WU

How to learn to present

If you have never given presentations before, learning to do so is a major undertaking. It's an art, and you will develop your own style and preferences with experience. So how do you learn to present?

Take advice.
These notes and your instructor will help you with pointers. For example, it's good advice to take time in preparation and use good notes. Don't be swayed by a brilliant presenter who can present on short notice without notes.
Be genuine.
Speak with conviction. Don't put on a fake face.
Match your approach to your audience.
Some people and groups are very different from others.
Observe how others present and learn from them.
You will probably want to copy styles that you like, no matter how anyone teaches you to present. Believe it or not, you unconsciously learnt from every presentation you ever attended:
(a) the kind of person your presenter was, and
(b) the way your presenter taught it.

When you watch someone, ask yourself: What did you like? Why did some things work so well? How did they use time and place most efficiently? What was confusing or unhelpful? How would you improve on it? How did they use gestures and body language?

Be on the lookout for creative ideas.
Others are always thinking up clearer or more interesting ways to communicate.
Get practice in front of groups.
Presenting is something you do, not just study. Textbooks alone cannot make you into a presenter no matter how good they are (even this one).
Evaluate yourself.
You need to know what you did right and what didn’t work. You might also reflect on what you did, preferably in discussion with other trainee instructors. Ask what you have learnt about yourself as a person.
Go from easy tasks to harder tasks.
Start with practice exercises such as a little public speaking, then progress to short, simple presentations that you present to others who are also learning. Later, you’ll eventually give much more complex presentations. That way, you'll succeed at something before taking on something harder.

Start with the left side of this table then move toward the asterisked items on the hard side. (You don't have to be able to do everything on the hard side for this unit.)

You won't need any preparation time or a mentor to briefly tell a friend a piece of simple well-known information that he/she wants to hear. But by doing that, you would have done most of the left side of the table, so you'd already be on the way. Now it's just a matter of setting increments so that you move toward the right side.

	Easy	Hard
Size of group	Individuals and very small groups	Large
Length of session	Short	Long
Location	Familiar and "safe"	Unfamiliar
How well you know the listeners	Peers or people you know	Strangers
Behavior	Cooperative	Possibly unruly
Liseners' motivation	High	Low
Amount of time for preparation	Enough	Not enough
You have help available	A mentor will help you	You get no help at all
Familiarity of content to you	Very familiar to you	New content that you must research during preparation
Familiarity of content to listeners	Had some previous exposure	Totally new
Your ability to anticipate what will happen	Easy	Difficult

Some Immutable Laws of Delivery

Delivery is not about a guy in a car with a hot pizza. Delivery refers the means by which you communicate with your listeners.

Keep it simple.

Most adults want something that they can easily understand. The rule of thumb is to be simple enough that a 12 year old can understand you. (If it's starting to look too complicated, ask yourself whether you understand it properly.)

Delivery methods are more effective when
they require audiences to be active.

Those that involve people in speaking, questioning, answering, writing, doing, are more effective than those where you stand in front and perform. How do you know that your audience even take notice of you if you never stop for questions or discussion?

A variety of delivery methods is more effective than only one.

People will learn more if you use a variety of appropriate methods, for several reasons.

As we've seen, people don’t all learn the same way.
People tend to learn better when they use more of the five senses. Seeing and hearing is better that just hearing.
Some activities just don't touch the imaginations of some listeners.

Write a presentation plan

You now need to plan what you will do in each presentation. Whichever way you present, each presentation needs a clear purpose and ways to meet that purpose. Together, they form a program plan.

For each session, draw up a plan. It must be written down.

