Communication Skills and

Academic Reporting
(Presentation Skills)
Part 4
Dr. Öğr. Üyesi İhsan İKİZER
ihsan.ikizer@nisantasi.edu.tr
• There’s a famous saying that says “public speaking is the second
feared thing after dead”.

• Indeed, for some people having to stand before other people and talk
may be quite scary.

• Beside your ability to use the expressions appropriately, a speaker

also needs to show appropriate gestures and facial expressions and
applies appropriate loudness, pitch, and intonation.
• Coping with Nerves
• When giving a presentation most people usually suffer from nerves.

• It is important to realise that nerves are a necessary part of giving a

presentation as they give the speaker energy which he/she needs in
order to give a good performance.
• Nerves are caused through adrenaline flowing through the body
which can result in various reactions such as: shaking hands,
twitching face, quivering (shaking) voice, sweating palms, knocking
knees etc!

• Understand how nerves affect you personally and try to come to

terms with the physical manifestation of those nerves.

• Face up to your fears and try and analyse why you feel nervous.
• Managing nerves
• Nervousness is probably the biggest problem that most inexperienced
speakers face.
• Actually, it’s good to feel a bit nervous, as this provides the adrenalin
rush we need to give a good performance.
• However, excessive nerves can have the opposite effect and no-one
enjoys the physical or emotional symptoms of fear.
• So how can nerves be managed?
• ▪ Practice, practice, practice - Rehearse in front of the mirror, or with
friends. Feeling prepared goes a long way to alleviating your nerves.
• ▪ Name your fears - Write down exactly what it is you’re afraid of,
then you can devise strategies to cope.
• ▪ What is the worst case scenario? - Thinking of the worst case
scenario often puts things back in perspective.
• ▪ Relaxation techniques- Regular deep breathing gives your body the
oxygen it needs to burn off excess adrenalin, thus calming you down.
A walk should have the same effect.

• “If you are over-nervous, it does not mean you cannot be a successful
speaker, it merely means you have more work to do”.
• Speakers are normally afraid for some or all of the following reasons:
• Fear of the unknown
• Fear of oneself
• Fear of the audience
• Fear of failure
• When giving a presentation you set yourself apart from the crowd.
• You leave the pack and become exposed and isolated.
• Try to look on this isolation as a positive experience rather than as
something to fear.
• Concentrate on your audience and remember that they want to hear
what you have to say.
• In normal face-to-face communication you will receive regular
feedback which helps to support and fuel the conversation.

• When presenting to an audience much of this essential feedback will

be missing and this can make you feel even more uncomfortable and
nervous.

• Just because you appear to be receiving very little feedback it doesn't

mean that your audience are not interested in you and your message.
• Give yourself a 5 minute break before you start speaking and say
positive things to yourself such as: 'I will enjoy myself’
• 'I will present a good image’
• 'My audience will be interested in me’
• 'I will be able to answer their questions competently’

• Intervene and challenge any negative thoughts you may have and
replace them with positive thoughts.

• This will help you to have power, confidence and authority when you
stand up in front of the audience.
• Relaxation
• The ability to relax is a very good way to help you control nerves
when you are speaking to an audience.
• It is possible to learn to relax and to use your powers of relaxation
when in a stressful situation, such as speaking to an audience.
• If you do not appear relaxed your audience will also find it very
difficult to relax and give you their full attention.
• So try and put your listeners at ease.
• How to Be More Relaxed when Presenting?
• Keep this simple fact in mind: you are in no physical danger and there
is no need for your body’s physical overreaction.

• Audience will not attack you! You can cognitively change your
feelings.
• Consider why you are presenting.
• There are various reasons to present about your research.
• You may want to impress people so that they will help you or your
research in some way in the future.
• But very often we are presenting in order to get useful feedback
about the content from the audience in order to progress our
research.
• Sure, compliments are nice—“Great presentation!”—but what you
really want is the feedback, because this can help make your research
stronger or develop it further.

• In fact, negative feedback can be more helpful in a practical sense

than the positive because it makes you think more deeply and
carefully.

• So don’t worry about getting negative comments.

