Resources for Faculty: Presentational Communication
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Primer
The speech communication activity that faculty are, of course, most familiar with is the presentation. It
is also one of the most time-consumptive. Therefore, we encourage faculty to build presentations into their
classes only when the time is well-spent. And “well-spent” necessarily implies meeting the goals
of their classes.
There are some ways of reducing the time demands of presentations somewhat. You might schedule
mini-presentations that take no more than 3-4 minutes, or you might plan for panel presentations, where
different students look at different aspects of an issue, or debates, where students offer different
perspectives. Debates do, however, have to meet certain “standards” to be “good”
debates. (I’ll talk about those later.) In general, no matter what format you choose or how long
students' speeches will be, the advice on presentational communication that follows is relevant.
Differences Between Speaking and Writing
A presentation is very rarely the reading aloud of a paper. At conferences in some humanities
disciplines, people do indeed read papers; however, usually, what is spoken is very different from what is
written. I would suggest that even humanities faculty who do not find the concept of “reading a
paper” foreign recognize the difference, for they will more often than not write a text that is to be
read aloud differently than a text that is to be read by a reader.
So, what are the differences between speaking and writing? There are differences in content,
organization, style, and the author-audience relationship.
The content of a presentation is typically simpler. Content is cut. Key ideas are repeated more.
Examples dominate over complex logic and statistics. Good presenters will often say things like “This
matter is covered more fully in the paper” or “The precise statistics are in the paper.”
Good presenters say such things because they understand that what will work with an speech audience, which
must process information very quickly, is different than what will work with an article audience, which has
the ability to slow down and speed up—even to reread—as it processes a text.
The organization of a presentation is typically both simpler and more explicit than that of a written
document. The reason is, again, tied to the fact that a speech audience must pick up on a presentation's
organization quickly and keep it in mind as the speaker proceeds in order to be “on the same
page” (so to speak) as the presenter. We know that “being on the same page” facilitates
processing; we also know that it enhances persuasion. To keep the audience with the speaker, the speaker
will usually offer more explicit organizational previews in an introduction, more explicit reviews in a
conclusion, and more explicit transitions as he/she moves from part to part of a presentation than a
writer would. This degree of organization would probably strike a reader as “mechanical,”
but a reader’s situation and thus needs are very different from a listener’s.
The style of a presentation is typically more conversational than that of a written document. Written
documents are more permanent: they are in many cases “the record.” Thus, they tend to be written
using more formal language, language that adheres very strictly to conventions of grammar and usage as well
as other conventions. For example, one probably would not use contractions in a formal written report, but
would certainly use them when speaking. One probably would not write “a lot,” but would probably
say it.
The author-audience relationship is an important difference between writing and speaking. A writer's
audience is not present. This audience can process the writing as he/she wishes: that’s an advantage
of the writer-reader relationship. However, this audience cannot offer verbal or non-verbal feedback as the
ideas are being presented. The speaker’s audience can signal confusion, agreement, disagreement, and
boredom. The speaker can, on the spot, adjust to the feedback in a number of ways. This capability is one of
the speaker’s advantages over the writer, an advantage that speakers unfortunately do not always avail
themselves of when they stick to their “script” despite signals their audience is sending.
Organization
Students probably benefit the most from instruction concerning organization. Some students resist fitting
what they have to say to a pattern; however, they need to be encouraged to do so because the use of easily
discernible patterns make the audience’s job so much easier.
Seven patterns might be suggested to students as ones that audiences can readily follow: 1)
chronological; 2) spatial; 3) cause-effect; 4) pro-con; 5) problem-solution; 6) topical; 7)
background-hypothesis-data-conclusion-discussion. The first five are, I think, self-explanatory. #6 requires
an explanation; #7 a caveat.
Topical organization assumes that, whatever the big topic is, it can be easily divided into small ones.
For example, if one were to talk about women’s athletics, it would not be difficult for an audience to
follow a structure that proceeded sport-by-sport. Or, if one were to talk about the discipline of biology,
it would not be difficult for an audience to follow a structure that talked, in turn, about the different
branches such as cell biology and botany.
