Organizing and outlining a presentation

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Organizing main ideas

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Strategies for organizing main ideas of speech

chronological

topical

spatial

cause and effect

problem and solution

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Sequential order according to when each step or event occurred or should occur

Chronological

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Topical

organized by sub-topics equal in importance

recency, primacy, complexity

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Spatial

arranging items according to their location and direction

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Cause and effect

identifying situation and then discussing resulting effects (cause/effect)

presenting situation and then exploring its cause (effect/cause)

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Problem and solution

exploring how best to solve a problem or advocating a particular solution

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Organizing support material

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same five organizational patterns you considered as you organized your

main ideas can also help you organize your supporting materials

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Specificity

group your specific information followed by general explanation OR

give general explanation first and then support with specific information

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soft evidence

supporting materials based primarily on opinion or inference

includes hypothetical illustrations, descriptions, explanations, definitions, analogies, and opinions

hard evidence

factual examples and statistics

Arrange from “soft” to “hard” evidence

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Organize presentation for ears of others

Organizational cues

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Signposts

verbal or nonverbal organizational signal

Previews

statements of what is to come

initial previews

internal previews

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Transitions

nonverbal

verbal

Summaries

internal summaries

final summaries

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Introduction

Get the audience’s attention

an illustration

a rhetorical question

a startling fact or statistic

quote an expert or literary text

tell humorous story

Introducing your presentation

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Introduce the topic17

Give audiencea reason to listen

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Establish your credibility19

Preview your main points20

Concluding your presentation

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Conclusion

Summarize your presentation

Reemphasize main idea in memorable way

Motivate audience to respond

Provide closure

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Outlining your presentation

Preparation outline

fairly detailed outline of central idea, main ideas, and supporting material

standard outline format

references/citations page

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Delivery outline

provides all the notes you need to present your information

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Use single words or short phrases

Include abbreviated introduction and conclusion

Include supporting material and signposts

Omit your purpose statement

Use standard outline form

Use delivery cues

Delivery outline tips

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