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Lecture of Week 7

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11 views

Lecture of Week 7

Uploaded by

nh9052784
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to Deliver a

Presentation
1. Aim for a Professional Tone
 Strive to present in a conversational yet informative tone.

 Most speeches have a more casual tone because speeches


are meant to be spoken aloud to an audience.

 Maintaining a professional tone demonstrates the


credibility of the information it's offering.
2. Use Simple Language
 It's important when delivering a presentation to speak in
a way that's simple to follow.

 Use contractions and more casual speech so that your


audience can easily follow the message you're conveying.
i. Overviews

 After you give your opening statement, give a brief overview of


your presentation:
o What your presentation is about.

o How long you will take.

o How you are going to handle questions.


i. Overviews

Useful language for overviews & handling questions


o “My presentation is divided into three main sections.”

o “Firstly, secondly, thirdly, finally…”

o “I’m going to…

o take a look at…

o examine…

o concentrate on…

o “Please feel free to interrupt me if you have questions.”

o “I’d be grateful if you could ask your questions after the presentation.”
i. Overviews

 For example, a presentation to sales staff could start like this:


“Welcome / “Hello everyone.”

(Opening statement)

“As you all know, this company is losing its market share. But we are being asked to
increase sales by 20 – 25%. How can we possibly increase sales in a shrinking
market?”

(Overview)

“Today I am going to talk to you about how we can do this. My presentation will be
in three parts. The presentation will probably take around 20 minutes. There will be
time for questions at the end of my talk.”
ii. The main body of the presentation

 During your presentation, it’s a good idea to occasionally


remind your audience why your presentation is important:
o “As I said at the beginning…”

o “This, of course, will help you (to achieve the 20% increase).”

o “As you remember, we are concerned with…”

o “This ties in with my original statement…”

o “This relates directly to the question I put to you before…”


iii. Keeping your audience with you

 You have to let your audience know when you are moving on to
a new point. You can do this by saying something like “right”,
or “OK”. Or you can use some of the following expressions:
o “I’d now like to move on to…”

o “I’d like to turn to…”

o “That’s all I have to say about…”

o “Now I’d like to look at…”

o “This leads me to my next point…”


iii. Keeping your audience with you

 If you are using printed notes, putting the link on the cards will
help you remember to keep the audience with you.

 In addition, by glancing at your notes you will be pausing – this


will also help your audience to realize that you are moving on
to something new.
iv. Phrases for introducing visuals

 You can use the following phrases:


o “This graph shows you…”

o “Take a look at this…”

o “If you look at this, you will see…”

o “I’d like you to look at this…”

o “This chart illustrates the figures…”

o “This graph gives you a break down of…”


iv. Phrases for introducing visuals

 Pause to allow your audience to look at the figures and then


explain why it is important:
o “As you can see…”

o “This clearly shows …”

o “From this, we can understand how / why…”

o “This area of the chart is interesting…”


v. Summarizing

 You should summarize at the end of your presentation and


remind them of what you have told them:
o “That brings me to the end of my presentation. I’ve talked about…”

o “Well, that’s about it for now. We’ve covered…”

o “So, that was our marketing strategy. In brief, we…”

o “To summarize, I…”


v. Summarizing

 Relate the end of your presentation to your opening statement:


o “So I hope that you’re a little clearer on how we can achieve sales
growth of 20%.”

o “To return to the original question, we can achieve…”

o “So just to round the talk off, I want to go back to the beginning when I
asked you…”

o “I hope that my presentation today will help you with what I said at the
beginning…”
vi. Handling questions

 Thank the audience for their attention and invite questions:


o “Thank you for listening – and now if there are any questions, I would be
pleased to answer them.”

o “That brings me to the end of my presentation. Thank you for your


attention. I’d be glad to answer any questions you might have.”
vi. Handling questions

 By asking the question again you also make sure that other
people in the audience understand the question.
o “Thank you. So you would like further clarification on our strategy?”

o “That’s an interesting question. How are we going to get voluntary


redundancy?”

o “Thank you for asking. What is our plan for next year?”
vi. Handling questions

 After you have answered your question, check that the person
who asked you is happy with the answer.
o “Does this answer your question?”

o “Do you follow what I am saying?”

o “I hope this explains the situation for you.”

o “I hope this was what you wanted to hear!”


vi. Handling questions

 If you don’t know the answer to a question, say you don’t


know. It’s better to admit to not knowing something than to
guess and maybe get it wrong:
o “That’s an interesting question. I don’t actually know off the top of my
head, but I’ll try to get back to you later with an answer.”

o “I’m afraid I’m unable to answer that at the moment. Perhaps I can get
back to you later.”

o “That’s a very good question. However, we don’t have any figures on


that, so I can’t give you an accurate answer.”
vii. What to say if things go wrong during your
presentation

 You think you’ve lost your audience? Rephrase what you have
said:
o “Let me just say that in another way.”

o “Perhaps I can rephrase that.”

o “Put another way, this means…”

o “What I mean to say is…”


vii. What to say if things go wrong during your
presentation

 Can’t remember the word? If it’s a difficult word for you – one
that you often forget, or one that you have difficulty
pronouncing – you should write it on your notes. Pause briefly,
look down at your notes and say the word.
viii. Using your voice when making presentations

 Don’t speak in a flat monotone – this will bore your audience.


By varying your speed and tone, you will be able to keep your
audience’s attention.

 Practice emphasizing key words and pause in the right places –


usually in between ideas in a sentence.
o For example “The first strategy involves getting to know our market
(pause) and finding out what they want. (pause) Customer surveys
(pause) as well as staff training (pause) will help us do this.”
2. Practice your speech
 Spending a substantial amount of time practicing your
presentation (at least 10 times) can help you feel more
confident when you're delivering it in front of an audience.

 Practice referring to your slides while you're speaking,


pointing out visual material you want the audience to take
note of.
 Practice giving your speech by simply recording yourself.

 Speak a little slower than you usually do and make sure


to enunciate each word.
 If your speech has time restrictions, use a stopwatch to
keep track of how long your speech lasts.
o If you discover that you're over time, think about areas in your
speech that may be repetitive or offer irrelevant details.

o If your speech isn't quite long enough, consider what information


you could add to bolster your existing main points.

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