Tomorrow, the second years will group together and complete Task 1a, which is our presentation of ideas. Although we have had practice on presentations before, I haven’t had to take part in one for a while, which was the same with other people. Therefore, the purpose of this session was to re-cover tips of presentation skills, with the aim to create mock presentation where we can then get feedback.
One issue I often have with presentations is that I always have notes written in too much detail, so I often rely on them. I was then happy to find out that we will be going over presentation skills, especially because this is our final commission, so I want to be fully prepared.
The first thing I was told was that we have to remember our audience and not leave them out, we have to include them all, looking all around, even in the corner so that everyone can feel involved. This is something that I do not have an issue with, I always like to create eye contact with my audience so I know that they have my attention. But I do have to remember to keep the eye contact and as written above, not do what I tend to, which is get too involved with my notes. But when talking to the audience and keeping eye contact with them, it is important to keep it formal, even if the people we are presenting to are our friends. I know that this is important, especially for the future, if I have to do a presentation in the future, then it may be to people who I don’t know, I need to present this in the same manner as I would to them.
Although eye contact and formality is important when presenting, the audience might still lose focus if we don’t look interested, if the presenter is not, then the audience probably won’t as well. Instead, voice and our facial expressions will be important, voice is something that we have often focused on in previous sessions with Lynn, ranging pitch and having a good volume as well as smiling. This is something that I know I have to think about as I can often speak with little tone in my voice and can look scared, therefore, I need to keep this in mind.
The next think talked about is the PowerPoint, we were reminded that they should have minimal points, therefore, the audience can read what will be talked about and then we can explain the point. If a paragraph of what will be said is on the PowerPoint, then they will read that and not focus on what we are saying, because they won’t need to, if not, then they could get confused abut what they are meant to be concentrating on. I have created a PowerPoint for the presentation tomorrow, however, after this session, I will adapt it so that there is less information on the slide so I can fully explain it.
After getting these tips we were then placed into three groups where we were all tasked with creating a presentation based on a project around Bury St Edmunds. I was put in a group with Jack, Leah and James, where we decided to present an idea for Theatre In Education. Targeted at Key Stage two children on the Moreton Hall estate, we decided to present an idea on Rougham Airfield and its importance in World War Two. Things we had to remember was that we really had to sell this to get funding, so we really had to create eye contact, be passionate in our voice and if we slip up, carry on and don’t apologise. When it came to our presentation, I got straight to the point and talked about what we would use the money for, while creating eye contact with everyone, however, I felt that I could have been stronger in my voice, which I will focus on tomorrow, while also thinking about all of the other tips.
In conclusion, this session has been very useful in reminding me what to do and what not to do during a presentation, practicing also really helped. I know that I need to focus on my voice to keep my audience interested and before the presentation tomorrow, cut down the information on my PowerPoint so I can clearly explain my ideas.
Hannah King - Year 2 Acting 