Presentation Skills

BME PRESENTATION SKILLS 2013
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 0

© Cathryn S. Overall 2005. Revised 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
© 2011, 2012 and 2013 edition with revisions and updates by Jennifer Metcalfe
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted by any form or means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the copyright holders.
Ed.1/0699
University of Birmingham, English for International Students Unit
Printed and bound by Creative Media, University of Birmingham.

Tel: 0121 414 6684
Contents
1. Getting Started ............................................................................................................................... 4

1.1 Preparation .............................................................................................................................. 4
1.2 The Classic Formula ............................................................................................................... 5
1.3 How Formal? ........................................................................................................................... 6
1.4 Engage Your Audience in the First Three Minutes ................................................................. 7
1.5 Explain Your Objective ............................................................................................................ 8
1.6 Explain Your Structure ............................................................................................................ 9
1.7 Linking the Parts ................................................................................................................... 11
2. Using Visuals & Graphics ........................................................................................................... 13

2.1 Introducing Your Visuals ....................................................................................................... 13
2.2 Describing Trends ................................................................................................................. 15
2.3 Practise Describing Trends ................................................................................................... 19
2.4 Explaining Cause & Effect..................................................................................................... 23
2.5 Designing Effective Slides Using PowerPoint ....................................................................... 26
3. The Importance of Voice ............................................................................................................. 30

3.1 Pronunciation & Understanding Word Stress ....................................................................... 30
3.2 Compound Words ................................................................................................................. 32
3.3 Chunking ............................................................................................................................... 33
3.4 Pacing ................................................................................................................................... 34
3.5 Stress & Pausing for Dramatic Effect .................................................................................... 35
4. Communication Techniques ...................................................................................................... 36

4.1 Body Language ..................................................................................................................... 36
4.2 Rhetorical Questions ............................................................................................................. 37
4.3 More Rhetorical Questions .................................................................................................... 38
4.4 Emphasis............................................................................................................................... 39
4.5 Repetition & Tripling .............................................................................................................. 40
4.6 Dramatic Contrast ................................................................................................................. 42
4.7 Softening: Using the Language of Diplomacy ....................................................................... 44
4.8 Focusing ................................................................................................................................ 45
4.9 Creating Rapport with Your Audience ................................................................................... 46
5. Closing.......................................................................................................................................... 48
5.1 Closing Expressions .............................................................................................................. 48
5.2 Handling Questions ............................................................................................................... 50
5.3 Handling Difficult Questions .................................................................................................. 51
5.4 Asking for Clarification .......................................................................................................... 52
5.5 Additional Question Types .................................................................................................... 53
6. Assessing Your Presentation .................................................................................................... 54

6.1 BME 2013 ASSESSMENT: INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATION FORM ..................................... 54
6.2 BME 2013 ASSESSMENT: GROUP PRESENTATION FORM ............................................ 55
7. Answer Key .................................................................................................................................. 56
8. Tapescripts .................................................................................................................................. 63

8.1 Paul Forrester: “Motivation” ................................................................................................... 63

8.2 Nick Potter: “Corporate Strategy and Corporate Governance” ............................................. 64
8.3 Louise Canning: “Market Segmentation” .............................................................................. 65
9. Answers to Listening to Lectures .............................................................................................. 67

9.1 Paul Forrester: “Motivation” ................................................................................................... 67
9.3 Louise Canning: “Market Segmentation” .............................................................................. 69

1. Getting Started
1.1 Preparation
Task 1 Successful presentations

 Work in pairs and match the following headings 1 - 7 to the details a) – g) below.
 Discuss their importance. Are some more important than others?
1. Preparation
2. Structure
3. Voice
4. Body language
5. Visual aids
6. Audience rapport
7. Handouts
a. Correct speed, volume

Effective rhythm, pause, intonation
b. Say Introduction and Conclusion from memory

Comfortable using brief notes – not reading from notes or slides
c. Involving and stimulating audience

Meeting audience expectations; being friendly and approachable
Making presentation interesting, relevant and understandable
Using interaction, questions, jokes, examples, paraphrasing, repetition
d. Confident, relaxed, smiling and friendly

Good eye contact and natural gestures
e. Memorable Introduction and Conclusion

Clear objectives and organization of information
Good linking of parts; good signals and timing
f. Well structured, simple, with space for notes
g. Relevant, easy to read, not too much text, attractive, varied

Significant information presented facing audience
Not read out by presenter

1.2 The Classic Formula
Task 2
 Every presentation follows a typical structure, starting with a Greeting, and ending with a request
for Questions.
 On the flow diagram below, complete the various stages which you think make up a presentation.
Greet the audience
Take questions

1.3 How Formal?
In the world of business it is important to use an appropriate level of formality in your presentations.
You must be professional, and this probably means formal, rather than informal. Be guided by your
senior management, and the expectations of your audience.
Task 3
 Look at the lists that follow and match the formal expression with its informal equivalent.
 Underline the expressions that you will use for your presentation in the next Task.
 Practise saying these expressions until you have memorised them.
 Make sure you say your first name and surname clearly, so people do not have to ask you to
repeat it.
Quite Formal
1. Good morning/afternoon/evening ladies and gentlemen
2. My name is …
3. On behalf of … may I welcome you all to …
4. I’d like to introduce myself. My name is …
5. As some of you already know, I am …
6. I’m responsible for …
7. I’d like to begin by discussing/presenting …
8. If you have any questions you’d like to ask, I’ll be very happy to answer them during the
presentation
9. I’ll be happy to take any questions at the end of my presentation
Quite Informal
a. I’ll start by talking about/giving you…
b. Hello everyone.
c. As you know…
d. I’m…
e. There’ll be plenty of time for questions at the end.
f. Welcome to…
g. I look after/ I’m in charge of…
h. Feel free to ask questions as I go along
i. Today I’m going to talk about / What I’m going to talk about is…
Task 4 Presentation
 Imagine you are responsible for sales in a company which sells cars.
 Introduce the following to your partner: yourself, your company, your topic, and sales of cars in
the last quarter
 Choose from the above expressions.
 Speak clearly and confidently without looking at your notes.
 Make sure you say your name clearly and slowly.
[Source: Adapted from Powell, M. (2002) Presenting in English. Boston: Heinle]

1.4 Engage Your Audience in the First Three Minutes
Get the attention of your audience in the first three minutes. Below are some common strategies for
producing an interesting opening:
1. Tell a story
2. Pose a problem / Ask a question
3. Present an unusual or incredible fact or statistic
4. Deliver an interesting quotation from a well-known expert
Task 5
 Read the following openings and identify the strategies which are being used.
 Notice how the examples combine these strategies!
 Notice how the interesting opening is linked to the topic of the presentation.
1. Did you know that the University of Birmingham is the only university in the country with its own
railway station, botanical garden, art gallery and concert hall? And a garden campus of 243
acres! Well, today I am going to explain why...
2. According to Maslow: “.........” Well, in this presentation we are going to discuss the true
meaning of these words.
3. Last week I read in the newspaper how one of the most famous brands in the world made
a basic error with culture! Yes, when Coca-Cola first sold itself in China, they used the
Mandarin characters Ke-Kou-Ke-La, which means something like ‘bite the wax tadpole’. After a
little more research they came up with the more appropriate ‘happiness in the mouth.’ So, you
see how important language and culture is, and that is the topic of my presentation
today...
4. Statistics show that /According to the latest study……… 92 % of all young people under the
age of 17 in Scandinavia have a mobile phone. This compares to only 59 % in the UK. Why is
this? The purpose of my presentation today is to answer this question...
5. How many of you here this morning came to work by train? And how many of you arrived on
time? Well, imagine a railway network where ……… Do you think that’s possible? Today I
am going to discuss strategies to...
6. Adam Smith said: “………” Do we agree with him? The purpose of this presentation is to
explore this concept.
Task 6
 Think of an interesting way to introduce one of the following presentation topics:
 My Academic Programme; Euthanasia; The Economic Recession; Smoking
 Present it to your partner, confidently without notes; add some body language.

1.5 Explain Your Objective
Task 7
 Put the verbs below in the correct sentences, in order to show your objective.
 Remember to change the form of the verb if necessary and check that you are using the correct
collocation or word partnership.
 Some verbs can be used in more than one sentence.
tell
analyse suggest
give
show put forward
introduce
provide focus on
highlight
explain make
look at
1. The aim today is to ______________ you with some background information on my future
academic programme.
2. My objective this morning is to ______________ what I see as the main advantages of this new
system and ______________ some detailed recommendations regarding its implementation.
3. This afternoon, I’m going to be ______________ you how the new on-line purchasing system
works.
4. The objective of this presentation is to ______________ how we can achieve our target sales in
the next 6 months.
5. It’s clear that our subsidiary company is experiencing some problems at the moment, so this
morning I want to ______________ the situation and ______________ some possible solutions.
6. In my talk today I’m going to be ______________ you to our latest software package, Actis.
7. Today’s talk should ______________ you a clearer picture about my future academic course.
8. Today, I’m going to ______________ you something about the history of the company and
______________ why we decided to make the decision to outsource our manufacturing to the
Czech Republic.

1.6 Explain Your Structure
Make your presentation clear by using varied vocabulary to explain your structure:
…deal with several issues… …by outlining…

…put forward some detailed proposals... …by looking at…
…draw your attention to... …by focusing on…
I’d like to…
…deal with the facts of the case... …by exploring…
…address the question of… …by suggesting…
...underline the seriousness of the situation... …by examining...
 I’ve divided/split my talk into 4 main sections…

 Firstly, what I want to do is introduce…
 Secondly, I’m going give you some…
 Then we’ll move on to…
 After that/Finally, we’ll examine...
Task 8
 Rearrange the parts of the presentation below labelled a - e so that it makes sense.
 Notice the verbs and the phrases relating to structure. They will be useful for your presentations
in Tasks 11 and 12.
a. Then, I’ll go on to examine the component parts of the four, core elements in more detail and
show how they relate to each other and our wider objective of achieving profitable growth.
b. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming. As some of you already know, my
name is (…….), and I’m the CEO of Elextron. What I’d like to do this morning is look at the
Group’s strategy and examine the four key elements that are common to the organisation,
namely: Consumers, Branding, Purchasing and People.
c. Finally, I will conclude this review of the Group’s strategy by analysing a case study which
highlights some of the successes achieved in our UK subsidiary.
d. The third issue is globalisation. I would like to discuss how we can sustain this growth through
the expansion of our markets and, in particular, the new expanding markets of Eastern Europe
and the Far East.
e. I’m going to begin by explaining why these areas are so important to our organisation and
expand a little on their strategic importance in terms of cost savings and efficiency generally.

Task 9 Listening to Lectures - Introductions
BME DVD-ROM “Motivation” by Paul Forrester
Your university lecturers are experienced presenters. You can learn a considerable amount about
presenting skills from them. Notice what they do in order to present the lecture effectively.
 Review your checklist of what makes a successful presentation (Task 1).

 You are going to listen to an extract from Paul Forrester’s lecture on Motivation.
 Go to WebCT, Resources, BME Listening to Lectures.
 Click on BME: Listening to Lectures: Series 1.
 Click on Paul Forrester.
 Start the time slider at 00.00.
 Stop the time slider at 03.04.
 Listen to this extract; if you need more support, follow the lecture in the tape script in Section 8 of
this Handbook.
 Listen again and answer the following questions from your check list in Task 1:
1. Is he well prepared? For example, is he reading from his notes?

2. Does he have an interesting opening which makes you feel involved? Highlight it in your
transcript.
3. Is his structure clear? Highlight his objective and different parts of his lecture.
4. Is his voice clear? Can you understand him? Does he speak too fast?
5. Is his body language effective? Is he confident, relaxed, smiling, friendly? Does he have good
eye contact and natural gestures?
6. How does he develop audience rapport? Is he friendly and personal? Does he interact with
the audience? Does he ask questions? Does he make any jokes? Highlight parts of the
lecture which show these.
7. Highlight the transition markers.

