure your audience will remember them. During the presentation, audience may have questions. Some questions can create confusion to any presenter, so the best way is try to anticipate any questions that your audience may have during and after your presentation. Think about the audience that you will present to and think of anything in your presentation they may not know so you can add an example to make it easier to understand. If possible, identify information not addressed during your presentation that the audience may ask. Prepare responses that can be used to quickly answer any questions that may arise. Having answers ready is the key to demonstrating your expertise on the presentation topic.
Technical presentation is not difficult. It is really an explanation or sharing information to an audience. To succeed, you must gather all the facts and data to validate your points and support your conclusion. The most important is to practice it throughout the time when you are still in school to gain confidence. When you are confident and well prepared, I will have the presentation skills that you need.
The most important thing for a presentation is to prepare as early as possible. Do not wait until the last minutes because you need to gather all information to prepare for it. Typically a presentation has an introduction, the main topic with key points that you want the audiences to know, and a conclusion. Your goal is to make the audiences understand what you want them to know before you get to the conclusion. How much detail your presentation is will depend upon the time you have to speak. For most students, my advice is to keep the presentation to no more than fifteen minutes. Even when you work in the industry, you may not have to present longer than that, unless you get to position levels of senior manager or executive. However, you need to know that any presentation of more than an hour will make audiences lose interest, as few people can keep their attention that long. After the conclusion, you may want to ask the audiences if they have any question on what you have said. Sometimes, the discussion afterward between speaker and audience is more interesting than the presentation.
Many people believe presentation skill as difficult and require a lot of trainings. The fact is it may only apply to public speaker or politician, but as students and future engineer, you do not need a lot of trainings. Most of what you present is probably technical things that you already know so all you need is practice to gain confidence.
There are many presentation techniques, each person may find certain technique more useful but there are two things that you must avoid: Never read from a prepared written speech and never read the slide. The audiences have limited attention and do not like someone to read a speech. Reading from a written speech means you are not prepared and have to rely on something. By doing that, you give the audience the impression that maybe someone else is preparing it for you instead. I always advise students to have a short outline with few key points written on a small piece of paper to remind them, just in case they forget. The rule is no technical presentation should be written as a speech. You do not want to “lecture” the audiences but “converse” with them because lecture or speech is boring where conversation is interesting.
Today, people often give presentation using multimedia equipment and PowerPoint and some read from the slide. The fact is audiences can read the slide faster than you can read. They will lose attention if you just read the slide to them. My advice is you should avoid given presentation by reading from a prepared written speech or read slides with a lot of text. It is better to keep it simple by given presentation just like you talk to a friend to helps the audience focus on what you say instead of something else.
A presentation should be organized to lead the audience from the beginning to the end. It is like telling a story, you must start with general things then narrow down to each important point in detail until the audience understands what you want them to know. It is also important to add example for each key points to illustrate why it is important. Just like a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in designing software product, you should break the presentation into several key points so if needed, you can add, delete or change the details without much effort.
A good speaker is flexible to adapt to the time constraints. Sometime you may talk fast when under pressure and sometime you may talk slow when stumble into something that you are not prepared. That is why practice is important. The best is practice it loud in front of a mirror and measure the time so you know how long it is. Prepare an extra example or short story in case you have extra time. Similarly, you should put the most important point first so that if you run out of time, the audience still has the most important things. You must practice your presentation until you feel prepared. You should practice the entire presentation, including the use of slide and multimedia equipment that you will be using. The best way is giving the entire presentation to a few friends and asks them for feedbacks. This will help you identify any problems so you can adjust and make it a successful presentation.
I often advise students to start the presentation with a question because question will get audience attention. For example: “Why do you think we should use open source in this project?” you can follow it with an explanation then proceed to your detail key points. At the end of the presentation, you should summarize your key points to ensure your audience will remember them. During the presentation, audience may have questions. Some questions can create confusion to any presenter, so the best way is try to anticipate any questions that your audience may have during and after your presentation. Think about the audience that you will present to and think of anything in your presentation they may not know so you can add an example to make it easier to understand. If possible, identify information not addressed during your presentation that the audience may ask. Prepare responses that can be used to quickly answer any questions that may arise. Having answers ready is the key to demonstrating your expertise on the presentation topic.
Technical presentation is not difficult. It is really an explanation or sharing information to an audience. To succeed, you must gather all the facts and data to validate your points and support your conclusion. The most important is to practice it throughout the time when you are still in school to gain confidence. When you are confident and well prepared, I will have the presentation skills that you need.
Prof John Vu
Carnegie Mellon University
Original source:http://www.segvn.org/forum/mvnforum/viewthread_thread,1408
Original source:http://www.segvn.org/forum/mvnforum/viewthread_thread,1408
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