guided presentation meaning

Guided Practice (I do We do You do): Examples & Definition

Guided practice is a teaching practice pioneered by Barbara Rogoff that helps scaffold student learning through modeling and gradual release of responsibility to the student.

It involves three steps for practicing new skills in the classroom:

• First, the teacher models how to do a task to the student.
• Second, the student does the task with guidance from the teacher.
• Third, the student practices the task independently.

This article outlines the most popular teaching strategy of guided practice for teaching : the I do, We do, You do method. You might also hear it called the “ Gradual Release of Responsibility Model ”.

Use this method to write lesson plans, help struggling students, and demonstrate your knowledge of good pedagogical skills during lesson reviews and observations.

Guided Practice Definition

Here are some ways scholars define guided practice. Use these sources to define it in your essay:

• Sharratt (2013, p. 145) defines guided practice as a “transition practice that … allows leaders to pull back and the learners to step forward” through smooth movement from teacher- to student- centered learning.
• Duchesne et al. (2013, p. 90) argue that it is “support provided to enable students to participate in expert activities in increasingly expert ways.”

What we notice in these definitions is two key elements:

• Support: The teacher provides support for learners to help them progress;
• Transition: The process may begin with heavy teacher support and modelling, but should end with near independence on behalf of the learner.

Guided Practice Example

The I do, we do, you do method provides four clear steps for guided practice. It can be used as the basis for lesson plans or a guide when teachers have a student struggling to understand a concept.

1. I Do (Teacher Modelling)

The first step of the I do, we do, you do method is modelled instruction . Modelling gives learners the opportunity to understand the task and gather initial details about how it would be performed.

I recommend using some of the following strategies in the ‘I do’ modelling stage:

• Break the task down into small, clear, understandable steps;
• Use visual aids such as process charts to help students understand the steps;
• Use mnemonic patterns and acronyms as retrieval cues to help students’ memory recall (For example, I use a mnemonic pattern when teaching university students how to write Introductions using the I.N.T.R.O method – see my post here .)
• Encourage students to take notes on key points they might need to remember in the future.

Learners are not necessarily passive in this stage. Learners should be reflecting and actively thinking while they watch the teacher modelling the information. Leave time for students to ask questions at the end of each step in your modelling.

While we often consider modelled instruction as to ‘direct’ and ‘transmissionist’ in its approach, the fact remains that sometimes students need to be given clear, direct instruction on information that is new to them.

The important thing is that we don’t just model instruction. We also need to give students the chance to practice, discuss and experiment with the new information. This is what happens in the following three steps.

2. We Do (Co-Construction)

At this stage, students participate in ‘shared practice’. Students work in groups or pairs to support each other through the learning process. Often, this will involve re-doing the modelling stage (Step 1) while the teacher and teachers’ assistants work to elicit students’ input as much as possible.

At this stage, teachers might want to consider:

• Asking students for their shared input on a plan for completing the task;
• Asking students to recall and predict the next steps in the step-by-step process of completing a task;
• Asking students to debate, discuss or question elements of the process, such as debating which approach is best way for completing a sub-task.
• Encouraging groups to practice through play-based learning .

While students work in groups at this stage, the teacher remains central to shaping the discussion. Some autonomy has now been released to the students to allow them to actively contribute their ideas while they have the support of their peers while completing the task.

3. You Do (Facilitation)

The ‘you do’ stage of this gradual release of responsibility model is the first in which the individual student takes most of the control of the learning process.

In this stage, the student does their best to complete the task on their own. However, the teacher is present to patiently support students’ learning. Teachers and assistants can walk around the classroom giving guidance to any students who need it.

Some teachers prefer to ask students to do the facilitation stage in smaller groups, such as pairs.

Here are some examples of strategies for this stage:

• Teachers encourage students to speak out loud to the teacher about what they’re doing and why they’re doing it;
• Students are encouraged to ask questions when they are stuck. Teachers should provide prompts , open-ended questions and nudges to help students recall the next steps;
• Teachers can provide computer programs or visual aids as prompts for students should they be needed.

It is important that the teacher observes students in this stage to identify misconceptions that students may have developed. If students skip this stage, they will not have an opportunity to be mentored through the early stages of independent learning.

4. You Do (Independent Practice)

Finally, students should reach a point of independent practice where they are freely able to complete the task on their own.

In this stage, strategies you can use include:

• Having the students create a final product that they can display around the classroom;
• Assigning practice of the task or activity as a homework or study task ;
• Asking students to complete the task in a new environment or with a slightly different twist to promote competency across unfamiliar contexts.
• Encouraging enjoyment of the task to promote motivation .

Ensure you provide students with the opportunity to seek facilitation if need be. While you have removed active facilitation, leave the door open for further guidance if the students solicit it.

By the end of Step 4, the teacher will need to re-assess the student’s zone of proximal development. They will have pushed the boundaries of their zone of proximal development out further, and tasks that were previously beyond reach may now be possible with guidance.

Assess the student’s new zone of proximal development and re-start the process at Step 1. The I do, We do, You do process should be considered cyclical.

Image 1: Guided Practice in the Classroom

Links to socio-cultural theory.

Guided practice has its origins in the sociocultural theory of teaching and learning (also known as the social-constructivist theory). This theory emphasises the importance of social interaction for cognitive development .

Guided practice builds on three key theoretical concepts within the sociocultural theory: Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development , Vygotsky’s More Knowledgeable Other and Bruner’s Scaffolding .

a) Zone of Proximal Development

Vygotsky hypothesised that the best way to teach learners is to create lessons that are just too hard for students to complete on their own, but possible for students to do with the aid of a teacher.

We often call this the Goldilocks Principle: A lesson that’s too easy won’t lead to much learning. A lesson that’s far too hard will simply confuse students. But, a lesson that is challenging but not impossible should motivate students and lead to maximum learning development.

Image 2: Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development

B) more knowledgeable other.

For students to achieve maximum progression in their learning, Vygotsky proposed that students should learn alongside a ‘More Knowledgeable Other’. A More Knowledgeable Other can be a teacher, parent or classmate. The MKO should simply be someone who can provide assistance like prompting, modelling, explaining and suggesting that keeps the learner on the path towards achieving their educational goals.

Importantly, because there is a guide, scholars argue that students will be learning in culturally and socially relevant ways. In other words, they learn things the ways their teachers, society and culture have deemed appropriate.

Guided practice is therefore also considered a culturally sensitive pedagogy.

Scaffolding

Bruner expanded on Vygotsky’s ideas by introducing the concept of ‘ scaffolding ’. Instructional scaffolding is a term that emphasises the importance of guidance during the learning process to help a student move through their Zone of Proximal Development.

A scaffold is any learning strategy that keeps a student on the path towards their learning goals. As the student gets more competent at their tasks, the scaffolding should be removed so that the student can eventually complete the task alone.

Image 3: Bruner’s Instructional Scaffolding

Scholarly sources.

Duchesne, S., McMaugh, A., Bochner, S., & Krause, K. L. (2013).   Educational psychology: For learning and teaching  (4th ed.). South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning.

Sharratt, L. (2013). Scaffolded Literacy Assessment and a Model for Teachers’ Professional Development. In Elliott-Johns, S. & Jarvis, D. (Eds.) Perspectives on Transitions in Schooling and Instructional Practice . (pp. 138-155) Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Appendix: Screen Reader Versions of Images

Featured image.

Guided Practice: Duchesne et al. (2013, p. 90) define guided practice as “support provided to enable students to participate in expert activities in increasingly expert ways.”

Definition: Guided practice is a teaching practice pioneered by Barbara Rogoff. It involves three steps for practicing new skills in the classroom. First, the teacher models how to do a task to the student. Second, the student does the task with guidance from the teacher. Third, the student practices the task independently.

Examples: The I Do, We Do, You Do method is an example of guided practice. This is a three-step model:

• I Do: The teacher models the task
• We Do: The teacher and students do the task collaboratively
• You Do: The student graduates to doing the task independently.

What is Guided Practice? Guided practice is an approach to educational instruction based on the sociocultural theory of learning and teaching. It involves the use of teacher guidance and facilitation that is gradually released as students develop competence with a task of skill. The I do, We do, you do method of Guided Practice:

Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development has three zones that can be shown as concentric circles like ripples in a pool. From the inside out, they aer:

• Too Easy Zone: What the student can do without help.
• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): What the student can do with help.
• Too Hard Zone: Within the student’s abilities.

Learner assistance within the ZPD can include:

• More knowledgeable other (teacher, parent, or peer)
• Educational technologies
• Scaffolds: prompting, open ended questioning, modelling

What is Scaffolding? An insturctional scaffold is a temporary learner support provided to help a student learn how to compelte a task. The scaffold should be withdrawn once the student is capable of completing the task alone.

Examples of scaffolding

• Modelling: Demonstrate to the student how to complete the task before asking them to give it a go themselves. This will give them a chance to observe then try out good practice.
• Directing attention: Intervene to direct students’ attention to important elements of a task if you feel the student is going off track. However, remember that following bad leads can sometimes also be a good lession.
• Open-ended questioning: Open-ended questions require students to respondin full sentences, think deeply about their answer, and justify their response.
• Breaking the task into smaller parts: If a task is complex or overwhelming, give students a series of small steps toward success. Once the student has completed each small step, ask them to do the task from beginning to end without support.
• Use Visual Aids: Visual aids with advice or prompts can act as cues to help students work through their task. Consider placing visual aids strategically around the calssroom for students to draw upon when necessary.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 30 Globalization Pros and Cons

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How to Make a Presentation Interactive: 7 Tactics

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How to Make a Presentation Interactive

If you’re giving a speech or presentation , you want your ideas to make an impact on your audience.

But it’s pretty hard to figure out if you are actually making that impact. Audiences usually don’t give us much live feedback.

What happens if you don’t make a presentation interactive? You run the risk of boring your audience, and wasting their time, which can lead to some hilarious results:

It’s up to us as communicators to create a situation where our audiences can participate.

Bear in mind, truly making your presentation interactive will often require changing the structure of the presentation itself.

If you’re delivering a traditional “lecture” style presentation, then it will be extremely challenging to get interaction from your audience.

Not all of these tactics will be possible in your presentation context or office culture.

Some may be advanced tips, but creating a genuinely different kind of presentation will make all the difference.

Here are 7 Key Tactics to Make Your Presentation More Interactive.

1. Hand out Worksheets, Documents or Other Tangibles

One of the simplest tricks when learning how to make a presentation interactive is to use the power of tangibles .

When you provide physical items that the audience can touch and hold, they get more engaged. Any kind of physical movement is good.

Tangible items make your presentation go beyond the visual and auditory senses, and reach their tactile sense.

