Presentation+Skills

=Communicate Your Message=

People in the audience want to know who you are and what value your message holds for them. Ways to convey your message include"
 * Look at the message from the point of view of the audience
 * Identify your objectives
 * Involve the audience
 * Choose an effective closing
 * Practice
 * Present with enthusiasm

Getting to know the audience can help you deliver your message.
 * Who are they?
 * What do they know about the subject matter?
 * What interest might they have in your message?
 * What is their attitude toward your message?

Also think about your message:
 * What are your goals for the presentation?
 * What ideas or concepts do you need to explain to the audience for your goals to be met?
 * What facts do you need to support your main idea or objectives?

Think about ways to get people involved:
 * In what ways can you involve the audience?
 * How might something like an informal survey (show of hands) help you reinforce your main points?
 * What experiences might members of the audience be able to share that could help you convey your message?

Finally:
 * In what way can you sum up your message for the audience so it stays with them?

Having a well-defined plan to communicate your message, including clearly-organized information that you practice until you feel comfortable enough to focus on interacting with people in the audience rather than just the information, can really help reduce the presentation anxiety that most people feel when speaking in front of people.

=Presentation Anxiety=

Fear produces a biochemical reaction in our body. Hormones are released that cause changes.

Some of these changes help us analyze our environment:
 * The pupils of the eye dilate to take in more light.
 * The brain needs to determine where the threat is coming from so it focuses on the big picture at the expense of attending to small tasks.

Some of these changes prepare us to act:
 * There is an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
 * Digestion and other nonessential systems are shut down to provide more energy for emergency functions, which can result in nausea, stomach cramps and the urge to go to the bathroom.
 * Veins constrict to allow more blood to flow to the muscles resulting in less warmth in the skin, which can cause chills.
 * Blood is redirected from the brain to the muscles, which can cause dizziness.
 * Muscles, including our vocal chords, tighten.
 * We start to perspire in anticipation for the body's need to stay cool during the physical exertion to come.

Our eyes dilate and our brain goes into scanning mode in order to assess the situation and make a decision whether to fight or run away. Scanning becomes a problem. Let's look at what happens when we scan:
 * Many images flood our eyes, which causes over stimulation of our brain.
 * When our brain is overstimulated, we become nervous or fearful.
 * When we are nervous it becomes increasingly harder to think because the brain is busy trying to assess the danger.
 * Our mouth gets dry.
 * We tend to speak faster and we do not realize we're doing so.
 * We use "um", "uh" and other similar words more frequently.

The fear response is an almost automatic response. We can and need to control scanning when speaking in front of others.

Ways to Control Presentation Anxiety
Knowledge about how our body responds to fear is the first step.

We can also take steps to disrupt the physiological changes that take effect. This works best just before getting up to talk.
 * If we consciously relax, it helps loosen the muscles, including the vocal chords.
 * Taking a few deep breaths increases oxygen to the brain.
 * Consciously relax again.
 * Develop good eye contact to reduce the effects of scanning.
 * Consciously relax again.

=Training the Butterflies (article)= []

=Two Rules for a Successful Presentation= []

=Example Presentations: Bloomsburg University Master of Science Instructional Technology Students= []

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