No matter what courses you take, oral presentations will be an important part of your high school career because they help you develop and improve your communication skills. Presentations can often be a source of anxiety for many students, but with proper preparation, they will help you earn a good mark and you will progressively ease the amount of stress that they cause. In fact, you may eventually find yourself relieved at the chance to easily boost your grade! This blog will go over some tips on how to be well-prepared for your presentations.
Visual Aids
Though it is not always the case, most of your oral assignments will likely involve using a slideshow. Keep in mind that your slideshow is meant to be used as a tool to enhance your presentation, but the audience’s main source of information should be what you are saying. Here are a few key points to remember when creating your slideshow:
Brevity: You should only use point form, not paragraphs. When you put large bodies of text on your slide, you will lose your audience’s attention because they will be more focused on reading the slides. By using point form, the audience will be aware of your key ideas, but will have to listen to you to fully understand.
Visual Appeal: Your slideshow is a visual aid, so you should ensure that it is aesthetically pleasing. The audience will be more engaged with a slideshow that includes images and has a nice theme, instead of boring text on a plain background. Remember to choose visuals that are relevant to the topic you are discussing!
Animations: Animations can improve the flow of your presentation, but avoid using excessive or extravagant transitions. This is often discouraged by teachers as it will make your presentation distracting and less professional.
Practice and Memorization
As the common expression goes: practice makes perfect. To do well on your presentation, you have to rehearse it several times beforehand. Usually, you will be required to memorize your script, which is also achieved through preparation. These are some different methods you can use to prepare for your presentation:
Reading Out Loud: Reading your script out loud will help you in several ways. Firstly, you will be more likely to catch any mistakes that you made. Additionally, it will improve the overall flow of your presentation because you will have the opportunity to practice important communication skills that your teacher will likely be marking, such as pronunciation, fluency, and pace. Lastly, several studies have shown that reading aloud assists with memorization.
Writing Key Points: Writing out key points from your script is another effective method of memorization because you will have to read your script and then focus on the individual words as you write them down. Writing key points helps you familiarize yourself with what you need to say, which will make you less reliant on your notes when you do your actual presentation. You can write point form notes, create a mindmap, or use any other method that works for you!
Repetition: The best way for you to memorize an oral presentation is to run through it repeatedly. Generally, you should try to rehearse it at least three times. If you have more time to prepare, aim to practice a minimum of ten times over a few days. Some people may have to go over it more and that is okay! Just remember to always give yourself enough time to practice before the actual presentation.
Speaker’s Notes
Speaker’s notes are a tool that you can use to help you remember what to say in case you forget. The most common form is cue cards, which only summarize your main points. As such, it is best to write them in point form so they can quickly jog your memory while forcing you to speak to the audience instead of reading to them. Generally, one card per slide or paragraph should be sufficient.
Presentation Skills
The main purpose of oral assignments is for you to improve your presentation skills. They will determine a significant portion of your mark so you should keep these areas in mind when preparing and presenting:
Speaking: Your audience wants to hear you discuss and explain your topic to them, not be read to. It is important to become familiar with your topic and script if you want to speak with ease.
Memorization: Make sure you have the majority of your script memorized to avoid reading off of it.
Areas of Speech: Volume, clarity, intonation, and pace are all areas of speech that will likely be marked. Remember to speak loudly and clearly, at a speed that the audience can keep up with.
Body Language: Try your best to keep still and not fidget. This may be difficult for some students, but practicing beforehand with family, friends, or in front of a mirror will help you become more comfortable when presenting in front of an audience.
Eye Contact: A trick for maintaining eye contact is to look slightly above the heads of the audience members. To them, it will appear that you are looking at them, and you will not have to feel nervous about making direct eye contact with anyone.
Now you are ready to be well-prepared for your next oral presentation! Here is some parting advice: never leave it to the last minute. When it comes to oral assignments, practice and preparation are necessary if you want to get a good mark, so make sure to start working as soon as you receive your assignment. Remember, everyone uses different methods; some of these may work for you while others may not. Over time, you will learn exactly what is right for you and oral assignments will become a welcome task.
Edited by Ally Chan.
Rida Zainab is a grade 10 student in the pre-IB programme at Milliken Mills High School. Her favourite subject is English, and she likes to spend her free time reading and writing.
This is so useful! I struggle with oral presentations and this post was so useful and easy to read. Thanks for sharing!