Presentation Tips from Prof. W. Tim G. Richardson www.witiger.com 12 things to get an "A" in presenting

youtube.com/watch?v=Kx48EaKZivo

Students in the UTSC class MGTD06 in late Nov 2008 did a "presentation about presentations" - using humour, and some funny Mexican hats, they covered several of the points on this page. I strongly recommend you have a look at this video in combination with the rest of the page below. Each year presentations get better and better as students understand what is necessary to be Engaging, Enthusiastic and demonstrate Excellence. In order for your presentation to receive a decent mark for your efforts, you better BRING IT ON

And, they did a Bloopers & Outakes video too !!I Which just goes to prove sometimes you don't get it right on the first take, or second, or third...... and Perseverance is rewarded.  youtube.com/watch?v=V3IC-bz4Lt8

- it is expected that you will consider that students in business and marketing will make presentations "fo real" quite often in your subsequent business/marketing careers. Sometimes these presentations can be short, just a few minutes, or they can be quite long, and involve important circumstances related to business with a "big customer". Whether big or small, you should look professional.
 

NOT like this

When you do a presentation in class - dress nice. Some students, in the past, have even taken the effort to dress according to a theme.

this is too much

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If you don't feel like wearing suits or all wearing the same clothing, you can do like Seneca's MRK264's "Team  Manitoba" who all wore black shirts, then had a little sticky logo they wore on their chest - so it gives the impression they are all on the same team click left to view larger

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In MRK410 in April 2006, the "pink ladies" asked their professor if he wanted to get "lei'd" - he agreed  - evidence to the right

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In Seneca's MRK410 in April 2006, Kyle, Linda and Nikita all wore matching blue T-shirts with their logo, which they had designed themselves The logo was the same one they used on the storefront part of their group project.

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In Seneca's TCS 301 in April 2007, this energetic group did a presentation on a Dog Grooming spa and named it "SPAWS" which is a name they came up with on their own - AND - they then had Golf shirts made up with the SPAWS logo - I was VERY impressed and together with their great powerpoint - they got an A+ click to the left to see the close up of their logo - modelled by Tony and Celine

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"Men in Suits" For the men in class - NEVER underestimate the effect of going all out and dressing in a dark nice fitting suit. After all, you'll have to have one when you graduate, might as well wear it for a presentation and impress the prof. and the ladies in the room!
Navneet, Rushi and George did a presentation on a carwash for TCS 301 in April 2007 and they looked nice for the presentation - which contributed to their mark of "A"

Practice saying your lines

This group of students in MGD415 in April 2009 did a video of their practice saying their lines and they ended up doing a good presentation - and, they posted online two "practice" videos they did so you can see their progress from "sucky" to "great"  youtube.com/watch?v= LWw9eVOUgg4&feature=related watch it - it also has some great music

Do NOT write out complete sentances to memorize, that is too difficult
Just write out point form comments, and practice turning these point form words into smooth sentances so your delivery looks natural
- the bottom line is that you want to convince the listener that you really know what you are talking about so they will have confidence in you

This group of lovely ladies in TCS 301 in April 2007 did a .PPT presentation in which they took a bit of extra time to explain who the group is + they showed attractive pics of their faces on the opening slide so it was easy for everyone watching the presentation to attach a name to a face - oh, they got "A" of course (did I mention this also helps the prof. with marking !! )

- after one person has spoken, make sure the next person is introduced and explain what they will be talking about and why it is important
(this also helps the prof give the right marks to the right people in each group)
- make sure you choose a speaking order that makes sense
- pick a dynamic person with a clear voice for the lead off speaker
- if someone is speaking, let another person advance the slides, or work the overhead, don't make someone do both jobs
- also, a big part of coordination is making sure that what you say makes sense
- have another student, who is NOT in your group listen to the presentation, then after ask them for honest comments,
                - did the intro make sense, did you quickly explain the business situation, etc.

- practice saying difficult words so people know what the term is
- if some terms are new or unusual, write them on the board, or show a slide
- lift your head up when you speak, so not look down at your notes, this causes your voice to drop and makes it hard to hear
 

These people in "Team Yukon" are speaking to points on a map, notice that they are facing out towards the class , NOT facing the map and also notice the map is large enough that it fills the whole screen so the audience can easily see the features they are pointing to

These attractively and "business-like" dressed ladies from Team "Nova Scotia" in March 2007 did a great job of "engaging" the audience through the time tested and proven techniques of "sex and humour" - as you can see from their slide in the pic to the left making your audience laugh a little bit can always be helpful in most business presentations because it helps you to be remembered - especially in a highly competitive environment

Engaging with Enthusiasm These ladies in the MRK264 class in March 2007 were very enthusiastic in their presentation about a Nightclub. In the "real world" it is important to appear to be very enthusiastic (even if you don't feel that way) because you need to get the audience strongly interested in your presentation so they'll believe your product is good. You can do this by moving your arms around in exagerated ways, changing the pitch of your voice, speaking more loudly or softly for emphasis, and moving in the room - walking forward towards the audience or walking sideways on the stage.

