node.live

Hi Everyone

Here are the details from last weeks session on planning your speech. Remember timing is extremely important!

Speech Preparation
Oral presentations are a common requirement in many courses. They may be short or long, include slides or other visual aids, and be done individually or in a group. In your postgraduate studies, you may have the opportunity to deliver lectures, seminars and tutorials as well, and the more practice you have at any of these, the easier it gets. Planning and structuring an oral presentation is similar to the process of writing an essay, except you need to be conscious of a live audience and use spoken language instead of written. However, the final preparation and presentation differ significantly from editing and polishing an essay.
The major steps in oral presentations are planning, structuring, preparing and presenting. Let's have a look at the key concerns of each of the stages.

Plan
Like any form of presentation of your research, an oral presentation needs attention to research and planning. If you follow the usual sequence of idea generation, wider reading leading to narrowed focus, and consideration of your audience and purpose, the next stage, structuring, should be fairly smooth.
• Purpose
- What is the aim of your research? Why are you presenting it in oral form? What is important about your findings? What is the key focus of your presentation?
• Audience
- To whom are you presenting your findings? Are they more or less knowledgeable on the topic than you? Pitch your data to the appropriate level. What does your audience expect to gain from listening to you?

Structure
Also like an essay, an oral presentation needs an introduction, body and conclusion. In the introduction, you may like to include a brief (and relevant) anecdote or provocative question to engage your audience from the beginning. A question that includes your audience will make them want to follow through with you to find out the implications as they relate to them directly. The conclusion should point to further research or conclusive results if possible. Try to end with a clear concluding statement, something with rhetorical flourish perhaps, so that you aren't forced to finish by saying, "um, that's it."

Spoken v. written language
There are both subtle and significant differences in speech and writing, and it's good to know what they are when preparing an oral presentation. For one thing, a speech should sound more like natural speech.
• First person
One of the most obvious ways in which to achieve this is to speak sometimes in the first person - you can refer to yourself in an oral presentation, for example, "I'd like to start by..." or "Let me give you an example...", whereas in written projects it is best to keep the use of the first person to a minimum.
• Jargon and nominalisation
Because your audience needs to be able to follow you without being able to refer back to written text, try to unpack your language somewhat - don't be too academically dense or use too much jargon.
• Signposting
You will be accustomed to signposting in essays, where you foreshadow or guide your readers through your argument with phrases such as "The focus of this paper will be..." or "I'd like to move on to..." This technique is crucial in oral presentations, where the audience does not have the luxury of referring to the writing in front of them.

Prepare
The more prepared you feel, the less nervous you're likely to be. There are a few key considerations in preparation for an oral presentation, namely time limits, speaking from notes, body language and use of voice.
• Time limits
Practise the presentation a number of times to get the pacing right and ensure you fit the information into the time provided. Do not go over time as that doesn't match the audience's expectations and can lead to impatience, boredom and confusion. Don't finish too early either or it seems that you don't have sufficient command of the material.
• Speak from notes
It is preferable not to read your entire paper as you will tend to lose eye contact, intonation and good posture. It's preferable to reduce the original paper to bullet points and then practise filling in the gaps while practising. Even if you know the material very well, it can help to have a few key points in note form in addition to the points on a PowerPoint presentation.

Present
If you've prepared well, you should be ready for a confident presentation. By now you should have the presentation fitting comfortably into the time limits and you should be speaking fluently just from dot-point notes. When you're actually in front of the audience, remember your body language and voice projection. Try to relax and enjoy the experience of sharing information you've gathered and analysed - and don't forget to welcome questions at the end.
http://www.courseworks.unimelb.edu.au/researchandwriting/oralpresentatio...

Thanks everyone - keep up the good work
Jo Wisdom
Learning Skills Associate