The Best Ways to Present as a Group

Abstract

The role of the lead presenter is to begin and conclude the presentation. It is therefore a key role. Usually the lead presenter is the most experienced member of the group or perhaps the presenter with the most confidence in public speaking. To guarantee that delivery by a group of presenters occurs in a smooth and cohesive fashion, decisions need to be made about the length of time to allocate to each presenter, how the segments should fit together and which presenter is responsible for each. These decisions may be taken by the group or by the lead presenter. Remember that time also needs to be allocated for Q&As. There are several ways to map out a presentation. One is to use the Presentation Mapper methods marketed by Second Nature. A different approach is to lay out the presentation as a series of storyboards, using paper and pencil. Avoid too detailed a view at the early planning stage. The key point to bear in mind is what the overall, central objectives of the presentation are, what part of the story each presenter will deliver and what the messages for the audience are. This then allows you to decide on the content. After the whole presentation has been storyboarded, decisions can then be taken on the length of each segment and the sections can start to be allocated to the different presenters.