Week 6, Day 16

Written on 16.7.09 by Six

Day 16 tasks:
Public Speaking Strategies
Presentation Workshop
Deadline revision: Executive summary

1. Public Speaking Strategies: Most people have some sort of "fear" or nervousness when speaking in front of a group. A good way to control it is to first be aware of it. Today you will do a short survey about your own speaking fears. Then we will discuss these solutions to stage fright:

1. Make some platform movements or gestures.
2. Before a speech, tape record your rehearsal sessions and concentrate on eliminating vocal problems. if this problem occurs during a speech, ignore it.
3. Use 3x5 note cards. Place them on the lectern and slide each card to one side after it has been used.
4. Speak slowly to avoid getting tongue-tied. Do not lick your lips!
5. Ignore it. Do not call attention to it by wiping your hands or forehead.
6. Speak slowly. Take longer pauses between sentences. Breath from your diaphragm through your nose.
7. Deliberately slow down your speaking rate until the problem disappears.
8. Remember that the audience is ordinarily not aware of such symptoms. Ignore them as much as possible.

2. Presentation Workshop: As you are working through the following checklist, I'll be coming around to see your power point and proposal.

• Look over the rubric for the presentation . Have you planned for all of these objectives?
• Go through the guidelines for a business proposal on the Final project Introduction page.
• Have a look at your power point for the business proposal. Discuss what elements of the presentation need more work and how you will incorporate what you have learned to improve it. How will you transition from one speaker to the next? how will you insure that everyone has time to speak?

**NOTE presentations should be 20-25 minutes. I will STOP you at 27 minutes even if you are not finished. Groups will be selected at random Thursday.

***IMPORTANT! if you are absent on presentation day, you will not receive credit for the presentation.

3. Deadline revision for Executive summary: We will cover writing strategies for the executive summary on Wednesday. However, because I want to make sure you have time to work on your business proposals, I'm extending the deadline to Sunday at 4pm. Here's a summary of the deadlines for this project:

• Formal business presentation of your findings Thursday July 23rd in class. One student should email the PowerPoint to me at the end of class on Thursday.
  
• Team business proposal by Friday, July 24th at midnight. Only one of you needs to send this to me. Please make sure all your names are on it!
• Individual executive summary emailed to my .illinois address by 4pm on Sunday, July 26th.
  

HOMEWORK
Last Journal coming up this Sunday!

Start thinking about what you'd like to cover the last two weeks of class: interviews? cover letters? resumes? After the presentations on Thursday, I'll assign a short survey to see which you prefer!

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