What is Actually Being Assessed in a Multimodal Presentation?

You've spent tireless years in high school learning to perfect the art of essay writing.

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Yet, suddenly, a multimodal task comes flying your way, and soon enough you must stand in front of your entire class, mind frantically searching for the next word to say, trying to read your teacher's expression as to whether they love or hate what you are blurting out.

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Multimodal presentations can be jarring.

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Amidst the frenzy of technical analysis, narrative plots for creative pieces and the meandering journey of the discursive, you may be wallowing in despair, thinking that a presentation is just another public humiliation ritual.

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Trust me, after feeling my face burn red when I forgot what I was going to say in front of my class, I know how it goes!

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However, by the end of my spiel, I hope I can convince you that multimodal presentations are not as daunting as they seem, by understanding these five key criteria for success:
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1. What's the purpose?
2. Restyling the essay structure
3. Keep it simple. Keep it accessible.
4. Make your audience care.
5. It's all about confidence!

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What's the purpose?

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Multimodals can become unnecessarily overwhelming when you lose sight of what the task is actually asking of you. You are required to step out of the comfortable habits of essay memorisation and instead develop the skills necessary to communicate and engage with an audience.

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As a result, it is crucial to stop forcing rigid essay frameworks upon a presentation. An essay is designed to be read, while a multimodal is designed to be heard, watched and perceived in real time!

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Would you like to listen to essay recitations for an hour of class?

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Not me!

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A successful multimodal therefore needs to consider both its audience and how it will be perceived. Before you begin frantically writing a script or choosing a PowerPoint template, ask yourself:

• Who am I speaking to?
• What do I want them to understand?
• Why am I presenting my ideas in this way?

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Markers want to see that you have thought about your audience, and these questions will ground your ideas in the purpose and intention they are looking for.

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Restyling the essay structure

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Admittedly, although your multimodal is not a spoken essay, you can still use your analytical writing skills to your advantage! Think of it as restyling the essay structure - We want to maintain clarity, cohesion and sophisticated ideas - just more suited for speaking and engagement!

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Sizzling Starts!

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A multimodal must be engaging.

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You may roll your eyes at the cringy term ‘sizzling starts’ from learning creative writing in primary school, but trust me, it’s important!

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A multimodal can begin with a provocative question, establish tensions and embrace your own personal voice to introduce the big idea (thesis) being traced throughout.

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Here’s an example from my own multimodal speech about W.H Auden’s poetry:

W.H Auden is fundamentally concerned with the question of ‘have we forgotten what it means to be human?’ That is, in the throes of culminating modernity, as tension increases between individuals and the political conflicts of Western society, we have surrendered our sense of existential purpose and empathy to neurotic uncertainty and apathy.‍

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Here, the audience is offered a conceptual lens (framed by an impactful question!) to understand the rest of the speech with. Further, the use of ‘we’ and ‘our’ cement these concerns as being relevant to the audience - encouraging active engagement and reflection!

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Big Ideas

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The typical structure of body paragraphs within an essay is still applicable to a multimodal, except how we go about analysing will look slightly different!

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For example, rather than this analysis suited for an essay:

Satirising the undermining politicisation of the ‘Unknown Warrior’ post World War I, Auden’s overt intertextual reference in the title ‘The Unknown Citizen’ immediately establishes shifting tensions between the individual and the State in the modern world.

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We want to keep in mind ENGAGEMENT, and realistically what kind of ideas the audience is going to latch onto:

Immediately, Auden confronts us with the ambiguity of ‘The Unknown Citizen’. Through the intertextual reference, he satirises the undermining politicisation of the ‘Unknown Warrior’ figure, and forces us to recognise critical tensions between the individual and dehumanising political constructs that permeate beyond the aftermath of World War I.

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The language used here is more engaging as the shorter truncated ‘idea statement’ functions more impactfully when spoken aloud. Further, with audience reception is kept in mind, there is a greater need to articulate purpose more clearly!

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Transformation

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Thinking of the end of a speech as being ‘just a summary’ is boring!

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The best multimodals should leave your audience thinking even after you’ve already sat back down in your seat. Hence, I’d like to reframe the ‘conclusion’ of a multimodal as a ‘transformation’ instead!

