S. Kathleen Kitao and Kenji Kitao
Preface
One thing that many people fear more than anything else is speaking in front of an audience. However, being able to give an effective presentation is an important skill to have. Being skillful helps you in situations when you have to give a presentation, such as in a class or on the job. However, being skillful at making presentations can also help you in any speaking situation, such as a job interview or in a small group discussion. It can help you become more confident generally about expressing your ideas.
The Chapters
The purpose of this book is to help you develop and improve your presentation skills. In the first chapter (Section I), we explain why presentation skills are important and how you can improve your skills.
In order to improve your skills, you need to consider three parts of the process of doing a presentation - preparing for the presentation, making the presentation itself, and following up on the presentation. The remainder of the book is divided into two sections, one on preparing for the presentation and one on giving and following up on the presentation.
In the section on preparing for a presentation (Section II), you will learn about preparing for a presentation, including deciding on your presentation's purpose and topic and considering the audience, situation, and setting. You cannot give an effective presentation if you do not consider your audience, their level of knowledge, and other characteristics. You will also learn how to gather information and organize your presentation and how to use information you have gathered to support your statements. The last chapter of the first section deals with practicing for your presentation.
In the section on making and following up on your presentation (Section III), you will learn about dealing with the anxiety that you are certain to feel when making your presentation. You will also learn how to deliver your presentation effectively. Finally, you will learn about using visuals, specifically PowerPoint, in your presentation. You will learn how to follow up your presentation by taking questions and by learning from what you did, both your successes and your failures.
There are three appendices. Appendix A has suggestions for doing a poster session. Appendix B has information on written and spoken language. Appendix C is a checklist for the process of preparing for a presentation.
The Organization of the Chapters
At the beginning of each chapter are pre-reading questions. You should answer these questions before you read, because they will encourage you to think about what you already know about giving presentations. A reading follows the pre-reading questions. At the end of the reading passage, there are statements of the main points. There are questions about the reading to help you comprehend the main points. These exercises are true/false questions, short answer questions, and either a cloze exercise or an outline exercise. The intention of the latter is to summarize the chapter. The final exercise in each chapter after Chapter 1 is an application of what you have learned. The process of doing these application exercises will lead you to doing a presentation.
We would like to express our appreciation to Yvonne Ishida, who read the manuscript and gave us valuable comments.
Table of Contents
Preface
I. Introduction
1. Learning to Do Presentations
II. Preparing for a Presentation
2. Deciding on Your Purpose and Topic
3. Analyzing the Audience
4. Analyzing the Setting and Situation
5. Gathering Information and Organizing Your Presentation
6. Using Supporting Evidence
7. Practicing Your Presentation
III. Making and Following Up a Presentation
8. Dealing with Anxiety
9. Delivering Your Presentation Effectively
10. Using Visual Aids
11. Using PowerPoint
12. Dealing with Questions and Learning from Your Experience
Appendices
Appendix A - Doing Poster Sessions
Appendix B - Written and Spoken English
Appendix C - Presentation Checklist