Checklists Before You Present

Since the first week of Introduction to Professional Learning Class, we’re already be given some tasks to make presentations on various topics. Learning how to present well is very important especially for future architects. Powerpoint presentation is the most common media of presenting. From this particular media , we can learn many thing to make an interesting presentation. Here are some lists that will help us create a good presentation, according to what I’ve learned in this class:

ü  Don’t put a lot of texts in a slide. Just simply put some main points in the slide, the description could be explained further when we are presenting. If the texts are necessary, break it down and make it into several slides rather than put everything in one slide.

ü  Put some supporting pictures or images. These are important to emphasize our point and also to make it easier for the audience to understand our presentation.

ü  Take a careful attention on the layout. If the layout (position of texts and images) fit perfectly, your presentation will be more attractive and interesting.

ü  Use facts and don’t forget to cite your references. As an academic presentation we can’t just put our opinion in the presentation, facts are also needed to support our idea and don’t forget to cite the fact source in the end  of the presentation.

Besides the media that we are using, technical things on how we present are also important. No matter how  good your media of presentation are, if we can’t present  it well, the message will be pointless because no one can understand what we are going to say. Here are some tips on how to present in a better way:

ü  Speaks clearly. The main thing in public speaking, in this case presenting, speaking clearly is very important. Don’t make it too fast or too slow. Also pay attention to our articulation so the things we said are not misunderstood by the audience.

ü  Emphasize some main points when presenting. This means don’t speak too flat. Make different intonation on the main points.

ü  Pay attention to your body language. When presenting, we should sometimes make an eye contact to the audience, 2-3 seconds of an eye contact is enough, don’t stare at your audience. You could also move your body a bit because it could also help you to reduce your nervous level.

Those are some tips that I can share this time, I hope that it will be useful for the readers :)

Resource: Sukses dengan Soft Skills. 2005. Bandung: Direktorat Pendidikan ITB

By: Rifda Marwa Ufaira/1106847092