English for Presentations
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This document provides guidance on presenting effectively in English. It discusses the challenges of presenting in a non-native language and emphasizes the importance of preparation, practice, structure and building rapport. It outlines key elements of structuring a presentation, including the lead-in, main body, conclusion and use of signposting. Visual aids are addressed, with guidance on how to introduce and comment on them. Useful techniques like contrast, repetition and rhetorical questions are covered. The document also discusses building rapport, handling questions, and includes examples of powerful and persuasive language.
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English for Presentations
- 1. Core Systems Transformation Solutions English for Presentations December 18, 2013
- 2. Confidential 1 Agenda • Presenting in English: the challenges • Structuring your presentation • Building rapport with the audience • Using visuals • Useful techniques • Key language • Handling questions • Q&A
- 3. Confidential 2 Presenting in English: the challenges Presentation [noun, countable]: an event at which you describe or explain a new product or idea. For example: We will begin a series of presentations to help the public fully understand our system. I'm going to ask each of you to make a short presentation. Presentation skills Language skills Culture skills
- 4. Confidential 3 Presenting in English: the challenges Key success factors: Purpose Preparation Practice Rapport Structure Visuals Techniques
- 5. Confidential 4 Structuring your presentation Lead-in Main body Conclusion Who? Why? What? How? The attention curve:
- 6. Confidential 5 Structuring your presentation: Lead-in A Tell the audience the subject of the presentation B Introduce the main points and indicate the structure of your presentation C Introduce yourself D Greet and welcome the audience. Lead-in: the four steps
- 7. Confidential 6 Structuring your presentation: Lead-in Greet and welcome the audience Introduce yourself Tell the audience the subject of the presentation Introduce the main points and indicate the structure of your presentation. More formal: Erm, perhaps we should begin. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen (On behalf of … ,) let me welcome you to… (For those of you who do not know me,) my name is… I am responsible for… This morning I’d like to discuss… report on… and present… Firstly, I’ll give you an overview of… Secondly, I’ll highlight… Finally, we’ll discuss… Less formal: Ok, let’s get started. Hi, everyone. Thanks for coming. I’m… I’m in charge of… What I want to do this morning is… talk to you about… tell you about… and show you… I’ll start off by… filling you in on… outlining… And then I’ll go on to… talk you through… show you… signal
- 8. Confidential 7 Structuring your presentation: Lead-in Secondly, I’ll talk about each of the products and our ideas for taking them to market. Finally, I’d like to talk briefly about our competition. OK. So let’s get started. As I said, the first point is our product range... Good morning everyone. Nice to see so many of you here today. I hope you’re all comfortable and can hear me OK. For those of you who do not know me already, my name is Edward Lee, and I’m Head of Marketing Department in our company. The subject of this presentation is the marketing plan for the next three years. Basically, there are three main points I want to cover today. If you look at the first slide you can see them listed there. First, I’m going to talk about the new product range aimed at the Asian market.
- 9. Confidential 8 Structuring your presentation: Signposting to move on to go back to summarise to expand on to recap to turn to to digress to conclude to elaborate on Examples: Moving on to the issue of the US market, … I’d like to recap the main points. Let’s go back to the question of… To digress for a moment, … Let me expand on some of the main points… I’d like to conclude by quoting …
- 10. Confidential 9 Structuring your presentation: Signposting MORE SIGNPOSTING PHRASES: • I would like to begin by… • So, first of all… • Now, turning to… • Now, what about… ? • This leads me to a point… • So, we’ve looked at… • Next we come to… • My next point is… • So that covers this point. • And finally, …
- 11. Confidential 10 Structuring your presentation: The finish So, that brings me to the end of my presentation. So, that completes the presentation. Well, that covers everything I want to say. Let me summarise what I’ve looked at. To sum up, … At this stage, I’d like to go over … I trust you gained an insight into… I’d like to conclude by strongly recommending… In my opinion, the only way forward is to… In conclusion, I’d like to leave you with the following idea… Thank you for your attention. If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Signal Summary Conclusion Closing remarks
- 12. Confidential 11 Building rapport with the audience rapport [singular, uncountable] friendly relationship, understanding, trust between people
- 13. Confidential 12 Building rapport with the audience 10 USEFUL TIPS: • Do not start speaking until you appear confident • Speak to be heard, but not too loudly • Speak at an appropriate pace • Use an authoritative tone • Make eye contact • Use a powerful posture and effective body language • Involve your audience • Keep it simple • Be enthusiastic and speak with conviction • End with a clear message
- 14. Confidential 13 Using visuals Introduction (of a visual) Highlights and comments Interpretations Useful structures: Let’s take a look at this chart. This diagram shows… This graph illustrates… I’d like to draw your attention to this figure here. As you can see (from the slide), … If you look at it more closely, you’ll notice … The conclusions to be drawn from this are… The significance of this is… I’m sure the message of this is clear to all of us.
