Tips for a successful presentation

1. Don’t try to learn the topic by heart. If you do, you’ll sound like a robot playing back a cassette. This affects your readiness to be able to respond naturally to the audience’s questions. The task is not a memory test. You won’t be able to respond naturally to questions, and you’ll probably have an expression of panic on your face when you are asked a question for which you have no pre-arranged answer.

2. Try to avoid sounds such as ‘Eeerrrmmm’ or ‘Weeelllll’ between sentences. It gives the impression that you are not sufficiently prepared, and have no clear focus. On the other hand, as mentioned above, avoid speaking like a cassette on fast forward. Find the balance between the two extremes. But you can – and should – take notes with you and use them for guidance during your presentation / speech (but don’t simply read them). Try to look audience direct in the eye when speaking.

3 If your topic has a lot of special terms, ask a teacher to help with translation or how to avoid having to use them.

4. If you don’t understand a question, avoid replying with ‘What?’, or making ugly sounds such as ‘Eh?’, ‘Ugh?’, ‘Aah?’, or ‘Чего?’ Try to remember phrases such as ‘I'm sorry, I didn’t understand the question. Could you repeat it please?’ Or, for an individual word, try ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what this word means, could you explain it please?’ Use the appropriate language!

5. If someone from the audience asks you a question about your topic, don’t be afraid to take the time to answer it as soon as asked. If you can do this, it shows that you don’t have a set text you are afraid of diverging from.

6. Don’t use too much language which you don’t use in your normal English speech. If you do this, it will become clear when the audience asks you questions during the free conversation later.

7. Use full answers when asked a question. Sometimes this doesn’t sound very natural, and we don’t often do this when speaking naturally. However, answering a question like ‘Would you have done the same if you had been in her place?’ with either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ doesn’t give the audience any indication that you are competent with the target structure of the question (third conditional). Therefore, pay attention to the question, and answer fully with the required structure (for example: ‘I don't know what I would have done if I had been in her place. Maybe I would have...’).

8. Use visual aids to help the audience understand you better.

6. Comment on the following statements. In your opinion are they: a) essential b) helpful c) unhelpful for a successful presentation?

1. Tell a joke at the beginning.

2. Speak more slowly than you normally do.

3. Smile a lot.

4. Involve the audience.

5. Invite questions during the presentation.

6. Always keep to your plan.

7. Move around your presentation.

8. Use a lot of gestures to emphasise important points.

9. Read out your presentation from a script.

10. Stand up when giving your presentation.

7. Dos and don’ts related to timing.

1. Start on time. Don’t wait for latecomers.

2. Plan how long you’re going to spend on each point and keep to these timings.

3. Don’t labour a particular point (spend too long on something).

4. Don’t digress (talk about things that have nothing to do with the subject), unless you have a particular purpose in mind.

5. Finish on time. Don’t run over. It looks bad if you don’t have time to finish all your points and answers.

8. Read and remember dos and don’ts related to body language. Do you have any personal stories to comment upon each point?

1. Make eye contact: look at each person in the audience for about a second, before moving on to the next person. Don’t concentrate on just one or two people.

2. Don’t speak to the equipment or the screen: face the audience at all times.

3. Smiling is fine at appropriate moments, but not too much.

4. Use gestures to emphasize key points.

5. Stay more or less in one place: don’t move around too much.

6. Avoid mannerism (ways of moving and speaking which you do repeatedly without realizing).

9. Presentation techniques. Which of the points below are right for a good presentation? Read and mark each one either T (true) or F (false).

1. When preparing a presentation, try to find out what your audience already knows.

2. Everyone in your audience should be at the same language level.

3. Visit the room in which you are presenting before you actually make the presentation.

4. The first stage of your presentation is when you should get the full attention of your audience.

5. If you memorise the introduction, you will be more confident when making a presentation.

6. The whole text of your presentation should be written on postcards.

7. If you use an overhead projector, you should remember to turn it off when you don’t need it.

8. Remember that the content of the presentation is much more important than your presenting style.

Read what an expert says about presentations and check your ideas in the exercise above. Practice reading this text aloud as though you deliver a lecture to some colleagues. Mark all stresses and intonation.

The key is preparation. So the first step is to find out who you’re going to be presenting to. Now you need to do this on two levels. Firstly, how much does the audience know about the subject? Are they experts or do they know a little? Secondly, are you presenting to a group from the same or from different countries?

And adjust your language so that everybody can understand. If possible, visit the room where you’ll be giving the presentation beforehand and organize it precisely to your own requirements. Check you’re familiar with the equipment, re-arrange the seating, and try to make yourself feel comfortable and relaxed in it. So once you know who you’re presenting to and where, you’re ready to start preparing what exactly you are going to say. OK? So stage one is the opening – that all-important first few moments that can make or break the presentation. Then stage two, a brief introduction about the subject of your talk. Then three, the main body of the presentation. And four, the conclusion, which should include a summary of your talk and your final opinion or recommendations. Finally, the question and answer session.

Now the most important stage is the opening minute or so and I’d suggest that people memorise it exactly as if they were actors. Write down the opening with all the pauses and the stress clearly marked, and then record it, listen to it, and practise it again and again. This is so important because if it’s properly done, you not only get the audience’s attention immediately, but you feel confident during what can be the most frightening part of the presentation. After that, you can start using your notes. So the first step is to write those notes. Write the whole presentation out just like an essay. Then select the key points. But read the full version over and over again until it’s imprinted on your mind. The next step is to buy some small white postcards and write no more than one or two of the key points or key phrases onto each one.

Now, visual aids, like overhead transparencies, are very important of course. But most people put far too much information on them. Don’t – because it’s difficult to read and it bores the audience. Remember to turn off the projector when you’re not actually using it. And don’t talk to the machine, or the transparency, which again lots of people do. Face the audience at all times. Finally remember that it’s not just what you say. How you say it is just as important. Quite unlike meetings and negotiations, a good presentation is very much a performance.

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