Living a successful college life» Presentation Archives – StudySuccessful

Make your presentation fun with Naked Chicks!

Stefan Knapen — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:00:33 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

I really like to give presentations, because I can transfer a message, say what I want to say and especially because I can connect with an audience, feel the adrenalin in their veins and feel their enthusiasm about my subject!

And I want to talk about the last reason. Feeling their enthusiasm. This requires something from your side. The audience needs to be able to resemble with you, to connect with you, understand you, feel you. You need to be compelling with your audience. They have to feel with you and they need to be sucked in your enthusiasm and they need to be taken on a trip to the wonderful information you are giving them.

Get in people their mind when you are talking in front of an audience
These tips require more than 5 people, there is a certain group vibe you need to trigger, so it won’t work with less than 5 persons in the room.

Naked chicks. Joey (from Friends) gives Ross two tips for his first lecture at the University. Either ‘start with a joke’ and ‘naked chicks’. With naked chicks I don’t mean actual naked chicks in your presentation, cause that will be probably evoking reactions you don’t want to get. But I mean something your audience wouldn’t expect. A funny picture, a beautiful picture. This doesn’t only takes place in the powerpoint, but also in your story. Tell them a great story, which may not be related to the subject at all. Make great examples. Be remarkable. Your story needs the naked chicks, they need a reason why people are listening to your very story. These naked chicks are the reason people came to your lecture and also the reason why they talk about your lecture.
Start with a joke. The other tip Joey gave to Ross. If you want to capture your audience right away, start with a joke. Make them laugh. Or start with introducing yourself in another way than they are used to. Sit on a table. ‘Look nonchalant’ or something like it. Don’t be the guy in front of the desk ‘Hi, I am Peter and I am going to talk about Microfinance.’ These kind of introductions doesn’t work. Maybe a funny picture? Don’t say anything at all, just show them the picture and start talking. Break the ice. I like to tell a little anekdote and introducing myself afterwards. In this way, people are actually interested in who you are and what you are going to tell!
Keep it flexible. Don’t say ahead of your presentation ‘I will answer question at the end of my presentation’. Don’t give us that crap. If somebody raises his hand, answer the question. In that way you show your flexibility and people will be pleased if you answer their questions!

Make listening to presentations interesting again. Put a couple of naked chicks in your presentation and it will be a big improvement. Any presentation tips? Share them in the comment section.

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The Presentation Period

Stefan Knapen — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:19:46 +0000

From who do we learn more? Our fellow students or our teachers? Our teachers you would say, they are the expert. I’m not sure about it, if a fellow student deeps out the material and gives a presentation about it, you can learn a lot from them. This leads to the following subject, a serie of presentations from students instead of your teacher, a presentation period.

What is the ‘Presentation Period’

It is a period in which not your boring, mustache wearing teacher is teaching you, but your sparkling fellow students (and you!) is teaching you about a subject. In the period there is one big topic, and your classmates will cover every subject about it and have a presentation about that topic.

Your class will be divided in several groups and these groups prepare a presentation about a subject. This means deep out the material, know more than you should know and make it explainable to the class.

Why a Presentation Period works

They will have your attention. You don’t listen to your teacher all the time, but if you don’t listen to your classmates, friends they will get really angry. So you will be polite and listen. Which means more knowledge!
You will deep out a subject. You will get an expert on one subject, which actually feels great to know everything about it. And with upcoming tests, you don’t have to learn that subject anymore!
About all the subjects there is an expert. In your class, there is at least one expert know on a subject. So if you are close to a test, but doesn’t get it completly, ask the guy who had his presentation about that subject! He/she will be wanting to tell about it and will be capable to tell about it.

Why a Presentation Period doesn’t work

Students don’t know that much. Most stuff will come from wikipedia, and that can be wrong. Or the girl/guy will get it wrong and explains it wrong. Most of the times they don’t know the answer on questions and the teacher has to interfere.
Students aren’t always there. Which means a ‘Sorry kids, no presentation today, Casy is sick.’ Which means a mess in the schedule most of the times.
Students can be boring too. Maybe not on a saturday evening, but at least in class. When they start to talk in their monotonous voice you can get fall asleep as easy as with a teacher, and this time your fellow students will be mad too! Oops!

