The biggest difficulties as identified by ACU Lecturers
PowerPoint
Overwhelmingly the biggest concern for staff was the use (or abuse) of PowerPoint. Misuse of PowerPoint slides can lead to your downfall in oral presentations. Many students feel quite comfortable with the technology and so put a lot of effort into producing excellent slides. This effort could probably be more appropriately channelled in the process of creating your presentation. A huge amount of effort in the creation of your PowerPoint slides is only worthwhile in as far as it enhances the content of your presentation. You may be able to make words fly in across the screen to the sound of a trumpet but this can often be distracting and it usually adds nothing to the presentation. You may find that by placing information on your slides you are, in fact, distracting your audience's attention from what you say. It might be better to use the slides as a visual aid rather than a summary of what you are trying to say.
Content
Lecturers were also concerned about the lack of analysis that is often evident in students' presentations. The fact that the information is delivered orally does not negate the fact that the content must still be of the highest quality and there must be some original thought and analysis. This means that you must use a wide range of reputable sources for your information. Don't think that you can get away with plagiarism just because you are speaking the words rather than writing them. You really need to research your topic thoroughly so that you can make insightful remarks about what it means.
Reading the Text Verbatim
Most lecturers reported that too many students still read from a script. This makes for a very boring presentation and is not the best way to achieve high marks. If you run through your material often out aloud you will become much more familiar with what you want to say. There are some old tricks that might be useful to you here. For example, you could try recording your speech and listening to it while you're driving or working out at the gym. This will help to familiarise yourself with the content. You could also try giving your speech to a friend in a relaxed atmosphere (eg the canteen). You'll be surprised how much you can remember when you are ‘delivery your speech' in a conversational tone. See the page on Notes for further discussion on this topic.
Presentation Style
Most staff interviewed identified the need for students to work on developing their basic presentation skills. This is comforting because it says that you are not alone. Everyone, including academics, can benefit from going back to look at the strategies that the expert speakers use to present well in public. The Guide to successfully delivering an oral presentation will be particularly useful in helping you to develop a good presentation style.
Staff Interviews
ACU staff were invited to participate in the creation of this website and many people from each of the Faculties across the different campuses participated in interviews which have been used to help create this Oral Presentation resource. Click here to read a variety of responses to specific questions asked of each staff member.