N otes of Unit III- Technical Presentation -Strategies and

Techniques(TechnicalCommunication

Unit - III

Technical Presentation: Strategies & Techniques Presentation: Forms; interpersonal

Communication; Class room presentation; style; method; Individual conferencing: essentials:
Public Speaking: method; Techniques: Clarity of substance; emotion; Humour; Modes of
Presentation; Overcoming Stage Fear; Audience Analysis & retention of audience interest;
Methods of Presentation: Interpersonal; Impersonal; Audience Participation: Quizzes &
Interjections.

Technical Presentation

A presentation is the process of communicating a topic to an audience. It is typically a

demonstration, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate,
or to build good will or to present a new idea or product. The term can also be used for a
formal or ritualized introduction or offering, as with the presentation of a debutante.
Presentations in certain formats are also known as keynote address.

To present the topic before audience should be pre-planned and organized. To present
technical topic with factual description

Purpose

Defining Purpose or objective-The main purpose of a presentation is to inform. Your

presentation must be well prepared in order to be able to give information to the audience
properly. There are two kinds of giving information.

1. Giving information to those who don’t know about the topic yet (to inform)

2. Persuade people to use something they already know (to persuade)

1- To inform-
Informative presentation is usually done in front of the audiences who don’t know yet
about the topic or are not familiar with the topic. Here you must give facts and data so
that in the end of your presentation the audiences got new information. For this type of
presentation, the preparation you have to do is make an understandable material.

2- To persuade
However, the persuasive presentation is a little bit more complicated. Here you will
face the audiences who already know and are familiar to the topic you are going to
present but they are not interested to it yet. This type of presentation requires your
 best communication skill. In the end of your presentation, the audiences are expected
to change their minds. Those who are not interested to the topic are now interested in
that, or at least they are willing to try to use that.
3- To entertain
4- To motivate
Deciding what you want to accomplish in a presentation is the most important part of
presentation. Whether your goal is to persuade or to inform, you must have the clear idea of
what you are speaking. Always choose the topic with which you can relate yourself.

Methods of Presentation

Individual— Given by one

Group- Given by group members

A Intepersonal-

Between two or more people

Features

1. Face to face communication

2. Can be verbal or non-verbal

3, Can be formal or informal

4. Interdependency on people

Elements

Source Receiver-----means—sender receiver message

Feedback –means –Response

Channel –means—medium

Noise –means—disturbance

Context ----means---Environment

Types of interpersonal

A. Verbal----spoken, written words

B. Nonverbal-----Body language, paralinguistics

B. Individual Conferencing

Individual Conference is a critical tool of supervision, is arranged to facilitate interaction,

sharing and feedback between supervisor and supervisee in a systematic, planned and
confidential setting. ICs are supposed to be held every week during the assigned time. It
provides a platform to discuss the issues and concerns arising out of field work. The supervisor
is expected to facilitate the students to relate theory with practice, and monitor their progress
in terms of accomplishment of field work tasks and objectives and improvement in quality of
reporting. It provides the student an opportunity to reflect on their own strengths and
weaknesses and work on them for the betterment. All students are mandatorily required to
attend all such Supervisory conferences. Field work without IC is considered as unsupervised
field work and stands a chance of being cancelled.

They are designed with a purpose. It helps the individual to achieve his goal.

1. Done in privacy

2. Counsellor should be positive

3. Should be done from time to time

C. Class Room Presentation

They are given by student based on LSRW skills. After completing a project, the students
make presentations in classroom which provides an opportunity to share their views with
their classmates and also to expand their understanding.

Purpose

to inform

to persuade

To motivate

The classroom presentation is comprised of short discussions, demonstrations and science

activities. Such presentations are beneficial as they make the students vocal and alert.

Presentation tips for students

A. Focus main points

b. Do not read from your notes

C. Prepare cue cards with key words.

D. Use graphical aids like slides, charts and graphs to illustrate your points

E. Dress appropriately

F. Speak clearly and loud enough

Methods of Classroom presentations

A. Verbal non-verbal

B. use of podium

C. Clarity and loudness of voice

D Right tone , pitch and speed should be maintained

E. Apropriate facial expressions and gestures

Style of Classroom presentation

A. systematic

b. Beginning, middle, end

C. Content and delivery should be in accordance with the level of audience

D. Comprehensive as well as interesting to the listeners

E. Maintain eye contact with the audience

D. Public Speaking

Public speaking is formal, formal face to face speaking of a person to a group of listeners. it
s a part of essential verbal communication skills.