1.7 Linking the Parts
Signals or signposts tell your audience when you are moving to another point, when you are
changing direction, and when you are adding points or recapping. Signals or signposts:
 clarify your structure
 help the audience understand what you are saying
 help you to organise your thoughts as you present them
For example
Exploring a List of Points: Adding Ideas:
In relation to… In addition to this / … Moreover…
Regarding… However / … Despite this...
Concerning… So / Therefore…
Task 10
 Put the signpost expressions below into the correct boxes to show when you might use them.
(The first one has been done for you.)
 Notice the useful starting expressions.
Well, I’d like to recap... ...to come back to...

I want to conclude... ...to elaborate on...
Right, so let’s turn to... ...look at... ...expand on...
Ok to summarise... ...to digress... ...to go back...
So, moving on to... ...returning to...
So, that brings me to my next point...
So, that deals with the point about...
Well, that’s all I wanted to say about...
I think that covers everything...
I want to introduce a new topic I want to refer to an earlier point
So, moving on to….
I want to repeat the main points I want to depart from my original plan
I want to give more information I want to finish my talk

Task 11 Presentations
 Your teacher will divide you into groups of four.
 Prepare a short presentation using the information in the following outlines.
 Each student should present one component and play an equal part in the presentation.
 Use the skills and vocabulary you have practiced so far: including introduction, interesting
opening, explaining your objectives, signposting.
 Remember, your Introduction should be memorised.
Presentation 1
TC Elextronics: Overview of Sales Operations in the UK
Company Name: TC Elextronics

Products: Precision weighing scales & measuring instrumentation
Topic of Presentation: Overview of Sales Operations in the UK
Structure of Presentation:
1. Sales: Steady rise since 1995; currently £28m. 23% of UK market
2. Customer Base: Supermarket Retail, Health Sector, Automotive Industry
3. Profits: Steady fall since 1998; £3.2m in 2003; 15%  on 2002
4. Future Expansion: Increase sales teams in South; open new branch in North
Presentation 2
Landex: Saving Costs
Company Name: Landex

Products: Manufacture/supply of automotive parts to car manufacturers
Topic of Presentation: Cost saving measures
Structure of Presentation:
1. Background: Falling sales due to competition form Far East
2. Staff Reductions: Voluntary redundancy
i. Early retirement
ii. Recruitment freeze
3. Reduction in Benefits: Pay freeze
i. Fewer company cars
ii. Stop overtime payments
4. Staff Reorganization: Job-sharing
Part-time working
Temporary contracts

2. Using Visuals & Graphics
2.1 Introducing Your Visuals
There are four steps for presenting your visuals:

1. Give a general introduction
2. Highlight the significant information
3. Comment on why it is significant
4. Summarise the conclusions or implications
1. Give a general introduction

Let’s have/take a look at this…
This… shows…
These statistics show…
As you can see from this…, we have…
I’d like you to look at this… It represents/refers to/demonstrates…
The… we’re looking at here, illustrates…
Here we can see…
The x/y axis represents/indicates…
The blue/dotted/solid line shows…
2. Highlight important information
…to point out…

…to draw your attention to…
I’d like (us/you)… …I’d like to focus on…
…to think about…
…to look at…in more detail…
One of the most important aspects of this is…
3. Comment on why it is significant

Our findings show…
The results show/indicate that…
It is quite clear that…
These figures seem to suggest…
This may suggest/might suggest that…
This seems to suggest that…
It appears that…
It seems likely that…
4. Summarise the conclusions or implications

I’m sure that the implications of this… are clear…
The conclusions we can draw from this… are easy to see…
The message here… is plain to all of us…
The significance of this is that…
This will result in/lead to…
Consequently…/Therefore…/So…
As a result…/This happened because…/This was a result of…

Task 12 Presentation
 Use one of the below charts, and present the information to your group.
 Use some of the expressions from the four-part framework on the previous page.
100%
90%
80%
70%
60% West
50%
40% East
30%
20%
10%
0%
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
Figure 1: Increase in rail travel in the UK 2010
1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
3rd Qtr
4th Qtr
Figure 2: Sales of furniture in Birmingham in 2010
100
80
60 Company A
Company B
40
Company C
20
0
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
Figure 3: Comparison of sales of furniture in three companies in 2010

2.2 Describing Trends
Trends are changes or movements that occur in numerical information; for example, sales or
production volumes, share prices, unemployment figures or operating profit. This language of trends
is needed in every aspect of business and management.
There are three basic trends:

1. an upward movement ()
2. a downward movement ()
3. little or no change at all ()
Upward trend 
Verbs Nouns
Degree of movement
Transitive Intransitive
climb a climb
increase increase an increase
raise rise a rise
improve improve an improvement
grow grow a growth
extend extend an extension
expand expand an expansion

Low/Neutral
boost a boost
take off
shoot up
High
jump a jump
an upturn
a surge
an upsurge
boom a boom
soar
rocket
Note: Transitive verb (with object): The banks have raised their interest rates again.
Intransitive verb (no object): Unemployment fell last month, but productivity rose.

Downward trend 
Verbs Nouns
Degree of movement
decrease decrease a decrease
fall a fall
drop drop a drop
put/push down (inf.) go/be down
decline a decline
Low/Neutral
cut a cut
reduce a reduction
a downturn
High
deteriorate a deterioration
plunge a plunge
slump a slump
plummet
collapse a collapse
Little or no change/movement 
Verbs
Nouns Adjectives
keep/hold
remain stable
stable/constant
maintain (at the same
stay constant
level)
stabilise stabilise stability
sluggish, e.g. market
stagnate stagnation stagnant, e.g. sales

steady, e.g.
improvement
gloomy, e.g. prospects
level off

At the top or bottom
Verbs Nouns
Position
to peak (to reach) a peak
(to reach) an all-time

high
At the top (to reach) a record high
to recover recovery
(to reach) an all-time

low
At the bottom (to reach) a record low
(to reach) a low point
to bottom out
Note:
A noun is modified by an adjective: There was a sharp fall in prices yesterday.
A verb is modified by an adverb: Prices fell sharply yesterday.
Degree of change
Adjective Adverb
vast vastly
dramatic dramatically
Large considerable considerably
sharp sharply
Small significant significantly
substantial substantially
moderate moderately
slight slightly

Degree & Speed of change
Degree: There has been a substantial increase in profits.

Speed: Share prices have fallen rapidly.
Speed of change
Adjective Adverb
abrupt abruptly
sudden suddenly
Fast rapid rapidly
quick quickly
Slow swift swiftly
steady steadily
gradual gradually
slow slowly
Prepositions
to stand at: Sales stood at £50 m in June 2001.
from… to: Last year saw a rise from £1m to £2m.
by: Profits fell by 50% last year (i.e., from £3m to £1.5m).
of… over: The bank reported an increase of 7.5% over last year.
in: There was an increase in profits.
There was a slump in demand.
Other Useful Expressions

just short of just under well over
well under more or less around/about
approximately roughly in the region of
getting on for nowhere near just over

2.3 Practise Describing Trends
Task 13
 Change the following sentences from a noun + adjective construction to a verb + adverb
construction (or vice versa if it is possible to do so).
e.g.: Interest rates have shown a steady increase over the last twelve months.
Interest rates have increased steadily over the last twelve months.
1. Profits have witnessed a sharp rise recently.
___________________________________________________________________________
2. The currency has depreciated dramatically since the outbreak of war.
___________________________________________________________________________
3. Share prices fell considerably yesterday on the New York stock exchange.
___________________________________________________________________________
4. H.S.B.C. declared a moderate increase in its pre-tax profits last month.
___________________________________________________________________________
5. According to the figures, the number of employed grew substantially in 2001.
___________________________________________________________________________
6. The government has gradually increased its efficiency in dealing with hospital waiting lists.
___________________________________________________________________________
7. Manufacturing companies have slowly managed to reduce their overheads.
___________________________________________________________________________
8. There was a sudden drop in interest rates last week.
___________________________________________________________________________
9. As a result of the merger, their market share should expand substantially.
___________________________________________________________________________
10. If companies can raise their profitability significantly, this will benefit them greatly in the long-
term.
___________________________________________________________________________

Task 14
 Complete the following passage using an appropriate expression to replace the arrows.
As you can see from these graphs, our UK operating margin 1.  to 8.9% at the beginning of this
year. Unfortunately, this was a 2.record for this company. The impact of devaluing currencies
meant that turnover 3.  by 7% and operating profit 4.  in the first half of the year.
In our South American markets, profits were significantly better, due to innovative branding. For
example, sales of shampoos generally 5.  by 6% while women’s shampoos performed
spectacularly, 6.  past the $4 billion mark.
Problems with our US distributors brought about disastrous results in April, with a 7.  in sales.
Despite a 8.  in July the situation worsened again in November and profits 9.  once more to
another 10. record  by the end of December.
We are hoping for an 11.  in all our markets over the next six months.
Task 15
 Complete the following sentences with an appropriate word from the box below:
impressive growth peak

increase upswing stability
significant buoyant increased
fluctuations cutting stabilisation
were down low stood at
1. In the first year costs ______________ £3m.
2. The UK interest cycle seems to have reached its ______________.
3. Inflationary pressures have been subdued despite above trend ______________ consumer
spending and unemployment at a 25 year ______________.
4. The US economy may have reached the end of its extended ______________ but the Federal
Reserve has taken the initiative in ______________ interest rates.
5. The UK economy has put in an ______________ performance in the past year.
6. Interest rates remained at 6% for a year, which was their longest period of ______________ in
over a decade.

7. Completion of the integration of the Bank of Scotland will enable us to release ______________
further value for shareholders.
8. Despite volatile ______________ in the market over the last year, companies now report a
reassuring ______________ in prices, due to recent government intervention.
9. The turnover of merchant acquisition business ______________ by 19%.
10. Provision for bad and doubtful debts increased by 14% due to the ______________ in lending.
11. Direct expenses ______________ as a result of integration savings.
Task 16
 In the following sentences, fill in the correct tense of the verb in brackets.
1. Last month the level of investment ______________ (rise)
2. The R&D budget ______________ over the past few years. (stabilize)
3. There ______________ a steady increase in costs over several years. (be)
4. The share price reached a peak before ______________ a little and then ______________ the
same level. (fall/maintain)
5. When the share price ______________ it surprised everyone. (collapse)
6. The value of the shares ______________ a steady decline since March. (show)
7. Sales of the X4000 ______________ slightly in the final quarter. (fall)
8. At the end of the first year sales ______________ at fifty percent of the present level. (stand)
Task 17
 Decide whether the following sentences refer to a downward or upward movement.
 Draw a simple line to illustrate each one.
1. The market is showing some signs of growth. ______________
2. The market is extremely volatile. ______________
3. The pound slipped back against the dollar. ______________
4. The Euro lost ground slightly yesterday. ______________

5. There has been a dramatic downturn in the market. ______________
6. There has been an upsurge of interest in gold. ______________
7. The share price bottomed out at 115p. ______________
8. Sugar peaked at $400 a tonne. ______________
9. Profits will level off at around £1.1 bn. ______________
10. Sales hit an all-time low. ______________
[Adapted from Powell, M. (2004) New Business Matters. UK: Thomson/Heinle]
Task 18
 Put the following verbs into the table below, according to the kind of movement they represent.
slump pick up
plunge bounce back stabilize
rise hold steady
drop take off dip
recover rocket
plummet escalate climb slide
decline soar
fall rally flatten out
fluctuate crash
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
      
[Adapted from Powell, M. (2004) New Business Matters. UK: Thomson /Heinle]
Task 19
 Find a graph or diagram from your academic field.
 Present it to the class using the language of trends from this section.
 Refer also to Section 2.1 Introducing your visuals.

