by The Open University
Available in 42 free installments
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Ideally you should have the opportunity to rehearse at the actual location for your presentation, but it is more likely that you will have to rehearse wherever and whenever you can. This may involve practising at home, or at odd times in your lunch hour, or even whilst driving to work (practising your delivery). It can be very helpful to enlist a member of your family or a friend or colleague to audit your run-throughs and make helpful comments. If there is nobody about for feedback, you could try using a cassette recorder: this means that you can listen to your own practice runs in the car or when doing housework. For the really brave, try rehearsing in front of a mirror as well, and study your posture, expressions and mannerisms. If you have the equipment and technical expertise, you could use a digital camera linked to your PC and a microphone system and capture the whole practice performance in a file stored in your computer.
Working backwards from the presentation date, make a rough timetable. Obviously the amount of rehearsal time will depend largely on the complexity and importance of the presentation, but in general the more you practise the better you'll be on the big day. As your confidence and experience increase you will require less and less time to prepare. You will build up a mental library of visual material and a stock of scripts, many of which will need only minimal editing and updating. This is especially true of technical presentations.
Many of us make judgements (rightly or wrongly) on our first impressions, so your personal image is important when you are giving presentations, even though strictly speaking you will probably not be directly judged on it. Because of this, you should think carefully about the situation and dress accordingly. Try to keep these points in mind:
Do you need to dress formally? For instance, do you need to wear a suit or would a pair of jeans be ok? (It is often safer to be conventional.)
Remember, neat hair and clean shoes!
Can you wear something that gives you confidence and comfort (your lucky shirt?)?
If you are too hot, or too cold, you will appear uncomfortable.
If your clothes are too tight or your shoes too high, don't wear them.
If you are part of a team, remember that co-ordination, not uniformity, is enough ? unless there is a corporate image.
Try to feel comfortable and enjoy yourself.
Stand up straight, breathe and smile.
The activity of speaking is very different from that of writing. Think about this for a moment. It is amazing how often people use ?written English? when making a presentation. Clearly we can speak on many different levels, and there are many different levels of written English as well ? if you've ever had to read a legal document you'll know what we mean! You may feel that, as the occasion is more formal than everyday conversation, one should speak more formally. The result is either a robot-like delivery, or an extract from a text book.
Another problem is the natural desire to get everything in, which can result in information overload. If you stick to a few main ideas, stated clearly with straightforward visuals and presented logically, then your presentation will have much more impact.
Keep it simple by using everyday language and examples.
You can probably make about three main points in a one-hour talk.
Keep to a logical order of ideas/points.
You can write a complete script initially but you should not rely on it.
Make notes of your key points only.
Work out a rough timetable on your notes.
Illustrate your words and ideas.
