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Countway Practical Presentation Skills

Presentation Slides

Story Telling

Presentation Software

Body Language

• Showtime! (Tips when "on stage")
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On this page you will find many of the tips and common advice that we cover within our Practical Presentation Skills Workshop.

If you are hoping to attend a workshop in the future, please check the schedule of upcoming classes, and reserve your spot. Space does fill up each week, so please register early!

Creating slides to accompany your presentation can be a great way to provide complimentary visual representation of your topic. Slides are used to fill in the gaps while you tell the story.

Start your presentation with a brief introduction- who you are and what you are going to talk about. 

Think about your presentation as a story with an organized beginning (why this topic), middle (how you did the research) and end (your summary findings and how it may be applicable or inform future research). You can provide a brief outline in the introduction so the audience may follow along. 

Keep it simple with a few key concepts, examples and ideas.

Make sure your audience knows the key takeaway points you wish to get across.

A good way to practice this is to try and condense your presentation into an elevator pitch- what do you want the audience to walk away know? 

Show your enthusiasm!

If you don’t think it is interesting- why should your audience?

Some Good Alternatives to PowerPoint:

• Google Slides
• Keynote (Mac)  
• Prezi  
• Zoho Show  
• PowToon  
• CustomShow  
• Slidebean  
• Haiku Deck  
• Visme  
• Emaze  
• and more…  

Your body language speaks volumes to how confident you are on the topic, how you are feeling up on stage and how receptive you are to your audience. Confident body language, such as smiling, maintaining eye contact, and persuasive gesturing all serve to engage your audience.

• Make eye contact with those in the audience that are paying attention and ignore the rest!
• Speak slower than what you would normally, take a moment to smile at your audience, and project your voice. Don’t rush, what you have to say is important!
• Don’t’ forget to breathe. Deep breaths and positive visualization can helps slow that pounding heart.
• Work on making pauses where you can catch your breath, take a sip of water, stand up straight, and continue at your practiced pace.
• Sweaty palms and pre-presentation jitters are no fun. Harness that nervous energy and turn it into enthusiasm! Exercising earlier in the day can help release endorphins and help relieve anxiety.
• Feeling shaky? Practicing confident body language is one way to boost your pre-presentation jitters. When your body is physically demonstrating confidence, your mind will follow suit. Standing or walking a bit will help you calm those butterflies before you go on stage.
• Don’t be afraid to move around and use the physical space you have available but keep your voice projected towards your audience.
• Practice, practice, practice! Get to the next Practical Presentation Skills workshop in Countway Library http://bit.ly/countwaypresent and practice your talk in front of a supportive and friendly group!

• Excessive bullet points
• Reading your slides instead of telling your story
• Avoid excessive transitions and gimmick
• Numerous charts (especially all on the same slide)
• Lack of enthusiasm and engagement from you
• Too much information and data dump
• Clutter and busy design
• Lack of design consistency 

Now you are on stage!

When delivering the talk, watch out for these bad habits:

•  Avoiding eye-contact
• Slouching or bad posture
• Crossed arms
• Non-purposeful movement
• Not projecting your voice
• Speaking away from the microphone
• Speaking with your back to the audience (often happens when reading slides)
• Next: Upcoming Classes & Registration >>
• Last Updated: Jan 29, 2024 8:37 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/presentation

Ideas and insights from Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning

Powerful and Effective Presentation Skills: More in Demand Now Than Ever

When we talk with our L&D colleagues from around the globe, we often hear that presentation skills training is one of the top opportunities they’re looking to provide their learners. And this holds true whether their learners are individual contributors, people managers, or senior leaders. This is not surprising.

Effective communications skills are a powerful career activator, and most of us are called upon to communicate in some type of formal presentation mode at some point along the way.

For instance, you might be asked to brief management on market research results, walk your team through a new process, lay out the new budget, or explain a new product to a client or prospect. Or you may want to build support for a new idea, bring a new employee into the fold, or even just present your achievements to your manager during your performance review.

And now, with so many employees working from home or in hybrid mode, and business travel in decline, there’s a growing need to find new ways to make effective presentations when the audience may be fully virtual or a combination of in person and remote attendees.

Whether you’re making a standup presentation to a large live audience, or a sit-down one-on-one, whether you’re delivering your presentation face to face or virtually, solid presentation skills matter.

Even the most seasoned and accomplished presenters may need to fine-tune or update their skills. Expectations have changed over the last decade or so. Yesterday’s PowerPoint which primarily relied on bulleted points, broken up by the occasional clip-art image, won’t cut it with today’s audience.

The digital revolution has revolutionized the way people want to receive information. People expect presentations that are more visually interesting. They expect to see data, metrics that support assertions. And now, with so many previously in-person meetings occurring virtually, there’s an entirely new level of technical preparedness required.

The leadership development tools and the individual learning opportunities you’re providing should include presentation skills training that covers both the evergreen fundamentals and the up-to-date capabilities that can make or break a presentation.

So, just what should be included in solid presentation skills training? Here’s what I think.

