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Unit 3: Conversation Building

with one of our clients who had been promoted to department manager. We used hand notes
signals and other cues to let her know when she was going too fast, too slow or missing the
body language of an executive group where she gave regular presentations.)
14. And, most of all – Practice, practice, practice!
To enhance one’s presentation skill it is absolutely imperative to secure the help of the six great
helpers – the five W’s and the one H. The concept of incorporating them as extremely useful tools
in the art of writing fiction was first propagated by Rudyard Kipling. Subsequent to this, experts
in various disciplines realized their need in specific areas. Communication too, incorporated them
as helpers to explain the basic concepts of presentation and interaction. These are as follows:
1. Why

2. Who
3. Where
4. When
5. What

6. How
Why: The purpose of presentation must be clear to the speaker. It is necessary to be aware of the
real reason for making a presentation.

Who: Who is my listener? Knowledge about the co-participant is important in meeting
communication demands.
Where and When: These imply the place and the context. After your message is formulated, try
and visualize the position of your receiver. Where would he be when he receives it? The format
and tone of your message should change in accordance with the place where it is going to be
delivered.
What: This obviously focuses round the subject matter on the message. What exactly, do you
wish to communicate and what is the need to do so.
How: How do we achieve the right effect? To what purpose can we use the five W’s so as to
secure the undivided attention of the audience? We can achieve this effect by the tone at the
delivery which we adopt to deliver the message.

It is really not all that difficult making presentations in front of a large gathering if a few factors are
kept in mind. Primary among them is the attitude towards the situation as well as the audience.
You definitely need to be positive. In case there is even an iota of doubt regarding the stance to be
adopted towards the participants, you must remove or substitute it. The speaker should emerge
as an assertive communicator, whose thought, process is positive as evidenced through his body
sport or oral presentation.
The speaker has to break the ice and gain acceptance. If he can succeed in doing so, the presentation
is a success and the speaker’s skills, laudable. It needs a lot of effort but once a positive start has
been made, the going is not all that tough, as the audience will themselves endeavour to make
the entire session a successful one.

Task Prepare a presentation on ‘Ways to Striking Effective Formal Conversation’ and
present it before your friends and family members. After finishing the presentation,
conduct a question-answer round in form of a conversation.

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