Seminars and Presentations

Anyone got any tips on how to stay cool? I had to give one yesterday that was 15 minutes and it went really well but the one I have to give tomorrow is a LOT different!

Magmatic Evolution of the East African Rift for 15 mins in front of 50 people and I've only had a week to prepare it (alongside the one I gave yesterday!)

Talk about s***ting bricks!

rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.... the more comfortable you are with your material the less nervous you'll be.

Make sure you you know the material and know the flow of it, so you don't get stuck. Again, the more often you rehearse the better - I do it in the car all the time - over and over and over - seems a bit silly, but does the trick, cause you can't be completely concentrated on it in the car, so you still have to find your train of thought again rather quickly. Also, try to find people to 'present to' at home. Your mom will do, I even use my dogs - sounds silly, but rehearsing on your desk alone is again different than standing up with and 'audience' ....

Good luck - speeches are FUN!!

imagine them all naked


hohoho, just kidding.

I cant actually give you any tips in all honesty since I treat giving a presentation the same way as I treat giving a set of orders to troops

good tips, spunky....
but just don't overrehearse... never try to learn a presentation by heart- i did that when i was younger and then at the presentation when i got stuck my only thought was "what sentence came after that one i just said?" so i stopped doing that and just tried to get a grip on what the important thigs are- so when i rehearse presentations now, i know what i'm talking about but i decided HOW i say it spontanously while talking... it works best with me... try it and find out whether it works for you too

I think that is the ONLY way.

Never ever write out a speech. Never ever think you need to know a full sentence. Just rehearse as if you explained something to a friend - you've got it worked out in your brain, so you can relay it to anybody anytime...

i was 16 when i did that my first presentation at university was on some carbohydrate-metabolism stuff so that i had bigger problems than sentences

Oh yes! I know all about that one - melanephelinite, trachyphonolite and inhomogeneity to give but a few!

Thanks for the advice though guys - I've never been one for rehearsing anything and stuff usually works out well. Feel a little bit different about this one though so I'm gonna go practice me thinks! Cheers

I'll usually write out roughly what i want to say. not goign into great detail but hitting the major points then Ill knock that down even more so ive got somethign that resembles something like a set list.

much easier just to have one or 2 words triggering of ideas and points you want to bring up. makes it much smoother and you're not sitting reading all the way through it.

can't give you too much help about the actual idea of doin it in front of people since its never bothered me but i suppose looking at it from the point of view that there's a tonne of other people doing it and no ones goign to remember you anyways and you probably wont a week after it either kinda puts it into perspective.

but that is really NOT the case ---- I always remember the presenters that did an outstanding job along with the mediocre ones that clearly just wanted to get it over with and took a casual approach.

Public speaking is a very important skill that shouldn't ever be taken lightly or approached casually. At least half my career is due to my ability to speak in front of people - it is the best and easiest way to impress your bosses - you don't need to be particularly hard working as long as you take advantage of every chance for exposure (trust me on that ). lol.

k maybe i should have worded that better.

k so even if someone remember. who the **** cares? i know i don't spend too much time worryign what other people think about me especially when it relates to stuff thats been done and cant be changed