ORAL PRESENTATION SKILLS

Preparation and practice are the keys to success!

Preparation and Planning

Questions to ask when planning: What is the aim of my presentation? What is the title of my presentation? What are the main points I need to

make? Who is the audience?

Organization of Presentation

A good presentation has strong organization and is easy for the listener to follow.

There are three parts to a presentation: Introduction, Body, Conclusion.

The Introduction

Grab the attention of the audience. Start with a surprising fact, anecdote or a question.

Greet the audience by saying “Hello”, “Good Morning (or afternoon)” etc.

Introduce yourself. Give the title of the presentation and

introduce the topic. State your purpose of the presentation. Transition to the body of the presentation.

The Body

All the information in your presentation needs to support your purpose and topic.

Include enough information to clearly develop your ideas.

Organize your details in a logical manner. Some possibilities include: chronological, general to specific, known to unknown, cause/effect, problem/solution.

Keep the audience’s attention. Link the end of one section of

information with the next using transition words. For example: next, my second point, let’s turn to…, etc.

Be clear and concrete when sharing your information.

The Conclusion

There are three parts to the conclusion.

Reminder of your main points: state the point, give the essential message to retain, list main points, use a quote/comparison/example.

A concluding statement: a commentary on the main points, lessons learned, or recommendations.

Thank the audience for listening.

Presenting Skills

Use note cards when presenting. Put key words and short phrases on the cards to help you remember your information. Remember to number the cards to keep them in order.

Know most of what you want to say by heart. Reading from your cards makes you seem unprepared.

Mark on your cards when to refer to your visuals.

Voice Skills

Speak clearly and loudly enough to be heard in the back of the room.

Speak slowly so everyone can understand.

Stay away from awkward pauses or using stall words (um, er, like, etc.)

Change the pitch of your voice to maintain the attention of the audience.

Practice the pronunciation of all words.

Non-verbal Skills

Keep eye contact with the entire audience during your presentation.

Use your hands to emphasize a point.

Always face the audience. Stand straight and tall.

Visual Aids

Purposes of visual aids: Focus the audience’s attention Easily illustrate main points Reinforce ideas Involve and motivate the audience

Creating a visual aid Put only key words and short phrases

on any visual aid. Try to keep to a 10 word limit.

Don’t make the visual too busy. Simple is more effective.

Check for spelling on all visuals. Make sure the font is readable when

projected or shown. Keep slides or visuals to a minimum.

Too many cause a distraction to the audience.

Information in this PowerPoint is taken from C. Storz, Evry, France