Monday, 28 November 2011

Effective Presentations

The ability to deliver an effective presentation is an essential skill student’s need to acquire in 3rd level education. Although public speaking comes to some students naturally for others it is more of a chore, something they can’t wait to be finished with. It is natural for students to be nervous about impending presentations, in fact the very mention of having to do presentations is enough to kick start the nerves with some people, but there are a number of things that can be done to ensure the presentation goes smoothly. Online sources like Likehack can provide useful information on delivering an effective presentation. When delivering a presentation of my own recently the 3 things I found most helpful to me were;

Planning – I though carefully about what I was going to give my presentation on. As I had full creative control over the subject and content of the presentation I was able to pick something I found to be relevant to me and that was sure to interest my audience.

Knowing my audience – the subject I chose to talk about was a rare syndrome called Wolf Hirschorrn Syndrome which is something I know a lot about. I was fully aware my audience would not have heard of the syndrome so I was careful to use language they would understand and to cut down on the medical side of the syndrome in order to keep my audience captivated.

Practice - as the presentation was to be 5 minutes long getting the exact time was down to practicing. I felt this helped me greatly as I was going into my presentation confident that I knew my material. 


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