The background-hypothesis-etc. pattern is, of course, how most research reports proceed. If the oral
presentation is being offered to an audience familiar with this pattern, then the pattern can be an effective
way to present one’s research orally. If the audience is not familiar with this pattern, another
pattern—for example, problem-solution—might be a better choice.
Within any of these structures, there are many times when a speaker will “make a point.” It
is important that the audience pick up on all of these points, and the way a speaker structures each and ever
point he/she makes can help the audience along. Speech communication texts sometimes offer an easy-to-recall
formula of Signpost, State, Support, and Summarize for use in offering one’s arguments. The following
example proceeds through this “4S” formula:
Let’s turn now to the question of teaching grammar in a writing class. Studies suggest that such
teaching does not improve students’ writing. Studies by White in 1965, Bateman and Zidonis in 1966,
Gale in 1968, and Elley, Barham, Lamb, and Wylie in 1976 showed repeatedly that students who received
grammar instruction of different sorts wrote no better than students who received no grammar instruction.
These and other studies show that teaching grammar does not help improve writing.
This example is over-simplified, but sentence 1 is the signpost; sentence 2 is the statement of the
point; sentence three is the supporting evidence; and sentence 4 is the summary.
Outlining
Most who teach writing discourage students from either outlining too early in the writing process or
outlining too intricately. Outlining too early can freeze the thinking that goes on as one drafts;
outlining too intricately can make one reluctant to depart from the plan since so much time has been
invested in that plan. Most who teach writing encourage students to prepare nothing more than a list of the
items that will be covered, with maybe some use of indentation to signal what falls under what.
Teaching presentational communication is different from teaching writing, however. Because a
straightforward, explicit organization is so important when one presents, outlining is a useful strategy.
One has to guard against putting a stop to idea generation prematurely. However, speakers can benefit from
thinking about structure from very early in the process of preparing a presentation.
Besides encouraging speakers to offer well-organized presentations, outlining can help them discover
problems with the prospective speech. Problems might be discovered in three areas.
Students might discover the problem of imbalance by studying their outlines. For example, let’s
say a student was going to give a presentation that introduced an audience to the nation of Canada.
Let’s say an outline revealed that the student had chosen a topical structure with
“geography,” “politics,” and “culture” as the topics. Let’s say
this outline had seven sub-topics under “geography,” five under “culture,” and none
under “politics.” The outline ought to alert the student to the need to do more research on
Canadian politics to address the obvious imbalance among the three topics.
Students might also discover the problem of illogic by studying their outlines. For example, let’s
say a student was going to talk about Australia’s major cities. Again, he/she chose a topical
structure with “Sydney,” “Melbourne,” and “Brisbane” being the topics.
For “Sydney,” the outline reveals sub-topics focused on population, geographical setting, and
culture. Same for “Melbourne” except culture was treated at greater length with a discussion of
the city’s Anglo-Irish “feel,” its love of sport, and its rivalry with Sydney. The last
sub-topic might not be all that much about culture, a signal that the presentation is beginning to go
off-course. The “Brisbane” section starts off with population, but then talks about the
city’s history, the resorts to its south, and the Great Barrier Reef to is north. This last topic is
not treated with the same population, geography, and culture logic as the first two. The outline ought to
alert the student to the need to revise the “Brisbane” section and maybe the last part of the
“Melbourne,” where the student began losing sight of each section’s logic.
Students might also discover something that might strike you as just a stylistic matter: a lack of
grammatical parallelism. It is useful if the major points students make are parallel because the parallelism
reinforces for the audience that these are the major points. For example, if a student chooses to talk about
South African politics from 1948 onward, his/her topics, arranged chronologically, would not be parallel if
they were as follows:
- 1. The Ascendancy of the Afrikaner National Party
- Enacting the Laws of Apartheid
- Anti-Apartheid Activism Before the 1976 Soweto Riots
- Campaigning Against Apartheid After the 1976 Soweto Riots
- DeKlerk and Mandela
- The Mandela Presidency
- Mbeki’s Problems as President
Items 2 and 4 are verbals; they should be revised so that they are noun phrases. Item 7 might also be
revised since it is the only noun phrase that begins with a possessive adjective.
