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 we can start
Perhaps we should begin?
Let’s get started
Welcome them
On behalf of Intel, I’d like to welcome you.
Welcome to Microsoft
Thank you for coming
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen
Introduce yourself
My name is Jane Shaw. I am responsible for travel arrangements
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Tom Slotter.
I am 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
What I want to do this morning is to talk to you about our new mobile telephone system
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.
There will be plenty of time for questions at the end.
Perhaps we can leave any questions you have until the end?
Mind the following: People sometimes think of a presentation as a document on a computer: a series of slides that can be shown to any audience. They may talk a little about the slides, but most of the information appears on the screen. This isn’t a good presentation! A presentation like that is likely to be boring, and the audience could read the same information on paper far more quickly that is shown on the screen.
Presentations are effective if the speaker talks to the audience and brings their subject to life. A good presenter can make the audience enjoy themselves and get interested.
So, how to make your presentation interesting?
Make sure you start the presentation by making it clear what you are going to talk about and end it with a summary of what you have said: the presentation should have a beginning, a middle and an end.
One important way is to plan your presentation well. Write some bullet points, listing the points you want to make, and the topics you want to talk about. Just use key words and phrases – nothing more. Then organize them in a logical order. Having this list means that in the middle of the presentation you won’t forget what to talk about next.
Decide where a slide would be useful – maybe a photograph, or a few key words. If you include a slide with a lot of text on it, nobody will be able to read it.
If you do all this, you should be confident about giving the presentation, and will be to seem relaxed – even if you are shaking!
Now some tips on your behavior during the presentation
- Remember to talk to everyone in the room.
- Look at people, and smile from time to time.
- Talk to the audience – don’t write out everything you are going to say and read it aloud. If you do, it will probably sound boring, and you’ll be looking down at your papers instead of looking at the listeners.
- If you have visual aids, don’t turn round to look at them: look at the audience and at your computer screen.
- If you seem confident, your audience will relax – and you’ll feel more confident yourself.
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.
Useful language
Introducing yourself
Hello everyone, I am Ivan Petrov. I am Director of Human Resources at …
Good afternoon, I am Ivan Petrov, Director of Human Resources, …
Good afternoon. It’s great to be here today. As you all know, I am the Head of the Design Department. I’ve been in this job for four years. I’m talking to you today as the manager of the team which developed this new project.
Hello, Thank you all for coming. If everyone is ready, let’s start.
Starting your aim
My purpose today is to talk to you about our company.
Today, I’d like to talk about our new project.
Today I’ll be reporting on the progress we have made since our last meeting.
The object of this morning’s talk is to show you how to put the theory into practice. I’d like to outline the new policy and give you some practical examples.
The results highlight our strengths and weaknesses.
