Online Technical Writing: Oral Presentations | EEE 101, Study notes of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Download Online Technical Writing: Oral Presentations | EEE 101 and more Study notes Electrical and Electronics Engineering in PDF only on Docsity! Online Technical Writing: Oral Presentations A common assignment in technical writing courses is to prepare and deliver an oral presentation. You might wonder what an oral report is doing in a writing class. Employers look for coursework and experience in preparing written documents, but they also look for some experience in oral presentation as well. After we introduce some general tips regarding the oral presentation, we will focus on the following topics:  Designing Effective Oral Presentations . Provided by the Rice Online Writing Lab (the Rice OWL, of course).  The Art of Communicating Effectively -- Tips for Presenters . A commercial site developed by Art Feierman and Presenting Solutions, Inc. Topic and Situation for the Oral Presentation For the oral report, imagine that you are formally handing over your final written report to the people with whom you set up the hypothetical contract or agreement. For example, imagine that you had contracted with a software company to write its user guide. Once you had completed it, you'd have a meeting with chief officers to formally deliver the guide. You'd spend some time orienting them to the guide, showing them how it is organized and written, and discussing some of its highlights. Your goal is to get them acquainted with the guide and to prompt them for any concerns or questions.  Purpose: Another way to find a topic is to think about the purpose of your talk. Is it to instruct (for example, to explain how to run a text editing program on a computer), to persuade (to vote for or against a certain technically oriented bond issue), or simply to inform (to report on citizen participation in the new recycling program). o Informative purpose: An oral report can be primarily informative. For example, as a member of a committee involved in a project to relocate the plant, your job might be to give an oral report on the condition of the building and grounds at one of the sites proposed for purchase. Or, you might be required to go before the city council and report on the success of the new city-sponsored recycling project. o Instructional purpose: An oral report can be primarily instructional. Your task might be to train new employees to use certain equipment or to perform certain routine tasks. o Persuasive purpose: An oral report can be primarily persuasive. You might want to convince members of local civic organizations to support a city-wide recycling program. You might appear before city council to persuade its members to reserve certain city-owned lands for park areas, softball and baseball parks, or community gardens.  Use "verbal headings"--by now, you've gotten used to using headings in your written work. There is a corollary in oral reports. With these, you give your audience a very clear signal you are moving from one topic or part of your talk to the next.  Plan your report in advance and practice it so that it is organized. Make sure that listeners know what you are talking about and why, which part of the talk you are in, and what's coming next. Overviews and verbal headings greatly contribute to this sense of organization.  End with a real conclusion. People sometimes forget to plan how to end an oral report and end by just trailing off into a mumble. Remember that in conclusions, you can summarize (go back over high points of what you've discussed), conclude (state some logical conclusion based on what you have presented), provide some last thought (end with some final interesting point but general enough not to require elaboration), or some combination of these three. And certainly, you'll want to prompt the audience for questions and concerns.  As mentioned above, be sure your oral report is carefully timed to 7 minutes. Some ideas on how to do this are presented in the next section. 7 minutes Contest explain who you are, veho the audience is, what the situation is (before your actual oral report. infoductor, indicate the topic and purpose of your oral report provide an overview of its main contents, get the audience interested. Bodp of ie ora region + Use verbal headings. + Explain cormples technical detail cleary, + Use visuals, explain therm, + Speak audibly, cleary, deliberately (not fast, watch out for distracting gestures, posture, nervous verbal mannerisms, + Stay organized. + Be aware of the time (F minutesh, Concussion, have a planned way ta end your talk; summatize, Conclude dogically, final general Comm ert, Preparing for the Oral Report Pick the method of preparing for the talk that best suits your comfort level with public speaking and with your topic. However, do some sort of preparation or rehearsal--some people assume that they can just jump up there and ad lib for 7 minutes and be relaxed, informal. It doesn't often work that way--drawing a mental blank is the more common experience. Here are the obvious possibilities for preparation and delivery:  Write a script, practice it, keep it around for quick-reference during your talk.  Set up an outline of your talk, practice with it, bring it for reference.  Set up cue cards, practice with them, use them during your talk.  Write a script and read from it. Of course, the extemporaneous or impromptu methods are also out there for the brave and the adventurous. However, please bear in mind that up to 25 people will be listening to you--you owe them a good presentation, one that is clear, understandable, well-planned, organized, and informative. It doesn't matter which method you use to prepare for the talk. Of course the head-down style of reading your report directly from a script has its problems. There is little or no eye contact or interaction with the audience. The delivery tends toward a dull monotone that either puts listeners off or is hard to understand. For some reason, people tend to get nervous in this situation. Try to remember that your classmates and instructor are a very forgiving, supportive group. You don't have to be a slick entertainer--just be clear, As for the content of your visuals consider these ideas:  Drawing or diagram of key objects--If you describe or refer to any objects during your talk, try to get visuals of them so that you can point to different components or features.  