Giving a Formal Presentation

Giving a Formal Presentation

Overview

Most college courses require that students give a speech on a specific topic either individually or in small groups. Sometimes your instructor will ask you to choose a topic that piques your interest and prepare a speech for your peers. Keep in mind that your topic must be appealing, and that your speech must be well-organized. You will need to do research on your topic to obtain bits and pieces of information, write a brief speech, and practice speaking several times beforehand so that you can speak before your audience with ease and confidence. Last but not least, since you will only have 15 minutes to give your speech, you will need to speak clearly and concisely and finish within the allotted time. 

Organizing Your Speech

As mentioned previously, you will need to choose a topic that is appealing to a wider audience. Your classmates will most likely have different areas of interest, so it is useful to find a universal topic and organize the speech around interesting and significant facts. Health and nutrition, business, and communication are usually some of the topics that appeal to most people, but you can choose other topics that might also be of interest to your audience. It is also a good idea to speak to your instructor about your topic and its relevance to the theme being discussed in class. Perhaps you can focus your first presentation on a topic related to this chapter’s focus on Health and Nutrition. It is recommended that presentation topics follow the chapter themes. To further assist you, we have provided you with a worksheet so that you can prepare an outline of your speech that will serve as a point of departure. 

  

Handouts

Prepare a handout for your audience members, outlining your speech, so that they can follow your movement of thoughts as you speak and situate themselves in the speech easily. Be sure to provide your name and e-mail address on the handout in case some people in the audience want to ask you questions about your topic in the future.

Your handout should include the references, especially if you have done preliminary research and collected information from secondary sources such as books, magazines, periodicals, and the Internet. This is important in that if your audience members are intrigued by your speech, they can go to the sources you have cited and gather more information about the topic.

Remember that your handout should follow the logic of your speech and should have the main points in the same order you will present. In other words, the handout should give your audience members a clear sense of how you have organized your speech. Finally, leave enough space between the points for the audience members to take notes while you are speaking.

Visual Aids

In addition to the handout, you also may want to use slides or transparencies. If you do use slides, be sure to keep the font large so that the audience can read your main points easily. Also, each slide should probably have no more than 5 to 7 lines. A total of 5 to 8 slides is ideal for a 15-minute presentation.  Power Point is yet another program for public speaking purposes, which you may use to make your presentation attractive and engaging.

When you draw your audience’s attention to a slide, be careful so as not to read the content word-for-word.  It is highly likely that most people in the audience know how to read, and that your reading everything on the slide verbatim will only annoy them.  Use the slides as a point of reference, give the audience sufficient time to read them, and then elaborate on the content using your own words. 

Presentation

As mentioned previously, you will need to do a fair amount of reading to gather information relevant to your topic from secondary sources such as magazines, journals, newspapers, and the Internet. The more evidence you have to support your main idea, the more likely it is that the audience will find your speech factual and convincing.

Practice giving your speech several times, especially if you are not comfortable speaking in front of an audience. Practice your speech on your close friends and family members and ask them to point out if you are speaking too slowly or too fast because of nervousness. 

Be sure to speak loudly and clearly so that everyone in the audience can hear you. After you finish talking about a point, pause a few seconds to collect your thoughts, and begin talking about your next important point. Most people in your audience will probably not be familiar with your topic, so pausing will allow them the time they need to process the information you are presenting. As you can see, pausing is useful both for you and your audience. 

Remember to mention at the outset the specific purpose of your talk, the main points and how you have organized the talk. As you move on from one point to another, remind the audience what you have covered and what you are about to discuss. This will provide benchmarks for your audience members who will find it easy to follow your ideas.  Also, for each of the main points, remember to use specific examples to support them. Your examples may consist of statistics, personal anecdotes, research findings, etc. Appropriate and specific examples help your audience see how they strengthen your main points, which in turn substantiate your central idea.

Public speaking experts believe that the speaker’s body language is as important as the content of the speech. As you speak, be sure to use your hands to gesture.  Avoid reading your speech word-for-word. If you continue in that manner, your audience members will feel ignored and lose interest in your speech.  It is, therefore, important that you maintain firm eye contact with your audience members to keep them engaged in the speech. 

It is also important that you stay within the time limits. Your instructor or one of your peers will show you cards reading ’10 minutes left,’ ‘5 minutes left,’ ‘1 minute left,’ and ‘stop.’ During your speech, remember to pay attention to this person so that you will know exactly how much time you have left to finish your speech. You may have to adjust your speech, skip over a few points and discuss the more important points depending on the time remaining.

