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3rd Sem English Language 2022

Presentation Skills

Presenting information clearly and effectively is a key skill in getting your message across.
Today, presentation skills are required in almost every field, and most of us are required to give
presentations on occasions. While some people take this in their stride, others find it much more
challenging.

It is, however, possible to improve your presentation skills with a bit of work. This section of
SkillsYouNeed is designed to help.

Many people feel terrified when asked to talk in public, especially to bigger groups. However,
these fears can be reduced by good preparation, which will also lay the groundwork for making
an effective presentation.

There are Different Types of Presentations, but They’re All Presentations

There are any number of occasions when you may be asked to speak in public or to a group of
people. They include:

 Presenting or making a speech at a conference or event.


 Objecting to a planning proposal at a council meeting.
 Making a speech at a wedding.
 Proposing a vote of thanks to someone at a club or society.
 On behalf of a team, saying goodbye and presenting a gift to a colleague who is leaving.
 Seeking investment or a loan to help you set up a new business.

These can all be considered presentations.

They do not, however, all require the same approach. You would not, for example, use
PowerPoint to thank a colleague who was leaving. It would be unusual (though it has been done)
to use it in a speech at a wedding. However, a conference audience would be somewhat surprised
NOT to see slides projected onto a screen.

It follows, therefore, that there is no single set of rules that apply to all presentations. There are,
however, some things that every presentation opportunity has in common. These include:

 You will present better if you have prepared effectively. This does NOT necessarily
mean that you have written out your speech verbatim and rehearsed it until you know it
off by heart—although that might work for some people. It does, however, mean that you
have to be confident that you are saying the right thing, in the right way, to the right
people.
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 You need to be clear about your audience and your message. Every presentation will
be better if you have clearly considered the message that you want or need to convey, and
how best to convey it to your audience. These two pieces of information drive your style,
structure, content, and use of visual aids.
 You must never overrun your allocated time. In other words, don’t outstay your
welcome. Almost every speech or presentation is better if it is shorter. Nobody minds
going for coffee early or finishing before they expected to do so. Everybody minds being
held up.
 Generally speaking, your audience starts on your side. As a rule, your audience is
there (more or less) voluntarily. They have chosen to listen to you, and they want to enjoy
your presentation. The occasion is yours to lose.

An Important Point

There is one very important point to remember: if what you’re doing or saying is not working, do
something else.

One of the worst feelings as a presenter is that you have lost your audience. You know that’s
happened, but you continue to stumble through your remaining PowerPoint slides for the next 15
minutes, as your audience checks their phones and wishes it was coffee time. You think you have
no choice, but that’s not actually true.

When you present, you are in charge of the room. The audience has effectively handed you
control and is sitting back waiting for you to do something. You may have prepared a specific
talk, but if you see that isn’t working, you can always change it. You are, after all, the expert.

You can, for example:

 Skip through some slides to a section that they may find more interesting;
 Ask your audience whether there is particular information that they were expecting that you are
not providing;
 Suggest that everyone looks a bit sleepy, and maybe it would be better to start questions early,
or have a discussion; or
 Ask the audience at the start of the presentation what they are expecting and what they want
you to cover. That way, you can tailor the presentation to fit their expectations.

Just as when you are facilitating, you want to help your audience get the most out of your
presentation. The best way to do that is to accept feedback—which may include smiles, nods of
interest, or people getting their phones out.

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Quick Guide to Effective Presentations


This will give you some ‘quick wins’ that will help you improve your presentations. If you’re
already an experienced presenter, this page should be a useful refresher, or even take your skills
from good to great.

Our tips include general ideas about connecting with your audience, information about the
importance of voice and body language, and detailed tips about preparing slide-shows.

The most important tip of all, however, is to remember that it's all about your audience.

Keep that in mind, and your presentation skills will almost instantly improve.

Our Presentation Skills section is split into two parts.

 The first gives you a step-by-step guide to putting together and delivering a professional and
effective presentation.
 The second provides more detailed information about presenting and communicating in
particular circumstances.

