education

Dr. Ravindra Deshmukh

Techniques of
Seminar Presentation
Seminar presentation, by far, is the most important aspect of
architecture education. A student needs to be equally good
in developing analytical mind and being proficient in graphic
language. Further, it is critical to understand and hone the skill of
seminar presentation not only to excel as a student, but also to be
become a successful professional later. It immensely helps doing
professional presentations to win a project

S
eminar is a professional presentation. It is an exclusive art of public speaking.
Vocal variations and effective delivery of dialogue is an essential feature
of such presentation. It constitutes impressive graphics, comprehensive
knowledge of the presenter on seminar topic and effective communication
skill so as to take the audience along the thought process of the speaker.
During the seminar presentation, gesture support is of immense help, as it strengthens

24 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People January 2014

Fig 1. Informality of a Seminar at an Architecture School
the point to be stressed. In addition,
four other supportive aspects can
make a difference to the presentation.
Stage mannerism or behavior of the
speaker on the dais convey a lot as it
is the center of focus for audience. A
skill of developing creative thinking
helps a lot in persuading the audience
to align with the idea of the speaker.
Approximation is not acceptable;
one needs to be precise with facts
and figures. The speaker needs to
put forth facts with logical reasoning
for audience to agree the presenters
viewpoint. Last, but not the least,
expressiveness laced with emotion
plays a role in riveting attention. After
all, seminar presentation is all
about sharing experience, says
architect Ogale.
Seminars are conducted in an
informal atmosphere in schools of
architecture (Fig. 1). However, its
preparation needs to be seriously
done. Giving seminar is not limited
only to preparation of a good Pow-
erPoint presentation. Drawing and
its explanation in a public forum are
important aspects in grooming of a
prospective architect. This is pursued
at various levels of design studio and
finally becomes profound in seminar
presentation. Most of the schools
of architecture in India lack subject
January 2014 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People
introduction in the areas of public
speaking, stage mannerisms, etc. as
these are soft skills. In engineering
education such similar skills including
leadership development, interperson-
al dialogue, etc are taught as extra-
curricular activity. With the result
Seminar as a subject that shores up
such soft skills, becomes significantly
important. A seminar gives opportu-
nity -students and teachers alike- to
prepare independently on a topic
of their choice, and while present-
ing, take the audience into the realm
of interesting facts and intriguing
analysis. Vocal presentation is part
of every architects life. As a student,
25
education
Fig 2. Serious Reading at Quiet Place for an Effective Seminar Preparation
the budding architect is trained to
harness creative thinking backed by
scientific evidence and reasoning. His/
her art of presenting based on this
is to drive the relevant point of view
effectively across to the audience. This
is analogous to a seminar presentation
simulator for a prospective architect.
In real professional life an architect is
likely to face, more or less, the same
situation wherein his/her creative
thinking reflected in project scheme
and giving Seminar during student
life would be akin to his/her presenta-
tion of a project to bag commission
and the faculty or audience would
then be like his/her clientele in profes-
sional practice.
Although drawing/graphics is
considered as a mode of expression
for architect; the role of verbal com-
26 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People January 2014
munication complements it. Practice
of seminar could be seen as one of
the right ways to reinforce methods
of communication and expression.
Through a successfully delivered
seminar, one can convince a group
of people on ones thoughts, ideas or
outcome of a study on a particular
topic. The preparation of seminar on
a selected topic involves collection of
information through various available
sources, its study and analysis and
preparation of visuals on important
aspects of the topic. Sustained read-
ing, focused internet browsing visiting
research sites certainly help how-
ever, nothing to beat traditional read-
ing in a quiet corner at home or in a
library (Fig. 2). It is not possible to give
a successful seminar unless certain
subtle aspects are taken care of during
its delivery. Not only comprehensive
knowledge on the subject is all that
needed to make a seminar effec-
tive, hordes of other subtle aspects,
if meticulously followed, can make a
prospective architect a better present-
