Oral Presentations to Impress VCE English Christian College Using Language to Persuade Oral Presentation

The Presentation Process Identify the purpose & objective Consider your audience Structure your presentation Deliver the presentation Practise the presentation Prepare your notes & visual aids Evaluate your performance

What is the PURPOSE of your oral presentation? What are you hoping to achieve with your presentation? Are you using PERSUASIVE LANGUAGE TECHNIQUES effectively? Being clear about its purpose helps you to decide what to INCLUDE or OMIT Ask yourself, ‘Did I achieve my purpose?’

Who is your audience? Consider the following: What is the benefit to the audience of listening to your presentation? What do they already know about the topic? What interests your audience? How will what you are going to say affect them?

Failure to think of your audience… They COULD feel: Alienated - if you offend their values Insulted - if you fail to recognise and acknowledge their existing knowledge Confused - if you assume a level of knowledge that they (or YOU!) don’t have Bored - if you fail to relate to them Frustrated - if they are not given the opportunity to question your ideas at the end

Learn from Experience Consider a presentation that you have seen that was very effective. What made it so? (think of career talks, classroom presentations, visiting professionals etc.) Consider a presentation that you have seen that you thought was unsuccessful. What made it so?

Signpost. Structure. Summary. Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what you told them.

Introduction In an order that suits you, include the following in your introduction: The issue Your point of view or CONTENTION Objectives Background to the issue Tell the audience what’s in it for them Attention grabber - image, quote, statistic, tone, demonstration

The Body Consider each of the following points when you design each key point (or paragraph) of your presentation: Give accurate/researched details Smooth and logical order of ideas Use PERSUASIVE LANGUAGE TECHNIQUES to persuade and influence your audience Tell them how this applies to them Make sure the point backs up the claims you made at the start of your presentation

The Conclusion Summarise your key points Remind them of the advantages of your point of view Tell them how they should USE your ideas Closing attention grabber - can be similar to the one in the introduction or linked in some way, or completely different Invite questions - but don’t delay too long if no-one has any to ask End on a high - avoid saying ‘That’s it!’

How do you remember what you want to present? Memorising Using notes Using visual aides as notes Reading from complete text???

Audio-Visual Impact

Using Visual Aides How could YOU use the following aides in your presentation? White board? Charts/diagrams? PowerPoint? Video?

Impact of Body Language

Body Language to Avoid! Continuous staring at one person or object - vary your eye contact Constantly rubbing, itching, moving! Constantly clearing your throat Crossing your arms or legs Shuffling your feet and swaying Swinging or leaning on the lectern or leaning on the board/wall

Engaging Body Language Stand up straight and face the audience front-on Hold your head up high - gives a sense of pride and confidence Use your hands to emphasise and reinforce Vary your gestures

So, why should you rehearse? To get the content order right To adjust timing To commit to memory (just a suggestion!) To decide what to emphasise To practice variations in voice tone and body language To make sure visual aides are visible and will be used effectively

Nervous? Avoid negative thoughts Prepare and practice Think about your audience Think of yourself succeeding Act confident and you’ll FEEL confident Be proud of what you achieve!

In summary… PREPARE! Purpose - establish what it is Research your topic Experiment with visual aids Plan your ideas Audience - know what they want Rehearse your presentation Early - prepare early to avoid rushing

Evaluation Immediately after the presentation… BE PROUD! An hour after the presentation… PMI (Positive, Minus, Interesting) A month after the presentation… IMPROVEMENTS Next time you do a presentation… YOUR DECISION!

Good Luck!