How to make an effective presentation.

HOW TO MAKE AN EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION.

If you can`t explain it simply, you don`t understand it well enough.

(Albert Einstein)

Giving a presentation is like taking our audience from start to finish on a journey. At the start, your audience require some information before they can accompany you on the journey. Once they have the information, they`re on your side, attentive and ready to listen to every step of the journey along to your final message.

A good presentation should be structured so the audience can follow it easily. It needs to follow this structure:

- A welcome to the audience

- A brief self-introduction

- An explanation of the topic

- A summary of the parts of the presentation

Presentation aids make a talk more professional: slides, flipcharts, overhead projector, interactive whiteboard, PowerPoint.

The Start

Who: introduce yourself Why: Tell the audience your destination – the reason they`re there to listen to you and the purpose of your presentation.

What: Outline the roadmap – the main points that you`re going to develop and the order in which you would like to develop these. The technique we use to give the roadmap is called “sequencing”. How: Put yourself into audience`s shoe: address your audience`s needs. In your “start” it can be useful to answer such questions as How long do I have to sit here?

Your start should include these points but at the same time not to be too long. 90 seconds is a good quideline. An accurate “start” helps to create a good impression and you should aim to be grammatically accurate at this stage.

The Finish (signal, summary, conclusion, closing remarks).

Stay in control until the very last second and follow these steps at the “finish” of your presentation. Firstly, pause briefly and signal clearly that you are now ready to finish the presentation. Then make your summary, giving a brief overview of what has already been said. The summary is a reflection of your “what” and looks back. After this, give your conclusion. This is a reflection of your “why” and looks forward to what you want people to do or think after your presentation. It should follow logically from your summary. Finally, make your closing remarks by thanking your audience and asking for questions.

Vocabulary

audience слушатели, аудитория

along вместе, наряду

should следует, должен

be structured быть структурированным

presentation aids вспомогательные средства презентации

flipcharts магнитно-маркерная доска

interactive whiteboard интерактивная доска

destination цель, предназначение

outline the roadmap наметить дорожную карту

sequencing последовательность действий

guidelines руководящие указания, основные положения

accurate точный, четкий, правильный

brief overview краткий обзор

summarize подводить итог, резюмировать

"signpost" phrases фразы указатели

run through просматривать

gain получать, набирать

conclude выводить заключение, делать вывод, заключать

rearrange поправлять¸ реконструировать

deal with иметь дело с

Signal: So, that brings me to the end of my presentation. So, that completes our presentation. Well, that covers everything I want to say.

Summary: Let me summarize what we`ve looked at. I`ll briefly summarize the main issues. I`d like to summarize. Let me just go over the key points again. To sum up… At this stage, I`d like to go over… To summarize, I`ll run through my three topics.

Conclusion: I trust you gained an insight into… To conclude, I`d like to leave you with the following thought…In conclusion, I`d like to leave you with the following idea. In my opinion, the only way forward is to…

Closing remarks: Thank you for your attention. If you have any questions, I`ll be happy to answer them. Thank you for listening.

Exercises

Structure of a presentation

1. Match the two parts of the sentences according to the logical steps:

First of all, give an overview of all the parts of your talk

Secondly, welcome the audience and thank them for coming

Then, introduce the first part and begin

After that, introduce yourself

Finally, say what you are going to talk about

Pairwork. Your company is going to launch a new product. Think of a possible product and prepare a five-minute presentation to the class who are your potential customers. Use the table to help you organize your talk.

Company name:

Product name:

Product description:

Target market:

Price:

Using "signpost" phrases help you structure and control your English presentation.

The following useful phrases below are essential if you are to present your points clearly and in a professional manner. We can call these useful expressions, "signpost" phrases as they indicate to your audience where you are going with your presentation at any particular moment. Using signpost phrases is also especially useful for:

a) you as the presenter because it helps you to organize your thoughts better in English.

b) your listeners, who may not be native English speakers either, because it will help them to follow your presentation more easily.

It is advisable to memorize a few of these useful English phrases before your presentation. You may also write them down on your prompt cards.

Introductions and welcome.

Good morning, ladies and gentleman. My name's John Jones. I'm head of sales at Acme Services....
I would like to thank you for inviting me here today to talk about......
I would like to thank you all for attending this presentation. I plan to be brief....
I shall only take about fifteen minutes of your time....If you have any questions, I'd be very happy to answer them at the end....
Feel free to interrupt me if you have any questions during my presentation.... (Not recommended unless your English level is good.)

Finishing a section.

That's all I have to say about......
So, in this section, we've looked at......
Well, I think I've said enough about......

Starting a new section.

Moving on now to…...
Turning now to......
Let’s turn now to …...
So that brings me now to the topic of......
The next area I’d like to focus on next is…...
Now, we'll move on to......
I'd now like to discuss......
Let's now look at......

Giving examples.

For example,......
A good example of this is......
As an illustration, I'd like to mention......
To give you an example,......
To illustrate this point,......

Closing the presentation.

To conclude,......
In conclusion,......
Well, that covers all I wanted to say today....
Before I finish let me say just one last thing....
That brings me to the end of my presentation....
It just remains for me to say, thank you very much for coming and I hope you have found this presentation useful....

Checking comprehension.

Does that answer your question?...
Is that clear?...
May we go on then to the next question?...
I hope I've made that clear....
So what you're saying is...
...is that right?...
It seems I don't have time to answer any more of your questions now. But please feel free to come and talk to me later on today....

Presentation

Presentation is longer than an explanation, but it is easier in the sense that you have time to prepare for it. The biggest mistake is that people do not use short simple sentences. Many of the best presentations from English speakers are those who use simple sentences that are easy to understand. Remember that a long paragraph can consist of 10 short sentences. It is still effective and much easier to say.
Many times, a person will be using a software presentation like Power Point. If that is the case, then you should prepare your slides and a separate document with your sentences for each slide. You shouldn't read them, but at least it is there just in case you forget to mention something. Use it as a preparation material before the presentation and reference during the presentation. Each sentence should be step by step explaining the content on the slide.

Presentations are all different depending on the subject. Keep the sentences short, speak slowly and clearly, put emphasis on key words, and leave a short pause after each sentence.

1. What is the biggest mistake in making presentations?

2. What kind of sentences should you use to be understood easily?

3. What will you help to mention something in case you forget?

4. What do presentations depend on?

5. What are the main requirements to make an excellent presentation?

 

HOW TO MAKE AN EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION.

If you can`t explain it simply, you don`t understand it well enough.

(Albert Einstein)

Giving a presentation is like taking our audience from start to finish on a journey. At the start, your audience require some information before they can accompany you on the journey. Once they have the information, they`re on your side, attentive and ready to listen to every step of the journey along to your final message.

A good presentation should be structured so the audience can follow it easily. It needs to follow this structure:

- A welcome to the audience

- A brief self-introduction

- An explanation of the topic

- A summary of the parts of the presentation

Presentation aids make a talk more professional: slides, flipcharts, overhead projector, interactive whiteboard, PowerPoint.

The Start

Who: introduce yourself Why: Tell the audience your destination – the reason they`re there to listen to you and the purpose of your presentation.

What: Outline the roadmap – the main points that you`re going to develop and the order in which you would like to develop these. The technique we use to give the roadmap is called “sequencing”. How: Put yourself into audience`s shoe: address your audience`s needs. In your “start” it can be useful to answer such questions as How long do I have to sit here?

Your start should include these points but at the same time not to be too long. 90 seconds is a good quideline. An accurate “start” helps to create a good impression and you should aim to be grammatically accurate at this stage.