1、- 中国最先进的大学生互动求职平台 1 / 13Presentations and Public Speaking in EnglishA presentation is a formal talk to one or more people that “presents“ ideas orinformation in a clear, structured way.People are sometimes afraid of speaking in public, but if you follow a few simple rules, giving a presentation is
2、actually very easy. This tutorial guides you through each stage of giving a presentation in English, from the initial preparation to the conclusion and questions and answers. This tutorial is itself set out like a mini-presentation.PreparationCan you name the 3 most important things when giving anyp
3、resentation?Number 1 is . . . PreparationNumber 2 is . . . Preparation!Number 3 is . . . Preparation!Preparation is everything!With good preparation and planning you will be totallyconfident and less nervous. And your audience will feel yourconfidence. Your audience, too, will be confident. They wil
4、l beconfident in you. And this will give you control. Control of youraudience and of your presentation. With control, you will be incharge and your audience will listen positively to yourmessage.ObjectiveBefore you start to prepare a presentation, you should askyourself: “Why am I making this presen
5、tation?“ Do you need toinform, to persuade, to train or to sell? Your objective should beclear in your mind. If it is not clear in your mind, it cannotpossibly be clear to your audience.Audience“Who am I making this presentation to?“ Sometimes this will beobvious, but not always. You should try to i
6、nform yourself. Howmany people? Who are they? Business people? Professionalpeople? Political people? Experts or non-experts? Will it be asmall, intimate group of 4 colleagues or a large gathering of 400competitors? How much do they know already and what will theyexpect from you?Venue“Where am I maki
7、ng this presentation?“ In a small hotelmeeting-room or a large conference hall? What facilities andequipment are available? What are the seating arrangements?- 中国最先进的大学生互动求职平台 2 / 13Time and length“When am I making this presentation and how long will it be?“Will it be 5 minutes or 1 hour? Just befo
8、re lunch, when youraudience will be hungry, or just after lunch, when your audiencewill be sleepy?MethodHow should I make this presentation?“ What approach shouldyou use? Formal or informal? Lots of visual aids or only a few?Will you include some anecdotes and humour for variety?Content“What should
9、I say?“ Now you must decide exactly what youwant to say. First, you should brainstorm your ideas. You will nodoubt discover many ideas that you want to include in yourpresentation. But you must be selective. You should include onlyinformation that is relevant to your audience and your objective.You
10、should exclude all other ideas. You also need to create a titlefor your presentation (if you have not already been given a title).The title will help you to focus on the subject. And you willprepare your visual aids, if you have decided to use them. Butremember, in general, less is better than more
11、(a little is betterthan a lot). You can always give additional information duringthe questions after the presentation.StructureA well organised presentation with a clear structure is easier forthe audience to follow. It is therefore more effective. You shouldorganise the points you wish to make in a
12、 logical order. Mostpresentations are organised in three parts, followed byquestions:Beginning Short introduction welcome your audience introduce your subject explain the structure of yourpresentation explain rules for questionsMiddle Body ofpresentation present the subject itselfEnd Short conclusio
13、n summarise your presentation thank your audience invite questionsQuestions and A- 中国最先进的大学生互动求职平台 3 / 13NotesWhen you give your presentation, you should be - or appear tobe - as spontaneous as possible. You should not read yourpresentation! You should be so familiar with your subject andwith the i
14、nformation that you want to deliver that you do notneed to read a text. Reading a text is boring! Reading a text willmake your audience go to sleep! So if you dont have a text toread, how can you remember to say everything you need to say?With notes. You can create your own system of notes. Somepeop
15、le make notes on small, A6 cards. Some people write downjust the title of each section of their talk. Some people writedown keywords to remind them. The notes will give youconfidence, but because you will have prepared yourpresentation fully, you may not even need them!RehearsalRehearsal is a vital
16、part of preparation. You should leavetime to practise your presentation two or three times. This willhave the following benefits: you will become more familiar with what you want to say you will identify weaknesses in your presentation you will be able to practise difficult pronunciations you will b