Purpose

1. to simply transmit information

2. to motivate people to take a particular course of action

3. To simply tell a story

To change the thought process of listeners

to inform

to persuade

To motivate

Public speaking or oratory or oration is the practice or act of delivering a speech to the
live audience

Five elements

a. Who

b. to whom

c. with what effects

d. is saying or delivering what

e. using which medium or means

Pillars of Public speaking

Based on three V’s

Verbalize-selection of words

Vocalize-delivering the words

Visualize- how eh audience visualizes you and your presentation

Formal Speech

face to face formal communication, business meetings, formal presentations in conferences,

seminars, meetings and Gds.

Steps of making formal speeches

A. selection of the topic

B. conducting research to get information

c. organize the information

Intro

body

End or conclusion

d. Selection of presentation method

Importance of Public Speaking

1. it increases self confidence of the speaker

. Practising public speaking regularly helps to make you more comfortable around public

3. it improves verbal adnoun verbal communication

4. it helps you to survive in competition

5. it boosts up career

6. it improves inter-personal relationships

7. it helps in personality development

Tips or techniques for effective public speaking

1. Know your material-use humour, personal stories, example and conversational language

2. Practice and practice

3. Know and mix up with audience

4. know the venue

5.Relax- smile take a deep breath AND THEN BEGIN BY ADDRESSING THE
AUDIENCE.

6. Visualize yourself giving your speech

7. don’t apologize before audience for error

8.Concentrate on the message and not the medium

9. employ supporting material appropriately

10. Punctuate the words properly

11. Connect with the audience.

12.follow time message-good time management-finish presentation in allotted time.

13. Be logical

14. Use body language appropriately

15. Use audio-visual aids properly.

16.Don’t read from notes

17. Be prepared for the unexpected

18. Give pause

19. Ask for and utilize feedback.

Humour in Public Speaking

Humour is one of the key communication skills of a public speaker. it is a powerful tool by
the speaker.

1. Injects energy into a room

2. Grabs the audience attention

3.Makes people attentive

5. Makes speech interesting

6.enables the audience to persuade as well as give delights

7. Strengthen personal and organizational relationships

Emotions in public speaking

his audience

“words are powerful tool that stirs emotions an can directly increase conversions” emotions
in speech enables the speaker to grab the listener’s attention.

Impersonal communication

It is defined as a type of communication or intetaction that is based specifically on social

roles, such as communication between sales representative and a customer.

Audience participation during presentation

1. Ask audience questions

2. use variety of sentences

3. Tell a joke.

4. ask audience to repeat information

5. add videos

6. use props

7. use proper voice modulation

Quiz as a part of presentation

Question answer round is followed by presentation.

Clarity of Substance:-
“Clearness or lucidity as to perception or understanding; freedom from indistinctness or ambiguit
y.” This is what you want to achieve when practicing and delivering your speech. You want to
make sure the important words or sentences are understood by your audience. Especially if you
have a strong accent, or have a topic that an audience is not familiar with.

When preparing your talk, identify the keywords and phrases that are critical to the message
and make sure you don’t speed over them when talking. As in the mythological speech, the
challenge wasn’t an accent, it was that the speaker just spoke too fast.

An effective way to make sure those words and phrases are clear to your audience is to record
or videotape your presentation and listen to it. Ask another person to listen to it. Are they
coming across loud and clear? Practice and take feedback from others to achieve clarity.
Humour:-It means the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in
literature or speech.

A speaker who uses humour well comes across as more human, more likeable. This puts an
audience at ease and makes people more receptive to your ideas. As British comedian John
Cleese has said, “If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you
more open to my ideas.”

It energizes people and keeps them engaged

When we laugh, there is a lot that goes on inside our body. Our heart rate increases and that
keeps us stimulated and alert.

It can provide emotional relief for the audience

Many talks are serious and many talks are emotionally challenging for an audience. Well-
placed humour can give your audience some much-needed relief in an otherwise serious talk.

It helps the audience remember your points

Laughter has been shown to improve memory and cognitive function. This helps the audience
remember your ideas.

It leaves the audience with a good impression of the speaker

American poet, Maya Angelou, said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Emotion:- Emotion means powerful feelings. There are five ways you can consciously
create an "emotional encounter" between you and listeners. Do that, and your influence will
soar. Most speakers just deliver content, which almost never reaches an emotional plane.
Instead, here are my five rules for achieving emotional power in your speeches and
presentations.

