anker4e advice on oral presentations

8/9/2019 Anker4e Advice on Oral Presentations

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Five Surefire Strategies

In college, at work—sometimes even in your everyday life—you will need

to make oral presentations. Most people rate public speaking as one of life’s

most stressful experiences. A number of practical strategies, however, can

help you cope with the anxiety that may be caused by this task. Knowing

how to prepare for an oral presentation will help you feel confident and in

control of the situation.

You have probably witnessed an embarrassing oral presentation, a situ-

ation in which the speaker fell apart and the audience felt as uncomfortable

as the speaker.The following is an example of such an occurrence.

SITUATION: Jean is in the middle of reviewing her presentation notes

when she hears herself being introduced. Startled, she gathers her materials

into a messy stack of notes and papers, apologizes for not being ready, and

walks quickly to the front of the room.

Obviously flustered, she tries to reorganize her notes, shuffling papers,

frowning, and sighing loudly. She begins reading her presentation with her

head down, speaking quickly and softly. Several people call out, “I can’t hear

you” or “Speak up.”

Jean clears her throat and starts from the beginning. She’s so rattled that

her voice quivers and then breaks. She looks up, red in the face, and says,

“Sorry. I’m really nervous.”

She continues but moves too quickly from one point to the next because

she doesn’t want to bore people. She forgets to introduce or summarize any

of her points, so the audience finds it difficult to follow her speech. People

start to tune out.

Aware that she’s not doing very well, Jean nervously fiddles with her hair

while speaking. She reads quickly and with no emphasis, thinking that the

sooner she gets through this, the sooner she can sit down. The words that

looked so good when she wrote them sound stupid and awkward when she

says them aloud.

As Jean turns to the second page, she realizes that her papers are out of order.There is an awkward silence as she searches desperately for the right

page. She finally finds it and begins again. Soon she comes to a word that

she can’t read, and she has to stop again to figure it out. Still fiddling with

her hair, she now looks as if she’s about to pull it out.

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Jean skips the word and continues. Her only goal now is to finish. But

she’s run out of time because of her fumbling and because her presentation

was too long to begin with.The warning signal goes off, indicating that one

minute remains.

This is the last straw for Jean. She looks up, bright red and nearly in

tears, and says, “I guess I’ve run out of time. I only got through one of my

points. I don’t have time for what I really wanted to say.” She grabs her

papers and returns to her seat.

Jean sits in total misery, sure that everyone is looking at her. She can’t

listen to anyone else’s presentation. All she can do is stare at the floor and

wait impatiently for the moment she can escape from the room.

ANALYSIS: Jean’s presentation was not successful because of some com-

mon pitfalls she could easily have avoided. She wasn’t adequately prepared,

she was obviously very nervous, she hadn’t structured her presentation to

make her points clear to her audience, she hadn’t practiced reading her

presentation aloud, and she fled at the end. If she had practiced five simple

strategies for making an oral presentation, her experience would have been

much less painful, and her presentation would have been much better.

Strategy 1. Be Prepared

Jean’s first mistake was not being well prepared. She wasn’t psychologically

ready to speak, and she hadn’t organized the materials for her presentation

properly. Because she was busy reviewing her notes at the last minute, she

was caught off guard. Her papers got messed up, she was startled, and she

was off to a bad start.

Organize Your Notes.

Before you go into the room where you are giving your presentation, makesure all of your notes are in order. Number all pages or note cards so you

can quickly reorganize them if they get mixed up, and carry all of your

materials in a folder.

If you want to review your key points while waiting to make your pre-

sentation, try to run through them in your head. Leave the folder closed. If

you need to refresh your memory on a particular point, open the folder and

carefully go through your notes until you find the answer.

Use Your Energy.

Be aware of when your turn is coming, and focus on being calm.Tell your-

self that you’re prepared and you know what you’re doing. Breathe deeply.

Don’t worry if your heart is beating hard and fast; that’s normal. Nervousenergy before a performance of any sort is natural and can make you a

more engaging speaker. You just need to learn to channel that energy and

make it work for you. Use that adrenaline to fuel your enthusiasm for your

topic.

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Build Yourself Up.

Keep breathing normally. However silly it may seem, remind yourself of

your strengths and repeat them in your head as your turn to speak ap-

proaches: “I know what I’m talking about.” “I look good today.” “I have a

good voice.” Remember that your audience isn’t waiting for you to fail.Most people understand the stress of oral presentations and are sympa-

thetic.Your audience wants you to do well.

Carry Yourself Like Royalty.

