Effective Presentation E.A.Davidson When preparing a presentation, keep in mind two main things: The purpose of your presentation. You do not do anything for no reason, so you always have some purpose. One of your purposes may be the following: To inform the audience – just tell them something they did not know. To show a new way to look at the subject – here you may suggest something new about the problems already known. To persuade the audience – you may try to make them do something you find necessary to do. To demonstrate your knowledge – this is a typical example of a learning situation: the teacher knows what you are to say, your fellow students know that (if they are ready for the lesson ), so you just have to prove that you also know the subject. To entertain the audience – just tell about something interesting so that your listeners could have fun. 2. The second important thing to keep in mind is the audience itself. It determines the material you select for your presentation and the way you will present it. For example, when telling about yourself to your peers you will speak about your interests, your likes and dislikes, but if you are at a job interview, you will speak about your background, experience and skills. And, of course, you will use quite different vocabulary and grammar. One of the keys to success is the way you organize your presentation, so this presentation will be devoted to the way the material can be organized.

Presentation Structure Introduction Main Body Conclusion If your presentation has a clear structure, your audience will feel that you have really told them something. They will remember what you told and they may even do what you want them to do. Any clearly-structured presentation consists of the Introduction, the Main Body and the Conclusion.

Presentation Structure Introduction Greeting, name, position Title / Subject Purpose / Objective Outline Questions The functions of the Introduction are the following: To hook the audience – ask them a question, provide an interesting quotation or some shocking statistics – have them interested, convince them to take the time to listen to you. To give whatever background information may be necessary to understand what you are going to talk about – let the audience feel informed. In the introduction you explain who you are, what you are going to talk about, what the procedure will be (how long it is going to take, when the audience can ask you questions, etc.). You also state your main idea at the very beginning. The most part of the presentation will be devoted to the discussion of this idea.

Presentation Structure Main Body Explanation Illustration Proof The main body consists of topic sentences that explain your main idea and explanations of the topic sentences.

Presentation Structure Main Body Explanation Reasons, causes or effects Familiar things To explain your ideas, you can use reasons, causes or effects, and familiar things to explain the unfamiliar.

Presentation Structure Main Body Illustration Examples Descriptive details Visual aids To illustrate what you say, you may use examples and descriptive details which allow the audience to imagine everything better. The best support here is visual aids.

Presentation Structure Main Body Illustration Visual Aids Table Line Graph Organigram Bar Chart Pie Chart Flowchart Among the visual aids there may be tables, graphs, charts, schemes, pictures and even real objects. As for the Power Point presentation as a visual aid, remember the following: 1) The information should be readable – choose colours, font size and type so that everyone can read everything. 2) The visual aids should be adequate – there should not be too much text, the structure of the presentation should be linear, the tables, lists and diagrams should not be large. Do not use animation too excessively – just 1-2 effects or your audience will be distracted by the effects and get lost. 3) The contents and number of slides should be adequate to the contents of the presentation and the time it takes. For a 10-minute presentation 12 slides are enough. The first slide should contain the information about the presenter (name, position, contact information) and the presentation itself (title, place and time). The final slide may repeat the first one.

Presentation Structure Main Body Proof Facts or statistics Personal experiences and observations Representative cases References to recognized authority or expert in the subject There are very few ideas that are taken on trust, without any proof. To prove that you are right you can use the following: Facts or statistics – they sound very convincing. Personal experiences and observations, representative cases (even anecdotes!) – they prove that your general idea is based on a specific, real incident. References to recognized authority or expert in the subject. Don’t forget to make sure the audience recognize the authority. If you are not sure they know about the expert, give the necessary background information.

Presentation Structure Main Body Proof Arranging Supporting Material Least to Most Most to Least Known to Unknown Step-by-Step By Categories or Divisions Comparison No matter how good your supporting material is, it may lose all its value if not arranged properly. There are several ways of arranging supporting material: From least to most – from the least shocking or impressive facts or statistics to the most expressive ones. That makes the interest and expectations of the audience swell. From most to least – vice versa. Make sure your audience will remember what you want them to remember. From known to unknown – establish the common ground with the audience, then move to the new material. Step-by-step – in chronological or spatial order. By categories or divisions – similar to the previous. For comparison – lets the audience remember more of what you say. You may describe the items fully and then compare them or compare each feature of the items separately.

Presentation Structure Conclusion Summary Conclusions Question time Close As Standartenführer Stirlitz used to say, the last thing is remembered first. So a good conclusion can help even when the rest of the presentation leaves much to be desired. The functions of the conclusion are the following: To quickly summarize the main ideas or main points made – remind the audience what you were speaking about. To interpret the ideas or explain why they are important and what they suggest – this is, as a matter of fact, what the word “conclusion” means. To link the main idea of your presentation to the future or to some broader issues not specifically covered – similar to the previous. Begin with a comment referring to the last point made or with a transitional expression announcing the conclusion. You may also repeat a key word or phrase from the beginning to link the beginning to the last sentences. Don’t bring up new points to support or illustrate the main idea or thesis – it’s the function of the main body. After making conclusions answer the questions the audience may ask and make some closing remarks – be polite and don’t forget to thank everyone for attention!

Effective Presentation E.A.Davidson