Oral Presentations

By the time of your senior year, you've certainly given at least several oral presentations. College presentations are often informal and often carry minor grade weight, but in the real world these presentations can affect your career. Knowing how to present your research (or even someone else's) is a valuable skill.

A presentation will usually consist of some kind of speech or talk, and it will often have some kind of visual component. Scholarly conference papers might not need a slide show, especially in an informed environment. However, the audience often needs some help following along. Common visual aids are transparencies, electronic slide shows, and posters.

For the most part, PowerPoint (or similar software) is replacing the use of transparencies. Don't worry about learning to use PowerPoint. Recent versions are extremely easy to use, and the learning curve is sharp and quick. Transparencies are not so much fun, but they require only a copy machine and special transparency film (the "paper").

Posters are just like those posters from high school. It's odd the electronic age would still require construction paper, gold foil, and paste, but posters are extremely popular. They make good sense when the audience is ignorant of the topic, or the environment requires a big portable display.

Oral Presentation Resources

The following web sites help explain how to create oral presentations, as well as the visual aids and posters.

Reference Materials for Speeches and Presentations (Colorado State University): This site contains several excellent and thorough tutorials about presentations, speeches, overheads, and posters. This is a blueprint for every element of the presentation.
Designing Effective Oral Presentations (Rice University): More from the Rice Online Writing Lab. This one is not a tutorial, but instead develops a theoretical approach to the "speaking/writing relationship," as well as understanding the requirements of the particular audience. This site provides technical and practical advice as well.

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This page created by Christopher Ryland 25 August 2000. Last updated 25 August 2000.