Now, Presenting...

Lectures, like all teaching, can be seen as part art and part science. Organizing lecture material effectively can be considered a science. Lectures also require some art in presenting the material in front of a group of people. While some have explained that teachers must use the artistry of drama performers to hold their audience's attention, more practical presenters are concerned with the skills of social performances.

Since lectures must connect with large audiences, there are some tips about how to deliver your ideas in a way that holds their interest. After all, talking to the chalkboard, no matter how intriguing the message, is likely to keep a teacher from communicating with the learners. Below are some ideas that can help your audience listen to your ideas.

Setting the Tone

The right tone for effective presentations is neither formal nor casual but more that of a working conversation. Use the first few minutes to set this tone.

Find a Face. Good presenters start by finding several friendly faces in the class. They begin their remarks by addressing them, expanding to others in the audience once comfortably going.

Warm Up. It is an axiom that groups are tentative and suspect at first. Add some energy to the first 90 seconds to warm the audience up. Share your excitement in the subject. Present a personal connection. Share a dramatic example. Pose a challenge. This not a question of entertaining students but one of the social requirements of large groups.

Nerves. Too nervous or no nerves? Actually, it isa slight nervousness that keep presentations on their edge. For tips on how to reduce excessive nervousness, contact the CIRT.

Performance

You don't have to juggle in order to entertain students, but there are some tips to keep from becoming deadly dull.

Notes. Good lecturers have notes but don't read from them. Use notes to remind you of your organization and ideas but keep your talk natural.

Scripts. I found it better to work from a script that outlines actions as well as content. Ask us for a copy of Grasha's Instructional Script for ideas.

Read Students. Remind yourself to read body language every 5 minutes (write a reminder in your notes or script). If they have cooled down, do something to re-engage them. Some ideas are listed in the next tips.

Plan Moments. Anticipate that several times in your lecture, students will become disconnected. Plan ways to address those moments beforehand. Have questions ready; use Quick Thinks, offer a joke, show an overhead, have everyone stand up for 1 minute. Whatever idea, planning for the inevitable beforehand makes it less discouraging when it happens.

Vary Delivery. Change your voice rhythm or level, add pictures, ask questions. If you don't change what is happening every 10 minutes you are defying nature. Move, dance, juggle (just kidding), do something.

Beyond Boring. The intensity of delivering a lecture obscures from us the actual perception of audience. For a list of suggestions to get beyond boringly grey deliveries, contact the CIRT.

Wrapping up

The end of lectures are when energies on all sides are sapped. Find some way to introduce one more burst of excitement to get through the last five or ten minutes.

Volume Up. As you make a transition to your closing sequence, do not trail off but make a deliberate effort to raise your voice, face the audience, and reconnect with friendly students.

End Early? Plan to end the lecture before the class period so that you can add a finishing technique -- such as giving announcements or challenges during the time when attention spans are drifting.

Challenge. Wrap up by posing a challenge to the class. Give them an intellectual teaser that helps connect the material to the next lesson.

Final Comments

The lecture can be a powerful educational tool. But, not if it is reduced to a rambling droning by one individual. Good organization and an effort to build a relationship to the people in the desks (and their natural habits), provides some challenges to each of us as presenters. Planning for these conditions can be as important a part of the communication as the message itself. The CIRT has a short list of "do's" and don'ts" as well as some recommended readings on presentations and deliveries. Contact us for more information.

This Teaching Tip was first published by Indiana State University’s, Center for Teaching and Learning on February 23, 1998.