Presentations

Presentations are used to assess your presentational skills and also to see how well you can respond to questioning. On some assessment centres you may be sent material in advance, and can prepare your presentation beforehand. In this case, a very high standard is expected, you will have had time to prepare visual aids and practice your talk.

On other centres you have a limited amount of time to prepare and so are not expected to be at this standard – however you still need to be a reasonably confident presenter, so you may like to practice in advance. You could give yourself 30 minutes to prepare a talk on any subject.  You can then review how you structured your material, used your time and decide how best to handle the material when you do this at the assessment centre.  

Would highlighting key words stop you from trying to read too closely from your notes?

With a presentation you do need to make eye contact with the assessor(s) and a clear start and ending will provide a positive impression, and also make it clear for the assessors that they can move into the questioning phase. 

After your presentation you will be asked questions, and do expect to be challenged on what you have said. It is hard to do so in the time allowed, but if you can anticipate some questions in advance, and thus be prepared, it will enhance your performance. When you are questioned it is easy to start talking before thinking. It is fine to take a moment or two to think through how best to reply, and a measured response that is focused on the question is more effective than a waffly reply.