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How to prepare and deliver an effective oral presentation

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• Peer review
• Lucia Hartigan , registrar 1 ,
• Fionnuala Mone , fellow in maternal fetal medicine 1 ,
• Mary Higgins , consultant obstetrician 2
• 1 National Maternity Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
• 2 National Maternity Hospital, Dublin; Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Medicine and Medical Sciences, University College Dublin
• luciahartigan{at}hotmail.com

The success of an oral presentation lies in the speaker’s ability to transmit information to the audience. Lucia Hartigan and colleagues describe what they have learnt about delivering an effective scientific oral presentation from their own experiences, and their mistakes

The objective of an oral presentation is to portray large amounts of often complex information in a clear, bite sized fashion. Although some of the success lies in the content, the rest lies in the speaker’s skills in transmitting the information to the audience. 1

Preparation

It is important to be as well prepared as possible. Look at the venue in person, and find out the time allowed for your presentation and for questions, and the size of the audience and their backgrounds, which will allow the presentation to be pitched at the appropriate level.

See what the ambience and temperature are like and check that the format of your presentation is compatible with the available computer. This is particularly important when embedding videos. Before you begin, look at the video on stand-by and make sure the lights are dimmed and the speakers are functioning.

For visual aids, Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Mac Keynote programmes are usual, although Prezi is increasing in popularity. Save the presentation on a USB stick, with email or cloud storage backup to avoid last minute disasters.

When preparing the presentation, start with an opening slide containing the title of the study, your name, and the date. Begin by addressing and thanking the audience and the organisation that has invited you to speak. Typically, the format includes background, study aims, methodology, results, strengths and weaknesses of the study, and conclusions.

If the study takes a lecturing format, consider including “any questions?” on a slide before you conclude, which will allow the audience to remember the take home messages. Ideally, the audience should remember three of the main points from the presentation. 2

Have a maximum of four short points per slide. If you can display something as a diagram, video, or a graph, use this instead of text and talk around it.

Animation is available in both Microsoft PowerPoint and the Apple Mac Keynote programme, and its use in presentations has been demonstrated to assist in the retention and recall of facts. 3 Do not overuse it, though, as it could make you appear unprofessional. If you show a video or diagram don’t just sit back—use a laser pointer to explain what is happening.

Rehearse your presentation in front of at least one person. Request feedback and amend accordingly. If possible, practise in the venue itself so things will not be unfamiliar on the day. If you appear comfortable, the audience will feel comfortable. Ask colleagues and seniors what questions they would ask and prepare responses to these questions.

It is important to dress appropriately, stand up straight, and project your voice towards the back of the room. Practise using a microphone, or any other presentation aids, in advance. If you don’t have your own presenting style, think of the style of inspirational scientific speakers you have seen and imitate it.

Try to present slides at the rate of around one slide a minute. If you talk too much, you will lose your audience’s attention. The slides or videos should be an adjunct to your presentation, so do not hide behind them, and be proud of the work you are presenting. You should avoid reading the wording on the slides, but instead talk around the content on them.

Maintain eye contact with the audience and remember to smile and pause after each comment, giving your nerves time to settle. Speak slowly and concisely, highlighting key points.

Do not assume that the audience is completely familiar with the topic you are passionate about, but don’t patronise them either. Use every presentation as an opportunity to teach, even your seniors. The information you are presenting may be new to them, but it is always important to know your audience’s background. You can then ensure you do not patronise world experts.

To maintain the audience’s attention, vary the tone and inflection of your voice. If appropriate, use humour, though you should run any comments or jokes past others beforehand and make sure they are culturally appropriate. Check every now and again that the audience is following and offer them the opportunity to ask questions.

Finishing up is the most important part, as this is when you send your take home message with the audience. Slow down, even though time is important at this stage. Conclude with the three key points from the study and leave the slide up for a further few seconds. Do not ramble on. Give the audience a chance to digest the presentation. Conclude by acknowledging those who assisted you in the study, and thank the audience and organisation. If you are presenting in North America, it is usual practice to conclude with an image of the team. If you wish to show references, insert a text box on the appropriate slide with the primary author, year, and paper, although this is not always required.

Answering questions can often feel like the most daunting part, but don’t look upon this as negative. Assume that the audience has listened and is interested in your research. Listen carefully, and if you are unsure about what someone is saying, ask for the question to be rephrased. Thank the audience member for asking the question and keep responses brief and concise. If you are unsure of the answer you can say that the questioner has raised an interesting point that you will have to investigate further. Have someone in the audience who will write down the questions for you, and remember that this is effectively free peer review.

Be proud of your achievements and try to do justice to the work that you and the rest of your group have done. You deserve to be up on that stage, so show off what you have achieved.

Competing interests: We have read and understood the BMJ Group policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: None.

• ↵ Rovira A, Auger C, Naidich TP. How to prepare an oral presentation and a conference. Radiologica 2013 ; 55 (suppl 1): 2 -7S. OpenUrl
• ↵ Bourne PE. Ten simple rules for making good oral presentations. PLos Comput Biol 2007 ; 3 : e77 . OpenUrl PubMed
• ↵ Naqvi SH, Mobasher F, Afzal MA, Umair M, Kohli AN, Bukhari MH. Effectiveness of teaching methods in a medical institute: perceptions of medical students to teaching aids. J Pak Med Assoc 2013 ; 63 : 859 -64. OpenUrl

24 Oral Presentations

Many academic courses require students to present information to their peers and teachers in a classroom setting. This is usually in the form of a short talk, often, but not always, accompanied by visual aids such as a power point. Students often become nervous at the idea of speaking in front of a group.

This chapter is divided under five headings to establish a quick reference guide for oral presentations.

A beginner, who may have little or no experience, should read each section in full.

For the intermediate learner, who has some experience with oral presentations, review the sections you feel you need work on.

The Purpose of an Oral Presentation

Generally, oral presentation is public speaking, either individually or as a group, the aim of which is to provide information, entertain, persuade the audience, or educate. In an academic setting, oral presentations are often assessable tasks with a marking criteria. Therefore, students are being evaluated on their capacity to speak and deliver relevant information within a set timeframe. An oral presentation differs from a speech in that it usually has visual aids and may involve audience interaction; ideas are both shown and explained . A speech, on the other hand, is a formal verbal discourse addressing an audience, without visual aids and audience participation.

Types of Oral Presentations

Individual presentation.

• Breathe and remember that everyone gets nervous when speaking in public. You are in control. You’ve got this!
• Know your content. The number one way to have a smooth presentation is to know what you want to say and how you want to say it. Write it down and rehearse it until you feel relaxed and confident and do not have to rely heavily on notes while speaking.
• Eliminate ‘umms’ and ‘ahhs’ from your oral presentation vocabulary. Speak slowly and clearly and pause when you need to. It is not a contest to see who can race through their presentation the fastest or fit the most content within the time limit. The average person speaks at a rate of 125 words per minute. Therefore, if you are required to speak for 10 minutes, you will need to write and practice 1250 words for speaking. Ensure you time yourself and get it right.
• Ensure you meet the requirements of the marking criteria, including non-verbal communication skills. Make good eye contact with the audience; watch your posture; don’t fidget.
• Know the language requirements. Check if you are permitted to use a more casual, conversational tone and first-person pronouns, or do you need to keep a more formal, academic tone?

Group Presentation

• All of the above applies, however you are working as part of a group. So how should you approach group work?
• Firstly, if you are not assigned to a group by your lecturer/tutor, choose people based on their availability and accessibility. If you cannot meet face-to-face you may schedule online meetings.
• Get to know each other. It’s easier to work with friends than strangers.
• Also consider everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. This will involve a discussion that will often lead to task or role allocations within the group, however, everyone should be carrying an equal level of the workload.
• Some group members may be more focused on getting the script written, with a different section for each team member to say. Others may be more experienced with the presentation software and skilled in editing and refining power point slides so they are appropriate for the presentation. Use one visual aid (one set of power point slides) for the whole group. Take turns presenting information and ideas.
• Be patient and tolerant with each other’s learning style and personality. Do not judge people in your group based on their personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender, age, or cultural background.
• Rehearse as a group, more than once. Keep rehearsing until you have seamless transitions between speakers. Ensure you thank the previous speaker and introduce the one following you. If you are rehearsing online, but have to present in-person, try to schedule some face-to-face time that will allow you to physically practice using the technology and classroom space of the campus.
• For further information on working as a group see:

Working as a group – my.UQ – University of Queensland

Writing Your Presentation

Approach the oral presentation task just as you would any other assignment. Review the available topics, do some background reading and research to ensure you can talk about the topic for the appropriate length of time and in an informed manner. Break the question down as demonstrated in Chapter 17 Breaking Down an Assignment. Where it differs from writing an essay is that the information in the written speech must align with the visual aid. Therefore, with each idea, concept or new information you write, think about how this might be visually displayed through minimal text and the occasional use of images. Proceed to write your ideas in full, but consider that not all information will end up on a power point slide. After all, it is you who are doing the presenting , not the power point. Your presentation skills are being evaluated; this may include a small percentage for the actual visual aid. This is also why it is important that EVERYONE has a turn at speaking during the presentation, as each person receives their own individual grade.

Using Visual Aids

A whole chapter could be written about the visual aids alone, therefore I will simply refer to the key points as noted by my.UQ

To keep your audience engaged and help them to remember what you have to say, you may want to use visual aids, such as slides.

When designing slides for your presentation, make sure:

• any text is brief, grammatically correct and easy to read. Use dot points and space between lines, plus large font size (18-20 point).
• Resist the temptation to use dark slides with a light-coloured font; it is hard on the eyes
• if images and graphs are used to support your main points, they should be non-intrusive on the written work

Images and Graphs

• Your audience will respond better to slides that deliver information quickly – images and graphs are a good way to do this. However, they are not always appropriate or necessary.

When choosing images, it’s important to find images that:

• support your presentation and aren’t just decorative
• are high quality, however, using large HD picture files can make the power point file too large overall for submission via Turnitin
• you have permission to use (Creative Commons license, royalty-free, own images, or purchased)
• suggested sites for free-to-use images: Openclipart – Clipping Culture ; Beautiful Free Images & Pictures | Unsplash ; Pxfuel – Royalty free stock photos free download ; When we share, everyone wins – Creative Commons

This is a general guide. The specific requirements for your course may be different. Make sure you read through any assignment requirements carefully and ask your lecturer or tutor if you’re unsure how to meet them.

Using Visual Aids Effectively

Too often, students make an impressive power point though do not understand how to use it effectively to enhance their presentation.

• Rehearse with the power point.
• Keep the slides synchronized with your presentation; change them at the appropriate time.
• Refer to the information on the slides. Point out details; comment on images; note facts such as data.
• Don’t let the power point just be something happening in the background while you speak.
• Write notes in your script to indicate when to change slides or which slide number the information applies to.
• Pace yourself so you are not spending a disproportionate amount of time on slides at the beginning of the presentation and racing through them at the end.
• Practice, practice, practice.

Nonverbal Communication

It is clear by the name that nonverbal communication are the ways that we communicate without speaking. Many people are already aware of this, however here are a few tips that relate specifically to oral presentations.

Being confident and looking confident are two different things. Fake it until you make it.

• Avoid slouching or leaning – standing up straight instantly gives you an air of confidence.
• Move! When you’re glued to one spot as a presenter, you’re not perceived as either confident or dynamic. Use the available space effectively, though do not exaggerate your natural movements so you look ridiculous.
• If you’re someone who “speaks with their hands”, resist the urge to constantly wave them around. They detract from your message. Occasional gestures are fine.
• Be animated, but don’t fidget. Ask someone to watch you rehearse and identify if you have any nervous, repetitive habits you may be unaware of, for example, constantly touching or ‘finger-combing’ your hair, rubbing your face.
• Avoid ‘voice fidgets’ also. If you needs to cough or clear your throat, do so once then take a drink of water.
• Avoid distractions. No phone turned on. Water available but off to one side.
• Keep your distance. Don’t hover over front-row audience members; this can be intimidating.
• Have a cheerful demeaner. You do not need to grin like a Cheshire cat throughout the presentation, yet your facial expression should be relaxed and welcoming.
• Maintain an engaging TONE in your voice. Sometimes it’s not what you’re saying that is putting your audience to sleep, it’s your monotonous tone. Vary your tone and pace.
• Don’t read your presentation – PRESENT it! Internalize your script so you can speak with confidence and only occasionally refer to your notes if needed.
• Lastly, make good eye contact with your audience members so they know you are talking with them, not at them. You’re having a conversation. Watch the link below for some great speaking tips, including eye contact.

Below is a video of some great tips about public speaking from Amy Wolff at TEDx Portland [1]

• Wolff. A. [The Oregonion]. (2016, April 9). 5 public speaking tips from TEDxPortland speaker coach [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNOXZumCXNM&ab_channel=TheOregonian ↵

communication of thought by word

Academic Writing Skills Copyright © 2021 by Patricia Williamson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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A Guide to Oral Presentation and Statement of Intention

Oral presentations can be incredibly daunting for students, and most of us are not the biggest fans of public speaking. To help you alleviate your stress in preparing for this SAC, we have created a comprehensive guide on this particular topic which includes some ideas to help you develop your writing, research and presentation skills! An annotated sample response is also attached for your reference.

• Choosing a Topic for your SAC

Researching Your Issue

Creating a contention, writing your speech, presentation tips.

• Sample Speech

Choosing a Topic for your Oral Presentation SAC

When selecting a topic for your presentation ensure, that there are clearly two sides to the issue. For example, the issue of whether or not Australia should implement a sugar tax has arguments both for and against. This means that you will have lots of opposing opinions to rebut!

Remember that the issue you choose must have appeared in the Australian media since September the 1st the previous year. When choosing an issue, try to base it around a specific event, proposal or something concrete. For example, the general topic of climate change is too broad, whereas writing about whether or not the school climate strikes (specific event) should be allowed to proceed, sufficiently narrows down the topic.

Further, make sure that the issue you choose will be interesting and understandable to your audience of teachers and VCE students. You should avoid topics which require you to use extensive jargon. Your audience is most likely to be captivated by a relatable topic that they care about and understand.

Make sure to phrase your issue as a precise question that you can answer in your contention. For example “Should Australia increase surveillance in an attempt to counteract terrorism?”.

If you are struggling to choose an issue the ABC News Archive is a good starting place. If in doubt, choose an issue which you are interested in! You are more likely to be motivated to spend time researching and writing on a topic that you care about.

