Prof. Jivhesh Sal. TATION SKILLS Head of Department Deparment of Extension Eaton ORAL PRESE Oral_presentation is one of the instructional methods of teaching. Effective speaking demands a high level of skill in oral presentation of material and fullest compression on the part of instructor, Presentation is the practice of showing and explaining the content of a topic to an audience or learner. Presentations come in nearly as many forms as there are life situations. In the busin world, there are sales presentations, informational and motivational presentations, first encounters, interviews, briefings, status reports, image-building, and of course, the inevitable training sessions. \ ¢ oral presentation Tips for eff Make your speech purposive: Any speech you make must have some purpose to entertain, ampse, instruct, interact, sell an idea or product, or ask for some action. Give brief introduction: In case audiences are strange, then introduce yourself, but avoid unnecessary information. Know the audience: Make your presentation to audience's level of knowledge about the subject of your presentation, what they need to know, and their interest. There are far more types of audiences because audiences have innumerable flavors. They may ask you as an individual to address a room full of factory dpérations, managers who have no choice but to attend their talk, you then may go before a congressional committee looking into various environmental issues. When an individual stands up to deliver a presentation before an audience, it’s essential that the audience know who the presenter is, why they are there, what specifically they expect to get from your presentation, and how they will react to your message. Be prepared: Develop good command over language as well as the subject. Practice your presentation until you feel comfortable. Make sure you can present your information within limited time frame. Anticipate questions you may be asked and prepare answers to these. Don't read your presentation: Talk to your audience. Use your notes as prompts as needed. Reading a speech is never preferred. Tt is better not to speech at all than to read a speech, regardless of how usefit, well prepared and eloquent it may be...) Don’t make excuses: Many-a-times, we may notice, a speaker making a beginning by saying, J am sorry, T have not come prepared to speak on the topic, because .... Really, you are not prepared, no need to announce it in public speaking, because audience never notices it. Arouse the interest of the audience: Always speak in terms of what the audience wants and what you want. Opening should be effective for making your presentation a success. Maintain eye-contact: Shift your eye - contact around the room, so that everyone feels that you are talking to them. Use of proper gesture, posture and body movement: Non-verbal communication plays @ vital role in transfer of message. So, for effective presentation your gesture, posture and body movement should match with-your verbal communication. Be fluent: Fluency is one of the most important parameter for effective communication. Without a smooth flow of speech, you are handicapped as a speaker. Be positive: Make it clear that you are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about your subject.Provide examples: Try to make your presentation as concrete and "down to earth" as possible. Add appropriate examples and humor for effective understanding. Use visual aids Supplement what you say with visual aids such as handouts, charts, transparencies, and slides, Make sure that everyone can easily see the visual aids. Don't use visual aids that are so complex that the audience will spend its. time trying to read them instead of listening to you. Visual aids are supplements to what you say, not replacements for what you say. Skillful use of properly selected visuals makes your presentation easier and more effective, : Actively involve your audience: People can only listen so long without their attention wandering. Making your presentation interesting will help you to capture and keep your audience's attention for a while, but you must do more. Build in some simple and quick activities for your audience so that they are actively involved in your presentation. Ask questions that you are confident your audience will be able to answer. Use repetitions, pauses and variation in voice: Vary the tone of your voice and be careful not to (alk too quickly. Repetition, pauses and variations in voice for emphasis are desirable in oral presentation : é Stop before your audience wants you to stop: You must come to an early and appropriately end after reaching the climax. Make it a point to stop at a time, when audience feels you should stop. Have a smooth ending: Do not end your speech suddenly and abruptly. At the end, conclude your talking. Guidelines for Making Oral Presentations — For many people, giving an oral presentation can be a daunting prospect. The key (0 a good presentation lies in preparation and rehearsal. The following are some guidelines for planning, preparing and practicing your presentation. (a) Planning What is the purpose of your presentation? Why are you giving a presentation? To explain, to convince, to entertain, to justify? The purpose of your presentation will determine how you structure it, what information you will include, what format you will adopt, the type and form of your visual aids, etc. Who is your audience? Your audience will most likely include fellow classmates and your tutors or lecturers. - What will they know of your subject? - What background information do you need to provide? - What technical terms or complex matters will you need to explain and what can you assume they already know? - How can you keep them interested? ~ What questions might they ask? ~ Will your presentation be marked? If s » What are the marking criteria? (b) Preparing The introduction Introduce your talk with a brief overview of the points you will cover, locating the topic in its wider context and clearly stating your argument or topic. Describe what the presentation is about and how it will develop. .Porastariple: Prof Jivhesh R Sal eee ead of Department T'm going to talk about Department of Extension Education ‘This morning