Write out clearly the purpose of the session as a particular response for your listeners. Be brief and to the point.
Say why it is important. (If it isn't important, why should they bother?)
Use forward planners. If you tell people what you're going to do, they can see where it's going and make more sense of it. It gives them a framework to hang the details on, so they learn better. So use your purpose to keep listeners on track for each presentation.
Select your information. You can't pack everything you know into a single session, so the point is to select carefully what it is that listeners need. They will be confused if you spend too much time riding hobbyhorses around or talking about favorite subjects that don't help them achieve the purpose of the presentation. You usually make more progress by giving less information but have listeners be able to DO what is planned, than giving them so much information that they can't achieve the purpose.
Group content according to topics Group points together according to topics. That is, break the content into manageable chunks. This will also mean that you'll only cover everything once.
Sounds easy, but getting a clear idea of exactly what you want to present will simplify your presenting life.
Express each point as a very clear, simple, accurate sentence. Keep it a short as possible so the audience gets the basic message very easily.

Six words is good. If you go over ten words, try again. Make sure your points lead listeners to achieve the purpose of the presentation. You will find your presentations will go very easily if listeners get the point the first time you say it. Otherwise, you will waste most of your time clearing up misunderstandings.
Put your points is an order that will make sense and be useful to your listeners (not just to you). It's called a sequence.
Choose delivery methods and activities.
For every point, give an example, illustration or demonstration that clearly matches the point. If it's a practical subject, you demonstrate it to listeners. If it's information and ideas, an example or illustration is appropriate. If you use stories, make them good. Caution: only use jokes if you know you can pull it off.
Give listeners opportunities to participate. In fact, you could encourage them to their participation early in the session. Then ask questions. Get opinions. Request examples. (Of course, you need to avoid embarrassing them.) If it's ideas and information that you're presenting, let them discuss a point or give examples.
Allocate time for each part of the session. Planning time usage is difficult and comes with experience as you learn to anticipate how listeners respond.

If you're brand new, you probably just need to ask advice about how long session parts will take. Without advice, don't be surprised if your "long" session takes no time at all, or you only get halfway through a session that didn't appear long. Later on, you'll be able to guess quite accurately how long your plans will take and how to deal with digressions.
Decide what resources you will need (e.g. whiteboard, projector. visual aids (pictures, diagrams, objects, etc)
At the end of the presentation, recap the main points or steps to refresh in listeners' minds what they learnt. They need to be reminded.
If you're presenting something, do this at the end of the session: check whether listeners can do what you wanted them to be able to do. You need at least to know whether you achieved your purpose.
Afterwards, review how it went. What worked? What didn't? Could you use time more efficiently? What would you change? As you go, you'll notice what works well and what doesn't.

If you do all this, you will have a good set of plans. They have to be workable, but they don't have to be perfect.

Find out what you have to do

What is expected of you?
Did they already assign a topic?
How long do you have?
What facilities will you have? (No mike, fixed mike, or mobile mike? A rostrum, projector, etc.)
Find out the time and place and finalize them.
Will you be ready on time?
Are they expecting a particular kind of outcome?

Arrive at the venue with enough time to set up, to have anything go wrong, and to meet people personally before the meeting starts.

Have found out what's expected on you, you now need to be proactive.

What kind of response do you do you should aim to get?

Inspire and motivate people?
Do you want to sell stuff? Get enquiries from potential buyers?
Build a bridge for a more committed kind of relationship later on?
Do something that you are going to present?

Plan effective use of time

As the presenter, it’s your job to get the best use of your time and move the pace along.

A very good guide to effectiveness is simply the percentage of presentation time that all listeners are fully engaged. Admittedly, it's based on process rather than results, but it is fairly easy to observe.

You are being effective if:

nearly all your listeners spend nearly all session time interacting in effective activities, and
you usually limit your "stand and explain" to sessions of no more than ten minutes.

Good participation may be also be passive: The audience can be listening, thinking and forming their own understandings (that is, fully engaged) with little outward sign of activity. And usually the best way to know that they are passively participating is to stop fairly often and interact with them. (The trap is to think that telling is presenting.)

If you give people a five-minute break, it’s your responsibility to call people back together and get on to the next activity as efficiently as possible.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that you must rush through the session at top speed. In fact:

You may need to go slowly through some complex topics so that listeners actually learn them.
Listeners might need extra practice to "overlearn" some things. It often works to make this kind of activity into a competition or race.

