Presentation Skills in the

Occupational Therapy Field

Lauren Hicks OTSShaina Katz OTS

Tony Tran OTS

AOTA.org

About Us● Lauren Hicks, OTS

●Cal State Dominguez Hills●B.A. in Psychology

●Shaina Katz, OTS●Eastern Washington University●B.A. in Psychology

●Minor in Anthropology

●Tony Tran, OTS●Cal State Long Beach●B.S. Health Science: Community Health

Agenda●Why is this important?●Prepare & plan presentation●Introduce yourself ●Game!●Beginning, middle & end of presentation●Visuals●Relationship, audience, body language, & voice●Summary●Game!●Presenting in occupational therapy field●Short survey

Why is this Important?

Prepare & Plan●What is the aim? ●What is my title?●Who am I speaking to?●What are the main points I want to make?●What do I want the audience to do after listening to my

presentation?

Other Questions Concerning the Physical Aspects….

●Who is the audience?●Where will it take place? ●What time of day is it? Will the audience be more or less

receptive when listening? ●Are you going to need handouts or any other documents?

How many?●Am I dressed appropriately? Shoes polished? Are my

hands and fingernails clean?

Structure of an Oral Presentation

● There are three parts to a typical presentation: ●The beginning (introduction)●The middle (body)●The end (conclusion)

The Beginning(Introduction)

● Get the audience's attention and signal the beginning● ”Shall we begin?”

“Let’s get down to business?”

● Joke, story, alarming statistic…

● Get them talking by asking a question

Greet Audience●It is important to greet the audience by saying

something like: ●“Hello, ladies and gentlemen”●“Good morning fellow classmates”●“Good afternoon esteemed guests” ●“Thank you for your kind introduction”

Introduce Oneselfname, position, company

●Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce myself

●Good morning everyone, I'd like to start by introducing myself. My name is...

Game TimeBeach Ball Game

Give Title and Introduce

Subject

● I plan to speak about...

● Today I'm going to talk about...

● The subject of my presentation is...

Why are you going to

speak about it?

● I have chosen to speak about this because...

● I was asked to speak about ______because...

● It is useful to give the listeners some idea of how long you will speak so as to maintain their attention better● This talk will last about

1 hour

● Ask a question to determine the attitude/knowledge of audience.● “Have you ever heard

of….?”● “You may have

wondered….?”

● You may want to give acknowledgements here too.

Give Your Objectivespurpose, aim, goal

● You should have two purposes:

● A general purpose (to give an overview, to present, to summarize, to outline; to discuss the current situation or to explain how to do something or how something is done)

● A specific one (what you want the audience to take away with them after listening to you, what you want them to do, what they should remember)

Announce Your Outline●I have broken my speech down/up into X parts●I have divided my presentation (up) into Y parts●In the first part I give a few basic definitions●In the next section I will explain ●In part three, I am going to show... ●In the last part I would like/want to give a practical

example...

Questions & Comments From the Audience

I'd ask you to save your questions for the endYou may interrupt me at any moment to ask questions or

make comments

Make a transition from introduction to the body

Now let us turn to point oneLet us now move on to the second part, which is, as I said

earlier….

The Middle(Body)

● Content: What information should you give in your speech?

● Quantity: How much information should you give?● Sequencing your ideas: Cause & effect, problem &

solution● Keeping the audience's attention: The beginning and the

end or the first and last parts of a talk are what listeners will remember best

● Listing information: Lists are often a necessary evil. Vary your language whenever possible and avoid reading directly.

● Linking ideas, sections/making transitions: Indicate the end of one section and the beginning of the next

Be Clear and Concrete●To give an example: An

example of this can be found... To illustrate this…

●To rephrase: In other words… Let me rephrase that….

●To summarize: To sum up... To recap what we've seen so far...

●To emphasize: What is very significant is... What is important to remember...

The End(Conclusion)

● Content: ●Brief reminder of what you tried to show in your speech

and how you tried to do so●A short conclusion●Thanks to the audience for listening●An invitation to ask questions, make comments or open a

discussion.

The End(Conclusion)

●Naturally you need to signpost the end of your talk. This may take the form of a recapitulation of the main points

●Or there may be recommendations or proposals that you wish to make

●Above all when you conclude do not do it abruptly or as if surprised to get to the end of your talk

●You may at this point wish to distribute a vocabulary list or more detailed information that you wish to make available

●And finally, questions

Visuals

What are visual and why should you use them?