• They might hurt you a little, but they won’t destroy you.
• Reconsider your relationship with the audience.
• You could say that someone might attack you with words. It’s
possible, but even if that were the case you would only be
embarrassed.
• No one ever really died of embarrassment.
• More importantly, the truth is the audience is not really very
interested in you.
• They are usually much more interested in your ideas than in you
personally.

• Some people in the audience are probably not even interested in your
ideas… they’re thinking of other things, usually themselves!

• Most people want to help you—even if it is through criticism of your

work.
• You don’t need to “perform” for the audience.
• Although you are standing in front of the audience like a rock singer,
you are not a performer.

• It’s good to keep the audience attentive by presenting well so you can
get good feedback, but you’re not a paid entertainer.

• Be yourself as much as possible and talk as if you are talking to

people who you respect but who are no better or worse than you.
• Don’t focus on language.
• Presenting in a second or third language is a much bigger and more
frightening task.
• So do your best to prepare early, get your language checked by a
native speaker, rehearse.
• This will allow you to worry less about language as you present.
• Actually, if you make minor language mistakes as you speak it’s not a
big problem so long as people understand you.
• Remember, the audience is interested in the content; they barely
even notice minor spoken language mistakes.
• Use the nervousness to help you prepare well.
• Hours, days, even weeks before presenting you may feel nervous
when you think about it.
• Instead of trying to forget it completely, try to use that nervous
energy to work on preparing.
• Just doing something practical and constructive will reduce your
nervousness and the preparation will make you more competent and
confident.
• Simplify.
• Having too much detail in your presentation is likely to cause time
problems, and complicated sentences are just going to make speaking
more difficult.
• So. as much as possible, simplify the content, the language,
everything.
• Give the audience what they need to understand as efficiently as
possible.
• This will allow you, and them, to relax.
• Breathe Well.
• Don’t forget to breathe… deeply… not just before but during your
presentation.

• It’s often good to pause while presenting, and when you do, take in
some air and let it out slowly.
• Choose to enjoy it.
• New and challenging experiences can cause stress but stress is not
always bad.
• We are often more “alive” at those times.
• Remember that nothing very terrible can happen.
• No one ever died from a bad presentation and we may learn more
from our own bad presentations than the good ones.
• So, as much as possible, enjoy telling people about your research.
• And don’t be afraid to laugh, especially at yourself.
• Practise, practise, and practise! It’s that simple. Why not ask a
friend to be your audience so you can get some feedback?

• Be enthusiastic. If you appear passionate and interested in your

topic, your audience will be too.

• Body language and posture. Stand with a relaxed but confident

posture to deliver your presentation. Smile and make eye contact
with your audience.
• Your voice is your best tool! Practice will help you learn to speak
clearly and project.

• Watch your pace. Many students lose marks for nervously racing
through their presentation.
• This hinders understanding.
• Pause now and again to drink some water and slow yourself down.
• Question and answer session
• Be prepared. Think through in advance what you might be asked.
• How do you respond? Practise some responses. On the day, make
sure you listen carefully and give yourself a moment to consider your
answer.
• Do not make up the answer if you’re unsure! Be honest.
• Don’t say that it is an irrelevant or strange question even if it is so.
• When delivering a presentation as part of a team it is important to
coordinate your portion with others in the team and not duplicate
their presentations.
• Before a presentation
• The success of a good presentation lies in the preparation. Take time
to think about:
• • The audience – who are they, how many and what do they already
know?
• • The occasion – is it formal or informal? A lecture, a debate, a
speech?
• • The point – what is the purpose of the talk?
• • The environment – what is the size and layout of the room, and
what facilities will be available (projector, flip chart)?
• Once this has been considered, it’s time to gather, select and
structure your material
• Gathering
• There are many sources of information available to you.
• Make sure you assess the reliability of your resources.

• (who wrote it?), currency (how up-to-date is it?) and accuracy of a

source before you rely on it
• Selecting
• Often when you are asked to give a talk you will need to distil a large
amount of information into a short time period.
• You need to be ruthless in the way that you prioritise information.
• Too much information can confuse an audience.

• ▪ What is centrally relevant?

• ▪ What can be left out?
• ▪ What is supporting information?
• ▪ Will handouts help?
• Structuring
• A clear structure to your presentation will not only provide you with a
clear path to follow, but also help your audience.