When it’s your turn, take a deep breath, calmly pick up your folder, and walk

to the front of the room. Walk slowly, stand straight, and focus on project-

ing a confident image. Remember that you’re in control.

Strategy 2. Act with Confidence

Jean’s second mistake was not acting with confidence and authority. She wasvisibly upset as she tried to get her notes in order, and when she did start,

she spoke too softly to be heard.When her voice broke, she apologized to

the audience and announced her nervousness. Practicing several techniques

would have made her appear confident and in control.

Take Your Time.

After you’ve walked to the front of the room, take a few moments to calmly

arrange your notes and papers before you begin. Relax. The timing of your

presentation won’t start until you begin speaking, so make sure your

materials are where you need them before beginning. Remember that even

professional speakers need a few moments to lay out their notes and com-

pose themselves.

Take Command and Greet Your Audience.

When you’re ready to begin, stand up straight and look up and out at the au-

dience. Remember that you are in command of the room.Pause for a few sec-

onds to let people know you’re about to begin, and wait for them to give you

their attention.When you have their attention, take a deep breath and begin.

Smile and greet the audience, surveying the room as you do so. Your

greeting should be simple, like “Good morning and thank you all for com-

ing.” If some people in the audience don’t know you, be sure to introduce

yourself. Don’t forget to smile: It will relax you as well as your audience.

Slow Down and Speak Up.

Make sure that you speak slowly, clearly, and loudly. If you’re nervous, you

will tend to speak too quickly, so try to slow down your speech a bit.Try to

project your voice so that the people in the last row can hear you. It may feel

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as if you’re shouting, but you won’t be. Don’t be embarrassed to ask if

everyone can hear you. Experienced speakers often break the ice by en-

couraging an audience to tell them if they need to speak up.

Strategy 3. Structure Your Presentation

Jean’s third mistake was not giving her presentation a clear structure, which

would have made it easy for her audience to follow her key points. Your

presentation should include lots of verbal cues that let people know when

you’re making a point, what it is, and when you’re moving to another point.

The structure of an oral presentation must be much more obvious than

the structure of a written paper so that people can understand as they are

listening.

Limit Your Topic.

Choose a manageable topic for the time allotted, and limit the number of points you plan to make. Listening is hard work, and most people can ab-

sorb only a few key points from a speech. In any presentation, try to limit

yourself to three key points, and be sure to support each of them with con-

crete examples.When you give more complex presentations, you may need

to use visual aids—such as transparencies or slides—that will allow you to

illustrate and reinforce your points.

State Your Thesis and Preview Your Key Points.

Let your audience know what your topic is and the main point you are

going to make about it. State your thesis (your main point) slowly so that

people understand the purpose of your presentation. Tell them: “My topic

today is ,” and “I will be arguing [or showing, or explain-ing] .”

Tell your audience about the structure of your presentation by giving

them a preview of your key points.You might say: “There are three major

points I’d like to make about . First I’ll present .

Second I’ll discuss . And my third point will be .

This presentation should take approximately ten minutes, and there will be

time for questions at the end.”

Use Transitions to Move from Point to Point.

Use transitions to let your audience know when you’re finished with one

point and are about to make another. In your preview, you told the audience

what your key points would be. As you speak, you should give clearverbal cues when introducing and summarizing each point. Here is one

way to do so.

• “My first point is .”

• Give examples/explanation.

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• Repeat or summarize the first point (to remind the audience of what it

is and to let them know you’re about to move to another point).

• “My second point is .”


• Repeat or summarize the second point.

• “My third and final point is .”


• Repeat or summarize the third point.

Conclude by Reviewing Your Key Points.

Let people know when you’re coming to the end of your presentation by

using a verbal cue such as in conclusion, to summarize, or to review. Then re-

view your key points. Conclude with a simple, strong sentence that restates

the overall purpose of your presentation—the main point you want to make.

Strategy 4. Practice Your Presentation

Like many people, Jean made the mistake of not adequately practicing her

presentation. The right kind of practice would have helped her avoid the

following problems: fidgeting with her hair, writing a presentation that

sounded awkward when presented orally, losing her place in the middle of

her talk, puzzling over her notes, and running out of time.

Even professional speakers practice their speeches. You should allow

plenty of time to practice giving your oral presentation.

Practice Aloud.

Phrases and sentences that sound good in writing often sound awkwardwhen spoken. Read your presentation aloud— several times— to make sure

that it sounds right.You’ll feel silly,but do it anyway. Stop and make changes

when a sentence sounds awkward. Be aware of any distracting habits you

may have, such as interrupting your speech with expressions like “uh” or

“you know.”

