When planning a presentation it is important to ensure that you have considered the topic in depth as you would with any other assignment. 

• How does it need to be presented? 

The way you prepare a podcast or teams presentation may be different to if you are delivering it face to face due to prepared notes, ability to record and re-record slides and the presentation format.

•  What do you already know about the topic and what research do you need to do?

Consider the starting knowledge of your audience, what background context would it be useful to have? Think about previous presentations others have delivered and what you would like to emulate. Were they confident or knowledgeable?

•  Where might you look to understand the purpose of your presentation?

It may help to look at your module handbook, canvas page, lecturers guidance, generic assessment criteria or learning outcomes. This may help you gain an understanding of what you are being assessed on and the scope of your presentation.

Understanding your main message is key to ensuring that everything you present works towards meeting the objectives of your presentation. This can look similar to an essay, ensuring that you have included relevant information.

Within a presentation by understanding your message you can be clearer in what you want to include, leave out and what is more relevant to your overall point. 

You can watch the below video on Academic Presentations:

Lack of planning can lead to an inconsistent or unstructured presentation. 

Your presentation will follow a similar structure to an essay with an introduction, main body and conclusion. 

Similarly to an essay you will need to cover a few main topics in a logical order and this will depend on your overall point or argument. 

Useful information that may form the main body of your presentation:

• What is the section about? Introduce your point to your audience. 
• What is your point? Clarify your point so that it is fully understandable. 
• Tell us more? Mention interesting points relating to your overall topic and your position, backed up with evidence from literature. 
• What does the evidence mean? Explain or discuss your evidence. Don't just mention it but analyse it.
• How does the evidence relate to your topic? Explain the significance of your point, the argument you have made and relate it to evidence you have discussed.

Click on the link below to discover more hints and tips about presentation skills.

Practise your presentation until you feel confident presenting it.

Why not record yourself using teams? This may help you gain an understanding of your facial expressions which can help you get your point across. 

Speak slower than you would usually.

Benefits of recording a podcast include:

• Recording can be done using your phone 
• Ensure you edit your speech to ensure you get your point across. 
• You can brand your podcast and consider how to engage your target audience. 
• If working in a group you could take a topic each and split hosting and planning duties between you. 
• You could interview guests and analyse their answers to produce relevant conclusions and recommendations.

Try out the Presentation quiz to check your knowledge