VideoJug - Life Explained. On Film. How To Deliver An Oscar-Winning Presentation	

Here's a cold, hard, FACT for you: everyone hates doing presentations. Even people that do nothing but give presentations day-in, day-out and are a member of the “I love giving Presentations!” group on Facebook... even they hate giving presentations. They're horrible and stressful and you have people looking at you and judging the things you're saying. Fortunately, there's some stuff you can do to help muddle through it.

Step 1: Relax
Think of the bigger picture. It's just a presentation and, no matter how much is riding on it, no one's died. It doesn't really matter. Even if you were to stand up there with a frying pan on your head, do a funny little dance and faint, in the grand scheme of things no one's really going to care. So go in there with a care-free attitude.

Step 2: Practice
The better you know your source material the better. You need to be able to answer any questions, no matter how left-field they are, in an enthusiastic and well-versed manner. Read, and re-read around the topic as much as possible.

Step 3: Don't be afraid to stop
Pausing for thought is not a crime. A dramatic pause at the end of a blistering point will not only work wonders, but will give you time to sneakily plan what you're saying next.

Step 4: Handouts
Print out handouts of your presentation. This serves two purposes: firstly, your audience will be able to refer back to your points when the presentation is a distant memory and, most importantly, it'll give them something to look at that isn't you.

Step 5: Use PowerPoint
And use it well. Make sure it's well written, with clear, concise points. There's no point putting an essay up there because no one will read it while you're talking. Get to the crux of your current message, and summarise it in three-to-five key points. 
Don't be afraid to copy slides so you can return it between slides later in the presentation, it'll help hammer an important point home.
Use PowerPoint as a visual prompt – it's there to replace cheat-sheets, so use it as such.

Step 6: Jazz It Up
A white page with three bullet-points on it is boring. Use PowerPoint with SmartArt and make your presentation visually compelling. Give your audience something to look at. Use as many slides as you like, and refresh through them at a quick enough rate that they never become stale. Using colour and styles is dead easy now thanks to the massive array of options under the ‘Design' tab. Colours, fonts, all that, ready for you to use. So use it.

Step 7: Numbers
If your presentation contains number, beware: numbers are boring to look at. It's possible to kill an audience member with a boring enough number, so turn it into a chart. Pie Charts work well because you can click and drag segments to make them stand out. You can even do them in 3D, which looks so professional you'd scarcely believe it.

Step 8: Presenter View
Presenter View is a special feature of PowerPoint you're probably not aware of. It's a second screen you can have on a laptop in front of you that will show you extra details.
So, you can make notes down the side of a slide that only you can see. There's also a timer so you know how long you've been waffling on for, what slides are coming up next and all sorts. It's an invaluable tool.

Step 9: Picture Them Naked
Because that always works. Presentations are a pain, but a necessary pain. Get it right and you could be looking at promotion. So get it right.
Done

Videojug presentations - vocabulary	

muddle through	introduction	phrasal verb	unexpected or strange	
in the grand scheme of things	step 1	noun phrase	how important something is	
how much is riding on it	step 1	phrase	the plan of the universe or similar overall plan	
left-field	step 2	adj	someone or something that is very annoying	
well-versed	step 2	adj	to manage to do something even though you are not organized	
blistering	step 3	adj	not fresh and new; boring because too familiar	
sneakily	step 3	adv (adj: sneaky)	the most important  part of a matter, problem or argument	
the crux	step 5	noun	to talk or write a lot without giving any useful information 	
hammer sthg home	step 5	phrase	very knowledgeable about something	
compelling	step 6	adj	(do something) in a secret or unfair way	
stale	step 6	adj	toexpress an idea clearly and forcefully	
waffling	step 8	verb (to waffle)	extremely useful	
invaluable	step 8	adj	very strong (reason or argument)	
a pain	step 9	noun	(here) well-delivered and effective	

Answers	

muddle through	introduction	phrasal verb	to manage to do something even though you are not organized	
in the grand scheme of things	step 1	noun phrase	the plan of the universe or similar overall plan	
how much is riding on it	step 1	phrase	how important something is	
left-field	step 2	adj	unexpected or strange	
well-versed	step 2	adj	very knowledgeable about something	
blistering	step 3	adj	(here) well-delivered and effective	
sneakily	step 3	adv (adj: sneaky)	(do something) in a secret or unfair way	
the crux	step 5	noun	the most important  part of a matter, problem or argument	
hammer sthg home	step 5	phrase	to express an idea clearly and forcefully	
compelling	step 6	adj	very strong (reason or argument)	
stale	step 6	adj	not fresh and new; boring because too familiar	
waffling	step 8	verb (to waffle)	to talk or write a lot without giving any useful information	
invaluable	step 8	adj	extremely useful	
a pain	step 9	noun	someone or something that is very annoying