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Acing your presentation

red line divider Presenting a project or speaking in public doesn’t have to be a nerve-racking nightmare, we promise.

Preparation is key to calming your nerves and, with that in mind, we’ve put together expert insights to help you ace that presentation and communicate with confidence.

Tackle the fear of public speaking

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Read a free chapter of Stand Up and Be Heard by Rob Grieve to develop effective, confident and authentic public speaking skills for university.

authentic public speaking

Learn about speaking and oral presentations from Rob in this Twitter Q&A by Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (#LTHEchat).

READ Rob's TWITTER Q&A

How can the fear of public speaking hurt your mental health? Read Rob's blog for quick facts and tips to tackle your worries and improve your university experience.

FEAR & Public speaking

How to prepare a successful presentation?

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We’ve said before, preparation is essential to deliver a good presentation. So, we’ve compiled key questions to ask yourself at each stage of planning your presentation to ensure its success.

1. Understanding: What does my tutor want me to do?

2. Analysing: What are the instructions and marking criteria?

3. Researching: What am I going to talk about? What are my main points?

4. Planning: What does my audience already know? What do I want them to know at the end of the presentation?

5. Structuring

The Introduction: Am I grabbing my audience’s attention?
The Body: Is the content ordered logically and clearly linked?
The Conclusion: Am I leaving the audience with something to think about?

6. Preparing

Visual content: Are my slides uniform? Am I keeping information clear and to a minimum?
Notes and cue cards*: Have I practised my delivery? Am I speaking clearly? Do I want to use notes or cue cards?

*Top tip: never read out from your notes, instead use them as prompts to aid your memory

This is an extract from The Academic Skills Handbook by Diana Hopkins and Tom Reid. You can also read our Q&A with Diana and Tom about the importance of developing your academic skills.