Body, voice,
and presence.
A presentation is not an essay with sound. It is a performance of ideas, and performance can be learned.
Last week, in brief.
- Cite specialised knowledge; skip common knowledge, and run every source through CRAAP.
- APA for HASS & Business; IEEE for STEM.
- A thesis is Observation + Analysis, specific, and able to survive “so what?”
Your annotated bibliography, due at the end of this week.
Leave the page for the stage: how your body and voice carry an argument.
This week.
- Submit your annotated bibliography
- Why a talk ≠ a read-aloud essay
- The three channels of a message
- Physical message: posture, eyes, hands
- Vocal variety: pace, pause, volume
- Killing filler words
- Openings & closings that land
- Signposting your audience through
Workbook Ch 21, From page to stage (pp. 92 to 95) · plus your From Page to Stage delivery guide.
Annotated
bibliography.
Four sources, each with summary, assessment, reflection, and one short quotation. Upload before class, it counts toward your participation & homework grade.
The thirty-second self-check.
- Four sources, two academic/professional, two other reliable
- Each passes CRAAP, you can say why
- Correct format throughout, APA or IEEE, never mixed
- Each annotation summarises, assesses, reflects
- One short quotation per source, with a page number
- You know which paragraph each source serves
An annotation that summarises but never assesses. Tell me how reliable the source is and how you'll use it, not just what it says.
A talk is a
performance.
Many students assume reading an essay aloud makes a good presentation. It does not. Structure, visuals, voice and movement carry the ideas.
Same argument, different medium.
| Essay | Presentation | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | In-depth, every nuance. | Brief, clarity over completeness. |
| Language | Complex sentences. | Short, punchy, spoken phrases. |
| Support | Detailed references. | Charts, images, one number at a time. |
| Engagement | Read privately. | Performed, you read the room. |
- Think of the best talk you've ever sat through. What did it do that an essay on the page never could?
Your audience reads three channels at once.
Verbal
What you actually say, your argument, evidence and structure.
Vocal
Pace, pause, pitch and volume, how the words sound.
Physical
Posture, eye contact, gesture and movement, what they see.
A brilliant argument delivered in a flat voice, eyes on the floor, dies on the channels you forgot to manage.
What they see before you speak.
Open and grounded. Feet planted, shoulders back, weight even. No swaying, no podium-hugging.
Immediate. Hold one person for a full thought, then move. Never read the back wall or your slides.
Hands match meaning, mark a list, show a contrast, point to a visual. Then rest. No fidgeting.
Turn your back to the audience to read your own slides. If you must look, glance, then return your eyes to the room.
Picture a speaker who held a whole room. What were their body and voice actually doing?
- → Where did they pause, and what did the silence do?
- → Which channel do you neglect most, words, voice, or body?
- → What one habit will you try in your next thirty seconds on your feet?
A flat voice
loses the room.
Speaking well is not talent. It is preparation, awareness and energy, four dials you can learn to turn.
Four dials. Keep them moving.
The pause. Silence after your hook, after your thesis, and before your final line does more work than any word. It says: this matters.
Replace filler with silence.
Every “um,” “uh,” and “like” tells the audience you are buying time.
A pause in the same place tells them you are choosing your words. Same gap, opposite message.
Record one minute of your talk. Count your fillers. Re-record, replacing each with a closed-mouth pause. Most students halve the count on the second take.
Earn their
attention.
No one owes you their focus. A hook, a story, a statistic, a question, buys the first thirty seconds. Then your thesis keeps them.
Start sharp.
“You opened KakaoTalk before you got out of bed this morning. So did nine in ten Koreans. That reflex is quietly reshaping how we think.”
“The song stuck in your head hit 100 million streams in a week. But who decided you would love it?”
“Today I'm going to talk about an important topic: technology in Korea.”
“My essay is about K-pop and why it's popular.”
“Okay… I guess I'll start now.”
Tell them where they are.
Listeners can't re-read. Signposting language is the map you hand them out loud.
| To… | Say |
|---|---|
| Preview | “Today I'll cover three things…” |
| Transition | “Now that we've seen the causes, let's look at the effects.” |
| Highlight a visual | “As you can see from this chart…” |
| Recap | “To recap, we've covered…” |
End on purpose.
“If we don't question the design, we'll keep accepting the outcomes.”
“It's easy to scroll past a problem. Harder to face it. That's where change begins.”
“So, yeah… that's it.”
“I guess that's all I have to say.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Slow down. Pause before your final sentence. End without rushing, the silence gives your whole talk authority.
Rescue a dead opening
Each opening below is flat. Rewrite it as a hook, a story, statistic, or question tied to the topic.
- “Today I will talk about renewable energy in Korea.”
- “My presentation is about K-pop and soft power.”
- “This is a presentation about Korea's online shopping boom.”
Read both versions to a partner. Watch their face on the first line, that reaction is your real grade.
Hook + thesis, on your feet
Using your semester topic, stand and deliver just the first thirty seconds of your Presentation 1.
- Open with a hook, story, statistic, or question.
- State your thesis out loud, clearly and directly.
- Hold eye contact and use one deliberate pause.
Did the first line earn attention? Was the thesis unmistakable? Where did the pause fall?
Rehearsal is the difference between good and great.
- Practise in real conditions, stand, speak aloud, use your slides
- Record yourself, watch once silent, once with sound
- Time it, stay in the limit without rushing
- Ask for feedback, what did they not understand?
Don't read. Don't memorise word-for-word. Internalise the structure and the key phrases, know the flow, not the script.
The seven that sink a talk.
- Speaking too fast or too softly
- Reading from cue cards or slides
- Robotic, over-academic language
- Turning your back to the audience
- Crowded, unreadable slides
- Forgetting to pause
- Ending without a real closing line
Homework & what's next.
- Submit the annotated bibliography
- Draft your Presentation 1 hook & thesis
- Record one practice minute, count your fillers
Visuals, charts & design. Slides that serve the audience, the CRAP design principles, and how to describe a figure out loud.
Today in one slide.
- A talk is a performance, not a read-aloud essay
- Manage all three channels: words, voice, body
- The pause is your strongest vocal tool
- Open with a hook; state the thesis out loud
- Signpost every transition
- Rehearse the flow, never the script
Perform the ideas.
Week 03 · Next, Visuals, Charts & Design