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This tutorial guides you through
each stage of giving a
presentation in English, from the
initial preparation to the
conclusion and questions and
answers.
 phat is a presentation?

ƥ A presentation is a formal talk

to one or more people that
"presents" ideas or information
in a clear, structured way.
 Introduction
All presentations have a common
objective. People give presentations
because they want to communicate
in order to:
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ƥ A successful presentation is one of the
most effective ways of communicating
your message. And because English is
so widely used in international
business, a working knowledge of the
vocabulary and techniques used in an
English language presentation is a
valuable asset.
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ƥ pith good preparation and planning you will
be totally a   and less nervous. And
your audience will  your confidence.
Your audience, too, will be confident. They
will be confident in  . And this will give
you a  . Control of your audience and
of your presentation. pith control, you will
be 'in charge' and your audience will 


   

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ë ctiv

ƥ Before you start to prepare a

presentation, you should ask yourself:
"p  am I making this presentation?"
Do you need to inform, to persuade, to
train or to sell? Your objective should
be clear in your mind. If it is not clear
in your mind, it cannot possibly be
clear to your audience.
Audi nc

ƥ "p am I making this presentation to?"

Sometimes this will be obvious, but not
always. You should try to inform yourself.
How many people? pho are they? Business
people? Professional people? Political people?
Experts or non-experts? pill it be a small,
intimate group of 4 colleagues or a large
gathering of 400 competitors? How much do
they know already and what will they expect
from you?
 nu

ƥ "p   am I making this

presentation?" In a small hotel
meeting-room or a large conference
hall? phat facilities and equipment are
available? phat are the seating
arrangements?
Tim
and
l ngth

ƥ "p  am I making this presentation

and how long will it be?" pill it be 5
minutes or 1 hour? Just before lunch,
when your audience will be hungry, or
just after lunch, when your audience
will be sleepy?
w thod

ƥ m
should I make this

presentation?" phat approach should
you use? Formal or informal? Lots of
visual aids or only a few? pill you
include some anecdotes and humour
for variety?
Cont nt

ƥ "p  should I say?" Now you must

decide exactly what you want to say. First,
you should brainstorm your ideas. You will
no doubt discover many ideas that you
want to include in your presentation. But
you must be selective. You should include
only information that is relevant to your
audience and your objective. You should
exclude all other ideas.
ƥ You also need to create a title for your
presentation (if you have not already been
given a title). The title will help you to
focus on the subject.
ƥ And you will prepare your visual aids, if you
have decided to use them. But remember,
in general, less is better than more (a little
is better than a lot). You can always give
additional information during the questions
after the presentation.
Gtructur

ƥ A well organized presentation with a

clear structure is easier for the
audience to follow. It is therefore more
effective. You should organize the
points you wish to make in a logical
order. Most presentations are
organized in three parts, followed by
questions:
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ƥ phen you give your presentation, you should
be - or appear to be - as spontaneous as
possible. You should not read your
presentation! You should be so familiar with
your subject and with the information that
you want to deliver that you do not need to
read a text. Reading a text is boring! Reading
a text will make your audience go to sleep!
So if you don't have a text to read, how can
you remember to say everything you need to
say?
ƥ pith  
. You can create your own system
of notes. Some people make notes on small,
A6 cards. Some people write down just the
 of each section of their talk. Some
people write down 

to remind
them. The notes will give you confidence, but
because you will have prepared your
presentation fully, you may not even need
them!
- h aral
ƥ Rehearsal is a vital part of
preparation. You should leave time to
practice your presentation two or
three times. This will have the
following benefits:
ƥ you will become more familiar with
what you want to say
ƥ you will identify weaknesses in your
presentation
ƥ you will be able to practise difficult
pronunciations
ƥ you will be able to check the time that
your presentation takes and make any
necessary modifications
ƥ So prepare, prepare, prepare! Prepare
everything: words, visual aids, timing,
equipment. Rehearse your presentation
several times and time it.
- Is it the right length?
- Are you completely familiar with all your
illustrations?
- Are they in the right order?
- Do you know who the audience is?
- How many people?
- How will you answer difficult questions?
- Do you know the room?
- Are you confident about the equipment?
ƥ phen you have answered all these
questions, you will be a confident,
enthusiastic presenter ready to
communicate the subject of your
presentation to an eager audience@
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ƥ Most speakers are a little nervous at the

beginning of a presentation. So it is normal
if you are nervous. The answer is to pay
special attention to the beginning of your
presentation. First impressions count. This is
the time when you establish a rapport(r )
with your audience. During this time, try to
speak slowly and calmly. You should perhaps
learn your introduction by heart. After a few
moments, you will relax and gain confidence.
Audi nc
-aort

