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Lesson – 13 PREPARING FOR THE PRESENTATION
Great presentations require some preplanning. First, read
Meetings for an outline of preparin
and conducting a meeting, such as acquiring a room, informing
participants, etc. A presentatio
follows the same basic guidelines as preparing for a
meeting.
he second step is to prepare the presentation!
A good presentation starts out with introductions and an
icebrea"er such as a stor#
interesting statement or fact, $o"e, quotation, or an acti%it#
to get the group warmed up
he introduction also needs an ob$ecti%e, that is, the
purpose or goal of the presentation his not onl# tells #ou
what #ou will tal" about, but it also informs the audience of
th
purpose of the presentation. &e't, comes the bod# of the
presentation. (o &) write it out word for word. All #o
want is an outline. *# $otting down the main points on a set of
inde' cards, #ou not onl
ha%e #our outline, but also a memor# $ogger for the actual
presentation. o prepare th
presentation, as" #ourself the following!1. +hat is the purpose
of the presentation-. +ho will be attending3. +hat does the
audience alread# "now about the sub$ect. +hat is the audience/s
attitude towards me 0e.g. hostile, friendl#
• A 2 minutes tal" should ha%e no more than about se%en main
points. his ma# not seemli"e %er# man#, but if #ou are to lea%e the
audience with a clear picture of what #ou ha%e
said, #ou cannot e'pect them to remember much more than
that.
• here are se%eral options for structuring the
presentation!
1. imeline – Arranged in sequential order.-. lima' – he main
points are deli%ered in order of increasing importance.3.
4roblem56olution – A problem is presented, a solution is suggested,
an
bene7ts are then gi%en.. lassi7cation – he important items are
the ma$or points.2. 6imple to comple' – 8deas are listed from the
simplest to the most comple'
an also be done in re%erse order.
• 9ou want to include some %isual information that will
help the audience understand #oupresentation. (e%elop charts,
graphs, slides, handouts, etc.
• After the bod#, comes the closing. his is where #ou as" for
questions, pro%ide a wrap:u
0summar#, and than" the participants for attending.
&otice that #ou told them what the# are about to hear 0the
ob$ecti%e, told them 0the bod#, and
told them what the# heard 0the wrap up.
And 7nall# the important part – practice, practice, practice. he
main purpose of creating a
outline is to de%elop a coherent plan of what #ou want to tal"
about. 9ou should "now #ou
presentation so well, that during the actual presentation, #ou
should onl# ha%e to brie;# glanc
at #our notes to ensure #ou are sta#ing on trac". his will also
help #ou with #our ner%es bgi%ing #ou the con7dence that #ou can do
it. 9our practice session should include a
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NEVER start the presentation with an apolo! or rerets li"e# $I
apoloies to !ou
since I a% not an authorit! on this topic& or $I a% not
prepared for this e'ent& o
$!ou "now (etter than on this topic& etc) That lea'es the
audience in low opinio
a(out !ou and the! lose interest.
• 8f #ou ha%e handouts, do not read straight from them. he
audience does not "now
the# should read along with #ou or listen to #ou read.
• (o not put both hands in #our poc"ets for long periods of
time. his tends to ma"e #o
loo" unprofessional. 8t is )> to put one hand in a poc"et but
ensure there is no loos
change or "e#s to $ingle around. his will distract the
listeners.• (o not wa%e a pointer around in the air li"e a wild
"night branding a sword to sla# a
dragon. ?se the pointer for what it is intended and then put it
down, otherwise th
audience will become 7'ated upon #our
