26.05.2015

Each of us at least once in our lives has encountered such an element of work as a “presentation”. And not only in the native language, but also in a foreign language, in this case – in English.

In order to prepare a presentation in English, you should pay attention to several important factors, which you will learn about further.

Preparing a presentation is a rather important and responsible task, and many people panic if they have to speak in English. Especially if you don’t have much public speaking experience.

Don't worry, just find yourself a good business English coach who will help you master basic expressions and grammatical structures, and can also be your “spectator” and evaluate your performance.

If you already speak English at a good level, the following tips will be useful to you in preparing a presentation in English.

Use "plain" English

By this I mean that when preparing a presentation, you should always take into account the age and intellectual characteristics of your audience. You should not use overly complex constructions, abbreviations and terms that may not be clear to everyone.

Keep your sentences as simple and concise as possible. This will make it easier for people to understand your point.

Likewise, you should not use slang expressions and jargon.

Firstly, you are speaking in front of serious people, which means your speech should also be in a more or less formal style, and secondly, you need to know when you can use this or that slang. It is better to speak simply, but correctly.

Do you agree?

So in presentations and public speaking it is worth keeping the use of these words to a minimum. It's better to just pause for a few seconds to collect your thoughts.

We are all real people, and your audience will understand you.

Speak slowly and clearly

If you need to prepare a presentation in English, especially for an unfamiliar audience, pay attention to the pace and volume of your speech.

Speak slowly, loudly enough and clearly pronounce the words, because many people have an accent, especially when they are overwhelmed by excitement (many simply may not understand what you are saying).

Breathe! This is just a presentation.

“Measure seven times...”

You probably know that visual elements are a very good assistant in presenting and conveying some information, i.e. slides with pictures, photos, diagrams, graphs, etc.

Very often we use text in slides (short notes, quotes, captions under pictures, etc.).

It is extremely important to double-check the text of your presentation, which will be visible to listeners. Dictionaries, friends, colleagues and tutors to help you!

Use more verbs

It is believed that the accumulation of nouns in a sentence “piles up” its sound. Therefore, use more verbs, preferably in the active voice.

Notice how Steve Jobs introduces his creation, the iPhone.

Use English linking words

Words like nevertheless,moreover,next,besides,firstly,secondly etc. help us connect one thought to another. Our English speech becomes smooth, logical and better understood by listeners.

Display numbers visually

If your presentation involves a lot of numbers, it is better to duplicate them on a slide or board. It can be very difficult to grasp the meaning of a number, especially if it has five, six or seven digits.

I hope you found something new and useful in this article. Good luck in preparing your presentations!

Be confident, joke, make eye contact with the audience, use body language and don't stand still.

If you want more information on how to give a presentation, overcome stage fright, use body language, prepare for post-speech questions, check out this great site PresentationPrep.com

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Are you planning a presentation in English? Don't panic. The main thing is preparation. In addition, it will be useful to pay attention to some standard phrases that will help you start and end a presentation, structure your thoughts, and organize a discussion. We have collected some of them.

Presentation of the topic

1. I’d like to start by…– I would like/would like to start with...

2. Let's begin by...- Let's start with...

3. First of all, I’ll...- First of all, I...

4. Starting with...- Let's start with...

5. I'll begin by...- I'll start with...

Ending the topic

6. Well, I’ve told you about …– In general, I told you about...

7. That’s all I have to say about…- That's all I wanted to tell you about...

8. We've looked at...- We looked at...

Read also: 25 phrases that will be useful during an interview in English

Start of a new topic

9. Now we'll move on to...- Now let's move on to...

10. Let me turn now to...- Now I will move on to...

12. Turning to…- Moving on to...

13. I’d like now to discuss…– Now I would like/would like to discuss...

14. Let’s look now at…- Now let's look at...

Analysis

15. Where does that lead us?– Where does this lead us?

16. Let’s consider this in more detail…- Let's look at this in more detail...

17. What does this mean for...?– What does this mean for...?

Read also:Must-listen: 6 interesting podcasts to improve your English

Examples

18. For example,…- For example, …

19. A good example of this is...- A good example of this...

20. As an illustration, …- As an illustration...

21. To give you an example, …– To give an example...

22. To illustrate this point...– To illustrate this point...

Read also:Soft landing: 7 online courses for training soft skills that will help in your career

Postponed questions

23. We’ll be examining this point in more detail later on …– We will consider this point in more detail later...

24. I’d like to deal with this question later, if I may ...– I would like to answer this question later, if you don’t mind...