Once you have chosen a topic make sure to conduct research before writing your speech! A good place to begin is by searching for coverage in popular news sources (The Age, The Herald Sun, The ABC, The Australian). Next, you may also want to use some lesser known but still reputable websites (The Conversation, A Current Affair, Q&A, 9 News, Insight, etc.). Make sure that you read articles arguing both for and against your contention.

As you read, note down any key arguments, quotes, pieces of evidence or persuasive techniques which you think may inspire or support your own speech. Once you have done this for 5–10 articles you should be ready to write! When writing, aim to go further than just synthesising the arguments that you have seen others present. Assessors are looking for your ability to create unique and convincing arguments, which are supported by research and evidence.

Your contention must be precise and concise. You should avoid contentions that are too broad or are already generally accepted in society, such as “climate change exists” or “hate speech is wrong”. An example of a specific and detailed contention is “Australia must allow punters to test their pills at music festivals and the police to operate in a similar way to the Sydney injecting centre where using drugs is not a crime.”

The Introduction:

Start with an opening sentence which grabs the attention of your audience. This could take the form of an anecdote, rhetorical question, quote, shocking statistic, etc.

• Establish the importance and urgency of your issue.
• Relate to your audience by using inclusive language.
• Clearly state your contention and briefly summarise your arguments.

If you are taking on a persona use some time to introduce yourself. Taking on a persona is recommended so that you can establish your credibility and stake in the issue. When choosing a persona keep in mind that if you choose to speak as a professional person (politician, lawyer, doctor, etc.) you should consider the type of jargon and formal language that they may use.  

• Be sure to vary your sentence length. Short sentences are usually more impactful than extended ones.
• Define any key terms.

The Body Paragraphs:

Begin and end each body paragraph by clearly signposting your argument.

Your paragraphs should be made up of evidence and explanation that supports your argument.

Aim for a balance between appealing to the audience’s sense of logic (with evidence, appeals to common sense, expert opinion, etc.) and appealing to their emotions (with emotive language, anecdotes, connotations and rhetorical questions).

Make use of a variety of persuasive language techniques! Take inspiration from the techniques used in the articles you found during the research stage.

Utilise words with connotations, or implied meanings, in order to influence the audience’s perception of the issue. For example, if you were arguing for graffiti to be considered as art you may refer to it as “street art”, whereas if you were arguing for it to be considered a criminal offence you may describe it as “vandalism”.

Acknowledge the potential arguments of the opposition and then rebut them. You can include this rebuttal throughout your essay or as a final paragraph dedicated to criticising your opposition.

The Conclusion:

• Restate your contention and briefly summarise your arguments.
• Remind the audience of why the issue is important and how it relates to them directly.

Your conclusion must end in a memorable way to ensure that your speech stands out to the assessor and remains on their mind after its conclusion. You may choose to do this with a rhetorical question, quote, statistic, anecdote, etc.

Ensure that you make eye contact with various members of your audience and look around the room. Raise your cue cards so that you don’t need to look down too far to see them.

Whilst presenting your speech try to stand still and avoid swaying or pacing. Use your arms to make natural gestures; however, do not overdo this.

Read your speech aloud to your family or friends to practice your delivery. Another option is reading your speech in front of a camera or mirror. Aim to practise the speech until you have it memorised.

Make sure to vary your tone when presenting. Pause after making an important statement and emphasise elements that you want the audience to pay attention to with volume and tone. Variation will make your speech more engaging for the audience.

Make sure to time your speech to ensure that it is within the time restriction. Also ensure that you are speaking at a slightly slower pace than usual so that the audience can follow your points easily.

If speaking with props or a Powerpoint presentation, avoid overcomplicating your materials. You don’t want to distract the audience from your speech by overwhelming them with busy Powerpoint slides, or bore them by simply reading straight from your presentation.

The Written Explanation

The written explanation gives you an opportunity to explain the choices that you have made when writing your speech. Often these statements have a strict word limit usually around 400–500 words (depending on your school), which means that you need to be as concise as possible. The written explanation is worth 25% of your mark for this outcome, so make sure that you take it seriously. When writing your statement of intention you can follow the structure outlined below.

Provide a brief description of your issue and any specific events which sparked media coverage.

Contention:

Clearly state your stance on the issue. You may also like to include why you have chosen this stance.

Outline where and when you will be presenting your speech and why you have made this choice. If you are taking on a persona explain who you have chosen to speak as and why.

Select a target audience which is suitable for your presentation. Describe why you have chosen to present to this specific group of people.

Consider the overall language style you have used (formal, informal, personal, etc.) and the persuasive language techniques you have incorporated (repetition, comparison, connotations, etc.). How do you intend for these techniques to influence your audience?

Outline what you want to achieve by presenting your speech. What is the message you would like the audience to receive? What is the desired outcome of your speech?

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Oral Presentation Structure

Finally, presentations normally include interaction in the form of questions and answers. This is a great opportunity to provide whatever additional information the audience desires. For fear of omitting something important, most speakers try to say too much in their presentations. A better approach is to be selective in the presentation itself and to allow enough time for questions and answers and, of course, to prepare well by anticipating the questions the audience might have.

As a consequence, and even more strongly than papers, presentations can usefully break the chronology typically used for reporting research. Instead of presenting everything that was done in the order in which it was done, a presentation should focus on getting a main message across in theorem-proof fashion — that is, by stating this message early and then presenting evidence to support it. Identifying this main message early in the preparation process is the key to being selective in your presentation. For example, when reporting on materials and methods, include only those details you think will help convince the audience of your main message — usually little, and sometimes nothing at all.

The opening

• The context as such is best replaced by an attention getter , which is a way to both get everyone's attention fast and link the topic with what the audience already knows (this link provides a more audience-specific form of context).
• The object of the document is here best called the preview because it outlines the body of the presentation. Still, the aim of this element is unchanged — namely, preparing the audience for the structure of the body.
• The opening of a presentation can best state the presentation's main message , just before the preview. The main message is the one sentence you want your audience to remember, if they remember only one. It is your main conclusion, perhaps stated in slightly less technical detail than at the end of your presentation.

In other words, include the following five items in your opening: attention getter , need , task , main message , and preview .

Even if you think of your presentation's body as a tree, you will still deliver the body as a sequence in time — unavoidably, one of your main points will come first, one will come second, and so on. Organize your main points and subpoints into a logical sequence, and reveal this sequence and its logic to your audience with transitions between points and between subpoints. As a rule, place your strongest arguments first and last, and place any weaker arguments between these stronger ones.

The closing

After supporting your main message with evidence in the body, wrap up your oral presentation in three steps: a review , a conclusion , and a close . First, review the main points in your body to help the audience remember them and to prepare the audience for your conclusion. Next, conclude by restating your main message (in more detail now that the audience has heard the body) and complementing it with any other interpretations of your findings. Finally, close the presentation by indicating elegantly and unambiguously to your audience that these are your last words.

Starting and ending forcefully

Revealing your presentation's structure.

To be able to give their full attention to content, audience members need structure — in other words, they need a map of some sort (a table of contents, an object of the document, a preview), and they need to know at any time where they are on that map. A written document includes many visual clues to its structure: section headings, blank lines or indentations indicating paragraphs, and so on. In contrast, an oral presentation has few visual clues. Therefore, even when it is well structured, attendees may easily get lost because they do not see this structure. As a speaker, make sure you reveal your presentation's structure to the audience, with a preview , transitions , and a review .

The preview provides the audience with a map. As in a paper, it usefully comes at the end of the opening (not too early, that is) and outlines the body, not the entire presentation. In other words, it needs to include neither the introduction (which has already been delivered) nor the conclusion (which is obvious). In a presentation with slides, it can usefully show the structure of the body on screen. A slide alone is not enough, however: You must also verbally explain the logic of the body. In addition, the preview should be limited to the main points of the presentation; subpoints can be previewed, if needed, at the beginning of each main point.

Transitions are crucial elements for revealing a presentation's structure, yet they are often underestimated. As a speaker, you obviously know when you are moving from one main point of a presentation to another — but for attendees, these shifts are never obvious. Often, attendees are so involved with a presentation's content that they have no mental attention left to guess at its structure. Tell them where you are in the course of a presentation, while linking the points. One way to do so is to wrap up one point then announce the next by creating a need for it: "So, this is the microstructure we observe consistently in the absence of annealing. But how does it change if we anneal the sample at 450°C for an hour or more? That's my next point. Here is . . . "

Similarly, a review of the body plays an important double role. First, while a good body helps attendees understand the evidence, a review helps them remember it. Second, by recapitulating all the evidence, the review effectively prepares attendees for the conclusion. Accordingly, make time for a review: Resist the temptation to try to say too much, so that you are forced to rush — and to sacrifice the review — at the end.

Ideally, your preview, transitions, and review are well integrated into the presentation. As a counterexample, a preview that says, "First, I am going to talk about . . . , then I will say a few words about . . . and finally . . . " is self-centered and mechanical: It does not tell a story. Instead, include your audience (perhaps with a collective we ) and show the logic of your structure in view of your main message.

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

• Annotated Bibliography
• Analyzing a Scholarly Journal Article
• Group Presentations
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• Types of Structured Group Activities
• Group Project Survival Skills
• Leading a Class Discussion
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Works
• Writing a Case Analysis Paper
• Writing a Case Study
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Reflective Paper
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Generative AI and Writing
• Acknowledgments

In the social and behavioral sciences, an oral presentation assignment involves an individual student or group of students verbally addressing an audience on a specific research-based topic, often utilizing slides to help audience members understand and retain what they both see and hear. The purpose is to inform, report, and explain the significance of research findings, and your critical analysis of those findings, within a specific period of time, often in the form of a reasoned and persuasive argument. Oral presentations are assigned to assess a student’s ability to organize and communicate relevant information  effectively to a particular audience. Giving an oral presentation is considered an important learning skill because the ability to speak persuasively in front of an audience is transferable to most professional workplace settings.

Oral Presentations. Learning Co-Op. University of Wollongong, Australia; Oral Presentations. Undergraduate Research Office, Michigan State University; Oral Presentations. Presentations Research Guide, East Carolina University Libraries; Tsang, Art. “Enhancing Learners’ Awareness of Oral Presentation (Delivery) Skills in the Context of Self-regulated Learning.” Active Learning in Higher Education 21 (2020): 39-50.

Preparing for Your Oral Presentation

In some classes, writing the research paper is only part of what is required in reporting the results your work. Your professor may also require you to give an oral presentation about your study. Here are some things to think about before you are scheduled to give a presentation.

1.  What should I say?

If your professor hasn't explicitly stated what the content of your presentation should focus on, think about what you want to achieve and what you consider to be the most important things that members of the audience should know about your research. Think about the following: Do I want to inform my audience, inspire them to think about my research, or convince them of a particular point of view? These questions will help frame how to approach your presentation topic.

2.  Oral communication is different from written communication

Your audience has just one chance to hear your talk; they can't "re-read" your words if they get confused. Focus on being clear, particularly if the audience can't ask questions during the talk. There are two well-known ways to communicate your points effectively, often applied in combination. The first is the K.I.S.S. method [Keep It Simple Stupid]. Focus your presentation on getting two to three key points across. The second approach is to repeat key insights: tell them what you're going to tell them [forecast], tell them [explain], and then tell them what you just told them [summarize].

3.  Think about your audience

Yes, you want to demonstrate to your professor that you have conducted a good study. But professors often ask students to give an oral presentation to practice the art of communicating and to learn to speak clearly and audibly about yourself and your research. Questions to think about include: What background knowledge do they have about my topic? Does the audience have any particular interests? How am I going to involve them in my presentation?

4.  Create effective notes

If you don't have notes to refer to as you speak, you run the risk of forgetting something important. Also, having no notes increases the chance you'll lose your train of thought and begin relying on reading from the presentation slides. Think about the best ways to create notes that can be easily referred to as you speak. This is important! Nothing is more distracting to an audience than the speaker fumbling around with notes as they try to speak. It gives the impression of being disorganized and unprepared.

NOTE:   A good strategy is to have a page of notes for each slide so that the act of referring to a new page helps remind you to move to the next slide. This also creates a natural pause that allows your audience to contemplate what you just presented.

Strategies for creating effective notes for yourself include the following:

• Choose a large, readable font [at least 18 point in Ariel ]; avoid using fancy text fonts or cursive text.
• Use bold text, underlining, or different-colored text to highlight elements of your speech that you want to emphasize. Don't over do it, though. Only highlight the most important elements of your presentation.
• Leave adequate space on your notes to jot down additional thoughts or observations before and during your presentation. This is also helpful when writing down your thoughts in response to a question or to remember a multi-part question [remember to have a pen with you when you give your presentation].
• Place a cue in the text of your notes to indicate when to move to the next slide, to click on a link, or to take some other action, such as, linking to a video. If appropriate, include a cue in your notes if there is a point during your presentation when you want the audience to refer to a handout.
• Spell out challenging words phonetically and practice saying them ahead of time. This is particularly important for accurately pronouncing people’s names, technical or scientific terminology, words in a foreign language, or any unfamiliar words.

Creating and Using Overheads. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Kelly, Christine. Mastering the Art of Presenting. Inside Higher Education Career Advice; Giving an Oral Presentation. Academic Skills Centre. University of Canberra; Lucas, Stephen. The Art of Public Speaking . 12th edition. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2015; Peery, Angela B. Creating Effective Presentations: Staff Development with Impact . Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2011; Peoples, Deborah Carter. Guidelines for Oral Presentations. Ohio Wesleyan University Libraries; Perret, Nellie. Oral Presentations. The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Speeches. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Storz, Carl et al. Oral Presentation Skills. Institut national de télécommunications, EVRY FRANCE.

Organizing the Content

In the process of organizing the content of your presentation, begin by thinking about what you want to achieve and how are you going to involve your audience in the presentation.

• Brainstorm your topic and write a rough outline. Don’t get carried away—remember you have a limited amount of time for your presentation.
• Organize your material and draft what you want to say [see below].
• Summarize your draft into key points to write on your presentation slides and/or note cards and/or handout.
• Prepare your visual aids.
• Rehearse your presentation and practice getting the presentation completed within the time limit given by your professor. Ask a friend to listen and time you.

GENERAL OUTLINE

I.  Introduction [may be written last]

• Capture your listeners’ attention . Begin with a question, an amusing story, a provocative statement, a personal story, or anything that will engage your audience and make them think. For example, "As a first-gen student, my hardest adjustment to college was the amount of papers I had to write...."
• State your purpose . For example, "I’m going to talk about..."; "This morning I want to explain…."
• Present an outline of your talk . For example, “I will concentrate on the following points: First of all…Then…This will lead to…And finally…"

II.  The Body

• Present your main points one by one in a logical order .
• Pause at the end of each point . Give people time to take notes, or time to think about what you are saying.
• Make it clear when you move to another point . For example, “The next point is that...”; “Of course, we must not forget that...”; “However, it's important to realize that....”
• Use clear examples to illustrate your points and/or key findings .
• If appropriate, consider using visual aids to make your presentation more interesting [e.g., a map, chart, picture, link to a video, etc.].

