How to Give a Short Class Presentation Competently

This Instructable is composed of bullet points with a lot of words attached to them. I know words can be intimidating, but reading these particular words will help you avoid common pitfalls when giving a classroom presentation. It doesn't matter what topic you have, and if you have 5 minutes or 20; this 'ible provides tips to help your presentation shine.

How you carry yourself when you are giving your presentation is just as important as all that work you put into researching for it. A presentation is 2 parts: information and show. You get the information together, and here's how you do the show:

• Speak loudly but do not yell.
• Speak slowly and clearly.
• Smile, maintain good posture, and make eye contact with audience.
• Be succinct: keep your presentation simple but make your words count.
• Be engaging. How can your audience be interested in your presentation if you aren’t?
• Vary your tone, don’t “read” your script; even if you are actually reading it, it doesn’t have to sound that way.
• If you mention a foreign word, put it on a slide – some people will not really understand a new word without seeing it too.
• Likewise, if you come across a word you are unfamiliar with, look up the pronunciation or ask a professor/teacher/sage before you make a fool of yourself. Another solution would be to replace the difficult word with a synonym. (Example: change “prevalent” to “common,” etc.)
• Do not turn your back on your audience; it is extremely rude. ESPECIALLY do not go to the computer where your slides are loaded, stay there, and read from the computer without ever looking at your audience.
• Dress professionally when giving your presentation – like you would for a job interview. (Examples of what not to wear include shorts, flip-flops, a black bra under a white shirt, etc.)
•  Don't step back and forth, pace, or dance a jig out of nervousness when you're presenting. At best it makes you look silly, at worst it makes your audience seasick.

Your slides cannot save your presentation if your script sucks. Slides ≠ your presentation. They are a separate entity, and you cannot depend solely on them to make you dazzle.On that note:

•DO NOT put your entire script in the slides.
• DO NOT read your slides as you present.
• Use slides for what they are: visual aids. Include pictures, make them aesthetic. Use them to highlight ideas, words, or concepts.
• Don’t use fancy transitions and effects, they will only make your slideshow look cheesy and will draw away from your presentation.
• Spell-check your slides, but have someone else look them over, too. “Route” and “root” are both spelled correctly, but they are not interchangeable in context.
• Store your presentation on a flash drive in “PowerPoint Show” format so you can click & go; this will keep you from having to navigate to “Slideshow” and click “Begin from current slide.”
• Save your PowerPoint in legacy (compatible with older versions) format – you can’t be sure what version your presenting computer will have.
• Email yourself a copy of the presentation if possible, in case there is a problem with your flash drive, the USB port, or other technical difficulties.
• Use standard fonts. Your computer might have Zappywigserif44, but your presenting machine likely won’t.
• If technical difficulties are irresolvable, be prepared to give your presentation sans slideshow. Your slides are not your presentation, just a background to it.

This is not a guide to how to set up the content of your presentation, but rather to offer tips on how to do so. If you need a basic reminder or how to set up a speech: Tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em; tell 'em; tell 'em what you told 'em.

• Don’t inject too much opinion into your presentation unless the project directs you to specifically do so. You are a reporter; be impartial.
• In conjunction with the above, do not fear-monger or seek to sensationalize simply to get attention. Stay in the realm of mainstream sanity. You must maintain credibility in the eyes of your audience.
• Conclude your presentation so that your audience knows it’s over, don’t just trail off or get to the last slide and say “that’s it.”

A lot of people skip this step, and a big majority of them reaaaaallly needed to practice more.

• If you have a verbal tic (“um,” “like,” “so, yeah,” “uh,” etc.) practice is especially important.
• Try to pace your breathing in rehearsal so that you do not speed up, run out of breath, panic, and get flustered.
• Rehearsal is not optional prep – and you must do it in front of real people. Get your parents on Skype, call friends over for a movie night and surprise them with a presentation on Surrealism during the intermission, whatever it takes. Rehearse twice minimum.
• Use observations from rehearsal to eliminate awkward phrasing, awkward pauses, and to mark your script exactly where you need to change slides.
• Make sure to time your rehearsals so that you will stay within/meet your time limit.

Remember, if you're in a class and have to give a presentation, it's likely your audience is made up of future or past presenters. Be a good audience for them and maybe they'll reciprocate. Also, it's just good manners.

• Do not heckle, comment, or raise your hand during the presentation. Questions should come at the end.
• Stay in your seat. The middle of someone else’s presentation is not the right time for a bathroom break.
• If you are late to class, wait outside or in the doorway until the presenter is done, then enter.

If you are someone who suffers from stage fright, I recommend either researching stress-relieving exercises you can do before (and possibly during) your presentation, or working customer service for 4 years to give you a strong backbone and make you bitter. Either way, good luck!!! You'll do great! Just do alllll the things I said to do. ;)