DE ANZA COLLEGE ACCOUNTING

7 HINTS FOR EFFECTIVE GROUP PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

The purpose of this exercise is to develop your skills so that you can go out into the business world and make successful public presentations

(These hints are suggestions…not requirements)

1. Organize your presentation and prepare visual materials ahead of time. Develop an overall opinion/conclusion about your project material and use the presentation to develop and support your opinion. Practice your presentation using the visual aids. Imagine that you are making a professional presentation in the real world of business. Time your practice presentations. Remember presentations exceeding 8 minutes lose points. (One advantage of PowerPoint is that it is easier to “script” your presentation. If you talk about data in a spreadsheet, you will have to remember your talking points.)

2. Introduce your group and your group members. Talk about the company/product you are working with. Give a preview of your presentation and the opinion(s) you will be presenting.

3. Find meaning in the numbers….don’t get lost in the numbers. Please don’t just read a bunch of numbers off of a spreadsheet. When you talk about numbers, keep the big picture in mind. For instance, most of the time it is easier for the listener to make sense of numbers like $13.3 million instead of $13,262,419. Find significance and relevance in the numbers and demonstrate how they support your overall opinion.

4. Make sure your visual aids are visible to the entire room. If you use PowerPoint, better to use a light background with dark print. A dark background with light print also works, but avoid a dark background and dark print. Use a large font and try not to present too much data on one slide. If you use Excel, try zooming in by holding down the control key and spinning the mouse wheel. Excel zooming might work better if you “Freeze Panes” ahead of time. Highlight a few of the important numbers that support your overall opinion rather than presenting many numbers with little relevance.

5. Appoint someone in the group to be timekeeper and keep their eye on the clock. Have this person re-direct the presentation if you get too close to the 8 minute deadline.

6. Play around with ways to make your presentation entertaining…tell jokes…use pictures and animations…be creative (and business like).

7. End your presentation with a short summary and show once again how the facts that you have presented support your overall opinion.