Writer's Bill of Rights

The writer has the right
1. To ask questions to explore the audience, the purpose, and pertinent content.
2. To think and plan before writing a sentence.
3. To draft out of order and rearrange later.
4. To use punctuation to guide the reader's understanding, sentence by sentence.
5. To add transitions to plot a logical progression of thoughts.
6. To use spell check and a collegiate-size, hardcopy dictionary.
7. To use grammar check and a style guide, such as William Sabin's Gregg Manual of Style.
8. To read aloud to hear the word choices, flow, and tone.
9. To ask a trusted reader to give feedback.
10. To revise and rewrite to satisfaction or perfection, as time and task warrant.
Furthermore, these rights assist the writer in fulfilling the writer's duty: making the reader's job of reading, comprehending, thinking--and maybe, even, agreeing--easy.

2015 Presentations Tip

Add questions and answers just before your close--not after it. Your opening and ending are your power positions to plant your message into your audience's memory. Q&A in the end position can undermine your message, so prepare a summarizing story or tagline that your audience will want to remember after their questions are answered.

Presentation Tip 4: Use "Outside" Techniques

Outside

How to Suit Your Audience:
What’s in the Cards for your Presentation?

Create balanced and various experiences for your audience. Doing so will enrich the learning retention and enhance audience engagement. Consider each “suit” to influence and inform your audience from the “outside.”

Clubs

How will you engage your audience in interactive and collaborative experiences?
Move bodies in activities to move minds.

Spades

What tools and techniques will you share with your audience in applying and implementing your topic?

Hearts

What stories will you deliver to your audience to evoke emotional connections with your topic? Practice describing the setting, narrating the situation and struggle, defining the solution, and identifying the significance of the story.

Diamonds

What insights and universals will you uncover for your audience? What “gems” do you want your audience to remember long after the presentation? These diamonds will provide the wealth of the information and its value to the audience.

Presentation Tip 3: Use "Inside" Techniques

“Show & Tell”
with Sensory Language

 Describe what you mean. Leave your audience with sensory impressions and images that they can access from memory, from “inside.” Each access is a chance to influence the audience participant.

See

sights, shapes, sizes, colors, shadows, pictures, photos, graphics, tables, visual composition…

Hear

sounds, noises, euphony, cacophony, tone, speed, volume, flow, cadence, rhythm, rhyme, assonance, consonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia, parallelism…

Touch

temperatures, textures, sensations, movement, motion, action…

Taste

sweetness, sourness, bitterness, tartness, blandness, saltiness, savory, flavors…

Smell

odors, stink, musk, fragrances, aromas…

 Metaphors

How will use you a metaphor to explain an abstract concept or to instill a thematic image to thread throughout your presentation?

 Examples:

The brain is often called the body’s computer.

The image of a tree going through seasons connotes the passage of time.

That is a savory idea to digest!

Presentation Tip 1: Start with PIECE (TM) when Planning your Presentation

Presentations are designed to influence audiences. We use our spoken words to engage our listeners about our topic and our point of view. Many presenters fight anxiety while preparing to deliver their presentation. One way to quell the anxiety involves planning what the audience will deliver as a result of the presentation! Begin your presentation planning with the answers to the following questions. Persuade: What do you want your audience to do? If your audience is willing to agree, use a direct approach. If your audience is reluctant to agree, use an indirect approach. Inform: What do you want your audience to know? Tell them how this information will benefit them. Educate: What do you want your audience to understand? Tell them why you want them to understand. What is the benefit for them? Convince: What do you want your audience to believe? Use faith, facts, and feelings to arrive at the truth. Engage: What do you want your audience to feel? Take them through a pertinent experience to bring forth the emotions that drive your point. What "PIECE(TM)" of your topic will you serve your audience? You can reduce your anxiety by beginning here.