Visuals

What should you put on a visual?Size, layout, font (typeface) and size, colors

How many?

Visuals●How should you present a visual?

●Give the audience time to draw their attention to it, understand it and make the link with what you are saying

●You can also try to rephrase your point to give it emphasis, giving the audience time to absorb the information in the visual

Establishing a Relationship with the Audience

● Arouse listeners' interest from the beginning and make it personal.

● Or illustrate with a real life story or anecdote

● Be brief and clear in giving the subject and purpose. The speaker’s attitude is important - knowledge, personality, openness. Be lively and enthusiastic.

Body LanguageWhat is body language? Why is it useful?

Positive Body Language●Eye contact to keep

audiences' attention

●Facial expressions should be natural and friendly. Don't forget to smile

●Posture – stand straight but relaxed (do not slouch or lean)

●Movement - to indicate a change of focus, keep the audience's attention

●Gesture

Negative Body Language●Loss of eye contact: looking at notes, looking at screen, at

the board, at the floor

●Don't stare, or look blankly into people's eyes

●Swaying back and forth like a pendulum

●Back turned to the audience

●Nervous ticks

●Hands in pockets

Voice & PronunciationBoth are very important for effective communicationCan you pronounce:Rural Anemone Drawer

WorcestershireClothes Literature Deterioration ExclamationCrisps Thistle Catastrophic Assailant

Voice●The voice, or more precisely the qualities of the voice,

should be used to it’s/their fullest

● Qualities include: loudness, speed (fast or slow), variety, pitch (high or low), silent moments or pauses

●The voice is important: to indicate importance, meaning to create atmosphere and to avoid sounding monotonous and putting the audience to sleep!

Summary● Careful preparation and

organization are required

● Who you are speaking to, when, where, and why?

● A speech with a step-by-step approach is one that is easy to follow

● Be careful with the visuals

● Pronunciate!

● Body language and voice are extremely important

Game TimeAdvertising Game

Helpful Tips●Check to make sure everything is working

●Check any handouts and powerpoint for spelling errors

●Test to see if people can hear and see you from the back of the room

●Face the audience and stand off to the side of the screenRemember anyone can give a good presentation. Don’t worry if you are not naturally extroverted. Preparation

and practice can be the keys to success!

Remember anyone can give a good presentation. Don’t worry if you are not naturally extroverted. Preparation and

practice can be the keys to success!

Presenting and Occupational Therapy

●Presentation Guidelines● The Message: What’s the major point?● The Context: Population? Lit review? Data

collection? ● Expand the Message: Describe in depth● Impact and Application: How will this

influence the profession (of occupational therapy)?

The AOTA Presenter’s Handbook. (2014). The American Occupational Therapy Association.

Presenting and Occupational Therapy cont.

●Involve the Audience!

● Provide participants with an opportunity to directly apply some of the principles they have been learning throughout the presentation to get immediate feedback from faculty and peers. ●i.e.: Group discussion, case studies, demonstrations,

simulation, role play, or a structured experiential learning activity.

Presenting and Occupational Therapy cont.

● Questions & Answers

Presenting and Occupational Therapy: Finding the Evidence

● Occupational Therapy Practice Guideline Series

● American Journal of Occupational Therapy

● Critically Appraised Topics (CAT) and Critically Appraised Papers (CAP)

● Evidence Bytes - A feature in the 1 Minute Update

● Evidence Perks - A quarterly column in OT Practice

● CE on CD

● Evidence Exchange - central repository for Critically Appraised Papers

● Evidence Briefs - summaries of articles selected from scientific literature

● The EBP Resource Directory - online service that links users to Internet sites related to the evidence - based practice of occupational therapy.

● Journal Club Toolkit

But, wait! There’s more!

http://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/ConferenceDocs/2014/Presenter%20page%20docs/2014%20Presenter%20Handbook%20FINAL.pdf

ReferencesBossers, A., Kernaghan, J., Hodgkins, L., Merla, L., O’Connor,

C., & Van Kessel, M. (1999). Defining and developing professionalism. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 66(3) (116-121)Ingraham, S. (n.d.) Tips for a powerful student presentation. The

American Occupational Therapy Association.Storz, C. et al. 2002. Oral Presentation Skills: A Practical Guide.

Institut National de Télécommunications. Evry, France: INT.

The AOTA Presenter’s Handbook. (2014). The American Occupational Therapy Association.