er, thereby giving enough chance to
be better than others. Remember, the
presenter has the power both to kill
the message and to enhance it a hun-
dred times beyond its worthhence,
says Sethi (2003), to persuade people,
use a combination of credibility, logic
and emotion.
Some important aspects to be
considered as the strength of a good
presentation are as follows:-
Identifying yourself: A prospec-
tive architect should effort to remain
above the rest in a forum. It is a key to
the first step of success. Your person-
ality must be felt in the gathering.
With a cursory glance you should look
confident and assuming. Uncertain
and nervous postures spoil the right
impression at the onset. To make sure
about your confidence at the seminar,
you should be optimistic, clear about
your objectives and aware of your
expressions.
The right start: Many speakers
have starting trouble. Rather than
beating around the bush one must
forthrightly come to the point at the
very start. There should not be any
ambiguity felt by the audience in your
opening sentences. An impressive
take-off always wins the vote of the
audience right away.
Curtain-raising: A seminar-pre-
sentation needs audience attention
and this is rightly captured if the semi-
nar topic is unveiled in an effective
manner. Once this is done, the speaker
can be confident of audience being
with him/her.
Eye contact: Many speakers shy
their eyesight away from the audi-
ence. In order to recollect a thought
during the presentation, they fix their
eyesight on some object other than
the people in the gathering or more
precisely at some eternal space!
Some speakers unknowingly identify a
person (mostly from front seats) who
nods to his/her expression, and every
now and then maintain eye contact
only with him/her. All these lead to
improper communication link with
the audience. To avoid this situation,
the speaker must learn to change
his/her gaze from person to person
rapidly and in the process maintain-
ing split-second eye contacts with a
number of persons. Sweeping through
the eyes of the audience near and
Ten TIPS for a GOOD SEMINAR
1. An ideal seminar should be of 45 minutes duration. There is no point in having a
hundred slides taking boring long time or to be crammed in a rapid show.
2. Visit the web site on PowerPoint Woes to get more information on how to prepare
a good seminar. There, Marc Minkler says, Teach in the way you know how to
teach. http://www.vaniotis.com/jacky/PowerPoint%20Woes.htm
3. Ideally a seminar presentation should be of 30 slides with 50% graphical
presentation. Do not have the whole slide in only a text format.
4. Spontaneous speech referring to slide contents is better than reading the slide.
5. Reading the slide keeps you away from the much desired eye contact with
the audience.
6. Before actual presentation, it is nice to review the slide contents, hide some
slides that are not needed and mentally prepare for the performance.
7. Avoid short form of the words in presentation. If unavoidable, explain a word fully
in its first appearance using abbreviation later.
8. Humor is important to bring in lighter moments and to retain the attention.
Develop the skill of using humor while presenting.
9. Remember, audience has some expectation from the presenter. Assess it and
align yourself with it during presentation.
10. Most presenters do not number their slides. It is important to number the slides
and announce in the beginning how many slides make the seminar presentation.
With inputs from: Prof. Abhay Pawar, BN College of Architecture, Pune
far, left and right alternatively is very audience in the speaker wanes and
effective. This is an art and it requires the speakers grip over the audience
some practice to be rightly cultivated. loosens, thereby defeating the very
But once acquired, you win the confi- objective of the seminar.
dence of the audience and they have Boosting spirits: A lengthy semi-
a psychological satisfaction that you nar or a seminar in the afternoon slots
have attempted to speak to each of (particularly after a sumptuous lunch)
them personally. is likely to create a dose-off effect. To
Devotion to the subject matter: counteract this, the speaker needs to
The speakers commitment to the be enthusiastic and emphatic in his/
subject matter of the seminar must her speech. There is difference to be
be quite transparent to the audience. understood between casual talking
Your sincerity, involvement and devo- and addressing public. In the first case,
tion in data collection, its in-depth one can be fast speaking with natural
study and analysis should be con- stress-tones and gestures, which are
veyed through your eloquent speech less perceivable from a distance. In the
and matter-of-fact statements. In the second case, in contrast, the addresser
absence of the above, interest of the needs to be slow, delivering measured
