MATERIAL PREPARATION AND PRESENTATION SKILLS

Dr. Neera Dhar, Prof. NIHFW, New Delhi

Any scientific presentation involves planning at three levels:

Level I

Preparation of Material

Level II

Designing the presentation

Level III

Presentation Skills

Level 1 - Preparation of Material Steps: 1. Title: of the presentation should be short and crisp.

2. Introduction: should include the rationale and briefly the major findings of the study should be quoted.

3. Objectives: should contain general as well as the specific objectives of the study.

4. Review of previous research: A brief presentation of earlier work or empirical investigations in the area should be given.

5. Methodology: The methodology used should be in the form of an interesting story to keep up the motivation level rather than text-like.

6. Data Interpretation: Whether qualitative or quantitative methods or both were used for data treatment needs to be mentioned.

7. Results: Only the most salient findings of the study should be mentioned because people cannot retain too much of information at one given point in time.

8. Conclusion: To be presented in a few points. Preferably 3-4 points would be better. Also here, it is important to connect result to the general and the specific objectives of the study.

9. Replicability: The scope for replicability of the same piece of research needs to be mentioned.

10. Future Research: The Road map or direction to be taken in coming time should be stated based on the findings of the current piece of research.

Level II- Designing the Presentation Steps: Keep your presentation simple:

1. Check on the size and type of audience

2. Avoid complex equations

3. Aim at average person

4. Avoid jargons, abbreviations

5. Use plain English

6. Words, graphs, diagrams used should be visible to the audience.

7. Do not push too much material.

8. Manage your time.

9. Practice your talk before the actual presentation takes place.

10. Pass on a take- home message to the audience.

Level III- Designing the Presentation Steps: 1. The Opening Set : Capture the attention of the listeners.

2.

Use appropriate body movements and gestures.

3.

Ensure healthy eye contact with the audience.

4.

Speak with soft but confident tone of voice.

5.

Keep up your adequate energy level. Vitality captures interest of the audience.

6.

Ensure a pleasant facial expression rather than wearing a dull, serious or boring expressions.

7.

Avoid distractions which are off the focus of your presentation.

8. Voice modulation should be used, changes in tone of voice. Consistently adopting the same tone leads to fall in the attention span of listeners.

9. Varying the stimulus changing from one pattern of presentation to another, like, shifting from interaction mode to visual or audio mode to minimize the boredom.

10. Use reinforcement and feedback and not ignore the questions and responses of the audience. Try to make the presentation interactive. You can even record the responses on a flip chart.

11. Use visuals which listeners can easily comprehend, which you can handle easily and which are appropriate.

12. Time Management : Try not to exceed the time limit given for presentation.

13. Wear neat comfortable dress ensuring a smart look.

TAKEHOME MESSAGE:

*KIS PRINCIPLE*
*KEEP IT SIMPLE*
*REHEARSE REHEARSE REHEARSE*