While they might not have given an academic research presentation before, all of your students have almost certainly given quite a few presentations (also in English) over the past few years. Before watching these videos, you can ask your students to work in pairs or small groups and brainstorm what they remember about some of the best and worst presentations they have seen — either by teachers, other students, or other lecturers.
This first video is a recording of a presentation given to a group of bachelors students in science fields during a summer event. The presenter is a real lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but she is also an actor, and made this presentation as a creative way to model what not to do during a presentation. However, it is so realistic that almost all of the things she does you will have seen other people do as well.
While watching the first video, please have students take notes of all of the things that they would suggest she improve if she were to give the presentation again.
Some things that the students might have noticed are:
Not being prepared with the proper information
Beginning the presentation without any real introduction
Slides cluttered with too many logos and unimportant information
Too many different fonts and color schemes, even within individual slides
Unwilling to answer questions (either due to attitude or lack of knowledge)
Does not at all understand her audience
Too much information crammed on slides
Stands in front of the projector, damaging her eyesight, despite having a laser pointer
Uses phone in the middle of the presentation
Skips over slides that should have been taken out in the first place
Uses cheesy sound effects and transitions that were already outdated before any of our current students were born
The next video is a TEDx talk supposedly about "nothing," but actually highlights good verbal and non-verbal presentation skills. While students watch this video, ask them to try to decide what the "actual" point of this talk is and also make a list of things that the presenter does which they consider to be effective.
(thanks to Artūrs L. for originally showing me this video!)
Some things students might have noticed could include:
Use of humor
Interacting with the audience by asking a question
Minimalistic slides with less text and more images
Good use of verbal pacing, including pauses
Effective use of gestures (neither too many nor too little)
Uses signposting language to organize his presentation
Repeats certain key points for emphasis
After discussing the things that were effectively done, have students decide each on three things that they would like to do more effectively in their upcoming presentation than they have ever done on any other presentation before. Then, have them write steps they will take to make sure that they succeed in their goals.