Don’t be nervous: How to prepare for a presentation
Excerpt:
1. Create a thesis.
If someone were to ask you, “What’s this presentation about?” you should be able to summarize your answer in a concise sentence or two. If you stumble through your explanation or ramble, you’re thinking too broadly. Just like a well-written essay or article, a well-executed presentation should have a targeted aim and focus.
Not sure if your presentation is too broad? Write out the thesis. If you are hesitant or can’t summarize the subject of your presentation, rethink the breadth. Consider the top takeaways you want your audience to have at the end of the presentation and focus on those things first.
2. Structure the presentation with the audience’s knowledge level in mind.
When you are an expert on a topic, you can be so close to it that you lose touch with what is common knowledge and what isn’t. Everyone has sat through presentations where the lecturer needlessly defines basic terms, but listening to someone speak at a high level, when you have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about, is just as bad.
Think about who your audience is and what they are likely to know when you create your presentation. If you’re talking to highly skilled professionals in a very niche field, you probably don’t need to define basic industry terms.
If, though, you’re teaching something new to a group of people with little to no prior knowledge of the subject, explain unique terms and acronyms (even if they’re old hat to you), and pace out the information in digestible chunks.
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