Unit 15

Theme: Preparing for a conference presentation

Objectives: to introduce with guidelines to prepare for a conference presentation in the filled of major, write an essay / project in your field, which will be as admission to the your examination; do some review exercises

Methodical instructions: This theme must be worked out during two lessons a week according to timetable and its result can be achieved through extension the use of academic language in speech activity: speaking, reading, writing and listening:

• The formation of listening skills can be developed when using a class video;

• The development of writing skills must be exercised through self-work tasks;

- Reading skills should be improved in course of working on training materials the content

of which is intended to be understood in full;

• Speaking skills can be developed through active communication on the Unit’s topics.

Listening: Watch a video “How to do a presentation – 5 steps to a killer opener” on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEDcc0aCjaA

After watching this video complete the following sentences:

1. Most people don’t know about the skills they need to hook ….

2. I’m freaking out about this big … I have to give tomorrow.

3. One of the biggest mistakes people make when they start their presentation is showing ….

4. You’ll be amazed at the … this has on audience.

5. The purpose of the fourth step is to show your audience … for your presentation.

Warm up

How good are you at coping with the unexpected, the slightly inconvenient, or the downright disastrous? How far would you describe yourself as a ‘disaster master’?

Look at this list of 15 potential disasters. What would you do?

1 Somebody walks in late for your morning presentation

2 The laptop crashes and won’t reboot

3 A ‘listener’ falls asleep

4 The overhead projector begins to smoke

5 You drop all your slides on the floor

6 Somebody calls out ‘Rubbish!’

7 You totally forget what you wanted to say

8 Two people get up and leave

9 The only pen for the flip chart runs out

10 The screen won’t go up

11 A mobile phone rings

12 One person keeps asking you questions

13 The audience looks bored

14 You realise the pen that you used on the large whiteboard uses indelible ink

15 You look at your watch and you have five minutes left but twenty slides to go.

Conference Presentation Preparation

The research needed in preparing a presentation is no different to that involved in writing the paper, an essay or report. You need to investigate primary and secondary sources and obtain accurate information. In order to present a topic convincingly, you must understand it thoroughly.

However, there are significant differences between a written paper, essay or report and a conference presentation. The introduction of a conference presentation should be considerably longer than that of a written text. Repetition is vital in a conference presentation. An audience needs to hear information several times and in slightly different forms to understand it, whereas in a written text the reader can refer back if necessary. Informal rather than formal language should be used in an oral conference presentation.

Submitting a paper to a conference

• Find a ‘catchy’ title as most conferences run parallel sessions and your presentation may compete with numerous (over 20 at major national/international conferences) presentations offered at the same time.

• The abstract. You will need to submit an abstract to the conference committee for your presentation to be accepted. If you have already written your paper, this task should be fairly easy as the abstract is a (usually around 200–400 word) summary of the paper.

• Ensure the issues, questions, thesis as well as the conclusion findings are clearly stated in

the abstract.

• In case the paper has not been written yet, prepare the abstract in such a way that you don’t commit yourself to details that will not be addressed in the final paper.

• Writing the paper. Follow guidelines set by the conference organizers (length, layout, references, etc.), and write the paper as you would an essay, a report, or, more and more commonly, a journal article. The latter is particularly important if the conference proceedings are to be published (refereed or non-refereed). Check previous conference proceedings or journals in your field to ensure consistency with style, referencing, etc.

More tips for an effective conference presentation