10 Ways Presentation Skills Can Save You in College

10 Ways Presentation Skills Can Save You in College

We all know college is this wild rollercoaster, right? There are thrilling highs, terrifying drops, and moments where you’re hanging upside down, wondering what the heck is happening. And in all this chaos, one skill that often gets overlooked yet could be your knight in shining armor is the ability to deliver an amazing presentation.

This often underestimated skill is like that secret weapon in your arsenal that can make your grades sparkle, boost your confidence, and even get you in the good books of that tough-as-nails professor. And the best part? It’s not rocket science. With a little bit of practice, anyone can ace this game!

But wait, what if you’re juggling a million things and just don’t have the time or the energy to put together an awe-inspiring presentation? Or maybe, just the thought of crafting a presentation gives you the heebie-jeebies. Well, we’ve got a magic trick for you too. Enter stage right – professional paper writers! These are your knights in digital armor, ready to swoop in and save the day when you’re drowning in deadlines or just can’t figure out how to start. They’re a team of experts who are pros at turning your ideas into a beautifully structured presentation that tells a compelling story.

They understand that a good presentation is like a great Netflix show – it needs to grab attention, keep ’em hooked, and leave the audience wanting more. And the best part? They do all the heavy lifting, and you get to swoop in and steal the show! That sounds like a pretty sweet deal, right?

Table of Contents

Boom! Your Grades Skyrocket

Love it or hate it – your grades matter. And guess what? Good presentation skills can make them look pretty! Whether it’s a science project or a literature debate, your ability to present your work with pizzazz is a real grade booster. So, owning the stage doesn’t just mean applause; it also means getting those sweet, sweet A’s!

You Become a Super Sleuth

Sherlock Holmes, who? Preparing a presentation is like solving a mystery. You gotta dig deep, analyze the facts, connect the dots, and then serve the story to your audience. And doing this over time turns you into a pro at critical thinking. Soon, you’ll be solving complex equations or philosophical conundrums as easy as pie!

Confidence? Check!

Battling stage fright and rocking a presentation is like a real-life confidence power-up. Each applause, each nod of approval, and every “great job!” adds up, making you more self-assured.

And guess what? This isn’t just for the classroom. This confidence translates to every area of your life. So, get ready to shine in every social scenario!

Say Hello to Mr. Popular

The trick to great presentations? It’s all about communication! Understanding your audience, responding to them, and delivering your ideas effectively will make you a communication guru.

And this isn’t just about making friends. Good communication skills can help you build solid connections with professors, future employers, and your cute crush from the back row. wink

Unleashing the Leader in You

Picture this – you, standing tall, a crowd hanging on to your every word. Sounds like a leader, doesn’t it? Nailing your presentation skills not only makes you an effective speaker but also a potential leader. So, step up and own the room! Who knows, you might just end up being the coolest club president ever!

You Become a Brand

Ever thought about personal branding in college? Well, surprise! Every time you present, you are promoting your brand. You showcase your knowledge, enthusiasm, and uniqueness, all of which make you stand out. So, whether you’re going for that competitive internship or shooting your shot at a scholarship, your brand can be your ticket to success.

Adulting 101

Listen up, folks! The real world is all about presentations. Job interviews, client meetings, team briefings – you name it. And, spoiler alert, it’s not going away anytime soon. So, why not use college as your training ground? Mastering presentation skills now means you’re future-proof and ready to take on the professional world like a boss!

Laugh at Stress

We’ve all been there, feeling the stress monster chomping away at our sanity. But here’s the scoop: good presentation skills can take a bite out of that beast! How? Well, presenting frequently means you get used to handling pressure, keeping calm, and thinking on your feet.

Over time, this spills over into other parts of your life, and voila, you’ve just turned stress into your punching bag. So, next time you feel the pressure, take a deep breath, remember your presentation wins, and say, “Bring it on!”

Collaboration Champ

Presentations aren’t always a one-man show. You often have to work in teams, which means collaborating, compromising, and maybe even mediating a feud or two. And mastering this juggling act can make you the undisputed collaboration champ. Not only does this score you points in group projects, but it also gets you ready for any team-based challenges that life throws your way. So, bring on the group projects!

Expand Your Horizons

Let’s face it, college isn’t just about textbooks and exams; it’s also about growth and broadening your perspectives. Preparing a presentation means diving into a topic, maybe even one that you didn’t choose or like. This pushes you out of your comfort zone and makes you explore new ideas and viewpoints.

So, don’t just look at presentations as a chore; see them as a chance to grow and expand your knowledge horizons. Who knows, you might just discover a new passion or interest along the way!

To Wrap It Up

So there you have it, folks! Ten fabulous ways presentation skills can jazz up your college experience and get you ready for the big, wide world. It’s your time to shine, so grab your paper from the best paper writing services, hit the stage, and rock your college journey!

10 essential tips for your next academic presentation

As a presenter, your main job is to guide the audience through your argument in the clearest, most engaging, most efficient way possible. You must respect the audience’s time and attention. This means being mindful of how long your presentation is, what you’re including in your slides, and importantly, how it is all packaged and presented.