Consider giving them items like reports, print-outs of your slide deck, diagrams, maps, 3D representations, mockups, product samples, or models.

2. Incorporate Live Survey/ Q&A Tools

Tools like Mentimeter and Slido are great for creating engagement with audiences in person or remotely.

They are best-suited for large audiences.

You provide a code that the audience can access through their phone, and from there they can answer a poll or provide comments.

As the organizer, you can see all of the responses on your device, or display them at the front of the room in real time.

3. Mention or Call on Individual Audience Members by Name

If you know the people in the audience, or have access to their names, feel free to call on them directly.

When I coach clients and students on how to make a presentation interactive, this is a key strategy I emphasize because it’s so simple but effective.

If it’s a more fluid meeting where you can actually have side conversations or receive input from audience members, then this works perfectly.

However, even in a formal presentation where you are giving a one-way lecture, you can still utilize this tactic–just mention a few people’s names in the audience as you speak:

“Now let me get to the next phase of our product rollout, and Rob, I know this was an area you were especially interested in learning about…”

“Vanessa shared with me some of the updates her team has been working on, so I’d like to highlight those now…”

4. Turn Your Presentation into a Guided Discussion

This is a fairly advanced tactic and will require you to be totally comfortable on stage and capable of managing a room.

For this tactic, instead of making a series of statements, you take on a “teaching” role and pose relevant questions to the audience, and then wait for their answers.

As they respond, you comment and pivot from attendee to attendee, adding your own context and insight along the way.

Over time, the audience learns more and more, and they will remain 100% engaged throughout

The key is to introduce new questions from a place of calm confidence, without looking weak or unprepared, and without coming across as condescending.

You will still give all the substantive information you would otherwise provide in a traditional lecture.

It’s just delivered in a more engaging experience.

When done right, this is an extremely powerful way to make your presentation interactive.

5. Include “Quiz” Questions in Your Slides

You can hide key data or facts behind animations in PowerPoint.

Instead of providing that key info immediately, cover it and ask the audience what they think the number is:

“Who can guess what our revenue was last month?”

“Pop quiz. What do you think is our current CPA?”

After they discuss or give their answers, click to animate and reveal the right answer on the slide. And then move to the next quiz question.

You can have a series of questions, one after the other. Or you can pose one quiz question at the beginning of each section of your speech.

This is a great way to keep people engaged as you go through your presentation.

You can also make the presentation interactive by providing small gifts or prizes to those that get a right answer.

6. (For Virtual Presentations) Encourage Them to Submit Questions or Comments in the Live Chat

Audience members don’t often think of submitting questions or comments unless they are specifically asked to.

Many people don’t want to impose on the presenter, and assume that if questions have not been invited, they are not welcome.

Others are just shy and need coaxing.

Very few audience members will boldly stand up, raise their hand, or insert a question without being asked.

So take it upon yourself as the presenter to encourage them to comment in the live chat.

And don’t just tell them once; tell them multiple times throughout your presentation.

This is especially relevant in webinars or livestreams.

Once one or two people have commented, others will often follow.

7. Create an Immersive Experience

This is the most challenging tactic of all.

But if you or your organization are able to make a presentation interactive by creating an immersive experience, it’s probably the most impactful and most memorable.

Consider walk-in exhibits, or live performances. Sound or music can potentially play a role.

Create a skit or live demonstration with a member of your team. Or bring audience members up to the front of the room and demo with them.

Think about how you can include video or audio clips, gifs, or slide animations into the experience.

There might be many ways to creatively communicate your ideas.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO COURSE: PRESENTATION SKILLS: GIVE MORE POWERFUL, MEMORABLE TALKS

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11 Guidelines for Planning & Designing Your Best Presentation

October 23, 2019 / Blog

We’ve all seen our fair share of dull PowerPoint presentations.

You know the ones—those wonderful preloaded templates. The walls of text. The “page turn” transitions…

Suffice it to say, presentations — and their visual aids — have come a long way since the early days of PowerPoint. 

At SlideGenius, we’ve spent the last eight years mastering all the tricks and skills needed to deliver a truly excellent presentation that stands out from the crowd, which is why we wrote this post on 11 tricks you can harness to create a winning presentation:

1) Start with a Strong Hook

They say the first 10 minutes of any presentation are the most crucial.

That time frame is when your audience is most receptive to what you have to say. Fail to catch their interest from the start and you may as well pack it up for the day.

You need to start strong with a compelling hook that makes your audience want to know more.

Propose a thought-provoking question or tap into the essential interests of your audience. The goal is to set the stage for your presentation. Everything you present should be grounded in what you establish at the start, to deliver a satisfying payoff for your audience.

For maximum effect, be sure to do the same with your presentation deck. Here’s how Spotify hooks it’s audience with colorful animation:

This presentation grabs your attention right off the bat with its beautiful, fresh imagery and animation sequences . You can’t help but be excited, can you?

2) Use Storytelling to Help Information Retention

The typical business presentation can be boring, bland, and emotionless, the culprit typically being the presenter focusing too much on hard facts without any sense of narrative. 

Information will always have its place in presentations, but the human element of your presentation should not be overlooked.

Numerous studies have shown that humans remember information more easily when it’s structured like a story. (In fact, memory champions regularly integrate a storyline structure to help recall long strings of information.)

Having a basic narrative structure  helps establish a flow that audiences can follow and anticipate. Just ask Dr. Zak, who carefully explains how the human brain responds to effective storytelling in this video:

As you plan your slides, create a sense of progression and development. Begin with an introduction that establishes and contextualizes who you are and what you offer.

Naturally, the middle of the presentation should build on your foundation, providing proof you can deliver on your claims.

Your conclusion should tie everything together and deliver a feeling of fulfillment and excitement.

3) Use Visuals to Grab (and Keep) Your Audience’s Attention

Just like there have been countless number of studies on how storytelling can help increase memory, an equal number of studies have proven how humans are visual creatures.

We don’t just crave imagery, we need it.

So why don’t more high-stakes presentations take visuals more seriously? 

Your presentations should make use of high-quality images, diagrams, and chart designs while integrating them with attention-grabbing animations .

The trick is not to overdo it (too many animations can actually be overwhelming), to make them consistent, and to select images that your audience will be able to relate to (more on that later).

Here’s example from our friends over at Red Bull:

Pretty cool, huh?

See how cohesive the narrative and design elements are? It really ties in Red Bull’s identity and keeps the presentation consistent and visually stimulating.

4) Don’t Show. TELL.

The most common mistake presenters are guilty of is an over reliance on text. This creates two glaring problems:

• Blocks of text are not appealing to look at.
• Too much text can cause you to use the slides as a script. When faced with such unfiltered information, audiences are sure to tune out quickly. 

As stated previously, you need to tell your story using visuals — and the best way to allow that is to minimize text on each slide to create more real estate for imagery and animation to flourish.

It will take some time and practice to get used to, but you can rely on images to deliver the same message a line of text normally would.

(After all, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, as they say.)

Here’s an example of how we helped Duolingo visualize information that would have otherwise been dull:

It’s important to keep in mind that with less text to read from, it will rest on your presentation skills to emphasize the essential information on screen.

5) Understand Your Audience for Maximum Effect

Marketing 101… know your audience .

Always be mindful of who exactly you are presenting to because people only care about what you can do for them.

If you’re trying to garner a company-wide buy-in for a new Design Operations initiative, the presentation you’d use to present your argument to C-level executives should be much different than the one you’d use to present to your company’s creative team.

Both teams will benefit from the new initiative. However, each team has different goals to achieve. Hence, the information in each presentation should speak to each audience’s respective goals.

And yet time and again, we see companies using the same sales presentation across different buyer personas, or recycling presentations meant for a specific department across the entire organization.

A more tangible example comes from brand communication coach Carmine Gallo’s book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs , where he helped a CEO prepare a sales presentation for an audience of tech-savvy analysts.

Gallo suggested the CEO simply state the relevance of his company’s technological services to the audience instead of his originally lengthy and technical explanation.

The CEO asked his audience to hold their cellphones out. Then, he elaborated on how his company made those devices more efficient for its users.

Let’s think about this for a moment. His audience was mostly tech-savvy people. Although most of the audience could have kept up with the CEO’s original tech-heavy introduction, they still needed to know why the CEO’s topic matters to them.

With this approach, the CEO was able to keep his presentation simple and relevant with an engaging delivery about what his company can offer his audience.

6) Encourage Audience Participation for Increased Engagement

Audience participation is important because it deepens your relationship with your audience, while exhibiting your openness and transparency as a presenter.

The point is to treat your audience as an integral part of your presentation (instead of simply spectators) because based on the form of interaction, it can help your audience make important connections around what you’re presenting.

Here are some things you can do to encourage audience interaction:

• Ask them questions
• Give them something physical to do
• Give them something to react to
• Invite a volunteer
• Use a real object as a prop
• Use body movement

Speaking coach, Alex Lyon, goes into each tip in more detail in this video:

But remember to always be on your toes. Keeping the door open for feedback invites a slew of personalities. Some will authentically want to know more, while others will nitpick every single detail down to its bones.

7) Always Push Your Branding

As the presenter, you have full control over the information featured in the presentation.

Consider the mindset of your audience.

Do they have the time or interest to sift through dense sheets of financial information? Too much information in a presentation is a  mistake  many still fall for.

Take matters into your own hands. Carefully handpick the most essential pieces of information and showcase them in interesting ways. This can be done using infographics, charts, or sometimes simply just raw numbers . It’s important that your audience understands what you’re telling them quickly and clearly. Over complicating things by putting in too much information only risks confusing your audience.

Color, imagery, and language are big pieces of your branding. 

Every slide is an opportunity to educate your audience on exactly who you are. 

It’s all about consistency. 

The goal is for your audience to accurately recall the main aspects of your brand. Whether it’s your distinct color scheme, unique design elements, or fresh tone of voice, keep reminding your audience who you are and what makes you different from the rest.  

Here’s a pitch deck we created for NBC Universal that shows consistent branding in action:

8) Keep Data Simple

As the presenter, you have full control over the information featured in the presentation. 

Consider the mindset of your audience. Do they have the time or interest enough to sift through dense sheets of financial information? 

No, they don’t. 

There is such a thing as too much data in a presentation , and it’s a mistake many still make:

Over-complicating things by putting in too much information only risks confusing and alienating your audience, especially when data is important to their job roles.

The trick is to carefully handpick the most essential pieces of information and showcase them in interesting ways. It’s important that your audience is able to understand what you’re telling them quickly and clearly. 

This can be done using infographics, charts, or sometimes simply just the numbers. 

Here’s a revamped, simplified, easier-to-consume version of the above slide:

9) Bring the Energy

Enthusiasm will go a long way, and your audience will gravitate to you for it. 

