Better Oral Presentations

Session Guide

Oral Presentation Techniques

Oral Presentation Techniques

SESSION GUIDE

PURPOSE AND CONTENT

A well documented, well planned, and well-structured presentation can be ineffective if the presentation is delivered poorly. The delivery phase can make or ruin a presentation. The purpose of this session is to provide key points on which to focus in the delivery of thepresentation, and to maximize its effectiveness. This will be helpful whether you have to present your program proposal to improve rational use of drugs, or have to make an educational intervention with a large number of people in the audience.

This course requires participants to prepare and make presentations. Many participants will use the materials to teach others.

OBJECTIVES

Developyour ability to:
[VA1]
1. Introduce the key factors for successful presentation delivery

2. Prepare effective visual aids

3. Deliver successful presentations

4. Evaluate presentation delivery

PREPARATION

1. Read session notes.

2. Think of your presentations in the past, which one was successful or dull, and why?

List at least 3 points of each.

REFERENCESAnonymous - 1987 "How to do it?" (Articles from British Medical Journal), British Medical Association, London.

Price Waterhouse Siddik, 1987, "Effective Business Communications," Course Material, Price Waterhouse Siddik, Jakarta.

This session was originally developed by Dr. Sri Suryawati (Indonesia) and revised by Dr. Beverly Summers (South Africa). Photographs provided by Dr. SriSuryawati. Link to Photo 8
Oral Presentation Techniques

SESSION NOTES
[VA2]
DELIVERING A PRESENTATION

A well planned, and well-structured presentation can almost be ineffective because of bad presentation delivery. The delivery phase can make or ruin a presentation. There are four key factors in the successful delivery of a presentation.

[VA3]
Timing - Timing is of crucial importance. Donot ramble or talk needlessly. Some people simply freeze, and some can not sit down when they got on their feet to talk. Try to stick to prepared speech. Some questions during the presentation might be difficult to answer, and it is best to dispose of them politely, but quickly. If you return to your prepared speech, you are in control. If you become diverted to a detailed answer, the timemay just slip away and you may suddenly find the audience looking at the clock. The amount of time required for a given presentation should be determined in advance. As a general guide, one slide needs 1 - 1.5 minutes. So, if your presentation consists of 50 slides and you allowed 30 minutes only, the delivery has to be rushed very much and you may not succeed in conveying your message. Judgeyour timing by practice.

[VA4]

Attention Span - The level of audience's attention during a presentation varies considerably. In general, the attention is high at the beginning of the presentation, but tends to fall after 10 minutes. Therefore, it is important to highlight or repeat key ideas during a long (more than 20 minutes) presentation. The speaker must be conscious of the attentionspan concept, so that the presentation can be carefully managed. Something like, "Let me summarize what I just said..." will boost the level of attention. It is also important not to simply fade away at the end of the presentation. Never leave the audience at a low level of attention. The speaker should use some clue to alert the audience to the fact that the end is coming, and that there issome summary or highlight to be expected. Try various ways to end the talk, instead of simply saying, "This is the end of my presentation, thank you".

[VA5]
Personal Approach - Personal features of the speaker have a major impact on how the presentation is received. There are four aspects, i.e. gesture, voice, eye contact, and breathing.

[VA6]
Gesture can be used to highlight points or to...