25. I’ll come back to this question later in my talk…– I will return to this issue later...

26. Perhaps you’d like to raise this point at the end…– Perhaps you will return to this point/ask this question at the end...

27. I won’t comment on this now…– I won’t comment on this now...

Order

28. Firstly... secondly... thirdly... lastly...– Firstly... secondly... thirdly... and lastly...

29. First of all... then... next... after that... finally...- First of all... then... then... and finally...

30. To start with… later… to finish up…- Let's start with this... further... in conclusion...

Conclusion and conclusions

31. In conclusion,…- Finally …

32. Right, let’s sum up, shall we?- Now let's summarize.

33. I’d like now to recap…– Now I would like to summarize...

34. Let’s summarize briefly what we’ve looked at…– Let’s briefly summarize what we’ve covered...

35. Finally, let me remind you of some of the issues we’ve covered…– In conclusion, let me remind you of some of the issues that we considered...

To prepare for the action itself, you may need English words indicating the necessary materials, tools and techniques for the presentation.

Screen- Screen (on which the presentation is projected)

Whiteboard(less often blackboard or greenboard) - Board

Marker- Marker

Duster- Sponge for the board

Flipchart- Flipchart

Projector- Projector

Handouts- Handouts

The following questions will help you better prepare and guide you on how to design your presentation:

Target- Why are you making this presentation? What do you want to achieve?

Audience- Who will the presentation be for? How knowledgeable are they about the topic? How many people will there be?

Room- Where will the presentation take place? In a cozy small meeting room or in a spacious conference room? What equipment is needed? Are there enough seats?

Time and restrictions- When do you make the presentation and how long will it last? Will people be too tired or hungry by this time?

Material supply- Are you planning a formal or informal style? Is it a serious approach or can you lighten up the presentation with jokes? What will you use to attract attention?

Structure- Be sure to think through the structure and logic of your speech and strictly follow it. This way you can feel more confident, and your audience will better perceive the information.

Be sure to remember the following rules and refer to them when preparing materials:

You need to carefully prepare for the presentation and rehearse it several times

The simpler and shorter the phrases, the better.
Throughout your speech, use the simplest and shortest words and sentences possible.

Avoid complex terminology and jargon, unless you are 100% sure that everyone present will understand them. Especially if not everyone speaks English as a native speaker.

Use active forms of verbs instead of passive ones.
Those. Instead of the phrase “We found 100 kg of gold,” it is better to say “We found 100 kg of gold.”

Don't read the presentation! Tell it without looking at the text.
A presentation is best received when it appears as spontaneous as possible. To be sure, you can make small note cards or prepare a list of key points. But this does not have to be the full text of the presentation!

Let's consider what mandatory parts a presentation should consist of.

Introduction

What includes:

• Greetings
• Presentation of theme and purpose
• Description of the presentation structure
• Instructions when to ask questions

Main part

What includes:

• Presentation of the prepared material in strict accordance with the plan indicated in the introduction.

Conclusion

What includes:

• Summary of the above
• Your final conclusions
• Thanks for your attention
• Questions

Now that we have figured out the structure, let's look at what phrases will be useful to us in order to start, conduct and finish a presentation in English.

English vocabulary for presentations

Begin your presentation by welcoming and thanking everyone for coming:

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen- Good morning, ladies and gentlemen

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen- Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen

Good afternoon, everybody- Good afternoon everyone

Hello, everyone- Hi all

Welcome everyone- Welcome

I"d like to start by thanking you all for coming- I would like to start by thanking you all for coming

It"s great to see so many fresh faces here today- It's great to see how many new faces are here today

Let me begin by welcoming you all of you here today- Let me start by welcoming you all here today.

