In todays class we had a lecture on presentation skills. The reason why we had this lecture is because of our new brief that was given to us. This new project is to come up with an idea to solve a problem, and to present it in an investors pitch. Presentation skills will be important here, so it was useful to learn about how to get good at presenting as this is something that we will be using the rest of our career in design. Below in this blog is some of the things that I learnt and stuck with me
Nerves are something that we will all face at some point, and especially while doing a presentation in front of people. Our lecturer taught that nerves are completely normal and are actually a good thing, as it shows that we care about what we are doing. If we had no nerves, then this would actually be a worrying sign. He also shared about the fact that he also gets nervous before doing lectures, but since he has done so many he knows how to control it and not be overcome by it. This helped me as sometimes we think that people have things so under control, but instead they have just learnt how to deal with it and keep it under control. I think now when I am nervous, instead of letting it get the better of me, I need to stay focused and know that even if the presentation goes badly, then it isn’t the end of the world. This will help me not put my value in whether I do well in a 5-minute presentation, but know my value through always giving my best.
Another part of todays class that stuck with me was the importance of being prepared. I always knew that being prepared was important, but I learnt that going over and beyond to ensure that if any problem comes up, I know what to do and not get flustered. Some practical tips he gave us was to bring any equipment that is needed such as cables, clickers, and adapters. Also ensuring that our laptops are charged and ready to go. Another one was ensuring that our presentation was on the correct aspect ratio, which is 16:9, and knowing what setting the projector/screen is on. Having all of these things considered and prepared for ensure that we are ready to go when it comes to doing the presentation on the day. Practising the presentation beforehand is also key as we mustn’t go over the time limit which we are given, so practising will give us an idea of how long the presentation will last.
Body language is probably one of the most important things when it comes to making a presentation engaging or not. There are some many elements to think about when it comes to body language, but one of the key ones is standing up straight and with confidence. Having this posture will convey confidence, and this will also make the audience feel more confident and less awkward. Eye contact is another one that is important. We should be scanning the room, making some sort of eye contact with as many people as we can. We shouldn’t be looking down at notes or at the screen, as this means that we are talking to that object and not the audience, making the presentation not engaging. Using our hands to describe what we are saying is another way to be engaging, instead of having them just to our side or in our pockets.
A way that we can make our presentation more engaging is use techniques and methods throughout that help the audience remember what we are saying and help them listen. One is to ask rhetorical questions, as this makes the audience think of answer, even if we don’t plan on getting any answers from any of them. Another technique which I think is important is repetition, and this should be used for things that we want the audience to remember. We can repeat a phrase or word throughout the presentation, and ideally we want the audience to remember it and keep them thinking about what we said. In the lecture today, our lecturer kept on telling us to check our spelling, even though sometimes the slides were on something completely different. He done this to reinforce this into our heads, and now this is something that I know is important and we should focus on, because of the amount of times he repeated it. The last one that I think is pretty important when it comes to presenting is personal anecdotes. This is because we are always more likely to listen to a relatable or funny story, rather than just facts or figures. Personal anecdotes help reinforce a point that we made, and telling a story about something that happened in the past is a great way to keep the audience engaged and is something our lecturers do often.
Todays class was super helpful as I have a presentation project coming up in a few weeks time, so it was great to learn about these things so that I can think about them and apply them to that project. I feel like presentation skills are something that can only be developed by doing them over and over again, but there are definitely some ways that we can be prepared for them and some things we need to think about. This class was overall really good and I enjoyed learning about some practical ways to make presentations more engaging.