Response: Module 20

            Module 20 offers guidelines to make effective oral presentations. Oral presentations have three basic purposes: to inform, to persuade, and to build goodwill. Most oral presentations have more than one purpose. For example, the main purpose in a company’s training session is to inform. The secondary purpose may be to persuade the new employees to follow the company’s policies.

            The text suggests that we need to keep it simple when planning a presentation. It is better to identify one main idea that we want the audience to remember, and support that idea with easy to follow details. It is also important to analyze the audience to keep them interested in the presentation.

            There are three types of presentations: monologue presentations, guided discussions, and sales presentations. Monologue presentations are more common in class settings. Speakers function as experts who need good delivery skills in order to hold the attention of the audience. On the other hand, guided discussions let the audience participate throughout the presentation while speakers serve as facilitators. Sales presentations are more like conversations, because the speakers want to know the audience’s objections to whatever they are selling.

            It is important to remember that visuals serve as an outline for the presentation, but they should not give every detail. We need to limit the amount of information on each slide, and show a slide when we are ready to talk about it. When using visuals, another suggestion is to be prepared with a backup plan in case the equipment does not work.

            The text also offers guidelines for group presentations. It suggests involving as many members of the group as possible in speaking roles. This can be done by dividing the topics and taking turns to speak. In order to make the presentation coherent, it is essential to coordinate the visuals and practice the delivery of the presentation together, at least once.

            Planning is very important when preparing an oral presentation, but rehearsing it should be as important.