Introductions
Organization in general is important in oral presentations. Introductions are an especially important
element of a presentation’s organization.
I don’t want to reduce organizations to a formula, but a good one to keep in mind is (1) attention,
(2) statement, (3) importance, (4) credentials, and (5) preview.
A speaker needs to secure the attention of the audience. There are two different ways to answer the
question, how does one get this attention. The first way focuses on what we know appeals to an audience: the
novel, conflict, something vital, something very real, suspense, something beneficial. These are things to
key on when crafting an introduction. The second way focuses on techniques a speaker might use. These would
include asking a question, offering an anecdote, use a striking quotation, make a startling statement,
posing a problem, and making promises.
Once the attention of the audience is secured, a speaker should state what his/her overall point is and
then tell the audience why the topic is important. The speaker tells the audience this so that the audience
becomes convinced that the presentation is worth attending to carefully. To secure this audience, a speaker
should then establish why he/she should be listened to. A speaker might cite his/her credentials, talk about
his/her background, or note the research that he/she has undertaken on the topic.
Finally, a speaker needs to preview the body of the presentation. Some students resist uttering a preview
such as, “In this presentation, I will discuss the following three topics: a, b, and c.” These
students, perhaps under the influence of writing instructors in the humanities where such introductions are
considered overly mechnical, are not thinking of the needs of the audience. That audience does not have a
manuscript that they can flipped back through if they lose track of where the speaker is going. That audience
is relying on the speaker to establish, very clearly, where the presentation is going.
Doing so has another advantage for the speaker. To the extent that the audience knows where a speaker is
going, the audience becomes in a way a co-creator of the speech as it proceeds along that path. Rhetorician
Kenneth Burke talks about how important it is for a speaker to make an audience identify with him or her. If
the audience feels like a co-creator of the speech, then that audience will already be at least partially
identifying with you.
Conclusions
Conclusions are also important. Unfortunately, many beginning speakers, perhaps because they see
“the end” out there, rush through conclusions, sometimes offering none at all. Rhetoricians and
cognitive psychologists both tell us that what he hear last will probably linger more in our minds than what
we hear elsewhere in a speech. Speakers therefore should want to end with something strong.
An effective conclusion will (1) summarize, (2) activate, and (3) provide closure.
The summary should not repeat the language used in the preview in the introduction. To do so would be to
suggest that not much has happened in between. So, the summary should be more substantive than the
preview.
Having heard this summary, the audience will “ask” “so?” The speaker should
answer this question by telling the audience what the audience should now think or do. Thus, the audience
in some way becomes “activated.”
The audience also needs to feel that it has reached a point of rest: that the topic or at least a part of
the topic has been “fully” explored. Now, in eight or ten minutes, it’s impossible to
fully explore a topic: we all know that. Nonetheless, the audience needs to feel that all that can be
reasonably expected or all that is essential has been discussed. If the audience feels this way, they will
feel “closure.” A well thought-through speech—one that has not omitted anything crucial to
the topic—will in and of itself provide some “closure.” However, sentences at a
speech’s end that suggest that the topic has been covered are usually necessary to guarantee that the
audience feels this way. Consider the following sentences:
We’ve traced the history of the European presence in South Africa from the earliest Dutch landings
to life now, as a minority presence, in the ANC-led nation.
Television comedy has moved through many phases between its beginnings in the late ‘40’s to
today.
The social security system will have a difficult time remaining solvent as more and more baby boomers
begin collecting benefits. None of the proposed solutions to this problem are entirely palatable. One,
however, will probably have to be chosen.
All of them suggest that the end of a topic has been reached. Audiences, hearing such sentences, feel
like affixing “The End” to the speech.
The Audience
Thus far, we’ve focused largely on the presentation itself—how it’s different from a
paper, how to organize it, how to introduce it, and how to conclude it. Several other aspects of giving an
effective presentation need to be discussed: the audience, the speaker’s ethos, the different types of
delivery, the speaker’s non-verbals, and the use of visual aids. We’ll discuss each in turn.