III.  The Conclusion

• Leave your audience with a clear summary of everything that you have covered.
• Summarize the main points again . For example, use phrases like: "So, in conclusion..."; "To recap the main issues...," "In summary, it is important to realize...."
• Restate the purpose of your talk, and say that you have achieved your aim : "My intention was ..., and it should now be clear that...."
• Don't let the talk just fizzle out . Make it obvious that you have reached the end of the presentation.
• Thank the audience, and invite questions : "Thank you. Are there any questions?"

NOTE: When asking your audience if anyone has any questions, give people time to contemplate what you have said and to formulate a question. It may seem like an awkward pause to wait ten seconds or so for someone to raise their hand, but it's frustrating to have a question come to mind but be cutoff because the presenter rushed to end the talk.

ANOTHER NOTE: If your last slide includes any contact information or other important information, leave it up long enough to ensure audience members have time to write the information down. Nothing is more frustrating to an audience member than wanting to jot something down, but the presenter closes the slides immediately after finishing.

Creating and Using Overheads. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Giving an Oral Presentation. Academic Skills Centre. University of Canberra; Lucas, Stephen. The Art of Public Speaking . 12th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2015; Peery, Angela B. Creating Effective Presentations: Staff Development with Impact . Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2011; Peoples, Deborah Carter. Guidelines for Oral Presentations. Ohio Wesleyan University Libraries; Perret, Nellie. Oral Presentations. The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Speeches. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Storz, Carl et al. Oral Presentation Skills. Institut national de télécommunications, EVRY FRANCE.

Delivering Your Presentation

When delivering your presentation, keep in mind the following points to help you remain focused and ensure that everything goes as planned.

Pay Attention to Language!

• Keep it simple . The aim is to communicate, not to show off your vocabulary. Using complex words or phrases increases the chance of stumbling over a word and losing your train of thought.
• Emphasize the key points . Make sure people realize which are the key points of your study. Repeat them using different phrasing to help the audience remember them.
• Check the pronunciation of difficult, unusual, or foreign words beforehand . Keep it simple, but if you have to use unfamiliar words, write them out phonetically in your notes and practice saying them. This is particularly important when pronouncing proper names. Give the definition of words that are unusual or are being used in a particular context [e.g., "By using the term affective response, I am referring to..."].

Use Your Voice to Communicate Clearly

• Speak loud enough for everyone in the room to hear you . Projecting your voice may feel uncomfortably loud at first, but if people can't hear you, they won't try to listen. However, moderate your voice if you are talking in front of a microphone.
• Speak slowly and clearly . Don’t rush! Speaking fast makes it harder for people to understand you and signals being nervous.
• Avoid the use of "fillers." Linguists refer to utterances such as um, ah, you know, and like as fillers. They occur most often during transitions from one idea to another and, if expressed too much, are distracting to an audience. The better you know your presentation, the better you can control these verbal tics.
• Vary your voice quality . If you always use the same volume and pitch [for example, all loud, or all soft, or in a monotone] during your presentation, your audience will stop listening. Use a higher pitch and volume in your voice when you begin a new point or when emphasizing the transition to a new point.
• Speakers with accents need to slow down [so do most others]. Non-native speakers often speak English faster than we slow-mouthed native speakers, usually because most non-English languages flow more quickly than English. Slowing down helps the audience to comprehend what you are saying.
• Slow down for key points . These are also moments in your presentation to consider using body language, such as hand gestures or leaving the podium to point to a slide, to help emphasize key points.
• Use pauses . Don't be afraid of short periods of silence. They give you a chance to gather your thoughts, and your audience an opportunity to think about what you've just said.

Also Use Your Body Language to Communicate!

• Stand straight and comfortably . Do not slouch or shuffle about. If you appear bored or uninterested in what your talking about, the audience will emulate this as well. Wear something comfortable. This is not the time to wear an itchy wool sweater or new high heel shoes for the first time.
• Hold your head up . Look around and make eye contact with people in the audience [or at least pretend to]. Do not just look at your professor or your notes the whole time! Looking up at your your audience brings them into the conversation. If you don't include the audience, they won't listen to you.
• When you are talking to your friends, you naturally use your hands, your facial expression, and your body to add to your communication . Do it in your presentation as well. It will make things far more interesting for the audience.
• Don't turn your back on the audience and don't fidget! Neither moving around nor standing still is wrong. Practice either to make yourself comfortable. Even when pointing to a slide, don't turn your back; stand at the side and turn your head towards the audience as you speak.
• Keep your hands out of your pocket . This is a natural habit when speaking. One hand in your pocket gives the impression of being relaxed, but both hands in pockets looks too casual and should be avoided.

Interact with the Audience

• Be aware of how your audience is reacting to your presentation . Are they interested or bored? If they look confused, stop and ask them [e.g., "Is anything I've covered so far unclear?"]. Stop and explain a point again if needed.
• Check after highlighting key points to ask if the audience is still with you . "Does that make sense?"; "Is that clear?" Don't do this often during the presentation but, if the audience looks disengaged, interrupting your talk to ask a quick question can re-focus their attention even if no one answers.
• Do not apologize for anything . If you believe something will be hard to read or understand, don't use it. If you apologize for feeling awkward and nervous, you'll only succeed in drawing attention to the fact you are feeling awkward and nervous and your audience will begin looking for this, rather than focusing on what you are saying.
• Be open to questions . If someone asks a question in the middle of your talk, answer it. If it disrupts your train of thought momentarily, that's ok because your audience will understand. Questions show that the audience is listening with interest and, therefore, should not be regarded as an attack on you, but as a collaborative search for deeper understanding. However, don't engage in an extended conversation with an audience member or the rest of the audience will begin to feel left out. If an audience member persists, kindly tell them that the issue can be addressed after you've completed the rest of your presentation and note to them that their issue may be addressed later in your presentation [it may not be, but at least saying so allows you to move on].
• Be ready to get the discussion going after your presentation . Professors often want a brief discussion to take place after a presentation. Just in case nobody has anything to say or no one asks any questions, be prepared to ask your audience some provocative questions or bring up key issues for discussion.

Amirian, Seyed Mohammad Reza and Elaheh Tavakoli. “Academic Oral Presentation Self-Efficacy: A Cross-Sectional Interdisciplinary Comparative Study.” Higher Education Research and Development 35 (December 2016): 1095-1110; Balistreri, William F. “Giving an Effective Presentation.” Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition 35 (July 2002): 1-4; Creating and Using Overheads. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Enfield, N. J. How We Talk: The Inner Workings of Conversation . New York: Basic Books, 2017; Giving an Oral Presentation. Academic Skills Centre. University of Canberra; Lucas, Stephen. The Art of Public Speaking . 12th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2015; Peery, Angela B. Creating Effective Presentations: Staff Development with Impact . Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2011; Peoples, Deborah Carter. Guidelines for Oral Presentations. Ohio Wesleyan University Libraries; Perret, Nellie. Oral Presentations. The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Speeches. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Storz, Carl et al. Oral Presentation Skills. Institut national de télécommunications, EVRY FRANCE.

Speaking Tip

Your First Words are Your Most Important Words!

Your introduction should begin with something that grabs the attention of your audience, such as, an interesting statistic, a brief narrative or story, or a bold assertion, and then clearly tell the audience in a well-crafted sentence what you plan to accomplish in your presentation. Your introductory statement should be constructed so as to invite the audience to pay close attention to your message and to give the audience a clear sense of the direction in which you are about to take them.

Lucas, Stephen. The Art of Public Speaking . 12th edition. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2015.

Another Speaking Tip

Talk to Your Audience, Don't Read to Them!

A presentation is not the same as reading a prepared speech or essay. If you read your presentation as if it were an essay, your audience will probably understand very little about what you say and will lose their concentration quickly. Use notes, cue cards, or presentation slides as prompts that highlight key points, and speak to your audience . Include everyone by looking at them and maintaining regular eye-contact [but don't stare or glare at people]. Limit reading text to quotes or to specific points you want to emphasize.

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Study Skills

Oral presentations

One of the most common types of assessment at university is presentations. Presentations at university prepare you for life after graduation when your professional communication skills will be invaluable.  These materials will help you prepare, design and deliver an informative and audience-friendly presentation.

This page will help you to meet your lecturers' expectations by:

• self-evaluating your current strengths and weaknesses
• planning and organising your presentation
• handling questions
• engaging your audience
• using clear spoken English
• creating effective visuals, slides and posters
• managing group presentations
• managing nervousness
• recording your presentations.

Download this summary sheet for your own reference.

Introduction to oral presentations

This section gives a general overview of presentations. 

Before you continue, reflect on your previous public speaking experiences and the feedback you have received. How would you rate your ability in the following skills? Rate your ability from ‘good’ to ‘needs development’.

Reflect on your answers. Congratulations if you feel confident about your skills. You may find it helpful to review the materials on this page to confirm your knowledge and possibly learn more. Don't worry if you don't feel confident. Work through these materials to build your skills.

Spoken tasks are very common at university. Besides oral presentations, how many other types of speaking tasks do you think you may do? 

Compare your ideas with these: 

The materials on this page focus on presentations, but the tips and strategies are useful for a range of speaking tasks.

A successful presentation is designed to meet the needs of the audience. Think about this. While attending your presentation, the audience needs to: 

listen to your voice; i.e., your pronunciation, language choices and style of delivery 

understand the information conveyed by your voice 

read the text and the visuals on your slides 

understand the information conveyed by the text and visuals  

watch your face and gestures 

understand the messages conveyed by your face and gestures. 

The audience must do all these things simultaneously. This is a heavy cognitive load, so your job is to make it as easy as possible for them.

Watch this video for a general introduction to presentations.

Now, check your understanding.

A process for preparing your presentation

This section will take you through the stages of preparing your presentations.

1. Read the task instructions carefully to understand requirements.  

When will you deliver the presentation? 

Is it individual or group? 

Is it online or face-to-face? 

Is it recorded or live? 

How long is it? 

Is a question-and-answer session included? 

How will you be assessed?

    2. Analyse the task to identify the topic and scope. 

Revise how to analyse a task in the Study Skills page Preparing for the essay .  

Highlight key words in the task and ensure you use them in the presentation. 

3. Consider the needs of your audience by answering these questions: 

What does the audience already know about the topic?  

What do they need to know?  

What is most likely to interest them? 

Consider the audience in each of the following situations and decide which presentation element is likely to be the LEAST useful or interesting for them. 

4. Do your research. 

Visit the Subject Guides on the library page for research tips tailored to your discipline. 

Check the Library workshop calendar for workshops revising research skills.

5.  Organise your content. 

Sequence your content into logical order 

Create a presentation plan 

Read this example presentation plan. Would this be a useful method for you? 

Notice how this student divides their content into topics and sub-topics, puts it into a logical sequence, and decides on the number of slides each topic is likely to need (columns 1 and 2).  They then plan potential content for the slides and estimate the amount of time they will spend on each topic (columns 3 and 4). 

Remember: a presentation plan will help you to get organised but it is a working document that may change as you learn more about your topic. 

6. Create your slides and presentation notes. 

A. See Effective visuals   below for advice on designing slides. 

B. Decide on the most useful type of notes for you. Ideas include: 

7. Practise your delivery. 

This material contains a lot of advice on ways you can practise. Work through the rest of the page to learn more strategies.

Organisation and transitions

This section will provide an overview of the stages of a presentation and transitions between sections.

In Introduction to oral presentations , you learned that presentations usually have three stages: introduction, body and conclusion. 

The amount of time you should spend on the introduction, body, and conclusion of your presentation can vary depending on the length of your presentation, the complexity of your topic, and your personal presentation style. However, as a general guideline, you could aim to allocate your time in the following way: 

Remember that these percentages are guidelines, not rules. Your timing may vary so it is important to create a presentation plan and rehearse to ensure you use your time well to effectively communicate your message. 

Audiences form their first impression of a speaker within 90 seconds (Wallwork, 2016), so it is important that you introduce yourself with confidence. However, at the start of your presentation, you may be feeling unsettled. If you are nervous about public speaking, plan a simple, well-structured introduction that follows the steps below. By the time you have delivered this information, you may begin to overcome your nerves.  

Your introduction should include some or all of the following. You could: 

greet the audience and introduce yourself 

introduce the topic and aim 

give your scope, or specific points on which you will focus 

give an outline of your presentation 

announce when the audience can ask questions. 

use a hook to engage the audience

Read these two presentation introductions to: 

identify the stages of an introduction – click on the hotspots to check your ideas 

consider how the presentations are similar and different.  

These two presentations are about the same topic, but they are different in their approach. Presentation one is more traditional, while presentation two has a more conversational tone and uses more hooks to engage the audience. Both presentations are strong, clear and succinct. In planning your presentation, you should create your own approach that: 

meets the needs, interests and expectations of your audience 

you feel most confident with. 

Read these sentences and place them to create a cohesive introduction. 

If you are studying in your second or third language, you may occasionally stumble over collocations (words that usually go together). This exercise is to help you to review common collocations used in introductions. 

Just as your essays are divided into paragraphs that present ideas in a logical order, so should your presentation be divided into logical sections.  

You need to signal very carefully to your audience when you are linking ideas and when you are transitioning from one section to the next. To manage a transition, you could try one or more of the following ideas.  

• Give a brief recap of the main message of the section you just completed (in long presentations). 
• Pause for a couple of seconds at the end of each section to give your audience a chance to process the information you have given them. 
• Use a divider slide that announces the next part of your talk. 
• Use signpost language: phrases that signal transitions and links between ideas. 

Signpost language serves an important purpose. Used badly, these phrases can sound stilted and formulaic; however, used well, they help your audience follow your logic, and they help you manage your delivery. 

Conclusions are an essential part of your presentation because they are a last chance to convey your most important message and to create a lasting impression on your audience.

Your conclusion should include some or all of the following. You could:   

signal that your presentation is concluding 

include a summary or overview of your talk 

reiterate the takeaway message, or what you MOST want your audience to remember

use a final hook to make a lasting impression on your audience 

introduce question time. 

Read these two presentation conclusions to: 

identify the stages of the conclusions – click on the hotspots to check your ideas 

consider how the two presentations are similar and different. 

