A. Make phrases from the presentation by matching an item from each column and use them in your own situations.

Presentations

Part 1

“Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still”

Chinese proverb

Starting up

A. Imagine a situation you are the presenter. Discuss these questions:

1. Do you select and order your material carefully during the preparation stage of your presentation?

2. Is it important to dress appropriately?

3. Do you take a few deep breaths before you start to help you overcome your initial nervousness?

4. Do you design and position your notes so that you can refer to them easily at all times?

5. Is it necessary to establish a positive relationship with your audience as quickly as possible?

6. Do you signal the structure of your talk during the introduction clearly?

7. Do you use your voice effectively to keep people?

8. Is it necessary to make sure your visual aids are clear and easy to follow?

9. Do you always maintain eye contact with the people you are talking to?

10. Should the difficult questions always be handled politely and diplomatically?

11. Will the people lose interest if you do not move your talk along at a lively pace?

Reading

Presentations – opening

Read the text and do the following exercises:

Part 1

There are a great variety of presentation contexts:

- Company presentation (history, structure, main products, markets, plans for the future).

- Product presentation (features and benefits of a new product).

- Internal presentation reporting financial or sales figures.

- Internal presentation analyzing a problem and suggesting solutions.

- Welcoming visitors.

- Any occasion where you speak at length in a meeting on a prepared topic.

In addition, there are a variety of presentation styles:

- Formal, structured, rehearsed, taking questions at the end.

- Informal, partly improvised, interacting with the audience.

- Somewhere between the two: using a basic structure, but allowing occasional opportunities for questions and interaction.

Which style you use depends not only on your audience and its expectations, but also on you and your personality.

- Notice how the presenter begins by giving answers to all the practical questions that might be in the audience’s mind (e.g. What is the aim of this talk? How long will it last? Will there be a break? Who is the person speaking? Who is that man in the corner?)

- The Presenter then gives an outline of the structure of the presentation.

- Finally, before beginning, the presenter makes it clear whether audience members can interrupt with questions, or keep them until the end.

“Well, good morning, everyone. On behalf of BCC International I’d like to welcome you here to our offices. Can everyone see at the back? OK.

The aim of this short talk is to give you an overview of our company and its products. I’ll speak for about thirty minutes, and then we’ll take a break for coffee and biscuits. After that, at around ten thirty, we’ll take you on a tour of the factory.

Before we begin, just a few words about myself. My name is Anna Edelmann and I’m in charge of public relations here at BCC. I’ve been with the company for twelve years, and I worked in the sales area before moving into PR.

I should also introduce my colleague Mr. Andersen over there in the corner. Mr. Andersen is our plant manager and he will be leading the factory tour.

I’ve divided this presentation into four sections. First I’d like to show you a timeline of our company so you can see how we’ve grown and developed over the years. Then I’ll talk a little about our market and how it’s changing. After that I’ll move on to discuss customization, and how we focus on tailoring our products to our customer’s needs.

Finally, I’ll give you a little technical background to help you understand the new technology that you’ll be seeing on the factory tour.

If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt.

OK, let’s begin with first slide, which shows …”

Vocabulary

The phrases you need:

Welcome

OK, let’s get started. Good morning everyone and welcome to …

Can everybody see?

Before I begin, I’d like to thank (name) for inviting me here today.

On behalf of BCC International I’d like to welcome you here to our offices.

It’s good to see so many people here today.

I’m very happy to be here.

Personal introductions

Let me start by introducing myself. My name is …

Just a few words about myself …

Perhaps I should just introduce one or two people in the room.

Objective

The title of my presentation is …

This morning I’m going to talk about …

The aim of this short talk is to …

Get attention and interest

Let me ask you a question. (+ rhetorical question )

Take a look at this picture. What does it tell you about …?

Somebody once said … (+ quotation )

Did you know that …? (+ surprising statistic )

Audience benefit

I hope this presentation will enable you to …

By the end of my talk you will …

Structure

I’ll speak for about thirty minutes.

I’ve divided my talk into four main parts/sections.

First, I’d like to …

Then I’ll talk a little about …

After that I’ll move on to …

Finally I’ll …

If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt.

OK, let’s begin with the first point/slide, which is …

A. Make phrases from the presentation by matching an item from each column and use them in your own situations.

1. on behalf see at the back?

