CHAPTER 28 – PREPEARING ORAL PRESENTATIONS

Before we begin writing our presentation, we need to define our purpose and analyze our audience. Do we want to inform, persuade, or entertain? We should expect to write more than one draft. Presentations, like papers, require revisions. Our presentation will consist of three main parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion. A good introduction must grab the audience’s attention. We can explain why our presentation is of value to our audience. The body of our presentation contains the main points and supporting data. Our format (persuasive, chronological, cause and effect, or comparison and contrast) should support our purpose. We should write our transitions to make a smooth flow from idea to idea. In our transitions, emphasize what we have covered and where we are headed. In your conclusion, we should review our key points and why they are significant. We should be sure to present no new information, only what we have already covered. Be brief and to the point. We should prepare our notes to use during our presentation. Notes help guide you through our presentation. An outline is helpful because we can highlight our main points and indent supporting data. Be brief but specific. We should have steady eye contact, Pause for emphasis, or slow down. We should use overhead visuals to guide our audience through the presentation. Keep our overheads simple, one topic per overhead, three to ten lines per overhead, and keep graphics basic. Use a large enough font size (30+) so the audience can easily read our overheads. We should use appropriate colors and type face because we do not want to distract our audience.