Final Day of Class: Oral Presentations

It's the final day of class! Hooray! You made! As you all know, today we will be giving the final oral presentations. With an extra time, we can do some holiday related activities. 

Presentation Rubric -> Here

Thanks for a great semester! I wish you all a happy holiday season and a wonderful start to 2015! с новым годом! 

Oral Presentation Skills Day 3: Rehearsal

Today we will spend the majority of class rehearsing for the final oral presentations next week and giving feedback to our classmates. An outline of today's class can be found below:

Oral Presentation Skills Day 3: Rehearsal

Objectives: Students will be able to...

1. Give a "first draft" rehearsal version of their final presentation
2. Give feedback to classmates about their presentations
3. Process/reflect on the feedback they've received 

I. Warm-Up
How are you? How are things? How was your weekend? How are your other classes? What plans do you have for the end of the semester? Any questions for me?

II. Comments on the IMRD Analysis
I want to take a couple of minutes to comment on the IMRD Analysis assignment.

III. Final Cumulative Vocabulary Quiz 
I hope you studied!

IV. Presentation Rehearsals
We will do this by employing the following procedure:

1. I will check your outlines/topic adaptations
2. I'll ask for volunteers/pick an order for the presentation
3. You will give your presentations 
4. Your classmates will give you feedback using this form

Your homework this week will be to reflect on this feedback.

V. Advice on Preparing Visual Aides
With the remaining class time, we will discuss how to prepare visual aides for your presentation using this presentation and this handout.

Homework
1). Prepare for the Final Presentation: We will spend our final class giving presentations and having a little holiday gathering. In order to prepare for you presentation, you should...

1. Preparing your visual aid
2. Completing the outline (if you haven't already) 
3. PRACTICING! 

2). Complete Your Rehearsal Reflection 
Using this prompt, write a 350-500 word reflection on the feedback you received on your rehearsal presentation. You will be asked to identify two areas for improvement. In addition to the visual aid and the way you adapted your topic for a general audience, these are the areas that I will be assessing you during the presentation. Good luck!

Oral Presentation Skills (Day 2: Practice & Planning)

Today we are going to continue our discussion on how to best prepare, practice and present oral presentations. We spent a lot of the last class just getting comfortable with speaking in front of others and analyzing the physical features of good presentations. Today we will be discussing how to effectively organize the information in our presentations and plan them for maximize efficacy. An outline of today's class can be found below.

Oral Presentation Skills Day 2: Practice and Planning

Objectives: Students will be able to...

1. Describe and emulate two helpful verbal techniques used by effective presenters
2. Describe and emulate two helpful non-verbal techniques used by effective presenters
3. Describe and explain the importance of planning an oral presentation
4. Describe and explain one outline pattern for planning their oral presentation
5. Begin planning the first draft of their oral presentation (for use during next week's rehearsal)

I. Warm-Up
How's it going? How are you? What's new? How was your weekend? How are your other classes going? How did the IMRD analysis go? Was it difficult? Fun? What was the biggest challenge?

II. Vocabulary Quiz
(Cue Chopin's "March Funébre")

III. Oral Presentation Practice
We will begin our discussion with some more practice activities. First, each person in class will be asked to read a tongue twister from the list. Then, we will review the presentation from last week. As we proceed through the presentation, we will stop and do a couple of short activities (appearance practice, voice practice).

IV. Planning Your Presentation
Now, we will move on to discuss how to plan for your presentation. PLANNING IS VITALLY IMPORTANT!  Hopefully by the end of today's class you will have a clear understanding as to why it is so important. We will take the following steps to analyze the importance of planning your presentation: 

1. Step One: Discussing these questions with a partner. 
2. Step Two: Examining a "tried and true" outline for effective presentations
3. Step Three: Examining key phrases and a completed outline 
4. Step Four: Considering ways to incorporate data visualizations 

This short video also offers a few practical tips for improving your presenting skills.

Homework for Tuesday, December 16th, 2014
1). Prepare for the Oral Presentation Rehearsal
Next Tuesday, everyone in class will give a practice version of their oral presentation without the visual aid. Classmate's will be asked to give feedback. In order to ensure that everyone prepares for this, you need to 1). sign-up for a topic (here) and 2). come to class with the following two documents completed: 

1. Content Outline
2. Adjusting Your Topic for a GENERAL Audience

If you do not come prepared to present, you will lost 20% off of your final presentation grade. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Oral Presentation Skills

Today we will begin the final portion of our class time together dedicated to discussing and practicing the skills necessary to give a good and effective oral presentation in English. No matter your field, communication is important and, more often than not, you will be asked to speak in front of other people from time to time. Through good preparation and practice, this can be a really enjoyable experience. We'll talk about how to do both of these things in class today. 

An outline for today's class can be found below:

Oral Presentation Skills: An Overview

Objectives: Students will be able to...

1. Describe a process approach to preparing for an oral presentation
2. Identify, describe and exemplify tactics for promoting an appropriate appearance during a presentation
3. Identify, describe and exemplify "best practices" for speaking during a presentation
4. Begin giving short, spontaneous presentations in front of classmates and the instructor
5. Recognize the importance of reflection as part of the presentation preparation process

I. Warm-Up 

How are you? How are things? How was your weekend? What's new? How are your other classes going? Do you have any questions about this class? 

II. Vocabulary Quiz

End of the line... I hope you studied! 

III. Reviewing the IMRD Critical Analysis Assignment

I want to spend a few minutes discussing the final writing assignment for class. Details can be found here. Remember, you are not writing your own article. You are analyzing the article from your field that you have chosen and answering the questions laid out in the prompt. This assignment is due by next Tuesday (December 9th, 2014) at 4:20pm. 

IV. An Overview of Presentation Skills

We will begin talking about presentations by viewing my favorite speech example of all time, Charlie Chaplin's final speech from the film, "The Great Dictator". We will then continue with a few discussion questions (found here). From there, we will discuss the "3 P" process (prepare, practice and present) using this sequencing activity. 

Then, we'll move on to a little practice. You will be given a topic from this list and asked to prepare a :30 - 1 min speech for or against the topic in question in front of the class. 

Finally, once we've had the chance to discuss you knowledge and describe the process, we'll take a look at the features of an effective presentation using this presentation as a guide. As part of the presentation, you will be asked to do three activities, which can be found below: 

1. Appearance Activity
2. Voice Activity One
3. Voice Activity Two

V. Audiences: General vs. Expert

Occasionally, you will be faced with the challenge of adapting the content of your speech to a general audience. This activity offers a few tips on how to do so as well as some practice on adapting the content for a use with a general audience.  

Homework for Next Tuesday (December 9th, 2014)

1). Finish your IMRD Critical Analysis. Email it to me (as a MS Word or PDF document) and name the file "IMRDAnalysis_YourName". If you have not sent me your article yet, I will need a copy of that, too. It is due by December 9th at 4:20pm.

2). Sign-up for a presentation topic here by this Friday (December 5th) at 11:55pm. The information for the presentation schedule can be found here. We will be doing a rehearsal without visuals on Tuesday, December 16th. The final presentations (with visuals) will be on Tuesday, December 23rd. We will have a small holiday gathering after. 

3). Start preparing your speech using this guide. 

4). Prepare for a short vocabulary quiz on these words.