Thoughts on Oral Presentations
- Oral Communication is different from written communication
Listeners have one chance to hear your talk and can't "re-read" when they
get confused. In many situations, they have or will hear several talks on the
same day. Being clear is particularly important if the audience can't ask
questions during the talk. There are two well-know ways to communicate your
points effectively. The first is to K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid). Focus on
getting one to three key points across. Think about how much you remember from
a talk last week. Second, repeat key insights: tell them what you're going to
tell them (Forecast), tell them, and tell them what you told them (Summary).
- Think about your audience
Most audiences should be addressed in layers: some are experts in your
sub-area, some are experts in the general area, and others know little or
nothing. Who is most important to you? Can you still leave others with
something? For example, pitch the body to experts, but make the forecast and
summary accessible to all.
- Think about your rhetorical goals
For conference talks, for example, I recommend two rhetorical goals: leave
your audience with a clear picture of the gist of your contribution, and make
them want to read your paper. Your presentation should not replace your paper,
but rather whet the audience appetite for it. Thus, it is commonly useful to
allude to information in the paper that can't be covered adequately in the
presentation. Below I consider goals for academic
interview talks and class presentations.
- Practice in public
It is hard distilling work down to 20 or 30 minutes.
- Prepare
See David Patterson's How to Give a Bad Talk
This page was last updated on
02/26/04.
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