Professional Presentation Skills

Class #4
01
CHARTS & GRAPHS
Reporting Facts and Figures

02 BUSINESS VOCABULARY
Presentations 3: Chart & Graphs (Ch. 56)

03 BUSINESS VOCABULARY
Presentations 4: Comparing Trends (Ch. 57)

04
IN-CLASS GROUP EXERCISE
Mini Presentation
01
CHARTS & GRAPHS

Reporting Facts and Figures

Common Types of Graphs

➔ What are they called?

➔ When would you use these charts?

➔ What situations are they good for?

Common Types of Graphs

BAR GRAPH PIE GRAPH LINE GRAPH

Graphs vs. Charts

Charts

➔ Just visual
➔ Not statistical / mathematical

Graphs

➔ Statistical
➔ Mathematical
➔ Usually with X and Y axes
Bar Graph

➔ Good for comparing data by

category.

➔ Better when you don’t have too

many groups (under 10).

➔ Use when there is no specific order to

your groups.
Pie Chart

➔ Easy to read

➔ Good for understanding parts of a

whole.

➔ Order pieces of pic according to size

➔ Make sure it always adds up to 100%

Line Graph

➔ Show data in relation to continuous

factor (usually money or time).

➔ Great for predicting performance in

the future, beyond your data.
E.g. predicting sales

➔ Shows trends that may be useful for

planning.
Other Types of Graphs

TABLE MAP DIAGRAM

Effective Charts & Graphs

➔ Simple

➔ High Contrast (colours)

➔ Labels

➔ APA Source
Practice

Which charts would you use for these? Why?

1. Tracking trends in sales for the last 3 months → LINE

2. Comparing which countries your customers come from→ PIE
3. Comparing sales for 6 products → BAR
4. Comparing sales in Canada and Brazil from 2000-2019 → LINE
5. Comparing how people commute to and from work, in 1959 and 2009 → PIE
6. Top 10 countries for spending on travel→ BAR
Describing Changes

Try to visualize in a graph the meaning of the bolded words.

1. The price peaked at $10 on Monday, then suddenly plunged to $3 on Tuesday.

1. The price hit rock bottom on Wednesday, at $1 and it remained at $1 for two
weeks.

1. Our sales fluctuated from two sales in the first week to ten sales in the second,
and then finally jumped to twenty sales in the third week.

1. The number of customers attending classes doubled in the second week to 40

customers, then remained at 40 for the next month.
Language for Describing Changes
➔ Peak
◆ (v) to hit the maximum or highest
point
◆ (n) the highest point / price
➔ (Hit) Rock bottom→ the lowest point
➔ Decrease / fall / diminish / shrink /
decline→ go down
➔ Increase / rise→ go up
➔ Jump→ to go up quickly and suddenly
➔ Plunge→ to go down quickly and
suddenly
➔ Remain→ keep/stay the same
➔ Start
➔ Fluctuate→ to change a little,
repeatedly (up and down)
➔ Double→ 2x
➔ Triple -^trih – pull→ 3x
➔ Quadruple-qwah – ^droo-pull→ x4
➔ Quintuple – kwin – ^tuh – pull→ x5
Describing Trends
1. There + be + adj. + noun + noun phrase

a. There was a gradual rise in the price of oil.

b. There has been a sharp drop in the price of oil.

Possible Adjectives Possible Nouns

➔ Gradual ➔ Variation
➔ Moderate ➔ Fluctuation Increase & Decrease
➔ Modest Small Changes
➔ Slight ➔ Decline
➔ Steady ➔ Decrease
➔ Dip
➔ Sharp ➔ Drop Decreases
➔ Dramatic ➔ Fall
➔ Steep ➔ Slump
➔ Significant Large Changes
➔ Considerable ➔ Peak
➔ Rapid ➔ Growth
➔ Increase Increases
➔ Rise
Describing Trends
2. Noun phrase + verb + adverb

a. The price of oil rose gradually.

b. The price of oil has risen dramatically.