Using this as a criterion, you are not being effective if:

you are too late starting
listeners take extra time moving around the room, moving furniture or organizing equipment
listeners take extra time making transitions from one activity to another
some listeners aren’t really listening or participating
you spend time on administrative details
you have to repeat an unclear explanation
you lose time on interruptions
you spend time on details that are not part of your goals
you digress to topics that are not part of your goals
an activity doesn’t work
you have to re-present something that listeners misunderstood and perhaps have to "un-learn"
an activity has the wrong goals for your session
an activity keeps listeners busy without really learning anything (called "busywork")
you waste time handing out notes. (Either give them out at registration, put them out on tables beforehand, or get listeners to hand them out.)

Some of these are nearly 100% wasted time for the whole class. Look through the list and identify them.

I have wondered if the percentage of effective engaged time is a very good surrogate measure of effectiveness. A few people can engage all their listeners for nearly the whole allocated time, with minimal dead time.

It’s amazing how many survive with less that 30% engagement. That is, most listeners spend most time doing something other than achieving the goals of the session.

Interaction and questions

There are two basic patterns of interaction and we can represent them as the leader and the participants sitting in a circle.

In this one, the leader does all the talking. If he/she interacts with participants , then they only discuss with the leader. Usually very boring.

In the next one, the leader starts the discussion but the participants soon begin to interact with each other. Much more interesting.

Questioning

Questions are a basic communication tool as well as an assessment tool, and you can be required to master the techniques. Your goal is to get participants doing all the talking with you only keeping it on track.

Write key questions in your presentation plans. Put some thought into them: they should be open-ended discussion starters.

If you're not used to presetning, you might want to have some follow-up questions written down as well. When you get more skills, you'll be able to produce follow-up questions spontaneously as the need arises.

There are three basic kinds

Closed questions: people have only a limited range of answers to choose from, such as Yes or No. They are usually fairly easy to answer, and are best for getting people to provide an initial response when they are reluctant to speak.
Open questions that only ask people to report information. They are useful, because people often miss information.
Open-ended questions ask people to think. There usually isn't a particular answer that you should look for, and when they give their answers, you need to ask the reasons why and follow through to causes. People cannot answer these questions by only repeating information.

Questioning approaches:

Draw out their opinions
Play the devil's advocate (graciously, of course). Take the opposite view and get them to defend their ideas.
Identify issues that will make people take different opinions and discuss the matter with each other.

If people are reluctant to talk, you have several options:

Ask individuals what they think.
Simplify the question (all the way back to a simple yes/no question if need be) until they answer the blatantly obvious, then build back up to the complexity of your original questions.

Hints:

Make sure the points of your questions are clear.
Don't play: Guess what's on my mind.
Explore paradoxes.
Give people the right to their own opinions.
Pick up on good ideas that come up and explore them
Make people glad they contributed, especially when they have very good ideas or are usually shy.
Defend quiet or less articulate people, especially when they have good ideas.
Make sure that everyone who wants a say gets a say.
Control people who talk to much: "The people on that side of the room have been quiet; what do you think?"

Plan how you will use your space

As the presenter, it’s your job to get the best use of your space.

First, check that the room is reserved on the admin schedule. If possible, allow enough time before the session to set up, and afterwards to talk to the audience and pack anything back in place.

Second, set the room up to be suitable for any interactions you have planned:

All listeners should easily be able to see you and all your visual aids.
You should be able to see and hear everyone else. This usually means that they need to sit close enough together.
Everyone needs to be in the right places for any activity you have planned; this will prevent any unnecessary moving around during class.
Nobody is left out.
Minimize distractions.

For adult groups, arrange the room so that the doorway is at the back of the room so people can come and go if they need to.
Eliminate any background noise (e.g. traffic), usually by closing some windows.*
Make sure that people can see you without being distracted by what’s on their computer screens.

