Oral Presentations to Impress

VCE English

Christian College

Using Language to Persuade

Oral Presentation

The Presentation Process

Identifythe purpose & objective

Consideryour

audience

Structure your

presentation

Deliverthe

presentation

Practise the

presentation

Prepare your notes &

visual aids

Evaluate your performance

What is the PURPOSE of your oral presentation?

What are you hoping to achieve with your presentation?

Are you using PERSUASIVE LANGUAGE TECHNIQUES effectively?

Being clear about its purpose helps you to decide what to INCLUDE or OMIT

Ask yourself, ‘Did I achieve my purpose?’

Who is your audience?

Consider the following:• What is the benefit to the audience of

listening to your presentation?• What do they already know about the

topic?• What interests your audience?• How will what you are going to say affect

them?

Failure to think of your audience…

They COULD feel: Alienated - if you offend their values Insulted - if you fail to recognise and

acknowledge their existing knowledge Confused - if you assume a level of

knowledge that they (or YOU!) don’t have Bored - if you fail to relate to them Frustrated - if they are not given the

opportunity to question your ideas at the end

Learn from Experience

Consider a presentation that you have seen that was very effective. What made it so? (think of career talks, classroom presentations, visiting professionals etc.)

Consider a presentation that you have seen that you thought was unsuccessful. What made it so?

Signpost. Structure. Summary.

Tell them what you are going to tell them.

Tell them.

Tell them what you told them.

Introduction

In an order that suits you, include the following in your introduction:The issueYour point of view or CONTENTIONObjectivesBackground to the issueTell the audience what’s in it for themAttention grabber - image, quote, statistic,

tone, demonstration

The Body

Consider each of the following points when you design each key point (or paragraph) of your presentation:

Give accurate/researched details Smooth and logical order of ideas Use PERSUASIVE LANGUAGE TECHNIQUES

to persuade and influence your audience Tell them how this applies to them Make sure the point backs up the claims you

made at the start of your presentation

The Conclusion

Summarise your key points Remind them of the advantages of your

point of view Tell them how they should USE your ideas Closing attention grabber - can be similar to

the one in the introduction or linked in some way, or completely different

Invite questions - but don’t delay too long if no-one has any to ask

End on a high - avoid saying ‘That’s it!’

How do you remember what you want to present?

Memorising

Using notes

Using visual aides as notes

Reading from complete text???

Audio-Visual Impact

VisualAudio

Using Visual Aides

How could YOU use the following aides in your presentation?

White board?Charts/diagrams?PowerPoint?Video?

Impact of Body Language

What we say

How we say it

BodyLanguage

Body Language to Avoid!

Continuous staring at one person or object - vary your eye contact

Constantly rubbing, itching, moving!Constantly clearing your throatCrossing your arms or legsShuffling your feet and swayingSwinging or leaning on the lectern or

leaning on the board/wall

Engaging Body Language

Stand up straight and face the audience front-on

Hold your head up high - gives a sense of pride and confidence

Use your hands to emphasise and reinforce

Vary your gestures

So, why should you rehearse?

To get the content order right To adjust timing To commit to memory (just a suggestion!) To decide what to emphasise To practice variations in voice tone and body

language To make sure visual aides are visible and will

be used effectively

Nervous?

Avoid negative thoughtsPrepare and practiceThink about your audience Think of yourself succeedingAct confident and you’ll FEEL confidentBe proud of what you achieve!

In summary… PREPARE!

Purpose - establish what it is

Research your topic

Experiment with visual aids

Plan your ideas

Audience - know what they want

Rehearse your presentation

Early - prepare early to avoid rushing

Evaluation

Immediately after the presentation…

BE PROUD!

An hour after the presentation…

PMI (Positive, Minus, Interesting)

A month after the presentation…

IMPROVEMENTS

Next time you do a presentation…

YOUR DECISION!

Good Luck!