Oral Presentation
Techniques
Listening Skills
In-class listening skills
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Take notes on important information
Know why you’re listening
Listen for facts/details
Put the lecture into your own words
Good listeners...
THINK about what is being said
Practice with Jr.
Scholastic articles
Speaking Skills
Speaking skills
● Speak loudly and clearly
● Maintain eye contact
● Emphasize main ideas with tone and
volume
● Use nonverbal techniques to maintain
the attention of your audience
Types of Speech
Explanatory
provides information about or an
explanation of an idea, object, or event
Persuasive
the speaker attempts to get the audience
to agree with a point of view or perform
some kind of action
Entertaining
given to amuse the audience
Rhetorical Device
A rhetorical device uses words in a
certain way to convey meaning or to
persuade. It can also be a technique to
evoke an emotion on the part of the
reader or audience.
Alliteration
● repetition of the same beginning sound
She sells seashells by the seashore.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/mp3clips/figures/dragnetalliteration.mp3
Allusion
● a reference to an event, literary work or
person
I can’t do that because I am not Superman.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/mp3clips/figures/georgewbushallusion.mp3
Anaphora
● repetition of a word or phrase at the
beginning of successive phrases
"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans,we shall
fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the
cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the
fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."
(Winston Churchill, speech to the House of Commons, June 4, 1940)
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/mp3clips/figures/rfkanaphora.mp3
Antithesis
● contrast of ideas or words in a parallel
structure
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you
can do for your country.” JFK
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for
mankind.” Neil Armstrong
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/mp3clips/figures/neilarmstrongantithesis.mp3
Chiasmus
● two or more clauses are balanced against
each other by the reversal of their
structures in order to produce an artistic
effect; criss-cross
“Never let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You.”
Parallelism
● the arrangement of words, phrases,
clauses, or larger structures placed side
by side, making them similar in form
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it
was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the
spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/mp3clips/figures/abelincolnparallelism.mp3
Repetition
● a word or phrase used two or more times
in close proximity
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his
lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification – one day right there in Alabama little
black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters
and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted and every hill and mountain shall be made
low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. - MLK, Jr.
Speakers can...
● use emotion-arousing words
● use fear
● use references to the past
A good argument will have...
Logos, Ethos, Pathos
Logos
logical argument
an appeal to logic or reason
Ethos
appeals based on the reliability, credibility,
or expertise of the writer or speaker
Pathos
appeals to the audience’s needs, values or
emotions