Introduction
Preparation
Postcard Technique
Reducing your fears
Transparencies and handouts
Questions and answers
Never read your presentation straight from a prepared text; this is extremely boring for your audience. You need to do something extra in a formal presentation to make it a worthwhile experience for the audience and to justify the effort they have made to come and listen to you. Therefore, use OHP slides, or transparencies, with key phrases and diagrams to engage your audience's interest and to provide you with visual clues of what to say next. It is perfectly possible for the audience to listen to you and look at the slides as well (after all you have done this yourself haven't you!).
- Put your title, name, department and year on your first OHP. For presentations outside college you should also include "The Manchester College" and your e mail address.
- Clearly state the topic or problem that you are going to talk about and explain why it is interesting or important.
- Give a plan our outline of your talk so that your audience does not "get lost".
- Expand and explain the content of your OHP, do not simply repeat it.
- Use colour to clearly link similar ideas, logical connections or classes of items together. Avoid yellow and orange as they are difficult to see when projected by strong light.
- Do not put more than a few lines on each OHP and never photocopy pages of closely typed material because it will be impossible for your audience to read it.
- Plan your OHP's carefully spending about 2 or 3 minutes to talk about each one. If you have to cut important material keep it on separate OHPs. You can use these if you have time or you may be able to use them to illustrate your answers during the question and answer session.
- Know which transparencies you can leave out if you have less time than you think
- Prepare OHPs to highlight the main points or results of each section of your presentation.
- Define any technical words but do not go into details which are better read by your audience such as mathematical proofs or experimental procedures.
- Use diagrams and pictures as much as possible since they convey so much more information than speech.
- Prepare a single OHP of your conclusions or results to finish with.
- Have a list of references, a bibliography or a list of web sites etc. Display this during the question and answer session so that your audience may copy down details to follow up later.
- Make photocopies of your most important slides and have them available to be given as handouts.
- Consider preparing a separate handout or sheet of notes to be given out when you have finished speaking.