January 2014 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People 27
education
sentences with clear-metallic pronun-
ciation of words. Every effort is made
so as the audience to absorb each
word that is spoken by the person at
the rostrum. Gestures support and
reinforce verbal communication. They
are essentially psychological or non-
verbal communicative aids. Gestures
include hand and body movements,
slow strides on platform, facial expres-
sions, etc. Such expressions make a
certain point more clear and save any
further elaboration.
Composing your-self: Many
staff members and students are seen
getting frightened by the idea of
getting on the platform to address
the audience. As for certain teach-
ers, they can deliver a pre-prepared
lecture effectively to the students of a
particular semester, as they are quite
sure about the wide gap of knowledge
and age between the speaker and
the audience. This thought or reality
gives them enough confidence. As for
the students, they can talk emphati-
cally from the dais to the audience
of their juniors, equals and superiors.
But both, teachers and students may
become nervous when that moment
comes and more so, they have to
address a mixed audience. If such ner-
vousness becomes apparent on the
stage, the chances are, they will not
be well received. So, it is important to
you to develop your skill of building
Confidence, Conviction and Enthusi-
asm, Zelazny (2000).
Speech Nuances: Verbal com-
munication is really effective when a
speaker can command voice modi-
fications. In a seminar presentation,
however thoroughly prepared, if the
speaker delivers his/her speech in
more or less the same frequency tone,
or sometimes humorously referred to
28 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People January 2014
as monotonous melancholy, the pub-
lic looses interest, muttering starts,
some of those attending seminar sud-
denly find interest in something other
than the podium. The result is disloca-
tion of communication link. The mes-
sage is time to wind up the speech!
Therefore to create and sustain inter-
est, sudden and appropriate variation
in tone and frequency is necessary.
This is also useful to stress certain
important points or statements.
What you wear is not mere: Dress-
ing up is important while addressing
a seminar. Dress up to look smart and
impressive - not gaudy and exotic. Your
attire need not be so overwhelming as
to attract the attention of the audience.
Similarly, on the other hand, it also
should not be too casual and at times
fanatic, to be irritant to the people. The
wear should add to your personality
on stage. Remember, unrealistic and
unimaginative apparel always spark
unwarranted comments from the audi-
ence. So, addressing needs a special
consideration to add-dressing!
Understand the Other World! It
is important to perceive from time to
time the real mind of the audience or
what the people need to know. Em-
pathy, as is referred, needs speakers
wisdom to understand and follow
the state of mind of others. A speaker
may deliver his talk sincerely on what
has been prepared, without bother-
ing about what the audience expects
of him/her in the seminar. Hence
the seminar talk should be based on
broad guidelines or points, rather than
reading the prepared text.
Visual presentation: Last, but cer-
tainly not the least, in the architectural
seminar the audience expects the
speaker to present a visual bonanza in
a variety of ways. It should be ideally
a combination of charts, pictures,
sketches and tables apart from usual
bulleted points. Basic quality of a
statistical chart is judged by its ef-
fectiveness in communicating ideas
it should be designed for the right
audience; it should be clear, simple,
meaningful, appropriate, reliable,
forceful and should have aesthetic
appeal quotes Schmid, C and Schmid,
S (1979). No seminar, possibly, can be
boring if interspersed with visual treat
in the form of slides, charts, sketches
and pictures. It is necessary for a semi-
nar speaker (particularly in architec-
ture) to have a vivid display of his/her
mastery over making awesome visuals
to win the first vote of confidence.
Finally, what audience we are ad-
dressing to is of paramount impor-
tance for a presenter. Designing a
presentation without an audience in
mind is like writing a love letter and
addressing it: To Whom It May Con-
cern, says Ken Haemer, Former Pre-
sentation Manager at AT&T, thereby
missing the well directed discussion of
the seminar.
References
Schmid, C and Schmid, S 1979,
Handbook of Graphic Communica-
tion, John Wiley & Sons Inc,
New York.
Sethi, S 2003, 25 - Minutes to
Enhance Your Presentation,
Indiana Books, New Delhi.
Zelazny, G 2000, Say It with
Presentations, Tata McGraw-Hill
Pub. Co. Ltd, New Delhi.
Ravindra Deshmukh is Director, Symbiosis
School of Planning and Architecture,
Symbiosis International University, Pune;
contact: deshmukhr04@yahoo.com.
Photographs: Courtesy the Author.