Preparing and Delivering Presentations

1. Preparing and Delivering Presentations Alexander.Bird@bristol.ac.uk

2. what you are going to learn Planning your Presentation Structuring a Philosophy Presentation Why use PowerPoint or a Handout? Delivering your Presentation

3. 1. Planning your Presentation your presentation has a purpose and has constraints plan to achieve your purposes meet your constraints

4. get a job instruct students impress your peers convey information convince your audience that p Planning your Presentation ~ purposes ~ purposes

5. equipment time place audience one-way/ interactive/ question period? formal/informal? Planning your Presentation ~ constraints ~ constraints

6. 2. Structuring a Philosophy Presentation ~ Intro ~ Intro Tell ‘em what you are going to tell ‘em Tell it to ‘em Tell ‘em what you’ve told ‘em. Argument Conclusion

7. 2. Structuring a Philosophy Presentation ~ the Argument ~ All (good) philosophical papers and presentations are arguments of one sort of another therefore The structure of the presentation should follow the structure of your argument

8. 2. Structuring a Philosophy Presentation ~ the Argument ~ what is the main point you want to get across? start there and work back, constructing your argument to lead to that conclusion

9. 2. Structuring a Philosophy Presentation ~ the Argument ~ talks and written papers are different media with different purposes and constraints

10. 2. Structuring a Philosophy Presentation ~ the Argument ~ ~ how much detail? ~ Your presentation need not contain everything you want to say about a given topic It is often a good idea to leave stuff out 1. Too much detail can obscure the structure of your argument 2. You can leave clever response to problems to the question period if it is not essential, often best to leave it out

11. 2. Structuring a Philosophy Presentation ~ the Conclusion ~ • Use your conclusion • to remind people of: i. your main points ii. how they fit together • to point out the significant/relevance of your argument • to gesture towards possible future developments

12. 3. Why use PowerPoint or a Handout? use more than one medium, engage more than one sense not ephemeral, reference material PowerPoint and handout must enhancea presentation

13. 3. Why use PowerPoint or a Handout? some arguments are complex and are better understood written down use the spatial potential (diagrammes etc.)

14. R Q S S S assume P if P then either Q or R conclusion: P entails S

15. 3. Why use PowerPoint or a Handout? easy to emphasize important points/refer to important ideas aide-memoire

16. advantages of PowerPoint • can be attractive • easy to use helpful devices • easy to update • can turn into handout

17. disadvantages of PowerPoint • potential for technical problems • sometimes difficult to refer back to a slide • can be used badly • semi-ephemeral

18. advantages of handout • all relevant information in front of audience • something for them to hold on to

19. time yourself record yourself 4. Delivering your Presentation Be prepared Practice

20. don’t read your handout/ PowerPoint look at your audience 4. Delivering your Presentation engage with your audience

21. 5. Conclusion • Plan your presentation carefully with purposes and constraints in mind • Structure your presentation around an argument • Use a handout of PowerPoint presentation to enhance your presentation • Prepare yourself carefully