Oral Reports

Technical "writing" is in the title of this course, but technical writing is part of a larger field called technical communication, which involves communicating technical information through all sorts of modes and channels, including the spoken. As a professional, you will present technical information orally at work. Now's the time to start practicing that important skill!

Important! If possible, create your oral report script, audio, or video after you have rough-drafted your final report. You'll know your stuff so doing the oral report should be easy.

Objectives

When you finish this unit, you will be good at:

• Describing the audience of a specific oral presentation.
• Listing the recommended elements of an introduction to a specific oral presentation.
• Defining and providing one or more examples of the "spoken heading."
• Listing and describing supporting visuals to accompany an specific oral presentation.

Readings

Oral presentations in the Online Textbook

Practice: Oral Presentation Puzzle

In this practice, read about oral presentations, understand how they are organized—especially what comes before the actual presentation. Then arrange the sentences and paragraphs of unformatted text into a sequence that matches that organization.

1. Read about oral presentations in the Online Textbook.
2. Go to this link for practice text and instructions for the oral report puzzle.
3. Copy the text into an app such as Microsoft Word, and rearrange the text segments so that they follow the guidelines in the chapter.
4. Name your file with some part of your name and _oralrep, for example, davidmc_oralrep.docx (or whichever extension your app uses).
5. Send this practice file by e-mail attachment to your instructor at davidm@austincc.edu.

Final-grade points: 2
Due date: April 11<.

Oral Report Assignment: Requirements

In this online course, you can send a script written in the word-processsing software of your choice or create an audio file. If you go with audio, choose your medium: .wav or .au, MP3, or MP4 (video). Make sure that you identify yourself somehow in whichever medium you use.

Here are the requirements:

• Make sure your oral report is about 7 minutes.
• Insert a context note before the actual report, and identify a realistic audience, purpose, and situation for your oral report. Use the format shown in this example. (This does not count as part of the 7 minutes.) This part counts as a significant part of your grade.
• In this oral report, just hit the highlights, the interesting or key points, and direct listeners to the written report. Give them a sense of what the report covers, but don't try to provide all the detail. Do not try to summarize your report.
• Attach to the script a brief description of the visuals you would use in this oral report. Refer to them and discuss them in your oral report. (You are welcome to paste the actual visuals in your oral report script.)
• Make sure you present detailed information and that your explanations of technical aspects of the report are understandable to nonspecialists.
• In your introduction (to the actual report), introduce yourself, indicate the topic and purpose of your presentation, provide a brief overview of what you will be covering, and attempt to gain some interest. This example illustrates a good introduction. This part counts as a significant part of your grade.
• Use spoken headings during the oral report to signal listeners of moves from one section to the next. Make sure your presentation is well-organized and doesn't seem to ramble. See this example of verbal headings. This part counts as a significant part of your grade.

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