Presentation - stand up or sit down?

craptakular said:
I think sitting down is better especially if the room is tiny. I haven't been too or done a meeting where anyone stands.


I'll continue to remain seated. It seems to work.
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It depends on the situation and the room, but generally standing commands presence and attention.

Also forget notes, just rehearse it enough times so you are confident with speaking through the technical bits. Nothing worse than getting tongue tied, so practice the best way of saying it, then work on timing and delivery.

My last presentation, on a iron smelting plant, contained loads of images from Terminator 2. Nobody laughed. EXCEPT ME.
 
Stand up.

You'll appear more dynamic, body language will be better and sitting down to me just shows laziness quite simply.
 
If it's a small room with little distance between each other then sitting down, standing up will just over empower them.

If there is good distance then standing is fine.
 
if its just slides you should stand up

main reason I could think of to not stand up is if you're demonstrating something interactively to a small audience - i.e. have a laptop in front of you, everyone sat in a meeting room looking at the projection of your desktop...
 
It depends. You stand in a room where there is space to stand.

If the room is quite small you *ask* if it's ok to stay seated given the room size.
 
Nitefly said:
My last presentation, on a iron smelting plant, contained loads of images from Terminator 2. Nobody laughed. EXCEPT ME.
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I was on a works course; very interesting and a laugh whilst learning. My final presentation as part of it to explain a point, i photoshopped the instructional staff as bad guys (terrorists etc) and the course students as the good guys.

Students, laughing, half instructors laughing, unfortunately other half and boss - not amused in the slightest!

I learned a valuable lesson that day!!!
 
Unless there are medical or other sound reasons to remain seated, I think you should stand. It is an interview and they will want to assess you, most likely, both on your content and delivery. I also think standing subconciously takes you out of your comfort zone, and if you can present well when you have nothing to hide behind, under the scrutiny of your peers, it shows confidence. A lot of information is conveyed via body language and the people assessing you will pick up on that (sometimes subconsciously), so it is important to use it to your advantage.

If you remain seated I think it makes you appear lazy - if I were an interviewer and a candidate sat down to make a presentation I would be thinking "hmmm if he cant be bothered to stand up in an interview situation, what things will he not be bothering to do when he is not being supervised?".

Obviously if it is a teeny tiny room, I would ask if they preferred you to sit or stand, and they will 100% throw the ball back into your court so you will just have to make a judgement call. Rule of thumb for me is does standing cast your shadow over them or mean they are looking up at you and getting neck ache? If so the room is too small to stand :D
 
I would always stand up when possible...I think it shows that you're the one in charge at that time, and makes it easier for you to look at everyone at once.

Having said that, I had to present some software at work on Thursday and had no choice but to sit down as otherwise I wouldn't have been able to control the software.

So, I'd always stand up unless I had a very good reason not to.
 
Stand. But be aware that your body language are far more readable standing. So make sure you're relaxed and don't move around too much.
 
Depends on the layout of the room. If it is a huge venue geared torwards presentations that i'd stand. If it's just a meeting room to be used for an interview but with a projector in it then sitting may be better. I've done plenty while sitting.
 
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