You can either use our step-by-step guide to walk you through the presentation preparation and
delivery process, or you can focus on particular areas that are an issue for you.

Preparing for Your Presentation

The guide starts by explaining What is a Presentation?

We define a presentation as a means of communication that can be adapted to various speaking


situations, such as talking to a group, addressing a meeting or briefing a team. Effective
presentations usually require careful thought and preparation—although this preparation need not
take very long.

Preparation is the most important part of making a successful presentation. Our page on
Preparing For A Presentation explains what information you need before you can really start
to plan your presentation and decide what you are going to say. The most important aspects
include the objective of the presentation, the subject, and the audience.

Irrespective of whether the occasion is formal or informal, you should always aim to give a clear,
well-structured delivery. To do so, you need to organise your presentation material. You can
either do this in your head, or use a technique like mind-mapping to help you identify links and
good flow.

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By the time you come to write your presentation, you should know exactly what you want to
say and the order in which you want to say it. You may want to use one of the standard
presentation structures, such as ‘What, Why, How?’. You will also find it helpful to consider
how to tell your story most effectively, and to use stories in your presentation to illustrate points.
There is more about this in our page on writing your presentation.

You also need to decide on your presentation method. Presentations range from the formal to
the informal. Your choice of presentation method will depend on many factors, including the
audience, the venue, the facilities, and your own preferences.

Visual aids can add another dimension to your presentation, helping to hold your audience’s
attention, and also act as a reminder of what you wanted to say. However, they need handling
with care. Only use visual aids if they are necessary to maintain interest and assist
comprehension. If visual aids are not used well, they can ruin a presentation.

A particular case of visual aids is the use of data in a presentation.

There are times when using data in a presentation can really help you to tell the story better. It is,
however, important not to blind your audience with statistics. You also need to remember that
many people find numbers difficult to understand. Our page on Presenting Data gives some
hints and tips about using data effectively in a presentation situation.

On the Day of the Presentation

There are a number of aspects to delivering your presentation on the day.

The practicalities of how you manage your presentation can make a significant difference to its
success, and to your nerves! For example, turning up early means that you have will have a
chance to see the room, and ensure that you can operate all the necessary equipment. There is
more about how to cope, including managing sound systems, audio-visual equipment and
lecterns in our page on Managing the Presentation Event.

Many people also feel very nervous before and during a presentation. This is entirely
normal, and can even be helpful if you can channel it in the right way. There are some tried and
tested strategies and techniques to manage your nerves so that you can concentrate on delivering
an effective and engaging presentation.

How you present yourself can also affect how your audience responds to your presentation.

You need to fit with your audience's expectations if they are not going to spend quite a large
chunk of your presentation dealing with the differences between expectations and reality.

For more about aspects of self-presentation, see our page on Self-Presentation in Presentations.

You also need to consider how to manage your presentation notes.

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Few people are able to give a presentation without notes. You will need to know your own
abilities and decide how best to make the presentation. You might manage your talk by using full
text, notes on cue cards, keywords on cue cards, or mind maps. There is more about this in our
page on Managing your Presentation Notes.

After the presentation, you may be faced with a question-and-answer session. For many
people, this is the worst part of the event.

Decide in advance how and when you wish to handle questions. Some speakers prefer questions
to be raised as they arise during the presentation whilst others prefer to deal with questions at the
end. At the start of your presentation, you should make clear your preferences to the audience.
See our page on Dealing with Questions for more ideas about how to make the question session
pleasant and productive, rather than something to dread.

Presenting Under Particular Circumstances


You may find that you need to give a presentation under certain circumstances, where your
previous experience is less helpful.

Circumstances that may be new to you include:

 Presentations in Interviews
 Presenting to Large Groups and Conferences
 Giving Lectures and Seminars
 Giving a Speech, for example, at a wedding.

One particular special case is attending public consultation meetings.

Our pages on Attending Public Consultation Meetings, and Managing Public Consultation
Meetings provide information to help whether you are a concerned member of the public, or
responsible for organising a public meeting.

