Contents

1. Great advice from Ted on preparing and structuring  your presentation.
2. Structure.
3. The Perfect English presentation structure and expression sheet
4. 5 Dos for Presentation preparation
5. 5 Don’ts for Presentations preparation
6. Recommended watching. Youtube presentation preparation video.

1 Great advice on how to prepare your presentation from Chris Anderson of Tedtalks

Click here to watch Chris Anderson’s video

A Logically ordered Presentation

Basically our structure is:

Tell them…

• who you are,
• why they are listening to you,
• what they will hear “preview”
• what you want them to hear,
• a summary of what you’ve told them
• what you want them to do with that information.

Do you use a different formula for the structure? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

The Perfect English Presentation Stucture and expression help sheet

Click on the image to download it for future reference.

Tips

5 Preparation Dos

1. Allow plenty (lots) of time for research, organizing the information, editing and structuring.
2. Learn your material – know your facts.
3. Have a clear idea of what you want the audience (people watching)  to understand and remember most.
4. Decide on a call to action (what you would like your audience to do after). It could be to research the subject more, donate money, apply for a job, sign up for your class, sign a petition, sponsor your project, etc… Then decide how to express that.
5. Practice your speech while visualizing the room it will be in and the people there.

5 Preparation don’t s

1. Don’t use any terminology or words that you can’t explain and define if questioned on them.
2. Don’t write out a long script (the written notes of exactly word for word of what you will say) You will sound un-natural reading it in the presentation and you won’t be able to make eye-contact or even look at your audience. Use cards which are well organized with the order number written on or use short clear notes, to refer to.
3. Don’t use complicated terminology unless you are sure your audience will understand. If you are not sure of their degree of knowledge on your topic explain everything in a way that will allow everyone to understand your message.
4. Don’t expect there to be wifi or a good internet connection where you are doing your presentation. So be prepared with a backup (an extra copy) of your presentation visuals on a pen drive.
5. When preparing visuals don’t over-fill them. It will distract people and they will be reading instead of watching and listening to you.

Presentation Planning video

Click here to watch this video on YouTube.

I hope this short but sweet guide will be very useful and help give you confidence in preparing presentations.

See you next week,

Kim