Presentation is the practice of showing and explaining the content of a topic to an audience or learner. A presentation program, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, is often used to generate the presentation content.
In recent years it has become increasingly common for employers to request job applicants who are successfully shortlisted to deliver one or more presentations at their interview. The purpose of the presentation in this setting may be to either demonstrate candidates' skills and abilities in presenting, or to highlight their knowledge of a given subject likely to relate closely to the job role for which they have applied. It is common for the applicant to be notified of the request for them to deliver a presentation along with their invitation to attend the interview. Usually applicants are only given a title for their presentation and a time limit which the presentation should not exceed.
Know the needs of your audience and match your contents to their needs. Know your material thoroughly. Put what you have to say in a logical sequence. Ensure your speech will be captivating to your audience as well as worth their time and attention. Practice and rehearse your speech at home or where you can be at ease and comfortable, in front of a mirror, your family, friends or colleagues. Use a tape-recorder and listen to yourself. Videotape your presentation and analyze it. Know what your strong and weak points are. Emphasize your strong points during your presentation.
When you are presenting in front of an audience, you are performing as an actor is on stage. How you are being perceived is very important. Dress appropriately for the occasion. Be solemn if your topic is serious. Present the desired image to your audience. Look pleasant, enthusiastic, confident, proud, but not arrogant. Remain calm. Appear relaxed, even if you feel nervous. Speak slowly, enunciate clearly, and show appropriate emotion and feeling relating to your topic. Establish rapport with your audience. Speak to the person farthest away from you to ensure your voice is loud enough to project to the back of the room. Vary the tone of your voice and dramatize if necessary. If a microphone is available, adjust and adapt your voice accordingly.
Body language is important. Standing, walking or moving about with appropriate hand gesture or facial expression is preferred to sitting down or standing still with head down and reading from a prepared speech. Use audio-visual aids or props for enhancement if appropriate and necessary. Master the use of presentation software such as PowerPoint well before your presentation. Do not over-dazzle your audience with excessive use of animation, sound clips, or gaudy colors which are inappropriate for your topic. Do not torture your audience by putting a lengthy document in tiny print on an overhead and reading it out to them.
progression from INTRODUCTION (Thesis statement) to BODY (strong supporting arguments, accurate and up-to-date information) to CONCLUSION (re-state thesis, summary, and logical conclusion).
Do not read from notes for any extended length of time although it is quite acceptable to glance at your notes infrequently. Speak loudly and clearly. Sound confident. Do not mumble. If you made an error, correct it, and continue. No need to make excuses or apologize profusely.
Maintain sincere eye contact with your audience. Use the 3-second method, e.g. look straight into the eyes of a person in the audience for 3 seconds at a time. Have direct eye contact with a number of people in the audience, and every now and then glance at the whole audience while speaking. Use your eye contact to make everyone in your audience feel involved.
Speak to your audience, listen to their questions, respond to their reactions, adjust and adapt. If what you have prepared is obviously not getting across to your audience, change your strategy mid-stream if you are well prepared to do so. Remember that communication is the key to a successful presentation. If you are short of time, know what can be safely left out. If you have extra time, know what could be effectively added. Always be prepared for the unexpected.
Pause. Allow yourself and your audience a little time to reflect and think. Don't race through your presentation and leave your audience, as well as yourself, feeling out of breath. Add humor whenever appropriate and possible. Keep audience interested throughout your entire presentation. Remember that an interesting speech makes time fly, but a boring speech is always too long to endure even if the presentation time is the same.
When using audio-visual aids to enhance your presentation, be sure all necessary equipment is set up and in good working order prior to the presentation. If possible, have an emergency backup system readily available. Check out the location ahead of time to ensure seating arrangements for audience, whiteboard, blackboard, lighting, location of projection screen, sound system, etc. are suitable for your presentation.
Have handouts ready and give them out at the appropriate time. Tell audience ahead of time that you will be giving out an outline of your presentation so that they will not waste time taking unnecessary notes during your presentation.