ƥ You need to build a warm and friendly

relationship with your audience. Enthusiasm
is contagious. If you are enthusiastic your
audience will be enthusiastic too.
ƥ And be careful to establish eye contact with
each member of your audience. Each person
should feel that you are speaking directly to
him or her. This means that you must  
 each person in turn - in as natural a way
as possible.
ƥ This will also give you the opportunity
to detect signs of boredom, disinterest
or even disagreement, allowing you to
modify your presentation as
appropriate.
od
anguag
ƥ phat you do not say is at least as important
as what you do say. Your body is speaking
to your audience even before you open your
mouth. Your clothes, your walk, your glasses,
your haircut, your expression - it is from
these that your audience forms its first
impression as you enter the room.
ƥ Generally speaking, it is better to stand
rather than sit when making a presentation.
ƥ Be aware of and avoid any repetitive and
irritating gestures.
ƥ Be aware, too, that the movement of your
body is one of your methods of control.
phen you move to or from the whiteboard,
for example, you can move fast or slowly,
raising or reducing the dynamism within the
audience. You can stand very still while
talking or you can stroll from side to side.
phat effect do you think these two different
approaches would have on an audience?
èoic
ualit

ƥ It is, of course, important that your audience

be able to hear you clearly throughout your
presentation. Remember that if you turn
away from your audience, for example
towards the whiteboard, you need to speak
a little more loudly. In general, you should
try to vary your voice. Your voice will then
be more interesting for your audience. You
can vary your voice in at least three ways:
ƥ
 you can speak at normal speed, you
can speak faster, you can speak more slowly
- and you can stop completely! You can
pause. This is a very good technique for
gaining your audience's attention.
ƥ    you can change the pitch of
your voice. You can speak in a high tone.
You can speak in a low tone.
ƥ   you can speak at normal volume,
you can speak loudly and you can speak
quietly. Lowering your voice and speaking
quietly can again attract your audience's
interest.
ƥ The important point is not to speak in
the same, flat, monotonous voice
throughout your presentation - this is
the voice that hypnotists(·
) use
to put their patientsƝ into trance()!
èiual
aid

ƥ Of all the information that enters our

brains, the vast majority of it enters
through the eyes. 80% of what your
audience learn during your
presentation is learned visually (what
they see) and only 20% is learned
aurally (what they hear). The
significance of this is obvious:
ƥ visual aids are an extremely effective
means of communication
ƥ non-native English speakers need not
worry
much about spoken English -
they can rely more heavily on visual
aids
It is well worth spending time in the creation
of good visual aids.
But it is equally important not to overload
your audience's brains. Keep the information
on each visual aid to a minimum - and give
your audience time to look at and absorb
this information. Remember, your audience
have never seen these visual aids before.
They need time to study and to

 them. pithout understanding
there is no communication.
Apart from photographs and drawings,
some of the most useful visual aids are
charts and graphs, like the 3-dimensional
ones shown here:

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Audi nc
- action

ƥ Remain calm and polite if you receive

difficult or even hostile questions
during your presentation. If you
receive particularly awkward questions,
you might suggest that the questioners
ask their questions after your
presentation.
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ƥ If you want your audience to understand

your message, your language must be

 and a .
ƥ Use short words and short sentences.
ƥ Do not use jargon(´ ), unless you are
certain that your audience understands it.
ƥ In general, talk about concrete facts rather
than abstract ideas.
Use active verbs instead of passive verbs.
Active verbs are much easier to understand.
They are much more powerful. Consider
these two sentences, which say the same
thing:
§ § § 
§ 
§ 

 §§ 

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phich is easier to understand? phich is
more immediate? phich is more 
 ?
No.1 is active and No.2 is passive.
Gignoting

ƥ phen you drive on the roads, you know

where you are on those roads. Each road
has a name or number. Each town has a
name. And each house has a number. If you
are at house â 100, you can go back to â
50 or forward to â 150. You can look at the
signposts for directions. And you can look at
your atlas(ù ) for the structure of the
roads in detail. In other words, it is easy to
navigate the roads. You cannot get lost.
ƥ But when you give a presentation, how can
your audience know where they are? How
can they know the structure of your
presentation? How can they know what is
coming next? They know because  
 . Because you put up


for
them, at the  and   
. This technique is called
'

' (or 'signalling').
ƥ During your introduction, you should tell
your audience what the structure of your
presentation will be. You might say
something like this:
ƥ ƠIƝll start by describing the current position
in Europe. Then Iƞll move on to some of the
achievements weƝve made in Asia. After that
Iƞll consider the opportunities we see for
further expansion in Africa. Lastly, IƝll quickly
recap('
)before concluding with some
recommendations."
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  ƥEurope
ƥAsia
ƥAfrica
 a
  ƥSumming up
ƥRecommendations
ƥ He will keep this image in his head during
the presentation. He may even write it down.
And throughout your presentation, you will
put up signposts telling him which point you
have reached and where you are going now.
phen you finish Europe and want to start
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