Presenting a PowerPoint Perfectionist’s Presentation

So with my careers research in pretty and organised diagrams, charts and tables it was important to put this to use and also analyse my experiences, skills and qualities and understand how these are important to my future career. The chance to do this came in the form a presentation I was required to give as part of the Leicester Award for Employability to my Leicester Award leader and my peers.

The title given was rather broad, “How your experiences to date, both work and study, relate to your future career plans” which allowed me to focus in on specific areas of my experiences although I found this part of presentation difficult as I had many different experiences which all had a diverse impact on my  journey towards a legal career. So I decided it was important to list all of my experiences and what I have learnt in order to realise which have the most importance and relevance to progress towards becoming a solicitor.

Next, I began to design my presentation slides using Microsoft PowerPoint with the idea of making something which would be interesting and memorable but wasn’t cluttered with too much text and over use of images. Whilst creating the slides I ensured that I was consistent with fonts, font sizes and colours, as I believe this to be an integral part of a good presentation; especially when you consider that the PowerPoint slides are a visual addition to the presentation. The slides should reflect your individualism but also allow you to talk around the points on the slides without dominating your presentation itself.

On the day I was meant to give my presentation I had a recurrence of pain from an operation and was unable to present on this day. Instead it was agreed that I would give my presentation at a later date but to as peer feedback is an excellent learning method I watched presentations given by other Leicester Award participants. Whilst watching the other presentations I began to notice my own faults in other people, especially increasing the speed in which I talk due to nerves. It also began apparent to me how quickly a five minute presentation is over and therefore how much information can successfully and adequately be spoken about in that time. It was apparent to me then that I needed to focus my presentation further on important experiences; quality of information over quantity.





AFTER

BEFORE

 

 















 

 

 

During the revision of my slides I reflected upon the constructive criticism given to other presenters to improve my slides. I recognised that I hadn’t narrowed down my ideas fully and therefore had too much information to present and also too much text on some of my slides, which would be detrimental to my overall presentation. I tried to incorporate things that had worked well for other presenters into my own slides and the delivery of my speech as there are elements of PowerPoint I had forgotten to use including slide transitions. The most important point I took away though was the necessity to read through the presentation and time it so I do not exceed the time limit.

When the day of my presentation arrived I was nervous as I always am before speaking publicly. However, I had learnt what was on each slide and how I would talk around the points instead of using a script as I wanted my present to flow well and enable me to add individual flare. This individualism was shown through my ability to explain my personal images and why I had used them within my presentation and also add humour when talking about my experiences. Unfortunately my nerves had caused me to increase the speed at which I spoke and I had therefore finished my presentation with 30 seconds remaining. In hinds sight I should have used the techniques I had been taught in the Student Life Talk training with the Ambassador scheme and I should have realised that this may happen and adjust my presentation accordingly.

I was surprised by the feedback as I felt my presentation did not go as well as I had hoped however I can be very critical of myself and my work. I was informed that my overall slides were well designed, good choice of colour and font, and had an appropriate amount of relevant images. My final informative slide however let me down as it had the potential to be a strong ending to my presentation but instead I read directly from the slide. My nerves were also noted not through my voice but by the speed at which I spoke, although my use of gesture, tone and humour worked well.

 



The feedback I was given has been fundamental in my approach to future presentations as any critique was constructive and my positives were highlighted so I now know where my strengths lie. My creation of PowerPoint slides is by far my strongest area, therefore it is important that when look to improve that is the delivery which would benefit most from enhancement. Ultimately my weakest area is letting my nerves affect my delivery and impact upon the presentation as a whole. The only way to conquer my nerves is to speak publicly more often, practice the specific presentation. Consequently, I am requesting to deliver the Student Life Talk when possible and I intend to join the Public Speaker Society or compete in the debating competition within the Law Society as these will improve my public speaking and allow me to develop other transferable skills