1.
Choosing an Overall Organizational Pattern [1]
Audience Retention and the Organization
of Your Presentation
What your audience remembers determines whether or not
you achieve your presentation objectives, so you need to
be aware that certain parts of a presentation are remembered
better after the presentation is over. Morrisey,
Sechrest and Warman describe an interesting phenomenon
using what they call the audience retention curve (see below).
- Curiosity will probably produce a reasonably high level
of both attention and retention during your opening (A).
- Following your opening, you can expect a reasonably sharp
drop in retention (B), even with a good presentation.
- If you use an appropriate summary statement to tip off
your audience that your presentation is coming to a close,
the retention curve will take an upward swing (D).
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Keeping this retention curve in mind and using your overall organizational
approach as a foundation, you can begin to put your ideas together.
All presentations, even short ones, need a strong opening, rich
body and powerful closing.
Reference: Morrisey, G.L., Sechrest, T.L., &
Warman, W.B. (1997). Loud and Clear: How to Prepare and Deliver
Effective Business and Technical Presentations. Reading, MA:
Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.
[1] Adapted with permission from Soil
and Water Conservation District Outreach: A Handbook for Program
Development, Implementation and Evaluation . Ohio Department
of Natural Resources, Division of Soil and Water Conservation, 2003.
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