Presentation guidance notes
Presentation guidance notes
The Leaders Award Presentation is designed to replicate graduate-level job interview presentations, so it is important to approach it with an appropriate degree of professionalism.
The presentation itself will last ten minutes, and you will be expected to give detailed examples of, and reflect on your leadership activity. We recommend that you practice your presentation to ensure it meets this time requirement.
There will also be 5 minutes for questions. You will be expected to attend all of the 2-hour long session in order for you to observe presentations delivered by other students and participate in a peer review.
Presentation content
You should provide an outline of your leadership role, what you did and what impact your actions had on other people around you. The same leadership activity that has been used in the application form should be reflected on in the presentation.
You need to demonstrate to what extent you -
i) Understand the role of a leader
ii) Show that you can assess your own effectiveness
iii) Plan activities for your own leadership development
Covering the following will help you achieve this:
- Defining leadership and describing your duties and your responsibilities as a leader
- How you fit into the organisational hierarchy and the limits to your authority
- The importance of effective leadership style and effectiveness
- Feedback you have gained on your leadership, preferably using more than one method
- Self-reflection with examples of lessons learnt
- Your own leadership development needs with clear (SMART) objectives to address these
Make sure you back up any claims you make with evidence and examples.
NB: If your presentation does not meet these criteria you may be asked to deliver it again on another occasion in order to complete your Leaders Award.
Audience
You will be presenting to up to four other students and the Exeter Leaders Award Panel (usually two people); normally composed of members of the Career Zone Team and potentially an employer.
Visual Aids
Choose visual aids that will help you to get your messages across, not make it more complicated. If you use PowerPoint slides, do think about the volume of content on each slide.
Prompts
Don’t read from a script, but find a way of having prompts; notes, index cards, a ‘mind map’ or whatever else works for you.
Feedback
The staff panel will give you feedback on your presentation style, including body language and manner of delivery. You may also be asked questions which probe further into your leadership activity or question you further on any of the competencies that you have developed.
This presentation is designed to prepare you for the type of presentation you may be required to give as part of the selection and recruitment process, and the feedback given is intended to help you improve in this area.