It"s great to be here with you all- It's great to be here with you

Thank you for coming out today- Thank you for coming today

Let's talk about ourselves and the purpose of our report:

Describe to the audience what program awaits them during your speech:

Here we will look at how to start the main part of the presentation in English:

If you have completed another logical part, it is worth indicating this:

When starting a new part of your presentation, warn your audience about this so that they do not lose the thread of the presentation:

After you have provided the basic information, you need to analyze it:

To make the information better understood, give more examples:

You will need

• - Message text;
• - outline of the speech;
• - computer;
• - PowerPoint program (or other similar);
• - Images;
• - audio and video files.

Instructions

Using slides that follow each other on a screen or interactive whiteboard, it is much easier to attract the attention of the audience than using printed media (posters or handouts).

Multimedia presentations are most often created in PowerPoint, which you must first master. For those who are familiar with computers, just a few practical sessions are enough to master the operations in PowerPoint.

The slide must also contain text information. When choosing fonts, do not get carried away by their variety and intricacy. The more different fonts you use, the more difficult it will be for your audience to understand your slides. However, think about the font emphasis, subordination and text on the slides. Stick to the basic idea that dark text on a light background is best perceived.

The general tone, color splashes, illustrations, text should be combined with each other and not contradict the overall meaning and mood of the presentation.

Rehearse your speech in advance to feel confident in front of your audience. Speak loudly and clearly.

Video on the topic

Tip 2: The art of presentation. Description of charts in English

In various educational institutions we are taught English grammar and the correct construction of sentences. However, they often do not pay attention to expanding vocabulary and using spoken language. These knowledge gaps show up at the most inopportune times, such as when you are asked to write a description of a graph or diagram in English, or are required to provide such a description in an oral presentation.

To describe a graph, you need to study it - to understand whether there are peak values, whether there is a trend and a forecast. Also, you can analyze declines, rises, leveling of the indicator, how much the values ​​​​changed in percentage or natural values, etc.

All this can be done with relative ease in Russian. But what happens if the situation requires a description? In most cases, if a person has a sufficient vocabulary, but has never had the practice of commenting on graphs before, he will use limited vocabulary. Most often this comes down to a simple description of the fluctuations of a particular indicator using verbs to decrease(decrease) and to increase e (increase).

In fact, there are a lot of words and phrases in English to describe graphs. They can be divided into verbs and nouns that show the growth or decline of an indicator, as well as adjectives and adverbs that describe the degree and speed of its change. In this case, the verbs used can be transitive (requiring after themselves a noun that answers the question “who? what?”) and intransitive. Some verbs are used in both cases, having different meanings.

1. “I saw a fox yesterday” / “I saw (who? what?) a fox yesterday” – transitive verb to see, the action goes to the item.


2. “I went to the theater yesterday” / “I went to the theater yesterday” – intransitive verb to go, the action does not transfer to the object.

The following words and phrases are used to describe performance growth:

The following expressions are used to describe a decrease in performance:

You can describe the alignment of the indicator:

There are also phrases to describe peak values:

1. Reach a peak – to reach the peak value,


2. Peak - to reach the maximum, peak


3. Top out - to reach the highest level, highest point, reach the peak


4. Reach a low point - reach the lowest point, minimum


5. Reach a through - to reach the lowest point


6. Bottom out - to be at the lowest level, to reach the lower limit

Degree of change (a slight growth / to increase slightly):

1. dramatic(ally) – sharp, significant / sharply, significantly


2. significant(ly) – significant/considerably


3. sharp(ly) – sharp/sharp


4. significant(ly) - significant/significantly


5. substantial(ly) - significant, significant, essential / significantly, significantly, essentially


6. moderate(ly) – moderate/moderate


7. slight(ly) – small, insignificant / a little, little, slightly, insignificantly, weakly

Rate of change:

1. abrupt(ly) – sudden, unexpected / suddenly, unexpectedly


2. sudden(ly) – sudden/suddenly


3. rapid(ly) – fast, swift / quickly, swiftly


4. quick(ly) – fast/quickly


5. steady(ly) – stable/steadily


6. gradual(ly) – gradual/gradually


7. slow(ly) – slow/slow

Prepositions to use:

1. a rise from$1m to$2m – growth With one before two million dollars


2. to fall by 30% - fall on 30%


3. to increase to 50% - increase before 50%


4. an increase of 7.5 per cent over last year – increase of 7.5% behind last year

The presented words and phrases will help you avoid speech errors when describing graphs. Of course, they can be used not only for oral presentations, but also for written reports.

