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Presentation skills
How to improve your English and your presentations
Presentation skills
Presentation skills
1
Page 2 Pre-course preparation
Page 6 Visuals
Page 8 Questions
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Presentation skills
Pre-course preparation
2
(For students attending a presentation skills course)
Presentation 1
Please prepare a brief (maximum two minutes) presentation about yourself, your organisation and
your job. This is a way of introducing yourself to the rest of the students at the beginning of the
course. Please note that PowerPoint, flip-charts, etc. cannot be used for this presentation.
Presentation 2
Please prepare a seven to eight-minute presentation on any aspect of your work, organisation or any
topic that you wish to tell us about. There will also be chance for two to three minutes of questions
afterwards. This makes a total of ten minutes (maximum!) for your presentation. We will be very
strict on time keeping and will stop you if you talk for too long! For this second presentation,
PowerPoint, flipcharts, etc. may be used.
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Presentation skills
Audience expectation
3
What does an audience expect from a presentation?
2)
3)
4)
5)
1) to be bored
2)
3)
4)
5)
2)
3)
4)
5)
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Presentation skills
Preparing a presentation
4
Many presentations fail because of inadequate preparation. Don’t jump straight to PowerPoint!
Think about your audience and your objectives, then…
Set objectives
Collect
Identify
Plan
Produce
Rehearse
Test
Anticipate
presentation
information
equipment
questions/problems objectives
content
key points
materials/visuals
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Presentation skills
Introducing a presentation
5
If you only have 15-20 minutes for a presentation, you shouldn’t spend too long with an
introduction. But sometimes it can be useful. What could be in an introduction?
2) Welcome /
3) Your
4)
5)
6)
7)
8) Questions
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Presentation skills
Visuals
6
a) General
4) Check screen is
b) PowerPoint
5) Use remote
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Visuals
7
c) Flip charts
1) Keep it simple
2) Big
3) Use different
4) Prepare in
d) Others
1)
2)
3)
4)
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Presentation skills
Questions
8
Dealing with questions can be even more difficult than the presentation itself!
Try to anticipate questions in advance. But there may also be difficult questions to deal with…
2) Be and too
4) Answer in a voice
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9
• The biggest problem with giving presentations is the time limit. Nowadays many conferences
and seminars only give you a twenty-minute slot. And that includes time for questions and for
the next presenter to come on stage.
• Don’t waste time saying things like ‘‘Thank you for inviting me’’ ‘’I’m delighted to be here’’,
etc. Get on with it!
• Don’t say things like ‘‘of course…’’, ‘‘as you can see’’, ‘‘this graph shows’’, ‘‘I will return to
this later…’’ They are all using up time, and they are unnecessary.
• Keep it simple. Let the slides do the talking, especially graphs. Don’t tell us what we can
clearly see.
• Don’t talk constantly. Pause. Let the audience take in the information. Let them read/look at the
slides.
• Don’t clutter the slides. Don’t put four images on one slide – use two slides! PowerPoint is
unlimited, so don’t be afraid of using lots of simple slides rather than a few complicated ones.
• Don’t include references, sources, names on the slides – we trust you! The audience can always
check this later if they really want to.
• Remove headers/footers/logos, etc. from slides. We know who you are! Maybe on the first and
last ones, but not on the rest – they take up valuable space.
• Avoid useless maps. Only use them if you think the audience doesn’t know where the place is.
• Don’t waste too long on methods and results – we can find more detail about them later if we
want. This is especially true if you are presenting a paper – we can read the paper in detail later.
• Consider make two presentations. One short and clear one – the one you actually give at the
conference. And one much more detailed one which you can make available on-line, on a blog
etc. for people who want more detail.
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10
Page 3 Audience expectation
What does an audience expect from a presentation?
(possible answers: information, confidence, clarity, interesting, prepared, variety, chance to ask
questions, discussion, entertainment, expert, structure, story, knowledge (scientific), contacts, new
experience, inspiration, performance (actor), new way of learning, learn from mistakes . . .)
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Page 6 Visuals
b) General
11
1) Do not over use (hiding behind them)
2) Allow audience time to read - then talk
3) Use key words, not whole sentences
4) Check screen is legible
5) Talk to audience, not the wall / screen
6) Don’t distribute handouts until the end / they are needed
– they will read them rather than concentrate on you.
b) PowerPoint
1) Know how to use it!
2) Maximum of 40 words per slide
3) Maximum of 4 bullet points per slide
4) Use build slides to control flow
5) Use remote control / mouse
6) Learn some shortcuts or quick keys.
e.g., Press B to make screen black or press W to make screen white
Press 8 ENTER to go to slide 8
c) Flip charts
1) Keep it simple
2) Big letters
3) Colours
4) Prepare in advance
5) Start with blank sheet
6) Use two – one prepared, one for free writing
d) Others
1) posters
2) handouts
3) whiteboard
4) realia (objects to show and pass around)
Page 8 Questions
Difficult questions:
1) Pause (give yourself a moment!)
2) Repeat the question – make sure the whole audience heard it
3) Ask for the question to be repeated
4) Reply to the whole audience, not just the questioner
5) Invite the audience to answer
6) Offer to check the answer later
7) Say: ‘‘I don’t know’’
What NOT to do:
1) Answer too quickly
2) Be arrogant and too clever
3) Make up an answer (or lie!)
