Doing presentation at work - AIBU to ask for tips?

[LimaLemur]

I’ve been invited with colleagues at work to a workshop on presenting. We've all been asked to think of something that we’d like to do a 5-minute presentation on and to prepare a presentation on it, although we may not all get called up to present.

I realise this workshop is about helping us to learn skills on presenting confidently, so I’m sure we’ll learn lots of new ideas on how to present, but I want to think of something interesting I can present on and am a bit stuck.

I’m really interested in French culture and language so was thinking I could do a presentation on French music, maybe? I could play some music as part of the presentation and hand out visual aids as part of it. What do you all think? I’m a bit stuck on how to structure it so I deliver something interesting and memorable. Would like to be funny too, if possible.

Forgot to say, thanks in advance for your help!

Hi op. Chose a subject you enjoy, definitely. But one thing that strikes me is that 5 mins really isn’t that long. So you need to think carefully how you would include all the things you want to. The french music subject will be memorable, (I would remember because I know nothing about it) but by the time you have done a short intro played the music and handed something out the 5 mins will have gone! It is possible but don’t try to pack too much in - would this subject be too complex for 5 minutes? Ask yourself what’s the one thing you want everyone to go away with? Concentrate on that.

If it were me I would pick something really simple - like how to make a paper aeroplane or stack chairs ( something random that is fun for everyone and interactive).
You are right though if it’s a training event it’s really about your style and learning new skills. I wouldn’t worry too much about content but think about eye contact, voice, body language and engaging the audience. Good luck it will be fun, enjoy it.

Thanks, WaterfallGirl! :) Your advice is really helpful. I really like your idea about doing something interactive in the presentation. I’m wondering now if my presentation should focus on helping everyone learn a new skill rather than just talking to them about, say, French music with visual aids etc. Do you think I could teach them some French, for example? I’m not sure what to focus on but maybe teaching them some specific vocab would be interesting. I’m really stuck on how to keep it simple and interactive but also memorable and to focus on something I’m confident teaching people any suggestions?

I agree that an element of interaction is good...you really need to engage your audience. I usually start with either a question, or with a really powerful statement that gets them thinking.

Have a look at an online tool called Kahoot. You could do a one minute quiz at the end and it’s great fun.

I think 5 minutes is too short to include music and interaction. If it were me, I would just make it a short slick presentation without these elements. You will end up with no time to present and you are supposed to be demonstrating presentation skills. Are you able to use power point? I agree a visual aid of some description is invaluable.

Yes! Teaching a few French words would be fun. If you have people who already speak French they can join in with the ‘teach’ element. I agree with Cherry start with a question or statement and start from there- eg how many countries in the world speak French, or, how many people worldwide speak French.... etc With the music - if you have an activity you could play the music at a quiet volume during the discussion / talking to set the scene. If it were me I would probably start with a few fun facts about France or the French language maybe in a quiz format it’s interactive straight away then into the ‘skill’ session - learn in pairs or group to say maybe one sentence and then summarise . 5 mins is not long eg intro 30 secs verbal quiz 1.30 practice French word or phrase 2 mins summary 1 min. That’s it ! Good luck x

5 minutes really isn’t long enough to present more than a tiny specialised area. You’d be better with a simple concept like other people have said, the paper plane seems like a good idea!

Or a short snappy intro into something most people would recognise like the I regret nothing song?

You want to allow around 10% of the time for introduction and then another 10% for conclusion. So this works out to be about a minute for both, leaving only 4 minutes for actual content.

The introduction would usually be good with a “hook” which tells the audience why they should care/listen to you. Then an outline of what you’ll cover. Making it relevant is often what is missed, so you can say things like “Paper planes are under appreciated in society, I hope to interest you in some facts about them”.

But as it’s a work shop they’re looking for things to point out to you to develop and demonstrate how you’ve improved with simple techniques. I’m not a natural at presenting and for these type of things I choose a subject I know well so for questions I know I have the answer.

Good luck ! And let us know how you get on

I think the music idea is fine.
I absolutely concur with working out what main point(s) you want them to go away with.
Don't read out your slides. I used to aim for ~1 slide per minute, key points only and talk around them.
Practicing in a room and saying it all out loud helps a lot, running through just in your head isn't the same.

If you are there to learn how to do presentations, just aim to be competent (ie not dire).

(Start with a bit of 'allo 'allo French accordion music?)

I’m really keen to make the presentation memorable and interactive within the time limit I have, so I’ve come up with a rough plan for it - what do you all think?

I’ve narrowed down the presentation so I’ll present on one of favourite singers rather than doing an overview of French music.

On French music: Jacques Brel -

1. Ask them if they know anything about French music/any singers or groups (15 seconds)
2. Introduce presentation: going to take about Jacques Brel (15 seconds)
3. Give brief overview of his life (life pre-singing career, singing and acting career, life in French Polynesia) and talk a bit about why I like him and his music - hand out visual aids during this time (2 minutes)
4. Play one of his songs (a small section), give out song sheets with gaps and get audience to fill in gaps and try to translate them (2 minutes)
5. Questions from audience (1 minute)

I think I’ll take in a couple of cue cards with the main points jotted down on them as I don’t think we’ll have access to computers to do a full PowerPoint presentstion.

