#presenting tips

Here is what I learned from a speech coach.

warm up:

start this exercise by taking a deep breath and saying “aaaaah” - try to extend this to 30 seconds. Now if it doesn’t go till 30, that’s fine. Aim to work your way to that. If you can work it up to 30, go for 45/60 seconds. Do this 5 times.

next. Download an app called Metronome beats. It’s basically what singers/ musicians use for beats.

Settings: keep beats/bar as 1,

clicks/beats as 1

start at 90. It will start with a click sound and continue “beeping.”

Match your words to the beep. One beep = one word. Now slowly, increase the beat by 5 till you reach 110. Increase it at your own pace but try to spend at least 20 seconds on each number (90 for 20 seconds; 95 for 20; 100 for 20….) That’s when you stop.

either start by reading something out loud and matching the beat, or select a topic and speak freely.

do this every single day. This will help with your breath, if you’re speaking on a topic it will help you think better and improve over time. The best way to further complement this exercise is to improve your vocabulary. Try to learn 1-3 new words a day and incorporate it in your vocabulary.

Hi everyone! I'd like go make a few well known points on this blog, such as its purpose, what it includes/will eventually, rules, and a little bit about myself.

Origins/About the Admin

The admin uses he/him pronouns and will use the online alias of Red.

This account was born from a conversation between a good friend of mine and I. I, a trans boy, have had to do so much digging and so much research, discreet things that transphobic parents won't approve of, and dove through so many loopholes that made my journey through gender dsyphoria and discovering my identity so much easier but so much harder at the same time.

I thought that if I used all that I had gathered and put it all on one platform, specifically focusing on that one thing alone, it would give other people out there what I didn't have. A bit of ease through what is already such a tough journey.

JUST TO CLARIFY!!:

This blog is safe for all umbrellas of queer or straight origin.

This blog is safe for everyone.

This blog is NOT trying to "convert" people. The "transgender agenda" that transphobes seem to stamp all of us with is nothing more than wanting to be ourselves and feel comfortable as who we are.

If you are uncomfortable with this? Please, feel free to leave. I never asked for transphobes here and I certainly don't want them to stay.

This blog WILL be providing tips and tricks for all the handsome young boys and demiboys, beautiful little ladies and demiladies, gorgeous genderfluids, incredible enbies, and all of you wonderful somewhere-in-betweens!

Just what are these tips and tricks?

Tips and tricks will include how to pass as what society deems feminine or masculine.

I do not judge if you know you are a boy and want to be feminine, I do not judge if you know you are a girl and want to be masculine.

This is not meant to enforce society's ideals of the gender separated stereotypes, but rather showing you what those are and helping you present when in an unsafe space or an unaccepting space.

But what about asks and messages?

Please do not be afraid to shoot me a message through my inbox! Anonymous messages are completely acceptable and I am fully willing to answer any questions I can.

Don't be afraid to ask overly specific questions either! It could be an advice box if you need it :)

No transphobic or homophobic asks will be tolerated. You will be blocked, reported, and never seen on my blog again. This goes for transphobic jokes, memes, news articles, claims, scientific reports, etc.

THIS IS NOT A VENTING BOX!! I'm sorry in advance to my loves who are struggling with their lives right now but in order to help you if you submit an ask in the ask box, I must answer publicly. If you need to vent, don't be afraid to send me a message. :) I am here for you all and will listen to you all.

The admin of this blog does cope with ADHD (attention deficient hyperactive disorder ie. brain zoomies zoomz and cannot focus well, gets off task easily) and autism (ie. help me with social cues please I do not understand neurotypical people) so if you could use any of these codes at the beginning of a message I would greatly appreciate it!

(vent) - you would like to vent [ this is a rather general one ]

(help) - you would like advice with something included in your message

(word vomit) - you would like to rant about something in a negative way, like you had a bad day and need to get it off your chest

(rant) - you would like to talk to someone about something good or positive that may have happened :) THESE CAN BE SUBMITTED VIA ASKS IF YOU'D LIKE TO! this kind of ask will be included under the tag #trans positivity and will be made public to spread some hope and joy :)

What will this blog include other than just advice?