- 15. Confidential 14 Using visuals HOW TO BEGIN A GOOD PRESENTATION IN ENGLISH Smile, look into the eyes of as many of your audience as possible and speak slowly - "Hello everyone, good morning and welcome. Thanks for coming." Your presentation is off to a good start. Starting slowly, engaging in eye contact and being able to say your first few sentences without looking at notes, will help relax you and make your audience feel comfortable. Let's keep going. A good presentation is well-structured and properly practised. You can have notes to look at occasionally, but if you want to give a professional impression, then the best advice I can give you is don't read them word for word. Glance at them now and again but give your introduction without reading it from a page. A good structure is simple - in the introduction, introduce yourself and your topic. After you have welcomed your audience, introduce yourself - and think about how peculiar it would look if you had to look down at your notes and read your name. The choice of words for introducing yourself is wider than you might think. If you don't know anyone in the audience, then you can say, "My name is Winnie Chan and I am the marketing manager for International Partners". If you know some of the audience you could change that to, "As some of you know I am Winnie Chan ..." And, if you know most of the audience then you can say, "As most of you already know I'm Winnie Chan".
- 16. Confidential 15 Using visuals BEGINING YOUR PRESENTATION • Greating • How to wellcome your audience • Introduse youself • What the subject of the presentation is?
- 17. Confidential 16 Using visuals BEGINNING YOUR PRESENTATION • Greeting • How to welcome your audience • Introduce yourself • What is the subject of the presentation?
- 18. Confidential 17 Using visuals BEGINNING YOUR PRESENTATION • Greeting and welcoming your audience • Introducing yourself • Stating the subject of the presentation BEGINNING YOUR PRESENTATION • Greet and welcome your audience • Introduce yourself • State the subject of the presentation QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF • Who are my audience? • Why am I speaking to them? • What is my goal? • How am I going to achieve it? REMEMBER: • to speak confidently • to make eye contact • to keep it short and simple • to be enthusiastic
- 19. Confidential 18 Useful techniques Contrast Repetition Rhetorical questions Power words
- 20. Confidential 19 Useful techniques contrast It’s not only a question of time, but it’s a question of m___________ . While everybody else just talks about it, we’ve actually d_________ it. It used to be seller’s market; now it’s b_________ one. Three years ago we were going nowhere, t_________ we are number one. repetition It’s bigger, it’s ___________ (superior) and it’s British. Right product, right place, right ________________ (advertising). We’ll reach our target together as a ___________ (group). N___________ has a better reputation in the industry - n___________ . N_____________ are we stronger than in Portugal - n___________ . rhetorical questions What’s the basic ________ with the system? The _________ is that it’s unreliable. What are our ___________ of success? Well, frankly, our ___________ are slim. Three years of research and what’s the _________? The ___________ is the first truly voice-activated computer. So, ___________ did we do it? So, ___________ are we waiting for?
- 21. Confidential 20 Useful techniques contrast It’s not only a question of time, but it’s a question of money. While everybody else just talks about it, we’ve actually done it. It used to be seller’s market; now it’s buyer’s one. Three years ago we were going nowhere, today we are number one. repetition It’s bigger, it’s better and it’s British. Right product, right place, right promotion. We’ll reach our target together as a team. Nno one has a better reputation in the industry – no one. Nowhere are we stronger than in Portugal - nowhere. rhetorical questions What’s the basic problem with the system? The problem is that it’s unreliable. What are our chances of success? Well, frankly, our chances are slim. Three years of research and what’s the result? The result is the first truly voice-activated computer. So, why did we do it? So, what are we waiting for?