The fundamentals will always apply When it comes to making a powerful and effective presentation, the fundamentals will always apply. You need to understand your objective. Is it strictly to convey information, so that your audience’s knowledge is increased? Is it to persuade your audience to take some action? Is it to convince people to support your idea? Once you understand what your objective is, you need to define your central message. There may be a lot of things you want to share with your audience during your presentation, but find – and stick with – the core, the most important point you want them to walk away with. And make sure that your message is clear and compelling.

You also need to tailor your presentation to your audience. Who are they and what might they be expecting? Say you’re giving a product pitch to a client. A technical team may be interested in a lot of nitty-gritty product detail. The business side will no doubt be more interested in what returns they can expect on their investment.

Another consideration is the setting: is this a formal presentation to a large audience with questions reserved for the end, or a presentation in a smaller setting where there’s the possibility for conversation throughout? Is your presentation virtual or in-person? To be delivered individually or as a group? What time of the day will you be speaking? Will there be others speaking before you and might that impact how your message will be received?

Once these fundamentals are established, you’re in building mode. What are the specific points you want to share that will help you best meet your objective and get across your core message? Now figure out how to convey those points in the clearest, most straightforward, and succinct way. This doesn’t mean that your presentation has to be a series of clipped bullet points. No one wants to sit through a presentation in which the presenter reads through what’s on the slide. You can get your points across using stories, fact, diagrams, videos, props, and other types of media.

Visual design matters While you don’t want to clutter up your presentation with too many visual elements that don’t serve your objective and can be distracting, using a variety of visual formats to convey your core message will make your presentation more memorable than slides filled with text. A couple of tips: avoid images that are cliched and overdone. Be careful not to mix up too many different types of images. If you’re using photos, stick with photos. If you’re using drawn images, keep the style consistent. When data are presented, stay consistent with colors and fonts from one type of chart to the next. Keep things clear and simple, using data to support key points without overwhelming your audience with too much information. And don’t assume that your audience is composed of statisticians (unless, of course, it is).

When presenting qualitative data, brief videos provide a way to engage your audience and create emotional connection and impact. Word clouds are another way to get qualitative data across.

Practice makes perfect You’ve pulled together a perfect presentation. But it likely won’t be perfect unless it’s well delivered. So don’t forget to practice your presentation ahead of time. Pro tip: record yourself as you practice out loud. This will force you to think through what you’re going to say for each element of your presentation. And watching your recording will help you identify your mistakes—such as fidgeting, using too many fillers (such as “umm,” or “like”), or speaking too fast.

A key element of your preparation should involve anticipating any technical difficulties. If you’ve embedded videos, make sure they work. If you’re presenting virtually, make sure that the lighting is good, and that your speaker and camera are working. Whether presenting in person or virtually, get there early enough to work out any technical glitches before your presentation is scheduled to begin. Few things are a bigger audience turn-off than sitting there watching the presenter struggle with the delivery mechanisms!

Finally, be kind to yourself. Despite thorough preparation and practice, sometimes, things go wrong, and you need to recover in the moment, adapt, and carry on. It’s unlikely that you’ll have caused any lasting damage and the important thing is to learn from your experience, so your next presentation is stronger.

How are you providing presentation skills training for your learners?

Manika Gandhi is Senior Learning Design Manager at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. Email her at [email protected] .

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Presenting With Confidence (In-Person Course)

Learn the unbreakable laws of communication that will make your next presentation engaging, attractive, and actionable.

Associated Schools

Harvard Graduate School of Design

What you'll learn.

Identify the most effective types of stories to connect with your audience.

Learn body language and vocal delivery techniques that will help you present authentically and confidently in front of any type of audience.

Build a message map to pitch your idea in as little as 15 seconds (elevator pitch), or create the outline for a longer, well-crafted presentation.

Explore methods for how to make data instantly memorable.

Explore tactics proven to make communication more persuasive and memorable.

Course description

Ideas are the currency of the 21st century. The ability to communicate your ideas persuasively is the single greatest skill you can learn to succeed in a globally competitive world. Through stories, videos and case examples, this program offers an actionable, step-by-step method anyone can adopt to create and deliver inspiring presentations that are engaging, persuasive and memorable. Key topics include: applying storytelling methods, creating presentation headlines, utilizing the rule of three, building multisensory experiences, making statistics instantly memorable, delivering authentic presentations with confidence, creating a message map around your story; learning practice methods for seamless delivery. 

This transformative program will set you apart from your peers and competitors, in a wide variety of professions. If you’re a designer or architect, this program will help you present to clients. If you’re a city planner, you’ll keep on message with poise at your next town hall meeting. If you’re a real estate developer, you’ll be able to pitch deals better. If you’re an entrepreneur, this program will improve your skills at courting investors and customers. If you’re a civic leader, you’ll be able to present more persuasively to constituents. The ability to craft and deliver world-class presentations is useful in every line of work, and this skill is becoming ever-more essential. Within the next few years, you will not thrive as a leader if you are not an excellent presenter, in person or to a virtual audience.

Instructors

Carmine Gallo

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Presenting with Confidence

How Great Leaders Craft and Design Persuasive Presentations That Sell Ideas, Inspire Teams, and Build Brands

Four online sessions with an additional one-on-one coaching session. Also offered on-campus .

