Never apologize for yourself

Every now and then I will listen to a presentation that begins with something like:

• I haven’t really had time to prepare for this, but I will do my best.
• I am not really qualified to talk about this as I’ve only just become interested in this topic, but…
• My English is not very good but I will try to do my best – I hope you can understand me.

Although in many Asian cultures, Korea included, Apologies such as this serve to express the speaker’s humbleness, in western culture such apologies only serve to weaken the integrity of the speaker. Audiences will begin to wonder if they have wasted their time in attending this presentation if the speaker announces at the beginning that they are not qualified to give this talk. Likewise, the worst thing to do is to draw direct attention to your own (perceived) faults, like your poor language ability. Most listeners are there to hear content and be informed; they are not there to judge your grammar ability. If a presenter has organized their content well and practiced their presentation, they should be able to communicate their message to the audience, regardless of how (im-) perfect their pronunciation is.

Often, in Korean language presentations we will hear phrases such as:

• 발표시 여러면에서 미숙한 점이 있겠지만 양해해주시기 바랍니다.
• 시간이 여의치 않아 많은 준비를 하지 못했으나 양해해주시기 바랍니다.
• 모국어가 영어가 아니라서 발표시 이해에 어려움이 있더라도 양해해 주시기 바랍니다.

It is important to remember here that the function of these sorts of phrases – to express humbleness – when translated into English have the effect of weakening your integrity and authority. In short, don’t use phrases such as these.

The other thing that second language speakers should be aware of is how they use the word sorry. Basically, there are two kinds of sorry, (1) the apology and (2) the correction. Presenters should be aware of the difference because if they are not they can send the wrong kind of message to their audience.
The long sorry (1) is used to apologize for something – such as for speaking too long or some kind of misunderstanding.

The short sorry (2) is used to signal a correction

• Today I will be talking about nickel oxide, sorry, carbon oxide nano-coatings (the speaker will talk about carbon oxide nano-coatings, not nickel oxide)
• It was Ellis, sorry, Elsworth, who said… (the speaker means Elsworth, not Ellis)

In each of these examples, the speaker is using sorry to indicate a correction – they are not apologizing for their mistake. It is important that the short sorry is SHORT; if it is too long it will sound like an apology. Think of it as sounding like s’ory.

Data Commentary: Hans Rosling at TED 2006

I’ve talked about Hans Rosling in class a number of times. Here is a link to his well-known presentation at TED 2006. The presentation combines statistics and his rich experience and engaging personality to challenge and change our preconceptions about the state of the world.

It is a good example for academic presenters because it shows us that passion and energy are powerful presenting tools. I like how he interacts with the data in such a physical way – it is very engaging.

Some notes:

• Gapminder: the software used to create the statistic animations; it is primarily linked to world health and population statistics; if you visit the website you can create your own ‘gapcasts’ through accessing UN and other international databases.
• TED: an international conference bringing together some great speakers from around the world; videos of their presentations are made available online for free viewing and download; definitely a valuable resource; Hans Rosling’s presentation is also available.

Intensive Presentation Skills Program

Over the past six weeks I have been involved in a number of Intensive English Programs for various departments at the university. Each program is organized around a set of skills: writing, debating, conversation, and presentation skills. On the last day of each two week program we organize a mock conference where teams of students present to the whole group.

This particular activity has been rewarding for both me and the students and so I thought I would share some of what we do and how we do it.

Basically, the students are required to work in teams of 3 or 4 to produce a 10-12 minute presentation on a topic of their choice.  The only requirements are that topic must fit into some kind of academic in nature, and that it must fit a problem-solution format (situation, problem, solution, evaluation).  I’ve chosen this format because it seems to give them the most flexibility in topic choice and is also a common format in presenting.

Most of the intensive programs follow a 10 day schedule:
Day 1 – Introduction: Students are introduced to each other and the class. We discuss what it means to be an academic; since the majority of students are incoming freshmen they still consider themselves just students. At the end of the class students are informed about the mock conference and asked to think of three topics they would be interested in discussing and presenting.

Day 2 – Selecting topics and teams: At the beginning of class, each student shares their three ideas with the group. The ideas are recorded on the whiteboard by the teacher. Next, students are told they must form a group and select a topic. I encourage them to form groups around topics as these kinds of groups tend to be more motivated. Students mingle and discuss with each other. They find that they must negotiate, compromise, and convince others of their ideas. Once a group has formed, their next step is to go from their general idea to something more specific.

Day 3 – Finding the niche: In this step, students work to determine the specific angle of their presentation, their purpose, and their reason for giving the presentation. This is also the time when we discuss the audience and their role in the presentation. Usually, by the end of the 70 minute period most groups are well on their way to well-defined topic and have developed a workable outline for their presentation.

Day 4 – Testing your ideas on the audience: Up to this point, the other groups are not intimately aware of the ideas of the other groups in the class. In this class the students break into new groups and sell their topic to the other groups. Through this process they can troubleshoot any misunderstandings about content and get a better idea of what their audience needs and wants. We also do an activity where students have one minute to describe their topic to a partner. They do this repeatedly with different partners. By the fourth or fifth partner they have developed a concise and organized description of their topic. This activity is to reinforce the idea that repetition and practice, not a written speech, are the keys to being able to present well.

Day 5 – Tutorials: During this class I usually meet with each group for 15 to 20 minutes to discuss their presentation and assist them with any problem solving.

Day 6 and 7 – First trial run: Each group is assigned a partner group to critique. Two groups present each day. After the presentations, the partner groups get together to discuss and critique each other’s presentation.\

Day 8 – Making it Visual: This class focuses on body language and visual aids. We talk about some of the common mistakes made in these areas, as well as some of the conventions that may be followed in their given field of research. We also spend some time examining the representation of data and how data can be (inadvertently) distorted.

Day 9 – Final trials: each group presents their presentation to the class for a final critique and discussion.

Day 10 – Mock Conference: Generally the conference is organized into two concurrent sessions with 8 to 12 presentations in each session. Presenters are not in any particular order. Each 12 minute presentation is followed by 3-5 minutes Q&A. The instructors-judges also act as moderators and time-keepers. Following the conclusion of the session, the students are given a ballot for the Audience Choice award for best presentation. The judges also select a best presentation for each session. Prizes and certificates for these are awarded at the closing ceremony.

Through this experience the students gain an understanding of the process of presenting, as well as the awareness that presenting well requires more than just a well-written script and perfect English.