It is important for the speaker to know who his/her audience is. Inevitably, the process of audience
analysis requires some guesswork as well as amateur psychological analysis. Nonetheless, ready to qualify
all statement, a speaker should consider demographics such as age and gender; the cluster of attitudes,
beliefs, and values; and the audience’s needs. Just one example: the Virginia House of Delegates.
Demographics—predominantly white, male, and protestant; average age 54; almost all married with
children; majority native Virginians. Attitudes, etc.—against taxes because they believe in a small
government and value freedom. Needs—to be re-elected. Now that’s not a complete analysis, but it
should demonstrate how one would proceed.
Ethos
Aristotle in The Rhetoric says a speech may persuade because of its logos or logical arguments; its
pathos or emotional appeal; and its ethos or the appeal that the speaker is able to make because of whom
the audience thinks she or he is. Aristotle suggests that, of the three, ethos is the most powerful.
Researchers have suggested that ethos has three dimensions: competence, character, and dynamism. Thus, it
is important that an audience see a speaker as being highly competent, having a good moral character, and
being lively. Sometimes, a speaker will have a high ethos going in. Often, a speaker will be able to
increase his/her ethos based on advanced publicity or her/his introduction. There are also things a speaker
can do as he/she speaks to enhance ethos. Research indicates that having a strong organization, using
evidence, and speaking well can all cause one’s ethos to rise.
Types of Delivery
Speeches can be (1) memorized; (2) delivered from a manuscript; (3) delivered from notes; or (4)
delivered off the top of one’s head. The first two are rare in one’s life; the fourth, although
not uncommon, is not what instruction and practice in presentational communication usually focuses on. The
usual focus is #3, what we term extemporaneous delivery.
There are a few “tricks” of extemporaneous delivery you might offer students.
First, use notecards, not sheets of paper. Sheets of paper will shake if a student is nervous, calling
attention to the fact that he/she is nervous. Use 4” X 6” notecards too. 3” X 5”
notecards are too small.
Second, try to keep note to the mininum. They are there to guide the speaker, not to be read.
Third, try to devote a card to each section. That way, the physical flipping of the card visually
reinforces the transition a student is making using words.
Fourth, practice but don’t over-practice. If a student over-practices, he or she will begin trying
to use the exact same words every time she or she delivers the speech. The ideas should stay the same, as
should the structure. But words can and should vary from time of delivery to the next time of delivery.
Non-Verbal Communication
Books are written about non-verbal communication. Entire courses in communication departments explore the
subject. So, a paragraph or two barely scratches the surface.
Non-verbals can be conveniently divided into paralinguistics and kinesics. The first term refers to
matters such as volume, rate, pitch, pauses, articulation, and the use of vocal interrupters; the second to
uses of the body.
On the first five aspects of paralinguistics listed, two watchwords are moderation and variety. Speakers
should avoid extremes when it comes volume, rate, pitch, pauses, and articulation. Don't speak too loudly or
too softly; too fast or too slowly; at too high a pitch or at too low of one; with too many pauses or none
at all, or with overly-precise articulation or words slurred. But also don’t speak with elements
constant throughout a speech. Vary your volume and your rate and your pitch. Use pauses of different lengths.
Articulate some words carefully to stress them.
Vocal interrupters are the “uh”’s, “er”’s, and “um”’s
that every speaker interrupts the flow of words with—usually when she or he is thinking of how to
formulate the next thing he or she will say. A speaker probably cannot eliminate these vocal interrupters.
The key is making them largely unnoticeable, for, if an audience starts counting how many times a speaker
says “um,” that speaker’s chances of being successful are minimal.
Kinesics typically focuses on posture, body movement, facial expressions, eye contact, and gestures.
Moderation and variety are again key. A speaker doesn’t want to be either stiff or overly relaxed;
she or he doesn’t want to be frozen in place or frenetically moving or gesturing. Eye contact is
good, but staring is not; so a speaker should keep his/her eyes moving from one part of the audience to
another. Facial expressions largely take care of themselves: how we express such feelings as anger,
sympathy, and the like seems so natural that speakers need only to be told to relax. Anxiety can freeze the
face, but, once the anxiety is back to a normal level (and a certain level is normal), the face will do what
comes naturally to it.
