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Can You Speak Extemporaneously - DE Oracle
No full textDE Oracle @ UMUC
An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
Can You Speak Extemporaneously?
Jim Golden
President/CEO of Golden Opportunity, Inc. & Adjunct Professor and Course Chair at
UMUC
School of Undergraduate Studies
Published: January-February 2009
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies
I have been asked to speak at many events and in contests, but the most interesting moments came
when I had to speak extemporaneously. My impromptu, "spur of the moment" speeches are the ones
that proved to be the most exciting—as well as the most challenging.
I recall one of these events; it was at a major Chamber of Commerce function with at least 500
people in attendance. Unbeknownst to me, I was called up to accept an award I had won.
I remember walking to the stage without a clue about what to say and even though people were
clapping, I didn’t quite hear them.
I knew I had to think fast—very fast! The seconds seemed like minutes.
I began to rely on my early years of training as a Toastmaster. As soon as I was on the stage and in
front of the microphone, I was the one in control. Once I realized this fact, I began to relax.
The first thing I did on stage was breathe (quietly, of course) to let oxygen get to my lungs and brain.
Next, I paused to gain a split second to gather my thoughts and the opportunity to effectively express
those thoughts. Then, I opened with a line of humor, which helped relax both me and the audience. I'm
sure that all of this occurred in a time span of less than 5 seconds.
Nevertheless, I gave thanks, accepted my award, and left the stage with dignity.
When faced with a situation like this, what will you do?
Here are a few recommendations:
Walk to the podium or lectern with confidence. Since 90 percent of all communication is
nonverbal, this important communication strategy will help set the tone for your audience reception
and delivery. Confidence is infectious!
1.
Smile and thank the host or moderator and audience. This will allow you to establish an
immediate connection with your audience.
2.
Repeat the question. Quite often, a speaker will forget the extemporaneous question and will respond
with something totally unrelated; repeating the question will help you remember what you are being
asked. It will also provide you with time to gather your thoughts.
3.
Open with a one-line attention getter. This will help you get and maintain your audience's attention
from the start. Your one-liner can be a brief fact or humorous statement.
4.
Maintain eye contact. You are not expected to look at everyone, especially if there are a few hundred
people in the room. Instead, break the room into sections of three (left, middle, and right) and focus on
an individual or two within each section. These individuals are easy to locate because they usually nod
their heads in agreement or will be smiling at you.
5.
Stay within the required time. Chances are that there will be only one minute to convey your
message, and you want to use this time wisely. Sometimes speakers believe that they are being asked
6.
Can You Speak Extemporaneously? - DE Oracle
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to deliver a speech when they are not. Keep it simple and keep it short!
7. Conclude strong. Revisit your opening and share how the audience will benefit.
Note: To eliminate "filler" words such as "ahs," "ums," and the "you knows," just pause briefly instead
of saying those words. Filler words are distracting and can make it harder for your audience to
understand your message. The fewer filler words you use, the more polished and confident you will
sound (even if you don’t feel that way inside).
Practice these techniques through various role-playing scenarios. They really work!
Being able to think quickly on your feet is an important skill. Even if you dislike public speaking or have
an intense fear of it, following these tried and true techniques can help calm your nerves and boost
your confidence when it's your turn to speak on the fly.
About the Author(s)
Jim B. Golden is a teaching excellence award-nominated adjunct faculty member in UMUC's School of Undergraduate Studies.
He has received the dean's recognition for outstanding student evaluations and is also a facilitator for the Center for Teaching
and Learning. Jim is a member of Toastmasters International, in which he has won several competitive speech contests, as
well as club, area, and district Toastmaster and President of the Year honors. He has over 25 years of professional and
academic experience in adult and workplace learning, performance, and communications. Jim is the president and CEO of
Golden Opportunity, an award-winning learning and organizational development services firm that serves government
agencies, higher education institutions, and the hotel/hospitality industry.
Jim received his Executive Business Education from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, a Master of Science from UMUC,
and a Bachelor of Science from Central State University (Ohio). He currently volunteers with the Maryland Business
Roundtable for Education to provide educational and motivational speaking workshops to various Montgomery County Public
Schools. He also serves on Board of Directors for The Mitchellville School in Bowie, MD, and Travilah Elementary School PTA in
North Potomac, MD.
