Expectations in Presentations
· Story Board or Planning Sheet
· Organization of Content
· Originality
· Copyright and Documentation
· Proper Format
· Subject Knowledge
· Graphical Design
· Mechanics
· Screen Design
· Use of Enhancements
· Teamwork
Presentations should be more about ideas than flash.
If students are conducting research into a problem or issue - if they are exploring an essential question - then sufficient time should be devoted to research and thinking in contrast to the time spent preparing the presentation.
In some cases, students may do a glib and superficial job on the problem solving and decision-making, in order to rush into the multimedia production phase of the project. Research and thinking should comprise something like 80 per cent or more of the total project time for most topics worth exploring.
Research = 80% Presenting = 20%= 80%
Provide Sufficient Evidence
It is expected that students have a carefully constructed argument tied to convincing examples. It is also necessary to see the counter arguments and alternative theories laid to rest or discredited by the offering of facts or evidence or arguments that show their inadequacies.
Consider the Audience
Those who wish to persuade, those who hope to convince, those who wish to illuminate and those who wish to communicate effectively all must pay special attention to the audience who will be watching their presentationa, hearing their voices and listening to their words. The goal is to inform, enlighten and possibly
even change someone's mind. The chances of reaching an audience are greatly increased if the presenter tries to understand the group and its characteristics . . . Who will be sitting out there?
What are their needs? Their preferences? Their attitudes? How much do they already know? How much background is needed? Is there a real mix of styles so that multiple presentation strategies are required? How much vocabulary can they handle and at what level of difficulty? What strategies, examples and arguments will help them understand the key points?
Eliminate Distractions
Flashy presentations with many different transitions, dazzling sound effects, and gimmicks of various kinds can distract the audience from the evidence being presented.
Students must learn to settle for a few special effects and put most of their energy in persuasion. The best presentation is the most persuasive, not the most dazzling.
Select Powerful Images
Much of the clip art commercially available to students is quite limited and limiting. They should be expected to use digital cameras and their own art whenever possible to deliver more punch and power to their presentations. We would also expect that they honor copyright when employing images scanned from the press or downloaded from Web sites, teaching them that "fair use" may allow such use by students within classrooms for reports but would not be permitted if they were adults in the workplace and is not permitted on school Web sites.
Distill Words
Slides are meant to share main ideas, phrases and key points. The student first expands upon these main ideas in an essay fully substantiated with evidence as mentioned earlier in this article. The slide presentation is a summary of this longer, more carefully elaborated piece of writing.
Slides should rarely offer more than a dozen words each. Students should prepare to speak concisely and effectively to a group about the ideas represented by the presentation. They should never read slides to the group.
It is a rare and very remarkable presentation that can stand alone without any live and present human contribution.
Maintain Eye Contact
The effective speaker creates a strong connection with the audience by establishing eye contact with each member of the audience at various points throughout the presentation. This contact is more difficult to achieve as the size of the audience expands, but most classroom groups will be under 25.
If the speaker is reaching the audience member in a convincing and engaging manner, there are likely to be signs of approval coming from the eyes of the listener along with body language such as nods of approval, agreement or excitement. If, on the other hand, the speaker is being confusing, boring, abstract or flat, there are likely to be signs of disapproval.
The good speaker learns to read these signals and signs in order to modify the presentation. Seeing confusion, the speaker gives examples and simplifies the message. Seeing boredom, the speaker tries to add sparkle, reduce abstraction or use vivid examples or stories. Seeing interest, curiosity and enthusiasm, the speaker carries on with the style already working.
In most audiences, the reactions may vary across the group. In order to reach the widest possible number, the speaker scans the faces and tries to figure out who still needs convincing.
Avoid Reading Slides Aloud
Even though most people have a strong aversion to sitting while someone reads aloud a paper or a series of slides, the practice persists with remarkable resilience in many places.
The words on slides are meant as talking points and headings. We should trust the audience to read them without our help and turn our own efforts toward elaboration and exploration in a fresh voice that reaches out into the room warmly and sincerely. Digital recordings are rarely as good as live student voices.
Speak with Conviction
To establish credibility and trust, the speaker must deliver sincere beliefs in a convincing manner. Learn to think and communicate thoughtfully.
Some things to think about when using
PowerPoint – Keynotes – Prezi – Glogsters, etc.
Proportion / Do big ideas appear in larger fonts? Is the size of the graphic appropriate in relationship to the words?
Templates - because they allocate a certain amount of space for text and a certain amount of graphics - can sometimes skew the emphasis placed on one part of the slide. Inserting images into predefined spaces tends to expand them to fill all available space. Students should decide how big these items should be in advance and should give them the space on the page their value warrants.
Balance / Do the elements of the page stand together visually? Or do they seem likely to "fall down" or topple?
Restraint / Have various devices and special effects been used carefully so as to contribute to meaning? Do choices of fonts and styles match intention?
Originality / Do the slides, the design and the ideas show signs of personal style and inventiveness? Or do they suffer from same-old, same-old, template design? Do the pages seem hastily constructed with a slap-dash, cut-and-paste approach? Or can we see a devotion to thoughtful, intentional design?
You are the messenger, not the presentation.
The presentation is meant to assist you in your endeavor.
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