1. Feedback on Block One Presentations
Generally
1. Given you are just starting your respective academic programmes and barely know
each other, you seem to have ‘gelled’ well both WITHIN your specialities and
BETWEEN them.
2. Although there is some difference in language ability between individuals, this
distinction did not come over strongly in the group presentations: a testament to your
having worked at your presentations and worked in support of each other across
the group.
3. You appear to be motivated by your subjects (... we have to admit that this does not
always appear to be the case sometimes even with Masters students, sadly....), which is
a very good sign.
4. You ‘come over’ (present yourselves) as creative and willing to try new things:
for some of you this was your first attempt at:
• presentation in a foreign language
• using Powerpoint as a presentational tool
• embedding images and hyperlinks in documents.
and you appeared to throw yourselves into it and grow in confidence as you did.
5. Interestingly, each subject area team tended to have a slightly different idea of its
subject area.... but combined, your ideas are more complete and stronger.
6. You seemed able to draw upon ideas discussed with your other profs in class and
to develop these yourselves: your ‘Cs’: case in point, in which we started with four
and wound up with five or possibly more...........I make it EIGHT, actually, based on
your presentations’ content (why not take that back to your prof and see if he/she likes
your extended list of Cs???):
• CHOOSE the information to be recorded and how to acquire it
• COLLECT it
• CONSIDER it (examine, analyse, interpret & evaluate)
• CLASSIFY it (determine to what area it best belongs)
• CATALOGUE it (record it in the right place)
• CONSERVE it (make sure it’s integrity and security is assured)
• COMMUNICATE it (to those who need it or are entitled to it)
• CHECK it (to ensure it continues to be relevant and is updated as appropriate)
7. Dare we say this..........you seemed to enjoy yourselves! You put humour into your
presentations and were not put off by comments from the ‘floor’ during presentations.
8. KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid / Keep It Short and Simple).... Powerpoint can
actually help you to do this simply because it offers you structure and makes it
impossible for you put too much information on a slide.
9. In any presentation try always to tell us first the structure of the presentation itself
before you launch out into the first subject details. The old teaching adage of:
• tell them what you are going to tell them
• tell them
• tell them what you told them
tends to work quite well!

2. Technical
1. Back of the Head Syndrome and the Ostrich Syndrome..... with the former, be
aware that (depending upon the location of the screen from which you may be
reading) if you are reading you look away from your audience, all we see is the
back of your head and we lose your voice as you project it away from us! With
the latter, you may well be sending your voice down to your shoes as you read
your notes. In both cases you lose vital eye contact with your audience.
2. Reading Slides verbatim and adding nothing. Try not to do this for any
amount of reasons:
• We can read faster than you.... we read 6 points with our eyes and you are still
on No 2. If it is vital that the audience gets every word, ask them to read it, let
them read it and then you can TALK about what they have read.
• Reading actually sends us to sleep... and you need us awake!
3. Pictures and visuals like flow charts can paint a thousand words (think about
the book-rat!) but sometimes (often!) you still need to explain them.
4. Technology fails. It WILL fail you at some point. You ALWAYS need a ‘Plan B’
5. Although Powerpoint is not a bad TOOL for presentations: it is NOT a
presentation in itself. It is not the whole event: it is the skeleton upon which you
‘hang’ the information and interpretation in your voice-over: you provide the flesh
and blood and nervous system and it is YOUR brain that gives it life. Sending a
presentation in Powerpoint to someone who did not go to the event is unlikely to
be that revealing: he will perhaps only really ‘get’ 40% or 50%... and what he will
be missing will probably be the most important elements that helps him
understand.
6. When you first start with Powerpoint you may find that it is easy to get carried
away with effects and transitions (everyone does!), but beware too much in the
way of these effects as they can all to easily annoy and actually distract from
the content. As a rule, unless the effect actually adds something to the point that
you are making (allows you to release the critical information at the right time
automatically, for example), I would be tempted to leave it out.
7. If you are doing a presentation professionally in a place you do not know – try
always to gain access before the event or early on in the day to try the
technology out in-situ if you can.