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Oral Communication is different from written communication  

Listeners have one chance to hear your talk and can’t “re-read” when they get confused. In many situations, they have or will hear several talks on the same day. Being clear is particularly important if the audience can’t ask questions during the talk.

There are two well-know ways to communicate your points effectively.

The first is to K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid). Focus on getting one to three key points across. Think about how much you remember from a talk last week. Second, repeat key insights:

tell them what you’re going to tell them (Forecast), tell them, and tell them what you told them (Summary).

1. Think about your audience

Most audiences should be addressed in layers: some are experts in your sub-area, some are experts in the general area, and others know little or nothing. Who is most important to you?

Can you still leave others with something? For example, pitch the body to experts, but make the forecast and summary accessible to all.

1. Think about your rhetorical goals

For conference talks, for example, I recommend two rhetorical goals: leave your audience with a clear picture of the gist of your contribution, and make them want to read your paper.

Your presentation should not replace your paper, but rather whet the audience appetite for it. Thus, it is commonly useful to allude to information in the paper that can’t be covered adequately in the presentation Practice in public .

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