- 22. Confidential 21 Useful techniques save easy safety results health you love money guarantee(d) new proven discover(y) http://healthyinfluence.com/wordpress/2010/11/25/the-twelve-magic-words-from-yale-university-research/ POWER WORDS Yale University did a survey in marketing, advertising and communication. As a result, they identified the 12 most persuasive words in communication. These ‘magic’ words are:
- 23. Confidential 22 Useful techniques: Power words ….......are going to ………..the …………..features we have incorporated into our updated software package. As you will ……………., the software is very ………… to use and …………. of extensive testing have ………… its success. Its enhanced parental controls offer increased online …………… for children and also monitor the length of time spent online. You can compare these times with the World ………. Organisation (WHO) maximum recommended times. In fact, we’re so confident that we ………….. that our software will …………. you both time and …………… . discover(y) easy safety guarantee(d) health you love money results new proven save
- 24. Confidential 23 Useful techniques: Power words Answers: You are going to love the new features we have incorporated into our updated software package. As you will discover the software is very easy to use and results of extensive testing have proven its success. Its enhanced parental controls offer increased online safety for children and also monitor the length of time spent online. You can compare these times with the World Health Organisation (WHO) maximum recommended times. In fact, we’re so confident that we guarantee that our software will save you both time and money.
- 25. Confidential 24 Key language Restating the important ideas • In other words ... • In short ... • In simple terms, this means that ... • To put it in more concrete terms ... • The point I'm trying to make here is ... • What I mean by this is ... • Basically, what this means is ... A major drawback of many cancer drugs is their lack of specificity. In other words, they don't just kill cancer cells; they kill healthy cells too. In short, CO2 is the major cause of the greenhouse effect.
- 26. Confidential 25 Key language Using examples • Let's take the example of what happens when ... • The best example of ... is probably ... • An interesting example of ... is ... • For instance ... • Let's now look at ... This will illustrate some of the principles we've been talking about. • Let's take the case where... • Vegetables like carrots and squash are loaded with beta- carotene. • Pollutants such as those found in automobile exhaust are responsible for most of the smog in Los Angeles.
- 27. Confidential 26 Key language Expressing opinion To signal another person's opinion • According to Professor Grand ... (an authority on the subject) • Lauren Thompson has expressed the opinion that ... • In a recent article, D.J. Tehl stated that ... • In Mr. John Mugg's opinion ... To signal a widely-held opinion • It is commonly thought that ... • According to conventional wisdom .. To signal your opinion • In my opinion .... • I think that ... • It is my view that ... • It seems to me that .... Examples: According to Professor Grand, the sun moves around the earth. In my opinion, however, it is the earth that moves around the sun. Although it is commonly thought that the earth is flat, it seems to me that recent discoveries tend to prove that the earth is round.
- 28. Confidential 27 Key language Using numbers • approximately The greatest number of discrepancies occurs at approximately 6 Pascals. (5.92) • nearly Nearly 9,000 cases were examined in this study. (8,679) • roughly Roughly half the cases were found in the past two years. (4,250/9000) • over Over a third of the respondents said they preferred instant coffee. (34.5%) • more than More than 8 million people live in metropolitan New York. (8,246,456)
- 29. Confidential 28 Key language Useful connectors: • What we need most of all is… • Another important thing is… • On the one hand… on the other hand… • It is one thing to… but it is another thing to … • It is no surprise that… • Surprising as it may seem… • There is a popular theory… • Needless to say that… • It is a proven fact that… • It goes without saying that..
- 30. Confidential 29 Handling questions Inviting questions Important point to consider beforehand: When would you like your audience to ask you questions? Before you begin… Tell your audience when they can ask you questions: When you finish your presentation… Invite questions: • Feel free to interrupt me if you have any questions. • I'll try to answer all of your questions after the presentation. • I plan to keep some time for questions after the presentation. • And now if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them for you. • If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask them. • If you have any questions or would like to have some points clarified, please feel free.
- 31. Confidential 30 Handling questions Dealing with questions Strategies Examples Reformulating So, you’re asking me about... Are you asking me if …? Asking for repetition Sorry, I didn’t quite get that. Could you please repeat your question? Getting the questioner to be specific So what was your question exactly? Handing the floor to the questioner Would you like to run through your ideas? Delaying your answer Would you like to set up a meeting to discuss that more fully?
- 32. Confidential 31 Any questions? Thank you for your participation! Sophie Remizova English Teacher Sophia.Remizova@exigenservices.com
Editor's Notes
- Hi everyone! Thanks for joining me today. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Sophie, I’m an in-house English teacher at Return on Intelligence (formerly Exigen Services) The subject of today’s webinar is English for presentations. I am going to give a brief overview of the challenges you may face and the skills you need to present in English just as effectively as you do in Russian.
- This is our agenda for today’s webinar. At the end of the webinar there will be some time for you to ask any questions that you may have. Also, to make it more interactive, every now and then in the course of the webinar I’ll be asking you to answer some questions or do little tasks. You can use the chat box to write your answers if you wish.
