Transcript: Giving a presentation card activity

Card 1:

Front of card:

Andrew uses very formal words and grammar in his presentation. Hayden doesn’t think the language is appropriate for Andrew’s target audience, who are mainly high school students.

Here’s a part of Andrew’s talk about renewable energy costs which Hayden feels is too wordy:

“Due to the fact that renewable energy costs are higher than fossil fuel costs per unit of energy, the main arguments in support of renewable energy, thus far, are functionally nonmarket in character, i.e., environmental, political, and/ or social.” *

Back of card:

Feedback:

Hayden points out the importance of understanding your audience. He suggests that Andrew make some changes to the language so that it’s simpler, clearer, and more appropriate for high school students.

For example: instead of saying ‘Due to the fact that’, he could use ‘because’, and instead of ‘thus far’, he could use ‘until now’. He could also explain that ‘functionally nonmarket in character’ means ‘focused on benefits other than making a profit’.

Card 2:

Front of card:

Andrew’s presentation is well structured but not as engaging as it could be for the high school students he’s presenting to.

Back of card:

Feedback:

Hayden suggests Andrew include some content to grab the audience’s attention, like a visual aid. He could also try presenting a question, telling an anecdote, or adding fun facts and statistics.

Taking Hayden’s advice, Andrew has included an interesting fact in his talk:

“According to a report by the World Bank, waste management can be the single highest budget item for many local administrations! In fact, in low-income countries, it can make up 20% of council budgets, on average.” **

Card 3:

Front of card:

Andrew doesn’t use engaging body language, voice techniques, or eye contact during his presentation which makes it monotone and dry.

Back of card:

Feedback:

Hayden gives Andrew some tips on keeping his audience engaged:

• smile at the audience and have an open, friendly facial expression
• make eye contact
• vary the stress, volume, and pace of speech

Sources:

*Sustainability and Non-Market Enterprise Authored by: Erich Schienke, Provided by: Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. License: CC BY: Attribution 4.0 **Kaza, Silpa, Lisa Yao, Perinaz Bhada-Tata, and Frank Van Woerden. 2018. What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050. Urban Development Series. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648 -1329-0. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050