Oral Presentation : Skills You Need to Know

Oral Presentation: Skills You Need to Know • Writing a Group Speech • Creating a Presentation • Practicing Physical Delivery

Writing the Group Speech As A Group: 1) Pick a Topic 2) Focus the Topic 3) Write a Thesis (CLAIM) 4) Create an Outline

Outline I INTRODUCTION A. larger topic B. focused topic C. context D. THESIS STATEMENT (claim)

Outline II BODY A. 1st Body Point (Topic Sentence) 1) explanation 2) examples 3) research

B. 2nd Body Point (Topic Sentence) 1) explanation 2) examples 3) research C. 3rd Body Point (Topic Sentence) D. 4th Body Point (Topic Sentence)

Outline III Conclusion A. Summary of topic and main points B. End with larger topic

Writing the Group Speech Each Individual Group Member: 1) takes a Body Point 2) does research 3) creates an outline for that part of the body 4) writes a draft incorporating research (including oral documentation)

Writing the Group Speech As A Group: 1) Peer Edit each others Body drafts a. each part should be comparable length b. check organization of content c. check grammar and punctuation d. check citations

2) Create good transitions between parts 3) Write the Introduction and Conclusion

Preparing the Oral Presentation • Individual Group Members: 1) read through your section of the speech until you KNOW it 2) create notecards/Powerpoint 3) practice, practice, practice 4) then practice, practice, practice again

As a Group: 1) split up Intro and Conclusion so each member has a piece 2) practice speech in order over and over again 3) especially practice transitions from one speaker to the other

Preparing Physical Delivery • BODY 1)Posture a. Stand up and Balance weight on feet. b. Stand up straight, not rigid, but comfortably straight.

2) Hands – Note Cards a. Gestures need to be used for emphasis. b. Any kind of gratuitous gesturing can be distracting and needs to be practiced OUT of any presentation.

3) Eye Contact a. The presenter’s eyes should be up MOST OF THE TIME. b. The speaker needs to practice using an eye sweep, including everyone in the audience.

VOICE • 1) Projection • a. It is important to project the voice out of the mouth so that the audience can clearly hear the speaker. • b. In order to do this the speaker needs to stand up straight, open the chest cavity and breathe deeply. • c. The more breath behind the sound, the further the projection.

2) Pace • a. When most people get nervous, they speed up vocal delivery. • b. Practice the presentation speaking slowly and deliberately.

3) Pronunciation • a. To be a credible speaker it is important to correctly pronounce every word in a speech. • b. If there is a technical, foreign, or unusual word that the speaker chooses to use, it is important to get help to pronounce the word correctly and then practice it over and over until the pronunciation becomes natural.

4) Vocal Variety • a. Most speakers automatically fall into a verbal pattern that can be absolutely deadly for the audience. • b. The speaker needs to approach each sentence in the speech as a separate expression. • *What is the main point? • *What word(s) does the speaker need to emphasize? • *She the speaker slow odw? Speed up? Pause?

5) Enunciation: a good exercise to work on using the mouth and breath to enunciate is • Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. • A peck of pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick. • If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, • How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Oral Presentation : Skills You Need to Know