The Presentation Period can be a good alternation to your regular teacher, but it doesn’t have to be that fantastic. Ask your teacher to do it once, and see how it works out. Oh and wait, ask for it discrete, your fellow students won’t like it when they have to do presentations!

Presentation: The Middle

Stefan Knapen — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:35:20 +0000

Once you had your killer introduction, you are ready for the middle of your presentation.

What is in the middle?

More explanation about the subject, some space to make the problem bigger!
You come up with different solutions, and arguments for it or against it.

This part is more boring than your anecdotic introduction and now it is even more important to keep your audience interested, because this is what you really want them to tell!

Keep being interactive. The key to a succesfull presentation. Keep asking questions to some people in your audience, as I said in the introduction. They will be awake, and stay awake if you question them more often. The second sort of questioning you have to do is the ‘does everyone understand?’ No, they won’t react, but it is a good gesture

Keep it interesting. Yes, this is a more boring part, but it doesn’t have to be! If you keep the dry math and all short, the class will be kept interested. Keeping that guys, who aren’t interesting in anything but girls, interested is a great challenge.

Be humoristic. Your class needs a laugh one at a time. Just make jokes, be sarcastic and you know what I mean, just make them laugh.

With these tips, your presentation will be more fun and more interesting, what do you want more?

Presentation: The Introduction

Stefan Knapen — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:31:29 +0000

The beginning of a presentation, introducing your subject and especially: Getting the attention of your class! How to do it?

After a couple of years in high school now, I had a lot of presentations, in front of my whole class. I also had to do some performing for even bigger audiences with acting or debating, so I am pretty experienced in speaking before an audience. I have most of the times the attention of the whole class and I have some tricks for it, which are really important in your introduction.

Start with an anecdote. This have to be a really interesting thing. If you start with a short story, your class would be interested ‘hey that is something Stefan did, funny.’ And the greatest part of it, it doesn’t have to be true! If I start with ‘Me, the religous boy I am’ the class would immediatly start to laugh, because I am the opposite, but I do have their attention now!

Make the problem a huge problem. If you can convince your class that the problem you have chosen is a real, big problem they are more interested in the sollution you offer. There is a big difference between ‘The red-headed frog is becoming extinct’ and ‘In 2 years, there won’t be any red-headed frog anymore.’ Make your class face the problem, awake them!.

Ask something! Be interactive! The class is on the same level as you are, they know plenty of things. You have to be exact. Don’t ask the class a question, they won’t respond. Ask a person. ‘Blabla, ALEX! What do you know about blabla’ the class will be awake immediatly, cause you are doing something uncommon. They should pay attention, cause they could be questioned!

Do anything interactive. I can’t say it enough. If you want attention, let them do something. Let them sing a song, make a popquiz or make a mindmap with the whole class about the subject. A mindmap is a really good idea, cause you can take an inventory of the knowledge about the subject.

Make it an interactive introduction, awake your class. They have to listen whole day to teachers, make yourself stand out. Make it their luminous point of the day!

This is how I recommend it, but do YOU have any ideas? I’m really curious, I have some presentations coming up, what can you learn me about this?

Why you should say err

Stefan Knapen — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:05:26 +0000

I already mentioned my physics teacher, who says ‘err’ 25 times in 5 minutes.

When he says it, it is really annoying. It looks like he just doesn’t know what he wants to say, all the time. But you also may use ‘err’ in a good way.

When you are speeching, in front of a ‘bigger’ audience (more than 10 human beings) you actually can use the word.

The only golden rule is don’t use it too much.

But how should you use it?

When you come with something big, if you want to say a really important thing, the ‘err’ can be really powerfull. It should go something like this: ”How should I say this, err, when you …”

And you have to look above the audience, with the obama-wayoflooking, to a brighter future, to a fantastic oppertunity you seem to see.

It will make you look philosophic. It looks like you are choosing your words wisely. So the audience will find you wise, cause what you want to tell, you want to tell good.

An other way to use the word ‘err’ is to speak very fast after you said it. So the silence between the word ‘err’ and the following word must be like nothing. ”So if you use plan A to acco
mplice, you have to err-do this and this.”

You show a little bit weakness, and that makes you actually charming.

So, you can use the, in common bad, ‘err’ correctly, you can use it in your advantage.

Do you have any tips, to turn the bad word ‘err’ in a good thing? I would like to hear!