I want to explain ...." ‘The points I will focus on are first of all..... Then. finally...! This will lead to..... And Try to begin with an attention grabber to capture your audience's interest. Some ideas are: a’ startling fact, a cartoon, a pertinent question, an interesting statistic or a dramatic visual aid. Pisplay the outline of your talk in key points on an OHT or PPT slide. Tip: Avoid telling a joke unless you know it is going to work. If it falls flat, so will your confidence. The body Decide the main ideas you want to get across and group them into logical and coherent ‘chunks’ of information. - Keep focused on what's important. - Ensure key ideas stand out. - Keep relevant and to the point. Omit trivial details and waffle. - Provide the necessary evidence to support your conclusions. - Use clear examples to illustrate your points. - Use ‘connective devices' to move from point to point, to help your audience follow your thread of ideas - eg. "The next point T want to make is ..."'From this we can see that..." "As a consequence ...' ‘In spite of this, the results showed that ...’'‘An example of this was when ‘On the other hand, it is also true that ...." The conclusion Conclude by briefly summing up everything that you covered and restate your thesis and your findings. For example: ‘To sum up..." ‘rom this we can see... 'To recap the main points ... "My intention was to show that ,.. and the results confirmed that ...' You might also like to indicate areas for further research or follow-up but don't introduce any new material. ‘Thank the audience for their attention and ask if there are any comments or questions. Tip: Be prepared for questions but if you cannot answer, don't be thrown. Think of some strategies to handle any tricky ones.Visual Aids - Keep visual aids clear, simple and uncluttered. With overhead transparencies and slides, avoid too many words and use key words only, not full sentences. Use desirable size of font on OHPS or even in PPT. Break statistics down into easily readable charts or graphs. Tf you have quantities of statistics you wish to convey to your audience, do so on a hand-out (c) Practicing Being Prepared means rehearsing your presentation as many times as it takes to get it right. Even experienced presenters advocate plenty of run - through. Use family, friends, or a mirror for this purpose. This will increase your confidence and allow you to feel more relaxed and sure that everything will work on the day. You will know that your visual aids will fit in with your text, that you won't be shuffling around in a heap of notes, and that you will not ‘dry up’. Also, most important, you'll get the timing right. Delivery = Make sure you know what type of equipment will be in the room and how to use it. Do not read from pages of notes. Use your visual aids for cues and have brief back - up notes on card. (Don't try to memorize your talk). Use appropriate language e.g. get the right level of formality / informality. If you think you are going to stumble over a particular word or phrase, use a different one if you can. Otherwise, rehearse it enough times so that it trips off the tongue. Don't use too much ‘filler speech’ - too many ‘ums' and ‘ahs' will irritate your audience Sound and look enthusiastic. If you want your audience to be interested in your talk, then you must show interest and enthusiasm yourself. Pitch your voice at the back row, not the front row. in speaking loudly enough, go into a largish room and practice Tip: If you have difficulty you'll soon increase the volume of your voice. shouting to the back of it - Body language — Where will you stand in relation to the equipment you are using? If you are using a screen, make sure you don't stand in front of it. — Try to adopt a relaxed posture but not so relaxed that you look sloppy or unprofessional. Avoid nervous gestures such as waving hands around, clicking pens, or brandishing a pointer. — Make eye contact with your audience. Try to avoid gazing over people's heads or too much. If you find it difficult to make eye contact, looking down at your note concentrate on a couple of friendly faces for a few seconds at a time, Tip: Hold your hands loosely crossed in tront of you with one hand holding your cue cards and occasionally make a gesture with one hand to avoid looking too stiff. Handling anxiety The fear of speaki ing in public is the fear of all fears, Almost everyone feels nervous when giving a presentation or speaking in public so if you feel nervous, it isperfectly natural and understandable. If you have prepared and rehearsed well, you will have done a great deal already to reduce nervousness. — Ifyou think your hands might shake, it's another good reason to use cards instead of paper for your notes. Paper sheets held between two shaking hands will draw your own and everyone else's attention to the fact that you are nervous and will distract from the content of your talk. — Know the room and know the equipment. Something unexpected could cause you to fluster, — Take some deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth, half a dozen times before you start. — On the day, arrive early and greet people as they walk in and have a chat. This breaks the ice and creates a nice relaxed atmosphere. — Tf you are feeling nervous, don't call attention to it. Your audience probably won't even notice. — In the weeks / days leading up to’ your presentation, do some positive visualization. Sitting quietly or lying in bed, imagine yourself standing in front of the group, feeling very calm and relaxed, speaking in a loud, assured voice. Don't ‘negatively rehearse’ by imagining yourself blowing it. — Nerves can cause us to babble’ and our ideas to race. Don't be afraid to take a pause ... slow down ... take a breath. If you become confused and momentarily lose your thread, don't panic. Calmly check your cue cards and continue. Tip: One experienced speaker recommends having the first four minutes or so ‘hot-wired' - so well-rehearsed that you know every word and gesture for that first few minutes. Try to enjoy your presentation. Look on it as a performance - you are a bit like an actor playing a part. Even if you are not feeling confident and at ease, pretend that you are.