You may also find yourself required to organise or manage a press conference.

Although this may not strictly be what you would describe as a ‘presentation’, it is nonetheless
an event at which you are required to present your organisation in a particular light.

Our page on Managing a Press Conference gives some ideas about how best to do that.

Finally, should you be unlucky enough to be involved in a serious crisis or disaster that affects
your organisation, our page on Crisis Communications gives some ideas about how to manage
press and public relations on these occasions.

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Creating an Informative/Instructional Presentation


Learning Objectives

1. Discuss the parts of an informational presentation.


2. Understand the five parts of any presentation.

An informational presentation is common request in business and industry. It’s the verbal and
visual equivalent of a written report. Information sharing is part of any business or organization.
Informative presentations serve to present specific information for specific audiences for specific
goals or functions. The type of presentation is often identified by its primary purpose or function.
Informative presentations are often analytical or involve the rational analysis of information.
Sometimes they simply “report the facts” with no analysis at all, but still need to communicate
the information in a clear and concise format. While a presentation may have conclusions,
propositions, or even a call to action, the demonstration of the analysis is the primary function.

A sales report presentation, for example, is not designed to make a sale. It is, however, supposed
to report sales to date and may forecast future sales based on previous trends.

An informative presentation does not have to be a formal event, though it can be. It can be
generic and nonspecific to the audience or listener, but the more you know about your audience,
the better. When you tailor your message to that audience, you zero in on your target and
increase your effectiveness. The emphasis is on clear and concise communication, but it may
address several key questions:

 Topic: Product or Service?


 Who are you?
 Who is the target market?
 What is the revenue model?
 What are the specifications?
 How was the information gathered?
 How does the unit work?
 How does current information compare to previous information?

Table 13.2 "Presentation Components and Their Functions" lists the five main parts or
components of any presentation.McLean, S. (2003). The basics of speech communication.
Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Table 13.2 Presentation Components and Their Functions

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Component Function
Attention Statement Raise interest and motivate the listener
Introduction Communicate a point and common ground
Body Address key points
Conclusion Summarize key points
Residual Message Communicate central theme, moral of story, or main point

You will need to address the questions to establish relevance and meet the audience’s needs. The
five parts of any speech will serve to help you get organized.

Sample Speech Guidelines


Imagine that you have been assigned to give an informative presentation lasting five to seven
minutes. Follow the guidelines in Table 13.3 "Sample Speech Guidelines" and apply them to
your presentation.

Table 13.3 Sample Speech Guidelines

Choose a product or service that interests you, research it, and report your
1. Topic
findings in your speech.
Your general purpose, of course, is to inform. But you need to formulate a more
2. Purpose specific purpose statement that expresses a point you have to make about your
topic—what you hope to accomplish in your speech.
Think about what your audience might already know about your topic and what
3. Audience they may not know, and perhaps any attitudes toward or concerns about it.
Consider how this may affect the way that you will present your information.
Using the information gathered in your search for information, determine what is
4. Supporting
most worthwhile, interesting, and important to include in your speech. Time
Materials
limits will require that you be selective about what you use. Use visual aids!
1. Write a central idea statement that expresses the message, or point, that
you hope to get across to your listeners in the speech.
2. Determine the two to three main points that will be needed to support
5. Organization
your central idea.
3. Finally, prepare a complete sentence outline of the body of the speech.

Develop an opening that will

1. get the attention and interest of your listeners,


6. Introduction
2. express your central idea or message,
3. lead into the body of your speech.

The conclusion should review and/or summarize the important ideas in your
7. Conclusion
speech and bring it to a smooth close.
The speech should be delivered extemporaneously (not reading but speaking),
8. Delivery
using speaking notes and not reading from the manuscript. Work on maximum

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eye contact with your listeners. Use any visual aids or handouts that may be
helpful.

Key Takeaway

Informative presentations illustrate, explain, describe, and instruct the audience on topics and
processes.

