Presentation Skills

Our brains are networks of information.

We like to get information from multiple modes. We like to see materials in different ways. Presentations are related to activating senses.

In good presentations, the audience has a sense where we are going, a sense of structure.

Four Signposts of Presentation Skills Mastery (Jeary, 2004)

• Unconscious Incompetence - You don´t know what a presentation is or why you should care about improving your skills in this area.
• Conscious Incompetence - You are aware of presentations skills enough to know that other people have them, but you don´t.
• Conscious Competence - Most of us are in this skills stage. You have learned some basics and are now putting them into practice. However, you must still pay lots of attention to mechanics & delivery.
• Unconscious Competence - You have assimilated the skills necessary for maximum effectiveness.

Jeary´s Two-Part Presentation Framework

Degrees of Readiness

• Technical skills
• Content knowledge
• Audience Research
• Materials, handouts
• Logistical preparation

Expertise in Delivery

• Pacing of delivery
• Dynamism & passion
• Voice quality
• Body placement & movement
• Interaction of above with content

How do you know you are ready
Main points, genre, rhetorical purpose, logistics, time limits

Be careful with humor because of crosscultural issues.
The more you practice, the better.
The power point is not the presentation.




Workshop with Thom Upton