Emotions matters when we speak. Showing emotions makes the speaker able to connect
himself with his audience

“words are powerful tool that stirs emotions an can directly increase conversions” emotions
in speech enables the speaker to grab the listener’s attention.

Understanding nuances of delivery

Good delivery conveys our ideas clearly and interestingly without distracting the audience. It
combines a certain degree of formality with the best attributes of good conversation- directness,
spontaneity, animation, vocal and facial expression. Manner of presentation, vocal inflection,
perfectly timed pauses, facial expression and our gestures makes our dull topic interesting.

“ Have something to say is not enough, you must also know how to say it.”

Modes of delivery

1. Extemporaneous
It is the most popular and effective method. Here we prepare the notes beforehand and
rehearse our presentation. Thus the presentation sounds quite spontaneous to the audience as
after through presentation we are speaking while thinking.

Advantages
1. Assiduous planning and exact practice before presentation helps in the presentation of
theme in the best possible structured way.
2. Thorough presentation makes us flexible in our use of language.
3. Delivery sounds natural and spontaneous to the audience and establishes a rapport with
the audience through more eye contact.
4. It enables one to move freely with ease.

Disadvantages
1 If preparation is inadequate, we may get lost and find ourselves uncomfortable.

2. If we rely too much on note cards and start reading from them instead of just consulting
them for reference then our speech will lost its spontaneity.

2. Manuscript
Here material is written and we are supposed to read it aloud verbatim. For an effective
presentation it is important to have gone through the material beforehand to achieve
familiarity and understanding of the text.

Advantages
1. It is a permanent and accurate record.
2. No chance of tempering with the facts and figures.
3. Systematically organized material.
4. Polished language.

Disadvantages
1. Proper eye contact is lacking.
2. Non-verbal and verbal communication with the audience is missing.
3. Adaptation is rather difficult.
4. Conversational flavour along with vocal inflection is not possible.
5. In the absence of effective reading skills, it makes the speech uninteresting and results in
loss of audience attention.

3. Impromptu
It is an informal speech delivered without preparation.

Advantages
1. We are spontaneous as we say what we feel.
2. We sound very natural because we do not get time for elaborate preparation.

Disadvantages
1. lacks organized development of ideas due to shortage of time.
2. No supplementary material is there to substantiate the speech.
3. Frequent vocalized pauses.
4. Chances of rambling are high.
5. Inadequate proficiency in the language may turn the presentation into a failure.

4. Memorization
Speech in written beforehand then committed to memory and finally delivered from memory.

Advantages
1. Easy to maintain eye-contact.
2. Can make the appropriate use of non-verbal communication.
3. Possible to finish the speech in the allotted time.

Disadvantages
1. Memorization requires too much time.
2. Sometimes dull and monotonous.
3. No flexibility or adaptation is possible.
4. The speaker gets flustered if he forgets a word, sentence or a whole paragraph.

Among all the four modes of delivery extemporaneous is the best because of its flexible
nature and effectiveness.

Overcoming stage fear

The fear of public speaking or performance, often called stage fright. Stage fright may cause
nervousness and spoil the entire presentation. Hence, it is necessary that the speaker should
learn how to overcome his stage fright.

Below are certain tips to overcome stage fear:

1. Shift the focus from yourself and your fear to your true purpose—contributing
something of value to your audience.
 2. Stop scaring yourself with thoughts about what might go wrong. Instead, focus your
attention on thoughts and images that are calming and reassuring.
3. Refuse to think thoughts that create self-doubt and low confidence.
4. Practice ways to calm and relax your mind and body, such as deep breathing, relaxation
exercises, yoga, and meditation.
5. Exercise, eat well, and practice other healthful lifestyle habits. Try to limit caffeine,
sugar, and alcohol as much as possible.
6. Visualize your success: Always focus on your strength and ability to handle challenging
situations.
7. Prepare your material in advance and read it aloud to hear your voice.
8. Make connections with your audience: Smile and greet people, thinking of them as
friends rather than enemies.
9. Stand or sit in a self-assured, confident posture. Remain warm and open and make eye
contact.
10. Give up trying to be perfect and know that it is OK to make mistakes. Be natural, be
yourself.

Mahnoor Ansari considers stage fright a physiological reaction. he suggests simple

ways to overcome the stage fright.
1. Relaxation techniques: Learn some techniques of relaxation like hypnosis and bio
feedback. Relaxation is a good way to encounter stress and alleviates symptoms. The ancient
Oriental technique of Shiatsu massage therapy makes use of pressure point to relieve stress.

