CHAPTER 12

1. CHAPTER 12 Making Effective and Professional Oral Presentations

2. Getting Readyfor an OralPresentation

3. Identify Your Purpose • What do you want your audience to believe, remember, or do when you finish? • Aim all parts of your talk toward your purpose.

4. Understand Your Audience • Friendly, neutral, uninterested, hostile? • How to gain credibility? • How to relate this information to their needs? • How to make them remember your main points?

5. Click icon for more details. Succeeding With Four Audience Types • Friendly • Neutral • Uninterested • Hostile

6. Organize the Introduction • Capture listeners’ attention and get them involved.

7. Ten Techniques for Getting Your Audience’s Attention • A Promise “By the end of my talk, you will . . . .” • Drama—tell a moving story; describe a problem. • Eyecontact—command attention by making eye contact with as many people as possible.

8. Movement—leave the lectern area. Move toward the audience. • Questions—ask for a show of hands. Use a rhetorical question. • Demonstrations—include a member of the audience. • Samples, gimmicks—award prizes to volunteer participants; pass out samples.

9. Visuals—use graphics and other visual aids. • Dress —professional dress helps you look more competent and qualified • Appeal to the audience’s self-interest —audience members want to know, “What's in it for me?”

10. Organize the Introduction • Capture listeners’ attention and get them involved. • Identify yourself and establish your credibility. • Preview your main points.

11. Organize the Body • Develop two to four main points. • Streamline your topic and summarize its principal parts. • Arrange the points logically by a specific pattern.

15. Organize the Body • Develop two to four main points. Streamline your topic and summarize its principal parts. • Arrange the points logically by a specific pattern. • Prepare transitions to guide the audience.

16. Up to this point, I've concentrated • on . . .; now let's look at another • significant factor . . . Switching Directions • I've just discussed three reasons • for X. Now I want to move on to Y. Summarizing • As you can see, we have two • primary reasons explaining . . . • Let me review the two major • factors I've just covered. . . Previewing • Now let's look at three reasons • for . . . • My next major point focuses on . . . Using Verbal Signposts to Transition

17. Organize the Body • Develop two to four main points. Streamline your topic and summarize its principal parts. • Arrange the points logically by a specific pattern. • Prepare transitions to guide the audience. • Have extra material ready. Be prepared with more information and visuals if needed.

18. Organize the Conclusion • Summarize the main themes of the presentation. • Provide a final action-oriented focus. Explain how listeners can use this information or what you want them to do. • Include a final statement that leaves a lasting impression.

19. Sending Positive Nonverbal Messages • Look professional. • Animate your body. • Punctuate your words. • Use appropriate eye contact. • Get out from behind the podium. • Vary your facial expression.

20. Designing an ImpressiveMultimedia Presentation

21. Create an Appropriate Template • Combine harmonious colors, borders, bullet styles, and fonts. • Avoid visual clichés. • Use light text on dark background for darkened rooms. • Use dark text on light background for lighted rooms • Alter layouts by repositioning, resizing, or changing fonts in placeholder slides.

22. Lighter backgrounds are better in darkened rooms. • Darker backgrounds are better in lighted rooms. Selecting a Slide Template You may choose from a variety of predesigned templates or design your own.

23. Build Bullet Points • Focus on major concepts only. • Use concise phrases balanced grammatically. • Add graphics to illustrate and add interest. • Avoid using too many transition effects.

24. Does not use parallel wording. Improves wording and includes an illustration for added punch. Revising Slide to Improve BulletPoints and Add Illustration

25. Add Multimedia and Other Effects • Consider adding sound, animation, and video. • Include hyperlinks ("hot spots" on the screen) to jump to sources outside your presentation. • Avoid too many "bells and whistles."

26. Converting a Bulleted List to an Animated Diagram

27. Using a Bar Chart to Illustrate a Concept

28. Avoid Being Upstaged by Your Slides • Perfect your handling of the visual aids and the operation of any equipment or remote controls you may be using. • Make sure your computer projects!!! • Use your slides only to summarize important points. • Look at the audience, not the screen. • Do not read from a slide. Paraphrase.

29. Memorize significant parts such as the introduction, conclusion, or a meaningful quotation. • Talk to the audience conversationally.

30. Overcoming Stage Fright • Just before you begin to talk, take some deep breaths. • Convert your fear into anticipation and enthusiasm. • Select a familiar, relevant topic. • Prepare 150 percent. • Use positive self-talk.

31. Shift the focus from yourself to your visual aids. • Ignore stumbles; keep going. Don't apologize. • Don't admit you're nervous. • Feel proud when you finish. • Reward yourself.

32. Eight Serious Presentation Blunders* • Being dull. Relying on only one or two illustrations to make your points. • Not repeating your main point often enough. • Not answering the audience's most pressing question: “What's in it for me?” • Failing to use signal phrases to focus on main points. *Supplementary lecture. Not included in textbook.

33. Neglecting to practice and time your presentation out loud. • Forgetting to check your visual aids for readability. • Answering hypothetical questions after your presentation. • Getting distracted just before you speak.

34. Putting It All Together Before your presentation During your presentation After your presentation

35. Before During After • Prepare thoroughly. • Rehearse repeatedly. • Time yourself. • Request a lectern. • Check the room. • Greet members of the audience. • Practice stress reduction.

36. Before During After • Dress professionally. • Begin with a pause. • Present your first sentence from memory. • Maintain eye contact. • Control your voice and vocabulary. • Show enthusiasm. • Put the brakes on.

37. Move naturally. • Use visual aids effectively. • Avoid digressions. • Summarize your main points.

38. Before During After • Distribute handouts. • Encourage questions. • Repeat questions. • Reinforce your main points. • Keep control. • Avoid Yes, but answers. • End with a summary and appreciation.