Presentations are used by assessors to measure a number of key skills and abilities, such as planning, organising, communicating, flexibility and quick thinking. You will be judged on what you say, how you say it and how you deal with any subsequent questions.
Topics
Presentation subject matter may either be 'technical' (that is, relating to the job and demonstrating your knowledge and experience) or it may be 'non technical', such as a current affairs topic or a general subject such as "My Greatest Achievement". If the topic is a general one, it is likely that you will be judged more on your communication skills than the actual content itself.
Presentation Elements
There are three different elements to giving a presentation: the preparation, the delivery and the questions.
1. Preparation
The presentation topic may be given to you a number of days (or even weeks) before the day of the assessment, or it may be given to you on the day itself. These two scenarios clearly give you a different amount of time to prepare and therefore need a different planning approach.
2. Delivery
You may be required to deliver your presentation to any number of assessors, from just one person to a very large audience. The other candidates for the job may also make up part of the audience, which means that you will also be able to sit in and listen to their presentations.
3. Questions
You will be required to deal with questions arising from your presentation from the assessors or possibly even from the general audience. There is often a set amount of time set aside for this process.
Each of these three different elements requires a particular approach to achieve the best results and to ensure that the presentation will be a success; these methods are discussed in more detail in Presentation Tips.
