Best Practices for Presenters

Thank you for investing your time and expertise by willing to present at the UELMA conference. This page offers tips and tools that can help you make the most of your presentation.

These guidelines are based on recommendations from the American Library Association and input from professional adult educators.

Creating Your Presentation

Ensure that you know who your program is for and what the expectations are of the group that will attend your virtual presentation.

For example, is the program targeted to:

• Elementary librarians

• Secondary librarians

• Paraprofessionals

• District Directors

• Library educational technicians

• Big and urban

• Small and rural

• How-to session with practical solutions and lots of takeaways

• Inspirational

• Theoretical

Write a title and description that accurately describe your session. Provide outcomes that pinpoint what you expect participants will be able to do after the program. Remember, professional education is “how-to” education; not just “learn” or “understand”, but more about “apply” and “implement”. What will change because of your presentation?

Practice and get feedback! Best practice suggests collaboration. Drafts and feedback can help refine content and the flow. Fresh eyes can catch typos and mistakes that might undermine the credibility of the presentation (including slides and handouts).

Include resources for learning more, such as books, authors, websites, and organizations. Every presentation should be considered the beginning for new learning.

Devote time to preparing and practicing. A presentation that is put together quickly at the last minute and not rehearsed will not feel polished or professional.

Your Presentation

• Do not cram your content. You cannot give a 90-minute presentation in 40 minutes. Create a script outline that leaves time for introductions, transitions, exercises, questions, and the unexpected. A 40-minute presentation may actually allow for only 25 minutes of material.

• Don’t read your slides or script. Don’t be monotone or monotonous.

• Be prepared to be flexible.

• Show your personality.

• If you are presenting live, engage the participants.

• If you are presenting live, be sure to leave time for questions.

Your Visuals

• Use your slides as your guide and as a way of focusing your audience. DO NOT READ FROM YOUR SLIDES!

• Limit the amount of text on every slide. Consider the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint, which states a PowerPoint presentation should have 10 slides, last no more than 20 minutes, and contain no font smaller than 30 point. Alternatively, use only five ideas/words per slide.

• Use images/graphics to explain ideas and engage the participant emotionally. Make sure any charts or visuals can be understood.

• Share a document rather than having a lot of text on your slides.

• Submit a link for participants to access your slides electronically.

• Save your presentation and test it. Use basic, easy-to-read fonts.