Oral Presentation Skills

Definition: Presentation is the practice of showing and explaining the content of a topic to an audience or learner.

Here are the essential elements and some tips on preparing and organizing a successful oral presentation in English or any other language to be presented to fellow students, colleagues or other interested groups.. The same structure can also be used to some extent in the context of a written text, i.e. dividing the text into three parts - introduction, development and conclusion. Other useful elements for the written text include expressions to indicate lists, narrative, links and examples.

It is also important to remember that there are perhaps several formulae for an oral presentation, this being just one. Are you explaining a procedure, trying to convince or persuade, give information or outline possible courses of action? What you are trying to do in your presentation should have a bearing on how you present. There are also cultural aspects to take into consideration in that different communities will react differently to the same presentation.

Each one will expect and react in various ways according to the linguistic, scientific, academic or business culture it is familiar with. Different people speak in different ways in different languages and different conventions depending on to whom, where, when and why they are speaking. All of these questions are, of course, vital to take into consideration during the preparation.

Remember: anyone can give a good presentation. Don’t worry if you are not naturally extrovert. Preparation and practice can be the keys to success!

 

I. Preparation and Planning

I.1 Essential Preparation and Planning Checklist

This is a checklist of the essential elements to consider in preparing and planning an oral presentation. Use it yourself by filling in the boxes on the right under “My Ideas”.

 

questions to ask yourself	examples	my ideas
1. What is the aim?	get an idea about an economic notion to adopt my recommendations to join the club to give me a job
2. What is my title?	role of money in the society How to reduce production costs The INT Chess Club
3. Who am I speaking to?	What are the benefits to the audience of my product/report/speech? Are these people the decision makers? What do they know of the subject? What sort of questions will they ask me? What are the answers? What aspects will they be interested in?
4. What are the main points I want to make?	1, 2, 3; first, second, third; point a, point b, point c
5. What do I want the audience to do after listening to my presentation?	We must invite them: to start a discussion to accept my findings to join the club to give me a job

I.2 Other questions concerning physical aspects.

Who is the audience?

How many people will there be in the audience?

Check beforehand, if you can, the place where you are going to make your presentation and some technical aspects, such as equipment you may need, the necessity of handout materials etc.

When?

What time of day is it? What day is it? Will the audience be more or less receptive when listening?

How long?

In relation to what the audience knows or time constraints, what can I eliminate if necessary?

Other

Am I dressed appropriately? Shoes polished? Are my hands and fingernails clean?

Experienced presenters are able to improvise and adapt to changing circumstances

but you may have only one chance to present your information, so be prepared.

 

II. Structure of an Oral Presentation

A good oral presentation is well structured; this makes it easier for the listener to follow.

Basically there are three parts to a typical presentation: the beginning, the middle and the end (or introduction, body and conclusion). Let’s look at each part in turn and present the language needed to express both the structure and the content.