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| How to make an oral presentation | |||||
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Pericles, the Athenian of ancient Greece was the pre-eminent orator,
for his extraordinarily powerful rhetoric. Others, including Churchill,
Hitler and Mussolini, whatever other reputations they may have had,
were also articulate and influential speakers who moved their listeners
and bent them to their will. This article, written in response to requests
from a number of commerical clients, is about the oral delivery of
reports and papers.
You have written, edited and produced your report or paper. Now you
have to deliver it to someone, to a committee, to your peers, in a
sales presentation. All the research you have done, all the care and
time spent on the report is diminished if you are unable to present
your report articulately and with self-confidence.
We are agreed that we write in the business world for three reasons:
to inform, persuade and direct. Yet, reduced to a single reason, it
is to persuade the recipient or recipients to a particular point of
view. You write to win, for jobs, careers and business depend on how
well you convey your ideas and opinions. Business is winning. There
is a close relationship between good writing and skilled presentation.
Some people who are good at presenting information are not so impressive
when they write. Similarly, people who write well are often less than
competent when making oral presentations, which should lead us to question
the difference between writing and speaking. What is the difference?
A writer relies only on the written word to convey thoughts, nothing
more. What you read is what you get. If what you have written is badly
organized, convoluted, awkwardly phrased, inarticulate, that's what
the reader learns. Speaking is another matter, for we expand our ability
to communicate by other senses. What are the elements of oral presentation?
THE WAY WE SPEAK
Most, but not all, speakers who read from a written text do two noticeable
things. First, they in a monotone and a voice lacking conviction.
As a result, the average speaker reading a written text bores the
audience. All the speaking techniques of eye contact, gestures, mannerisms
and visual aids are lost. Secondly, they almost certainly exceed
the time allotted to for speaking, which only irritates bored listeners.
Many professional speakers write two versions of what they want to
communicate. One is the paper written for publication. The other is
a version for use as speaking notes. For most writers, to read the
original as written would probably be not only tedious, but would take
considerably longer to read than the time allotted for speaking. The
solution is to paraphrase the paper in a conversational style. This
is possible without loss of content because of the greater scope permitted
by the use of overheads, gestures, movements and what one hopes will
be the speaker's animated presentation.
The answer is no lengthy preliminaries; get down to the subject immediately.
'There are two points of discussion in this paper ... etc.' In delivering
the papers that form the body of the book, our speakers never introduced
themselves, thanked their audience for attending the lecture or said,
'Good morning. My name is...' Such flannel is unnecessary. The audience
knows who is the speaker. Her or his name is on the flyer or other
material provided for the course. The opening words of the first lecture
where 'The Oxford English Dictionary defines over 600,000 words used
in written English since the 12th Century.' The attention of the audience
was full and immediate every time the lecture was given. ESTIMATING ORAL DELIVERY TIMES
Preparation time for making an oral delivery of a paper is as important
as the time spent on writing the paper or report in the first place.
Although it is a matter of training and experience, skilled speakers
hardly ever speak spontaneously. Timing and familiarity with the
subject being presented is everything.
The average articulate and confident public speaker speaks at a rate
of about 125 words a minute. Therefore, for a page of 250 words - which
is the average amount of text on draft copy (see GETTING STARTED, and
the passage headed THE WORK ESTIMATE) the speaking time is about two
minutes. The actual delivery time varies from speaker to speaker. When
one is using overheads to illustrate an address, the speaking time
lengthens. Every speaker needs to get her or his own measure.
A good speaker almost never departs from the written speaking text.
Even those inspired asides, which seemingly come as spontaneous thoughts,
are plotted with care: a touch of humor; a reference; figures taken
out of the air. They are all built into the original speaking notes.
Churchill's famous repartee when he accused a member of the opposition
of lying - he referred to what the speaker had said as a 'terminological
inexactitude' - was in fact rehearsed beforehand and formed part of
his notes. He was, however, so good an orator that he rarely spoke
in the house with notes in his hand. He had rehearsed them well beforehand.
Knowing what you are going to say before you say it is part of the
preparation. Knowing well what you are going to say makes you more
articulate. It improves your confidence and reduces the need for hesitation:
the 'ums' and 'ers' and fill in phrases; the 'You knows, 'You know
where I'm coming from?', 'You get my meaning', and 'As I said' when
you haven't already said it, but are at a loss as to what you're going
to say next. EYE CONTACT
Quite apart from what you say and how you say it, eye contact with
those who listen to you is the next most important asset any speaker
has. You know as well as I do that eye contact is essential. Eye
contact is part of your speaking chemistry, the magnet that holds
the listener's attention. If you look over someone's head the listener
soon gets the idea that you are not interested in what you're saying.
