Something beautiful happened as I began to read this chapter; I realized that this is the last chapter. Oh happy day (clasps hands together dramatically)!
So, to review, after you have researched and outlined and cited and all of the glorious work that we have covered not only in class but also in reading the previous chapters of the book, we now are asked (hypothetically) to present our argument in presentational form. The authors break down oratory into three categories. Then visit the three main areas of focus when preparing for a presentation. Finally, there are the three steps to a successful presentation. Boy, do the authors like their threes.
Firstly, the three branches of oratory are as follows Judicial (forensic discourse), Deliberative (legislative discourse), and finally Epideictic (ceremonial discourse). These are the basic types that one’s presentation can fall under. The first type is generally the type of presentation used when arguing between right and wrong, and should generally appeal mostly to the audience’s logic. The presentation should generally involve graphic support, photos and other visual aids. This type of presentation or speech aims to persuade the audience in favor of the speaker’s opinion. The second branch deals with political jargon. This type of speech is focused on getting a specific response from the audience. This type of argument should appeal to the audience’s ethos and logos using finances, charts, slides or models. The final branch of the oratory generally is focused on “praising or blaming” whatever the topic of the speech is.
Moving swiftly along, the three main areas of focus when preparing a presentation are the audience, purpose and persona. When deciding how to approach a presentation one must be acutely aware to whom they are speaking. Depending on the make up of the audience, one may need to dress more professionally. Depending upon the age of the audience, one’s speech itself may change, when speaking to an older crowd a more conservative vocabulary is necessary. Also, deciding how to convey one’s self to the audience is a crucial step. Deciding how to appear aesthetically also helps determine which tone to use and plays a roll in how the audience views the speaker. Finally, when determining the audience and the persona one must determine decide what form of visual aids if any are appropriate.
Now that all that is sorted out its time to put all of this knowledge to use. The first step is to transform the research into a presentation. And unless the research was written in monologue form and aimed to be read aloud, extracting key information is important to a successful presentation. Once all the key points have been chosen its time to organize the information and align the information with any visual aids. Now the basic research that has been broken down and reorganized can be “translated” audible information that can be taken in and understood by an audience.
The second is to decide how to deliver the speech. The two main points in this are memory and delivery (seems rather repetitive). Memory is the way the one memorizes the material and the way that one makes the words and/or message memorable. The delivery is the way the message is presented. When trying to persuade an audience in any direction it is important to not only rely on one’s words and voice, but also the look of the presentation as well. The “look” of the presentation does not only include the visual aids used in the speech but also the clothing, posture and gestures of the speaker as well.
When bring a speech or presentation together, the arguably most important step is practice. Whether it be in actual sports, or old dance movies or even Pilates videos, the key to becoming good at anything is “practice, practice, practice!” Practicing a speech doesn’t just include going over the words in one’s head but also out loud to anticipate the length of the presentation, and any mishaps that might occur. Another important thing to consider when practicing is anticipating possible questions to avoid being blindsided and appearing ignorant of the material. All that is left is to give the presentation, and to hopefully leave the audience with some memory of the presentation. Many professional speakers use pamphlets or cards with the main points outlined.
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