Planning your

CONFERENCE

Step 1 _ Choosing your topic

To do a good solo talk you must first of all pick a good topic to talk about.

Remember
 It must be something you are interested in and enthusiastic about.
If you are not excited by your topic you will not speak well on it.
 It must be something you know a reasonable amount about or can find out a lot about.
You will have to talk for some length on your chosen topic so you need a lot of material
to talk about.
 It must be something you think your class will find reasonably entertaining.
Try to think of ways to make your topic entertaining for your teacher and classmates.
Good talks are interesting for those listening.

Think carefully about your topic and try not to change your mind once you have chosen it.
Changing your mind at the last minute means you have less time to prepare a good talk so
choose carefully at the start to avoid this problem.

Step 2_ Preparation

Once you have chosen a topic find out as much as you can about it
You can use

 Your Local Library

 Encyclopaedias and Internet Access
 Your family and Friends
 Newspapers, magazines and the television.

Get as much information as you can so you can choose what to include in your talk.

Step 3 _ Planning

Now you have all your information you have to structure it into a lively and interesting
talk.

You must start with an introduction.

· Introduce yourself
· Say what you intend to talk about.
· Say why you have chosen this particular topic
· If you are talking about a certain issue explain what your opinion on the topic is or
what you intend to prove in your talk.

In the central part of the talk you should tell the audience in all about your topic.
You might include
· Interesting or surprising facts
· Exciting or memorable stories ( these are commonly called anecdotes)
· Statistics or figures.
· Quotations from other people.
· Humour.

Long lists of facts or stories with no excitement or humour in them are rarely entertaining
and very hard to listen to. Try to avoid these in your talk.

Conclusion

At the end of your talk sum up what you have said and thank the class for listening to
you. You should now ask if any one has any questions on your topic and be prepared to
answer these the best you can.
You may wish to write your talk on note cards or read from paper.
You must not stare at the writing all the time and try to learn your talk enough to
look mainly at the class.

Step 4 _ Props

To make your talk more interesting and help you illustrate what you are talking about more clearly you m

For example

· Pictures or posters.
· An overhead projector.
· A small clip of video.
· A small piece of music.
· Equipment or articles related to your chosen topic.

Remember these are not to take up you talk time but to enhance your talk.

Step 5 _ Delivery

In talk you are given marks for how well written your talk is and how well delivered it is.
Delivering a talk well means you have to do several things
· Stand up straight and look at the class. This is called keeping good eye contact. Good eye contact m
attention and they are all concentrating on you. Don’t stare at the floor or at your notes!!!!
· Speak clearly and audibly. Every one should be able to hear you and understand you. Don’t mumbl
· Try to use hand gestures and look confident.
· Answer all questions as best you can.

Step 6_ Practise

Once you have prepared you talk practise at home in front of the mirror and eventually friends and famil
Use them to criticise your talk, to point out the bits that may be confusing or boring and to point out the
expanded. They can make lots of helpful suggestions about the content of your talk and the

Remember to tell your teacher in advance what equipment you will need for your talk!!!!!!!!!