presentation tips

A Brief Outline

• subject of your talk
• know your audience
• organisation of your talk
• slide preparation
• overcoming nervousness

Subject of your talk

1. Choosing the topic of your talk is important.
2. Check weather it is related with what you do.
3. For eg: If you are a computer science student choose a topic which is related to computers.

Know your audience

1. Knowing your audience is important.
2. Because depending on the audience you have to structure your talk.
3. For eg: If your audience are your classmates then you must use less scientic terms if that"s a science presentation.
   

Organisation of your talk

1. Organisation of your talk is vital to succeed.
2. Usually a paper has lots of details but only one or two ideas.
3. The talk should be organized with the important ideas first, the details second, conclusions last.
4. Use quotes and anecdotes.

Slide preparation

1. Slide should not contain much detail. It must serve as an outline for your talk. It may contain sub points for each main topic.
2. Use your hand to draw attention towards you or the slide.
3. In short your slide should contain points or hints not sentences. It can contain abbreviations but they must be explained during the talk.
4. Try to include lots of illustrations and pictures because as we know a picture is worth a thousand words. This is very important.
5. If there is too much detail in your paper try to explain any on of them.
6. Use larger font sizes and a strict looking font.
7. Try to have backup slides in case of any mishap.
8. If you don't have a presentation program try openoffice presentation an open source initiative. And of course its free to download and here is the link.
9. At the end try to summarise the MAIN points only because this gives a picture to the listeners. You may also inform the listeners the topics to be covered before the talk.
10. Give the audience a way to visualise the problem and the solution.
11. It is okay to say "I don't know" or "sorry, I hadn't thought about that"

Overcoming nervousness

1. A well organized, practised talk will almost always go well. If you draw a blank, then looking at your slides will help you get back on track.
2. Taking a deep breath will clam you down. One trick is to try to remember to take a deep breath between each slide.
   
3. Slow down. Take a few seconds to think about a question that is being asked before you answer it. It is okay to pause for a few seconds between points and between slides; a second or two of silence between points is noticeable only to you, but if you are talking a mile a minute everyone will notice.
4. Bring notes. if you are afraid that you will forget a point or will forget your elegant transition between slides 11 and 12, write these down on a piece of paper and bring it with you.
5. Give at least one practice talk to an audience.(very important)
6. Try to smile and please your audience.
7. Practice the presentation overover again. This is the only way to overcome your nervousness because this makes you more confident.

Practice makes perfect. So practice a talk before your friends and get their feedback.