|
Classroom Presentations
An orator is a good man
skilled in speaking.
Cato,
Roman 234 -149 BCE
|
|
|
Basic content:
- Build your topic from a few main ideas
State where you are going and what you will prove
- Know your audience: where are they coming from?
Cover mutual ground as a starting point
Use familiar vocabulary to begin; introduce and define new concepts gradually
Adapt the presentation's goals with the interests of your audience
Treat each audience as a unique group
- Convince them with facts and logic
Demonstrate that you know what you are talking about, but on their level!
- Review and summarize in your conclusion
Summarize what you've told them
Check for comprehension
- Leave time for questions and discussion
Follow up with options so audience can contact you
Practice by rehearsing the presentation,
recording it, or reciting it to a few friends
Techniques of delivery:
- Put your audience at ease with a relevant anecdote or joke,
or get their attention with a dramatic gesture or event
- Use personal pronouns in your delivery
- Make eye contact with the audience
- Present your report with a conversational voice though vary it for emphasis
- Use transitions to signal the audience you're moving to a new idea
- Direct questions to your audience to get them more involved
- Conclude by summing up your main ideas, points, or arguments
- Leave time for questions, and invite feedback on
- the content (un-addressed, related ideas)
- the conclusions
- your manner of presentation
- Leave your contact information (business card) for further questions
Using visual aids or media:
- Call early and make sure hardware is compatible with your software;
and software versions of your documents are compatible with versions of their software
- Have several versions of computerized files (on your hard drive, disk, web site, and overhead and/or paper(!) just in case
- Come early and make sure everything works and that any media (audio, visual, computer) can be seen, heard, understood by all
- Keep all visual materials simple in large text for visibility
- Have supportive materials for each idea
- Do not distribute handouts, even outlines, before your speech (or the audience will focus on the reading material instead of listening to you)
Flash exercise contributed by Tyssa Erickson and Dr. Brad Hokanson, Graphic Design I
(DHA 3351) School of Design, University of Minnesota. Edited by Joe Landsberger.
|
|
