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One of the key things you will be expected to do is to organise and present your information in a highly structured and purposeful way.

Before your presentation:

• Think about an interesting angle for your topic. How can you ensure your audience members feel as if they have learned something new?
• Plan your presentation – think about how to structure your ideas.
• Prepare cue cards so that you are not tempted to ‘read out’ your talk.
• Practise your presentation - the more you practise, the more comfortable you will sound.

During the presentation:

• Stay focused on your topic – remember the order of ideas.
• Focus on how the audience are responding – be ready to cut or develop ideas.

Below is a suggested structure that you can use for your presentation regardless of the topic you have chosen.

Introduction

Here you should introduce your chosen topic and explain why it is important to you. You should also include a few brief facts about your topic in order to engage the interest of the audience.

Main body

In this section you should include some of the interesting information that you have discovered in your research. You should aim to cover at least five main points about your topic, providing interesting facts, anecdotes, statistics and pieces of evidence to add interest to the points you are making.

Conclusion

In the conclusion you should briefly sum up all the main points you have made and thank your audience for listening. You should also ask if any audience members have any questions they would like to ask.

Sentences starters

You might like to think about some possible sentences starters to help highlight for your audience when you are beginning to discuss a new point. Some examples are:

• It is also interesting to note...
• Another interesting fact about... is...
• I have always enjoyed... because...
• Some people believe that...
• It is possible to say that...
• When I am... I also feel...
• There is no doubt that...

Enhancing your presentation

Using software such as PowerPoint or Impress may enhance your presentation, but remember that it is only there to add interest to what you say. Avoid reading from your slides as this makes your presentation less interesting and your audience will be less engaged in what you are saying. Also if you have your presentation written out on slides your audience might be tempted to read it rather than listen to you!

You could include diagrams, illustrations or key facts in your slideshow to support your presentation. You might also bring in an object related to the topic of your presentation. For example, if you were making a presentation on a particular sport, you could show the audience a medal you have won for a sporting event.