Ideas are the currency of the 21st century. The ability to communicate your ideas persuasively is the single greatest skill you can learn to succeed in a globally competitive world. Through stories, videos and case examples, this program offers an actionable, step-by-step method anyone can adopt to create and deliver inspiring in-person or virtual presentations that are engaging, persuasive and memorable.

Key topics include: applying storytelling methods, creating presentation headlines, utilizing the rule of three, building multisensory experiences, making statistics instantly memorable, delivering authentic presentations with confidence, creating a message map around your story; learning practice methods for seamless delivery in-person or virtually. This online course includes a scheduled private one-on-one consultation via phone or remote video with the instructors following the program dates.

What to Expect

Certificate of completion

1on1 coaching

Open office hours

This transformative program will set you apart from your peers and competitors, in a wide variety of professions. If you’re a designer or architect, this program will help you present to clients. If you’re a city planner, you’ll keep on message with poise at your next town hall meeting. If you’re a real estate developer, you’ll be able to pitch deals better. If you’re an entrepreneur, this program will improve your skills at courting investors and customers. If you’re a civic leader, you’ll be able to present more persuasively to constituents. The ability to craft and deliver world-class presentations is useful in every line of work, and this skill is becoming ever-more essential. Within the next few years, you will not thrive as a leader if you are not an excellent presenter, in person or to a virtual audience.

According to IDC, “oral and written communication” is, by far, the number one skill employers look for in “high-opportunity occupations.” Yet, very few of the 350 PowerPoint presentations that are given every second around the world are clear, compelling and inspiring. Public speaking through presentations will raise your value in the workplace by 50 percent, according to Warren Buffett. In this course, you build this valuable skill with case examples from men and women who lead today’s most influential companies such as Google, Microsoft, Virgin, Nike, Berkshire Hathaway, Apple, and many others. You will learn the specific tactics mastered by famous entrepreneurs, leaders and TED speakers who deliver presentations that capture the world’s attention.

Through stories, case examples, videos, and practical exercises, backed by the latest neuroscience research on storytelling, communication and persuasion, this program will teach you specific techniques that you can use immediately to dramatically improve your next pitch, presentation, or mission-critical communication for in person or virtual audiences. You will learn the art and science of storytelling to build your brand, promote a shared vision, engage teams, inspire customers, and grow your career, startup or company.

• Learn the unbreakable laws of communication that will make your next presentation engaging, attractive, and actionable.
• Develop a 3-act story structure that communicates your brand’s values.
• Identify the most effective types of stories to connect with your audience.
• Learn body language and vocal delivery techniques that will help you present authentically and confidently in front of any type of audience.
• Build a message map to pitch your idea in as little as 15 seconds (elevator pitch), or create the outline for a longer, well-crafted presentation.
• Explore methods for how to make data instantly memorable.

Any professional who needs to present or pitch ideas to obtain funding, support, or other calls to action, including entrepreneurs, real estate developers, engineers, scientists, architects, designers, educators, managers, business owners, students, marketing and communication professionals, non-profit leaders, civic leaders, etc.

Instructors

Carmine Gallo

Bestselling author and communication advisor for the world’s most admired brands

Vanessa Gallo

Executive Communication Coach, Gallo Communications Group

Carmine Introduces the Program

Carmine on how to Communicate Simply and Clearly

Participant Stories

Maria Teresa Camodeca

Innovation Project Manager

Peter Joseph

Sales Executive

Registration is currently closed

October 25, 27, 30, & November 1, 2023

Online Tuition:  $1,750 CEUs: 7 AIA LUs, 7 AICP/CM, 7 LA/CES AMDP Elective Units: 1

Please sign up above if you would like to be notified when the next session is announced.

Please email us at [email protected]  with any questions and to ask about group signup.

Registration Deadline:  3 hours before the start of the program.

Full Discount and Cancellation Policies

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Communication Strategies: Presenting with Impact

Gain skills and techniques to engage, inform and inspire others, improving your ability to communicate as a leader.

All Start Dates

8:30 AM – 4:30 PM ET

2 consecutive days

Registration Deadline

April 21, 2024

June 30, 2024

November 24, 2024

Communication Strategies Program Overview

Communication strategies: presenting with impact, a public speaking course.

Public speaking—whether delivering a presentation, making a pitch, or leading a group discussion—can cause even the most confident leader to break a sweat. Yet communicating your message with poise, confidence, and conviction is an essential leadership skill. Mastering your public speaking and presentation skills will enable you to inspire your audience as well as build trust and credibility.

Through oral presentations and small group activities, you will put proven public speaking techniques and tools into practice, test out new approaches, and learn to communicate clearly and confidently. Discover the powerful impact of storytelling and practical persuasion skills to authentically illustrate your message. Learn how to effectively organize materials to blend analytical and emotional content into a compelling story, and incorporate dynamic introductions and memorable endings into your presentations.

Who Should Register for this Public Speaking Course

This communication program is appropriate for business professionals at all levels of experience who would like to enhance their communication skills to succeed in delivering impactful presentations. It is ideal for anyone in a role that requires ceremonial speaking, persuasive speaking, or any other type of public speaking, regardless of industry or years of experience.

