|
Check sheet for for oral presentations
1. Structure
- Be sure that the purpose of the talk is clear. At the beginning
of the talk, you can say something like: If there's one thing I want
you to remember from this talk, it is that ..." Before you
put together your talk, be sure you know what the ... is.
- Be sure the level of the talk is appropriate for the audience.
Don't talk about differential equations to elementary school students
and don't explain F=ma to engineers. Think about who will be in your
audience and what you want them to get out of your talk before you
put together your talk.
- State the goal of the talk at the beginning,
reinforce it in the body and restate it in the conclusion.
- At the beginning of the talk, tell the audience how the talk is
organized. Follow that organization.
2. Visual Aids
- Be sure the text on your transparencies is large and legible.
- Make the formatting style consistent across slides.
- Put ONE key idea on each slide.
- Your figures and diagrams should be clear and easy to understand;
Be sure to label the axes on graphs and put captions on your figures.
3. Presentation
- Make eye contact made with the audience
- Be sure that everyone in the room can hear you. Look at the back
row periodically. This helps you to project your voice.
- Your talk should progress smoothly from one viewgraph to the next.
Rehearse the transitions.
- Explain your graphics. Don't expect the audience to look at a
chart and understand it.
- Don't ramble. It's better to pause and figure out what you want
to say next rather than to ramble until you get back on the path.
- Don't recite or read your talk. You should rehearse enough so
that you know the flow of the talk, but don't rehearse so much that
you memorize the entire talk.
- Finish your talk on time. Be sure you have a watch you can read
easily and be sure to ask the moderator what time you should finish
talking.
- Thank the audience when you are done speaking. (Not only is it
polite, it lets the audience know you are done.)
- Answer questions succinctly and effectively. If you don't know
the answer to a question, say so. If the question is very detailed,
and you suspect that the questioner is the only person in the audience
interested in the answer, suggest that you discuss it after the
talk.
- Thank the audience again.
sfinger@ri.cmu.edu
|
