Giving a presentation to fellow classmates can be a bit daunting, especially if you are new to oral and visual presenting. But with the right PowerPoint tips, public speaking skills, and plenty of practice, you can present like a pro at your upcoming presentation. Here, we’ve laid out the best college presentation tips for students. And once you have one successful presentation, you’ll get better each time!
The Best Presentation Tips for Students
1. Arrive Early And Be Technically Prepared
Get to the room early and make sure you leave plenty of time for technical set up and technical difficulties. Have several backup drives (including an online version if possible) so that you are prepared for anything!
2. Know More
Be educated on more than just what you are sharing. That way, you can add points, speak candidly and confidently, and be prepared to answer any audience or teacher questions.
3. Share Your Passion With Your Audience
Connect with your audience by showing that you are passionate about your topic. Do this with the right tone, eye contact, and enthusiasm in your speech.
When student presenters are nervous, they tend to speed up their speech. This can be a problem, however, because your speed may be distracting, hard to understand, and you may run under your time.
5. Rehearse Thoroughly
Don’t just practice, rehearse your college presentation. Rehearse the entire delivery, including standing up, using gestures, and going through the slides.
6. Show Your Personality
You don’t need to be professional to the point of stiffness during your college presentation. Don’t be afraid to show your personality while presenting. It will make your presentation more interesting, and you will seem more approachable and confident.
7. Improvise
You can’t be 100% certain what will happen during your presentation. If things aren’t exactly as you expected, don’t be afraid to improvise and run off script.
8. Pump Yourself Up
Get yourself excited and full of energy before your college presentation! Your mood sets the tone for your presentation, and if you get excited right before, you will likely carry that throughout and you’ll make your audience excited about your topic as well.
9. Remember To Pause
Pausing not only only prevents filler words and helps you recollect your thoughts, it can also be a powerful indicator of importance within your presentation.
10. Create “Um” Alternatives
Try hard not to use filler words as they make you look unprofessional and uncertain. The best alternatives to “um” “like” and “so” are taking a breath or a silent pause to collect your thoughts.
11. Using Your Hands
Using your hands makes your college presentation more interesting and helps to get your points across. Point at the slide, use common hand gestures, or mimic a motion.
12. Eye Contact
Eye contact is one of the most important presentation tips for students. Many students are nervous, so they look at their notes or their feet. It is important that you show your confidence and engage your audience by making eye contact. The more presentations you give, the more eye contact will feel natural.
13. The Right Tone
The best public speakers vary their tone and pitch throughout their presentation. Try to change it up, and choose the right tone for your message.
Preparing an Effective College Presentation
1. Open Strong
Grab your fellow students’ attention by starting strong with a powerful quote, intriguing scenario, or prompt for internal dialogue.
2. Start With A Mind Map
Mind mapping is literally creating a map of the contents of your college presentation. It is a visual representation and flow of your topics and can help you see the big picture, along with smaller details.
Some students make the mistake of including too much information in their college presentations. Instead of putting all of the information in there, choose the most important or relevant points, and elaborate on the spot if you feel it’s necessary.
4. Tell A Story
People love stories — they capture interest in ways that figures and facts cannot. Make your presentation relatable by including a story, or presenting in a story format.
5. The Power Of Humor
Using humor in your college presentation is one of the best presentation tips for students. Laughter will relax both you and the audience, and make your presentation more interesting
PowerPoint Tips for Students
1. Use Key Phrases
Choose a few key phrases that remain throughout your PowerPoint presentation. These should be phrases that really illustrate your point, and items that your audience will remember afterwards.
2. Limit Number Of Slides
Having too many slides will cause you to feel you need to rush through them to finish on time. Instead, include key points on a slide and take the time to talk about them. Try to think about including one slide per one minute of speech.
3. Plan Slide Layouts
Take some time to plan out how information will be displayed on your PowerPoint. Titles should be at the top, and bullets underneath. You may want to add title slides if you are changing to a new topic.
Choose an easy-to-read font that isn’t stylized. Sans serif fonts tend to be easier to read when they are large. Try to stick to only two different fonts as well to keep the presentation clean.
5. Choosing Colors And Images
When it comes to colors, use contrasting ones: light on dark or dark on light. Try to choose a few main colors to use throughout the presentation. Choose quality images, and make sure to provide the source for the images.
6. Use Beautiful Visual Aids
Keep your presentation interesting and your audience awake by adding visual aids to your PowerPoint. Add captivating photos, data representations, or infographics to illustrate your information.
7. Don’t Read Straight From Your Notes
When you read straight from your notes, your tone tends to remain monotonous, you don’t leave much room for eye contact. Try looking up often, or memorizing portions of your presentation.
8. Avoid Too Much Text
PowerPoint was made for images and bullets, not for your entire speech to be written in paragraph form. Too much text can lose your adiences’ interest and understanding.
9. Try A Theme
Choosing the right theme is one of those presentation tips for students that is often overlooked. When you find the right theme, you keep your college presentation looking interesting, professional, and relevant.
10. Be Careful With Transitions And Animations
Animations and transitions can add a lot to your presentation, but don’t add to many or it will end up being distracting.
Public Speaking Tips for Students
1. Choose Your Topic Wisely
If you are able to pick your topic, try to pick something that interests you and something that you want to learn about. Your interest will come through your speech.
2. Visit The Room Beforehand
If your presentation is being held somewhere outside of class, try to visit the location beforehand to prep your mind and calm your nerves.
3. Practice Makes Perfect
Practice, practice, practice! The only way you will feel fully confident is by practicing many times, both on your own and in front of others.
If you feel anxious about your college presentation, tell someone. It could be a friend, family member, your teacher, or a counselor. They will be able to help you with some strategies that will work best for you.
5. Remind Yourself Of Your Audience
Remember, you are presenting to your peers! They all likely have to make a presentation too at some point, and so have been or will be in the same boat. Remembering that your audience is on your side will help you stay cool and collected.
6. Observe Other Speakers
Look at famous leaders, or just other students who typically do well presenting. Notice what they are doing and how you can adapt your performance in those ways.
7. Remind Yourself Of Your Message
If you can come up with a central message, or goal, of your college presentation, you can remind yourself of it throughout your speech and let it guide you.
8. Don’t Apologize
If you make a mistake, don’t apologize. It is likely that no one even noticed! If you do feel you need to point out your own mistake, simply say it and keep moving on with your presentation. No need to be embarrassed, it happens even to the best presenters!
9. Smile!
When you smile, you appear warm and inviting as a speaker. You will also relax yourself with your own smile.
The Bottom Line
It can be nerve racking presenting as a college student, but if you use our presentation tips for students, preparing and presenting your college presentation will be a breeze!
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