The textbook begins with a needs analysis, giving students the opportunity to assess individual strengths and weaknesses and to focus their learning. So often peer review is used as a classroom tool without providing adequate guidance in offering effective and useful feedback. The authors' suggestions for giving and receiving constructive criticism offer students valuable opportunities to learn what makes a good presentation. The criteria for evaluation change with the focus of each chapter so that the giver is able to offer focussed feedback and the receiver is not overwhelmed with advice. From there the chapters build on each other.
Initial chapters cover preparatory elements such as planning, research, and brainstorming.
Chapters on design include topics such as choosing the appropriate rhetorical style and organizing the material. The latter half of the text covers key areas of delivery, including using notes and visual aids and preparing for last-minute changes. In short, all of the steps to creating an effective presentation are covered. Compared to the sophistication displayed in the discussion of culture, the language instruction in this text is rather simplistic. While such terms as feedback and stage fright may help students find a common platform upon which to discuss the topic of presentations, they do not serve to further their actual presentation vocabulary.