2.4 Explaining Cause & Effect
It is important to be able to explain the cause, effect and purpose of actions or events in business; for
example:
The acquisition of Sport International led to reduced margins and costs.
cause effect
Sales of large motorbikes dropped due to higher insurance costs.
effect cause
We entered this new market (in order) to survive.
purpose
Cause  Effect First state the origin of an issue and then the result
e.g.: Our economic problems have led to high unemployment
Effect  Cause State the result first and then the cause, reason or origin
e.g.: High unemployment stems from our economic problems
CauseEffect Link the two ideas, the cause and effect, in one or two sentences
e.g.: Taxes are increasing; accordingly families have to save money.

Cause  Effect Effect  Cause Cause  Effect

Because of our economic Since there are problems in the The economy is struggling.
problems, unemployment is economy, unemployment is Therefore, unemployment is
high. high. high.
that’s (the
lead to due to because result from accordingly
reason) why
arise from therefore
result in because of since
stem from so because of
as a result be attributable this as a result
consequently
be responsible owing to on of to
for account of
bring about
as a
give rise to
consequence
account for
of
cause
Task 20
 Rewrite the sentences below replacing the underlined phrase with cause and effect language
from the words in brackets.
 Remember, you can use 2 sentences.
1. As a consequence of the new organisation design, we have reduced costs and generated more
income. (give rise to)
___________________________________________________________________________
2. Significant improvements in productivity and efficiency have led to higher employee satisfaction.
(as a result of)
___________________________________________________________________________
3. Poor management skills have led to low staff morale. (as a consequence of)
___________________________________________________________________________
4. The outsourcing of our manufacturing has resulted in lower costs. (because of)
___________________________________________________________________________
5. Sales revenue has fallen due to increased competition. (bring about)
___________________________________________________________________________

6. Our old payroll system was slow and problematic. That’s why we introduced a new one.
(because)
___________________________________________________________________________
7. We had to build a new plant owing to the fact that our previous site was inadequate. (because of
this)
___________________________________________________________________________
8. We had to withdraw the product from the market because of a fault in the production process.
(therefore)
___________________________________________________________________________
Task 21
 Write 5 sentences from your own experience.
 Think of some events or situations in your own special area of interest.
 Explain why they happened, and what the consequences or results were.
 Use the language of cause, effect and purpose.
e.g.: I gained a school leaving diploma and as a result was able to go to college to study Law.
1. ____________________________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________________________________
4. ____________________________________________________________________________
5. ____________________________________________________________________________

2.5 Designing Effective Slides Using PowerPoint
PowerPoint can be an effective tool. It should provide the audience with an ‘at-a-glance’
comprehension of content to support the presentation.
Golden Rules
1. Clear, Simple & Uncluttered

 Do not use too much text. Edit out words you do not need until each statement is concise
and to-the-point
 Use key words, bullet points and graphics such as pictures, charts, diagrams and graphs
 Do not have more than five to seven lines
 Do not have more than six to eight words per line
 Never simply read your slides; use them as key points, which you highlight and add detail to
2. Using Colour
 Be consistent and use the same 2 or 3 colours throughout the whole presentation
 Make sure your text shows up clearly against the background colour. Always check this
before you deliver your presentation
3. Font Size & Style

 Preferred sizes are:
Titles: 44 points Body: 32 points
 If you can read your slide from 8 feet away, it is the right size!
 Sans serif fonts (Arial) usually work better than serif fonts (Times New Roman)
4. Animation
 Use sparingly
5. Language
 Check grammar, spelling and vocabulary carefully
 Be consistent – start each line of a list with the same word form (see Task 22)

Task 22
 Effective slides should contain a summary of the key points.
 Underline the key points in the speaker’s written text for the presentation.
 Does the slide summarise these key points?
 Is the heading suitable?
“We can usually summarise the keys points for a successful presentation into four. Firstly it’s really
important to get to know your audience as well as possible. What kind of things do you want them to
hear and what will motivate them to respond? Secondly, you need to keep everything you
communicate as simple as possible. Hence the acronym KISS, or Keep it Short and Simple. Thirdly,
you should always try to be realistic. You only have limited time and therefore you must get across
everything your audience needs to know, not everything you know. Lastly, it’s vital that you’re
confident in yourself and in the message you’re trying to deliver. Avoid arrogance, but aim for looking
and sounding confident.”
Keys to Success
 Know your audience

 Keep it simple – KISS
 Keep to the point
 Have confidence in yourself and your message
Task 23
 Work in pairs.
 Underline the key points in the following lecture scripts.
 Create a suitable slide for the scripts.
 Remember to keep your sentences consistent – start with the same word form.
 Give your slide a title.

1. Topic One:
“Interdependence among leaders and teams is not easy, and team members often do not understand
the power and importance of a team. Research shows that a strong team with a weak leader cannot
succeed. Teams have to believe in both the sum of the parts and the whole. Leaders must take care
in the choice of teams and their coaching, thus enabling the team to learn from experience and to be
creative and innovative. The aim is to have shared, distributed and collaborative leadership. For
example, a CEO ran a ten-day offsite workshop at which people had half a day to design a
hypothetical event for 200 kids from a Children’s Home. They were then told that the kids were
actually coming the next day. They stayed up all night organising the activities and presented a great
event for the children.”
2. Topic Two:
“It is up to each of us to do our best to reaffirm quality within our own organisations. To do that, there
are three things that we must do very well. First, we have to promote the understanding that quality
makes good sense from a business perspective. To be understood and to be persuasive, we must
speak in the language of business, plainly and clearly. Second, we must continue to emphasize the
need for incremental improvements as well as breakthrough achievements. Total Quality is a journey,
not a destination. Like many journeys, it’s a journey that should produce self-renewal without self-
destruction. And last, we must never forget the real bottom line is people. At the end of the day, the
success or failure of a business depends on management’s ability to encourage people’s willing
participation and creativity.”

Task 24 Listening to Lectures - Main Part
BME DVD-ROM: “Corporate Strategy & Corporate Finance” by Nick Potter
 Take out your checklist of what makes a successful presentation. You worked on this in (Task 1).
 You are going to listen to an extract from Nick Potter’s lecture on Corporate Strategy & Corporate
Finance.
 Click on BME Listening to Lectures: Series 1.
 Click on Nick Potter.
 Listen to this extract; if you need more support, you can follow the lecture in the tape script in
Section 8 of this Handbook.
 As you listen consider the following presentation skills; highlight them in the tape script where
appropriate, because you are going to discuss them later:
1. Voice – is he clear? Can you understand him? Is he too fast, or too soft?
2. Does he emphasise words or pause to make a point? Where? Highlight this in the tape
script.
3. Body language – Does he move enough, and use gestures to help you understand?
4. Is his eye contact good? Does he look at you all, or read his slides too much?
5. How does he use his slides? Does he read them?
6. Audience rapport – has he developed a relationship with the audience? Is he formal /
informal? Is he friendly – does he have any personal stories or examples? Is there any
interaction - questions, jokes? Highlight these in the tape script.
 In general, does Nick have effective presentation skills?
 Discuss this in groups.

3. The Importance of Voice
3.1 Pronunciation & Understanding Word Stress
Correct word stress can dramatically improve the quality of your presentation. In order to understand
word stress, it helps to understand syllables.
Words may have one, two, three or more syllables:
Word Number of syllables
cash cash 1
boss boss 1
receipt re-ceipt 2
budget bu-dget 2
management man-age-ment 3
casual cas-u-al 3
advertising ad-ver-ti-sing 4
economic ec-on-om-ic 4
customization cus-tom-iz-a-tion 5
Usually only one syllable is stressed. Look at the examples below, which are often incorrectly
stressed:
Number of Stressed
Word
syllables syllable
analyse ANalyse 3 #1
analysis aNALisis 4 #2
analytical anaLYTical 5 #3
Task 25
 Write a list of the words you use frequently in your academic field.
 Make sure you know where the syllable stress falls – note this by underlining the stressed
syllable.
 If your teacher corrects your pronunciation, always write these words down, and add them to
your list.

Task 26
 Practise saying the following words.
 Underline the stressed syllable.
 Can you make a rule for each group?
Group 1: 2-syllable nouns and adjectives

bonus brochure chairman target
dealer media market survey
segment process produce profit
Group 2: 2-syllable verbs

export produce adopt assemble
consult contract demand deduct
resign procure insure inspect
Group 3: Words ending in –ic; -sion; -tion; -ial; ient

supervision recommendation expansion presentation
intuition negotiation specification dynamic
provision inelastic strategic technician
systematic efficient deficient problematic
proficient sufficient bureaucratic economic
commercial beneficial potential essential
Group 4: Words ending in –cy; -ty; -phy/fy; -gy; -al; -ous; -le
economical optional typical capacity
warranty efficiency deficiency seniority
impossible diversify productivity responsibility
modify incredible actual individual
industrious simultaneous superfluous gradual
actual instantaneous eventual impossible
probability modify spontaneous ambiguous
Group 5: Words ending in –ee

employee interviewee guarantee payee trainee

3.2 Compound Words
Compound words or collocations are very common in English, especially in the context of business
and management. Using them will make your presentations more fluent and business-like. It is
important to learn these words in pairs.
Task 27
 Repeat the words below three or four times.
 Make sure you can pronounce them correctly. Check with your teacher.
Group 1: Noun-Noun
marketing mix production team parent company
profit margin board meeting trade barriers
cost control sales volume price war
market forces consumer spending market opportunities
brand loyalty consumer goods media plan
Group 2: Verb-Noun
promote sales process orders train staff
fix prices market products delegate responsibility
give discounts levy taxes quote figures
offset costs reduce costs agree terms
Group 3: Adjective-Verb
managerial skills economic outlook fixed assets
low productivity scientific research quality control
raw material closed shop fixed costs
golden handshake free trade net profit
Group 4: Longer Word Compounds

retail price maintenance trade descriptions act index linked pension
break-even point equal opportunities employer performance related pay
Task 28
 Think of some more word partnerships for brand; consumer; market.
 Make a sentence with these word partnerships and say these out loud to your partner.

3.3 Chunking
Successful presenters emphasise important words, and pause when it is appropriate. This enables
the audience to understand better, and also creates a dramatic effect.
Task 29
 Work in pairs.
 Take it in turns to read a sentence from the passage below.
 Pause at the end of each line, when you see //.
 Emphasise the words and syllables in bold.
 You will find that you need to say the words in bold more slowly. That is good, because it is also
effective to vary the speed of your speaking.
The amount of change in organisations//
has grown significantly in the last 20 years.//
Although some people //
have predicted that it may slow down,//
powerful macroeconomic forces//
are at work.//
And//
these forces may grow even stronger//
over the next few decades.//
As a result,//
more and more organizations//
will be pushed to reduce costs,//
improve the quality of products,//
explore new opportunities for growth,//
and increase productivity.//
[Adapted from Kotter, J.P. (1996) Leading Change. Boston: Harvard

Business School Press]
Task 30
 Now, read the following extract.
 Underline the words you think should be stressed – the most important words.
 Put a slash // where you want to pause.
 When you have finished, take it in turns to read a few sentences to your partner.
 Practise one sentence so you can say it to your partner without reading, and with effective
gestures.

Effective Communication
I believe one of the most important conditions for effective communication to take place is genuine
respect for others as human beings. When either party in the communication is feeling uncomfortable
with either the situation or the other person, they’re liable to talk ‘up’ or ‘down’. For example, when
meeting the CEO of your organisation, if you find yourself feeling nervous or inadequate, you may be
tempted to talk ‘up’ to him or her, and communication will be impossible. Similarly when talking to a
junior member of staff, if you talk ‘down’, communication may not exist at all. The way we behave
reflects the way we are treated.
[Adapted from Cane, S. (1996) The Handbook of Skilful Management. London: Pitman]
3.4 Pacing
As we have already noted, it is important to vary the speed of your delivery. Effective presenters
usually slow down, and speak a little louder when they want to make an important point.
Task 31
 Read the following famous business quotations and choose two that you like.
 Underline the words you want to stress, and put a // where you want to pause.
 Practise saying them until you do not need to read; add some natural gestures.
 Take turns saying your sentences to your partner.
1. It’s unfortunate we can’t buy business executives for what they are worth and sell them for what
they think they are worth.
Malcolm Forbes
2. If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.

