PRESENTATION SKILLS

Planning and Preparation

Audience

- Expectations
- Technical knowledge
- Size
- Questions and/or discussion

Speaker’s competence

- Knowledge
- Presentation technique

Content

- What to include
- Lenght/depht(technical detail)
- Number of key ideas

Structure

- sequence
-beginning, middle,end

- repetition, summarising

Delivery

- style
-formal/informal

-enthusiasm/confidence

- voice

-variety/speed

-pauses

- body language

-eye contact

-gesture/movement

-posture
Visual aids

- type/design/clarity
- relevance

Practice

- recorder
- script or notes

Room

- size/seating
- equipment(does it work?)
- sound quality

Language

- simple/clear
- sentence length
- structure signals
 Presentation

Part 1. Introduction
Greeting, name, position

- Good morning/afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

- Good morning. My name’s(...). I’m the new Finance Manager.

- Ladies and gentlemen. It’s an honour to have the opportunity to address such a distinguished
audience.

- Good morning. Let me start by saying just a few words about my own background. I started out
in.......

- Welcome to ITSB. I know I’ve met some of you, but just for the benefit of those I haven’t, my
name’s (.......).

Title/ Subject/Topic/Theme

I plan to say a few words about.........

I’m going to talk about.........

The subject of my talk is.........

The theme of my presentation is..........

I’d like to give an overview of......

I’d like to talk (to you) today about.......

I’m going to present about.........

Purpose/Objective

The purpose of this talk is to up date you on.......

We are here today to give you the background to........

This talk is design to start the ball rolling.

Structure/Sequence/Outline/Main parts

I’ve devided my talk into three parts,

My talk will be in three parts,

I’m going to devide my presentation into four parts/sections,

They are.........

The subject can be looked at under the following headings:

We can break this area into the following fields:

I’m going to devide.........

First......./ In the first part.......

Second......./ Then in the second part.....

Third......./ Finally.......

Firstly/first of all......

Secondly/then/next......

Thirdly/and then we come to.......

Finally/lastly/last of all.....

Timing/Length

I shall only take (....) minutes of your time.

This should only last (.....) minutes.

My talk will take about ten minutes.

The presentation will take about two hours..............but there’ll be a twenty minute break in the
middle. We’ll stop for lunch at 12 o’clock.

Policy on questions/dicussion

After my talk there’ll be time for a discussion and any 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.

Please interrupt if you have any questions.

Please interrupt me if there’s something which needs clarifying. Otherwise, there’ll be time for
discussion at the end.

When giving a presentation it is essential to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve e.g. Do
you want to inform audience about essential fact, or to persuade them to accept your proposal. This
main purpose or aim needs to be briefly stated in the opening part of presentation.

There are many different techniques you can use to begin a presentation. One common technique is
to state the objectives and the main points which you will include in the presentation. But if you
want to catch your audience’s attention more quickly, there are other techniques e.g. you can relate
the subject to the real-life experience of your audience, or use some facts.

Part 2. Body/Content

Linking ideas

Sequincing/Ordering

Firstly...secondly..thirdly...

Then...next...finally/lastly...

Let’s start with...

Let’s move/go on to...

Now we come to...

That brings us to...

Let’s leave that...

That covers...

Let’s get back to...

Giving reasons/causes

Therefore

So

As a result

That’s why
Contrasting

But

however

Comparing

Similiarly

In the same way

Contradicting

In fact

actually

Summarizing

To sum up

In brief

In short

Concluding

In conclusion

To conclude

Highlighting

In particular

especially

Digressing

By the way

In passing
Giving examples

For example

For instance

Such as

Generalizing

Usually

Generally

As a rule

Part 3. Endings

Ending the main body of the presentation/Signalling the end

Right, that ends (the third part of) my talk.

That’s all I want to say for now on......

That brings me to the end of my presentation.

That completes my presentation.

Before I stop/finish, let me just say......

That covers all I wanted to say today.

Summarizing

Let me just run over the key point again.

I’ll briefly summerize the main issues.

To sum up........

Briefly........

I’d like to end by emphasising the main point(s).

I’d like to finish with a summary of the main points.

Concluding

As you can see, there are some very good reasons.......

In conclusion.......

I’d like to live you with the following thought/idea.

I’d like to finish with some conclusions.

I’d like to finish with a brief conclusion.

Recommending

So, I would suggest that we.........

I’d like to propose........(more formal)

In my opinion, the only way forward is.......

I’d like to finish with recommedations.

Closing

Thank you for your attention.

Thank you for listening.

I hope you will have gained an insight into........

Inviting questions and/or introducing discussion

I’d be glad to try and answer any questions.

So, let’s throw it open to questions.

Any questions?

That concludes (the formal part of) my talk. (Thanks for listening).......Now I would like to invite
yourcomments.

Now we have (half an hour) for questions and discussion.

Right. Now any questions or comments?

So, now I’d be very interested to hear your comments.

Part 4. Asking and answering questions/Q n A

Direct question

Do you have any plans for a new production plant?

Where do you plan to locate it?

Indirect/Polite questions and answers

Do you mind if I ask you?

Would you mind telling me if/wether.......?

Would you mind telling me what/where/etc......?

Could/Can you tell me about.......?

I’m interested to know about......?

I’d like to know about........?

Answers

Go ahead/Please do/Certainly.

That’s a good question.

That’s interesting.

Handeling questions

Understood but difficult or impossible to answer

That’s a difficult question to answer in a few words.

- It could be.....
- In my experiece.......
- I would say......
- I don”t think I’m the right person to answer that. Perhaps (Mr. Holmes) can help......
- I don’t have much experience in that field.......

Understood but irrelevant or impossible to answer in the time available

I’m afraid that’s outside the scoupe of my talk/this session. If I were you I’d discuss that with......

I’ll have to come to that later, perhaps during the break as we’re short of time.
Not understood/Clarifying a question

Sorry I’m not sure I’ve understood. Could you repeat?

Are you asking if.....?

Do you mean.....?

I didn’t catch (the last part of) your question

If I understood you correctly, you mean.....? Is that right?

If I understand you correctly, you are saying/asking....

I didn’t quite catch that.

Could you go over that again?

I’m not sure what your getting at.

Avoiding giving an answer

Perhaps we could deal with that later.

Can we talk about that on another occasion?

I’m afraid that’s not my field.

I don’t have the figure with me.

I’m sure Mr (.........) could answer that question.

That’s interesting, but I’d prefer not to answer that today.

Checking the questioner is satisfied/Checking that your answer is sufficient

Does that answer your question?

Is that clear?

May we go on?

Is that ok?