Good morning everybody … Thank you for coming to my presentation … I hope you'll findit interesting and informative … The topic of my presentation this morning is ‘how to planand deliver an effective oral presentation' … As you know, oral presentations play animportant part in our studies here at the PolyU … In many of the courses we take, our tutorsoften ask us to carry out research and then write up a paper or report on a particular aspect ofthe topic … And very often we are expected to give a presentation on the topic we'veresearched, and in many cases these presentations are an important part of the assessment … Especially in the final year, when many departments require students to present the findingsof their third-year project.
So, clearly, knowing how to give effective presentations is absolutely vital for all of us … Buthow often do you see a really good presentation? … It's true many of us have a goodunderstanding of our subjects … Many of us have a good command of English … And manyof us have the ability to put across our ideas to an audience … But by no means do all of ushave the ability to put all these ingredients together and deliver a really top-classpresentations … Why is this? … Well, the simple fact is that oral presentations are hard todo … Hard to plan … Hard to organise … Hard to deliver … Not only have we got to masterthe subject matter … Which can often be very complex … But we've also got tocommunicate our ideas in a second language … While at the same time worrying about ourvisual aids, timing, body language, and of course our tutor sitting at the back.
Now, although many of these problems will never entirely disappear, with careful preparation,planning and practice you'll be able to develop the strategies you need in order to delivereffective presentations, both here at the PolyU and in your future career … And this is themain theme of my presentation this morning … How to give an effective oral presentation … Now, I'd like to divide my presentation into three main areas … To start with, I'm going tolook at how to plan your presentation … Then I'll move on to talk about the ways in whichyou can organise and write up your ideas … And finally I'll give you some suggestions abouthow to communicate your message … So, planning the presentation … Organising thepresentation … and delivering the presentation.
Now, I'd like to start by looking at how to plan your presentation … And here I'd like tomention three points … Your purpose … Your audience … And the setting for thepresentation … Now before I begin, I should point out that when people advise students aboutplanning presentations they usually include suggestions about how to select and narrow downa topic … Now, while this is of course important, for the purposes of my presentation today,I'm going to assume that this has already been decided … Either by you or your tutor … So,I'll assume that you've chosen the topic … Carried out the research … Written up a report orpaper … And that you're now ready to begin the process of planning a presentation based onyour written work.
Now, the first thing you have to consider in the planning process is the purpose of yourpresentation … There are two ways of looking at the purpose … The first is the generalpurpose of the presentation … In other words, do you want to inform … Entertain …Persuade … And so on … I guess the general purpose of my presentation today is to informor enlighten … As well as thinking about the general purpose of your presentation, you'llneed to think about its specific purpose … And by this I mean what you want toaccomplish … What you want to achieve … Essentially this involves asking ‘why' … Whyam I giving this presentation? … Well, the specific purpose of this presentation is to give yousome practical advice and suggestions about planning, organising and delivering effective oralpresentations at university … That's what I'm trying to accomplish.
The second aspect of planning involves thinking about the needs and interests of youraudience, and the context in which your presentation is taking place … You should aim atbeing an audience-centred speaker … In other words, a speaker who really understands andcommunicates with an audience … If you want to connect with your audience, you need tounderstand who they are … These are some of the things you need to consider … Theirknowledge … Their level of interest … Their attitudes … Their needs … As well ascharacteristics like age, sex, and ethnic group.
Apart from thinking about your audience you also need to consider the context or setting inwhich the presentation is taking place … These are just a few of the questions you need to askyourself … How many people will be coming? … Where is the presentation taking place? …What are the seating arrangements? … What facilities are available? … Clearly, giving a longassessed presentation to fifty professionals in a well-equipped lecture theatre will be quitedifferent from giving a short talk to a group of classmates in a small seminar room … Whatyou have to do when planning your presentation is think carefully about the kind of peopleyou're going to talk to and the kind of setting in which it's going to take place, and then adapt,tailor, customise your presentation so that it's appropriate for the audience and the occasion.
OK, having looked at how to plan presentations, I'd now like to consider the ways in whichyou can organise and prepare notes for your presentation … And I'm going to do this by, first,looking at how to organise your ideas and information in the body of your presentation … Then I'll give you some suggestions about how to introduce and conclude yourpresentation … And finally I'll look at the differences between written and spoken English,and the ways that you can use your awareness of these differences to prepare notes for your presentation.
Now, when you consider the organisation of your presentation, I think it's best to start withthe body … If the body is clearly and logically organised your presentation will be easier forthe audience to understand and remember … I think the best way to organise the body is todevise three or four main points, which of course are related to the purpose and centralmessage of your presentation … And then select supporting points to develop your mainpoints … Now when you're actually delivering your presentation it's important to supplytransitions to help your audience follow your presentation as you move from one point toanother … For example, I'm now coming to the end of my section on the body so I need to saysomething to link this section with the next … So I'll say … Well, I think that covers most ofthe points about organising the body, and now I'd like to move on to look at how you canintroduce your presentation.
Now, whether we like it or not, the fact is that first impressions count … And this very muchapplies to presentations … What you say … How you say it … How you look … These allcontribute to the impression that you make at the beginning of your presentation … Making agood first impression is clearly an important factor in giving successful presentations … So,how do we do this? … Well, I think there are two basic ingredients … First, gain the attentionand interest of the audience … And you can do this by doing things like asking a question … Using a quotation … Describing a problem … Referring to a recent event … Relating thetopic to your audience's needs … In fact that's what I did at the beginning of mypresentation … The other thing you need to do is to orient your listeners to thepresentation … To do this you need to identify the topic and the purpose of yourpresentation … Give relevant background material … And provide an overview of the mainpoints you're going to talk about … If you do this, your audience will be prepared bothintellectually and psychologically for your presentation.
