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Effective Presentation Skills Tutorial
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Tutorial
Preparing the Presentation
Organizing the Presentation
Designing Effective Presentation Materials
Rehearsing the Presentation
Delivering the Presentation
Handling Questions and Answers
Presentation Skills Quiz
Additional Resources
Presentation Preparation Checklist
Common Reasons for Ineffective Presentations
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A-Z Index
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Parents and Families
Alumni and Friends
Community and Business
Prospective Employees
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Qualtrics
Navigate
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Quick Links
Effective Presentation Skills Tutorial
Presentation Preparation Checklist
Presentation Preparation Checklist
Logistics
Time available for the presentation
Type of audience (faculty, students, client, etc.)
Type of attire to wear
Impact of the presentation (e.g. evaluated for a grade)
Location of the presentation
Delivery technologies available for the presentation
Present alone, or as part of a team or panel
Prepare handouts to distribute to audience members or not
Alternatives, in case some of the above change at the last minute
Preparation and Design
Purpose of the presentation – inform, persuade, entertain, honor, educate, etc.
Presentation has an outline
Presentation has a beginning, middle and end
Opening statement attracts audience's attention
Main points of sections have an order – chronological, causal, spatial, topical, problem-solution, etc.
Type of audio-visuals to use – slides, audio, video clips, real or scaled objects, etc.
Background of slides is simple and not distracting
Font size (headings at least 28 pts and bullets at least 24 pts)
–
large enough to read from the last row of the room
Style of titles of slides are distinguishable from bullet points
Each slide has no more than 5 to 7 bullet points
Each bullet point is not more than 2 to 3 lines, and are phrases but not complete sentences (unless it is a quote or a definition)
Titles and bullet points are consistent in font size throughout the presentation
Color contrast between background and bullet points is appropriate
Slides do not have inappropriate or unnecessary graphics or clip art
Presentation material has been proof-read and spell-checked thoroughly
Content (text, quotes, figures, tables) from external sources include in-text citations and corresponding references at the end
Sound system is adequate to listen to the video or audio clips, if any, included in the presentation
Screen size and resolution are adequate for viewing video clips
Presentation has been rehearsed, and timing is adequate for the allotted duration
Coordinated with other presenters, if it is a team or panel presentation
Delivery
Any planned interactions with the audience have been rehearsed
The pace of delivery is consistent for all the sections of the presentation
There are no unnecessary fillers or sentence starters in the delivery
Delivery technologies have been checked and work properly
Gestures, eye contact, and body language are appropriate for the presentation
Prepared responses for anticipated questions are appropriate
Prepared conclusion ends the presentation appropriately, and does not end it abruptly
Attire chosen to wear for the presentation is appropriate for the presentation context
Any demonstration of software has been verified in advance to make sure it works properly
Handouts, if any, are readable as hardcopy of presentation slides
Tutorial
Preparing for the Presentation
Organizing the Presentation
Designing Effective Presentation Materials
Rehearsing the Presentation
Delivering the Presentation
Handling Questions and Answers
Presentation Skills Quiz
Additional Resources
Presentation Preparation Checklist
Common Reasons for Ineffective Presentations
The Effective Presentation Skills Tutorial is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
.
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