2. can everyone of public relations

3. just a few of BCC I’d like to …

4. I’m in charge to show you

5. I’d like words about myself

6. I’ll talk with the first slide

7. I’ll move on tailoring our products

8. we focus on to discuss customization

9. I’ll give you about our market and how…

10. let’s begin a little technical background

Reading

Vocabulary A

The phrases you need:

Signposts:

OK. Let’s move on to … / turn our attention to …/ take a look at …

This leads me to my next point, which is …

Earlier I mentioned …

I’ll say more about this later./ I’ll come back to this in a moment.

Just to digress for a moment…

Develop a topic:

It might be useful to give a little background here.

Let’s examine this in more detail.

Let me explain with a concrete example.

My own view on this is…

Focus:

Basically,… / To put it simply,…

So, for me, the main issue here is …

I think there are three questions to focus on.

I would like to stress / emphasize that

Question-answer

What is the reason for this? The reason is …

How much is this going to cost? Well, the figures show …

So what can we do about all this? I’ll tell you. We plan to …

Refer to visuals

As you can see on this next slide,…

I’d like to highlight two things on this table/ chart/ diagram …

What is interesting on this slide is …

I’d like to draw your attention to …

Ask for contributions

Are there any questions so far?

Does anyone have any comments?

How does this relate to your own particular context?

B. The following sequence provides a guide for how to end a presentation effectively.

1. Signal the end: this means using a “signpost” phrase to tell the audience explicitly that you’re going to finish.

2. Summarize the main points, and add a few observations or details for interest. Perhaps have bullet points on a final slide, and then give a lively comment about what really matters for each one (a “take-home message”).

3. Conclude: you can conclude with a friendly comment, a final slide ( with a strong image or message), by mentioning the benefits your talk has given the audience, or by looking forward to the future – with a call to action or an inspirational message. Finally, a strong “Thank you all for coming” will hopefully produce some applause!

4. Invite questions: “Do you have any questions?” is usually fine.

5. Deal with questions: the basic range of techniques is:

- Respond positively, then answer.

- Clarify / Ask for repetition.

- Redirect to the questioner.

- Redirect to the group.

- Delay an answer.

- Control the timing.

Vocabulary B

The phrases you need:

Signal the end:

Right, that brings me nearly to the end of my presentation.

Summarize:

Just to summarize the main points again,…

So, to summarize, we looked at four main points. I began by telling you a little about … Than I talked about … After that I explained how … Finally I …

Conclude:

I’d like to finish by saying …

So, in conclusion, I hope that this has given you …

Now we have to …/ I’m asking all of you to …/ Our job is to …

Thank you all for coming. I hope it’s been useful.

Practical matters:

I’ve got some handouts here.

Here’s my email in case you want to get in touch.

Read the presentation extract, which shows some of these techniques and phrases in context. It is the closing part of a “welcoming visitors” presentation. The presenter told the audience what she was going to say at the opening, and now here at the close she repeats the main points again. This reinforces the key ideas and makes them easier to remember.

“Right, that brings me to the end of my presentation. Just to summarize the main points again: I began by telling you a little about the history of our company, and you saw our growth from a small family firm to the international operation that we are today.

Then I talked about our market, and how new technologies are opening up exciting possibilities for the future.

After that I explained how customization is at the heart of our business model – our clients all get tailor-made solutions based on their individual needs.

Finally I gave you some information about our manufacturing process, and you saw how we achieve our exceptional levels of quality and performance.

OK, I’d like to finish by saying that it’s a great pleasure for us to welcome you here today, and I hope that you enjoy the factory tour which we’ve planned for you. We’ll start on the tour after a short break for refreshments.

Thank you all for coming. (applause)

I’ve got some handouts here – I’ll pass them round. They show all the slides I used in my talk and my contract details are at the back.

Do you have any quick questions before we break?

