Working as a Group
- Assign group roles early in the process. It helps to have one person who keeps notes and checks in with other members to keep them on task. If you have someone who is good with technology, you might want to assign the visuals aids to them. Your strongest writers might be most effective in getting the presentation outline together. If you divide parts of the content to each person, make
sure everyone is familiar with each others’ information.
- Make an agreement that includes specific, measurable goals, such as who is responsible for each part of a goal, when the parts should be completed, and the consequences for when goals are not met.
Preparing the Presentation
- Determine what each member will do during the presentation. Who will run the visual aid during
each part? How should you divide the speaking content, and how will you transition between each speaker? Where should each person be positioned before, during, after they have spoken?
- Consider how familiar your audience is with your group and the topic when deciding things like whether you need to introduce yourself or how much context you need to provide for your presentation.
- Give yourself plenty of time so you can rehearse the speech more than once (both as a group and individually) and work out any bugs beforehand. Make sure you time your rehearsals so that you have a good idea of the length of the presentation. Come to the CWS as a group.
- Use discrete hand signals to indicate when someone is speaking too quickly or slowly, too quietly or too loudly. Time the speech and let others know how much time they have left.
- Create a consistent presentation. As a group, try and dress in a similar manner. The same can be said with the presentation—create a visual aid that flows from one section to the other in similar font and color. Look back over the content to ensure there is continuity in voice and terminology.
- Make sure you look at our other Public Speaking material for tips.
Group presentations can be challenging because of the effort that it takes to coordinate all of the members and the different sections of the presentation. Use these tips and come to the CWS for more help to ensure your presentation goes smoothly.
