5 Presentation Skills

In this unit you will learn:

to plan and prepare well

for your
t o open
presentations
presentations effectively
.to establish rapport with audience and
sustain their interest
to use body language effectively
to handle questions from audience
effectively

What is a Presentation?
A presentation is a
purposeful communication. In other words, it is the process of
presenting a topic to an audience, with a specific purpose.

Who should Learn to Make Presentations?

Every one. The skill to make a powerful presentation has now become an essential
prerequisite for people from different walks of life.
Students need to make presentations on various academic topics.
Teachers make presentations as part of theirteaching.
Business professionals
make presentations to customers to
enhance their
business prospects or to their peers to inform them of something.

How to Make Effective Presentations?

For your presentation to be erTective, you need to plan the various aspects of it
too.
and make necessary preparation
 72 A Handbook for English Language Laboratories

Choose the right topic

must de
The topiC
in mind while deciding on the topic.
Keep the following
something that interests you

on which you have a sound knowledge

something
something relevant to your audience

Have a clear goal

Be clear about the purpose of your
presentation. Is it

to inform?

t o explain something?
to entertain?

to persuade or dissuade?

Have a central idea or thesis

use to introduce the central argument
of
The brief and clear statement that you
audience and
presentation is your thesis. This acts as a preview for your
your
about. For instance, if you are making
tells them what the entire presentation is
thesis statement could be something
a presentation on 'ban on soft drinks', your
state that soft drinks are harmful
like this: In my presentation today I would like to
to our health.

Know your audience

Composition
they business men? Are they
Who arethe audience? Are they students? Are
professionals? This information will help you
use examples related to the
field of your audience.

Size
a small group of four colleagues or
What is the size of the audience? Are they
Use this information to help you prepare
a large gathering of forty competitors?
distribute and think of the activities you plan
handouts that you may want to
to have (pair work/group work etc).
 Presentation Skills
73

Knowledge and needs

non-experts? What
o they know about your topic? Are they experts or
are their needs and
expectations?
YOur knowledge about your audience should help you take decisions about the
Kind of language (formal or informal) you want to use, the extent of information
you could cover and the ways to involve the audience in your presentation.

Know the venue

Where are you making your presentation?
Is it a small classroom, meeting-room or a large conference hall?

I s it suitable for the activities that you have planned?

What facilities and equipments are available?

Know the time and length of presentation

When is your presentation and how long is it?
Will it be fifteen minutes or fifty minutes?

Decide on the methodology

How do you go about making your presentation
(Using notes, white/blackboard, OHP/LCD projector etc)
Do you want to make a formal or an informal presentation? You can make it
informal if the audience are your colleagues/friends and it must be formal if
your audience are businessmen, clients or your superiors.

H o w many visuals do you want to use? This depends on the type and the
amount of information you would want to use.
Do you want to use humour? If your presentation is mainly to entertain your
audience you could use humour. In a formal presentation, use humour sparingly.

Structure your presentation

Oraanise your presentation in a logical structure. Presentations are usually organised
in three parts, and conclude with a question-answer session.
 74 A Handbook for English Language Laboratories

he three parts of a presentation are discussed below.

Opening
Announce your topic and thesis statement.
Open the presentation, you may use questions or rhetorical questions,
quotes, statistics, shock statements, proverbs or anecdotes

Announce the estimated duration of the presentation.

Body
Explain the structure of your presentation.
Keep to your structure.
Signpost' throughout. Use signalling devices such as firstly, secondly, finally
etc.

Conclusions
Summarise your presentation.
Remember to thank your audience.
Invite questions and offer to answer them if you can.

Question & Answer (0&A) Session

This is one of the most important parts of your presentation. Most of the impact
you are going to leave on your audience will be decided on how you handle the
questions. Here are a few important things to remember.

Plan ahead

At the time of preparation

As you are preparing for your presentation, anticipate questions that might be
asked by the audience and have their answers ready.

While making your presentation

While you are making your presentation you will know how well the content is
being received by the audience. Make eye contact with every member of the
audience and ensure that they are with you. Depending on the responses and
reactions of the audience, modify your plan if necessary. Also, be aware if you
 Presentation Skills 75
are
leaving any gaps in
Sometimes itIS a
vour oresentation
good idea to leave someeither consciousi
audience gaps so that you can
guessing or get
them ask vou questions at
keep you
answer session. the
time of the
quesO
Listen to the entire
question carefully
Do not begin
answering before the questioner finishes
his/her question.
Rephrase or repeat the question
This is done mainly to assure the
clearlyand correctly, questioner that you have understood the question
to help others
understand the question and to buy time
before answering.

