Second Interview - Presentation - Advice?

[Evilsod]

Found out I had a second interview last week, got my presentation topic this morning to do on Wednesday.

Very open ended. Topic is "What makes a good vibration fixture?" and needs to last 10 minutes.

Last time I did a presentation was for my dissertation in uni. I know the basics of making a good presentation and I obviously need to make sure it lasts no longer than 10 minutes, but any advice I can get would be helpful. Also if anyone happens to know any good places to look for information, be it websites (preferably) or books I could find in a library, it would be very helpful.

Been unemployed since I graduated in 2010 and this is the best opportunity I've had since then and I really like the look of the job so I want to make this count.

 

[Evilsod]

Whats the job?

Test Engineer, and as you may guess, vibration testing is involved.

I don't even understand the question

Awesome

 

[Evilsod]

Make sure you go over your presentation with a timer a few times so that you can nail the timing. I find it useful to do split-timing so you can see roughly how long each slide/portion takes, so you can then see if you're over- or under-emphasising any aspects. Also good to go through it with a friend/relative if possible, although this is only really useful if they know the subject area! (unless you just want general grammar checks, body language etc.)

Yeah I was going to do something like that. Time it and send it to the recruiting agency to give it a look over too.

I have a vague idea of what I should be looking for but until I get enough information I can't really look at actually writing the presentation as I've no idea how many sections it'll have and such.

 

[Evilsod]

Good advice, get the presentation knocked out today if possible so you have all day tomorrow to practise doing it so it rolls off the tongue. The more you practise the less nervous you will be and that could be crucial.

Out of interest, will you be doing many 10 minute presentations as a test engineer?

Aye thats my hope but it depends how much I find out.

As for your question. No I don't think there will be much presenting for the role itself. Agency basically said they've worked with them before for similar roles and that they are more interested in the content and your research under time pressure and preparation and such and that I shouldn't worry too much about not being gods gift to presenting. Good presentation skills obviously won't go amiss.

Anyone have any advice on the topic itself? I've found what looks like a useful e-book on the topic but other sources would be good.

 

[Evilsod]

Be sure to have a good back knowledge of the subject, make the key points on the slides more like subject headings so you can expand on each of them with your knowledge, this will make you look much smarter than just reading off the slides and will also help when they ask questions.

Only other thing I can think of right now is to ensure you look super smart!

Yeah I'll definitely try to keep it brief on the slides and obviously bring some cue cards too.

Trying to work out a format for the presentation and I think I've got the page headers sorted at least. Now its just a case of filling the rest of it and finding some images if I need to (not forgetting references).

 

[Evilsod]

Make sure your powerpoint has images spinning around and the text HAS to have sounds. Nothing is more professional than the header coming on screen with a shwooooosh.

<Not serial>

Come up with a simple structure, knowing your audience is important here. Are you presenting to people with subject matter knowledge or not? In some cases they have a HR bod with no knowledge and a subject matter expert so need to build up from basics to advanced. If they are all subject noobs then spend more time on introduction etc

Introduction
ANSWER THE QUESTION YOU WERE ASKED - easy to fill 10 mins on basics and build up then realise you didnt actually answer the Q!
Summary / your views
etc

Don't be a fool, I'll have every letter coming in 1 at a time with a 'typing' sound and the occasionally title swirling in!

Shouldn't be a problem making sure I answer the question. Gonna start with an introduction and a 'what is' slide which shouldn't take more than a few minutes at the most, then start on the question. As for the audience, its 2 or 3 people and given that 1 of them is the Lead Bespoke Engineer I'm pretty sure he knows the stuff.

I suppose I could include a summary at the end just to round things off before I see if they have any questions.

Prezi needs to be used with care. It's very easy to make every nauseous and detract from your message. Good presentations are about ideas and how you express them rather than the tool used to present them.

Yeah I highly doubt it was the program you used and not the content and presentation.

 

[Evilsod]

Take copies of your slides as printed handouts for people to make notes should they wish.

Also bullet cards as prompts for yourself is fine.

Keep to one graph or diagram per slide.

Very few bullet points on slides, in plain simple English then talk about it yourself in more detail.

Don't cram a book on each slide.

Already asked the agency how many people would be attending for that very reason.

Was trying to stick to either 2 rows of bullet points or 1 row + image per slide. I've tried to keep the bullet points simple and brief.

Also churned out a couple of other slides related to possible questions. If it turns out the presentation is too short I'll probably just include them and think up some others as it'll look good to have prepared some extra ones.