How to Prepare, Stage, and Deliver Winning Presentations - Assignment Example

Memorandum Spring Written Communications in Business Susan Basso McCauley, Process Report: Creating the Presentation Assignment Introduction A presentation refers to a communication act between an individual and his or her audience. Getting ready for presentations is not an easy task. The majority of individuals feel anxious on giving presentations. Even group meetings with colleagues have the capacity to be nerve-racking and challenging. Exceptionally few individuals are factual extroverts, and even a smaller number of these people are contented with speaking in public. Feeling well prepared, as well as practiced will offer people confidence in themselves and their material (Leech & Leech 13). Preparing for presentation is the sole most significant fraction of making a winning presentation. This is the fundamental foundation and peoples are supposed to set aside a large amount of time to it as probable evading short-cuts. Not merely will excellent preparation make certain that a person has thought vigilantly with reference to the messages, which he or she wants (or needs) to communicate within a presentation, however it will additionally assist boost an individual’s confidence (Leech & Leech 16). The purpose of this report is to describe the progression of preparing, as well as executing a presentation assignment. The sources of information that were utilized include books, the Internet, websites, journals, along with blogs. The scope of the report include data analysis that took account of sections namely thinking about your audience, planning your presentation, notes, handouts, and visual aids, good slide design, and what to avoid. The main conclusion I am supporting with this report is that preparing and executing a presentation is not an easy task. However, with a good guideline on how to prepare and execute presentations by following a number of steps and instructions, individuals can be able to prepare for a presentation without a lot of difficulty and execute the presentation in an excellent manner. Data Analysis Thinking about your audience I began preparing for the presentation by thinking about the audience. This was done by tailoring the presentation to go well with the audience, along with their knowledge levels. This included the people who will be within the audience, for instance, scholars, lecturers, colleagues, experts within the field, business individuals, the public, or a combination. I afterward took my purpose into consideration so that I could inform, demonstrate progress, win over, sell, broadcast results, educate, or even introduce a novel idea. I also took into account whether the presentation will be a synopsis, basic introduction, build up an idea that exists, go over previous ground from a newfangled perspective, review information, challenge viewpoints, or illustrate something novel (Leech & Leech 25). Planning your Presentation When planning for a presentation it was intricate to take in the majority of exhaustive information while listening. For that reason, it was extremely imperative that the presentation had a clear construction so the audience had the capacity to follow it. Within a ten to fifteen minutes presentation I simply had time to formulate three or four key points. I had additional impact since points are comprehensible, simple, pertinent, and direct (Leech & Leech 37). Introduction At the beginning of the presentation, I had to introduce myself, afterward sketched out the objectives of the talk and the subject matter I had to cover within the presentation. I started with statement that would grab attention, for instance a picture, a daily case in point, or even a rhetorical question. Middle Within the middle of the presentation, I had to arrange my points rationally from one another. This is because I had to think about what the audience desired to know initially so that they could comprehend the subject. I also thought about the things they desired to be on familiar terms with, the evidence that was utilized to prop up these points and sway the audience. I had clear sections to arrange the middle segment and go ahead of a single point to the next. Conclusion At the end of the presentation, I evaded introducing novel information at all. I made sure that I summed up the major things that I desired the audience to commit to memory. I ended the presentation positively through a strong closing sentence. I made sure that I let some time for questions. Given that I was making the presentation to an exterior audience, I made my contact information available to individuals. When I was getting the material ready for presentation, I thought about what I was comfortable saying to individuals, which did not include anything that I was not happy to articulate or did not have the confidence to put across. I did my research, in addition to checking the specifics that I felt that had the capacity to be secure in my understanding. I stayed away from making jokes, as well as any type of humor given that it did not come obviously to me. Notes, Handouts, and Visual Aids Since the majority of individuals get tempted to put their presentation pen to paper and read it loudly, I did not like this personally, and I had done research and found out that this is not enjoyable to the audience either. This is because it was difficult to obtain a vocal expression, along with making a connection with the audience. For that reason, I had a written script that was additionally stilted, in addition to being formal when weighed against natural speech. I therefore decided that it was an excellent idea to talk normally and utilize notes to guide me. I thought it would be better if I utilized a number of file cards for the notes instead of utilizing a sheet of paper since it is flimsy at a reduced amount and less to hide behind. I utilized headings, along with key words to be reminiscent of the major points, as well as how they are