No one likes having to sit through a presentation by someone who looks like they don’t want to be there. By keeping your energy up, you naturally project a feeling of confidence.  

Eye contact is a simple detail that’s worth remembering because it easily and directly connects you with your audience.

Remember to focus on who you are speaking to, whether it’s a face-to-face meeting with a potential partner or in front of a conference audience.

10) Include a Call to Action to Encourage the Next Step

In the narrative of your presentation, the final slide does not mean the end of the story.

When it’s all said and done, all your cards laid out on the table, you must guide your audience to make the next move. Whether you’re looking to make another sale or pen a new partnership, audiences need to be told explicitly what their next step should be. As the presenter, you can direct your audience where you want them to go.

While it ultimately rests on their shoulders to make decisions, you did your part to enforce your goals for the presentation.

11) Practice…a Lot

While it ultimately rests on their shoulders to make decisions, you need to do your part to enforce your goals for the presentation. After all, “practice makes perfect.”  

Before you even step into the boardroom, you should know your presentation by heart. Rehearsals allow you to iron out any kinks that may affect the quality of your presentation.  

Practicing is a great way to ease the nerves before the big pitch. The constant repetition will prepare you for the mindset you have to be in to deliver a winning presentation. A practiced speech exudes a sense of confidence and expertise that audience will instantly take notice of. It shows that you are a professional who takes their work seriously, making you come off as the ideal business partner.

Ready to take your presentation to the next level? Schedule a free presentation consultation now. Contact us today!

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How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

By Krystle Wong , Jul 20, 2023

A top-notch presentation possesses the power to drive action. From winning stakeholders over and conveying a powerful message to securing funding — your secret weapon lies within the realm of creating an effective presentation .  

Being an excellent presenter isn’t confined to the boardroom. Whether you’re delivering a presentation at work, pursuing an academic career, involved in a non-profit organization or even a student, nailing the presentation game is a game-changer.

In this article, I’ll cover the top qualities of compelling presentations and walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to give a good presentation. Here’s a little tip to kick things off: for a headstart, check out Venngage’s collection of free presentation templates . They are fully customizable, and the best part is you don’t need professional design skills to make them shine!

These valuable presentation tips cater to individuals from diverse professional backgrounds, encompassing business professionals, sales and marketing teams, educators, trainers, students, researchers, non-profit organizations, public speakers and presenters. 

No matter your field or role, these tips for presenting will equip you with the skills to deliver effective presentations that leave a lasting impression on any audience.

Click to jump ahead:

What are the 10 qualities of a good presentation?

Step-by-step guide on how to prepare an effective presentation, 9 effective techniques to deliver a memorable presentation, faqs on making a good presentation, how to create a presentation with venngage in 5 steps.

When it comes to giving an engaging presentation that leaves a lasting impression, it’s not just about the content — it’s also about how you deliver it. Wondering what makes a good presentation? Well, the best presentations I’ve seen consistently exhibit these 10 qualities:

1. Clear structure

No one likes to get lost in a maze of information. Organize your thoughts into a logical flow, complete with an introduction, main points and a solid conclusion. A structured presentation helps your audience follow along effortlessly, leaving them with a sense of satisfaction at the end.

Regardless of your presentation style , a quality presentation starts with a clear roadmap. Browse through Venngage’s template library and select a presentation template that aligns with your content and presentation goals. Here’s a good presentation example template with a logical layout that includes sections for the introduction, main points, supporting information and a conclusion: 

2. Engaging opening

Hook your audience right from the start with an attention-grabbing statement, a fascinating question or maybe even a captivating anecdote. Set the stage for a killer presentation!

The opening moments of your presentation hold immense power – check out these 15 ways to start a presentation to set the stage and captivate your audience.

3. Relevant content

Make sure your content aligns with their interests and needs. Your audience is there for a reason, and that’s to get valuable insights. Avoid fluff and get straight to the point, your audience will be genuinely excited.

4. Effective visual aids

Picture this: a slide with walls of text and tiny charts, yawn! Visual aids should be just that—aiding your presentation. Opt for clear and visually appealing slides, engaging images and informative charts that add value and help reinforce your message.

With Venngage, visualizing data takes no effort at all. You can import data from CSV or Google Sheets seamlessly and create stunning charts, graphs and icon stories effortlessly to showcase your data in a captivating and impactful way.

5. Clear and concise communication

Keep your language simple, and avoid jargon or complicated terms. Communicate your ideas clearly, so your audience can easily grasp and retain the information being conveyed. This can prevent confusion and enhance the overall effectiveness of the message. 

6. Engaging delivery

Spice up your presentation with a sprinkle of enthusiasm! Maintain eye contact, use expressive gestures and vary your tone of voice to keep your audience glued to the edge of their seats. A touch of charisma goes a long way!

7. Interaction and audience engagement

Turn your presentation into an interactive experience — encourage questions, foster discussions and maybe even throw in a fun activity. Engaged audiences are more likely to remember and embrace your message.

Transform your slides into an interactive presentation with Venngage’s dynamic features like pop-ups, clickable icons and animated elements. Engage your audience with interactive content that lets them explore and interact with your presentation for a truly immersive experience.

8. Effective storytelling

Who doesn’t love a good story? Weaving relevant anecdotes, case studies or even a personal story into your presentation can captivate your audience and create a lasting impact. Stories build connections and make your message memorable.

A great presentation background is also essential as it sets the tone, creates visual interest and reinforces your message. Enhance the overall aesthetics of your presentation with these 15 presentation background examples and captivate your audience’s attention.

9. Well-timed pacing

Pace your presentation thoughtfully with well-designed presentation slides, neither rushing through nor dragging it out. Respect your audience’s time and ensure you cover all the essential points without losing their interest.

10. Strong conclusion

Last impressions linger! Summarize your main points and leave your audience with a clear takeaway. End your presentation with a bang , a call to action or an inspiring thought that resonates long after the conclusion.

In-person presentations aside, acing a virtual presentation is of paramount importance in today’s digital world. Check out this guide to learn how you can adapt your in-person presentations into virtual presentations . 

Preparing an effective presentation starts with laying a strong foundation that goes beyond just creating slides and notes. One of the quickest and best ways to make a presentation would be with the help of a good presentation software . 

Otherwise, let me walk you to how to prepare for a presentation step by step and unlock the secrets of crafting a professional presentation that sets you apart.

1. Understand the audience and their needs

Before you dive into preparing your masterpiece, take a moment to get to know your target audience. Tailor your presentation to meet their needs and expectations , and you’ll have them hooked from the start!

2. Conduct thorough research on the topic

Time to hit the books (or the internet)! Don’t skimp on the research with your presentation materials — dive deep into the subject matter and gather valuable insights . The more you know, the more confident you’ll feel in delivering your presentation.

3. Organize the content with a clear structure

No one wants to stumble through a chaotic mess of information. Outline your presentation with a clear and logical flow. Start with a captivating introduction, follow up with main points that build on each other and wrap it up with a powerful conclusion that leaves a lasting impression.

Delivering an effective business presentation hinges on captivating your audience, and Venngage’s professionally designed business presentation templates are tailor-made for this purpose. With thoughtfully structured layouts, these templates enhance your message’s clarity and coherence, ensuring a memorable and engaging experience for your audience members.

Don’t want to build your presentation layout from scratch? pick from these 5 foolproof presentation layout ideas that won’t go wrong. 

4. Develop visually appealing and supportive visual aids

Spice up your presentation with eye-catching visuals! Create slides that complement your message, not overshadow it. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean you need to overload your slides with text.

Well-chosen designs create a cohesive and professional look, capturing your audience’s attention and enhancing the overall effectiveness of your message. Here’s a list of carefully curated PowerPoint presentation templates and great background graphics that will significantly influence the visual appeal and engagement of your presentation.

5. Practice, practice and practice

Practice makes perfect — rehearse your presentation and arrive early to your presentation to help overcome stage fright. Familiarity with your material will boost your presentation skills and help you handle curveballs with ease.

6. Seek feedback and make necessary adjustments

Don’t be afraid to ask for help and seek feedback from friends and colleagues. Constructive criticism can help you identify blind spots and fine-tune your presentation to perfection.

With Venngage’s real-time collaboration feature , receiving feedback and editing your presentation is a seamless process. Group members can access and work on the presentation simultaneously and edit content side by side in real-time. Changes will be reflected immediately to the entire team, promoting seamless teamwork.

7. Prepare for potential technical or logistical issues

Prepare for the unexpected by checking your equipment, internet connection and any other potential hiccups. If you’re worried that you’ll miss out on any important points, you could always have note cards prepared. Remember to remain focused and rehearse potential answers to anticipated questions.

8. Fine-tune and polish your presentation

As the big day approaches, give your presentation one last shine. Review your talking points, practice how to present a presentation and make any final tweaks. Deep breaths — you’re on the brink of delivering a successful presentation!

In competitive environments, persuasive presentations set individuals and organizations apart. To brush up on your presentation skills, read these guides on how to make a persuasive presentation and tips to presenting effectively . 

Whether you’re an experienced presenter or a novice, the right techniques will let your presentation skills soar to new heights!

From public speaking hacks to interactive elements and storytelling prowess, these 9 effective presentation techniques will empower you to leave a lasting impression on your audience and make your presentations unforgettable.

1. Confidence and positive body language

Positive body language instantly captivates your audience, making them believe in your message as much as you do. Strengthen your stage presence and own that stage like it’s your second home! Stand tall, shoulders back and exude confidence. 

2. Eye contact with the audience

Break down that invisible barrier and connect with your audience through their eyes. Maintaining eye contact when giving a presentation builds trust and shows that you’re present and engaged with them.

3. Effective use of hand gestures and movement

A little movement goes a long way! Emphasize key points with purposeful gestures and don’t be afraid to walk around the stage. Your energy will be contagious!

4. Utilize storytelling techniques

Weave the magic of storytelling into your presentation. Share relatable anecdotes, inspiring success stories or even personal experiences that tug at the heartstrings of your audience. Adjust your pitch, pace and volume to match the emotions and intensity of the story. Varying your speaking voice adds depth and enhances your stage presence.

5. Incorporate multimedia elements

Spice up your presentation with a dash of visual pizzazz! Use slides, images and video clips to add depth and clarity to your message. Just remember, less is more—don’t overwhelm them with information overload. 

Turn your presentations into an interactive party! Involve your audience with questions, polls or group activities. When they actively participate, they become invested in your presentation’s success. Bring your design to life with animated elements. Venngage allows you to apply animations to icons, images and text to create dynamic and engaging visual content.

6. Utilize humor strategically

Laughter is the best medicine—and a fantastic presentation enhancer! A well-placed joke or lighthearted moment can break the ice and create a warm atmosphere , making your audience more receptive to your message.

