Prof.

Elena Orduna
Oral Presentations 1

GIVING PRESENTATIONS
PART ONE: WARM- UP QUESTIONS

In groups, discuss the following questions:

Have you ever given a presentation?
Have you ever been to a formal presentation?
What did you like about it? What didn’t you?
When giving a presentation, what aspects are important regarding…
The contents of your talk (quantity of information, organising,
timing)?
The use of visual aids, that is, what are the pros and cons of using
different types of
equipment?
Your body language and voice, that is, which gestures are acceptable
and which aren’t?
The audience and rapport with them?
The audience’s questions

These are some typical key phrases speakers use when giving a
presentation. Can you correct them?
 Ok, For begin, let we look for the most basic issue.
 Of course, related with that, …
 I’m disagree with your point.
 That’s all I’m having time for on this issue. Let’s moving on to
our second point.
 As you can be seeing in this slide, there are two key features
in relative to…
 Time is moved on, so let’s turn up to our main point

PART TWO: SOME USEFUL HINTS ABOUT PRESENTATIONS.

Many people are nervous about talking in front of an audience, usually

because they are afraid of making a mess of it. Ironically, it is uncontrolled
nerves that are most likely to lead to a poor performance - so building
confidence through preparation and practice is really important.
Giving presentations is one of the skills that employers expect graduates to
have, so you should make the most of any experience you can get at
university. Three main steps:
a. preparing your presentation
b. practising your presentation
c. giving your presentation.

1. PREPARING YOUR PRESENTATION

There are eight stages to preparing a presentation.

1.1. Objectives
 Why are you giving this talk?
 Who will you be talking to? How much do they know about the
subject already?
 What effect do you want your presentation to have?
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1.2. Limitations
 How long have you got? Do you have to follow a certain format?
 Where will you be giving your presentation?
 Can you change the room around to suit your preferences?

1.3. Main points

 Decide on your main points: no more than three points in a 10-
minute talk
 Is there a logical connection between these points?
 What evidence can you produce to support your points and make
your case clear?

1.4 Structure and give coherence to your presentation.

Most presentations are divided into 3 main parts (+ questions):
1 Introducti Function
on
2 Body You tell your audience what your
idea 1 message is going to be.
idea 2
idea 3
3 Conclusio you tell your audience your real
n message.
4 Questions you summarize what your message
was.
(We will give more details of each part further on).

1.5. Beginning
 Briefly introduce yourself
 Check that they can all see and hear you and let know if you are
going to take questions as you proceed or invite discussion at the
end.
 You may want to give an outline of the structure of the talk to guide
the audience.
 You'll need to gain the audience's attention, so think carefully how
you will introduce your topic-for example, you could start with an
anecdote, a question , a contradictory statement..

1.6. Middle
Prepare your talk so you lead the audience through your main points in
a logical and interesting way. It helps if you plan for variety in the
ways you present your case. When appropriate, you could plan to use:
 examples, anecdotes and case histories
 charts and graphs
 handouts (will you issue them at the start? in the middle? at the
end?)
 slides and video clips
 Realia and artefacts which people can pass round.

1.7. End
Summarise what you have said: ‘In this talk we have discussed...' and
make your personal conclusions: ‘It is clear that...' Plan to leave the
audience a parting shot to stimulate their thoughts.

1.8. And then...

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When you have written your presentation, look it over carefully, from
the viewpoint of your intended audience.
 Does it meet the objectives?
 Is the structure as logical as it can be?
 Is the content right for the audience?
 Is it appropriate on time and length?
Then revise the presentation.
1.9. Visuals
Prepare your visuals (PowerPoint slides, Overhead Projector foils, etc).
Make sure they are clear, and that any text is big enough (24 points or
larger).
1.10. Language (we will devote a section to this)

2. PRACTISING YOUR PRESENTATION

Once you have prepared, you need to do five things before you actually give
your presentation.
2.1 Practise
Practise giving your talk on your own:
 get used to the sound of your own voice, ideally in a room of the size
you will be using.
 check how long your talk is.
 when you're happy with it, film yourself and then watch it. Also, try
the presentation out on a friend.

2.2 Visuals
Are your visuals effective? Practise using your visuals:
 talking to the audience, not to the screen
 combining giving your talk with changing the slides.

