Presenting 101: What Makes an Effective and Engaging Workshop?
Whether it's your first time running a workshop or your hundredth, speaking in front of people can still be a nerve-wracking experience. With countless online resources, figuring out what advice to follow can be overwhelming. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you through your presentation.
Know Your Audience
One of the most essential tips for delivering a workshop is ensuring your presentation is tailored to your audience. This could mean using examples that match students' interests at a particular year level or adjusting your vocabulary to fit the topic. Another key skill is explaining complex concepts in a way that’s easy for students to understand.
For example, describing how interest and loans work to Year 7 students will be different from explaining it to Year 13 students. A simple way to do this is by using examples that the students can relate to. While it's important to introduce concepts like insurance to students, be careful not to lose their attention if these topics become too complex or irrelevant. It’s best to pick examples they’ll encounter in the next few years, like insurance for cars instead of health insurance.
Practice, Practice, Practice
For any good presentation, practice is key. Standing in front of friends, family, or even a mirror can help you become confident with the information you’re presenting. When you’re practising, here are a few things to think about.
Review the slides. Spending time before your workshop, reviewing the content, and any possible jokes or questions you want to ask, can alleviate any need to improvise on the day.
Practising timings. Each presentation is about an hour long. If you find that you present all the content very quickly, try to add in more questions or stories to reach this time limit.
Practice answering questions. On the day of your presentation, you might get a question that catches you off guard. Having a friend or family member ask you random questions during practice sessions can help you prepare. And remember, if you don’t know the answer, and neither does your partner, it's perfectly fine to admit that you don’t know. No one expects you to have all the answers.
Use Storytelling Techniques
Another effective way to connect with your audience is through storytelling. Sharing your experiences can make the content more relatable and memorable for students. It doesn’t have to be a long, complex story. A simple anecdote can have a significant impact.
For many students, these presentations may be their first exposure to the content, and some might find it overwhelming or challenging to follow. Breaking things up with a short story or two allows students to process the information while showing them how it can be applied in real life.
Manage Nervousness
It's normal to feel nervous before any presentation, even if you've delivered it many times. Here are a few tips and tricks to help ease your nerves.
Arrive early. Arriving ahead of time allows you to familiarise yourself with the space, meet anyone you need to, and handle any unexpected technical issues that might arise.
Connect with your co-presenter. If you're presenting with someone for the first time, reaching out to them beforehand can help you organise who will cover what during the presentation. It also ensures that your first meeting goes smoothly with a clear plan.
Ask questions. If you're uncertain about the content or have concerns, don’t hesitate to ask friends, family, or someone from SavY. The executive team is always happy to help. There’s no such thing as a silly question. It’s always better to ask ahead of time than to realise that what you’re saying isn’t 100% accurate.
Interact with Your Audience
Sometimes, it may feel like you're talking to yourself during a presentation, but remember, the goal is to make it engaging and interactive. Encourage student participation by asking questions and allowing them to get involved. This helps create a fun and comfortable environment, making it easier for them to ask questions. And don’t forget to hand out plenty of fruit bursts to motivate interaction, even if the answer isn’t correct. A workshop should feel fun, not like a lecture.
Conclusion
Don’t pressure yourself into thinking you must deliver a perfect presentation every time, especially for your first one. Giving an excellent presentation is a skill that takes time to develop and practice. Each experience will make you more confident and capable, so focus on improving with every opportunity.
Opinion by Georgia Coulson