In one of the workshops this past week, the cohort was asked to do an exercise. To be more conscious of how we handled ourselves while presenting, we were given a slideshow with only a title and asked to explain the following pictures in three minutes.
Explaining was no problem. The point of the exercise was to practice presentation skills, not sharing information. My problem was that I took too long. I felt the need to give background information that was unnecessary. I knew this was a problem I had, yet I still felt the need to include this information to orient my audience.
That is what I am working on in my presentations- finding a balance between time and information. Since my project divulges information through audio, I need to make sure the necessary information is there. However, I also need to be brief so that I don’t meander and lose my audience. Finding the balance in there will strengthen my project as a whole.
Emma Lewis
Sometimes you can just point your audience to another source to give them further background information. Linking out is helpful, as is saying you’re happy to talk later to provide more information. Just keep working at it!