General George S. Patton
3. A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.
Henry Ford
4. Failing organisations are usually over-managed and under-led.

Warren G. Bennis
5. Most business plans fail. Obviously, success is not a realistic goal. But the people who manage
the most spectacular failures get promoted because of their experience.
Dogbert
6. Whenever you see a successful business, you know someone once made a courageous
decision.
Peter F. Drucker

3.5 Stress & Pausing for Dramatic Effect
Task 32
 Read the following sentences: underline the words which are stressed and put // to show where
the pauses are.
 Read them aloud; pause and emphasise words to create a dramatic contrast.
1. Despite our strengths outside Europe, over half our trade in goods and services is within the EU.
2. While the face of Europe has changed dramatically, the debate within Britain about its role in
Europe has remained unchanged.
3. The problem, it seems to me, is less about sovereignty than democracy.
4. This is a time for optimism in Europe, not pessimism.
5. At one time we were political adversaries, but today we work hand in glove.
6. Look at Europe today. Compare the opportunities that we now face to the dangers and rivalries
that our parents and grandparents had to face.
7. Today I want to share with you some of our ideas for the future rather than analysing mistakes of
the past.
8. Earlier I told you that leadership was simple. I never said it would be easy.
Task 33
 Think of ideas from your own specialist field, or an area of business or management that you are
familiar with.
 Create some sentences which contain dramatic contrasts.
 Say them to your partner – pause and emphasise words for dramatic effect.

4. Communication Techniques
4.1 Body Language
Being confident and relaxed is a very important presentation skill. It comes with experience, practice
and preparation. Your confidence is reflected in your body language: your appearance, your facial
expression, your gestures and the way you stand all help to create a professional, positive
impression.
Task 34
 Look at the following list regarding body language.
 Divide the items into DOs and DO NOTs.
1. Smile
2. Use natural, varied hand movements
3. Look at all your audience
4. Hold your notes in your hand
5. Move away from the computer console
6. Practise your presentation many times
7. Hold a pen or other object (unless it is a pointer)
8. Organise the room where you are going to make your presentation, so that it suits you, and you
have everything you need
9. Fold your arms
10. Put your hands in your pockets
11. Clasp your hands behind you or in front of you
12. Refine and practise your introduction and conclusion so you can say these confidently from
memory
13. Look down
14. Put your notes on the table in front of you
15. Wear comfortable, appropriate clothes
16. Turn your back on your audience
17. Stand behind the computer console
18. Read your slides
19. Repeat the same hand movements
20. Make sure you know your equipment

4.2 Rhetorical Questions
A rhetorical question is one in which the presenter answers his/her own question. Using rhetorical
questions is a good way to involve your audience – but do not use too many!
Look at the following example:
Statement Rhetorical question Answer
Sales were down last year. So where do we go from here? We improve our marketing!
Below are some common rhetorical questions that can be used in many different situations. Note the
stressed words. Note also how using we/our/you involves the audience.
Task 35
 Work in pairs.
 Choose two of the examples below.
 For each rhetorical question, create a previous statement, and an answer to follow.
 Stand up and say your sentences to each other with emphasis and body language.
So, what happened?

So, what did they do?
So, how did we/they/you achieve it?
So, how can we explain this?
So, what can we/they/you do about it?
So, what’s the reason?
So, what’s the answer?
So, why are our competitors so successful?
So, how will this affect our/their company?
So, what recommendations can we make?
So, what can we/they/you do to solve these problems?
So, where do we/they go from here?

4.3 More Rhetorical Questions
Rhetorical question Emphatic answer
So, just how good are the results? Spectacular!
Statement Rhetorical question Answer
Profits have fallen by 25%. So, what’s the answer? The answer is diversification!
Task 36
 Match the rhetorical question with its answer.
1. So, how poor was the management? a. (absolutely) massive!
2. So, how big is the potential? b. (absolutely) incredible!
3. So, how small is the risk? c. (totally) catastrophic!
4. So, how bad was the collapse? d. (absolutely) negligible!
5. So, how successful was the company? e. (totally) incompetent!
 Create statements and rhetorical questions for these emphatic answers.
…impossible! …unprecedented! …state-of-the-art! …spectacular!
Task 37
 Supply the missing word from the box below; it is repeated in each sentence.
potential answer problem advantages
1. We just can’t compete with cheap imports from the Far East. So, what’s the ______________?
The ______________ is that UK manufacturing costs are too high.
2. The Japanese are still not interested in our products. So, what’s the ______________? The
______________ is to increase our quality.

3. Last year, we decided to take advantage of the beneficial manufacturing environment in
Slovakia. So, what were the ______________? The main ______________ were lower labour
costs.
4. The US Government is relaxing import restrictions. So, what is the ______________ for us? The
______________ is immense, if we act now.
4.4 Emphasis
There are three main ways to add dramatic effect or add emphasis to your presentation. Note the
strategies below. You will practise them in Task 39:
1. Auxiliary verbs: do, does, did, is, are, has, have

If you stress these words, you can make your sentences more emphatic:
We don’t want to fail this time. We DO NOT want to fail this time.
I know it’s difficult to accept, but… I know it IS difficult to accept, but…
We said it would increase. We DID say it would increase.
We haven’t got an answer. We DO NOT HAVE an answer.
2. Intensifiers: much, absolutely, just, really, actually, even

Notice how these words make your sentences more emphatic:
We really don’t know if prices are actually going to increase at all over the next six months, but it’s
highly unlikely that we’ll experience a dramatic increase in such a competitive market.
3. Verbs & other language of emphasis
I’d like to emphasise… I’d like to stress… I should reiterate / repeat...

It is critical/essential/to
What’s more… What’s especially important...
understand…
In particular... It’s also a matter of… The main thing is...

4.5 Repetition & Tripling
Repeating key phrases and words is a very common technique for adding interest and power to your
presentation.
Repeating a single word: …very, very important…; …much, much greater…
Doubling words: …better and better…; …stronger and stronger…
Repeating key points: …we must succeed this year…; we must succeed because...
Tripling: …by training staff, by taking risks, by reducing costs…
Task 38
 Choose key phrases or words from the list on the next page to complete the following
presentation extracts.
 Choose one sentence, and practise saying it, pausing and emphasising important expressions.
a. Improve (x3)
d. it will mean (x3) g. in terms of (x3)
b. You know (x3)
e. That is why (x 3) h. bringing… looking…
c. cutting… bringing…
f. Reduce (x3) thinking…
changing…
1. We must update the way Europe’s institutions work. ______________ I support a new European
Constitution. ______________ we must modernize the way we do business in Europe.
______________ a stable President of the European Council is so important.
2. You understand that being in the EU brings us massive benefits. ______________ the EU is the
most effective voice Britain has. ______________ that to be anti-Europe is to be anti-business.
And I think ______________ also ______________ that Europe is vital for the future of British
industry.
3. What effect will our recommendations have on this company? Well, ______________ higher staff
morale, ______________ higher productivity and moreover, ______________ survival.
4. The solutions to this company’s problems, as we see them, are three-fold, namely,
______________ quality, ______________ efficiency and ______________ productivity.

5. How did Marks & Spencer turn things around? Well, they turned things around by
______________ overheads, by ______________ in new top management and by completely
______________ their image.
6. This company could make changes ______________ its management structure,
______________ its marketing strategies and ______________ its overheads. Let’s look at these
in turn, more closely.
7. This company needs to make changes. It needs to ______________ staff turnover,
______________ overheads and ______________ administrative errors.
8. The manufacturing industry in Britain is only going to survive by ______________ down
production costs, ______________ for alternative sources of production and by ______________
in more proactive and creative ways.
Task 39
 Highlight techniques which add emphasis in the following presentation extracts.
 Consider emphatic expressions, rhetorical questions, repetition, dramatic contrasts.
 Adapt Extract 5 to your own country or situation. Say it aloud with effective emphasis, pausing
and body language.
1. China is certainly leading in the race to grow. But it is essential to realise that it is not alone in
making progress. Never before have we seen such a rapid advance and such a large advance.
But what’s the engine for this growth? The engine has been the willingness of more and more
countries to embrace the market economy.
2. I’d like to emphasise that while the benefits of trade and globalisation go to everyone, the
immediate costs are borne by a small number. Resisting the claims of the few on behalf of the
many requires us all to provide leadership. It requires businessmen to be considerably more
persuasive about the benefits of globalisation; it requires us to be fair to our trading partners and it
requires, more importantly, for us to be seen to be fair.
3. There is nothing whatsoever mediocre about this company. There is nothing whatsoever
mediocre about us because we have an excellent vision, an excellent governing board, and an
excellent quality of service. We do not focus on employees as numbers, but on people as
individuals. This is where British industry has to go.

4. The key to improving quality is more schools getting better and better results with far more pupils
than before. In this city alone, you have no fewer than nine of these schools.
5. And what is the barrier to progress? The barrier to progress is not you or me. Not economic
conditions. Not European legislation. It is the politicians.
4.6 Dramatic Contrast
A dramatic contrast can be used to reinforce your message.
“Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."
President John F. Kennedy; Inaugural Address, Friday 20 January 1961
Task 40
 Complete the sentences with an appropriate contrasting phrase; use the underlined word to help
you: think of a word opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
 The first sentence has been done as an example.
1. If we fail to seize this opportunity, our competitors won’t.
2. People are more individualistic today,
3. In the 1950’s the average weekly wage was £45,
4. Either we diversify and prosper or,
5. Why don’t we get on and make a decision, instead of
6. It’s not just the management who are contributing,
7. Today, Britain is suffering severe economic instability,
8. It is not only large companies that are suffering,
9. While our competitors are actively seeking new markets,
10. This is the time to downsize and reduce costs, not,

 Present some information about your professional or academic field using some dramatic
contrasts.
 Use the models below to help you.
Topic One:
If we don’t, ____________________________________________________ someone else will.
Topic Two:
Instead of _________________________________________________________ why don’t we
___________________________________?
Topic Three:
The problem with ________________________________________________________ is not
____________________________________________________it is _____________________.
Topic Four:
While we have been ________________________________________________ our competitors
have been _________________________________.
Topic Five:
Either we __________________________________________________________________ or we
____________________________________________________.

4.7 Softening: Using the Language of Diplomacy
Sometimes we need to give a negative messages or bad news. In such cases we need to be
diplomatic and use softeners.
Task 42
 Work in pairs.
 Read the speech below in which the Director of ComputerDirect is reporting on a disappointing
financial year for the company.
 Underline the words and phrases which are used to reduce the negative message.
 The first paragraph has been done as an example.
Well, good afternoon everyone.
Figures show that ComputerDirect has made some progress, but unfortunately, it hasn’t done quite
enough. It has only achieved partial success in some areas this year. However, I think that it has
probably done better than we thought it would, given the rather gloomy forecast 12 months ago, but
profits are still a little disappointing. Why is this?
Well, customer orders, were generally poor. Although staff worked hard in the marketing department,
they experienced minor problems, with more or less everyone having to take some time off due to
sickness and stress related illnesses during the Autumn months. As a result, the new advertising
campaign has been postponed.
Problems with ComputerDirect’s main supplier are virtually solved now, I’m pleased to say, although
they are still experiencing slight delays with some orders. They were rather unlucky that the SARS
outbreak restricted their operations for almost two months. This in turn slowed down our production,
and led to somewhat reduced sales for a short time.
I’m afraid that the administrative errors at the head office didn’t really help matters either. They aren’t
sure if the delayed payments were due to computer error or human error. But I can tell you that they
have almost resolved that situation now and any damage done has been minimal.
So, all in all, quite a disappointing year, but we are pretty sure that we have now turned the corner
and I think we can look forward to better results in the next 6 months.
Thank you.

