Effective Oral Presentations Quiz

Week 3: Presentation Skills (cont...)

• Introductory Academic English (210260)
• Lecturer: Nguyễn Mạnh Cường
• Email: [email protected]

Overview

• Planning: Nature, structure, and persuasion
• Presenting: Guiding, skills, medium and engaging
• Reflecting: Improving

Planning

• A sequential process: Planning -> Presenting -> Reflecting

Purpose of Oral Presentations

• Consider if the presentation can be communicated better in writing.
• Identify the core message or point of the presentation.
• Various genres of communication (reports, journal articles, books) have different purposes.
• Compare these purposes to the purpose of an oral communication.
• Presentations generally aim to persuade, inform, inspire, or entertain the audience.
• Understanding the purpose of a presentation is key to its planning.

Genres of Communication

• Report: Presents and discusses research/experiment findings (rationale, method, findings, discussion, and conclusion).
• Literature review: Aims to increase knowledge or understanding of an existing or new research field, requiring a synthesis of work in the field.
• Journal article: Communicates and provides valuable research results to the community; must be reliable.
• Thesis: Demonstrates achieved objectives through different methods, including advanced information; discussion and results are key aspects.
• Poster (academic): Summarises a research project with main sections like Introduction, Methodology, and Results; uses text, visuals, infographics, and graphs for communication.
• Thesis defense: Shares and discusses the results of a study or research.
• Preparation time: 10 minutes
• Presentation time: 5 minutes

Nature of Public Speaking

• Persuasion is the primary purpose, with information delivery secondary.
• The presented information needs to hold significance for persuasion
• Retention of information is limited. Presentations should be planned to optimise retention.

Effective Presentations

• Analyzing presentation nature is fundamental for building effective presentations.
• Effective planning: Include a narrative, and use persuasive tools.
• Effective presenting skills: Include physicality, voice projection and convincing body language.
• Presentations should have a clear purpose
• Everything in the presentation should contribute to the purpose.

Effective Presentation Model

• An effective presentation has a key message that is outlined for the audience.
• Context should be explained.
• Key information should be reinforced with repetition.
• Conclusion should link back to the context.
• A take-home message should be established.

Planning Presentations

• Start by analyzing purpose and audience.
• Create a narrative structure to map out your story, breaking the presentation into sections and connecting them logically.

Audience Analysis

• To understand purpose: Understand your audience
• Who are they? (Background, knowledge level)
• Why are they there? (Invitations vs. compulsory attendance)
• Knowledge base of the audience.
• What do they need to know? What do they want to know?
• Why should they care? Effective hook needed.

Standard Presentation Structure

• Introduction: Purpose, Aims, Objectives, Rationale/Hypothesis
• Body: Methods & Methodology, Results
• Ending: Discussion, Conclusions, Outcomes, Consequences

Hints ("Start from the end")

• Plan the conclusion first, working backward.
• Identify the key message (take-home message).
• Consider predicted outcomes.
• Plan, clarify, and articulate your presentation first.
• Foreshadow your closing
• Introduction: Background is not enough, focus on the hook/narrative, purpose, and aims

Introduction

• Not just background, but background as part of the narrative, demonstrating research understanding
• Identify research purpose in the literature context/problem
• Aims: Define what the audience will gain or learn from the presentation
• Objectives: How will aims be achieved?
• Rationale (for everything): "Why?" Justify choices and arguments, like academic arguments

Body Content

• Structure depends on purpose.
• Avoid esoteric/complex details.
• Simplify content as much as possible. Persuasion is more important than merely communicating information.

Conclusion

• Link back to aims and purpose.
• The introduction and conclusion should be linked effectively.
• Have a planned final remark, memorised if possible.
• Avoid weak closing statements, like "that's all".
• Your closing must focus the audience on the take-away message.

Incorporating Persuasion

• Academic persuasion uses rhetoric, argumentative tools, and devices and narratives
• Stories are inherently persuasive.
• Planned/intentional use of persuasion for academic arguments

Rhetoric

• The art/technique of effectively using language for persuasion.
• Not about tricking but effectively communicating the argument.
• Three modes of rhetoric: Logos (facts, logic), Pathos (emotion), and Ethos (credibility)

Hooks

• Essential for attracting and maintaining audience attention.
• Can be anything (argument, idea, evidence, fact, object) that immediately engages the audience.
• Focus on positive emotional connections

Effective Slides

• Slides are props to support, not duplicate content. Avoid reading directly from slides.
• Slides should be visually engaging: Use colours, bold, and clear fonts.
• Focus on simplicity and conveying key information quickly. Limit each slide to three bullet points of well linked information.

Presenting Skills

• Physical: Presence, hand movements, posture, eye contact.
• Vocal: Voice projection, articulation, pacing, modulation.
• Importance of physical and vocal presence for trust and engagement.

Body Language

• Keep hands in neutral, positioned at sides
• Plant both feet firmly in a structured manner
• Stand tall
• Don't hide
• Eyes should be on audience

Eye Contact

• Critical for building rapport.
• It builds audience trust and keeps the audience focused.

Vocal Skills

• Use your voice effectively to engage the audience.
• Emphasize key points.
• Pacing is essential: Allow for pauses. Fillers are distractions.

Enunciation

Be specific and deliberate in pronunciation.

Pacing

• Allow audience think & process information.
• Speed should be adjusted to the pace of the audience.
• Ideal speed: 120 words per minute; consider using pauses to regulate speed.

Pauses

• Essential for allowing audience to process information.

Language

• Avoid weak language, such as "I guess."
• Be forceful with arguments and avoid patronizing statements or language.

Using Slides

• Slides are an aid, not the focus.
• Make slides attractive and concise; visual processing is different from verbal processing
• Avoid overusing text; use visuals along with text.
• Slides should be short, focused and attractive.

Give Yourself Feedback

• A necessary component to improving.
• Reflect on what went well and what could be improved.
• Focus on specific skills. Action steps should be defined.

Conclusion 1: Planning, Conclusion 2: Presentation, Conclusion 3: Reflection

• Key takeaways are summarized
• Key skills and methods are reviewed.