Ryan Kniefel & Andrea Kircher
Ch. 17 – Engaging in Oral Communication
Chapter 17 talks about how to communicate ideas and plans effectively in front of an audience. It explains how to organize your thoughts and ideas into a well organized presentation through the use of outlines, visuals, and the type of audience you will be presenting to.
Types of presentations:
Informal Presentation- Usually consists of discussion. The audience is a group of peers or people already familiar with you and your work.
Formal Presentation- Audience is not familiar with you and your work. Requires more preparation and detail in order to give the audience background information about the topic.
Class Presentations- Very helpful in strengthening your oral presentation skills. A benefit of class presentations is the honest feedback you can receive about your strengths and weaknesses.
Audiences:
Professional Peers- Assume you have high degree of technical expertise, tend to ask more difficult, in depth questions.
Non-expert Professionals- Includes people in decision making positions; Want the technical information but don’t need to receive the in depth details.
International Audiences- Appreciate awareness and respect of their culture. Like to see visuals in the presentation for better clarification.
General Audiences- Appreciate clear purpose, defined terms, useful analogies, examples, and visuals.
Types of Presentations:
Informative Presentation- gives the audience verifiable information
Persuasive Presentation- attempt to convince audience about advantages of accepting a particular proposal or position.
Demonstrative Presentation- Shows audience how to perform a certain task.
Training Session Presentation- teaches audience how to perform a task usually with hands-on experience. (Training for a job)
Engaging your Audience:
Strategy 1- Create an audience-centered atmosphere. Find out something about your audience in advance so you can come up with examples that will relate to them.
Strategy 2- Encourage active involvement. Get the audience involved through discussion, questions, or demonstrations.
Strategy 3- Make what you say easy to listen to and remember. Don’t overload audience with information by rambling on with stories. Stick to the point.
Strategy 4- Vary the pacing and structure of your presentation. Don’t be monotone. Make presentation exciting.
Visuals:
Examples: Charts, diagrams, schematics, graphs, tables, maps, models, drawings, and photographs
Visual memory is stronger than auditory memory. Use visuals to help refresh the memory of the audience
Power Point Presentation:
One if the most effective tools for oral presentations. Use the power point as an outline for the presentation. Do not read of off the slides!!!
Handouts:
The use of handouts can be very effective. Handouts give the audience a reference and a place to take notes.
Professional Appearance:
Wear appropriate clothing- Wear clothing that you are comfortable in. Avoid wearing shiny jewelry that will distract the audience.
Handle Notes Comfortably- Number the notes or cards so you are not fumbling around trying to find the next one.
Make Eye Contact- Making eye contact with the audience shows confidence.
Handle Mistakes Smoothly- If you happen to make a mistake, apologize and continue on.
Relax Your Hands- Don’t fidget around with hands. Relax hands by resting them on the podium or along your side.
Relax Your Feet- Wear comfortable shoes. Don’t sway back and forth.
Move Naturally- Avoid nervous actions. Move naturally and comfortably by focusing on what you are trying to say and not on how you look.
Use the Podium Comfortably- Don’t lean or clutch on the podium.
Vocal Characterization:
Volume, pronunciation, rate, and pitch are important factors when giving a presentation. You must speak loud enough so that everyone in the room is able to hear you. This may require the use of a microphone in some situations. Well pronounciated words will eliminate the audience from any confusion in your presentation. Avoid racing through your presentation. This will cause your audience to be overwhelmed. Present the information in an average rate of speed. The pitch of your voice in a presentation is a key factor in how your audience will respond to you. Have liveliness in your voice when presenting information, monotone speakers can cause the audience to lose interest.