These two conclusions are about the same topic, but they are different in their approach. Conclusion one is more traditional, while conclusion two is more conversational and actively tries to engage the audience. In planning your own presentation, you should create your own approach that: 

Questions at presentations and lectures

This section will provide an overview of how you can effectively ask and answer questions. 

You may not have given much thought to how you ask questions during presentations or lectures. However, it is important that you can do this well. 

Keep these tips in mind: 

• If you have a question during a lecture or a conference presentation, don’t be shy to ask. Remember: not only do questions help you to learn, but they can also help you get noticed as an engaged student. 
• If the presentation is long, note your questions as you think of them. The question may be answered later in the presentation, but if it isn’t, your notes will help you remember them during question time. 
• At the end of long presentations, you should contextualise your question to make it easier to answer. This is explained next. 

If a presentation is long, you may need to ask a question about information that was delivered 30 or so minutes previously. Therefore, you may need to identify which part of the presentation you are referring to. 

Divide your question into three parts: 

If you are studying in your second or third language, you may occasionally stumble over collocations (words that usually go together). This exercise is to help you to review: 

the three stages of a question 

common collocations used in questions.  

The first thing you must remember is that questions at your presentations are a very positive sign. They tell you that your audience has listened, and they are interested enough to want to know more. Nevertheless, question time can make many students feel nervous. However, if you prepare well, you can feel more confident that you can handle this stage of your presentation. 

Despite preparing thoroughly, you may sometimes be asked challenging questions that you either don’t quite understand or you are not sure how to answer. Try these strategies. 

1. Clarify questions that you don’t understand by asking the questioner: 

to stand or speak up if you can’t hear them in a live presentation 

to rephrase if you think you are misunderstanding them

questions to clarify what they want to know. 

2. Gain a couple of seconds of thinking time by: 

commenting on the question 

repeating or paraphrasing the question. 

3. Refer the question on to: 

an appropriate peer in a group presentation - if the question is outside your area 

the audience - if the question seems to be more open-ended or hypothetical. 

Engaging the audience

This section will review strategies to engage and maintain your audience’s attention. 

Engaging your audience can begin before you start your presentation. In fact, it begins when you write your title. A title has two goals: 

• To convey the main message of the presentation 
• To attract the widest possible audience. 

If you are doing a presentation for one of your units, writing the title might seem relatively simple. Your lecturer may even suggest a title.  However, if you are participating in an event, you need to write your title more carefully. At many events, the audience chooses which presentations they will attend or which poster presenters they will stop and listen to. For this reason, you need to create an effective but interesting title that will engage the audience at that event. 

If you are doing a presentation based on a written assignment or paper, you may rewrite the title for the presentation. This is the title of a paper published by Read et al (2007). 

Satellite Tracking Reveals Long Distance Coastal Travel and Homing by Translocated Estuarine Crocodiles, Crocodylus porosus 

Read these presentation title suggestions. Which do you prefer? 

Over to you: 

1. Reread the instructions for your presentation task. Consider these questions: 

• What guidelines have you been given for the title? 
• Who are the audience and what is likely to interest and engage them? 

2. Write a declarative, a descriptive, an interrogative and a two-part title.

3. Ask a peer to read each and give feedback on the most engaging and informative.

Effective presenters use a range of techniques to catch and keep the interest of their audience. These are sometimes called hooks. 

Compare these two introductions. 

Both introductions are competent, but in the second introduction, Kim hooks the audience with a discussion point. This gets the audience’s attention and increases their curiosity about her topic.  You can hook and maintain the audience’s attention in many different ways and at any time during your presentation.   

Match these hooks and examples below: 

Keep in mind that your audience’s attention may drop during a long presentation, so you can help them focus and follow you by: 

spending no more than approximately one or two minutes on each slide 

giving or repeating important information when attention is high: the beginning, the end, and after a hook 

using a hook when you feel the energy in the room drop. 

A large proportion of communication is non-verbal, so your voice and body language are an important part of your presentation. They can create a positive or negative impression on your audience.  

Think about these guidelines. What advice is useful for you? 

Remember the general guidelines above, but also remember that body language can depend on the presenter’s personality and cultural background.  

Don’t try to force yourself to behave in ways that make you uncomfortable. Remember that your body language will be more engaging if you: 

feel relaxed and well-prepared 

allow your own interest in the topic to show. 

Your voice is critical in oral presentations because it is the primary tool you use to convey your message to your audience. Think of your voice as your instrument. How you use it affects how your audience perceives your message.

Reflect on the public speakers you enjoy listening to and find easy to understand. They could be well-known speakers, like a political figure, or less well-known, like a lecturer. 

Why do you enjoy listening to them? 

What do they do that helps you understand them easily? 

Listen to these two extracts.  

Which do you think is most effective?  

Many listeners would find speaker B more engaging and easier to understand because the speaker uses a good pace, pausing, clear stress and appropriate intonation.  

Pace is the speed of our speech. 

The average speed is about 125-150 words per minute, but this varies depending on age, gender, culture and situation. 

Many public speakers slow their pace slightly so their audience can follow their ideas. 

Pausing is a brief stop when we speak. 

Speakers naturally pause to draw breath. 

Good public speakers use brief pauses to give their audience time to absorb their message. 

Intonation is how our voice rises and falls when we speak. 

A rising voice creates anticipation. It indicates that another point is coming. 

A falling voice creates a sense of importance. It also indicates that you’re finishing a point. 

Stress is when we say some words more loudly than others. 

Stress is put onto the main content words – or words that carry the main message  

Stress is put onto certain words for emphasis to draw attention to a point.  

Let’s now explore in more detail how these techniques are used in a presentation. 

You can find online support to practise your use of voice through a range of apps and software. One example that you can access through your student Microsoft account is  Speaker Coach.

Repetition and the rule of three  are two more techniques you can use to make your presentation more engaging.

Repetition 

We hear repetition frequently in speeches. Read these examples in famous political speeches: 

Although you may not be a political figure (yet), you may occasionally use some repetition in your presentations. Repetition is used for: 

What would you repeat in these sentences? 

Practice these sentences by repeating them aloud.

The rule of three 

The rule of three is a technique in which we present information in groups of three.

Think about how the rule of three is used in different situations: 

Giving ideas in groups of three is not a strict rule; however, it is a useful strategy because it is: 

1. Explore how these techniques are used in an authentic presentation.

2. Download the script of the talk below. Read and make notes while you listen again. 

Ted Talk script.docx  

3. Download the annotated script and compare your answers. 

1. Can you finish this sentence using the power of three? 

To deliver an effective presentation, I need... 

2. Think about a presentation you need to deliver soon. 

Script your introduction, including either repetition or a group of three items. 

Mark your stress and intonation. 

Ask a peer to listen to you deliver it and give you feedback.

Written vs spoken English

Many presentations at university are based on a written assignment. This section will help you adapt your written text to oral English. 

When you are preparing a presentation based on a written paper, you may feel tempted to read sections of your paper aloud – especially if the presentation is recorded or online and your audience can’t actually see you. DON’T do this. 

• Compare these two texts. Which one is spoken English?
• Move the slider to reveal an analysis of the language

This analysis illustrates an important point: compared to spoken English, written academic English usually: 

uses more formal, academic vocabulary  

uses more nouns, especially nominalisations  

has fewer but longer sentences 

is more dense; that is, it contains more detail in fewer words. 

Therefore, reading aloud from your paper sounds unnatural, makes your presentation less engaging and makes your information harder for your audience to follow. 

Top tip: when you are preparing an oral presentation based on a written text, you should create your presentation from a plan , not from the text. To do this, you could: 

• read through your written text, and for each paragraph, write key words into a separate document 
• use the key words to make a presentation plan  
• practise delivering your talk from the key words; if you forget some elements, add extra notes 
• transfer your notes to one of the following: 

note cards for each stage of your talk  a printout of your slides   a list of key ideas and facts in bullet points  a tree-diagram or flowchart of the structure of the talk 

5. practise delivering your talk using your notes, not the original assignment. 

Another point to consider when you are preparing a presentation based on an assignment is how you will handle the data and statistics. Many of these are conveyed through visuals, such as tables and graphs; however, you still need to explain your figures. To do this, you must consider how you will say them. 

Listen to these extracts and consider how clear the figures are.

Remember: 

• Use percentages when you can because they are usually easier for audiences to remember. 
• Use smaller figures when you can because they are usually easier for listeners to comprehend. 
• Reduce the number of figures you recite. 
• Support figures with words and phrases like rise or fall, majority or minority, or trend  
• Avoid difficult combinations of sounds and pay special attention to numbers that end in -teen or - ty.

Top tips:  

When you are preparing an oral presentation based on a written text that includes numbers, try these ideas. 

• Ask a peer to listen to your talk and write down the numbers they hear. If any are incorrect, consider how you can make them clearer for the listener.  
• Ensure that important figures you need to say are also written on your slides.  

In Engaging the audience , you learned about avoiding highly technical words in your titles to attract a wide audience. This also applies in the body of your presentation, especially if your audience is multi-disciplinary (or including people from a range of disciplines besides yours). 

Just as you consider audience and purpose in your writing, you must do the same when preparing your oral presentations. 

Read the following two sentences. Which would you say to multi-disciplinary listeners? 

Stem cell malfunction is caused by DNA damage produced by reactive oxygen species. 

DNA damage-induced HSPC malfunction depends on ROS accumulation downstream of IFN-1 signaling and bid mobilisation 

Most people would agree that sentence one would be appropriate for an audience with people from outside your discipline. 

Top Tip: 

If your audience is multi-disciplinary, ensure you provide definitions or examples to explain necessary technical words. Images on your slides are also useful. 

Effective visuals – slides and posters

This section will give you tips for creating effective slides or posters. 

Design is a broad but interesting field that you might like to explore if you need to produce many visuals in your future studies or your profession. For now, these tips will introduce you to basic principles to help you get started on your first slides and posters. 

Examine each slide to determine the design problem. Then click to the next slides for a useful tip.

Over to you:

Examine slides you are drafting for your own presentation. Have you avoided these issues?

A poster presentation at a conference is a session where researchers present their work on a poster. A poster is a visual display of the researcher's work, including text, graphs, images, and tables. 

During the presentation session, the researcher stands by their poster and explains their work to conference attendees who walk around the room viewing the posters. This is the major difference between regular conference presentations and poster presentations: conference presentations attract an audience with a well-written abstract ; however, posters attract an audience by being eye-catching, visually pleasing, legible and informative. 

The design elements that you must consider are the same as those outlined above for slides. However, you must also consider that the audience needs to be able to read the poster from at least 1.5m away

Compare these two posters. Move the slider left and right so you can compare different elements.

Here are some key poster characteristics. Well-designed posters are:

Designing a poster is easier if you use a template. Academic poster templates are freely available online

Examine a poster you are drafting for your own presentation. Have you avoided these issues?

When you are delivering your presentation, you need to explain your visuals. You should not leave it to your audience to interpret the significance of your charts and graphs. They may not come to the conclusions you intend.

• Tell your audience you are going to show them a visual. 
• Direct your audiences’ attention to the relevant part of the visual. 
• Comment on the visual.
• Interpret the visual: explain results, discuss the significance, and/or link it to other data or research. 

Managing group presentations

This section will offer tips for managing group presentations. 

All of the advice on this page for preparing and delivering presentations applies to group work. However, you will have more to consider when you are working with others. 

These tips can help you avoid some of the challenges. 

These tips can help you avoid some of the challenges of presenting as a group. 

Dealing with nerves

The author, Mark Twain, once said There are only two types of speakers in the world. 1. The nervous and 2. Liars. This section offers tips to help you manage your nerves.

Many people feel nervous about speaking in front of a group of people, so you are not alone. However, you will do many presentations while you are a student, so you can build your resilience and skill over time. 

Remember this: 

• Feeling a bit nervous can be a positive thing. Think of nervous adrenaline as a superpower that sharpens your brain and brightens your performance. 
• Your nervousness may not be obvious to the audience.
• Even if the audience can see that you are nervous, this often generates sympathy and goodwill in many listeners.  
• Your audience at university is likely to be your peers and your teachers. These people want to help you and see you do well. 

Reflect on these ideas for building your resilience. Which ones could you try?

Just like we should warm up our muscles before exercising, we should warm up our face and voices before presenting. Warm up exercises help because they: 

distract you from being nervous while you wait for your turn to speak 

prepare you to speak freely and without stumbling. 

Reflect on these ideas for managing nerves before delivery. Which ones could you try?

• On the day before, do some exercise to lower your levels of stress hormones.
• On the day, try these warm ups. 

Here are some tongue twisters to try. Repeat each one five times. 

Even with thorough preparation, we can be nervous on the day of our presentations.

Reflect on these strategies. Which ones might work for you?  

Recording presentations

This section offers some tips for recorded workshops. 

All of the advice on this page for preparing and delivering presentations applies to recorded presentations. However, you have some extra points to consider. These tips can help you avoid some of the challenges.

Your method for recording your presentation will depend on your assignment instructions and the tools you have available to you. If recording is new to you, ensure that you: 

leave plenty of time to learn how to use the equipment and software 

use the training offered by the software provider, so you know that the information is correct and up to date. 

You may find these training videos useful: 

Record a powerpoint slide show with narration

Record your screen in PowerPoint  

How to record the screen on your Mac  

You may like to explore these tools:

Screencastify  is an extension for your Chrome browser that can record your screen. 

Zoom is mostly for meetings, but you can record videos of yourself and your screen. 

Applying your learning

• Reflect on what you have learned in this material and consider how you can use it in your own work. 
• Follow these tips to help you practise and improve.

You can improve your own presentation skills by learning from experienced presenters.   

Step 1 

• Go to https://www.ted.com/talks and select a Ted Talk 
• Watch for five minutes with the sound off. 
• Note the speaker’s body language. 

Where do they stand? 

How do they move around? 

What gestures do they use? 

Where do they look around the room? 

What facial expressions do you notice? 

Step 2 

• Listen for five minutes with the screen covered. 
• Note the speaker’s use of voice. 

How quickly do they speak? 

How often do they pause? 

How well do they use stress and intonation?

Do they use other techniques like repetition or the power of three? 

Keep in mind that TedTalks are not academic presentations; so, they may be more personal and less structured than your university presentations.  However, they are a good tool for learning about body language and effective use of voice. 

• Rehearse your presentation with online support such as Speaker Coach.
• Prepare a presentation for one of your units.
• If you use your student microsoft account, go to Slide Show and select Rehearse with Coach.
• Use this feature to get advice on your delivery.
• Prepare a presentation for one of your units.  
• Record yourself delivering it. 
• Exchange recordings with a peer and give each other feedback    or
• Book a group room in your library and practise delivering to each other.

