|
Once you've designed an effective
introduction and conclusion, you can work on the
body of your presentation. The body is the main
section of content, and it must be well organized
and well researched in order for your presentation
to be clear, interesting, and understandable for
your audience. In Chapter 8 of Oral
Presentations for Technical Communication,
you'll learn about:
|
•
|
Finding Information
|
|
•
|
Organizing the Material
|
|
•
|
Previewing the Material for Your
Audience
|
|
•
|
Citing Material in Your
Presentation
|
|
•
|
Providing Handouts
|
|
•
|
Be Ready to Adapt
|
These exercises build on the ideas addressed
in Chapter 8:
1. Select a topic. Invent an audience. Now
invent several purposes for a presentation on that
topic to your audience: to persuade, to educate, to
solve a problem. Depending on the purpose, the body
of your presentation will look very different.
Outline the entire presentation (introduction,
body, conclusion) based on these different
purposes. Pay attention to the patterns of
organization you choose for each purpose.
2. Create a simple outline, using one of the
organizational patterns in this chapter, for a
basic presentation about a topic you know well.
Outline your presentation with whatever method you
use to outline a paper. In your outline, write in
the transitions you will use as you move from point
to point. Practice the use of transitions.
Presentations and Cyberspace. Select a
topic for your first presentation. Use the Web to
search for information about this topic. Use any of
the available search engines (AltaVista,
MetaCrawler,
Lycos,
etc.) With a critical eye, examine first the number
of hits you receive: of these hits, how many pages
look relevant to your topic? Now click on several
of the pages that look relevant. Examine these
pages carefully: Who wrote the page? Is the
material credible? Are the statistics and sources
cited? Do you trust this source? Why? Create a list
of criteria by which you can judge Web pages as
credible or not.
Presentations and Teamwork. Working with
one other member of your team, select one of the
organizational patterns described in this chapter
and prepare a presentation on a scientific or
technical topic that interests both of you. Give
the presentation for your team and ask them to
critique your organizational pattern, considering
such factors as the appropriateness of the pattern
for this topic, the effectiveness of your use of
the pattern, the appropriateness of specific
examples you used to support each main point, and
other points about which you want feedback.
Presentations and International
Communication. Certain cultures have preferred
patterns for organizing their presentations. In the
United States, for example, it is common to begin
with the "bottom line first" (deductive), stating
your main points before beginning the presentation,
while in other cultures, a more narrative or
inductive approach, stating the specific elements
and leading the audience toward a conclusion, is
preferred. Through library research and interviews
with international students and professionals,
learn about these differences and document how you
might adapt to a specific audience.
Presentations and Your Profession.
Interview a professional in your field and ask
about the most common types of presentations they
give. Ask specifically about how he or she locates
and researches information and how he or she
chooses the organizational pattern for the body of
the talk.
|