Know when to STOP talking. Use a timer or the microwave oven clock to time your presentation when preparing it at home. Just as you don't use unnecessary words in your written paper, you don't bore your audience with repetitious or unnecessary words in your oral presentation. To end your presentation, summarize your main points in the same way as you normally do in the CONCLUSION of a written paper. Remember, however, that there is a difference between spoken words appropriate for the ear and formally written words intended for reading. Terminate your presentation with an interesting remark or an appropriate punch line. Leave your listeners with a positive impression and a sense of completion. Do not belabor your closing remarks. Thank your audience and sit down. Have the written portion of your assignment or report ready for your instructor if required.
Starting a Presentation
In modern English, Presentations tend to be much less formal than they were even twenty years ago. Most audience these days prefer a relatively informal approach. However, there is a certain structure to the opening of a Presentation that you should observe.
Get people's attention
Welcome them
Introduce yourself
State the purpose of your presentation
State how you want to deal with questions
Get people's attention
If I could have everybody's attention.
If we can start.
Perhaps we should begin?
Let's get started.
Welcome them
Welcome to Microsoft.
Thank you for coming today.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
On behalf of Intel, I'd like to welcome you.
Introduce yourself
My name's ……... I'm responsible for travel arrangements.
For those of you who don't know me, my name's …………
As you know, I'm in charge of public relations.
I'm the new Marketing Manager.
State the purpose of your presentation
This morning I'd like to present our new processor.
Today I'd like to discuss our failures in the Japanese market and suggest a new approach.
This afternoon, I'd like to report on my study into the German market.
What I want to do this morning is to talk to you about our new mobile telephone system.
What I want to do is to tell you about our successes and failures in introducing new working patterns.
What I want to do is to show you how we've made our first successful steps in the potentially huge Chinese market.
State how you want to deal with questions.
If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them as we go along.
Feel free to ask any questions.
Perhaps we can leave any questions you have until the end?
There will be plenty of time for questions at the end.
Of course, these are only suggestions and other language is possible. Even within this limited group of phrases, just choose a few you feel comfortable with and learn and use those.
Signposting
When we are giving a presentation, there are certain key words we use to ’signpost’ different stages in our presentation. These words are not difficult to learn but it is absolutely essential that you memorize them and can use them when you are under pressure giving a presentation.
When you want to make your next point, you ‘move on’.
Moving on to the next point.
I’d like to move on to the next point if there are no further questions
When you want to change to a completely different topic, you ‘turn to’.
I’d like to turn to something completely different.
Let’s turn now to our plans for next year.
When you want to give more details about a topic you ‘expand’ or ‘elaborate’.
I’d like to expand more on this problem we have had in Chicago
Would you like me to expand a little more on that or have you understood enough?
I don’t want to elaborate any more on that as I’m short of time.
When you want to talk about something which is off the topic of your presentation, you ‘digress’.
I’d like to digress here for a moment and just say a word of thanks to Bob for organizing this meeting.
Digressing for a moment, I’d like to say a few words about our problems in Chicago
When you want to refer back to an earlier point, you ‘go back’.
Going back to something I said earlier, the situation in Chicago
I’d like to go back to something Jenny said in her presentation.
To just give the outline of a point, you ’summarize’.
If I could just summarize a few points from John’s report.
I don’t have a lot of time left so I’m going to summarize the next few points.
To repeat the main points of what you have said, you ‘recap’.
I’d like to quickly recap the main points of my presentation.
Recapping quickly on what was said before lunch,……
For your final remarks, you ‘conclude’.
I’d like to conclude by leaving you with this thought ……
If I may conclude by quoting Karl Marx …….
Survival Language
In modern English, Presentations tend to be much less formal than they were even twenty years ago. Most audience these days prefer a relatively informal approach. However, there is a certain structure to the opening of a Presentation that you should observe.
I got the language for today's lesson from an excellent book by Mark Powell called "Presenting in English ".
If you get your facts wrong.
I am terribly sorry. What I meant to say was this.
Sorry. What I meant is this.
If you have been going too fast and your audience is having trouble keeping up with you.
Let me just recap on that.
I want to recap briefly on what I have been saying.
If you have forgotten to make a point.
Sorry, I should just mention one other thing.
If I can just go back to the previous point, there is something else that I forgot to mention.
If you have been too complicated and want to simplify what you said.
So, basically, what I am saying is this.
So, basically, the point I am trying to get across is this.
If you realize that what you are saying makes no sense.