Reflect on your learning. 

If you would like more support, visit the Language and Learning Advisors page. 

Did you know CDU Language and Learning Advisors offer a range of study support options?

https://www.cdu.edu.au/library/language-and-learning-support

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16 Oral Presentations

Chapter attribution.

David McMurrey and Cassandra Race

Oral Presentations

A common assignment in technical writing courses—not to mention in the workplace—is to prepare and deliver an oral presentation, a task most of us would be happy to avoid. However, while employers look for coursework and experience in preparing written documents,  they also look for experience in oral presentations as well. Look back at the first chapter. Remember how important interpersonal communication skills are in the workplace.

The following was written for a standard face-to-face classroom setting. If you are taking an online technical writing course, oral reports can be sent in as “scripts,” or audio versions can be transmitted live or recorded. In any case, students may evaluate each other’s oral reports by filling out a form like the one provided at the end of this chapter or responding through the discussion board.

If you can believe the research, most people would rather have root canal surgery without novocaine than stand up in front of a group and speak. It truly is one of the great stressors. But with some help from the resources that follow, you can be a champion presenter.

For additional information on oral presentations and public speaking in general, see Effective Presentations . This is part of an online tutorial series provided by Kansas University Medical Center. This section has many resources that will be helpful to you.

Topic and Situation for the Oral Presentation

For the oral report in a technical writing course, imagine that you are formally handing over your final written report to the people with whom you set up the hypothetical contract or agreement. For example, imagine that you had contracted with a software company to write its user guide. Once you had completed it, you’d have a meeting with chief officers to formally deliver the guide. You’d spend some time orienting them to the guide, showing them how it is organized and written, and discussing some of its highlights. Your goal is to get them acquainted with the guide and to prompt them for any concerns or questions. (Your class will gladly pretend to be whoever you tell them to be during your talk.)

As you can see, you shouldn’t have to do any research to prepare for this assignment—just plan the details of your talk and get at least one visual ready. If you have a report topic that you’d prefer not to present orally, discuss other possibilities with your instructor. Here are some brainstorming possibilities in case you want to present something else:

• Informative purpose: An oral report can be primarily informative. For example, as a member of a committee involved in a project to relocate the plant, your job might be to give an oral report on the condition of the building and grounds at one of the sites proposed for purchase. Or, you might be required to go before the city council and report on the success of the new city-sponsored recycling project.
• Instructional purpose: An oral report can be instructional. Your task might be to train new employees to use certain equipment or to perform certain routine tasks.
• Persuasive purpose: An oral report can be persuasive. You might want to convince members of local civic organizations to support a city-wide recycling program. You might appear before the city council to persuade its members to reserve certain city-owned lands for park areas, softball and baseball parks, or community gardens.
• Topics: You can start by thinking of a technical subject, for example, solar panels, microprocessors, drip irrigation, or laser surgery. For your oral report, think of a subject you’d be interested in talking about, but find a reason why an audience would want to hear your oral report.
• Place or situation: You can find topics for oral reports or make more detailed plans for them by thinking about the place or the situation in which your oral report might naturally be given: at a neighborhood association? at the parent–teachers’ association meeting? at a church meeting? at the gardening club? at a city council meeting? at a meeting of the board of directors or high-level executives of a company? Thinking about an oral report this way makes you focus on the audience, their reasons for listening to you, and their interests and background. As in all technical writing situations, identifying and understanding your audience is of the utmost importance.

Content and Requirements for the Oral Presentation

The focus for your oral presentation is clear, understandable presentation; well-organized, well-planned, well-timed discussion. You don’t need to be Mr. or Ms. Slick-Operator—just present the essentials of what you have to say in a calm, organized, well-planned manner.

When you give your oral presentation, we’ll all be listening for the same things. Use the following as a requirements list, as a way of focusing your preparations:

• Situation : Plan to explain to the class what the situation of your oral report is, who you are, and who they should imagine they are. Make sure that there is a clean break between this brief explanation and the beginning of your actual oral report.
• Timing : Make sure your oral report lasts no longer than the time allotted. Your instructor will work out some signals to indicate when the mark is approaching, has arrived, or has passed.
• Indicate the purpose of your oral report
• give an overview of its contents
• find some way to interest the audience
• Visuals : Use at least one visual—preferably slides using presentation software (such as Powerpoint) or transparencies for the overhead projector. Flip charts and objects for display are okay, but avoid scribbling stuff on the chalkboard or whiteboard or relying strictly on handouts. Make sure you discuss key elements of your visuals. Don’t just throw them up there and ignore them. Point out things about them; explain them to the audience.
• Explanation : Plan to explain any technical aspect of your topic clearly and understandably. Don’t race through complex, technical stuff—slow down and explain it carefully so that we understand it.
• Transitions : Use “verbal headings”—by now, you’ve gotten used to using headings in your written work. There is a corollary in oral reports. With these, you give your audience a very clear signal you are moving from one topic or part of your talk to the next  Your presentation visual can signal your headings.
• Planning : Plan your report in advance and practice it so that it is organized. Make sure that listeners know what you are talking about and why, which part of the talk you are in, and what’s coming next. Overviews and verbal headings greatly contribute to this sense of organization.
• summarize (go back over high points of what you’ve discussed)
• conclude (state some logical conclusion based on what you have presented)
• provide some last thought (end with some final interesting point but general enough not to require elaboration)
• or some combination of these three
• Questions : And certainly, you’ll want to prompt the audience for questions and concerns.
• Timing (again) : As mentioned above, be sure your oral report is carefully timed. Some ideas on how to work within an allotted time frame are presented in the next section.

Preparing for the Oral Presentation

Pick the method of preparing for the talk that best suits your comfort level with public speaking and with your topic. However, plan to do ample preparation and rehearsal—some people assume that they can just jump up there and ad-lib for so many minutes and be relaxed and informal. It doesn’t often work that way—drawing a mental blank is the more common experience. A well-delivered presentation is the result of a lot of work and a lot of practice.

Here are the obvious possibilities for preparation and delivery:

• Write a script, practice it; keep it around for quick-reference during your talk.
• Set up an outline of your talk; practice with it, bring it for reference.
• Set up cue cards, practice with them, and use them during your talk.
• Write a script and read from it.

Of course, the extemporaneous or impromptu methods are also out there for the brave and the adventurous. However, please bear in mind that up to 25 people will be listening to you—you owe them a good presentation, one that is clear, understandable, well-planned, organized, and on target with your purpose and audience.

It doesn’t matter which method you use to prepare for the talk, but you want to make sure that you know your material.  The head-down style of reading your report directly from a script has problems. There is little or no eye contact or interaction with the audience. The delivery tends toward a dull, boring monotone that either puts listeners off or is hard to understand. And, most of us cannot stand to have reports read to us!

For many reasons, most people get nervous when they have to give oral presentations. Being well prepared is your best defense against the nerves. Try to remember that your classmates and instructor are a very forgiving, supportive group. You don’t have to be a slick entertainer—just be clear, organized, and understandable. The nerves will wear off someday, the more oral presenting you do. In the meantime, breathe deeply and enjoy.

The following is an example of an introduction to an oral presentation. Use it as a guide for planning your own.

Oral Presentation: Enhancement of the Recycling Program

Valerie and I represent the Austin Coalition for Recycling, a group that was founded in the late 1960s, partly in response to rising utility bills and partly out of a concern for the environment and its resources. High utility bills not only hurt each of us in our pocketbooks but also hurt the quality of life of our city as a whole.

We are all particularly proud of what a fine city we live in and what wonderful citizen involvement there is herein a whole range of civic activities. These things make our city special and ought to be the force that enables us to make a recycling program an integral part of the city’s waste management program. Backed by the City, a new powerful recycling program will contribute enormously to keeping Austin the wonderful place it is.

Valerie and I want to talk to you about how recycling works currently, how it will work once integrated with the city’s waste management program, how this integration will benefit our city, and what you can do to support this plan.

Delivering an Oral Presentation

When you give an oral report, focus on common problem areas such as these:

• Timing —Make sure you keep within the time limit. Finishing more than a minute under the time limit is also a problem. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse until you get the timing just right.
• Volume —Obviously, you must be sure to speak loud enough so that all of your audience can hear you. You might find some way to practice speaking a little louder in the days before the oral presentation.
• Pacing, speed —Sometimes, oral presentators who are nervous talk too fast. All that adrenaline causes them to speed through their talk, making it hard for the audience to follow. In general, it helps listeners  understand you better if you speak a bit more slowly and deliberately than you do in normal conversation. Slow down, take it easy, be clear…and breathe.
• Gestures and posture —Watch out for nervous hands flying all over the place. This too can be distracting—and a bit comical. At the same time, don’t turn yourself into a mannequin. Plan to keep your hands clasped together or holding onto the podium and only occasionally making some gesture. Definitely keep your hands out of your pockets or waistband. As for posture, avoid slouching at the podium or leaning against the wall. Stand up straight, and keep your head up.
• Verbal crutches —Watch out for too much “uh,” “you know,” “okay” and other kinds of nervous verbal habits. Instead of saying “uh” or “you know” every three seconds, just don’t say anything at all. In the days before your oral presentation, practice speaking without these verbal crutches. The silence that replaces them is not a bad thing—it gives listeners time to process what you are saying.

The following is an example of how topic headings can make your presentation easy for your listeners to follow.

Excerpt from an oral report

As you can see from the preceding, our fairly average-size city produces a surprisingly large amount of solid waste. What is the cost of getting rid of it? I can tell you from the start that it is not cheap…

The next sentence indicates that the speaker is moving on to a new topic (“cost”).

[discussion of the costs of disposal]

…Not only are the costs of getting rid of our garbage high, as I have shown, but it’s getting harder and harder for city officials to find areas in which to get rid of it. The geographical problems in disposal…

Planning and Preparing Visuals for the Oral Presentation

Prepare at least one visual for this report. Here are some ideas for the “medium” to use for your visuals:

• Presentation software slides —Projecting images (“slides”) using software such as Powerpoint has become the standard, even though maligned by some. One common problem with the construction of these slides is cramming too much information on individual slides. A quick search on terms like Powerpoint presentation will enable you to read about creating these slides and designing them intelligently. Of course, the room in which you use these slides has to have a computer projector.
• Transparencies for overhead projector —The overhead projector used with transparencies seems to have been relegated to antiquity—but not entirely. If you have to use this method, you will design your visual on a sheet of blank paper, then photocopy it, and create a transparency of it.
• Posterboard-size charts —Another possibility is to get some poster board and draw and letter what you want your audience to see. Of course, it’s not easy making charts look neat and professional.
• Handouts —You can run off copies of what you want your listeners to see and hand them out before or during your talk. This option is even less effective than the first two because you can’t point to what you want your listeners to see and because handouts distract listeners’ attention away from you. Still, for certain visual needs, handouts are the only choice. Keep in mind that if you are not well prepared, the handouts become a place for your distracted audience to doodle.
• Objects —If you need to demonstrate certain procedures, you may need to bring in actual physical objects. Rehearse what you are going to do with these objects; sometimes they can take up a lot more time than you expect.

Avoid just scribbling your visual on the chalkboard or whiteboard. Whatever you scribble can be neatly prepared and made into a presentation slide, transparency, or posterboard-size chart. Take some time to make your visuals look sharp and professional—do your best to ensure that they are legible to the entire audience.

As for the content of your visuals, consider these ideas:

• Drawing or diagram of key objects —If you describe or refer to any objects during your talk, try to get visuals of them so that you can point to different components or features.
• Tables, charts, graphs —If you discuss statistical data, present it in some form or table, chart, or graph. Many members of your audience may be less comfortable “hearing” such data as opposed to seeing it.
• Outline of your talk, report, or both —If you are at a loss for visuals to use in your oral presentation, or if your presentation is complex, have an outline of it that you can show at various points during your talk.
• Key terms and definitions —A good idea for visuals (especially when you can’t think of any others) is to set up a two-column list of key terms you use during your oral presentation with their definitions in the second column.
• Key concepts or points —Similarly, you can list your key points and show them in visuals. (Outlines, key terms, and main points are all good, legitimate ways of incorporating visuals into oral presentations when you can’t think of any others.)

During your actual oral report, make sure to discuss your visuals, refer to them, guide your listeners through the key points in your visuals. It’s a big problem just to throw a visual up on the screen and never even refer to it.

As you prepare your visuals, look at resources that will help you. There are many rules for using PowerPoint, down to the font size and how many words to put on a single slide, but you will have to choose the style that best suits your subject and your presentation style.

The two videos that follow will provide some pointers. As you watch them, make some notes to help you remember what you learn from them. The first one is funny: Life After Death by PowerPoint by Don McMillan, an engineer turned comedian.

Life After Death by PowerPoint

You may also have heard about the presentation skills of Steve Jobs. The video that follows is the introduction of the I-Phone…and as you watch, take notes on how Jobs sets up his talk and his visuals. Observe how he connects with the audience…and then see if you can work some of his strategies into your own presentation skills. This is a long video…you don’t need to watch it all but do take enough time to form some good impressions.

Steve Jobs iPhone Presentation

An Introduction to Technical Communication Copyright © by sherenahuntsman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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120 Presentation Topic Ideas Help You Hook Your Audience

Updated: January 15, 2024

Published: August 09, 2023

Cooking is easy. The puzzle is figuring out what to eat. As soon as you know that, you can get started. The same holds for presentations. The sooner you can whip up a good, informative, and catchy topic, the easier the rest of the process becomes.

Pick a good topic that resonates with you and your audience to set a strong foundation. But select the wrong topic, and it becomes difficult to connect with your audience, find mutual interests, or hold their attention.

So, let’s learn how to develop thought-provoking and relevant topics for your presentations. You’ll also find some best practices to make your presentation memorable.

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Table of Contents

How to Choose a Great Presentation Topic in 5 Steps

120 presentation topic ideas, 5 presentation tips.

Step 5: Leverage your expertise.

The most important element that can make or break your presentation is you. The level of expertise you bring in, your interest, knowledge, and comfort with the topic determine the credibility of your presentation.

Pick a topic you’ve got first-hand experience with. Bring in a unique opinion or learnings/findings to add value to your words.

Let the audience view the topic from your perspective. In doing so, you can hook your audience and make your presentation original and memorable.

Also, choose a topic that you’re passionate about. The more enthusiastic you are about the topic, the more value and credibility you’ll bring to the presentation.