- The Longman Dictionary of contemporary English defines a presentation as an event at which you describe or explain a new product or idea. I’m sure that most of you have made presentations or at least attended presentations in Russian, or maybe even in English. Giving presentations even in your mother tongue may seem quite challenging. Doing it in a foreign language, doubles or even triples the challenge. You’ll need the general presentation skills (click), but apart from that you’ll need good language skills (click) and sometimes cultural differences may be a problem too.
- This slide lists the key success factors for presenting effectively – be it in English or in Russian. To be a successful presenter, you need to understand the purpose of your talk, you need to prepare thoroughly for your presentation, and of course you need lots of practice. It is important to build a connection with your audience, to make your speech clear and well-structured, and to be able to effectively use visual aids as well as useful techniques, such as repetition, rhetorical questions, etc.
- Most presentations consist of an introduction (a lead-in), the main body and a conclusion. It is important to remember the so-called ‘attention curve’ which shows how attention of the audience changes over the course of a presentation. Giving a presentation is a little bit like taking your audience on a journey – from start to finish. And of course, at the start your audience will require some basic information before they can go with you on the journey. They may have a lot of questions at the start of the presentation: Who is this presenter? Why is he talking to us, What’s his purpose? What will he say? How long will it all last? And also, what’s in it for me? When they have this information, they are on your side, attentive and ready to listen.
- right order: D C A B
- signal = just to attract attention of the audience and to show that you’re going to start talking.
- Read this and see if you can recognise our for steps of the Lead-in.
- Let’s move on to some techniques you can use in the main body of your presentation. In a good presentation, what you say – the content – is much more important than anything else. But a clear structure helps. When you move on to your next point or change direction, tell the audience. You can do this easily and effectively by using simple phrases as ‘signposts’ to guide the audience through your presentation. You can see some of these phrases on this slide.
- We talked about the four steps to your Lead-in earlier, now there are also four steps in your conclusion. You need to make a strong conclusion, to make your final message clear. Follow these steps at the finish of your presentation: Firstly, pause briefly and signal clearly that you are ready to finish the presentation. The audience will start to listen again closely at this point. (remember the attention curve!!) Then, make your summary, giving a brief overview of what has already been said. (it shouldn’t be too long – or you’ll lose their attention again) After this, give your conclusion, which should flow logically from your summary. What do you want people to do or to think after this presentation? Finally, make your closing remarks by thanking your audience and inviting questions.
- To make a successful presentation, it is mportant to connect with the audience, or to build rapport.
- Globus p 1
- Visuals help you to give a lot of information in a short space of time. They are really quick ‘snapshots’ of situations, developments, events and processes which would take a long time to express fully in words. Good visuals speak for themselves and require little or no description, but you often need to draw your audience’s attention to one or more key points before you discuss them in more detail. Introduction (of a visual) Highlights and comments: which parts of the visual are the most significant and why? Interpretations: What conclusion can you draw?
- Overloaded slide! Solution: use bullet points, pictures, diagrams it is very true to say about a presentation slide that Less is more!!
- Allow time to find ‘problems’… Errors in spelling and grammar: beginning greeting welcome introduce yourself what is the subject of the presentation? Also, Consistency of grammar patterns!!
- Also, Consistency of grammar patterns!!
- Now we are going to take a look at – and even practice! – some useful and effective presentation techniques! Answers: money done buyers
- Now we are going to take a look at – and even practice! – some useful and effective presentation techniques! Answers: money done buyers
- now all these words can easily be put in one short text!
- There are two main reasons why you should restate (or reformulate) important ideas. The ear is not as efficient as the eye. (The ear cannot go back to the top of the page and reread a piece of information.) And an audience is not always giving the speaker 100% of its attention.
- Examples help you make your point by taking your audience from the abstract to the concrete. Signal them by using key words: example, instance, illustrate, case, like, such as.
- Avoid preceding everything you say with, "in my opinion," or "I think that." The audience understands that you, the speaker, are generally expressing what you think. However, it is important to signal your opinion in contrast to another person's opinion or an opinion that is commonly held. "According to" is used only for another person's opinion (usually an authority on the subject.) You cannot say "according to me.”
- In a written paper, the reader's eye takes in numbers and their size and automatically makes approximations. Large or complicated numbers are much more difficult to assimilate orally (and long to pronounce.) Give your listener approximations instead. But signal that it's an approximation.