By the end of the course participants will:

• Have developed fully their ability to produce clear aims and objectives for formal presentations

• Organise their thinking more effectively

• Have a sound structural framework for preparing presentations more effectively

• Have begun to develop new ways of injecting visual and oral impact into their presentations

• Be able to combine brevity, clarity and visual effects to encourage audience involvement and understanding

• Be better equipped to let their personality show

• Be able to use their voice more effectively

• Be more adept at handling questions and follow up

• Be confident enough to approach future talks with less apprehension, more enjoyment, greater enthusiasm and professionalism

There are three sections to this programme on presentations. They are:

1. Preparation skills and techniques

2. Video-taped presentations

3. Reviews and critique

Session 1:

Preparation skills and techniques - requires a series of activities designed to stimulate discussion and agreement on effective ways to prepare and deliver an outstanding and successful presentation. This includes thinking, researching and materials-organising techniques, followed by a review of ways in which the presenter can ensure maximum attention, understanding and learning from a high degree of audience focus.

Session 2:

Video-taped Presentations - Ideally, for a short (2-day) programme each participant will make two presentations (each video-taped and subsequently reviewed by the other participants, aided by the course facilitator); the first, for about 6-8 minutes, comprises a speedily prepared presentation with a maximum of three visual aids; the second, a more formal 12-15 minute, talk, supported by several visual aids designed to support the audience learning.

The equipment and logistics needs careful management. The perfect size for a presentations skills course is 4-6 participants. But it is possible – just - to manage with 8.

There is no point in a course which does not employ reviewable video-taping and analysis of at least two presentations per participant. These are the timing calculations for an 8-participant programme:

For each 6-8 minutes event allow 10 minutes per presentation plus 15 minutes review = 25 minutes + 5 minutes each for set-up = (for eight participants) = 4 hours

The second presentation - 15 minutes plus 30 minutes review, plus 5 minutes set-up = 50minutes x 8 = 7 hours

The course design would allow for all the initial 5-minute presentations and at least one 15-minute presentation to be completed by the end of day one, each participant requires 30 minutes for preparation of the first and one hour for the second presentation. That is why there should be a maximum of eight participants.

Equipment

The essential equipment for these presentations is video-taping equipment and a monitor. A critical component is the microphone used – generally the video camera is placed at some distance from the speaker; this requires that a high-gain microphone, separate from the camera and linked to the video is provided. The best way to manage this is by providing a small table for the presenting area which is used for the speaker’s notes, laptop, OHP’s etc. and also the microphone which can be either stand-up, self-supporting or, preferably a flat-bed microphone which has high resolution Omni-directional qualities. It is preferable that a professional machine is employed as this would have much better amplification than the usual domestic machine.

Unless all participants are able to bring prepared visual aids – either overhead transparencies, flip charts or computer based (e.g. PowerPoint) – each course member will be given time to prepare their visual aids on flip charts. The usual convention is to allow the simplest of flip chart material on the grounds that, for an “official” event, the visual aids would be properly prepared around the principles which are discussed in detail on the input section of the programme.

Session 3:

Reviews & Critique – each participant, having completed the presentation, will be aided in the analytical review of the video-tape by the course facilitator and the audience. The usual method is for all the initial, short, presentations to be carried in full, followed by a re-run of the tape and the analysis. The second talk will be videoed and reviewed immediately after the event.

However it is absolutely essential that each participant gets a fair share of the activity and each must receive a sufficiently detailed presentation review from which to learn and improve – which, after all, is the object of the exercise.

However it is absolutely essential that each participant gets a fair share of the activity and each must receive a sufficiently detailed presentation review from which to learn and improve – which, after all, is the object of the exercise.

Course Close