The audience will feel it and invigorate. And so will the lack thereof, which can be a big turn-off for your listeners.

Ever noticed how some people talk about sports? Their body language oozes energy and excitement.

Pro tip: Think about what excites you about the topic. Then narrow it down to 2 to 5 driving factors to focus on in your presentation.

4. Choose an appropriate presentation style.

There are many ways to present a topic. Your personality, the topic at hand, and your audience’s personas will help you determine which style would best fit you and your audience.

Select a presentation style that will communicate the main idea clearly and have a lasting impact on your audience.

For instance, explore a freeform style presenter by Sir Ken Robinson.

5. Engage with your audience.

Work on your presentation skills to make a strong connection with your audience, get through to them and leave a mark.

Think of the presenter as the link between the topic and the audience. A strong or a weak presenter can make a difference between a presentation being a thriving success or a boring failure.

Hone your skills by engaging and interacting with your audience. Make them feel like a part of the presentation and not just spectators. 70% of marketers have found presentations with interactive content to be more effective than those without.

Here are a few ways you can make your presentation interactive:

• Start your speech with uncommon questions to your audience. Involve them from the get-go, like ask to raise their hands if X.
• Make eye contact to build credibility and show confidence. Don’t stare at your slides or notes. Smile occasionally and talk to the audience directly.
• Have an active and confident body language. Don’t stand in the same place the entire time. Move around the stage.
• Don’t be monotonous. Speak as you would to a colleague — with enthusiasm.
• Ask close-ended questions in between to keep the audience engaged without losing time. Address them using their names to keep things interesting.
• Share personal experiences and stories that your audience will find fascinating and relatable.
• Practice thoroughly before you present so you’re fluent with the material and delivery.
• Energy and excitement can be quite contagious. Make sure you exude enough to spread some to your audience.

Feeling Inspired Yet?

Now you have all the right ingredients for choosing amazing topics and a hundred ideas to drive inspiration from. So, go ahead and start cooking presentations that will blow your audience away.

Don’t forget to choose a super-relevant topic and add meaty information. Do it with excitement to make it enjoyable for you and your audience. Best of luck!

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Developing Business Presentations

Before you choose a topic, learning objective.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Describe the steps in the process of planning a speech.

As you begin to think about choosing your topic, there are a few key factors to consider. These include the purpose of the speech, its projected time length, the appropriateness of the topic for your audience, and your knowledge or the amount of information you can access on the topic. Let’s examine each of these factors.

Determine the General and Specific Purpose

It is important for you to have a clear understanding of your purpose, as all the other factors depend on it. Here’s a brief review of the five general purposes for speaking in public:

• Speech to inform . Increase the audience’s knowledge, teach about a topic or issue, and share your expertise.
• Speech to demonstrate . Show the audience how to use, operate, or do something.
• Speech to persuade . Influence the audience by presenting arguments intended to change attitudes, beliefs, or values.
• Speech to entertain . Amuse the audience by engaging them in a relatively light-hearted speech that may have a serious point or goal.
• Ceremonial speech . Perform a ritual function, such as give a toast at a wedding reception or a eulogy at a funeral.

You should be able to choose one of these options. If you find that your speech may fall into more than one category, you may need to get a better understanding of the assignment or goal. Starting out with a clear understanding of why you are doing what you are supposed do will go a long way in helping you organize, focus, prepare, and deliver your oral presentation.

Once you have determined your general purpose—or had it determined for you, if this is an assigned speech—you will still need to write your specific purpose. What specifically are you going to inform, persuade, demonstrate, or entertain your audience with? What type of ceremony is your speech intended for? A clear goal makes it much easier to develop an effective speech. Try to write in just one sentence exactly what you are going to do.

Notice that each example includes two pieces of information. The first is the general purpose (to inform or to persuade) and the second is the specific subject you intend to talk about.

Can I Cover the Topic in Time?

Your next key consideration is the amount of time in which you intend to accomplish your purpose. Consider the depth, scope, and amount of information available on the topic you have in mind. In business situations, speeches or presentations vary greatly in length, but most often the speaker needs to get the message across as quickly as possible—for example, in less than five minutes. If you are giving a speech in class, it will typically be five to seven minutes; at most it may be up to ten minutes. In those ten minutes, it would be impossible to tell your audience about the complete history of the Ford Mustang automobile. You could, however, tell them about four key body style changes since 1965. If your topic is still too broad, narrow it down into something you can reasonably cover in the time allotted. For example, focus on just the classic Mustangs, the individual differences by year, and how to tell them apart.

You may have been assigned a persuasive speech topic, linking global warming to business, but have you been given enough time to present a thorough speech on why human growth and consumption is clearly linked to global warming? Are you supposed to discuss “green” strategies of energy conservation in business, for example? The topic of global warming is quite complex, and by definition involves a great deal of information, debate over interpretations of data, and analysis on the diverse global impacts. Rather than try to explore the chemistry, the corporate debates, or the current government activities that may be involved, you can consider how visual aids may make the speech vivid for the audience. You might decide to focus on three clear examples of global warming to capture your audience’s attention and move them closer to your stated position: “green” and energy-saving strategies are good for business.

Visual aids may make this speech vivid for the audience. © 2010 Jupiterimages Corporation FIGURE 10.1

Visual aids may make this speech vivid for the audience.

Perhaps you’ll start with a brownie on a plate with a big scoop of ice cream on top, asking your audience what will happen when the ice cream melts. They will probably predict that the melted ice cream will spread out over the plate in a puddle, becoming a deeper puddle as the ice cream continues to melt. Next, you might display a chart showing that globally, temperatures have risen, followed by a map of the islands that have lost beaches due to rising tides. To explain how this had happened, you may show two pictures of Antarctica—one taken in 1993 and the other in 2003, after it lost over 15 percent of its total mass as the Ross Ice Shelf melted, cracked, and broke off from the continent. You may then make a transition to what happens when water evaporates as it goes into the atmosphere. Show a picture of the hole in the ozone over Chile and much of South America, and hold up a bottle of sunscreen, saying that even SPF 45 isn’t strong enough to protect you. Finally, you may show a pie graph that illustrates that customers are aware of the environmental changes and the extent of their purchase decision is based on the perception of a product’s “green” features or support of related initiatives. In just a few minutes, you’ve given seven visual examples to support your central position and meet your stated purpose.

Will My Topic Be Interesting to My Audience?

Remember that communication is a two-way process; even if you are the only one speaking, the audience is an essential part of your speech. Put yourself in their place and imagine how to make your topic relevant for them. What information will they actually use once your speech is over?

For example, if you are speaking to a group of auto mechanics who specialize in repairing and maintaining classic cars, it might make sense to inform them about the body features of the Mustang, but they may already be quite knowledgeable about these features. If you represent a new rust treatment product used in the restoration process, they may be more interested in how it works than any specific model of car. However, if your audience belong to a general group of students or would-be car buyers, it would be more useful to inform them about how to buy a classic car and what to look for. General issues of rust may be more relevant, and can still be clearly linked to your new rust treatment product.

For a persuasive speech, in addition to considering the audience’s interests, you will also want to gauge their attitudes and beliefs. If you are speaking about global warming to a group of scientists, you can probably assume that they are familiar with the basic facts of melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and ozone depletion. In that case, you might want to focus on something more specific, such as strategies for reducing greenhouse gases that can be implemented by business and industry. Your goal might be to persuade this audience to advocate for such strategies, and support or even endorse the gradual implementation of the cost- and energy-saving methods that may not solve all the problems at once, but serve as an important first step.

In contrast, for a general audience, you may anticipate skepticism that global warming is even occurring, or that it poses any threat to the environment. Some audience members may question the cost savings, while others may assert that the steps are not nearly enough to make a difference. The clear, visual examples described above will help get your point across, but if you are also prepared to answer questions—for example, “If the earth is heating up, why has it been so cold here lately?” or “Isn’t this just part of a warming and cooling cycle that’s been happening for millions of years?”—you may make your speech ultimately more effective. By asking your listeners to consider what other signs they can observe that global warming is occurring, you might highlight a way for them to apply your speech beyond the classroom setting. By taking small steps as you introduce your assertions, rather than advocating a complete overhaul of the system or even revolution, you will more effectively engage a larger percentage of your audience.

How Much Information about My Topic Is Readily Available?

For a short speech, especially if it is a speech to entertain, you may be able to rely completely on your knowledge and ideas. But in most cases you will need to gather information so that you can make your speech interesting by telling the audience things they don’t already know. Try to choose a topic that can be researched in your college or university libraries. You may need to do some initial checking of sources to be sure the material is available.

Putting It All Together

When you have determined your general purpose, the amount of material appropriate to the time allowed for your speech, and the appropriateness for your audience, then you should be well on your way to identifying the topic for your speech. As a double-check, you should be able to state your specific purpose in one sentence. For example, the specific purpose of our “Classic Cars” speech could be stated as, “By the end of my speech, I want my audience to be more informed about the three ways in which they can determine whether a classic car is a rust bucket or diamond in the rough, and be aware of one product solution.”

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Complete the following sentence for your speech: By the end of my speech, I want the audience to be more informed (persuaded, have a better understanding of, entertained by) about ___________________.If you can’t finish the sentence, you need to go back and review the steps in this section. Make sure you have given them sufficient time and attention. An effective speech requires planning and preparation, and that takes time. Know your general and specific purpose, and make sure you can write it in one sentence. If you don’t know your purpose, the audience won’t either.
• Make a list of topic that interest you and meet the objectives of the assignment. Trade the list with a classmate and encircle three topics that you would like to learn more about on their list. Repeat this exercise. What topic received the most interest and why? Discuss the results with your classmates.
• Communication For Business Success. Authored by : anonymous. Located at : http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/communication-for-business-success/ . License : CC BY: Attribution

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10.1 Before You Choose a Topic

Learning objective.

• Describe the steps in the process of planning a speech.

As you begin to think about choosing your topic, there are a few key factors to consider. These include the purpose of the speech, its projected time length, the appropriateness of the topic for your audience, and your knowledge or the amount of information you can access on the topic. Let’s examine each of these factors.

Determine the General and Specific Purpose

It is important for you to have a clear understanding of your purpose, as all the other factors depend on it. Here’s a brief review of the five general purposes for speaking in public:

• Speech to inform . Increase the audience’s knowledge, teach about a topic or issue, and share your expertise.
• Speech to demonstrate . Show the audience how to use, operate, or do something.
• Speech to persuade . Influence the audience by presenting arguments intended to change attitudes, beliefs, or values.
• Speech to entertain . Amuse the audience by engaging them in a relatively light-hearted speech that may have a serious point or goal.
• Ceremonial speech . Perform a ritual function, such as give a toast at a wedding reception or a eulogy at a funeral.

You should be able to choose one of these options. If you find that your speech may fall into more than one category, you may need to get a better understanding of the assignment or goal. Starting out with a clear understanding of why you are doing what you are supposed do will go a long way in helping you organize, focus, prepare, and deliver your oral presentation.

Once you have determined your general purpose—or had it determined for you, if this is an assigned speech—you will still need to write your specific purpose. What specifically are you going to inform, persuade, demonstrate, or entertain your audience with? What type of ceremony is your speech intended for? A clear goal makes it much easier to develop an effective speech. Try to write in just one sentence exactly what you are going to do.

Notice that each example includes two pieces of information. The first is the general purpose (to inform or to persuade) and the second is the specific subject you intend to talk about.

Can I Cover the Topic in Time?

Your next key consideration is the amount of time in which you intend to accomplish your purpose. Consider the depth, scope, and amount of information available on the topic you have in mind. In business situations, speeches or presentations vary greatly in length, but most often the speaker needs to get the message across as quickly as possible—for example, in less than five minutes. If you are giving a speech in class, it will typically be five to seven minutes; at most it may be up to ten minutes. In those ten minutes, it would be impossible to tell your audience about the complete history of the Ford Mustang automobile. You could, however, tell them about four key body style changes since 1965. If your topic is still too broad, narrow it down into something you can reasonably cover in the time allotted. For example, focus on just the classic Mustangs, the individual differences by year, and how to tell them apart.

You may have been assigned a persuasive speech topic, linking global warming to business, but have you been given enough time to present a thorough speech on why human growth and consumption is clearly linked to global warming? Are you supposed to discuss “green” strategies of energy conservation in business, for example? The topic of global warming is quite complex, and by definition involves a great deal of information, debate over interpretations of data, and analysis on the diverse global impacts. Rather than try to explore the chemistry, the corporate debates, or the current government activities that may be involved, you can consider how visual aids may make the speech vivid for the audience. You might decide to focus on three clear examples of global warming to capture your audience’s attention and move them closer to your stated position: “green” and energy-saving strategies are good for business.

Figure 10.1

Visual aids may make this speech vivid for the audience.

Wikimedia Commons – CC BY-SA 3.0.

Perhaps you’ll start with a brownie on a plate with a big scoop of ice cream on top, asking your audience what will happen when the ice cream melts. They will probably predict that the melted ice cream will spread out over the plate in a puddle, becoming a deeper puddle as the ice cream continues to melt. Next, you might display a chart showing that globally, temperatures have risen, followed by a map of the islands that have lost beaches due to rising tides. To explain how this had happened, you may show two pictures of Antarctica—one taken in 1993 and the other in 2003, after it lost over 15 percent of its total mass as the Ross Ice Shelf melted, cracked, and broke off from the continent. You may then make a transition to what happens when water evaporates as it goes into the atmosphere. Show a picture of the hole in the ozone over Chile and much of South America, and hold up a bottle of sunscreen, saying that even SPF 45 isn’t strong enough to protect you. Finally, you may show a pie graph that illustrates that customers are aware of the environmental changes and the extent of their purchase decision is based on the perception of a product’s “green” features or support of related initiatives. In just a few minutes, you’ve given seven visual examples to support your central position and meet your stated purpose.

Will My Topic Be Interesting to My Audience?

Remember that communication is a two-way process; even if you are the only one speaking, the audience is an essential part of your speech. Put yourself in their place and imagine how to make your topic relevant for them. What information will they actually use once your speech is over?

For example, if you are speaking to a group of auto mechanics who specialize in repairing and maintaining classic cars, it might make sense to inform them about the body features of the Mustang, but they may already be quite knowledgeable about these features. If you represent a new rust treatment product used in the restoration process, they may be more interested in how it works than any specific model of car. However, if your audience belong to a general group of students or would-be car buyers, it would be more useful to inform them about how to buy a classic car and what to look for. General issues of rust may be more relevant, and can still be clearly linked to your new rust treatment product.

