Ideas how to prepare for a presentation

1. Before the presentation:
coping with stage fright,
preparation

2. „The essence of courage is not that your heart should
not quake, but that nobody else should know that it
does.”
E. F. Benson

3. Fighting stage fright
„panic and emptiness syndrome”
debilitative/facilitative anxiety
risk of rejection, criticism, disagreement
depends on personal evaluative filter

4. Mechanism of stage fright
Stage 1.
Announcemen
t of action
Stage 2.
Association
with previous
events
Stage 3.
Images of
what might
happen
Stage 4.
Preparing
body and mind
for action
FEAR
NEGATIVE ASSOCIATIONS

5. How to fight stage fright?
 Negative experiences: positive programming
(“panic and emptiness” or prepare for
action?)
 Be aware of the basic requirements of
speaking in public
 Practice and rehearse

6. Don’t review before the presentation
relax!
“Accommodate” the scene - move!
Learn the opening sentences by heart.
Look for interested or
smiling faces and
make eye contact.
„First come –
first done!”

7.  Control your emotions: avoid immediate
negative “imprinting” and reflect.
 Audience = the sole and most accomplished
judges of your performance
evaluative filter
(parental and social models
experiences)
 Trust yourself.

8. Preparation
Long term preparation
family background
educational background
professional background
information pool
vocabulary
style

9. How to train yourself?
• Read a lot of varied writings.
• Develop a critical sense for reading.
• Find partners for discussing your opinions
• Develop an “obsession”.

10. Choosing a topic
Is it important to present my topic
objectively, or subjectivity is expected and
appreciated?

11. How to use others’ ideas in my own
presentation?
 Situate your own experience in the field
 Always note down your own ideas first!
 Relying on others’ ideas:
- no urge for personalisation
- deprives you of personal success
- boring

12. What sources would I like to
consult?
 Do I prefer library research, or is it more in my line to
go out and collect empirical data?
 Do I know how to ask people for information? Can I
draw valid conclusions from such data?
 Asking other people
- sampling participants
- interviews, questionnaires
- careful conclusions from qualitative data

13. Will the topic suit my audience in
interest, background and
expectation?
Interest
Common experience
Background knowledge
Novel aspects of speech
Voluntary or compulsory attendance
Number of people – type of possible
interaction

14. Is the topic suitable for the situation?
Will it satisfy overt or covert
expectations?
demonstrating knowledge vs. presenting
skills
ability to analyse and argue
level of formality
academic orientation
stake (playing safe vs. going creative)

15. What genre should I choose?
Entertaining speech
Informative speech
Persuasive speech

16. Outlining the topic
 Introduction – Development – Conclusion
 The central thread
 Rudyard Kipling’s plan
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
 Definition
 Classification
 Cause – Effect

17. Spatial organisation
Chronology
Thesis – Antithesis – Synthesis
Problem – Cause –Solution
Example- Argument- Reason
Dialectic

18. Format 1.
Reading out a manuscript
Read it several times, understand the contents.
Rehearse aloud.
Underline the key expressions.
Put slashes into places where you want to pause.
Practise intonation and emphasis.
Mark the places of possible digression from the text.
Practice eye-contact (Szabó, 1997).

19. Format 2. Working from notes
13. Reading out a manuscript
Message, aim READ MANUSCRIPT you!
perfectly
formulated
UNDERLINE KEY PHRASES
Topics,
subtopics, KEY PHRASES ON CARDS sample
number
PREPARE FOR FAILURE

20. If you didn’t manage to prepare, prepare
for failure!
Be prepared for apologising and correcting
yourself if you have
talked too fast,
got your facts wrong,
forgotten something important,
overcomplicated your speech,
talked nonsense,
run out of time.

21. Key aspects of preparation
Understand the task
Try positive programming
Choose a topic to suit the task, audience,
context – and You
Compose a title - focus and expectation
Pick an outline format to support your topic
and genre
Prepare for failure and the unexpected