SAI Convention 2024 Presentation Tips

As the Convention approaches, we hope you don’t mind some tips on things to bear in mind when preparing your talk.  There’s a fair chance that these are second nature to you but hopefully these are of help.

We believe that good events have the following qualities.

• The content meets the expectations that were set out when the event was advertised
• The supports used in the event add to the understanding (and certainly don’t frustrate attendees)
• Attendees are engaged during the session and are clear on the key takeaways

It might be worth asking yourself the following as you prepare your presentation (or asking a colleague for a second opinion).

Meeting expectations

1. To what extent does the content of the presentation meet the expectations set out in the event description?  (if you think the description needs to be tweaked, reach out to us)
2. To what extent have you pitched the level of the presentation to the average knowledge level of the audience?  (let us know if you want to indicate a particular experience level in the event description such as “aimed at those new to the topic” or “aimed at those with a strong knowledge of the topic”).
3. To what extent do you think that you have addressed the key issues that audience members would expected to be covered under the subject?  Again, it might help to ask a colleague what they would expect to be covered?

Quality of presentation supports

1. Where you are using slides (and we’re not suggesting that you must!), how well do they complement and support your message?  Be brutal if a word or bullet might distract from your message!
2. Where you use graphs/graphics, is it clear what they were trying to convey? Again, it’s a good idea to test them on a friend.
3. Are you happy that that the audience will be able to read you slides (including any graphs/graphics)?  Nothing can throw you off more than realising that people can’t see the detail you need them to when you’re explaining something.  Perhaps you might need to create a zoomed in slide of a particular detail you want to bring people’s attention to?

Engaging audience attention

1. To what extent have you built in mechanisms to engage the audience’s attention.  Have you challenged them to think? It might be through examples, use of questions, slido etc.
2. Are there particular key messages that you want to deliver?  Looking over your presentation, do you think that the average audience member could articulate those after receiving it?

Thank you for volunteering to contribute to this year’s Convention.  If there is anything at all we can help with in your preparations, don’t hesitate to reach out.