I am now in the corporate world and ppts (power point presentations) are a “Look-I-did-some-work” tool here. Some great person has really done a good job by inventing this tool that simplifies the method of transferring knowledge. Personally, I love giving presentations as they give you a creative means to present information. I have attended a lot of presentations till now, but I can say that rarely have I seen a presentation that keeps you interested all the way till the end. You may blame me for my wrong conclusions as you may say that it depends on my interest to conclude whether a particular presentation is arid or interesting. But I too have presented on various topics and I think I have caught in the interest of those remote minds flying in eliciting dream lands. In this blog post, I will explain how to create and deliver an effective ppt presentation. I would like to keep you informed that I am not very experienced in this field, but this smattered information may be helpful for those who would like to improve on their presentation skills.
1.How easy is your topic ?
Understand what your topic will mean to your targeted audience. Usually, presentations are delivered to an audience who do not have complete knowledge on a particular chosen topic. So try to categorize your chosen topic into
a) A topic that is familiar to everyone. ( Ex: How to bathe your dog)
b) A topic that is a complete stranger to everyone. ( Ex: Dual chambered liquid propellant systems )
2.Gather information
Once you have categorized your topic, identify the tit bits of information that will go into your presentation. For example,
a) If your topic is “How to bathe your dog” then you don’t have to put in information starting from the evolution of dogs and their skeletal structure, the molecular structure of water etc. Your agenda should be as below
· What is a dog?
· What does bathing mean?
· Why do dogs need a bath? (Advantages)
· Steps to give your dog a bath.
· After care
· Precautions
b) However if the audience is unfamiliar to your topic which may be “Dual chambered liquid propellant systems” then your presentation should cover the following(note that this is not the agenda, but it just indicates the flow of information) :
· What is a chamber?
· What is a dual chamber?
· Where is a dual chamber used?
· What is a propellant?
· What is a liquid propellant?
· Where is a liquid propellant used?
· Dual chamber and liquid propellants – An amazing combination!
· The dual chamber liquid blah blah system – What it actually is.
· Uses of the dual chamber blah blah.
· Advantages and Disadvantages.
· Conclusion
3.Slide Construction
After you have gathered all the information then it is time to put them in your slides. DO NOT put complete sentences in your slides. Put the information in points ONLY. Remember that you are not making a presentation to give sentence reading classes to your audience. Lengthy sentences on a slide make the information look more complicated and thus make the audience uninterested in the presentation.
Consider the following two examples if present in a slide.
The above information will just overwhelm your audience when presented on a large white screen and they will prefer to skip it. So this information can be presented articulately as below.
Observe that even though the topic was introduced out of nowhere, it is pretty easy to comprehend the information in the second format.
4.Speaking while presenting
You may miss out on a lot of information if you present the data in points. So how do we present this data? Elementary, my dear readers. Just speak it out. DO NOT read out whatever is there exactly in the slides. Explain it to your audience. While presenting DO NOT speak “Now we come to green revolution in India. What it gave is introduction of high yielding seed varieties increased use of……” Your audience is well capable of reading the slides on their own unless you are presenting it to kindergarten students. Describe every point on the slide in an easy way. You may say “So now we proceed to the Green Revolution of India. As the name describes, it was a revolution indeed which brought about increased use of fertilizers and irrigation by introducing HIGH YIELDING SEED VARIETIES”. Speak out unfamiliar words slowly ( words indicated in CAPS above). Your audience may lose track if you speak too fast. Speak out the information like you are telling a story to a child, with lot of expressions and emphasizing important terms. This will keep the audience with you throughout the presentation till you conclude.
5.Timing your presentation
Know how much time you have for your presentation. Do not speak too fast or too slow as you may have to compensate on time later. Do not keep moving on the stage as that will distract your audience. Stay calm and composed and let your body posture be straight. Look at the audience, throughout the presentation. Be well versed with each slide so that you may not spend your entire time staring at the slides. At the same time, do not keep looking at only one person in the audience. Keep looking at all of them while speaking. This indicates that you want everyone to receive your speech. . Be fluent in whatever language you are presenting. That does not mean that you have to be language expert. Be audible to your audience.
6.Confidence
Finally, we come to one very important factor – confidence. Developing confidence is a gradual process unless you are someone who is blessed as being a confident person. Practice speaking before the final delivery of the presentation. Have thorough knowledge on what you are presenting.
These were some of the important points that may be used to deliver an effective presentation. The aim is to keep the audience interested by making it easier for them to comprehend. The above steps can help you in bringing a substantial improvement in your presentation skills! I may have missed out on some points, so please feel free to add in by commenting below. All the best for your next presentation!
1.How easy is your topic ?
