PRESENTATION SKILLS

SAMPLE 1: A SUGGESTED OUTLINE FOR AN INFORMATIVE

PRESENTATION

Topic: The Titanic

General Purpose: To Inform

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about one of the most famous tragedies in
history, the Titanic

Thesis: From the disaster to the movie, the sinking of the Titanic remains one of the
most famous tragedies in history.

I. Introduction

A. Greeting

B. Hook: An American writer named Morgan Robertson once wrote a book called
The Wreck of the Titan. The book was about an “unsinkable” ship called the Titan
that set sail from England to New York with many rich and famous passengers on
board. On its journey, the Titan hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank. Many
lives were lost because there were not enough lifeboats. So, what is so strange about
this? Well, The Wreck of the Titan was written 14 years before the Titanic sank.

C. Reason to Listen: The sinking of the Titanic was one of the largest non-war related
disasters in history, and it is important to be knowledgeable about the past.

D. Topic/ Thesis Statement: From the disaster to the movie, the sinking of the Titanic
remains one of the most famous tragedies in history.

E. Preview of Main Points:

1. First, I will discuss the Titanic itself.

2. Second, I will discuss the sinking of the ship.

3. Finally, I will discuss the movie that was made about the Titanic.
 F. Rules for Q&A

II. From the disaster to the movie, the sinking of the Titanic remains one of the most
famous tragedies in history.

A. The Titanic was thought to be the largest, safest, most luxurious ship ever built.

1. At the time of her launch, she was the biggest existing ship and the largest
moveable object ever built.

a. According to Geoff Tibbals, in his 1997 book The Titanic: The

extraordinary story of the “unsinkable” ship, the Titanic was 882 feet
long and weighed about 46,000 tons.

b. This was 100 feet longer and 15,000 tons heavier than the world’s
current largest ships.

c. Thresh stated in Titanic: The truth behind the disaster, published in

1992 that the Titanic accommodated around 2,345 passengers and 860
crew-members.

2. The beautiful accommodations of the Titanic were decorated and furnished

with only the finest items.

a. According to a quotation from Shipbuilder’s magazine that is

included in Peter Thresh’s 1992 book Titanic, “Everything has been
done in regard to the furniture and fittings to make the first-class
accommodation more than equal to that provided in the finest hotels on
shore” (p. 18).

b. Fine parlor suites located on the ship consisted of a sitting room, two
bedrooms, two wardrobe rooms, a private bath, and a lavatory.

c. The first-class dining room was the largest on any liner; it could
serve 500 passengers at one sitting.
 d. Other first-class accommodations included a squash court,
swimming pool, library, barber’s shop, Turkish baths, and a
photographer’s dark room.

3. The Titanic was widely believed to be the safest ship ever built.

a. Tibbals, as previously cited, described the Titanic as having an outer

layer that shielded an inner layer – a ‘double bottom’ – that was created
to keep water out of the ship if the outer layer was pierced.

b. The bottom of the ship was divided into 16 watertight compartments

equipped with automatic watertight doors.

c. The doors could be closed immediately if water were to enter into the
compartments.

d. Because of these safety features, the Titanic was deemed unsinkable.

Transition: Now that I’ve discussed the Titanic itself, I will now discuss the tragedy that
occurred on its maiden voyage.

B. The Titanic hit disaster head-on when it ran into an iceberg four days after its
departure.

1. The beginning of the maiden voyage was mostly uneventful.

a. Tibbals (1997) stated that the ship departed from Queenstown in

Ireland at 1:30 pm on April 10th, 1912, destined for New York.

b. The weather was perfect for sailing – there was blue sky, light
winds, and a calm ocean.

c. According to Walter Lord in A Night to Remember from 1955, the

Atlantic Ocean was like polished plate glass on the night of April 14.

2. The journey took a horrible turn when the ship struck an iceberg and began
to sink.

a. In the book Titanic: An illustrated history from 1992, Lynch explains

that the collision occurred at 11:40 pm on Sunday, April 14.
 b. According to Robert Ballard’s 1988 book Exploring the Titanic, the
largest part of the iceberg was under water.

c. Some of the ship’s watertight compartments had been punctured and

the first five compartments rapidly filled with water.

d. Tibbals (1997) wrote that distress rockets were fired and distress
signals were sent out, but there were no ships close enough to arrive in
time.

3. As the ship went down, some were rescued but the majority of passengers
had no place to go.

a. Thresh (1992) stated that there were only 20 lifeboats on the ship.

b. This was only enough for about half of the 2,200 people that were on
board.

c. The lifeboats were filled quickly with women and children loaded
first.

4. The ship eventually disappeared from sight.

a. Tibbals (1997) explains that at 2:20 am on Monday, the ship broke in

half and slowly slipped under the water.

b. At 4:10 am, the Carpathia answered Titanic’s distress call and

arrived to rescue those floating in the lifeboats.

c. Lynch (1992) reported that in the end, 1,522 lives were lost.

Transition: Now that we have learned about the history of the Titanic, I will discuss the
movie that was made about it.

C. A movie depicting the Titanic and a group of fictional characters was made.

1. The movie was written, produced, and directed by James Cameron.

a. According to Marsh in James Cameron’s Titanic from 1997,

Cameron set out to write a film that would bring the event of the
Titanic to life.
 b. Cameron conducted six months of research to compile a highly
detailed time line so that the film would be realistic.

c. Cameron spent more time on the Titanic than the ships’ original
passengers because he made 12 trips to the wreck site that lasted
between ten and twelve hours each.

2. Making Titanic was extremely expensive and involved much hard work.

a. According to a 1998 article from the Historical Journal of Films,

Radio, and Television, Kramer stated that the film had a 250-million-
dollar budget.

b. A full-sized replica of the ship was constructed in Baja California,

Mexico in a 17-million-gallon oceanfront tank.

c. Cameron assembled an expedition to dive to the wreck on the ocean

floor to film footage that was later used in the opening scenes of the
movie.

d. Marsh (1997) further explained that the smallest details were

attended to, including imprinting the thousand pieces of china, crystal,
and silver cutlery used in the dining room scenes with White Star’s
emblem and pattern.

3. The movie was extremely successful.

a. Kramer (1998) reported that Titanic made approximately 600 million

dollars in the United States, making it the #1 movie of all time.

b. It made approximately 1.8 billion dollars world-wide and is also the

#1 movie of all time world-wide.

c. Titanic was nominated for a record eight Golden Globe Awards only
a few weeks after its release, and won four.

d. It was also nominated for a record fourteen Academy Awards, and it

won eleven.

III. Conclusion
 A. Review of Main points

1. Today I first discussed the Titanic itself.

2. Second, I discussed the sinking of the ship.

3. Finally, I discussed the movie that was made about the Titanic.

B. Restate Thesis: From the disaster to the movie, the sinking of the Titanic remains
one of the most famous tragedies in history.

C. Closure: In conclusion, remember The Wreck of the Titan, the story written
fourteen years before the Titanic sank. It now seems as if it was an eerie prophecy, or
a case of life imitating art. Whatever the case, the loss of lives on the Titanic was
tremendous, and it is something that should never be forgotten.

IV. References