Oral Presentations

What Do Lecturers Want?

When assessing presentations ACU lecturers generally focus on four main areas:

		1. structure,
		2. content,
		3. analysis, and
		4. presentation skills.

Structure has to do with the way you organise your material from the introduction through to the conclusion. A clear introduction that logically outlines the main points of your presentation and captures the audience’s attention is essential for a successful presentation. Your conclusion is what you leave the audience with, it is the last thing that your lecturer will hear, it is your chance to draw everything together and emphasise your main points.

A good presentation will display solid knowledge of the relevant content. The typical criteria sheet will always allocate considerable marks to content. This is your opportunity to gain marks by showing that you can fully comprehend and explain new ideas. You need to structure your ideas in such a way that your audience understands what you are trying to say. Your structure should also clearly demonstrate to your lecturer that you fully understand the material yourself. Your lecturer will be assessing your cognitive skills so use the opportunity to display how fully these are developed.

ACU lecturers who contributed to this website overwhelmingly agreed that analysis is crucial. Unfortunately, many agreed that this is often deficient in oral presentations. It is not sufficient to present a list of facts. You must give your analysis of what these facts actually mean, and present them so that they mean something to your audience. You are expected to integrate knowledge and comprehension to create a new understanding.

 An oral presentation gives you the opportunity to show your analytical skills and demonstrate how the theory informs practice. Anything that shows that you have generated or synthesised new ideas will allow you to maximise your marks when it comes to assessment. Lecturers also indicated that they look for evidence of reflective thinking. The use of relevant, interesting examples that link the content to the real world may assist in maximising your marks here. Many questions for oral presentations lend themselves to argument, those that argue rigorously will certainly maximise their marks.

Naturally your basic presentation skills will be assessed. Refer to our “guide to presenting” for help here. All lecturers interviewed stressed the importance of practice, without practice you will not maximise your marks.

It is vital for you to examine the criteria provided by your individual lecturer/tutor and have any uncertainties clarified. Lecturers may be looking for specific things that you must take note of. An examination of the criteria sheet will also help you with your time allocation; those areas that have the most marks attached to them are those areas that require the greatest amount of time in preparation. There is no point in spending the majority of your time making sensational slides if these are only worth comparatively few marks.

If you are not sure of something consult your lecturer or a member of your campus academic skills unit.

Through the interview process associated with the creation of this website, ACU lecturers were invited to discuss problems and concerns regarding Oral Presentations. A list of some of the Lecturer Responses to Questions Regarding Oral Presentations has been collated for your interest.