4.8 Focusing
The following expressions can help you focus the audience on your main points.
What I’d like to do today is outline the four main problems in this case study.
Later, what I will do is put forward some recommendations.
What I can’t do is provide a definitive answer.
Why the company took that decision is …simple/difficult to understand/obvious
Where the problem lies is with the management/the employees/the government
What is certain is ….
The point I am making is that we have some serious difficulties ahead.
Task 43
 Using some “What/Why/Where……is……” constructions, change the following sentences so they
focus on your main point
 An example has been done for you.
 Make some more sentences relevant to your own discipline.
1. I will set out some of the ideas that our group discussed.
What I want to do is set out some of the ideas that our group discussed.
2. ICT has become a very dynamic tool.
___________________________________________________________________________
3. There are not many alternative strategies for this company’s financial problems.
___________________________________________________________________________
4. We’re suggesting four possible scenarios for the future.
___________________________________________________________________________
5. This company has to learn the lessons of the past.
___________________________________________________________________________

4.9 Creating Rapport with Your Audience
To create good audience rapport means to build up a good relationship with your audience; in other
words to create a friendly, comfortable, personal atmosphere. This can be achieved in a number of
ways:
1. Informal words/phrases
So / actually / you know / now / well / you see / OK / as a matter of fact
2. Use of “we”, “our” “us” “you” ”your”

So, all of us can make a big contribution to our university if we give our support...
So, what are the lessons we have learned from this case study...
Most of us in this room will recognise the importance of …
If I were to ask you …
I can see that some of you …
3. Question tags, to encourage agreement

I think we all understand the significance of this, don’t we?
4. Negative Question Forms

Isn’t it time that this company started to diversify?
Doesn’t this company illustrate my point?

Task 44 Listening to Lectures – Main part
BME DVD-ROM “Market Segmentation” by Louise Canning
 Take out your checklist of what makes a successful presentation. You worked on this in Task 1.
 You are going to listen to an extract from Louise Canning’s lecture on Market Segmentation.
 Click on BME Listening to Lectures: Series 1.
 Click on Louise Canning.
this Handbook.
 Listen again, and consider the following presentation skills; highlight them in the tape script
where appropriate, because you are going to discuss them later:
1. Voice – is she clear? Can you understand her? Is she too fast, too soft? Does she emphasise
words or pause to make a point? Where? (See Section 3.3) Highlight this in the tape script
(See Section 8).
2. Body language – does she move enough or too much? Does she use gestures to help you
understand? Is her eye contact good? Does she look at you all? Does she read her slides too
much? (See Section 4.1)
3. Slides – are they clear, attractive? Is there too much text? How does she use the slides?
4. Audience Rapport – has she developed a relationship with the audience? Is she formal /
informal? Is she friendly, personal: does she have any personal stories, examples? Is there
any interaction: questions, jokes? Does she use any of the techniques mentioned in Section
4.9 above? Highlight these in the tape script.
5. Presentation techniques – does she use techniques such as repetition, rhetorical questions,
dramatic contrast? (See Sections 4.3, 4.5, 4.6)
 In general, does Louise have effective presentation skills?
 How is Louise different from Nick Potter?

5. Closing
5.1 Closing Expressions
 Pause before your conclusion.

 Look at the audience.
 Speak confidently without looking at your notes.
 End with a strong statement or message.
 End with a quotation, or answer the question posed in the Introduction.
Signalling the end

OK. That brings me to the end of my presentation.
Right. That covers everything I wanted to say.
Summarising
If I can briefly summarise...
To conclude, I’d like to say…
In conclusion…
I’d like to finish by saying …
Making a final recommendation

I would therefore recommend/advise that…
Support
I have copies of my slides if you’d like them...
I have prepared some handouts...
I’ll give you my email address, in case…
Using a quotation/Answering the opening question

Finally, I’d just like to say, in the words of Goethe, “Everything has been thought of before. The
problem is to think of it again!”
So, now when shareholders ask for higher profits, you will be able to answer them.
Closing
Thank you (very much).
I hope that this has been useful.
Thank you for your attention.
Inviting Questions
If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them.
Are there any questions?
I’d be glad to answer any questions.

Task 45 Listening to Lectures – Conclusion
BME DVD-ROM “Corporate Strategy and Corporate Governance” by Nick Potter
 You are going to listen to another extract from Nick Potter’s lecture on Corporate Strategy and
Corporate Governance.
 Click on BME Listening to Lectures: Series 1
 Click on Nick Potter.
this Handbook.
 Listen again and consider the following points about Nick’s conclusion; highlight the appropriate
parts of the tape script:
1. How does Nick signal that this is the conclusion?

2. Does he summarise the main point of his lecture?
3. How does he make his conclusion interesting? Does he end with a quotation or a question?
4. What is his final message to you, the audience?
 Discuss these points with your partner.
 Prepare a 5 minute presentation on one of the following topics, or a topic of your choice:
 My academic programme
 Eating meat is immoral
 University education should be free for students
 Include an introduction with an interesting opening.
 Include at least one rhetorical question, one dramatic contrast and one repetition.
 Use some techniques to develop rapport with your audience.
 End with an effective and memorable conclusion.

5.2 Handling Questions
Keys to Handling Questions

 Listen to the questioner’s entire question and only start thinking about the answer when the
question is complete.
 When you receive a question, you might need to rephrase it and/or repeat it to the whole
audience before you answer it. This is useful if it is a difficult question, or the audience has not
heard it clearly.
 Do not spend too long on one question. Break eye contact with the questioner, and look at
another part of the room to indicate you are ready to receive different questions from different
people.
Types of Questions
1. Good Question (You’re very glad this question was asked)

That’s a very relevant question. Thank you for asking it.
2. Difficult Question (You don’t know the answer or prefer not to answer)
Yes, interesting. I’m afraid I don’t have that information to hand. Can I get back to you on that?
3. Unnecessary Question (You have already covered this in your presentation)

Mmmm. Well, as I mentioned earlier …
4. Irrelevant Question
Thank you for the question, but I’m afraid it is not relevant to the topic under discussion.
Task 47
 Refer to the box on the previous page, and match a question type to each of the following
responses.
1. I think that question is outside the scope of my presentation.

2. Well, as I said …
3. I’m afraid I don’t know the answer off the top of my head, but I can find out… (by …)
4. I’m afraid I can’t comment on that.
5. That’s a really good question.
6. That’s difficult to say, but I think ….
7. I think I covered that earlier.
8. I can’t really give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to that but I’ll be happy to discuss it in more detail later
9. That’s a good point. I’m glad you asked that.

Common Question Formats

Direct Questions
What are you going to do about the distribution problem?
Where are you going to locate this new building?
Indirect Questions
What are your thoughts on….
What do you think about…
Could/can you tell me more about…
I’m interested to know/I’d like to know…
Polite Questions
Would you mind telling me… if/whether… what/where… about…
Do you mind if I ask you…
Statement Questions
The total cost for the project was £3m…? (using a rising intonation)
It worries me that you only calculated £3 m for the project. (Doesn’t it worry you?)
A positive statement question expects a ‘yes’ answer

You’ve had problems with the calculations, haven’t you? Yes, unfortunately.
The staff changes begin next month. Is that right? Yes, as far as I’m aware.
Remember! A negative statement question expects a ‘no’ answer

You haven’t covered the financial aspects in your presentation, have you? No, I haven’t.
You don’t recommend downsizing for this company? No, I don’t.
Task 48 Presentation and questions

 Work in groups.
 Each person is going to give the presentation prepared for Task 46.
 Before the presentations, the presenters should tell the other members of the group their topics.
 The other group members, the “audience”, should prepare a set of questions, to include:
 irrelevant questions, not related to the subject
 challenging questions that the presenter cannot answer, or will find difficult
 interesting questions related to the topic
 After each presentation, the presenter should answer the questions using the techniques
practised in this section.
5.3 Handling Difficult Questions

There may be someone in your audience whose ‘question’ is actually more like a provocative or
disruptive statement. Here are some suggestions for handling this:
 Address the questioner by name.

 Review or rephrase the question so that the content is not aggressive or antagonistic.
 Keep your answers short and simple.
 Always be diplomatic rather than confrontational.
 Use hedging expressions.

Rephrasing
Questioner: I can’t understand how you expect to increase sales when the quality is so poor!
Presenter: OK, David has made a good point here - how can we increase our sales and at the
same time, increase the quality of our products. Well, there are a number of things we
can do. OR
Presenter: It’s David, isn’t it? So, I think what you’re asking is, how can we both increase our
sales and the quality of our products
Hedging
To some extent. Not as a rule.
It depends. Hopefully not. Not necessarily.
Yes and no. Not really. That depends on what you
Well, there are various ways of On the whole, yes. mean by…
looking at it.
5.4 Asking for Clarification
For the Presenter
Sorry, I didn’t follow/catch the question. Could you say that again/repeat it please?
Sorry, I don’t quite follow you / understand what you mean.
If I understand you correctly, you want to know is …
You’re asking me about … Is that right?
In other words, you’re asking …
I’m not sure what you’re getting at.
For the Questioner
When you were… talking about …/explaining about…/describing…

You mentioned… /referred to…/spoke about…/talked about…
Could you… elaborate on…/explain more about…/run through that again...
I’m not sure I fully understood…
There’s one thing I’m not sure about.
I think I misunderstood you. Did you say…?
Going back to the question of... can you be more specific?
What exactly did you mean by…?
Task 49
 Work in pairs and look at your previous presentation – Task 46.
 Write down 5 difficult questions that your audience might ask you.
 Now write down the answers you could give – use the techniques outlined above, for answering
difficult questions, hedging, and asking for clarification.
 Take it in turns with your partner to ask and answer each other’s questions.

5.5 Additional Question Types
Task 50
 Identify the function of each question below by matching each sentence with the correct
category.
 Underline the part of the sentence which tells you what the questioner is doing.
Example:
Question: Going back to what you were saying about diversification...
Function: Referring to an earlier point
1. I want to take you up on what you said about leaders being born not made.
2. On what basis do you predict that Sainsbury will become the leading supermarket?
3. You mentioned that China will become the world’s new superpower in 20 years. Can you expand
on that?
4. Just one thing worries me about your analysis...
5. Can you give us an example of how your proposal is going to work?
6. Surely you realize that R&D takes a long time and can be very expensive.
7. When you were talking about the location of the site, you mentioned…
8. Earlier you spoke about EU enlargement and I’d like to ask …
9. Do you really expect us to believe that management didn’t know about the redundancies?
10. How can you justify those figures?
Functions:
Asking for proof Sentences: 2 and 10
Voicing concern Sentences:
Referring to an earlier point Sentences:
Making a criticism Sentences:
Asking for additional information Sentences:

6. Assessing Your Presentation
6.1 BME 2013 ASSESSMENT: INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATION FORM
Name of Student: ID No:
Presentation Title: BME Group:
Presentation Date: Assessment Group:
CONTENT % COMMENTS
Knowledge of subject
Structure (introduction, development,
conclusion, length)
Handling questions 40
Critical thinking/analysis
References & citations
DELIVERY % COMMENTS
Pronunciation & intonation
Interaction & audience rapport
Volume & pace 30
Eye contact & facial expression
Posture & movement
LANGUAGE % COMMENTS
Range of vocabulary
25
Grammatical accuracy
EQUIPMENT % COMMENTS
Handling equipment
5
Quality of slides
Home Teacher’s Signature: Date:
FINAL MARK %
AG = Assessment Group
AG 1, 2, 3: 70 - 100% = Pass | AG 1, 2, 3: 60 - 69% = Pass | AG 1, 2: 50 - 59% = Pass; AG 3 = Fail
AG 1: 40 - 49% = Pass; AG 2, 3 = Fail | AG 1, 2, 3: 0 - 39% = Fail