17、e able to check the time that your presentationtakes and make any necessary modificationsSo prepare, prepare, prepare! Prepare everything: words,visual aids, timing, equipment. Rehearse your presentationseveral times and time it. Is it the right length? Are youcompletely familiar with all your illus
18、trations? Are they in theright order? Do you know who the audience is? How manypeople? How will you answer difficult questions? Do you knowthe room? Are you confident about the equipment? When youhave answered all these questions, you will be a confident,enthusiastic presenter ready to communicate t
19、he subject of yourpresentation to an eager audience.EquipmentEasily your most important piece ofequipment is.YOU! Make sure yourein full working order, and check yourpersonal presentation carefully - if youdont, your audience will!The overhead projector (OHP) displaysoverhead transparencies (OHTs or
20、 OHPTs). I- 中国最先进的大学生互动求职平台 4 / 13has several advantages over the 35mm slideprojector: it can be used in daylight the user can face the audience the user can write or draw directly on thetransparency while in useThe whiteboard (more rarely blackboard orgreenboard) is a useful device for spontaneous
21、 writing - asin brainstorming, for example. For prepared material, theOHP might be more suitable.The duster is used for cleaning the whiteboard. It is essentialthat the duster be clean to start with. You may consider carryingyour own duster just in case.Markers are used for writing on the whiteboard
22、 (delible -you can remove the ink) or flipchart (indelible - you cannotremove the ink). They are usually available in blue, red,black and green. Again, its a good idea to carry a spare set of markers in caseyou are given some used ones which do not write well.“A good workman never blames his tools.“
23、The flipchart consists of several leaves of paper that you flip orturn over. Some people prefer the flipchart to the whiteboard, butits use is limited to smaller presentations.The Slide projector - which must beused in a darkened room - adds a certaindrama. Some slide projectors can besynchronised w
24、ith audio for audio-visual(AV) presentations. These projectors are typically used for larger presentations.The majority take 35mm slides or transparencies (as seen here), but projectorsfor 6x6cm slides are also available.Transparencies are projected by an overhead projector or a slideprojector onto
25、a screen - in this case a folding screen which canbe packed up and transported.The notebook computer is increasingly being used to displaygraphics during presentations. It is often used in conjunctionwith an overhead projector, which actually projects the imagefrom the computer screen onto the wall
26、screen.Handouts are any documents or samples that you hand out ordistribute to your audience. Note that it is not usually a good ideato distribute handouts before your presentation. The audience willread the handouts instead of listening to you.D- 中国最先进的大学生互动求职平台 5 / 13Delivery refers to the way in
27、 which you actually deliver orperform or give your presentation. Delivery is a vital aspect of allpresentations. Delivery is at least as important as content,especially in a multi-cultural context.NervesMost speakers are a little nervous at the beginning of apresentation. So it is normal if you are
28、nervous. The answer is topay special attention to the beginning of your presentation.First impressions count. This is the time when you establisha rapport with your audience. During this time, try to speakslowly and calmly. You should perhaps learn your introductionby heart. After a few moments, you
29、 will relax and gainconfidence.Audience RapportYou need to build a warm and friendly relationship with youraudience. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you are enthusiasticyour audience will be enthusiastic too. And be careful toestablish eye contact with each member of your audience. Eachperson should fe
30、el that you are speaking directly to himor her. This means that you must look at each person in turn- in as natural a way as possible. This will also give you theopportunity to detect signs of boredom, disinterest or evendisagreement, allowing you to modify your presentation asappropriate.Your objec
31、tive is to communicate!Body LanguageWhat you do not say is at least as important as what you do say.Your body is speaking to your audience even before you openyour mouth. Your clothes, your walk, your glasses, your haircut,your expression - it is from these that your audience forms itsfirst impressi
32、on as you enter the room. Generally speaking, it isbetter to stand rather than sit when making a presentation. Beaware of and avoid any repetitive and irritating gestures. Beaware, too, that the movement of your body is one of yourmethods of control. When you move to or from the whiteboard,for examp
