Developing Oral Presentation Skills

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Developing Oral Presentation Skills

• Pat Maier

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Aims of the session

• Recognise good and poor talks
• Identify and resolve your concerns
• Techniques to avoid poor talks
• Dealing with your nerves
• Tips for group presentations

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What makes a talk poor?

• Little/no eye contact
• No engagement with the audience
• Mumbling
• Often because not engaging with audience
• Reading from a paper
• Too fast, monotone
• Little/no structure
• Lack of clarity
• Too much information
• Bad visual aids

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Dealing with nerves

• Be prepared
• Plan and rehearse
• See dealing with nerves box
• See handy check list
• Deep breathing!
• May sound naff, but it works
• Engage with your audience
• Makes you feel more relaxed
• See engage with your audience box

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Presenting as part of a team

• Plan talk together
• Set responsibilities
• Structure talk
• Intro sections - conclusion
• Ensure everyone will speak
• Smooth links between speakers
• Someone to introduce talk and
• Introduce next topic speaker
• Someone to conclude
• Your talk must HANG TOGEGTHER

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Academic Skills Guides

• Guides available are
• Learning styles
• Reading academically
• Writing effectively
• Referencing your work
• Getting the most from lectures
• Working in groups
• Giving a talk
• Preparing effectively for examinations
• Search strategy
• Writing your dissertation
• EndNote - software that helps you manage
  references
• Approaching Mathematical Problems Systematically