Principle 1 Considered Content

Let's assume that you have been asked to deliver a presentation which you need to develop from scratch. This concept can be very daunting and you may be confused as to where you need to start. This video will give you some tips on creating a memorable and informative presentation.

Anyone can write a presentation but it takes skill to develop one that is remembered by others and one that is delivered effectively, let’s look at how we make yours stand out from the rest.

Firstly you will need to understand a few things, these are; time, audience, aims and required outcomes.

Time - how much time do you have? This will influence the creation of the session, the tools that you use and the level in which you pitch the presentation.

Audience – Who are you delivering to? If you are delivering to a senior management team then generally they will just want an update and not be involved in a presentation. What is the knowledge level of your audience? Do you need to start with the basics?

Aims and outcomes – What is the point of this presentation? What is it you want to achieve and what are the requirements of your audience? What should they come away with?.

Once you have understood these three things then you will be in a good position to start planning the presentation.

The best way to plan your presentation is to use a teaching and learning plan which is otherwise known as a session plan. This plan will include the time of the session and the aims and outcomes. We have put an example in the download area. Have a copy of this printed while you watch the rest of this video.

The example on the download area has a title of Presentation skills training.
The Session Aim is To explain the best practice in relation to delivering presentations. The aim is what the person presenting the session will achieve.

Learning Outcomes are what the people watching the presentation will be able to do or understood once they have seen the presentation. The example we give you has learning outcomes of:

By the end of this eLearning program you will be able to:
• Explain the principles of effective presentation skills
• State the key considerations for creating presentation material and the resources you could use

You then need to decide what time you are allowing for the presentation. Until you know the presentation time, you cannot decide on the content.

By completing the session plan you are able to ensure that you keep your presentation on-track.

The next step is to plan your presentation around the learning outcomes. Think about each outcome as a separate entity and focus on the key areas for learning within these outcomes. In the overview, we list the outcomes, but we visit each principle individually to ensure maximum retention of each principle.

Try not to overload your session with information but focus on the core information that you wish your audience to remember. Encourage audience participation and activities where possible. In this eLearning package, it is difficult to engage the audience and ask for participation, however, we cover this by the small tests after each video. A face to face session could cover this with questions and answers and/or activities. We will explore this further later in the training.

In summary, planning will enable you to design an effective presentation, getting the message across that you need to. Remember, if you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.