Best Practices for Presenters

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

Thank you for investing your time and expertise by being a presenter at a conference. Your contribution will have a positive impact on school libraries in Utah.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 the presentation. For example, is the program targeted to school elementary or secondary librarians or paraprofessionals working in a school library? Is it directed for District Directors or Library educational technicians? Big and urban, or small and rural? Is this intended to be a how-to session with practical solutions and lots of takeaways, inspirational, or 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?

A presentation is not a lecture. Plan ways to be interactive and engaging.

• Ask people to share their examples. Let the audience be part of the program. Many of the participants will know as much or more about the topic as you do; their stories will provide reinforcement for points you are making.

• Suggest questions that participants can discuss with the person sitting nearest to them.

• Provide a simple questionnaire that participants can fill out and report on in the session.

• Welcome dissent so you can shape your content on otherwise unspoken concerns. Presenters are asked to frame discussions as openly and inclusively as possible and to be aware of how language or images may be perceived by others.

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.

The Arrangements

• Make and double-check the arrangements for your presentation, including the session description.

• Ask for the equipment and setup that you will require.

• Will you have the necessary adapters for connecting to projectors or TV displays?

• Do you want to have a microphone?

• How large of a session do you want to accommodate?

Own Your Space

• Arrive early so you can understand (or modify) the space.

• Be willing to use the entire space. Don’t be afraid to walk around.

• If the equipment you expected is not there, ask for it.

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.

• Engage the participants, including those in the back row.

• Have a conversation with them and make eye contact with them.

• Make sure that they can see and read your slides.

• Be sure to leave time for questions.

Your Visuals

• Use your slides as your guide and as a way of focusing your audience. REPEAT - 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 points. 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.

• Create a handout rather than having a lot of text on your slides.

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

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

• Know that you don’t have to have slides.