Topic and audience
When you are going to make an oral presentation you need to fully understand your topic and potential audience beforehand.
Topic
You may have a choice of topic, or it may be dictated by your course’s requirements.
-
Probably your presentation will be based on a written assignment. Indeed, a good presentation starts with your written assignment.
-
If you understand the assignment question, express your topic idea clearly in the introduction, follow it up 'paragraph by paragraph' with strong topic sentences setting out your supporting argument, and end with a logical, effective conclusion, you already have the framework for a successful presentation.
-
When beginning work on your presentation notes, re-read your assignment carefully and restructure the information as necessary.
-
If your presentation is not based on an already written assignment, base your work in a logical and well-structured manner.
Audience
Find out as much as possible about your audience and speaking environment beforehand:
-
Where will your presentation be given?
-
What facilities will be available to you?
-
Who is the audience? What is their background – general or specialist?
-
Will they be familiar with your topic and understand specialist language? Or will they need to have matters expressed in relatively simple lay terms?
-
Is there something they really need to know?
Ensure your audience understands you
-
You need to be sure about your presentation’s purpose. Are you presenting an argument to persuade, or an explanation that describes something?
-
Concentrate on the essentials – your thesis statement, the supporting evidence, what you have shown and your concluding point.
-
Carry the audience with you by using words that include them (you, we, us) and signal the stages of your talk (first, second, third...).
Purpose
It can help to structure your presentation by thinking about its purpose.
Why are you giving this presentation:
- To inform?
- To persuade?
- To entertain?
- To motivate?
Thinking about the purpose of your presentation can help influence the type of language and style that you employ during your talk.