English for Master’s Course = Английский для магистрантов. Учебное пособие

UNIT V. PRESENTATION SKILLS AND PUBLIC

SPEAKING

If all my talents and powers were to be taken from me by some inscrutable Providence, and I had my choice of keeping but one, I would unhesitatingly ask to be allowed to keep the Power of speaking, for through it, I would quickly recover all the rest.

Daniel Webster, a famous American orator

Vocabulary and Word Study

Task 1. Read and analyze the words. Make sure you know their meanings:

Task 2. Match the following words with their definitions:

Task 3. Complete the sentences with the words from the box (in the correct form):

unhesitatingly, to recover, to advocate, appropriate,

to emphasize, to interweave, to enhance, to elicit a response, adept, lateral

1.Throughout the week leading up to the match, the team ………

the upset was a learning experience for the Americans.

2.The Bidwell family is ……… in the history of Connecticut

3.What made you want to look up ………?

4.They ……… a return to traditional teaching methods.

5.The schools that use race in admissions have become ………

at designing their programs to be legally airtight.

6.The image has been digitally ……… to show more detail.

7.She ……… accepted their offer.

8.The movie is perfectly ……… to people of all ages.

9.Share prices will be down until the economy ……… .

10.It is difficult to explain his failure ……… from her.

PRE-READING

Task 4. Answer the questions:

1.Have you ever attended a successful presentation? What made it linger in your memory?

2.Do you sometimes have to speak in public? On what occasions?

3.Have you ever given a presentation?

4.What type was it?

5.What was difficult for you?

6.In your experience, what makes a good/bad presentation?

Reading and Speaking

Task 5. Read the text about making an effective presentation and find the English for:

•пояснить цель выступления и выявить реакцию;

•«разжечь аппетит» (вызвать интерес к чему-либо);

•завладеть вниманием аудитории и удерживать его;

•слишком увлечься чем-либо;

•завоевать доверие;

•повторять основную мысль;

•броское заглавие/название;

•сообщить что-то слушателям (2 variants).

MAKING EFFECTIVE PRESENTATIONS

Clarifying Objectives

Before you prepare for a presentation, it is important that you think about your objectives. What do you want to communicate to your audience? Decide what you want to achieve:

•inform – you are providing information for use in decision making, but aren’t necessarily advocating a course of action

•request for a specific action by the receiver

•persuade – to reinforce or change a receiver’s belief about a topic and, possibly, act on the belief

•build relationships – some messages you send may have the simple goal of building good-will between you and the receiver

Preparation

A successful presentation needs careful background research. Try to allocate reasonable time for that, and explore as many sources as possible, from press cuttings to the internet. It is recommended that one should start by reviewing one of the leading books on the subject of presentation, and look at its bibliography, which may provide a large amount of relevant reference material. But do not rely on dusty old books – explore new sources on the internet to glean the latest information and to enliven your presentation.

Once you have completed all your research, you are ready to start writing for speech bearing in mind the difference between spoken and written language. Use simple, direct sentences and the pronouns “you” and “I”. Do use active verbs. Sprinkle your speech liberally with adjectives.

Do not begin a sentence with a subordinate clause or with any statement that could be put in parentheses. Do not use jargon or inappropriate language.

Structuring Your Presentation

There are different ways in which you can structure your 3-4 main points. You may introduce them separately, either one after the other in order of importance, or chronologically, or in any other sequence that makes sense. If you want to emphasise one particular point, present it first. Alternatively, you can interweave your points to highlight their equal significance.

Most presentations start with a brief introduction and end with a brief conclusion. The introduction is used to welcome your

audience, introduce your topic/ subject, outline the structure of your talk, and provide guidelines on questions. Plan an effective opening, use a joke or an anecdote to break the ice, remember, though, that the audience is not at its most alert at the very beginning of your speech, so save your strongest point for a few minutes into the presentation.

It is important that you should incorporate clear signposts into your talk, plan a logical flow of ideas and themes to help the audience follow your presentation easily. Introduce new subjects/ topics/ ideas by making clear links between the old and new ones. Remember to give the audience clear signposts at the beginning and end of each stage of your presentation. Recapping information is an effective way of reinforcing the main ideas of your presentation. You should build some repetition into the framework of your talk, sum up each point before introducing a new one. However, simply repeating the information you have already delivered in the main body of your speech is not enough. Use different wording to keep the ideas sounding fresh, yet familiar.

A strong ending to your presentation is as important as an effective beginning. You should alert your listeners to the fact that you are about to finish your presentation and summarize the main points. They will be given the opportunity to catch up on any points they may have missed during your speech.

