How do I prepare for my Extended Project Qualification Presentation?

The presentation element of the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is a great opportunity to pick up marks and finish your project nicely. Preparing for this aspect of the EPQ well will help you both develop your skills as well as showcase your work in the best possible light. There two key areas you can work on to do well in the presentation; the presentation material and your presenting skills. Let's first look at the material. Before you start putting together a slide show (as it is often appropriate for this type of presentations) you need to make sure you are familiar with your project! It may sound trivial but as projects tend to run through several months it is natural that you may not remember a lot of details. A run through your work and progress notes should be enough to jog your memory. This is a great opportunity to admire the effort you have put in which help with your confidence in presenting as we will discuss soon. In terms of creating the actual slides, key things to consider include an interesting opening to capture the audience, key information discussing why you chose the specific topic and the unfolding of your project as well as your key conclusions/final result. Rounding up the presentation with things that you could have done differently (self-reflection) will show the examiner and the rest of the audience that you have put critical thought into your work. Including figures/pictorial representations from your project as well as structured bullet points rather than long-paragraphs will help your audience stay focused on what you are saying rather than get distracted by large blocks of text. Finally, we need to make sure you don't have too many or too few slides for the time available so running-through your presentation in timed conditions beforehand will help.

This brings us to the second part; the presenting skills. A lot of students tend to get anxious about presenting but there are things you can do to minimise this anxiety and in fact, turn it into enthusiasm. Practising is key so try to run through your presentation as many times you can and in the space where you will be presenting if possible. Start reading through your material and putting your slides together early in advance so you have time to prepare and also get comfortable with the idea of presenting. You can record yourself in one of your run-throughs to see if you speak too fast or too slowly when presenting as it is often the case with a lot of people. You can present your presentation to friends or family and ask for feedback. They can also ask you questions which will be good practice for the questions you will receive from the audience. You can also try to think of some questions yourself and try to find the answer. If you don’t know the answer to a question, it is okay to say so but make sure you take a few seconds to think about an answer if you can first. Think of the presentation as a discussion about your project rather than an assessment, this will help you relax and enjoy it more. Make sure you arrive early to your presentation and have enough time to set up. Some students choose to print out hand-outs to the audience, for example, a print out of the slides. This is not necessary but it may help enhance the experience of your audience. Finally, remember to breathe and smile while delivering your presentation as it will go a long way to make you and your audience more comfortable.