Presentations

Introduction

Making a presentation can be nerve-wracking – particularly if it’s the first time you’ve ever had to stand up in front of people and talk all by yourself! But college is all about developing new skills and building your confidence for the types of experiences you are likely to have in the future – and presentation skills are some of the most useful skills you can use to help you succeed.

Basic presentation skills can be required to get through job interviews these days, and if your ambition is to be as rich as Mark Zuckerberg one day, then you need to be able to present your ideas like Mark Zuckerberg*! 

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Some college subjects specifically require you to give a presentation to your fellow students, such as Business Studies, Media Studies or the EPQ. Don’t be afraid of this! It’s a great opportunity to learn a lot of valuable skills, as well as to build your own confidence in controlling your voice, speaking steadily and clearly, and using your appearance and body language to help influence your audience.

However, communication skills have a much broader application than this. Thinking about the best way to communicate is a good discipline to use when you’re preparing any assignment (an essay is like a mini–presentation in itself!), or even when just talking with your teachers or other students.

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This course will break down the best ways to approach a presentation, including:

• planning the presentation,
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• creating the presentation, and
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• dealing with anxiety.
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It’s then up to you to enjoy the feeling of success afterwards and to get ready to take over the world, like, you know, Mark Zuckerberg…

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Little tip: if you're ever feeling nervous about making a presentation, watch a Mark Zuckerberg presentation, like the one below, and ask yourself: is he really that great at presenting? You don't need to be brilliant at speaking in public, you just need to be clear, informative and confident.

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This course has been adapted from The Open University's Communicating and Presenting Study Guide booklet. You can view the original at www.open.ac.uk/skillsforstudy.