Presentations
 

I had one yesterday and facking hell it was horrible. Get so nervous and couldnt get my words out! So annoying, only did 2/5 slides because it slowed me down and had a max of 5 mins, rushed through the next 2 but barely said anything on either. And 1 of my slides had arrows all messed up so I turned around in the middle of the presentation and said oh **** :joker: Was assessed as well, but thankfully only 20% of 1 of my modules.

How you lot with presentations? Good, bad?

Any tips?

I knew my presentation well, didnt even make notes, if I was more confident in public speaking I think itd have been really good :( :(

Had to do a couple at Uni but doing a slideshow was optional so I chose not to because I find it makes it a lot more difficult, I'd pretty much written down word for word what I was gonna say as well and just read from that. I'm pretty crap at it though, I suddenly get really conscious of what I must look like, what I'm doing and how I must be sounding lol

I was fine with it at school and sixth form though but that was because I knew everyone really well, don't know so many that well in Uni classes which makes it more awkward

We get marked on visuals, I dont mind PowerPoint though (:

I always skipped my presentations at sixth form... hahahaa

I'm not bad at them, got better with time. I used to be awful with public speaking (yet could perform in theater performances).

It's something you'll gain more confidence within time, the more you do.

I'm very self conscious and have a really young voice* (am told) I'm great at written reports, but the nerves kick in when I'm public speaking.

* for an oldie. In before Ben makes one of his hilarious comments :p

I was an *ahem* mature student too.
If you had researched well and memorized your info thats brilliant!
Thats half the battlle really, to gain marks in PP presentations we were told to have 3 or 4 (shortish) bullet pointed prompts of the main topics and expand on them.
It will differ depending on your course but ours didn't have to have any twirly bits (luckily!)
Just a small image in a corner to accompany the text.
I stuck to black text on cream or white large enough to be seen clearly from the back of the room.
5 slides is a good amount, tutors will appreciate quality of info over quantity.
Try to make your points correspond to the marking criteria.
Watch for silly mistakes (spelling errors, links work,) ask your tutor if you can do a dry run with them, like ben said the more you do it the more confident you get.
Have photocopies of the PP,3 slides per A4 sheet for the audience.
Your introduction and ending may be marked on too, always thank the listeners,you can also pick up extra marks of you suggest a Q&A.
Good luck. :)

I hate them, and avoid them at any given opportunity. It's odd because I don't mind speaking what I think to people in my class at school spontaneously within a lesson - I can debate with complete fluidity in those situations.

But when I'm told I have do a presentation on a certain date, or read a certain part of the textbook after someone else, I immediately start over-thinking and panicking. And then when I get up there my mouth goes all dry and I just get really panicky and it's not pleasant. :bored:

I find it's much easier to do them when you're doing it with even one other person. The other day in English I did one with a friend and we split the amount of talking between us and I didn't panic at all. :laugh:

I stutter when I have to stand up of the group and talk

Of course the prob there with group work is you work really hard and someone else stuffs up.... you have to grit your teeth and say it's ok, haha!

Love them. They single handedly pushed my grades up in 6th form. Would of been toast without the 2 I done :laugh:

I was really good at them, which is hilarious coz im such an awkward mess when it comes to being in public

Just rehearse rehearse rehearse Jords, it's the best technique I came up with. You need to know everything about everything you're saying that way you come across as very confident and the presentation goes smoothly.

dose not help me i still stutter and shake

oh and when actually delivering your presentation you shouldn't read word-by-word from your script, in fact have a few cards with prompt words on it. If you fully understand everything in your presentation then you can just look down see the word and speak about that section of your presentation.

Don't feel nervous because people are watching you... they will respect the fact that you've put effort into your work. If it's your peers and you're all giving presentations one after the other, then it's very likely the rest aren't even listening to yours and are just worried/waiting for their turn.

Like Marc said no one really cares and everyone else has to do the presentation and probably scared just like you are.

Lucky for me we seemed to have day presentations and I was often one of last to present in the afternoon by which time most the people who did theirs in the morning had left so I only had to speak to like 8/9 people.

they are probably one of the easiest things to do in terms of how much effort they are.

I had one recently and it wasn't even a presentation, it was me reading a presentation from my seat, but I was so nervous and read it so quickly, that I got an e-mail off my tutor saying she didn't hear half of it and would I mind sending it to her so she could give me a better grade, which was nice.

Probably your Irish accent :laugh:

It's not like I go to uni in England, people here understand Irish accents :p

Today infact I had to make a presentation in class, I dislike making presentations it can be so daunting in front of your class.