A significant part of the academic journey is giving class presentations. Have you ever given a presentation purely out of compliance? Let’s be real, who hasn’t? Or have you listened to a presentation that just made you doze off? Same. Well, it’s about time we change that. Wouldn’t it be better if we actually enjoyed preparing for a presentation and got to talk about something we’re passionate about? And wouldn’t it be great to listen to a presentation and have it be so effective that we feel transformed, even just a little bit?
We’ve put together two helpful sources to hopefully help you with just that!
#1: A TED talk entitled “The 3 Magic Ingredients of Amazing Presentations”
Be sure to watch the entire video because there are some great nuggets of wisdom in it! Here’s quick rundown of his main points plus our tips and tricks:
- Tailor your talk to the audience and context. Ask yourself, “Why do they care?“
- Make it personal. Share why YOU care. This can be done by giving examples from your experiences or by telling a story.
- Try asking your professor if the class can choose the topics they need to present so that you can choose one you’d be happy to talk about.
- In classes where presentation topics can’t really be chosen, try and find a related story or news article that strikes you or recall an anecdote (whether from your own life or someone you know) that reinforces the topic. This way, the topic becomes more personal. When it becomes more personal, the better your presentation will be and the more likely you and your classmates will remember it.
- Aim to transform the audience, beyond just informing. Change what your audience knows, but also what they believe, feel, and do.
- This can be done even in class presentations, not just in TED talks! If we (positively) transform what our classmates believe, feel, and do, even just by a fraction, then the presentation would’ve been worth it!
- Ultimately, if the presentation is able to transform us even to some degree, then it will be easier to recall for traditional, academic purposes.
#2: A TED Blog entitled “10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea, from TED’s in-house expert”
If you’ve ever listened to a TED Talk, we think you’d agree that their slides “are both slick and charming—the kind that pull you in and keep you captivated, but in an understated way that helps you focus on what’s actually being said.” Read what Aaron Weyenberg, TED UX Lead, has to say about making effective slide decks.
Put these two together, and we think you’ve got a pretty killer presentation.
