Interview presentation help please.

[milki]

I'm getting great advice on here as always but would like more please!

I have interview on Fri and have to do a 5-10 min presentation. Powerpoint is available but I think I would prefer not to use it - I was thinking of producing a good looking handout instead that covers main points (did this at last i/v presentation after advice from friend and I thought it was great, and I really trust her advice, but didn't get job and still waiting on feedback so don't know what i/v'ers though of it).

So, if I go for handout option, should I still stand up to do the presentation? Think I would feel really self conscious standing with nothing to refer to, but is sitting a big no-no? I don't think there will be a lot of presenting required in the job so would they be more interested in what I say than how I say it?

All advice and tips much appreciated, tia.

I would say stand up. No Powerpoint is fine, and even a good thing, because it will make sure the focus is on you, not on distracting whizzy slides, and it will ensure you present to your audience, rather than to the screen...

Do stand up though. A presentation is a presentation, and you don't stand up for the purposes of looking at a Powerpoint screen, you stand up for other reasons which are still important without Powerpoint or other visual aids.

I think you should stand up too, but no PowerPoint is fine. Although I wonder if you give a hand-out, whether they will be looking down and reading this instead of looking at you.

Unless you're just giving them the hand-out at the end to remind them of the key points you made in your presentation - that would be quite good.

One thing - in a presentation, there will sometimes be people who don't know what brief you were given, so make sure you re-state that at the beginning.

And good luck.

If they have said Powerpoint is available, TBH I think that that is a fairly big hint that they expect you to use it, and not using it would be considered to be saying you are not that computer literate (not necceserily true I know but that's what I would think).

I would do a really simple Powerpoint presentation with nothing fancy (just a title page, an introduction slide, one slide per major section of the presentation with bullet points and a conclusion slide) and then the slides as a handout with space to write at the side. This looks classy, professional and gives you handouts as well. Has always gone down well in interviews/presentations for me.

Good luck

I agree with the previous poster. You should definitely use Powerpoint if it is available and I would personally provide handouts too.

Keep the Powerpoint presentation simple, though, and check which version they are using because there is nothing worse than using lots of whizzy features only to find out they don't work when you get there!

Do stand up for the presentation, unless they tell you otherwise. Good luck!

when you stand you have the screen to refer to - to point to and to emphasise certain points.

really inportant - do NOT put all your writing on the screen.

bullet point your main areas and then talk about them off the cuff, use the bullet points to remind you of thenext important thing you are going to say.

print out some handouts before you get there, in case their computer system breaks, the emial attachment wont open, the screen falls down - be prepared to do the same presentation without powerpoint.

OWN THE ROOM - i do tonnes of work standing up presenting and questionnaing other people, it is important that you do not stand nervously in one place, move from one side of the screen to another - walk abound, own the room and this will show you are confident , professional and know what you are doing.

keep it simple, don't use the powerpoint noises, if you are using images, try and get some professionally shot images whichillustrate your point, something like what you would find in a corporate publication

do not use cartoons. or clip art.

Definitely should use PowerPoint to demonstrate that you can!

However don't put lots of text on it, use images to reemphasize your points . You should be able to present independently from your slides if needed.

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare. Perfect preparation prevents pathetic performance!

KNOW your presentation by heart and practice it OUT LOUD on a loved one!Otherwise you only find out you cant pronounce half of it too late!

I interview for one of the big four accountancy firms. When we ask candidates to prepare a presentation we tell them that pp is available if they want to use it, but personally wouldn't think any less of them if they prepared decent handouts instead. In fact i'd prefer handouts.

We're often told at our firm that using powerpoint reduces the impact of a presentation as the presenter can become over reliant on it, it stops audience focussing on presenter etc

Anyway, back to the original question, i would recommend standing for the presentation, whether you use powerpoint or not. It looks more professional. if you're positioned fairly close to your interviewers try to take a few paces back if poss, so that it doesn't feel like you're looking over them.

Good luck!

sorry, i meant looming over them, not looking!

What silver28 said about PP. It's a standard programme and most people can use it so I don't think they will assume you can't use it because you elect not to. If being able to use it was crucial for the job, you would know that and they would require you to use it for the interview rather than just making it available. It's not some subtle test.

If you can engage your audience well without it, you will come across better than someone who continually looks behind them at it and your audience will focus on you rather than the screen.

Fine to use it, but if you'd rather not, that's really fine as well.

i think it depends what the topic is. what brief have you been asked to prepare?

I often put just one large image on a PPT slide, filing up the whole slide (available via Creative Commons from Flickr). It reminds me what I'm about to say, but stops you from doing that awful 'reading out the slide' thing.

Using powerpoint could enhance your presentation. Have you ever seen Dave Gorman doing any of his stand-up shows? He uses powerpoint to help keep the audience engaged. For example: clip from Googlewhack Adventure

In the job, when doing a presentation, who would be seeing that presentation? Consider the audience and what they may be expecting.

Thanks everyone.

smitten - I have to outline the main opportunities and challenges in engaging volunteers and community projects in events and in developing third sector representation and influence.

So, that would lend itself quite well to a PP presentation but I can't help feeling that it would be a little superfluous, like I would be using PP just because it was there. I thought perhaps I could outline my main points on a handout with room for the interviewers to write big ticks ;)

Btw, if anyone has any experience of working with third sector and can offer any tips on presentation content it would also be much appreciated!

Didn't get it.

I thought I was really well prepared and rehearsed. Obviously I'm rubbish at interviews.

Gutted.