STRUCTURE OF A LECTURE I: CONTENT

Abstract

The information to be transmitted in a lecture is developed based on the speaker’s internal elaboration of the knowledge and the listener’s capacity to retain the amount of information. The first step is defining the objectives, the message that is expected to be retained in the end of the presentation. Based on these objectives, the speaker will select topics, small amount of information essential to the general message be comprehended, and evidences to illustrate them. These topics/evidences should have a beginning-middle-end structure. It is fundamental to take into consideration the listener’s capacity of retention, which is influenced by the way theinformation is transmitted, the amount of information transmitted, the duration of the lecture and by the interventions the speaker can make. All these characteristics guarantee that the amount of information should be carefully selected, giving just enough information to keep retention.