Oral Presentations   7

	10. The Talk General Rules
	Talk loudly and clearly.
		Talking loud does not mean you have to scream.
		Do not mumble. Rather than going off into silent obscurity if you are stuck, start the sentence again from the beginning.
		Speak slowly. Not e x t r e m e l y  s l o w l y, but a little bit under your normal rate.
	Make small breaks (5 seconds is already a long break - try it!)
		The more important the statement, the longer the break after it!
		Give the audience a little time to absorb your immortal words!
	Use short sentences
		Rule of thumb: 15 words per sentence is about right
		Subordinate clauses should be subordinate! Use at most one subordinate clause per main clause
		Finish your sentence! Only the real masters of oral presentations can jump from one subject to the next with all kinds of circumlocutions in between and without ever finishing a sentence and, by doing this while in addition not sticking to all of the other subjects, which, by the way, are of course only for beginners anyway, who easily get confused which is not what we want to have here; but anyway, as I was going to say, your audience will be enraptured - or so we hope!
	You instead of me.
		Address your audience, not yourself. Say "What you see here..." and not "I will show you..."
		But say "me" whenever it is necessary. "I am of the opinion that..." instead of "One is lead to believe..."
	Use verbs instead of nouns. Compare:
		The preparation of topics for the purpose of presentation requires from the speaker the knowledge of his field of science and in addition a consideration of the findings concerning ways of information transfer
		If you want to make a good presentation you should know your subject. You should also present your information in such a way that your audience likes it.
		We all know people who speak and write in nouns only. We do not like these people.
	Use the active and not the passive mode!
	Emphasize intentionally the main points. There are many tricks.
		Raise your voice - or lower your voice - either way you get attention
		Use breaks as mentioned before.
		Repeat the sentence after a short break.
	Avoid meaningless noises to gain time!
		The most common meaningless noise is the good old "hmm", or "hein", but there are many more
		Fill words or clauses as, e.g. "in principle", "so to speak", "in other words", "as I have said before", ...

11. Remember

	If you get perfect in all that was pointed out, nothing will stop you from becoming a politician or TV person.
	However, if you want to become a good engineer or scientist, you must add one more thing:
		You must know what you are talking about!

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Oral presentations 2: 3. How to Prepare a Presentation; 4. The Introduction

Pecularities of Hyperscripts

Pecularities of Hyperscripts

Oral presentations 4: 7. Manuscript; 8. Visualization

Oral presentations 6: 8.1 Continued; 9 Using Media

Check List for Oral Presentations

© H. Föll (Electronic Materials - Script)