This case asks you to prepare an oral presentation collaboratively.

The Case: Collaborative Oral Presentation

Using Worksheet 17.1 and the storyboard techniques that are discussed in Chapter 17 and implemented in Exercise 17.1, prepare an oral presentation collaboratively. You will use the oral presentation you created for Exercise 17.2, where you introduced yourself, described your major, and explained what you wanted to do with your degree. That oral presentation was between five and seven minutes long, which is right on target for this presentation.

The oral presentation that your team creates will be no longer than 20 minutes long. Each team member should speak for about 5 minutes. Remember that Chapter 17 recommends keeping presentation below 20 minutes since listeners have a difficult time paying attention after that time.

The key to preparing this presentation is going to be making it a coherent presentation: you don't want your presentation to seem like it is three or four separate presentations. You want there to be a unifying "theme" or "metaphor." You want to find a common ground with your parts of the presentations—find some way to draw your presentations together, much like a thesis statement pulls together a piece of writing. You can assume your audience consists of your classmates.

You are encouraged to use presentation software, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, to give your presentation if your classroom environment permits.

Refer to Tips on Making Team Oral Presentations at the bottom of this assignment for tips on how to make this effort work.
*Be prepared to give your presentation to the class.

Tips on Making Team Oral Presentations

Plan Thoroughly: Discuss what points are going to be made and how each part fits with the others. Set a time limit for each part, so the total presentation doesn't run too long. Also, decide whether the team is going to ask the audience to hold questions until the end or invite the audience to interrupt the speaker with their questions. In either case, provide time for interchange between the team and its listeners.

Allow for Individual Differences: Feel free to speak as individuals. In other words, different speaking styles are fine when delivering a team oral presentation. The goal is to sound unified but natural.

Make Effective Transitions Between Speakers: Effective transitions could be the key to a successful and unified presentation. Switch speakers when making a major shift in topic. Also, have both speakers explain how the two parts of the presentation fit together.

Show Respect for One Another: If team members seem confident of one another's contributions and capabilities, your audience is more likely to adopt the same attitude.