Hello my Socratica Friends! We’re here to help you be a Great Student.
And an important part of being a great student is sharing what you’ve learned.
And that means: PUBLIC SPEAKING. {sound of scream}
Did you know that Public Speaking is the Number One Phobia?
People are more afraid of speaking in front of an audience than DYING.
I know, it’s completely irrational.
Seriously, what’s the worst that could happen?
You get booed off the stage? They throw rotten tomatoes at you?
Rationally, death is far more serious than making a speech.
But that’s just it - phobias AREN’T rational.
It literally feels like your life is at stake.
If you’re afraid of public speaking, you can take some comfort in knowing you’re
NOT alone.
Today, let’s Fight this Fearsome Foe.
We will Defeat the Discussion Demons!
Pummel Powerpoint Presentations into a Pulp!
Socratica Friends - ASSEMBLE YOUR WEAPONS of DISSERTATION.
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First, consider what kind of presentation you’re going to give.
The most common types of presentations are roundtable discussions, panel discussions,
and solo presentations (usually with slides).
Each one of these will mean a different kind of work you need to do, both to prepare,
and when you are actually giving your presentation.
Have you been asked to lead a roundtable?
That means there will be give and take with all the participants.
You won’t be the only one in the hot seat. That should take a lot of the pressure off.
Table discussions are one type of presentation you’ll be asked to give,
once you start to specialize in school, studying in smaller groups.
Roundtable presentations are also VERY common once you enter the workforce.
For instance, you may be asked to present your team’s progress on a certain project.
Many science labs have “Journal Clubs,” where the members take turns
presenting research papers.
For roundtable presentations, you should have a list of talking points prepared in advance.
But remember, you shouldn’t be the only one talking.
Open the meeting with a quick overview of what you plan to cover, and
remind your audience that this is a group activity.
If you’re leading this presentation, part of your job is to facilitate discussion.
Make it easier for people to participate by showing them you’re listening to what they
say.
Your body language helps a lot here. Turn a little towards the speaker.
Give them your attention.
If people are still reluctant to speak up, tell them explicitly
what kind of interaction you’re looking for.
For example, you could say - “I’d like to hear
what is the first thing that jumps to mind when you see the numbers in Figure 4.”
Or “Who has a different interpretation of the results of this study?”
Keeping your audience involved will make the time fly by -
not just for you, but for everyone participating.
Are you going to appear on a panel?
This is a common activity in a lot of jobs.
Attending conferences and participating in panel discussions in front of an audience
is a way to share your expertise.
Again, the nice thing about taking part in a group discussion is that SOME of the pressure
is taken off,
because you won’t be expected to speak the entire time.
Keep that in mind if you’re nervous - you’re all in this together.
A few minutes chatting together before the official panel begins
can go a long way towards fostering this sense of camaraderie.
Most panel presentations will feature a moderator who will decide which topics to cover,
and call on participants to speak.
If possible, the panelists should try to connect with the moderator ahead of time
so they have a chance to prepare some remarks about the major talking points.
I’m not saying you should go up there and read from a bunch of notecards.
Just do a little background work so you don’t show up completely unprepared.
You should also devote a little extra time to think about what other topics
could come up during discussion, and
points you might like to make.
Panel presentations are a team effort, so be a good team player.
Don’t rely on the other panelists to carry you - do your part to keep
the discussion going.
Answer the moderator’s questions succinctly, and leave time
for your fellow panelists to speak as well.
Make sure to stay engaged - don’t zone out when it’s someone else’s turn to talk.
Give them the courtesy of actively listening to their points. What they say may influence
your thoughts going forward.
Panel discussions sometimes get out of hand, with one person dominating the conversation.
If the moderator is experienced, they will ensure that everyone has a chance to be heard.
But if you see someone completely hogging the limelight, it doesn’t hurt to jump in
and say something like - I’d love to hear Jessica’s thoughts on this subject, because
she led this related project last year...
And finally, the biggest challenge of them all - a solo talk, all by yourself. We’re
going to assume you’re using a presentation program like Powerpoint or Google Slides.
