Class 7: Presentations I

 Types of presentations
 The communication process
 Planning and structure

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 There can be hundreds of different kinds of
presentations, doing one or more of the following things:
◦ Informing
◦ Demonstrating
◦ Describing
◦ Defining
◦ Persuading
◦ Selling

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 Impromptu – improvised
 Memorised – recited
 Manuscript – read
 Prepared – read with notes
 Interviews – answering questions (TV or radio)
 Group presentations – 2 or more members

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 When doing a presentation, it is important to think of
communication strategies:

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 Speaker
 Message
 Audience
 Response

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 Message

Speaker Listener

Response

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 Speakers must be aware of all aspects of a
presentation, NOT just how they are feeling at that
moment …
the speaker is only one part of the whole ….

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 You have the audience and, more importantly, the
message to think about.
 You must also think about the audience response.
 The speaker must be aware of all these things to give an
effective presentation

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Speaker – The speaker wants to communicate an idea

Message – The speaker puts the idea into a structured

message

Channel – The message is sent through a channel to the

audience

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Audience – the audience receives and interprets the
message

Response – the audience responds to the message

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 The speaker must focus on words, attitude, tone, and
outward appearance
 Why?

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 The listener has needs which you, the speaker, are
trying to meet
 Just like you “write for your readers”, be sure to “speak
for your listeners” and not for yourself
 Why?

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 Message = content + form
 Content = information
 Form = structure/format

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 Response = the audiences reaction during and after
your speech

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 Possible responses
◦ Non-verbal and verbal responses during the speech
◦ Questions right after the speech
◦ Questions and comments received later

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 Use these responses to become a better presenter in
the future
 How?

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 The more you plan and practice, the better your
presentation will be
 Be careful not to ‘over plan’ though
 Use the ROTGD outline for your presentations

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 Research
 Organisation
 Text
 Graphics
 Delivery

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 Today
◦ Research
◦ Organisation
◦ Text
 Later
◦ Graphics
◦ Delivery

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 Research （研究）
◦ Who is the audience?
◦ What is the purpose?
◦ How much time?
◦ Know your topic

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 Organisation （组织）
◦ Introduction
◦ Body
◦ Conclusion

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 Introduction （导言）
◦ Attention/opener
◦ Preview

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 Attention （注意）
◦ Start by getting the audiences attention
◦ Choose the best method by analysing your audience
before hand

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 Attention
 Get them interested
◦ Tell a story – “ 四川 earthquake, how people were
rescued…”
◦ Show a picture

◦ Show an impressive statistic- “7.9 on the Richter scale”

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 Attention
 Common ground
◦ Reference the audience
◦ Talk about something familiar to the audience that relates
to the subject
 In the case of the previous example if we were appealing for
money, appealing to people with children in the audience
would be effective

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 Attention
 Benefits
◦ Open by telling your audience how you and your
presentation can help them
 Benefits to both the heart and the mind

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 Attention
 Credibility
◦ Make your audiences interested by making your
audience trust you
 Are you going to cheat them?
 Will you deliver your promises?

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 Attention
 Humour (be careful)
◦ Some presentations work by opening with a joke
◦ Be careful as some topics or audiences will be angry at
the use of humour!

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 Preview （预观）
◦ Before discussing your main points, give a preview of
your presentation

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 Preview
 Types:
◦ Outline
◦ Agenda
◦ List of main points

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 “In the next 5 minutes, I will discuss construction projects
in three cities: Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen.”
 “In the course of this presentation I will discuss the
importance of idols in today’s society.”
 “During this press conference I will appeal to the
audience to help the people of Sichuan”

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 Body
 State Main points clearly
◦ Should be organised and easy to follow

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 Body （主体）
 Limit your main points
◦ Don’t try to say too much.
◦ Better to talk for longer on just a few key points
 Why?

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 Body
 Use explicit and long transitions
◦ “Let’s move on to the next region”
◦ “The second thing I’m going to discuss is..”
 Why?

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 Body
 Use internal summaries at the end of each section
◦ “Now that we have looked at the parts of the introduction:
attention/opener and preview, let’s discuss the body.”

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 Body
 Keep audience interest high
◦ Use stories and situations your audience can relate to
 Why does this work?

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 Body (summary)
 State main points clearly
 Limit main points
 Use long transitions
 Use internal summaries
 Keep audience interest high

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 Conclusion （结论）
◦ Make sure to have a strong conclusion as your audience
will remember the last things you say

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 Conclusion
◦ Begin with a strong transition such as “in conclusion” or
“to summarise”
◦ The use one or more of the following techniques…

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 Conclusion
 Give a summary
◦ Good for explaining or instructing

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 Conclusion
 Refer to your opening
◦ If you began with a story, go back to the story you used
in the introduction
 Why?

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 Conclusion
 End with action steps
◦ For a persuasive report, make sure to tell your audience
what to do at the end

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 Organisation (summary)
◦ Introduction
◦ Body
◦ Conclusion

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 Text （本文）
◦ It would be difficult to memorise an entire presentation,
so it is useful to make notes
◦ Also, this is not a good idea, why?

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 Note cards should be:
 Easy to read (large text and lots of white space)
 Short (use key phrases, not whole sentences)
 Limited (don’t have lots of note cards. Each should
have about 5 minutes of info.

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 Next time:
◦ Visuals
◦ Delivery (verbal/nonverbal)
◦ Public speaking (how others’ do this best)

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