For a persuasive speech, in addition to considering the audience’s interests, you will also want to gauge their attitudes and beliefs. If you are speaking about global warming to a group of scientists, you can probably assume that they are familiar with the basic facts of melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and ozone depletion. In that case, you might want to focus on something more specific, such as strategies for reducing greenhouse gases that can be implemented by business and industry. Your goal might be to persuade this audience to advocate for such strategies, and support or even endorse the gradual implementation of the cost- and energy-saving methods that may not solve all the problems at once, but serve as an important first step.

In contrast, for a general audience, you may anticipate skepticism that global warming is even occurring, or that it poses any threat to the environment. Some audience members may question the cost savings, while others may assert that the steps are not nearly enough to make a difference. The clear, visual examples described above will help get your point across, but if you are also prepared to answer questions—for example, “If the earth is heating up, why has it been so cold here lately?” or “Isn’t this just part of a warming and cooling cycle that’s been happening for millions of years?”—you may make your speech ultimately more effective. By asking your listeners to consider what other signs they can observe that global warming is occurring, you might highlight a way for them to apply your speech beyond the classroom setting. By taking small steps as you introduce your assertions, rather than advocating a complete overhaul of the system or even revolution, you will more effectively engage a larger percentage of your audience.

How Much Information about My Topic Is Readily Available?

For a short speech, especially if it is a speech to entertain, you may be able to rely completely on your knowledge and ideas. But in most cases you will need to gather information so that you can make your speech interesting by telling the audience things they don’t already know. Try to choose a topic that can be researched in your college or university libraries. You may need to do some initial checking of sources to be sure the material is available.

Putting It All Together

When you have determined your general purpose, the amount of material appropriate to the time allowed for your speech, and the appropriateness for your audience, then you should be well on your way to identifying the topic for your speech. As a double-check, you should be able to state your specific purpose in one sentence. For example, the specific purpose of our “Classic Cars” speech could be stated as, “By the end of my speech, I want my audience to be more informed about the three ways in which they can determine whether a classic car is a rust bucket or diamond in the rough, and be aware of one product solution.”

Key Takeaway

Speech planning begins with knowing your general and specific purpose, your time allotment, your audience, and the amount of information available.

Complete the following sentence for your speech: By the end of my speech, I want the audience to be more informed (persuaded, have a better understanding of, entertained by) about ___________________.

If you can’t finish the sentence, you need to go back and review the steps in this section. Make sure you have given them sufficient time and attention. An effective speech requires planning and preparation, and that takes time. Know your general and specific purpose, and make sure you can write it in one sentence. If you don’t know your purpose, the audience won’t either.

• Make a list of topic that interest you and meet the objectives of the assignment. Trade the list with a classmate and encircle three topics that you would like to learn more about on their list. Repeat this exercise. What topic received the most interest and why? Discuss the results with your classmates.

Business Communication for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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5.5: Oral Presentations

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Oral presentations use many of the same techniques that are used in rhetorical writing. Planning your topic, researching, editing, reviewing, and revision are all important steps in producing a good oral presentation; the same as they are when writing an essay or research paper.

The best way to ensure that your speech is a success is to have enthusiasm for your topic and to give yourself adequate time to develop that enthusiasm into a workable talk.

Introduction

Once your topic has been decided upon and research is underway, it's time to think about how you plan to present your information.

Preparation

Of the several angles that need to be addressed in regards to delivering a speech, the most important thing to keep in mind is, "Who is my audience?" Never underestimate the importance of knowing your audience.

If you're planning to present information about new advances in interactive role-playing games on the Internet to a group of senior citizens, chances are you will need to use different terminology and examples than you would with a college-age audience composed of aspiring Software Engineers. If your audience can't understand what you're trying to say, you'll find it much harder to accomplish your objective.

Who is your Audience?

Consider the following characteristics of your audience:

• Knowledge Base
• Values & Morals

This brings us to consideration number two: what is the purpose of your speech? Is it a call to action? Strictly to inform? To persuade? Just as you will adjust your language for various audiences, so will you use different rhetorical strategies to achieve different goals.

In tandem with keeping your information audience-appropriate and on topic, your decision to use visual aids such as Powerpoint, charts, or any kind of props (in the case of demonstration presentations) will have a sizable impact on your audience, and as such should be given careful thought.

A question that you may want to ask yourself is, "How do I want to present the information?" You might want to give a bare-bones speech, have a Powerpoint presentation, or use exhibits to add character to your information. You also may ask, "How much information can I present in the allotted amount of time?" Sometimes starting a speech with something everyone can relate to helps to ease in the audience and make them more interested in what you will be discussing. Be sure to "trim the fat" off of your presentation if you are strapped for time. If you are running far over the amount of time that you have been allotted, you may need to re-assess your information and further narrow your scope. One of the most important things you should ask yourself is, "What ideas and thoughts do I want to leave the audience with?" These are the key points that you want to center your presentation around.

Knowing your audience gives you the key to gain and hold their attention, which is a central task for any presenter. Use your knowledge of the audience's demographics to draw them into the presentation from the very first sentence. By knowing what sorts of examples and illustrations you can use to make the contents of your presentation relevant and interesting, you have unlocked the door to understanding and persuasion.

Ways of Beginning a Speech

When you begin your presentation, you want the audience to feel interested and invested in what you have to share. The more interested you get them right off the bat, the more they are going to pay attention throughout the rest of the presentation. This can be done in a multitude of ways, but it is important to remember to keep your introduction relatively short; wordy introductions can lose your audience before you actually get to the speech itself. It is also important to remember that whatever opening line you choose, you must connect it to the content of your speech.

The use of quotations is a tried-and-true way of introducing a subject--if it is done correctly. Here is an example using Albert Einstein:

Opening with a Quotation

"After the nuclear bombs were dropped during World War II, the leading creator of this destructive force said, 'I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.' Albert Einstein stated this after finally seeing the bombs' full power; for he knew that he very well may have had a hand in the end of the world."

Startling statistics might help to open the eyes of your audience. Here is an example concerning incarceration rates:

Opening with a Statistic

"By the end of 2004, 724 out of every 100,000 U.S. residents were incarcerated. The United States of America has the highest jailing rate in the entire world."

Sharing a personal experience is an effective, but risky way of opening an oral presentation. Use this option only if it's the right fit for your audience. For example, if you are presenting to a group of Video Game Design students at your school on the topic of fun game play elements, you might use a personal experience like this:

Opening with a Personal Anecdote

"A couple years ago, there was this game that had just came out. Everybody was talking about how awesome this game was and how sweet the graphics were. So, I did what any gamer would do--drove directly to the store, picked up a copy of the game, brought it home, and popped it into my Xbox. My excitement heightened as the game loaded and the intro sequence played. When the game started, I was absolutely astonished ... at how bad the game play was. The game looked cool, but all you did was run around and hit the enemies in the head with a sword over and over again.

That game was not fun; Let's make a game that is fun."

Using a joke to start a presentation is often a good idea. You just better hope that your audience thinks it's funny! In most cases, this means keep your joke clean. Also, try to make the joke pertain to the subject you are presenting on. Here is an example that you might use when doing a presentation on football:

Opening with Humor

"Anyone who makes a bad call against the Detroit Lions risks ticking off their last remaining fan."

If the presentation is more formal, you may just want to give an overview of the main topics you will cover in your speech. Here is an example using college dropouts:

Opening with an Overview

"Today, I will be discussing college dropouts. I will be going over the current rate of dropouts as well as the many common reasons for it. I will also talk about the reasons to stay in college, like better knowledge, life experiences, and more pay in the future."

Methods of Presenting Your Speech

When it comes time to present your speech, there are several methods of delivery to choose from. In most cases, your subject matter will be the main criteria for deciding whether to read verbatim, memorize your script, or work from cue cards. In the case of a scholarly presentation with an extensive amount of detail, you may choose to write out your speech and deliver it as written. If your goal is to persuade your audience through high-energy speaking and eloquent prose, you may choose to script and memorize your argument. When introducing an informal topic with which you are familiar, you may find that index cards and an outline will suffice. No matter which way you choose to present your speech, you need to be  prepared !

Written preparation can include notecards or a fully spelled-out speech. In any case, it is essential that as a speaker, you provide clear talking points and transitions for your audience. When you write an essay, your audience or readers have the advantage of clearly seeing your paragraph, section, and page breaks; when you speak to an audience, you must recreate this experience verbally. To provide a recent example, President Barack Obama is known for numbering his extemporaneous responses to questions from the press or during election debates. When outlining a proposed solution, he will clearly mark its steps with one, two, and three. This rhetorical strategy is effective in helping his audience easily follow his logic and responses; though you can opt to use transitions that are somewhat more subtle, never forget that your audience cannot see the progression of your argument and you must visually outline it for them.

Manuscript Speaking

Writing the content of your speech out word for word may be appropriate for certain situations. For instance, when you are presenting critical facts or statistics, having the data at your fingertips helps to prevent errors. While misquoting information might sound like a minor offense, under certain circumstances it can have grave repercussions, such as being sued for slander. Though in most cases incorrect information will only confuse your listeners and embarrass you, it's good to remember that such mistakes won't be tolerated in many professions, including law and politics.

The drawback to a scripted speech is that the audience will almost certainly know that you are reading word for word. This has several drawbacks, including decreased eye contact and stilted delivery, both of which leech power away from your presentation and tend to create a feeling of disconnect between the listeners and the speaker.

If giving a manuscript speech is necessary, practice is the best way to avoid a bad presentation. By reading your speech aloud several times, you will become more comfortable with the rhythm and inflections of your writing. Make sure that you are thinking about where and when you can make eye contact with your audience to underscore your points and add emphasis to important parts of your speech. Particularly with a written speech, you can add visual cues to your speech to remind you when to look up or emphasize a certain point.

Memorized Speaking

When a presenter memorizes a speech, it's basically a manuscript speech minus the paper. Memorizing a speech can improve eye contact with an audience. Body language may also improve because the speaker has more freedom to move about the area, since papers/notes will not be used.

A problem posed by memorizing a speech arises when the presenter forgets the speech. This can cause an embarrassing, awkward situation and make the speaker appear inept. Plus, the speaker's tone tends to sound artificial and rehearsed.

If you choose to memorize a speech, you might want to have a sparse outline with you just to remind yourself of your talking points.

Extemporaneous Speaking

An extemporaneous speech (extemp speech) is delivered from a prepared outline or note cards. The outline and/or note cards include the main ideas and arguments of the speech. The only information that is typically copied word for word are quotes. Outlines and note cards should be used for keeping the presentation organized and for reminding the presenter what information needs to be provided.

Extemp speaking has many advantages compared to the other methods of delivery.

For one, an extemporaneous speech sounds spontaneous because the presenter is not reading word for word. Glancing at an outline or a note card that has key ideas listed allows the presenter to add detail and personality to the information being presented.

Second, similar to memorized speaking, eye contact and body language can increase. The speaker’s head is not down, buried in a manuscript.

Third, the speaker is able to take in audience feedback and respond to it as it occurs. An audience tends to change moment by moment, and a good speaker can tell when more or less detail is needed for different parts of the presentation.

In order to ensure an extemporaneous speech’s strength, it is important to practice presenting with the outline or note cards being used. Inexperienced speakers tend to worry that they will forget important information if they do not write it out on their outline/note card.Practicing your speech, even if it's just to your pet or mirror, will help increase your confidence level in both delivery and knowledge of the subject.

Note card Example for Extemp Speech

Minnesota Twins History Note card #1 I. Intro - Personal Experience II. Creation     A.President of Org. - Calvin Griffith     B.1960 - Move from "Washington Senators" to MN Twins     C.Metropolitan Stadium, built in '56     D.Show pic of 60's uniform III. Historic Twins' Players     A.Killebrew     B.Kaat     C.Oliva

Do's and Don'ts

Now that you have familiarized yourself with the various methods of preparing and delivering oral presentations, it's time to discuss the best way to present your information. You may be familiar with Marshall McLuhan's adage "the medium is the message." Don't forget that in the case of an oral presentation, you ARE the medium. In other words, no matter how well-researched and cunningly written, your speech will only be as professional as your look and manner suggest it is. Your appearance and delivery are just as important as the content of your presentation.

You've no doubt heard this from your high school guidance counselor, your parents, and a dozen brochures about successfully interviewing for employment, but it bears repeating:  First impressions are important . It is imperative that you dress to impress. For most situations in which you will be delivering an oral presentation, this means "Business Casual."

For  men , business casual usually consists of a button-front shirt, tie, dress slacks, and dress shoes (blazer is optional). Men should also be clean-shaven or else properly groom their facial hair. For  women , business casual includes a button-front shirt (or professional-looking sweater or top- on this point, women tend to have more business casual options than men), dress pants or skirt (of appropriate length), and dress shoes. Both men and women should take care not to expose too much skin.

If the speech will be presented before an audience that will be dressed formally,  wear a suit . You should try to get plenty of sleep the night before your presentation, so that you will be fresh and well rested. Before approaching the podium, take a quick look in the mirror--Hair tidy? Teeth clean? Tie straight? Under no circumstances should hats or anything that obstructs eye contact with the audience be worn.

As with other elements of public speaking, consider what your particular audience will expect of you. In some cases, dressing casually is entirely appropriate; in others, only a suit (for women and men) is acceptable.

Delivering The Message

When speaking to the audience, act poised and confident, even if that's not how you feel on the inside. Some of the most common "tells" that a person is ill at ease include fidgeting, throat clearing, and speaking too rapidly. Stand up straight and stay relatively still--don't shift your weight from foot to foot. Keep your hands quiet, and avoid putting them in your pockets. Also, try to prevent yourself from adjusting your shirt or glasses or from playing with your notecards, hair, or writing utensils. Concentrate on keeping your breathing slow and even, and try to relax. Most importantly, make eye contact with the audience,  not the floor . You should be as confident in your vocal delivery as you are in your posture. Avoid saying "Um", "Uh", or "Like". These words make you seem uncertain, unprepared, and undermine your credibility. Vary the tone of your voice and talk at a steady, conversational rate. Last, but not least, do not chew gum or suck on candy while speaking. If you're afraid that your mouth will go dry, it is acceptable to have a small glass of water at hand to sip discreetly.

Again, the most important preparation you can do is to practice your speech several times to a mirror, your pet, a friend, or family member. The more comfortable you feel with your material, the more confident you will be when presenting it to an audience.

"WOW" your audience!

Leaving the audience with a bang is necessary in order to ensure a lasting impression. Remember, the last thing presented tends to be what the audience remembers the best. The ending of a speech can be as important as the beginning and body. The conclusion should do what the introduction did, except in reverse.

