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Thinking about your presentation:
Being an effective writer of oral
presentations requires you to take three preliminary steps:
- Analyze your audience
- Decide and articulate your
purpose
- Do some preliminary research
1. Analyze your audience
Audiences determine the success of oral presentations. You can't write
efficiently before first understanding what your audience is like and
how it will respond. The way you will write your message depends on
these two factors.
Example:
Imagine that you are delivering an oral presentation in front of a group
of teenagers studying at secondary school to become car mechanics. Here
is the opening paragraph of your presentation
The goal of this presentation
is to show how most refractory coatings to date exhibit a lack
of reliability when subject to the impingement of entrained
particulate matter in the propellant stream under extended firing
durations.
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Is this opening paragraph appropriate?
Thus, before you begin writing your
presentation, you need to consider:
- How much does my audience know about the subject?
- What do they expect from me?
- How interested will they be in what I say?
- What is their age group?
- What is their educational background?
- What tone should I adopt?
You will find more information on audience analysis in this link.
2. Decide and articulate your purpose
What is the purpose of your presentation? Is it instructional
(to explain something), informative (to report
something), persuasive (to convince someone)?
Decide your purpose and make it clear, at the very beginning. If the
audience knows what to expect, they will be more focused on content.
Example:
Imagine that you are delivering an oral presentation in front of a group
of businessmen. Here is the opening paragraph of your presentation:
The
IT Assessment Group has examined the alternative ways of protection
for companies. In particular, the concept of firewall software,
defined as software that can be used to protect an organization
from viruses and unauthorized entry into databases. My aim for
this morning's talk is to explain how firewall software protects
the company's data. I'll also tell you about different firewall
software packages.
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Is this opening paragraph appropriate?
3.
Do some preliminary research
Do not just rely on what you know. A bit of research will help you became
more familiar with the issue you are writing about, and it will also
give you credibility with the people in your audience. Also, it is important
to adapt your source to the level of your audience.
Example:
Imagine that you are delivering an oral presentation in front of a group
of teachers at your school/university. What sources would you consider?
Why?
- Scholarly journals and books
- Internet web pages
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