Provide relevant examples to reinforce your main points. Finally, use items of particular interest or appeal, which are not essential but will enhance audience enjoyment of your presentation, to add humour and topicality to your speech.

Delivery

The general tone and style of your presentation can reinforce the purpose of your speech. If you want to pass on information then you need to take a logically consistent, well-structured approach to your subject matter. If you want to inspire the audience, keep the content of your speech positive and pitched at a level at which they can respond personally and emotionally. By structuring your speech in certain ways, you can elicit the response you want from the audience. For example, if you are providing your audience with new information, you may want them to ask questions at the end of your speech.

Whet their appetites for the subject by not telling them everything they need to know immediately, but encouraging

them to be inquisitive. Each successful presentation has three essential objectives: the three Es – to educate, to entertain, to explain.

The main objective of making a presentation is to relay informationtoyouraudienceandnothingismorelikelytocapture and hold their attention than your enthusiasm for the subject. Do not get too carried away with your presentation – plan to lead your audience with your enthusiasm rather than overwhelm them with it. Authoritative knowledge usually speaks for itself, so there is no need for you to drop names or academic references if you really know your subject. You will gain credibility if you handle questions adeptly, so be well-informed and well-pre- pared.

Do you know that every adult audience has a limited attention span of about 45 minutes? In that, time, they will absorb about a third of what you said, and a maximum of seven concepts. Limit yourself to three or four main points, and emphasize them at the beginning of your speech, in the middle, and again at the end to reiterate your message. Try to find a catchy title that sums up your speech, but avoid being too clever or too obscure. “The Role of TQM in BPR” is fine for managers in your company who know that you are intending to talk about the concepts of total quality management and business process re-engineering, but it is no use making your title so cryptic that you confuse even the most informed audiences.

Think laterally when structuring your speech. Choose familiar images to support your ideas. Look outside your original field of research for analogies that illustrate points vividly. People process information in many ways. Some learn visually, others learn by listening, and the kinesthetic types prefer to learn through movement. It’s best to provide something for everyone. Visual learners do not learn from bullet points alone; they learn from pictures, graphs, and images. Auditory learners do not learn from listening to sound effects of your PowerPoint presentation. Instead, they learn from listening to an engaging speaker whose voice is powerful and who captivates their curiosity. And, kinesthetic learners do not learn from the movement of words on a slide. They like to be involved and participate.

So invite audience participation. Some might be afraid that they have nothing important to contribute or that they will appear foolish in front of others. They may also be disinterested in what’s going on; they may feel they don’t have a “stake” in the

outcome. While there is no one solution to the problem, there are several things that can be done to enhance communication. Start by changing “Are there any questions?” to “What questions do you have?” You just might get them.

Leaving an Impression

It is the final impression that you leave in the minds of your audience that lingers the longest, so make sure that it is a good one. Before delivering the presentation, spend time working on the final sentences of it so that you can deliver them perfectly. Combine pauses, intonation, and verbal devices such as alliteration in your summary to create a memorable “package” for the audience to take away with them. In this way, your message will get across – and your reputation as a speaker will be enhanced.

Task 6:

a) Read text and mark the types of presentations you have given or attended:

TYPES OF PRESENTATION

Melanie Kray is an expert in giving presentations. Here, she gives some examples of different presentations and some brief reasons why they might be used:

•press conference: two CEOs (chief executives officers) telling journalists (newspaper writers) why their two companies have merged (two companies become one).

•briefing: a senior police officer gives information to other officers about a police operation they are about to undertake.

•demonstration: the head of research and development shows non-technical colleagues how a new machine works.

•product launch: a car company announces a new model.

•lecture: a university professor communicates information about economics to 300 students in a class.

•talk: a member of a stamp-collecting club tells other members about 19th century British stamps.

•seminar: a financial adviser gives advice about investments to a small group of eight people.

•workshop: a yoga expert tells people how to improve their breathing techniques and gets them to practice.

b) Decide which of the alternatives (A–F) each speaker is talking about. You may have to use an alternative more than once:

7.‘This is our new range of laptops. They will go on sale throughout Europe from August.’

c)Match the presentation types in to the things (1–8) that people say in them:

1.As you can see, this prototype is far in advance of anything we’ve done before.

2.Here are some typical patterns for demand and supply in the widget industry.

3.I’m going to give each group a series of problems faced by an imaginary company, and I want you to suggest solutions.

4.Now is the right time to get out of company shares and invest in property.

5.The combined resources of our two organizations will allow us to achieve great things.

6.The first postage stamp in the world was the Penny Black in 1840.

7.The parachutists will come in at 08:30 and land in two waves, here and here.