Tables, charts, graphs--If you discuss statistical data, present it in some form or table, chart, or graph. Many members of your audience may have trouble "hearing" such data as opposed to seeing it.  Outline of your talk, report, or both--If you are at a loss for visuals to use in your oral presentation, or if your presentation is complex, have an outline of it that you can show at various points during your talk.  Key terms and definitions--A good idea for visuals (especially when you can't think of any others) is to set up a two-column list of key terms you use during your oral presentation with their definitions in the second column.  Key concepts or points--Similarly, you can list your key points and show them in visuals. (Outlines, key terms, and main points are all good, legitimate ways of incorporating visuals into oral presentations when you can't think of any others.) During your actual oral report, make sure to discuss your visuals, refer to them, guide your listeners through the key points in your visuals. It's a big problem just to throw a visual up on the screen and never even refer to it. Designing Effective Oral Presentations The ability to speak effectively is as crucial as the ability to write effectively according to studies about kinds of communications most often required of employees. During a routine week, employees will actually spend more time speaking than writing; using the phone; conversing informally with colleagues, subordinates, and superiors on routine office topics; conducting meetings; working in problem solving groups; conducting employee evaluation sessions; participating in teleconferences and sales presentations; and frequently becoming involved in formal speaking situations before groups inside and outside the organization. Communication research also reveals that the higher an employee moves in an organization, the more important speaking skills become. The purpose of this section is to provide you the basic strategies for presenting technical and business information in an oral presentation. You will use many of the same strategies in developing an oral presentation that you use in preparing an effective written document. Understanding similarities between writing and speaking can be helpful for several reasons. Many times, you will be asked to document an oral presentation you have given; that is, you must submit what you said in written form. Or, you may be asked to make an oral presentation of a written document. Understanding the Speaking/Writing Relationship Being an effective speaker and an effective writer requires you to  Understand the context for your presentation,  Analyze your audience,  Understand and articulate your purpose clearly,  Develop sufficient and appropriate supporting material,  Organize the material so it is easy for the audience to follow,  Choose a speaking style, level of language, approach to the subject, and tone suitable to your role as well as your audience and purpose,  Select graphics that will enhance your audience's understanding of your message. Because listening is a different processing method than reading, you will need to know how to adapt guidelines for organization, style, and graphics to fit the speaking situation. However, you will see that writing and speaking are, nevertheless, similar communication activities. When you analyze your audience, focus on their professional as well as their personal profiles. Your audience will pay attention to some things because they're members of a department or class; they'll react to other things because of their likes, dislikes, and uncertainties. You have to keep both profiles in mind. Your analysis will suggest what you should say or write, what you should not say, and the tone you should use. Audience Analysis Questions:  How much does my audience know about the subject?  How much do they know about me?  What do they expect from me?  How interested will they be in what I say?  What is their attitude toward me?  What is their attitude toward my subject?  What is their age group?  What positions do their occupy in the organization?  What is their educational background?  What is their cultural/ethnic background?  What is their economic background?  What are their political and religious views?  What kinds of cultural biases will they likely have toward me and my topic? In viewing this list, you will note the prevalence of questions on attitude--the audience's attitude toward you as well as the subject. Some attitutes will matter more than others, according to the situation. These questions are particularly crucial ones, as you need to know, before you begin planning your presentation, whether your audience will consider you trustworthy and credible. To be an effective speaker, you must know your audience, establish a relationship by being sincere and knowledgeable about the subject, then conform to their expectations about dress, demeanor, choice of language, and attitude toward them and the topic. When you speak to people from other countries, you should plan to do research on the culture of that country. Be aware that hand gestures you use routinely with US audiences may have different meanings in other cultures. Also, the clothing you choose to wear should also be selected with the culture of the audience in mind. If the audience and situation call for more formal clothing than you usually wear, practice your talk wearing the clothes you'll be wearing at the presentation. Determining the Goal of Your Presentation Oral presentations, like written