Pause and answer

Pausing will surely have a great effect when used wisely. So learn to
before you answer. pause

Break eye contact with the questioner

Initially, for a few seconds, you may have eye contact with the questioner,
but you should then break your eye contact with
him/her and speak to the
entire audience. This is especially important if
you wish to keep control over
your audience.

Relate your answer to one of your major points

By doing you can reinforce the ideas that are important for your presentation.
so,
You must view this as the last chance for you to make your presentation much
more useful to your audience.

Learn to handle negative questions

Rephrase the negative question to make it less emotional and more neutral. If
there are questions thaT you can not answer, express your inability to answer it
immediately. Offer to rollovw it up and also specify how and when you wish to

do that.
 76 A Handbook for English Language Laboratories

Learn to use technology

take a decision
Use of technology will liven up your presentation. You have to and
about which technology to be used depending on the venue, availability
However, make
appropriateness of the technology to the content of your topic.
can. This
yourself familiar with the use of as many types of equipment as you
teacher/
might help you in handling certain tricky situations. For instance, your
boss might ask you to prepare a PowerPoint presentation and a sound knowledge
of technology will come in handy here.

Overhead projector
overhead projector (OHP) is used to show overhead transparencies (OHTs). Using
an OHP might add variety to your presentation. However, make sure that you
know how it functions so that you will be able to do some amount of
troubleshooting yourself in case of any problem.
Here are a few tips for using slides effectively:
U s e large fonts on your transparencies so that the text is readable to the
entire audience.
Position the projector and the screen centrally so that the audience can view
the slides comfortably.
Include only key ideas on the slide. Do not have long texts.

Do not read aloud the text on the slides. Allow the audience to do it themselves.
Explain and elaborate the key ideas on the slide.

PowerPoint presentation
A PowerPoint presentation is made using slides displayed on a computer. Most
of the points mentioned about the use of OHP slides hold good for PowerPoint
slides tobo.
PowerPoint slides offer many more options such as animation, use of colour
and use of audio and video files. However, do not overuse colours, graphics
and sound effects.
Ensure that there is little light around the screen.
Organise your slides carefully and learn how to go back and forth while making
your presentation.
 Presentation Skills 77

Handouts
Handouts are any documents or samples that you 'hand out' (distribute) among
youraudience. Prepare them in advance and make adequate copies. Take care to
distribute them at the appropriate time during your presentation. If there is a lot
of information which may not be appropriate for presenting using the equipment
mentioned above, you may consider giving handouts.

Visual aids
Use pictures, photographs, drawings etc. to present information to your audience.
However, make sure that:

t o o many visuals are not used

t o o much information is not presented on your visuals

your audience get sufficient time to look at them

other Essentials of a Presentation

Coping with stage fright

It is human to have some nervousness while facing an audience, no matter how
experienced you are. Do not be unduly worried about it. Here are some tips to
overcome stage fright.
Do not tell your audience that you are nervous.
Focus on your message and not on yourself.

Overcome your fear/nervousness by using active physical movements and

gestures.

Practise deep breathing.

Arrive early, and establish rapport with the members of your audience.
B e warm and friendly with your audience.
Establish eye contact with each member in your audience.
 78 A Handbook for Englislh Language Laboratories

Make effective use of non-verbal communication

Apt use of
body language.
A large part of communication takes place through
effective. Your body speaks
DOOy language can make your presentation more
communication. Your dress,
to your audience even before you start the oral
speak a lot
nairdo, style of and your gestures and facial expressions
walking
about you.
To use your body language effectively, learn to:
Maintain eye contact: Maintain eye contact to sound credible with what you
say. Look in the eye of each member in your audience.
Use facial expressions: Display appropriate facial expressions depending on
what you say. A warm smile can reduce the tension and suggest to your
audience that you are not very serious. But do not grin continuously.
Use gestures
Use your face, head, arms and shoulders to enhance the meaning of
your words. Do not lock your hands behind
you.
Use only appealing and positive gestures.
Do not wave your arms around all the time.
D o not shake your head violently.
Do not use
the same gesture repeatedly.
Walk a littie: It makes you feel better. But if
you walk up and down aimlessly it
is bound to distract your audience. Use
walking on the dais and in the hall/room
just to add variety to your presentation.
Modulate your voice:
Modulating your voice will make your presentation
interesting. You must learn to
vary your speed, pitch and volume.

Rehearse Your Presentation

Before you actually make
your presentation, rehearse it.
Rehearsing helps
1o be clear about
your content you:
to assess your strengths and weaknesses
t o learn to
pronounce difficult words correctly
to manage time effectively
 Presentation Skills 19

l needto rehearse the presentation as a whole. While rehearsing simulate the

You
presentation situation as closely as possible. Rehearse often and anywhere.

Suitable Expressions

TO start

Let me start/begin
by...
to begin with
I would like
. . . .

to begin with
I deem it appropriate
. . .

TO Conclude

my presentation to an end.
That brings
That's it for now!
this.
That's all I have to say on

Let me now conclude by....

To sum it up....

To give examples
For instance..
For example...
As an illustration...
A good example of this is...

on a topic
To conclude discussion
I have looked at....
about...
spoke to you
to say about...
That's all T have

introduce a new topic

To
look at...
Let's now

on to....
Let me move
is...
next point
And the
 Laboratories
A Handbook for English Language
80

questions
To respond to
That's a good question!
To answer your question...
question later?
Can I get back to your
this!
I'm gladthat you've asked

A sample presentation

presentation carefully and notice how the expressions listed

Study this sample
above are used.

of my presentation today is
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The topic
of my presentation is to
'How to Structure a Presentation Effectively'. The aim
focuus
inform you about the three essential parts a presentation usually has. My
will be on the introduction, the body and the conclusion of a presentation.
Finally, I'Tl be glad to answer your questions.

Firstly, I'd like to talk about the introduction. This is an important point because
the introduction gives the audience their first impression about you. You can
show the audience that you are good at what you are doing by opening your
presentation in a way that captures their attention. You can perhaps use
estions/rhetorical questions, quotes, statistics, shock statements, proverbs
or anecdotes. You will have to be careful while deciding wBich of these
methods suit your audience, the purpose of the presentation and the occasion.
You should also explain. the ground rules for
questions and announce the
estimated time you need for your
presentation.
Secondly, I'd like to talk about the body of the presentation, In the body of
your presentation-you might want to use the 3Ts tell audience what
you are going to tell them, tell them what you are tellingyourthem and tell them-
what you have told them. You should
learn to keep to the structure and use
your notes as you present your topic. You must use
It is also
important that you present the subject with appropriate expressions.
clarity.
Finally, let me talk about how to close the
main ideas it is time to
summarise
presentation. Having discussed the
idea about the them so that
your audience have a clear
topic and the major points you have covered. But remember
not to add
any new points while
audience and invite their summing up. After having a recap, thank the
questions or comments.
 81
Presentation Skills

to conclude by summing up and making

recommendations. 1he
ke about the three parts ot an

nis presentation w a s to inform you

offerhis
enectve presentation, namely opening, body and conclusion.

ne maln points I talked about were: firstly, what to have in the introduction
secondly, what to have in the bodv of a presentation, and finally, what to say
or a
in the conclusion. I recommend that vou 1earn about these parts
presentation and use them in your presentations.
much for your time.
Thatbrings my presentation to arn end. Thank you very
your
do hope that you will find the information useful in bettering fromn
again. And I'd like to invite questions
presentations. Thanks, ornce now

you.

Topics for presentations

1. Population explosion 16. Time management

17. India's performance in Olympics
2.
2. Unemployment
3. Generation gap 18. Mobile phones
19. Reservations
4. The internet
20. Women empowerment
5. ndian culture
Western culture 21. Feminism
6.
22 Call centre jobs
7. Mercy killing
23. Urban slums
8. Corporal punishment
9. Capital punishment 24. Ragging
10. Democracy 25. TV serials
26. Present-day films
11. Socialism
12. Science 27. Festivals
28. Use of English in India
13. Religion
Environment 29. Cable TV
14.
Education 30. Examinations
15.
 82 A Handbook for English Language
Laboratories

Checklist for Presentations

Use the checklist below presentation.
This must be done
COnsciously and
toassess/evaluate
consistently in the initial
your
stages, until you become clear and

confident about making

presentations.
Evaluate each of these aspects on a scale of 1-5.

1. Was the opening effective?

2. Was the closing effective?
3 Was the information presented clearly, confidently and interestingly?
4. Was the structure of the
presentation clear to the audience
5. Was the audience's involvement adequate?
6 Was the body language vibrant and
effective?
1. Was the question-answer session handled effectively?
8. Was the language simple, clear and understandable?
9. Was the purpose of the
presentation served?
10. Was the time managed well?

You also take others'

can
help in evaluating your presentation. The
evaluation sheet might be used for the
same. This evaluation sheet
following
for assessing a could be used
speaker's overall performance. This
on his/her main gives the presenter feedback
strengths and weaknessesS.