Sorry, perhaps I did not make that quite clear.
Let me rephrase that to make it quite clear.
If you cannot remember the term in English.
Sorry, what is the word I am looking for?
Sorry, my mind has gone blank. How do you say 'escargot' in English?
If you are short of time.
So just to give you the main points.
As we are short of time, this is just a quick summary of the main points.
A Friendly Face
When you stand up in front of that audience, you’re going to be really nervous.
Poor speakers pay little or no attention to their audience as people. Big mistake.
If you can see your audience as a group of individuals, you’ll be much more likely to connect with those individuals.
And now you’ve found one ‘friend’, you’ll begin to see others in the audience. Pick out ‘friends’ all round the room. If you see an ‘impress me’ person and get discouraged, switch your view back to one of your ‘friends’.
Once you are aware that there are people in your audience who want you to succeed, you’ll be much more likely to succeed.
Microphones
Microphones can be a real problem. Very few of us use them frequently and so, when we have to talk into them in an already nervous state, we can easily make elementary mistakes.
As a general rule, try to speak more clearly when you are using a microphone. (It will probably help if you speak a bit more slowly.)
If you have a free-standing mike, step back from it a bit. This will enable you to speak louder and to vary your tone and inflection. If you are too close, your voice will sound monotonous and your audience will fall asleep.
Don’t turn your head away from the microphone while you are speaking. But do turn it away if you cough or sneeze!
Any little movement you make, such as shuffling your papers, will be amplified by the mike. Cut out the nervous gestures!
If you are wearing a clip-on mike, make sure it is not rubbing up against some clothing or jewellery. The noise this makes could ruin your presentation.
If you have a radio-mike, make sure it is switched on when you are presenting and switched off at all other times. This particularly applies when you go to the restroom!
Dealing with Nerves
Almost everybody is nervous when they stand up to speak. There’s no shame in being nervous. However, if you are too nervous, your anxiety will spread to your audience, making them nervous in turn.
So how can you stop yourself from feeling too nervous? Here are a few tips.
1. Don’t get hung up about being nervous. It’s a normal human reaction. Don’t make yourself more nervous because you’re nervous.
2. Walk off your excessive nervousness. If possible, walk outside and get some fresh air at the same time. But a walk down the corridor is better than no walk.
3. Don’t let your legs go to sleep. Keep the blood supply moving. Keep both feet on the floor and lean forward. Wiggle your toes. If you can stand up without disturbing anybody, do so.
4. Work your wrists, arms and shoulders to get the tension out of them. Gentle movements, not a major workout, will remove that tension.
5. Work your jaw. Gentle side-to-side or circular motion will help to loosen it.
6. Repeat positive affirmations quietly to yourself. “I am a good presenter.” It may seem corny but it works.
7. Above all, breathe deeply. Make sure your stomach is going out when you breathe in.
Don’t be self-conscious about these warm-up activities. Most good speakers do them. Most people won’t even notice that you are doing them. They’re here to hear you speak, they’re not interested in what you do when you are not in the limelight.
Stand Up When You Speak
I don’t think you’re going to like today’s point. I don’t like it very much myself but it’s got to be done. For most purposes, when you give a presentation you should stand. Not clutching the back of your chair for support, not leaning against the podium but two feet on the floor facing your audience.
There are times when sitting is right. When it’s an informal discussion, for example, where everybody is to contribute. But most of the time you need to stand.
You can move around the room. This has the simple effect that people will look at you, not shut their eyes and drift off
You can make eye contact with everybody
You can reach all your props and teaching material easily
You’re involving your whole body in the presentation. Many people think this makes it more memorable.
You’re sending out the signal to the participants that ‘this will be short’. Only a few self-obsessed people stand up in front of audiences for longer than they need to. And you’re not one of those, are you?
The worst part of standing up is the actual standing up. Most people don’t feel at ease as they get out of their chair and walk forward to their speaking position. Here are a couple of tips.
As you’re waiting, keep your feet flat on the floor. Don’t have them crossed. Trust me, getting up and walking will be so much easier.
Decide in advance where you are going to stand. Focus on that spot
Walk forward briskly and confidently.
And that’s how you become a stand up sort of person.
Courtesy: Google
Courtesy: Google
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