OK guys I have a second interview for a job on Thursday morning, and I have to give a 10 minute presentation on any subject of my choice, as long as it's nothing to do with work.
I need help.
I have to firstly pick a topic. They said it's good to do something I'm passionate about, but I'm passionate about a lot of things, comics, video games, music, snowboarding etc. And I need to make it more specific, I can't just do it on one of those things in general.
Plus I'm worried about visuals. I've never used Powerpoint before, I don't have it at home, I think I have it at work but obviously I can't be working on it at work, but I don't know if just standing there talking about it with no visual aids will be good enough?
Some help and advice from anyone who's had to do this sort of thing would be much appreciated.
Sorry, a bit late to this.
I had to do this for a job interview quite a few years ago. I chose to do it on something that I was interested in but also had a passing relevance to what I do (At that time I wanted to be a corporate lawyer (shoot me) so I did it on the PS3 vs the Wii and how they represented different corporate cultures and strategies (this was in 2006 (although the job didn't start until 2008)).
I used Powerpoint, but I don't think it's the be all and end all. It's pretty easy to knock up some really basic slides though. I agree with BGBW - usually when I do slides even now I use take some web images from Google, stick them on a few slides with a heading and then speak - you want it to be a visual aid, a backdrop, not your refresher notes. I think it might be worth it to install one of the free alternatives (like 8bit's said) - or even the free trial of Office 365 as Steve has said.
When I had corporate training in Powerpoint they said to prepare mental maps for the presentation first and then make your refresher notes as brief as possible - definitely not a script. Don't write out your presentation, just have a few touchstones and then improvise the bridges between them (although obviously practice a couple of times first, preferably with a stopwatch).
I think what they will be looking for is confidence, articulacy and just a sense of being a capable human being - the subject is probably secondary.
Hope that helps...
edit: I forgot the rest of the things they drilled us in - have an 'impact opening' - start with a question - even invite audience participation ( a show of hands, for example). It will put you at ease by creating more of a 'discussion' atmosphere rather than you feeling self-conscious speaking at a bunch of people. It also gets their attention. Don't be inadvertently confrontational with it though (e.g. asking a room who smokes and then telling them how it affects their life expectancy (I saw someone do this) or asking who in the audience went to Oxbridge and then explaining that they shouldn't worry if they didn't because Oxbridge people are just like everyone else (I saw someone do this too)). They also said to keep your hands together and hold them in front of your tummy, breaking away one hand when you want to emphasise a point (like news reporters / politicians do) although I don't do it because I hate it.
Find out as much as possible beforehand too - will there be a lectern? will you have a clicker in one hand? What about a microphone?
