Developing Oral Presentation Skills

1. Developing Oral Presentation Skills Pat Maier

2. Aims of the session • Recognise good and poor talks • Identify and resolve your concerns • Techniques to avoid poor talks • Dealing with your nerves • Tips for group presentations

3. What makes a talk poor? • Little/no eye contact • No engagement with the audience • Mumbling • Often because not engaging with audience • Reading from a paper • Too fast, monotone • Little/no structure • Lack of clarity • Too much information • Bad visual aids

4. Dealing with nerves • Be prepared • Plan and rehearse • See ‘dealing with nerves’ box • See handy check list • Deep breathing! • May sound naff, but it works • Engage with your audience • Makes you feel more relaxed • See ‘engage with your audience’ box

5. Presenting as part of a team • Plan talk together • Set responsibilities • Structure talk • Intro – sections - conclusion • Ensure everyone will speak • Smooth links between speakers • Someone to introduce talk and • Introduce next topic & speaker • Someone to conclude • Your talk must HANG TOGEGTHER

6. Academic Skills Guides • Guides available are: • Learning styles • Reading academically • Writing effectively • Referencing your work • Getting the most from lectures • Working in groups • Giving a talk • Preparing effectively for examinations • Search strategy • Writing your dissertation • EndNote - software that helps you manage references • Approaching Mathematical Problems Systematically