We’re excited to have our first guest post from Crystal Bloom, an MBA with over 20 years of experience in the communication field. She is a consultant, public speaker and teacher. Her background includes being a published author of over 20 books. She writes for DegreeJungle.com a resource for college students.
In most cases, a presenter measures his or her success in the moment: draw a large crowd and keep that crowd engaged for the length of the presentation. However, educators face the unique challenge of having to make sure their students recall and understand their content long after their presentation has ended. Here are four tips to make your educational presentations more effective.
Tip #1 – Pick a Format: Instructive vs. Demonstrative
The first thing you need to do for a presentation in an educational environment is determine which type you will do. Knowing this will improve your presentation by keeping you focused. Will your presentation be mainly informational or instructive? Or, will it be a demonstration where you show your students first hand?
The Instructive Presentation
An instructive presentation shows visuals while describing how something is done. The key to your success is providing the necessary information. Think of your college professor using a PowerPoint presentation that describes a particular concept, workflow, or development process. The professor uses slides to provide a picture that reinforces the concept that the professor is describing verbally.
- Use Visual Aids. Verbal information is backed up by any number of visual props such as pie charts, graphs, posters, photographs, cutouts and models.
- Refine Your Talking Points. Talking is the foundation of an illustrative presentation.
- Grab The Audience’s Attention. When using visual cues, such as PowerPoint, make sure to customize the templates for your particular needs. Improve your presentation by using dynamic graphics, fonts, charts, and diagrams to keep your audience’s attention.
The Demonstrative Presentation
While an instructive presentation focuses on telling, a demonstrative presentation focuses on doing. During a demonstrative presentation, you will actually perform the task you want your students to learn, and, while performing that task, you will describe the process to your students. A strong demonstrative presentation will result in a final product.
The best example of demonstrative presentations are cooking shows which teach the viewer a recipe by completing that recipe rather than simply describing it. These types of presentations can be powerful learning tools, but need to be carefully crafted to make sure the process being taught is clear.
Tip #2 – Present Simply and Clearly
No matter which type of presentation you decide upon doing, its success will depend upon you using good speaking abilities and skills. To improve your presentation skills, you must speak in a well-modulated tone that makes it easy to listen to you. Speak clearly at a pace that others understand. Speaking too quickly or slowly can play havoc on your success.
- Do not use slang or text wording during your presentation. This can cause confusion.
- Even though your students may understand industry-specific terminology, avoid using it. Speak in easy-to-understand terms so the majority of your audience comprehends what you are talking about.
- Good speaking involves using good posture to increase your breathing capabilities. Stand tall and walk comfortably.
Tip #3 – Provide a Clear Agenda
Good presentations require ample preparation and organization. Take the time to develop an outline that lists the important points and steps you will be talking about in chronological order. Stick to this outline to improve your presentation skills. Do not confuse your students by jumping back and forth from subject to subject.
- If time permits, have a question and answer session. An interactive presentation sparks interest and retention rates.
Tip #4 – Fine Tune Your Environment
When doing presentations in an educational environment, remember that your presentation room environment plays a key role in being successful. Many presenters forget this fact. Make certain your speaking volume is adjusted to your room size. There is nothing worse than being too loud or too soft. A poorly tuned environment cannot only ruin the current lesson, it can dissuade students from actively participating in future lectures.
Doing a presentation in an educational environment can be fun, rewarding and fulfilling to all involved. Take the time to do it properly for your success.