Sound Writing

Even if you consider yourself to be a great improviser, you should begin preparing your presentation at least a couple of days in advance to give yourself time to . . .

Practicing your presentation over and over will help you feel more confident and comfortable when the time comes for you to actually present. We know that practicing speeches in college can sometimes be difficult, especially when you don’t want to bother your roommate, but you have plenty of options! Try out a study room in your university library, find an empty lounge in your residence hall, take turns practicing with other people in your class (or with your course assistant), make an appointment at the tutoring center, take your presentation notes on a walk and practice as you go (just watch out for cars and passersby!), or visit your professor during office hours for some feedback. Having a few run-throughs under your belt will make you more comfortable when you actually present.

Of course, don’t prepare so much that your presentation becomes all that you think about. It’s important to sleep and take breaks!

The purpose of a presentation is not to read the audience your paper. Your audience can read. What they can’t do when reading a written paper is engage in face-to-face communication with the writer. Engage your listeners on a personal level by actually talking to them. They’ll be more interested in what you have to say, and you’ll be happy to have been heard. (You might even be able to get away with a couple of jokes in your oral presentation. While we don’t recommend undermining your authority with knock-knock jokes every other slide, a tasteful joke can help to establish rapport between you and your audience.)

Although it might seem scary to look directly at your audience, making eye contact will actually make the presentation less awkward! Making eye contact also tells your audience that you reciprocate the attention that they’re giving you.

Sometimes people in your audience may look like they are not paying attention or like they aren’t enjoying your presentation. While this may be the case, don’t panic if people look less than enthralled. It’s impossible to know why they look the way they do: They may have been sitting there for a long time, or maybe their resting face is not as perky and interested as your own! That said, when you’re in the audience listening to other presentations, make an extra effort to be a good listener and to look interested and alert, even if you’ve been sitting there for a long time.

Class presentations, as with everything you do in college, are practice. Your classmates are dealing with the same stresses and anxieties as you, and your professor is aware that you are practicing and learning. If it helps, ask your professor if you can use the timer on your phone to keep track of time during your presentation. (But don’t do this if watching the seconds tick by will make you more anxious!)