Support NeoGAF

[GhostWriter24]

Ugh, used to fucking HATE giving presentations. Always got that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach minutes before...

 

[Draft]

Pretty good advice, except for the bolded, which sounds a bit too general.
Some people need to move while talking, if they don't, they'll resort to a 'displacement activity' (some girl in class almost strangled herself with her scarf...).
A possible solution (depending on the person) might be to gesticulate a lot, as do I. If it's possible, I walk around a little bit, although this works only in some environments

Moving around and gesturing are fine, but I left them off my list since they're a bit more advanced than the basic tips.

The rules for moving and gestures were:

Move while speaking and maintaining eye contact with an audience member in the direction you're walking. Try to not walk too fast or too slow. Personally, that was far and away the trickiest part for me.

Gesture big, using the entire arm. No T-Rex arms.

 

[SRG01]

If you use your presentation slides to launch into subjects that's cool.
What I mean is the people that have a script of what they say between slides. Not talking points, but an actual script.

That's what I mean by "rehearsed" Of course you should know your subject and your presentation. But if you have sentences and paragraphs memorized your audience will know and they'll either check out or pounce.

Yes, this is very true. Your slides should be very minimal and frame your main points only. You don't need to put every single word on the screen.

 

[RiccochetJ]

If you use your presentation slides to launch into subjects that's cool.
What I mean is the people that have a script of what they say between slides. Not talking points, but an actual script.

That's what I mean by "rehearsed" Of course you should know your subject and your presentation. But if you have sentences and paragraphs memorized your audience will know and they'll either check out or pounce.

Ahhh. Excellent advice!

 

[DominoKid]

Longest? Around 3 hours. Most of my presentations end up in the 45 minute range, and the vast majority are research-related.

My advice: NEVER REHEARSE. However, this style certainly won't work for everybody. I have a very comfortable style of talking, and I usually think ahead while I'm actually presenting. If I rehearse, I find myself trying to remember cues and such, which makes it feel more forced. And for God's sake, never read off the damn slides.

Edit: When I refer to rehearsing, it means a few things. For one, I never look at the slides after I've made them and are happy with the outcome. Two, because of this, I certainly never go through them and make notes of things to say. Because I'm familiar with the subject matter, I shouldn't feel the need to have anything outside of a mental template.

This. My presentations have gotten so much better since I started freewheeling them instead of stressing over them. Granted I still get nervous but generally in my evaluations I get marks for being calm and having a great presence. My public speaking teacher was quite impressed with me.

If you're in a classroom setting and somehow you forget one of your talking points, just ask the class what they know about it and that usually jogs your memory. At least, i jogs mine.

 

[RiccochetJ]

Longest? Around 3 hours. Most of my presentations end up in the 45 minute range, and the vast majority are research-related.

My advice: NEVER REHEARSE. However, this style certainly won't work for everybody. I have a very comfortable style of talking, and I usually think ahead while I'm actually presenting. If I rehearse, I find myself trying to remember cues and such, which makes it feel more forced. And for God's sake, never read off the damn slides.

Edit: When I refer to rehearsing, it means a few things. For one, I never look at the slides after I've made them and are happy with the outcome. Two, because of this, I certainly never go through them and make notes of things to say. Because I'm familiar with the subject matter, I shouldn't feel the need to have anything outside of a mental template.

I disagree. I look at my slides over and over. And each point, I talk about them a different way until I get comfortable with them. So when I see that slide pop up, I can just start talking without ever having to look at it again. I unfortunately got caught a couple times where I actually had to read the next slide I brought up before I knew what to talk about. There's that slight moment where they know you have to catch yourself up. Me knowing what is coming has been invaluable to me.

 

[Stahsky]

I read presentation as penetration.

I've never had a presentation quite like that, but I would probably be pretty nervous too.

 

[reggieandTFE]

Practice, roleplay with friends/ coworkers, use flip charts with an outline, don't use index cards, make eye contact but don't be creepy about holding it, smile, speak slowly, deepen your voice, crack a couple jokes, be cocky and funny.

 

[Escape Goat]

This may make you feel better: everyone is texting and playing on their phones/computers and paying minimal attention to you.

 

[JCX]

Not sure what my longest presentation or performance has been, but I find that it's good to remember that generally at the beginning of a presentation, the speaker has the power. The audience only gets power when the speaker gives it to them.

 

[Ezalc]

Longest presentation was one I gave last week. It was a group presentation that had to last at most 50 minutes, my group's was about 35 I think. Divide that into three people gives like what about 11 minutes each? It was alright, I had a piece of paper with me up there that I would occasionally look at to remind me aobut points but I froze at one point that kept confusing me when I tried to explain it, I didn't write it correctly on the paper. Overall it was fine, I was a bit nervous but I just look at it as a thing I have to do so no worries.

 

[sixghost]

If you use your presentation slides to launch into subjects that's cool.
What I mean is the people that have a script of what they say between slides. Not talking points, but an actual script.

That's what I mean by "rehearsed" Of course you should know your subject and your presentation. But if you have sentences and paragraphs memorized your audience will know and they'll either check out or pounce.

I usually draw out an outline, practice 3-4 times. Then record myself practicing. Type that out in Word, then practice it another 10ish times trying to work out the transitions and use more natural language, then record and transcribe it again so I can try to commit that to memory.

Does that still seem like a bad idea? Just going with an outline and knowing the subject usually ends in disaster for me. It results in tons of tangents and poor transitions.

 

[IceDoesntHelp]

5 minutes, in high school. I'm a nervous wreck.

 

[vicissitudes]

About 20-30 mins. I actually love giving presentations but I almost never get to.

Here's a good read:Steve Jobs's reality distortion field