Presentation Skills
‘Chalk and talk’ is a centuries old approach to lecturing where a ‘master’ read important passages from a text and expounded his interpretation (Swanson and Torraco, 1995). This method of reading from prepared materials to an inert body of students is outdated and ineffective (Edlich, 1993). Lecturers are expected to be more dynamic, to encourage active learning, and to engage students rather than deliver a monologue McIntosh (1996) prompted by notes or PowerPoint slides.
Some advice on connecting with the audience, delivery, non-verbal cues, and things to avoid are listed below.
| Connecting with the Audience |
- Ensure opening capture the interest and attention
- Engage students
- Phrase and pause
- Talk to individuals
- Get agreement
- Encourage students to ask questions
- Use students’ names as often as possible
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| Delivery |
- Speak clearly
- Don't rush, or talk deliberately slowly
- Use deliberate pauses at key points
- Change the tone of delivery
- Use hand movements to emphasise points
- Exhibit enthusiasm about the topic
- Project your voice or use a microphone if necessary
- Use a variety of audiovisual media.
- Inject the presentation (or materials) with humour
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| Non-Verbal Cues |
- Establish eye contact
- Smile
- Move around and interact rather than reading from notes
- Be confident in your delivery and interaction
- Respond to students’ reactions, and adjust and adapt accordingly
- Keep an eye on the audience's body language
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| Things to avoid |
- Standing in a position where you obscure the screen
- Getting lost in an overhead
- Excesses (of movement, enthusiasm, hand gestures etc)
- Repetitive words or phrases that may become distracting
- The use of fillers (such as “um,” “er,” or “you know”)
- Overuse of PowerPoint
- Reading from dense slides verbatim
- Gaudy colour schemes, distracting sounds or visuals in slides
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Workshops on various aspects of presentation skills are available from IT Media Service at
http://www.ucd.ie/itservices/mediaservices/mediacourses/.
Additional tips on presentation skills are outlined below.
From http://www.indiana.edu/~teaching/allabout/pubs/lectskills.shtml
