VOA慢速英语2015 关于规划报告的五个小贴士

Five Tips for Planning a Presentation 关于规划报告的五个小贴士

Editor's note: When teaching¹ public speaking, Professor Charles Lebeau divides presentation into three aspects. The three aspects of a presentation are: the physical message, the visual message, and the story message. In our earlier article, (Improve Your Public Speaking With Body Language) we learned² about one aspect of improving public speaking skills, the physical message. In this article, we will look at the visual and story messages.

English is the language of many international conferences.  Sometimes a speaker might use a kind of “World English” that audience members do not understand. This can be true even for listeners who are native speakers of English.

For this reason, Professor Charles Lebeau says the visual message is important. The visual message includes pictures, charts and other aids a speaker presents during the talk. A non-native speaker of English can understand a picture. It can help  carry the message when the presenter’s words are hard to understand.

“The visual message becomes a central part of the communication process because everyone can understand a graph³; everyone can understand a flow chart; everyone can see the words on the slide.”

When you prepare a presentation, you might want to show how much you know about a subject. But does the audience care how much you know?

Listeners more likely want to understand the main point of your presentation. So, how do you organize your talk to get that point across? Professor LeBeau says this can depend on the culture of your audience.

Cultural styles of presenting ideas

American language expert Robert Kaplan studied different cultural thought patterns in the mid⁴ 1960s. He helped English language teachers understand the differences between English rhetoric⁵ and that of Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and Russian.

English speakers prefer a ‘linear⁶’ style, which has one main idea. The speaker supports that idea with details or arguments, and then closes the talk by restating the idea. In other cultures, however, speakers may bring in other ideas before returning to the main point.

Charles LeBeau says some of his students prepare a speech without thinking of the main idea.

“Sometimes the bigger problem is the point that they want to make is not clear. They are not thinking clearly about “What is the key point in my presentation? And how do I want to say that, where do I want to say it?”

For presentations in English, the best time to make that point is at the beginning. Speakers should make a plan to present their ideas in the order that is common in English rhetoric. When we write our ideas down without such a plan, they are not clear and our presentation will not be well organized.

“I think they prepare the presentation kind of as a stream of consciousness⁷ activity, then finally at the end of this process they figure out, oh, what do I want to say, what is the key point in this? And it ends up being at the end of the presentation.”

Professor LeBeau says he often sees the engineers he works⁸ with give a lot of technical information in their speeches. They want to tell everything they know. But, the audience may have trouble understanding which information is related⁹ to the speaker’s main point. We can tell the story with facts and numbers, if they help, and then repeat the point.

“In an English language presentation, what we try and do is make it more linear. And by that, I mean, it’s more of a story - we use data, and we use evidence, we use numbers, but only to help us tell the story more clearly.”

Five tips for preparing your presentation

Preparing the story message helps speakers give a successful presentation. Professor LeBeau gives these five tips for academic presentations, such as those given at professional conferences.

1. Understand the difference between a title and a topic. A topic is general, but a title is more specific. Make sure the title explains the benefit of your subject.

2. Provide an image for those who are not experts in your subject. Explain how your research relates to other fields.

3. Work on transitions¹⁰ (linking words or phrases) as you go from image to image. These should make the connections between your ideas clear. Professor LeBeau says transitions serve as bridges to each new image.

4. Look at each image from the audience’s point of view. What questions might they have about each image? Prepare an extra image that would help explain the most difficult question you expect.

5. Rehearse your presentation with a timing¹¹ device¹². At most conferences, there is a time limit. It is disrespectful to take more than your share of the time. Cut your presentation to fit the time you are permitted.

Professor LeBeau understands the difficulty many students of public speaking face.

“Learning¹³ a new culture for presentation is really really tough for many people, as it is with all language learning. Presentation, or course, is a part of language learning. There’s culture in everything we do in English, as well as in presentation.”

Using these tips for improving your presentations in English should help make the process easier. 

Words in This Story

data - n. (plural) facts or information used usually to calculate¹⁴, analyze¹⁵, or plan something

evidence - n.  something which shows that something else exists or is true

academic – n. of or relating to schools and education

title – n. the name given to something to identify or describe it

topic – n. someone or something that people talk or write about

transitions - n. words that connect between parts of a composition or speech, such as first, second, third, in addition, furthermore¹⁶, and so on.

rhetoric - n. the art or skill of speaking or writing formally and effectively especially as a way to persuade or influence people

stream of consciousness - n. the continuous series of thoughts that occur in someone's mind especially when they are expressed in writing as a constant flow of words

1 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

2 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

3 graph   

n.图表，图解，曲线图

参考例句：

• Such a graph is defined to be a contact network.我们把这样的图定义为一个接触网络。
• Our soundings are displayed in the form of a graph.我们的调查结果已用图表列出。

4 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

5 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

6 linear   

adj.线的，直线的，线状的，长度的，线性的

参考例句：

• He's making linear measurements.他正在进行长度测量。
• Here are linear measures in millimeters.这是毫米方式的线性量度。

7 consciousness   

n.意识，觉悟，知觉

参考例句：

• The experience helped to change her social consciousness.这种经验有助于改变她的社会意识。
• He lost consciousness at the first whiff of ether.他一嗅到乙醚便失去了知觉。

8 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

9 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。

10 transitions   

过渡，转变，变迁( transition的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Before explaining a workflow, I'll explain a few simple pieces of terminology: states and transitions. 在解释什么是工作流之前，我先来解释几条简单的术语：状态(states)和过渡(transitions)。
• Both ionization and excitation lead to eletronic transitions that may be the emission of light. 电离和激发都将导致可能伴随有光发射的电子跃迁。

11 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

12 device   

n.器械，装置；计划，策略，诡计

参考例句：

• The device will be in production by the end of the year.该装置将于年底投入生产。
• The device will save much time and effort for us.这种装置会使我们节省大量时间和气力。

13 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

14 calculate   

vt.计算，核算；估计，推测；计划，打算

参考例句：

• He must calculate the probability of failure.他必须计算一下失败的概率。
• I'll calculate what it will cost.我要估计一下那要花多少钱。

15 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

16 furthermore   

adv.而且，此外

参考例句：

• I don't like her because she is too tall and furthermore she smokes too much.我不喜欢她，因为她太高，另外她抽烟太厉害。
• I don't want to go there,furthermore,I have no time to do so.我不想去那里，而且我也没时间去。