2.3 Script
Unless you are good at reading stories aloud, it is best not to read from
a script - it can sound very 'wooden' and the fact that you are reading
distances you from your audience. A far better solution is to write key
words, phrases and facts on index cards. Make sure that the writing is
large enough to read at a glance and take care to keep the cards in
sequence.

2.4 Space
Arrive in good time. Spend a few minutes getting familiar with the room
and any audio-visual equipment you'll be using.

2.5 Breathing
When people are nervous, they tend to take quick shallow breaths,
which makes their voice sound weak. This makes them feel even more
nervous. How to overcome this and feel more relaxed?:
1. Breathe in slowly and deeply, concentrating on filling your tummy
with air with each breath
2. Breathe out slowly, getting rid of as much air as you can. Repeat five
times.

3. GIVING YOUR PRESENTATION

There are four things to remember during your presentation:

3.1. Presence
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As you get up to give your presentation, make a conscious effort to stand

tall, take a deep breath and look as if you're going to enjoy being there.

3.2. Eye contact

Make eye contact with people in your audience in a friendly way. People
respond much better when they think you are talking to them. In a small
room, try to make eye contact with each person in the audience; in a larger
hall, make eye contact with different groups in the audience.

3.3. Voice
 Speak slowly and clearly
 Speak loudly enough so everyone can hear
 Remember to breathe slowly and deeply

3.4. Move
You are allowed to move as you give your presentation, but avoid pacing up
and down or fiddling with your hands, spectacles or pen. Keep your hands
out of your pockets and away from your face. It can help add variety and
interest to come to the front of the podium to deliver a telling point. Try to
avoid hiding behind the lectern.

4.- PARTS AND LANGUAGE OF A PRESENTATION

There are some aspects you should consider when planning a

presentation:
1.- Simplicity and Clarity. If you want your audience to understand your
message, your language must be simple and clear. Try to:
- Use short words and short sentences.
- Avoid using jargon, unless you are certain that your audience
understands it.
- Use active verbs instead of passive verbs. Active verbs are much
easier to understand and much more powerful. Consider these two
sentences:
Toyota sold two million cars last year. VS Two million cars were
sold by Toyota last year.
Which is easier to understand? Which is more immediate? Which
is more powerful?

2.- Signposting
When you drive on the roads, you know where you are because there are
signals. When you give a presentation, how can your audience know where
they are? How can they know the structure of your presentation? How can
they know what is coming next? They know because you tell them by
putting up signposts for them, at the beginning and all along the route.
This technique is called 'signposting' (or 'signalling').
During your introduction, you should tell your audience what the structure
of your presentation will be. You might say something like this:

"I'll start by describing the current position in Europe. Then I'll

move on to some of the achievements we've made in Asia. After
that I'll consider the opportunities we see for further expansion
in Africa. Lastly, I'll quickly recap before concluding with some
recommendations."

The audience can now visualize your presentation like this:

Introduction - Welcome
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- Explanation of structure (now)

Body - Europe
- Asia
- Africa
Conclusion - Summing up and
Recommendations.
They will keep this image in his head during the presentation and may even
write it down. And throughout your presentation, you will put up signposts
telling him which point you have reached and where you are going now.
For example, when you finish Europe and want to start Asia, you might say:
"That's all I have to say about Europe. Let's turn now to Asia."
When you have finished Africa and want to sum up, you might say:
"Well, we've looked at the three continents Europe, Asia and Africa.
I'd like to sum up now."
And when you finish summing up and want to give your recommendations,
you might say:
"What does all this mean for us? Well, firstly I recommend..."

4. 1. INTRODUCTION
The introduction is a very important - perhaps the most important -
part of your presentation. This is the first impression that the audience will
have of you. You should concentrate on getting your introduction right.
The following table shows the main parts or functions of a good
introduction and five examples of language for each of these functions.

Function Possible language

1  Good morning, ladies and gentlemen

Welcoming  Good morning, gentlemen
your  Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman
audience  Good afternoon, everybody

2 Introducing  I am going to talk today about...

your subject  The purpose of my presentation is to introduce our
new range of...