• Think about:
• ▪ What are your main points?
• ▪ In what order do they need to be discussed? Priority?
• ▪ What secondary information should come under each of your
headings?
• To contrast text on a presentation slide for better viewing, it is
preferable to use dark text on light background.

• For better readability, the number of bullet points on a slide

should be less than 7.
• remember to write:
• • An introduction: This should welcome your audience, introduce the
key themes of your presentation, and the order in which you will
present them. This will form a map in the minds of the audience.
• Quotation, Anecdote, Question…

• • A conclusion: This should summarise the main points of your

presentation and perhaps introduce a final point or question to linger
in the minds of your audience.
• In the conclusion, you can ask your audience to do what they have
heard in the presentation.
Writing your presentation
• Consider carefully the structure of your presentation.
• • It needs an introduction that clearly puts the audience in the
picture. As with the story line of a good film or book, a good
beginning will connect with the audience appropriately and grab their
attention.
• • There needs to be a main body to the presentation that has a logical
order and flows well.
• • A strong end to the presentation is as important as an attention
grabbing start.
Introduction
• In this section you should explain the content and purpose of your
presentation.
• It is your chance to capture the interest of the audience, so it’s vital that
your introduction is engaging. Elements you might want to use in your
introduction include:
• • Who you are and where you are from
• • What you plan to discuss/share/demonstrate during your presentation
• • How you intend to explore the topic
• • What you hope the outcome will be
• • What you want the audience to do
Main content
• This is the most important part of your presentation; the section
where you will make the relevant points and during which you hope
to show/teach/persuade/inform the audience to the best of your
ability. When writing the main section you might find it helpful to:

• Produce a list or summary of the key points you want to communicate

• For each point on your list, ask yourself “what do I want the
audience to learn from this point” and/or “what is the important
message I want to get across”
• • Arrange the key points in a logical order
Conclusion
• The conclusion should summarise the main points and reflect back on the
aim that was stated in the introduction.
• This is your opportunity to make a positive lasting impression so make sure
your conclusion is delivered confidently. Important elements of a
conclusion may include:
• • Reviewing the purpose and topic of the presentation
• • A summing up of the main points
• • A review of the main findings/conclusions
• • A suggestion for what the next stage(s) might be
• • An invitation for listeners to ask questions
• • Thanking the audience for their time and attention
Transitions
• Transitions have an important role to play in helping the audience
navigate their way through a presentation. Transitions help to divide
the presentation into manageable chunks. They link different aspects
of your talk and help maintain the pace and flow of the presentation.
• Examples include: • “I would like to start by discussing…”
• • “I will now move on to…”
• • “Having explored… we can now see that…”
• • “Moving on to look at…”
• • “We can now shift the focus from… to…
• Notes
• You’ll need to think about how you are going to deliver your
presentation.
• Some people memorise the whole talk, others read the entire thing
from their notes.
• A middle ground is probably the best way.
• Familiarise yourself with your material to the point that you will only
need structured notes to guide you.
• This saves you from forgetting what you have memorised, or losing
your place in reams of text.
• Visual aids
• Visual aids such as slides or posters are helpful both to you as the
speaker, and to your audience.
• They can help illustrate your points and avert the audience’s gaze,
which helps if you’re nervous.
• They also help to retain the audience’s interest, giving them another
means by which they can understand the point you are making.
• Whatever you use, ensure it is visible to all, legible, and remember to
remove it when you’ve finished with it to avoid distraction.
• Handouts
• Providing handouts is another good way of reinforcing your message
and providing supplementary material that there may not be time to
present.
• During a presentation
• When the day finally arrives and your turn has come, don’t be in a
rush to start and ‘get it over and done with’.

• Take your time to prepare, ensure that your notes are in order, your
visual aids are in place and that the environment is as you want it, to
give you confidence during the presentation.
• Your audience
• Remembering that the audience are a group of real people, who are
on your side (not the enemy), and with a genuine interest in what you
have to say, goes a long way to helping you communicate with them
effectively. It also helps alleviate nerves.

• 1. Trust and like the audience, do not fear and confront them
• 2. Look at them
• 3. Smile
• Your voice
• There are estimates that the words we use count for only 7% of the
message we communicate.