This blog will include all sorts of things, pertaining specifically to transgender people, regardless of transition status 🙏❤

This is a source of information, an outlet, and a friend to go to if you need a little boost.

Remember that I love you all, and you are all good people. No matter what others may say to you.

Hello there everyone! It’s me, Aini and today, I will be sharing with you some tips and tricks on how to do presentations in class without being nervous. Well, most of these tips are given by one of my class facilitators as she would give the class some pointers about presenting and I want to share some of these with the studyblr community.

1.     Review your slides before the actual presentation.

Firstly, before you go in front of the class and start your presentation, make sure to review your slides once more to ensure that all the materials are in your presentation. Not when you are halfway through the slides and you realised that you are missing one important information. Reviewing the slides would also ensure that you know what to say in your presentation. If you are presenting as a group, make sure the entire group know which slides they are taking.

2.     Use graphs and tables in your slides.

This tip is helpful as it was the first tip that my facilitator said to my team during our very first presentation. My team were the first team to present and we were new to presenting and thus, our slides are made up of lengthy words trying to define the theory. She mentioned that it would be better for us to use tables to organise the slides and my team did what she had advice and I can totally see some difference. It makes readers and the presenters an easier time to read.

3.     Don’t make your slides wordy.

As a reference to the previous point, do not make your slides wordy as it would make you tend to read off the slides. Instead, use bullet points and make your slides as direct as possible. Include key words in your slides and you can explain it more verbally instead of dumping everything in the slides.

4.     Calm yourself down before presenting.

You are nervous, your heart beats faster. Then, you would forget what you are going to say. Make sure to always calm yourself down before presenting. Personally, I have a rough time during my first few presentation, since I am an introvert and I would tend to avoid the attention from others. Thus, I would tend to stutter and have a soft voice when presenting which, to be honest, is a big no-no! However, as weeks flew, and I have more experience in presenting in front of the class since we have presentation almost every single day, I became calmer and less nervous when speaking in front of my classmates.

5.     Have eye contact with your audience.

I guess having eye contact with your audience makes them feel that you are confident and ready. It’s like you are telling them that you know what you are explaining about the topic given. Having eye contact with them is crucial since you somehow want to convince them that you understand the topic.

6.     Pace yourself with the presentation.

If you have roughly had 12 slides excluding the first, reference and last page, my facilitator would tell us to at least use 10 to 15 minutes on the presentation itself. You do not want your presentation to be very long despite the short slides you have unless you really have a lot of things to explain or say. But make sure to always pace yourself with the presentation so that your presentation is not too slow or not too fast.

7.     Have a piece of paper to refer to instead of reading off the slides.

Sometimes, having a piece of paper would be useful for you to refer. Because sometimes, when you are standing in front of the crowd, you might tend to forget what you want to say and having a piece of paper with you can be your lifesaver. Also, if your slides are filled with key words, definitions or even theory, you can use the piece of paper to write down examples of these so that your examples would not go off the point.

8.     Ask the audience.

Asking the audience is optional but it sort of shows that you are interacting with them, which makes them less bored. Ask them questions or ask them for questions. Having some little interaction like these make the presentation more ‘fun’ and less bored in some sense.

9.     Don’t forget the reference page.

I do not know about you all but I always tend to have a reference page or slide at the second last slide before the closing slide. I would dump links on where I found the information from so that when you submit the presentation (for my case, I have to submit my presentation to my facilitator to get my daily grades), they can check the links whether the links or infographics is suitable for your presentation or lesson. (Two of my facilitators said this to my class so I think that it is important to have a reference slide)

10.  Have some pictures in your slides.

Having pictures in your slides gives colour to your presentation. Because who would not be bored to have slides over slides with words and no pictures. Use pictures that are relevant to your presentations and it is like the icing on the cake!

