English language Seminars Do’s don’ts tips, hints and so on August 2009.
-
Upload
leslie-bryan-gibbs -
Category
Documents
-
view
224 -
download
0
Transcript of English language Seminars Do’s don’ts tips, hints and so on August 2009.
English language Seminars
Do’s
don’ts
tips, hints and so on
August 2009
How to prepare winning presentations
Introductions and closings
How to structure a presentation
Appropriate language
Dealing with questions
Evaluation sheet
Please leave questions to the end of the presentation
Introduction
“... Good jokes are hard to find, harder still to deliver, and quick to expire.” - don’t tell opening jokes
the 1st couple of minutes in a presentation are nearly always the worst
Opening question
“how can I get this dull talk started with something that will show my audience I’m really a fun person?”
X
“How can I best draw this particular audience into the subject I’m there to talk about?”
Five winning ways to start a presentation
tell a parable– consider underlying emotions – consider key decision point or dilemma
tell a personal anecdote about how you got engaged in the particular topic
ask a question that either surfaces the underlying emotion you wish to evoke or begins the overall story that you wish to tell
Five winning ways to start a presentation
tell a bit of a story from a classic movie or a popular TV show play a scenario game that contains the elements of your
broader story
1998 by the president and fellows of Harvard College
Use an effective opening
– Goals– alternative techniques
use humorrefer to the unusualrefer to the familiar
Hunter, Mary - Guide to Managerial Communication, 1992
Bravo: dare in the first slide – shake them
up in the first couple of minutes!
Not losing your audience
Not losing your audience
Straightforward: start by the end. Leave arguments for
later. Research shows that the first 30 seconds are key to call the attention
Not losing your audience
Graphics: use images to conduct thinking and
give rhythm to the presentation. People get the information faster and more easily.
Not losing your audience
Blocks: the average human being can only
hold their attention for 17 to 20 minutes. Use independent, self-sustained blocks
Not losing your audience
Fast: take as much fat from the presentation
as possible. The faster the better. After you write the presentation cut it back to 50%. If the content is not harmed, keep it like that.
Introductions
Introduce yourself and your subject outline what you are going to talk about say whether people should ask questions
during the talk or at the end
Introducing yourself and your subject
Greeting, name and position title and subject purpose/objective length outline/main parts questions reference to the audience
Outline
I’ve divided my presentation into four parts.They are...
The subject can be looked at under the following headings ...
We can break this area down into the following fields: 1st ..., then..., next..., and then we come to..., finally..., lastly ..., last of all...
Let me briefly take you through what we’ll be looking at today
Intro language
The subject of my presentation is ... What I’m going to talk about tonight is ... I’d like to give you a brief overview of ... The reason I am here today is to talk
about ...
Structuring a presentation
give a previewstate your main points clearly
follow your previewlimit your main pointsuse explicit transitionsprovide internal summaries
use an effective closingyour audience is likely to remember your last words
Structure language
I’ve divided my talk into (N) main sections... My presentation will be in (N) parts ...
– First of all / Firstly – Secondly– Thirdly– Then– After that– Lastly / finally
Moving to a new point language
Turning now to ... What I’d like to to talk about now is ... Now I would like to describe ... Now let’s move on to the next point which is
Language focus
Introducing yourself and your talk linking ideas describing trends, charts and graphs emphasizing and minimizing endings asking and answering questions delivery and style
Comfort, Jeremy - Effective Presentations OUP, 1995
Endings
Signaling the end summarizing concluding recommending closing inviting questions
Effective closing
You may feel as if you are being repetitive, but it is effective to summarize your main points.
Refer to the introduction (story, rethorical questions, promise, image)
Call to action, emphasize the benefits
Summarizing and concluding language
Don’t say:“Well, that’s all I have to say” or “I guess that’s about it” Say:“to summarize” or “in conclusion” To sum up ... To recapitulate what I’ve been saying ... So, to go over the main points again ... I’d like to conclude by saying ...
Closing - sample
“Let me sum up. Firstly, we looked at . . ., secondly, at . . . and last but by no means least. . . In my view, . . . That brings me to the end of my presentation. Are there any questions?”
Ending language
Thank you for listening to me. If there are any questions, I’ll be pleased to
answer them.
Answering questions
Clarifying a question avoiding giving an answer checking if the questioner is satisfied
When answering questions
That’s a fair point. That’s confidential. That’s not really my field. The questioner would like to know . . . Is that right? Well, I think that goes beyond the scope of today’s
presentation. I’m afraid we’ve run out of time. Sorry, I didn’t catch the question I think that’s a good point to stop. Thank you listening
Evaluation sheet
poor satisfactorygoodexcellent
Evaluator's name:
Presenter's name:
Presentation Subject:
Poor Ok Good Excellent
Subject relation to class
General Organization
Introduction
Ending
Delivery/flow
Language – Grammar
Language – Pronunciation
Language – Vocabulary: general, presentation specific, emphasizers, linking words
Technical vocabulary
Visual Aids
Grading system
1st 2nd
Poor 4 3
Ok 6 5
Good 8 7
Excellent 10 10
Subject relation to class
Possible subjects– Small business management– Entrepreneurship– Knowledge Management
Possible approaches– Personal experience– Bibliography – preferrably originally in English
Delivery/flow
Audience contact and interest Assurance/confidence Tempo (vary the speed, add silence)
volume (vary it)
expressiveness (vary the pitch, add questions)
articulation (rehearse, focus on stress) sentence length register/style (avoid written language) linkers (helps with pace) emphasizers/minimizers (exagerate a little)
Language
Grammar Pronunciation Vocabulary
– General– Presentation specific– Emphasizers– Linking words
Other useful sentences
As you can see If we took a look at this slide Let’s change the direction for a moment So, what have we looked at so far? Well ... Turning to I would like to start by Another area for consideration is Let me begin by
Visual aids
NumberDesignRelevanceUseSource
Recapping
Introductions and closings
How to structure a presentation
Appropriate language
Dealing with questions
Evaluation sheet
And finally
Let’s all make extremely successful presentations.
Let’s practice here to strike (impact) in the business world.
References
COMFORT, Jeremy. Effective Presentations. Oxford Business English Series. Oxford University Press. 1995
STRUTT, Peter. Market Leader – Business Grammar and Usage. Financial Times and Longman. 2000