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Steps to preparing an effective oral presentation
1. Review the rubric. Carefully read the oral presentation rubric or instructions. Understand your teacher’s expectations about how the presentation will be graded. Search the rubric or instructions for key words, action words and presentation requirements . As with an essay, the action and key words dictate the “what” and “how” of the presentation. Determine the purpose of the oral presentation. Is the purpose to inform, such as an oral book report? Is it to debate or persuade? Maybe the purpose is to inspire, honor or motivate, such as a speech to a team.\ Note how much time you are expected to speak. Preparing a five minute presentation requires substantially more work than preparing a two minute presentation. Note whether you will be expected to include visual aids such as Power Points. 2. Write out your presentation. There’s a saying that’s popular with speakers: “Tell them what you’re going to say, say it, then tell them what you said!” To prepare an oral presentation, write a rough draft of it in essay form. A good oral presentation must have structure . Include an introduction telling what you are going to say, a body saying it, and a conclusion telling what you said: Introduction. Tell your audience who you are and what you are going to talk about . Its purpose is to get listeners interested in your presentation. Advise the audience of your thesis, the information that will be covered, and how it will be presented. Try to tell or show your audience something in the introduction that “hooks” them, getting their attention and enticing them to listen. Body. The body of the presentation is the longest part. It’s where you present your main points and ideas. Move from point to point by obvious and clear transition. (“The next point I’d like to make is...”) Try not to jump around or go back and forth between ideas. It confuses the audience. The number of ideas you present and how deeply you discuss them, depends on the amount of time you have for the presentation. Don’t stuff so much information into a presentation that you have to rush to cover each point. On the other hand, don’t make so few points that you end up without enough to say, and have to repeat points to fill time. PRODUCT PREVIEW Conclusion. A conclusion is more than a brief summary of the main points. If you have a message for the audience, such as the address of a website where they can find more information about the topic, or how they can help with a cause, tell them in the conclusion. Always reserve a little time for questions from the audience and finish your presentation by thanking the audience. 3. Make cue cards. Once you’ve written out your presentation and are satisfied with it, review the text and circle the main points. Make cue cards with main points condensed into key words and phrases. 3 x 5 index cards work great. Notes are acceptable too. Do not write the full text of the presentation on the cue cards. You will not read from the cue cards, you will use them to prompt you to recall the main points in correct order. If you’ve practiced your presentation well enough, the words and phrases on the cue cards should be sufficient to prompt your recollection of the content. Number the cue cards in case they get out of order.
THE 21st CENTURY STUDENT’S GUIDE TO STUDY SKILLS 199
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