Many oral reports are ineffective not because they lack good content but because they are presented in a way that does not connect with the audience. Here are some of the basics for a good report, followed by a list of enhancements.
1. Planning, Preparation, Structure. To avoid a rambling, stream-of-consciousness talk that goes nowhere, take the time and effort to plan your presentation, put it into an orderly shape, and learn it well enough that it can be delivered effectively. A good way to understand why preparing adequately is important is to think about what makes a terrible presentation:
2. Communication. To communicate well, be sure that you
1. Overhead Transparencies. Transparencies can be used to present outlines, tables, graphs, pictures, photographs, illustrations, and cartoons. Any photocopier can make a black and white transparency, and most office stores have copiers that can make color transparencies. Of course, you can make a black and white one and color it in with transparency marker pens. Blank transparencies can be used to sketch ideas or make notes (again, in color, using color pens). Often effective is using a previously made transparency (copied in black or in color) and annotating as you talk. Connect ideas with arrows or lines, circle a key word or concept, underline an important phrase or sentence.
2. Slides. Take some photographs with slide film and create a presentation. Titles can be included easily by using a word processor to print them in large headline size and photographing them close up. Hand drawn titles will also work, but look less professional. Slides provide an opportunity to bring in large-scale outdoor scenes into your presentation. These might be natural scenes (trees, meadow, lake) as a backdrop for some comments or special illustrations (factory, product, people engaged in activity).
3. Video. Show some professional, purchased video clips, tape some interesting segments from TV, or borrow a video camera and shoot some custom material. Many news magazine shows and educational programs sell tapes of their programs. Most video stores have specialty sections that carry useful program material from public broadcasting or other sources. If you film your own material, you can include interviews with people, "man on the street" surveys of opinion or reaction, or simply background shots similar to what you might do with slides: a photo of a factory making or packaging some product, or even of consumers eating, walking, reading, etc.
4. Charts. Use some spreadsheet software or graphics software to create some organization charts, tables, or diagrams. Blow these up for putting on posterboard (an enlarging copier can help here, as can a photo service), or photograph these for your slide show or video presentation. Do not create charts that are too small and do not do something that looks amateurish.
5. Graphs. Use a spreadsheet or graphics package to create some graphs. Use a color printer or hand color them after you enlarge them. A computer display would be ideal, since you can project the graphs on a screen.
6. Drawings. Find or create some line art or other kinds of drawings of things, places, people, or ideas. There is a lot of old etching art available to illustrate your talk.
7. Photographs. You can buy a throw-away camera with film for just a few dollars. Get prints, have enlargements made or make color copies to include in a handout. Photographs can be printed very large and hung or mounted individually, pasted on posterboard, collected in a portfolio, or used in a document or handout.
8. Posters. If you have artistic talent, you can draw a poster. If you cannot draw, you can still paste cut-outs from magazines, use stencils, spray paint, or attach charts and graphs rather than projecting them. Remember, though, that a poorly done poster is probably worse than none at all.
9. Sound. Add music or sounds to your presentation. You can record sound effects like traffic, bird chirps, crashing noises, narration, singing, instrumentals, or factory noise. Use a cassette recorder or portable stereo for playback. Additionally, while not as effective as a video interview, sound-only interviews can be recorded and portions played at intervals during your presentation.
10. Mock-ups and Models. Build a mock up or a working model of your project, city, device, experiment, technique, process, or object. Remember there is clay, papier mache, casting plaster, wood, metal, wires, cardboard, tape, glue, paint, fabric, and more. Toothpicks, hot glue, newspaper, and some paint can make almost anything.
11. Props. Even ordinary items can be used to help people visualize your ideas or attach your concepts to something concrete. If a can of hairspray or a shoe or a CD helps illustrate something, bring it in and show it. Remember that the classroom is usually a rather austere environment separated from most of the physical attributes of the outside world. So when you bring in a piece of this outside world--a board, a plant, a tool, a consumer product--the item will gain special attention and can be used to connect an idea to something visual and familiar. And even if you are really cute, people like to have more to look at than just you while you talk.
12. Experiments and Demonstrations. Design an experiment that will illustrate something. The experiment can be realistic (like a model of a volcano to show how volcanoes erupt) or metaphorical, just to illustrate a concept (like cutting one string after another between two objects, to illustrate the gradual separation of parent and child).
13. Skit. Get a few friends together and write a skit that will illustrate an idea. Show how your idea works in the lives of people, how they respond to it, and so on. A skit can also be used for exposition, just to tell information about something. Three people speaking two sentences each will probably be more interesting than one person speaking six sentences. Skits are great for demonstrating concepts in sociology, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, business, and education. And they can be used very effectively for recreating events in history, law, and literature.
14. Costume. Think of a costume as a one-person, minimalist skit. You can dress up as a particular person (famous or infamous), or in a particular style. Quite effective is the two-in-one costume, where one costume is worn over another and then removed at the appropriate time, during a "before and after" presentation.
15. Computer Demonstration. If you are presenting to a small class or have projection capability, you might use a computer to present a slide show (using Powerpoint or similar program), graphics display, multimedia presentation, or software demonstration. You can show a database search, Web presentation, or even some real-time video.
16. The Five Senses. The more senses you engage, the better opportunity you have to make a lasting impression on your audience. Eyes and ears are of course going to be reached, but what about touch (pass around your props), or taste (bring something to eat or drink), or smell (perfume, fruit)?
17. Handout. Compile an outline, some illustrations, diagrams,
cartoon, descriptions, or any other useful information and make copies
for everyone in class to look at and keep for future reference. Handouts
make presentations tangible and more memorable, and the fact that something
is in print lends an aura of solidity to the information. (Yes, the print
bias is still strong.)