Oral communication

Oral communication

Definition
Purpose of oral report
Factors to be considered in preparing
oral report
Speech presentation
Communication at business meetings
Introduction
• One of the requirements of professionalism soft
Skills.

• Perhaps the most common term for important

interpersonal habits is soft skills, as opposed to
hard skills, a term for the technical knowledge in
your field.

• Soft skills are a whole cluster of personal qualities,

habits, attitudes (for example, optimism and
friendliness), communication skills, and social
graces.

• Employers want managers and employees who

are comfortable with diverse coworkers, who can
listen actively to customers and colleagues, who
 Oral communication
Meaning:-
Oral communication is the interchange of verbal
messages between sender and receiver .
 In oral communication , the sender & receiver
exchange their thoughts or ideas verbally either
face to face discussion or through any mechanical
or electrical device like telephone ,etc.
In business oral communication is used more than
written communication . It is more natural and
informal.
Oral communication implies communication
through mouth. It includes individuals conversing
with each other, be it direct conversation or
telephonic conversation.
Speeches, presentations, discussions are all forms
of oral communication.
Oral communication…
Oral communication is generally recommended
when the communication matter is of temporary
kind or where a direct interaction is required.
Face to face communication (meetings, lectures,
conferences, interviews, etc.) is significant so as to
build a rapport and trust.
Advantages of Oral
Communication
• There is high level of understanding and
transparency in oral communication as it is
interpersonal.
• There is no element of rigidity in oral
communication. There is flexibility for allowing
changes in the decisions previously taken.
• The feedback is spontaneous in case of oral
communication. Thus, decisions can be made
quickly without any delay.
• Oral communication is not only time saving, but
it also saves upon money and efforts.
Advantages of Oral
Communication…
• Oral communication is best in case of problem
resolution. The conflicts, disputes and many
issues/differences can be put to an end by
talking them over.
• Oral communication is an essential for
teamwork and group energy.
• Oral communication promotes a receptive and
encouraging morale among organizational
employees.
• Oral communication can be best used to
transfer private and confidential
information/matter.
Disadvantages/Limitations of Oral
Communication
• Relying only on oral communication may not be
sufficient as business communication is formal
and very organized.
• Oral communication is less authentic than
written communication as they are informal and
not as organized as written communication.
• oral communication is time-saving as far as
daily interactions are concerned, but in case of
meetings, long speeches consume lot of time
and are unproductive at times.
• Oral communications are not easy to maintain
and thus they are unsteady.
Disadv…

• There may be misunderstandings as the

information is not complete and may lack
essentials.
• It requires attentiveness and great receptivity
on part of the receivers/audience.
• Oral communication (such as speeches) is not
frequently used as legal records except in
investigation work.
Purpose of oral report

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
Purpose of oral report…
Instructional purpose:
• An oral report can be primarily
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 primarily persuasive.
• You might want to convince members of
local civic organizations to support a city-
wide recycling program.
• You might appear before city council to
persuade its members to reserve certain
city-owned lands for park areas, softball
Purpose of oral report…

• Oral communication and presentations

are also a regular part of managing and
communicating with your employees.
• You'll likely plan presentations to share
company goals, discuss changes and
even offer some employee training for
new tools you use.
Presentations

• Organizations today are increasingly interested

in hiring people with good presentation skills.
• Why? The business world is changing. Technical
skills aren’t enough to guarantee success.
• You also need to be able to communicate ideas
effectively in presentations to customers,
vendors, members of your team, and
management.
• Your presentations will probably be made to
inform, influence, or motivate action.
• Speaking skills are useful at every career stage.
Presentations

• Barriers to Effective Presentation

FF
Fear

Lack of Preparation

Unable to control
one’s ideas
How to make a good Oral
Presentation

1. Getting ready for presentation

2. preparation
3. Structure of the presentation
4. Delivery of the presentation
5. Remembering 4PS
Getting Ready for an Oral Presentation

