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Teaching tip: Planning Your Talk
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Background, overview, rationale:
When preparing a presentation, there are a few initial ways to start. You know the general topic of your talk, but need to choose a focus within the topic. First, knowing your audience, what they need and expect, and where you fit in the program is very important information, Next, you need to focus your topic so that you can craft the educational presentation. The best way to begin is with a “self-brainstorming” session, in which you map out the subsections, choose a topic focus, and then develop this focus. The technique, called “mindmapping” is outlined below.
Although you are familiar with multiple aspects of your topic, you must limit your presentation so that your audience can benefit by a presentation of a reasonable amount of information that they can absorb. While you may feel dissatisfied that you have not included much information, introducing a large amount would be wasted, as you would exceed the “load” that people can handle. Instead, focus on several points that you feel are the most important.
Introduce your important points initially with an exposition of the points and why they are important. The center of your talk is explanation, illustration, discussion, and other expository aspects of the topics. Then, the conclusion is a summary of what you hope the audience will take with them from the talk. Many people plan the final summary first, then the introduction, and finally the “filler” in the middle.
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Points to remember:
- Plan your talk with objectives to meet your learners’ needs.
- Plan the introduction and closing first.
- Limit your topics and time devoted to them.
- People can only listen for a maximum of 20 minutes.
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Summary:
Be sure to know your audience, their interests, level of learning, and needs before you plan. Plan your opening and closing first, then fill in the content in the middle. Remember, that focus and limitation of information is important.
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Suggested reading:
Donald Bligh: What’s the Use of Lectures?
2000 Josey Bass, San Francisco, CA
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Test my knowledge;
When planning your talk. it is important to do the following:
- Plan a way to include as much pertinent information as you can.
- Familiarize yourself with the needs and expectations of your audience.
- Do as much research as needed to be up to date.
- Write the middle information section first, then the conclusion.
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