Building an Effective Presentation

Article Title:

Building an Effective Presentation

Description: 

The goal of the presentation is to gain support from key stakeholders, who can be community leaders, organizations, and/or businesses. This article will provide you with some strategies to use when creating and delivering your presentation.

Target Grade Level: 

Grades K-12 

Discipline or Course (Audience): 

Can be used in any course

Time Frame: 

Total: 30 minutes

Introducing the resource: 10 - 15 minutes

Using the resource: Students will refer back to this document as they develop their presentation.

Practice presentation: 15 - 20 minutes

Suggested Grouping: 

Individuals or groups of 2-4

Key Vocabulary:

Presentation, competitor, customer, consumer

Educator Prep: 

Once your students have designed and refined their solutions, it is time for them to presentation their ideas to the community members. As students begin to build their presentation deck (i.e., the slides they will use to present their solutions to the judges), it will be useful for them to review this document. You might need to help your students understand what should and should not be included in the presentation. You can do this by asking probing questions as your students are developing and practicing their presentations. For students who are struggling to describe their solution efficiently (is the required time), you might ask them to list their top three favorite features or aspects of their solution and explain why those features are important.

The Practice Presentation

It is important for students to practice their presentations before they do the final presentation for several reasons.

• Feedback:  Whether you have them present to their peers, to community members, or to you, the feedback they receive will help them make final changes to both their presentation and their redesigned product.  
• Justify: Second, it gives them an opportunity to practice defending and justifying their solutions, which can help them gain clarity on their solution and confidence in their expertise.  This Activity - Dialogue with Stakeholders shows some of the types of questions they could be asked. 
• Iterate:  it gives them a chance to iron out any wrinkles in the presentation, including timing and who is saying what. Finally, it allows them to practice in a low-stakes environment.

Many students will be nervous, so they can use the practice presentation to work out their nervous habits, like playing with their hands or swaying while speaking. 

Using this Challenge with Other Audiences

• Using this with younger students K-3: It would be helpful for an adult (mentor, educator, volunteer) to meet with teams of students to review the content of this article.  Students could share their ideas using posterboards instead of using digital tools if needed.  They will likely need lots of opportunities to practice presenting with peers.
• While it is important for students to present their ideas to the panel of key stakeholders, this part of the challenge can be done in many different ways. Many teachers have students use technology, like Google Slides or Powerpoint, to build their presentations and then present with that tool. Students are also welcome to make flip charts or other visual aids to present. Some teachers will have their students present live, while others will have their students record and submit their presentations. We want this to work for your students, so feel free to adjust the presentation guidelines as necessary.

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