Curate, connect, and discover
These are my tips for giving really good presentations in class! It will be slightly more geared towards history, english, etc. and some of the tips might not apply to science classes, but hopefully this helps.!
Presenting Well:
Know what you are talking about. When you are giving a presentation, you should be an expert in what you are talking about. Study the topic like it’s your job.
If you are working with a partner, still make sure you know it all! When I do partner presentations, this is what I do. Decide who is going to do each part of the presentation. This is the part that you should know backwards and forwards. But! You should also have a good amount of knowledge about your partner’s topics. If one of you falters or forgets something, the other can back them up. Also, this helps to make you look more cohesive and less like you just split it in half.
Be able to answer questions. This ties into my last point. If a classmate or a teacher asks you a question and you have no idea, it doesn’t look good. You should know more information than just what you’re presenting.
Don’t read from notes. If you stand up and just read from a page, your class might as well be reading this information from a textbook. If you can, don’t use any notes at all. If you absolutely need them, make them super short jot notes, not full sentence pages of notes.
Organize your slides in a way that makes sense. Start with background information, then state your thesis, then get into your arguments and more detailed information. Don’t put your thesis at the end, or skip over the background information.
Include a conclusion at the end of your presentation. A presentation is basically a verbal essay, so you should be including all of these parts. Restate your thesis and quickly sum up the reasons that you talked about in the presentation. This will help everyone in your audience to understand what you discussed.
Dress up a bit and try to look really good. I personally believe that a lot of confidence can come from the outside. Looking good and being comfortable with what you’re wearing will make you more confident. Also, a lot of teachers want to see that you made an effort to look professional for a presentation.
Talk to the class like you’re having a conversation. Obviously, you don’t want to be too relaxed and seem like you don’t know what you’re talking about. But it is really helpful to use your normal language and tone, throw in a couple jokes, and just act normal! It’s always really weird when someone turns into a robot when they are giving a presentation, so try to avoid that if possible.
Practice in front of someone! This will help you avoid looking awkward and help you go at a normal speed. Also, they can tell you if there was a part that they didn’t understand or anything like that. Try to choose someone objective, that won’t lie to make you feel better.
Time out your presentation. You have to time out your presentations before you do them. It’s not fair to other presenters and to your class if you go way over the time limit. Time yourself reading through the presentation, then again when you present in front of someone. Maybe leave a bit of time at the end for questions, too.
Making Good Visuals:
Use something simple. Unless your teacher suggests otherwise, just use slides or something simple like slides. Unless you are really good with these kinds of programs, when you try and do something like a video or a Prezi, its way more likely that it will look unfinished or crazy. I personally hate Prezi, because it’s way too hard to follow.
Use a built in slides theme. Again, this might not apply to you if you’re really into graphic design, but for the most part, stick to this rule. When you try and mix your own colours and patterns and fonts, it can tend to look really busy. Try to stick with a preset theme.
Do not have full sentences. You should not have more than 10 words on your entire slide, if that. A really good photo, political cartoon, graph, or other graphic says way more than an exact copy of the words you’re already saying. Your slides are a visual to back you up, not the main focus. If your class has to take notes on your presentation, this might not apply.
Don’t use a white background. Pure white makes your eyes hurt. Change the background colour to a really pale grey, one shade lower than white. This will help your audience focus on the slides better.
Make sure your visuals are working. Ask your teacher if you can double check that your slides are compatible with their computer, or at least check it on a computer at your school. Especially if your school uses Mac and you use Windows (or vice versa). Also, check that your videos and audio work!