All participants will earn a Certificate of Participation from the Harvard Division of Continuing Education

Participants must be fluent in English to participate fully in fast-moving discussions and exercises.

Benefits of Communication Strategies: Presenting With Impact

This communication strategies program is designed to offer new techniques to improve your public speaking skills. Key takeaways from the program will help you improve your ability to persuade and influence your audience in large- and small-group settings.

During this public speaking training course, you will:

• Learn guiding principles of making effective presentations
• Build confidence in your presentation abilities
• Cultivate your personal leadership and communication style
• Learn strategies on handling hostile audiences

“Jill [Slye] shared invaluable tips that have helped me to reduce my anxiety and negative self-talk around my presentations while conveying a message that encourages others to affect change through empowering presentations.” — Lizbeth Sanches-Acre

The curriculum for this communication strategies program is designed to be interactive and hands-on. You will practice the skills and techniques you are learning in real-time through small group activities and oral presentations during the program.

The curriculum will cover topics such as:

• Effective delivery skills involving presence, vocal variety, body language, narratives and humor, and handling nerves
• Crafting clear and concise messages
• Understanding and connecting with your audience
• Techniques for effective handling of Q&A sessions
• Ways to gain buy-in and influence your audience
• Strategies for online communications, webinars, podcasts, Zoom platforms, etc.

This public speaking course is offered as a two-day on-campus program in our state-of-the-art classroom space in the heart of historic Harvard University. Program tuition is $2,990 plus the cost of travel.

Considering this program?

Send yourself the details.

Related Programs

• Effective Organizational Communication
• Influence and Persuasion in Leadership
• Becoming a Leader: Developing Your Style and Making Sound Decisions

April Schedule

• Communication Overview
• Honing Your Personal Communication Style
• Developing Audience Centered Content
• Presentations
• Strategies for Online Communications
• Leadership Communication Model

July Schedule

December schedule, jill abruzese slye, certificates of leadership excellence.

The Certificates of Leadership Excellence (CLE) are designed for leaders with the desire to enhance their business acumen, challenge current thinking, and expand their leadership skills.

This program is one of several CLE qualifying programs. Register today and get started earning your certificate.

How will this program help me improve my public speaking skills?

This program will help you improve your public speaking skills through hands-on practice of communication techniques and new approaches. As part of the program, you will engage in group exercises and oral presentations where you will receive feedback from the instructor and your peers to help you improve your skills in real time.

How will improving public speaking help me advance my career?

Public speaking is an important skill for any business professional, regardless of industry or role. To advance your career, you must possess the ability to convey your message with clarity and lead group discussions with confidence, regardless of the specific situation. Developing the techniques and strategies to communicate effectively will help build trust in your leadership skills more broadly.

What skills or experience is needed before enrolling in this program?

Participants do not need any specific experience or skills to enroll in this program. It is open to any business professional interested in improving their public speaking skills and their ability to communicate effectively and persuasively.

Harvard Division of Continuing Education

The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University is dedicated to bringing rigorous academics and innovative teaching capabilities to those seeking to improve their lives through education. We make Harvard education accessible to lifelong learners from high school to retirement.

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• Oral Presentations

With some thoughtful reflection and minor modification, student presentations can be as valuable online as they are in person. In deciding how to modify your assignment for remote teaching, it is key to reflect on what you hoped to assess about your students' learning through their presentations in the first place. Were you looking to evaluate how they make an argument in a new form, conduct research, work together in a group, and/or learn to use visuals? You may have had many objectives for your assignment. You still might be able to fulfill all of them; however, you may need to consider modifying or removing one of them if it would be difficult to include all of them in one assignment. (E.g. given that it is difficult for students in disparate locations to present together, it may be worth asking whether it is more important for students to demonstrate their ability to work together to prepare the presentation, or to make an argument on the spot. If you want to assess both, do you need to modify your assignment to have some individual components and some group components?)

Below we suggest three ways to incorporate student presentations into a remote class: (1) live via Zoom ; (2) pre-recorded via Zoom ; and (3) narrated slide decks . (It is also possible to have students submit pre-recorded presentations via Canvas’ media recording function, but we find this option to be less effective than the other three options presented here.)

Live Presentations in Zoom

• courses in which all students have reliable access to the internet and are comfortable with Zoom functions such as screenshare.
• attempting to reproduce the interactivity or spontaneity of live presentations in a classroom.
• assessing/providing feedback on students’ ability to present (and possibly field questions) "live."

Pre-recorded Presentations in Zoom

• presentations that do not rely heavily/exclusively on slides (although a student can use Zoom to record a presentation that includes a slide show).

Here's one way to have students give pre-recorded oral presentations (with or without accompanying visuals) using Zoom. If students are presenting using a slide deck, it may be easier to have them record their presentations directly into Powerpoint and submit those.