If it’s a big space, some people might take an amount of space a long way from you so that they are not near anybody else. This tends to make them less willing interact and participate, and makes the group harder for you to speak to. Arranging furniture can minimize this problem. Remember, presentations can be partly a communal exercise.

The simple way is for you to set up the furniture beforehand so that you control the environment. This may be:

Small groups around tables: best for small group activities that require writing
Small groups without tables: best for small group activities that require little or no writing
One large circle
Half-circle
Concentric half-circles
Desks in rows

Give clear instructions if you want people to move around.

In a few cases, you won’t be able to set the room up beforehand for everything you want to do. For example, you might want to start by speaking to a large group together, then split into small groups for an activity, and then come back together.

The main thing that can go wrong

The main thing that can go wrong is a kind of chaos that wastes time and delays you from starting the next activity. You should be able to anticipate when this would happen and prevent it. Try these strategies to resolve it:

Plan exactly what they must do beforehand.
Take control—adults will appreciate the leadership. Give people clear, simple instructions at the time. Explain yourself, but don’t talk so much that people become confused.
Take initiative to start the next activity as soon as possible. As the leader, the pace of the presentation is your responsibility.

If you divide people into groups …

Have a simple system of dividing people into groups. Adults won’t normally waste much time, but you can still speed the process along by:

providing seating in groups
have a predetermined way of determining them (e.g. category on name-card)
appointing leaders.
appointing group scribes if they need to make notes,.
If presenting in a large location (as in a conference) you may designate on other rooms around the facility.

___________
*In a large lecture you might need a sound system, and people won’t be able to hear each other, or perhaps even need to. Make sure that any questions are conveyed to the whole group through the sound system. You can do this by having microphones available to people or by relaying their questions through your rostrum microphone.

Starting

If your listeners don't know each other, they can be nervous and need to be eased in. Start with simple introductions and make them feel comfortable with you and with each other.

The introductory session in any series is important for creating a supportive environment. Fortunately, introductory sessions are rather uniform:

Welcome people in and check that everybody is there.
Tell them where the toilets are and how to evacuate the building in an emergency.
Introduce yourself and get each student to introduce themselves briefly to the group. (Make sure you don't ask people for any information that could be construed to invade their privacy.)

Present your sessions

Now it's beyond planning; you have to present your sessions, using the resources and any equipment you developed in preparation.

Follow the sequence as you planned and pace yourself so that listener can learn most effectively. If your plan is good, it will keep you on track.

Tips:

Being flexible is good. You'll probably need to modify your approach because every group is different. Some groups are quiet. Some are restless. Some are quick to learn, and others struggle. Some adjustments are necessary to maintain effective relationships. You'll also face situations that you didn't anticipate, such as people with physical, social or emotional difficulties, or organizational problems such as sudden changes of venue or equipment.

Sometimes you will instinctively adjust to a new context. For example, you might adjust your verbal language to suit language abilities of your audience.
If you're new to presenting, too much flexibility will blow your session off track and you might lose lots of time.

Introduce and explain your activities. Give clear instructions and be open to others' opinions.
Use the diversity of their backgrounds as a resource; your sessions will be more interesting and people will learn better. Adults have considerable experience, and they need to be able to relate it to what they learn.
Make sure each listener has the opportunity to participate when you lead discussions. Address quiet listeners by name when you ask them questions. They might have a good contribution and be quite willing to give it, but need be addressed specifically to overcome their fears. Ask questions to generate further discussion. If you have done well stimulating discussion with leading questions, listeners will respond spontaneously to each other on the topic with only occasional guiding questions from you to steer the discussion into all topics that need to be covered.
Use appropriate language to reflect the audience. Often that means speaking plain English and only using jargon when you need to.
Give listeners informal feedback on how well they are doing. Acknowledge success—a little bit of encouragement goes a long way.
As you go, review your sessions. How will you improve them for the next time? Even experienced presenters improve their notes each time, and some even use their notes as a basis to write a textbook.