Respect is something that goes both ways, ......

if you want respect, you have to give respect, or do something respectfully to earn such consideration. For class presentations, I have noticed over the last couple of years that many students in class who are waiting to take their turn presenting, are NOT very respectful to the people presenting, they talk too loudly about their plans for their presentation, they click in a noisy way on the keyboard, they come in late and distract the group presenting at the time. So, "you' all" need to give each other respect, so         o be quiet when a group is presenting and         o show support by asking useful questions and         o clap nicely at the end if they did a decent job

if you are using "death by PowerPoint" by careful to not overload each slide with too much content
- meaning, .. do not put too many words on the slide,
- just a few words - you speak the rest
- if you put too many words on the slide, the audience will start reading ahead and won't listen to you

Are you Late - sometimes students come late on the day of a presentation.(stuff happens)
- do NOT arrive late - therefore, come to class 5 or 10 minutes early that day to make sure you are not late
- if you do, wait outside the classroom, do NOT (unless a truly medical emergency) walk in and interupt the presentation (even if it is your group)
- just wait outside til the group is finished

In most cases, the students who are late are worried about what will happen and when they approach the door, burst in and interupt the presentation in progress. This can really "pysche out" the students who are in the middle of a presentation so PLEASE wait outside the door until the presentation is finished, then come in.

If you had a flat tire, or car accident those things are all forgiveable and chances are you'll be given time to compose yourself and present
- what is NOT forgiveable is being rude and interupting others who managed to make it on time.

- in 2008 a number of students are starting to make videos and post them on YouTube - if you do this right, it can be useful
- or it can take a lot of time and not really add much to your overall presentation

In March/April at UTM there was a very VERY good student team that did several videos as part of their group project.
Have noted them below for your education.

the Making of the Blinking Dot Presentation - March 2008 UTM

In early Feb/March 2008 I (WTGR) had made a special point of advising the students that the upcoming presentations in April better bring it cause "you live in a competitive environment". Several students in the MGD415 class at the University of Toronto (Mississauga Campus) put on a great presentation - it was named "Blinking Dot" and was about GPS enabled circumstances. Not only did they do a great presentation in class, with lots of role playing, a script and use of several "rich media", they also created a "behind the scenes" video of the making of their presentation - which was the first time anybody had ever done that. Their video was so kewl it has been loaded it up to YouTube and I have made the link here so you can see it and by watching this, have some idea of what is needed to get an "A+" in a class presentation at the 4th yr university level.

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Special thanks to Justin L., David S., Lester C., Phil H. and Conrad M. for taking the time to make this kewl video with a "mad" soundtrack, your time and efforts are appreciated

The "Blinking Dot" Team made several videos to go with their project - here is another one  it was a service to allow GPS info to determine a person's location to other people While the video is kewl, it is kinda hard to figure out what it is at first, so when you use something like this,  it is expected that it will not be "stand alone" but in combination with something else that gives context, like a person speaking an intro I also showed it here so you can see how some students take a bit of time to make these, with a plan and scenario to be interesting.

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Another video by the "Blinking Dot" Team

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youtube.com/watch?v=K-xsbBW465I

Students in the UTSC class MGTD06 in late Nov 2008 did a presentation about a restaurant (White Plates) - they posted a video on YouTube about their kewl example of creating a viral marketing campaign. If you look at the video, you can see the students achieved one objective of creating interest - because you can see many strangers stopping to look down and read the messages written on the white plates they left lying on the ground at Dundas Square. The group received a good mark for coming up with a kewl concept, and then showing the effort to carry out something that was fairly time consuming.

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Warren P. and his fellow group members in BCS555 in Nov 2009 did their Case Study on a prominent ethnic newspaper in Toronto - and they went and interviewed the former Editor - so they definitely "learned something useful and interesting". And.... when they handed in their project, they included a video of the interview so the prof. could understand the efforts they went to, to obtain some useful first-hand information (primary research).

In the case of the team "White Plates Restaurant", they learned that if you take the time to write some kewl messages on some plain white plates, and then leave them out in a highly popular pedestrian area, you will indeed attract attention and interest - having a sense of imagination is important in the learning process cause it causes you to "try ..." and see what happens - and we call this..... learning.

This was the team "Club Quest" from MGD415 in April 2009 at UTM There's "group pics" with the prof after the presentation, and then there are GROUP PICS with a whole team including outside DJs, models, bouncers, other students used as VIPs, champagne glasses, furniture brought in. etc. etc. - this was a great presentation with some of the highest "production value" I have seen in 11 years I appreciated the time and effort that went in to planning and carrying out this event - the fact that they pulled it off with no major problems was bonus.

also there is "10 Tips For Successful Public Speaking"  http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.asp
 
 

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