Self-Study Workbooks - Prepare a Presentation | Page 16

Prepare a Presentation
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Use pictures and diagrams appropriately – either to replace a lot of words or illustrate a
point. Animation should be used with care – using it for the sake of it will just look cheap

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Choose one or two styles of slide transition – more will be distracting to the audience and
could confuse you

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Put a copy of the presentation on your hard drive, but also prepare a disk backup (and a
paper one in case all else fails)

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Check you know how to use the equipment, and that your laptop is compatible with the
projector that will be used

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Make sure that you turn your screensaver off, or at least make sure that it won’t come up
for the duration of your presentation

Using Notes
Some presenters prefer to work from simple bullet-point notes. Others prefer to have detailed
notes. As a general rule, the more formal/important the presentation, the more likely you are to
need notes. Whatever your preference, the following guidelines will aid your preparation.
Detailed Notes
Writing detailed notes should mean you don’t forget anything. However, you must rehearse your
presentation from those notes and learn the main points. In this way, you will often be able to
look up from your notes and paraphrase them, only returning to them to confirm a particular
point or important sentence.
If you don’t rehearse, it is almost certain that you will appear to be reading from a script. If this
happens you may well lose power and presence in your presentation because you will be looking
at the script instead of engaging with the audience!
If you prefer to use detailed notes, here are some useful tips. Detailed Notes should be:
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TYPED IN CAPITALS
AT LEAST FONT SIZE 14 & DOUBLE-SPACED
TYPED UNDER A COPY OF THE SLIDE (This is easily done in PowerPoint by selecting the
‘Notes’ option)
KEY POINTS IN BOLD TYPE
ACTION POINTS (E.G. SWITCH ON/OFF OHP) CLEARLY IDENTIFIED AND SEPARATE FROM
THE MAIN BODY
WHERE NECESSARY ACTION POINTS SHOULD BE HIGHLIGHTED IN ADVANCE, I.E. ON THE
PAGE BEFORE IF ACTION IS REQUIRED IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE PAGE IS TURNED
COLOUR-CODED/HIGHLIGHTED WHERE NECESSARY TO ENABLE THE SCRIPT TO BE READ
FROM A DISTANCE
EACH PAGE NUMBERED & STAPLED/CLIPPED IN ORDER (SO THAT IF YOU DROP THEM THEY
DON'T GET MIXED UP)

Power Hour – Prepare a Presentation
www.power-hour.co.uk

Self Study Workbook

Page 16
Copyright Power-Hour 2012