4.

EPSO Assessment Exercise: The Oral

Presentation

Presentation exercises are designed to measure your ability to organise and structure
information, to communicate clearly and concisely and to remain resilient under ques
tioning. At the EPSO Assessment Centre, you will be asked to present on a topic in front
of the assessors. It is therefore similar to a public speaking exercise that you may be
required to do once recruited, to showcase to your colleagues a certain file you have been
working on.

How to Prepare
As you will not know the topic of the case study (and therefore, the presentation) in
advance, it is difficult to prepare from a content perspective, except by following the
same preparation as advised for the case study cind the general tips for preparation. You
can, however, consider your personal presenting style in advance by asking others for
feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of your communication style and how you
tend to present information.
Practising giving presentations can be unappealing for some people, but it is definitely
worth considering it. Try to find opportunities to do so in advance of the Assessment
Centre in order to reduce any tension or fear: even if you just present on a familiar topic
to supportive friends or family members, it can still be extremely useful. You may also
wish to have yourself recorded on video and then analyse your body language, voice
strength and pace of speech, content vocabulary and other factors that assessors will be
looking at. You ideally wish to get to the stage that:
You are comfortable speaking from memory with only the need for brief prompts or
bullet points on index cards.
You can ensure a presentation you give runs to a set time.
You feel comfortable projecting your voice and speaking at a measured pace.
Through feedback, you are aware of any distracting habits you may have, such as fid
dling with your hair or repeating a particular phrase or expression (e.g. "yeah",
"uhm" or "you know": these are much more common than most people imagine, it's
just that speakers hardly ever notice these themselves). You should aim at least to get
to the stage where you become consciously aware when they are happening and can
take steps to stop them.

EPSO ASSESSMENT-THE ORAL PRESENTATION

333

Tips for the Assessment Itself

Stay Calm: If you feel nervous on the day before giving your presentation, practise
deep breathing and rehearse your opening sentences. If you are very nervous, stand
ing behind a lectern or table may help you to feel less vulnerable, as well as giving you
something to lean on and somewhere to place your notes. If a lectern or table is not
available, then take in some of the background papers to hold in order to keep your
hands still. Alternatively, you may wish to hold a pen in your hand that can take help
you control your hand movements or form a "barrier" in front of your body if held by
both hands; though this is not particularly advisable from a body language point of
view, it can help you subconsciously feel less exposed.
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No Need to Rush: Do not start until you are ready. If you're nervous, your body will
scream at you to begin and get it over with. What then tends to happen is that you
start when neither you nor the audience is ready. Take your time. Before you say any
thing, pause, take a couple of calm, deep breaths and look around the audience. When
they are settled and ready, you can begin.
Structure: There is an old expression that goes: "say what you are going to say, say it,
then say what you just said". In other words, give your presentation a beginning,
middle and an end in a consciously structured manner. A good structure will make
you feel secure and is helpful to the audience too: they will know where they are and
what's to come. This also refers to the outline you prepare for yourself: some key con
cepts, bullet points and reminders are sufficient to help you keep the flow.
Opening Styles: You can choose various opening styles for the start of your presenta
tion as follows:
-

You might start with a surprising fact: "Did you know that 3 out of 10 EU citi
zens do not believe in climate change?"

You might start with a personal element: "When I was a teenager, I always
dreamed about becoming a lawyer. Now that I have become one, I am very
excited to analyse the latest case law in this field."

You might refer to an event: "When President Barroso announced the

Commission proposals to tackle the financial crisis, he suggested that..."

You might recall a story: "Two months ago one early morning, three people gath
ered in a meeting room of the European Parliament to discuss something crucial
for the EU's future. These three were..."

You can be factual: "In 2005 when the Constitutional Treaty was rejected in two
EU Member States, nobody thought it could be revived again."

You might develop your opening based on a mixture of the above.

Plan Your Time: Assuming you have ten minutes in total, you would spend the first
minute outlining what you will be discussing. The main content section will take a fur
ther eight minutes: enough for six to eight main points. The end should be a summary
conclusion of what you have covered. Invite questions from the audience and when
that's finished, thank them for their attention.
Cut, Cut, Cut: Be ruthless with the content. Inevitably, preparing a presentation will
involve you assembling too much information from your background research.
Remember what it feels like to listen to a speaker. Too much information and you
begin to switch off. Prime your talk to the essentials. You might want to break it into