2. Exercise: Redirect the energy causing those symptoms by changing its focus. The best way
to change the direction of the energy is by exercise. Do some of your usual exercise before
going to the venue. You can do this fast one before going on stage: rub your hands together
very fast, pass on all of your nervousness and energy in the movement, and then shake your
hands very fast. Continue your natural way of breathing.

3. Breathing: Breathe to relieve stress. Learn to breathe deeply, exhale then inhale slowly at
least 25 times. Your mind and body will slowly relax.

4. Practice: Practice makes perfect. Some anxieties come because the activity is not mastered.
Well-practiced activities increase self confidence which in turn decrease stress and anxiety,
Practice and practice; repeat and repeat until you know it by heart.

5. Diet: The food you eat will affect anxiety level. Avoid drinking coffee, tea, and other
caffeinated beverages before your performance as caffeinated beverages are stimulants that
add to your jitters. Also avoid carbonated drinks as you might burp in the midst of your
presentation.

6. Water: Drink water before the performance and you can take sips of water to prevent your
mouth from drying. Don’t drink too much water within the first 30 seconds of your
performance. You might need to go to the wash room.

Causes of stage Fear

There may be many causes of stage fear. Out of many below are listed some very common
causes of stage fright:
1. Lack of confidence
2. being unprepared
3.performance anxiety
4. Feeling of speechlessness
5. Forgetting the lines

Analyze your audience

Analyze your audience

All audience is at the receiving end of your communication. Nature of the audience has a
direct impact on the strategy we devise for presentation. So get the idea of the age, number,
nature, needs, level of knowledge and likely attitude of those people who are going to receive
your message. The presenter should also judge the socio-cultural, educational, and economic
background of the audience.

For educated people of any age group are naturally more critical, rich people do not favour
social changes; while the poor are interested in change.

Know about their familiarity with the topic and then organize the matter so as to bring about
the concentration of the audience and sustaining their interest required for understanding and
comprehending the speech.

Audience analysis issues include size, gender, age, experience, attitude, and expectation of
audience towards the subject of presentation. For example a large group of audience usually
requires a more formal and less personal approach as compared to small group of audience.
Some specific topics which a presenter should consider are—

How will this topic appeal to the audience?

How can I relate this information to their needs?

Which methodology will be effective in making a presentation?

What must I do to ensure that my audience should remember my points?

Audience profile Answers

Who are they?

How many will be there?

Why are they coming?

What do they know about the subject?

Why are they interested in the subject?

This kind of prior preparation is important because the nature of your audience has a direct
impact on the strategy you devise for your presentation. Remember your audience can be:
your friends, foes, clients, colleagues, totally unfamiliar faces or a medley of all these. At the
start of your presentation make eye contact with your audience. This will help you to assess
whether they are excited, resistant, hostile or dull. Always begin with a smile and greet them
in a pleasant tone. Even though your audience is well educated, don’t go for words rarely
used in conversation, rather than impressing you will end up in confusing them. The more
meticulous you are in your choice of words, the greater are the effects of your oral
presentation.

A few key points to keep in mind:

● Speak with confidence and conviction.

● Make your points crystal clear and easy to understand.
● Maintain an attitude of alertness and confidence.
● Encourage questions from audience.

Locale

It means physical environment .It includes:

• 1-Place of presentation
• 2-A podium or a table provided
• 3-Public address system
• 4-Seating arrangement, room temperature and lighting
• 5-Visual aids available

Understanding locale

For efficient speaking or presentation, we need to analyze the locale in audience. The speaker
must be aware of the size of the room where he or she has to deliver the speech. Sometimes
the rooms are large and echoing. Speaking in such rooms requires less resonating sound. For
the acoustically treated rooms the resonance of the speech in an oral presentation has an
absolutely different kind of impression on the audience. The speaker should also check his or
her voice in the room that whether it reaches the last listener sitting at the back row. The
room should be well ventilated and well illuminated. Also attention should be paid towards
the physical conditions confronting one’s audience such as heating, room temperature, and
lightning.
The seating layout also determines the voice, voice reverberation. Also know about the physical
sitting and about whether the podium or a table will be provided or the public address system
and so on for the presentation. A mike or microphone is required and what are the equipments
or aids required for an effective presentation.

