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Documentation toolkit info card: presentations
A presentation is a documentation and communication product that provides a verbal - and often visual - report on an organisation or an area of its work.
A presentation:
- Can be used to share what an NGO/CBO has achieved, learned and thinks - either in general or about a specific subject.
- Targets a specific audience - ranging from an individual donor to hundreds of participants at a conference.
- Needs to suit the event in question - for example, fit within the given time limit and link clearly to the theme in question.
- Must be interesting and attention-grabbing, providing insights and provoking questions.
- Can be accompanied by visual aids - such as flipcharts, overhead transparencies and slides.
(Note: Support in how to improve presentation skills can be found in "Section 4.12: Delivering effective presentations".)
Key questions
Key questions to ask before developing a presentation are:
? What is the presentation really about? Does what you want to say match what you have been asked to discuss? Do you have the right type and amount of information to say something useful and interesting?
? Who is the audience for the presentation? What is their level of knowledge and interest about the subject? How will this affect your style and content?
? How much time do you have for the presentation? How can you use it to highlight your two to three most important points? What level of detail can you cover?
Structure and content
These pages show an example of a structure and contents outline for a presentation by an NGO/CBO involved in community action on HIV/AIDS. The outline shows what the product will contain and in what order. The boxes around it provide some key "dos and don'ts" about how to make a presentation as effective as possible.
Slide # 1 Welcome and thanks
DON'T forget to say hello and to thank people for the opportunity to make a presentation.
Slide # 2 Introduction - to the presenter, main theme, key points and structure of the presentation
DON'T use your introduction to try to address everything that the previous speaker has said (if you are in a panel of speakers). Instead, make a brief link to their main theme and then keep to your prepared presentation.
Slide # 3 Background - to the NGO/CBO, project, community and HIV/AIDS situation
Slide # 4 First key point - summary of activities and results, lessons learned, and an example
Slide # 5 Second key point - summary of activities and results, lessons learned, and an example
Slide # 6 (*) Third key point - summary of activities and results, lessons learned and an example
DO highlight some points that you can leave out if you are running out of time.
Slide # 7 Summary of results and lessons learned
Slide # 8 Conclusions
DO make sure that your conclusions are clearly linked to your key points and results.
Slide # 9 Thanks
- *
DON'T just start to write your presentation. Instead, develop an outline to show the flow of the information. Make sure it has a clear: • Beginning - to introduce your theme and key points. • Middle - to communicate the majority of your information. • Conclusion - to wrap-up your key points.
DO prepare your outline in the way that works best for you. For example, some people use bullet points to remind them of the key points, while others prefer to write the text in full.
DO plan exactly how and when to use your visual aids, and show on your notes when to change them.
DO identify the two or three key points that you want to make and ensure that they are: • Reinforced at the beginning and end of your presentation. • Explained one by one in the middle of your presentation. • Backed up by concrete examples, data and references.
Style
This page looks at the style of presentations - meaning how they are designed. It provides some ideas about how to make them as interesting and attractive as possible.
Practice your presentation out loud -so that you know how its style comes across and how long it takes.
Make sure your presentation is appropriate - so that it suits the knowledge and interest of the audience.
Use attractive visual aids - such as flipcharts or overhead transparencies - to add "human interest" to your presentation.
Remember that the language of spoken presentations is less formal than you would use for a written report. You can use short and snappy sentences to emphasise key points in your presentation. If possible try to use bullet point notes for your presentation rather than read from full text.
Ensure that the notes for your presentation remind you where to use visual aids. For example, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance noted the number and contents of the visual aids in one column and the text of the presentation in another. From: an Alliance presentation on "Community Lessons, Global Learning" project, 1999.
Source: Documenting and communicating HIV/AIDS work
This is an extract from Documenting and communicating HIV/AIDS work: a toolkit to support NGOs/CBOs, published by the International HIV/AIDS
Alliance in October 2001.
To view the whole toolkit follow this link.
To download this card and three others, complete with graphics, in pdf format (which requires Adobe Acrobat software to read it) follow this link (file size 482kb).