RICHARD'S GUIDE
III. ON SPEAKING
Most of the guidelines presented in "Writing
Research
Reports" are directly useful to
the preparation of the oral
presentation.
Specifically, the sections on "The Research" and "The Preliminaries"
should
be followed if you are preparing for an oral and/or a written report of
the research. In addition the following steps of "The Writing--Ten
Steps"
should be used in the preparation of the oral report. The biggest error
you can make in getting ready for your report is to spend too much time
reading and not to allow enough time for the preparation of your
presentation.
Preliminaries
- Keep your question in
clear view
- Keep good notes of everything
- DON'T THROW ANYTHING AWAY!
Preparation
- Review the PURPOSE of the
report--yours and the audience's
- Determine your
AUDIENCE--prepare the report for your colleagues, not
your
faculty: what would you want to know about the
topic?
- Write a TITLE and
SYNOPSIS--even for the oral report, work with a
tentative
title
- Determine the
ORGANIZATION--the optimal organization of the talk may be
somewhat different than the written paper, particularly in the relative
emphasis of the various topics
- STOCK the sections
- OUTLINE: topical
& sentence--the sentence outline should help you
express
clearly the major points you want to make in complete thoughts
- Prepare FIGURES, TABLES,
QUOTES--be very selective in this
step.
Do not present everything you know, especially in visual format. It
takes
time for you to explain and for your audience to understand a complex
diagram
or table. Highlight the essentials with the minimal detail necessary to
make your point, but prepared to back up with additional details if you
are asked questions. Remember also that it takes a long time to prepare
even a simple diagram that is clear, clean, and comprehensible--and of
an appropriate size for the audience and form of presentation.
* Note: The following steps differ from
those in the "Ten
Steps"
for written
reports.
- Do NOT write your talk.
REVIEW and REVISE your outline, LEARN the
material,
CHECK and RECHECK your visual aids, plan your use of the blackboard.
- PRACTICE your talk with
your audio-visuals to increase your
familiarity
with the organization and with the timing. Take out detailed
explanations
as you discover it is too long.
- SET UP for any visual or
audio presentations in advance of the
scheduled
meeting. If you are showing slides, set up the projector and screen in
advance, and check twice to be sure every slide is
in the
projector
in the right orientation before you start.
Presentation
If you know your material and your outline, the presentation
itself is
the easiest part. The most critical things to remember are the
following:
- Be prepared--know your
subject and your talk.
- Do not read your talk.
Tell your listeners the story as you KNOW it.
- Relax--YOU are the expert.
- Don't rush or talk too
fast. Know your talk and subject well enough
that
you can cut some material out to finish in time without rushing so fast
that nobody can follow you.
For additional advice, read D. H. Janzen, (1980), "Plea from
a
Symposium
Goer," Bull. Brit. Ecol. Soc., 11(1),
2-4. Not all of
the
points are fully relevant to student presentations of library research,
but those that aren't have some subtleties that are worth considering.
The accompanying "Speaker
Evaluation Form"
has been used to have students evaluate oral presentations by their
colleagues.
It contains a number of positive and negative factors that should also
be considered by a speaker in preparing the talk and presenting it. It
can be used effectively in conjunction with Janzen's "plea."
Go to SPEAKER
EVALUATION FORM
Return to: Table
of Contents
Last Updated on August 1, 2000 (Richard's Guide,
Revision
8i), reformatted 6/30/05; 1/30/07