Preparing for your first university presentation can be nerve-racking. You’re probably only used to presenting in front of small classes in a casual manner. In some programs, you’ll have to do presentations fairly frequently, so it helps to get used to presenting as soon as possible. Following these simple tips can help you ‘wow’ an audience, even with little presentation experience.
Know Your Stuff
It’s important to actually be knowledgeable about your presentation topic. Using Minute School to brush up on the concepts surrounding your topic is an easy and effective way to prepare.
Review the Rubric
Make sure you know the professor’s expectations for you in terms of length of your presentation, amount of memorization, etc.
Arrive Early
Make sure you get to class a bit early before your presentation to make sure the tech and your media is working properly. If everything runs smoothly, you’ll just have a couple extra minutes to prepare!
Provide an Overview
It helps your audience stay engaged if you provide an overview of what you’ll be presenting at the beginning of your talk.
Have Visual Slides
You want your slideshow to supplement your presentation, not contain all of your information, so make sure to use minimal words and lots of visuals in your slides.
Slow Down!
Don’t forget this! You’ll naturally speak faster when you’re nervous, so make sure to consciously slow yourself down.
Don’t Read
Preparation is a key part of college presentations. Your professor will know you are unprepared if you read off notes or slides, so try and keep the notes that you bring concise so you’re not tempted to read.
Use Body Language
Incorporating hand gestures, changing your tone of voice, and walking around the classroom every once in a while make you look less nervous and keeps your audience more engaged.
Your first presentation may not go as well as you had hoped, but using these tips can definitely help you get the hang of presentations in college. It takes practice. Regardless of your presentation experience, I promise you’ll feel more confident in no time!
Know your presentation topic.
Spend some time studying with Minute School.