Can you give me tips on presenting?

We encourage presenters to be creative in designing a session that meets the needs of their participants. Session formats can be a traditional lecture, panel discussions, small group interactions, or even a role play. The following suggestions will increase the effectiveness of your session.

PARTICIPANT FOCUS

Find out who is in your audience. Poll participants for their experience level and background so that the presentation delivery can be tailored to fit their needs.

If a question is raised during the presentation that requires backtracking and explanation time, make sure that this is of value to most of the audience. Otherwise ask the person raising the question to see you after the session.

PRESENTATION DEVELOPMENT

• Does your outline use a logical flow? For instance, when talking about the success of a new diagnostic technique, a logical flow would be: identify the problem, discuss the diagnostic procedure, present the solution, and finish up with the results.
• Make sure the presentation is not monotonous: Identify points in the presentation where visuals or demonstrations can be used.
• Be creative about the way information is presented. List acronyms on your flip chart or overhead viewer. Stay away from highly technical language unless you're sure your audience is familiar with it. Make the presentation interesting by using shorter sentences with strong action verbs.
• If possible, provide results in your presentation. Information that has been verified through field testing is always more valuable to participants.
• Make sure the information you are presenting relates to the abstract you developed for the brochure. Be sure you are accomplishing your goals and objectives, as developed for the conference program.
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• Determine the optimal experience level for your presentation.

TIMELINES

• Develop workshop timelines with your co-presenters. These will include the time allotted to each presenter, introductions, and a total time of thirty minutes for discussion and question and answer. Then, be sure to develop your presentation to fit within those timelines. Be realistic -- 50 slides cannot be presented in 10 minutes.
• Stick to the timelines, or let the assistant and other presenters know that you think you may have to deviate. Prioritize what has to be presented so that it fits into the format of the session.
• Save time for participants to ask questions and interact with presenters. The information being presented is only valuable when it is understood and usable to participants.

CREATING VISUALS WITH IMPACT

• The use of visuals in a presentation helps keep participants interested and engaged. They can also be used to present something that is hard to describe verbally. In addition, some people are better able to grasp visual information than they are auditory information.
• Vary the visual media used if you can. Make use of a flip chart to draw examples or to record participant comments. Use overheads to present bulleted information or graphics. Slides of techniques or problem examples can be used in conjunction with overheads to form a complete description of a point or topic.
• When using visuals, make sure that images or written material are large enough to be seen or read in the back of the room - 12 point type is too small for an overhead! Please use 18 to 24 point type, at a minimum.
• If your visuals include graphs, make sure that the axes are intelligible and labeled. Use legends, and clearly differentiate different data series by shading, color, or pattern.
• Make sure slides are light enough and sharp enough to be easily understood and that they convey something to a person who's never seen them before. Minimize text.

DELIVERY

The object of a good presentation is to deliver understandable information to an interested, engaged audience. It's great to have good information, but if the information is not well presented, you can lose an audience, and the value of the information is lost.

• Let the audience know who you are.
• Find out who the audience is.
• Invite participation and discourse from the audience.
• Let the audience know when they will be able to make comments or ask questions.

EVALUATIONS

Feedback is one of the most valuable tools a presenter has. Evaluations completed by the participants in the session provide rapid feedback to you as a presenter. Consistent comments or ratings in evaluations can help presenters understand what worked -- and what didn't -- during a presentation.

• Take advantage of previous evaluation results. If your session is similar to one presented previously, consider calling a program staff person to find out how the previous session was received. She can also fill you in on who attended the session last year.
• Review evaluations after your session. They are available at the conference office. Take time to read participant's written comments.
• Refer back to the evaluations emailed to you after the conference to help improve your next presentation.

Click here for Presenter Tips PDF

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