Giving presentations is an essential part of university assignments when you study in the UK. Depending on the assignments, you might need to summarise your readings, report on a project, or present research results. Whether you are working alone or in a group, speaking in front of an audience can be stressful and intimidating, especially for international students who first come to study in the UK and whose mother tongue is not English. However, university presentations are relatively low-stress and low-stakes. In your future career, you might need to present frequently to your managers and clients. Therefore, it’s best to get familiar with this task and start to develop presentation skills when you study in UK universities. In this blog, we’ll provide practical tips to help you excel in your presentations and make a memorable impression.
Understanding the Purpose and Audience
Before preparing your presentation, it's crucial to understand its purpose. Are you conveying information or persuading your audience? There are two main types of presentations based on their purpose: informative and persuasive. Informative presentations aim to educate the audience about a specific topic, while persuasive presentations seek to convince the audience to see things your way or take a desired action. The content you include and how you organise it should align with the presentation’s purpose.
Consider the iPhone as an example. If you want to educate your audience about the newest iPhone product to help them make an informed purchasing decision, you would introduce its features, advantages, and disadvantages. On the other hand, if your goal is to persuade your audience to buy the iPhone, you might highlight its features and advantages by comparing them with those of other smartphones on the market.
As a university student who study in the UK, you are more likely to encounter informative presentation assignments, such as presenting research results or reporting on a project. These tasks assess how deeply and thoroughly you understand a particular topic. Occasionally, you might also need to deliver a persuasive speech, such as when running for a society president or participating in a class debate.
Understanding your audience is also key to delivering a successful presentation. When you study in UK universities, the audience of your presentations most likely consist of your classmates and tutors. While you are the expert on your topic, always prioritise your audience’s needs and knowledge level. Consider how much they already know about your topic and how best to communicate your message to them. Covering too much known information can bore your audience, while diving straight into complex details without sufficient background can leave them feeling lost and overwhelmed. Tailoring your presentation to your audience’s knowledge level is crucial for keeping them engaged and ensuring they follow your presentation.
Structuring Your Presentation
A clear structure not only helps the audience understand the topic but also helps you as the presenter stay organised and on track. Similar to writing an essay, a presentation also typically includes an introduction, body, and conclusion.
Begin with a compelling opening to introduce your topic. Using visual content, like images or videos, and anecdotes can grab the audience’s attention and spark their interest. Before diving into your main content, provide an overview of the agenda to give your audience a forecast of what to expect.
The body is where you elaborate on the main points of your presentation. Discuss the most relevant and interesting points in a logical sequence. Consider what knowledge the listeners need to grasp your topic and what comes next. Use distinct sections or headings to arrange the middle section and provide direction. Utilize language cues like "I would like to start by…", "Next…", and "To sum up…" to help the audience follow your logic. The number of points to cover should depend on the length of your presentation. When you study in UK universities, you will usually be given 10-20 minutes for your presentation. Focus on 3 or 4 main points, exploring key ideas rather than overwhelming the audience with too much information.
In the conclusion, summarise your main points and emphasise key information to reinforce the audience's memory and understanding. Once you finish your presentation, invite the audience to ask questions. Your responses will demonstrate your depth of knowledge and influence the overall score of your presentation. Preparing for potential questions and answers in advance is an effective way to ensure you won't be caught off guard by the audience's questions.
Preparing Your Presentation Slides
A presentation is as visual as it is auditory. It typically consists of your speech and accompanying slides, with the latter serving as a visual tool to support and enhance the former. Using presentation slides not only provides structure and helps translate complext information to digestible visuals but also engages the audience. The most widely used tool for creating slides is Microsoft PowerPoint, and Canva is another popular option among students who study in the UK, offering a wealth of free, aesthetically pleasing templates.
When designing your slides, aim for clarity and conciseness. Use bullet points instead of large blocks of text to make the presentation more readable. This also prevents you from reading directly from the slides. Incorporate charts, images or videos into your presentation to enhance the visual impact, which will make it easier for your audience to understand your content more intuitively.
Despite the benefits of a well-designed slide deck, the content of your presentation remains paramount. A visually engaging PowerPoint can enhance your presentation, but it won't compensate for weak content. Focus on delivering strong, well-organised information, and use your slides to reinforce and illustrate your key points effectively.
Using Body Language During a Presentation
Giving a presentation relies not only on your verbal communication but also on non-verbal cues like posture, facial expressions, eye contact, and gestures. These non-verbal elements communicate to the audience how prepared and confident you are as a presenter, even though they may not be directly related to the content.
First, maintain a good posture while speaking. Standing with crossed arms or slouching might give the impression that you are not invested or confident in what you are saying. Additionally, presenting with a blank face is like speaking in a monotone—it won't engage the audience. Adjust your facial expressions to match the tone and emotion of your speech. Expressing the right emotions through your face can make your speech more dynamic and compelling.
Maintaining eye contact with your audience is necessary (which is also why you shouldn’t read directly from your slides!). It helps them feel that you are engaged with them and concerned about how they are receiving your message. This interaction strengthens your connection with the audience. Using hand gestures can help emphasise your points, but be mindful not to overdo it. Overly dramatic gestures can be distracting.
Overall, effective body language enables you to communicate your messages clearly and confidently while building a connection with your audience.
Tips for Group Presentations
When you study in UK universities, group presentations are often more common than solo ones. This is because they not only increase the efficiency of tutors in assessing all students but also help students develop many valuable skills, such as communication, collaboration, negotiation, task distribution, conflict resolution, leadership, and more. While presenting as a group can ease the pressure on individual students, it presents its own unique challenges. Here are some tips to ensure your group presentations run smoothly and effectively.
Before starting to work on your assignment, get to know your teammates through ice-breaking activities first. This can help build a friendly and comfortable working environment, making collaboration more enjoyable. Once everyone is familiar with one another, you can then focus on distributing the tasks. Divide the main presentation topic into smaller, manageable sections, ensuring that everyone has an equal share of the work. However, remember to stay flexible and open to negotiation to accommodate individual strengths and preferences.
Collaborative slide preparation is essential for a cohesive group presentation. Make sure everyone contributes to the creation of the slides so that everyone feels a sense of ownership. Meanwhile, you also need someone in the group to oversee quality control and maintain a consistent style.
Once the content and slides are ready, rehearsal is crucial for a smooth delivery. Practice makes perfect. And, in this case, it also makes you aware of timing. Some presentation assignments have strict time constraints; exceeding them can result in a lower mark. Rehearse together as a group multiple times so that you can make sure everyone sticks to their timing and different sections transition smoothly.
Effective communication is key throughout the preparation process. Maintain clear and open lines of communication with regular check-ins to address any issues early and ensure everyone is on the same page. By following these tips, you can enhance your group presentations, making them more cohesive and effective while also building valuable teamwork skills.
Preparing and delivering a presentation, whether individually or as part of a group, is never a small task. When you first come to study in the UK, it's natural to feel anxious about such assignments. We hope this guide will help you excel in your presentations while you study in the UK. Stay tuned for more study tips coming up on the UAPP blog!
