Structure of the presentation

A carefully planned presentation has three main sections: an introduction, the main 'message' and a conclusion. A general rule of thumb is that you use the introduction to tell your audience what you are going to talk about (a 'preview') and, having talked about it, you use the conclusion to present a review of the material. You should reserve approximately ten per cent of the total time available for the introduction, and a further ten per cent for the conclusion.
If you follow this advice, you will actually present your main points at least three times. This is not overdoing things. A certain degree of repetition is necessary in a spoken presentation. After all, if something is not fully clear, your listeners cannot merely turn back a page as they could when reading the written report. Listening is rather more difficult than reading. A clear structure and considerable repetition are necessary if your listeners are to understand your message in its entirety.

Tip:

• During your preparations, ensure that you clearly identify the main points of the presentation and the less important, subsidiary points. You will set out the main points during your introduction, so that they form the framework for the main body of the presentation. You will then return to them one more time during the conclusion.