University-level presentation should be organized, clear, analytical, and professional. The following guides provide directions and strategies for preparing and delivering oral presentations.
Fundamentals of Presenting – Why Present?
- Presentations are an excellent way to communicate information in many contexts. Oral presentations have the benefits of being:
Proactive: You can interact with your audience “in the moment”! During a presentation you can ask questions, and have your audience ask questions of you. - Adaptable: Because presentations are “in the moment”, you can add, remove, change or adapt information easily. For example, if you prepared your presentation a week ago, but just this morning discovered something new from an experiment, or something eventful happened in the news, you can speak to this in your presentation.
- Flexible: You can tailor what you want to say and how you want to say it to your specific audience and unique goals for the presentation.
- Either Broad or Focused: Presentations can (and should be) be tailored to your audience. You can speak to a large portion of a project or a specific portion as needed.
- Controlled by You!: As the presenter, you decide how the presentation goes. Spend as much or as little time on topics as you think is important to convey your message.
Regardless of context, a good presentation includes several important elements:
• a focused and relevant message
• a clear organization
• evidence that supports the key points
• a strong analysis that demonstrates understanding of ideas
• a calm and confident delivery
- Preparing a Presentation
- Delivering an Oral Presentation (Public Speaking)
- Presentation Materials & Other Media
- Presenting to Non-Specialist Audiences