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Presentations in English - How to Give a Presentation - Business English - YouTube
Channel: Oxford Online English
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Hi, Iām Gina.
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Welcome to Oxford Online English!
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In this lesson, you can learn how to make
a presentation in English.
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Do you have to make presentations in English
in your job?
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Imagine you have to give an important presentation
in English tomorrow.
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How would you feel about it?
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This lesson will help you learn useful phrases
and techniques to introduce yourself and your
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topic, keep your ideas organised, deal with
problems, and respond to questions from audience
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members.
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Imagine youāre standing in front of your
colleagues.
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You need to introduce yourself and what your
presentation is about.
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What are some words and phrases you could
use?
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If some people in the audience donāt know
who you are, you should introduce yourself
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and your position.
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In a more formal setting, you could say something
like this:
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Good morning everyone.
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For those who donāt know me, my nameās
Simon, and I work in the marketing department.
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Or: Hello everybody.
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Before we begin, let me introduce myself briefly:
Iām Reese and Iām the head of HR.
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If you work in a more informal company, you
could say:
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Hi guys; if you donāt know me, Iām Sylvia
and I work in digital marketing.
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Or: Hello!
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I see some new faces, so Iāll introduce
myself first: Iām Julia and Iām one of
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our customer service team.
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Next, you need to introduce your topic.
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If your presentation topic is simpler, you
could just say one sentence, like this:
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Today, Iām going to be talking about our
new HR policies and how they affect you.
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Or: Iād like to talk to you today about
quality control and why weāre all responsible
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for quality control, whichever department
you work in.
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If your topic is more complex, you might add
more detail to break your idea into stages.
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For example:
Iāll begin by outlining the policies, and
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then Iāll go on to highlight what they mean
for you and your working habits.
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Finally, Iāll briefly discuss why we feel
these new policies are necessary and beneficial
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for us all.
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Hereās another example:
First of all, Iāll explain why āquality
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controlā has a broader meaning than you
might expect.
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Iāll continue by giving examples of real
quality control, and why this matters for
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all of us.
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To finish, Iāll be asking you to think of
ways you can incorporate quality control into
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your working habits.
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Here, you saw two examples.
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You can use these as templates to begin your
presentation:
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Iāll begin byā¦ and then Iāllā¦
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Finally, Iāllā¦
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Or: First of all, Iāllā¦
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Iāll continue byā¦
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To finish, Iāllā¦
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Okay, now you can practice!
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Weād like you to do two things.
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First, practice introducing yourself informally,
and explaining your topic in a simple way,
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with one sentence.
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Then, practice introducing yourself formally,
and explaining your topic in a more detailed
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way.
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Pause the video and practice speaking.
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All the language you need is in this section.
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Ready?
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Letās move on!
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Iām sure that in your life, youāve heard
good speakers and bad speakers.
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Good speakers grab your attention and donāt
let go.
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You want to hear what they have to say.
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You feel interested and energised by listening
to them.
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Bad speakers are the opposite.
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Even if you try to make yourself listen, you
find that your attention drifts away.
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Your eyelids feel heavy, and you have to struggle
to stay awake.
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So, hereās a question: whatās the difference
between good speakers and bad speakers?
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And, how can you make sure you speak effectively
when you make your presentation in English?
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Hereās one way to think about it: bad speakers
donāt think they have to earn your attention.
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Good speakers understand that no one has to
listen to them, so they work hard to make
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you want to pay attention.
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What does this mean for you, and your presentation?
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Getting peopleās attention starts from the
beginning.
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You need to make it clear what people should
expect from your presentation, and why they
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should care about what you have to say.
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Sounds like a nice idea, but how do you do
this?
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Here are three techniques you can use.
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One: establish a problem which many people
in your audience have.
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Then, establish that you have a solution to
their problem.
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For example:
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Have you ever felt unfairly treated at work,
or felt that the work you do isnāt appreciated?
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Weāve been working to design new HR policies
that will make sure all staff get fair recognition
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for their contribution to the company.
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In this way, you take a boring-sounding topic
like HR policies, and you make it more relevant
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to your audience.
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How?
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By connecting it with their experiences and
feelings.
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The second technique?
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Mention an interesting fact, or a surprising
statistic to get peopleās attention.
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For example:
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Did you know that the average office worker
spends eight hours a day at work, but only
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does four hours of productive, useful work?
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Iām here to tell you about āquality controlā,
and how you can use this idea to make better
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use of your time.
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Finally, you can engage people by telling
a short story and connecting it to your topic.
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Stories are powerful, and they can add an
emotional dimension to your topic if you do
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it well.
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For example:
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I once met a young salesmanāI wonāt mention
his name.
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He spent several weeks building a relationship
with a potential client.
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He worked overtime, and he was working so
hard that he was under severe stress, which
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started to affect his personal life.
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In the end, he didnāt close the dealāthe
clients signed with another firm.
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Today, Iām going to talk about confidence
as a sales tool, and how you can avoid the
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traps that this young man fell into.
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Use one of these three techniques in your
introduction to connect with your audience
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and show them why they should be interested
in what you have to say.
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Hereās a question for you: which technique
would you prefer to use, and why?
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Okay, now youāve introduced your topic and
you have everyoneās attention.
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What next?
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Thereās a famous quote about making presentations:
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āTell the audience what youāre going to
say; say it, and then tell them what youāve
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said.ā
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Have you heard this before?
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Do you know who said it?
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This comes from Dale Carnegie, a very successful
American salesman and writer.