presentations, must be designed around a specific purpose. As a writer and a speaker, you must know your purpose. You must conceive your purposes in terms of your audience's perspective. Like the report or letter, the oral presentation must make purpose clearly evident at the beginning. By knowing what they will be hearing from the beginning of the presentation, the audience can more easily focus their attention on the content presented and see connections between parts of the talk. As you plan, state your goal in one sentence. Then, as you begin your presentation, state your goal in terms of your audience's background and attitude; announce your purpose early in the presentation to prepare your audience for the main ideas to come. You may want to restate the purpose in words familiar to the audience. Both written and oral communication often have multiple purposes. The main purpose of your presentation may be to report the status of a project, to summarize a problem, to describe a plan, or to propose an action, but your long-range objective may be to highlight or document important specific issues within the topic about which you are speaking and to further establish your credibility within the organization. You may want the audience to dislike another proposed solution, to desire a more comprehensive solution, or decide there isn't a problem after all. Organizing Your Presentation Oral presentations must be organized with your audience's needs and perspective in mind.  Is your audience interested in what you will say?  What are the main questions they will want you to answer?  Which of these questions is most important? least important?  Based on your purpose and the audience's expectations, in what order should you present these ideas? Generally, oral presentations have an introduction that ends with your main point and a preview of the rest of the talk, a main body, and a conclusion. The introduction should clearly tell the audience what the presentation will cover so that the audience is prepared for what is to come. The body should develop each point stated in the introduction. The conclusion should reiterate the ideas presented and reinforce the purpose of the presentation. It usually answers the questions, "So what?" * * * * * Getting Your Ideas in Order In planning your introduction, be sure that you state your goal near the beginning. Even if you use some type of anecdote or question to interest your audience, state the goal of your presentation next. Then, state how you will proceed in your presentation: what main issues you will discuss. The main ideas you have developed during the research and content planning stage should be announced here. The conclusion to the presentation should help the audience understand the significance of your talk and remember main points. Write out the final statement. At a minimum, you should restate the main issues you want your audience to remember, but do so in a concise way. Try to find a concluding narrative or statement that will have an impact on your audience. The conclusion should not be long, but it should leave the audience with a positive feeling about you and your ideas. Choosing an Appropriate Style How you sound when you speak is crucial to the success of your presentation. You may have effective content, excellent ideas, accurate supporting statistics. However, if the style you use in speaking is inappropriate to the occasion, to the audience (as individuals and as members of an organization), and to the purpose your are trying to achieve, your content will more than likely be ineffective. You want to sound respectful, confident, courteous, and sincere. The most effective style is usually a conversational style: short sentences, concrete language, speech that suggests to your audience that you are really talking to them. When a speaker writes the entire speech and memorizes it, the presentation does not sound as if the speaker is talking naturally to the audience. The tone and degree of formality will be dictated by your organizational role and your relationship to your audience.  Do they know you?  Is your rank in the organization above or below them?  Are you speaking to an audience of individuals from all levels within the organization?  What demeanor, approach, and level of formality does the organization usually expect from those giving oral presentations?  Is the audience composed of people who understand English? How well do they understand English? Answers to these questions as well as your purpose will determine how you speak to your audience. You can use drawings, graphs, props and objects, a blackboard with an outline, charts, demonstrations, pictures, statistics, cartoons, photographs, and even "interesting" items or maybe a map . Use anything that will help people SEE what you MEAN! (Weren't you attracted to the icons above???) But because these will be seen while the audience is listening to you, you will need to be sure that all visuals are as simple as possible and as easy to read: In short,  Avoid too much information on any single visual.  Use boldface type in a font size that can be easily read.  Use sans serif type because if produces a sharper image for slides and transparencies.  Limit the fonts you use to two per visual.  Avoid all caps.  Use a type--size and font--that contrasts distinctly with the background.  Avoid visuals that use too many colors--more than four on any one aid.  Avoid making your audience study your aids. If they are busy trying to decipher your visual aid, they will not be listening to you.  Bar graphs, circle graphs, simple diagrams, pictures, and lists are standard types of visual aids. Whatever aid you decide to use, limit the aid to only the concept, data, or point you are trying to make.  Be sure that what the visual says is immediately evident.  Computer graphics and programs such as Harvard Graphics, Powerpoint, and Excel in combination with color printers and slide projection equipment give you the opportunity to experiment with graphic design. Try developing visual aids that are visually pleasing as well as clear.  