Oral Presentation Structure

Presentation structure should comprise four parts: the aperture (or grabber), the preview (or agenda), the main points (or body), and the termination (or next steps).

Part 1: The Grabber.   Speakers need to "connect" with their spectators at the beginning of the appearance. Conventionally, this has led many to make the mistake of effective inappropriate jokes. Instead, speakers should establish rapport by touching the audience's curiosity in the topic. Using statistics that present the topic in a new light can often help focus the audience's concentration on your topic.

For example, if you were making a presentation to a group of possible customers about an speculation opportunity, you might begin by citing applicable numbers:  "While even the most positive investors only count on a return of 10 percent a year from their reserves,  our mutual fund has fashioned proceeds  over 25 percent for each of the last three years . . ."

Part 2: The Agenda.   Since an audience cannot browse your presentation in the same way one can browse a document, the speaker must present an introduction or "table of contents" that will help guide the listener through the main points of the production. This preview should be overt and existing both visually and verbally for the maximum collision.

For example, to maintain with the presentation on the mutual fund just described, the speaker might continue as follows: "Today I would like to share with you how this fund has been able to accomplish such accomplishment by first looking at our devote philosophy, by looking at how we determine which stocks to comprise in our portfolio, and by describing how we have been able to build the portfolio to its present size through shareholder like you . . ."

Part 3: The Main Points.   As in writing, the body of a appearance should be comprehensibly organized based on some standard such as chronology, significance, or just the judgment of the material itself.

To make certain that they have enough to say, customers often make the mistake of including too much information in their presentations. In universal, instructors in management communication course suggest limiting the number of main points to between five and seven items. In adding to limiting the number of main points, speakers need to provide clear transition between sections to attach ideas for spectators. Transitions can be as straightforward as details or as complex as repeat ideas in a pair of sentences for longer section in a complex appearance.

Part 4: The Conclusion.    Customer often fail to take advantage of one of the most serious parts of any appearance-the ending. Most communications experts agree that audience is most likely to pay close concentration and remember what you say at the beginning and end of your awarding. This means you have a compulsion to provide a logical closing.

You can achieve such a finish by referring back to the grabber by referring to next steps ("Now that we have seen how this company is able to supply such staggering proceeds, let's set up a meeting for you to meet with our speculation advisors . . ."); or by abbreviation the main ideas ("So let me repeat the ideas that we have enclosed today . . .").