Speech presentation to school age kids | presentation | speech tips for young audience

Give a Speech Presentation to School kids

give an effective presentation to kids

Giving a presentation to kids can be fun and rewarding but to be effective needs slightly different presentation skills than when speaking to adults. Having some tricks up your sleeve will keep the kids interested. With a little preparation and thought, your presentation for career day, community service, or sharing your skill will be memorable and fun for everyone.

Know your audience. Ask the classroom teacher or club leader what they expect from your presentation. How many students are there, what is their general knowledge of your topic, and how long should the presentation be? What type of space will you be presenting in? Always ask about available technology if you wish to bring video or a power point presentation.

Add humor. When appropriate, add some fun to your presentation. Use a silly voice, bring out a puppet, or tell a joke. Deadpan humor works great if you are uncomfortable with acting silly. Putting on an unusual hat or placing a bug or stuffed animal on your shoulder can have the kids rolling with laughter as you pretend you don’t know what they are giggling about. Toss something into the audience related to your topic if appropriate – bits of yarn, sprays of water, plastic bugs or silk flowers. This can sometimes get out of hand so be ready to bring the kids back to a listening state with firm control (OK, back to our topic…). These theatrical tricks can help keep your young audience engaged because they don’t know what you might do next.

Bring visuals. Kids are very concrete thinkers and something to look at will help them understand your presentation. Show them your tools, uniform, pictures, or props. Use your body to demonstrate physical actions such as rock climbing, surfing, or spelunking. Visuals will draw your young audience into your story. The quickest way to lose kid’s attention is to talk at them.

Involve the kids. Ask for a volunteer to demonstrate an activity, hold a visual, pass out handouts, or even to turn off the lights. Ask the kids to repeat key terms (when I say X, you say Y). Invite young kids to stand up and pretend to rock climb right along with you.

Keep it short. For an average presentation the attention span of preschoolers is about 10 minutes, 20 minutes for primary age, and up to 40 minutes for high school. Allow time for questions but have a plan in case you have a dead audience. Ask the kids what they liked best about your presentation. As a last resort, fill your time by asking what they had for breakfast, what movie they saw recently, or what they are looking forward to next.

Be ready to revise. If half your audience is bored, wrap it up or shift gears. Watch your audience for clues such as looking away, fidgeting, flopping to the floor or on the child next to them. This is a good time to add an unexpected humor trick as mentioned above.

Keep control. Invite a wiggly child to help hold a prop. Ask for assistance from the teacher or group leader if necessary. ”Can you help me here, I think Tommy needs a drink of water”.

Wrap it up on a good note. Thank your audience for listening and let them know you had fun. Have them clap because they were a great audience. A positive ending will be the first thing they recall about your presentation.

Tips:

Bring a book about your topic if you have one. This demonstrates authors and others have interest in your topic and offers follow up resources.
Be confident. Smile. If you make a mistake just laugh and move on.
Talk to kids like people, but make sure the words are at their level. Explain complicated technical terms in common language to help them learn something new.
Don’t be afraid to ask the teacher if you can rearrange a classroom for your demonstration. They move desks all the time. If a circle on the floor or presenting outside is preferred, ask!
Many classrooms have kids with allergies; avoid wearing perfumes while speaking to groups of kids.

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