Use technology whenever possible. Some web sites have visuals that you can use for presentations about that topic.  Technology allows speakers to download graphs, drawings, and figures from the World Wide Web. The Web is perhaps one of the richest, newest, most colorful sources of visual aids. Planning Your Presentation--Questions You Need to Answer Thus, when you learn that you are to give an oral presentation, the first step in preparing for the presentation is to analyze each point listed above by answering the following questions, just as you did in planning your written communication. Once you have done so, you are ready to design, structure, and organize your presentation so that it will effectively satisfy the constraints that arise from your consideration of each point. Situation  What situation creates the need for this presentation? Who is involved? What is the scenario for this situation?  Where will I be speaking? Audience  Who is my audience?  What do I know about my audience's background, knowledge, position in the organization, attitudes toward me and my subject? Purpose  What is my purpose in giving this oral presentation?  Is there (should there be) a long-range purpose?  What is the situation that led to this presentation?  Given my audience's background and attitudes, do I need to reshape my purpose to make my presentation more acceptable to my audience? Hopkins; The Art of Selling, and others. Of course the wisdom from these sources originated in many other places. On Preparing for a Presentation The Structure of a Presentation The Rule of Tell'em Tell'em what you are going to tell'em, Tell it to them, and then Tell'em what you told them. The translation: Start with an introduction; including an "agenda" or set of goals for the presentation, provide the content; information and summarize the presentation. Last is First -- The Summary/Conclusion Slide One researched "fact" of presenting that has been around for a while is that most people attending a presentation will "remember" no more than five key points. What has not been confirmed is what are the key points? Ideally, the presenter should have a list of the five most important points/concepts/facts that should be remembered. BR> The attendees should list the five they remember. Now, what is the correlation? Is your message getting across? Or are they remembering minor points and missing your key ideas? It's bad enough that they will only remember 5 points, my own theory say's you and they will not consider the same things important -- what if they remember only one point that you think important. How to get your audience to remember what you want them to? If we take this as a truth, what impact should it have on creating an effective presentation. Start with the Last Slide! That's right, when you are ready to create your presentation, forget the details for a minute, forget the presentation's organization, instead: Write out your conclusion or summary slide first! It should emphasize the most important points you plan to make. Once you have visualized those points, it's relatively easy build your presentation around them. Curious, it comes back to the Rule of Tell'em. Even the brilliant people in your audience may need your help in deciding what you believe most important. Help them out! The Basic Rules of Good Presentations KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid There are numerous ways to apply this ancient adage. The bottom line is that the more complicated you let things get, the more trouble you can expect: New technology is wonderful, but don't break in new equipment 15 minutes before the presentation starts. Keep your presentation focused on the message, don't get carried away with special effects and razzle-dazzle. Whatever you do, don't have rented equipment scheduled to arrive 10 minutes before you speak. Check out everything in advance. Then check it again. Rehearsing the Presentation There's something to be said for winging it: " Forget It!" To present the most professional image, you need to know your presentation. It's OK to occasionally leave the main "script" but, wandering presentations that lack focus, or those too dependent on working from notes, or long pauses to compose your thoughts are never acceptable. Rehearsing the presentation includes more than just going over what you will be saying. Rehearsing includes the entire presentation. Use the same tools too. If you are using slides, or a projector, and have access to the room you will be presenting in, rehearse there. Using a remote mouse and laser pointer for the presentation, a microphone? Rehearse the presentation with these devices. Don't memorize Rehearsing is one thing, committing the presentation to memory and performing it by heart, is not the way to go. You need to present, not to recite. But use your notes very sparingly. before: Get out there, look around, close your eyes for a moment, and picture the people in the front row, either naked or in their underwear (depending on your moral fibre). Either way, it is said to have a relaxing, almost humorous effect. The person who said "there is nothing to fear, but fear itself" has never had his computer crash in mid presentation, his overheads all fall on the floor, her slide tray still be in the overhead compartment.... Pick one (or two) people easily visible to you, and "speak" to them. Oh, be sure to also observe others, but concentrate on just a few. This may or may not solve your "audiencophobia" but it will keep you in touch with your audience, and provide you with some feedback. Your place as a Presenter Controlling your Audience, not your computer  Face your audience  Observe them  Make eye contact - don't wander around the room, don't look down. Wandering can be a sign of nervousness, while looking down, may be taken as "trying to figure out what's next". (Remember -- you're the speaker -- you're supposed to know.  