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8.4: Key Takeaways

  • Page ID
    38820
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    • An effective presentation presents ideas more concisely than a written document and uses media to explain ideas and hold the audience’s interest.
    • Like an essay, a presentation should have a clear beginning, middle, and end.
    • Good writers structure their presentations based on the thesis, or point of view; main ideas; and key supporting details and create a presentation outline to organize their ideas.
    • Annotating a presentation outline is a useful way to coordinate different parts of the presentation and manage time effectively.
    • Visual aids are most effective when they are chosen with the purpose and audience in mind. They serve to add emotional impact to a presentation and to organize information more clearly.
    • Visual aids should always be clearly related to the presenter’s ideas. Captions, labels, and other explanatory text help make the connection clear for the audience.
    • Like writing, developing the visual components of a presentation is a process. It involves generating ideas, working with them in a draft format, and then revising and editing one’s work.
    • Visual aids can be divided into two broad categories—image-based media and informational graphics.
    • Widely available software programs make it relatively easy to create visual aids electronically, such as photo images, charts, and graphs.
    • When using visual aids created by others, it is important to apply good research skills, follow guidelines for fair use, and credit sources appropriately.
    • Delivering an effective speech requires paying attention to both verbal delivery and body language.
    • Good speakers rehearse their presentation and, if necessary, get feedback from others to help them refine their presentation before they deliver it.
    • Monitoring one’s vocal delivery involves paying attention to resonance, enunciation, volume, pitch, pace, and tone.
    • Monitoring one’s body language involves paying attention to eye contact, facial expressions, posture, movement, and gestures.
    • Good speakers plan ahead to help them manage the presentation effectively.

    This page titled 8.4: Key Takeaways is shared under a CC BY-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Athena Kashyap & Erika Dyquisto (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative) .

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