• In getting ready for an oral presentation, you

probably feel a great deal of anxiety.
• The good news is that for any presentation, you
can reduce your fears and lay the foundation for
a professional performance by focusing on five
areas:
• preparation, organization, audience rapport, visual
aids, and delivery.
Cont…
 Some amount of stage fright is helpful. The main
reason is that we are not accustomed to speak in
public
 Symptoms in beginners are trembling arms,
excessive sweating, lack of fluency etc-are
mental blocks
 Prepare the subject thoroughly

 Do some warm up exercises such as rotating arms,

moving the facial muscles, taking deep breath etc
before speaking
 Take carbohydrate rich meal before going to
make presentation
 Positive thinking-’I will make the presentation’
and ‘I am confident’
Preparation

• Preparing for an oral presentation means

identifying your purpose and understanding
the audience.
Knowing Your Purpose: the most important part
of your preparation is deciding your purpose.
• What do you want to accomplish?
• Do you want to sell a health care program to a
prospective client?
• Do you want to persuade management to
increase the marketing budget
• Do you want to inform customer service reps of
three important ways to prevent
miscommunication?
• Do you want to give advice to graduating high
school seniors?
• Whether your goal is to persuade, to inform, or
to entertain, you must have a clear idea of
Cont…d
Understanding Your Audience
• A second key element in preparation is
analyzing your audience, anticipating its
reactions, and making appropriate
adaptations.
• Audience analysis issues include size,
age, gender, experience, attitude, and
expectations.
• Audiences may fall into four categories:
friendly, neutral, uninterested and hostile
Organizing Content for a
Powerful impact
• Once you have determined your purpose and
analyzed the audience, you are ready to collect
information and organize it logically.
• Good organization and conscious repetition are
the two most powerful keys to audience
comprehension and retention.
• In fact, many speech experts recommend the
following admittedly repetitious, but effective,
plan:
Step 1: Tell them what you are going to say.
Step 2: Say it.
Step 3: Tell them what you have just said.
Content of presentation

1. It should not be too difficult to

understand
2. If too long shorten the content
according to the time available
3. Include examples and instructions
to support the argument
Content/structure of the presentation

Introductio • Introduce the

topic
n
• Provide detail information to the
Bod audience about the topic
• Use anecdotes or raise question to arouse
y interest.

• State the goal and uses of the

Conclusio presentation
• Leave the audience with a positive
n feeling about
you and your ideas
Cont…d

Capturing Attention in the introduction

• Avoid such banalities (It is a pleasure to be here,
I’m honored to be asked to speak)
• striving to accomplish three goals in the
introduction to your presentation:
• Capture listeners’ attention and get them
involved.
• Identify yourself and establish your credibility.
• Preview your main points.
Cont…d
Organizing the Body
• The biggest problem with most oral presentations
is a failure to focus on a few principal ideas.
• Therefore, the body of your short presentation (20
or fewer minutes) should include a limited number
of main points, say, two to four.
• Develop each main point with adequate, but not
excessive, explanation and details.
• Too many details can obscure the main message,
so keep your presentation simple and logical.
• Remember, listeners have no pages to review
should they become confused.
Cont…d
Summarizing in the Conclusion
• Nervous speakers often rush to wrap up their
presentations because they can’t wait to flee
the stage.
• But listeners will remember the conclusion more
than any part of a speech.
• That is why you should spend some time to
make it most effective. Strive to achieve three
goals:
• Summarize the main themes of the
presentation.
• Leave the audience with a specific and
memorable “takeaway.”
• Include a statement that allows you to leave the
Delivery of presentation

Adjust The quality of the voice-

• Adjust your tone according to the size of the
audience
• Use micro phone or collar mike
• Give pauses to allow the listener to understand
• Pronounce difficult words properly and correctly
Cont…
Building rapport:
• Good speakers are adept at building audience
rapport.
• They form a bond with the audience; they
entertain as well as inform.
• They keep their audience involved throughout
the presentation. How do they do it?
• From observations of successful and
unsuccessful speakers,
Delivery of presentation…

• use a number of verbal and nonverbal

techniques to connect with the audience.
• Some of their helpful techniques include providing
effective imagery, supplying verbal signposts, and
using body language strategically.

