On Giving a Good Presentations
Dr. M. Mustoe

Here is an abstract dealing with choosing subjects and presenting material for classes in general. Hopefully this will help you with developing a good presentation. The methods here have their foundations in communications literature.

Step 1 Choosing a Subject
After you have been assigned your chapter read it thoroughly. Look for some aspect in the chapter that appeals to you or is interesting to you. Check the list of Ideas and Concepts at the beginning of each chapter. Choose one or more of these and develop these into a presentation. You might look for some special terms defined in each chapter that may be of interest to you that you could develop an idea around. Finding a subject may also take on a more personal sense. The chapter may give you ideas but your idea may become a more specific kind of topic within the context of the region you are studying. Maybe you have been to the place you are studying and thus you have first hand experience you can use, that may help you decide on your subject.
For example, you are babysitting. You've just changed his diaper, gave him his bottle and put him to bed and so you thought you'd do a little reading in your geography text. While you were getting his bottle from the fridge you noticed in the fridge door some Gerber Baby Juice. When you looked closer at the bottle you found it contained mango juice. You remember something about mangos being a tropical fruit and you wonder if they might come from any of the countries you are studying in the geography chapter you have on Central America.
When you finally sit down to read you find out some interesting things about the climate in Central America and how it affects the spatial distribution of crops and the times that they are exported. From reading the Introduction and listening to the lectures you know that you are getting into something in the area of economic geography. You think back to the baby juice in the fridge. You think this might be something you could do your presentation on. You FOCUS your subject from the broad and general to the specific. You decide your presentation will be about tropical agriculture and you will look at where products are grown and why. Maybe you can get some information on tropical fruits from your region being exported to the United States and conclude your presentation with an international kind of connection between the United States and the countries you are studying. This is an example of how you might derive an idea. All because of Mango Baby Juice.

Step 2 Research
Now that you have an idea of what you want to do, gather some research. You can get a lot of information from the text, and this is really OK but you should go beyond this. You might want to deal with some primary source material. What about the mangos in the baby juice, a quick call to Gerber on their 800 number might net you all kinds of interesting things. At this point concentrate on getting a grasp on large ideas, find interesting twists, be open to discovering something new! Become very familiar with your region and how your subject fits in SPATIALLY and then develop it. Don't overdo!

Step 3 Developing the Presentation
You now have all the research complete. You are confident in what you know and it is now time to put something together. First, think about what you know, and how it is has been expressed to you in the text and the other material you have reviewed. Ask yourself this question, What are the most important, pivotal aspects of the subject I am dealing with? Then write these down and review them. This is the core of the information you want to express to your listeners in the presentation. This is what you want to get across to them, this is what they need to know. With this core of information begin writing a personal goal statement.
In my report I will discuss the factors affecting tropical agriculture and how these are expressed spatially in Central America. I will look at commercial tropical fruit crops and see where they are being exported.
The goal statement above is really nothing more than a verbalization of the question in your mind that brought you to the research. Stated as a question it might have read:
What are the factors affecting tropical agriculture in Central America? What commodities are exported from there to here?
Next set forth some objectives that you want your listeners to learn. When you write objective statements think about them as outcomes. Outcomes are things my listeners will learn.......as a result of my presentation. These are things I want them to know because I know they should know it. I had to know these things to understand my subject. You should have at least four objective statement. Start these simply like this:

1. The students will recognize the three agricultural zones of Central America.
2. The students will understand the difference between plantation and hacienda agriculture.
3. The students will understand the environmental impact of tropical agriculture.
4. The students will understand cultural connections to this agriculture.

When you write your objectives you might want to think in terms of the five themes (see Teacher Information Packet in the library or lecture material). The themes, are not geography in themselves, but they are certain something you can scaffold your presentation around to insure you are approaching a spatial theme.
Once you have your goals and objectives go ahead and write your paper or outline or speech. This process is based on personal preference. If you work from notes or read your speech, this is really up to you. You obviously want to organize the information some way so that it flows well.
Graphics are very important in geography. USE MAPS. Put together overheads and use your computer to generate maps and data sheets. Don't overwhelm the audience with slides of endless numbers and data.........THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU REMEMBER WHEN YOU ARE SITTING THERE LISTENING :-). Get your data down to an easily handled format. Make sure your maps are clean and express what you want them to in the the proper scale. Make sure your overheads are of good quality. If you use pictures, have them organized so they can be passed out efficiently. If you have a handout, give it out prior to your presentation. (I also have overheads specifically made for the text, please talk to me if I can help you out with any of these.) If you use video, it should not dominate your presentation. All you will have time for is a short video clip and maybe a few slides. You need to be in control of the media. Remember your presentation is relatively short, you must make the best use of your time. Your listeners need to know what you said they would learn in the objective statements.
A note about class oriented activities. I have had students give presentations on coffee, for example. In this case the student brought in little cups and some coffee from Costa Rica for everyone. Needless to say the room smelled great and in this case the presentation was excellent. I absolutely love it when my students take the initiative to get excited about these projects and go out of their way to do little extra things like this. However, remember the substance of these reports are important and sometimes you can loose sight of this when getting involved in all kinds of experientially based activities. Dear students please be careful about this.

