Presentation+Skills

Notes from our first presentation session - thanks everyone for great listening, questions and comments. Some of Julia's reflections on presentation taken from her blogpost have been incorporated.

**PHYSICAL**
 * hands in pocket**
 * Not a good idea; it communicates tension, distance from the audience or a lack of formality.
 * Keep hands open and relaxed.


 * where you place yourself**
 * Make sure you're facing all the audience - be aware of people sitting off to the sides and outside your field of vision. Move them to a more central space, or if that's not possible, look at them in from time to time to make you are including them in your presentation.
 * Place yourself centrally so that the screen or other props do not pull focus from you
 * Standing behind a large desk blocks you from the audience - it's harder to engage them. Move in front of the desk if possible.
 * USING SLIDES**
 * Think of the visual/slide as a co-presenter - it should not distract the audience from what you are saying.
 * Minimize text - no long paragraphs and sentences - use short phrases. Do not fill the slide with text
 * Pictures are powerful - use an image - picture, graph, table - where possible rather than lots of words. The audience can take in the image as a whole while you are explaining and elaborating your point in relation to the image.
 * Do not use images and sounds that have no connection to the ideas you are sharing - if it's merely decoration, ditch it!

**CONTENTS**
 * Use Pre-alerts to give the audience a very brief overview of what you will present. This helps them anticipate the structure of your presentation which helps them engage more effectively with what you are saying. To give the outline of your presentation at the beginning is helpful for the audience to map where you are going. It's like you are a guide of the audience tourists. At the beginning, you will show your tourists "today, we'll go to ... and then we'll go to... at last we'll arrive at..." Although the tourists may not understand the path clearly, such saying will comfort them to make them keep from a sense of being lost.
 * Use transition and structural markers - //first, next, the last point, In addition, however, on the other hand// etc.These help the audience follow the logical connections between the different ideas you are presenting.

**VOICE**  > I like the second question because it makes me think of my audience. For example, when I first prepared my presentation, my introduction just simply explained why we make salad tower in Pizza Hut. It's okay but Eric offered a better choice, to make a scenario/imagination for the audience. Let them in the situation that they need to learn this skill because they want to eat as much as possible. In this way, you can not only hook your audience to keep listening, but also inspire their thinking.
 * Pause to make sure your audience follows you. When you pause, you help the audience take in what you just said which helps them to follow your presentation better. Pausing also helps you to gather your thoughts, re-connect with the audience and be a calmer presenter.
 * AUDIENCE**
 * Take care of the audience - are you locating yourself, projecting your voice, using transition and structural markers, and using visuals in ways that makes listening easy, comfortable and informative?
 * Answer three questions in your introduction - What are you trying to explain? Why is that important? How will we get there?