Visual Aids
Rare today in the “real” world is a presentation that is not accompanied by some sort of
visual aid. In fact, in certain contexts, you can reduce your effectiveness considerably if you don't have
“visuals” because your audience will presume that you can’t possibly be “on the
mark” about your subject unless you’ve got visuals that, by their mere existence, indicate
you’ve done your homework.
Three general principles should govern the use of visual aids. First, they should be readable. From the
farthest corner of the room you’re speaking in, an audience member should be able to read all of the
words and numbers on your visual. Second, they should be clear. The point you want the visual to make should
be immediately clear. Achieving this requisite clarity often requires simplifying visuals found in print. A
graph, for example, with multiple lines may have to be revised so that there are fewer lines. A table with
much data may have to be revised so that only the most relevant data is present. A speaker does not want
his/her audience to be studying a visual, trying to discern its point, instead of listening to what the
speaker has to say. Third, visual aids should be controlled. Basically, this principle means that a speaker
does not want a visual to be before the audience until it’s relevant and, then, a speaker wants the
visual gone when it’s no longer relevant. So, if using an overhead projector, a speaker should cover
the transparency up before and after she/he needs it. If using powerpoint, a speaker should build blank
slides into the “show” for use at points when he/she doesn’t want either the previous
slide or the next slide in view.
There are many different types of visual aids a speaker might use. Here’s a list students might
profitably consult as well as some quick advice about each option:
- The chalk board – easily controlled—you write; you erase, but not especially striking.
- Charts/posters – can be made to look fairly professional, but stick with bold primary colors.
- Flip charts – flexible: can mix posters with sheets on which you write as on a chalk board.
- Slides – vivid, but requires darkened room. (Audiences can drift into sleep in a darkened room.)
- Transparencies – if not careful, can be unreadable; so, don't put too much on a single sheet,
and use larger enough letters and numbers. Powerpoint has made traditional transparencies look rather
“lane”; therefore, consider making transparencies from printed powerpoint slides if you only
have a traditional overhead projector to work with.
- Powerpoint – stay away from heavy use of special effects—a few pieces of flying clip art go
a long way; also don't overuse to the point that the powerpoint slides come close to being a script that you
read to audience.
- Videos – vivid, but tough to follow, so, if possible, end with videos.
- Handouts – an outline of presentation is a useful one, so are graphs and tables that would
difficult to read if projected. Danger is audience can study handout when you’d rather they were
listening to you.
Sample Assignments
Presentational assignments are the most traditional type; therefore, examples of stand-alone
presentations need not be offered. What is not as traditional are ways to group several presentations
together in a coherent program.
Any topic can be divided into sub-topics. For example, in a sociology class studying disasters, a panel
might be set-up that would have four speakers, in succession, discuss (1) background about the area where
the disaster occurred; (2) what happened; (3) the effects the individuals experienced; and (4) the effects
the community experienced. Research shows that students are more likely to learn from presentations so
packaged. Therefore, to enhance learning, you might want to try to build coherent programs, not just have a
string of students presenting.
A great deal of creativity can be exhibited in the design of presentational programs. A mock conference
session can be staged with students other than the presenters assigned roles such as chief questioner or
respondent. Mock trials can be staged, as can debates. The “drama” inherent in either one of
these can help hold the students’ attention and, thus, enhance learning.
Just a brief word on debates. They should be set-up so as to avoid a succession of "set"
speeches. The format of the debate should be designed so as to produce clash. If you have a team of two
debate a team of two, you could allow the initial speakers to have prepared remarks, but, after that,
expect clash from the next two speakers as well as from whatever number of rebuttalists you permit each
team. A typical format (in minutes) of 8-8-8-8-4-4-4-4 permits a fair amount of clash. "Bells and
whistles" such as cross-examination, British-style points of information, and speeches by audience
members can be added to this basic format.