3 Outlining  To start with I'll describe the progress made this

your year. Then I'll mention some of the problems we've
structure encountered and how we overcame them. After that
I'll consider the possibilities for further growth next
year. Finally, I'll summarize my presentation (before
concluding with some recommendations).

4 Giving  Do feel free to interrupt me if you have any

instructions questions.
about  I'll try to answer all of your questions after the
questions presentation.
 I plan to keep some time for questions after the
presentation.
4. 2.- BODY
The body is the 'real' presentation. If the introduction was well prepared
and delivered, you will now be 'in control'. You will be relaxed and
confident. The body should be well structured, divided up logically, with
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plenty of carefully spaced visuals. Remember these key points while

delivering the body of your presentation:
 do not hurry and give time on visuals
 be enthusiastic
 maintain eye contact and look friendly
 modulate your voice
 keep to your structure and signpost throughout
 use your notes
 remain polite when dealing with difficult questions
Some useful expressions to signpost the various parts of your
presentation are.
Function Language

Introducing the subject  I'd like to start by... Let's begin

by...
 First of all, I'll... Starting with...
 I'll begin by..

Finishing one subject...  Well, I've told you about... We've

looked at...
 That's all I have to say about... So much
for...

...and starting another  Now we'll move on to... Let me turn

now to...
 Next... Turning to...
 I'd like now to discuss... Let's look now
at...

Analysing a point and  Where does that lead us?

giving  Let's consider this in more detail...
recommendations  What does this mean for ABC?
 Translated into real terms...

Giving an example  For example,... A good example of

this is...
 As an illustration,... To give you an
example,...
 To illustrate this point...

Dealing with questions  We'll be examining this point in more detail

later on...
 I'd like to deal with this question later, if I
may...
 I'll come back to this question later in my
talk...
 Perhaps you'd like to raise this point at the
end...
 I won't comment on this now...

Summarising and  In conclusion,...

concluding  Right, let's sum up, shall we?
 I'd like now to recap...
 Let's summarise briefly what we've looked
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at...
 Finally, let me remind you of some of the
issues we've covered...
 If I can just sum up the main points...

Ordering  Firstly...secondly...thirdly...lastly...
 First of all...then...next...after
that...finally...
 To start with...later...to finish up...

4. 3.- CONCLUSION
The following table shows the main functions of a good conclusion and
gives examples of language for each of these functions. You may need to
modify the language as appropriate.

Function Possible language

1 Summing up  To conclude,...
 In conclusion,...
 Now, to sum up...
 So let me summarise/recap what I've said.
 Finally, may I remind you of some of the main
points we've considered.

2 Giving  In conclusion, my recommendations are...

recommendati  I therefore suggest/propose/recommend the
ons following strategy.

3 Thanking  Many thanks for your attention.

your audience  May I thank you all for being such an attentive
audience.

4 Inviting  Now I'll try to answer any questions you may

questions have.
 Can I answer any questions?
 Are there any questions?
 Do you have any questions?
 Are there any final questions?

4. QUESTIONS
Questions are a good opportunity for you to interact with your
audience. It may be helpful for you to try to predict what questions will be
asked so that you can prepare your response in advance. You may wish to
accept questions at any time during your presentation, or to keep a time for
questions after your presentation. Normally, it's your decision, and you
should make it clear during the introduction. Be polite with all questioners,
even if they ask difficult questions. They are showing interest in what you
have to say and they deserve attention. Sometimes you can reformulate a
question. Or answer the question with another question. Or even ask for
comment from the rest of the audience.
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SOME CRITERA USED WHEN EVALUATING AN ORAL

PRESENTATION.
 Task accomplishment (appropriate subject and in time)
 Effort & preparation (preparation, planning, visuals…)
 Quality (Style, structure, clarity, coherence)
 Language fluency: (errors and comprehensibility)
 Effective communication
 Listening and attitude to questions
 Pronunciation and voice
 Non-verbal communication
If relevant, as in a language course:
 Target grammar
 Target vocabulary, idioms…
 Specific structures

PART THREE: OVER TO YOU.

You will have to prepare a formal presentation to be delivered in-
class. Think about a topic that could interest our group on any
issue related to the English language, and prepare a 10 minute
presentation using the tips and guidelines described in this
handout.