Bored listeners soon lose track of your words. In a group, they feel
free to close their eyes and think of other things. So remember, when
you address a group, keep eye contact with them. Make them feel that
you are speaking to them and not to the clock on the rear wall or your
speaking notes or some other fascinating object in the room. SPEAKING VOICE
I mean by voice the tone, rhythm and modulation with which we speak.
When we speak in a monotone, a single tone, as when reading a report
aloud, the voice is dead and lifeless. But a rhythmic speaker who
intonates the voice gives words in musical cadence. The words themselves
take on meanings they do not have when in the printed word. To speak
as a Newfoundlander or Scot or anyone with a strong regional accent
speaks is to add a new dimension to language that makes it interesting
for the listener.
The rise and fall of the voice emphasizes the words and phrases spoken.
Most people remain unaware of how other people hear them. They don't
hear themselves as others do. Even when you hear your own voice on
a tape recorder you don't hear yourself as you do when you speak. This
is because the timbre and pitch of your voice is different when heard
from within than when you have only your sense of hearing to guide
you. Pitch and timbre is the sound you give to words, the stress you
give to every word you speak.
When you speak, your voice rises and falls naturally. Pitch is how
high or low your voice sounds; timbre has to do with volume and the
quality of richness. Many political speakers have elocution lessons
to improve their speaking voices, Brian Mulroney, and Margaret Thatcher
among them. It is a fact that a high-pitched voice sounds strident
and shrill, and does not command the same attention as a deep, low
and resonant voice. It is for this reason that some women speakers
have difficulty commanding the same attention as men. Their voices
have a higher pitch, so it is difficult for them to develop that lower
resonant timbre.
Pitch and timbre come from the way you stand and hold your body. When
you're hunched over with your chin down, lacking confidence and nervous,
the body squeezes the voice box. A pinched voice of high pitch results.
The answer to this is to stand up with your head erect and your voice
box not constricted. The change from the pinched voice is quite noticeable.
Try it and you will find that your delivery sounds more credible and
authoritative.
Even the pregnant silence commands attention. Occasionally, when speaking,
a good public speaker will consciously pause. This is part of the art
of public speaking. A pause makes the listener wonder if perhaps you
have forgotten what to say next and heightens the sense of expectation. The Second World War military commander Montgomery was renowned for his pregnant pauses, his lengthy silences when addressing his field commanders. Oblivious to his audience, he would stop speaking and read his next page of notes for up to a minute. Then he would continue his address for three or four minutes without again referring to his notes. This technique, and it is a technique, is used effectively only by the most accomplished speakers. I mention the practice of the measured pause for you to think about when you are presenting a report. It doesn't suit everyone, but it does command attention, for the audience begins to suspect the speaker of losing his or her train of thought, which is an embarrassment, not to the speaker, but to those in the audience. The effect is to make them pay close attention. MANNERISMS
What I've just said about the measured pause in speaking is part of
the speaker's style. Equally, it is a mannerism, which is a characteristic,
a quality and attribute of speaking style.
Your gestures and movements, which some psychologists describe as body
language, are equally important parts of the way you speak. Eye contact,
hand and body movements are part of any speaking technique that no
quality of the written word can express.
Use your hands to emphasize the points you want to make: 'One, two,
three!' Move away from your notes occasionally. It inspires confidence
in you. Staying close to your speaking notes can give the impression
you're drowning in the mid-Atlantic clutching a razor blade for support.
Nothing in our view is as important as your enunciation, for pronunciation
is a most important part of the way you speak. If you do not clearly
or correctly pronounce words your audience will not understand what
you're saying. Using the correct word in written material means speaking
it correctly. Use a dictionary to check the correct pronunciation of
words as well as the correct spelling. In the demanding world of business,
how you speak is how others measure your worth regardless of your other
talents.
VISUAL AIDS
Here are two overhead illustrations used in a lecture on kitchen ventilation systems that illustrate the extremes. On the first, captions on the diagram are too light and crowd the line detail; the table is unnecessary; and the text below only supplements the explanation the speaker will offer as to the significance of the circled figures. In short, the actual diagram could fill the available space with the captions moved clear of the drawing detail and made clearer by the use of bold, upper case letters. SMOKE, ODOUR AND GREASE DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
FOR OUTDOOR AREAS AND BUILDING EXTERIORS
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Figure 1 – Kitchen lay out Shown on the restaurant lay-out are seven key points of interest to
consider. They include possible odour problems, the build-up of
grease and acids on the roof-top exhaust fans and fresh-air intakes
of the HVAC equipment.
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| Courtesy © Thomas E. Carter | |||||
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Figure 2 – Simple overhead In contrast, with the first overhead, the second one is a model of clarity and simplicity. There is no lengthy text to distract the viewer. The captions written in upper case, bold letters pointing to five items of interest the speaker will refer to in his delivery. |
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