Exercises

1. Write a brief summary of a class or presentation you personally observed recently;


include what you learned. Compare with classmates.
2. Search online for an informative speech or presentation that applies to business or
industry. Indicate one part or aspect of the presentation that you thought was effective
and one you would improve. Provide the link to the presentation in your post or
assignment.
3. Pick a product or service and come up with a list of five points that you could address in
a two-minute informative speech. Place them in rank order and indicate why.
4. With the points discussed in this chapter in mind, observe someone presenting a speech.
What elements of their speech could you use in your speech? What elements would you
not want to use? Why? Compare with a classmate.

How to Give a Persuasive Presentation [+ Examples]

A presentation aimed at persuading an audience to take a specific action can be the most difficult
type to deliver, even if you’re not shy of public speaking.

Creating a presentation that effectively achieves your objective requires time, lots of practice,
and most importantly, a focused message.

With the right approach, you can create a presentation that leaves a skeptical audience
enthusiastic to get on board with your project.

In this post, we'll cover the basics of building a persuasive presentation. Let's dive in.

What is a persuasive presentation?

In its most basic form, a persuasive presentation features a speaker who tries to influence an
audience to accept certain positions and engage in actions in support of them. A good persuasive
presentation uses a mixture of facts, logic, and empathy to help an audience see an issue from a
perspective they previously discounted or hadn’t considered.

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How to Plan a Persuasive Presentation


Want to make a persuasive presentation that connects with your audience? Follow these steps to
win friends and influence people within your audience.

1. Decide on a single ask.

The key to convincing your audience is to first identify the singular point you want to make. A
good persuasive presentation will focus on one specific and easy-to-understand proposition.
Even if that point is part of a broader initiative, it ideally needs to be presented as something
your audience can say "yes" or "no" to easily.

A message that isn’t well-defined or which covers too much can cause the audience to lose
interest or reject it outright. A more focused topic can also help your delivery sound more
confident, which (for better or worse) is an important factor in convincing people.

2. Focus on fewer (but more relevant) facts.

Remember: You are (in the vast majority of cases) not the target audience for your presentation.
To make your presentation a success, you’ll need to know who your audience is so you can
shape your message to resonate with them.

When crafting your messaging, put yourself in your audience's headspace and attempt to deeply
understand their position, needs, and concerns. Focus on arguments and facts that speak
specifically to your audience's unique position.

As we wrote in our post on How to Present a Compelling Argument When You're Not Naturally
Persuasive, "just because a fact technically lends support to your claim doesn't mean it will sway
your audience. The best evidence needs to not only support your claim but also have a
connection to your audience."

What are the target audience's pain points that you can use to make a connection between their
needs and your goals? Focus on those aspects, and cut any excess information. Fewer relevant
facts are always more impactful than an abundance of unfocused pieces of evidence.

3. Build a narrative around your evidence.

If you want to persuade someone of something, it’s not enough to win their brain -- you need
their heart in it, too. Try to make an emotional connection with your audience throughout your
presentation to better sell them on the facts you’re presenting. Your audience is human, after all,
so some emotional tug will go a long way to shaking up how they view the issue you’re talking
about. A little bit of emotion could be just what your audience needs to make your facts “click.”

The easiest way to incorporate an emotional pull into your presentation is through the use of
narrative elements. As we wrote in our guide to crafting pitch decks, "When our brains are given
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a story instead of a list of information, things change -- big time. Stories engage more parts of
our brains, including our sensory cortex, which is responsible for processing visual, auditory, and
tactile stimuli. If you want to keep people engaged during a presentation, tell them a story."

4. Confidence matters.

Practice makes perfect (it's a cliche because it's true, sorry!), and this is especially true for
presentation delivery. Rehearse your presentation several times before you give it to your
audience so you can develop a natural flow and move from each section without stopping.

Remember, you're not giving a speech here, so you don't want your delivery to come across like
you're reading fully off of cue cards. Use tools like notes and cue cards as ways to keep you on
track, not as scripts.