Yes, the gentleman at the back with the red tie. ”

Presentations

Part 1

“Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still”

Chinese proverb

Starting up

A. Imagine a situation you are the presenter. Discuss these questions:

1. Do you select and order your material carefully during the preparation stage of your presentation?

2. Is it important to dress appropriately?

3. Do you take a few deep breaths before you start to help you overcome your initial nervousness?

4. Do you design and position your notes so that you can refer to them easily at all times?

5. Is it necessary to establish a positive relationship with your audience as quickly as possible?

6. Do you signal the structure of your talk during the introduction clearly?

7. Do you use your voice effectively to keep people?

8. Is it necessary to make sure your visual aids are clear and easy to follow?

9. Do you always maintain eye contact with the people you are talking to?

10. Should the difficult questions always be handled politely and diplomatically?

11. Will the people lose interest if you do not move your talk along at a lively pace?

Reading

Presentations – opening

Read the text and do the following exercises:

Part 1

There are a great variety of presentation contexts:

- Company presentation (history, structure, main products, markets, plans for the future).

- Product presentation (features and benefits of a new product).

- Internal presentation reporting financial or sales figures.

- Internal presentation analyzing a problem and suggesting solutions.

- Welcoming visitors.

- Any occasion where you speak at length in a meeting on a prepared topic.

In addition, there are a variety of presentation styles:

- Formal, structured, rehearsed, taking questions at the end.

- Informal, partly improvised, interacting with the audience.

- Somewhere between the two: using a basic structure, but allowing occasional opportunities for questions and interaction.

Which style you use depends not only on your audience and its expectations, but also on you and your personality.

- Notice how the presenter begins by giving answers to all the practical questions that might be in the audience’s mind (e.g. What is the aim of this talk? How long will it last? Will there be a break? Who is the person speaking? Who is that man in the corner?)

- The Presenter then gives an outline of the structure of the presentation.

- Finally, before beginning, the presenter makes it clear whether audience members can interrupt with questions, or keep them until the end.

“Well, good morning, everyone. On behalf of BCC International I’d like to welcome you here to our offices. Can everyone see at the back? OK.

The aim of this short talk is to give you an overview of our company and its products. I’ll speak for about thirty minutes, and then we’ll take a break for coffee and biscuits. After that, at around ten thirty, we’ll take you on a tour of the factory.

Before we begin, just a few words about myself. My name is Anna Edelmann and I’m in charge of public relations here at BCC. I’ve been with the company for twelve years, and I worked in the sales area before moving into PR.

I should also introduce my colleague Mr. Andersen over there in the corner. Mr. Andersen is our plant manager and he will be leading the factory tour.

I’ve divided this presentation into four sections. First I’d like to show you a timeline of our company so you can see how we’ve grown and developed over the years. Then I’ll talk a little about our market and how it’s changing. After that I’ll move on to discuss customization, and how we focus on tailoring our products to our customer’s needs.

Finally, I’ll give you a little technical background to help you understand the new technology that you’ll be seeing on the factory tour.

If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt.

OK, let’s begin with first slide, which shows …”

Vocabulary

The phrases you need:

Welcome

OK, let’s get started. Good morning everyone and welcome to …

Can everybody see?

Before I begin, I’d like to thank (name) for inviting me here today.

On behalf of BCC International I’d like to welcome you here to our offices.

It’s good to see so many people here today.

I’m very happy to be here.

Personal introductions

Let me start by introducing myself. My name is …

Just a few words about myself …

Perhaps I should just introduce one or two people in the room.

Objective

The title of my presentation is …

This morning I’m going to talk about …

The aim of this short talk is to …

Get attention and interest

Let me ask you a question. (+ rhetorical question )

Take a look at this picture. What does it tell you about …?

Somebody once said … (+ quotation )

Did you know that …? (+ surprising statistic )

Audience benefit

I hope this presentation will enable you to …

By the end of my talk you will …

Structure

I’ll speak for about thirty minutes.

I’ve divided my talk into four main parts/sections.

First, I’d like to …

Then I’ll talk a little about …

After that I’ll move on to …

Finally I’ll …

If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt.

OK, let’s begin with the first point/slide, which is …

A. Make phrases from the presentation by matching an item from each column and use them in your own situations.

1. on behalf see at the back?

2. can everyone of public relations

3. just a few of BCC I’d like to …

4. I’m in charge to show you

5. I’d like words about myself

6. I’ll talk with the first slide

7. I’ll move on tailoring our products

8. we focus on to discuss customization

9. I’ll give you about our market and how…

10. let’s begin a little technical background