How to make an effective presentation

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PRSENTING A REPORT

UNIT 1

1. Read and discuss the text:

What is a presentation

    A presentation is a formal talk to one or more people that "presents" ideas or information in a clear, structured way. 

Presentation is the practice of showing and explaining the content of a topic to an audience or learner. Presentation is also the means of communication which can be adapted to various speaking situation, such as talking to a group, addressing a meeting or briefing a team.

Types of presentation There are five types of presentation:

1. Informative: Keep an informative presentation brief and to the point. Stick to the facts and avoid complicated information.

2. Instructional: Your purpose in an instructional presentation is to give specific directions or orders. Your presentation will probably be a bit longer, because it has to cover your topic thoroughly.

3. Arousing: Your purpose in an arousing presentation is to make people think about a certain problem or situation.

4. Decision-making: Your purpose in a decision-making presentation is to move your audience to take your suggested action. A decision-making presentation presents ideas, suggestions, and arguments strongly enough to persuade an audience to carry out your requests.

5. Persuasive: Your purpose in a persuasive presentation is to convince your listeners to accept your proposal.

People are sometimes afraid of speaking in public, but if you follow a few simple rules, giving a presentation is actually very easy.

2. Answer the questions. Give as full answers as possible:

1. What is a presentation?

2. What is the purpose of a presentation?

3. How many types of presentations are mentioned in the text?

4. How do all these types differ?

5. What type of presentation is used more often?

6. What does the type of presentation depend on?

7. Who makes presentations?

8. What type of presentation will you use in your future professional activity?

3. Read and discuss the text:

Speak about the importance of each point. How to make them help to perfect your presentation?

Read the text. Note what pieces of advice are given to b e ginner.

Which of the recommendations are more important from your point of view. Range them in order of their importance. Add any other recommendation.

Check your knowledge

Exercise 1. Complete the suggested questions, trying to formulate major aspects before starting preparation for a talk.
Planning
Purpose – why and what?

Audience – who and how many?

Premises – do/does and is/are

Who __________________________________________?
What _________________________________________?
Why __________________________________________?
Where ________________________________________?
When _________________________________________?
How __________________________________________?

Exercise 2. Restore the original order of instructions on how to prepare for a successful presentation. Start with the sentence in italics.

How to Prepare for a Presentation

The best way to perform a presentation well is to be prepared. Standing in front of a group reading from note cards and stumbling over your thoughts is not very convincing. With a little practice you can look like a pro by speaking clearly and in an organized fashion. Follow these steps to learn how. Instructions: 1. Be sure you know how to pronounce all the words correctly. Check with the dictionary if necessary. 2. Create an outline that includes an introduction, an overview of the main argument or purpose,
the evidence used to support that argument, any critiques of the work and the conclusion.

3. Select the material you will use.

4. Research your topic of discussion and determine the purpose of your talk.

5. Talk through your presentation many times before presenting.

6. Open your slides and actually click through them speaking your part out loud.

7. Know your audience and what it knows.

8. Prepare your handouts, if necessary.

9. Make sure that your talk fits in within the time limit of your presentation.

10. Create an outline (a plan) of what ideas you wish to cover.

UNIT 2

Questions and Answers

  The introduction should catch the attention. Perhaps a provocative statement or a humorous anecdote will do the job.

The introduction phase sets the tone and expectations of a presentation. Although very often the presenter will typically introduce themselves to the audience, on other occasions a colleague or a chairperson may introduce the speaker.
  A complete introduction for a presentation includes the following parts:

ü greeting;

ü your name and position;

ü title and subject of your talk;

ü presentation objective;

ü main parts of your talk;

ü mention of the visual aids that you will use;

ü time you will take;

ü when you would like to answer questions;

ü and a link to the first section of your presentation

  After you give your opening statement, give a brief overview of your presentation. Say what your presentation is about, how long you will take and how you are going to handle questions.

For example, a presentation could start like this:

"Welcome / "Good morning everyone."

