On Weberberg.de/skool you will find a page that shows what can go wrong in presentations in the classroom. The pictures are fakes but the problems are real. (weberberg.de/skool/presentation.html)

Also on Weberberg.de/skool you find instructions on how to find PowerPoint presentations on the WWW. There you will find some clever tricks on searching downloadable presentations for text through search engines. Sounds easy? Don’t forget, that the words in presentations are in pictures not in text. But you you can crack that problem with weberberg.de/skool/powerpoint.html.

You could use a presentation that is already online to practice giving one without having to prepare the PowerPoint slides first. The steps are: a) Find a suitable presentation b) Read it carefull and make sure you understand all the words. c) Look up definitions for IT vocabulary on Whatis.com or other tools recommended on weberberg.de/skool/it1.html d) Give the presentation but remember: The most serious mistake in presentations is just reading out the text that is on the slides. Your audience is not stupid. They can read themselves!

Weberberg.de/skool also has some realistic tasks for you that involve researching a topic on the Web or hunting for pictures and then processing them into a real presentation together with an accompanying letter: weberberg.de/skool/research.task1.html. or weberberg.de/skool/presentation.task2.html and weberberg.de/skool/presentation.task3.html

To make sure that you use perfect English in your slides use Leo.dict.org or LinguaDict.de. You will find them and other useful tools on weberberg.de/skool/correspondence.html.

Suggested procedure:

Try to solve one of the tasks yourself first. Then form groups and decide on the topic for a presentation. (e.g.: Explaining the advantages of Linux to a layperson, "How does a firewall work?", "What is 'B2B‘?", "My company and its competitors" etc. Following the strategies described on the Weberberg.de page on PowerPoint presentations find suitable presentations that can serve as models or other material you could use.

Then try to prepare your own presentation. You may work on your own but you should have at least one partner who checks your slides for mistakes.

© Dierk Andresen für Weberberg.de 2003