Making effective presentations

Warm-up

Discuss the following questions with your partner.

1. What is a presentation?

2. Have you ever attended a presentation? Was it effective? What are your criteria?

3. Have you ever made a presentation? On what occasion? What was the topic of it? Were you a success?

Reading and Speaking

1. Read the following definitions of the term presentation from English-English dictionaries and encyclopedias.

1.

“A talk, usually to a group of people, in which information is given”.

2.

“A formal talk in which you describe or explain something to a group of people”.

3.

“A speech or talk in which a new product, idea, or piece of work is shown and explained to an audience”.

4.

“An activity in which someone shows, describes, or explains something to a group of people”.

5.

“The process of presenting a topic to an audience. It is typically a demonstration, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, or build good will”.

What are the main features of a presentation? What can be the objectives of a presentation?

2. Read the following text and find out what ends presentations usually serve. What do you want to achieve?

There are four major categories of presentation objectives. The goal of informing is a simple type of objective. This means providing the audience the basic knowledge of the content of the presentation. This is usually in a passive and unreceptive approach where the audience plainly listens and does not even have to be interactive about the topic. An example of this would be an information officer notifying the members about the latest update of the company website for online ordering.

If you want the members of the audience to recall and apply the key points of your presentation, your main objective is to educate them. A very common example of this type of objective is a technical or training presentation. In a training delivery, the main objective is to educate the participants and let them put the knowledge into application.

Persuasion and motivating to action are two very challenging presentation objectives. A proposal is definitely aimed at convincing and winning the approval of the audience. Both types of objectives require the presenter to have a good understanding of the audience’s level of thinking on the topic. This is because one of its ultimate aims is to modify their viewpoints and even their attitude toward the presentation content. An officer who is proposing a new company program should be able to persuade the bosses as to its impact toward the company. Then again, this can be really challenging.

Keep in mind that in making a presentation, you should first be able to define the purpose of your speech. It is not a good idea to let the audience guess it for you as they will only be confused and bewildered themselves.

Which aims are most hard to achieve? Why?

Presentation Skills

Read the following tips for presentations. Which of these skills are most hard to acquire? Which present special difficulties for a foreign language learner?

Remember your audience

Establish clear objectives in the introduction

Meet audience expectations with relevant content

Create interest and promote involvement

Organize the information

Design an overall structure which is clear

Make sure that the introduction and ending have maximum impact

Link the different sections together

Communicate using the allotted time

Use visuals effectively

Use clear and simple messages

Create impact

Handle visual aids and equipment professionally

Be prepared to provide handouts

Communicate with body language

Maintain a relaxed attitude: remain confident and positive.

Use eye contact to engage your audience

Focus meaning by movement or gesture

Avoid distracting mannerisms

Deliver your message

Use your voice effectively: volume, rhythm and pause

Adjust complexity / formality of language to the audience

Involve your audience.

Prepare thoroughly

Write brief notes to assist

Practice before the real thing