"As you all know, professional engineering education is losing its popularity with the young people. But we are being asked to perfect the youths knowledge about engineering specialties. How can we possibly do it"

"Today I am going to talk to you about how we can do this. My presentation will be in three parts. Firstly I am going to look at the background of the problem. Then I am going to talk to you about our new approaches to decision of the problem. Finally, I'm going to examine some strategies that will help us increase popularity of engineering profession. The presentation will probably take around 20 minutes. There will be time for questions at the end of my talk."

2. Memorize useful language for overviews:

a) Presenting the theme of the report:

I’d like to talk to you today about..

I am going to present the recent…                                                

                              brief you on…

                      inform you about…

                                     describe…

The subject of my talk is…

                presentation is …

                          speech is … 

b) Presenting the purpose:

The purpose of this talk is to update you on…

                          give you the background to …

This talk is designed to act as a springboards for

discussion.

… start the ball rolling.

… give you some facts and figures…

…. fill you in on the history of…

… concentrate on…

… limit myself to the question of…

c) Presenting the length of the report:

I plan to be brief.

I shall only take … minutes of your time.

This should only last ….. minutes.

d) Presenting the structure of the report:

I have divided my presentation into … parts.

Firstly, I shall speak about …

Secondly, I’ll present the results of …

Finally, I’ll try to draw some conclusion …

The subject can be looked at under the following

headings:

My presentation is in three parts.

My presentation is divided into three main sections.

e) Time for questions:

  I’d be glad to answer any questions at the end of my talk.

  If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt.

  There will be time for questions at the end of the

  presentation.

  I'd be grateful if you could ask your questions after the

  presentation."

Check your knowledge

Exercise 1.Match these less formal phrases with the more formal phrases in the table:

What I want to do today is…

It’s good to see you all here.

OK, shall we get started?

In my talk I’ll tell you about...

Today I’m going to talk about…

As you know, I’m…

Hi, everyone.

Exercise 2. Replace the words in bold with the words from the box:

1. I’ll start off by showing you…

2. I’ve divided my presentation into three parts.

3. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is 

    Gordon Smith.   

4. Then I’ll move on to the problems…

5. Professor Brown is in charge of our new Plasma

    Laboratory.
6. I’m aware that you’re all busy preparing for the

   seminar…

Exercise 3. Match the parts of the sentence:

1. Please, help yourselves

2. If we're all here,

3. I'd like to start by

4. I'd like to welcome Professor Smith.

5. After that I'd like to

6. Today, I'd like to talk about

7. If you have any questions,

a. describe the new project.

b. Thank you. It's good to be here.

c. to the handouts.

d. let's make a start.

e. please feel free to ask me.

f. outlining the plan for the day.

g. the success we've had with our research.

Exercise 4. Fill in the gaps in the sentences below with a preposition:

Model: Thank you for coming.

There are copies...........the table.

I'd like to start...........outlining the process.

It's good to have Professor Jackson here...........Stanford University.
We can discuss any questions...........the end of the seminar.
I want to focus...........the latest aircraft design.

...........the end of this session, you'll be able to teach your staff how to use this program.

I'm talking to you today...........the designer of this new robotic system.

Exercise 5. Complete the sentences with the correct word:

Model: It's good to meet you.

Have / take / meet

a) Did everyone _____a handout?               give / get / go

b) Don't ____ about taking notes. worry / remember / think

c) Please ____ yourselves.                       meet/ have/ help

d) Please feel _____ to stop me.     expensive / free / open

e) I'd like to ____ the previous survey. let / happen / describe

f) I want to ____ on the results first.   look / worry / focus

Exercise 6. Discuss these points in mini-groups and present your ideas to the class:

1. The first few minutes of a presentation are the most

important.
2. Words like we, us and our make the audience more

interested in the subject of your presentation.

3. Formal and informal ways of greeting the audience. Why

is it important to find the proper words?

4. What makes a successful speaker?

5. How to get the audience’s attention? Is it a good idea to

make jokes or ask the audience rhetorical questions during

your talk?

