ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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No one likes feeling nervous…

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Butterflies in your stomach... [Butterflies inside a boys stomach]

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A frog in your throat...

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A gerbil down your pants...

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…Okay, maybe that last one isn't a real thing. [A gerbil running down a boys leg]

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But guess what!

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You can totally avoid that awful, creepy crawly feeling.

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How? [Boy walking and animals walk towards him]

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By staying far away from butterflies and frogs for the rest of your life!

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…We kid, we kid.

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You can avoid that feeling by being well-prepared!

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Because even though presenting to an audience can be super scary, if you're well prepared, [Man walks up to front of class]

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it'll be smooth sailing.

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The first rule of presenting is to think about your audience...

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What age are they? [Dino giving considerations for the audience]

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What do they know about the subject you're discussing?

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Which details do you think they'd like to hear?

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It's important to tailor your presentation to your audience.

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After all, if your presentation is about animal biology, the words you use and the topics [Teacher giving presentation on animal biology]

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you discuss will probably be pretty different depending on if your audience is full of Ph.D.

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candidates versus a bunch of kindergartners. [Kindergartners sitting in the audience]

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Another super-important thing to consider before you begin is the purpose of your presentation.

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Is it to entertain your audience? [Coop discussing the purpose of the presentation]

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To inform them?

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To persuade them?

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By figuring out the purpose of your presentation, you'll be able to pick out the most important

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and compelling points to focus on. [Person scribbles out purpose of presentation point]

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And once you've done that – it's all about practice, practice, practice.

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Which you can do with a partner…

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…or, if people aren't your jam, you can use a mirror! [Girl practicing presentation in mirror]

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Make sure you're loud enough, so that your voice carries to every member of the audience.

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And make sure you're looking at your audience; making eye-contact from time to time is a [Girl burying face in her script]

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great way to keep them engaged.

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If your face is buried in a piece of paper the whole time, people tend to get bored pretty quickly.

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Unless it's like…a really shiny piece of paper, or something.

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Oh, and don't forget your gestures.

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Y'know, pointing, talking with your hands, or gesturing to any nearby materials you might [Dino talking about gestures while presenting]

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be using like posters or props.

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Just don't go too crazy with the hand stuff. [Girl performing hand gestures while presenting]

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Be engaging, but not distracting.

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Once you've nailed down your words, volume, eye-contact and hand gestures, all that's

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left to do is present!

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And once you're done, you get to breathe a deep sigh of relief! [Girl sighs and walks off stage]

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And hey, if all else fails, you could always wear a sheet and say you're a ghost.

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Your teach will let you keep it on… [Person wearing a white sheet scares teacher]

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after all, what kind of teacher is going to risk being haunted??

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