People complain a lot about Powerpoint, but we remember back in the day when you had to
actually make SLIDES.
CAMERA slides.
It was a whole production - you had to take pictures
with a CAMERA, and then go to a shop to have them developed. So you had to have all your
slides finished like a week in advance. Not like now when you can keep tinkering with
your slides right up to the time you do your presentation.
Oh! - and once you got your slides back,
you had to load them into a CAROUSEL in the right orientation for the projector.
And you had to be really careful not to jostle it, or your slides would fall out and then
they would be all out of order and upside down!
...I might have a few scars from the experience.
We’ve really come a long way with technology. Presentation software like Powerpoint has
proven to be both essential and - easy to use BADLY.
Let’s talk about how to use these
tools well to build a great talk.
It all starts with an outline. Once you know the topic for your presentation, jot down
the major ideas you’d like to share.
Next, start putting them in order.
How does one point logically follow from a previous point?
What questions are raised, and then how do you answer them?
Think of it like a
conversation, where you supply both the questions and the answers, in a way that someone listening
can easily follow along.
How many major points do you think can you make in a talk?
We recommend aiming for 10-20.
Now, we’ve seen talks with 50 slides,
a HUNDRED slides.
I’m sorry, that’s ridiculous.
You may as well be watching an action film with a cut every three seconds.
But how did we arrive at this 10-20 number?
Consider how much time you have for your talk - and then subtract 5-10 minutes or so, to
leave time for questions at the end.
So if you have a 30 minute time slot for your presentation,
you have 20 minutes to present.
How many slides is that?
10-20. Because you need, generally,
1-2 minutes, at a minimum, to do a slide (or a topic) justice.
What goes on the slide? Here, right here, is where most presentations go off the rails.
Slides are a visual aid. They are NOT a transcript of your talk. Keep the text to a minimum,
and pick a visual that captures your point.
This can be literal - a graph, a table of data -
or metaphorical with a photograph or illustration that lets the audience FEEL your point.
The font needs to be VERY large.
Aim for 30 point font as a MINIMUM.
Don’t bother with bulleted lists.
It’s one of those default Powerpoint things that really are unnecessary.
Write the ONE thing you want your audience to remember.
It doesn’t have to be a full sentence.
When it comes time to present, you have a simple job.
For every slide, EXPLAIN what it means.
Be careful and deliberate. This is especially important when presenting graphs.
We’ve seen so many people slap up a graph and expect the audience to immediately know
what it means. Walk your audience through this information. Start with reading the axis
labels.
“Here, we have concentration on the y axis, and time on the x axis.”
Next, describe the trend in the data.
“Notice the initial high rate of reaction, falling
precipitously, and then the long tail as the reaction gradually slows down.”
Finally, state what you conclude from this graph.
“We conclude that this is a second-order process.”
Should you memorize your speech? No. Please don’t do this. If you really know your stuff,
you should be able to deliver the information naturally. By all means, write down the facts
you must get exactly right, but then say them in your own words.
That’s why writing the
key fact on a slide is so helpful. You don’t want to write a full sentence on the slide,
but if you have something like “75% of clients aged 55+” on a slide, you can say that any
number of ways.
Remember - teachers know this - there’s a very real limit to how much information
your audience can take in at one sitting.
Don’t feel like you have to tell them EVERYTHING.
Leave them wanting more.
If by some miracle, after you have carefully presented your 10-20
slides and you have more than 10 minutes left for questions,
you can prepare one extra slide
as food for thought - something that is peripheral and that you find interesting and would like
to investigate in the future.
But if you’re out of time, stop.
Don’t go overtime into
the next speaker’s timeslot.
That’s just bad form.
Socratica Friends -
has this dispelled some of your fears?
We know that as curious, thinking
people, you’re going to have valuable information to share with the world.
We hope these tools
help you find your voice. Next time you have to give a presentation, put these methods
to the test, and let us know how it goes.
Sharing knowledge is an important part of
being a Great Student.
Thank you for watching
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