6.2 BME 2013 ASSESSMENT: GROUP PRESENTATION FORM
Presentation Date: BME Group:
Presentation Title:
ASSESSMENT
NAME OF STUDENT ID NUMBER
GROUP
1.
2.
3.
4.
CONTENT % COMMENTS
Knowledge of subject
Structure (introduction, development,
conclusion, length)
Handling questions 40
Critical thinking /analysis
References & citations
DELIVERY % COMMENTS
Pronunciation & intonation
Interaction & audience rapport
Volume & pace

30
Eye contact & facial expression
Posture & movement

Evidence of teamwork/group
cohesion
LANGUAGE % COMMENTS
Range of vocabulary
25
Grammatical accuracy
EQUIPMENT % COMMENTS
Handling equipment
5
Quality of slides
Home Teacher’s Signature: Date:
FINAL GROUP MARK %
AG = Assessment Group
AG 1, 2, 3: 70 - 100% = Pass | AG 1, 2, 3: 60 - 69% = Pass | AG 1, 2: 50 - 59% = Pass; AG 3 = Fail
AG 1: 40 - 49% = Pass; AG 2, 3 = Fail | AG 1, 2, 3: 0 - 39% = Fail
7. Answer Key
Task 1 Successful Presentations
1. Preparation
 Say Introduction and Conclusion from memory
 Comfortable using brief notes – not reading from notes or slides
2. Structure
 Memorable Introduction and Conclusion
 Clear objectives and organization of information
 Good linking of parts; good signals and timing
3. Voice
 Correct speed, volume
 Effective rhythm, pause, intonation
4. Body language
1. Confident, relaxed, smiling and friendly
2. Good eye contact and natural gestures
5. Visual aids
 Relevant, easy to read, not too much text, attractive, varied
 Clearly presented facing audience, not read out by presenter
6. Audience rapport
 Involving and stimulating audience
 Meeting audience expectations; being friendly and approachable
 Making presentation interesting, relevant and understandable
 Using interaction, questions, jokes, examples, paraphrasing, repetition
7. Handouts
 Well structured, simple, with space for notes
Task 2 The Classic Formula
Introduce self. Introduce topic/aim of presentation. Explain structure. Present main body. Conclude.
Summarise.
Task 3 How formal?

1. + b, 2. + c, 3. + f, 4. + d, 5. + c, 6. + g, 7. + i, 8. + h, 9. + e

Task 5 Engage Your Audience in the First Three Minutes

Story = 3
Problem/Question = 1, 5
Fact/Statistic = 1, 4
Quotation = 2, 6
Task 7 Explain Your Objective

1. provide 2. highlight, focus on 3. showing 4. suggest 5. analyse, put forward
6. introducing 7. give 8. tell, explain
Task 8 Explain Your Structure

1. =B 2. =E 3. =A 4. =D 5. =C
Task 9 Listening to Lectures

See Section 9
Task 10 Linking the Parts

 Introduce a new topic = turn to; look at, move on to; that brings me to my next point
 Refer to an earlier point = go back; come back to; return to
 Repeat the main points = recap, summarise; So that deals with the point about…; Well, that’s all
I wanted to say about…
 Depart from original plan = digress
 Give more information = expand on; elaborate on
 Finish the talk = conclude; I think that covers everything
Task 13 Describing Trends

1. Profits have risen sharply in recent years.
2. The currency has witnessed a dramatic depreciation since the outbreak of war.
3. The NY stock exchange saw/witnessed/experienced a considerable fall in share prices yesterday.
4. HSBC announced that their pre-tax profits had increased moderately.
5. According to figures, there was a substantial growth in the number of unemployed in 2001.
6. The government has brought about a gradual increase in the efficiency of dealing with hospital
waiting lists.
7. Manufacturing companies have slowly managed to achieve a reduction in their overheads.
8. Interest rates dropped suddenly last week.
9. As result of the merger, there should be a substantial expansion in their market share.
10. If companies can achieve/bring about a significant rise in their profitability, this will benefit them in
the long term.

1. fell/declined sharply 2. record low 3. fell slightly 4. remained steady/stable
5. rose/increased 6. soaring/rocketing 7. substantial drop/fall 8. rise
9. plummeted/slumped 10. record low 11. upturn


1. stood at 2. peak 3. growth – buoyant - low 4. upswing - cutting 5. impressive 6. stability 7.
significant 8. fluctuations – stabilization 9. increased 10. increase 11. were down

1. rose 2. has stabilized 3. has been 4. falling – maintaining 5. collapsed 6. has shown 7. fell 8. stood

Upward movement = 1, 6, 8,
Downward movement = 3, 4, 5, 7, 10
Both upward and downward = 2
Little movement = 9

1. flatten out, stabilize, hold steady
2. rise, climb
3. take off, rocket, soar, escalate
4. dip, decline, fall, slide
5. slump, plunge, drop, crash, plummet
6. bounce back, recover, rally, pick up
7. fluctuate
Task 20 Explaining Cause & Effect

1. New organisation design has given rise to a reduction in costs and an increase in income.
2. As a result of significant improvements in productivity and efficiency, we have higher employee
satisfaction.
3. There is low staff morale as a consequence of poor management skills.
4. We have lower costs because of the outsourcing of our manufacturing.
5. Increased competition has brought about a fall in sales revenue.
6. We introduced a new payroll system because the old system was slow and problematic.
7. Our previous site was inadequate. Because of this we had to build a new plant.
8. There was a fault. Therefore, we had to withdraw the product from the market.
Task 23 Effective Slides

1. Interdependence Between Leaders & Teams
 Teams are powerful
 Weak leaders cannot succeed
 Teams must believe in the sum and the whole
 Leaders must choose and coach teams carefully
 Leadership must be shared and collaborative
2. 2. Quality in Organisations
 Quality makes good business sense
 Both incremental and breakthrough achievements are necessary
 Success depends on willing and creative people


See Section 9
Task 26 Word Stress

Group One: stress is on the first syllable e.g. bonus
Group Two: stress is on the final syllable e.g., adopt
Group Three: stress is on penultimate (2nd last) syllable e.g., supervision
Group Four: stress is on ante-penultimate (3rd last) syllable e.g., economical
Group Five: stress is on final syllable e.g. employee
Task 30 Chunking (suggested answer)

I believe one of the most important conditions / for effective communication to take place is genuine
respect for others as human beings/. When either party in the communication is feeling uncomfortable
/with either the situation /or the other person, /they’re liable to talk ‘up’ /or ‘down’./ For example, /
when meeting the CEO of your organisation,/ if you find yourself feeling nervous/ or inadequate, / you
may be tempted to talk ‘up’ to him or her /and communication will be impossible. /Similarly/ when
talking to a junior member of staff,/ if you talk ‘down’ /communication may not exist at all./ The way we
behave /reflects the way we are treated.
Task 31 Pacing
1. It’s unfortunate we can’t buy business executives for what they are worth //and sell them for what
they think they are worth.
2. If everyone is thinking alike,// then somebody isn’t thinking.
3. A market is never saturated with a good product,// but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.
4. Failing organisations are usually over-managed //and under-led.
5. Most business plans fail.// Obviously, //success is not a realistic goal.// But the people who
manage the most spectacular failures //get promoted because of their experience.
6. Whenever you see a successful business,// you know someone once made a courageous
decision.
Task 32 Stress and Pausing for Dramatic Effect

1. Despite our strengths outside Europe, /over half our trade in goods and services is within the EU.
2. While the face of Europe has changed dramatically,/ the debate within Britain about its role in
Europe has remained unchanged.
3. The problem, / it seems to me, / is less about sovereignty than democracy.
4. This is a time for optimism in Europe, / not pessimism.
5. At one time we were political adversaries, / but today we work hand in glove.
6. Look at Europe today. / Compare the opportunities that we now face/ to the dangers and rivalries
that our parents and grandparents had to face.
7. Today I want to share with you some of our ideas and thoughts,/ rather than our theories and
models.
8. Earlier I told you that leadership was simple. / I never said that it would be easy.

Task 34 Body Language

DO
 Practise your presentation many times
 Refine and practise your introduction and conclusion so you can say these confidently from
memory
 Smile
 Look at all your audience
 Put your notes on the table in front of you
 Use natural, varied hand movements
 Move away from the computer console
 Make sure you know your equipment
 Organise the room where you are going to make your presentation, so that it suits you, and you
have everything you need
 Wear comfortable, appropriate clothes
DO NOT
 Fold your arms
 Put your hands in your pockets
 Clasp your hands behind you or in front of you
 Repeat the same hand movements
 Look down
 Look back at the screen
 Turn your back on your audience
 Read your slides
 Hold your notes in your hand
 Hold a pen or any other object ( unless it is a pointer)
 Stand behind the computer console all the time
Task 36 More Rhetorical Questions

1=E, 2=A, 3=D, 4=C, 5=B
Task 37 Rhetorical Questions

1. problem, 2. answer, 3. advantages, 4. potential
Task 38 Repetition & Tripling

1=E, 2=B, 3=D, 4=A, 5=C, 6=G, 7=F, 8=H
Task 39 Emphasis
1. China is certainly leading in the race to grow. But it is essential to realise that it are not alone in
making progress. Never before have we seen such a rapid advance and such a large advance.
But what’s the engine for this growth? The engine has been the willingness of more and more
countries to embrace the market economy.
2. I’d like to emphasise that while the benefits of trade and globalisation go to everyone, the
immediate costs are borne by a small number. Resisting the claims of the few on behalf of the
many requires us all to provide leadership. It requires businessmen to be considerably more

persuasive about the benefits of globalisation; it requires us to be fair to our trading partners and it
requires, more importantly, for us to be seen to be fair.
3. There is nothing whatsoever mediocre about this company. There is nothing whatsoever
mediocre about us because we have an excellent vision, an excellent governing board, and an
excellent quality of service. We do not focus on employees as numbers, but on people as
individuals. This is where British industry has to go.
4. The key to improving quality is more schools getting better and better results with far more pupils
than before. In this city alone, you have no fewer than 9 of these schools.
5. And what is the barrier to progress? The barrier to progress is not you or me. Not economic
conditions. Not European legislation. It is the politicians.
Task 40 Dramatic Contrast (Suggested answers)

1. …our competitors won’t
2. …than they were some time ago
3. …today, it is £95
4. …we stay the same and die
5. …wasting time discussing it
6. …but the workers are too
7. …but in the past, Britain was economically sound
8. …but small ones too
9. …we are doing nothing
10. …expand and increase costs
Task 42 Softening
Well, good afternoon everyone.
Figures show that ComputerDirect has made some progress, but unfortunately, it hasn’t done quite
enough. It has only achieved partial success in some areas this year. However, I think that it has
probably done better than we thought it would, given the rather gloomy forecast 12 months ago, but
profits are still a little disappointing. Why is this?
Well, customer orders, were generally poor. Although staff worked hard in the marketing department,
they experienced minor problems, with more or less everyone having to take some time off due to
sickness and stress related illnesses during the Autumn months. As a result, the new advertising
campaign has been postponed.
Problems with ComputerDirect’s main supplier are virtually solved now, I’m pleased to say, although
they are still experiencing slight delays with some orders. They were rather unlucky that the SARS
outbreak restricted their operations for almost two months. This in turn slowed down our production,
and led to somewhat reduced sales for a short time.
I’m afraid that the administrative errors at the head office didn’t really help matters either. They aren’t
sure if the delayed payments were due to computer error or human error. But I can tell you that they
have almost resolved that situation now and any damage done has been minimal.
So, all in all, quite a disappointing year, but we are pretty sure that we have now turned the corner
and I think we can look forward to better results in the next 6 months.
Thank you.

Task 43 “What …is… (Suggested answers)

1. What I want to do is set out the ideas that our group discussed.
2 .What is certain is that ICT has become a very dynamic tool.
3.What I can’t do is suggest alternative strategies.
4 .What we’d like to do is suggest four possible scenarios for the future.
5 .The point I’m making is that this company has to learn the lessons of the past.

