For Technical Communication (ENGL393) at UMBC, uses the ROPES model (Review, Overview, Presenting, Exercises, Summary) as a guiding structure for group presentations. Follows the ROPES model as it presents it. Also has bonus "paraphrase yourself" advice at end

1. THE ROPES OF PRESENTATIONS
& bonus things on “paraphrase” we probably won’t
get to in class
There are a few comments in the Speaker Notes

2. OUTLINE FOR TODAY
 Review – relate to previous experience with presenting.
 Rapport, Relevance
 Overview
 Objectives & Outlines
 Presenting – the main facts –
 Procedures & Principles
 Exercises and audience involvement
 Bounce between P & E as needed,
 Summary – Restate key ideas, solutions, Q&A
• NOTE TO SELF: COPY R.O.P.E.S ON SIDE OF BOARD TO DISPLAY PERMANENTLY
FOR TODAY.

3. REVIEW
 We’ve done some work with mini -presentations
before (plainwriting, useability)
 Thoughts/Concerns on giving a 10 minute team
presentation next week?

4. T.T.T.
 Does anyone know this strategy?
 Tell them what you’re going to Tell them
 Tell it to them
 (Try It) – a 4th T that I think should be there
 Tell them what you Told them.

5. THIS WAS THE “R” PART OF ROPES
 Relate – connecting to previous experience
(minipresentations)
 Rapport / Relationship – I didn’t really do that because
we’ve had class together for several weeks, and by now you
trust me (or not) to synthesize interesting in-class things,
building beyond the texts
 Review – T.T.T. is similar to the “3 sections of
presentations” that was in Chapter 11 of Essentials.

6. “R” FOR YOUR OWN PRESENTATIONS
 Be sure to introduce yourselves (as a team and
individuals)
 Relate your topic to things we’ve done in class, or
previous experience they’ve had
 This is where assessing what students already know
can be crazy super helpful! Your audience is
classmates-as-selves, so a simple survey can be great
research here
 Review things they may already know about your
topic –
 “You know how to use each of your phone’s apps
individually, but this will show you how you can use
recipes to have 1 action trigger many apps!”

7. OVERVIEW
 Objective: Better presentations, not only for next
week & end of term, but a strategy you can use in
the future.
 Agenda/Outline – the R.O.P.E.S. Acronym does
that.
 Why your topic matters to your audience!
 For ROPES, this is a safe “formula” to use, especially
when you are the expert, and the audience is not.
 For your presentation….?

8. OVERVIEW – PLANNING
 Take a few moments and discuss with your team:
 Why DOES your topic matter to college
students?
 How can it help them in their lives?
 What problems are you solving?
Have someone take notes on your team’s
conclusions – we’ll go around and share!

9. PRESENTATION ITSELF
 So far we’ve talked about R + O, now it’s time for what people
think of as “the real stuff”
 Presentation – main ideas are often
 Procedures (how to do something)
 Principles (why to do something)
 To support Procedures and Principles, your info can
often be thought of as:
 Facts / Concepts
 Process
 Commitment/ Attitude

10. PRESENTATION ITSELF (2)
 Tips from Essentials
 Limit how much info is on each slide
 Human Attention Span = tiny!
 Think of information in lots of little segments
 Announce each new segment
 Change speakers
 Don’t fear pauses

11. PRESENTATION ITSELF (3)
 Aesthetics (some of his choices aren’t mine – this is from
2008)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpvgfmEU2Ck
 Don McMillan: Life After Death by PowerPoint
(4:25)
 (Hint – if you have videos, preload them, so you
can alt-tab to them. Videos not recommended in
the Week11 Presentation)

12. EXERCISE – ABOUT THE EXERCISE PORTION
 Remind your audience the RELEVANCE of the
interaction – that it’s not just to fill time
 Discussion counts, especially if your project is more
about a concept than a process (Privacy, Creative
Commons)
 Low-tech can be handy, especially since it’s a
change from being online constantly
 Typically alternate between Presenting a single
Point and then doing an Exercise to become
familiar with it.

