Presentations

The audience

As well as knowing your topic and staying confident, you need to know your audience and how you can keep them focused and engaged. 
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Start by asking yourself: what do they already know about the subject? This will make it easier to decide how much background detail and explanation you will need to include in your presentation so that your audience understands what you are talking about and doesn't get lost or bored.

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A good way to develop this skill is to think about how you would make the same presentation to to three different types of people, e.g. your fellow classmates, a group of young children, or a group of friends who don't study your subject. How would you adapt your content or communication skills to suit these different audiences?

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You may find that you are already very good at adapting to different audiences, but if you don't think about who you will be presenting to before you make your presentation, you could find yourself in an uncomfortable position on the day because you have ignored a potential audience, or targeted the wrong audience. It always pays to consider who might be looking at what you are presenting; don't forget, for instance, that in classes, your teacher will be listening in as well as your classmates...

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You may already know everyone in your audience and be familiar with their level of knowledge on your topic. At college, for example, you will mostly be giving presentations to other students on the same course. But yours may be one of a number of different presentations on the same topic and on the same day! How can you keep your audience engaged if they've heard it all before...?

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To stand out from the crowd, try to avoid following exactly same structure and style of the course materials you have been using so far. Good presenters can make even familiar information seem fresh by provoking their audience to rethink the topic from challenging viewpoints or different angles, whilst still  working within the presentation guidelines given. If the presentation is being assessed, such as in a language exam or an EPQ presentation, then tighter guidelines may apply and you will need to check with your teacher or mentor beforehand to make sure your ideas are still appropriate.

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But what can you do if you will have no knowledge of who will be in your audience beforehand? Perhaps you are taking part in an assembly, a hustings, or a job interview?

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If this is the case, you can still try and find out a little about your audience by asking the presentation's organiser for further information, for instance:
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• How much will the audience already know about your topic?
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• Will they be familiar with specialist terminology you want to use, or should you avoid it?
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• How many people are likely to attend?
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• Do any of them have particular requirements that might affect how you make your presentation? For example, in a small room a deaf person may prefer to lip-read, in which case you should be sure to stand where your face is well lit, whereas in a larger room you may be asked to use a specially adapted microphone.
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• Does the audience prefer a formal approach with lots of facts and information, or are you presenting to a more informal, social gathering where there might be more room for discussion during the presentation itself?
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This information will help you to start planning appropriate content for your presentation and to start tjhinking about the best possible way to deliver your prersentation to your audience. Make some notes no this before you move on, either using the worksheet or your own project notes.

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