Please note that the ability to describe a schedule in English can not only help you defend a relevant project at a university/school and correctly present information, for example, to an employer, but will also allow you to successfully complete some of the tasks in the international business English exam Business English Certificate (BEC ).

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So, you were taken by surprise by the “pleasant” news. At work, your boss happily announced that in a week you will have a presentation. And since foreign partners will be present at the presentation, the presentation “must be in English.”

Before this, life seemed wonderful, my career was moving smoothly, but inexorably uphill, my relationship with my superiors was going well. And then at one moment you were faced with a choice - “to be or not to be?” You learned English at school, but due to lack of practice, you forgot everything you could. Presentations were held - yes, but not in English! The only question that arises in your head is: “What to do now?”

Create a successful presentation in English?
To do this you need:
1. understand the principles of presentation construction;
2. master the technology of creating text for an oral presentation.
What is a presentation?
A presentation is a type of communicative activity, the purpose of which is to convey to listeners information structured according to certain canons. Depending on the purpose, educational presentations are divided into informative and persuasive. What does the presentation consist of?
Any presentation consists of three parts:
1. Introduction;
2) main part;
3) conclusion.

How to correctly formulate the topic of a presentation?
Determining the topic of a speech is often difficult. As a rule, she is very
general, extensive and therefore impossible to reveal in 5-7 minutes.
For example:
The theme of our course is “Students studying abroad: English for academic mobility”. For your presentation within the stated topic, you must choose a subject, for example “About myself.” And then you choose a narrower subtopic (topic) “My family tree”, which you can cover for 5-7 minutes. This is an example of an informative presentation.

The title of the presentation can also be expressed in the form of a question. It is much easier to prepare such a presentation. The main difficulty here is composing the key question. We must remember that if the title is expressed through a Why-question, you must reveal the reasons, and if it is a How-question, you must talk about ways to solve a particular problem, and then your presentation turns out to be an answer to the question you asked.
If you want to make a persuasive presentation, you can write a general question and put it in the title. “Does love make you happy?”
By answering this question positively or negatively, you provide arguments (this will be parts of your presentation) to prove your point of view.

What is the introduction?
In the introduction you should:
a) introduce yourself to the audience (Let me introduce myself. My name is.. L am a first year law student);
b) name the topic of my presentation (The topic of my presentation is... .Today I would like to tell you about...);
c) formulate the relevance and purpose of your presentation (I have chosen this topic because. . J The purpose of my presentation is to inform/ to persuade…);
d) talk about the nature and structure of the presentation (The form of my presentation is... The body of my presentation consists of... parts);
e) announce the duration of the presentation (It will take only 5-7minutes of your time);
f) formulate in one sentence the main idea of ​​the presentation (thesis statement).
The main part, as a rule, consists of 2-4 parts, which are closely and logically connected with each other.

How to prepare the text of a presentation?
1. Preparatory work.
a) First, think about and identify those subtopics that could make up the content of this broad topic.
b) Choose one subtopic that you have to cover in 5-7 minutes.
c) The selected subtopic should be of interest to the audience and you should have a good understanding of it.
d) Conduct a “brain storming”, collect all the ideas that may be interesting, informative and necessary to reveal your subtopic.
2. Organization of writing the text.
a) Come up with a title for your presentation. It can be either in the form of a question (general or specific) or in the form of a statement.
b) The title of the presentation determines its nature.
c) State the main idea (a thesis statement) of your presentation, i.e. a statement that reveals the essence of your entire speech. It should be composed in such a way that questions can be asked about it, and thereby stimulate the disclosure of the subtopic. The answers to these questions will be parts of your speech.
d) Each body paragraph begins with a topic sentence, which states who or what will be discussed in this part. The answer to the question in the topic sentence forms the content of each paragraph.
e) Once you learn how to formulate a thesis statement and topic sentence, the success of your presentation will be guaranteed, as these skills will help make your presentation logical and concise.

