Presentation Skills – how I did the session

 

Everyone (11 students) was asked to describe a ‘bad presentation’ they had attended, suggesting why it had been poor and adding some comments on what made a ‘good’ presentation.

 

I explained in my introduction that session would involve some reflecting ( as above) some activity, some assessment of the activity after which we would draw some conclusions about presentations. I compared this loosely to the KOLB learning cycle.

 

Elements of poor presentation that were identified by the students included structure – preventing an understanding of the material: characteristic was a lack of milestones or points where material was re-capped. Poor vocal delivery was mentioned – monotones, reading out from a prepared text, lack of visual support.

 

Positives identified: one student talked about being so absorbed that she forgot she was attending a presentation. Others talked about ‘authority’ the sense that the presenter knew what  he/she was talking about. Interactivity and the opportunity to ask questions were also mentioned.

 

I asked the group to work in pairs to devise a brief presentation.

The brief was to recommend a way of spending £20,000  to improve student life for PhD’s.

I chose a group of 3 students to become an assessment panel for the presentations. They had to think of the criteria we had identified in the group and create a scoring method. They then had to give feedback to the presenters. We decided to ask this team to discuss their thoughts in public after each presentation and to offer positive and negative feedback so that they got some praise and some indication of areas for development..

 

30 minutes was spent on the preparation.

 

The presentations varied greatly in quality and it was difficult for the assessors to be as analytical and critical as would be ideal to suggest sensible and detailed feedback particularly in respect of areas to improve.

 

I tried to supplement the feedback with my own comments ( which had not been part of my plan.

 

I highlighted one strong presentation which had provided a clear introduction, a structured plan of action and a summary.  Mostly instructors forgot to summarise despite a very strong sense in the group that summaries were very helpful.

 

I also picked up some issues concerning body language – the impact of smiles, facing the audience, movement, speaking while writing