Consider Your Own Experiences of People Speaking in Public
What criteria do you have for judging whether or not a speech is effective? Think about the best public speeches that you have ever heard. For example, this may have been a particularly inspiring university lecture, a politician's address, or a speech at a wedding. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What did the speaker do that was so memorable?
- Why was the oral presentation so successful?
- How did the speaker use his/her body?
- What aids did the speaker use to capture your attention?
- How did the speaker interact with you as an audience member?
- How did the speaker order his/her thoughts?
- What sort of opportunities did the speaker give you to engage with the topic under discussion?
If you can successfully identify these features of an oral presentation that you have witnessed, you are certainly on the way to finding out how to improve your own public speeches.
In order to maximise your effectiveness as a presenter a very useful strategy is to jot down a list of your own criteria. What do you think makes an outstanding presentation? What do you think makes a disappointing presentation?
Use the time when listening to peers present to think about what makes them excellent, adequate or not so good.
List the good and bad points in other presentations. This process will make you more aware of the qualities of a good presentation and the pitfalls to avoid. The list that results can be developed into a handy checklist for your own presentations.
Below is a list of criteria developed by the second year students who participated in the focus groups. It is interesting that lecturers identified reading from a script as a major hurdle for students and this was the most significant criteria students judged their peers’ presentations by.
