Presentations- Planning Stage
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Discussing and arranging steps to get a presentation ready.
Lesson Plan Content:
Planning a presentation stages
Planning a presentation initial discussion and brainstorming
Imagine that you have to give a presentation, e.g. on a topic that you have recently covered in class. How would you prepare for that presentation?
How did you prepare the last presentation that you gave? What did you do? In what order?
Brainstorm all possible preparing presentation stages, then put those steps in a logical order (from the very first step until the day of the presentation, in up to 28 steps).
The stages of planning a presentation jigsaw
Your teacher will give you some cards with one possible stage for preparing presentations on each card. However, a few of the stages are unnecessary or even a bad idea. First of all, put the ones which you don’t think you need to do or shouldn’t do to one side.
Put the other cards into three groups:
- Near the beginning of the planning process
- Near the middle of the planning process
- Near the end of the planning process
Put all the cards into the most logical order (step one, then step two, etc). If a stage could be done more than once, put it in the position of the first time that you would do that thing.
Hint: Overall the process should be:
- Brainstorm ideas
- Get the body ready
- Get the ending ready, starting with Q&A
- Get the beginning ready
- Get the PowerPoint ready
- Rehearse
Check your answers as a class or with an un-cut-up version of the jigsaw text worksheet.
Discuss the presentation preparation steps in the completed jigsaw:
- What things are similar to what you brainstormed/ discussed?
- What things are different?
- Do you agree that all of those stages are useful?
- Do you agree with the order that the stages are in?
- If you don’t agree with something, why do you think it was put in that place in the preparation format?
Cards to cut up/ Suggested answers
Numbers should be cut off the cards to do the jigsaw task.
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1 |
Brainstorm topics you could talk about as a mind map on a blank piece of A3 paper, then choose the best, thinking about your audience and how long you have to speak.
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2 |
Brainstorm absolutely everything that you could mention about your topic onto a mind map in pencil on an A3 piece of paper, not editing out bad ideas at this stage.
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3 |
Organise your mind map into bigger categories, brainstorming more examples of each category if you can.
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4 |
Write a description of your audience at the top of the page where you are brainstorming, including what they will and won’t already know about the topic, their likely present views about the topic, and what they will probably be interested to learn about it. Find out more about your audience if you aren’t sure.
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5 |
Write at least one (realistic and concrete) aim for your presentation at the top of your mind map page, e.g. “After my presentation I want to most of the audience to…”
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6
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Brainstorm all the possible questions that the audience might ask you.
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7
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If any of the answers to those questions should be in the body of your presentation, put the info in your mind map. |
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8 |
Edit down your mind map, crossing off categories and examples which the audience (probably) already know or won’t be interested in, or which don’t match your aim(s). Add any better ideas that you think of while you are editing.
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9 |
Circle the best things on your mind map, meaning things which match your aim(s), won’t be known by the audience and will be interesting. Add even better options and more details if you can.
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10 |
Make sure you have between two and four sections left on your mind map, with between two and four things that you can speak about in each of those sections. If not, widen or narrow down the topic (= make the topic more general or more specific).
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11 |
Add details/ support to each thing that is left on your mind map after editing it down (examples, data, quotes, consequences, logical arguments, anecdotes, etc), researching anything which you don’t already know.
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12 |
Put the main sections of your body into the most logical order, writing (1), (2), etc for the first section, second section, etc on your mind map, and i), ii), etc for each sub-section
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13 |
Present on the topic from just your completed mind map, to check that the body is more or less the right length
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14 |
Ask other people for feedback on your mind map and/ or on you presenting from your mind map, including things which you have crossed off but that person would actually include. You can also take questions and compare with the questions that you brainstormed.
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15 |
Re-write the mind map as notes (meaning not a script, so no full sentences) to make the body of your presentation.
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16 |
Get ready for the Q&A stage by choosing five questions you will probably be asked and writing the answers, plus preferably other useful Q&A stages.
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17 |
Write out a whole script of the ending, starting with a whole script of a possible Q&A stage and including the summary, mentioning future contact, etc.
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18 |
Write out useful phrases for the beginning of your presentation, starting with how you will hook the audience (= get and keep their interest, e.g. survey question, or amazing number or fact) and what (interesting, new and relevant) personal information you will share.
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19 |
Write the whole introduction in full, including getting people’s attention, connecting personally with the audience, greeting, personal info, topic, hook, organisation, policy on questions, moving onto the main body, and probably your aim.
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20 |
Write the PowerPoint (in note form, without full sentences).
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21 |
Edit down the PowerPoint as much as possible, cutting out pages, words, bullet points, data, illustrations, etc.
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22 |
Spellcheck your presentations notes and PowerPoint.
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23 |
Ask someone to check/ proofread your notes and PowerPoint.
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24 |
Check the pronunciation of difficult words, writing down phonemic symbols and words with the same sounds to help you remember.
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25 |
Use a highlighter pen on your notes so that you can easily see the most important information when answering questions etc.
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26 |
Think about some suitable body language/ gestures and rehearse your presentation with that use of your body in front of a full-length mirror.
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27 |
Rehearse and time yourself giving the presentation, improving the content of the presentation and practising again until it’s exactly the right length.
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28 |
Rehearse the whole thing in front of colleagues/ classmates and/ or standing in the same room that you will give the presentation in, if possible with exactly the same technology as you will use in the real presentation.
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Probably not needed/ Probably not a good idea
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X
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Write the whole body as a script (= every word you will say in full sentences, like a movie script)
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X
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Write the PowerPoint in full sentences
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X
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Add a different background, animation and ClipArt to every PowerPoint slide
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X
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Change the fonts, font sizes and font colours in the PowerPoint to add as much variety as possible
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Reasons for presentation preparation stages discussion
Discuss what reasons there could be for doing these things:
- Brainstorming possible topics
- Brainstorming onto mind maps (instead of brainstorming lists)
- Writing absolutely all your ideas down (including probably bad ideas or even crazy ideas) as you do your initial brainstorm
- Writing a description of your audience
- Writing down an aim or aims for your presentation
- Brainstorming questions that you might be asked (before you finish planning the body)
- Doing most of your planning on your mind map
- Researching after brainstorming (not researching before brainstorming)
- Getting feedback on your ideas very early (while it is still just a mind map, before changing your ideas into notes)
- Writing the body in note form with just key words (not writing a script in full sentences)
- Writing out a whole script of the ending (not just notes)
- Writing different options for starting stages such as hooks (and then choosing the best ones)
- Writing out a whole script of the introduction (rather than just notes)
- Including phrases to connect personally with the audience
- (Usually) stating your aim in the introduction to your presentation
- Explaining your policy on attendees asking questions
- Using survey questions (= questions where the audience raise their hands to answer)
- Using rhetorical questions (= questions which obviously don’t need an answer, but are just to make people think)
- Leaving preparing the PowerPoint as late as possible
- Cutting down the PowerPoint as much as possible (putting only key words on the PowerPoint, etc)
- Using spellcheck and/ or asking someone to proofread your PowerPoint
- Using a highlighter pen on your notes
- Thinking about suitable body language/ gestures
- Practising and changing the content until you get the timing exactly right
- Rehearsing in front of other people and/ or in the room that you will give your presentation in
How would you define a good example of each of these things?
- Good presentation content
- Good description of the audience
- Good aims
- Good notes (to use during the presentation/ give the presentation from)
- Good ending (including Q&A)
- Good starting/ introduction
- Good use of your voice
- Good body language and gestures
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