Presentation tips

[exl]

Hi

I have a training contract presentation. They advised that it will last roughly 30 mins. Does any have any hints or tips on how to do well and how much information to include in the presentation slides?

Thanks

 

[AvniD]

I'd keep the presentation about five slides long with only key information on it. Try to use bullet points or infographics to keep the presentation engaging and ensure you directly address the question/topic you've been asked to present on.

A possible structure could be breaking down the topic/question into key background ➡️identifying what the issue(s) is ➡️ providing solutions/approaches to solving it ➡️ ending with a quick conclusion.

 

[James Carrabino]

Hi

I have a training contract presentation. They advised that it will last roughly 30 mins. Does any have any hints or tips on how to do well and how much information to include in the presentation slides?

Thanks

Hi @exl, I don't know if you have had your presentation yet but I hope that this can be helpful going forward regardless!

30 minutes is actually quite long in my opinion. With presentations, I usually find that the challenge is keeping within the time limit, but for one training contract interview I was asked to give a 45-minute presentation and that really required a large backdrop of knowledge behind every point I made so that I could discuss each point organically and cogently whilst maintaining the engagement of my interviewers. Does your 30 minutes include time for questions? If not, I would spend a lot of time preparing and developing your knowledge base before creating the presentation.

In your presentation, as @AvniD suggested, I would not deposit too much information on your slides, which I would limit to the main point you are making for the slide, some examples/explanations and a catchy picture or diagram. For a 30-minute presentation, however, I wouldn't personally worry if you end up using more in the realm of ten slides, since 3 minutes per slide still gives you ample room to elaborate on your points with every nugget of knowledge you have picked up during your research, without being likely to run too far over the time limit.

Whenever I have had to prepare for something like this (especially when I gave the 45-minute training contract presentation), I have a ritual that I would suggest going through in order to feel ready to embark upon a detailed presentation:

1. The first thing you should do is lay the foundations of the overall structure, which will usually be something along the lines of Intro -> Five or so major topic areas, broken down into an analysis of the commercial and legal (and if a specific client is involved, then reputational) implications -> Conclusion. In choosing your major topic areas, you can consider the 'Issues' that @Jacob Miller included in a table as part of his definitive guide to law firm case studies, where a similar approach applies to the presentation component of the case study.
2. Using your major topic areas as a lens for your research, I would spend several hours reading around the overarching question and educating yourself on the nuances of the issue. Begin to compile sources and examples that you can point to in your presentation and conduct enough research that you have examples left over to bring up in the Q&A following your presentation.
3. Drawing upon your research, begin to flesh out each major topic area with sub-topics that best back up the thesis underlying your presentation. These sub-topics should each consist of roughly one slide. Think now about the order in which you want to present your major topic areas. Often major topic areas are unconnected and so can run in any order, but this is where you can draw upon your research to find a clever link between topic areas, however small, that allows you to flow naturally from one into the next.
4. Finally, you can start to work on each slide. As a general rule of thumb, aim to have a lot more information in the notes below the slide (which are only visible to you) than in the actual slide. You can have these presentation notes printed out in front of you or on the computer, but for the sake of professionalism try to avoid it being obvious that you are using them. This is a good place to write down statistics or anecdotes so that can jog your memory to mention them when presenting, without having to clutter them onto the slide - the slide should really just offer an overview of your sub-topic.

To do well in a presentation like this, include a wealth of relevant information, provide excellent analysis and maintain an engaging and conversational tone. This is much easier said than done, but if you take a rigorous approach to your preparation then you will be able to relax and open up a lot more when the time comes to present.

For the sake of clarification, I will give an example presentation structure:

• Introduction
• Topic A
  • Sub-topic A1
    • 1 slide including title and example, with statistics and anecdotes in presentation notes
  • Sub-topic A2
    • 1 slide as in A1
• Topic B
  • Sub-topic B1
    • 1 slide as in A1
  • Sub-topic B2
    • 1 slide as in A1
• etc...
• Conclusion

Please let me know whether you have any further queries on this!

 

[ZionJohnson]

Hey! Presentations can feel daunting, but here's a tip: keep it concise and engaging. Remember, less is often more with slides - focus on key points to keep your audience interested. When I had a similar presentation, I found that practicing beforehand and using Courses Online to brush up on presentation skills really boosted my confidence. Good luck!