• Look into the eyes of the audience while

presenting
• Shift from one pair of eye to another so that
you have a glance of all of them.
• Try to involve the audience in present action by
asking questions
• Try to control the attention
• To enliven your presentation and enhance
comprehension, try using some of the following
techniques.
• Keep your imagery realistic and credible.
• Present Analogies: is a comparison of similar
traits between dissimilar things can be effective
• For example, Product development is similar to the
process of conceiving, carrying, and delivering a baby.
• Utilize Metaphors: Is a comparison between
otherwise dissimilar things without using the
words like or as results in a metaphor.
• For example, Our competitor’s CEO is a snake when it
comes to negotiating.
Cont…d
• Similes: A comparison that includes the words
like or as is a simile.
• For example, Our CEO was as angry as a bear with a
sore foot when he read the government report.
• Personal anecdotes:
• Nothing connects you faster or better with your
audience than a good personal story.
• Personalized statistics.:
• Although often misused, statistics stay with
people— particularly when they relate directly to the
audience.
Cont…d
Verbal Signposts
• Speakers must remember that listeners, unlike
readers of a report, cannot control the rate of
presentation or flip back through pages to review
main points.
• As a result, listeners get lost easily.
• Knowledgeable speakers help the audience
recognize the organization and main points in an
oral message with verbal signposts.
• They keep listeners on track by including helpful
previews, summaries, and transitions, such as
these:
• Previewing: The next segment of my talk presents
three reasons for . . . .
• Summarizing: You see, then, that the most significant
factors are . . . .
Cont…
Control Non-verbal messages
• Look terrific! Like it or not, you will be judged by
your appearance.
• Animate your body. Be enthusiastic and let your
body show it. Stand with good posture to show
confidence.
• Speak extemporaneously. Do not read from notes
or a manuscript, but speak freely.
• Punctuate your words. You can keep your audience
interested by varying your tone, volume, pitch,
and pace.
• Use appropriate eye contact. Maintaining eye
contact with your audience shows that you are
confident and prepared.
• Get out from behind the podium. Avoid being
Cont…d
Planning Visual Aids
• Good visual aids have many purposes.
• They emphasize and clarify main points, thus
improving comprehension and retention.
• They increase audience interest, and they
make the presenter appear more professional,
better prepared, and more persuasive.
• Use visual aids effectively.
• Discuss and interpret each visual aid for the
audience.
During Your Presentation…
• Begin with a pause.
• When you first approach the audience, take a
moment to adjust your notes and make yourself
comfortable. Establish your control of the situation.
• Present your first sentence from memory.
• By memorizing your opening, you can immediately
establish rapport with the audience through eye contact.
You will also sound confident and knowledgeable.
• Maintain eye contact.
• If the size of the audience overwhelms you, pick
out two individuals on the right and two on the left.
• Talk directly to these people.
• Don’t ignore listeners in the back of the room. If you are
presenting to a smaller audience, try to make eye
contact with everyone in the room at least once during
your presentation.
Cont…d
• Control your voice and vocabulary.
• This means speaking in moderated tones
but loudly enough to be heard. Eliminate verbal
static, such as ah, er, like, you know, and um.
• Skip the apologies.
• Don’t begin with a weak opening, such as I will not
take much time. I know you are busy. Or: I know you
have heard this before, but we need to review it anyway.
• Incorporate pauses when appropriate.
• Silence can be effective especially when you are
transitioning from one point to another.
• Show enthusiasm.
• If you are not excited about your topic, how can
you expect your audience to be?
Cont…d
• Put the brakes on.
• Many novice speakers talk too rapidly, displaying
their nervousness and making it difficult for audience
members to understand their ideas. Slow down and
listen to what you are saying.
• Move naturally.
• If you have a lectern, don’t remain glued to it.
Move about casually and naturally.
• Summarize your main points and arrive at
the high point of your talk.
• Conclude your presentation by reiterating your main
points or by emphasizing what you want the audience to
think, do, or remember.
After Your Presentation