Conclusion.
The conclusion usually consists of 2-4 generalizing sentences and necessarily contains an answer to the question that was included in the title of the presentation. If the title of the presentation is presented in the form of a statement, then the conclusion should contain answers to the hidden questions of the thesis statement. Moreover, they should not repeat the text of the main part of the presentation: for this it is recommended to use the technique of paraphrasing.
What should the language of the presentation text be? Presentation 1 is a public speech, so it is necessary to choose linguistic means that are typical for oral speech, namely:
1) sentences should not be very long;
2) if you take sentences from the text, then adapt them to oral speech, that is -
a) paraphrase, make them shorter;
b) replace constructions in the passive voice with active ones;
c) do not use a large number of unfamiliar words.
3) For presentation, it is best to use an authentic English text that contains ready-made language tools characteristic of the English language.
When translating from Russian into English, you often use Russianisms and literal translation, which makes the language of your speech unnatural.

When is the text ready for public presentation?
After writing the first draft, look through the text again, paying attention to:
- grammar;
- choice of words and expressions;
- on the length of sentences;
- logic and coherence of its parts;
— smooth transition from one part to another;
- to use a sufficient number of facts and details to illustrate; the main points of your statement.
Speak the text, paying attention to the pronunciation of new and difficult words.

How to make your presentation more expressive?
1, Use visual aids.
The most effective is the power point format.
a) The first slide should contain the title and outline of the presentation.
b) The presentation outline consists of a list of those paragraphs that will be covered in the main body of the presentation. Parts of the speech must be written in a uniform language format. For example: if the first paragraph is indicated in the infinitive form, then the remaining parts must begin with the infinitive.
c) All textual material of the presentation must be structured. The slides are intended to illustrate this. Essentially, this is a mind map (content plan) of your speech. In addition, you can place all the factual information on the slides (place names, dates and numbers, tables and graphs), helping the audience to fully understand your speech.
d) However, it is not recommended to place a large amount of text material (quotes, links, definitions, etc.) on the slides, since these are samples of written language and are not perceived by ear.
e) Don't forget to indicate sources of information!
2. Use non-verbal means of communication (gestures, facial expressions, voice modulations). Monitor the presence of feedback from the audience (eye contact).
3. Your presentation will be successful if you speak at a natural pace for you.
NB! If after your speech the audience had questions and you were able to answer them fully, then the goal of your presentation has been achieved.

SPEECH CLICHES THAT WILL HELP
MAKE YOUR PRESENTATION SUCCESSFUL
1.Introduction
-Good morning, everyone! (ladies and gentlemen).
-Let me introduce myself. My name is.. ./I am a first year law student.
-The topic of my presentation is.. ./Today I would like to tell you about…
-I have chosen this topic because…, / The purpose of my presentation is to inform/ to
convince...
-The form of my presentation is .. ./The body of my presentation consists of… parts.
-It will take only 5-7minutes of your time.

2.Body
-First.,
-I have divided my presentation into 2-3 parts.
-Then...
I -After that I’d like to move on to… I -Next I’d like to move on to… | -Finally I’d like to move on to…

3.Conclusion
-Let us summarize briefly what we have looked at.
-Let us briefly summarize the main issues.
-In conclusion I want to say.
-That is the end of my presentation.
-Thank you for your listening/attention. 4. Inviting questions
-You are welcome with your questions.
-I am ready to answer any of your questions.
-Could you repeat your question?
-I am sorry, but I didn’t follow your question.
-If there are no more questions thank you again for your attention.

And finally, a master class from the presentation guru, Steve Jobs:

You can also prepare for a presentation with the Enline online English school.