7. Practice active listening and respond to feedback

Be attentive to your audience’s reactions and feedback. If they have questions or concerns, address them with genuine interest and respect. Your responsiveness builds rapport and shows that you genuinely care about their experience.

8. Apply the 10-20-30 rule

Apply the 10-20-30 presentation rule and keep it short, sweet and impactful! Stick to ten slides, deliver your presentation within 20 minutes and use a 30-point font to ensure clarity and focus. Less is more, and your audience will thank you for it!

9. Implement the 5-5-5 rule

Simplicity is key. Limit each slide to five bullet points, with only five words per bullet point and allow each slide to remain visible for about five seconds. This rule keeps your presentation concise and prevents information overload.

Simple presentations are more engaging because they are easier to follow. Summarize your presentations and keep them simple with Venngage’s gallery of simple presentation templates and ensure that your message is delivered effectively across your audience.

1. How to start a presentation?

To kick off your presentation effectively, begin with an attention-grabbing statement or a powerful quote. Introduce yourself, establish credibility and clearly state the purpose and relevance of your presentation.

2. How to end a presentation?

For a strong conclusion, summarize your talking points and key takeaways. End with a compelling call to action or a thought-provoking question and remember to thank your audience and invite any final questions or interactions.

3. How to make a presentation interactive?

To make your presentation interactive, encourage questions and discussion throughout your talk. Utilize multimedia elements like videos or images and consider including polls, quizzes or group activities to actively involve your audience.

In need of inspiration for your next presentation? I’ve got your back! Pick from these 120+ presentation ideas, topics and examples to get started. 

Creating a stunning presentation with Venngage is a breeze with our user-friendly drag-and-drop editor and professionally designed templates for all your communication needs. 

Here’s how to make a presentation in just 5 simple steps with the help of Venngage:

Step 1: Sign up for Venngage for free using your email, Gmail or Facebook account or simply log in to access your account. 

Step 2: Pick a design from our selection of free presentation templates (they’re all created by our expert in-house designers).

Step 3: Make the template your own by customizing it to fit your content and branding. With Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, you can easily modify text, change colors and adjust the layout to create a unique and eye-catching design.

Step 4: Elevate your presentation by incorporating captivating visuals. You can upload your images or choose from Venngage’s vast library of high-quality photos, icons and illustrations. 

Step 5: Upgrade to a premium or business account to export your presentation in PDF and print it for in-person presentations or share it digitally for free!

By following these five simple steps, you’ll have a professionally designed and visually engaging presentation ready in no time. With Venngage’s user-friendly platform, your presentation is sure to make a lasting impression. So, let your creativity flow and get ready to shine in your next presentation!

What is Guided Discovery?

Guided Discovery is a technique used to present and clarify language in an inductive and student-centred way. In this post, we’ll provide definitions, tips and downloadable Guided Discovery activities that you can adapt and use in your classroom.

Defining Guided Discovery:

In guided discovery activities, the teacher provides learners with the chance to be exposed to and analyse language in order to help them understand the rules by themselves. By using a task, questions or awareness-raising activities, students are led to identify the use, meaning, form and pronunciation of the target language. Students can be asked to state the rules they have worked out, or use the language to put the rules into practice to find out how much they understood about the concepts they were working with. It is important to remember that the language presented needs to be contextualised, and learners should be exposed to more than one sample of the target language to be able to compare and contrast language items.

In the next section, you will find three examples of Guided Discovery activities that you can use and adapt to your learners. It is important to remember that these are not lesson plans, but suggestions that can be incorporated to your lessons depending on your lesson aims .

Vocabulary:

These Guided Discovery activities aim at raising learners' awareness of adjective-noun collocations .

Level: B2/C1

Context: album reviews

Linguistic aim: adjective-noun collocations

Taylor Swift album review

Led Zeppelin album review

You can click on the links below for the answer keys:

Taylor Swift album review Answer Key

Led Zeppelin album review Answer Key

This Guided Discovery activity aims at raising learners' awareness of adverbs.

Level: A2/B1

Context: Adverts

Linguistic aim: adverbs

Rocket Mortgage advert

You can click on the links below for the answer key:

Rocket Mortgage advert Answer Key

Advantages of using Guided Discovery:

Making learning more memorable:

Some authors argue that asking learners to work out the rules by themselves, instead of providing the rules, might help students internalise and retain them in their long-term memory. It is important, however, to understand your students' learning preferences when choosing which approach to use to present and clarify language. It might be a good idea to vary the technique employed in order to cater for different learning needs.

Making learning more student-centred:

Students should be able to work out rules and patterns by themselves, or collaboratively, during Guided Discovery. For example, instead of asking CCQs , the teacher might pose a task for learners to check understanding of meaning by themselves. The role of the teacher is to monitor and provide support should learners need. Using a technique such as Guided Discovery might also help teachers keep their talking time under control.

Fostering learner autonomy:

Guided Discovery activities help students practice how to identify patterns of language and reflect upon them. This might help them become better able to do the same when not in the classroom, leading to more autonomous and independent learning.

Andreia Zakime is an Academic Coordinator at Cultura Inglesa São Paulo, a CELTA tutor and one of the co-founders of What is ELT?

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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

• Carmine Gallo

Five tips to set yourself apart.

Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).

I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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Teaching English with Guided Discovery for ESL

Coleen monroe.

• February 7, 2020

You could plan a lesson to teach verb tenses by defining the tense, giving examples in sentences, and then passing out a worksheet for your students to practice. Old and reliable, but boring! Instruction in ESL simply must be more than perfunctory to fit into the 21st century. Using guided discovery for ESL is a way to achieve balance in the classroom. You want to teach language, after all, and language is so much more than knowledge of grammar rules and memorizing lists of vocabulary, right?

If you’re new to teaching, you’ll want to get initial training and qualification with a TEFL certificate . You can explore our online TEFL courses to get started!

What are the advantages of using guided discovery for ESL?

The goal of all language teaching is, at its core, to facilitate communication and eventually allow the student to be an independent user of the language. Related to this is the concept of  Communicative Competency . This concept is relevant in general in ESL, but especially when using the guided discovery method. It refers to students having both the knowledge of the language and the ability to use it real-life situations in order to communicate.

The guided discovery approach has the advantage of teaching your students language in a way that allows them to remember it and understand its relationship to other language and background knowledge they already have. Then they can use it autonomously and in unique situations. Communication!

What does guided discovery for ESL mean? What does it emphasize?

Guided Discovery, also called the inductive method, is an approach that removes you, the teacher, from the main role of “explainer” and extends to the students the opportunity to question and discover the target language. When they have done that, they can then construct their own system of what it means and how it is used, better solidifying the language in their minds for later recollection. This method emphasizes collaboration between students and good scaffolding from the teacher to produce the most independence from students.

How does the guided discovery method work?

For this concept to work, you have to create materials and a setting that places the target language in a context that is relevant and interesting enough for the students to care about. When a student’s interest is piqued, they have a task to accomplish that can only be done by actively engaging with the language. Puzzles, codes, and narratives can all be used to achieve this end.

When you start with the whole language (e.g. present passive) and the students have to discover the language and how it works (i.e. the rules, the standards, the exceptions, etc.), you are incorporating a top-down approach to language inquiry.

What are the four main elements of a guided discovery lesson plan?

For our purposes, there are four essential elements of a guided discovery lesson plan:

Collaboration

Task setting, consolidation.

Start out with having a great ESL classroom routine. You must establish that students are expected to talk to one another in English and that they are expected to collaborate. This does take some time to build, but having students work with others always, even if they don’t want to, will help to create the communication that we need for this approach to work.

Get ideas for routines to use in classes of kids in this related article:  ESL Classroom Management Routines for Teaching Young Learners . 

Set the task for the students. This is where your skill in scaffolding a lesson is key. Put key phrases on the board for students to use, but don’t tell them what they mean or how they are used. Show an open-ended question and steps for exploring it. Tell the first part of a story and leave the next part of it open to interpretation. Introduce a “crime” and tell the students to use a worksheet to discover whodunit.

Make sure that you don’t tip your hand at all, and keep your face neutral so that they really have to think about the task. One way to ensure collaboration is to use small groups or pairs to make each student participate as much as possible.

While they are engaged in the task, you take on the role of “monitor,” remaining outside the activity until you are needed (for example, if communication breaks down). If you have set up the activity well, students will work toward the goal while relying on each other for practice and to get feedback.

At the end of the task, you should bring the class back together and check their work. This is the time to check for common errors and correct them (it’s okay to be more of an explainer here, now that the students have discovered how to use the language). Use questions to help the students discover further information about the target language and share it with the group.

What is an example of an ESL guided discovery grammar lesson plan?

Example of a simple sequence using the guided discovery method.

Have students read a brief, interesting news article. Give them a graphic organizer (a visual display that demonstrates relationships between facts, concepts or ideas) with four sections labeled:

present      |      past         |       future       |        I don’t know

After reading the article for comprehension, students must work collaboratively to organize all verbs from the article into the categories on the graphic organizer. Consider not allowing them to use grammar references for at least part of the task time, to increase their cognitive processing.

When they’re done, have each group list three things they notice about the verbs in each category. Share the lists. While monitoring, you will clearly see problems students are having. After addressing all comments and questions, you can dive into direct instruction in order to differentiate between the forms they found, by explicitly teaching each form.

Additional example of a guided discovery lesson plan

Many English courses incorporate vocabulary lessons into the curriculum, which means that you’ll occasionally see a list of new vocabulary that students have to recognize and use within the course of a single lesson. Surely you can only do this through rote memorization of lists, right? Nope. You can use a guided discovery vocabulary sequence to help the students remember the new words!

Say you have a list of target words (eat, banana, fruit, apple, vegetable). You want the students to discover the words on their own without revealing them or simply drilling the vocabulary.

Step 1: You can break up the words into their constituent parts and then display them on the whiteboard or a PowerPoint. In small groups, allow the students to try to form as many words as they can from the parts on the board.

The point of this first step is NOT for them to get all the words. It’s to make them think about the letters and words they may already know for at least three minutes.

• You could put only letters on the board to make it harder at first: e a t b a f i n a n g e l t a b l e a t a p r u p e v e.
• Or you may want use graphemes or “word parts,” such as:  ban  e ta  ea t ble a  t, a ppl e, veg na, fr ui.
• You can make this easier by telling them how many words to try to make.
• Or you can make it harder by not saying how many words there are supposed to be.

Step 2: Using a PPT or erasing the first setup, display the same words in “scrambled” form (move the letters but keep the words themselves together): tea, naanab, tufri, papel, geevbatel.

