Justin's guide to the Viva Voce
Farout, I didn't realise the Viva Voce was so early for some of you people, but seeing as there are threads up about it, I'll make my own little guide.
Layout:
The layout of the Viva Voce is pretty simple. Different schools will probably have different systems, but here's what I feel is a pretty standard Viva Voce.
-Short time to get ready (set up presentations, etc).
-Short talk and/or presentation about your major work, research, mentors, etc.
-Short interview-ish thing. They ask you questions. You answer them and try to lead the conversation to what you feel are the strengths of your work/process.
Preparation:
OK, this is the most essential thing for you Viva Voce. Make sure you have something to show the marker and audience. This is absolutely essential. If you haven't written or even started a draft don't stress, because it's still very early in the game. Just make sure you have something.
I would suggest some of the following:
-A Powerpoint/Flash/whatever presentation that can be going in the background while you talk about your major work or your ideas.
-Handouts. While not absolutely necessary if you're showing something on screen, it's still good to have something to give your audience.
-A timeline of what you've done so far in terms of research, development of ideas, composition and so on.
-Your journal. I didn't use it, but it's good to have some parts there to illustrate your processes.
-If you've done a draft, have a copy with you. Or at least a copy of what you've done. If you're doing a presentation, have a copy on your disk so you can load it up if you feel the need. If you have a hard copy you can some out.
Make sure you know what you are going to talk about. Odds are you'll be expected to do a short talk (a couple of minutes, which isn't nearly enough) about your major work. You don't want to be going way over or way under time. Prepare everything. Don't read off your presentation if you do one. You want to be facing your audience rather than the screen.
Try and find out who will be marking and act accordingly. If you know a teacher who lacks a sense of humour will be assessing you, don't put too many jokes in there. If you know the teacher is easygoing and can appreciate a good joke every now and then, prepare a funny comment on the side or a more casual style in which to present your talk.
Most importantly know the criteria! Make sure you know what they want so you can do it! It's no use talking about your cat when they want you to talk about how many words you think your work will be (for example). Make sure you address everything they want to hear before you go off on a tangent. Most of your marks will come from addressing the criteria (make sure you stick to the stuff about how you present your Viva Voce... very important) so focus on that. Then you can go off and do what you think is important and get more. When you prepare, prepare what they want to see first.
In the assessment:
Relax. The Viva Voce is the most fun of the assessments. It's a chance to show off how cool your work, your idea or even lack both. Enjoy it. I'm not one for public speaking, but I had a blast in my Viva Voce. And the audience (Year 11 Extension 1) loved me too.
Eye contact. Duh.
Make sure you're speaking clearly, and that what you say makes sense. If someone asks you a question, pause for a second to come up with an intelligable answer rather than rushing and blurting any old thing out.
Refer to your work as much as you can. Mention parts of the work that you didn't show in your presentation so that the marker will ask about it, or even ask to see it (if you have a copy of your work on you). Again, it's best to have it on disk so you can show it via the projector. Gives them a better idea of what your work is about and where it's going. It's good to use the mouse to highlight or point to particular sentences too.
Talk about everything! Do not focus on your work and not mention research. Similarly, don't talk about your research and ignore the work itself. They want to see how you can balance and manage your time.
Don't move around too much. React to your audience. If they like the way you're going, keep it up. If they don't, change approach.
And this is one for those emotional people out there: Don't cry. Seriously. More likely than not, it won't help you.
That's all I can think of for now, but I will add things as I think of them or if someone suggests an area I didn't talk about.
Good luck.
-Justin
You can still get full marks with tears streaming down your face, so long as you fulfill the criteria 
