The Art of Lecturing: The mechanics of professional presentations

There is a variety of guides, books, and theories related to giving effective presentations in professional settings. The recommendations regarding what constitutes an effective presentation are often similar. We will call presentations developed using these traditional recommendations as “classic” presentations. Another approach that can be very effective, especially in today's age where the audiences are used to television show style emotional roller coasters and cliffhangers, is the “shock” style of presentation. These presentations have very little in common with classic presentations and are generally far more informal and to the point. Finally, a presentation style that can generally work well in most settings is the hybrid presentation. The hybrid presentation is really a shock-style presentation disguised as a classic presentation. In essence, it maintains the effectiveness of the shock presentation while at the same time having a small amount of the professionalism and formality of classic presentations. In the following sections, we will take a closer look at all three presentation methodologies in detail. THE CLASSIC MODEL The most generic and common style of presentations is that which we will refer to as classic. Classic presentations consist of well tested and well developed methods for conveying ideas during a presentation. There is a formal structure and an expected sequence of topics that need to be discussed. In the case in point below, we will examine the elements of the classic presentation in more detail.