Conducting & Presentation

Writing and presenting your findings

Organize your material

After completing your research you may want to show people or organizations the conclusions you have drawn. Select the information you think necessary, but remember that in order to be unbiased you should include both the good and the bad, and different opinions. Discuss what the aim of your project is with your group, and use this as the guideline for the information you want to include.

It is also important to decide the audience for whom your history is intended. Ask: ‘What will these people want to know, and how will they use this knowledge? This will influence the presentation. The presentation should be lively and interesting in order to captivate your readers or audience. Remember that your presentation must be simple and clear, but also entertaining.

Factors to keep in mind are:

Accuracy
Coherence
Efficiency
Clarity
Relevance
Interest

Start writing

Writing your history is part of the preparation for you presentation. There are a few factors to consider when writing a history, like the importance of your audience understanding what you wrote. If you are writing a history for a specific community you could present it in the language the community speaks, like Zulu, Afrikaans, Pedi or English. Also keep in mind that you should write in the language in which you express yourself the best. You could always have it translated if necessary.

Hints:

Write simply and use words people will understand.
Divide your piece into paragraphs. This will make the information easier to understand as it is divided into smaller parts. A long piece of unbroken text becomes too uniform and boring and it is important to keep your work attractive.
A new paragraph also indicates that a new idea will be presented.
Each paragraph should present one main idea, so leave unnecessary information out.
Include quotations to illustrate the point you are making.
Use interesting and informative headings for each section in order to attract your readers.
Keep to your initial plan in order to keep your history clear and simple.
Now that you have completed your history you can present it in a number of different ways. You are not limited to only publishing it, but must ask yourself the following questions:
- What is the purpose of presenting this history?
- Am I still on track with the audience I chose?
- What skills and materials will I need?
- What skills and materials do I have?
- How much will the presentation cost?

Give a talk

Presenting your history as a talk is an ideal way to reach out to the community or organisation you are writing about. It will provide your audience with the opportunity to air their opinions, criticisms and suggestions, and is one of the cheapest ways to do a presentation. The responses of the audience are very valuable as they can provide you with guidelines on how to continue with your project. Be sure to listen; these people created the history record with you. It is theirs too.

Try to coincide your talk with a special event in the community like a celebration or festival and get permission from the organisers to present your talk. Make the presentation yourself or select members of the group who are confident public speakers. You may want to hand out copies of your paper to members of the audience. If you have a large number of pictures relating to your history you can even coincide your talk with a slide show. This means that you will have to have your pictures copied onto slide film, which will increase your costs.

The cost of your presentation must be taken into account. If you want to make several copies of the paper you can make photocopies or multiple prints. You could also tape your talk in order to make it available to people who did not attend the talk. In some venues it may be difficult to record the speaker clearly so you could ask someone in the group who is a good reader to read the talk and record it at home.

Visit the location of your presentation before you do the presentation and make an estimate as to what tools you may need. Is there a podium or stage to stand on and will there be a microphone? If the venue is small you may only need to speak clearly, without the help of a microphone. Also make sure that there is ample seating available.

Stage a play

Staging a play, as with a talk, can be an affordable way to present your project. Members of the group who are talented actors can perform and those who are better at technical tasks can help with the set, costumes and production of the play.

You can also collaborate with your school, church or organisation, which may provide you with a venue for your production. Advertising your play is essential in order to inform the community of the event. You can place an advert in your local newspaper for a minimal rate or make posters to put up all over town.

Putting up a play may not cost a great deal of money, but will take a lot of time and effort. You must rehearse often in order to give a good performance and entertain and inform your audience. You could also make a videotape of the play to enable people who couldn’t attend to see the production. This could end up in the community library for easy access

Present an exhibition

If your project includes a large number of photographs or pictures you may want to set up an exhibition. This is also a relatively cheap way of presenting your project as most of the costs involve the laminating and preparation of your images.

Each image must have a caption relating important information like where the picture was taken, who or what is featured in it and when it was taken. Try to display your exhibition in venues that are easily accessible to the public, like a community hall or church hall. It may also be wise to have a book at the door where people can write their comments and advice.

When preparing for the exhibition you must take the space available to you into account. The design and layout of the exhibition can be done before commencing set-up. You can design the image and text lay-out on computer and place the screens in a way that successfully utilizes the available space. Remember that the audience needs to move between screens with enough space to appreciate the images from a distance of at least 2 meters. Plan size of the screens on which you will place your images and the size of the images themselves. Don’t make them too large, as A1 or poster size would be sufficient. You will also need material like Velcro to fix the pictures to the screens. Laminated images are protected from dirt and fingerprints and will enable you to move the exhibition from location to location if you choose without image damage.

At the opening of the exhibition you may want to give a short speech describing your project and what you aim to achieve. Another choice open to you is to honour someone with the role of opening the exhibition. You could also provide beverages and snacks if you can afford it.

Compile a book, pamphlet or newsletter

As your history is already in written format you may want to publish it in a newspaper, magazine, book or on the internet. You must remember that printing and publishing is an expensive venture and that you may require sponsors, so it may be wiser to make use of resources at your disposal like a school newspaper or community newsletter. If there is no newspaper available you may want to start your own, which can be sold in the community.

Another way to distribute your history is to print a pamphlet. You can have it photocopied, which means low costs. The information you put on the pamphlet must be short and to the point as you do not have any space to waste. Keep in mind that your pamphlet may stimulate interest in your project and may even generate some help.

You can design and lay your newspaper or pamphlet out by hand or by using a computer programme. Software packages like Pagemaker, for PC, or Quarke, for ApleMac, are available, but will increase the cost of your publication a great deal. If you do have access to a computer and software as mentioned above you could learn a new skill as part of your project.

The history tour

As part of your history project you can plan a historical tour or walk of the area you studied. This will provide an opportunity to develop a tourist attraction and to educate and inform people from within and outside the community. A number of successful projects like this exist.

Historical sites and buildings can be placed on the route, as well as examples of the modern structures and houses in the area. Remember to not make the route too long as people get tired and lose interest. You could also plan the route to include a picnic break in a park or in a natural setting typical of the area.

This kind of tour will enable your audience to form an accurate picture of the physical features of the area today. This may give them a good idea as to what changes have taken place over time. It is essential to have a knowledgeable and well-spoken tour guide who can answer questions about the project.

Next page: Building an archive

Previous page: Different aspects to research (Collecting information)

References

How to use the internet as a research tool

Oral history - an educational tool for educators and learners

Source: Unpublished material from 3 Provincial History Conferences, December 2002, supplied by Claire Dyer, SA History Project, National Dept. of Education.