1. How to record a student presentation

Students can use Zoom ( harvard.zoom.us ) to create a permanent link that can function as a sort of "private video studio"; any time they go back to their Zoom account and click on the link, it will start a solo "meeting" that is recorded until they either stop the recording or leave the meeting. This is a great way for them to record themselves giving a presentation which they can share with others, in any of their courses. Your students will have all of the capabilities that any Zoom meeting host has—for example, they will be able to share a slideshow or other piece of media from their screen while they talk. Here’s how they can do it:

• Navigate to harvard.zoom.us and login. They should see the button to “Schedule a new meeting” right near the top of the screen. They should select that option. 
• They can name the meeting anything they like—maybe something like “My personal recording studio”—and leave the description blank.
• Continuing onward, they should ignore the “When,” “Duration,” and “Timezone” prompts, and skip right to the checkbox for “Recurring meeting.” They should turn that on.
• In the “Recurrence” dropdown menu, they should select “No Fixed Time,” which will cause all of the date and time information to disappear—that’s good, and means they have succeeded in creating a link that they can re-use again and again.
• Skipping further down the page, they can ignore many of the other options, but they should make sure that “Video” is set to “on” for the host, and that “Audio” is set to “Both.” (These are probably their default options.)
• Finally, make sure that they check the last checkbox, “Record the meeting automatically,” and choose “In the cloud."
• After making their selections, they should click “Save.”
• Now, whenever they visit the “My meetings” page within harvard.zoom.us , they’ll see “My personal recording studio” at the top of the list and can use it to record themselves for any reason, including your presentation.
• While recording, they can speak to the camera, share a slideshow or other media while they talk, etc. Whenever they are sharing something on your screen, the resulting recording will capture what they are sharing fullscreen and overlay the student as a talking head in a small window in the upper righthand corner. Encourage your students to try a quick dry run and then watch the video (see the next step, below) to think through how they want to use (or not use) slides/images/sound in your presentation.
• Whenever they make a recording, the resulting video will automatically appear in their account within a few minutes to an hour after they finish, and they’ll be able to access it by clicking on “Recordings” in the left-side menu in harvard.zoom.us . They can watch it there to make sure they are happy with it; if not, they just need to go back into their “studio” again and re-record. They can delete recordings they don’t want to use (or just leave them there—there’s no penalty to having lots of recordings in an account). (They can also change the beginning and ending time of their presentations using the editing tool in Zoom, though we would recommend that instructors not overemphasize these kinds of polishing touches in assessing the clarity/sophistication/creativity/etc. of the presentation itself.)
• When it comes time for them to share their videos, they will be able to do so through a secure link. More on that next.

2. How to share a presentation with teaching staff

You and your teaching staff will need to let your students know how you would like to receive access to their recorded presentation—whether by email, uploading to Canvas, etc. Your students will be able to share their presentations through any of those methods by sharing a secure link. Students can retrieve that link by:

• Navigating to the “Recordings” page in the left side menu of harvard.zoom.us , and identifying the video they’d like to share with you.
• To the right of the video, they’ll see a “Share” button. They should click that.
• In the dialog box that pops up, students will need to make sure to turn on “Share this recording” and select “Only authenticated users can view.” They should leave the other options turned off.
• Students should look for the link for their recording toward the bottom of the gray box. Once they find it, they should highlight it with their mouse, and copy it.
• They can share that link by pasting it into an email, Canvas, etc.—however you’ve asked to receive it. That’s it!

3. How to share a presentation with peers / generate asynchronous discussion

As the instructor, you can choose to give students individual feedback on the recordings they share with you. But you can also choose to share them with your class and to create opportunities for peer feedback by using the same link through which students shared their videos with you. You might, for example, create a Canvas discussion forum for each student presenter, paste the link for the respective student’s video in the prompt (which will lead Canvas to embed the video right in the page), and encourage their classmates to watch their presentation and leave feedback or questions in the discussion forum.

Narrated Slide Decks

• Projects where students were already asked to create slide decks.
• Presentations where the slide deck matters more than seeing the student talk about the slide deck (this format can be helpful for students who have had difficult participating synchronously and/or using their camera).

It is relatively easy for students to record over a PowerPoint presentation. They can insert an audio file on each page by selecting the “Insert” tab and then the “Audio” icon. Students can also create narrated presentations that include slide transitions. Microsoft offers useful advice on how to record a presentation with slide transitions and narration. (N.B. Students could use Google Slides, but they would have to pre-record the audio, which they could do using their phone or Quicktime if they have a Mac.)

If your students are creating a presentation with transitions, here are some tips for recording:

• To pause recording, use the option from the menu bar
• To record narration on your last slide, you need to advance to the black screen that tells you the slide show has ended before ending the recording
• PowerPoint will not record while slides are transitioning so it can be helpful to build in a pause before transitioning to the next slide
• If you have transitions between the slides, you may need to change them so they do not truncate your audio recording

You can use similar strategies to those described in the section on pre-recording presentations in Zoom to share the recordings and create discussion.

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Presentation Skills

By: Harvard Business Review

Have you ever felt disappointed after giving a carefully planned presentation? What went wrong? What could you have done to improve the audience's response? This easy to use, interactive Harvard…

• Length: 0 hour(s)
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2009
• Discipline: Organizational Behavior
• Product #: 2448C-MMC-ENG

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Have you ever felt disappointed after giving a carefully planned presentation? What went wrong? What could you have done to improve the audience's response? This easy to use, interactive Harvard ManageMentor "Presentation Skills" (CD-ROM) will help you learn how to connect what you know about your topic with what your audience needs-in ways that engage, clarify, and inspire. This program contains relevant information on how to: prepare an effective presentation customized for your audience and setting; deliver an effective presentation that produces action; and address questions and keep people focused during your presentation.