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EPSO ASSESSMENT - THE ORAL PRESENTATION

no more than three memorable points you want your audience to take away with
them. If you have too much information it's also much harder to keep trtim.
Be Specific: It is crucial to add concrete examples to support each of your points
When talking about e.g. the EU's performance audit efforts, make sure to provide spe
cific projects you are familiar with or ones that you learned from the dossier; or when
discussing the EU's plans to cut C02 emissions from cars, you can mention specifics
emission figures, thresholds, or a simple but powerful example of "if you have an X
car, its emissions will be regulated as follows, therefore when doing your shopping
next weekend, think of the added value this policy has triggered". This will help your
audience visualise your words and remember them much better.
Flash Cards: If you feel you have the time, try writing your notes on numbered pieces
of paper torn into card-shapes. You can then move each card to the bottom of the pile
when you have used it, and will always keep your place.
Body Language: Even if you do not feel confident, try to look as if you are by keeping
your shoulders down, by not speaking too quickly, by looking up as much as you can
(even if you are reading from notes) at every member of the panel and by smiling
occasionally. Less experienced presenters have a tendency to speed up as they talk
especially as the end of their allotted time approaches: try to speak clearly and at a
measured pace. If you feel yourself start to rush, pause and get yourself back on track.
When in the Spotlight: Think about whether you will move during your presentation
and if so, how you will do it. Keep hand gestures smooth, and do not block any visual
aids (if used): a common mistake is to stand in between your presentation (if pro
jected) and the video device.
Guiding Purpose: If you are asked to make a recommendation or give a view, make this
the starting point of your presentation, and then present your reasoning and analysis.
For example, if you are asked to give your views on whether or not setting up a new EU
Patent Court is a good idea, you can start by a strong (but always diplomatic) argument
for or against and build your entire presentation on supporting this position. However,
always make sure not to be personal or give views that may be hurtful to anyone's per
sonal or professional feelings (by the latter I mean saying things like "unit X or institu
tion Y is useless as they only slow down the policy making").
Your Tone: Try to vary the tone of your voice so that you do not speak in a monoto
nous way. This can be done by carefully inserted "pauses" in your speech that will
certainly attract attention if done right; you may also vary the pitch or tone of your
voice to further enhance the audience's attention.
Outline: Give an introductory outline of your presentation, and make sure you keep
to this. Avoid introducing a completely new subject without warning halfway
through, or changing the tone of your presentation for no clear reason.
Verbal Connections: Use link to lead logically from one section to the next: e.g.
"while we are on the subject of..."; "in view of..."; "as for..."; "before moving on
to... "; "in spite of..."
Adapt Style: Make sure che presentation is delivered in an appropriate style for the
target audience: depending on whether the assessors are experts in your field, you
must adapt your vocabulary, examples, expressions and facts accordingly. (It may
have a detrimental effect on your evaluation if for example you are asked to present a
communication strategy for the introduction of the euro in a Member State and you
use expressions such as "convergence criteria" to a non-expert audience.) Keep things
sharp, succinct and to the point. Do not over elaborate, or waffle for the sake of using

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up time or showing off knowledge for its own sake. Also, it is important to be articu
late, and not to use slang (such as "the new regulation was viewed as a really cool one
by the industry"). Throughout your presentation you must be professional.
Concreteness: Provide specific examples from the background brief or from your out
side knowledge. These give the audience something to think about and an interesting
source for the later question-and-answer session.
Easy Style: You may wish to include some light humour, but always ensure that it is
appropriate to the presentation subject and to the audience. Needless to say, it is com
pletely inappropriate to make cynical comments or voice stereotypes about an EU
Member State, race, religion or other sensitive matters.
Delivery: Aim for a conversational delivery, using brief notes or bullet points, rather
than memorising and reciting, or reading from a prepared sheet. Try to establish eye
contact with everyone around you and aim to read their body language to gain rein
forcement or feedback.
What You Think: Do not be afraid to express your opinions. When you are expressing
opinion rather than stating facts, remember to make this clear by using expressions such
as "I believe that"; "in my opinion"; "to my mind". You can show how strong your
beliefs are by slightly amending some of these expressions, "I firmly believe that"; "I
strongly believe that"; "We are absolutely certain that"; "We are pretty sure that".
Stay on Track: Make sure that you only cover topics in your presentation that you
know and understand at least fairly well. Do not choose to introduce a subject you are
less familiar with because you think it will be more impressive: you may well run into
difficulties when questioned in more detail following the presentation. It is better to
present confidently on topics about which you feel comfortable.
Pauses: Pause slightly between points to show the audience when you are about to
move on to a different subject. Allow pauses for audience reaction or possibly, ques
tions. Pauses are also an extremely useful tool to gain the audience's attention: if used
wisely, a pause of a few seconds will allow everyone to catch up and focus their atten
tion on you again.
Corrections: Do not be put off if you make a mistake during the presentation (e.g. you
realise you mixed up the date a Treaty was signed). Apologise quickly and move on.
Interactivity: The assessors will not ask you questions during your presentation itself,
only in the following question and answer session, so interaction will only be possible in
the latter phase.

Repeat: At the end of your presentation, rephrase the original question (or title of your
presentation) and answer it with your conclusion. Thank your audience, smile and
offer a chance for questions to be asked.

