CPPA Students Learn Presentation Skills

On March 25, 2009, five CPPA students were pleased to attend the Presentation Skills Workshop as part of the Professional Development course at CPPA. Colleen Condon took students on a whirlwind tour of presentation skills. She provided several opportunities for students to practice their skills in a comfortable and fun setting.

First, we stood up to introduce ourselves, identify our fear of public speaking on a 1-10 scale, and convey a unique piece of information. We then went through the basics of preparing for a presentation: Define an objective (inform, persuade, entertain etc), get organized (who's your audience?, how well does the audience know your topic? what technology will be available?, etc), and develop an outline (a hook to grab attention and establish credibility, a body with 3-5 main points, and a conclusion emphasizing main points and wrapping up).

Colleen then provided some guidelines for the presentation itself. She does not suggest writing a script but does suggest a piece of paper or index card with your main points listed in large font. Practice until you are comfortable, then practice in front of another person or people. Always use your audio or visual aids when practicing.

For Power Point presentations, a good rule is 6 words per line and 6 lines per slide. Font size should be 28-32. And don't use all CAPITAL LETTERS because it's hard to read! Finally, less is more - avoid putting too much information on a single slide. Colleen suggests a rubric she learned from a colleague in medicine: 1 slide about you and your topic, 1 slide with your problem and prediction (the gist of the problem/issue and insights found), 1 slide outlining the presentation (provides predictability, which audiences like), 1-2 slides about the motivation and problem statement, 0-1 slides on related work, 1 slide on methods, 4-6 slides on results (key results and key insights, do not just present numbers - interpret them to give meaning), 1 slide summarizing the presentation, and 0-1 slides on future work.

Colleen then moved into how to connect with your audience. She emphasized storytelling as an essential strategy for connecting with your audience. Then, we each told a 2-minute story! It was fun!

Our next activity centered on body language. Communication is 55% body language, 38% quality, tone and inflection of voice, and 7% the words you use(yep, only 7%!). We practiced varying our voice and using body language to convey a simple point, such as saying the ABC's persuasively, excitedly, or bored. This was also quite fun.

The final segment of the workshop centered on building our confidence further. We reviewed the common traits of good public speakers. They are confident, speak clearly and at a comfortable pace, use humor and personal anecdotes, use peoples' names when they address a smaller group, don't overload the audience with facts and figures, understand the balance between entertaining and providing information, are genuine, and allow their personalities to come through. Our final exercise allowed us to practice everything we had learned. We all did great!

Many thanks to Colleen Condon for her assistance and exhuberance. These notes are summarized from the Power Point she presented.