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Ten Tips For Giving An Oral Presentation In Class
Giving oral presentations in class or before a panel of teachers is something we'll all have to face throughout our studies. Whether we like it or not, these ten tips will make it much easier.
Preparation
The best way to deal with the stress of giving an oral presentation is simply to be well prepared. If you know the topic inside and out and have rehearsed it a good few times either in front of family and friends or by filming and playing it back yourself then you already have a sense of how you’ll perform. For added support, some students even seek to resources to strengthen their preparation, which can boost confidence and help them stay calm under pressure.
What's more, a well-prepared presentation will come out automatically, regardless of how nervous we are. And, of course, as soon as we open our mouths and see the words begin to flow in the correct order, we'll immediately calm down.
Lean on chips
Keep index cards or a tablet on hand throughout the presentation so you can keep track of the flow of the presentation in case something gets you lost.
And if we have done our preparation the right way, we will not consult our notes, but the cheat sheet will make us feel more confident and less nervous. Having a safety net gives us a lot of reassurance. While some might be tempted to think, can someone , true confidence comes from preparation and knowing you've earned your success through your own efforts.
No more reviews
We've researched, documented, written the essay, and mastered the topic. We've already practiced the presentation at home and brought the cards and audiovisual support. We've got everything under control, and all that's left is to give the oral presentation. Don't even think about reviewing everything right before you start. Doing so will only make you feel insecure and confuse you. It's best to spend the minutes before your presentation walking, breathing deeply, drinking water, or even doing yoga if that relaxes you, but never review it at the last minute if you don't want nerves to get the better of you.
Make us heard
Everyone there has to be able to hear us, so we have to speak loudly and vocally. Don't mumble into your collar, because no one can hear you. Star directly into the camera and take the time to say things clearly. Even if you end up feeling pretty nervous at the outset and tempted to bury yourself in the sand, you cannot let stress get the best of you. Your voice may sound strange or shaky because you are nervous, but you are the only one who will notice that and it will pass after you have spoken for the first few minutes, after that you will speak fluently.
Create a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere
Without neglecting the seriousness and professionalism required for oral presentations, and even more so for Final Degree or Master's Thesis presentations, we can make the atmosphere as relaxed as possible by joking about certain parts (without going overboard) or trying to engage the audience in the presentation by asking questions. In a more relaxed atmosphere, we'll feel more comfortable, and so will our audience. They'll also find it more entertaining to listen to us and will rate us more highly.
Language
We must use correct language at all times, which doesn't mean we have to use every word with more than 10 syllables or Latin terms we've heard during the course. It's not about lulling people to sleep with unbearable technical jargon so they can see how much vocabulary we know; it's about communicating: language helps us make ourselves understood. Let's speak properly, but simply and directly. Of course, without swearing or slang. And we can't just say "en plan" all the time, no matter how easily we can.
Gestures
Let's not wave our arms too much or move around constantly, nor should we remain motionless. Our gestures should be normal and relaxed. They should support our words, emphasizing what's important, but not distract from what we're saying.
It's important not to appear overacted and to interact normally, as if we were having a relaxed conversation. Even if we're a mess inside, if we move freely, we'll gradually relax and convey our message better.
Where to look
Even if we feel embarrassed looking at the people listening to us, we can't just look at our index cards or the PowerPoint presentation. We can only do that occasionally to take notes or to isolate ourselves from the audience if we feel overwhelmed at some point. We should remember that we have to relate to the audience, so even if we would have preferred to do the oral presentation from behind a screen, we are unable to do it. We have to look at the audience and be aware of their faces, that becomes a compass to know if they are paying us attention or if what we are saying interests them, when they should laugh so they do not sleep, or conversely, when to be a little more serious so they do not take our work for a joke.
The best you can do is sweep the room left to right and back again, occasionally fixing your gaze on a random individual who happens to be looking back at you, but not at the same people every time. You want each audience to feel like you are addressing them, you have to get them involved in the presentation.
Breathing
Sorry, it sounds silly, but if we are nervous we breathe in more than we breathe out until we think we are going to asphyxiate. We have to consciously breathe in a natural way: breathe in, breathe out, do this so we don’t choke on our words. Not only does slowing down our breathing help us feel more relaxed, but it can also help keep our diction crisp and control the pace of how quickly we speak.
Inner peace
Every time we step in front of an audience, whether it is the first time in our life, or we’ve done it a hundred times, getting up to speak evokes a visceral sense of depersonalization. It’s like, at first, our body, our actions, weren’t who we are, as if our voice wasn’t our voice. It's quite normal. There are actors who do give you that feeling when you get up on that stage after 20, 30 years.
What’s important is going through this process as quickly as we can, to restore a feeling of control over ourselves, and this is best done by identifying what we are going through that we do not panic and find ourselves using our most effective relaxation methods. We must find our centers, and if that fails, cope through it, as it will probably only last a few minutes. Once this feeling goes away, and we make peace with it and identify it as simply “feeling bad,” we will flow much easier and smoother, and feel more humanly much better, within yourself.
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