Free guide

What's the purpose of your presentation?

There are many reasons for giving a presentation. You might want to start a discussion, persuade others to share your opinion, analyse some evidence, share information, inspire people to do something, communicate ideas, teach a topic, learn something, show what you've been working on ... ... 

The purpose of the presentation affects the content you include and the style you choose to use. 

Take a moment to think what the purpose of presenting the results of your EPQ is for you. What do you want to achieve?

For your EPQ presentation, you might want to:

• show evidence of how you approached and carried out the EPQ
• give an overview of the research you conducted

Who is your audience and what do they want from your presentation?

Being absolutely clear about what is expected is the first requirement for an effective presentation. 

Using presentation software (such as PowerPoint, Prezi or Keynote) is probably the most common way of creating a presentation but it's worth taking a moment to think if that it is the most appropriate route for the situation, the presentation and you.

If you do decide to use presentation software, following a few simple guidelines will help keep your presentation interesting and impactful.

We can learn a lot by watching and listening to other people give presentations, picking up from their good points and learning from what doesn't go so well.

A good presentation starts with a good structure.

Once you have designed your presentation, and decided the content you want to include, practise giving your presentation as much as you can. Practise to your family, your friends (and be an audience for them in return), practise to the cat or practise to a tree; the more you practise, the more comfortable and confident you will be.

You’ve prepared great content

You’ve practised

It’s your story – tell it

Look up, smile at the audience, take a deep breath and be great!

There are lots of resources available online to help you prepare and give good presentations. Here are two from the Open University that you might find useful:

• Communicating and presenting: skills for OU study
• Giving presentations