Help from secondary school pupils & teachers with a presentation please?

Question

I have been asked to do a short talk and 'question and answer' session at a local secondary school. Without getting into the nitty-gritty of what the subject is, are there any generic things I can do to make the presentation interesting? For example, should I include a Powerpoint presentation, or is that likely to bore everyone senseless?! Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Any talk or presentation for young adults should be catchy, simple, interesting, and most importantly, interactive. Teenagers have extremely short attention spans, so you have to begin by first grabbing their attention, then holding on to it. Here are a few tips on how to go about doing this:

Choose a topic that your intended audience of young adults will find relevant and interesting. It should also be a topic that you can research, write about, and present in the given amount of time.

If the topic has been assigned to you by someone else, pick an aspect of it that will appeal to your teenage audience.

Begin your presentation with an "attention getter" - an audience-appropriate gimmick designed to immediately grab the attention of the students. Depending on your topic, an attention getter could be a startling statistic, a joke, an anecdote, a question, a brief bit of acting, song, or dance ... you get the picture!

Introduce yourself AFTER the attention getter, and mention the full title of your presentation. This should be done slowly, deliberately, clearly, audibly.

Give the audience a brief overview of what your presentation will include. (Example: I will start out with an Introduction that will cover ... I will then examine ... Finally, I will conclude by ...)

Have a clear Introduction, Middle & Conclusion.

Make the presentation as interactive as possible, and involve the audience fully. This is very important with a young audience because as I said earlier, they have very short attention spans.

Also, this doesn't really need to be said, but since we sometimes tend to overlook the obvious, I will say it - make and maintain constant eye contact with the audience throughout the presentation!

Open the talk to discussion & questions at the end, and be prepared to respond satisfactorily!

It is a very good idea to prepare a PowerPoint presentation because it gives the audience a visual representation of your words. Use bright but not garish colors for the slides, and add subtle graphics or animation. You can find plenty of these on the Microsoft Office Online Site here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/FX101321031033.aspx?pid=CL100570201033
You can also find PowerPoint templates here:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/FX100595491033.aspx?pid=CL100632981033

Remember, your slides should only contain well-spaced bulleted lists - not a mass of text.

You can make your presentation more appealing to a younger audience by using creative slide transitions available on PowerPoint.

Another thing to remember is that you should only turn to your slides briefly while making the presentation. Look at the audience MORE than you look at the slides.

Also make sure that the slides are visible to all.

It is, in fact, a very good idea to check out the location (where you will make your presentation) beforehand (if you have not seen it before). This will give you an idea of the size of the room/auditorium, the acoustics, the light and temperature, etc. Being familiar with the location, and knowing what to expect makes the speaker more comfortable and confident.

You could also check out the computer or laptop (if it's not your own) that you will use for the presentation. Often, versions of software vary, and because of it, your colors may appear different, and transitions, animations, video, or sound may not work.

Finally, if you are nervous, here are some techniques for overcoming shyness and nervousness:

Prepare more material than necessary. This will give you confidence.

Memorize your first line perfectly - though when you speak, it should not appear to be memorized!

Pick a few friendly faces in the audience, and look at them as far as possible.

Visualize yourself as a success - picture people clapping, and congratulating you on a brilliant performance!

Practice in front of a mirror and before your friends or family. The more you practice, the more confident you will become.

Before you begin, take a few deep breaths, and a few sips of water!

Good luck, and do let us know how it goes :)

Answer 2

Make it fun. If you enjoy presenting the subject, chances are your audience will enjoy it too. Use PowerPoint to accentuate your points, and don't be afraid to use fun clip art and sounds. Don't rely on Power Point though as people need different methods to remember the info. Start the presentation with a poll/question/or something where the audience is involved. This will grab their attention immediately. Also, ask questions every once in a while to ensure minds don't wonder. Sometimes you can learn from them too.
The biggest points on all of this are these two. 1 - Don't talk down to them. There is nothing more that will lose high school students than to be talked down to. 2 - Don't read off a page. You know your subject. write down a few key points and talk. Enjoy!!!

Answer 3

Kids now adays like to process information quickly and immediately. A PowerPoint offers a wonderful visual too and also can provide pictures, diagrams, and sounds. I can't stress enough what others said- don't read the slides! If you have any video demonstrations or clips showing them might not be a bad idea. Just make sure they aren't totally unrelated or won't go over the student's heads. Talk to them and involve them as much as possible. Don't only ask them questions but if you can use some for demonstrations or a small game with some sort of little prize.

Answer 4

It's not the use of PowerPoint that makes a presentation boring. It's the complete and total reliance some have on it that does.

In other words, don't just stand behind a podium and read your slides. Get out into the group and walk around. Make your audience focus on you, and reference your slides from time to time.

Another important piece... Make your presentation interactive. Ask questions. And not the kind where you want one answer. Do a vote. How many of you have heard of this? That kind of question. Give them a task.. .maybe something to write down. Keep them involved in the conversation.

And as the previous answer says... don't talk down to them.

Answer 5

I think a PowerPoint presentation is normally the best way to go, at least with things to look at, they are more likely to pay attention. Use pictures, music and different timings for your points to liven it up a bit.
The only other thing I can think of is if you use a package like Quizdom, where pupils have remote controls to answer different questions, they love it, its a bit like Who wants to be a millionaire.

Answer 6

Wilsonmathewf's answer is about as good as it gets.
Good luck and enjoy yourself.