Opening

Presentations: opening

Introduction

In this module, we’ll be looking at some useful words and phrases for giving presentations. We have units on the main stages of presentations and a unit with tips on delivering effective presentations. Let’s start with opening presentations.

Think

Imagine that you are starting a presentation. What phrases might you use?

After you've thought of five,

Check understanding

Check your understanding by reading the scripts below:

Clip 1

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming along here today. I hope my presentation isn’t going to take too long and that you will find it interesting. The purpose of today’s presentation is to discuss how we can improve internal communications within our company.

Now let me begin by explaining that I’d like to talk about the business case for better communication; secondly, I want to cover different styles and methods; and finally I would like to finish off by talking about some of the basics we need to have in place to deliver good quality, consistent communications across the company. I’d be very happy to invite you to ask questions at the end of the session and I’m sure there’ll be plenty of time for us to discuss some of the points that have been raised.”

Clip 2

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for finding the time to come and join me for this presentation this afternoon. My name is Tim Mason, I‘m a retail consultant, and many of you will have seen me shadowing you in your jobs and looking through the accounts and so on in the company over the last week. I’ve invited you here today to have a look at my findings. First, I’d like to have a look at the performance of the company, the sales of the company over the last three years; then I’d like to have a look at our market share in the womenswear market and look at our competitors; and thirdly, I’d like to suggest some improvements in our range of womenswear. At the end I’d be happy to answer any of your questions.”

Presentations: body

Introduction

After you have greeted your guests, you will begin to go through the main body of your presentation. It's very useful to have some visual aids - some slides, pictures or graphs that help explain what you are saying. Sometimes they can also help to keep your audience interested in your presentation!

Think

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?

Check understanding

Check your understanding by reading the scripts below:

Clip 1

“If you have a look at this first graph, you can see that our sales topped 50 million the year before last. Then last year sales dropped to 40 million, with a slight recovery at the end of the financial year. However, this year sales have continued to drop to an all time low of 30 million. Now let’s look at our market share. As you can see, we have 25% of the market share, 10% down on last year.”

Clip 2

“A good example of how important internal communications are is shown by some findings from research that we have recently undertaken. Good communications is a very key factor in staff motivation. If you look at this slide, you will see how important it is to get the basics in place. You need to identify your communication requirement, agree your objectives and success criteria, identify your target audiences, define the content of your message and determine the style of delivery. A good illustration of the communication process is when all those basics fall into place naturally.”

Presentations: questions

Introduction

At the end of your presentation, you may wish to open the floor to questions – to ask if anyone has any questions about your presentation.

Think

Imagine it is the end of your presentation and you are asking if there are any questions. What phrases might you use or hear?

Check understanding

Check your understanding by reading the script below:

Tim: Ladies and gentlemen, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them now.

Carrie: Yeah, can I just ask, graph number 3, that last one you showed us, can you explain to me where you’re intending to find the extra income to increase the designer range in the maternity wear?

Tim: Yes, a very good question. I’ve looked at the office wear range and it’s quite heavy on material, holiday wear tends to be much lighter, much smaller amounts of material involved and I ...

Presentations: tips

Introduction

So what makes a good presentation? In this unit, we hear some tips from people who have made presentations about how to make yours more effective and enjoyable for your audience.

Think

Think about the presentations that you have been to. What were the characteristics of the good ones?

Check understanding

Check your understanding by reading the script below:

Male: With a presentation, I think the aims and the structure need to be clear.

Male 2: I like to wait until the end of the presentation before people feed back on what I’ve just said, rather than interruptions throughout the presentation.

Male 3 I think of a presentation … If you’re standing up in front of a group of people, you need to make sure you’re entertaining,

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