For PCs only. Not compatible with Mac.

Apr 1, 2009

Discipline:

Organizational Behavior

2448C-MMC-ENG

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Why i applied to harvard: the presentation that put harvard on my radar.

When I was around ten years old, I thought Hogwarts and Harvard were the same thing.

Yup. If you'd asked me then where Harry Potter went to school, I might have responded Harvard. I believe this confusion stemmed from my lack of fluency in English at the time, so words that sounded similar in my mind were also given similar meanings, and from there I formed my idea of what college was.

Beyond the fact that I was still learning English (I moved to the US in the summer after turning ten), I also had no clear idea about what college was supposed to be. With this in mind, the words "Harvard" and "Hogwarts" seemed pretty interchangeable to me. After all, were they not both magical education centers known for their greatness? Wasn’t responding to adults that you would like to go to either institution a solid and respectable response?

I am happy to say this misconception did not stay with me for long. Funny enough, I first learned more about Hogwarts after diving into the Harry Potter book series in middle school. I came to understand the fantastic Hogwarts was a fictional school that belonged in a fantasy world meant for fictional characters who possessed the craft of magic. Clearly, not a place I would ever be attending.

Learning about Harvard came somewhat after, in 8th grade. In English class, we were tasked with researching colleges to make a presentation on which we would like to attend. I remember typing "Harvard University" into the Google search bar and learning about its acceptance rate, followed by its attendance cost. To me, the first was unbelievably low, and the second unreachably high. After this project, I arrived to the same conclusion about Harvard as I had about Hogwarts. Both were out of my reach; I was as likely to attend one as I was the other.

Inside of Annenberg Hall

I still feel that some comparisons could be made between both schools

It was not until my second year in high school that something changed my perspective; an alumna from my high school, Bianca, came to give us a presentation. She had graduated high school two years before I'd entered as a freshman and was then attending Harvard College. The purpose of her presentation was to explain the application process for Harvard and discuss with us its accessibility. Bianca's presentation was really the first time I had ever thought about Harvard being accessible. Bianca talked to us about her time in high school, her considerations for colleges, and why she chose to apply to and ultimately attend Harvard. Really, there were two big things I took from her presentation.

1.) Harvard is not looking for perfect applicants

Through her, I first heard of a concept I would come to be greatly familiar with due to my current work with HFGP: Harvard's admissions team uses a whole-person review approach for their applicants. There isn't an exact class rank, cut-off in standardized exam scores, or required number of extracurriculars needed to be considered as an applicant. Of course, Bianca had worked diligently during her time in high school, which made her a strong candidate for all of the colleges she considered. What was important though, was not just how high her test scores or GPA were. It was the culmination of who she was as a person. While I now have a better understanding of what Harvard looks for in its applicants , at that time, Bianca's story left me with a powerful message: she had been able to get to Harvard with the same resources that were available to me.

Harvard Presentation

Bianca's Presentation at our high school in 2018 Mission Collegiate HS librarian, Mrs. Barnhart

2.) Harvard is affordable

Another concept that I learned about from her presentation was the idea of need-based financial aid. I had previously not known that some colleges' approach to awarding financial aid was based on the financial need of each family.  A statement from her presentation that blew me away was, "attending Harvard was more affordable for me than going to our top state public school." If I applied and was accepted into a need-based institution, it could be more affordable than options that were closer to home? This changed my perspective on colleges completely. I realized that, thanks to Harvard's approach to financial aid , the attendance cost would not prevent me from actually going. Of course, getting into Harvard still seemed like a dream, and I knew that I would have to push myself as much as I could while I was in high school. But suddenly, the idea of Harvard seemed a little more in reach. After all, it was possible for someone like me to attend Harvard.

Now that I am here, I still think about this presentation for two reasons.

First, it reminds me of the importance of spreading awareness about college accessibility. I remember how much my perspective on my future changed after this presentation. Because of it, I realized the possibilities for my future did not have to be as limited as I'd once thought due to not being the "perfect student," or because of my family's financial status. This reminds me of the importance of spreading awareness to under-represented groups who don't know how realistic Harvard can be as an option for college. Finally, I think about Bianca's success story. I talked with Bianca once at the beginning of my senior year. After answering questions I had about the application process, she shared with me her thoughts on topics like Conan O'Brien's address to her graduating class of 2020, and which house was the best house on campus. I think about how she got through what I am currently living through -- being far from home, defining who you are, discovering what you want to do. She lived through all of the rewarding and stressful parts of college, and she succeeded. Surely, I can once again follow that path.

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Although it may not be Hogwarts, Harvard has a great deal of magic to it.

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Structure Your Presentation Like a Story

• Nancy Duarte

To win people over, create tension between the status quo and a better way.

After studying hundreds of speeches, I’ve found that the most effective presenters use the same techniques as great storytellers: By reminding people of the status quo and then revealing the path to a better way, they set up a conflict that needs to be resolved.

