Taking it One Step Further

Pat Duffy and UN Class

  Some
"Tricks of the Trade" for Good Presentations
  • Refer to your audience
    (“As you know…,”  “As many of you may have heard…,”  “As you may have already noticed…”)

  • Refer to common experiences
    (“We’ve been hearing a lot about ______ on the news these days”,  “Just today, I saw in the newspaper that_________”

  • Turn statements into questions
    (instead of saying, “This is important because….”, begin by saying “Now why is this important?”
       

  • Add a quote or a proverb
    that captures a point you want to make
     

  • Use descriptive language
    that allows your audience to “see” what you are talking about

  • Cluster together words
    that have the same sound (this is called “alliteration”)

  • Use some contrast  

  • Group things into ‘3’s
    (X, Y and Z...)

                            How can we increase clarity?

  • Narrow your topic
    (if your topic is very broad, choose one aspect of it to talk about)
     

  • Tell the audience why
    it will be useful or interesting for them to have the information you are going to give 
    (can they benefit from it in some ways?  Can they share it with others?)
     

  • Give clear examples
    of what you are talking about (don’t just stay on an abstract level)