Abstract:

Presentation skills are one of the most valued soft skills that are required in business settings. Business school students deliver presentations using software as PowerPoint on many occasions either during their studies, to practice public speaking, and to present their knowledge in various subjects. Anxiety often creates problems for students while delivering public speaking and it can affect the students’ success at delivering presentations, thus negatively affecting their grades and self-esteem. Gender and age are also identified as strong determinants of presentation anxiety. The goal of the paper is to present the research on the impact of age, gender, and anxiety on the perceived success of presentations among business school students. The survey research has been conducted on a sample of 495 students at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business – Zagreb. Regression analysis revealed that anxiety has a negative impact on the perceived success of presentations, as well as the female gender. On the other hand, age has a positive impact on the perceived success of the presentation, indicating that the students that delivered more presentations are less anxious about their presentation skills.

Keywords:

Business school, presentation, skills, anxiety, gender.