LibGuides@Southampton: Presentation skills: Home

Presentations – part of life!

You will need to give presentations:

at university to fellow students and tutors
during job interviews
throughout your professional life

Top tips

Presentation skills

Plan, prepare and practice. Rehearse your presentation early on, when you still have the chance to alter and improve it. Try videoing yourself while you are rehearsing, or ask a friend to listen and comment. Look out for distracting gestures and clarity of speech. Vary pace and tone to engage your audience and avoid reading from the screen. If you are preparing for an interview you may want to take a look at the advice and support on the Careers and Employability Service page on Interviews. LinkedIn Learning has also developed lots of resources on Presenting and speaking in public.

Presentation tools

Make sure you are familiar and comfortable with the presentation tool you have chosen and that it is suitable for the purpose. Popular tools include:

Prezi
PowerPoint
flip charts
white boards

Types of presentation

Academic posters

These are used to present knowledge or research and to encourage discussion. Limit the amount of text on the poster and use high quality graphics. Remember to include full references to support the content. Further information and guidance on designing and producing posters is available.

Research Poster Support Guide [use your University Login]

Guidance for creating a visually appealing poster
Instructions on how to use PowerPoint to create your poster

Seminars and talks

Prepare in advance for a seminar by identifying the main issues, doing the required reading and research, and making notes.
Contribute to the discussion frequently with brief points, clearly expressed.

Be aware that in academic environments, ideas are challenged, not people.

Group work

Group assignments often involve a final presentation. Play to the strengths of the individual group members when deciding how to divide up the preparation and delivery of this.

You will find more detailed guides on presentations in the resources listed on this page.