Practicing aloud will also help you remember your key points. Practice

your speech again and again until you feel comfortable with it. Be sure to

practice aloud a final time on the day of your presentation.

Practice in Front of a Mirror.

You need to see what you look like as you give your presentation, so try

practicing in front of a mirror.This may make you feel even sillier than justsaying the speech aloud, but it will also make you feel much more confident

when you actually give the presentation.

• Stand straight and look up at the mirror frequently. Pretend you are

looking out at an audience.

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• Be aware of any distracting habits you have while speaking, such as

fidgeting with your hair, as Jean did. Some people shift their weight

from one leg to another, or sway back and forth, or stand with their

legs far apart in a military stance.

• Practice keeping your hands still, except when you want to gesture orpoint to something for emphasis.You can hold your notes at your side

or in front of you, or you can place them on a table or podium.

• Practice keeping your feet slightly apart and your weight evenly distrib-

uted. Don’t shift from side to side or rock.

• If you know you will be seated when giving your presentation, you

should sit in a chair while practicing. Don’t jiggle your feet or swing

your legs. Keep your feet flat on the floor.

Practice Working with Your Material.

Figure out in advance how you will handle your notes, papers, and material

such as PowerPoint slides. After you’ve said your presentation aloud a

couple of times to get the wording right, decide whether you will work withthe whole presentation written out, an outline, or notecards. Some people

prefer to work with just an outline and PowerPoint slides.

THE WHOLE PRESENTATION: If you think you need the whole presentation—

written out word for word— to read from, that’s fine, but you still have to

practice.You have to be comfortable enough with the written version to be

able to deliver it naturally, not as if you’re reading, and to look up at your

audience without fear of losing your place. If your eyes are glued to the page,

you’ll lose your audience’s attention.

In addition to practicing, you should format your presentation so it will

be easy for you to find your place.

• Highlight your key points in color or by underlining so you’ll be able

to find your place quickly if you get lost.

• Double-space your presentation so you won’t have trouble reading it.

• Use a large type size. If you must handwrite your presentation, make

sure that you can read your handwriting.

• Write the numbers of your key points in the margin (next to the para-

graphs where you introduce those points), write conc. next to your

conclusion, and so on.

• Make sure your pages are clearly numbered so they can easily be put

in order if you mix them up.

• If you are using PowerPoint slides, make sure you know when and in

what order to show them. Print out a copy of your slides.

OUTLINE: Instead of writing out your entire presentation, word for word,you may want to write your key points in outline form. An outline should

include all of the major points you want to make, with examples or expla-

nations. It should also include the points to be made in the introduction and

conclusion.

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NOTECARDS: Some people prefer to work from 3" 5" notecards rather

than pieces of paper.They prepare a separate notecard for each major point,

listing the point and an example. If you use notecards, be sure to number

them in the top right corner so that you can easily reassemble them if they

get out of order.MEDIA: If you are working with media of any kind, including Power-

Point, don’t panic if the technology momentarily lets you down or you skip

over a slide and need to go back to find the right one.These kinds of glitches

happen to everyone. The key is to stay calm and correct the situation; then

carry on with confidence.

See if one of your classmates is willing and able to run your PowerPoint

slide show, taking cues from you about when to switch slides.That will give

you one less thing to worry about.

Time Yourself.

As you practice aloud, time yourself.You need to be sure that you can fin-

ish your presentation within the time limit you’ve been given.If you find that you don’t have enough time to make your major points,

don’t just speak more quickly. Go back and revise your presentation. Keep

the points simple and the examples clear. If necessary, cut back on the num-

ber of points you are making, keeping only the strongest ones.

Be sure to time yourself at least twice after you have your presentation

in final form.

Strategy 5. Create a Good Final Impression

Jean’s last mistake was that when she ran short on time, she panicked and

ended on a bad note. Practicing aloud and timing yourself will help you

avoid this problem, but if you do run short on time, don’t panic.

Usually speakers are given a warning signal of some sort to let themknow that they need to finish. If you get a warning signal before you’ve said

all you wanted to, remember that it’s a warning.You have a little time left to

conclude your presentation.

You may have enough time to finish your speech as planned, but if you

know you can’t cover all of it in the time remaining, you will need to con-

dense it. Reduce the details about your points, and move to a very brief

conclusion.You may need to move to your final point and give it without an

example. Then say, “Again, here are the major points,” repeat them briefly,

and conclude.

When the time is over, look up, smile at your audience, thank them for

their attention, and ask if they have any questions. Give the audience time

to respond. It may take them a while to start asking questions.Wait calmly,

and look around the room. If there are no questions, thank the audienceagain and return to your seat.

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