The connection with your audience
The first 90 seconds should serve to connect with your audience. Here are some ideas to help you to do this:
- Ask an engaging question
- Use impactful numbers
- Show pictures and ask your audience to guess what you are going to talk about
- Talk about a general fact and then refocus on your subject: "as you know..."
An effective summary
The words "introduction" and "conclusion" should not appear in a visual presentation summary, just in the titles of the corresponding slides.
The titles of the slides could be questions and hypotheses to be verified. They should be interesting without going into too much detail. They must provide part of the answer to the problem. They can be presented as a statement, or in the form of an image or Mind Map.
Streamlining slides to facilitate understanding
First of all, think about who you are talking to; who is your audience? Professionals/amateurs or adults/children? Your speech should be adapted in a way that makes it understandable to your audience.
While you certainly have a lot of information to give, your speech should be light rather than dense in order to be appropriately understood.
- One slide = One idea
- One point of information at a time
- A word or image to summarize an idea
- A clean visual: be careful with overloadeding the background
- A maximum of ten points
- Use subtle colors so as not to hide the text
- Employ the same graphic rule for the whole document (same color, same font, same animation...)
Do Not’s
- Forget to mention your sources > Remember to check your writing with Compilatio Studium. "Quote" Author + where you found the information + date of publication
- Use non royalty-free images > Be a digital citizen, be respectful of those who produce images.
- Put a lot of animations and all different > You will confuse your reader.
- Read the visual support during the presentation > You are there to present and to bring your subject to life, not to read the slides.
- Turn your back on the audience > This can be considered a lack of respect and you will be much less audible.
To Conclusion: Answer the Question
It is an answer to the problem raised in the introduction. It should briefly summarize each point. It must impact your audience and end with an opportunity for further learning: a link to a site to learn more, a comparison of the subject of other countries...
Last Thoughts Before the Big Day
The assessment of your oral communication depends on what you have prepared and your attitude towards the examiner because 93% of communication is non-verbal. Albert Mehrabian's 3V rule explains that the perception of the message received is construed by:
