Guidelines For Student Presentations In Class
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Suggestions for doing as well as possible in classroom presentation are noted below.
1. Nervousness and anxiety
Everybody has it when they start. There is no magical solution for avoiding it, like
thinking of everyone in their underwear. Here are a couple of ideas:
One important step is to do a good job actually understanding the material you are
presenting and organizing it for clear presentation. Last minute and superficial
study and preparation of the material will be reflected as uncertainty and doubt in
your presentation.
No doubt one of the best ways to minimize nervousness and anxiety is to practice.
Practice in front of a mirror and/or in front of friends or family; ask for feedback.
The more you practice, the more comfortable you will be when making the real
presentation. Be sure and time your presentation, using an egg timer or some
other device to mark off the allotted time; do this with every practice session.
While you would not necessarily be graded down for nervousness, presentations
may be graded poorly when they are poorly organized and carried out.
2. The Opening
Generally, it is a good idea to do two things at the outset: try to establish a degree of
rapport with the audience and tell the audience what you will cover.
It can be a good idea to introduce yourself, especially if the class is large and you
don’t know everyone. Another good thing to do is to open with a story or
example (by doing this, you can kill the proverbial two birds of rapport and
nervousness with one stone). For example, you can use a personal example
(something that happened to you or a personal experience) to explain why you
selected a topic.
Another technique that can help you relax in the early part of the presentation is to
get the audience involved by asking a question or having them do an activity, like
take a test or pose a question. Whatever you do, it should be related to what you
are presenting.
After any opening comments or activities, you should tell the audience what you
will cover. This can be a 15 second piece, to the effect that “I’m going to cover
three things. First, I’ll talk about .. Then, I’ll review … and I’ll wrap up by ….”