PRDV008: Preparing and Delivering Presentations

The first step for writing your presentation is to identify the broad goal you have for your presentation. You have three options: to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. While each presentation engages all three purposes, as a presenter, you should only focus on one.

Your general purpose is to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. Your specific purpose is a more focused combination of your general purpose and your topic. Your specific purpose should typically take the form [general purpose] [audience] [topic]. For example: to inform (general purpose) my new employees (audience) about our company's safety policies (topic). The more specific you are when making this statement, the easier it will be to write your presentation.

After you have developed your topic idea, general purpose statement, and specific purpose statement, you are ready to begin crafting your thesis. 

Sometimes, it can help, as you work to craft your thesis, to take a moment and think about the main points you hope to cover in your presentation. You can then take a step back and think about how to summarize the point and goal of your main points in a single sentence, which can get you started on your thesis draft! A thesis is a simple, clear sentence that identifies the central message or idea you want to convey to your audience. Use your specific purpose to write a sentence that takes a clear position. Good thesis statements are clear, brief, and contain only one main idea.

As you develop your thesis, there are three red flags you should avoid:

1. Do not use conjunctions like "and", "or", and "however". These words indicate your thesis has more than one idea. If your thesis has these words, consider what you are saying and simplify it into one idea.
2. Do not have more than about 15 words. The thesis statements should be simple sentences. Remember your grammar school days: subject, verb, object, in that order. If you have more than 15 words, it may be difficult for your audience to understand what you are trying to prove.
3. Ensure it does not fail the "speak test". Is it easy to say? Do any words trip you up? Does it make sense when you read it out loud? If the answer is yes, your thesis may be too complex. Remember, your listeners cannot rewind or reread your thesis.

With your thesis in place, your next step is to think about your main points. Your thesis is what you plan to prove to your audience, while your main points reflect how you want to support your thesis. Your main points should flow clearly and logically. Several common speech patterns can help you appropriately develop and organize your main points.

You need at least two main points. Having more than five main points can overwhelm your audience and make it difficult for them to remember your content. Most presenters try to offer three main points. Your main points should include three elements: a topic sentence, sub-points, and evidence. If you follow this structure, you can consistently expand the outline of your presentation to fit any context or fill any amount of time.

Each main point begins with a topic sentence. Think of the topic sentence as a mini-thesis statement: a clear articulation of what you will prove with your main point.

Like topic sentences, sub-points help you prove your main point. You need at least two sub-points to support your main point. Otherwise, your main point is probably too specific or too vague.

Now, we'll explore how to start your presentation with a strong introduction and close it with a powerful conclusion. While the goals of these two elements differ, they both use attention material to grab your audience and orienting material to provide a map of where the presentation is going, where it has been, and what will come next.

Your introduction should draw in your audience and clearly show where your presentation will take them. The introduction sets expectations and provides a path the audience will follow as they listen. A strong introduction has five elements:

1. it grabs your audience's attention and introduces your topic;
2. it connects your topic clearly to your audience;
3. it explains your connection to the topic;
4. it includes your thesis statement; and
5. it previews the material you plan to cover in your presentation.

Your conclusion should remind the audience what you have covered and create a memorable closing. It should help your audience transition out of the presentation to what is coming next: a question and answer session, a meet-and-greet, lunch, a reception, or the adjournment of the session.

The first and last thing your audience should hear is attention material, which engages your audience and leaves them with a final thought. In your introduction, include:

• an attention-grabber (something that engages the audience and gets them interested);
• a relevance statement (what the audience will learn); and
• a credibility statement (why you are a credible presenter).

Incorporate transitions to explain where you are taking the audience between the introduction, each main point, and the conclusion. A basic transition structure is "now that we have discussed X, we'll talk about Y". Explain why you put your main points in the order you did.

For example, if your presentation is about dogs and your main points are to compare small, medium, and large dogs, your first transition could be, "while small dogs are cute, some people need something a little bigger, such as a medium-sized dog like a beagle or a boxer".

The transition to your third point could be, "While medium-sized dogs can do many things, if you need a dog to help you work, you should consider getting a bigger dog, such as a German shepherd or a Labrador retriever". In both cases, the transition alerts the audience that you have finished your main point and are introducing your next one. You also explain why you put your main points in the order you did.