02. For Zeek the Geek only - PPT slides

What Makes an Effective Presentation; a Literature Review

Michael Alfred R. Clado – 11600101

Mary Jane Brosoto - 11600355

King’s own Institute

Abstract

Ever since the beginning of time, the need to express or present ideas in front of a gathering has always been existent. Take for instance the Agoras in Greece, whereby philosophical and political ideas were expressed in front of peers. Today, presentations are done with the aid of Information and Communication technology tools like PowerPoint. All the same, despite the presence of ICT, human effort and understanding is very key in passing on ideas and concepts from one individual to the rest. Perhaps effective presentation is the best form of knowledge sharing and knowledge management.

Contents Abstract 3 Introduction 5 Literature Review and Overview 5 Summary 7 Conclusion 8 References 9

A presentation refers to an activity whereby an individual or a group of individuals demonstrate, give a description of, or give an explanation of something to a well-defined audience. A key performance indicator with respect to the competence of a presentation is the good manner in which the message is conveyed to an audience. The good visual impression of media used does not matter is the target audience do not grasp the concepts used in a presentation; relaying of intended messages is of utmost importance. The coherence of the argument made by the presenter are made clear depending on the media used; with the most common form of media used being PowerPoint slides. When doing a presentation, the factors to consideration to include time, simplicity, briefness, and clarity. This paper is going to give invaluable insights i.e. a literature review as to what constitutes a good presentation and what it is that presenters should focus on to articulate their messages well and make audiences happy.

In his review, Baccarani, C., & Bonfanti, A., (2015) talk about a number of ways in which an individual can make a good presentation. For example, he emphasises the need for the presenter to demonstrate passion and to make a connection witReh his audience. In addition to that, he documents the need for keeping presentations simple and concentrated on the core message (Baccarani & Bonfanti, 2015). Overall, the key message advocated for by Anderson is giving a good visual impression to targeted audiences. It is worth mentioning that Anderson advises people to tell stories to their audience; with a short story, audiences are likely to pay more attention. With stories, audiences get to have the main message of the presentation etched in their minds.

Research by Cardon, P. (2015) falls in line with the one conducted previously by Anderson in 2013 in that they both advocate for short and to the point presentations. Cardon is well aware of the fact that PowerPoint is used in most presentations. For that matter, he deems presentations should comprise ten slides, should take twenty minutes and a font of 30 point. The dreaded ‘Death by PowerPoint’ is feared by most presenters because the placement of too much information per slide. When too much information is placed on every slide, the audience may fail to understand the gist of the presentations (Cardon, 2015). Most experts recommend the need to explain as though the audience were little children so that the intended message is grasped. Apart from agreeing on timely presentations, the two authors agree on the need to start strongly as a presenter. The start point of a presentation is very important because the attention of target audiences needs to be grabbed and held on to. In addition to commendable speech skills, there is a need for slides that give a good visual impression.

Clark pegs the success of a presentation on the ability of the speaker to verbally express his or herself. He advises all people looking to make a presentation to exude passion and make a connection with the targeted audience; moreover, presenters should concentrate on the needs of the audience. The audience’s needs here refer to the intended message that the presenter is looking to convey; presenters need to make it very easy for audiences to understand and to respond to presentations. For a presenter to show passion, he should be very relaxed in his movements and avoid being nervous at all costs. Research by (Clark, 2008) also adds that maintenance of eye contact and smiling with the audience is a good way to substantiate one’s points in a given presentation. Finally, Clark’s book recommends that there is a need to leave something to the audience so that they remember you. He justifies this by saying people are usually busy and once a presentation is over; the moment they go for a tea break or lunch; the moment they go back to their desks, the likelihood of forgetting you increases. Offering a small booklet, a few chapters, a premium item or a flyer will offer the people present in the meeting a thing to bear you in mind.

DuBrin (2011) in his book, advises presenters to build rapport with the audience by making eye contact and smiling. Apart from smiling, he advocates for presenters to offer bespoke handouts to their audiences after they are done with their presentations. It is also worth noting that Baum recommends the utilization of media only to make enhancements. He says that Microsoft PowerPoint, video, and visuals (flash cards being the simplest of them all); are influential tools of presentation if they will be used in the correct manner. The downside of too much dependence on media is that they can be catastrophic distractions in the event that they are misused (DuBrin, 2015). The challenge that comes with the usage of media is that many people give it the power to replace them as the provider of know-how or expertise; the situation can be so dire such that the audience may feel you should have emailed the deck to them. Clark and DuBrin agree on leaving a guide or a summary of key points to audiences after a presentation is done. ‘A worthy leave-behind’ is appreciated for the role it plays in making ideas ingrained in the minds of audiences. Whatever points that different people may have missed out on are confirmed in a bespoke handout.

Presentations are a relevant aspect of any given organisation or society; they have been used time and again within and without normative social, economic and political constructs. Most presentations require a person who is well-versed with the subject in question to give more insights. All literature on making effective presentations agrees on the need to connect with the audience in a special Kind of way. Furthermore, experts recommend that presentations should be kept short and up to the point; with twenty minutes being the most a presentation should take. There is a greater risk of the audience getting bored if presenters present long ‘lectures’ or directions on various subjects. Perhaps presentations should be customised with respect to the nature and preferences of the presenter; nevertheless, the one thing in common that all presenters should possess is confidence. Confidence can turn an otherwise bad presentation to be a successful one and the lack of it could make a well-planned presentation to become disastrous. Second to confidence is the need to use keywords of the subject in question to make good headings. Apart from confidence, there is a need for presenters to go easy on the transitions and effects when making presentations; it is never prudent to focus so much on the design and layout of presentation because these do not do a lot in enhancing the experience of audiences. If they are really necessary, effects and transitions should be used subtly.

In the event that charts and graphs need to be used, presenters ought to use simple ones. Dropping images of charts into presentations is not bad; what brings bad taste is using too much of the said graphs or using complicated ones. In the event that there is a very relevant graph that should be presented to an audience, a presenter should even go as far as redrawing native presentation applications just to make all audiences comfortable. Conclusively, public speaking is and always has been a relevant part of all presentations. No matter how good the PowerPoint or Keynote presentation is, public speaking skills are very important; there is a need for audiences; through speech; to feel there has been an establishment of central messages and structure to whatever talks that are being passed down to them.

Conclusion

To make a presentation there is a need to think about PowerPoint slides last as opposed to first. It is good to put thought on the man message that is being presented, and then structure all the supporting points, make preparation for it and time it and then finally begin putting thought into slides. Presentations should just begin on their own accord, slides should be a by-the-way; something that should just be an enhancement of the experience of listeners. It is also important to generate a look and feel consistent; such that every slide should look like part of the same story. Another thing that most presenters do not think about is how to transition from one topic to another; slides should not seem too alike; there should be an X factor in every slide. Overall, presentations should be presented in a way that less is just about always more. Presentations should not be characterised with so much text such that audiences do not get the hang of it; it would also be wise if presenters use imagery and photos to enhance the overall meaning of a presentation.

References

Baccarani, C., & Bonfanti, A., (2015). Effective public speaking: a conceptual framework in the corporate communication field, An International Journal, Vol. 20 No: 3, pp.375-390

Cardon, P. (2015). Business Communication; developing leaders for a networked world. McGraw-Hill: Higher Education.

Clark, J. (2008). Powerpoint and Pedagogy: Maintaining Student Interest in University Lectures. College Teaching, vol. 56 no. 1, 39-45.

DuBrin, A. (2011). Impression management in the workplace. New York: Routledge.