I’ve been a trainer for over 10 years an prior to that a teacher. Your plan sounds good, but the part I’m picking up on is number 3. That’s an awful lot to do in two minutes.

I would use your one choice of song throughout. Play a little bit to begin with

Use the song to say something about his life.

Give the context and meaning of the song.

Then do your little translation exercise.

I think that if they don't know brel then it's boring to say a bunch of stuff about him before you even get to the music

Plus he was Belgian ;) love Brel!

I know it's a cliché but what if you explained "je ne regrette rien" by Piaf? Lots of people sort-of know the song and that it's about regretting nothing but they don't know the rest of the words, or anything about her. And the American equivalent is obviously Sinatra's "I did it myyyyyy waaaaayyyyy"

Also number 1. You are asking them if they know anything about French singing etc, and given yourself 15 seconds. You could have 1/2 who do, and answer yes, and then go in to ‘I personally like X, I’ve been listening to them for X number of years.....etc’ and suddenly you’ve lost 2 minutes or more of your presentation. You would be better saying ‘I’m going to assume that none of you have......’ rather than putting it out as a question as time is very tight.

Yes the first question is too open - best to play them the opening few bars of a specific song and say "do you know this?" and then they do or they don't.

Yes, drop point 1. You don't want Barry from accounts discoursing for three minutes on his love of the French hip hop scene.

I think you're definitely going to run over 5 mins. I appreciate that you want it to be interactive but you only have 5 mins and that isn't really feasible. You're wanting to cover too much. Drop (4). Play his music in the background if you really want. You need to focus on your actual presentation skills in order to get the most out of the workshop.

I used to work in management consultancy where we present all the time, often with little/no notice. I was once given 1 minute to prepare and then shoved up on the stage of a 500 person auditorium and told I had 30 seconds to sell myself (and then got to be critiqued by the pretty tough audience). Keep it simple. You're over-complicating things by trying to make it interactive. Think about what your key message is. Think about your body language and how you speak. And stick to 5 minutes! (your plan already shows you running over and I think your plan timings are actually under-estimated).

With 5 minutes, you have barely time to get your key information across. Keep an eye on the time and wrap it up when you get to 4 minutes.

Pitch the content at the generally intelligent person who knows nothing about your subject. Have one key thing you want the audience to remember.

1. Tell them what you are going to tell them.
2. Tell them
3. Tell them what you've told them.

In this situation, I'd try to make your presentation interesting but not too interactive. If you ask for responses, you will either get one person who —thinks they know more than you— tells a very long-winded, tale whilst everyone tunes out, or tumbleweed.

Similarly, if you try to get people to follow instructions, you'll lose them as some will do their own thing, some will take forever or get even the simplest thing (fold a piece of paper in half) wrong, whilst others will finish in half the time. I'd also scrap the handouts unless they are for people to take away at the end. It'll take longer than you expect to give them out and then the audience will read the handout and not listen to you.

However, I'd definitely use the music; it will set your presentation out from the others. Use one short piece of music and play it twice (once to listen to as an introduction and then again after you've told the audience what they need to be listening for).

Good luck. Remember your audience want to hear what you are going to tell them, so just tell them.

You've got this.

How did it go?

Wow thanks so much for all of your advice! I really appreciate it.

I haven’t actually done it yet - it’s this Friday! :)

The plan now is:

• Intro - play couple of bars of Amsterdam, ask if anyone recognises it and say it’s by Brel, who I’ll present on today (30 seconds?)

• V briefly talk about why I like his music (30 seconds)

• Show some photos of his live performances (40ish seconds)

• Group to do gap-fill exercise from extract of lyrics to one of his songs while watching live performance of song (2 minutes)

• Time for questions (50 seconds)

What do you all think?

The main bit I’ve allowed loads of time for is the gap-fill exercise. I’ve deliberately worked on keeping the other bits, where I speak, v brief and quick.
I’ve timed myself doing these different sections (apart from the group gap fill exercise, which only has a few gaps and only goes up to 1 minute 25 of the song). I’ve really tried to overestimate timings here.

Bumping :)

Anyone?

For me, it’s still way too much and in all honesty doesn’t fit the purpose of demonstrating good presentation skills. You have 5 minutes to demonstrate said skills of which 2 minutes are them listening to a song and filling in a sheet, and another 50 seconds is questions. That leaves just over 2 minutes for actual ‘presenting’, 40 seconds of which is looking at photos. I just can’t see what skills you can possibly showcase in the minute or so you will actually be talking.

I think you need to get rid of the exercise. You don’t have time to do something like that in 5 minutes. You’ll be surprised how quickly the time goes. Expand on the rest and share your knowledge of your niche interest.