Presentations 101

Presentations are about much more than public speaking and overcoming stage fright. A good presentation always has the intention of being functional: There should be a reason for presenting, and, in most careers, professionals will be expected to present to some degree for many of the reasons described below. In the case of the senior design program, we simulate some of these aspects in order to help students gain experience; however, even within this sandbox, the objectives can have very real consequences on amplifying success and outcomes of projects. 

INFORM ATTENDEES

Nearly all presentations will come with the intent to inform those involved. These people may be customers, peers, managers, investors, members of the public, or stakeholders. The ability to efficiently communicate to a wide array of audiences is critical for professionals as it can mean the difference between success and failure for a wide array of reasons. 

Students in the program should be working to develop skills around: 

• Clearly introducing a project to a broad audience

• Breaking down complex topics

• Detailing risks and opportunities 

• Addressing ethical and social concerns

• Detailing costs and resources used already as well as those still necessary to complete a project

• Tracing the path taken thus far and lessons learned

• Laying out the path forward

HOW TO PREPARE

KNOW THE TOPIC

Nothing beats a presenter who is well informed on the topic at hand. It is very hard for a presenter to overcome having a shallow knowledge of a topic. While a memorized speech may play well in certain circumstances, unless a presenter is well informed, they won't hold up if difficult questions are asked or something goes wrong. 

USE NATURAL LANGUAGE

Most audiences can tell when they're getting a sales pitch. This is why the show "Shark Tank" often feels "cringe," and advertisements are often disconnected from their audience. A technical presentation should leverage professional but natural language. This can often be challenging when a presenter is uncomfortable, and it is okay for a presenter to have a planned or memorized portion of the presentation, but the goal of many technical presentations is typically to evoke action, dialogue, and/or feedback. This can be difficult to develop, but the more genuinely informed the presenter is with the project, the easier it is to speak naturally about it.

PRACTICE

Thinking about doing something or planning to do something is almost always inferior to doing that thing. Teams should set aside time to perform their presentations prior to the event. This presents an opportunity to check timing, duration, and gain comfortability working together in this setting.

It can be very informative to film yourself doing a practice presentation. This is quite informative on where things are stiff and uncomfortable.

HAVE CONTENT WORTH PRESENTING

A good presentation starts with worthy content. A team who hasn't been doing the work in research, development, analysis, build, and test before the presentation starts getting drafted will have a much harder time producing a quality presentation. A team who has made obvious great progress will naturally have a more engaged and invested audience. Progress is exciting and audiences want to be excited. (Don't forget that attempt and failure is still progress, and some failures are really exciting.)