Step 4 Writing Questions
Once you have your presentation down. It is time to write some questions. These should be multiple choice with 4 options. A good rule of thumb to use when writing questions is to write them according to a taxonomy. One taxonomy I use suggests there are basically three levels to questions. Level 1 describes questions whose answers can be found directly in the text (textually explicit). You can read the answer, or in our case hear it. It is right there in black and white. Level 2 is a question that requires the student to read between the lines (textually implicit). This is a higher level of cognitive processing and requires the student to make some deductions. The level 3 question is the highest level and requires the student to use higher order reasoning skills and possibly outside background information they may have obtained.
When you write the two questions for your presentation write them in the level 2 category. Your presentation should include the information that the students need to answer the questions but should also require the students to think between your lines. An example of a level 2 type question might be:

Given what you now know about deciding on a subject for your presentation choose the statement which best describes the decision making approach you should take:
A. You should choose subjects found only in the text.
B. You should use one of the five themes as the subject.
*C. You should choose subjects that relate to the region.
D. Your subject should be economic in nature.

The answer to the above is C. A is wrong because the text may very well be the basis for your study but it is certainly not the only source for subject material. B. is not right because in themselves the five themes are only a structure to look at subjects with. D. is incorrect because this does not have to be the case...it can be cultural. C. is correct because the origin for your subjects are based on the region you are studying. This has been implied in the reading in step 1. Your subjects are tied to the region you are studying.
Develop your questions by using your objective statements as the basis for your evaluation. Your questions are the instruments you will use to evaluate what your students have learned and how well you have taught them! DO NOT TEACH TO YOUR QUESTIONS. Let them think between the lines. When you develop your questions think about the information you will be giving the listeners. How are they going to use this information to reach the goals you have set for them? Will they have enough information? This part is your responsibility. When you help develop some of the thinking skills in your listeners you are helping them to apply and thus retain information. Don't give away your answers but don't hide them so deeply that they can't be found.

Step 5 Giving the Presentation
You are ready to go, you are on time, you have great graphics and you have practiced your presentation and you are running about 15 minutes. When it comes time to give your presentation the first thing you will do is give the following items to me: 1. presentation cover sheet, 2. a copy of your report or outline, 3. a sheet with your questions, and 4. A bibliography. Then you go up and do your report. After the presentation, usually everyone claps and then a few questions might be asked to you.
Requirements For A Good Presentation
1. Be On Time
2. At the time of the presentation hand in all required materials: Cover Sheet, Written Report, separate sheet of two Questions
3. I am requiring all my students to start their presentations by simply STATING your goal statement and DISCUSSING your objectives. This is the introduction to your report. Before getting into your presentation, you simply start with something like this:
My goal in this report is to discuss the factors affecting tropical agriculture and see how these are expressed spatially in Central America. I will look at commercial tropical fruit crops and see where they are being exported.
Some of the things I want you to learn in all of this is ...
I want you to recognize the three agricultural zones of Central America.
And I want you to get an understanding of the different types of agriculture that exists there.... like plantation and hacienda agriculture.
Plus I want you to see some of the environmental impact tropical agriculture has on this area and how it connects culturally to this area.
A good way to do any presentation is to simply..........
4. Do not read your presentation. Know the material.
5. Do not cut and past your presentation. If you use a source that uses terms or words you are not familiar with and you use those terms or words in your presentation....you should be familiar with those terms or words! Student should not get up and give a presentation based on memorized paragraphs from an encyclopedia with words they do not understand. This is not thinking, this is cut and paste.
6. TELL YOUR AUDIENCE WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DISCUSS, THEN DISCUSS IT, THEN TELL THEM WHAT YOU DISCUSSED. OPEN-DISCUSSION-CLOSE. This helps your audience organize the information and that is what you want them to do. In this case, by providing them with your objectives, you will help them to listen to you for answers and listen between your lines for understanding.
7. Put your name on all papers handed in.
8. Staple everything.
Hopefully this outline has helped somewhat. Please come see me if you have problems or need materials. Your presentation will be great! Don't worry. You will succeed