Having prepared and practised your presentation, this resource will give you some tips on how to deliver the presentation and deal with any issues which arise.
Communication techniques
WATCH: 'Academic language in your presentations' (from the University of Groningen)
If you are required to record your presentations, go to The digital hub's advice, guidance and resources around recording presentations
Managing challenges
Feeling nervous
- Often, we are very aware of our nerves when we first start talking, and this eases up once we move through the presentation. An audience will often expect some nerves during a presentation. In most cases, other people don’t notice things that feel more obvious to us, for example when our voice might shake slightly.
- If you find your nerves taking over, pause to take a few deep breaths, gather your thoughts and slow down the pace of the presentation. Maybe look at your notes for a few moments and then continue.
Going off topic
- This is less likely to happen if you have prepared a clear structure for your presentation and if you have practised what you want to say.
- Often presentations allow for questions at the end. However, if you are allowing for questions during the presentation, it's possible that this might take you away from the main thread. In this situation, it's acceptable to make a note of the question and say that you'll come back to it at the end.
You forget what you need to say
- If you lose your way in the presentation, it's always helpful to glance back to your slides or your notes. If you forget the point you are making mid-sentence then it can be helpful to stop and just acknowledge this by saying something like “I’m just going to focus for a moment and check my notes…”.
Technology issues
- Hopefully you will have a backup plan which you can put into place if something goes wrong with the technology.
- If all else fails, it might be that you will need to reschedule the presentation. Your lecturer will support you with this if it's an assessed presentation.
Dealing with challenging questions
- Again, hopefully you will have prepared yourself for answering questions and what to say if you don’t know the answer.
In a group presentation, one of your colleagues loses their way or is struggling to answer a question
- You may feel the pressure to step in and remind the person where they are, or answer the question for them, which can feel awkward for the person involved.
- It's a good idea to have discussed as a group how you want to manage this scenario. For example, you might agree that the person involved takes a few minutes to collect their own thoughts, check their notes and respond. You could also agree that they can take the option of asking the rest of the group if they would like to answer the question.