13. EXERCISE – FOR US TO DO (PREP FOR
PRELIM PRESENTATION)
 0) Take 2 index cards!
 1) INDIVIDUALLY everyone writes down 2 or 3
things about their topic that they want to know if
their audience (classmates) already knows how to
do. (on ONE card)
 2)
 3)
 4)

14. EXERCISE – FOR US TO DO (PREP FOR
PRELIM PRESENTATION )
 0) Take 2 index cards!
 1) INDIVIDUALLY everyone writes down 2 or 3
things about their topic that they want to know if
their (classmates) already knows how to do. (on
ONE card)
 2) INDIVIDUALLY everyone writes down (other
card) the top 2 or 3 things they want the audience
to be able to do by the end of the presentation? by
the end of your presentation?
 3)
 4)

15. EXERCISE – FOR US TO DO (PREP FOR
PRELIM PRESENTATION)
 1) INDIVIDUALLY everyone writes down 2 or 3 things about their
topic that they want to know if their audience (classmates) already
knows how to do. (on ONE card)
 2) INDIVIDUALLY everyone writes down (other card) the top 2 or 3
things they want the audience to be able to do by the end of the
presentation? by the end of your presentation?
 3) Discuss with team each list – reduce to top
2 for each list only 10-12 minutes in class, must
prioritize.
 4)

16. EXERCISE – FOR US TO DO (PREP FOR
PRELIM PRESENTATION)
 4) Questions on skills – I want each team to come up
with 2 things they want to know about the audience’s
skills/experience, on a rating from Expert to Novice or
other closed-answers– hand to me.
 Examples:
 “Notetaking: Do they use a strategy like cornell, write down
everything, highlight, never do notes?”
 “Excel: Would they rate themselves as strong with formulae &
shortcuts?”
 “Would they rate themselves as highly security conscious
when online?”
 “How often do you make/review to-do lists? Daily/weekly/2x
week/monthly/never?”

17. EXERCISE – FOR US TO DO (PREP FOR
PRELIM PRESENTATION)
 If we have time, I can do a PollEverywhere in-class.
 If not, a google form, and email all to do, let all see
summary results

18. VERSION OF EXERCISE FOR IF DOING THIS
BEFORE BIG PRESENTATION
1. Everyone gets 1 index card
2. INDIVIDUALLY everyone write down *3* things
that you want to communicate in the final
presentation.
3. DISCUSS WITH GROUP, Prioritize to top 3.
4. DISCUSS WITH GROUP, for each top message to
communicate, how will you get audience
interaction? Demonstration that they play along
with? Bad Example on screen you want us to
identify flaws in? Self-Googling?

19. POINT #2 - HANDOUT
 Audience’s memory = TINY, remember?
 Hence, the Handout – something they can take
away.
 Next few slides = 2 models in the Bb TechPres
section.
 under “More "Prelim" models – handouts”

20. HANDOUT MODELS
 The EMAIL one does a great job using hierarchy to
indicate relationships of information. The targeted
audience (classmates, juniors & seniors) is clearly
addressed -- the info is not too basic (unlike the
video linked elsewhere in this section.)
 The ONLINE PERSONA one used a focused
screenshot and ALSO had clear steps to
follow. Great general design principles in this one.

21. E-MAIL ETIQUETTE (top of page)
Useful Checklist:
 Summary Subject Line
 Find a middle ground between the following:
 Formal and Informal
 Mild complexity in language
 Complex words mask inadequacies
 Professional and Respectful
 Focus
 Long enough to get point across
 Short enough to draw a response
 Credible Signature
 Re-Read and Edit

22. E-MAIL ETIQUETTE (bottom of page)
When Re-Reading, ask these questions:
Ø Will your reader(s) have multiple follow-up
questions?
Ø Are there legal consequences if this email
goes public?
Ø Have you made the required attachments?
Ø Have all parties mentioned been CCed?