I really hope that these tips would be helpful to those who are still nervous when presenting or it is their first time presenting in front of the class. Remember that we all start from the bottom and we learn through mistakes so do not be alarmed when your lecturer or teacher give you some pointers to improve on your presentation. Use those pointers in your next presentation to further improve yourself!

Tips on presenting in front of an audience & what I do

Hey everyone! Presenting in front of an audience can be hard, and I'm here to help anyone who's reading this. Even if you're good at presenting, you might find some of my tips helpful.

Use notes

Make your notes small bullet points or numbered steps. If you copy word for word, you'll end up just reading your notes which will make a bad impression (and you could lose points).

I would recommend using flash cards (like 4 * 6 inch cards) or small pieces of paper instead of entire sheets of notebook paper. It makes a better impression if the sheets are small, and larger sheets tend to look like scripts. Sometimes, teachers won't allow scripts that you read right off of, and they might make assumptions about what's on the paper if it's big.

Make small glimpses at your notes. Don't look at your notes for over 2 seconds because it will distract your audience. Practice presenting it beforehand (explained later in the post) so you know what to say when you read those tiny bullet points on the paper.

Let's say you had a slide about the history of Microsoft. The slide tells where the headquarters were and how they moved, along with some important dates. All sentences are complete. On your notes, you should write bullet points that say:

Started in NM [Which stands for New Mexico] then to Seattle

Began 1975

Windows OS made debut in 1985

Notice that the notes are short, use abbreviations, and are designed to be quick to read.

Look at the audience

If you're not good at doing this, practice doing so in front of a smaller number of people, or in front of one person

If you can, you can look at the wall or look slightly to the right/left of someone to give the illusion that you're looking at the audience.

Practice makes perfect (or good enough)

Practicing increases fluency and will make your presentation easier to present. Sometimes, you won't need to practice because the presentation is short, but you should practice otherwise.

When practicing, focus on understanding what you're presenting.

Practice reading your notes so you know what to say.

If you tend to stammer sometimes in front of people (like I sometimes do), you might be suffering from a bit of stage fright. My next bullet point will tell you how to solve that.

Breathe slowly and deeply – steady breathing helps your body to relax and calms your mind

Have some water with you to sip in case your throat gets dry

Visualize holding hands with someone you trust

Try to enjoy what you are doing: stay relaxed and calm

Build your confidence by taking opportunities for smaller mini-presentations during the course

-Change your pictures. Try to stay away from using stereotypical pictures (i.e. for me, woman in the corner crying) and use more lively, and even funny photos. Surprisingly, I was able to use funny pictures about consent and what it’s like to be a teen to really get my point across.

-Make your presentation interactive. Ask lots of questions and get their opinions (even if the opinions are different from what you are trying to convey). If possible, include an activity or game that’s relevant to the material (I.e. I had the group participate in “In Her Shoes”, a choose your own adventure activity about teen dating violence).

-Be personable. Make jokes and treat them as if they are your coworkers or friends. Try to stay away from the stern, serious, or superior presenting style. Don’t keep it dry and read off of the PowerPoints; you’ll lose their attention quickly.

-Share personal stories about your content. It grabs the audience’s attention and makes your content more believable. I share stories of the abuse experienced by some of the clients we have worked with, and it really shocks the audience that these things happen. It’s one thing to say that sexual harrassment is an issue in our schools, it’s another thing to tell a story of how a teen I work with will get harrassing texts from boys saying they’ll hook up with her whether she likes it or not.

-Make the content relevant to your audience. In the past, I did one general presentation on teen dating violence to everyone. This time I did a presentation not just on teen dating violence, but also tips on working with teens, and how teen dating violence relates to social work. The audience will feel like they are truly fee getting something out of it.

-Keep track of your pace. Are you going so fast the audience is having difficulty keeping up? Or are you going so slowly that the audience seems bored?

-Don’t be afraid of silence. Allow time for your audience to truly process and think about what you’re saying. Allow sufficient silence after asking a question to give your audience time to mull it over and answer. Silence is not something to be intimidated of; use it to your advantage! I personally like to take sips of water or look through my printout of my presentation during silence.