Module 20

Module 20 was on oral presentations.  There were three different types of oral presentations that were talked about.  The first being informational, which would be like a training session to teach the audience about something.  The second is persuasive, such as that of a business meeting where the audience is trying to be sold something.  The third is goodwill, which would be like an after dinner speech.  The speaker would be trying to make themselves look better to their audience, or to boost their audience's ego.  Before writing a speech for an oral presentation, you must figure out three things, those being the main point, the kind of presentation, and the ways to involve the audience.  The main point must be determined first so that the speaker will know what they are looking for.  The kind of presentation can be monologue (speaker only), guided (presenter and audience questions), and sales (presenter speaks to audience, but audience participates with questions).  The organization needs to be established as well, so that the audience can easily follow the format of the presentation.  there are five different types of formats that can be used, including chronological, problem-cause-solution, excluding alternatives, pro-con, and 1-2-3.  The module also discusses controlling fear, as well as using hand gestures, etc.

The most important thing that I learned from this module was about fear. It gave a lot of different suggestions on how to make fear go away, and how to not make it worse than it already is.  For example, it suggested not drinking any alcohol beforehand, as well as instead of saying that your nervous, saying that your adrenaline is up because adrenaline makes you more sharp and focused.