Stay on Time: Keeping track of time is important during your presentation. Giving a
short presentation looks like a candidate is under-prepared. Giving a long presenta
tion runs the risk of boring or agitating your assessors (or being cut short).
Visual Aids: Use the visual aids effectively. You may be allowed to use a flipchart to
support your presentation. There are certain things to bear in mind when using visual
aids:
-

Illustrate: They must be visual; do not put too much written information on a
flipchart. A clear heading and a couple of bullet points is plenty. Try to use
simple diagrams, charts or graphs to illustrate your points. Keep the style
straightforward and professional.

EPSO ASSESSMENT - THE ORAL PRESENTAT^)

336

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Support: They must be a support and not a crutch; only use visual aids to clarif
what you are saying. You want the audience to concentrate on you and not on
- the visuals.

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Talk Ahead: Do not talk to visual aids; when you feel nervous, it is very easy t0
do this with the result that you turn your back to the audience. Always talk to the
audience and not to the flipchart.

Less is More: Each candidate is restricted to one flipchart sheet so no more than
a few concise bullet points are possible.

Easy to See: Ensure that you use bold colours that will easily be seen even from
far and write clearly in a large font (e.g. not yellow, light blue etc) This small
piece of advice can have an important effect on the success of your presentation

Stay Professional: Remain calm under questioning and do not become defensive or
nervous even if your views are challenged. The assessors are testing to see how you
react under pressure so try to remain calm and relaxed in your responses.
Ask Back: Do not be afraid to ask the assessor to clarify questions if you do not under
stand them. If you genuinely cannot respond to a difficult question, thank the asses
sor for raising the point, acknowledge its relevance, and concede this is not something
you can offer an opinion on at the present time, but suggest that this is something you
would be prepared to follow up later.

SAMPLE PRESENTATION EXERCISE

In the following section, we discuss how the presentation exercise would run at an EPSO
Assessment Centre. No, or little, extra background information will be provided. The
key objective is to present a particular issue covered in your background brief in a con
cise, clear and engaging manner and then to answer a series of questions (some deliber
ately quite challenging) from an observer.
Here, we have briefly outlined how the presentation brief may be presented, before
going on to outline how the questions may be phrased. Following this, we provide
sample scoring criteria for a couple of the competencies likely to be measured by this
exercise.

Candidate Brief

W would now like you tospend 20 minutes preparing to present your, tiems relating to
one- of the questions posed. can choose which of the three questions io focus your pres
entation around.
"" ' .

You will have up to 15 minutes lo make the prsentation itself/followed by up to a further

15 minutes of questioning Flipchart paper can be used but nt PowerPoint.
Piese note that you will be: presenting to your direct supervisor,, who is interested to hear
your views and will provide robust questioning to ensure the issues are fully understood.

1PSO ASSESSMENT- THE ORAL PRESENTATION

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presentation - Likely Questions

The types of questions you will face by the assessor following your presentation are
likely to be split into two types. Firstly, there will be more general ones seeking more
information about your approach and challenging you to see how you perform under
pressure. The second type will be more specialised, relating to the specific issues con
tained in the brief. Independent of your selected profile, it is advisable to carefully con
sider the answers to these probing questions and do some research on the issues,
institutions and procedures raised therein.
Some of the general questions and challenges you can expect to face are as follows
(some of these will depend upon whether or not you have included them already in your
presentation):

General an Probing Questions

Have you considered the impact of [a topic not covered in your presentation - e.g.
broader economic picture, staffing issues, lack of resources, potential repercussions on
other EU policies]?
What alternative options did you consider? Why did you discard them?
I am not convinced that [specific recommendation you made] is the right way to pro
ceed. Have you considered [alternative option] instead?
Why do we need to act at all? What is the problem with allowing things to continue as
they are?

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Talk me through the [financial, people, resource] implications of your proposal in

more detail.
I am not sure how popular this will be with other stakeholders [e.g. staff, the public,
NGOs]. What arguments can you propose that would help me to persuade them that
this is a good idea?
What are the longer-term implications of your proposals?
What concerns do you have over the long-term viability of your proposals?
How might your proposal affect EU activities in other areas?
What other information would you have liked to help reach your decision? Why?
What was the most important factor in making your decision, as far as you are con
cerned?
How would you communicate your proposals both internally and externally?
What do you see as your role in this project going forward?
What external knowledge or expertise would we need to bring in?
What do you see as the biggest risk in your plan? How do you propose that we
manage it?
What contingencies do you think are needed?

EU and Specialist Questions

Would your proposal respect the subsidiarity principle?
Are you sure it is the EU that needs to act and not the Member States themselves?