See Section 9

See Section 9
Task 47 Handling Questions

Replies to good questions: 5, 9
Replies to difficult questions: 3, 4, 6, 8
Replies to unnecessary questions: 2, 7
Replies to irrelevant questions: 4
Task 50 Additional Question Types

Asking for proof: 2, 10
Voicing concern: 4
Referring to an earlier point: 7, 8
Making a criticism: 1, 6, 9
Asking for additional information: 3, 5

8. Tapescripts
8.1 Paul Forrester: “Motivation”
Introduction
[00.00] It’s really nice to be able to talk to you; really pleased to see you, especially as so many of
you will be entering into the Business School and so many of you will also be entering into the
programme for which I am Director for and also teach on, which is the MBA programme, the full-time
MBA that’s here. Catherine’s asked me to do a talk; we try and encourage – sometimes difficult
because we are busy at this time of year – but we try and encourage as many staff as possible to
come and speak to you, and I’ve managed to find a gap between examination boards to come and
talk to you on the subject of Motivation. Now my own background is actually in Operations
Management, and largely my own practical background is in Factory Management and factory-
managed organisation, so although I’m not an organisational behaviour person who teaches
motivation as a central part of my teaching, I have been very well experienced in terms of trying to
motivate people within organisations right the way from my early experience within a company in a
manufacturing factory environment through different posts that I’ve held in research and development
and so on and also obviously into academic life: I guess my key issue now is trying to motivate
students to achieve what they can get, and in fact many of the principles are actually the same, to
actually ensure that they understand what’s important, how to get there and so on.
Now motivation; there’s a long history of motivation theories, so the one objective of today is to give
you an overview of some of those theories. However, I don’t altogether subscribe to one or all of
them; it’s quite contentious as to whether they are really holistic enough and comprehensive enough
to cover all the sort of human behaviour that’s associated with motivation, so whilst we’re talking
through we can talk about the advantages, disadvantages, some of the problems and some of the
practical issues as well. So it’s not just meant to be a theoretical session, but I do want you to be
aware of what motivation theories are there, but also I want to bring in a little bit of a practical angle to
understanding this. So what we’ll be looking at, we’ll be looking at the role of motivation within the
more general Tasks of management or the job of management, we’ll be exploring what motivates
people, we’ll be covering the theories of motivation, and then at the end I’ll just be concluding and
we’ll be opening it up for discussion. By the way, you can ask me some questions as I’m going along,
as long as they’re not too long questions, but if you want some clarification then please do ask, and
also I might well be asking you some questions as we go along as well, so in an interest of trying to
make it interactive. [03.04]

8.2 Nick Potter: “Corporate Strategy and Corporate Governance”
Why do stock markets exist?

[06.13] So let’s stand back, so we can understand the background to the very high profile
disagreements that we are reading about in the press. Why do Stock Markets exist? What is the
point of a stock market? To collect money, but more specifically, from whom, for what? Companies
need to raise what is known as equity. Generally, and when you come to look at financial statements
you will realise this, companies are funded through a combination of what the owners put in, which is
equity, that is then levered by debt, perhaps an overdraft, perhaps bonds, perhaps long-term loans,
and of course once a company is running it has retained profits. In other words it makes a profit and it
keeps part of that back. So those are the three ways in which companies can fund their activities.
The other reason that Stock Markets exist apart from being able to sell the equity in the first place,
and you are quite right, if a company wants to grow one of the ways it can raise the funding to do that
is to offer further shares, probably through what is known as a rights issue, and generally if you are an
existing shareholder there is a discount to the expected market price, or a company can of course
launch itself onto the Stock Market; it’s been a private company, it needs to expand, it wants funding,
it doesn’t want to do it through debt, and therefore it offers all or part of its shares to the public. The
other reason markets exist though? Anybody? Why do we need them to sit every day and trade? One
little word – liquidity. You need a means in a well functioning market to be able to buy and sell shares.
You need a means of being able to establish the price and the market will do that for you. The price
is that elusive figure which combines what the buyer will pay with what the seller is willing to sell for.
It’s not the right price necessarily, but it’s the price the market decides is appropriate, and one of the
most humbling things, I used to trade futures and derivatives at one point in my life. One of the most
humbling thoughts is that where there is a buyer there is also a seller and one of you is wrong. No
matter which way you look at it, because a minute or an hour later the price is going to move one way
or the other; it’s either going up or it’s going down. So before you start talking about what’s right, start
trying to understand how the market actually works. It’s essentially a collection of opinions, not facts
necessarily, opinions may be based on facts but they’re still interpreted.
So investors range, individuals, more and more, individuals hold shares; it’s easier now than it’s ever
been in history; you can trade on line, stockbrokers fees have come down, and certainly in America,
and to some extent in Europe, large numbers of people are now individual investors, so they can build
their own portfolio of shares. But it ranges right up also to large pension companies, insurance
companies. It’s true to say now that there are very few people who aren’t shareholders one way or
the other. If you have a pension, if you have a life insurance policy, if you have car insurance,
contents insurance, those premiums, or at least a percentage, are invested in the stock market, and
therefore if the market goes down you may not feel the immediate effect, but it’s likely sooner or later
that your premiums will go up because that’s the way that the company will get you to pay for what
they’ve lost. [10.45]

8.3 Louise Canning: “Market Segmentation”
Segmenting consumer markets

Ok! Bit out of focus, but never mind.
[15.33] One of the things, the way that companies try and break the markets down is by
understanding some of the characteristics of the way that you and I behave as consumers, and I’m
going to talk specifically about consumer behaviour; I’m not going to talk about business markets, I’m
going to talk about you and I as consumers. So you can start to try and make distinctions between
people based on a number of different variables, and these variables are grouped according to
behaviour, and one of the most powerful ways that you can segment a market is to think about why
do people buy something in the first place? If you think about cars, you don’t buy the car, you don’t
buy the car to own it, you buy a car because it’s a means of transport from A to B; what are you
getting by using it? Transport. That is the basic benefit, and it’s a means of personal transport; you
don’t have to sit on a bus with everybody else, you don’t have to sit on a plane or a train, so you’ve
got personal transport, complete flexibility – as long as there are no traffic jams – so the basic idea
behind car ownership is that means of transport, but there are others.
For some people the reason why they buy a certain type of car is because they want to enjoy
themselves; they will derive pleasure from owning it. If you talk to a lot of male car owners one of
things that they will dream of owning their first car is a sports car. Well certainly in this country the
idea of being able to drive through country lanes with the roof down, music on full blast, girl in the
passenger seat, and you’re away. My husband recently bought a sports car; whether he’s expecting
to put somebody else in the passenger seat I don’t know! It’s an old car, it’s thirty years old, so there’s
a bit of history and heritage there as well, nice body, the car’s got the nice body, and this is what we
do, we drive around the country lanes with the roof down and the music on loud, so part of the
reasons for some people in owning a car, especially sports cars, is for that pleasure. People who are
in their 40s and 50s, if you tell them the type of car that my husband has just bought, they will say,
“That was the first car that I ever had, oh yes, that takes me back, that was before I was married,
before I had three children, before I had a mortgage, so that is one reason why people buy a car, not
just to get from A and B, but to have some fun as well. Understanding that helps companies design
the cars possibly, but promote them, it affects the way they advertise cars, the image that they try and
create in your and my mind, and that’s part of the position.
It could also be to do with not only getting from A to B, but also image. If you think say in ten or fifteen
years time when you are successful, senior executive, and you hold important positions in a company,
then very often people will want a car to reflect their status, so they might go for something like a
Mercedes, they might go for Mercedes s Class, because it’s a nice, big, expensive car, and it reflects
the importance they might have in their company, so not only might you buy a car for pleasure, it
might also be to do with image as well.
Assuming that you don’t have the money to be able to afford to satisfy your whims for a car, or image
is important, then equally it might be simply for a functional reason that you actually want the car, and
this is to be able to get from A to B, it might be the car that’s big enough to get the children in the back
seat, to get all the children’s toys in the boot, it’s got a roof rack so you can put the suitcases on; you
might also be interested in fuel economy as well, different features, and so you wouldn’t go for a
sports car, you wouldn’t go for expensive brands like Mercedes; if you are purely interested in the
functional benefits that are available you would go for something which is good value for money, and

this is typical of a brand like Skoda which was purchased by VW ten or fifteen years ago, and the
design of it’s been improved, but the perception of the brand, certainly in Europe, in Western Europe,
still hasn’t quite got over its association with Eastern Europe and a poor quality car, but for people
who aren’t worried about their image in driving, this is a really good value car, so they would actually
look at it. [20.52]
Conclusion
[44.55] In conclusion then, and really coming full circle, the links between ownership and
management have been raised again. Many observers argue that a director’s financial investment in
a firm is closely correlated with performance. Columbia Business School suggests that directors of
companies out-performing bench mark groups hold something like four to five times the equity of
those who are in charge of the under-performing firms. And Hermes, which is a very large UK fund
manager, incidentally with a very strong reputation for shareholder activism, is very keen on equity
participation by non-executives, not through granting of stock options, that’s too easy, they mean that
directors actually put their own money up. And there’s a nice little quote that I’ll finish with from one
independent director, and I think I probably agree with him, “I’ve been on several boards where I held
token amounts of stock, but in my current position the chief executive is very keen on equity
participation and I’m in for about half a million dollars, and I can tell you that I’m a lot more attentive to
the affairs of this company than I was to the others; if this company has a problem I lose sleep at
night”, and I think I’ll finish with a question. Isn’t that what shareholders ideally want as their ultimate
protective agency, someone who’s going to lose sleep at night when things go wrong?
Any questions? [46.35]

9. Answers to Listening to Lectures
9.1 Paul Forrester: “Motivation”
Introduction
1 2
It’s really nice to be able to talk to you ; really pleased to see you, especially as so many of you will
be entering into the Business School and so many of you will also be entering into the programme for
which I am Director for and also teach on, which is the MBA programme, the full-time MBA that’s
3
here . Catherine’s asked me to do a talk; we try and encourage – sometimes difficult because we are
busy at this time of year – but we try and encourage as many staff as possible to come and speak to
you, and I’ve managed to find a gap between examination boards to come and talk to you on the
4
subject of Motivation. Now my own background is actually in Operations Management, and largely
my own practical background is in Factory Management and factory-managed organisation, so
although I’m not an organisational behaviour person who teaches motivation as a central part of my
teaching, I have been very well experienced in terms of trying to motivate people within organisations
right the way from my early experience within a company in a manufacturing factory environment
through different posts that I’ve held in research and development and so on and also obviously into
5
academic life: I guess my key issue now is trying to motivate students to achieve what they can get,
and in fact many of the principles are actually the same, to actually ensure that they understand
what’s important, how to get there and so on.
6 7
Now motivation ; there’s a long history of motivation theories, so the one objective of today is to give
you an overview of some of those theories. However, I don’t altogether subscribe to one or all of
them; it’s quite contentious as to whether they are really holistic enough and comprehensive enough
to cover all the sort of human behaviour that’s associated with motivation, so whilst we’re talking
through we can talk about the advantages, disadvantages, some of the problems and some of the
8
practical issues as well . So it’s not just meant to be a theoretical session, but I do want you to be
aware of what motivation theories are there, but also I want to bring in a little bit of a practical angle to
understanding this. So what we’ll be looking at, we’ll be looking at the role of motivation within the
more general Tasks of management or the job of management, we’ll be exploring what motivates
people, we’ll be covering the theories of motivation, and then at the end I’ll just be concluding and
9
we’ll be opening it up for discussion . By the way, you can ask me some questions as I’m going along,
10
as long as they’re not too long questions, but if you want some clarification then please do ask , and
also I might well be asking you some questions as we go along as well, so in an interest of trying to
make it interactive.
1
Friendly, personal opening
2
Personal reference to you as students; many references to you, we and I
3
Personal reference to your course
4
Personal reference to his own background – gives his credentials - a reason to listen to him
5
Joke?
6
Signals the start of the lecture
7
Purpose of lecture
8
Objectives in more detail
9
Different parts of lecture
10
Policy on questions

1. He is well prepared – not reading from notes.

2. His opening is friendly and personal – relating to you as students – telling you about his personal
background.
3. Structure is clear – see footnotes.
4. Clear, slow speech.
5. He is confident, relaxed and smiling.
6. He is friendly and personal and makes a slight joke.
7. See footnotes for transition markers.
Why do stock markets exist?

