Oral Presentation
Developing Presentation Skills:
1. Hobby
2. Practice
3. Facilitation, by (learning, watching, etc.)
** The ability to conduct an oral presentation is as important as the ability to write well.
** Some studies suggest that oral presentation skills are of crucial importance to get promoted to upper levels
in profession or career
Steps To Give Successful Presentation:
1. Prepare properly
2. Practice adequately
3. Deliver the presentation with energy and enthusiasm
Preparation:
Listeners have a limited attention span and cannot be expected to follow everything you
say, so you have to organize your presentation in a way that listeners will go away from your
talk with your main points clear in their minds … this can be achieved by:
1. Analyze your audience and limit your topic accordingly
2. Determine your primary purpose
3. Select effective supporting information
4. Choose an appropriate pattern of organization
5. Prepare an outline
6. Select an appropriate visual aids
7. Prepare a suitable introduction
8. Prepare a closing summary
Analyze your audience and limit your topic accordingly:
1. What do your listeners know about the topic?
2. What do they need and want to know about it?
3. How much information about it can they absorb?
Determine your primary purpose:
1. Is there some main point you want to get across?
2. Is there something you want your listeners to believe, or be able to do?
** You should have your primary purpose clear in your mind so that you can build your presentation around.
Select effective supporting information:
1. What kind of information will best support your main point?
2. What kind of information will appeal to your listeners?
** Choose wisely, listeners are able to remember no more than three or four main supporting points and no
more than two or three supporting details for each supporting point.
Choose an appropriate pattern of organization:
The pattern of organization depends on the topic you are presenting
1. Example one: The topic is about How to do something >> Pattern of organization will be
in a form of list of instructions, chronologically ordered.
2. Example two: The topic is about describing an experiment >> this is standard descriptive
pattern i.e.: Introduction, materials, procedure, results, discussion, and conclusion.
** There are many other patterns, whichever one you choose should be appropriate for the subject matter, to
your primary purpose, and to your audience, and it should be followed consistently.
Prepare an outline:
1. Keep it brief: Main points, main supporting points only
2. Arranged it in accordance to the pattern of organization.
3. Do not write a complete text unless the technical content or circumstances warrant it.
Select an appropriate visual aids:
Visual aids: A tool considered as attention-getters used to make an impact on the audience
and the ability to retain information increases by almost 40 % when visual aids are used.
**Cue cards allow you to remember all your important points and stay in track without reading from notes.
**Remember, one picture is worth more than thousand of words, they clarify your message.
**Choose your visual aids carefully… The best to use is what your audience expects.
** People remember the visual part of speeches far better than they do the verbal parts.
Types of visual aids:
1. Overhead transparencies
2. Slides
3. Flip charts
4. Chalkboard
5. Handouts
6. Tree-dimensional objects
7. Computer screen projection
** Your choice should depend ultimately on the particular requirements and purpose of your presentation.
** People who keep it simple the longest are the most successful.
Prepare a suitable introduction:
1. The audience must have enough background information to understand and appreciate
your presentation.
2. If you are addressing a problem state it clearly so that the audience will appreciate your
proposed solution.
3. Be sure to provide a basic orientation and to define important terms.
Prepare a closing summary:
1. You should plan to take advantage of human psychology “Final words best of all”.
2. Repeat and reemphasize your most important bottom line conclusion and
recommendation, along with the major reasons for them.
3. Make closing comments crisply and emphatically.
Practice:
1. Helpful to ultimate success
2. Allows you to spot the flaws in a presentation and eliminate them
3. Enables you to work on making smooth transition from section to section
4. Gives you an idea of how long your presentation will take
5. The best way to practice is by rounding up a few friends and trying it out on them
6. Video tape recorder is a second alternative
7. Do not forget to familiarize yourself with the equipment you will be using
8. Know your topic well (never try to fake an answer)
9. Get rid of your distracting habits
** Remember, practice promotes greater self-confidence yielding to a more convincing, emphatic, and
effective style of delivery.
** Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse is the key to success
Delivery:
1. Personal appearance is one of the most powerful visual aids you have
- First impression: (Appearance 55%) … (Behavior 38%) … (Words 7%)
2. Make sure you are properly dressed and groomed, it will give you a boost of confidence.
3. Convert your nervousness into the kind of energy that injects liveliness, enthusiasm, and
animation into your speech
4. Establish a contact with your audience before you give your presentation. Break the ice.
5. Genuine humor is almost the effective in public gathering. Do not force it.
6. Concentrate your full attention on what you want to say.
7. Stick to your outlines and make sure you cover all the main supporting points.
8. Keep up the pace do not waste time
9. Keep eye contact
[Link] positive gestures
[Link] questions from the audience, but do not let questions disrupt your
presentation
[Link] ever show any antagonism toward a questioner.
** Remember, there is only a silly answer but not a silly question
** It is best to defuse any hostility in public and try to deal with it in private
Presentation elements:
1. Introduction
2. Visual Aids
3. Timeliness
- Allow 5 minutes for questions and should fill up the time allocated for the presentation
4. Topic Ordering
- In a logical sequence, top-down, subsystems.
- Link, repeat and summarize
5. Poise
- Eye contact
- Platform manners
- Excessive use of pointers
- Distracting gestures
6. Communication Skills
- Judged with regard to proper use of English
- “Ahs” or other unnecessary words
- Talk loud enough so the audience can hear you
- Monotone
7. Technical Merit (Audience interest)
- Level of presentation should be appropriate for audience
- Know your audience and make them curious
- Logical development of problem, understandability and choice of words
- Methods and results clearly and concisely presented
Conclusion and summary:
1. Discussion and Conclusion should be presented and validated
2. Integrated with current level of knowledge (are there other products out there that are
similar)
3. Confidence: Appearance and Voice
Acknowledgements:
1. Keep track of those to be acknowledged-keep a diary so that you don t forget anyone.
2. Include: your sponsor, outside sources (companies or agencies), other departments on
campus. Avoid thanking individuals teaching the course.
3. Avoid cliches, such as “without whose help” ... Be specific, or keep it simple
Appearance:
Since this is a formal presentation, business dress is expected
Some Additional comments:
1. Purpose accomplished?
- Is audience informed or persuaded
2. Enthusiasm
3. Correctness
- Facts and theory correct
4. Audience
- Learn as much as you can about the audience and speak to their level.
5. Be natural and conversational when speaking