Dull presentation - lots of facts, figures etc

[WinkyWinkola]

Anybody got any sure fire tactics to liven up a 30 mins presentation?

I feel like I'm just going to lecture.....and it's going to be excrutiatingly dull.

I've included two small group activities but it's still boring. The subject is boring though - Maternity Services in my region.

Do you need to include all the facts & figures? Could they go on a handout? I don't think people absorb a big long list of facts & figures if they are just read out. Can you choose one good stat to open with (eg "in this area, three out of five women have to undergo a c-section even though in X-shire county next door to our county only 1 out of five women do" or something). Surely your interpretation / opinion of the figures is the important part of the talk? Can you make the figures more real by giving examples to make them more real, eg "there are only 4 midwifes for every 100000 women in this area - imagine Wembley statium (or other venue in your region!) full of pregnant women with only 4 midwives running around looking after them" or something

I think maternity services is potentially an interesting topic!

For one of the best presentations I've heard of, the presenter brought along five props at the start - a piece of toast, a toy car, an apron etc - and said that they represented his key points. He asked people to see if they could guess what they represented during his talk. He put them to the side while he did the talk, then at the end explained how the objects related to the points. Even though I didn't even go to the presentation (my DH did) I can remember what the talk was about and what the guy's key points were, becuase of the props! I've tried this myself (bag of all-sorts, baby-gro, copy of The Times, a crossword were my props!) and I think it went down well.

Good luck though!