Give additional time for the students to try to unscramble the words. By this time, hopefully they get more words since the scrambled words are easier than individual letters. (This skill is commonly needed for tests.)

Step 3 : Reveal the words by writing them on the board or using a PPT and ask the students to draw a picture of what each means. Give three minutes for this task in small groups.

Step 4: Finally, display the pictures and have students look at them to decide if the drawings are right with little teacher input. They should look at their own drawings and those of other groups.

Optional: You could add an additional step where the students must decide which words are nouns, verbs, or adjectives. This helps connect it to grammar for later use.

(The guided discovery lesson plan above takes about 30-35 minutes.)

What is the role of teachers in guided discovery activities?

Now you’re not just teaching grammar rules; you’ve used a guided discovery for ESL to help students see the connection between grammar concepts they already know, and build on those connections in a proactive, communicative way. Your role as a teacher in the guided discovery paradigm is to seek to remove yourself from the conversation as much as is appropriate and to provide the framework for the students’ success.

Want to learn more teaching strategies for the English language classroom?  Next, read experienced teacher, Coleen’s, lesson plan for teaching parts of speech.

Coleen Monroe is a Colorado native who has left a trail of new homes for herself around the world. She's set foot in 30 countries and lived on four continents in the last eleven years. Her nomad homes have been in Chilean Patagonia, France, Italy, Switzerland, South Korea, England, and Iceland. Her latest travel adventures took her to Yunnan, Beijing, Jiangxi, and Southern China, where she's currently teaching.

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• Presenting techniques

Presenting is a craft that requires a thoughtful approach. There’s a lot of stuff to include in the good presentation. From quality visuals to a compelling speech, everything matters. Doing a presentation on your own may be quite a challenge especially if it’s your first time experience with the presentations. What can really help though, are the effective presentation techniques. In essence, they are the blueprint for your presentation, that helps you to hit all the right spots. Let’s look into some of those techniques.

Presentation Methods

Before you start thinking of a technique, let’s first understand the presentation methods and how they relate to the audience and the content of your presentation. Among the different presentation methods, the main ones are formal and formal. Their difference is mainly in the style of your delivery and the data presentation methods. The formal presentation is best suited for the business meetings or college level, scientific presentations. The informal methods of presentation can best be used during the smaller meetings with your team to discuss business subjects or, for example, at a Ted-like speech event.

Method 1: Keeping Everything Simple

This is a rather basic technique. Just strip your presentation of all the unnecessary information, leaving only the core statements that you want to address. Simplicity not only helps your audience to understand your points better but even more, this data presentation method lowers the risk of making a mistake, forgetting — and saves you and your audience quite a lot of time! There are different definitions of simplicity — sometimes just a few words are enough, while in other cases several bullet points on the slide may be sufficient. Choose what suits your topic best.

Method 2: Good Start 

This method of presentation is all about attention-grabbing. Starting your presentation with a powerful statement, unusual fact or an interesting question will make the audience engage in your presentation instantly. Another great way to start is a joke, though humor can be quite a landmine, especially when you’re presenting in front of strangers, and you are not sure whether your joke would be fun or actually offensive.  So, try to think of something neutral, yet funny.

Method 3: Use  Visuals in your Presentation

Visuals are a must for any presentation and are able not only to support your speech but also to tell and contribute to the stuff you’re telling about. The pictures, graphs, infographics, and even short videos especially when done by presentation design services are what truly make the presentation, and help you to connect with your audience. A carefully selected visual connects both with your speech and the slide content, making your presentation methods work in complete harmony. What is more, visuals can serve as a great way to help you recall your speech in case you suddenly forgot some of it during the presentation.

Method 4:   Rehearse

Don’t rush to tell your presentation just once you’ve made it. Instead, try to first rehearse your presentation in front of a mirror. This presentation technique allows you to spot the mistakes and downfalls in your speech and visual part and improve powerpoint presentation . What is more, it can also make you more confident, as with each time you rehearse you’ll memorize your stuff better and better. Bonus points for starting rehearsing from the random spots in your presentation — using this presentation technique will allow you to become completely familiar with your information.

Method 5:   10/20/30 Presentation Rule

While it may not be applied to all of the presentations, the ones that you are usually dealing with can really benefit from it. 10 20 30 rule is about the time and size of your presentation: 

• Your presentation should have no more than 10 slides
• The time needed for the presentation should be no more than 20 minutes
• The font you are using for presentation text (if there is any on slides) is no less than 30 point

Method 6:  Storytelling

Telling a story is a powerful presentation technique for keeping the audience interested. In general, people get bored from being fed just straight-up facts and numbers for a long time. However, an interesting story, connected to the subject of your presentation gives that personal touch to it, engaging the audience into what you are talking about. What is more, a good story in the context of the presentation will actually resonate with the audience, causing more approval to you as an expert.

• Tell a personal  story .
• Create suspense.
• Bring characters to life.
• Build up to S.T.A.R moment.

Method 7:   Presentate with your Voice

Speech is the most common method of presentation . When you are presenting, it’s important not only WHAT you say, but also HOW do you say it. Creating a proper voice for presentations is actually one of the things you need rehearsal for. Your goal is to sound confident and interested in the subject you are telling about. What is more, it is important to not make unnecessary pauses and avoid the “ummm”, “oh” and other similar stuff that slows down your presentation and may put off the audience.

Method 8:   Know your Audience

Make sure that the data presentation methods you are using make your data  relevant to your audience. The research of your audience is needed to craft a relatable story, as well as to understand what approach in presenting you may want to take. After you’ve done the research, you can just tell the audience what it wants and expects to hear. Such an approach would result in the satisfied and interested audience enjoying your presentation. And in this case your presentation would surely and up being a huge success!

Method 9:   Back up plan

Even though you may plan everything in advance, something can always go wrong. The strange ability of the hardware to malfunction right in the middle of your presentation is probably one of the most known presentation-related memes. So, plan at least some of the bad scenarios. For example, have a printed set of slides with you during your presentation. Check everything right before you’ll start presenting. A good idea also is to have your script written out so that in case you have completely forgotten some of its parts, you can easily and quickly look into it and goon with the presentation.

Method 10:   Relax

This one is not only a presentation technique , but a great life technique as well. Actually, the most common reason for the mistakes during presentations are the nerves and fear a lot of people feel while presenting. It’s absolutely normal to be a little worried about the presentation, but you have to instill confidence in your knowledge and expertise with the subject among the audience, and it’s hard to do if you feel fear. Try to reason with yourself — you have rehearsed, prepared great visuals, learned about the audience and even have a plan B in case the situation gets worse. There’s nothing to worry about — you have all the right presentation techniques !

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• 50 tips on how to improve PowerPoint presentations in 2022-2023 [Updated]
• Keynote VS PowerPoint
• Types of presentations
• Present financial information visually in PowerPoint to drive results

• Business Slides

Private: How to become a public speaker

How to make a presentation interactive

8 rules of effective presentation

Understanding the Value and Benefits of Guided Selling

Businesses fiercely compete for customer attention. The secret weapon? Guided selling. Merging cutting-edge technology with personalization, it’s redefining how we shop. It tailors the buying experience using AI and extensive data, guiding customers as they compare products, understand pricing, and select add-ons while preventing the frustration and abandonment that often come from being overwhelmed by options.

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll discover the essentials of guided selling, industry examples, and how it can transform your sales process.

What is Guided Selling?

How does guided selling work, the benefits of guided selling, the guided selling process, guided selling best practices.

• Guided Selling Examples

When Should You Consider Guided Selling?

Guided selling technology features to look for, the future of guided selling.

Guided selling personalizes the customer journey by giving sales reps real-time information to influence buyer decisions. Central to this is a sales playbook integrated into your CRM . It equips sales reps with the tools, content, and training needed for each stage of the buyer’s journey.

Guided selling empowers sales reps with customer data, market trends, AI automation, and a responsive Q&A workflow. It acts as an interactive guide, helping reps navigate sales scenarios, present tailored options, and explain why they are a good fit.

For example, a healthcare software sales rep using Highspot’s Sales Playbook Software can customize their pitch with specific industry data, case studies, buyer information, and compliance information, contrasting sharply with traditional, generalized sales approaches. This personalized strategy, supported by various relevant resources, directly addresses the client’s unique concerns, demonstrates an understanding of their business, and positions the product as a solution to their specific challenge.

Consider the expectations of today’s consumer: approximately 71% anticipate personalized interactions from companies , and 76% express frustration when this expectation is not met. By adopting guided selling, sales reps are not pushing a product; they establish a meaningful connection with their buyers and show a commitment to meeting their specific needs.

Guided Selling in B2B Sales

Guided selling helps B2B sales reps understand business needs and align solutions with important priorities. It aids decision-making when there are multiple stakeholders. For instance, it can assist in selecting add-on products to configure technical products and solutions with complex pricing structures.

Guided selling transforms B2B sales reps into consultative sellers so they can confidently guide buyers to choices without unnecessary cross-selling or upselling. It broadens their market knowledge, giving them the confidence to recommend even competitors’ products when more appropriate. This approach positions them as trusted advisors, focusing on long-term relationships and future business opportunities.

Guided Selling in B2C or eCommerce Sales

In B2C and eCommerce, guided selling enriches the shopping experience by tailoring product suggestions to customer preferences. This often leads to faster, more informed purchasing decisions. For instance, Amazon’s product suggestions are based on browsing history and interests.

In physical retail environments, guided selling takes the form of in-store, person-to-person interactions. Sales professionals must have the product knowledge and the confidence to engage potential buyers, offering advice and recommendations. Conversely, in the eCommerce realm, the high-volume digital nature of shopping calls for a different tactic. Digital sellers use advanced tools such as AI, chatbots, and customized online shopping experiences. They use learning algorithms to understand customer preferences and behavior, allowing for product recommendations most likely to meet the customer’s specific needs and preferences.

Guided selling improves sales by enhancing customer engagement and boosting conversion rates. Research shows that 76% of consumers say personalized communications prompt them to consider a brand, while 78% say it boosts the chance of repeat buying.

Top guided selling benefits include:

Increased Conversions

Guided selling streamlines the decision-making process by filtering and presenting options matching the customer’s needs, reducing the time and effort spent on irrelevant choices.

Enhances Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

When customers feel valued and receive tailored experiences, it creates a positive association with the brand. Personalization, defined by consumers as feeling special, elicits positive responses when brands invest in relationships, not just transactions.

Provides Ongoing Insights for Sales and Marketing

Guided selling software offers insights into customer preferences and demographics. The data can also feed buyer personas, product roadmaps, and messaging.

Enhance Sales Rep Efficiency and Performance

When sales reps have helpful data, they can quickly address customer needs. This leads to improved time management, increased productivity, enhanced job satisfaction, and better sales outcomes.

