Performance and Style

The style of your presentation should be governed by subject, intention, circumstances and audience. For the most part, these potential variables will, in fact, remain fairly constant during your University career.

• The subject will probably be of an academic nature.
  
• The intention will be to disseminate information and opinions.
  
• The circumstances will be a daytime classroom.
  
• The audience, of varying size, will be composed primarily of peers, with the benevolent tutor lurking in a corner.

Any alterations in these variables would, of course, necessitate an appropriate and commensurate alteration in the style of your presentation.

Style Tips

(appropriate to the scenario described above)

• A register and diction suitable to academic discourse, moderated and modified in accordance with the restrictions of aural reception.
  
• Occasional levity may be appropriate in order to keep the audience's attention — as may be occasional colloquialisms — although vulgarity should be avoided.
• Rhetoric can be used as this device allows the underlining of points you wish to make.
  
• Reading from an entirely pre-prepared script carries many dangers: you may speak far too fast or stare at the paper instead of engaging with the audience.
  
• You should be sure that you have a good idea of what you are going to say before the presentation begins.
  
• If you can use skeleton notes as a prompt when required, all the better.
  
• If you require the security of a full script, make sure that you know it well enough to allow you to glance down only occasionally.
  
• In both cases, the value of rehearsal beforehand is clear (preferably with spectators who can offer constructive feedback).

Action!

The moment of performance has arrived and, like an actor, you are about to take the stage. What to do?

• The first and most vital thing to do is to relax.
• Control your breathing and smile, lest your audience be confronted by a gasping and grimacing express train.
• Speak slowly and clearly. There is a limit to how much people can understand aurally: do everything possible to help them!
  
• Pay attention to people's reactions, and be prepared to repeat or clarify certain points if you see that a number of people have failed to grasp your message. Remember: if the audience does not understand your message, the whole point of the presentation is destroyed.
  
• Be prepared to interact with your audience, for example by asking questions or giving them small tasks to perform.
• "Keeping them on their toes" can only be to your advantage.
  
• Engage your audience through your body language:
  
  • Take command of the space in the room, rather than cowering isolated in one place.
    
  • Adopt a confident and solid posture.
    
  • Avoid fidgeting at all costs - and if you have a tendency to perform a particular movement when nervous, pay special attention to eradicating it.
    
  • Assume eye contact with people in your audience so that they feel that they are being addressed personally.
    
  • Use open, welcoming gestures to underline your points.
    
  • Smile, don't scowl!
    

The goal of communication is clear, and will be common to any presentation that you make. At University, you will have the chance to perfect this skill in front of friendly audiences, secure in the knowledge that you will reap the rewards of your efforts not just in the present, but also in the near future.

 

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Material adapted with permission from Guidelines for Making Presentations by Dr Daron Burrows, School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures