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Giving
presentations.The
biggest challenge! Giving
a talk or presentation in front of your class can be a nightmare for a dyslexic
student! It may remind you of those terrible times when you were called on to
read out loud back at school. Giving a public performance like this can
make anyone feel stressed and anxious. However,
with careful planning, your anxiety can definitely be reduced. Use
cards. Try
to organize things for yourself beforehand. Break up your talk into short
pieces which can each be summarized on a card the size of a postcard. Hold
these cards in your hands as you talk, and use them to provide cues for each of
the steps in your talk. Pick
out the key words on each card and write them in red or highlight them. Planning.  Plan
your presentation carefully along A-B-A lines:
-
A - Tell them what you’re going to tell them,
- B
- tell them,
- A
- and then tell them what you’ve told them.
Support
your ideas and themes with anecdotes, examples, statistics and facts. Don’t be
afraid to use humor appropriately. Make
eye contact at some point with all members of the group. Be
aware of your body language and don’t fidget as you talk.  Slow
down.
A
common fault when making a presentation is for the student to hurry and talk too
fast (probably in order to get the talk over and finished!). Do
the opposite. Make yourself slow down. Remember
that what you are saying will probably be fairly new to your audience, and they
may need a little time to take it all in. Speak
clearly, don’t gabble or mumble, and speak louder than you think necessary. Try
to get another student to listen to your talk beforehand, so you know if
you have any annoying habits, or if you repeat words like ‘OK’, ‘er…’ or ‘you
see’ too often.  Visual
aids.
If
you have visual aids, drawings, overhead projector transparencies, etc. to use
in your presentation, mark each one on the appropriate card so that you will know
when to show it. Microsoft
Powerpoint is a program that will let you prepare your whole presentation,
with images and text headings, on a laptop. You can then plug it into a projector
for people to see it on a screen while you talk. If
you are using an overhead projector, avoid walking in front of the screen,
or reading the transparencies out loud to your audience. Refer to them, but let
them illustrate/back up/summarize what you are actually saying – images are generally
more effective than words. Dealing
with questions.  Handle
any questions using the mnemonic:
TRACT:
- T
- Thank the questioner,
- R
- Rephrase the question
for the rest of the audience,
- A
- Answer the question
to the group,
- C
- Check with the questioner that they are satisfied, and
- T
- Thank them again.
•
How
to Give a Talk. • Giving
a Talk at a Technical Seminar. •
Overcoming
Speaking Anxiety in Meetings & Presentations. •
The
Skill of Giving a Presentation.
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