When you are approaching the end of your speech, tip the audience members off that you are about to finish. You can do this by saying “In conclusion,” or “to conclude.” This will give them an idea that you are wrapping up your speech.  Finally, leave a lasting impression on your audience by saying something profound about the topic. At the end of the talk, briefly tell the audience the main points you discussed and the significance of your topic. Then say, “thank you!” Do not say, “I am done,” or “This is the end of my speech.”

Questions & Answers Period

You will have approximately 10 minutes to take questions from the audience members and provide good, convincing answers. Be prepared to receive interesting and sometimes difficult questions from the audience. If you do not get interesting questions, there is a good chance that you were unable to captivate your audience.

Sometimes it is a good idea to ask your friends and family members to ask you difficult questions in advance. Answering these questions beforehand will better prepare you to handle them with confidence in case they are asked by your audience.

It is important to acknowledge the audience members, especially if they ask good, relevant, and interesting questions. Before you answer an interesting question, praise the audience member by saying, “That’s a good question!” or “That’s a really interesting question!” Then repeat the question using your own words for the benefit of those audience members who are sitting in the back row and may not have heard the question clearly. They are likely not to follow your answer or explanation if they did not understand the question in the first place. To ensure that all of your audience members understand the question, say, “the question is,” and then rephrase the question in your own words before you begin to provide an answer. 

If, for some reason, you do not understand a question, do not be embarrassed to ask the audience member to repeat it. It is better to ask the audience member for further clarification than to assume that you understand the question and give the wrong answer.

If someone asks you an irrelevant question that has absolutely nothing to do with your topic, politely decline to answer by saying, “I am afraid that is not the focus of my presentation,” or “I think that it is not a relevant question.”

Sometimes an audience member may ask you an extremely difficult question, and you may not be prepared to answer it. Instead of embarrassing yourself in front of your audience by misreading the question or by giving a wrong answer, ask for an email address and assure her or him that you will respond later. 

Worksheet

Preparing Your Speech

Once you have chosen an appropriate topic for your speech, your next task is to prepare an outline for content and organization. Use this worksheet to prepare the outline, which you also may use as a handout for your audience. As you read newspapers, books, and the Internet to obtain information on your topic, be sure to cite your sources. Finally, show the worksheet to your instructor and ask her or him to give you suggestions for further improvement.

Topic: _________________________________________________________________

Introduction

1.     Write the main idea:

2.     State your central idea: The purpose of my speech is to examine/explain/discuss/describe/convince… OR In this speech, I will explain…

Body

Write three or four relevant main points to support your central idea:

I.               First Main Point:

Supporting Details – Write specific examples to support your first main point.

Example 1:

Example 2:

II.             Second Main Point:

Supporting Details – Write specific examples to support your second main point.

Example 1:

Example 2:

III.           Third Main Point:

Supporting Details – Write specific examples to support your third main point.

Example 1:

Example 2:

IV.          Fourth Main Point:

Supporting Details – Write specific examples to support your fourth main point.

            Example 1:

            Example 2:

Conclusion

Summarize your main points

            I.

            II.

            III.

            IV.

Restate your central idea: As I stated at the outset of the speech, I think/I believe that…

Leave a lasting impression:

Speech Evaluation Form (For Audience Members)

After you hear the speech, use this speech evaluation form to rate the speaker on a scale of 1 to 5. You may evaluate the speaker individually, with a partner, or in a small group. Remember to remain objective as you rate the speaker. At the bottom of the form, write the strengths and weaknesses of the speaker and offer suggestions for further improvement.

Topic: ____________________________________________________________

Presenter:__________________________________________________________                     

Evaluator(s): _______________________________________________________                                                                     

            

                Poor   Somewhat Good  Good   Somewhat Excellent    Excellent

           1                    2                  3                     4                           5

                                                                                                                                    Points            

Introduction: The topic was appropriate and interesting.

The speaker seemed knowledgeable, enthusiastic,

and confident and stated the main idea clearly.                          ______

Supporting

Details:          The speaker used clear, specific examples

to support the main idea.                                                               ______

Conclusion: The speaker summarized the main points, restated

the main idea, and left a lasting impression on the audience.  ______

Visual Aids: The visual aids such as slides and posters were easy to

follow, well-organized, and informative.                                    ______

Gestures:       The speaker used gestures effectively, made firm eye

contact with the entire audience, was relaxed, pleasant,

and animated throughout the presentation.                               ______

  

Clarity:          The speaker spoke loudly and clearly. The speed

was easy to follow, and the message was intelligible.               ______

Q & A:           The speaker encouraged the audience to ask questions,

                        and provided good, convincing answers.                                    ______

           

                                                                                                                Total = _________

                                                                                                                               35 points

Strengths:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Weaknesses:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Suggestions for improvement:___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________