• ND Nancy Duarte is a best-selling author with thirty years of CEO-ing under her belt. She’s driven her firm, Duarte, Inc., to be the global leader behind some of the most influential messages and visuals in business and culture. Duarte, Inc., is the largest design firm in Silicon Valley, as well as one of the top woman-owned businesses in the area. Nancy has written six best-selling books, four have won awards, and her new book, DataStory: Explain Data and Inspire Action Through Story , is available now. Follow Duarte on Twitter: @nancyduarte or LinkedIn .

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Presentations

The rapid transition to online teaching necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic has been a good opportunity to rethink my approach to teaching. Moving online laid bare the restrictions imposed by both traditional classrooms and online teaching, and demonstrated that many activities that have traditionally been synchronous and instructor-paced, can be improved by making them asynchronous and self-paced in any teaching modality. What may have...

Questions are the heart of evaluating and engaging students. In this workshop, we will work individually and in pairs on a case study to learn best practices for developing effective questions.

• Evaluate questions and classify them according the levels of Bloom’s taxonomy
• Revise questions to increase the level of Bloom’s taxonomy at which they engage students
• Develop questions that more effectively engage students in a flipped-learning environment

Learning is a social experience — it requires interactivity. Most students learn best by engaging with content, reflecting on it, and engaging with their peers. Moving pre-class reading assignments to an asynchronous and self-paced environment improves completion rates of these assignments. Perusall, a free social learning platform, permits one to move online the information-transfer that normally takes place in a lecture and make this information transfer interactive. In addition, the platform promotes intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to learn. In this workshop we will demonstrate the...

Confessions of a Converted Lecturer: From Teaching by Telling to Learning from One's Peers , at Active Learning Summit 2024, University of Georgia, Athens, GA , Thursday, February 15, 2024 I thought I was a good teacher until I discovered my students were just memorizing information rather than learning to understand the material. Who was to blame? The students? The material? I will explain how I came to the agonizing conclusion that the culprit was neither of these. It was my teaching that caused students to fail! I will show how I have adjusted my approach to teaching and how it has improved my students' performance significantly

In this interactive workshop we will discuss how to best question students through Peer Instruction.

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• Breaking down classroom walls and setting learning free
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Peter L. Galison Joseph Pellegrino University Professor

Director, black hole initiative, ga4 tracking code.

Time of Physics, Time of Art

Presentation date: , location: .

In the standard picture of the history of special relativity, Henri Poincaré’s and Albert Einstein’s reformulation of simultaneity is considered a quasi-philosophical intervention, a move made possible by their disconnection from the standard physics of the day. Meanwhile, Einstein’s engagement at the Patent Office (or Poincare’s in the Bureau of Longitude) enters the story as a lowly day job — irrelevant to fundamental work on the nature of the world. I have argued, on the contrary, that the all-too material and the most abstract notions of time cross in essential ways. In a collaboration with the artist William Kentridge (“The Refusal of Time”) we explored this intersection, pushing on history, physics, and philosophy into a more associative-imaginative register. This talk is an account of this complex of problems at the boundary of art and physics history.

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What is Eid al-Fitr? 6 questions about the holiday and how Muslims celebrate it, answered

By Ken Chitwood

Updated on: April 9, 2024 / 8:03 AM EDT / The Conversation

Ken Chitwood  is a senior research fellow, Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis and journalist-fellow at the Dornsife Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the  University of Southern California Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences .

Eid al-Fitr, one of Islam's principal festivals, will be celebrated April 9, 2024, according to the Fiqh Council of North America . At the middle of June, Muslims will celebrate Eid al-Adha. Ken Chitwood, a scholar of global Islam, explains the two Islamic festivals.

1. What is Eid?

Eid literally means a "festival" or "feast" in Arabic. There are two major eids in the Islamic calendar per year – Eid al-Fitr earlier in the year and Eid al-Adha later.

Eid al-Fitr is a three-day-long festival and is known as the "Lesser" or "Smaller Eid" when compared to Eid al-Adha, which is four days long and is known as the "Greater Eid."

2. Why is Eid celebrated twice a year?

The two Eids recognize, celebrate and recall two distinct events that are significant to the story of Islam.

Eid al-Fitr means "the feast of breaking the fast." The fast, in this instance, is Ramadan , which recalls the revealing of the Quran to Prophet Muhammad and requires Muslims to fast from sunrise to sundown for a month.

3. How do Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr?

Eid al-Fitr features two to three days of celebrations that include special morning prayers. People greet each other with "Eid Mubarak," meaning "Blessed Eid" and with formal embraces. Sweet dishes are prepared at home and gifts are given to children and to those in need. In addition, Muslims are encouraged to forgive and seek forgiveness. Practices vary from country to country.

In many countries with large Muslim populations, Eid al-Fitr is a national holiday. Schools, offices and businesses are closed so family, friends and neighbors can enjoy the celebrations together. In the U.S. and the U.K., Muslims may request to have the day off from school or work to travel or celebrate with family and friends.

