Preparation

The not-so-secret secret to an engaging and effective oral presentation is preparation, preparation and more preparation. This means preparing your materials to suit: your purpose, the audience's needs and the length of your talk.

It also means rehearsing your delivery (with friends or a tape-recorder) to ensure your talk:

• Engages the audience with the topic
• Presents the necessary information clearly and concisely, and
• Can be delivered within the time limit.

The most useful thing you can do to prepare for your own confirmation presentation is to attend as many other confirmation presentations within your department as you can. Try to establish a sense of the setting and audience, and the elements of a successful presentation.

If your presentation will be in the same room, try to sit on the end of the front row during another student's presentation. Turn around once or twice (unobtrusively) to get a sense of what the room and the audience look like from the speaker's point of view. Having an idea of what you will be facing helps to settle any 'speaker's nerves' when it comes to your turn.

Also, listen carefully to how material is organised and presented by other students. Think, in particular, about which elements make the speaker's presentation engaging. If English is not your first language, pay special attention to how the speaker keeps the presentation flowing, how questions are handled, and whether the words, phrases and sentences you hear are formal, informal or a combination.

The following checklist may help with your listening and observation. Click here to download the oral presentation checklist (MS Word file, 29KB).