Presentation Tips

Presenting-The Basics

When you're presenting, you're trying to convince someone of something. When presenting to academics as part of your studies you might be trying to convince them you know about type II superconductors, or when presenting to potential employer's you might be trying to convince them you know about their company and the challenges its facing. Maybe you're a PhD researcher presenting to convince potential contributors of the worth of your research. Keeping all these different possibilities in mind, here's some tips;

• Have your presentation in clear, distinct sections; you need an introduction, points that are substantiated seperately, and a summary.
• Always leave time for questions!
• Have a central theme throughout.
• Keep your points concise, especially what's on the screen. If you're using say PowerPoint, don't have everything you say written on the screen, just have a few short sentences that you elaborate on with what you say.
• Make your presentation unique, don't be afraid to use imagery and humour where appropriate.
• Know your audience, how technical should the presentation be? What information is vital to the audience? Are they more interested in the content or your delivery?

Nicholas Collis : 25 May 2012 11:50 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

A free way to make high quality posters

Posters!

Making aesthetically pleasing and informative posters in no easy task, but a good knowledge of relevant software definitely helps.

There's a few different ways to make posters, PowerPoint being the one most students go with. There's other options out there though. For example, ever heard of paint.net? Not to be confused with MS paint, paint.net is an opensource(free) piece of software that uses a layered structure like Photoshop.

How do I use it?

Paint.net is a bit tricky at first if you've never used a layer based program. Here's a few tips to get you started.

• In the bottom right hand corner you'll find a box entitled layers. In paint.net when you add new images it usually puts that image in a new layer. When using the standard tools like rubber and paintbrush, make sure you've got the correct layer selected. To be selected, a layer can't just have its box ticked, that just means its being shown (you can show as many or as few of the layers as you like), you've got to click on it so all of its highlighted.
• If you want to add a background image an easy way to do it is to go to layers-import from file.
• One of the most powerful tools of paint.net is the magic wand. This is to the left of the hand symbol in the toolbar on the right. Clicking an area of an image with this causes the wand to select all the surrounding image of a similar colour. You can increase or decrease the area selected by changing the tolerance bar which will appear at the top of the screen when you use the wand.

If you like the look of paint.net and want to use it more often, check out this online tutorial;

http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/forum/18-tutorials-publishing-only/

Any questions on using paint.net or making posters in general, put them here!

Nicholas Collis : 25 May 2012 11:36 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Thread of Threads

Is there are thread you think should be on this blog? Comment on here and we'll put it up!

Nicholas Collis : 18 May 2012 11:36 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What Presentation Skills Do Employer's Expect?

The job market is continually changing, and nowhere is this more true than graduate employment. Nowadays employers are expecting more and more from prospective candidates, so your skills need to be as up to date as possible.

But when it comes to presenting and media creation, just what skills do employer's expect? These can vary from one industry to another, but usually graduate employers expect a presentation at assessment centres, so being able to present confidently and calmly is a must. Some employers are now also getting candidates to produce videos as part of the selection process, making skill in this area increasingly important.

I've personally been to four assessment centres, and all of them wanted a presentation. The size of audience varied from just one person to five, but it was always a nerve racking experience as I knew so much was riding on it. That's why its so important to get as much practice as you can in presenting.

To start doing this, try out the Learning Grid Adviser's presentation feedback service. You can book a presentation room hereand book an adviser to watch your presentation and provide feedback here.

Are you currently trying to get a graduate job? If so what are your experiences?

Nicholas Collis : 30 Apr 2012 09:33 |  Tags: Employers Presentation Skills |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Presentation Technologies

Hi everybody,

There's lots of technologies out there that you can use to improve a presentation, such as PowerPoint, Keynote and Prezi to name just two. What software do you like use to present with? What training and support would you like Warwick to offer you in using such software?

In the meantime, try out prezi, you can make a free acount at prezi.com. Prezi is a zooming presentation technology that also has the benefit of being able to produce non-linear presentations.

Nicholas Collis : 30 Apr 2012 09:29 |  Tags: Presentation Technology |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Welcome!

Hello!

This is a blog where people throughout Warwick can discuss their views on presenting, and in particular using the latest technology to improve presentations. We'll also be discussing the associated areas of poster and video production.

This blog has IT and presentation experts from throughout Warwick contributing to it, so whatever your question, ask away!

Have you got any views on any of the threads? Any questions you'd like to ask? Please fire away as this project is all about Warwick helping to improve the services it offers to its students, so the more you let us know, the more we can do!

Nicholas Collis : 30 Apr 2012 09:00 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem