PRESENTATIONS

OPENING A PRESENTATION
WELCOMING THE AUDIENCE

Good morning/afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, Hello/ Hi everyone, First of all, let me thank you all for coming here today. Im happy / delighted that so many of you could make it today.
INTRODUCING YOURSELF

Let me introduce myself. Im ....... (name)from.......(company) For those of you who dont know me, my name is............. As you probably know, Im the new HR manager. Im head of logistics here at Air Spares. Im here in my function as the Head of Controlling.
SAYING WHAT YOUR TOPIC IS

As you can see on the screen, our topic today is... Todays topic is... What Id like to present to you today is... The subject of my presentation is...
EXPLAINING WHY YOUR TOPIC IS RELEVANT FOR YOUR AUDIENCE My talk is particularly relevant to those of you / us who... Todays topic is of particular interest to those of you / us who... The /My topic is very important for you because.... By the end of this talk youll be familiar with...

Remember to use words like we, us, and our to highlight common interest.

STRUCTURING A PRESENTATION (1)

There are several ways you can tell the audience what you are going to say. Would like +infinitive Today Id like to tell you about our new plans. This morning Id like to bring you up to date on our department. Will + infinitive Ill begin by explaining the function. Ill start off by reviewing our progress. After that, Ill move on to my next point. Will be + verb ing Ill be talking about our guidelines for Internet use. During the next hour well be looking at the advantage of this system. Going to + infinitive Im going to talk to you about new developments in the R & D Department. This afternoon Im going to be reporting on the new division.

STRUCTURING A PRESENTATION (2)

The purpose of the introduction is not only to tell the audience who you are, what the talk is about, and why is it relevant to them; you also want to tell the audience (briefly) how the talk is structured. Here are some useful phrases to talk about the structure. Ive divided my presentation into three main parts: x, y and z. In my presentation Ill focus on three major issues. First (of all), Ill be looking at, secondand, third, Ill being/ start off by explaining Then/ Next / After that, Ill go on to Finally, Ill offer some solutions.

REFERRING TO OTHER POINTS

Id like to mention some critical points in connection with/ concerning payment. There are a few problems regarding the quality. With respect/regard to prices, we need more details. According to the survey, our customers are unhappy with this product .

ADDING IDEAS

In addition to this, Id like to say that our IT business is going very well. Moreover /Furthermore, there are other interesting facts we should take a look at. As well as that, we can offer excellent conditions. Apart from being too expensive, this model is also too big. To increase sales we need a new strategy plus more people.

EMPHASIZING IMPORTAN POINTS

Using a verb (emphasize, stress, etc.) Id like to stress the following point. Id like to draw you attention to the latest figures. Id like to emphasize that our market position is excellent. Using what What is really important is how much we are prepared to invest. What we should do is to talk about intercultural problems.

TALKING ABOUT VISUALS

The first rule of preparing effective visuals is that they should be clear and easy for the audience to follow. However, sometimes it is necessary to explain a more complicated visual and it is always necessary to point out the most important information. Explaining a visual Lets now look at the nest slide which shows First, let me quickly explain the graph. You can see that different colours have been use to indicate The key in the bottom left-hand corner shows you Highlighting information Id like to start by drawing your attention to What Id like to point out here is I think youll be surprised to see Id like to focus your attention on Lets look more closely at

TALKING ABOUT TRENDS (PAST SIMPLE AND PRESENT PERFECT) We use the past simple to talk about a movement or a trend which happened in the past and is now finished. Signal words for the past simple are last month/year, in January, from 1997-2001, during the oil crisis, etc. In April the rate of unemployment rose to 5 million. Between May and July our export business almost doubled. In 2003 alone Chinas car production increased by 85%. We use the present perfect to talk about a movement or trend which started in the past but is not yet finished. Signal words are since (since August), for (for five years), this month/ year or expressions with over (over the past six months). The number of German investors has declined since 1998. (It is still declining) The US economy has grown rapidly over the past four months. (It is still growing) Note the difference between rise and raise. To rise (without an object) To raise something (with an object)

Petrol prices rose again in May. The number of tourists has risen to 2.6 million.

The oil industry raised prices last year. The European Central Bank has raised interest rates.

TALKING ABOUT TRENDS (ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS) Adjectives + nouns There was a sudden increase in prices. In August, we notice a moderate fall. This was followed by a gradual decline. Verbs + adverbs Sales increased slightly in summer. Over the past two years the number has dropped significantly. Last month the rates rose sharply.

EFFECTIVE CONCLUSIONS Using questions After all, isnt that why were here? Let me just finish with a question: If we dont do it, wont somebody else? Quoting a well-known person Asonce said, To quote a well-known businessman, To put in the words of,

Referring back to the beginning Remember what I said at the beginning of my talk today? Well,

Let me just go back to the story I told you earlier, Remember, Calling the audience to action So thats the plan. Now lets go and put it into practice! So now its your turn. Now lets make a real effort to achieve this goal!

USING YOUR VOICE EFFECTIVELY How you say something is often just as important as what you say. You can use your voice and the way you stress words or make pauses to make your presentation more interesting and easier for the audience to follow. Stressing words By emphasizing particular words or parts of words you create certain effects. Notice how you can change the meaning of a sentence by putting the stress on a different word. We all know that this is an extremely difficult market. (its more than just difficult) We all know that this is an extremely difficult market. (you and I agree on this) We all know that this is an extremely difficult market. (but they dont) Making pauses You can use pauses to slow your pace down and make your sentences easier to understand. Group words into phrases according to their meaning and make pauses between the phrases. In my opinion we should go into other markets. In my opinion // we should go // into other markets.

DEALING WITH QUESTIONS Asking for clarification

If you dont understand the question, politely ask the person to repeat or explain it. Im sorry. Could you repeat the question, please? Im afraid I dont quite understand your question. Avoiding giving an answer Sometimes you may not want to answer a question, perhaps because its the wrong time for it or the question is irrelevant. When avoiding giving an answer, make sure that your tone is friendly and your reply is polite. If you dont mind, Id prefer not to discuss that today. Perhaps we could deal with this after the presentation /at some other time. Im afraid thats not really what were here to discuss today.

Admitting you dont know the answer If you dont know the answer of a question, be honest and say so. Offer to find out or name a person who can answer the question. Sorry, thats not my field. But Im sure Peter Bott from Sales could answer your question. Im afraid I dont know the answer to your question, but Ill try to find out for you. Im afraid Im not in a position to answer that. Perhaps Maria could help.

ASKING POLITE QUESTIONS There are different ways of asking questions in English. If you want to be more polite (and less aggressive) it is better to use less direct questions. Direct questions

When do you plant to move to Geneva? What is the project status? Less direct questions Could you tell me when you plan to move to Geneva? Do you mind if I ask what the project status is?

DEALING WITH INTERRUPTIONS Sometimes you may be asked questions during the presentation, even if you have asked the audience to wait. Whereas some questions can and should be answered quickly (for example, when a participant hasnt understood something you have said), you might prefer to postpone unwelcome questions or comments. If you dont mind, Ill deal with this question later in my presentation. Can we get back to that a bit later? Would you mind waiting with your questions until the question and answer session at the end? After answering questions, especially those that require a longer answer, it is sometimes necessary to remind the audience what you were talking about before the interruption. Before we continue, let me briefly summarize the point we were discussing. So, back to what I was saying about