INTRODUCTION
Oral presentations are a common requirement in many courses. They may be short or long, include slides or other visual aids, and be done individually individually or in a group. In postgraduate studies, we may have the opportunity to deliver lectures, seminars and tutorials as well, and the more practice we have at any of these, the easier it gets. Planning and structuring an oral presentation is similar to the process of writing an essay, except we need to be conscious of a live audience and use spoken language instead of written. However, the final preparation and presentation differ significantly from editing and polishing an essay.
On October 7, according to Project Lab, 1973, the Sunday Times in London published a survey asking 3,000 Americans "What is your greatest fear?" The result: 41% of respondents answered their most fear are speaking in public. Many speakers lack the skill skillss and confid confidence ence to make make effect effective ive presen presentat tation ions. s. We have have all been victim victimss of speakers for example teachers who put us to sleep. Despite knowing how ineffective many speakers are, many of us have found that, despite the best intentions, we haven't fare fared d much much bett better er.. We knew knew the the topi topicc and and the the idea ideass were were writ writte ten n down, down, but the presentation still didn't go well. Was it the way you delivered the speech? Was it because the audience didn't seem interested? (Edward G. Wertheim, 2008).
HOW TO OVERCOME FEAR IN ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Everyone experiences stage fright, speech anxiety, or talking terror. The previous surveys surveys by many researchers researchers show that fear of speaking speaking in front of groups is one of the greatest fears people have. Some results find people actually claiming that the thought of giving a speech is more frightening than facing with death (Jerry Seinfeld, 2007) or even facing with financial problems. Some techniques people use for coping with this fright is tell try to motivate motivate you-self that the audience audience understands understands our nervousness nervousness and yet they know what we are feeling inside because they might be experienced this situation before and will honestly forgive our mistakes.
The second fear and the most fears that people faced is nervousness. According to Devi Devill ller ers, s, 2002 2002,, most most peop people le they they will will feel feelss that that some someth thin ing g is not not righ rightt with with herself/himself when they turn to presenting their oral presentation is coming. They will think that people will boring when they presenting their points. Sometimes, when we are preparing our speech for oral presentation we will automatically thinking about the audiences’ thought of you while you delivering your oral presentation. But be confident that the audience (some) will not notice the small changes in our voice or occasional mist mistake akess but but some some will will noti notice ced d even even the the smal smalll chang changes es in our our soun sound d such such as our our pronunciation, the eye contact and the sound vibration. To avoid this thing, what we have to do is trying to practicing before the time. To make it looking perfect, doing the rehearsal many times in your own room, while taking your bath so that you will know what you are going to deliver.
Other technique is being ourselves. Let the real us come through, relax and practice some deep breathing techniques. Other than that is beginning in our comfort zone. Practice with friends and share your fears with friends, check out the room first, the space, the equipment and the lights. Plus we should concentrate on the message, begin with a slow, well-prepared introduction and have a confident and clear conclusion. The most important thing is always be prepared and practice the script before present. The problem of poor communication is complex and cannot be solved by a single book, a course, and certainly not by this short guide (Nora E. 2008).
According to Jane King (2009), the key to overcoming fear and stress associated with speaking in public is to be fully prepared. The necessary steps include planning the presentation as with all academic undertakings. It is necessary to set aside quality time for researching our topic. Academic oral presentations require depth and understanding of the material. material. It will not be considered considered of sufficient sufficient quality if we only give an unplanned unplanned presentation. We must decide what we are going to say, what points should be illustrated with visual aids, and how long the presentation will be. But remember, the presentation might be only once. Make it easy for them to understand the major points of our presentation and the main point of doing this presentation. Make sure that what we need to deliver are successful achieved by the audience.
Some people, they are afraid with the questions (Q) and answers (A) session during the oral presentation (Finlayson, A. 2001). They afraid that they can not answer the questions given by the audience correctly or in the way of the audience want. According to Ajzen, 1980, the vaccine for this disease is we just need to trust ourselves. It is because that is our presentation; we have to know everything about our presentation before we can deliver what we want to deliver to the audience. People or audience will only ask the question regarding to our topic, they will never asks the questions out form the topic. So, to overcome the fear for the Q and A session, the speaker is just need to understand what she or he wants to deliver.
