Relaxation Exercises

Hi Everybody,

I found these two MP3 clips from Hobart and William Smith Colleges very useful in helping students relax. Check it out!

Click here (about 9 minutes)

and here (about 15 minutes)

Four Types of Questions

•Yes / No Questions

•Open Questions

•Leading Questions

•Hypothetical Questions

I found this article online on how to handle the Q&A session - a great read (particularly from 184 onwards)!

Click here

Team Presentation

•

Introduce topic and team

•Be clear

•Do introduce full names and roles of team members

•Do state objective of presentation

•Do establish credibility

Ensure smooth flow

•Present in chronological and logical order.

Use sign-postings to help audience follow your presentation.

•Preview or Review each other to show integration in presentation

•Coordinate effectively

•

Be consistent (content / visuals - show group identity)

•Do demonstrate teamwork

•Do ensure seamless transition between speakers

•

•Do be confident of material you are in charge of

•

Strategies for Oral Presentation

A list of strategies you can use in your Oral Presentation:

• Statistics
• Examples
• Testimonies
• Quotations
• Metaphors
• Personal experiences, inspirational life stories
• Stories, anecdotes
• Acronyms
• Rhetorical questions
• Humour
• Signposting (eg. using transition words)
• Relating the topic to the audience’s needs and expectations
• Shocking or surprising audience
• Credibility
• Audience involvement
• Analogy

Also, check out this link that touches on business and professional presentations for engineers. 

Proposal

Below you will find the different sections in a proposal. This is just a sample for your reference - for use at your discretion. You may include/exclude sections where appropriate.

Sections
Prefatory Section
Proposal
Appended Section

Letter of Transmittal

Prefatory Section
Title page
Copy of Rfp
Letter of Transmittal (A letter that accompanies that report, but placed here for submission purpose)
Table of contents
List of illustrations
Personal Statements
Executive summary

Proposal
Introduction (Background)

• Problem statement
• Purpose statement

Body

• Proposed approach/solution
• Work plan (Technical section)
• Management section*
• Schedule*
• Cost estimate*
• Benefits
• Evaluation
• Methods/Procedure

* Where applicable/necessary

Conclusion

• Summary

Appended Section
Appendices (Appendix A, Appendix B and so on...)

• Survey Questionnaire
• Results from Survey
• Interview Questions
• Interview Transcripts
• Supporting documents
• Illustrations

Sources and References

• APA (American Psychological Association)

Specific Purpose Statements and Central Idea

Specific Purpose Statements 
What you hope to achieve
Strategic goal of speech

• Clear statement of specific purpose
• Help generate ideas
• Organise your thoughts

Central Idea
What the whole speech is about

Visual VS Verbal Distinction

Hi everyone,

Here's an example of Visual VS Verbal Distinction:

Speech text: Are you aware that a person's success is determined not by what he or she knows, but by how effective a communicator that person is? According to a research conducted by Standford Research Institute, the money a person makes in any project or endeavor is determined only 12.5% by what she or he knows in terms of technical knowledge and skills AND 87.5% by her or his ability to deal with a wide-range of people.

Student A:
Little distinction between content in speech and content on slide.
Slide cluttered - Would you care to read paragraph after paragraph of information on a slide? Information presented is very similar to information displayed on slide.

Student B:

Slightly better as there is a distinction between what the audience read and the information the presenter is going to share.
Also, key points are highlighted using bullets, and that makes for easier reading.
However, consider if this is the best/most effective way to share this particular piece of information.


Student C:
Speech text:
Does a person's success hinge on what he or she knows, or on how effective a communicator that person is? Standford Research Institute conducted a study to find out the extent of the importance of technical knowledge relative to interpersonal communuication, and some of you will be surprised at the results. Before I reveal the outcome of the study with you, I would like you to consider and make a guess how important technical knowledge and skills are in terms of a person's success as compared to interpersonal and communication skills?
(Very conversational, involves audience)

followed by next slide:
Speech text:
Well, it seems as if some of you are coming very close to getting the answer...

followed by next slide:
Speech text:
Yes, believe it or not, according to the research, the money a person makes in any project or endeavor is determined only 12.5% by what she or he knows in terms of technical knowledge and skills AND 87.5% by her or his ability to deal with a wide-range of people! In other words, if we are able to effectively communicate, we are already on our way to success! I saw some jaws dropped earlier when I flashed the figures, and it may sound amazing to some of you, hahaha - but ....(continue)
You will notice that in student C's slides, student C made use of diagram to illustrate her/his point. There is also a clear visual verbal distinction between what was said and what was shown on the powerpoint slides. Interaction with audience is aparent (involve the audience where appropriate), and information displayed is easy to understand.

Depending on your purpose for presentation and your intended audience, consider how you would make use of PowerPoint slides to effectively (and appropriately, of course) get your message across.

Using Numbers in your Proposal

Please refer to the following books if you would like to effectively use numbers when writing your proposal:

J.E. Miller, 2004. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers. The Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing and Publishing. University of Chicago Press.

(You can find pages from the book here)

Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4: selecting the right tools when presenting numbers / principles
Chapters 5: quantitative comparisons
Chapters 6 and 7: creating effective tables and charts
Chapter 9: direction and magnitude for various types of variables

Writing Minutes

Narrative minutes are very detailed and record the individual names and views.
Resolution minutes record only the decisions reached and, very briefly, the reason for the decision.
Expanded resolution minutes are a compromise between the above two. It provides more information than just the decisions in the Resolution type of minutes, but leaves out the detailed recording of discussions in Narrative minutes by summarising them.

Writing the Notice of Meeting
The Notice of Meeting:
Day
Date
Time
Venue

Ex: The next meeting of the Audit Committee / Safety Committee / Ship Equipment Committee will be held on Friday 4 October 2017 at 9:00 a.m. in Meeting Room 1.

Writing the Agenda
Apologies for Absence
Minutes of Previous / Last Meeting
Matters Arising
Non-standard Items
AOB / Any Other Business (Matter)
Date and Time of Next Meeting

Citing Direct Quotations

Below you will find examples of how to cite direct quotations in APA style. This is the link to the examples:

Examples

According to Palladino and Wade (2010), “a flexible mind is a healthy mind” (p. 147). In 2010, Palladino and Wade noted that “a flexible mind is a healthy mind” (p. 147). In fact, “a flexible mind is a healthy mind” (Palladino & Wade, 2010, p. 147). “A flexible mind is a healthy mind,” according to Palladino and Wade’s (2010, p. 147) longitudinal study. Palladino and Wade’s (2010) results indicate that “a flexible mind is a healthy mind” (p. 147).

                                                 (obtained from "How to Cite Direct Quotations" by Timothy McAdoo)

Useful Links for Proposal Writing

Links to Purdue Writing Lab articles:

Effective Persuasion Presentation

Click here

Business Letters: Accentuating the Positives

Click here

Email Etiquette for Students

Click here

APA formatting and Style Guide

Click here

Purpose Statement and Problem Statement

Purpose Statement

• What you will do with the proposal


• Who will read the proposal


• Why the intended audience must read the proposal

Problem Statement

• Identify what you want to investigate about the problem / issue


• Reflect the aim of writing the proposal