If you are in any doubt about any of these questions, talk to your instructor.

Step 2: Choose and Focus your Topic

You may have to choose your own topic, or your instructor may assign you a specific topic. Choose something that interests you since speakers tend to do a better job when they speak about something they care about.  To look for topic ideas, a good starting place is to look through your lecture notes and the topic headlines in your readings.

Once you have decided on or been given your topic, it is time to define your focus. Trying to do a short presentation of 5 or 10 minutes on a general topic like global warming is difficult. Narrow your topic so that you can explore it in some depth within your time limit. To narrow your topic, create questions about it using question words: Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How?  For example, “How does global warming threaten polar bear survival in the Canadian Arctic?” When you have found one or a few related questions that you think are interesting, you are ready to begin gathering your information.

Step 3: Consider your Audience

• How much do they already know about your topic? You do not want to just tell them a bunch of stuff they already know. Alternatively, you need to make sure your audience has the background knowledge to understand your ideas. You may need to define key terms and concepts.
• Will your audience be interested in your topic, or do you need to put a lot of effort into motivating them to listen? Do you need to change your topic or find a more interesting angle to your topic to engage their interest?
• How will your topic be useful for your audience? Tell them why they want to know what you are going to tell them. For example, “It’s important to know about the effects of global warming in the Arctic because it shows what will happen here in the future.”

Step 4: Gather Information

The first step is to do some general research. This may involve reading a section of your text, consulting a specialized resource in the library or skimming a book chapter on your topic. This should build your background knowledge and give you an idea of some of the sub-topics you may want to include in your presentation.

Once you have identified those sub-topics, check that there is information available about them. This involves looking for resources. Ask the reference librarian in the library for suggestions and support. Once you are confident there is enough information available on your topic, then you should begin to take notes on each of the sub-topics you identified.

Step 5: Organize Ideas

Using the information you gathered, make an outline for your presentation. To do this, make notes of the main points you want to make and the specific facts, quotes, or explanations you want to use to support those points. Organize your ideas into an introduction, a body, and a conclusion, similar to how you organize a basic essay.

Step 6: Prepare Notes and Visuals

It is time to create your presentation notes. Rather than writing out every word of your presentation and reading or memorizing it, make presentation notes containing just key words and ideas. Put your notes on index cards (number the cards in case they get out of order) or on your slides if you are using them. Using notes forces you to think about the ideas as you talk. This makes your presentation much more effective than a memorized or read one.

Using visuals can be helpful in a presentation. You can use visuals to help make your organization clear, to emphasize important points, to illustrate key points, to introduce humor and to help listeners understand you better. Handouts, PowerPoint, a whiteboard, and video are forms of visuals you could use.

Step 7: Practice, Revise and Practice, Practice, Practice!

Practice repeatedly. Practicing will not only make your presentation smooth and understandable, it will also make you more confident and familiar with the information. While practicing, you will find aspects of the presentation that need revision. Maybe you need to add some more details, change the order of ideas, or produce some added visuals. Alter your notes as needed.

• Practice speaking your presentation aloud using your notes. Watch for revisions.
• Practice again focusing on your presentation speed. Remember that your audience needs time to think about your ideas. Do not be afraid of a few seconds of silence here and there.
• Time yourself and adjust your content to make it fit in with the time limit you have been given.
• Make sure you know how to pronounce specialized words in your presentation.
• Record your presentation. Review the recording and adjust as needed.
• Present to a real person. This could be a classmate, a tutor or even your little sister. Work on making eye contact with your audience.
• Practice in the classroom and check that any equipment you plan to use works. Pay attention to speaking loud enough and looking around the room while you present.

Step 8: The Presentation

Do a last check on any equipment you need to use. Then enjoy presenting! If you feel a little nervous, remember the practice you have done and focus on sharing your ideas with your audience.

This resource describes the parts of a basic class presentation: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. Your instructor may give you other or more specific instructions for organizing your presentation.  

The Introduction (about 10-15% of the talk’s length) 

The purpose of the introduction is to engage the listeners’ interest, state your point of view and/or the purpose of your presentation AND explain how your presentation is organized.  

• Greet your audience, introducing yourself and acknowledging the place.  

• Engage the listeners with a startling or engaging idea, an anecdote, a surprising fact or statistic, or a cartoon or a quotation.  

• Make a transition and then state your purpose and/or point of view (to inform, persuade, review literature, explain personal experience, generate discussion, motivate, or entertain?) 

• Explain or show the key parts of how the presentation is organized  
   

The Body (about 75-80% of the talk’s length) 

Sections

The purpose of the body is to support your point of view or explain your topic. Normally, you divide the body into a variety of sections. For each section, you need to state a main point and then provide supporting evidence (e.g., facts, explanation, anecdotes, statistics, examples, quotes, description). After providing evidence for a point, you need to state clearly how the evidence relates to the main idea or the overall point of view of your talk. It’s important in planning your body not to leave the most important information until the end.  