In countries like Egypt and Pakistan, Muslims decorate their homes with lanterns, twinkling lights or flowers. Special food is prepared and friends and family are invited over to celebrate.

In places like Jordan, with its Muslim majority population, the days before Eid al-Fitr can see a rush at local malls and special "Ramadan markets" as people prepare to exchange gifts on Eid al-Fitr.

In Turkey and in places that were once part of the Ottoman-Turkish empire such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Azerbaijan and the Caucasus, it is also known as the, "Lesser Bayram" or "festival" in Turkish.

4. How do Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha?

The other festival, Eid al-Adha, is the "feast of the sacrifice." It comes at the end of the Hajj , an annual pilgrimage by millions of Muslims to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia that is obligatory once in a lifetime, but only for those with means.

Eid al-Adha recalls the story of how God commanded Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismail as a test of faith. The story, as narrated in the Quran, describes Satan's attempt to tempt Ibrahim so he would disobey God's command. Ibrahim, however, remains unmoved and informs Ismail, who is willing to be sacrificed.

But, just as Ibrahim attempts to kill his son, God intervenes and a ram is sacrificed in place of Ismail. During Eid al-Adha, Muslims slaughter an animal to remember Ibrahim's sacrifice and remind themselves of the need to submit to the will of God.

5. When are they celebrated?

Eid al-Fitr is celebrated on the first day of the 10th month in the Islamic calendar.

Eid al-Adha is celebrated on the 10th day of the final month in the Islamic calendar.

The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, and dates are calculated based on lunar phases. Since the Islamic calendar year is shorter than the solar Gregorian calendar year by 10 to 12 days, the dates for Ramadan and Eid on the Gregorian calendar can vary year by year.

6. What is the spiritual meaning of Eid al-Fitr?

Eid al-Fitr, as it follows the fasting of Ramadan, is also seen as a spiritual celebration of Allah's provision of strength and endurance.

Amid the reflection and rejoicing, Eid al-Fitr is a time for charity, known as Zakat al-Fitr. Eid is meant to be a time of joy and blessing for the entire Muslim community and a time for distributing one's wealth.

Charity to the poor is a highly emphasized value in Islam. The Quran says ,

"Believe in Allah and his messenger, and give charity out of the (substance) that Allah has made you heirs of. For those of you who believe and give charity – for them is a great reward."

This piece incorporates materials from an article first published on Aug. 28, 2017. The dates have been updated. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

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Dr. Karl Testor

On April 15th, 2024, the Next Level Lab hosted a presentation by Dr. Karl Testor, Head of the Institute of Neurocognitive Sciences and Leadership in Austria.

The working environment provides plenty of opportunities for change — intentionally as well as sometimes externally driven. Rather than giving into the situation, we would like to be part of the creating force throughout such a development. In this talk, Dr. Testor discussed how creativity sciences and (neuro)cognitive insights can help us become more a creator than a sufferer of these processes.

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Reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior: A Return to Russian Roots

Reconstructed Cathedral of Christ the Savior

Demolition of the cathedral under Stalin

One of the most iconic sites in Moscow is the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, located on the northern bank of the Moskva River. The cathedral was consecrated in 1883 and took almost 50 years to construct. The current cathedral is actually the second that’s stood there. Under Stalin in the 1930s, the original cathedral was dynamited and reduced to rubble in order to make was for the proposed Palace of Soviets. The palace wasn’t ever constructed due to the lack of funds, so under Khrushchev, the space was used to create an enormous outdoor swimming pool. In the 1990s, the government agree with the Russian Orthodox Church to reconstruct the cathedral. Alexei Denisov was originally in charge of reconstruction; Denisov intended to recreate with extreme accuracy, but was dismissed in 1998 due to tensions with the Mayor’s office(1).

Original marble reliefs found on the interior walls of the cathedral

Bronze reliefs that replaced the original marble ones

After Denisov’s dismissal, Tsereteli and his Russian Academy of the Arts took over. Tsereteli was more relaxed about accuracy in recreation of the cathedral, making some controversial decisions in the process. The most significant was changing the material use in recreating the marble reliefs on the interior walls. The original pieces were made of light marble, but Tsereteli decided to replicate them using bronze. This change in material had a large effect on the aesthetic of the cathedral itself. The dark, bronze reliefs contrasted with the light, original marble ones; thus the modern element was criticized for not aligning with the style of Russian church architecture. The use of bronze is symbolic of other modern aspects of the cathedral, such as the additions of a 150-car garage, a 1,500-seat theater, and elevators(2). These modern extensions on a historic icon reflects Moscow’s transition from its Soviet era to a new Russia. The reconstruction of the cathedral itself demonstrates Russia’s attempt to abandon its atheist past. While simultaneously displaying modernization in Russia, the cathedral demonstrates a return to Russian roots. The palimpsestic nature of this site demonstrates the complex evolution of Russia.

(1) Ivanov, Mikhail. " 1931: Razed--2000: Raised ." Russian Life Jul 2000: 18-21. ProQuest. Web. 23 Oct. 2016 .

(2) Haskins, Ekaterina V. "Russia's Postcommunist Past: The Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Reimagining of National Identity." History and Memory 21.1 (2009): 25-62. Web.