6. Do ‘presentation tricks’ help reveal the subject of your

talk?
7. Is there a special dress code for a presenter?

8. How to deal with nervousness?

Exercise 7. Read the introductions and say what is wrong with them:

1. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

2. Hello, guys. Let me introduce myself. I am here in my function as the Head of the R&D (Research and Development Department). My name is Professor Brown. I should say it is a great honour to speak in front of such a distinguished audience.

3. Good morning, colleagues. I’m Doctor Smith from the University of Chicago. What I’d like to present to you today is the topic which engages me greatly. I don’t think many of you know much about it.

4. Come on, guys! Shall we get started? As you probably know I’m the new manager. You know I’m
very busy. So let’s get started right now in order not to waste my time.

5. Wow! How many of you have come! It’s so unexpected. I’m afraid I didn’t realize that you would be interested in such a dull (let me be sincere with you) topic.

Exercise 8.Complete the paragraph with the following words:

The purpose of this research was to find out what students aged 14-18 use their mobile phones. It ______ aimed to find out what kind of phones they use. _____ it asked how many hours they spend on the phone, and _____ if there is any difference between boys and girls in how they use their phones.

We found that girls prefer to use their phones to chat with friends, _____ boys prefer to send messages. _____ more girls than boys keep in touch with their parents by texting.

UNIT 3

Check your knowledge

Finishing

UNIT 4

Read and discuss

Do not forget that last impressions are just as important as first impressions. Your conclusion is the place to make sure that you have planted the key ideas of your talk in your listeners’ minds. Do not miss the opportunity!

Here are some strategies of effective conclusions:

ü Summarize the main points;

ü Quote a famous person;

ü Ask a provocative question or make a surprising statement;

ü Use the “sandwich” technique, which means your introduction and conclusion are connected (like two slices of bread in a sandwich) and the main part is like the cheese in between.

You should have a connection between the beginning and the end of your talk. If, for example, you start telling a joke in the introduction, stop at an exciting moment and move on to the main part. Then finish the joke in the conclusion.

  As a general rule in communication, repetition is valuable. In presentations, there is a golden rule about repetition:

1. say what you are going to say... (introduction)
2. say it...(development)
3. then say what you have just said. (conclusion)

In other words, use the three parts of your presentation to reinforce your message. In the introduction, you tell your audience what your message is going to be. In the body, you tell your audience your real message. In the conclusion, you summarize what your message was:

ü Briefly summarize your main points.

ü Answer any questions.

ü Thank the audience for listening.

ü Look at the audience again, smile and slow down.

The end should be on a strong or positive note – not tailing away to “..well that's all I've got to say so thank you very much for listening ladies and gentlemen”. You could try something along these lines:

ü “Hang-gliding (дельтапланеризм) is brilliant, so try it – you'll believe a man can fly!”

ü “The danger is increasing – if we don't all act soon it could be too late!

Check your knowledge

UNIT 5

Dealing with Questions

1. Read and discuss:

    Questions are a good opportunity for you to interact with your audience. It may be helpful for you to try to predict what questions will be asked so that you can prepare your response in advance. You may wish to accept questions at any time during your presentation, or to keep a time for questions after your presentation. Normally, it's your decision, and you should make it clear during the introduction. At the beginning of your talk you let the audience know when they can ask questions. You either suggest that the listeners should save their questions for the end or they may interrupt you at any moment to ask a question or make a comment. Be polite with all questioners, even if they ask difficult questions. They are showing interest in what you have to say and they deserve attention. Imagine yourself asking a question at a presentation and the speaker dismisses you instead of answering. How
would you feel? Annoyed, ashamed, or probably disappointed? Moreover, it is rude not to answer a
question. It is better to answer evasively rather than answer negatively. Sometimes you can reformulate a question. Or answer the question with another question. Or even ask for comment from the rest of the audience.

