Somerville College Professional Development How to give a good presentation 27 th January 2002 Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6HD

Somerville College 2 Agenda Overview What makes good and bad presentations? Putting this into practice Summary

Somerville College 3 Seminar plan Being able to deliver good presentations is a critical skill for many people especially doctors and scientists Yet the training in this is usually very limited Plan for the next hour ­ Start with you thinking about what makes a good or a bad presentation ­ Put our collective heads together on this ­ Plan short presentations in groups ­ Give and review short presentations ­ Final summary OVERVIEW

Somerville College 4 Agenda Overview What makes good and bad presentations? Putting this into practice Summary

Somerville College 5 No-one is a born speaker, therefore practice is critical Your job is to inform and entertain – but how? Apparently, when we listen to other people speak ­ 7% of our attention is on the words used ­ 38% of attention is on the voice ­ And 55% is focussed on non-verbal body language WHAT MAKES GOOD AND BAD PRESENTATIONS?

Somerville College 6 Even the master speakers have their weaknesses Hitler ­ Strengths: dramatic pause, start small and build gestures ­ Weaknesses: hands Kennedy ­ Strengths: repetition, short sentence structure Thatcher ­ Strengths: eye contact, good inflection, repetition ­ Weaknesses: no sincerity Michael Parkinson ­ Strengths: personality ­ Weaknesses: shifting body weight, hands WHAT MAKES GOOD AND BAD PRESENTATIONS?

Somerville College 7 First, get the content right by answering the following five questions Why are you speaking? ­ define your objective(s) What are you going to say? ­ write down your ideas Who are you speaking to? ­ know your audience: refine your ideas / content and order with this in mind Where are you speaking? ­ know the venue (technology, acoustics etc) and its limitations How are you going to deliver the material? ­ visuals, style WHAT MAKES GOOD AND BAD PRESENTATIONS?

Somerville College 8 Delivery – going back to basics You need to make your audience sit up and listen and capture their interest How do you start? ­ Capture the audiences ATTENTION Why listen to you? ­ Give them some tangible BENEFIT Who are you? ­ If necessary give them your CREDENTIALS – tell them why you are qualified to speak on the subject Which way? Give the audience the DIRECTION, in short: ­ Tell them what you’re going to tell them ­ Tell them ­ And then tell them what you’ve just said WHAT MAKES GOOD AND BAD PRESENTATIONS?

Somerville College 9 As always there should be a logic to the structure of your presentation Regardless of the type of presentation there should be a ­ beginning ­ middle ­ end From a delivery point of view the introduction should start small and build The middle will contain the bulk of your presentation ­ Remember to use the spoken word ­ Gradually build momentum ­ Be aware of keeping sentences short and changing pace to hold your audience’s attention A great presentation can be lost by a poor finish ­ End by summarizing what you have said ­ Make sure your ending has impact WHAT MAKES GOOD AND BAD PRESENTATIONS?

Somerville College 10 Preparation is vital, and ideally you should rehearse with an audience Don’t miss out on preparation and rehearsal even if you are short of time Practice with your visuals and with what you plan to say ­ If ever you are in doubt about an aspect of your material remember: “if in doubt – leave it out!” Think carefully about timing during preparation ­ Don’t over-run ­ It is always better to under-run than over-run Ideally you should rehears with an audience ­ Get critical and constructive feedback WHAT MAKES GOOD AND BAD PRESENTATIONS?

Somerville College 11 Remember the value of silence When in doubt say nothing The power of silence ­ Pause at the beginning of the presentation ­ Pause when moving on from one point to the next ­ A dramatic pause mid-sentence is extremely powerful ­ If for any reason you lose your audience’s attention during the presentation a dramatic pause is very good way of getting them back WHAT MAKES GOOD AND BAD PRESENTATIONS?

Somerville College 12 Agenda Overview What makes good and bad presentations? Putting this into practice Summary ­ Medical

Somerville College 13 It is now important to take every opportunity to put some of these ideas into practice We will attempt this briefly now Divide yourselves into three groups From within each group elect, nominate or volunteer a presenter Each group will then have 10 minutes to help their presenter prepare a presentation to deliver to the whole group Each presentation to last no more than 5 minutes, and the subject of the presentation to be on one of the following ­ Informing a sceptical audience about life at and the benefits of studying at Oxford and why they should think about applying ­ Informing an audience about studying medicine at Oxford ­ Informing an audience about the collegiate system at Oxford and Somerville in particular PUTTING THIS INTO PRACTICE

Somerville College 14 Agenda Overview What makes good and bad presentations? Putting this into practice Summary

Somerville College 15 Being able to deliver a good presentation is important but requires thought, practice and preparation Being able to deliver good presentations is vital for doctors and scientists First get your content right and always remember to ­ Tell them what you are going to tell them ­ Tell them, and then ­ Tell them what you have told them Think carefully about timing and impact Preparation is compulsory – find a friendly but critical audience Practice, practice, practice at every opportunity SUMMARY