Transitions

When planning a class presentation, you need to be especially careful about clearly showing the links between ideas. Use transition words and expressions that show the relationships between one idea and the next. If you have a long presentation, you may want to stop occasionally and recap your points so far and introduce what’s coming next. You need to do more of this linking of ideas in a presentation than in a paper to support your audience in following your ideas.  

Examples

Plan to use strategies that keep your listeners engaged. Explain abstract ideas by comparing them to concrete and familiar ideas. For example, “This program will cost over $35 million dollars, that’s about one dollar for every Canadian.” Another strategy is to personalize your ideas. If possible, include personal experience, stories and examples; they are more engaging than a long list of facts and figures.  
 

The Conclusion (about 10% of the talk’s length) 

The purpose of the conclusion is to review the talk’s key ideas and to provide closure for the talk. It may also serve as a transition to a question-period or discussion, to include the following parts: 

• a transition indicating that the end is near. Try, “To end, …” or “In conclusion, ...” 

• summary of the talk’s main arguments 

• restatement of the purpose and/or point of view 

• suggested next steps (possible questions for discussion or actions for listeners to take) or implications of the information given (answer the question “So what?”). 

• a thank you to the audience  

Many people get nervous when they need to speak or perform in front of a group.  Practice with public speaking is probably the best strategy for reducing nervousness.

Before your Presentation

Prepare

• Go easy on yourself. Make sure that you spend the time to develop a clear and coherent plan for your presentation. Lack of preparation can lead even the most highly skilled presenter to get nervous and do a poor job.
• Put special effort into planning your introduction. If things go well at the beginning of your presentation, your nervousness will decrease.
• Plan to use some visuals in your presentation. Visuals take some of the focus away from you and so can reduce your anxiety.
• Practice your presentation in front of others as many times as possible.

Practice relaxation techniques

Choose one of these techniques and practice it for one or two minutes at a time in the weeks and days leading up to your presentation. At first, practice in relaxed situations like at home in a comfortable chair, then in more stressful situations like in class or on transit:

• Breathe in deeply through your nose; breathe out slowly through your mouth. Focus on the feeling of the air as it enters and exits your body. With the air, breathe out your anxiety.
• Create a peaceful scene in your imagination. Imagine yourself in a favorite place where you feel comfortable and relaxed. It might be a beach, a forest or even a favorite cozy armchair. As you imagine yourself in the picture, let go of your anxiety.
• Tense and release your muscles. Starting with your feet, tighten the muscles for 3 seconds and then consciously relax them. Move up your body tensing muscles and releasing the stress. Notice your muscles relax and feel heavy.

Think Positive Thoughts

• Don’t think about your nervousness; that just makes you more nervous. Plan to enjoy giving your presentation. If you get butterflies when you think about presenting, call them excitement, not nervousness.
• Psych yourself up for the presentation. You can do it. You know you can. Think positive thoughts.
• If you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts like “I can’t do it” or “I’m just going to die of nervousness!”, tell yourself “STOP!” and switch to positive thoughts like “I am learning to be a good speaker” or “I can manage my nervousness and do a good job.”
• Visualize yourself giving an excellent presentation. Imagine yourself walking confidently to the front, arranging your notes, looking around the room and greeting your audience in a clear, loud voice and a friendly tone. Visualize yourself making eye contact with people around the room, pausing for emphasis and ending with a strong message.

Prepare Physically

• Get a good night’s sleep the night before, drink lots of water early in the day and eat lightly before the presentation.
• Some people benefit from a physical release of energy an hour or so before the presentation. A walk, or for those more physically able, or even a quick hike up and down a few flights of stairs can help.

During your Presentation

• Act confident. Even if you don’t feel confident, acting confident may actually convince you out of your nervousness. Even if you are still nervous, when you appear confident, your presentation will benefit.
• When you are speaking to a group, think of each person as someone you are talking to individually; avoid thinking of the group as a whole.
• Focus on your ideas or on your audience instead of on yourself and your own feelings. As part of this, don’t mention your nervousness to the audience. It’s your issue, not your audience’s.
• When you feel butterflies, sweats or other physical symptoms of your nervousness, welcome them. Tell yourself these feelings can convert into positive energy.
• If you are still too nervous, use the relaxation technique you’ve been practicing. If you practiced it, you should be able to quickly release stress using your technique.

After your Presentation

• Schedule some time to reflect and take notes on your experience. How do you feel after presenting? What did you do well? What will you do differently next time?
• Reward yourself. Treat yourself to a special meal, spend time with a favorite friend, or buy yourself a small gift. You did it!