   If your listener not only asks you something, but also expresses his/her point of view which you do not share, learn to say: “I agree with you/I see your point, but… ”. This phrase will not let your listener feel incompetent. You will be equals discussing an important matter, and the atmosphere will become friendly.        Always make sure you have understood the question. Do not hesitate to ask the questioner to repeat it. Rephrase the question in your own words, if necessary, to check that you have understood it right.

Check your knowledge

Exercise 1. Work with a partner. Ask each other questions below.

1. Will you prefer questions during or after the presentation? Why?

2. How will you prepare for the question period?

3. How will you deal with questions you don’t want to answer?

4. What will you do if you can’t answer the question?

Exercise 2. Match two phrases with similar meaning.

1. We’ll look at this point in more detail later on

2. Does that answer your question?.

3. The time is up.

4. Can you give me an example to illustrate this?

5. Could you rephrase that?

6. That’s not really part of today’s discussion.

7. Let me summarize the points again.

a) Time has run out

b) We’ll discuss this problem later.

c) That’s not really what I’ve been asked to talk about.

d) Are you satisfied with the answer?

e) Could you reword that?

f) Let me recap the main points.

g) Could you prove it with an example?

Exercise 3. Complete each sentence with a word given in bold: Model: Let me round up. say / round / do

1. I'd be..................to email you the details later.

  sorry / agree / happy

2. I'm.................I can't find the slide at the moment.

Afraid / happy / regret

3. ОК. Let me...............that.

  reply / return / rephrase

4. If I …………..you correctly.

          understood / listened/ looked

5. That's a good question. I'd actually...............to answer it at the end.

   probably/willing/prefer
6................ I repeat my question?

    can / will / shall

7. That's not..................what I meant.

  really / probably / definitely

UNIT 6

Presenting report

1. Read the text paying special attention to its structure. Identify the main compositional parts.

It is a great pleasure for me to attend this session and to have an opportunity to give a talk here.

We cannot expect to remember everything we perceive and despite the advantages of training our memory, why not to take notes. Well, in my talk today I am going to deal with note-taking problems. Though the subject I believe, might be both of theoretical and practical interest. I am going to focus on its practical importance.  

In this talk I shall first present main aspects concerning note-taking. I shall then turn to the discussion of the requirements for note-taking. And finally I shall comment on the ways of encouragement used by the teachers.

I am planning to be brief and take some ten minutes of your time. There will be time for your questions at the end of my talk.

First then, the leading scholars agree that there are two main aspects concerning note-talking: it involves the combination of different skills and it requires the selection of relevant information. Moreover, most authors see note-taking as a complex activity which must be approached gradually.

This brings us to the next point: are there any requirements if we want to take faster and more effective notes. The answer is ‘yes’ First we should have our own set of meaningful abbreviations and symbols. Second, we need to anticipate the sort of information we are going to receive and be ready to write what is really new and important. Third, we need to have a clear purpose and a definite sense of organization for the notes to be taken. We recommend using two methods: ‘Heading and Statements’ and ‘Pre-class outline’.   

  Now I’ll pass over to the problem of note-taking encouragement. Usually, the teacher encourages anticipation before the lecture. If the topic of the lecture is unknown students may use ‘branching notes’. The topic of the lecture is placed in the centre of the page and the rest of the topic branch from it.

In conclusion, I’d like to stress that the last requirement for achieving better notes is to speculate and predict what will be heard or read. Finally, I’d like to highlight one key issue: these strategies pave the way for clearer note-taking.

Thank you very much for your attention and if there are any questions feel free to ask.   

2. Study various ways of:

a) stating the problem and its importance

In my paper I am concerned with…. As is known, in recent years a considerable number of works have appeared on various problems of …. However, no detailed information is so far available on the phenomenon of … which is very important for …. Our research has been undertaken with a view to understand the mechanism of …. Now I will report the data we have obtained.

The purpose of my talk today is to consider …. In recent years much interest has been centered around the phenomenon of … because it is very important for clarifying the nature of …. We have performed a series of experiments in order to determine …. Now I will present the results obtained from the experiments.

