The disease took freedom from us. We are forced to hide in order to combat it. However, it does not mean that we will surrender.
Due to the coronavirus, people across the world switched to online tools to continue their studying and work. In this article, I’m not going to talk about this experience in a general manner. Indeed, I’m going to recount its influence on us, the team of Enicarthage Press.
We have been organizing a series of presentations performed by each one of us. We are free to choose the topic we want be it technical or cultural. The theme did not matter as long as we brought something new and good to learn.
We have been using mainly Disocrd, Google Meet and Google Hangouts. I personally learnt a lot about new things. For exemple, I learnt that the process itself is an art actually and not a mere simple task. You have to be careful about many details when you present.
One Important Lesson
The most important thing when you are planning to do a presentation is to answer this question: what is your goal? Now, goals are important. What’s the big deal with goals? Well, goal is the core of what we do. We have to set proper goals before we even begin to construct the scenario of our presentation.
The single most important thing is why. It’s not about how you say, it’s not about what you say, it’s about why you say that. Before you design a construct, you ask, “What is the intended use of this thing?” And the same applies to presentations as well.
If you do not have a main point from the beginning, then you are going to run into trouble while presenting. Sometimes you decieve yourself and you think that you actually have an objective but once you start presenting you feel like you’re completely lost in a daydream.
And what we need to do, we need to understand where to stop. Where do we stop? I would argue that the only way for us to do that is to understand what is the goal that we’re trying to achieve and to stop precisely where the goal is achieved. Because if we don’t set the goal, we just keep speaking.
So, understand what is it that you’re trying to achieve, what information the audience needs to learn and let your goal filter the information you put in the presentation accordingly.
Slides with little to no information are as bad as slides full with text. Both do not interest people enough. You have to find the right equilibrium. It is okay if you want to motivate and interact with your audience but do not try too hard. Finding the balance between informative and motivational techniques is a secret of mastering presentations.
Finally…
This is some of what I learnt. I’m still learning alongside my teammates. If you are interested in joining us, then contact us and you are more than welcome!
