PRESENTATION

PRESENTATION

Presentation is the process of presenting the content of a topic to an audience. It is the ability to speak
effectively on a particular subject within a given time slot to create an impact on the listeners. Presentations take place all the time in organizations. Generally, presenters take ample time to prepare a presentation.

Yet, there are times when a presenter has to make a presentation on the spot. A presentation may or may not be supported by visual aids depending on the nature of presentation. People give presentations in all kinds of ways and situations and for all sorts of reasons. The audience might be just one person, a group of hundreds or anything in between.For making a presentation successful, gathering a lot of information is not enough to ensure its success.It requires lot of behind the scenes preparation and good deal of concentration and hard work while actually giving the talk.

In order to make a good presentation one has to start with three P’s-Preparations, Planning and Practice.

The act of giving a presentation is a skill that calls for clarity of thought, concept, logic and expression. A presentation that lacks clarity becomes a dull and boring lecture without serving any purpose. Clarity depends on these three factors:

􀂄􀂄􀂄􀂄􀂄 Appropriateness
􀂄􀂄􀂄􀂄􀂄 Relevance
􀂄􀂄􀂄􀂄􀂄 Confidence

Appropriateness suggests that the presenter must be familiar with the audience he is going to interact
with while giving the presentation. It is important to know the type and the profile of the audience before getting started. The speaker has to show a genuine enthusiasm for the subject, understanding clearly its inherent thought process as well as its concepts. Accordingly, a thorough preparation of the subject is the right way to get started for a presentation. In the preparation process itself, the presenter should be ready to invest a considerable amount of energy to shape up the presentation with immense clarity of thought and concept.

While working on the Relevance of a presentation, a number of details need to be included. The relevance determines the importance of the subject matter, the depth of treatment of the topic within a limited framework and the usefulness of the content to the audience. While concentrating on the planning of the topic, a logical progression has to be made from one sub topic to another sub topic. This will keep the speaker focussed on what he has to speak at the time of actual presentation without losing track of his points. While preparing the topic, the speaker should also prepare some footnotes and references for effective handling of questions that would come from the audience. Relevance of the topic boosts up the clarity of logic and also helps you to decide what to throw out or retain when writing the presentation.

For a presentation to be really good, the speaker should present the topic with full Confidence. After
adequate preparation and planning, the most important thing to do is to practice the presentation. As the saying goes, practice makes one perfect. In giving a presentation it is practice that makes the
presentation sound and perfect. Proper practice is nothing but rehearsing the sequence of the presentation, thereby making the speaker confident. The “clarity of expression” or “how the presentation is given” depends upon the confidence level of the speaker. The speaker’s body language, manner and tone, use of voice, his ability to build rapport with the audience, his capacity to manage properly the audio-visual aids and at the same time his ability to give satisfactory answers to the audience’s questions, reveal his clarity of expression.

How effective the presentation is depends to a large extent on the following factors:

􀁺􀁺􀁺􀁺􀁺 The presenter’s subject knowledge
􀁺􀁺􀁺􀁺􀁺 Logical thinking (the ability to organise information as pieces of content that can be                     presented according to a sequence or structure)
􀁺􀁺􀁺􀁺􀁺 Exposure and experience of public speaking (confidence)
􀁺􀁺􀁺􀁺􀁺 Ability to handle questions and answer them satisfactorily
􀁺􀁺􀁺􀁺􀁺 Ability to build a rapport with the audience
􀁺􀁺􀁺􀁺􀁺 Ability to clearly articulate a thought or give an opinion without being judgmental