But, if you should choose to have a sequence of students present, it is important to involve the audience
members in some way. Otherwise, they will fade as the session progresses and learn less and less from the
presentations. Two ways to keep the audience alert are (1) to require that some ask questions or (2) to ask
students in the audience to critique and/or help evaluate presentations. For the first, you might even want
to assign points based on the quality of the questions asked. Some instructors will tell four students in a
group of 17 to be the questioners for presentation #1, another four for presentation #2, etc. Similarly, you
might want to ask only four students in the audience to critique and/or help evaluate a given presentation.
Since you, as instructor, need to look at the critiques/evaluations the students are offering, cycling the
task through the class will reduce your paperwork a bit.
A Handout You Might Give Students
Presentational Communication
I. Writing vs. Speaking — A presentation is not a paper read aloud.
- Presentations typically cover less material than parallel papers
- Presentations are typically more straightforwardly organized than parallel papers and feature rather
blunt previews and explicit transitions
- Presentations are typically more conversational than parallel papers
- Presentations have a “real” audience, whose reactions can be seen and adjusted to
II. Organization — Choose a strategy audience can easily follow.
- Chronological
- Spatial
- Cause-Effect
- Pro-Con
- Problem-Solution
- Topical (e.g. medium, composition, style, iconography if discussing a painting)
- Background-Hypothesis-Data-Conclusion-Discussion
Introductions?—(1) Gain Attention, (2) Make Statement, (3) Establish Importance, (4) Establish
Credentials, (5) Offer Preview
Conclusions?—(1) Summarize, (2) Activate, (3) Provide Closure
III. Five Other Matters:
A. Audience Analysis
- Demographics
- Attitudes, Beliefs, Values
B. Ethos—character, competence, dynamism
C. Hints for Extemporaneous Presenting
- Use note cards, not sheets of paper
- Use minimal notes, devoting a card to each section
- Don’t under-practice; don’t over-practice
D. Non-Verbal Dimensions of Presentations
- Paralinguistics – such things as volume, rate, pitch, pauses; keys are MODERATION &
VARIETY
- Kinesics—such things as gestures, movement, eye contact; keys are MODERATION &
VARIETY
E. Visual Aids—readability + clarity + control
Evaluation Advice and Instruments
Just about every textbook written for use in a Principles of Public Speaking class offers forms/rubrics
that one might use for presentations. Many of these texts are in the Speaking Center, and you might want to
thumb through them.
Stephanie Thomson (Xavier University of Louisiana) and Mary L. Rucker (Wright State University)
carefully developed and tested the following form. They present their work in Communication Research Reports
19.1 (2002). It’s easy to use, and it strikes a good balance among such matters as content, structure,
and delivery.
PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETENCY INSTRUMENT
Student’s Name ____________________
Evaluator’s Name _______________________
Circle one of the numbers after each question based on whether
you (5) strongly agree, (4) agree, (3) neither agree nor disagree,
(2) disagree, or (1) strongly disagree.
| 1. |
The speech begins with a strong attention-getter. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 2. |
The purpose of the speech is clear in the introduction. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 3. |
I can identify the speech introduction. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 4. |
I can identify the main points in the speech body. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 5. |
The pattern of organization is clear in the body. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 6. |
Supporting material in the speech is adequate. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 7. |
Supporting material adds interest to the speech. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 8. |
Supporting material aid my understanding of the topic. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 9. |
I can identify the speech conclusion. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 10. |
I can identify the purpose in the conclusion. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 11. |
I can identify a review of the main points in the conclusion. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 12. |
The closing of the speech is strong. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 13. |
The speaker’s pace/speed made the speech understandable. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 14. |
The speaker’s volume made the speech understandable. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 15. |
The speaker’s behavior (i.e. gestures) is smooth. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 16. |
The speaker’s eye contact adds to the speech’s
effect. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 17. |
The speaker is relaxed and comfortable when speaking. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 18. |
The speaker uses her/his voice expressively. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 19. |
The speaker uses his/her body expressively. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| 20. |
The speaker is a competent speaker. |
5 4 3 2 1 |
| |
TOTAL SCORE ______ |
|
| |
COMMENTS: |
|