The guided selling process equips reps with sales plays and technology to assess and respond to customer needs, ensuring an informed purchasing journey. Let’s look at a scenario where a sales rep assists in laptop selection.

1. Understand Your Customer’s Needs

The sales rep begins by asking the customer questions to understand their needs. These questions may include the intended use of the laptop (business, gaming, personal use), budget, preferred operating system, and product attributes they require, like processing power or lightweight design.

2. Initiate a Conversation

The rep digs deeper into the customer’s responses. For instance, if the customer needs a laptop for business, the rep might ask about the types of software they use.

Sales reps can start a conversation directly or through interactive online interfaces like chatbots. Guided questions are posed to understand the customer’s needs and preferences more deeply.

3. Recommend the Right Products

The sales rep uses the customer’s answers, their expertise, and a guided selling toolbox to suggest laptops that meet the customer’s criteria. For gamers, they might recommend laptops with more power and high refresh rate screens.

4. Help Customers Make Informed Decisions

The rep then explains the benefits of each recommended laptop. They will provide detailed information that helps customers understand why these models suit their needs. This might include discussing processor speeds, memory capacity, and graphics specs.

5. Closing the Deal

Once the customer has all the information and has selected a laptop, the sales rep will follow up, assist with any final questions, and complete the sale. They might also suggest accessories or warranties to complement the product.

Throughout this process, the sales reps will use skills gained through sales enablement training and available content to guide the customer through their purchase. Guided selling ensures customers feel heard, understood, and satisfied with their purchase.

Guided selling best practices, such as maintaining a data-driven methodology, providing plenty of content, and encouraging sales readiness, ensure a smooth sales process with prepared sales reps.

Maintain a Data-Driven Approach

Data helps sales leaders closely monitor and track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as customer engagement , conversion rates, and response times. Watching these metrics in your dashboard informs reps when they need to adjust tactics based on real-time data and trends.

Encourage Sales Readiness

Sales readiness means the salesforce is fully equipped with the necessary tools, information, and skills to engage with customers. This involves regular, ongoing training, access to up-to-date product information, and a thorough understanding of the sales playbook.

Provide Educational Content

The value of educational content lies in offering buyers more than just standard product details. It provides a broader context of industry challenges, emerging trends, and solutions, encouraging productive conversations. Salespeople become credible advisors or consultants rather than just transactional sellers.

Educational content includes a range of resources, from industry trends and customer success stories to practical how-to guides and thought leadership articles, all aimed at guiding the buyer and easing the decision-making process.

Keep the Sale Moving Along

Maintaining customer interest and momentum toward purchasing is essential to keep the sales process moving smoothly. This requires an agile response to customer inquiries and quickly providing relevant information.

Align With Sales and Marketing Strategies

Aligning sales and marketing leads to unified messaging, brand trust, and a seamless customer journey. It also allows shared insights for targeting customers, optimizes resource use, and ultimately boosts customer satisfaction and loyalty because everyone is on the same page.

Gather Feedback

Collecting feedback from customers and internal team members helps refine guided selling. Feedback helps identify successes and opportunities for improvement, allowing for continuous coaching on sales strategies and selling techniques.

Adapt Guiding Selling Technique to Industry Needs

Adapting guided selling techniques to specific industry needs ensures relevance. For example, in real estate, agents think about what buyers feel, where they want to live, and their budget. They pick out the best properties and teach about locations and buildings. This helps them become trusted advisors in their field.

Guided Selling Examples – Manufacturing

Shifting the focus to manufacturing, Hyster-Yale implemented guided selling techniques to reform its sales method. Their sales team, comprising over 900 channel partner sellers and an internal national account team, struggled with using multiple support tools, providing a consistent buyer experience, and lacking sales cycle visibility.

Hyster-Yale adopted Highspot’s platform to overcome these challenges, integrating it with Salesforce.com (SFDC). This move brought guided selling into the fold by offering functionalities like Best Bets and Recommended Content, catering to specific deal attributes. Highspot transformed traditional sales playbooks into dynamic, easily accessible SmartPages™. This guided selling approach led to a marked increase in partner sales and provided crucial insights into deals, driving more business and delivering greater value to buyers.

Guided selling is great for simplifying complex products or services for customers. It’s also ideal for highly customizable offerings, helping customers select the best options. Additionally, this approach can segment and target different groups with relevant options if you have a varied customer base. Check out our comprehensive guide on guided selling to get a head start on strategies that will save your sellers time and boost their success.

However, in scenarios where products are self-explanatory, or the buying journey is short and straightforward, implementing a guided selling strategy might overcomplicate the process or add unnecessary steps. In that case, SNAP selling better fits your needs. This sales methodology emphasizes speed and simplicity, making it suitable for businesses with uncomplicated products or services, as well as in quick decision-making scenarios and high-priority situations.

When selecting guided selling tools for your business, there are several features to consider, such as AI-driven recommendations, user-friendly interfaces, and comprehensive analytics.

• Intuitive user interface: The technology should have a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate for sales reps and customers without extensive training.
• Generative AI: AI serves as a co-creator and advisor, guiding you through each stage of the sales process. Deliver immediate responses, tailored sales pitches , and suitable content aligned with the specific phase of the sales journey and the unique characteristics of your customers.
• Content management: Allows for the easy organization, updating, and distribution of sales materials.
• Integrations: The effectiveness of guided selling hinges on data, analytics, and machine learning. By integrating sales enablement tools with CRM systems, sales reps can access prospect and transaction data, insights into sales engagement activities, and find enablement resources.

Gartner predicts that by 2025, 75% of B2B sales organizations will augment conventional sales playbooks with AI-guided selling solutions. This tech combines human intelligence with machine learning for smarter customer engagement.

This evolution marks a shift from traditional guided selling, which often lacks data analysis, to a more proactive and data-driven approach. It suggests immediate, actionable steps for sales reps, such as personalized content delivery, and anticipates future trends.

Embracing the AI-Driven Future with Highspot

It’s fascinating to see how AI is quietly but powerfully weaving into our daily lives. Whether you’re casually shopping online or making big decisions at work, AI’s influence is often so smoothly integrated that you might not even notice it’s behind your choices.

As we embrace this inevitable future, Highspot stands at the forefront, already recognized as the top Sales Enablement platform in the 2023 Product Marketing Alliance’s Pulse Report . Our platform’s acclaim stems from its robust guided selling capabilities and our latest innovation: Highspot Copilot. This generative AI digital assistant is changing the game in sales, making things more efficient and letting sales reps focus on something important – creating unforgettable customer experiences.

With Highspot Copilot, the future of AI-driven guided selling isn’t just a concept—it’s a reality today.

Request a Highspot demo to learn more.

The Highspot Team works to create and promote the Highspot sales enablement platform, which gives businesses a powerful sales advantage to engage in more relevant buyer conversations and achieve their revenue goals. Through AI-powered search, analytics, in-context training, guided selling, and 50+ integrations, the Highspot platform delivers enterprise-ready sales enablement in a modern design that sales reps and marketers love.

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What is Guided Learning? Definitions, Advantages, Effective Strategies

Uncover the powerhouse of guided learning. Explore its definitions, benefits, and effective strategies for a revitalizing educational experience.

The Essence of Guided Learning

Guided learning stands out in the educational landscape as a learner-centric approach , fundamentally different from traditional didactic teaching. It emphasizes active, engaged learning, where the focus is on supporting and nurturing the student's journey towards understanding and application.

Key Components of Guided Learning

Scaffolded Learning

Scaffolded learning is a cornerstone of this approach. It involves providing structured support to students , which is gradually reduced as they gain confidence and independence. For example, using sentence starters in language classes helps students frame their thoughts, which are phased out as their skills develop.

Embracing a Student-Centered Approach

Putting students' unique needs and learning styles at the forefront, this approach adapts to each learner. It's about creating inclusive, engaging educational experiences that encourage students to take ownership of their learning journey.

Continuous Feedback: A Catalyst for Growth

Continuous, constructive feedback is vital in guided learning. It helps students reflect, adapt, and grow, making them active participants in their learning process. This feedback can range from formal assessments to informal, day-to-day interactions.

Teachers as Learning Facilitators

In this paradigm, teachers transform into facilitators. They create environments conducive to discovery and critical thinking, guiding students through their educational journey and acting as mentors.

The Impact of Guided Learning

Personalized learning: catering to individual needs.

Guided learning allows for tailored educational experiences . By addressing each student's unique learning style and pace, it leads to enhanced engagement and academic success.

Promote Engagement and Critical Thinking

This approach encourages students to be active learners. Through collaborative activities and problem-solving tasks, students develop critical thinking skills and learn to apply knowledge practically.

Building Confidence and Independence

Guided learning is instrumental in nurturing student confidence and self-reliance. As students receive individualized support and feedback, they develop a stronger belief in their abilities and become more autonomous learners.

Implementing Guided Learning in Modern Classrooms

Adapting to diverse educational needs.

Embracing guided learning requires flexibility and a commitment to meeting diverse student needs. Teachers can create impactful learning environments by providing scaffolded support, continuous feedback, and opportunities for active engagement.

Preparing Students for a Changing World

As our world becomes increasingly complex, guided learning equips students with the adaptability and skills necessary for lifelong success. It's an investment in developing resilient, capable learners ready for future challenges.

Conclusion: The Future of Education with Guided Learning

In an educational world that's constantly adapting and evolving, the shift towards guided learning has become essential. This approach is more than just a teaching method; it's a pathway to crafting educational experiences that resonate with each student's unique needs.

Guided learning stands at the forefront of modern education, offering a dynamic and responsive framework that fosters deep engagement, nurtures critical thinking, and cultivates lifelong learning skills.

For educators, adopting guided learning is about embracing flexibility and a commitment to student-centered education. It involves a paradigm shift towards understanding and addressing the diverse learning styles and capabilities of students.

Through strategies like scaffolded learning, consistent and meaningful feedback, and encouraging active participation, educators can create an empowering learning environment. This environment not only supports academic achievement but also encourages personal growth and autonomy.

As our world grows increasingly complex and technology-driven, the ability to adapt and learn continuously becomes crucial. Guided learning prepares students to meet these challenges with confidence and resilience.

It equips them with the skills to navigate and succeed in ever-changing circumstances, setting them up for lifelong success. By integrating the principles of guided learning, we invest not just in the academic journey of students but in shaping adaptable, informed individuals ready to contribute to and thrive in our global society.

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Guided Notes: Improving the Effectiveness of Your Lectures

What are guided notes.