supposed to flow within the presentation. I believe that less is more so I wanted a presentation that I would have the capacity to read then swiftly at a quick look. Since I used a number of visual aids, I had to note cues that were showing when it is time for me to change a slide (Leech & Leech 56). I had to write down reminders incase I had to make some changes or slow down in pace if I was in a hurry while doing the presentation. I took note of all the things that I particularly did not desire get wrong such as names, figures, and dates. I numbered my cards just in case they were mixed or dropped. Since I provided my audience with handouts, I tried my best not to incorporate a lot of information since I knew they would take too much time reading them compared to listening to me. Therefore, I took account of a brief sketch of the presentation, a summary of information, references and supplementary reading on the subject matter, as well as contact details. There was a variety of visual aids that I had available, but I decided to utilize PowerPoint slides because I thought they would be most effective. I utilized PowerPoint slides and kept them uncomplicated and ensured that they propped up and added stress to the arguments that I made. This is for the reason that it did not sidetrack the audience from the presentation and what was being articulated. Since I used PowerPoint slides, I made sure that I knew the manner within which to locate and utilize whichever necessary technology or even equipment. I decided to utilize visual aids within my presentation because they had the aptitude to give me self-belief, assisted me bear in mind the structure of the talk, and made sure the audience looked at the PowerPoint slides instead of looking at me all the time. The PowerPoint slides had the capacity to improve ad illustrate what I had to articulate, which made it quite simple for the audience to comprehend and retain information accumulated. The individuals in the audience were not supposed to dominate or distract me from the presentation (Leech & Leech 79). Good Slide Design When preparing for my presentation, I kept the slides simple, organized, as well as undemanding to read. Simply because I had music, graphics that were in motion, along with points in bullet form dashing in and out did not imply that I had to do all that. Given the fact that I was confident with regard to my technical capacity, some straightforward animation had the ability to be extremely effectual. I utilized 30pt font because I was presenting to a large audience. I evaded PowerPoint slides backgrounds that were distracting, and kept a lot of white space amid lines and sections. I utilized a writing color, which showed up visibly on the PowerPoint slides background. I did this by evading green and red (Leech & Leech 83). Since this was a presentation that was professional, I stuck to simple and kept away from using cartoons. I kept superfluous punctuation to the least amount, and since I had decided to utilize images, I made sure they were there for a reason. This is for the reason that I had to demonstrate points and make them memorable. What to Avoid I made sure I evaded the most frequent mistake that is done during presentations, which is attempting to take in too much in terms of cramming information since I knew I would finally end up uttering words too fast, or going past the time limit. I made sure I kept three to four major points together with an introduction, which set out the framework and a concise summarizing close (Leech & Leech 106). I had to expand on these major points for the reason that there were questions that were asked after the presentation. Summary/Conclusions/Recommendations When preparing and executing a presentation the first step is thinking about your audience so that the presentation would be tailored to go well with the audience, along with their knowledge levels. The second step is planning your presentation by taking in the majority of exhaustive information while listening so that the presentation would have a clear construction and give the audience the capacity to follow it. The third step is to consider utilizing notes to guide the speaker, handouts to provide a quick overview of what the speaker is talking about, and visual aids to pass across the message presented visually to the audience. The fourth step is to ensure good slide design so that the effectiveness of the presentation. Finally, speakers should know what to avoid when preparing and executing a presentation for excellent results. In conclusion, making a presentation is not an easy task. However, with a good guideline on how to prepare and execute presentations by following a number of steps and instructions, individuals can be able to prepare for a presentation without a lot of difficulty and execute the presentation in an excellent manner. The steps provided to guide individuals on preparing and executing a presentation are all related in one way or another and they are not complex to follow and understand. Therefore, it is safe to say that the whole process of preparing and executing a presentation was straightforward and simple because I had enough time to do the research, the necessary skills to do effective research, available and wide-ranging resources, along with information available. It is recommended that future students who are supposed to prepare and execute presentations should follow the steps provided above to the letter and even do additional reading to gather more information of preparing and executing presentations from resources available to them. Future students should not overlook the above steps when preparing and executing a presentation. This is because the steps might simple but they make a huge difference when they are working towards giving a winning presentation. Work Cited Leech, Thomas, & Leech, Thomas. How to prepare, stage, and deliver winning presentations. New York, American Management Association. 2004.  Read More