The next step step to overco overcome me fear fear in presentin presenting g the oral presen presentat tation ion is the note note cards. There are no perfect people in this world and we are not aside from that. So, try to make a small note cards for us while delivering our speech and also it can allow us to present our speech with less anxiety. In fact, the notes card might allow our audience to believe believe that we are delivering delivering our speech speech with little little effort effort and great enthusiasm. enthusiasm. But we did not need many notes card in our hand during the presentation because people will see how nervousness we are. What we need are we just key phrases or key words on our cards. Thus it is easy to glance at the card and see the next idea. The notes card can remind us of what needs to be said, help us to keep our ideas organized and in proper sequence, keep us on the subject and help us stay within the allotted time so we can easily deliver our presentation without any doubt.
The amateurs will always thinking the negative responses from the audience while they delivering their presentation. Kaye, E. (2002) said that question like ‘they (the audience) will laugh at me’ always playing at our mind. Because of that, we will feel very afraid during the oral presentation especially when we talking in front of thousand people and some of the audience might be the professional speaker. While we are facing with this problems what we need to do are relaxing our mind and do your best preparation. The next step here is practicing and delivering the presentation. This will insure a smooth flow and familiarity with the material. We should be aware of how the speech flows. And if necessary, modify our note cards. Rearrange the order of key ideas then stand in front of the mirror. mirror. Be aware aware of our appearance appearance,, postur posture, e, gestur gestures es and eye contact. contact. Pay attention to the sound of our voice whether it is loud enough or either the words are pronounced clearly and correctly. After that, be aware with our appearance whether we stand properly, placing our equal weight on both feet.
After that, choose to deliver the speech in a comfortable and relaxing mode. According to Nelson, P. (1999), the most important in communication are the message must be clear and simply simply understand understand by the receiver. In presentati presentations, ons, more important important thing in delivering our speech or whether doing our oral presentation is we do not need to rush while delivering the points. Because when we are rushing in delivering our points, people will not understand the points that we want to deliver. How do we know how long our speech is going to take to deliver? The best way is to practice it several times, preferably in front of the mirror. Allow extra time to explain visual aids or perhaps for a question-and-answer period after the presentation. If the time allotted is set, practice until
we stay within the allotted time. It might be necessary to shorten the material to be presented or to lengthen it. Be remembering also, the length of the speech might have to be shortened in order to avoid rushing through all the material. Before we start the presentati presentation on and if we feel not comfortable comfortable before we delivering delivering the presentati presentation, on, try to take a deep breath. Use the desk to rest the notes but do not lean on the desk or podium. Stand straight straight looking at the audience directly. directly. Eye contact contact is essential, essential, helping create a bond between the speaker and the listener. Look around the room, looking at people to the left, center, and right for a few seconds each. But if we still get nervousness try to remind remind oursel ourselves ves that that we are fully fully prepar prepared ed and also also try to give give selfself-mot motiva ivatio tion n to ourselves that we are the expert on the subject. But confident is not good enough because we know the key to confident in oral presentations are planning and preparation before delivering the speech.
The next steps to overcome fear in oral presentation are planning and prepare your presentation before delivering the speech. Knowing how much time you have is a key to selection selection and organization organization of your material, material, which in turn is a key to success and overcome fear in oral presentation. Pearson and Nelson (1999) rightly say, "Organizing your speech is one of the most important skills you can learn to overcome your fear. First of all, organization is often the key to understanding. The audience is more likely to understand your message if it is organized than if it is not. Second, you are more likely to include the best information, arguments, and evidence if your speech is organized than if it is not. Organizing a speech forces you to select, to prioritize, and to choose the best of the available information. Third, the audience is more likely to evaluate you positively if you sound organized. A well-organized presentation has three main sections: a beginning,
middle, and an ending. "The introduction must grab the audience attention”. It should clearly state what the speaker is about to present and how it will be presented. The body of the presentation must develop ideas clearly and logically, and connect them by means of appropriat appropriatee transitio transition. n. Finally, Finally, the conclusion conclusion should be anticipate anticipated, d, never abrupt (Villata, 2003). If you as the speaker prepare well with your own presentation, you will overcome your fears and be ready to presenting your own speech. It is because you are well-prepared for this presentation.
Oral presentations are a standard component of pedagogy and assessment, yet are sheer personal torture for many students. Their fear of public performance also renders a presentati presentation on less effective effective as a learning learning rubric. rubric. Speech Speech anxiety anxiety and limited limited presentati presentation on skills are also the major problems that lead to learners' oral presentation failures. As we know, the students also facing with this problem while delivering their oral presentation in front of other students or while are taking the oral test.
