Presentations for conservation

Conservation projects cost a lot of money and they are labour intensive. How do conservation biologists get these resources for their projects?

To get money conservation biologists can apply for grants from governments, ask for donations from corporations and from the public. As for labour, a lot of the work done in conservation is by community volunteers; ordinary people who feel motivated to help. This may be in the form of planting trees, trapping pests, checking on trap lines or just making financial donations.

Conservation biologists often have to write grant applications and give presentations to government officials and the public. To be successful they should present a clear, logical argument that is supported by facts as well as catch the imagination of their audience.

In this article you will learn how to create a basic well structured and clear PowerPoint presentation.

Making Power Point slides

A presentation is divided up into the following parts:

• Title
• Introduction
• Main body
• Summary
• Conclusion
• Questions

The title

The title should be written in a large font, single word or phrase with an image or logo. Include a subtitle and the date of the presentation. Make it visually appealing, dynamic but serious and professional (see Figure :

The introduction

During the Introduction welcome the audience. Introduce yourself and your team to the audience. Introduce your topic. Try to catch the audience’s attention. Outline the structure of your talk. Tell them how many parts there are. Tell the audience how long you will speak for. Do this so the audience knows how long to concentrate. Aim to speak for no more than 10-15 minutes. Tell the audience your policy on questions and interruptions. For example, do you want to be interrupted during the talk or would you prefer people with questions to wait until the end? When you have finished the introduction, tell the audience you are moving on to the first part of your presentation. “Now let’s move on to the main part of our talk ….”

• Give the Introduction slide a large heading
• Indicate each part of the presentation with its heading
• Use large font size of no less than 16 (see Figure )

Figure ( ) Introduction slide

Main Body

In the Main Body always indicate when you have completed a section and that you are moving onto the next one. You can say: “That’s all we have to say about…Now we start with… “

• Each slide in the Main Body should have a heading in large font
• Use key words or a short phrase with a maximum of 6 words
• Have no more than 6 lines of text per slide (see Figure )

Figure . Main Body slide with text.

• If you want to use a single image, make it cover the entire slide to make it visually appealing (see Figure )
• Use the text box feature to write your heading and the text in PowerPoint

Figure Main Body slide with image.

Summary

When you have completed the main body introduce your Summary. In the Summary you restate the main points of your presentations. You can say, “In this presentation we have discussed….”

Conclusion

Your Conclusion is the most important thing you want your audience to remember. It could include a recommendation.

Time for questions

At the end of your conclusion introduce the time for Questions. You could say, “This ends the formal part of our presentation now we’d be happy to answer any questions”. Make sure you understand each question. Listen carefully. If you are not sure to have understood ask for clarification. To make sure you have understood, paraphrase the question. You could say, “So you are asking…”

Your body language

Your body language is important. Try not to look at the screen. Instead use your laptop as a lectern. Make eye contact with the people in the audience. Speak confidently audibly and clearly. Don’t rush. Look calm and friendly and remain professional. When speaking as part of a team if you are not speaking give the floor to the speaker and sit off to the side and give your attention to the speaker.