If we can identify the problems in advance, he can either ask for alternative arrangements or
modify one’s materials, visual aids and style to suit the environment.
Retention of audience interest;
Have you noticed that many business presentations are boring, mind-numbing, and bullet-
ridden with speakers reading from a script? When you see the PowerPoint presentation come
up, you know you are in for a snooze-fest. It does not have to be that way. When used
correctly, presentation tools can be useful in getting your message across to your audience.
Rather than use your presentation tool as a crutch, I have three tip to improve your audience’s
retention of the materials presented and keep them engaged with you as a speaker.
Talk about something your audience is interested in
Tell them why they should listen
Don’t make it too easy or too hard
Change grabs attention”
Tell stories
Have frequent breaks
Make it short
Methods of Presentation

Individual— Given by one

Group- Given by group members

Intepersonal-

Between two or more people

Features

1. Face to face communication

2. Can be verbal or non-verbal

3, Can be formal or informal

5. Interdependency on people

Types of interpersonal

A. Verbal----spoken, written words

B. Nonverbal-----Body language, paralinguistics

C-Class Room Presentation

They are given by student based on LSRW skills. After completing a project, the students
make presentations in classroom which provides an opportunity to share their views with
their classmates and also to expand their understanding.

D-Impersonal communication
It is defined as a type of communication or intetaction that is based specifically on social
roles, such as communication between sales representative and a customer.

Audience participation during presentation

 1. Ask audience questions

2. use variety of sentences

3. Tell a joke.

4. ask audience to repeat information

5. add videos

6. use props

7. use proper voice modulation

Quiz as a part of presentation

Question answer round is followed by presentation.

Quiz:- A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which players attempt to answer questions
correctly ... There is a well-known myth about the word quiz that says that in 1791 a Dublin
theatre owner named Richard ... However, there is no evidence to support the story, and the
term was already in use before the alleged bet in 1791.It is a game or competition in which
you have to answer questions.

Well targeted, tailor-made quizzes can boost self esteem and confidence. When pupils can
challenge themselves but are able to succeed, their confidence can grow.

An individual quiz takes off the pressure that a ‘test’ can bring and enables children to make
mistakes privately. Even if used in teams or pairs, the nature of a funquiz can also help those
children less confident to make mistakes, especially if the quiz allows them to try again.

Interjection:- When you interject, you interrupt or put yourself in the middle of something.
Ever have a co-worker interject himself into the plans for your big project at work when he
wasn't really needed.

Is it ever okay to interrupt a conversation? How do you do it politely without offending those
involved and still get your point across?

Despite what your mother may have told you, sometimes interrupting a conversation is okay.
According to Professor Stephen Boyd, professor emeritus of Speech Communication at
Northern Kentucky University, it is okay to interrupt in the following cases:

 When introduced if you don’t get the person’s name. At a party or a business meeting, it is
important to know who you are talking to before continuing the conversation. Simply
insert Excuse me, or I’m sorry, I didn’t hear your name.
 To get a definition when you don’t know the meaning of something or misheard a word the
other person said. There is no point in continuing a discussion if you don’t understand a key
 word or phrase in the conversation. You might say Sorry, I’m not familiar with that word.
Can you me?
 To clarify a point when critical decisions are being made or tasks assigned. It is important
that everyone in the room understand what is being said, so if you have, for example, a
rambler who has gone on and on during a conversation, it makes sense to interrupt to ensure
everyone is on the same page. Examples of phrases might be: Excuse me, I want to make sure
I understand or Just a minute, let’s make sure we all know our roles on this project.
 Confidential information that has the potential to harm others. In the break room or if you
overhear a conversation in the hall, it is okay to interrupt conversations about someone’s
career or salary, or some other kind of confidential subject. This can be awkward, but it is
important since everyone should conduct themselves as a leader in the company. Saying
something like You might not realize this, but this is confidential information or Let’s take
this conversation into the conference room … it is confidential.
 Gossip that is malicious and harmful needs to be stopped. Interrupt someone who is
gossiping and either ask the person to take the conversation elsewhere. Perhaps you can
redirect it with a business question: Oh, sorry to interrupt. When is that financial review due?
Sounds good, but what if your boss loves the sound of his or her own voice? How about
when your colleague hijacks the meeting to make an obscure point? Who do you do when the
interruption may seem rude or overbearing?

Here’s a case example. How many times have you wanted to interrupt a colleague during a
conference call who was speaking without making any kind of point? While this isn’t against
the law, you may sense that the client or customer on the call may be tuning out because he or
she thinks the call is unimportant.

Interjections can be particularly challenging when dealing with big egos or volatile
personalities. The best way to approach this is to look for an opportune time in the
conversation, such as when the speaker is slowing down. You can try to interject by
saying Wait a second. Or, at a pause, just jump in.