How to Give an Oral Presentation

ORAL PRESENTATION
The oral SAC is your chance to showcase your public speaking skills. You are required to present a persuasive speech on a given topic. Everyone, even the world’s best speakers, gets nervous before delivering a speech…this is natural. Simply adopt a pragmatic attitude and just do it.
Preparing a speech is different to writing an essay. An essay can be reread and the reader may pause to consider each point; A speech is heard once, therefore it requires a different craft to make maximum impact. There are certain key differences between an essay and a speech that you need to take into consideration as you write up the final draft of your oral SAC.

THE START
At the start of your speech you should state your main contention and capture the interest of your audience. This ensures that your speech has a good structure that is logical and clear. This should not be too lengthy so you don’t sound repetitive later when you elaborate on each argument throughout the body of your speech.
The start of your speech has the most impact if you begin in an unusual way. Simply launching into information is not going to maximise your chance of capturing the attention of your listeners. It is often effective to begin with a question, a quote, an interesting statistic or an element of drama. Make use of your audience, and appeal to an emotion or concern….you need to get attention

SIGNPOSTING
This is a technique that is used by good speakers to introduce each of their main arguments. It enables listeners to follow and remember the key points of your speech. Tone of voice as well as body language are important tools to use to highlight and emphasise the main points of your argument.

CONCLUDING YOUR SPEECH
Towards the end of your speech it is a good idea to summarise or go over the main points that you want your listeners to remember. Once again, keep it brief and interesting. Deliberate REPETITION is acceptable in a speech.

INVOLVE YOUR AUDIENCE
You are not speaking to a sounding board. Be mindful of the fact that you have real people in front of you and they can only remain focussed if you demonstrate awareness of their presence. Respond to their reactions, acknowledge their expressions, refer to them in the second person and set up questions in advance.

A USEFUL STRUCTURE: • INTRODUCE your speech in an INTERESTING way. • STATE YOUR CONTENTION IN A DEFINITE WAY • OUTLINE YOUR MAIN ARGUMENTS TO SIGNPOST WHAT IS TO COME • ELABORATE ON EACH ARGUMENT • PUT FORWARD THE OPPOSING ARGUMENTS INORDER TO REBUT THEM IF IT WILL ENHANCE YOUR CASE • SUMMARISE YOUR KEY POINTS • FINISH WITH IMPACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!