1. Introduction

Use the introduction to explain the topic and purpose of the parents' evening and clarify your aim for the presentation.

Transition into the main part

This can be done with transitional sentences, a change of location from the centre of the stage to the edge or an exercise. You might use a quiz, a comic strip, a film or a role play to lighten the mood and engage directly with the parents. You can also pose a controversial thesis.

2. Body

First of all, your main body should fulfil its promises from the invitation and the introduction. To do this, work out in advance the main points you want to talk about and structure them. The clearer the structure, the better the parents will be able to follow you.

Define the aim of the lecture

It can be helpful to think about the goal or purpose of your presentation. Do you want to inform, persuade or entertain your audience? Think about who you are addressing with your presentation and what the central theme is. Formulate a specific purpose for your presentation, e.g.: With this presentation I will inform a group of parents of children between 7-12 years about the influence of advertising on this age group.

Define key points

The next step is to derive from this specific purpose the main points, the core ideas, that you will talk about in order to look at the topic comprehensively. Think about your target group: What information is needed to understand the topic? What information is needed to fulfil the specific purpose?

Go ahead and collect several points - and be sure to sort them out afterwards. Focus on three to four main points and coordinate them with each other. Find a logical structure and give all points equal space. You can find ways of structuring your presentation points and coordinating them with each other in the document Organisational Patterns on the right-hand side.

Presentation tips

Less is more also applies to parents' evenings:

• Focus on key points
• Use a presentation technique to visualise the key messages
• Use examples to illustrate what you have said
• Speak clearly, with accentuation, not too fast and as freely as possible
• Clarify in the introduction whether questions are allowed or whether there will be a question and answer session at the end of your presentation

The content fits, the topic is relevant, you are perfectly prepared in terms of content - and yet the spark doesn't fly. In the document Tips for an Interactive Presentation, we show you presentation strategies and methods to make your presentation even more lively and interactive.

3. Conclusion

Use the conclusion to once again bundle all the important results of the presentation. Here you can place your central message and draw conclusions or point out necessary next steps. Watch the video Structuring a Presentation for a summary.

4. Closing

Thank parents for their time and actively invite them to give feedback (verbal, written, visual, on-site or follow-up) and ask questions. Encourage parents to share experiences from their everyday life about the topic and encourage reflection and discussion about your presentation. Perhaps your topic also lends itself to parents trying things out themselves – online games or ways of functioning of social media platforms could be tested afterwards and the discussion deepened afterwards.

5. Additional: online parents' evening

The years 2020/2021 have shown that parents' evenings cannot and do not have to take place only in presence. Even if the content of your presentation remains the same, there are some things to consider in the implementation to reach parents digitally as well. Click on the Tips for a Virtual Presentations link on the right. Here you will find useful tips as well as a fact sheet that you can also apply to digital parents' evenings.

You would like to hold a parents' evening on the topic of mobile phone use by teenagers.

• How could you open this evening? Write a short introduction.
• Think about the key message you would like to convey during the evening and write it down.
• What could you use to get the parents' attention? Do you have a personal example on the topic? Do you know a suitable video?
• Use one of the organisational patterns presented and develop three main points of your presentation.
• Think of a transition from the main part to the summary and write it down.