Presentation skills
I have found that the 10 minute rule is right on target. I try to speak for 10 then do some sort of activity for 10 then speak again. I also add in a mini summary about half way through the presentation to help keep wandering minds on task, especially my mind!
I also have found that giving examples and real life stories for situations usually captures the students attention to hit on an important point. It usually facilitates a few questions from the class. I find that these stories, utilized with class participation, assists in keeping an involved classroom full of students.
I agree adding real life experiences helps to engage the audience and make them feel more a part of the experience.
I use real life situations all the time. Either I give an example of something that really happened and ask my students to come up with a solution to the problem or I tell the entire story as it occured and ask what was done right and what could have been done differently. I find that generally this works to include them in the lesson. Many times they don't even know that they are learning something but it definitely sticks with them more than just lecture all the time.
Some of the best presentations with small groups end up being "conversations". I always encourage my audience to get to know each other at some point during the presentation. This allows them to relax and better focus on the material. They feel more comfortable with their surroundings.
My injecting personal experiences it helps with your audiences.
I often use real life experience, most of my presentations are for parent groups and being a parent myself it is easy to use my children as examples for the presentations I often facilitate.
Helpful information. I do feel that providing your own real-life stories do help with relating to your audience. It almost becomes very natural natural to do so.
I am an Admissions Representative..and I have found that you can also lose a prospective student after 10 minutes of presentation if you do not engage them in conversation within their career path.
How do you phrase the mini summary introduction? Do you use statements like "what we have covered so far" or something similar? I had not considered do a mini summary but it sounds like a good way to help the audience retain the material better.
