7.2. Preparing and delivering formal spoken presentation

1) Analyse your audience

First thing to be done when preparing an oral presentation is to iden­tify your audience as precisely as possible. It is not always an easy task, but is necessary. Different audiences require and are prepared for different amount and depths of information. The success of your presentation de­pends on knowing those in advance.

The common division of audiences into categories is as follows:

a) experts - these are the people who know the theory and the product inside and out, they know everything about it. Moreover, they usually have ad­vanced degrees, work in academic settings or in research and development areas of the government and business world.

b) technicians - these people build, operate, maintain, and repair the stuff that experts design and theorise about. Theirs is a highly technical knowl­edge as well, but of a more practical nature.

c) executives - they make business, economic, administrative, legal, gov­ernmental, political decisions on the stuff that the experts and technicians work with. For instance, if it is a new product, they decide whether to pro­duce and market it, or if it is a new power technology, they decide whether the city should implement it. Executives are likely to have little technical knowledge.

d) nonspecialists - these have the least technical knowledge of all. Their in­terest is mostly practical. They may want to know how to use a new product to accomplish their needs.

Audience must also be analysed in terms of background, needs and interests, demographic characteristics. Although you may know to what category of audience you will be talking to, due to the unprecedented spe­cialisation, and subspecialisation of knowledge, even the experts may not be equally knowledgeable or trained in the same areas. So, you will have to make a sound judgment as to how much general information you should in­clude. As for their needs, to plan your presentation you should be aware of how they want to use the information you offer and according to that tailor the form and content of your speech. Last, but in no way least, are some demographic characteristics, they may be age groups, political preferences, mentality, etc., that have to be taken into account for the purpose of com­plete, civilised communication.

Connecting with your audience is the major task of your first minute or so of your talk. To achieve this, you may:

- present your topic as an interesting problem or question that needs to be resolved;

- ask the audience a thought-provoking question that your presentation will answer;

- offer a brief story or anecdote that leads into your topic.

2) Know your task

When you first begin your talk, make certain you can clearly explain what you are attempting to accomplish. Identify the topic of your presenta­tion in a complete sentence that explains the significance of your subject to the listeners. You need to specify the kinds and amount of information that you must convey to the audience, identify the key points that you want the audience to understand, and list the important questions that you want to answer in your presentation.

During your preparations before the actual delivery you should deter­mine the nature of the background information that the audience brings to your subject by listing key terms and concepts that you can reasonably as­sume they understand so you will not need to elaborate on them in vain. You should also be precise in specifying what the audience needs to learn from you about the specific topic and focus upon these items as controlling concepts for your presentation.