As English is not my native tongue, some of my words during a presentation can be confusing, misunderstood or provoke amusement. Being aware of this challenge, I indicate to the audience that I am indeed French and might have some difficulties with specific words, at which point they can interrupt me briefly in order to clarify my message. Depending on the audience, I may introduce varied levels of humor, but only do so after evaluating who is in attendance, and careful to never offend anyone. In addition, I always preview the audience before any presentation, openly or discretely. I have used French words in my presentation, usually followed by the English translation, such as Bonjour or Merci. Is this appropriate in your opinion, as a reinforcement of my cultural heritage and a way to establish a unique style?
Aaron,
this is a great idea, thanks for sharing!
Dr. Ryan Meers
One way I found to customize a presentation for an unfamiliar group of people is to do it backwards. Start with a Q&A session about misconceptions or misunderstandings concerning the subject you're going to teach them. Most people have some idea about what you're going to discuss or they wouldn't be there. Then during your lecture you can stress the points your group didn't understand which allows you to spend more time on more complex details. The relaxed Q&A session also gives you a chance to get to know your students and their knowledge level.
Matthew ,
yes, don't just pull out the old presentation & blow the dust off make sure you are keeping it fresh
Dr. Ryan Meers
customizing your presentation also should include updating older presentations to meet the needs of the group you are talking to.The new students will require more stimulation to pay attention.
I find this to be tricky with my students because they lack motivation and chose not to participate in class. So the lecture part of the class tends to be a task and you have to draw the information out to keep them engaged!
Yes, I agree, being able to change your approach on the fly can keep your students attentive.
Aboslutely. We also need to be updating presentations to make sure we have the most current information for our subject.
Ryan
Stephen, I couldn't agree more. This is the exact approach I take with my classes. Often I am asked "Why don't you use the same presentation every year for each class?" You can't! Not if you are to be an effective instructor. The presentation must be modified to suit the personality of each group of students. Furthermore, the presentation has to be supplemented to cater to the various learning styles in the classroom.
Good point. We do know certain learning preferences & personality types are present in the audience & by preparing our presentations to hit a variety of listeners, we're in a better spot.
Ryan
Audience analysis & audience adaptation really are some of the key concepts in presentation preparation.
Ryan
The best way to customize a presentation to your audience is to do research on your audience. You have to know the context in which you are presenting and have an idea as to who will attend. For example, when giving a presentation on women issues in a foreign country, you would consider many aspects such as the country's political stance, treatment of women, will the audience be primarily female? will there be males? etc.
When you perform research on your audience, it becomes easier to form a connection, and perhaps gain meaningful feedback.
Cheers
Su
Although the subject matter is the same, you can customize the level of detail and type of visuals you use depending on who you are addressing. Various groups will be interested in a different amount or type of details than others, and will absorb information from a presentation in different ways. Although I don't think you can know how each individual member of the audience will feel, you can try to gauge based on generalized characteristics.
Yes, audience analysis & adaptation are huge & a must.
Ryan
I agree, being able to change your presentation from one class to the next is a must. Some of my classes are quiet and don’t give much feedback during lecture, with this mentality I spend more time on each subject and try to lead them discussions. Other classes are very out spoken with a lot of questions, I like it when I this happens it is much easier to get everyone involved although with this class mentality you have to make sure they don’t stray off subject.
Yes this is a great strategy when you don't have the opportunity to get to know the audience ahead of time. And you are right, you do learn so much from the small talk.
Ryan
Great points Stephen. Clearly you are the type of teacher who exemplifies this & a good reminder to all of us to be paying attention to these issues as we are teaching.
Ryan
It is all important to know the group you will be talking to. Too that end if time permits, I will mingle with the participents before the presentation to try and get a handle on who I am dealing with. It is surprising how much you can learn about someone just by engaging them in small talk.
The great thing about teaching in a school is that in an on going class you can become very familiar with the knowledge level and learning styles of the students. Customizing the presentation to the class becomes easier as the instructor becomes familiar with a particular class. The methods of presentation that are most effective with a particular class can be applied while less effective methods can be avoided in later lessons such that as the class goes on and lessons get more difficult the presentations are more easily tailored for that group.
These are great ideas & I agree that audience participation is always a great plan.
Ryan
