Summary

Suggested Criteria for an Excellent Oral Presentation

By taking the checklist below and turning it into a matrix, you will have a useful tool for evaluating your oral presentation. You can provide this checklist to other's listening to you in any practice sessions to obtain feedback on your presentation. You may want to include additional items, depending on the requirements of your oral presentation. A downloadable RTF file of this checklist is included in the left sidebar of this page.

The presentation was relevant to the audience.
The information presented was accurate and relevant.
The information presented was at the right level of detail.
The presentation was well organized and the ideas flowed logically.
The presenter's introduction captured the interest of the audience.
The presenter established the purpose of the presentation during the introduction.
The presenter used evidence and examples to support his or her ideas.
The presenter reinforced the main ideas at the conclusion of the presentation.
The presenter carefully timed the presentation so that it "fit" into the time allowed.
The presenter established a comfortable environment.
The presenter showed evidence of being prepared by not overly relying on notes.
The presenter's use of his or her voice was natural and effective.
The presenter's hand and facial gestures were natural and effective.
The presenter controlled nervousness so that it did not distract the audience.
The presenter established eye contact with the audience.
Any humor used in the presentation was effective and not offensive.
The presenter's use of visual aids was appropriate for the setting.
The presenter used visual aids primarily to emphasize key points.
Visual aids were professional looking and followed text size/amount guidelines.
The presenter effectively managed the use of visual aids by paraphrasing information presented on them and displaying them for an appropriate period of time.
The presenter stayed within the given time limits for making the presentation.

Oral Presentation Evaluation Matrix

	Category	Does Not Meet Expectations	Meets Expectations	Outstanding	How to Improve
Relevance	Relevance of presentation to the audience	Mixed several irrelevant points together	Points were mostly relevant to the audience	All points were relevant to the audience
Content	Information presented	Used inaccurate irrelevant, or inappropriate level of information that might hinder communication	Used accurate, relevant information	Used varied information, of which all was accurate, relevant, and at the right level of detail
Organization	Overall organization of presentation	Used unclear organization to present ideas.	Presented ideas in a somewhat organized manner.	Presented ideas in a polished, well organized manner
	Introduction	Vague introduction. Didn't introduce topic well	Introduced topic with one or two brief sentences	Introduction captured audience interests and established the purpose of the presentation
	Body	Lacked facts or used inappropriate facts and examples that didn't support main ideas. No logical sequence of information	Presented with a logical sequence but not presented in a fluent manner	Used evidence and examples to support main ideas in a fluent manner
	Conclusion	No conclusion	Vague conclusion	Conclusion reinforced the main ideas in the presentation
Time Management Strategy	Effective use of time	Didn't conclude presentation in assigned time or concluded earlier than the assigned time	Kept to time limit and delivered in the assigned time	Carefully timed so that it "fit" into the time allowed. Spent appropriate amount of time on topics, allowed time for questions, and answered questions effectively
Time Management Strategy	Environment	The presenter didn't care about establishing a comfortable environment.	The presenter had little control, but made as many adjustments as possible	The presenter established a comfortable environment
Presentation	Controlling nervousness	Presenter's nervousness distracted the audience	Presenter's nervousness was apparent only occasionally	The presenter controlled nervousness so that it did not distract the audience
Practice	Mastery of the subject	Read from notes most of the time. Searched for words frequently with long periods of silence	Spoke with occasional hesitations without overly relying on notes	The presenter showed evidence of being prepared by not overly relying on notes, and spoke in a fluent and spontaneous way
Delivery	Verbal	Could not be understood because of inappropriate rate, volume, or articulation	Could be understood, but the presenters voice did not effectively enhance the presentation	The presenter's use of his or her voice was natural and effectively enhanced the presentation
	Non-verbal Expression	Did not exhibit poise or used ineffective or distractive hand or facial gestures	Used positive hand and facial gestures	The presenter was poised and hand and facial gestures were natural and effectively enhanced presentation
	Eye contact	Established no/indistinct eye contact	Established eye contact with the audience	Established direct, consistent eye contact with the audience
	Effective use of humor	No humor was used	No humor was tried or humor was used in an intrusive way	Any humor used in the presentation was effective and not offensive
Visual Aids	Use of visual aids	Included no graphics or pictures or used irrelevant and distracting visual aids	Included graphics and pictures that were relevant to the topic	Used good quality visual aids that were appropriate for the setting
	Visual aids design	Included no graphics or pictures or used distracting/ poor looking visual aids	Graphics and pictures were visible to all	Visual aids were professional looking, and followed text size/amount guidelines. Graphics and pictures were attractive, creative and precise so as to enhance the presentation
	Effective management of visual aids	Included no graphics or pictures or the use of visual aids was distracting	Used some kind of visual aids to facilitate the presentation	The presenter effectively managed the use of visual aids to enhance the effect of the presentation
Overall	Overall impression	Very boring, unpleasant to listen to, very poor presentation	Somewhat interesting. Could make some improvements	Very interesting, pleasant to listen to, very good presentation

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