It’s All in the Delivery: 6 Rounds to Effective Presentation

By Marianne Lynch, Vanier College

At a Glance

Discipline

  • Languages and Literature
  • Interdisciplinary

Instructional Level

  • College & CEGEP

Course

  • English (4th semester)

Tasks in Workflow

Social Plane(s)

  • Group

Type of Tasks

  • Presenting

Technical Details

Class size

  • Small (20-49)
  • Medium (50-99)

Time

  • Single class period (< 90 mins)

Inclusivity & Accessibility

  • Diversity of engagement
  • Variety of action & expression

Instructional Purpose

  • Application & knowledge building
  • Consolidation & metacognition

Overview

In this activity, students will improve their oral presentation skills, learning techniques that will benefit them in all future oral delivery activities.

In groups, individuals will deliver a poem six times while the other members act as the audience, providing feedback using a rubric.

Each time, the individual will focus on a different technique for oral delivery: speaking loudly, speaking slowly, exaggerating enunciation, dramatically exaggerating, making eye contact, and finally, putting it all together. The strategy applied for this activity is peer feedback. This activity is performed in one class session, usually a week before their final oral presentations.

Instructional Objectives

Students will be able to:

  • Deliver their presentation with fewer oral tendencies such as fillers (ums and likes)
  • Deliver their presentation in a well-paced, loud and clear voice
  • Deliver their presentation while making eye contact with the audience
  • Deliver their presentation with effective and non-distracting body movement

Workflow & Materials

Workflow

Activity Workflow

View on CourseFlow
Document

Instructor Tips For How to Prepare

Marianne Lynch

Document

Practicing Effective Delivery

Marianne Lynch

Contributor's Notes

Benefits
Challenges
Tips
Benefits
  • Students will be more comfortable, confident and have less anxiety when delivering an oral presentation
  • Students will be able to develop their presentation skills and present with fewer vocal tendencies
  • Students will learn to receive feedback and to give constructive feedback
Challenges
  • It can be difficult to find empty rooms for the students to practice depending on the time of year and time of day
  • Students may not complete the activity since there is no instructor supervision
  • It may be difficult for the instructor to locate a group if they have found their own location
Tips
  • Choose locations where students can be loud such as an empty classroom, an open area, or outside
  • Having students fill out the work chart and return it to the instructor helps to minimize the risk of students not completing the activity
  • For more tips, refer to Instructor Tips Handout

Applied Strategies

Peer Assessment

Critical thinking and communication