A great presenter is one who is intentional: each element in the presentation serves a clear function and is intended to support the audience’s understanding of the content.

Here are 10 tips to keep in mind to ensure your presentation hits the mark.

1. Any time you put something on your slides, its primary purpose is to help the audience, not you

Many presenters will add copious text or other elements to help themselves remember points they want to make. However, this is usually less helpful for the audience (most of this information belongs in presenter notes, and not on the slides). Think of yourself like a director of a movie. What do you want the audience to focus on at any given moment? What features on your slides will enhance the verbal point you are making and which will distract from it? Be intentional about what you include on your slides, and only include elements that serve a clear and helpful function for the audience.

2. Condense text to the main question or key points of the slide

It may be tempting to write out snippets of the script wholesale and add them to the slides, but this often results in PowerPoint karaoke, where the audience is simply watching you read the text out loud to them. While text is certainly useful for helping to concretise points or make slides more accessible, be judicious about what you include. Each slide should make one or two clear points. It’s better to have more slides with less content than fewer slides that are jam-packed. Of course, the amount of text you include will also be determined by the type of presentation you are giving. If students will be using your slides as a study aid, for example, you may want to include more information than if you are creating a research talk for a conference.

3. Avoid using too many colours, fonts or animations

Consider elements such as fonts, colours and animations as tools in your presentation toolkit. These elements should be used sparingly and only when they serve a clear purpose. I’m sure you’ve all attended a talk with colours bright enough to burn your retinas or crammed with “fun” fonts such as Comic Sans. Try to refrain from doing that. Animations that allow certain elements to appear or disappear along with your presentation — such as bullet points that appear as you say them — can help direct the attention of the audience. Colour contrasts are primarily helpful for visual segmentation or bringing attention to particular elements. Fonts, colours or flashy animations that are purely decorative are more distracting than helpful.

4. Avoid colour combinations that are hard to read

Be mindful of how colours interact with each other to either facilitate or inhibit comprehension. White text on black (or the reverse) is often a safe bet. Don’t overdecorate! (See above).

5. If you’re showing a graph, orient the audience to the axes before plotting the data and make sure they can actually see all of it

I typically show the axes and labels first, making sure to orient everyone to the variables and how they are going to be visualised, and then I reveal the data. This ensures that everyone understands how to interpret the visualisation they are about to see. It is also helpful to restate the key prediction and tell the audience what they should expect to see if the prediction is true, and then plot the data. Use large sizes and clear fonts. I’ve heard way too many people say things like: “You probably can’t read this but…” To that, I want to say: “But you’re the one making the slide! You did this to us!” Don’t be that person.

6. Use high-resolution images or videos

This is especially true for presentations that will be projected onto a larger surface. If it’s fuzzy on your computer screen, it will look even fuzzier when magnified and projected. Try to integrate high-resolution images and vector graphics to avoid this. When your images contain text, delete those portions and re-enter the text in text boxes that will scale up much more clearly when magnified.

7. When illustrating results, identify one or two key graphs to make your point

The temptation is often to show the audience every single result you found, but this dilutes the overall message you are trying to send. There’s no need to visualise everything: you should focus on the key graphs that tell most or all of the story. If you have built up the presentation in the right way, when the audience see your data visualisation, they will immediately understand what you found and whether it supports your hypothesis. That’s how clear and accessible the graph should be.

8. Don’t overload the audience with unnecessary complex jargon or acronyms

Every time you introduce a new term or a brand new acronym (BNA), you are asking the audience to do you a favour and commit this new item to working memory. The audience doesn’t know your presentation; they don’t know what’s going to be important later and what isn’t. They’re trusting that you are only presenting information to them that is relevant and they’re doing their best to follow along. Make this process as easy and enjoyable as possible for them. Be judicious with what you ask them to remember or commit to memory. If you can explain a concept without jargon, avoid the jargon!

9. Enhance accessibility

The Web Accessibility Initiative has a great set of guidelines that I will summarise here. Use easy-to-read fonts in large sizes. Make sure there is enough contrast between colours to make them discernible. When giving virtual talks, consider turning on automatic closed captioning. If it’s feasible, provide annotated slide handouts. During the presentation itself, speak clearly and loudly, avoiding unnecessarily complex vocabulary or culturally specific idioms. Where possible, use a microphone. You should also try to verbally describe pertinent parts of visual information on your slides, such as graphics or videos.

10. Use outline slides and marker slides to segment information

Research shows that we understand and remember information better when it comes in bite-size pieces; think of chapters in a book. To incorporate this structure into your talk, break apart the presentation into smaller pieces. Always incorporate an outline slide that previews the structure of the talk and gives the audience a sense of what to expect. Also, use marker slides to communicate that a new section is beginning. And make sure to wrap up each section with a summary slide.

Dorsa Amir is a postdoc in the department of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter.

https://www.computertechreviews.com/10-ways-presentation-skills-can-save-you-in-college/

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/10-essential-tips-your-next-academic-presentation