11
So let’s stand back, so we can understand the background to the very high profile disagreements
that we are reading about in the press. Why do Stock Markets exist? What is the point of a stock
12
market? To collect money, but more specifically, from whom, for what? Companies need to raise
13
what is known as equity . Generally, and when you come to look at financial statements you will
realise this, companies are funded through a combination of what the owners put in, which is equity,
that is then levered by debt, perhaps an overdraft, perhaps bonds, perhaps long-term loans, and of
14
course once a company is running it has retained profits. In other words it makes a profit and it
keeps part of that back. So those are the three ways in which companies can fund their activities.
15
The other reason that Stock Markets exist apart from being able to sell the equity in the first place,
and you are quite right, if a company wants to grow one of the ways it can raise the funding to do that
16
is to offer further shares, probably through what is known as a rights issue, and generally if you are
an existing shareholder there is a discount to the expected market price, or a company can of course
launch itself onto the Stock Market; it’s been a private company, it needs to expand, it wants funding,
17
it doesn’t want to do it through debt, and therefore it offers all or part of its shares to the public. The
18
other reason markets exist though? Anybody,? Why do we need them to sit every day and trade?
19
One little word – liquidity . You need a means in a well functioning market to be able to buy and sell
20
shares. You need a means of being able to establish the price and the market will do that for you.
The price is that elusive figure which combines what the buyer will pay with what the seller is willing to
21
sell for. It’s not the right price necessarily, but it’s the price the market decides is appropriate, and
22
one of the most humbling things, I used to trade futures and derivatives at one point in my life . One
of the most humbling thoughts is that where there is a buyer there is also a seller and one of you is
wrong. No matter which way you look at it, because a minute or an hour later the price is going to
move one way or the other; it’s either going up or it’s going down. So before you start talking about
11
Transition to the next section
12
Questions – interaction with students
13
Answer to question emphasised
14
Rephrasing to help you understand
15
Transition to next point: next reason
16
Personal reference to you – used on many occasions
17
Repetition for emphasis
18
Question – forces audience to interact
19
Again – makes answer to question clear
20
Repetition
21
Repetition
22
Personal background – to establish rapport with audience – and also his credibility

what’s right, start trying to understand how the market actually works. It’s essentially a collection of
opinions, not facts necessarily, opinions may be based on facts but they’re still interpreted.
23
So investors range, individuals, more and more, individuals hold shares; it’s easier now than it’s ever
been in history; you can trade on line, stockbrokers fees have come down, and certainly in America,
and to some extent in Europe, large numbers of people are now individual investors, so they can build
their own portfolio of shares. But it ranges right up also to large pension companies, insurance
companies. It’s true to say now that there are very few people who aren’t shareholders one way or
24
the other. If you have a pension, if you have a life insurance policy, if you have car insurance,
contents insurance, those premiums, or at least a percentage, are invested in the stock market, and
therefore if the market goes down you may not feel the immediate effect, but it’s likely sooner or later
that your premiums will go up because that’s the way that the company will get you to pay for what
they’ve lost.
1. He speaks quite fast, and he does not have strong intonation.

2. He does not move very much, and tends to stay behind the console; he has effective hand
movements.
3. Slides are clear and attractive with the right amount of text; he does not read them, but adds
details to them.
4. He is informal and fairly personal, and he has some personal stories. He asks questions to force
the audience to participate – see footnotes.
5. He uses repetition and rephrasing; he uses special phrases to make important points.
9.3 Louise Canning: “Market Segmentation”
Segmenting consumer markets

25
Okay! Bit out of focus, but never mind .
One of the things, the way that companies try and break the markets down is by understanding some
26
of the characteristics of the way that you and I behave as consumers, and I’m going to talk
specifically about consumer behaviour; I’m not going to talk about business markets, I’m going to talk
27
about you and I as consumers. So you can start to try and make distinctions between people based
on a number of different variables, and these variables are grouped according to behaviour, and one
of the most powerful ways that you can segment a market is to think about why do people buy
28
something in the first place? If you think about cars, you don’t buy the car, you don’t buy the car to
29
own it, you buy a car because it’s a means of transport from A to B; what are you getting by using
30
it? Transport. That is the basic benefit, and it’s a means of personal transport; you don’t have to sit
on a bus with everybody else, you don’t have to sit on a plane or a train, so you’ve got personal
23
Transition to the next section
24
Repetition
25
Very informal
26
Many instances of you and I – relating to you as students and consumers
27
Repetition
28
Rhetorical question
29
Repetition
30
Rhetorical question

transport, complete flexibility – as long as there are no traffic jams – so the basic idea behind car
ownership is that means of transport, but there are others.
For some people the reason why they buy a certain type of car is because they want to enjoy
themselves; they will derive pleasure from owning it. If you talk to a lot of male car owners one of
things that they will dream of owning their first car is a sports car. Well certainly in this country the
idea of being able to drive through country lanes with the roof down, music on full blast, girl in the
31 32
passenger seat, and you’re away . My husband recently bought a sports car; whether he’s
33
expecting to put somebody else in the passenger seat I don’t know! It’s an old car, it’s thirty years
old, so there’s a bit of history and heritage there as well, nice body, the car’s got the nice body, and
this is what we do, we drive around the country lanes with the roof down and the music on loud, so
part of the reasons for some people in owning a car, especially sports cars, is for that pleasure.
People who are in their 40s and 50s, if you tell them the type of car that my husband has just bought,
they will say, “That was the first car that I ever had, oh yes, that takes me back, that was before I was
married, before I had three children, before I had a mortgage, so that is one reason why people buy a
car, not just to get from A and B, but to have some fun as well. Understanding that helps companies
design the cars possibly, but promote them, it affects the way they advertise cars, the image that they
try and create in your and my mind, and that’s part of the position.
34
It could also be to do with not only getting from A to B, but also image. If you think say in ten or
35
fifteen years time when you are successful, senior executive, and you hold important positions in a
company, then very often people will want a car to reflect their status, so they might go for something
like a Mercedes, they might go for Mercedes S Class, because it’s a nice, big, expensive car, and it
reflects the importance they might have in their company, so not only might you buy a car for
pleasure, it might also be to do with image as well.
Assuming that you don’t have the money to be able to afford to satisfy your whims for a car, or image
36
is important , then equally it might be simply for a functional reason that you actually want the car,
and this is to be able to get from A to B, it might be the car that’s big enough to get the children in the
back seat, to get all the children’s toys in the boot, it’s got a roof rack so you can put the suitcases
37
on ; you might also be interested in fuel economy as well, different features, and so you wouldn’t go
for a sports car, you wouldn’t go for expensive brands like Mercedes; if you are purely interested in
38
the functional benefits that are available you would go for something which is good value for money,
and this is typical of a brand like Skoda which was purchased by VW ten or fifteen years ago, and the
design of it’s been improved, but the perception of the brand, certainly in Europe, in Western Europe,
still hasn’t quite got over its association with Eastern Europe and a poor quality car, but for people
who aren’t worried about their image in driving, this is a really good value car, so they would actually
look at it.
31
Relating to you – your dreams!
32
Personal example – continuing audience rapport
33
Joke – notice how the audience laughs!
34
Transitional marker – to signal the next reason for buying a car
35
Relating to you in the future as a successful professional
36
Recaps previous point, before going on to next point
37
Everyday examples, easy to relate to
38
Repetition

1. She speaks quite fast but she uses many techniques to help you to understand her. Listen to her
introduction – she asks students to tell her to slow down!
2. She has excellent eye contact and body language – many gestures to help understanding. She
moves up and down the stage and rarely stands behind the console.
3. Her slides are simple – but contain pictures, which makes them interesting.
4. She has very good audience rapport; she has many personal references, examples, jokes,
questions which keep the audience engaged.
5. She uses rhetorical questions and repetition.
6. She is more friendly and informal than Nick – however, her subject matter is very different, and
perhaps this reflects her different lecturing style.
Conclusion
39 40
In conclusion then , and really coming full circle , the links between ownership and management
have been raised again. Many observers argue that a director’s financial investment in a firm is
41
closely correlated with performance . Columbia Business School suggests that directors of
companies out-performing bench mark groups hold something like four to five times the equity of
those who are in charge of the under-performing firms. And Hermes, which is a very large UK fund
manager, incidentally with a very strong reputation for shareholder activism, is very keen on equity
participation by non-executives, not through granting of stock options, that’s too easy, they mean that
42
directors actually put their own money up. And there’s a nice little quote that I’ll finish with from one
independent director, and I think I probably agree with him, “I’ve been on several boards where I held
token amounts of stock, but in my current position the chief executive is very keen on equity
participation and I’m in for about half a million dollars, and I can tell you that I’m a lot more attentive to
the affairs of this company than I was to the others; if this company has a problem I lose sleep at
43
night”, and I think I’ll finish with a question. Isn’t that what shareholders ideally want as their ultimate
44
protective agency, someone who’s going to lose sleep at night when things go wrong ?
Any questions?
39
Signals conclusion
40
Reference to the purpose of the lecture, contained in the Introduction – check this by listening to the
first part of his lecture
41
Main message/objective
42
Ends with quotation
43
Ends with a question – to leave you thinking about his lecture, and discussing it with your
colleagues
44
Final message

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BME PRESENTATION SKILLS 2013

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 0

University of Birmingham, English for International Students Unit

Printed and bound by Creative Media, University of Birmingham.

1. Getting Started ............................................................................................................................... 4

2. Using Visuals & Graphics ........................................................................................................... 13

3. The Importance of Voice ............................................................................................................. 30

4. Communication Techniques ...................................................................................................... 36

6. Assessing Your Presentation .................................................................................................... 54

7. Answer Key .................................................................................................................................. 56

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 2

8.1 Paul Forrester: “Motivation” ................................................................................................... 63

9. Answers to Listening to Lectures .............................................................................................. 67

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 3

Task 1 Successful presentations

a. Correct speed, volume

b. Say Introduction and Conclusion from memory

c. Involving and stimulating audience

d. Confident, relaxed, smiling and friendly

e. Memorable Introduction and Conclusion

f. Well structured, simple, with space for notes

g. Relevant, easy to read, not too much text, attractive, varied

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 4

1.2 The Classic Formula

Greet the audience

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 5

1.3 How Formal?

[Source: Adapted from Powell, M. (2002) Presenting in English. Boston: Heinle]

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 6

1.4 Engage Your Audience in the First Three Minutes

[Source: Adapted from Powell, M. (2002) Presenting in English. Boston: Heinle]

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 7

1.5 Explain Your Objective

system and ______________ some detailed recommendations regarding its implementation.

the next 6 months.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 8

1.6 Explain Your Structure

…deal with several issues… …by outlining…

 I’ve divided/split my talk into 4 main sections…

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 9

Task 9 Listening to Lectures - Introductions

BME DVD-ROM “Motivation” by Paul Forrester

 Review your checklist of what makes a successful presentation (Task 1).

1. Is he well prepared? For example, is he reading from his notes?

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 10

1.7 Linking the Parts

Well, I’d like to recap... ...to come back to...

I want to introduce a new topic I want to refer to an earlier point

So, moving on to….

I want to give more information I want to finish my talk

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 11

Company Name: TC Elextronics

Company Name: Landex

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 12

2. Using Visuals & Graphics

2.1 Introducing Your Visuals

There are four steps for presenting your visuals:

1. Give a general introduction

2. Highlight important information

…to point out…

One of the most important aspects of this is…

3. Comment on why it is significant

4. Summarise the conclusions or implications

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ENGLISH (BME) PRESESSIONAL 13