HOW TO KEEP 15' OF PRESENTATION IN FRONT OF A JURY?

I) LET'S GET OFF THE GROUND, SHALL WE?

When you present something orally in front of a jury, you must first remember that it is an oral test. This goes without saying, as one might say, but it is better to emphasize this point nonetheless, because we tend to forget it in a given situation by unconsciously ignoring it.

So let me give you some DOS AND DON'TS before we dive deeper into some of them.

DON'T read your text straight through, giving the impression you are reciting it! Add a little life, a little spontaneity when you talk to someone face to face!

DO look at the examiner from time to time, oscillate your voice to mark the intonations, look at her when you insist on a point in order to solicit her assent on the point you are raising.

DON'T waste too much time searching for your words. Of course, they won't just come to you; they will sometimes slip away! To remind yourself of them, use phrases like: 'Let me think', 'How can I put it another way', 'Let me see', 'How can I say it', 'How can I convey it to you'.

II) COURSE OF THE ORAL PRESENTATION

When you come across the jury, you address them in your source language, that is to say your mother tongue to begin with: Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, whatever …, the one that the members of the jury are supposed to speak, if they are from your country, so that they clarify your identity and tell you the subject on which you will work. 

Once your topic has been prepared, the jury will give you time to develop your arguments in a live presentation. From this point on, English will be the focus language of the exam, which means that everything you say to the jury must be in English, even when you are thinking out loud! Remember, your mission is to prove that you can manage in English, regardless of the situations encountered in the topic being studied, the atmosphere in the room, and the examiners

You must start by saying the following things:

- Hello again jury members or Hello again Madam or Hello again Sir

- I was given to look into a newspaper clip written by [name of the author] taken from the [name of the newspaper or title of article]

- Sorry for my tone of voice, I'm a little stressed out when I start speaking English but everything will balance out as the presentation progresses

- Thank you in advance for your understanding 

- Let me get to the heart of my presentation

- I'll first make an introduction, then develop the ideas and arguments that I intend to bring together before concluding everything 

- Concerning the introduction, we can say right off the bat that … / We can say straight away that … / It can be emphasized from the outset that … / We can mention before all this that …  

- It's a contemporary topic / This is an old topic / This is a topicality that must be addressed in accordance with current codes of ethics

- Provide a summary definition of the topic at hand and focus on developing an outline that represents the organized way on which to base your arguments and ideas

- For example, talking about social media on the Internet represents all the applications available on the World Wide Web that allow users to create and share content. 

- To narrow the topic, we will discuss social media outside of work and social media at work. Or we can choose to elaborate on the pros and cons before drawing a conclusion for an overall summary of the current topic and a question to ask: how far can grey suits (robots) go to make our lives easier?

- The advantages of social networks [cite a text if there is one]. There are many positive and negative aspects.

- However, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, these disadvantages nevertheless exist!

- Some disadvantages to be dealt with in our second part are: The deficit of human usefulness; The increase in unemployment of mainly unskilled workers; The loss of autonomy in relation to machines; The entrepreneurial spirit reduced to a mere advisory role; Our brain will become numb; The poverty of our ideas.

III) LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Concluding the whole topic is an opportunity to summarize it first, then ask a few questions in line with the topic just discussed in order to broaden our views in a new debate that could pick up where we left off.

The wording thereof may borrow the following sentences:

- As we showed above, there are indeed advantages and disadvantages, positive and negative aspects.

- Are we going to witness total domination of machines over us?

- Did the Terminator films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger pave the way for steel collar workers (robots) to dominate humans?