Presentation Support

Planning Framework for Oral Presentations

Big Picture

A presentation is a oral form of communication that centers on a 1-directional transmission from speaker to listener. The big picture of the presentation takes into account the most important considerations before developing content. The 4 big picture elements are:

• 1. Role - How will your role and purpose define what and how you present?

  2. Audience: How is the message useful and/or accessible to this particular audience?

  3. Format - How should the narrative of your presentation be constructed to have a lasting impact?

  4. Topic - How will the topic of your presentation define how you will present?

Before you outline, think about:

• • Plan your presentation without technology first, then decide later whether technology will improve your message.

  • Use a firm structure in your planning: argument-evidence, explanatory, slice of life, top-10 list, etc.

  • Make your theme clear.

  • Take the shortest path to your communicate your message, remove the nonessential.

  • Grab the audience's attention early with the Hook.

  • Make clear the problem, obstacles or conflict to be overcome. Give the audience something to think about.

  • Two kinds of Change: the presentation can be about a change in perspective, and the change it creates can be in the way the audience considers the problem.

  • Make the audience feel personally attached to the topic.

  • Introduce surprises by asking questions, creating doubt, or making the audience concerned with what they do not know.

  • Connect with your audience through imperfection: Be yourself, authentic and real, despite whatever image you have of a perfect presenter.

The Hook (PUNCH) to get your audience engaged:

• 1. Personal

  2. Unexpected

  3. Novel

  4. Challenging

  5. Humorous

Final Packaging (Using technology... or not):

• 1. Flip Charts or Whiteboards

  2. Presentation Platforms: Slideshow, Power Point, Prezi, etc.

Pre-presentation Anxiety (by Les Posen):

• • Chunking and Exposure

  • Rehearsal

  • Self-Talk

  • Breathing

  • Deliberate Practice

  • Work the Room

During the Presentation:

Positive and Negative Characteristics of Presenters