4) Answer in a low voice
5) Answer before the question is finished
6) Make the questioner feel stupid
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Presentation skills
12
There are many websites and YouTube videos to help with presentations, both in preparing and
presenting. The quality and style of these are variable. One of my favourites is by Rachel Willis:
Presenting & Public Speaking Tips - How to improve skills & confidence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5WT2vweFRY
1. Audience – focus on Benefit for them? What do you want them to think, feel & do?
2. Delete all excess text Nobody reads it! Your slides are not your notes
3. Simple Less is more; use simple (pub) language, rule of threes
4. Rehearse Mirror; fail to prepare = prepare to fail
5. Make friends at venue
6. Dress to impress Debatable; dress to impress; smart casual
7. Be comfortable Be you
8. Stand still Adrenalin; ‘flight or fight’
9. Tell a story They will remember; engage in conversation
10. Enthusiasm They will ignore imperfections
Other links:
How To Hide Mouse Pointer or Cursor in Microsoft PowerPoint Presentations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjEPhxxXGec
Don McMillan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpvgfmEU2Ck
BBC PowerPoint
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8207849.stm
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Presentation skills
13
Powershow
See the notes on your laptop while the audience sees the slide show - display the speaker notes on
the laptop when the slide show is running.
To get you full-screen formatted notes on your monitor and full-screen slide show on the projector
use the following steps:
• Open your presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint.
• Select Slide Show tab, clear the Use Presenter View box.
• Select Slide Show | Power Show item.
• On the Presentations tab, set up the configuration as follows:
1. Select presentation <Notes> in the first row and 1 monitor.
2. Select your presentation <Slide Show> in the second row and 1 monitor.
• Click Start Show button.
You would now see PowerShow's formatted notes view on the primary monitor and the slide show
on the second monitor. PowerShow's formatted notes view allows you to zoom in and zoom out the
notes to allow you to comfortably look at the notes from a distance. This is helpful if you are
standing at a distance from your podium/lectern and want to look at your notes for reference.
Quick keys
If you want to start the slideshow from a specific slide, press shift F5.
Slide No then Enter takes you straight to that slide e.g. 8 Enter takes you to slide 8 (print a list of
slide titles and numbers to remind you)
Ctrl + P changes the pointer to a pen (and Ctrl + A puts it back to automatic). Hitting the E will
erase any drawing you make with the pen. Ctrl + E will show an eraser on screen.
Ctrl + H hides the pointer
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Presentation skills
14
Preparing a presentation
1. Ctrl
Ctrl + C = copy
Ctrl + V = paste
Ctrl + S = save
Ctrl + O = open
2. Shift
Hold down shift when you make a shape of line and it stays perfectly regular.
This also works when you resize an object.
Hold down Ctrl + shift when you drag to duplicate an object in perfect alignment.
Press Ctrl+shift+c when an object is highlighted to copy the formatting and the Ctrl+shift+v to
paste them elsewhere.
3. Alignment
Holding down Ctrl when using the arrow keys will allow you to move an object carefully.
You can also use the alignment tools.
4. Selection pane
On the right hand side of the home bar.
It is a map of different layers of your slide.
So you can hide things to look at other things without having to move anything.
Or to simply move things.
6. Animation
If animating text, do it simply and quickly. The best options are “Appear”, “Wipe” (from top or
left, very fast), Fade (only if very fast).
Note: animation/slide build doesn’t work if you show your presentation in pdf format, so you need
to make extra slides to show the changes.
https://blog.slideshare.net/2015/01/29/your-best-productivity-hacks/
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Presentation skills
Name
15
E.g. Hello, my name is ...
Good morning, I am...
Nationality/Home town
E.g. I am from ...
Family
E.g. I’m married ...
I have two children...
Background
E.g. My background is ....
I studied ...
I have worked...
Organisation/Company
E.g. I work for ...
They are ....
Job
E.g. My job is ...
I am responsible for...
I have been working for ... years
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Introduce yourself
16
E.g. Hello/good morning
my name is ...
I work for...
The presentation:
E.g. I am going to talk about three things...
I am going to divide my talk into three sections...
First part
E.g. firstly...
Second part
E.g. secondly...
next....
Third part
E.g. thirdly...
finally...
Conclusion/summary
E.g. In conclusion...
To summarize
Invite questions
E.g. Does anyone have any questions?
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17
Name: Date:
Title of presentation:
Target audience:
Objective:
Introduction
Body
Conclusion
Visuals
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18
Name: Date:
Title of presentation:
Content
• purpose?
• interest?
• appropriateness?
Structure
• structure?
• organisation?
• signposting?
• linking?
Grammar
• accuracy?
• appropriateness?
Vocabulary
• accuracy?
• appropriateness?
• pronunciation?
Delivery
• pronunciation?
• projection?
• eye contact?
• body language?
• communication?
Other comments
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Presentation skills
19
Introducing yourself Good morning everyone.
Let me introduce myself. My name is…
I’m a specialist in…
Outline/overview Let me give you an idea of what I’m going to talk about....
I’ll be speaking about these/the following main points ...
My presentation will focus specifically on ...
Questions during presentation I’d be glad to take your questions while I’m speaking/
at the end.
Please ask questions and comments at the end of the
presentation.
Please interrupt/stop me if something isn’t clear/you need
clarification.
20
Referring to existing knowledge As you know, …
As you are aware, …
As you may be aware, …
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21
So now I’d just like to summarise the main points.
That concludes my talk.
I think that covers most of the points.
To conclude/wrap up/summarise, I've just described ...
I'll just recap on the highlights of this presentation.
As you can see ...
Briefly ...
Thanks for your attention.
Please pick up ... (material, samples, information) on
your way out.
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Presentation skills
22
How much can you remember?! Test yourself and then check your answers.
1)
2)
3)
4)
Set objectives
Collect 5)
Plan 6)
Produce materials/visuals
Rehearse 7)
Test equipment
Anticipate 8)
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Presentation skills
c) Visuals - general
23
9) Allow audience time to
10)
11)
d. Visuals - PowerPoint
13)
14)
15) Posters
16)
17)
19)
20)
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