Understand what your topic will mean to your targeted audience. Usually, presentations are delivered to an audience who do not have complete knowledge on a particular chosen topic. So try to categorize your chosen topic into
a) A topic that is familiar to everyone. ( Ex: How to bathe your dog)
b) A topic that is a complete stranger to everyone. ( Ex: Dual chambered liquid propellant systems )
2.Gather information
Once you have categorized your topic, identify the tit bits of information that will go into your presentation. For example,
a) If your topic is “How to bathe your dog” then you don’t have to put in information starting from the evolution of dogs and their skeletal structure, the molecular structure of water etc. Your agenda should be as below
· What is a dog?
· What does bathing mean?
· Why do dogs need a bath? (Advantages)
· Steps to give your dog a bath.
· After care
· Precautions
b) However if the audience is unfamiliar to your topic which may be “Dual chambered liquid propellant systems” then your presentation should cover the following(note that this is not the agenda, but it just indicates the flow of information) :
· What is a chamber?
· What is a dual chamber?
· Where is a dual chamber used?
· What is a propellant?
· What is a liquid propellant?
· Where is a liquid propellant used?
· Dual chamber and liquid propellants – An amazing combination!
· The dual chamber liquid blah blah system – What it actually is.
· Uses of the dual chamber blah blah.
· Advantages and Disadvantages.
· Conclusion
3.Slide Construction
After you have gathered all the information then it is time to put them in your slides. DO NOT put complete sentences in your slides. Put the information in points ONLY. Remember that you are not making a presentation to give sentence reading classes to your audience. Lengthy sentences on a slide make the information look more complicated and thus make the audience uninterested in the presentation.
Consider the following two examples if present in a slide.
- The introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds and the increased use of fertilizers and irrigation are known collectively as the Green Revolution, which provided the increase in production needed to make India self-sufficient in food grains, thus improving agriculture in India.
- Hybrid high-yielding wheat was first introduced to India in 1963 by Dr. Borlaug. Borlaug has been hailed as the Father of the Green Revolution. The methods adopted included the use of high yielding varieties (HYV) of seeds.
The above information will just overwhelm your audience when presented on a large white screen and they will prefer to skip it. So this information can be presented articulately as below.
Green Revolution, India(Slide 1)
- Introduction of high-yielding seed varieties.
- Increased use of fertilizers and irrigation .
- Increased production.
- Improved agriculture.
Hybrid high-yielding wheat (Slide 2)
- Introduced in 1963 by Dr. Borlaug (Father of the Green Revolution).
- Methods - Use of High Yielding Varieties (HYV) of seeds.
Observe that even though the topic was introduced out of nowhere, it is pretty easy to comprehend the information in the second format.
4.Speaking while presenting
You may miss out on a lot of information if you present the data in points. So how do we present this data? Elementary, my dear readers. Just speak it out. DO NOT read out whatever is there exactly in the slides. Explain it to your audience. While presenting DO NOT speak “Now we come to green revolution in India. What it gave is introduction of high yielding seed varieties increased use of……” Your audience is well capable of reading the slides on their own unless you are presenting it to kindergarten students. Describe every point on the slide in an easy way. You may say “So now we proceed to the Green Revolution of India. As the name describes, it was a revolution indeed which brought about increased use of fertilizers and irrigation by introducing HIGH YIELDING SEED VARIETIES”. Speak out unfamiliar words slowly ( words indicated in CAPS above). Your audience may lose track if you speak too fast. Speak out the information like you are telling a story to a child, with lot of expressions and emphasizing important terms. This will keep the audience with you throughout the presentation till you conclude.
5.Timing your presentation
Know how much time you have for your presentation. Do not speak too fast or too slow as you may have to compensate on time later. Do not keep moving on the stage as that will distract your audience. Stay calm and composed and let your body posture be straight. Look at the audience, throughout the presentation. Be well versed with each slide so that you may not spend your entire time staring at the slides. At the same time, do not keep looking at only one person in the audience. Keep looking at all of them while speaking. This indicates that you want everyone to receive your speech. . Be fluent in whatever language you are presenting. That does not mean that you have to be language expert. Be audible to your audience.
6.Confidence
Finally, we come to one very important factor – confidence. Developing confidence is a gradual process unless you are someone who is blessed as being a confident person. Practice speaking before the final delivery of the presentation. Have thorough knowledge on what you are presenting.
These were some of the important points that may be used to deliver an effective presentation. The aim is to keep the audience interested by making it easier for them to comprehend. The above steps can help you in bringing a substantial improvement in your presentation skills! I may have missed out on some points, so please feel free to add in by commenting below. All the best for your next presentation!
