Organization

The final part of the introduction deals with the organization of the talk: how long it will last, whether there will be handouts, and how questions will be handled.

Timing

My presentation will take about 20 minutes.

It should take about 30 minutes to cover these issues.

Handouts

Does everybody have a handout / report? Please take one, and pass them on.

Don’t worry about taking notes. I’ve put all the important statistics on a handout for you.

I’ll be handing out copies of the PowerPoint slides at the end of my talk.

I’ll e-mail the PowerPoint presentation to you.

Questions

There will be time for questions after my presentation.

If you have any questions, feel free to interrupt me at any time,

Feel free to ask questions at any time during my talk.

Getting the Audience’s Attention

Experts say that the first few minutes of a presentation are the most important. If you are able to get the audience’s attention quickly, they will be interested in what you have to say. Here are a few techniques you can use to start your talk.

Ask a rhetorical question

Is market research important for brand development?

Do we really need quality assurance?

Start with an interesting fact

According to an article I read recently, central banks are now buying euros instead of dollars.

Did you know that fast food consumption has increased by 6oo% in Europe since 2008?

Tell them a story or anecdote

I remember when I attended a meeting in Paris. …

At a conference in Madrid, I was once asked the following question:..

Give them a problem to think about

Suppose you wanted to set up a new call centre.

How would you go about it?

Imagine you had to reorganize the sales department.

What would your first step be?

Talking about difficult issues

I think we first need to identify the problem.

Of course we’ll have to clarify a few points before we start.

We will have to deal with the problem of increasing prices.

How shall we cope with unfair business practices?

The question is: why don’t we tackle the distribution problems?

If we don’t solve this problem now, we’ll get into serious trouble soon.

We will have to take care of this problem now.

Referring to other points

I’d like to mention some critical points in connection with / concerning payment.

There are a few problems regarding the quality.

With respect / regard to prices, we need more details.

According to the survey, our customers are unhappy with this product.

Adding ideas

In addition to this, I’d like to say that our IT business is going very well.

Moreover / Furthermore, there are other interesting facts we should take a look at.

As well as that, we can offer excellent conditions.

Apart from being too expensive, this model is also too big.

To increase sales we need a new strategy plus more people.

Expressions with as

As you all know,…

As I’ve already explained,…

As I mentioned before / earlier,…

As I pointed out in the first section,…

As you can see,…

Saying numbers

Numbers, especially long ones, are often difficult for the audience to understand. Try to say numbers slowly and clearly, and point at them while speaking.

2 m. – two million, 235mІ – two hundred and thirty-five square metres,

1.6 bln. – one point six billion, €150,000 – one hundred and fifty thousand euros,

⅓, ¾ – one-third, three-quarters. 98% – ninety-eight per cent,

Remember that:

1. we use a comma in English to show thousands and a point to show the decimal place.

2. we say ‘2 million’ or ‘10 billion’ (not 2 millions / 10 billions)

3. we say ‘2 million dollars’, ‘170 pounds’ (not 2 million dollar /170 pound)