It’s interesting to know.

In some cultures, people expect business presentations to be formal, and technical. They don’t believe that an informal presentation can be serious. Other cultures prefer presentations to be informal and think that formal presentations are dull and ineffective. How would you describe your culture?

	Formal	Informal
Dress	Business suit, e.g. jacket and tie for a man	Casual
Body language	Tightly controlled; limited	A lot of movement and gestures
Relationship to audience	Not much interaction with the audience; no use of humour	A lot of interaction - asking and answering questions; use of humour
Language	Professional or technical vocabulary; longer sentences; more elaborate expressions	Everyday expressions and even slang.

PRACTICE 1. Search for the key words “presentation tips” to find out how you can make your presentation better in future. Tell your students about it.

PRACTICE 2. You are a Project Manager of Usui, a Japanese electronic components manufacture. You have to give a presentation to your colleagues. Important factors to include:

1. local employment conditions: well-trained workforce,

experienced in electronics industry;

2. local economic factors and market potential: strong growth in Singapore economy, good location, access to Southeast Asia market;

c) good economic potential in the region, major shipping centre;

d) available subsidies, favorable tax environment: government wants inward investment.

PRACTICE 3. You are a design consultant working for Land Inc., a New York-based financial services company. The company wants to build new offices for its European headquarters in Brussels. There are three proposals for the design. Present an overview of each proposal to senior executives of the company.

Unit 8

a) Fox Lee Associates: British - $6.0m; - conventional air conditioning and heating system; - Neo-classical design.		b) Fukagawa: Japanese - $8.5m; -solar energy-based heating and air conditioning; -ultra-modern.
	c) Harald Khaan Group: American - $8.0m; - 20% more office space; - low-running costs, conventional heating; - modern design; - exceptional energy conservation.

PRACTICE 4. Here are the visuals from a brief presentation to management trainees studying international marketing. Use the information to give a short summary of international marketing strategies.

Begin as follows:

“Good morning, everyone. I’m going to give a brief summary of the transition from export marketing to global marketing. Basically, there are three phases in this transition. These are, first, export marketing, second, international marketing and third global marketing.

Let’s describe the first phase, which is export marketing …”

THE TRANSITION FROM EXPORT MARKETING TO GLOBAL MARKETING	PHASE ONE
	Export Marketing
	*Home base production and management *Direct selling to export markets *Agents and distributors *Possible sales centres in overseas markets *Low investment
PHASE TWO	PHASE THREE
International Marketing	Global Marketing
*Production expended to overseas markets *Local management *Cost centres abroad *Increased local employment *High investment	*Global brand name *Established in all major world markets *Global “identity” *Cost centres in all major markets *Complex global production *High investment

Unit 8

PRACTICE 5. Look at the following chart. It shows how typical Americans spend their income.

	housing	35%		food	12%
	transportation	20%		disposable, i.e. health, investments, entertainment, sports, communication, etc.	33%

Draw a pie-chart, showing how you use your income today. Present your chart using the framework below:

a) introduce the first chart;

b) highlight points of interest;

c) explain anything unusual;

d) interpret what your chart says about you and your lifestyle.

PRACTICE 6. Prepare in about two or three minutes a short presentation on any topic you know well.

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