23. ONLINE PERSONA(top of page)
 An Introduction to Privacy Settings
 Social networking sites allow vast amount of
information, from photos to favorite movies, to be shared
with friends and strangers as well. This handout and
accompanying presentation will inform and instruct you
how to manage your privacy on Facebook. By following
the steps presented below, a user will have better
knowledge of how to keep their Facebook professional
enough to be seen by future employers as well as
manage who your content is being shared with.

24. ONLINE PERSONA (middle of page)
How to Change Privacy Settings
1. Log into Facebook
2. Click the arrow at the top right next to “Home”
3. Navigate to, “Privacy Settings”
4. Click the “Edit Settings” link under the, “How you
Connect” area.
5. From here setting can be changed to choose how
and who can interact with you through friend
requests, messages, and look up your profile.
6. The “edit settings” screen offers a few other
important privacy options listed below.

25. ONLINE PERSONA (middle 2 of page)
If another user or an app is bothering you, try blocking it.
This option is a great choice if you know of a specific
person, such as your boss, who you don't want viewing
the content on your facebook
This options allows you to select who can see things
previously posted. A great practice is to select only
friends as the people who can view this, ensuring limited
access for potential employers outside your friend's
circle.

26. ONLINE PERSONA (bottom of page)
Tips
● Limit Inappropriate pictures, videos, and statuses,
as well as who can view them.
● You can view your profile from another perspective.
Just go to your profile page and on the upper right
corner click on “view as.” You will be able to see
how your profile looks to the public versus just
friends.
● Your profile picture is very public, choose
wisely.

27. SUMMARY (ABOUT)
 Summary
 A chance to wrap up the main ideas, and connect them
to past and possibly future lessons
 Time for Q&A
 Point to other resources (handouts, links)
 Thank them for their time

28. SUMMARY (ABOUT ROPES)
 Can y’all fill this in?
 R is for…
 O is for…
 P is for…
 E is for…
 S is for…
 More reading:
 Check various resources in Bb in the TechPres zone
 More specifically on ROPES =
http://business.baylor.edu/James_Moshinskie/ROPES.HTM

29. BONUS TOPIC –
P IS ALSO FOR PARAPHRASE?
 Relate – anyone write a draft of something, then
throw it out and start anew? (I did, had experience
so it was a stronger start even if new direction)
 Relevance – we often want to write out “a script”
for presentations. Reading scripts = dull
presentations – no eye contact, no flexibility

30. INFO ON PARAPHRASING (PREVIOUS
EXPERIENCE)
 Ask class:
 HOW do you paraphrase?
 What is the difference between a paraphrase and
summary?
 What is the difference between a paraphrase & quote?
 In Bn  Working With Sources – steps to
paraphrase.

31. PARAPHRASING IN PRESENTATIONS
 It’s fine to write out that script,
 I’m doing it now as I create/improve this lesson.
 If you self-paraphrase from that script, then you
get the experience of scripting,
 (Building up expertise – a sense of how all the words
COULD go to get the information out there)
 Just using the key words lets you speak more
naturally. (I tend to bold words in my script.)

32. EXERCISE TO PRACTICE PARAPHRASING
 Find a short video/tutorial about your topic or part of
it.
 Summarize it with a list of Key Words
 Hide original video
 One of you summarize/paraphrase (aloud) the info,
in own words, just looking at the key words

33. BONUS EXERCISE – RE: PRESENTATION TIPS
 http://www.garrreynolds.com/preso-tips/
 Have 1-2 teams read and discuss each link below;
share top tips (most useful or surprising) to the
class:
 http://www.garrreynolds.com/preso-tips/prepare/
 http://www.garrreynolds.com/preso-tips/design/
 http://www.garrreynolds.com/preso-tips/deliver/