Planning a Good Presentation
1. Analyse your audience
▪ Think about how you can make your presentation interesting and easy to understand.
▪ Decide on how you will explain your main idea/ideas to the audience.
▪ Consider what your audience probably knows or doesn't know about your topic.
2. Choose and research your topic
▪ Choose a topic that you are interested in and familiar with.
- If you are bored by your own topic, you can be sure that the other students will be too.
- During your presentation, you become the teacher so you should choose a topic that you feel
comfortable discussing.
▪ Once you've chosen your topic, research it inside and out!
- If you are discussing your own artwork, be sure to know the exact details (names of materials
and/or technology used, which class the assignment was for, the name of your instructor)
- If your presentation is about an historical or current topic, find out the facts (who? when?
where? how? and why?)
3. Limit your topic
▪ Find out how much time you will have.
▪ Decide what you can present within the allotted time that will be interesting and informative to
your audience.
4. Organize your material
▪ Make an outline and organize your main ideas.
▪ Present clear ideas and be sure to support them with details and examples.
5. Prepare your note cards
You should not read your presentation. You want to look at the audience and "talk" to them about your
topic.
▪ Note cards will help you in case you forget what you were going to say next.
▪ Include important details that you don't want to confuse or forget (names, dates, numbers, new
or difficult words).
▪ Use very few words on your note cards.
▪ Use a very dark pen and write big and bold so that your words are easy to read.
▪ You should be able to read your note cards easily if they are on the table in front of you.
6. Use visuals to illustrate your material (charts, graphs, film strips, slides, mounted artwork)
▪ About 85% of all we learn is through seeing!
▪ Your audience should be able to get the point of your visual immediately.
▪ Your visuals should be simple, clear and make an interesting or important point.
▪ They should be clean, professional and attractive to look at.
▪ Make sure your visuals are large enough for your audience to see from their seats.
7. Include examples and stories to support your ideas and keep your audience's attention.
▪ Add jokes and anecdotes (short stories) to keep the audience awake and interested.
▪ Use examples to support your ideas and opinions.
8. Practice your presentation
▪ Practice out loud until you feel comfortable talking about the information, rather than reading.
▪ Practice handling your visual aids.
▪ Ask a friend to listen to your presentation and give you feedback.
12 Things to Remember About Presentations:
1. Be organized! The more organized and focused your presentation is, the more relaxed you'll
feel.
2. Breathe! (It helps you relax.)
3. Don't try to cover too much material. Remember you only have 7-10 minutes.
4. Do speak clearly, slowly and at an appropriate level for your audience.
5. Use vocabulary that is appropriate for your audience. If you use new vocabulary, make sure
you explain it and write it on the board.
6. Do make eye contact with all members of your audience.
7. Do move around.
8. Do use hand gestures.
9. Do allow the audience to ask questions at the end of your presentation.
10. Don't read your presentation. You can use short notes, but reading a presentation is
unnatural; also, it makes it very difficult for your audience to follow.
11. Do practice your presentation with a partner or in front of the mirror.
12. Do remember to thank your audience and introduce the next speaker.
