Professional Growth and Enhancement

Facilitator:
Christine Coombe

Developing Effective Presentation Skills

As a presenter, research shows that you have seven seconds before your audience starts forming an opinion about you. That's not a lot of time to create a positive image. Audiences typically evaluate not only what is presented but also who presents it. In fact, researchers in this field often cite that the 'messenger is just as important as the message'. This presentation will focus on effective ways to deliver presentations. The key ingredients of a presentation will be discussed and tips for novice as well as experienced presenters are disseminated.

Bio

Christine Coombe has a Ph.D in Foreign/Second Language Education and Testing from The Ohio State University. She is currently on the English faculty of Dubai Men's College and works as an Assessment Leader for the Higher Colleges of Technology. She is the former Testing and Measurements Supervisor at UAE University and Assessment Coordinator of Zayed University. Christine is co-editor of the forthcoming Assessment Practices volume in the TESOL Case Studies series.

She is the Past President of TESOL Arabia and the founder and co-chair of the TESOL Arabia Testing, Assessment and Evaluation Special Interest Group who organize the Current Trends in English Language Testing (CTELT) Conference. She is a two-time recipient of the International Language Testing Association (ILTA) grant for the promotion of professionalism in the area of language testing and a one-time recipient of the ETS International Speaker Grant. Christine is also the recipient of the 2002 Spaan Fellowship for Research in Second/Foreign Language Assessment and the 2002-03 TOEFL Outstanding Young Scholar Award.

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Photo by Tony Quirke