Lose the computer -- that is -- don't hide behind it. Get a remote mouse and get back up in front of the group, where you belong, as presenter, leader, moderator, and communicator. Deferring questions, following up Depending on the nature of the meeting you are presenting at, it may be appropriate to field questions during the presentation. In some cases it will be proper to answer the question on the spot, in other cases, you may be addressing that point later, or want to cover it later on or after the meeting. You are the best judge of how to handle it. Retain control of the flow of the presentation. Where appropriate defer questions to later in the presentation or afterwards. It is perfectly acceptable to reply with: "I would like to address your question later on when I cover..." or "You and I can discuss that after the conclusion of the presentation..." or "Regretfully, I do not have that information readily available. Please meet me after the meeting, I will get your name... and get back to you next week." If you do defer any questions: Follow through as promised. Nothing will damage your credibility in the long run, more than not keeping your word. Measuring your audience Hint: Snoring is a really bad sign! We have suggested you focus on only a few people in your audience. Are they attentive? What about body language -- are they fidgeting or checking their watches? Taking notes? Taking naps? Seriously, it is for you to take note as to which parts of your presentation are having an impact, and which are lost on your listeners. Technology soothes the beast It's the Nineties, do you have a laptop and projector. In the last couple of years presentation products have made tremendous strides. For example, today's projectors have evolved at least as much in the past two years, as computers have done in the last five. With the big improvements in capabilities, everyone expects more of you and your presentation. As we have said elsewhere, the changes are rapid, so Lead, Follow, or Get out of the Game. "They thought my slides were great last time (1988)" Presentations: The State of Confusion or "the presentation isn't till tomorrow" "I have trouble sleeping on the plane, with a PC on my lap." Simply put: DON'T WAIT TILL THE VERY LAST MINUTE TO WORK ON YOUR PRESENTATION. We all know that few presentations are really finished and "in the can" even a couple of days before the presentation must go on. That's even with best intentions. As a rule, don't tell jokes for their own sake, drop in your humor where it fits, relating to a point, or a break between sections. Small amounts of humor or a irreverent comment from time to time can go a long way to liven a presentation. Remember, a sleeping audience remembers little. Don't push your luck! Rehearsing your presentation in front of real people is a great way to test the "acceptability" of your humor. Quotations Appropriate quotations can make a noticeable impact on your audience. It's not always possible to find quotes that are directly relevant to your presentation, but it is often easy to find a series of quotes that complement or promote concepts that are part of your presentation. One presenter I know, in the Multi-level marketing business, likes to put a series of quotes from computer "visionaries" including Thomas Watson (IBM), Ken Olson (DEC), Bill Gates (Microsoft)...in his presentations. These quotes go back many years:  Thomas Watson (former Chairman of IBM, didn't think computers would ever be popular.  Ken Olson (founder and former president o DEC) couldn't figure out why anyone would want a computer at home.  Bill Gates thought that 640K of memory would be enough for everyone. With the less than stellar credibility much of multi-level marketing is perceived to have, these quotes which are all "way off the mark" provide a cautionary tale that tells you that perceptions are not always right. Better still, after the first couple of quotes, the audience is "looking" for more -- they are having an impact on the audience. Bottom line: Make your Quotations relevant -- and interesting! What is the difference between your audience and an elephant? The elephant never forgets -- the audience occasionally remembers! Art's Rule of Five (Five presentation reminders in five categories) Five things to do: Rehearse 1. When rehearsing before a live being, eliminate your overview and summary slide. Find out what they found interesting, memorable, confusing. Have them list what they thought was most important! Did they get your message? 2. Test all your equipment in advance of the presentation. 3. Rehearse using as much or all of the tools you plan use during the real thing. 4. Have a backup plan: What if your projector dies, computer crashes, slide tray still on the plane. What is plan B. (And did you practice it?) 5. Introduction, Objective, Overview, Presentation, Summary (Conclusion) Five things for your audience to do 1. Stay awake. 2. Receive the information they seek. 3. Get your message. 4. Take away supporting materials that help them disseminate the information you presented. 5. Act on your information. Five things to do when you are done 1. Thank them! 2. Make materials available 3. Make yourself available 4. Provide them with a method of reaching you 5. Get feedback -- Find out what they thought of you, what they learned, what they were hoping to learn but didn't, how you can improve your presentation, how to improve your communication skills. Five other things you could be doing now instead of reading this (don't think you can get away this easily) 1. Link to other sites (with similar or related information). Also sites that are relevant to your career. 2. Start working on your next presentation 3. Review your last presentation, analyze it based on what you have learned, and figure out how it can be improved. 4. Link to an on-line bookstore and buy a book on better presentations. 5. Log off, visit a friend, a spouse, take a vacation, TAKE A BREAK! Five items we appreciate your doing!