8.The X300 has the most advanced features of any car in its class.

Task 7:

a) Read the text and choose three most important tips from your point of view:

DOS AND DON’TS: PREPARATION

Here are some tips for a stand-up presentation (one person standing in front of an audience talking).

A.Find out about the audience: how many people there will be, who they are, why they will be there, and how much they know about the subject.

B.Find out about the venue and the facilities: the room, the seating plan, the equipment, etc.

C.Plan the content and structure of the presentation, but don’t write the complete text of the presentation.

D.Write notes on sheets of paper not on cards.

E.Try to memorize the first five sentences of your talk.

F.Prepare visual aids: pictures, diagrams, etc.

G.Rehearse your presentation (practice again and again before you give the presentation it so that and you don’t mispronounce words and become very familiar with the topic) in front of friends or colleagues.

H.Introduce yourself and your subject: My name’s AnneMarie Duval and I work for Gem Consultants. My talk is called ‘Consultancy Skills for the 21st Century’.

I.Outline what you’re going to talk about: describe the different sections of your talk: There are three main skill areas I want to talk about today.

J.Say whether people should ask questions during the talk, or at the end: If you have any questions, I’ll be very happy to answer them at the end of the session.

b)Match (1–10) to a piece of advice given above (a– j):

1.If you drop the cards on the floor you’re in trouble.

2.It could sound monotonous and boring if you speak from a complete, prepared text.

3.It will help you adjust the content of your talk so that it is suitable, for example not too easy or difficult.

4.It will help you to keep control, and avoid people interrupting if you don’t want them to.

5.It will help your audience follow the logic of what you’re going to say.

6.It will make you feel more at ease at the beginning, when you may be nervous.

7.It will reassure people that they are in the right place, and provide a focus for the beginning of your talk.

8.They add visual interest, provide you with support and help the audience follow you.

9.You can ask for changes in the seating plan if necessary.

10.They will be able to tell you if anything is unclear before the presentation.

Task 8:

a) Look through the presentation structure and read the text:

PRESENTATION STRUCTURE

1.Introduce yourself

2.Give the topic and length of presentation

3.Explain how the presentation is organized

I. First topic X.

II. Then topic Y.

III. Finally topic Z.

IV. Tell audience when to ask questions.

4.Do it

I. Talk about topic X. II. Summarize topic X. III. Introduce topic Y.

IV. Talk about topic Y, etc.

5.Summarize the main points of the whole presentation

6.Conclude and ask for questions

Good morning. I’d like to begin by introducing myself. My name is Tim Jackson and I’m the Creative Director of St Matthew’s Advertising Agency.

I’m going to talk for about 30 minutes about how we can boost your sales figures with a new up-to-date dynamic ad campaign.

In the first part of my talk, I will focus on the trends in TV advertising over the last five years. I will then examine why some of these ads have been more successful than others and how this relates to you. Finally, I will present our recommendations. If you have any questions, please save them for the end when I’ll be happy to discuss our ideas with you.

As you can see from my slide the least persuasive types of ads last year were those that used Company Directors or famous

people to endorse products. This leads me to the most important part of my talk, our recommendations and the kind of advertising campaign we think will bring you significant results.

So let’s go over the most important points I would like you to remember from my talk today. For an effective ad campaign you need to be original and to entertain...

Well, that brings me to the end of my talk. Thank you very much for listening.

Now does anyone have any questions?

b) Fill in the gaps in the sentences below:

1.Begin:

Let me ……… myself. I’m Tim Jackson and I’m...

2.Introduce topic:

I’m ……… about how we can boost your sales figures.

3.Explain organization of talk:

In ………, I will focus on the trends in TV advertising... Finally, ……… our recommendations. If you ………, please save them for the end.

4.Refer to visual aids:

As ……… the least persuasive types of ads last year...

5.Move on to a new topic:

...endorse products. This ……… to the most important part of my talk, our recommendations.

6.Recap (summarize):

So ……… the most important points I would like you to remember from my talk today...

7.Wrap up (conclude):

Well, that ……… of my talk. ……… for listening. Now ………

questions?

Task 9. Choose A, B or C and fill in the blanks:

‘I am very worried about next week. I am doing a (1) ……… presentation about our new advertising campaign. There will be about 30 people in the (2) ………, mainly regional sales managers. The (3) ……… is a big hotel in London. They have excellent

(4)……… so I don’t have to worry about that. I’ve prepared the

(5)……… of my talk but I’m still working on my visual (6) ………

I’ve tried to (7) ……… the main parts of my talk so I won’t have to read from my notes. On Friday, I’m going to (8) ……… the whole thing in front of a few friends from the department.’