The Art of Effective Presentations

Overview

The ability to deliver presentations is vital to achieving advancement for yourself and for your ideas. Few skills in life will contribute to your success as much as presentation skills. Without a dynamic and coherent presentation, even stellar ideas can fail to convince your audience. In this course, you will learn to organize your ideas to create coherent and convincing oral presentations, while also utilizing available visual aids and using public-speaking techniques to strengthen your delivery.

This course focuses on the skills necessary to prepare and deliver an effective presentation; that being said, the learner will not be creating, delivering, or designing a specific presentation from start to finish in this course (this course only provides the foundational knowledge for doing this work back at the office). This course consists of instructor lecture along with course activities corresponding with the main course objectives. In terms of the course activities, 50% will be discussion based – 25% will be in a group-work format – and 25% will be hands-on/involve a digital tool, such as a PowerPoint or Word file. The intent is for students leaving this course to take the skills learned and apply them to their efforts of creating more effective presentations upon returning to the workplace.

In this course, you will create and deliver effective presentations, both in-person and virtually. You will:

• Define what makes a presentation effective.
• Plan presentations.
• Design a presentation framework.
• Develop the presentation body.
• Create supporting materials.
• Prepare for your presentation.
• Deliver presentations.
• Conduct a question-and-answer session.
• Deliver group presentations and virtual presentations.

Lesson 1: Defining Presentation Effectiveness

• Identify Qualities of Effective Presentations
• Evaluate Yourself as a Presenter

Lesson 2: Planning Presentations

• Analyze the Audience
• Establish Your Presentation’s Objectives

Lesson 3: Designing the Presentation

• Create the Presentation Structure
• Organize the Presentation Body
• Write the Conclusion First
• Write the Introduction

Lesson 4: Developing the Presentation Body

• Select Evidence
• Write the Presentation Body
• Create Visuals

Lesson 5: Creating Supporting Materials

• Create a Slide Deck
• Create Speaker Aids
• Create Audience Handouts

Lesson 6: Preparing for Your Presentation

• Rehearse the Presentation
• Plan Event Logistics

Lesson 7: Delivering Presentations

• Connect with Your Audience
• Present Powerfully
• Utilize a Slide Deck Effectivel

Lesson 8: Conducting a Question-and-Answer Session

• Answer Questions
• Handle Challenging Questions

Lesson 9: Presenting in Common Business Scenarios

• Plan and Deliver a Virtual Presentation
• Plan and Deliver Group Presentations