• Our tone of voice makes up 38%. When thinking about our voices we
need to ensure they are:

• • Audible - some rooms have better acoustics than others, but nerves
can cause our volume to decrease.
• Keep your head up and speak slowly and clearly, aiming at the person
at the back of the room.
• • Interesting – concentration spans are short so retain interest by
varying the tone of your voice. Asking a question naturally causes this
to happen.
• • Appropriately paced – Research has shown that we don’t speak
more quickly during presentations, but the number of natural pauses
in our speech decreases.
• It may feel artificial, but insert enough pauses in your talk to allow
the audience to take in all the information.
• One trick is to add a couple of extra seconds of silence as you change
slides.
• Your body language
• Non-verbal communication speaks more than our words and voices
combined. When presenting remember:
• • Eye contact.
• - Keep in contact with your audience: look at them and try to make
eye contact.
• If the group is spread out make sure you look around the room to
involve everyone.
• If you are too nervous to make eye contact, try focusing on people’s
foreheads or just past them – this gives the impression you’re making
eye contact!

• • Don’t fidget (to make continuous, small movements) - It is

hard to listen to the content of a talk if the speaker is pacing up and
down or fiddling with their glasses.

• • Pay attention to fellow presenters- if you are presenting with

someone else don’t fidget or stare out of the window during their
part of the presentation!
• The time
• It is important that you keep to time – especially in an academic
setting where marks may be deducted if you talk for longer than
allocated.
• Before you start, make yourself a note of the time you need to finish
by, keep an eye on the clock and if you run out of time, stop.
• Audiences welcome talks that finish on time – or a bit before
• Signposting
• At the start and throughout the course of your presentation, it is
important to signal to your audience where you are currently in terms
of structure and where you are going next.
• In other words, guide them through your presentation ‘journey’.
• For example, at the beginning, you might tell them that you will start
with x, then you’ll move on to y and finally you will sum it all up.
• When moving from one point to the next, you might add, “That’s all I
want to say about…. now I’ll say a few words about….”
• After a presentation
• Once the talk is over, the audience may have some questions. When
handling questions remember to:
• ▪ Appear interested - Give your questioner your full attention and put
them at ease if they appear nervous.
• ▪ Summarise the question - Rephrasing the question not only gives
you time to think, and confirms with the questioner that you have
understood, but also ensures that the rest of the audience have heard
it.
• Answer the question set - The temptation, if you don’t know the
answer, is to talk about something else.
• Try and stick to the topic and if you don’t know, offer to take their
details and find out for them.
• ▪ Don’t talk too long - The time for questions is always limited and
there may be other questioners waiting for their turn. Try and keep
your answers to the point.
• Don’t say the question was irrelevant to the topic of the presentation
• Types of Presentations

1. Informative presentation
• Ever sat through a presentation that left you feeling enlightened?
That’s the power of an informative presentation.
• This presentation style is all about sharing knowledge and shedding
light on a particular topic.
• Whether you’re diving into the depths of quantum physics or
explaining the intricacies of the latest social media trends, informative
presentations aim to increase the audience’s understanding.
• Academic presentations and research presentations are great
examples of informative presentations.
• An effective academic presentation involves having clear structure,
credible evidence, engaging delivery and supporting visuals.
• Provide context to emphasize the topic’s significance, practice to
perfect timing, and be ready to address anticipated questions.
• 2. Persuasive (Discursive) presentation
• If you’ve ever been swayed by a passionate speaker armed with
compelling arguments, you’ve experienced a persuasive
presentation.
• This type of presentation is like a verbal tug-of-war, aiming to
convince the audience to see things from a specific perspective.
Expect to encounter solid evidence, logical reasoning and a dash of
emotional appeal.
• Examples of persuasive presentations include presentations for
environmental conservations, policy change, social issues and more.
• Here you will need to debate the strengths and limitations of an
approach or develop an argument, exploring and weighing up
different perspectives, challenging your audience to accept a different
viewpoint.
• For this, you will need to decide your ‘angle’ – are you for or against
it, weight pro and cons? Pull your audience in, challenge and
confidently debate.
• 3. Demonstration or how-to presentation
• A Demonstration or How-To Presentation is a type of presentation
where the speaker showcases a process, technique, or procedure step
by step, providing the audience with clear instructions on how to
replicate the demonstrated action.
• A demonstrative presentation is particularly useful when teaching
practical skills or showing how something is done in a hands-on
manner.