My task today is to report about …. Consideration of these phenomena is highly important as it may help to clarify the nature of ….

In this paper I would like to raise some questions related to …

b) outlining the structure of the report

To begin with, I will consider the theory of ….Then I will concern myself with the methods used. In conclusion, I will make an attempt to ….

I’ll start by considering some aspects of …. Further, I’ll pass over to the discussion of …. To conclude, I’ll make some comments on ….

I’ll divide my talk into two parts. First, I’ll consider some aspects of …. Then, I’ll concentrate on ….

First, I’ll describe …. Then, I’ll be concerned with …. Further, I’ll analyze …. Finally, the results of … will be presented.

c) connecting the parts of the report:

In general…

In addition to …

With regard to …

It proves that …

Assuming that …

It follows that …

Apart from this …

As a result of …

From the point of view …

Therefore it is reasonable …

Thus…

Furthermore …

3. The following phrases may help you:

a) to make the composition of the text distinct:

At this point I’ll speak in more details about…

Let me now make some comments on …

Let us turn (back) to …

Now, I’ll pass over to …

I would now like to make some remarks on …

I would like to say a few words on …

b) to specify and clear up the points being discussed:

From this it follows that …

Consequently, it is possible that …

Namely …

On the contrary …

On the one hand … on the other hand…

In other words …

To make it more clear…

This can easily be understood if …

c) to draw the attention of the audience to the most important points:

It is essential that …

It is particularly important that …

It should be notices that …

I’d like to draw your attention to …

It is interesting to note that …

I should like to emphasize that …

d) to conclude the report:

From this it can be concluded that …

In conclusion, we will say that …

To sum up, it is evident that …

On the bases of these considerations we may …

UNIT 7

Discussing the report

Dialogue

Dr. A. Dr. Curry, you said, if I followed you, that the use of animals for cruel experiments is justified if these experiments are conducted for the benefit of mankind.

Dr. C. Yes, that’s what I said.

Dr. A. Does this mean, then, that the suffering and death of thousands of living things can be beneficial to the well-being and harmonious development off another living-being – man?

Dr. C. Well, that’s not exactly what I mean. What I was trying to say is that new areas of medicine and surgery must be safe for human beings. When considered from this point of view, I strongly believe that the life of just one animal may be taken to save the lives of thousands of people.

Dr. A. I don’t see it that way.

Dr. C. You don’t?   

Dr. A. The point is, animals ought to be allowed to enjoy the gift of life. In my opinion, one can’t take the responsibility of disposing of the life of anything or anybody.

Dr. C. Do you mean to say then that you volunteer, or allow a member of your family to volunteer, to test new medicine, rather than use an experimental animal?       

Dr. A. That’s a good question. But I think I would volunteer. I would if the motivation to do it were strong.

Dr. C. Suppose you would. But do you expect there would be enough volunteers for a drug to be fully tested? Don’t you think that the practice of using human volunteers might result in another thalidomide (a drug once prescribed to pregnant women and proved to be fatal for their babies) babies phenomenon?

Dr. A. Sorry, I didn’t catch the last point. Would you mind explaining it?

Dr. C. Not at all. What I mean is that the experiment might bring no damage whatever to the subject himself. But nobody knows how harmful the effect of it may be on the descendants.

2.Memorise the organizing elements of discussion:

Check your knowledge

Presentations Quiz

1. At the beginning of your presentation you can say, ''I'm going to __ about...''

a) do  b) talk  c) tell

2. You can also say, ''I'm going to give you some __ and figures.''

a) fact b) information c) numbers

3. When you go to the next part in your presentation, you can say: ''I'd now like to __ on to...''

a) move b) speak c) talk

4. When you talk about a graph (or other figure / diagram) you can say, ''This graph __ you...''

a) demonstrates b) indicates c) shows

5. If you want to show that one thing is directly linked to the next thing, you can say, ''This __ me to my next point''.

