Oral Presentation Advice

[mickey_b08]

Hey guys.
I've got my english oral due early first term and i was wondering if i could get a bit of help?

My topic: Penalties of drug use in sport is to harsh: with the main focus on Ben Cousins (who im sure you have ALL heard of)
This means i will be supporting Ben Cousins in that his 12 month ban was to harsh.
I have all the information i need about this from other sources, im just confused as to how to structure my oral.

My tutor has told me to go in dressed up as someone and talk about B. Cousins from their p.o.v, then to change character during the oral into B. Cousins and show that same argument but from his p.o.v.
Im not sure if this is the best way to do it, hence why im here posting this

If anyone has any ideas for a different structured speech then please let me know.

Thanks !

[brendan]

My tutor has told me to go in dressed up as someone and talk about B. Cousins from their p.o.v, then to change character during the oral into B. Cousins and show that same argument but from his p.o.v.
Im not sure if this is the best way to do it, hence why im here posting this

that is highly risky and bizarre, i doubt that you would be able to pull that off with any success.

Guidelines for Effective Presentations by the MIT Sloan school of management
http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-279Spring-2005/60A64A78-E418-4DE4-86E0-B3B6A2E1B829/0/overheads8.pdf

Tips for giving effective oral presentations
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Writing-and-Humanistic-Studies/21W-747-1Fall-2006/StudyMaterials/index.htm

Resources for speakers
http://web.mit.edu/writing/Resources/Speakers/index.html

Communication for Managers - oral presentations
http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-280Communication-for-ManagersFall2002/EE87A531-0B99-42C6-9902-3F85AEBE5791/0/Class1Overheads.pdf
http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-280Communication-for-ManagersFall2002/5CFB7CDF-A04A-49AA-ADEA-ECCC867774CE/0/JYClass_203_2002edited.pdf

Advanced Managerial Communication  - "Keys to Effective Presentations" http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-281Spring2004/CBD89CFF-2F53-4F3D-A32D-4243805F9B88/0/keys_pres.pdf

Sample criteria sheet: http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-279Spring-2005/313AE7E3-0103-4CAC-A1E0-B7553F6B45A4/0/oralpresrubrics.pdf

[enwiabe]

Mickey, if I were you, I'd argue that the AFL's punitive policy in regards to drugs is too light on players. All of the media's criticism has been picking them apart for being too soft and looking the other way so that the competition goes on unblemished.

[mickey_b08]

As much as i'd love to, this is the side of the argument i got delt and have to stick with it

[Nick]

You're claiming that the penalties are too harsh for players? I'm not sure whether you could create a series of sufficient supportive arguments if you took this point of view. Like enwiabe has said, I would strongly advise you to take the opposite view to the one of you have previously specified.

I think adopting the role of two different characters in the same oral is very risky. You would need to explain this structure to the audience prior to commencing the presentation, and this would look sloppy and disorganised. You also run the risk of some members of your audience getting confused.

[mickey_b08]

As i said before this is the side of the argument i HAVE to do.

I will be using examples of ben cousins (12 month ban) and marion jones (sprinter who got sent to jail)

For ben cousins i have this source of info: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=406852&page=2 (if you read through it all its great for what i need)

and i have printed a few articles about the issues with Jones.

Im still confused with how to structure the oral.
Scrap the idea of changing character.... Say i came in as Cousins (dont worry about what im wearing yet) how would i start? or is there a different way you think will benefit me?

ive used these two examples as one is performance enhancing and the other recreational drugs.

[Nick]

As i said before this is the side of the argument i HAVE to do.

I will be using examples of ben cousins (12 month ban) and marion jones (sprinter who got sent to jail)

For ben cousins i have this source of info: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=406852&page=2 (if you read through it all its great for what i need)

and i have printed a few articles about the issues with Jones.

Im still confused with how to structure the oral.
Scrap the idea of changing character.... Say i came in as Cousins (dont worry about what im wearing yet) how would i start? or is there a different way you think will benefit me?

ive used these two examples as one is performance enhancing and the other recreational drugs.

Are you able to pair up with someone for the oral? I remember at our school we had the choice of doing the oral individually or in a paired situation.

You could structure the oral as a live interview following the decision being made. Your partner could be the TV journalist. Interviews are good because they allow good prompts to be made, allowing exposure to a wide variety of information within the interview.

[SilverBullet]

Information from bigfooty that could be your first wrong move! Jokes, reading the thread it seems to be the sort of information you need for the oral.

Maybe you could do it as a Today Tonight/A Current Affair thing. Dress up as a news reader and sit behind a table. Put a pic up of ben cousins behind you and go with the story. This was you can have notes on your table as well to help jog memory of what you need to say. 

[mickey_b08]

I am doing the oral against another classmate and we have decided to go with the news interview.

We will have someone in the middle of us to introduce the news segment then pass it on to me and ill do my oral then they will pass it back to my classmate and he will do his.


Should i take the character of someone high up like an official of some sort or go with being ben cousins?

(Remember i am doing that the penalties for drugs in sport have become to harsh)

[costargh]

You could be a member of the Players Association. It would allow you to speak more eloquently about the issue rather than having to either dumb your oral down for a footy player or be an unrealistically smart footy player.

[SilverBullet]

You could be a member of the Players Association. It would allow you to speak more eloquently about the issue rather than having to either dumb your oral down for a footy player or be an unrealistically smart footy player.

A lot of the members are current players - Tarkyn Lockyer, Nick Maxwell, Adam Goodes, Luke Power... just to name a few. Not all footy players are dumb to the point that you would have to 'dumb down your oral'.

[brendan]

I am doing the oral against another classmate and we have decided to go with the news interview.

We will have someone in the middle of us to introduce the news segment then pass it on to me and ill do my oral then they will pass it back to my classmate and he will do his.

Why? What's the point? How does it add to you oral presentation? Or does it simply just distract from the main objective?

Say i came in as Cousins (dont worry about what im wearing yet) how would i start? or is there a different way you think will benefit me?

ive used these two examples as one is performance enhancing and the other recreational drugs.

Do you have to do that? Can't you just be yourself? This is not drama class, this is VCE English. I think you need to ask yourself: What are you trying to achieve with this oral presentation? Who is your audience? What do you want them to get out of this presentation?

If the objective is to persuade the audience to the view that penalties for drugs in sport have become to harsh, then I can't say that what you are doing is optimal.

Check out this sample criteria sheet to keep yourself on track: http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-279Spring-2005/313AE7E3-0103-4CAC-A1E0-B7553F6B45A4/0/oralpresrubrics.pdf

[Odette]

Good point you make there Brendan, I agree, he should just be himself... but that's just my opinion.

[bucket]

Haha.
If he was to dress up and appear as Ben Cousins, wouldn't a speech on the penalties being 'too harsh' seem a bit bias coming from a drug-happy AFL excommunicate?

[kido_1]

Try to use palm cards.
You might also want to question fallacies in opposing arguments against Ben Cousins.
Try to engage teacher/audience, shifting tone.
Keep eye contact.