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Here’s the ending to my multimodal:

Returning to my initial question “have we forgotten what it means to be human?” Auden has thankfully not condemned us to inevitable tragedy (just yet). Instead, he reveals that by transcending the materialistic, apathetic and alienating forces of modern society, we can rediscover empathy, connection and collective purpose. That there is, ultimately, still hope to preserve - and remember - what makes us inevitably human.

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By returning to the initial question, the audience is encouraged to reconsider it through everything they have encountered throughout the speech. The argument is not simply repeated, as its meaning has evolved (and hopefully your audience, transformed!) Your conclusion should therefore allow your audience to view your ideas from a new perspective informed by the textual exploration.

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Keep it simple. Keep it accessible.

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If you watch any TED Talk on YouTube, you will find that many of these powerful speakers take concepts that seem impossibly complex (rocket science, politics, artificial intelligence, procrastination) and distil them into something digestible for even a clueless, confused individual like me!

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That is the power of accessibility.

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Complex jargon, big words found in the depths of a thesaurus, and explanations of every tiny textual detail may sound impressive, but they can detract from the clarity of your argument. After all, the conventions that make an essay effective and insightful do not necessarily translate into an equally effective presentation. This doesn't mean your presentation is less sophisticated. It simply means it is truer to its form and purpose!

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Similarly, spending gruelling amounts of time finding the right slide transitions or an aesthetically curated collage of images cannot compensate for genuine insight into your ideas. So, if your multimodal includes a visual component, I would encourage you to ask yourself this question:

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Does this slide just add extra content that I won't explain aloud?

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If the answer is yes, you probably don't need it.

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Markers reward clear communication of your ideas, not how many complicated words or flashy slides you can fit into a few minutes.

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Make your audience care.

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If you are giving a class presentation, most likely half of your peers are just one blink away from sweet dreams.

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How do you keep your audience awake? How do you make them care about what you are saying?

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A high-achieving multimodal engages its audience actively, because your ideas only matter if they are understood. I'd like to spotlight rhetorical techniques as an effective way to create a sense of engagement in your multimodal.

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Techniques ranging from something as simple as repetition to reinforce an idea, anecdotes (even humour!) to create a personal tone, deliberate pauses to give your audience a moment to process new ideas, all the way to varying sentence length, can change the rhythm and impact of your presentation.

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What about rhetorical questions?

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They invite your audience to stop and think about your ideas!

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Compare the difference between:‍

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Multimodal presentations demonstrate a student's ability to adapt their communication for an audience.‍

And:‍

A multimodal presentation is all about asking, "What does my audience need to understand?"

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The second feels much more engaging and piques the interest of your audience by maintaining a conversational yet sophisticated approach. Wouldn't you agree?

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Markers will be looking for these choices to be deliberate, so use your techniques with a purpose in mind.

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It's all about confidence!

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How you present yourself matters.

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Although the primary goal of a multimodal presentation is to showcase a depth of knowledge in a more engaging and entertaining manner, the way you deliver your argument will inevitably shape how your audience receives it.

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Even if you aren't a confident debater or still fear stumbling over your words during public speaking, I'd like you to think of confidence as something that can be controlled.

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Confidence does not necessarily mean being the most talkative person in a room (although sometimes that can help!).

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Your volume, body language and tone can all be consciously shaped to reinforce how convinced you are of your own argument.

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Speaking with clarity. Varying your pace. Pausing. Making eye contact.

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And above all, valuing the quality of your ideas over torrential word salad.

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These small choices can communicate confidence without requiring you to become the most charismatic person in the classroom. If you don't sound convinced by your own ideas, who's to say that your teacher is convinced either?!

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So don't be afraid to break free from the rigid, repetitive structure of the analytical essay. You already know how to write one!

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Now you get to do something different and hopefully leave the classroom feeling that your ideas were worth listening to.

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And even if something doesn't go quite right (maybe you stumble over a word or hesitate for what feels like hours…), markers aren't looking for perfection. They are looking for a clear, consistent delivery of your ideas!

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And if that doesn't comfort you, feel free to imagine everyone as a potato.

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It helps! ;)

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