a) guides b) leads c) links

6. When you want to show that you have finished your presentation, you can say, ''That __ me to the end of my presentation.''

a) brings b) concludes c) summarizes

7. You can then say, ''Thank you for __''

a) attending b) listening c) taking part

8. If you want to invite people to ask you questions, you can say ''Please feel __ to ask questions.''

a) fine b) free c) happy

9. After you reply to a question, you can say ''Does this __ your question?''

a) answer b) reply c) satisfy

10. If you want to repeat, clarify or say something in a different way (perhaps because someone didn't understand you when you gave an answer) you can say, ''__ another way...''

a) in b) put c) spoken

APPENDIX A

Use the right language

Simplicity and Clarity

  If you want your audience to understand your message, your language must be simple and clear.

  Use short words and short sentences.

  Do not use jargon, unless you are certain that your audience understands it.

In general, talk about concrete facts rather than abstract ideas.

Use active verbs instead of passive verbs. Active verbs are much easier to understand. They are much more powerful. Consider these two sentences, which say the same thing:

1. Toyota sold nine million vehicles last year.
2. Nine million vehicles were sold by Toyota last year.

Which is easier to understand? Which is more immediate? Which is more powerful? The first is active and the second is passive.

APPENDIX B

Useful vocabulary

The beginning of the introduction

Welcoming the audience

It’s a pleasure to welcome you today.

It’s good to see you all here.

Thank you all for coming.

Let me introduce myself, I’m Mike Petrov from…
I'd like to start by introducing myself. My name is...

I am very pleased and proud to introduce...who is....

Now I'll turn the floor over to today's speaker,

… (to take the floor,to have the floor, to give the floor to someone.)

I am a student at the BMSTU... /I am a doctoral candidate…/

I am a researcher from...

The subject/ topic of my presentation is...
In my presentation I would like to report on…
The theme of my talk is...
Today I'm going to talk about...
What I’d like to present to you today is…
I've been asked to give you an overview of...

I’ve chosen to speak about this because...
Today’s topic is of particular interest to those of you/us who…

My topic is/will be very important for you because…
By the end of this talk you will be familiar with…

The purpose/objective/aim of this presentation is to…

My objective is to…

Today I’d like to give you an overview of…
What I would like to do today is to explain…/ to illustrate.../to give you the essential background information on.../ to outline.../ to have a look at...
What I want my listeners to get out of my speech is...

I’ve divided my presentation into three main parts.

In my presentation I’ll focus on four major issues.
First I’ll be looking at…, after that I’ll move on to…, next/then/after
that…. And finally/ I’ll end with...
I’ve broken my speech down/up into X parts.
In the first part I’ll …/ In the next section I’ll…/ In part three, I am
going to show.../ and in the last part I’d like to…

My presentation/talk will take/will last about…
It will take about 15 minutes to cover these issues.
I have limited my speech to…

Does everyone have a handout? Please take one and pass them on.

Don’t worry about taking notes. I’ve put all the key information on a handout for you.
I’ll be handing out copies of the slides at the end of my presentation.

I can email my presentation to anybody who wants it.

I'd ask you to save your questions for the end.
There will be time for your questions at the end of my talk.

Feel free to ask questions at any time during my talk.

You may interrupt me at any moment to ask questions or make comments.
Please stop me if you don't understand anything I say but could you keep any specific questions until after I've finished.

I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch that.

I’m sorry, could you repeat your question, please?
If I understood you correctly, you would like to know whether…

If I could just rephrase your question, you’d like to know…
Does that answer your question?

I’m afraid that’s not really what we were discussing today.
I saw that in the work of...

Sorry, that’s not my field./ Sorry, that’s off the top of my head.
I’m afraid I’m not in a position to answer that question at the moment

 I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to your question, but I will try to find it out for you.

I'm glad you asked that question.
That's a good question/point/remark.

Can I answer that question later?
If you don’t mind, I’ll come back to this point later in my presentation.
Can we get back to this point a bit later?
Would you mind waiting until the question and answer session at the end?