Ways of Ending a Speech

After completing the presentation, the presenter should summarize the main points again without repeating verbatim what was said in the introduction. After that, you want to "Wow" your audience again with one of the techniques for introducing your speech. This can include: a quotation, a startling statistic, a personal experience, a joke, or a formal closure. Particularly if you are presenting persuasive information, you may want to end your speech with a call to action. What are you asking of your audience? What can they do after listening to your speech? Finally, asking for questions is a good way to minimize any confusion that the audience might have or bring to light any relevant connections which you may have overlooked.

Thank Your Audience

While this is one of the most important things to do at the end of a presentation, it is also one of the most forgotten things. Remember that the audience has given up their time to listen to you. They could have been anywhere else in the world doing anything they wanted to do, but they were there with you. You should appreciate that. An example of thanking your audience could look like this:

Ending with a thank-you

"That is all I have for today. I appreciate you giving me your time. Thank you very much and have a great day."

External Links

• General Information and Advice
• Managing Nervousness During Oral Presentations
• An Online Handbook
• Presentation Tips for Public Speaking

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16 questions

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No student devices needed.   Know more

"Tell them what you are going to tell them" should be incorporated into which part of the planning outline?

Introduction

Main points

Conclusions

When choosing a presentation method, consider each of the following except....

equipment availability

the allotted time

seating capacity

the audience

Demonstration should be added into your presentation because....

adds interest to your talk

makes an impact on listeners

engages the audience

all of the above

___________ can be used to win over an audience, but could also detract from the presentation

None of the above

All of the following should be included in your presentation except __________

main points

picture captions

subtopics within each main point

introduction

All of the following are examples of oral presentations except a __________

keynote at a conference

workshop on geophysical methods

conference announcements

product demonstration to customers

Oral presentation vary in length, topic and _____________

preparation

Which of the following should not be done when using humor in a presentation?

tell a joke related to the topic of the presentation

use a joke to lighten up a very serious presentation

use a short, funny story as an introduction

none of the above

The general purpose of an oral presentation include all of the following except to ____________

direct others

present your research

Being a part of a team of presenters Arek is the last speaker before the lunch break. He has been allotted 15 minutes; however, all of the speakersahead of him are running over time. The presentation must be finished before the lunch break. Which of the following is the best choice for Arek?

Present according to original plan, but without Q&A

Request a later time and present then

Shorten presentation

Signal speaker before him to speed up or cut short

All of the following statements are guidelines for effective practice of your presentation except __________

memorize your notes

practice in front of a mirror

time yourself

practice using all the equipment you will need

Body language for the presentation should not include ________

making eye contact

standing straight

"Tell them what you told them" should be incorporated into which part of the presentation?

Perfect presentation should ________

use lots of slides

use figures and tables directly from publications

use small-print

The perfect background and font color for the slideshow is _______

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• PLoS Comput Biol
• v.13(3); 2017 Mar

Ten simple rules for short and swift presentations

Christopher j. lortie.

1 Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2 National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, UCSB, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America

Scientific communication is an independent research domain and has become a fundamental component of most scientific discourse and all public outreach. It now comprises a set of critical activities for many research programs [ 1 , 2 ], including those that directly influence global and human health [ 3 ]. Scientific communication has evolved because it does not have to happen only at the final stages of a research endeavor but can be used to engage the public to fund the research ( https://scifundchallenge.org ), participate in the data collection ( http://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count ), share or crowd source the code and analyses ( https://github.com ), and process the evidence ( https://www.zooniverse.org ). Unfortunately, scientific progress in some fields such as climate change has outpaced our capacity to effectively communicate and contextualize findings for the public [ 4 ]. To mitigate this shortcoming, resources specific to scientists have been developed [ 5 – 8 ]. Boot-camp training workshops are now also offered (i.e., American Institute of Biological Sciences [AIBS]), and discussion of how academics use brief communications, such as social media tools, is present within the primary research literature [ 9 – 11 ]. An interesting related opportunity has emerged that, in some respects, bridges the gap between lengthy, detailed presentations of scientific findings and “sound bites” such as headlines or short press releases appropriate for media reporting: very short, swift presentations. Admittedly, these talks are in essence sound bites, too, but with more depth and thus requiring special consideration in terms of how to best leverage their potential [ 12 ]. These shorter presentations are commonly directed both to peers at scientific conferences and to the general public at in-person events and online. This format is particularly suited to online dissemination and sharing through YouTube, with most major scientific institutions and organizations administering channels of curated content. Many major scientific conventions include offerings of rapid-fire format talks—at first to communicate meta-science but now also to share primary research findings. The specific guidelines vary, but the slide deck is often limited by a set number of slides, or the presentation is limited by very strict, short time constraints (such as found with lightning talks). In addition, the slides can be set to rapidly autoadvance, for instance, with PechaKucha presentations. These presentation formats are also organized into open, public series and feature involvement from experts in many disciplines on numerous topics, including science. Succinct prose is thus a critical element in communicating science using these presentation formats. On a cautionary note, reducing much longer talks to these shorter formats is likely not the most effective strategy because shorter total presentation times coupled with rapid pacing can dramatically influence the scope and depth of the material. Best practices for scientific communication certainly apply to these talks, but specific strategies are nonetheless needed. For instance, as a general rule-of-thumb, talks prepared for a more general public audience should emphasize the implications of the science and use direct, natural language and visual analogies (instead of necessarily always showing complex evidence or primary data). Talks for scientific colleagues must also embrace parsimony but can accommodate more technical language depending on the specific audience, more direct evidence, and some data visualization that highlights complexity appropriately.

Effective oral prose is not dissimilar from effective writing. Depending on the literary theory and school of criticism that one subscribes, concepts such as “lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility, multiplicity,” and also consistency in writing [ 13 ] similarly apply to rapid presentations. The simple rules for making good presentations also apply [ 14 ], but short, swift presentations provide both novel challenges and unique communication opportunities. The pace is rapid, providing very limited time for the audience to read or process an individual slide. Thus, Rule 8 from a previous ten simple rules for oral presentations, “use visuals sparingly but effectively” [ 14 ], is a best practice for this context. If the slide deck autoadvances, the speaker must perfectly time delivery, and thus, preparation relative to a longer, less structured talk differs. The net time is significantly reduced from even most typical conference oral presentations, thereby limiting the potential scope of coverage of a topic and depth. This suggests a further reduction in the number of take-home messages suggested for longer presentations (i.e., Rule 4 from a previous set of rules suggests three points should be retained, whilst here it is likely fewer, such as one) [ 14 ]. These challenges can become benefits if handled effectively. A swift tempo engenders enthusiasm, energy, and the expectation that a bird’s-eye view of a topic will be provided to, quite literally, “get the audience up to speed” on the salient issues. In the spirit of light, quick, and exact (but without the lazy dog), here are ten simple rules for presentation formats that do not wait for the speaker. A slide deck and a video of these suggestions are also available ( http://bit.ly/short-swift ).

Rule 1: Plan a clear story

Avoid detours, tangents, or side anecdotes. Amusing anecdotes by accomplished speakers can be compelling, useful tools to engage and connect the speaker to the audience emotionally. In longer talks, they can also serve as a reprieve from detail-laden or inaccessible issues, and anecdotes can reframe the science into more general contexts. In a short, brisk talk, however, immediacy is paramount, and tangents are best avoided. Prepare one primary message for the audience. A total of 20 slides or 5–6 minutes, for instance, do not leave sufficient room for a story within a story. A clear story can captivate and illuminate, but a planned story is more likely to do both.

Rule 2: Provide only one major point per slide

You have a story to tell with very limited time. Ensure each slide is a meaningful step. Some of the slides can be used to support a difficult step taken by clarifying the briefest of introductions on the previous slide. This reinforcement ensures that the audience is sufficiently informed to move forward with you on the following slide. Build on your clear story (Rule 1) one step at a time. Balance support and advancement appropriately.

Rule 3: Limit use of text

It is much quicker for you to directly state the purpose of a given slide. Nonetheless, parsimonious use of text can assist the audience in scanning each slide for meaning and relevance. Treat the slides like scientific figures—“captions are not optimal” [ 15 ] but can be powerful aids if they do not detract from the visuals. An alternative approach is to show a visual/figure on a full slide, maximized for viewing, and use the subsequent slide for a single, brief sentence stating the finding or implication. This has added value in that it provides the speaker with more time to explain the findings and mimics a rapid but effective show-and-tell approach. Important data visualization can benefit from this presentation technique. This is a specific strategy that can work for some but not all. The overarching principle is that an effective talk balances text with visuals and oral explanation. One must provide enough to read but not overwhelm so as to avoid the audience hurriedly reading throughout the presentation. Better they pay attention to you than to your slide deck.

Rule 4: Use simple visuals

Slides advance very rapidly in these talk formats. Similar to the rules for better figures [ 15 ], identify the key message and avoid superfluous visual elements. Do not cut and paste figures prepared for written papers because the risk of losing the audience in a rapid talk is too great if they are expected to search, parse, or mentally rotate elements such as labels. Simplify data visualizations as needed and use color to show groupings and patterns. Visual guides and color are allowed here and not necessarily bound by the same rules as papers. Explicitly direct the audience to the key attribute of the visual you wish to highlight because there is no time for them to search for this visual point on each slide. Furthermore, if you choose to let the audience search on some slides, limit the number of slides that require more than cursory processing to one. For instance, use a single, relatively more complex visual slide to present the key figure showing the major quantitative finding of the study. A planned pause from rapid speaking is a powerful technique for the audience to catch their collective breath and also absorb this slide. Expecting an audience to do this 20 times in short order is unreasonable, and they will tune out. Use a separate slide to state the significance or interpretation for this finding and then begin speaking anew.

Rule 5: Develop a consistent theme

In style, graphical design, language, and imagery, be consistent. This will ensure that the audience can allocate processing and scanning time on each slide to the salient elements that change and not to those that do not explain, support the science, or advance the main purpose of the presentation. The “branding” of your presentation and scientific message is important [ 3 ]. Use this consistency to reinforce the importance of your brand (and thus indirectly your message). Do not develop your brand using canned templates. These templates can be attractive but generally do not support the specifics of your talk and are often superfluous decoration.

Rule 6: Repeat critical messages twice using different visuals

It is very easy to miss the main message in a rapid-fire talk, even more so than in a more traditional presentation. A total of 15 to 20 seconds to summarize the major implication or finding in a single slide is very short. Consider using a visual analog, metaphor, or simpler restatement of the major finding/implication in a subsequent slide. Typically, the assumption in these formats is that you do not cut and paste the exact same slide twice to provide oneself with more time (i.e., cheating), but you can certainly use a new slide to re-emphasize or extend the major finding. Three is a crowd and feels unduly repetitive in brief presentations. Stick with only one repetition.

Rule 7: Use the principle of parsimony in explanations

Exactitude is as virtuous in literature as in science [ 13 ]. Identify concepts that require explanation and those that do not. Then, use simple explanations. Ensure the process or finding genuinely requires that explanation. Showing a finding and limiting what you say (Rule 4 for visuals in particular) can be a powerful means to emphasize importance. This technique also has the added benefit of providing the audience with the “space” to think, even momentarily, without distraction from the ongoing speaker dialogue. Some processes and patterns require little to no explanation. Use exactly that much. Statistics, field sampling, experimental design, and implementation strategy for the process proposed should be described in at most two succinct sentences within a 15- to 20-second interval. Explain what you need and consider engagement through less, not more, on some slides within the presentation deck.

Rule 8: Allocate more than one slide to effectively end the narrative

At slides 16–17 in a 20-slide deck, begin closing the larger (and singular) story arc. Abrupt termination of a talk can be an effective means to jar or shock the audience but should be used sparingly—if ever. This technique comes at the cost of potential acceptance and reconciliation with the methods and implications offered. Do not leave the audience hanging. It is also natural for the audience to match the pacing and tempo of the speaker cognitively, and an abrupt end unnecessarily signals the end of a discussion and dialog.

Rule 9: Use the final slide for contact information and links to additional resources

The total presentation time is likely a third, or less, relative to most traditional oral papers at scientific conferences. Furthermore, many rapid-fire series do not provide time for questions or feedback at the end of each presentation. This slide should reference your social media accounts, email, and website. Leverage your broader corpus of work and ideas through these links and provide a point of contact for questions. Another trick of the trade is to publish the slide deck online and provide a link to the deck within the deck at the end of the presentation. The audience will thus have an opportunity to follow-up and review the slides at a more leisurely pace if they are so inclined. Acknowledge key support, inspirations, and collaborators.

Rule 10: Use timed practice

Speaking rapidly and clearly is not necessarily a given, even for accomplished speakers. The advancement of the slides without the speaker is a necessary condition for many of these rapid formats. Practice with the timing set in your preferred application (i.e., with autoadvance enabled via transitions between slides). There is a goldilocks effect in the number of words spoken for these formats. Too little can be awkwardly disconcerting. Too much is always disastrous. Furthermore, each slide need not suffer from the same limitations. Some require more, others less (see Rule 7 ). Use these differences to your advantage, and the optimal extent of description per slide can only be discovered through timed practice. Effective practice should include many of the following general approaches: stand up, speak out loud, rehearse several times without text or notes, invite an audience, record it, experiment with planned pauses, and vary pace to account for nerves or delays on the actual day. For rapid-fire talks, another common strategy is to practice with a few less seconds allocated per slide to compensate for lags when projected, audience reactions, or your movement on the stage.

Rules are meant to broken, but not all of them and not all at once. If you elect to violate some of the rules above (best treated as suggestions), you can captivate with a story, change tempo by saying less more slowly on some slides and more on others to convey urgency, and highlight complexity without overwhelming. The audience is also an important consideration in how strictly one should consider adhering to these or any other set of proposed simple rules for scientific communication. Public talks should emphasize implications and effectively end the narrative as proposed above, whilst presentations for a group of scientists can typically invoke parsimony for explanations more directly and use appropriately technical language. The simplicity and accessibility of visuals can also be tempered by audience, and in some instances, visuals can be used to provide an analogy versus providing direct evidence or data visualization. The goal of these specific talk formats is to synthesize a topic for all audiences without a major commitment of their time. If your topic and use/misuse of the above rules stimulates some discovery for your audience and they elect to pursue the topic in greater depth, then you have absolutely succeeded. An alternative goal in considering these simple rules and in using a brief format to communicate science is to promptly share your passion for your science. If nothing else, address the “why” of the science at hand and emphasize that science is always a celebration of process and discovery. Time is up!

Funding Statement

The author received no specific funding for this work.