Powerful Presentations

By: Karise McNenney

QUESTION…

• Do you remember what it felt like to sit in your high school social studies class and wish the bell would ring?

• How about being a child in elementary school and not thoroughly understanding the idea or concept being taught?

• How about being in college and falling asleep in class while the professor just talked, and talked, and talked?

What was the problem?ANSWER:

Having lectures, can at times, be a great teaching tool. However, standing in front of a class with no other visual or audio aids can be quite boring and in fact…UN EFFECTIVE

SOLUTION:

• As teachers, we should be aware of all audio and visual technology available to us. Both traditional and non traditional.

• Implementing audio and visual aids when teaching students not only helps with listening and visual skills, but also addresses a student's cognitive and learning styles.

• In incorporating visual and audio components into a presentation, the learner can acquire more meaning and draw better conclusions on the subject being taught.

• By using these tools we can help enable and support both teaching and the learning process.

Duffy and McDonald 317

How can a teacher make an effective and powerful presentation?

1. Know your learners and audience2. Familiarize yourself with different types of

audio and visual technology3. Understand there are certain techniques

and guidelines you can use when trying to make a “powerful presentation”

Knowing your Learners and Audience

Why is this important?

• Knowing your learners and audience is important because students’ learn in so many different ways.

• Auditory, Visual, Kinesthetic.

• To be a positive an effective educator and make a Powerful Presentation, we must try to incorporate as much of these different elements into our teaching as possible.

• Example: Preschool children cannot sit still for long periods of time. So… take a break and do an interactive activity pertaining to the presentation or lesson being taught.

Audio and Visual Technology

HOWEVER…

There are so many different types of learning tools one can use in the field of education to make a creative, informative, effective, and powerful presentation.

Some Examples: • DVDs• Internet sites• Transparencies and projectors• Pictures/photographs• Whiteboards• PowerPoints• Music• Graphs

Duffy and McDonald 317-350

It is important that “as teachers” we do not overwhelm our students.

• Don’t go overboard with trying to incorporate everything.

• Make sure the audio and visual tools you are using in with your objective. Powerful Presentations should be cohesive.

• Try and have an equal balance between technology and all other elements being discussed during a lesson.

EXAMPLE: As a preschool teacher you might be giving a presentation about the environment. Do not only show video clips. Pause the video to ask if anyone has any questions. Have them draw a picture. You may even take them outside to observe trees and plants.

Tips and Tricks

There are no set rules, just guidelines

• Create an objective or mission statement for what you want to discuss. Knowing ahead of time what you want your audience to know will help the overall theme of your presentation.

• Develop an outline. It doesn’t have to include everything, but it sets the tone for where you want your presentation to go. Plus, you can see if you might need to add or change anything.

• Think about ways to draw in your listeners from the very beginning. Having an “effective opening” helps keep the audience engaged. They will want to listen to what you have to say.

• During your presentation, when speaking, try to somehow recap what was already said. By reviewing previous important points (briefly) to your listeners, they will have a better chance at remembering your presentation.

• Make sure your transitions, pictures, slides, words, and other aspects of your presentation make sense and fit in with what you are trying to present.

Jukes, Ian 4

A few helpful hints for making a great presentation …

When using PowerPoint• Try to stick with fonts that are easy for the student to read – Times New Roman,

Arial, Calibri…Size also plays an important factor • Titles and headlines should fit on one line at a 44 -54 point font• For screens and presentations, try to use large clear fonts at a minimum of 24 - 32

point font.• If having more than four bullets, try using 18 point font• Bullets are important in separating important bits of information through out a

presentation. Just make sure to try and keep them as simple as possible so the reader does not become distracted.

• Contrasting colors for the display of your presentation is a really great idea. Try using a dark background with light font, or, a light background with darker font.

For more information on how to create powerful presentations log on to: http://www.infosavvygroup.com

Jukes, Ian 9-16

One Last Important thing to remember

Besides letting your audience out on time, one key component in your conclusion when creating an effective and powerful presentation, is to always remember to ask your audience…

ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS?

Works Cited

Duffy, Lever-Judy and Jean B. McDonald. Teaching and Learning with Technology. 3rd ed. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. 2008.

Jukes, Ian. Bringing Down the House: Creating Sensational Knock-Your-Socks Off Presentations: How to Deliver Your Message with Power and Pizzazz. (2005) The Info Savy Group.