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As you listen, see if you can hear some of the tips above.
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14. Check your understanding by reading the script below:
Male: With a presentation, I think the aims and the structure need to be clear.
Male 2: I like to wait until the end of the presentation before people feed back on what I’ve just said, rather than interruptions throughout the presentation.
Male 3: I think of a presentation … If you’re standing up in front of a group of people, you need to make sure you’re entertaining, make sure you’re engaging, make sure you’re interesting, make sure you’re relevant, make sure you’re talking to the right audience.
Female: Don’t make it too long, otherwise people fall asleep! Be short, precise and to the point, definitely.
Finish the following sentences with the correct phrase.
1. The aims and the structure should be ___________.
A concise
B clear
C entertaining
D long
2. It’s a good idea to wait until the end for people to ________________.
A feedback
B feed back
C feed
D fed up
3. What word describes a presentation that is about a topic the audience is interested in?
A relevant
B concise
C precise
D entertaining
4. What word or phrase means to be ‘relevant’ and ‘concise’?
A to be up to a point
B to be after a point
C to be to the point
D to be off the point
Answers
1. The aims and the structure should be ___________.
A concise. Wrong –‘concise’ means ‘as short as possible’. The presentation should be concise – but how about the aims?
B clear. Correct – this helps your audience to follow the presentation
C entertaining. Wrong – a presentation can be entertaining, but its aims and structure shouldn’t be
D long. Wrong – presentations should not have lots of aims or a complicated structure
2. It’s a good idea to wait until the end for people to ________________.
A feedback. Wrong – this spelling is correct for the noun usage, but it is a phrasal verb
B feed back. Correct – this tactic prevents lots of interruptions
C feed. Wrong – they can eat before the presentation too!
D fed up. Wrong – if someone is ‘fed up’ they are tired and annoyed about something
3. What word describes a presentation that is about a topic the audience is interested in?
A relevant. Correct – this word describes something that is about something else
B concise. Wrong – ‘concise’ means ‘as short as possible’
C precise. Wrong – ‘precise’ means ‘exact and correct’
D entertaining. Wrong – a presentation can be funny and entertaining but about a topic that isn’t interesting or useful
4. What word or phrase means to be ‘relevant’ and ‘concise’?
A to be up to a point. Wrong – ‘up to a point’ means ‘to a degree’
B to be after a point. Wrong – ‘after a point’ means ‘after a while’
C to be to the point. Correct – if a presentation is ‘to the point’ it doesn’t waste time
D to be off the point. Wrong – this means ‘irrelevant’ – so the presentation is off-topic!
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Read the following article and say what new you’ve learnt.
A good way to make your presentations effective, interesting and easy to follow is to use signpost language. 'Signpost language' is the words and phrases that people use to tell the listener what has just happened, and what is going to happen next.
In other words, signpost language guides the listener through the presentation. A good presenter will usually use a lot of signpost language, so it is a good idea to learn a few of the common phrases, even if you spend more time listening to presentations than giving them! Signpost language is usually fairly informal, so it is relatively easy to understand.
Signposting
| Section of presentation | Signpost language |
| Introducing the topic | The subject/topic of my talk is... I'm going to talk about... My topic today is… My talk is concerned with... |
| Overview (outline of presentation) | I’m going to divide this talk into four parts. There are a number of points I'd like to make. Basically/ Briefly, I have three things to say. I'd like to begin/start by... Let's begin/start by... First of all, I'll... … and then I’ll go on to … Then/ Next... Finally/ Lastly... |
| Finishing a section | That's all I have to say about... We've looked at... So much for... |
| Starting a new section | Moving on now to … Turning to... Let’s turn now to … The next issue/topic/area I’d like to focus on … I’d like to expand/elaborate on … Now we'll move on to... I'd like now to discuss... Let's look now at... |
| Analysing a point and giving recommendations | Where does that lead us? Let's consider this in more detail... What does this mean for...? Translated into real terms... Why is this important? The significance of this is... |
| Giving examples | For example,... A good example of this is... As an illustration,... To give you an example,... To illustrate this point... |
| Summarising and concluding | To sum up... To summarise... Right, let's sum up, shall we? Let's summarise briefly what we've looked at... If I can just sum up the main points... Finally, let me remind you of some of the issues we've covered... To conclude... In conclusion... In short... So, to remind you of what I’ve covered in this talk, … Unfortunately, I seem to have run out of time, so I’ll conclude very briefly by saying that ….. I'd like now to recap... |
| Paraphrasing and clarifying | Simply put... In other words....... So what I’m saying is.... To put it more simply.... To put it another way.... |
| Invitation to discuss / ask questions | I’m happy to answer any queries/ questions. Does anyone have any questions or comments? Please feel free to ask questions. If you would like me to elaborate on any point, please ask. Would you like to ask any questions? Any questions? |
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