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EPSO ASSESSMENT-THE ORAL PRESENTATION

How does your proposal affect our goals of economic and environmental sustainability?
Do you think an impact assessment would be necessary for this proposal? Why?
Do you know what the G20 or UN position is on this issue?
How would the European Parliament approach this matter? Would that be different
from the Commission's perspective?
The budgetary implications may raise concerns at the . European Court of Auditors.
How would you address these?
How can these initiatives get approved faster in the EU decision-making procedures?
Would these issues be regulated under the comitology procedures? Why?
What is the European Council President's and the rotating Presidency's role in this
field?
If your proposal is challenged on legal or procedural grounds, to whom can you turn
for legal opinion and in case of need, legal remedy?
If the proposed budget proves to be insufficient, how can the EU budget be amended?
Should a Member State fail to enact this policy, what measures can be taken to enforce
compliance?
This approach may not be in line with the Financial Regulations. What do you think?
What role does the Economic and Social Committee have in this issue?
Where does this policy fit in the European Commission's legislative and work pro
gramme?

Scoring Guide
The following section outlines some examples of what good and poor behaviour might
look like for a couple of the competencies likely to be assessed in an exercise like this.

Competency Area: Coping Under Pressure

This competency area is concerned with how a candidate responds to pressure at work. It includes
the extent to which they display their feelings and their general levels of optimism. It also meas
ures how well they respond to changing circumstances.
For this competency, the following would be indicators of a positive response:
Remains calm under pressure. Keeps negative emotions under control even when
challenging questions are put (e.g. remains composed throughout, speaks evenly and
body language is under control)
Maintains an optimistic, positive outlook (e.g. talks with enthusiasm about the chal
lenges ahead; tone of voice and body language are in line with the positive mood of
what is being said)
Reacts positively to change (e.g. sees the opportunities in a change situation; proposes
change on own initiative; understands the value in a new proposal)
Responds confidently and non-defensively to criticism (e.g. thanks the assessor for
their question and responds in a positive, energised way; turns challenging questions
into an opportunity to dispel doubt)

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EPSO ASSESSMENT- THE ORAL PRESENTATION

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Tolerates ambiguity in work content or organisational situation (e.g. prepared to make

decisions on the basis of limited information)

339

The following would be indicators of a poor response:

srent

Becomes stressed under pressure. Displays negative emotions inappropriately (e.g.

goes red, fiddles with pen or papers while presenting, has difficulty finding the right
words)

tors,

Maintains a negative, pessimistic outlook (e.g. is cynical about the likely success of
their proposed solution; words and tone express doubt or lack of true commitment)

ires?

Reacts negatively to change (e.g. proposes keeping things the way they are currently
and expresses doubt about the consequences of change)

this

Responds defensively to criticism (e.g. becomes defensive when challenged in the

questioning phase, raises voice in frustration, questions assessor's credentials).

turn

Intolerant of ambiguity in work content or organisational situation (e.g. requests much

more information before willing to make a firm decision)

ed?

Competency Area: Communicating With Clarity

)rce

This competency area is concerned with how effectively a candidate communicates facts and opin
ions to others. It includes both oral and written communication. Effective communication is
measured not just by clarity and accuracy, but also by successfully gaining the interest and atten
tion of the audience and by adapting to suit their needs.

ik?

For this competency, the following would be indicators of a positive response:

>ro-

ht

Speaks clearly and fluently

manner)

(e.g. pronounces words clearly and speaks in a fluent

Uses the correct balance of detail and conciseness (e.g. does not go into the same
amount of detail as the written response; yet still uses the full time available for the
presentation)
Avoids jargon (or explains it if uses)

ies
as

Communicates in a manner that captures the attention and interest of the audience
(e.g. uses personal anecdotes and facts; raising and lowering of pitch and pace; uses
moderate humour)
Can identify and convey the key points of an argument (e.g. structures presentation
around these or makes them clear in some way; uses repetition)

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Picks up from audience cues and changes style to suit (e.g. notices if the assessor is taking
notes and slows down or becomes more serious in response to serious questions)
The following would be indicators of a poor response:
Speaks unclearly and hesitantly (e.g. pauses frequently during presentation to check
notes, becomes tongue-tied over certain words and phrases)
Is either overly detailed or overly brief in their communications (e.g. includes lots of
small details that mean the presentation overruns or time is not used effectively.
Alternatively, finishes the presentation very early and misses the opportunity to give
more information as a result)
Uses jargon without explanation

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EPSO ASSESSMENT-THE ORAL PRESENTATION

Communicates in a manner that fails to capture the attention and interest of the audi
ence (e.g. speaks in a monotone; uses only basic facts with no attempt to embellish)
Fails to identify or convey the key points of an argument (e.g. assessor, is unclear on
the rationale behind a proposed course of action by the end of the presentation)
Fails to pick up on audience cues or change style to suit (e.g. makes jokes at inappro
priate points such as when the assessor is expressing scepticism; speaks very fst
throughout when assessor is looking confused or flustered trying to keep up)