Talking in front of a group is rated as people's greatest fear. It doesn't have to be. Your mission is to impress people and get a good grade. The mission really doesn't change much the older you get. The grade may change form from a letter to a promotion to a bonus, but it still is a grade. So, get these skills down now, then continue to build on them and you will be successful. This handbook will focus on four (4) aspects of oral communication:

• Preparation
• Basic skills in front of the audience
• Visuals and their use
• Basic non-verbal communication

Myth : I'm an engineer or a scientist or a writer or a most other professions. I create stuff or fix stuff. Communication has never been a part of my job description.

Reality: Au contraire. Communication has always been implied in your job description. For you and your organization to be successful, you must be able to communicate to:

• share your ideas within a team
• explain your work to your boss
• explain technical concepts to non-technical people to sell a product, win a contract, win support for a project -- keep your job.

 
If you expect to advance into management, you'll have to be a good communicator.


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Myth: Speakers are born, not made.

Reality: Good speakers are confident. Planning, Practice and Perseverence develop confidence. Plan, Practice and Persevere and you will be a good speaker.


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Myth: If I screw up, these people will think I'm a complete fool and I'll never be able to face them.

Reality: Nahhh. If you stumble, you can work yourself out of it. Finish well and the stumble won't be remembered. You won't have to go into the Witness Protection Program. Most people are more concerned with their own lives to devote that much energy to you. Yes, you might actually look like a fool -- for 30 seconds, at most. Lighten up! There's no scientific evidence to support the fact that life is serious!


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Myth: If you are scared of talking to a large group, picturing the audience wearing funny hats will relax you as you speak.

Reality: A room full of people wearing funny hats, now that's a terrifying image. Relaxation in front of an audience comes from confidence. Confidence comes from planning, practice and perseverence. Just do it!

No, it's not the grade, that is the result from achieving your goal, which is dependent on your assignment. In most cases, your goal is either to:
 
• Inform -or
• Persuade

 
How do you accomplish either of these? You first have to keep the audience listening. If the audience doesn't listen, you can't be successful!

Get your act together in the beginning:

• Know who you're talking to and talk to them
• Use words at their level
• Don't use fancy jargon you got out of an article just to impress them. It won't work. They'll stop listening. You lose.
• Organize what you'll say so the flow is logical. That means, the audience can follow what you're saying and keeps listening.
• Tell them what you're going to tell them. This is an introduction. Have one.
• Tell it to them
• Tell them what you told them. This is a conclusion. Have one.
• Less is More. The less you tell them, the more they will hear and remember.
• Keep facts to a minimum.
• You don't impress people with a bunch of facts. Facts are boring, high snooze factor.
• Only use facts that support your logical flow.

You must connect with your audience. If they snooze, you lose. Think about some of your teachers. Which ones kept you awake? Which ones taught you anything? Which ones did you think were good teachers? Audiences will look at you the same way.
 
• Show some life!
• Be enthusiastic! An audience will believe you if you look like you believe in what you're saying. If you look bored, think how they will feel.
• Talk like you talk. You don't talk in a monotone normally, why do it in front of a group?
• Vary your pitch
• Vary your tone
• Slow down and pause between thoughts. This allows your audience to absorb one idea before jumping on to the next one.
• If you have to talk fast to get it all in, you didn't prepare well.
• Don't talk to the board, talk to the audience.
• Nothing raises the snooze factor like avoiding looking at your audience.
• Use overheads, if you can, and point to the overhead, not the board.
• If you must point, don't talk with your back turned.
• Stop talking
• Look to the board to point
• Point with the hand closest to the image (don't cross your body to point)
• Turn back to the audience
• Resume talking
• Make eye contact with one person to complete a thought then go to another person. Looking up, down, at the back wall, etc., doesn't cut it!
• Look the part
• Dress like a professional. If you don't look like you think the presentation is important, how will you get anyone else to think it is?
• Don't play with things while you talk. Pointers, cards, papers are distracting. The audience will focus on the motion, not the message. You lose.
• Don't rock from side to side. A seasick audience isn't listening.
• Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice
• All the tips in the world won't make up for a lack of preparation.
• The more you practice, the more comfortable you become with the material and the more confident you will feel.

• If they can't be read in the cheap seats, they ain't any good.
• Portrait orientation
• Maximum 5 lines
• 5-7 words per line, phrases are enough
• Large Font
• KISS (Keep it Simple, Students)
• Make all your visuals count.
• Each must support your purpose. If it doesn't, don't use it.
• Visuals can help you show instead of tell. (i.e. how parts go together, how something works, etc.)
• Talk to the audience, not the visual.
• There is nothing more boring than someone talking to the board. (Yes, this was said earlier. It's that important!)
• Make eye contact with the audience.
• Don't
• Copy tables, complicated charts or complicated diagrams out of books onto overheads. High snooze factor. Pull out what you need and make a new one.
• Stand in the way of the projector or visual. Arrange the room so everyone can see the visual

• Know what your body language is saying.
• You often say more with your body than with your words. Learn the message your actions are sending. (That's beyond the scope of this Handbook.)
• Make the non-verbal message match the verbal one.

 
• Read the message your audience is sending. Adjust if are boring them.
• Don't keep going on and on when audience members are staring out the window, doodling, closing their eyes or resting their heads on desks.
• Get the audience involved.
• Ask a rhetorical question.
• Ask a specific question and call on someone. Pick someone who is paying attention, you don't want to embarrass a classmate in front of the teacher for not listening. No, you don't. Paybacks will be worse on you.
• If no one is listening, ask a question that you will answer coming up, and tell them you will call on someone to answer it. This may help to keep people awake because no one wants the teacher knowing he/she isn't listening.

Presentations are important. Prepare it well. Practice it. Know how to give it. Read the audience and react to them. You will do well. You will get good grades, get good jobs, get big promotions and make lots of money. Be successful.

Individual  

Name-- _________________________________________ Date-- _____________
 

Subject-- _____________________________________________________________

Characteristic	(- )	ok	(+)
Preparation
Defined purpose
Shows audience analysis
Introduction
Hook
Told why to listen
Body
Logical organization
Statements supported
No glittering generalities
Presenting Preparation
Room Arranged for best results
Equipment setup/works
Handouts/slides arranged
On Stage
Relaxed/unafraid
Clear enunciation
Heard in cheap seats
Variety/emphasis in voice
Enthusiasm
Characteristic	(-)	ok	(+)
Body Language
Erect/hands out of pockets/still
Eye contact w/audience
Note cards/not read
Aware of audience
Visuals
Supported talk
5 bullets max
Readable in cheap seats
Professional
Understandable
Not read from
Face aud. while using
Practice, Practice, Practice