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PowerPoint, Animated Avatars, and Going Green_ Team Teaching Multimedia - October 21, 2009_combined - DE Oracle
No full textDE Oracle @ UMUC
An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
PowerPoint, Animated Avatars, and Going Green: Team Teaching
Multimedia - October 21, 2009
Guest
Guest
Published: September-October 2009
Category: » De-oracle-live » Archived-webinars
David Taylor and Sabrina Fu discuss their collaborative efforts in teaching students how to produce
animated PowerPoint presentations with lip-synced avatars for various class projects.
Archived Recording:
Launcher Link:
http://67.202.210.31/launcher.cgi?room=deoracle_2009_1021_1205_31 (http://67.202.210.31
/launcher.cgi?room=deoracle_2009_1021_1205_31)
Wizard Link:
http://67.202.210.31/wizard/launcher.cgi?wc=wms (http://67.202.210.31/wizard/launcher.cgi?wc=wms)
Slide Presentation:
Printable Version: PDF
PowerPoint, Animated Avatars, and Going Green: Team Teaching Multimedia - October 21, 2009 - DE Oracle
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PowerPoint, Animated Avatars, and Going Green: Team Teaching Multimedia - October 21, 2009 - DE Oracle
The PhotoFit Avatar
The Human Avatar
By: David Taylor
www.peakwriting.com/UMUC/onlineguide/av_solution.html
The Future Has Arrived Today
Digital Native Digital Immigrant Digital Alien
~ Marc Prensky, 2005
REVOLUTION
~ Economist Intelligence Unit, 2008
“. . . a profound shift is taking place in the way people communicate
and express themselves . . . a new concept of language and what it
means to be literate is evolving.”
~ New Media Consortium, 2005
The Multimedia effect
Students learn best from multimodal, multimedia lessons.
~ Richard Mayer & Ruth Clark
The Gold Rush
ADAPT
or
DIE
Enter the Avatar
The Personal-Agent Effect
Students perceive contact with avatars as a social
interaction.
The Modality Effect
When viewing a visual presentation, students learn
better if verbal information is spoken, not written.
The Social-Intelligence Effect
The amount of social intelligence an avatar displays
affects the lesson’s success.
Enter the Avatar
The Personal-Agent Effect
Students perceive contact with avatars as a social
interaction.
The Modality Effect
When viewing a visual presentation, students learn
better if verbal information is spoken, not written.
The Social-Intelligence Effect
The amount of social intelligence an avatar displays
affects the lesson’s success.
Why?
The more anthropomorphic an avatar
is, the more likely a student will be to
trust and engage with it.
“Character Builder” ~ Media Semantics
The PhotoFit Avatar
PhotoFit Avatar in Guest Lectures
PhotoFit Avatars In Response Docs
PhotoFit Avatars Add Diversity
Learning agents that resemble and behave like participants
will be more likeable and successful.
PhotoFit Avatars ~ Conclusion
“Back in 1989, you had to get an email, like it or not, or the
world would leave you behind. Soon all of you will have to
get an avatar.”
~ Philip Rosedale, Founder of Second Life
Background on using multimedia for
Going Green
By: Sabrina Fu
Go Green
• UMUC team had been awarded an EPA grant
to educate the public with a website to
encourage sustainable actions
– http://www.umuc.edu/gogreen/
• Created “Individuals, Society, and
Environmental Sustainability” course as
vehicle for students to work on grant
– Very popular course so we offered more than one
semester
Communications essential
• Asked David Taylor to help us with
communications aspect of the course
• Did excellent work with students on the new
literacy in spring of 2009 (some said one week
with David Taylor was worth the price of the
3‐credit course!)
• David wanted to take it one notch up and
have students demonstrate what they learned
with a group project.
Group Project
• Builds on the visual literacy and graphic design
skills that were introduced and practiced in
previous week
• Using PowerPoint, each group should submit a 3‐
5 minute presentation on some aspect of the
"Three R's" being studied in this course: "Reduce,
Reuse and Recycle."
• The content of this presentation should be
suitable for UMUC's web site Pathways to the
Three R's.
Teamwork
• David choose the teams with a bit of input
from me
• We both monitored their work, with my
emphasis on content and David’s emphasis on
technology and new literacy
• Students divided the work, and student
portion got done in one week!
• David had the fun of putting together audio
with animatio