Possible Verbs Possible Adverbs

➔ Rise ➔ Gradually
➔ Jump ➔ Moderately
➔ Grow ➔ Modestly
Increasing Small Changes
➔ Climb ➔ Considerably
➔ Increase ➔ Slightly
➔ Rocket ➔ Steadily
➔ Slowly
➔ Fall
➔ Drop ➔ Sharply
➔ Decline ➔ Dramatically
➔ Decrease Decreasing ➔ Significantly Large Changes
➔ Go down ➔ Rapidly
➔ Plummet ➔ Steeply
➔ Plunge
Making Comparisons
IELTS Writing Task 1 will often require you to make comparisons between data source, groups
and times. Here are 5 grammatical structures you can use to make comparisons:

1. More/few/less + noun + than

Example: Overall, more people preferred public transport than taxis.

2. Of one syllable -er + than

Example: A higher number of people preferred public transport than taxis.

3. More/less + adj. Of more than one syllable + than

Example: Taxis were more popular thaN public transport.

4. Of one syllable -est

Example: The highest % of commuters preferred taxis.

5. The most/ least + adj. of more than one syllable

Example: The least popular mode of transport was buses.
 Describe the charts below.
What changes happened? What facts or
figures are important?

Comparing
Common
Travel
Methods
Student Examples
➔ Transportation by foot in 1959 got significantly lower
by 2009 (approx 30%)
➔ Travelling by car grew dramatically from 10% in 1959
Comparing Common to 35% in 2009.
➔ There was a dramatic fall of 30% in terms of people
Travel Methods ➔
walking by foot in 2009
The average distance travelled increased rapidly from
3.5 km in 1959 to 19 km in 2009
➔ The percentage of travellers by train remained stable
at 15%.
➔ People coming by foot dropped dramatically from
55% in 1959 to 25% in 2009
➔ There was a significant increase in people using the
car from 10% in 1959 to 35% in 2009.
➔ Transportation by train remained stable from 1958 to
2009 at 15%
➔ The average duration jumped significantly in 2009
➔ The percentage of people using trains remained the
same in both 1959 and 2009
➔ Car transportation increased dramatically by the
year 2009 by 25%
➔ The percentage of people that take the train
remained the same in both 1959 and 2009.
➔ In 2009 travelling by train was as stable as it was in
1959
Example Answer
→ The pie charts delineate how citizens in a European city commuted to and from their offices
in 1959 and 2009. Overall, more than half of the office-goers walked in 1959 while car use in
2009 significantly increased. Besides, people travelled more distance in 2009 at a faster speed.
→ According to the illustration, more than half of the job holders walked to reach their office
and get back home in 1959 while only a quarter of them did so in 2009. Bus commuters in this
city accounted for 15% in 1959 while it was 2% less after 5 decades. The ratio of office
executives (15%) who used trains in both years remained the same. One in ten office
commuters drove cars in 1959 but after five decades their percentage increased significantly,
35% to be exact. The use of different other transportations in 2009 increased than that of 50
years earlier.
→ It is worth noticing that the speed and average distance travelled by these commuters
considerably increased in 2009 when a commuter travelled 19 kilometres on an average in 42
minutes compared to their average 3.5-kilometre journey in 17 minutes in 1959.

("IELTS graph 312 - How people in a European city reached their office and got back home", 2019)
02
BUSINESS VOCABULARY

Presentations 3:
Chart & Graphs (Ch. 56)
Charts & Graphs
Charts & Graphs
Charts & Graphs

The largest segment shows that 60% of the hybrid cars sold in the US last year were Prius.
Charts & Graphs

decrease
fall
go down
increase
rise
stay the same
remain steady
level off
Charts & Graphs

went down

stayed the same

by

from
to

up
Charts & Graphs
03
BUSINESS VOCABULARY

Presentations 4:
Comparing Trends (Ch. 57)
Comparing Trends
Comparing Trends
Comparing Trends

FALSE→ It’s a line graph.

FALSE→It compares diamond production in two countries
FALSE→It’s measured in millions of carats.

TRUE

FALSE→ It fell three times during the 15-year period.

FALSE→ There were periods when it rose fast, but recently it has not increased.
Comparing Trends

the same as
much less than
much bigger than
much bigger than
at GM than
Comparing Trends

T
F
T
T

T
Comparing Trends
03

IN-CLASS GROUP EXERCISE

Mini Presentation
 MINI PRESENTATION

Working with the students at your table you’ll be assigned ONE of the
following graphics to present.

1. Look for main ideas - what does the graph show?

2. Practice describing the data trends using the vocabulary discussed.
3. Prepare to present your findings - organize your ideas and think of a
“hook” for the audience.
4. Present as a group using appropriate phrases.
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6