- •Public speaking
- •1. Imagine that you are starting a presentation. What phrases might you use? Write down five of them.
- •2. Listen to two people and hear two ways of opening presentations. While listening, see if you can hear some of the phrases above.
- •3. Check your understanding by reading the scripts below:
- •4. Finish the following sentences with the correct phrase.
- •Imagine you are giving a presentation and using some visual aids. What phrases might you use to draw your audience’s attention to these slides? Write down five of them.
- •6. Now listen to two examples of people giving presentations. As you listen, see if you can hear some of the phrases above.
- •7. Check your understanding by reading the scripts below:
- •8. Finish the following sentences by choosing the correct words and writing them into the blanks.
- •9. Listen to someone asking if there are any questions. As you listen, try to hear some of the phrases above.
- •10. Check your understanding by reading the script below:
- •11. Finish the following sentences with the correct phrase.
- •12. Think about the presentations that you have been to. What were the characteristics of the good ones? Write down five of them.
- •13. As you listen, see if you can hear some of the tips above.
- •14. Check your understanding by reading the script below:
- •15. Finish the following sentences with the correct phrase.
- •16. Read the following article and say what new you’ve learnt.
- •17. Imagine that you are making a presentation to a large group of people working in your industry.
- •18. Look through the following articles and speak on the topic “Public speaking” Public Speaking in English: Presentations
- •Mastering The Art Of Public Speaking
- •Improving Public Speaking Skills:
17. Imagine that you are making a presentation to a large group of people working in your industry.
Q: How do you start your presentation?
1. Are we all here? Good, well if we look at the first slide you'll see our total carbon usage for 2005...
2. Hello everyone. Thanks very much for coming along today. My name is Kirk Renolds and today I'll be talking about some of the work we've been doing on our environmental strategy...
3. Hello ladies and gentlemen. My name is Kirk Renolds and today I'll be talking about some of the work we've been doing on our environmental strategy...
Answers
This is a bad start to your presentation. You should greet your guests, thank them for coming, introduce yourself and outline what your presentation will be about.
This is a good start to your presentation - you have greeted your guests, thanked them for coming and introduced yourself.
This is one way to start your presentation - but it would be better if you thanked your guests for coming.
Q: What do you say next?
1. 'I'll begin by giving you some background into why we started the trials, then we'll look at some organisational challenges and finally I'll present the results and take any questions you might have'
2. 'Okay well, as I said, this presentation is all about our environmental strategy and when we first started looking at this none of us were really sure where to start, but I'll talk about that in more detail in a minute or two. Er... and then I'll tell you about some of the problems we had setting this up - actually, I remember one particular incident very clearly, which I'll quickly relate... '
Answers
Well done! You have outlined your presentation very clearly and concisely....
Stop! You are rambling - keep the outline of your presentation clear and concise.
Q: Later in the presentation, you begin to go through your slides...
1. 'Well, as you can see in this slide, energy savings increased significantly as we implemented our strategy...'
2. 'In January 2005, there was a saving of £293, in February, there was a saving of £300, in March...'
3. 'Here's the next slide. OK? And on the next slide...'
4. 'Oh dear! I'm awfully sorry but we seem to be having some technical problems with the projector. At this point I wanted to show you a slide with the energy savings we made between 2005 and 2006. Savings increased from just under £300 to...'
Answers
Well done! You have used the slide to help in your explanation, without ignoring it or reading from it...
Don't make the mistake of reading your slides to your audience! It's really boring!
Remember to present your slides - explain what it is that your audience is looking at!
How unlucky! Maybe you should have checked that all the equipment was working before you began... However, you have apologised and you are now relaying the information on the slides - you have 'made the best of a bad job'!
Q: Suddenly, someone asks a question. How do you respond?
1. 'Look, I said at the start that I'd be happy to take questions at the end...'
2. 'That's a very interesting question...'
3. 'Would you mind if I came back to your question at the end? It's just that I'm rather conscious of the time...'
Answers
Using 'look' like this makes you sound very annoyed. Start again and next time, be more polite and friendly!
You have decided to answer the question. This is okay, but it would be better to politely remind your audience that you'd prefer to take questions at the end.
Very good - you have wisely decided to try to postpone the question to the end of the presentation
Q: You have reached the end of your presentation. What do you say?
1. 'I'm terribly sorry but I seem to taken too long, so we don't actually have time for any questions! However, if you grab me after the session I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.'
2. 'If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them now...'
3. 'Any other business?'
Answers
Oh dear, it looks like your timekeeping needs to improve a little. However, you have apologised and told your audience they can ask you questions after the session. Well done!
Well done - this a very polite way to ask if there are any questions. Congratulations on a great presentation!
Oops! A mistake right at the end! We say 'Any other business?' at the end of a meeting, not a presentation.