Getting up and presenting in front of the class with all eyes on you can be quite overwhelming. However, presenting in front of large amounts of people will be something you do from here on out so it is something to get used to.
When working on a project or other form of work that will have to be presented it is best to organize from the very beginning. If your project starts out organized, it is going to be easier to stay on task and finish all parts of the assignment with quality and ease. Keeping organized is also going to help you retain all of the information you are learning which will aid in presentations because you will know exactly what to talk about.
Once the project or assignment is done and the next step is the presentation, you must practice what you are going to say and what the most important points of your topic are that you would like to share with your audience. Practice is key, you do not want to get up in front of the class and be totally unprepared because not only will that negatively affect your grade but will also negatively affect the perception other people have of you. You don't want to come across as if you do not care because that will get you nowhere.
The point of presenting a project or assignment is to show what you have learned about your topic, as well as to teach the audience something new about what you learned that they didn't know before. The better you present, the more knowledgeable you look.
Usually with a presentation there is much advance notice. Typically there should be no reason for your project or assignment to not be completed. Do not make excuses for why your project is not done or why you are not ready to present because with the advanced notice there should be no reason other than procrastination and a lack of effort for your presentation to not be ready, or ready to the standard the teacher has.
Realizing that this is only the beginning of your presentation stage will help you in the future. If you practice becoming a quality speaker now, those ideas and qualities will be instilled for years to come and will aid you very much in the future.
If presenting causes you to get extremely nervous or if you feel like you don't know how to present well, here are some tips to help you.
1. The first thing you should focus on when getting up to present is earning attention. Humans tend to get bored while passively listening so it is your responsibility to earn the audience's attention.
2.During the first moments being in front of the class with all eyes on you, it is wise to take a few deep breaths, and also taking a step back away from the audience. Both of those tips are proven to help reduce stress and anxiety caused from public speaking.
3.Before you start presenting all of the information, you should quietly and motionlessly stand in the front of the room, pausing to get the audience's devout attention before you start.
4. It is always very unwise to prep on stage, prepping for a presentation is something that should be done beforehand. Prep is short for preparation, and preparation is done beforehand not during.
5. When you begin your presentation you should strive to show both your passion and knowledge of the topic. Knowing your topic and doing your research will help your enthusiasm show. If you believe or have genuine interest in your topic it will be more compelling to the audience. Always be yourself, and aim to be poised, professional, and confident.
6. The beginning of the presentation is always the most important so it is wise to start strong. First impressions are powerful so starting off strong is always a good decision. However, some people tend to get nervous before they present and rush through the beginning of their presentation. Take caution to avoid such.
7.When presenting, keep it short and to the point. Don't ramble on with a bunch of nonsense to fill the time. Speak of what you know and what you find interesting, not a miscellaneous jumble.
8.When in front of an audience with all eyes on you it can be overwhelming and without realizing it we tend to sway back in forth or play with our hair to ease the overwhelming sensation. This is very unwise because those distracting mannerisms and movements take away from your content and what knowledge you have to offer the class.
9.Make sure that when speaking in front of the class that you speak loud and clearly enough so that every ear in the room no matter where they may be positioned can hear what you have to say.
10. The most important thing during a presentation is eye contact. Keeping eye contact with the audience shows your desire to communicate with the audience. It is better to make eye contact with individuals rather than scanning the group as a whole which is much more impersonal. When you keep good eye contact it keeps you from reading off your note cards or your slides word for word. Engaging in eye contact will help you speak of your topic better without muffling your voice by reading into the note cards in your hand.
11.Avoid speaking in a monotone, uninterested voice but rather be yourself and try to sound conversational because that will help keep the audience's attention.
12.Make sure you always run short of the alloted time to make sure you have room for any questions members in the audience might have.
13.Never falsely answer a question you don't know the answer to. Instead, admit that you do not know the answer and move on instead of making up fake details and facts.
Hopefully these tips will help you present your next project or assignment with poise and ease. If you're ever feeling nervous or unprepared for a presentation, come back and read the tips again.