Every oral presentation has three major facets: content, design, and delivery. The quality of each of these aspects affects both the overall quality of the presentation and the extent to which the other aspects can be realized. For example, a confident delivery is much easier when you have good content and good organization. On the other hand, if the design of the talk is poor, even if the delivery is polished, it will be difficult for the audience to understand the content. We’ve presented guidelines for content and design. In this chapter, attention turns to delivery – the human elements in the way a spoken presentation actually occurs.

The human factor

It is often said that people rank speaking before a group as one of their biggest fears, and this may well be true. Most of us have relatively little experience of it and the potential for embarrassment seems high because speaking occurs in real time, so mistakes can’t be sucked back in for correction. The physical symptoms of nervousness – butterflies in one’s stomach, pounding heart, squeaky voice – are familiar to most of us as well. They are a result of adrenaline released by the body to escape an uncomfortable or threatening situation. (If it helps, think of nervousness as nature’s way of keeping you on your toes!) First let’s consider ways to get this under control. Then we can turn our attention to other aspects of delivery.