In class, I learned that about how to present in front of people! We talked about the 10-20-30 rule; 10 slides, 20 minutes, and 30 point font.
One of the other important things that we talked about keeping the presentation entertaining. For example, you could have a very informative presentation, but you could convey the message very boringly and the audience would not be engaged and be bored. Another thing we learned along these lines is eye contact, if you do not keep Eye contact with your audience you will not keep them interested and keep them as if they are a part of the presentation instead of a just someone viewing it. The final thing that you should do it make sure they can hear you! You want to speak loud enough that the audience can hear you clearly, but on the other hand you do not want to be shouting. Now we’ve talked about stuff on what we should do, here’s a list of stuff not to do. When presenting you do not want to face the screen for the duration of the presentation that keeps interaction between you and the people you’re presenting to at a minimum and takes a lot of the interaction out of the overall presentation. Next, on the same topic, you do not want to read right off the screen. When you do a presentation you should have bullet points on the screen, keeping the words on the screen to a minimum and be able to elaborate on the bullet points you have put on. This keeps helps you maintain eye contact, as we talked about on things to do, and keeps the interaction at a high and blandness down low. Finally, do not stand behind the podium the whole presentation. This sets up a barrier between you and the audience. This keeps out a level of connection you can make when presenting, you want that connection and standing behind the podium would take that away. These are some ways you can keep up the good presentations and keep the bad ones to a minimum!
~Nick