• Distribute handouts.
• Encourage questions.
• Reinforce your main points.
• Keep control. Don’t allow one individual to take
over. Keep the entire audience involved.
• Avoid Yes, but answers. The word but
immediately cancels any preceding message.
Try replacing it with and. For example, Yes, X
has been tried. And Y works even better
because . . . .
• End with a summary and appreciation.
Remembering 4PS

Plannin
g

Preparat
io n 4P Practic
e

S
Perfor
m
Becoming a Professional Communicator
in Face-to-Face Settings

• Because today’s technologies provide many

alternate communication channels, you may
think that face-to-face communication is no
longer essential or even important in business
and professional transactions.
• One-dimensional communication technologies
cannot replace the richness or effectiveness of
face-to-face communication.
• Face-to-face conversation has many
advantages. It allows you to be persuasive and
expressive because you can use your voice and
body language to make a point.
Cont…d
• Face-to-face conversation has many advantages.
• It allows you to be persuasive and expressive
because you can use your voice and body
language to make a point.
• You are less likely to be misunderstood because
you can read feedback and make needed
adjustments.
• In conflict resolution, you can reach a solution
more efficiently and cooperate to create greater
levels of mutual benefit when communicating
face-to-face.
• Moreover, people want to see each other to satisfy
a deep human need for social interaction.
• For numerous reasons communicating in person
remains the most effective of all communication
channels.
Cont…d

Using Your Voice as a

Communication Tool
• It has been said that language provides the
words, but your voice is the music that makes
words meaningful.
• Celebrities, business executives, and everyday
people consult voice and speech therapists to
help them shake bad habits or just help them
speak so that they can be understood and not
sound less intelligent than they are.
Cont…d
• Pronunciation. Proper pronunciation involves
saying words correctly and clearly with the
accepted sounds and accented syllables.
• You will have a distinct advantage in your job if,
through training and practice, you learn to
pronounce words correctly.
• How can you improve your pronunciation skills?
The best ways are to listen carefully to educated
people, to look words up in the dictionary, and
to practice.
Cont…d
• Voice Quality. The quality of your voice sends
a nonverbal message to listeners.
• It identifies your personality and your mood.
• Some voices sound enthusiastic and friendly,
conveying the impression of an upbeat person
who is happy to be with the listener.
• But voices can also sound controlling,
patronizing, slow-witted, angry, bored, or
childish.
Cont…d
• Pitch-Effective speakers use a relaxed,
controlled, well-pitched voice to attract listeners
to their message.
• Pitch refers to sound vibration frequency; that
is, the highness or lowness of a sound.
• Voices are most engaging when they rise and
fall in conversational tones.
• Flat, monotone voices are considered boring
and ineffectual.
Cont…d
• Volume and rate. The volume of your voice is
the degree of loudness or the intensity of sound.
• Just as you adjust the volume on your radio or
television set, you should adjust the volume of
your speaking to the occasion and your listeners.
• Rate refers to the pace of your speech.
• If you speak too slowly, listeners are bored and
their attention wanders.
• If you speak too quickly, listeners may not be able
to understand you.
• Most people normally talk at about 125 words a
minute. Monitor the nonverbal signs of your
listeners and adjust your volume and rate as
needed.
Cont…d
• Emphasis.
• By emphasizing or stressing certain words, you
can change the meaning you are expressing.
• To make your message interesting and natural,
use emphasis appropriately.
Conducting Productive Business
Meetings
• As businesses become more team oriented and
management becomes more participatory, people are
attending more meetings than ever.
• Despite heavy reliance on e-mail and the growing use
of wireless devices to stay connected, meetings are still
the most comfortable way to exchange information.
• However, many meetings are a waste of time.
• Meetings consist of three or more individuals who
gather to pool information, solicit feedback, clarify
policy, seek consensus, and solve problems.
• For you, however, meetings have another important
purpose. They represent opportunities.
• Because they are a prime tool for developing staff,
they are career-critical. The inability to run an effective
meeting can sink a career.
Before the Meeting

• Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to

prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
• If you are in charge of a meeting, give yourself
plenty of preparation time to guarantee the
meeting’s success.
• Before the meeting, determine your purpose,
decide how and where to meet, organize an
agenda, decide who to invite, and prepare the
meeting location and materials.
Cont…d
• Determining Your Purpose.
• Before you do anything else, you must decide the
purpose of your meeting and whether a meeting is
even necessary.
• No meeting should be called unless the topic is
important, can’t wait, and requires an exchange of
ideas.
• If the flow of information is strictly one way and
no immediate feedback will result, then don’t
schedule a meeting.
• Remember, the real expense of a meeting is the
lost productivity of all the people attending.
• To decide whether the purpose of the meeting is
valid, it is a good idea to consult the key people
who will be attending.
Cont…d
Deciding How and Where to Meet.
• Once you have determined that a meeting is
necessary, you must decide whether to meet
face-to-face or virtually.
• If you decide to meet face-to-face, reserve a
meeting room.
• If you decide to meet virtually, make any
necessary advance arrangements
Cont…d
Organizing an Agenda.
• Prepare an agenda of topics to be discussed
during the meeting.
• Also include any reports or materials that
participants should read in advance.
• For continuing groups, you might also include a
copy of the minutes of the previous meeting.
• To keep meetings productive, limit the number of
agenda items.
• Remember, the narrower the focus, the greater
the chances for success.
• Consider putting items that will be completed
quickly near the beginning of the agenda to give
the group a sense of accomplishment.
Cont…d

A good agenda covers the following information:

• Date and place of meeting
• Start time and end time
• Brief description of each topic, in order of
priority, including names of individuals who
are responsible for performing some action
• Proposed allotment of time for each topic
• Any pre-meeting preparation expected of
participants
Cont…d
• Inviting Participants.:
• The number of meeting participants is
determined by the purpose of the meeting
• Preparing the Meeting Location and
Materials.
• If you are meeting face-to-face, decide the
layout of the room.
• To maximize collaboration and participation, try
to arrange tables and chairs in a circle or a
square so that all participants can see one
another.
• Moreover, where you sit at the table or stand in
the room signals whether you wish to be in
charge or are willing to share leadership.
• Set up any presentation equipment that will be
needed. Make copies of documents that will be
handed out during the meeting. Arrange for
Cont…d
During the Meeting
Handling Difficult Group Members
• When individuals are performing in a dysfunctional
role (such as blocking discussion, monopolizing
the conversation, attacking other speakers, joking
excessively, not paying attention, or withdrawing),
they should be handled with care and tact.

• The following specific techniques can help a

meeting leader control some group members
and draw others out
• Lay down the rules in an opening statement.
Give a specific overall summary of topics, time
allotment, and expected behavior. Warn that
speakers who digress will be interrupted.
• Seat potentially dysfunctional members
strategically. Experts suggest seating a difficult
group member immediately next to the leader.
Cont…d
• Avoid direct eye contact. In American society
direct eye contact is a nonverbal signal that
encourages talking. Thus, when asking a
question of the group, look only at those
whom you wish to answer.
• Assign dysfunctional members specific tasks.
Ask a potentially disruptive person, for
example, to be the group recorder.
• Ask members to speak in a specific order.
Ordering comments creates an artificial, rigid
climate and should be done only when
absolutely necessary. But such a regimen
ensures that everyone gets a chance to
participate.
Cont…d
• Interrupt monopolizers.
• If a difficult member dominates a discussion, wait for
a pause and then break in. Summarize briefly the
previous comments or ask someone else for an
opinion.
• Encourage non-talkers.
• Give only positive feedback to the comments of
reticent members. Ask them direct questions about
which you know they have information or opinions.
• Give praise and encouragement to those who
seem to need it, including the distracters, the
monopolizers, the blockers, and the withdrawn.
 Ending the Meeting and Following up
• How do you know when to stop a meeting?
• Many factors determine when a meeting should be
adjourned, including
• when the original objectives have been accomplished,
• when the group has reached an impasse,
• when the agreed-upon ending time arrives.
• To show respect for participants, the leader should
be sure the meeting stops at the promised time.
• It may be necessary to table (postpone for another
meeting) some unfinished agenda items.
• Concluding a meeting effectively helps participants
recognize what was accomplished so that they feel
that the meeting was worthwhile.