ORAL PRESENTATION SKILLS: CREATING IMPACT THROUGH VOICE AND BODY LANGUAGE / September 2017
These practice worksheets belong to:

Participant’s Name
Use this practice worksheet to hone your skills to:
  • Apply careful enunciation
  • Emphasize key ideas using word stresses
  • Enhance the verbal and nonverbal elements of your presentation

Activity 1

  1. Practise the tongue twisters with friends or by yourself.
  2. Try to enunciate the words correctly. Use a dictionary app (e.g. Merriam-Webster) to check pronunciation and correct syllable stresses.

Listen (record and listen) for clear enunciation of these sounds:

Consonant sounds at the end of a word (‘d’, ‘t’, ‘th’, ‘s’, ‘sh’, ‘ng’, ‘l’)

Consonant sounds at the beginning of a word (‘cl’, ‘cr’, ‘sl’, ‘th’, ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘f’, ‘p’, ‘b’, ‘d’)

  1. The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.
  2. How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?
  3. I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.
    Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.
  4. Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks.
  5. I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the witch wishes, I won't wish the wish you wish to wish.
  6. Mr. Tongue Twister tried to train his tongue to twist and turn, and twit and twat, to learn the letter "T".
  7. Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew.
    While these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew.
    Freezy breeze made these three trees freeze.
    Freezy trees made these trees' cheese freeze.
    That's what made these three free fleas sneeze.
  8. How many cans can a cannibal nibble
    if a cannibal can nibble cans?
    As many cans as a cannibal can nibble
    if a cannibal can nibble cans.
  9. Thirty-three thirsty, thundering thoroughbreds thumped Mr. Thurber on Thursday.
  10. How many berries could a bare berry carry,
    if a bare berry could carry berries?
    Well they can't carry berries
    (which could make you very wary)
    but a bare berry carried is more scary!
  11. I thought, I thought of thinking of thanking you.

Activity 2

Read the following sentences, stressing (using volume, pace, pitch and pause) the underlined words.

  • You are very good in managing difficult customers.
  • You are very good in managing difficult customers.
  • You are very good in managing difficult customers.
  • You are very good in managing difficult customers.
  • You are very good in managing difficult customers.
  • What would you like to buy?
  • What would you like to buy?
  • What would you like to buy?
  • What would you like to buy?
  • He wasn’t there when we talked about it.
  • He wasn’t there when we talked about it.
  • He wasn’t there when we talked about it.
  • He wasn’t there when we talked about it.
  • He wasn’t there when we talked about it.

What difference has stressing different word(s) made?

Activity 3

Read the sentences in Activity 2stressing the underlined words again. Now include appropriate facial expressions to convey a consistent meaning. (You may want to look in the mirror for this activity.)

Activity 4

Stand up and place your feet slightly apart (about the width of your shoulders).

Talk about any one of the OP1 topics for one minute.

Pause and reflect on your

-Pace, enunciation, use of word stresses, use of pauses

-Gestures – did you use hand gestures? Where did you place your hands if/when you did not gesture? Were the gestures repetitive and fast?

-Posture – how comfortable were you? Were you relaxed or tense (on the back, feet)?

-Movements – did you move or were you stationary? Did you turn your head, and/or body, or pace with your feet?

-Did you smile from time to time?

Part 2

Try the same set of activity (in Activity 4), perhaps with another OP1 topic.

You may like to (video or audio) record yourself or invite someone to be your audience so as to obtain some feedback on your effort in the following areas.

Before you start, consider and adopt these 10 good practices:

  1. Vary your pace for intended effects – stress a point, energise, deliberate and evoke a thought or emotion
  2. Use pauses strategically – to cue transitions of points, to evoke a thought (e.g. after posing a rhetorical question), to contrast significant content (a pause can be used before or after that).
  3. Adapt tone of voice in tandem with development of verbal content. Do not adopt a (poetry) reciting tone but try to be conversational. Focus on using pauses, stresses, variation in pitch and volume for effective intonation – to inject meaning and impact to verbal content.
  4. Use gestures meaningfullyin tandem with verbal content and pace of speaking.
  5. Formulate purposeful gestures – e.g. press index finger and thumb together to stress a point, use an open posture using both hands or arms to show comparison or contrast in measures, turn the palm downto indicate control or suppression (press down), evenness or consistency (move lower arm from left to right), rotate the wrist gently to show continuity, change and flow, use an open palm to refer to audience or a certain part of the room, or somewhere beyond the room.
  6. Use larger gestures for bigger groups of audience, and vice versa. Gestures are effective when they are easily seen by audience. Start gesturing at the level between your abdomen and shoulders (unless showing contrast in measures).

Try to gently hold both hands together, perhaps at just below the abdomen level, when not gesturing for ease of using them.You will look more poised and engaged than having both arms hanging down by the side.

  1. Feel flexible to turn your torsoinfrequently – do not stand rigidly. Turn and face different groups of audience infrequently, perhaps in tandem with transitions in key points or sentences. You should turn your head now and then to face different groups even when you are not turning your body.
  2. Move slightly infrequently if the presentation is long. Consider the (stage) space as if it is laid out in a T-shape. In your pacing, move two steps ahead or two steps to either sides– one direction at a time.
  3. The movements can be made slowly and in tandem with transitions of key segments in presentation content. Alternatively, movements can be made in tandem with dramatic changes in pace of speaking – for intended effect.
  4. Smile as appropriate. Adapt facial expressions in tandem with development of verbal content. Look at your camera or audience from time to time.

Verbal and non-verbal elements work together to present your message holistically. You are effective when you are intentional and practised in using all the elements for your intended effects throughout a presentation. Yes, practice and rehearse with the non-verbal elements as early as possible.

Activity 5

1. Watch this video (about 10 mins) from TED Talk and discuss the speaker’s strategies.

2. Evaluate the strategies that made his presentation memorable and meaningful.

Strategies in using verbal and nonverbal skills
Opening
Closing
How did he make his audience think about the topic?
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