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Course: Technical writing and presentation skills
University of Central Punjab Campus Phalia
Roll no: BZ0017
Semester: 4th
Submitted by: Sawera Bibi
Submitted to: Mam JAVERIA FAZAL
Technical writing and presentation skills
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Table of Contents
1. Presentation skills ..............................................................................3
2. Plan the content ..............................................................................3
(a) Beginning ..............................................................................3
(b) Covering points in logical sequence...................................4
(c) Summarizing each point 4
(d) Managing Pace, Tone and Small Pauses........................4
3. Visual Aids 4
4. Questions 4
5. Practice makes a man perfect............ ......................................4
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Presentation skills
Presentation skills are the skills you need in delivering effective and engaging presentations to a variety of audiences.
1. Plan the structure and format of your presentation
(a) Clarify the aim
What is the aim (i.e. the exact purpose) of the presentation? Motivate or present facts.
Are you trying to educate or train people, or do you need to persuade or convince.
Do you want to negotiate or debate an issue?
If you are woolly about the aim, your presentation won’t beclear
Spend time establishing the aim
What do you need to cover to ensure you fulfil the aim
(b) What do you need to cover to ensure you fulfil the aim?
Ensure that what you are going to say is appropriate to both the aim and the audience
Prioritize your material. You don’t have to say everything.
(c) What do you know about the audience?
Who are you presenting to?
Analyse your audience and target your presentation to their knowledge and understanding.
The size of the group or audience expected.
Gender-will audience be predominantly male or female.
Is it captive audience or will they there be out of interest?
(d) How much time do you have?
Don’t go over the allotted time and remember to allow time at the end for questions
Decide your talking time.
Find out how long it takes to deliver your material.
Write a timed schedule for your presentation.
Start on time and be ready to adopt it.
(e) Venue and equipment
Where will you be presenting?
What audio-visual equipment will you require and what is available?
Check the venue and equipment in advance, ifpossible.
If not, then allow yourself enough time on the day to have a look at the set-up.
Confirm the internet at venue has a good connection.
(f) Having an eye contact with the audience
Find out how long it takes to make a genuine eye connection.
Move to another person at appropriate time.
Look for the reaction.
Keep your eyes up at the end.
Respect people who are uncomfortable.
2. Plan the content
(a) Beginning
First, tell me what you are going to tell me. Then tell me. And finally, tell me what you told me.
Quote someone else from experts.
Tell a joke or share a story.
Introduce yourself and the others who are doing thepresentation
Explain and put up the main points you will cover (e.g. as bullet-points)
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(b) Covering points in logical sequence
Present data and facts.
Relate personal experiences.
Use a theme in your presentation.
Go though your points logically and in sequence
Summarize (give sign-posts) as you go along
(c) Summarizing each point
Summarize at the end of every major point.
Use agenda slide to serve as a guideline.
Explore creative ways to recall your Key points.
Let your summary be quick and short.
You could use your original introductory summary of main points tosummarize.
Give a conclusion
(d) Managing Pace, Tone and Small Pauses
Slowing down the speed of your speaking can emphasize key points or help build drama.
Occasionally speeding up can help relieve monotony and create excitement.
Pace can also make key words or phrases seem bigger or smaller, less or more important.
Raising or lowering your tone of voice can change the emotional mood of the presentation
Pause before and on important points, both for emphasis and to give the audience time to understand and absorb
them.
Be careful of little verbal tics e.g. “um”, “er”, and “you know”.
3. Visual Aids
Whatever you use, whether it is OHP or computer presentation, keep it simple and clear.
Visual aids should add to the impact of your presentation.
Learn to use a software package like Powerpoint that is specifically designed to produce presentation
material (this is useful to produce slides - i.e. even if you are not using a computer presentation on the day).
Bullet points are most effective – keep to a large font size
Use 18 – 24 point font size, with up to 32 point for titles
Choose a clear font style (experiment!)
Keep diagrams and figures large and simple.
Where possible, use colour to differentiate elements
Label graphics, graphs and figures clearly
4. Questions
Plan for questions; don’t be taken by surprise. Be prepared to clarify if someone interrupts during the
presentation.
Ask for them if none is forthcoming
If you don’t understand a question, ask for clarification
Don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know
Tell them you’ll find out and get back to them
Get back to them
5. Practice makes a man perfect.
Check that you have everything you need sufficiently far in advance of the presentation to allow you time
to deal with any unforeseen mishaps e.g. mislaid slides or notes.
PRACTICE your presentation
Ask you colleagues/peers to be a mock audience
Ask them to give honest, constructive feed-back
Revise bits that don’t work e.g. add an extra background/explanatory slide
Practice it again…and again
You can have a beautifully prepared talk and masterfully crafted slideshow, and everything can still fall flat if you
haven’t practiced.
Break the leg!
Technical writing and presentation skills
