These presentations need to be kept fairly
short as the same assessors will observe all of the candidates
to make sure that the assessment is fair. You will be
given a topic or possibly a choice of topics in advance and will also
be told the duration of the presentation, often around ten minutes
with five minutes at the end for questions. You can also expect to receive
a list of the presentation equipment that is available, usually an OHP.
The assessors are expecting you to demonstrate the following skills:
Quality of Research
You will need to research the topic carefully. Make sure that your sources
are all credible and up to date. The internet is probably the easiest
way to research a topic but remember to check any information that
you want to use for accuracy and currency.
Organization
Having gathered all of the facts you need to make your presentation,
you will need to put them into some kind of order. The best way to
do this is to use cards, about 3” by 5” is ideal. Write one fact on
each card, spread them out and then try to sort them in the most appropriate
order. It is best to put the most important facts first and avoid trying
to get too much information across in the limited time that you have.
If the presentation is scheduled to last for ten minutes then you will
need to allow one minute at the beginning to introduce yourself and
the topic and one minute at the end to summarize your arguments. This
means that you only have 8 minutes to get your points across. You
may therefore need to discard some of the less important information.
Persuasiveness
You need to structure your delivery to ensure that your ideas are well
organized, logical and convincing. The best way to do this is to support
each point that you want to get across with just enough information,
before moving on to the next point. Again, you can use cards for this.
Write the ‘point’ at the top and summarize the supporting information
underneath it. You should end up with between 5 and 10 cards for a
ten minute presentation.
Presentation Skills
The only acceptable way to make a presentation is to speak naturally
using cue cards to prompt you. You must not simply read a pre-prepared
script – this will not be acceptable. In order to be able to present
in this way you need to rehearse the whole presentation at least three
times. This will enable you to refine your cue cards so that they hold
the minimum amount of information needed to prompt you and you will
not be tempted to just read out your notes. Remember to speak at a
steady pace and with clarity so that you can be heard. Keep eye contact
with the observers and try not to refer to your cue cards other than
when strictly necessary.
Handling Questions
At the end of your presentation the observers will ask a few questions.
Think about the sort of things that might be asked and try to have
good answers ready. If you don’t understand the question don’t be afraid
to ask for clarification and if you don’t know the answer, then be
honest. If the assessor disagrees with one of your points then you
will be expected to defend your reasoning but remember to be polite
and constructive.
Use of Time
The assessors will also be checking that you stay within the allocated
time frame. This is another reason why you must rehearse your delivery.
Even experienced presenters cannot make an accurate measurement of
how long a presentation will take to deliver just by looking at their
notes. There is no excuse for overrunning your time slot or for running
out of material when you have been told how long your presentation
should take. |