33、le, you can move fast or slowly, raising or reducing thedynamism within the audience. You can stand very still whiletalking or you can stroll from side to side. What effect do youthink these two different approaches would have on anaudience?Cultural C- 中国最先进的大学生互动求职平台 6 / 13Because English is so wi
34、dely used around the world, it is quitepossible that many members of your audience will not be nativeEnglish-speakers. In other words, they will not have anAnglo-Saxon culture. Even within the Anglo-Saxon world, thereare many differences in culture. If we hypothetically imagine aGerman working for a
35、n Israeli company making a presentationin English to a Japanese audience in Korea, we can see that thereare even more possibilities for cultural misunderstanding. Youshould try to learn about any particular cultural matters thatmay affect your audience. This is one reason why preparation foryour pre
36、sentation is so important. Cultural differences can alsobe seen in body language, which we have just discussed. To aLatin from Southern France or Italy, a presenter who uses hishands and arms when speaking may seem dynamic and friendly.To an Englishman, the same presenter may seem unsure of hiswords
37、 and lacking in self-confidence.Voice qualityIt is, of course, important that your audience be able to hear youclearly throughout your presentation. Remember that if you turnaway from your audience, for example towards the whiteboard,you need to speak a little more loudly. In general, you shouldtry
38、to vary your voice. Your voice will then be more interestingfor your audience. You can vary your voice in at least threeways: speed: you can speak at normal speed, you can speakfaster, you can speak more slowly - and you can stopcompletely! You can pause. This is a very good techniquefor gaining you
39、r audiences attention. intonation: you can change the pitch of your voice. Youcan speak in a high tone. You can speak in a low tone. volume: you can speak at normal volume, you can speakloudly and you can speak quietly. Lowering your voice andspeaking quietly can again attract your audiences interes
40、t.The important point is not to speak in the same, flat,monotonous voice throughout your presentation - this is thevoice that hypnotists use to put their patients into trance!Visual aidsOf all the information that enters our brains, the vast majority ofit enters through the eyes. 80% of what your au
41、dience learnduring your presentation is learned visually (what they see) andonly 20% is learned aurally (what they hear). The significance ofthis is obvious:- 中国最先进的大学生互动求职平台 7 / 13 visual aids are an extremely effective means ofcommunication non-native English speakers need not worry so muchabout
42、spoken English - they can rely more heavily on visualaidsIt is well worth spending time in the creation of good visual aids.But it is equally important not to overload your audiences brains.Keep the information on each visual aid to a minimum - and giveyour audience time to look at and absorb this i
43、nformation.Remember, your audience has never seen these visual aidsbefore. They need time to study and to understand them.Without understanding there is no communication.Apart from photographs and drawings, some of the most usefulvisual aids are charts and graphs, like the 3-dimensional onesshown he
44、re:Piecharts are circular in shape (like a pie).Barcharts can be vertical (as here) or horizontal.Graphs can rise and fall.Audience ReactionRemain calm and polite if you receive difficult or even hostilequestions during your presentation. If you receive particularlyawkward questions, you might sugge
45、st that the questioners asktheir questions after your presentation.LanguageSay what you are going to say,Simplicity and ClarityIf you want your audience to understand your message, yourlanguage must be simple and clear.Use short words and short sentences.Do not use jargon, unless you are certain tha
46、t your audienceunderstands it.In general, talk about concrete facts rather than abstract ideas.Use active verbs instead of passive verbs. Active verbs are mucheasier to understand. They are much more powerful. Considerthese two sentences, which say the same thing:1. Toyota sold two million cars last
47、 year.2. Two million cars were sold by Toyota last year.Which is easier to understand? Which is more immediate? Whichis more powerful? N1 is active and N2 is passive.S- 中国最先进的大学生互动求职平台 8 / 13When you drive on the roads, you know whereyou are on those roads. Each road has a name ornumber. Each town
48、has a name. And each house has a number.If you are at house N 100, you can go back to N 50 or forwardto N 150. You can look at the signposts for directions. And youcan look at your atlas for the structure of the roads in detail. Inother words, it is easy to navigate the roads. You cannot get lost.But when you give a presentation, how can
