How to Make a Good Presentation

Target learners
The learners:
1-2nd or 3d year undergraduates, postgraduates focusing in different fields of engineering and technology
Levels:
from pre-intermediate to advance

Structure of the course
Warming-up activities.
Thorough step-by-step instructions on how to prepare and deliver a presentation
Preparation
Introduction
Main part
Conclusion & questions
Follow-up activities
Students’ presentations based on the knowledge received
Analysis of the students’ presentations

Goals to achieve
to make a clear-cut, well-organized presentation for University studies, post-graduate studies, as well as business or research
to creatively synthesize what you have learned
to make sure that organizing and giving presentations and public speaking of any kind becomes a pleasure and not a burden

Approaches
intrigue, provoke, and inform an audience
be short intensive specialist-informative
dig into the topic be thought - provoking
be enthusiastic (enthusiasm is infectious; audiences can't help but be affected by it)
have a clear structure
be made with a good sense of timing (not more than 10 minutes !!!)
create rapport
presentation should

Warming-up activities
Brainstorming Questions:
What is a presentation?
When is a presentation made? Is it only for business?
Have you ever made a presentation? Was it successful?
What do you think is essential to make a successful presentation?
How to prepare for a presentation?
What is a general structure of a presentation? (Introduction, outline, main part, summary, conclusion)

Communication skills
structuring information
using an appropriate style of language
exploiting visual aids
adopting the right body language

Tips on how to become a good presenter
1. LEAVE NOTHING TO CHANCE Check everything before you are due to speak - room, seating, visibility, acoustics and equipment.
2. KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO START Plan the first minute of your presentation down to the last detail. Try to memorize your opening words. This will help you to sound confident and in control.
3. GET STRAIGHT TO THE POINT Don't waste time on long boring introductions. Try to make at least one powerful statement in the first two minutes.
4. TALK TO YOUR AUDIENCE Many of the best presentations sound more like conversations. So, keep referring back to your audience, ask them questions, respond to their reactions.
5. KNOW WHAT WORKS Certain things are always popular with an audience: personal experiences, stories with a message, dramatic comparisons, amazing facts they didn't know. Use them to the full.
to be learnt by heart

to be learnt be heart
6. BE CONCISE Keep your sentences short and simple. Use deliberate pauses to punctuate your speech.
7. SPEAK NATURALLY Don't be afraid to hesitate when you speak, but make sure you pause in the right places. Remember, you are not an actor trying to remember lines. A certain amount of hesitation is actually quite natural.
8. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE Speak for your audience, not .yourself. Take every opportunity to show how much common ground you share with them. Address their goals, their needs, their concerns
9. TREAT YOUR AUDIENCE AS EQUALS Never talk down (or up) uo-your audience. Treat them as equals, no matter who they are.
10. BE YOURSELF As far as possible, speak to five hundred people in much the same way you would speak to five. You will obviously need to project yourself more, but your personality shouldn't change.
l l. TAKE YOUR TIME Whenever you make a really important point, pause and let the full significance of what you have said sink in . . . before you move on.
12, DON'T MAKE A SPECIAL EFFORT TO BE FUNNY , If you make a joke, don't stop and wait for laughs. Keep going and let the laughter (if it comes) interrupt you.

to be learnt by heart
13. LET YOUR VISUALS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES Good visuals are just that - visual. Don't put boring tables of figures and long lines of text on the overhead and read them out. Stick to the main points. Experiment with three-dimensional charts, cartoons, interesting typefaces - anything to catch your audience's attention.
14. NEVER COMPETE WITH YOUR VISUALS When showing a visual, keep quiet and give people time to take it in. Then make brief comments only. Point to the relevant parts of the visual as you speak. If you want to say more, switch off your projector to do so.
15. DEVELOP YOUR OWN STYLE Learn from other public speakers, but don't try to copy them. Be comfortable with your own abilities. Don't do anything that feels unnatural for you, just because it works for someone else.
16. ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE The secret of being an excellent speaker is to enjoy the experience of speaking - try to enjoy the experience!
17. WELCOME QUESTIONS FROM YOUR AUDIENCE When members of your audience ask you a question, it is usually because they have a genuine interest in what you are saying and want to know more. Treat questions as an opportunity to get your message across better.
18. FINISH STRONGLY When you are ready to finish your presentation, slow down, and lower your voice. Look at the audience and deliver your final words slowly and clearly. Pause, let your words hang in the air a moment longer, smile, say Thank you and then sit down..

Choose the subject for your future presentation:
base task

Practice (1)
What do you look like, what do you sound like?
What will you do about nerves?
What do you want to achieve?
How will you remember what to say?
What is charisma?
How will you keep your energy up?
How will you introduce yourself?
Questions to ask oneself before starting the preparation:

Practice-1
Good presentation vs. Bad presentation (Episode 1, Effective Presentations by Jeremy Comfort, OUP, 2004, a video)
Analysis of the video on p. 7 from the textbook

Practice -2
How to prepare a presentation
Listening:
-Assignment. Work in pairs. Listen to the recording and make a list of what you need to do to give a successful talk or presentation
How to prepare a presentation (Unit 7.6 International Express by Keith Harding&Liz Taylor, OUP, 2005)

How to prepare a presentation
Answers:
The objectives.
The audience.
Content.
Organization.
Visual information.
Practice.

Presentation Delivery
How to start a presentation?
Getting Started (Unit 1, Everyday Business English, textbook plus audio CD)
Some useful phrases. Practice
Dialogues. Listening/reading in pairs
Role-play. English-Russian speakers, interpreters

Practice – 2
Home Assignment
By the next class:
1) Powell: tasks 1.1-1.4 pp.10-15
2)Make the introductory part of your own presentation
(Principles of Presentation for PowerPoint)
By David Jones http://www.cmos.ca/effectivepresentations_DJones_files/v3_document.htm

Course components
Presenting in English by Mark Powell
Principles of Presentation for PowerPoint by David Jones
http://www.cmos.ca/effectivepresentations_DJones_files/v3_document. htm
Effective Presentations by Jeremy Comfort, OUP, 2004, a video CD and a teacher's book
Business Presentations, Anne Freitag-Lawrence, Longman, 2003
International Express Unit 7.6 by Keith Harding&Liz Taylor, OUP, 2005