9.2 Oral presentations 231
Figure 9.5 An ‘Any questions?’ last slide
the last element of the main body. As noted earlier, the content of the main body depends largely on the purpose of your presentation. For a software-development
project you might be presenting the requirements, designs, some implementation issues and so on. For a PhD you would want to concentrate on your main contribu-
tion and will probably be presenting a highly technical presentation. Whatever the case, discuss the content of your presentation with your supervisor and take his or
her advice.
The summary or conclusion is the last stage of your presentation. You may need up to four slides to do this, or you may be able to summarise in a single slide. Short
presentations may not need a summary slide, but for presentations over 30 minutes, a summary is useful to bring everything back together for the audience. A second
slide might be used to highlight the conclusions of your work – for example, what have you discovered, developed and contributed? A third slide could be used to
present ideas for future work – how your work may be developed going forward and what direction you feel the research should go. This future work slide is also a
useful starting point for the questions and discussion that inevitably follow a talk. The last slide you might consider using is an Any questions? slide. An example is
presented in Figure 9.5. This is used to complete your presentation; it might provide your contact details again if people are interested and it invites the audience
to start asking you questions about your presentation.
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Figure 9.6
An audience’s attention level during a presentation
9.2.6 Delivery
Although you might be well prepared and your visual aids stunning, a poor delivery can ruin your presentation. Rogerson 1989: 97 identifies a number of factors that can
distract the audience from what you are saying during delivery:
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talking with your back to audience or mumbling. Lots of ‘mmms’ and ‘errs’;
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not scanning the audience as a whole but focusing on one part of the room only;
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wild gesticulation – people focus on this rather than what you are saying;
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irrelevant information or sidetracking from the main point; or
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extraneous noise. In addition, you are likely to lose the audience’s attention if you are trying to cover
too much detail in a particular area – perhaps presenting lots of statistics, detailed equa- tions and so on. Figure 9.6 illustrates an audience’s attention during a presentation. As
you can see, many people remain focused only at the beginning, when they are wide awake, and towards the end, when they wake up and try to catch up on what you are
saying. Your delivery has a distinct affect on the audience’s attention during the main body of your presentation.
Following are some tips for successful delivery:
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Scanning. Make sure that you scan around all the audience during your presentation and remember to talk to people, not just their faces. Quite often you will see two or
three people paying close attention to what you are saying, perhaps nodding in agreement or taking notes. You will tend to find that you focus in on these people. It
then feels as if you are almost talking to one person at a time, not a large group and this can help reduce your nerves.
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All clear? When you put slides onto the overhead projector or you project slides from your computer, make sure that they are clear. Make sure that you are not standing in
the way, the slides are the right way up and everything is in focus.
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Handovers. If you are involved with a joint presentation, for example, as part of a group project, make sure that the handovers to each other are rehearsed and you
know the sequence in which each of you is speaking. It looks very unprofessional to see people end their section abruptly and ask the rest of the group, ‘Who’s next?’
9.2 Oral presentations 233
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Voice. Make sure that you maintain a clear, confident voice throughout your presenta- tion and don’t mumble. Take deep breaths, slow down and pause to compose yourself
if you have to.
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Timing. Make sure that you keep to your allotted time during your presentation. Keep a watch or a clock within sight and know what time you are due to finish. As a
general rule-of-thumb, you would expect each slide to take at least one minute to present – so, for a 20-minute presentation, 20 slides would be more than enough.
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Pauses. Pauses can be used for good effect during a presentation. The audience will pay close attention to what you have to say after a pause, so use them only before you
have something important to say. Try not to use too many pauses or they will lose their impact.
How should you use your notes? Many people use a series of cards with points set down on each of them covering the content of their talk. Quite often, however, people
get ahead of themselves and are often seen rummaging through their cards to see what they are supposed to be talking about next. Alternatively, if you use transparencies,
write your notes on the backing sheet of each transparency. These might direct you towards the points that you want to make for that transparency. Another approach is to
have one or two sheets of paper nearby with the main points and structure of your talk noted down to prompt you, possibly with lines and arrows to direct you.
How much detail should you include on your note cards? That is up to you. With practice, just a few prompting words should be sufficient. At the other extreme, you
might want to write out your talk word for word in case you dry up and have to read it. However, this is ill advised. Although you should make the notes detailed enough
so that you know what to say, they shouldn’t be so detailed that you have to stop your presentation to read them. A cursory glance should be all that is required for a
well-rehearsed presentation.
9.2.7 Dealing with questions
Although you might complete your presentation satisfactorily, quite often the hardest part of an oral presentation is fielding the questions at the end. This is the part over which you
have little control. In some circumstances, particularly if your presentation forms part of your assessment, questioners know the answer to the questions they pose. They are probing
your depth of knowledge and ability to convey that knowledge. They are also interested to see how you handle questions and how well you can ‘think on your feet’.
Following are a few points to help you deal with questions:
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Preparation. Try to think beforehand what kinds of questions you might be asked: will they be technical or more general? What kinds of answers will you be expected to
give – extended answers or short answers? Will you be expected to justify or defend parts of your project?
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Plants. It is not uncommon for presenters to ‘plant’ questions with colleagues in the audience. This can help to relax you because you have the prepared answers, and can
take up time that might otherwise have been filled with more difficult questions.
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Repeat the question. Sometimes the audience doesn’t hear the whole question when it is asked particularly if the room is large and only you have access to a microphone,
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so repeat the question for the entire audience before you begin to answer it. This technique will also give you a moment to collect your thoughts before you frame
an answer.
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Confidence. At all times try to remain confident. You have been asked to speak for a reason, so you are justified in being there and people feel you are worthy to be asked
a question.
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Brevity. Try to keep your answers brief and to the point.
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Conflict. Avoid conflict with the audience. Admit that differences do exist, discuss alternative interpretations and opinions and try to address things from a higher level.
In addition, avoid apportioning blame. If some results came out unexpectedly or some aspects of your project didn’t conclude satisfactorily, explain why this
happened from your perspective. Don’t blame person x or person y – your project is your responsibility so justify it from this angle.
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Clarification. You should always ask for clarification if you haven’t understood a question. Don’t try to answer what you think was asked or the question you would
like to answer. The questioner will usually probe you further until they receive the response they are looking for.
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Offer to speak to the questioner later. If you are really struggling with a ques- tion or really don’t understand it you can offer to speak to the questioner in more
detail later.
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Address the audience. When you answer questions, make sure that you address your answer to the whole audience. Your presentation isn’t over and you still have a
responsibility to speak to the entire audience rather than entering an intimate con- versation with one individual.
In conference situations, the chair of your presentation’s session will often step in if questioning becomes hostile. This is very rare but it does happen on occasions. If
you feel you are being victimised or insulted, you should ask the chair to intervene on your behalf.
9.2.8 Presentation tips
Following are a few tips to improve your oral presentations.
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Time. If you have difficulty keeping to time either over- or under-estimating, have some spare slides you can ‘drop in’ or take out of your presentation depending on
how time is progressing.
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Pointers. Try to avoid using laser pointers. They are never clear and wobble all over the screen. A much better way is to use a pen or pointer on the overhead projector or at the
screen. If you are nervous, place the pen down against the point you are referring to and leave it there. If you are using a computer-based presentation, you could use the mouse
pointer as a pointing device.
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Movement. Many people fidget and move around alarmingly when they are giving a presentation. With practice you can suppress these urges and learn to avoid annoying
habits such as jangling keys in your pocket. If you are going to make a movement, try not to make it an exaggerated one unless you need to do so for emphasis and to
