Infomed

MAKING EFFECTIVE ORAL PRESENTATIONS

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MANUEL FAJARDO MEDICAL SCHOOL

ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

2006

 

MAKING EFFECTIVE ORAL PRESENTATIONS

 

AUTHORS:

 

Eduardo Garbey Savigne, BEd, Cert TEB,M.A.

José F. Tápanes Maza, BEd.

Mercedes Aluart Rodríguez, BEd.

Teresita Rojas González, BEd.

Sarah León López, BEd. 

 

The Manuel Fajardo School of Medicine English staff realized that this skill has not  been taught or developed at any school level in Cuba and that the students needed it for their present and future development. Besides, there is no bibliography or courses to let teachers and students learn the steps and its methodology.

 

Our department suggests that this Oral presentation skill should be taught to medical and nursing students when they start their second year. This will help them to be better presenters when they graduate. As most of the medical and nursing students participate in the Students' Scientific Workshops held in all medical schools, and they have to make oral presentations in their seminars in class. Therefore, this is a good chance to learn the way to make an oral presentation.

 Our English staff will provide you with the necessary and basic tools to develop an adequate oral presentation in English. The oral presentation steps are as follows:.

 



Introducing yourself


Preparing the audience


Delivering the message


Summarizing and concluding


Good morning...

Let me introduce myself. My name ...

I am a specilaist in.

 

English is not my mother tongue,

I hope you'll excuse

me if I make any

 mistake


Today, I will be talking about ...

 

First, I will talk about...

Then, I will move on to....

Finally, I will deal with ...

 

If you do not mind, leave the questions to the end


Let's start with the background (or rationale)

As you probably know...

I must emphasize ..

 

Referring to visuals

If you look at the graph

Please draw your attention to the chart...

 

To digress for a little

Back to my earlier point..

Right, Let's now move on to

Finally, I would like


Before concluding, I would like to summarize the main points again..

 

Well, this is all for today

 

Any questions?

I'll be happy to answer them.

 

That's all I had to say. 

 

Thank you very much for listening                              

 

This set of phrases and words are just a guide for your presentation. Their main intention is to provide you with a set of useful phrases to pave the way for a good presentation.

Giving an Oral presentation is not an easy matter. Its structure is one aspect but there are many others to be taken into account. For example: the audiovisual aids you are going to use.  They all have positive and negative aspects. It is you who should decide which to use according to the audience, location where the presentation will take place and also your own possibilities and personal charisma..

 Let's take a close look at some of the most common audiovisual aids:

 

1.      Overhead transparency.  Use of Overhead projector (OHP) 



Strengths


Possible problems


·        Easy to prepare

·        Low-cost

·        Flexible (pre-constructed or spontaneous)

·        Easy to see on large screen

·        Materials are lightweight


·        Overuse

·        Too much printing on one transparency

·        Noise of OHP fan may distract

·        Need of white area for projection

·        Incorrect handling

·        Technical breakdown


2. Posters



Strengths


Possible problems


·        Colorful

·        May be humorous

·        Concise

·        Can be displayed anywhere


·        Too small for size of the room

·        Audience reads ahead

·        Needs lots of time for preparation

·        Needs other supplies (tacks,tape,

etc)

  

3. Audio-tape  presentation



Strengths


Possible problems


·        Offers variety. Encourages listeing

·        Easy to repeat

·        Low-cost

·        May be complemented with other media


·        Technical breakdown

·        Not enough sound for size of the room

·        Overuse may bore the audience

·        If repetition is needed a recorder with a 'meter' is a must

 

4. Power Point (Data Show) presentation 



Strengths


Possible Problems


·        Colorful, attractive - places attention on screen

·        Realistic - photos may be included

·        Pre-constructed

·        Stimulates sound and sight together

·        Puts less emphasis on speaker


·        May be out of synchronism (voice may run ahead of picture)

·        Technical difficulties

·        Needs to be computer literate (or have a skilled assistant)

·        Too much technology needed

·        Not all venues have this facility

·        Too much reliance on the aid by presenter

 

The presentation of your information can be done in different ways.  Look at the following ways and see their strengths and weaknesses. 

Ways to present information

PICTURES DIAGRAMS, MAPS

Strengths

  • Realistic
  • Believable
  • Colorful

 

Strengths

  • Respected by experts
  • Very detailed

 

    Problems

  • Too small for audience
  • Too much detail
  • Audience distracted by irrelevant things

   Problems

  • May distract viewer
  • Too detailed for understanding

BAR & PIE CHARTS

LISTS

      Strengths

  • Colorful
  • Concise
  • Size relationship shown
  • Simple

Strengths

  • Concise
  • Simple
  • Memorable

Problems

  • Bars (too fat or thin)
  • Not enough difference in height
  • Be distracted by other  pieces of the pie.

Problems

  • Too much points to remember
  • Lacks originality

 

Finally, we would like to provide you a list of D0's (things you should do) and Don'ts  (what you should not do) when making oral presentations

 



DO'S


DON'TS


·        Plan , write and rehearse your presentation with some time ahead

·        Find out about your audience before the presentation

·        Limit the amount of information

·        Speak clearly and slowly

·        Keep to the time allotted to you

·        Keep the eye contact with audience

·        Check transparencies, slides, and cassettes, before the presentation

·        Smile, give confidence to your audience

·        Care about your physical appearance


Ø      Look at the ceiling or floor

Ø      Use jargon words

Ø      Memorize the whole presentation,

only  the first two minutes of it

Ø      Gesture too much. People may get distracted

Ø      Speak too fast or too loud

Ø      Play with the cards, pointers, etc while you are presenting.

Ø      Go to a presentation unprepared

Ø      Mumble words

Ø      Repeat OK, Right, Well during the presentation

Ø      Hesitate

 

All what we have shown here, it is just a guide for your presentation. This means that you can start adding your ideas and comments to our suggestions and we are sure you will become a good speaker in a short while.

Knowing how to organize your ideas and how to present them to others will undoubtedly help you convey your ideas more clearly and achieve your goals.

 

(Publicado como artículo multipáginas en www.uvfajardo.sld.cu