Guided notes are instructor-prepared handouts that provide all students with background information and standard cues with specific spaces to write key facts, concepts, and/or relationships during the lecture. {See example on page 5}. Guided notes (GN) require students to actively respond during the lecture, improve the accuracy and efficiency of students’ notetaking, and increase students’ retention of course content. GN can help organize and enhance lecture content in any discipline or subject area. Instructors can develop GN for a single lecture, for one or more units within a course, or for an entire semester-long course. GN follow the principles of Universal Design for learning—they improve learning for all students.

Some Pros and Cons of the Lecture Method

Lecturing is one of the most widely used teaching methods in higher education. The format is simple and straightforward: the instructor talks (and illustrates, demonstrates, etc.) and students are held responsible for obtaining, remembering, and using the most important content from the lecture at a later time—most often on a quiz or an exam.

Advantages of lecturing.

Although some educators consider the lecture method outdated and ineffective, it offers several advantages and reasons for its continued use (Barbetta & Scaruppa, 1995; Michael, 1994).

•   Lecturing is an efficient use of the instructor’s time. A good lecture can be presented from one semester to the next, reducing subsequent planning and preparation time to review and update.

•   Lecturing is versatile. It can be used with large or small groups, for any curriculum area, and can last from a few minutes to several hours.

•   The instructor has complete control of course content. When lecturing, the instructor has complete control over the level of detail and degree of emphasis with which course content is covered.

•   Lecturing enables coverage of content not available in published form. For example, findings from just-completed or on-going research projects may be presented to students via lecture.

•   The lecture method can be used to supplement or elaborate course content. Content that is particularly important or difficult for students to learn directly through text-, web-, or field-based activities can be highlighted during the lecture.

•   The lecture method provides flexibility. The instructor can probe students’ understanding and make on-the-spot adjustments to the lecture if warranted.

•   Lectures can be personalized. Instructors can customize lectures to meet students’ interests and backgrounds.

•   Lectures can be motivating for students. Students can see and hear their instructor’s level of enthusiasm for and commitment to the discipline.

Disadvantages of lecturing.

The lecture method also poses some significant challenges for students and instructors.

•   Course content is often presented via lecture in unorganized and uneven fashion. This makes it difficult for students to determine the most important aspects of the lecture (i.e., What’s going to be on the exam?).

•   Students can be passive observers. The typical lecture does not require students to actively participate. One of the most consistent and important educational research findings is that students who make frequent, relevant responses during a lesson learn more than students who are passive observers (Brophy & Good, 1986; Fisher & Berliner, 1985; Greenwood, Delquadri, & Hall, 1984).

•   Many college students do not know how to take effective notes. Although various strategies and formats for effective notetaking have been identified (e.g., Saski, Swicegood, & Carter, 1983), notetaking is seldom taught to students.

•   The listening, language, and/or motor skill deficits of some students with disabilities make it difficult for them to identify important lecture content and write it down correctly and quickly enough during a lecture. While writing one concept in his notebook, the student with learning disabilities might miss the next two points (Hughes & Suritsky, 1994).

•   Instructors sometimes get off-track from the primary objectives of the lecture. Professors—especially those who really know and love their disciplines—are famous (infamous!) for going off on tangents during lecture. Although anecdotes are interesting and provide enriching context, they can make it difficult for even the most skilled notetakers to determine the most important content.

Why Use Guided Notes?

•   Students produce complete and accurate lecture notes. Students who take accurate notes and study them later consistently receive higher test scores than students who only listen to the lecture and read the text (Baker & Lombardi, 1985; Carrier, 1983; Kierwa, 1987; Norton & Hartley, 1986). Inaccurate and incomplete lecture notes are of limited value for subsequent study. GN help level the playing field between students with and without good notetaking skills.

•   GN increase students’ active engagement with course content. To complete their GN, students must actively respond to the lecture’s content by listening, looking, thinking, and writing.

Guided notes take advantage of one of the most consistent and important findings in recent educational research: students who make frequent, lesson-relevant responses learn more than students who are passive observers.

•   Students can more easily identify the most important information. Because GN cue the location and number of key concepts, facts, and/or relationships, students are better able to determine if they are getting the most important content.

“Guided notes are wonderful, especially during a lecture. They clue you in on what is important.” – College student with learning disabilities.

•   Students are more likely to ask the instructor questions. Austin, Gilbert, Thibeault, Carr, and Bailey (in press) found that students in an introductory psychology course asked more questions and made more comments during lectures when GN were used than they did during lectures when taking their own notes.

•   Students earn higher quiz and exam scores with GN. Experimental studies have consistently found that students across all  achievement levels those with and without disabilities—earn higher test scores when using guided notes than they earn when taking their own notes (Austin et al., in press; Heward, 1994; Lazarus, 1993).

•   GN can serve as an advance organizer for students. Some students have indicated that they benefit from reviewing the lecture topics prior to attending class.

•   Instructors must prepare the lecture carefully. Constructing GN requires instructors to examine the sequence and organization of lecture content.

•   Instructors are more likely to stay on-task with the lecture’s content and sequence. Because GN let students know what’s supposed to come next, instructors are less likely to stray from the planned content. And if and when an instructor does wander, students know that the information is, at most, supporting context or enrichment, and not critical course content for which they will be held responsible.

•   GN help instructors prioritize and limit lecture content. Many instructors pack too much information into their lectures. While this tendency is understandable —instructors want their students to learn as much as possible—when it comes to how much new lecture content students can learn and retain, less can be more (Nelson, 2001; Russell, Hendricson, & Herbert, 1984). Constructing GN requires decisions about what is most important for students to learn.

•   GN content can be easily converted into test/exam questions.

•   Students like GN and appreciate instructors who prepare them. Students appreciate and give positive evaluation ratings to instructors who develop and provide GN.

“Last semester I developed guided notes for my two lecture-based courses, and the feedback I received from students was very positive. Several of my colleagues told me students in their classes asked if they would start using guided notes, too.” – Faculty member in psychology department.

Two FAQs About Guided Notes

Q:    Isn’t providing students—-especially college students—with guided notes making it too easy for them? Are we just “spoon-feeding” them the information?

A:    To complete their guided notes students must actively respond—by looking, listening, thinking, and writing about critical content—throughout the lecture. We make it too easy for students when we teach in ways that let them sit passively during class.

Q:    Why not just pass out an outline of my lecture or a copy of the guided notes already completed?

A:    Distributing completed guided notes reduces the necessity for students to think and respond during class, or even to attend class at all.

Guidelines for Constructing and Using Guided Notes

Constructing GN is easy, especially for lectures that have been developed previously.

•   Examine existing lecture outlines (or create them as necessary) to identify the most important course content that students must learn and retain via lecture. Remember: less can be more. Student learning is enhanced by lectures with fewer points supported by additional examples and opportunities for students to respond to questions or scenarios (Russell et al., 1984).

•   Delete the key facts, concepts, and relationships from the lecture outline, leaving the remaining information to provide structure and context for students’ notetaking.

•   Insert formatting cues such as asterisks, lines, and bullets to show students where, when, and how many facts or concepts to write. For example, the box below might be included on the first page of GN.

Explanation of Symbols in Guided Notes

    W  H  ∂       Write a definition, concept, key point, or procedure next to each bullet, asterisk, star, or numbered circle.

__________    Fill-in blank lines with a word or phrase to complete a definition, concept, key point, or procedure.

*  *  *  *          The pointing finger comes into play when you review and study your notes after class. It is a prompt to think of and write your own example(s) of a concept or idea for applying a particular strategy.

. Big Idea .      Big ideas are statements or concepts with wide-ranging implications fo understanding and/or applying course content.

•   Use PowerPoint slides or overhead transparencies to project key content. Visually projecting the key facts, definitions, concepts, relationships, etc. that students must write in their GN helps ensure that all students access the most critical content and improves the pace of the lecture.

•   Leave ample space for students to write. Providing about three to four times the space needed to type the content will generally leave enough room for students’ handwriting.

•   Do not require students to write too much. Using GN should not unduly slow down the pace of the lecture. Two studies found that students’ exam scores for lectures taught with GN that could be completed with single words and short phrases were as high as their test scores over lectures taught with GN that required more extensive writing to complete (Austin & Sasson, 2001; Courson, 1989).

•   Enhance GN with supporting information, resources, and additional response opportunities. Consider inserting diagrams, illustrations, photos, highlighted statements or concepts that are particularly important (e.g., Big Ideas), and resources such as bibliographies and websites into GN. Sets of questions or practice problems interspersed within GN give students additional opportunities to respond and receive instructor feedback during the lecture.

•   Make GN available to students via course website and/or photocopied course packets. Many instructors are understandably concerned that making their lecture notes available prior to class will reduce attendance because students will assume the notes contain all the information they need. However, distributing GN before class may give students an incentive to attend class in order to complete the notes.

Guided Notes for Portion of a Lecture in a Graduate Course for Special Education Teachers

Boldface italic font shows parts completed by students during lecture.

II.  FIVE GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR PROMOTING GENERALIZED OUTCOMES

1.  Eliminate the need for generality as much as possible.

     A.  Prioritize the settings in which the learner will most often function.

In addition to the learner’s current environment(s), consider the  environments in which the learner will function in the immediate future, and later in life .

     B.  Prioritize the knowledge and skills that will frequently be required of the learner.

           Why? Because you   cannot teach everything (or even every aspect of any one skill).

           The most important skill-setting combinations should always be taught directly

Don’t relegate the most critical outcomes to the not-for-certain technology of generalization programming.

2. Probe for generalized outcomes before, during, and after instruction .

     A.  A generalization probe is  a direct and objective assessment of the learner’s use of the target skill in a non-training setting or situation .

EX: We can assess the extent to which a student has generalized the skill of solving two-digit minus two-digit arithmetic problems with regrouping by presenting her with problems of the same type on which she has not received any instruction or guided practice.

           * student writes another example here when reviewing notes after class

     B.  Generalization probes can often be made more efficient by contriving meaningful opportunities for the learner to use her new knowledge or skill .

EX: Instead of waiting for (and perhaps missing) naturally occurring opportunities for the learner to use her new conversational skills in the generality environment, enlist the assistance of a “confederate” peer to approach the learner.

     C.  Probing for generalization before instruction provides 3 important kinds of information.

           1.   Probes prior to teaching might reveal that the learner already performs some or all of the components of the target skill in the generality setting, thereby lessening the teaching task .

           2.   Probes prior to teaching are the only objective way to know if learner’s performance of the target knowledge/skill after instruction truly is a G.O .