As a teacher, it is important for us to helps our students to overcome their fears in oral presentation. Give students a choice of dates, so they feel they have some control while adhering to the course requirements. Hold a dress rehearsal with feedback for the stude student nt's 's firs firstt solo solo outi outing ng;; this this will will help help reli reliev evee the the pres pressu sure re of the the grade graded d oral oral presentation. Let the student know that it is OK to write out the presentation and that it helps helps to keep keep to a text text or outl outlin inee so that that time time const constra rain ints ts are are met. met. For For the the actu actual al presentation, have the student pick three friends to sit one on the left, one on in the center, and one on the right, so that he can make eye contact with friendly friendly faces. faces. If the problem is severe severe,, Counse Counselin ling g and Psych Psycholo ologic gical al Servic Services es offers offers methods methods to help help studen students ts
overcome their performance anxiety; consult them early if we suspect the issues are more serious than the average stage fright.
Nex Next, t, ther theree are are techn techniq iques ues avail availabl ablee to help help us help help our our stude student nt cope cope with with hesitancy and fear in the face of public presentation. Make sure that there is no physical or emotio emotional nal disabi disabili lity ty to be conside considered red for accommo accommodat dation ion,, build build up to the solo solo prese presenta ntati tions ons by having having more more than than one per semest semester er and make make them them gradual gradually ly less less collective. In order to help students effectively cope with their fear of oral presentations, it is essential for teachers to acknowledge that speech anxiety is perfectly normal. Having an open discussion on speech anxiety will assist students to feel that they are not alone. A total total depende dependence nce on memori memorizat zation ion is the patter pattern n follow followed ed by most most Engli English sh Foreig Foreign n Language (EFL) presenters who usually have trouble adapting information to spoken English for the audience.
The reading of written English, with complex sentences and low frequency words, further impedes audience's listening comprehension. Instead of using a conversational tone and communicati communicative ve English, English, they have long pauses while fiddling fiddling with their notes. The audience feels bored when they have to listen to a tedious reading or word-for-word memorized speech from a presenter who reads rapidly and monotonously throughout the presentation. Students should use note cards as reminders of what they are going to say. It is much easier to establish rapport with the audience by only referring to the note cards occasionally and make eye contact with the audience. Then try a small group presentation first, with parts or roles assigned to everyone in class, so that all students have to speak.
Prepare the student by beginning with a small response or recitation, where she can respond from her seat without having to face the class. When the student faces the class the first time, have him do so with w ith a partner for a shared two-minute presentation.
CONCLUSION
As a concl conclus usio ion, n, an oral oral pres presen enta tati tion on must must be well well orga organi nize zed d to help helpss us overcome our fear in oral presentation. It is also helps us to deliver the information flows smoothly and the listener is able to easily understand. Because the audience hears the presentation just once, the ideas communicated should be clear and precise. The most successful presentation is simple in its organization. We can concluded this assignment in order to overcome fears in oral presentation as stated above, the most important thing to do is expose peoples about the importance importance of oral presentatio presentation n in early education. education. The intr introd oduct uctio ion n of oral oral pres present entat atio ions ns to EFL EFL clas classr sroom oomss provi provide dess a rewa reward rdin ing g and stimulating experience both for teachers in developing facilitating skills and for students in training themselves to have confident presentations in public in a future.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Finlayson, A. (2001). Questions that Work. New York: American Management Association. Jane King (2009). Preparing (2009). Preparing EFL Learners for Oral Presentations: Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan. Kaye, E., Kaye, E. A. and Devillers, J. (2002). Maximize Your Presentation Skills. Skills. New York: Crown Publishing Group. Making Effective Oral Presentations (2008). Northeastern University, College of Business Administration Associate Professor Edward G. Wertheim, Ph.D.
Making Oral Presentations (2006). Nora E. McMillan, Carol A. Keller
Mandel, S. (1999). Effective (1999). Effective Presentation Skills: A Practical Guide for Better Speaking. Stanford, CT: Thomson Crisp Learning. .Pearson, J. C. and Nelson P. (1999). An (1999). An Introduction to Human Communication: Understand and Sharing. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Preparing Effective Oral Presentations in 7.17 Project Lab (2008), Asian EFL Jou rnal.
Top Ten Tips for Helping Students Overcome Presentation Fear (2009). From the Collective Wisdom of the CTFD Advisory Board
Williams, R. L. (2004). Tell me How I’m Doing. New Doing. New York: American Management Association. S. Sivagnanachelvi. (2009). OUMH1303 English for Oral Communication, Communication, Selangor Darul Ehsan.: Meteor Doc. Sdn. Bhd
