What to expect at presentation
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- social_experiment
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What to expect at presentation
During the following week i will be doing a presentation for a company that wants a website developed; i've done this type of thing before but only with small business owners, meaning one-on-one. The presentation that i have to do will be for 7 - 10 people. I'm not really worried but i don't really know what to expect; the usual i guess: questions, description of what i will do, what technologies to use, etc, all the technical stuff. Can anyone give some pointers on what to do and what not to do?
“Don’t worry if it doesn’t work right. If everything did, you’d be out of a job.” - Mosher’s Law of Software Engineering
Re: What to expect at presentation
The content of your presentation is probably okay and won't need to be changed much (if at all). I gather you are looking for pointers on speaking in front of a group of people. I loath doing this despite the fact I have great skill at doing so. (I got an A in COMM 1010 - That's a basic college communications class for those who don't know.)
I would recommend a simple Power Point presentation if you don't already have one, the major advantage of this (for me anyways) is that everyone is not staring at you 100% of the time, also, if you lose track of yourself and don't have a notecard, you can glance up at it to remember what you need to talk about next. Secondly, don't memorize a speech, doing so will just help you trip over yourself if you lose your place or forget a word. Just know your material (which I'm sure you do) and it'll be fine. Make sure you let people know to hold question till the end of your presentation. If you need to keep notes, I would suggest a single 3x5 card, anything more will seem like you have too many notes and don't know your stuff but glancing at a single notecard now and then doesn't look bad, especially if you can keep it hidden on a podium. Make sure you look out at the audience while speaking, but don't look AT the audience members, like direct eye contact with any one person unless addressing the person specifically. It's also recommended that you try to involve the audience with your presentation. This can be done in many different ways (and may not be necessary for your presentation)
Opening statements are also important, you could ask the audience a question (which also covers the aspect of getting them involved), Tell a story, start off with a quotation or a shocking statement, refer to the audience or the occasion or even tell a joke. These are all to get the audiences' attention. If you are going to spend your time talking, you should first do your best to make sure the people are listening. The same things I just stated should also be used for closing statements. There are also three more that can be used for closing statements. Go full circle and end where you started, an appeal for action, or ending with a challenge. I'm sure I have left out a lot, but public speaking has a lot of aspects. If you have any specific questions or need more details about anything I have mentioned, I'll be happy to help. And don't over prepare, it doesn't help. Three to five times practicing at home is plenty. I wish you the best of luck with your presentation. Don't stress it, and you'll make it through it just fine.
I would recommend a simple Power Point presentation if you don't already have one, the major advantage of this (for me anyways) is that everyone is not staring at you 100% of the time, also, if you lose track of yourself and don't have a notecard, you can glance up at it to remember what you need to talk about next. Secondly, don't memorize a speech, doing so will just help you trip over yourself if you lose your place or forget a word. Just know your material (which I'm sure you do) and it'll be fine. Make sure you let people know to hold question till the end of your presentation. If you need to keep notes, I would suggest a single 3x5 card, anything more will seem like you have too many notes and don't know your stuff but glancing at a single notecard now and then doesn't look bad, especially if you can keep it hidden on a podium. Make sure you look out at the audience while speaking, but don't look AT the audience members, like direct eye contact with any one person unless addressing the person specifically. It's also recommended that you try to involve the audience with your presentation. This can be done in many different ways (and may not be necessary for your presentation)
Opening statements are also important, you could ask the audience a question (which also covers the aspect of getting them involved), Tell a story, start off with a quotation or a shocking statement, refer to the audience or the occasion or even tell a joke. These are all to get the audiences' attention. If you are going to spend your time talking, you should first do your best to make sure the people are listening. The same things I just stated should also be used for closing statements. There are also three more that can be used for closing statements. Go full circle and end where you started, an appeal for action, or ending with a challenge. I'm sure I have left out a lot, but public speaking has a lot of aspects. If you have any specific questions or need more details about anything I have mentioned, I'll be happy to help. And don't over prepare, it doesn't help. Three to five times practicing at home is plenty. I wish you the best of luck with your presentation. Don't stress it, and you'll make it through it just fine.
- social_experiment
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- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 11:08 am
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Re: What to expect at presentation
@Hermit TL Thanks for the feedback
I did the presentation yesterday and the advice you gave worked very well
“Don’t worry if it doesn’t work right. If everything did, you’d be out of a job.” - Mosher’s Law of Software Engineering
Re: What to expect at presentation
That's great to hear! I'm glad your presentation went well.I did the presentation yesterday and the advice you gave worked very well