           3.   Probes prior to teaching enable observation of the contingencies operating in the generality setting .

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Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Learning

p-ISSN: 2471-7401    e-ISSN: 2471-741X

2017;  3(1): 17-24

doi:10.5923/j.jalll.20170301.03

Using Guided Oral Presentation in Teaching English Language Learners’ Speaking Skills

Mina Farabi 1 , Samira Hassanvand 2 , Bahman Gorjian 3

1 Department of ELT, Boroujerd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Boroujerd, Iran

2 Department of English Language, Payame Noor University, I.R. of Iran

3 Department of TEFL, Abadan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadan, Iran

Copyright © 2017 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

The focus of the present study was on teaching speaking skill through employing guided and free oral presentations. Firstly, it investigated whether guided oral presentation and free oral presentation can develop Iranian EFL learners’ speaking skill. Secondly, it checked if there was any significant difference between free and guided oral presentations in learning speaking skill among pre-intermediate EFL learners' speaking skill. To this end, 60 homogenous female participants were selected from Andisheh English language institute, Ahvaz, Iran. Then, they were non-randomly divided into two experimental (i.e., guided oral presentation and free oral presentation), each included 30 participants. Then, a researcher-made pre-test of speaking was given to the participants of both groups. The researcher taught the guided oral group through using guided oral presentation while the participants of the free oral group were taught by employing free oral presentation. The treatment took 12 sessions of 45 minutes each under the guidance of the supervisor. At the end of the treatment, a researcher-made post-test was administered to find out the impacts of the treatment on the students' speaking enhancement. The results of Paired and Independent Samples t -test showed that the guided oral group outperformed the free group on the post-test. Finally, implications of the study were explained and recommendations proposed that EFL teachers should use guided oral presentation in developing speaking skill among pre-intermediate language learners.

Keywords: Speaking skills, Oral presentation, Guided oral presentation, Free oral presentation

Cite this paper: Mina Farabi, Samira Hassanvand, Bahman Gorjian, Using Guided Oral Presentation in Teaching English Language Learners’ Speaking Skills, Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Learning , Vol. 3 No. 1, 2017, pp. 17-24. doi: 10.5923/j.jalll.20170301.03.

Article Outline

1. introduction, 1.1. statement of the problem, 2. review of the literature, 2.1. speaking skill, 2.2. speaking skill in the efl classroom, 2.3. types of oral presentations, 3. methodology, 3.1. participants, 3.2. instrumentation, 3.3. procedure, 3.4. data analysis, 5. discussion and conclusions, 5.1. discussion, 5.2. conclusions.

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What is guided reading?

Why is guided reading important .

As an instructional context, guided reading:

• Supports readers in expanding their processing competencies (in-the-head systems of strategic actions)
• Provides a context for responsive teaching – teaching that is grounded in the teacher's detailed knowledge of and respect for each student, supporting the readers' active construction of a processing system
• Allows students to engage with a rich variety of texts
• Helps students learn to think like proficient readers
• Enables students to read more challenging texts with support.

"In guided reading, you meet students where they are and lead them forward with intention and precision."  –Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell

What does guided reading look like?

A small group of students who are at a similar point in their reading development are seated across from you at a small kidney-shaped table. Each student reads, softly or silently, the same text individually. You guide a discussion of the text meaning and make teaching points based on your observations of the students' reading strengths and needs. 

Steps in the guided reading process:

• Gather information about the readers to identify emphases.
• Select and analyze texts to use.
• Introduce the text.
• Observe children as they read the text individually (support if needed).
• Invite children to discuss the meaning of the text.
• Make one or two teaching points.
• Engage children in letter/word work activity.
• Extend understanding through writing about reading (optional).
• Reflect on the lesson and plan the following lesson.

Becoming an effective teacher of guided reading takes time and effort; but the benefits are worth it. As you teach students, you will have the satisfaction of seeing them apply today what you taught yesterday; you will notice behavioral evidence that they are taking on new understandings; and you will see them expand their competencies and move to higher levels of texts.

To learn more about the Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™ Guided Reading Collection , click the link below.

~The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy™ Team

Check out the entire "What is?" blog series:

• What is Interactive Read-Aloud?
• What is Shared Reading?
• What are Reading Minilessons?
• What is Independent Reading?
• What are Book Clubs?
• What is Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study?

Topics: Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™ , Guided Reading , Featured Posts , Home , What is Series

Fri, Jan 18, '19

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What Is Guided Reading?

“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.” —Kate DiCamillo

There is no more magical time of day in an elementary classroom than reading time. Students tucked away at their desks or snuggled into pillows on the rug, lost in the dreamy lull of a good book. Small groups of children, gathered around a kidney-shaped table, conferring quietly with a teacher as they work together to unravel the complicated process of reading.

Having the opportunity to accompany students on the wondrous journey of learning to read is one of the greatest parts of the job. But it’s also a lot of work. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the privilege and responsibility, have no fear. Here are the basics:

What is guided reading?

According to Fountas and Pinnell, who pretty much wrote the bible on guided reading,  Guided Reading: Responsive Teaching Across the Grades , guided reading is “ a context in which a teacher supports each reader’s development of effective strategies for processing novel texts at increasingly challenging levels of difficulty.” Which, in simpler language, means small-group reading instruction that allows teachers to  meet students where they are and lead them forward with intention and precision. As a result, students are able to process increasingly challenging books with fluency and comprehension.

Why is it important?

Let’s be honest, in the course of a typical day, there is little time for classroom teachers to work one-on-one with students. Scheduling a guided reading block as part of reading time is a perfect way to meet with students in small groups to monitor their progress and help them work on skills that will make them better readers.

The benefits of guided reading for students, according to  PBS , are numerous. When students receive individualized teaching time, they learn skills and strategies that allow them to develop as individual readers. With support and scaffolding, students learn to read for meaning and build the stamina to read difficult texts. In addition, guided reading is an opportunity for teachers to introduce quality literature to strengthen students’ reading comprehension skills.

What are best practices for making it work in my classroom?

Every classroom and every group of students are unique, but there are some universal standards for making guided reading work in any classroom community. Here are the basic guidelines:

• Teacher works with small groups, ideally 3–6 students.
• Students are grouped according to their current reading level and are working on most of the same skills.
• Groups are flexible and fluid and based on ongoing observation and assessment, meaning that groups may be frequently adjusted as students learn and grow.
• During the lesson, students read a text that is slightly higher than their comfort level.
• The teacher coaches students as they read, introducing new strategies for fluency and comprehension.
• The emphasis is on reading increasingly challenging books over time.

What does a guided reading lesson look like?

Every teacher has their own tips and tricks, but generally a guided reading lesson follows this basic pattern:

• First, students work on their fluency by re-reading familiar texts for several minutes.
• Then, the teacher introduces the new text. Sarah from The Letters of Literacy suggests a five-step process that includes looking at the book’s front and back covers, doing a picture walk, making predictions and asking questions, introducing new vocabulary words and concepts, and making connections to the text.
• Afterward, students read the text out loud. Two suggested methods are whisper reading and choral reading . Students do not take turns reading; instead, each child reads the text in its entirety as the teacher coaches each reader individually.
• Next, the teacher leads a discussion of the text. 
• Finally, the teacher works on one or two teaching points with the students. 
• If time allows, students can do a few minutes of word work or guided writing.

What else do I need to know?

The depth and breadth of information available about guided reading is incredible. Here are a few resources to get you started:

• These Books Answer All of Your Questions About Teaching Reading
• 25 Anchor Charts That Nail Reading Comprehension
• What is Fluency and How Do I Support it in the Classroom?
• 20 Ways to Make Sure Readers’ Workshop Really Works
• Improving Reading Comprehension with Think-Alouds
• Going Beyond PIE: 5 Ways to Teach Students How to Find the Author’s Purpose

For more articles, check out our WeAreTeachers Reading Collection .

Need book recommendations? Check out our Book List Collection  for suggestions for all levels from Pre-K to high school.

And to get more help with guided reading, check out our WeAreTeachers—First Years group on Facebook. It’s a spot just for new teachers to find support and chat about teaching life.

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What is a guided presentation?

I am working on a guided presentation now for my IB diploma. It's basically when you lead a group in a paideia, "fishbowl discussion", etc. You would do this by first talking for a few minutes (based on the length of your presentation) about your goals for the discussion, as well as introducing the topics, setting any operant definitions, etc. During the discussion, let the group members talk about the points that you want them to talk about. This means that you won't dominate the whole conversation; rather, you will guide them (hence the "guided presentation") in the direction that you want to go. An effective presentation is steered in the direction you are headed by slight comments and suggestions to the group. Hope this helps!

Add your answer:

Answers for guided reading 14-2?

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tsYzCI3AXnItwMS3MMubCK1f_t8vHNzfNFL9XsAWAZs/edit#slide=id.p4

What are the release dates for Guided and Miss Guided - 1919?

Guided and Miss Guided - 1919 was released on: USA: 30 March 1919

What is the homophone of guided and metal?

guided a mettle

How do you use good presentation in a sentence?

The presentation wasn't a good presentation. It was a great presentation!

What is guided media network?

wired or guided m

When was Miss Guided created?

Miss Guided was created in 2008.

When did Guided by Voices end?

Guided by Voices ended in 2004.

When was Guided by Voices created?

Guided by Voices was created in 1983.

What a ceremony or presentation?

Presentation

What is a ceremony or presentation?

What is the homonym or homophone of guided.

The homophone for "guided" is "guyed".

What is the presentation of out lord?

The Presentation of our Lord was the presentation of Jesus as an infant to God in the Temple.

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Synonyms of guided

• as in supervised
• as in steered
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Thesaurus Definition of guided

Synonyms & Similar Words

• accompanied
• walked through
• enlightened
• superintended
• indoctrinated
• godfathered
• administered
• watched over
• presided (over)
• administrated
• safeguarded
• cared (for)
• micromanaged
• stage - managed
• co - managed
• co - directed

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“Guided.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/guided. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.

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Computer Science > Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

Title: mgmap: mask-guided learning for online vectorized hd map construction.

Abstract: Currently, high-definition (HD) map construction leans towards a lightweight online generation tendency, which aims to preserve timely and reliable road scene information. However, map elements contain strong shape priors. Subtle and sparse annotations make current detection-based frameworks ambiguous in locating relevant feature scopes and cause the loss of detailed structures in prediction. To alleviate these problems, we propose MGMap, a mask-guided approach that effectively highlights the informative regions and achieves precise map element localization by introducing the learned masks. Specifically, MGMap employs learned masks based on the enhanced multi-scale BEV features from two perspectives. At the instance level, we propose the Mask-activated instance (MAI) decoder, which incorporates global instance and structural information into instance queries by the activation of instance masks. At the point level, a novel position-guided mask patch refinement (PG-MPR) module is designed to refine point locations from a finer-grained perspective, enabling the extraction of point-specific patch information. Compared to the baselines, our proposed MGMap achieves a notable improvement of around 10 mAP for different input modalities. Extensive experiments also demonstrate that our approach showcases strong robustness and generalization capabilities. Our code can be found at this https URL .

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