I said a moment ago that first impressions count … Well, it's also true that last impressionscount … So you should aim at leaving your audience with a lasting impression of both youand your message by making your conclusion brief, clear and memorable … Easier said thandone perhaps … But here are three suggestions … First, try to signal to your audience, eitherverbally or non-verbally, that you're coming to the end of the presentation … Second,summarise the main ideas of the presentation … And third, try to reinforce the centralmessage of your presentation.
OK, you've organised the body of your presentation … And you've worked you're yourintroduction and conclusion … You know what you're going to say and the order in whichyou're going to say it … But how are you going to say it? … What about the words thatyou're going to use? … Well, I think it's fair to say that a lot of speakers don't really payattention to the language they use, or rather the type of language they use … They tend to justread out their report or paper, or recite it from memory … The problem is that written Englishis quite different from spoken English … When we speak we tend to use simplestraightforward words, short sentences or sentence fragments … We tend to use personalpronouns and contractions and ask a lot of questions … We also tend to repeat things … Information isn't packed in so densely … If you read straight from a script, you'll include lotsof features of written academic language … Complex sentences, passive voice, long wordsand so on … To see what I mean, all you have to do is listen to someone reading from atextbook or a journal … After bout thirty seconds you'll be confused, bored or asleep … Written language is hard to understand … Hard to process … And you need to be aware ofthis when you prepare the notes for your presentation, and this is what I'd like to move onto … to talk about next.
Now, I've just mentioned that it's not a good idea to read out your report or paper … Even ifyou're very good at writing natural ‘spoken' English, it'd still be really difficult to memoriseall that material … On the other hand, you can't just speak off the top of your head … You'vegot to have something to refer to … I think the best solution to this problem is to prepare adetailed outline or plan of the whole presentation … This would include all the main sectionsand sub-sections, and would serve as a kind of blueprint for your presentation … After youhave devised the outline, you can prepare speaking notes for each of the sections of thepresentation … Probably the best way to do this is to prepare note cards with key words,which you can use as prompts … But remember, stick to key words … Don't write out fullsentences otherwise you'll be back to the problem of written English.
So far I've concentrated on how to plan and organise your presentations … In other words,what you should dobeforeyou actually give your presentation … What I'd like to talk aboutnow … And this is the last main point … Is how you can deliver your presentationeffectively … And by this I mean the things you need to considerduringthe presentation … I'd like to concentrate on three aspects of delivery … First, visual aids … Second, non-verbalcommunication … And third, question-and-answer session at the end of the presentation.
It goes without saying that using visual aids like charts, photos and computer graphics canhelp you to get your message across … They can make your presentation interesting, clearand memorable … But you need to ensure that you use your visual aids effectively … Hereare a few basic tips … Make sure your visual aids actually support what you're saying … Make sure they are simple and clear … Make sure that everyone can see them … And makesure you explain them clearly and fully.
The second thing to consider when delivering your presentation is non-verbalcommunication … Now, by non-verbal communication I mean communicating withoutwords … In your presentation you will communicate your message through spoken andwritten language … And body language … You need to ensure that your personal appearance,your facial expressions, your eye contact, your posture, your movements, your gestures … Allgive the audience the impression that you're enthusiastic, confident and professional … Thatyou really want to communicate with them … That you really want to build up a rapport withthem.
The last point I'd like to talk about is the question-and-answer session at the end of yourpresentation … The question-and-answer session gives the audience the chance to find outmore about the topic and in some cases ask for clarification about what you've been saying … How well you deal with the questions and the attitude you show towards your questioners willinfluence the way people feel about you and your presentation as a whole … I think there aretwo main points to consider here … The first is to anticipate the kinds of questions that mightbe asked and then prepare possible answers … This is particularly important if you'representing a final-year project, when subject lecturers often like to test students out withdifficult questions … What you can do in this situation is to think about possible weaknessesor limitations in your project … And then try to think of ways that you can counter thesecriticisms … But make sure you do this in a fair and open way … And this is the second pointI want to make … Don't be too defensive if people challenge you … Show that you welcome questions … Make eye contact with your questioners … Show that you value theirquestions … And try to answer them to the best of your ability … If you disagree withsomeone, do so in a respectful and reasonable way … Don't insult the questioner by implyingthat his or her question is meaningless or irrelevant or stupid.
Well, I think that covers most of the things I want to say about how to give effective oralpresentations … In my presentation I've focused on three main areas … Planning yourpresentation … Organising your presentation … And delivering your presentation … Toconclude my presentation today, I'd like to sum up the points I've made in a way that I hopeyou'll find easy to remember … And these are six key points you need to consider during thepresentation process … These are the Principles of Presentation … Purpose … What is theobjective of your presentation? … People … Who will you be talking to? … Preparation … What kinds of information and ideas will you include? … Planning … How will you organiseyour material? … Personality … How can you create a positive self-image for yourself … And finally, performance … How can you communicate your ideas effectively? … These arethe principles of presentation … These are the principles that each and every one of you willneed to consider if you want to give effective presentations here at the PolyU. Thank you.