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He lived a long time ago, but his advice is
still relevant today.
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So, hereās a question: what does the quote
mean?
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It means that your presentation shouldnāt
just give information.
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You also need to show people how your information
is organized.
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To do this, you need signposting language.
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Let me give you an example to explain.
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Imagine you go to a website.
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The website is full of really useful, interesting
information.
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But, the information is all on one page.
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Thereās no organization, and you have to
scroll up and down, up and down this huge
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page, trying to find what you need.
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Would you stay on that website?
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Probably not.
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Youāll find a website which makes it easier
for you to find the information you need.
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Whatās the point here?
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The point is that having interesting or relevant
information is not enough.
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How you structure and organize your information
is equally important.
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If you donāt structure your presentation
clearly, people wonāt pay attention, just
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like you wonāt stay on a website if you
canāt find the information you want.
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So, how can you do this?
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You use signposting language.
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This means using words and phrases to show
the audience where your points begin and end,
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to show whatās coming next, and to remind
them about things you talked about before.
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For example:
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Okay, that covers the new policies.
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Next, Iād like to move on and discuss what
these policies mean for you.
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Or: Now that youāve heard a bit about what
not to do, letās focus on positive advice
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to help you be more effective salespeople
and close more of your leads.
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When you say something like this, you arenāt
giving people information about the topic
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of your presentation.
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Instead, youāre showing people where you
are, and where youāre going next.
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Itās a kind of signpost.
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You donāt need signposts to travel from
one place to another, but they can make it
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easier.
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What else can you use signposting language
for?
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You can use signposting language to move from
one point to the next.
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For example:
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Next, Iād like to talk aboutā¦
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Letās move on and discussā¦
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Or: At this point, Iād like to turn toā¦
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You can use signposting language to add detail
to an idea:
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Let me go into some more detail aboutā¦
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Letās examine ā¦ in more depth.
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Or: Iād like to elaborate onā¦
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You can use signposting language to show that
youāve finished your main points, and youāve
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reached your conclusion:
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To wrap up, letās remind ourselves of why
this should matter to everyone here.
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Letās review the key points from this session.
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So, youāve heard what I have to say.
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What conclusions can you take away from this?
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If you have an important presentation in English,
practice using signposting language.
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Use signposting language to move between points,
to show when youāre giving a summary or
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going into more detail, and to signal that
youāve reached your conclusion.
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Okay, but things donāt always go so smoothly
in real life.
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We know that!
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Letās look at some advice and language for
dealing with problems during your presentation.
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Imagine youāre making your presentation
in English.
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What could go wrong?
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What problems could you have?
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There are many common problems:
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You might forget where you were, or forget
an important word.
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You might realise that you said something
wrong, or you didnāt explain something clearly.
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You might forget to mention something important.
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Or, someone might ask you an awkward question,
which you have no idea how to answer.
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Of course, there are other possibilities!
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Letās think about these problems.
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What can you do, and more importantly, what
can you say in these situations?
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First of all, itās a good idea to make a
cue card with key points, as well as any important
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vocabulary you need.
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If you lose your place, or you forget a word,
it could help.
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However, you canāt prepare for everything.
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So, itās useful to learn some phrases to
deal with problems smoothly.
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If you lose your place, and canāt remember
what to say next, you can use a filler phrase
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like:
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Where was I?
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So, what was I saying?
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Whatās the word in English again?
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If you still canāt remember, look at your
cue card with your main points.
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Of course, forgetting something isnāt ideal.
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But, if you do, itās better to keep talking,
rather than just standing there in silence.
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What if you make a mistake, or you realise
that you didnāt explain something well?
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You could say:
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Let me rephrase that.
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Actually, what I meant to say isā¦
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To clarify, I wanted to say thatā¦
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In this way, you can correct yourself without
admitting that you made a mistake!
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What if you realise that you forgot to mention
something important?
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Use a phrase like this:
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Let me just add one more thing:ā¦
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Iād like to add something to a point we
discussed earlier.
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Let me return to an earlier point briefly.
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Again, this allows you to correct your mistake
in a confident way, so you look like youāre
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in control.
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Finally, what do you do if someone asks you
a difficult question, which you canāt answer?
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You have a few options.
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First, you can delay giving an answer.
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For example:
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Iāve allocated time for questions at the
end of this session, so weāll address your
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idea later.
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Or: Iām not in a position to answer that
right now, but Iāll get back to you later
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this week.
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This gives you time to think of an answer
and do some research if you have to!
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Next, you can deflect the question, by asking
a question back, or maybe by asking other
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audience members what they think.
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For example:
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Thatās an interesting question.
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Before I answer, Iād like to know: whatās
your take on this?
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Or: Youāve raised an important point there.
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What does everyone else think about this?
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Finally, if the question is irrelevant, you
can dismiss the question and move on.
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For example:
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Thanks for your input, but I donāt see how
thatās connected to what Iām saying.
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I donāt mean to be blunt, but I donāt
think thatās relevant to todayās discussion.
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Notice how you can use phrases like thanks
for your input, butā¦ or I donāt mean to
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be blunt, butā¦ to make your language more
indirect and polite.
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So, for dealing with difficult questions,
just remember the three dās: delay, deflect,
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dismiss!
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Finally, we want to ask you something.
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Do you have any advice for giving good presentations,
in English or any language?
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Weād love to hear your ideas!
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Please leave a comment and tell us what you
think.
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Remember to visit our website for more free
English lessons: Oxford Online English dot
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com.
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Thanks for watching!
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See you next time!
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