Effective Presentation Skills Workshop Overview

Aug 7, 2024

Effective Presentations Workshop: Part 1

Importance of Presentations

  • Presentations are crucial in academic, professional, and arguably personal settings.
  • Objectives: Crafting content, designing slides, and delivering presentations.

Key Elements of a Good Presentation

  1. Bottom Line: Core message or main argument.
  2. Slides/Visuals: Enhance experience, not always necessary but beneficial.
  3. Delivery: Good body language, articulation, and presentation skills.

Scope of the Workshop

  • Focus on short, specialized presentations (10-15 minutes) for a small audience.
  • Not covering public speaking in this session.

Crafting a Presentation Script

Preparation and Planning

  • Research: Use reliable sources (journal articles, books, etc.), avoid unreliable ones (blogs, Wikipedia).
  • Brainstorming: Write down thoughts and create a mind map to organize ideas.
  • Core Message: Summarize the presentation content in one sentence.
  • Outline: Structure content into opening, body, and conclusion.

Drafting and Editing

  • Drafting: Create a rough draft, focus on stream of consciousness.
  • Editing: Use the CED (Critical, Essential, Desirable) method to refine content. Keep it short and concise.
  • Word Count: Aim for 1200-1800 words for a 10-15 minute presentation.

Scripting Strategies

1. PREP Method (Position, Reason, Example, Position)

  • State your claim (core message).
  • Provide reasons for your position.
  • Back up with an example.
  • Restate your initial claim.
  • Example: Germline genome editing via CRISPR debate.

2. Past-Present-Future Method

  • Ideal for chronological narration of events.
  • Example: Corporate history and future predictions for a product.

3. Problem-Cause-Solution Method

  • Works well for business or policy presentations.
  • State the problem, identify causes, propose solutions.
  • Example: Flatnix streaming service's market penetration issues in India.

4. AIDA Method (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)

  • Used for persuasive presentations, often in marketing.
  • Example: Grammarly ad campaign.

Conclusion

  • Next session will cover designing slides and delivering presentations.

Thank you and see you in the next session.