Preparing the written draft The next step is to work on your written draft.
Read the information that you have found carefully. Take notes of the main ideas. Think over the logical combitation of the material for your Presentation. To do it well you need to use summarising and synthesising skills. (If you have any questions - follow the links and you will find useful quick advice) While writing your draft remember about the features of oral speech namely short sentences, simple and easy to understand language, no passive constructions. For your talk you are using a number of articles so do not forget to referencethem and their authors. Having finished with the main text, focus on the Structure of your Presentation.
Task 1. You have already found at least 3 good sources of information and read them. Take notes of the main ideas, decide on the logic of your talk, your examples and arguments. Now it's high time you started writing your draft and finished with the main body. Please, follow all the pieces of advice given in the previous page. Do not forget that your speech will take only 10 minutes and the size of your draft should perfectly fit it.
Economics - Topic: Cultural Diversity
Sociology - Topic: Young Children and Socialization
Focus on Structure
STRUCTURE
A well organised presentation with a clear structure is easier for the audience to follow. It is therefore more effective. You should organise the points you wish to make in a logical order. Most presentations are organised in three parts, followed by questions:
Beginning
Short introduction
welcome your audience
introduce your subject
explain the structure of your presentation
explain rules for questions
Middle
Body of presentation
present the subject itself
End
Short conclusion
summarise your presentation
thank your audience
invite questions
Questions and Answers
As a general rule in communication, repetition is valuable. In presentations, there is a golden rule about repetition:
Say what you are going to say,
say it,
then say what you have just said.
In other words, use the three parts of your presentation to reinforce your message. In the introduction, you tell your audience what your message is going to be. In the body, you tell your audience your real message. In the conclusion, you summarize what your message was.
We will now consider each of these parts in more detail.
Introduction
The introduction is a very important - perhaps the most important - part of your presentation. This is the first impression that your audience have of you. You should concentrate on getting your introduction right. A good presentation often starts out with an icebreaker such as a story, interesting statement or fact, joke, quotation, or an activity to get the group warmed up. The introduction also needs an objective, that is, the purpose or goal of the presentation. This not only tells you what you will talk about, but it also informs the audience of the purpose of the presentation.
The following table shows examples of language for each of the following functions. You may need to modify the language as appropriate.
Function
Possible language
1 Welcoming your audience
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen
Good morning, gentlemen
Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman
Good afternoon, everybody
2 Introducing your subject
I am going to talk today about...
The purpose of my presentation is to introduce our new range of...
3 Outlining your structure
To start with I'll describe the progress made this year. Then I'll mention some of the problems we've encountered and how we overcame them. After that I'll consider the possibilities for further growth next year. Finally, I'll summarize my presentation (before concluding with some recommendations).
4 Giving instructions about questions
Do feel free to interrupt me if you have any questions.
I'll try to answer all of your questions after the presentation.
I plan to keep some time for questions after the presentation.
Body
The body is the 'real' presentation. If the introduction was well prepared and delivered, you will now be 'in control'. You will be relaxed and confident.
The body should be well structured, divided up logically, with plenty of carefully spaced visuals.
Remember these key points while delivering the body of your presentation:
do not hurry
be enthusiastic
give time on visuals
maintain eye contact
modulate your voice
look friendly
keep to your structure
use your notes
signpost throughout
remain polite when dealing with difficult questions
Conclusion
The following table shows examples of language for each of these functions. You may need to modify the language as appropriate.
Function
Possible language
1 Summing up
To conclude,...
In conclusion,...
Now, to sum up...
So let me summarise/recap what I've said.
Finally, may I remind you of some of the main points we've considered.
2 Giving recommendations
In conclusion, my recommendations are...
I therefore suggest/propose/recommend the following strategy.
3 Thanking your audience
Many thanks for your attention.
May I thank you all for being such an attentive audience.
4 Inviting questions
Now I'll try to answer any questions you may have.
