How much content?
It can be difficult to decide how much content you need for your allotted time. Once you make allowances for a new setting, such as your classroom, as opposed to wherever you practiced your presesntation--dorm room, practice room in the Learning COmmons, secluded meadow--and for questions, the practice talk will be about 20% faster than the real presentation.
There are two ways people try to compress their presentation:
- speak more quickly
- reduce the number of words used.
Either of these tactics will result in a practice talk will fit your time frame, but a final talk that won't.
To avoid this scenario, practice the following:
- Say only what you need to say.
- Say it with slightly longer pauses between words than normal.
- Increasing the length of these pauses will force you to enunciate the ending of one word and the beginning of the next word, which will make it easier for the audience to follow what you are saying
- This is a good strategy for people giving a presentation in a language other than their native tongue.
A rough guide to content amount:
| Duration of Talk (minutes) |
Number of Concepts Covered |
Number of Statements |
| 5 |
10 |
40 |
| 10 |
20 |
80 |
| 15 |
31 |
124 |
| 20 |
41 |
164 |
The table above is based on an optimal speaking rate of 100 words per minute, an estimated twelve words per statement, with four statements given in support of each concept.
Visual aids that clearly illustrate many of your points will prove helpful by reducing the length of your explanations. If you have an accent that you fear may make certain words difficult for your audience to understand, place these words in the text of a slide and point to that word as you say it.
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