PREPARING FOR
PROFESSIONAL
PRESENTATIONS
Ch. 14
Mrs. Curry
INTRODUCING PROFESSIONAL
PRESENTATIONS
 Professional presentation: an informed, organized oral
statement made to a group of professional or social peers,
supervisors, clients, or members of the general public.
 Most presentations fall into one of two categories:
 Formal
 Informal
FORMAL PRESENTATION
 Scheduled in advance and usually involves individual or team
research and audiovisual, or AV, support.
 Requirements:
 Carefully structured format and outline
 Formal language strategies and delivery techniques
INFORMAL PRESENTATION
 Occur on a daily or ongoing basis.
 Usually shorter and more spontaneous
 Involve smaller audience
BASIC SKILLS NEEDED BY PRESENTERS
 Selection: choose topics and ideas carefully
 Organization: you are responsible for presenting a well put together speech
 Style: appropriate language and clothing
 Memory: allows you to make eye contact with your audience
rather than just reading them your paper or notecards
 Delivery: use appropriate verbal and nonverbal skills; eye
contact, speaking volume, hand gestures, etc.
CONSIDER THE OCCASION
 Attendance: Who will be listening to your presentation?
 Time: How much time do you have to give your speech? The
amount of time determines how many details/how much
information you can fit into your presentation.
 First step in the presentation process: selecting a topic
 The more you know about the occasion, the better you will be
able to adapt your message and choose appropriate ideas and
information.
DETERMINE THE PURPOSE
 Informative presentation: conveys ideas and information in a
clear, accurate, and objective manner to gain the audience’s
interest.
 Assume role of teacher or newscaster
DETERMINE THE PURPOSE (CONT.)
 Persuasive presentation: attempts to get an audience to
voluntarily change its thoughts, beliefs, or actions on a topic.
DETERMINE THE PURPOSE (CONT.)
 Motivational presentation: inspires or encourages an audience
 Encourage happiness, confidence, and self-worth
 Example: graduation speech
RESEARCHING THE PRESENTATION TOPIC
 What is the first thing you usually do when you need to find
information or conduct research for a class?
 Locate Information
 Library, internet, books, articles
RESEARCHING
 Secondary source: an information source such as a book,
periodical, radio or television program, or an internet article
that has been written by someone else about a particular
topic.
LOOKING FOR SECONDARY SOURCES
 Common places:
 Books
 Periodicals- newspapers, magazines, journals
 Internet
RISK OF THE INTERNET
 Anyone can put anything on the internet. Wikipedia has an
edit option and can be edited by anyone who feels like
messing with it.
 Unreliable, maybe outdated
RESEARCH
 Primary source: someone, including yourself, who has
firsthand knowledge or experience regarding a topic.
 Example: quote from famous person, interviews, surveys
WHAT SOURCES ARE APPROPRIATE?
 Consider:
 Source Qualifications: What is the author’s education or training
related to this topic? What is author’s experience with this subject?
 Source Credibility: What is the professional reputation of this source?
What is the personal reputation of this source?
 Source Competence: Assess the ability of the source to make a
qualified observation
 Relevance of Information: How does this idea relate or apply to my
topic?