4. Effective Presentations

The first time I knew I was going to present, I trembled. I remember asking myself:  what am I going to talk about? How will I present it and so on? I got myself worked-up at the thought of it but guess what, it was not as difficult as it sounded. I found it very interesting at the end. 

I began by assuring myself that it was only a presentation and not a death-sentence. The easiest part of the process was, having to choose a topic of my own. That prompted me to go for a topic of my interest, something I was comfortable with and at least a bit confident to talk about. I did a mind-map on the topic to gather information. While I was doing so, I avoided too many information and therefore picked out the most importation points. It was concise and clear.

As a result of my research on effective presentation, I decorated my slides with some images to elaborate my points, which made it appear interesting and eye-catching. My cue cards were also ready with the main points written therein. Another important thing I did was practice my presentation within the time-frame given using a few of my friends as my audience. This was done repeatedly until my timing was accurate.

At the beginning of my presentation, I saluted my audience, introduced myself, my topic and gave an overview of my presentation.  During the presentation I ensured to maintain an eye-contact with my audience and at the end I concluded by summarizing my entire presentation, referenced my sources of information and finally appreciated my audience for their time.