Finally, if you can, try to practice your presentation in front of another human. Getting a trusted
co-worker to give you feedback in advance can help strengthen your delivery and identify areas
you might need to change or bulk up.

5. Prepare for common objections.

The last thing you want to say when someone in your audience expresses a concern or an
outright objection during your presentation's question section is “umm, let me get back to you on
that.”

Carefully research the subject of your presentation to make the best case possible for it -- but
also prepare in advance for common objections or questions you know your stakeholders are
going to ask. The stronger your command of the facts -- and the more prepared you are to
proactively address concerns -- the more convincing your presentation will be. When you appear
confident fielding any rebuttals during a question and answer session after your presentation, it
can go a long way towards making your case seem more convincing.

Persuasive Presentation Outline


Like any writing project, you’ll want to create an outline for your presentation, which can act as
both a prompt and a framework. With an outline, you’ll have an easier time organizing your
thoughts and creating the actual content you will present. While you can adjust the outline to
your needs, your presentation will most likely follow this basic framework.

I. Introduction

Every persuasive presentation needs an introduction that gets the listener’s attention, identifies a
problem, and relates it to them.

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 The Hook: Just like a catchy song, your presentation needs a good hook to draw the listener in.
Think of an unusual fact, anecdote, or framing that can grab the listener’s attention. Choose
something that also establishes your credibility on the issue.

 The Tie: Tie your hook back to your audience to garner buy-in from your audience, as this issue
impacts them personally.

 The Thesis: This is where you state the position to which you are trying to persuade your
audience and forms the focal point for your presentation.

II. The Body

The body forms the bulk of your presentation and can be roughly divided into two parts. In the
first half, you will build your case, and in the second you will address potential rebuttals.

 Your Case: This is where you will present supporting points for your argument and the evidence
you’ve gathered through research. This will likely have several different subsections in which
you present the relevant evidence for each supporting point.

 Rebuttals: Consider potential rebuttals to your case and address them individually with
supporting evidence for your counterarguments.

 Benefits: Outline the benefits of the audience adopting your position. Use smooth,
conversational transitions to get to these.

 Drawbacks: Outline what drawbacks of the audience rejecting your position. Be sure to remain
conversational and avoid alarmism.

III. Conclusion

In your conclusion, you will wrap up your argument, summarize your key points, and relate them
back to the decisions your audience makes.

 Transition: Write a transition that emphasizes the key point you are trying to make.

 Summary: Summarize your arguments, their benefits, and the key pieces of evidence supporting
your position.

 Tie-back: Tie back your summary to the actions of your audience and how their decisions will
impact the subject of your presentation.

 Final word: Try to end on a last emotional thought that can inspire your audience to adopt your
position and act in support of it.

IV. Citations

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Include a section at the end of your presentation with citations for your sources. This will make
independent fact-checking easier for your audience and will make your overall presentation more
persuasive.

Persuasive Presentation Examples


Check out some of these examples of persuasive presentations to get inspiration for your own.
Seeing how someone else made their presentation could help you create one that strikes home
with your audience. While the structure of your presentation is entirely up to you, here are some
outlines that are typically used for different subjects.

Introducing a Concept

One common type of persuasive presentation is one that introduces a new concept to an audience
and tries to get them to accept it. This presentation introduces audience members to the dangers
of secondhand smoke and encourages them to take steps to avoid it. Persuasive presentations can
also be a good format to introduce marco issues, such as this presentation on the benefits of
renewable energy.

Changing Personal Habits

Want to change the personal habits of your audience? Check out this presentation on how to
adopt healthy eating habits. Or this presentation which encourages the audience to get more
exercise in their daily lives.

Making a Commitment to an Action

Is your goal to get your audience to commit to a specific action? This presentation encouraging
audience memes to become organ donors could provide inspiration. Trying to make a big sale?
Check out this presentation outline that can encourage someone to buy a home.

Remember: You Can Do This

Anyone can craft a persuasive presentation once they know the basic framework for creating
one. Once you get the process down, you’ll be in a better position to bring in sales, attract donors
or funding, and even advance your career. The skills you learn can also benefit you in other areas
of your personal and professional life as you know how to make a case and influence people
toward it.

Demonstrative Speech (Presentation)

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Your teacher or superior comes up to you and asks to do a demonstrative speech in front of a big
audience. For instance, they may ask you how to demonstrate a certain skill such as writing an
investigative news article (if in a journalism class) or ask you to teach judo (if in an martial arts
class).

 Examples of Persuasive Speech


 Expository Speeches Example

Either way, you might be an expert on this stuff but it’s different if you’re asked to make a
demonstrative speech about it. This type of speeches need more clarity and precision for your
audiences to understand since they are expecting to learn from you. This might be a difficult task
but by following the guidelines below, writing and delivering this kind of speech will be much
easier.

What is a Demonstrative Speech?


Andrew Dlugan described a demonstration speech as a form of informative speech where the
speaker’s primary purpose is to teach the audience how to complete a task, and is largely
accomplished by demonstrating the task through a series of steps.

Choosing a topic… and how to work it out


There are a wide variety of topics to choose for your demonstrative speech. Choose a hobby, or
craft that are not too common. Here are a few examples that can be your main topic in your
speech:

 How to be a lumberjack
 How to do pole dancing
 How to be a trainspotter
 How to collect navel fluff
 How to beach comb
 How to do taxidermy
 How to do cosplay
 How to make surveys
 How to read palms
 How to write a limerick
 How to collect stamps
 How to do ice sculpting
 and more

Once you’ve figured out what topic you will talk about, assess how long is your speech going to
last. If you’re going to teach your audience how to bake a cake, you might need an hour for your

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presentation since there many different types of cakes. If your presentation is how to bake a lava
cake, you may only need a half an hour speech or less. Research on your chosen topic. You can
search the internet or your local library for more information. You can also ask experts (if you
can) more tidbits or advice about the topic you choose.

If you have too much information on your chosen topic, shorten it by only choosing the essential
information vital to your speech. However, if you only found limited information, you can add
some fun facts or any related facts in your speech.

Find out who is your audience


Before finalizing your topic for your demonstrative speech, find out first who you will be talking
to. If you’re giving a speech to a group of journalists, it’s not the best idea to choose a topic
“How to Write News”.You can make your topic more relevant and interesting to them like “How
to Battle Fake News in the 21st Century”. The topic “How to Write News” may be more
appropriate to students aspiring to become journalists. You also need to determine the age of
your audiences. If your audiences are young people, it’s best to give them a mundane and simple
topic such as “How to Collect Stamp” or “How to Paint by Numbers”.

Think of how will your audience benefit from your speech


Demonstrating a certain task to your audience is not enough. You need to figure out how will
your audience will be motivated to learn from your speech. For example, in networking business,
demonstrators usually give speeches on how to earn money by demonstrating certain tasks for
the audiences to do such as selling products effectively. The audience are dedicated to learn from
the speech because they can benefit to it by knowing how to sell products effectively so they can
earn money.

Below are some points you need to consider on how your audiences will benefit greatly
by learning the new task you demonstrated in your speech. Will they:

 Earn or save money?


 Get a promotion?
 Improve their skills?
 Make their life easier?
 Provide enjoyment or satisfaction?
 Make them happy?

There are a lot of ways to motivate your audience, but the most effective is to point out how their
lives are going to improve with this new knowledge.

How to write your speech

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Make an outline for your speech. Your outline should only contain three sections: introduction,
the body, and the conclusion. Refer to topic outline to familiarize yourself better with writing
speeches.

Give a brief overview of the entire process

Before going into specific details about your topic, provide an overview first of what will be the
overall task or process in your speech. This will prepare the mindset of your audience as they are
going the delve into learning a new skill. This way, your audience can relax since they have an
idea of what you are going to demonstrate. You can start your overview along the lines of…
“Today, I’m gonna show you how to wrap a wound in three easy steps…”. It’s important to
present your outline neatly for your audience to see how the steps will take place later on.

Make the body of your speech

Your body of your speech must contain the actual step processes of performing a certain task.
Break each step into manageable ones that can be explained one by one. Explain each step in a
sequential order. Try to consider the comprehensiveness of your audience of how they will
understand your speech.

It may be helpful to keep the number of steps as low as possible. Having too many steps when
doing a demonstration may baffle your audiences and won’t be able to see the point you are
trying to make. For every step, you could explain the purpose of the step and how it should be
done in a straightforward manner.

If time allows, discuss additional options

When you are doing the demonstration first, you will be explaining the basic and simple way to
do the task. If you still have more time in your hands, you can also demonstrate to your audience
other variations of doing the task; you can teach them other alternate ways to do it if they don’t
like the steps you’ve demonstrated first. Example: If you are explaining how to bake an arctic
roll, in this part, you can teach them alternate flavors, ingredients, and other methods of baking
the arctic roll.

Allow time for Q&A

If you’ve noticed, many types of speeches are always proceeded by question and answer (Q&A)
portion. This part is when the audience can have the privileged to ask clarifications from the
speaker if they were confused by certain steps from the speech. Not all Q&A sessions must be at
the end of your speech, if you’re feeling confident enough that you can finish your speech on
time, you can let the audience ask questions throughout your speech.

Summarize your speech at the conclusion

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Once you’re done with your speech and the Q&A session, you can recap your speech by
summarizing the process again for further clarifications and mention the benefits the audience
can gain from your speech. Now that you’ve written your speech that you think your audience
can learn from it, you can add more zing to your speech to make it more engaging.

You may let the audience participate

If you have the time (and funds), you can always provide supplies to your audience so that they
can follow the step-by-step demonstration together with you. Audience that are actively
engaging in your demonstration will avoid any boredom. They’ll be likely to remember the
process the demonstration taught them and it will be also a test for them whether they can
achieve the task or not. If you don’t have the opportunity to let all the audience participate, you
can ask one to four volunteers to follow the demonstration.

Visuals are excellent in your demonstrative speech

Just to make your speech is memorable. You can add visual props to help you out in your
demonstration. Merely speaking is okay, but what if your audience has a hard time catching up?
Visuals can be an answer to that issue. You can use:

 Your body. If you’re demonstrating a dance, your body is the best visual. You can’t teach
dancing just by standing limply. You need to move in order to demonstrate how to tango. You
may invite someone else to do it for you, but it’s best if you also move.
 Use real props. If you’re teaching on how to play the saxophone, you need to bring a real
instrument and not just a fake one. This is one way for your audiences to learn effectively from
your demonstration.
 Use pictures or diagrams. They can help you go through step by step in your demonstration
breezily. Make your visuals eye-catching, neat and organized (if you’re using diagrams or
pictures) and visible to your audiences.

Practice Your Speech


Now you’ve prepared your speech and your visuals. Then it’s time for you to practice on
delivering your speech. You need to practice before taking the plunge or else your stage fright
gets the best of you and leave you stuttering in front of your audience.

Practice delivering your speech alone

Review your speech and notes by standing in front of a mirror and try to speak to it. You can see
how will you look while delivering your speech. You can improve the way you talk, move and
look while babbling your speech. This way, you can be more aware on how you present your
speech and you’ll be able to improve yourself without looking awkward. You can also make
some revisions in your speech that may not work while you’re speaking it aloud.

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Practice also on how you will handle your visual aides. That way, you can adjust them to make it
easier for you to handle once you’ve given your speech. If your props or visuals involves people,
let them practice first on how you want them to move during your speech.

Practice delivering your speech with your friends

if you’re satisfied with how you look while you present your speech, invite your family or close
friends as your test audience. Choose the people that you trust in giving you constructive
criticism when there are things you need to adjust in your speech or give you compliments if
you’re feeling too nervous. You need their feedback for you to improve. You can also try asking
them specific questions like, do they understand your steps? Or was it too complicated? Once
you’ve got their feedback, take note of them. You’re gonna need it to polish your speech.

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