Communication & Presentation Skills

BSCS 2nd SEMESTER

Topic: Presentation Skills

Teacher: Muhammad Arif

PRESENTATION
Presentation is a serious topic
Purpose is to inform, explain and to persuade the
audience or present a point of view.
Delivered to a small, knowledgeable audience at a
conference, a seminar or a business meeting.
Followed by questions from the audience.
Four stages
1. Finding out about the environment to
present
2. Preparing the text and the required visuals.
3. Physical appearance and body language.
4. Practicing delivery of the presentation.
ELEMENTS OF PRESENTATION
1. The venue: Be familiar to place, you will be more comfortable,
check the room and all the required equipment before the
presentation
Be familiar with the room, the seating arrangement, the speaker’s
position.
Check the visual aid equipment carefully.
2. The organizer: Try to find out everything possible about the
organizer, the name of the organization and the name of the
important persons in the organization.
3. The occasion: You must know the occasion where you go for
presentation, business meeting/conference /seminar/Class?
ELEMENTS OF PRESENTATION

4. Time available: Check before the time allotted

Workout your presentation/be strict to time.
5. Other speakers: Find out who else will be speaking. Will there
be persons from competing organization? What is their
organization position? Be careful not to make any unfavorable
remarks about competitors whether they are present or not.
6. The audience: The presentation must suit the needs and
interests of the audience. The content and the tone of the speech
depends on the nature of the audience. Take care of the words
you used in the presentation, do not refer to anything that might
be inappropriate. Age group of the audience is one of the factors
to be taken into account. The following may provide a clue:
ELEMENTS OF PRESENTATION
6. The Audience/Age wise
• Children love to listen stories and are interested in dramatic presentation.
• High school and college students like to be treated like adult. They are responsive
to new ideas, appreciate an honest straightforward approach but are also likely to
be critical, they expect well prepared and informative presentation.
• Young adults are the most sophisticated audience, with a wide range of interest
and progressive attitude, they like new projects and ideas but they are also very
critical.
• Middle-aged audience are conservative and do not accept new ideas easily, they
have more knowledge and experience of life but may not be very enthusiastic about
changes or new ideas, they listen with interest but do not easily accept.
• Senior citizens are usually interested in information about new development and
what is going on in the world. They also like to be reminded of the good old days.
DESIGNING A PRESENTATION
You need to work out what to talk? The most important
what to say,
Find out the required information and give it a proper
shape.
Must be logical/smooth flow from one point to the next.
Write down the whole speech, address, the opening
sentences and the ending sentences.
Practice, edit and correct
DESIGNING A PRESENTATION

Length: The average speed of presentation is 100 words per minute.

Though not fixed/Find out your own speed. An A4 size sheet typed in
one-and-a half line spacing in 12 front size makes a two minute speech.
A four to five minutes presentation is 400 to 500 words.
Style: A talk must sound like conversation. Use short sentences to
enable the listener to grasp. See that the words and terms you use are
suitable for your audience. Keep the style formal. There is formality in
official speaking as distinguished from social or personal style of
speaking.
Humor: Be sure that you can be humorous without being nervous or
looking silly. Humor should be natural, light, enjoyable and relevant to
the topic. It should not embarrass or hurt the feelings of any listener.
USING VISUAL AIDS
Visuals focus audience attention. Learn to handle your
visuals properly without getting confused. They help
both, the speaker and the audience. The speaker has
them for orderly presentation of points, to illustrate
with a diagram, to exhibit data. The audience get a
reinforcement through the eyes for what they hear,
and can see a visual summary of points. You can use
any one or more of the following advanced visual aids:
USING VISUAL AIDS
1. Posters can be displayed almost anywhere. Though this is old-fashioned
marketing persons going to rural areas have found this a very dependable
method.
2. Flip chart It is most useful for interactive presentations. You can put up on it
ideas that come from the audience. And work on it with audience participation.
People in the audience love to see their ideas written up during the presentation.
3. Overhead projector (OHP) is very popular and available in most places. Make
slide on good quality transparencies. Put only six line or less in one slide. Write or
type large enough for the whole audience to see.
4. PowerPoint projection can be used if available. Keep the slides simple. Avoid
too much movement or too much color. Do not use sound to accompany the
slides. Visuals must fit well into the speech. Prepare them carefully, to enhance a
point with illustration or to lay out the main points or to display a chart or graph.
REHEARSAL FOR PRESENTATION
1. Beginners have to practice actual delivery of the presentation. No
matter how time and care you have spent on preparing the text, the
delivery is largely responsible for the success of the presentation.
2. Rehearsal enables you to test if the language and style are suitable
for speech. Reading out aloud is not enough. Only an attempt to
deliver it to an audience will show whether the words are natural
and comfortable in speech.
3. Practice till you are conversationally comfortable with the
material.
4. Practice also helps to check the timing.
REHEARSAL FOR PRESENTATION

5. In the beginning, the written text will be longer than

required for the given time. If you are a beginner, you
should practice speaking out several times.
6. First practice in front of a mirror, then practice in any
helpful audience that can be collected, such as a group of
close friends or family who will give useful feedback.
7. It is worth making full dress rehearsal for your comfort.
8. Never learn the speech by heart, it creates dependence,
and if you forget even a single word it can cause you great
confusion.
TIPS FOR AN EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION
1. Relevant humor can be very helpful. However, the objective is to
give technical information and not just to get laughs.
2. Do not read directly from the text or from your slides, it is a sure
way to put your audience to sleep.
3. Make eye contact with all groups in the room.
4. Remember the language barriers and speak slowly and clearly into
the microphone.
5. Maintain a rapid pace with control. Do not appear rushed or that
you have to get through everything quickly. Use charts, graphs and
other slides to enhance your talk.
TIPS FOR AN EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION
6. When showing transparencies, stand near the projector facing the
audience. Use a pencil or pen to highlight or point out objects of interest
on the transparency. Do not face the screen because by doing so you will
have your back to the audience.
7. When making a PowerPoint presentation (which the audience expects
these days) on multimedia projectors, do not stand in the way of your
audience and the screen.
8. Disclose information progressively, so that attention is fixed and the
audience does not jump to conclusions. Use suspense.
9. Use pictures, graphs, and charts, in preference to words. Remember,
the easiest charts to follow (bar charts and pie charts).
TIPS FOR AN EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION
10. Use a large lettering size that will be legible from the back row.
11. Do not rush through the visuals and do not leave a visual on the
screen after discussion on it is finished.
12. Do not pass material around, it can be distracting.
13. Encourage questions (early participation). Give a pause. Wait patiently
through the silence, use it to your advantage for eliciting questions.
Someone will surely break the ice. Repeat and rephrase questions.
14. Involve your audience in discussion and make an assessment of
whether or not the message of your presentation has been received. If
not, explain the parts, which are not clear.
15. Show enthusiasm, have fun.
 EXERCISE: (TIME 15 MINUTES)

• How can you adapt the content and style of your

presentation if you have to address audience
belonging to:

a. Children whom you need to keep interested

b. Senior citizens who like to be reminded of good
old days.
End