Manage the group

Many activities will be done in groups so you will need to monitor and manage group dynamics. Good communication and interpersonal skills are essential. Your purpose in managing group dynamics is to make sure that everybody can participate effectively and to maintain good relationships.

This will be easier if you have done good planning of your use of time, classroom space and discussion questions.

When you plan your group activities, proactively determine the seating arrangements and how people will participate in groups. Give them clear, realistic instructions of what is expected of them. Make sure that everybody can participate and that the groups maintains their cohesion.

If somebody is being left out or denied a voice, you will need to intervene. Even quiet or shy people have a right to voice an opinion.

Observe people closely

Observing behavior and interpreting it isn't always easy. If you're new to prsenting, you won't always realize what is going on at first.

How is the group interacting? Are there conflicts or behavioral problems? Is there behaviour that puts other at risk of any kind?

Monitor whether they are achieve your session goals and check that their individual needs are being met.

Watch for clues that they are having problems. Some will look bored or ask questions that indicate they misunderstood something important parts.

Relationships with listeners

When you start with a new group of listeners, it is your job to establish an initial relationship with them. This is partly attitude and partly what you do. You will find that some approaches work better than others so be flexible.

Build some rapport. Be friendly and polite. Draw people into the group and make them feel valued. Listeners should feel that you are available and willing to help them if they need it.
You can also develop rapport between listeners. The way to do it is to start with introductions in the first session and later let them work in groups and talk to each other. Let relationships grow naturally.
Your presentation should be engaging and relevant. That comes from being enthusiastic about your topic, using a variety of media, and doing good planning.
What you believe about listeners influences what they believe about themselves. If you think they can't, then they probably can't. If you think they can, they have a better chance of being able to do it.
You will establish trust if you are consistent and fair, have a positive attitude, and do a good job of presenting. Being honest (as opposed to evasive), tactfully of course, will help them know where they stand. Your self-management will also help establish your credibility, so show up on time and be well-prepared and well organized.
Your speech and body language should reflect that you are serious about what you are presenting. Stand straight, speak clearly and loudly without mumbling, and look your listeners in the eye. Use the right tone of voice and gestures that illustrate or support what you say, not nervous jerks that distract or confuse people. Dress neatly, especially in an office situation.
Do you welcome questions? Be open to opinions and ideas and let listeners have their say. Ask questions and let them give the answers that you don't expect. Follow up their ideas rather than push only your own. If listeners are unclear in what they say, ask them to try explaining it again in different words.
Be alert to sensitivities in culture and gender and to your own body language. Do you reflect appropriate interest or could it be interpreted in ways you do not like?
Besides communicating clearly and effectively, you will need to be a good listener and show empathy. If listeners are frustrated in some way, they might drop subtle hints as a way of asking for help, although some might be rude and blunt. If you are empathetic, you will understand their needs better and be more able to offer the right kind of assistance. Adults will know when you pick up what is going on and appreciate it.
Be a critical listener. This doesn't mean that you criticize listeners. It means that you help develop their thinking by ensuring you understand them well and pointing out weak and strong points in their thinking.

Watch your ethics

A mark of you professionalism is your ability to treat people equitably, giving help where it is most needed.

It is easy to give too much attention to those whom you like (such as the friendly, talkative ones, or the naturally attractive ones). It is similarly easy to give inadequate attention to quiet, shy, rude, or unattractive people.

Keep your discussion on what it is that people are supposed to be learning.

Presentations

A presentation is ...

Build your confidence !!!

How to learn to present

Some Immutable Laws of Delivery

Write a presentation plan

Find out what you have to do

Plan effective use of time

Interaction and questions

Questioning

Plan how you will use your space

Give clear instructions if you want people to move around.

If you divide people into groups …

Starting

Present your sessions

Tips:

Manage the group

Observe people closely

Relationships with listeners

Watch your ethics

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