Social Studies 8: The Obama Plan (LaCroix): Public Speaking + Presenting with PowerPoint

RELAX.  Everything is going to be FINE.  EVERYONE gets nervous about this kind of stuff, and in the end (after it's all over), it's never as bad as we envision it will be (phew!).  There's no big "secret" to successful public speaking, really, unless you consider the idea of 'practicing' a secret (and, hey -- maybe it is!)...

So, here are a few...

...QUICK TIPS:

• SPEAK slowly (not too slowly), clearly, and audibly.  ENUNCIATE!

• LOOK at your audience; convince them that you're speaking to them.

• START STRONG, FINISH STRONG.  Have a unique, interesting, and/or thought-provoking opening: something that will grab your audience's attention.  This could be a statement, question, quote, or something else entirely, but you want to draw your listeners in and help them remember what you're TALKING about from the very beginnning.  The closing should reiterate your main point(s), somewhat, but it should also bring fresh perspective: craft a REALLY good sentence or two for your closing statements, and let the presentation gradually "build up" to that.

• PRACTICE.  PRACTICE.  PRACTICE.  Practice with a parent, a relative, a teacher, a librarian, a friend -- anyone!  Take time to become comfortable with your material, any technology you might be using, the pacing of your speech, and the timing of the presentation, overall.  Having someone in the room with you, observing you WHILE you practice, is a HUGE help; that person (or persons) can offer suggestions for ways to help you improve, and remind you of presentational aspects that are easy for us to forget when we're talking (e.g., posture, gesture, eye contact, etc.).

• BE CREATIVE, HAVE FUN, and DON'T SWEAT IT.

NEED MORE?

• Public Speaking Tips for Teens: How to Prepare for an Oral Presentation
• Managing Anxiety About Public Speaking

PowerPoint is pretty easy, once you get the hang of it, but if you need a good (or better) introduction, here's a great tutorial video: The "Beginner's Guide to Using PowerPoint."

There are also easy-to-follow instructions for how to perform specific tasks / functions in PowerPoint (i.e., "How do I...?"), via tutorials from Think Outside the Slide.

Lastly, take a look at "8 Tips to Power-Up Your Classroom Presentations," an article that provides some FANTASTIC advice on in-class presentations for students and teachers, alike.

• Always check the copyright terms of any image you find. Sometimes the terms vary with each image (as with the ones you might find using a Creative Commons search), and sometimes the terms will be the same for every image on a site. You are looking for images whose terms allow others to reuse or redistribute it.  Feel free to ask Mr. Crawford or Ms. Pritchard for help with this.

• Make sure you can attribute your image properly (give the name of the artist, photographer, or creator) and find out as much as possible about where it came from.