Presenting to School Children

When making a presentation to school children, bear in mind the following tips:

• Keep it simple!
• Make it fun for the children so they enjoy it and remember what you’ve said
• Use as many props as you can e.g. real dog, dog toys, feeding bowl, grooming brush etc.
• Bring it to life for the children by making it relevant to their own experiences e.g. if they’ve got pets of their own, find out if they already know what the ‘ten points’ are
• Leave behind some ‘freebies’ with a responsible pet ownership message so the children will be reminded every time they use the ruler, rubber or pencil
• Don’t talk down to children – pitch your talk at the right level for the age group. Younger children enjoy the fun and games part, but older children need to be treated as adults. It might be a good idea to invite a vet to join you with some of the older children to pitch the talk on a more technical level
• Don’t make it too long as children will lose concentration. Try to agree with the teacher that you visit on a regular basis so you can cover the entire subject over a series of visits instead of cramming it all into one
• Be enthusiastic and smile!