Teaching – Helping Students Overcome Presentation Anxiety

As we near the end of the semester, many of us have projects that students present. These can be high stressors for students and a huge time sink for your course schedule. In this short two-page article, Dr. Traci Levy of Adelphi University describes a presentation format she calls the Presentation Cafe. On Presentation Cafe days, she divides the class into presentation slots, scheduling three or four groups to present simultaneously depending on class size. Each presenting group makes its presentation a few times. Students who are listening circulate among the tables, eventually hearing all of that day’s presentations Students find this format more comfortable, and their talks improve with giving the presentation multiple times.