Business communication – starting a presentation

A Listen to the start of a presentation. Number these items (a-e) in the order you hear them.

a) There are three parts to my presentation. Firstly, ……..

b) By the end of my presentation you will understand clearly our future plans.

c)

Good afternoon, everyone. My name’s Ricardo Valdes.

d) I’d like to talk about our new marketing strategy.

e) Finally, the details of the costs …..

B Listen again. Match the headings (1-4) to the items (a-e) in Exercise A.

Topic of the talk 3 Greeting the audience

Aim 4 Plan of the talk

C Study this language to introduce a presentation.

Greeting Good morning / afternoon. I’m ….. Hello, everyone. Nice to see you again. Hi, I’m …… Good to see you all.	Plan There are three parts to my presentation. My presentation is in three sections. Firstly, ……. Secondly, …… Finally, ……..
Topic My subject today is …… I’d like to talk to you about ….. The subject of my presentation is ……	Aims By the end of my presentation, you will have a clear idea of … By the end of my talk, you will understand how / why ….

D Work in pairs. Prepare an introduction to a presentation. Then introduce the presentation to each other. Choose role A or role B, and use the notes to introduce your presentation. Add any information you wish.

Role A	Role B
Topic The launch of your company’s new product	Topic Your company’s new e-mail system
Plan 1 The background to the launch 2 The features of the new product 3 The advertising and marketing plans	Plan 1 The background 2 Why the company needed to change the system 3 How to use it and to report faults
Aim To give a clear idea of the sales potential of the product	Aim To give a clear idea of how the new e-mail system improves communication in the company

E Conversations with business contacts at meetings or conferences are often short and friendly; people talk about the last time they met and what they are doing now.

Lena Carter and Keith Sheen meet at a presentation. Listen and answer the questions:

1 Where did they meet in the past?

2 Where did Lena work in the past? Where is she working now?

F Listen again. How does Lena or Keith respond to these questions or statements?

1 How are things?	a) Good b) Great, and you? c) Fine. How are you?
2 How’s business?	a) Good, thanks. b) Not bad. c) Great.
3 I’m working in the Tokyo office for six months.	a) That sounds interesting! b) Really? c) That’s good.
4 It was good to see you again.	a) It was good to see you. b) It was great to meet you. c) And you.
5 Enjoy the conference.	a) Thanks. b) You too. c) I will.

 

G Who says sentences 1-5, Lena or Keith? Listen again and check.

MODULE 7

MARKETS AND COMPETITORS

TEXT A

1 Study this vocabulary and definitions and think of Russian equivalents:

customer / consumer – someone who buys goods or services, especially from a shop

buyer/purchaser – a person or organization that buys something

seller / vendor – a person or organization that sells something

market – a place where forces of demand and supply operate, and where buyers and sellers interact to trade goods, services,

stock exchange – a market in which securities are bought and sold

securities – financing or investment instruments (русск. ценные бумаги)

to trade – to buy and sell

supply – he amount of a good or service offered for sale

demand - the desire of consumers for particular goods or services

to saturate (a market) – to provide more of a product or service than people want to buy

scarce - insufficient for the demand (русск. дефицитный, имеющийся в недостаточном количестве)

ready market – a market where goods are in demand

overstocked – supplied with more of something than is necessary or required (русск. затоваренный)

congested – too full of something (русск. переполненный)

competitor/ rival – a company who is trying to sell similar goods or services to the same people

key players – the most important company ina particular market

intense / tough competition – strong competition

low-key competition – not involving a lot of activity, not intensive

 

2 Read and translate the text, pay attention to the words in bold.

A market is a place where sellers and buyers meet. This term include all types of markets – from the Stock Exchange where securities are traded to market stalls* and street vendors who sell newspapers or flowers. Two basic market forces affect a market: supply and demand. The law of supply and demand is one of the basic economic principles. If demand meets supply the market is saturated and well-balanced. Customers are well supplied with the goods they wish to buy, prices are reasonable**. But it is not always the case. Sometimes demand exceeds*** supply and then goods are scarce and missing, prices rise sharply, even low quality goods find a ready market. In a reverse situation, when supply exceeds demand, the market becomes overstocked with goods, it is congested and prices start to fall.

Companies or products in the same market are competitors or rivals. Competitors compete with each other to sell more, be more successful, etc. The most important companies in a particular market are often referred to as key players. Competition describes the activity of trying to sell more and be more successful. When competition is strong, you can say that it is intense or tough. If not, it may be described as low-key.

market stall* - торговая палатка

reasonable price** - разумная / умеренная цена

to exceed*** - превышать. превосходить

 

3 Match the beginning of the sentences (1-5) with their endings (a-e) and translate them.

1 Coca-Cola is a mass market product; it	a) is a small but often profitable market.	1) _____
2 Selling special – interest holidays is a niche market; it	b) is outside the producer’s country.	2)_____
3 Rolex watches sell in a luxury market; they are	c) is in a producer’s country.	3)_____
4 An export market	d) high-quality and expensive goods.	4)_____
5 A home market	e) sells to large numbers of people.	5) ____

 

 

4 Think of products which match the types of market in Exercise 3.

e.g. Nike shoes sell in a mass market.

Ferrari sports cars are a luxury-market product.

 

5 Match the beginnings of the sentences (1-5) with their endings (a-e)

1 A new market	a) is large.	1) ____
2 A growing market	b) allows companies to make money.	2) ____
3 A profitable market	c) is good to enter.	3) ____
4 A big market	d) is getting larger.	4) ____
5 An attractive market	e) is at an early stage.	5) ____

.

6 Match the adjectives in bold in Exercise 5 with their opposite meanings (a-e).

a) unattractive d) declining

b) unprofitable e) small

c) mature

 

7 In small groups, discuss these questions:

1 What do you know about the Russian economy?

2 What do the riches people like to spend their money on in Russia?

 

8 Before reading the article match the words (1-6) with their meanings (a-f) and think of Russian equivalents:

 

1.to stand out	a) standard; not designed for one particular person
2. flashy	b) covered with something on its surface
3. encrusted	c) designed for one particular person
4. emerging	d) to be easy to notice because of being different or special
5. custom-made	e) expensive-looking; made to impress other people
6. off-the-peg	f) beginning to have a lot of power in trade and finance

 

9 Read this article from Financial Times and find out why rich businesspeople want the most expensive cars.