Oral presentat ion in english

A Short Guide to the

ORAL

PRESENTAT ION

IN ENGLISH

How to get started, how to conclude, and

suggestions for what to do in between

Martha Grand

ENSIEG

CONTENTS

1. Getting Started

1.1 Greeting the audience – Calling for attention

1.2 Introducing yourself and your company

1.3 Stating the purpose of the talk – Giving a short introduction

1.4 The overview – Presenting the structure of the talk

2. The Body of the Presentation

2.1 Transitions

2.2 Road signs – Signaling the direction your talk is taking

2.3 Restating the important ideas

2.4 Using quotations

2.5 Using examples

2.6 Expressing opinion

2.7 Using numbers

2.8 Using charts, graphs and tables

3. The Conclusion

3.1 Signaling the conclusion

3.2 The final summary

3.3 Closing

3.4 Calling for questions

4 In General

4.1 Audience-friendly language

4.2 Visuals

5 Graphs and Charts

5.1 Types of graphs and charts

5.2 Upward trends

5.3 Downward trends

5.4 Special cases

5.5 A verb or a noun?

1. Getting started

➤ The first two to three minutes of your talk are important. During this

time, you'll make contact with the audience; you'll introduce yourself and

say a few words about your company; you'll tell the audience the purpose

of your talk; and you'll give them a map of your presentation.

1.1 Greeting the audience - Calling for attention

➤ Give the audience a signal that you're ready to start. Take advantage

of these few words to find your position and adapt your voice to the size

of the room.

* Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

* Good afternoon everyone. Shall we begin?

* Ladies and gentlemen. Good morning. It's a pleasure to be here with

you today.

* Good afternoon. If everybody's ready, I think we can begin now.

1.2 Introducing yourself and your company

➤ If the chairperson of the session hasn't done so, introduce yourself and

your company. Be sure to mention the key elements of your company: its

main activities, its size, its location, etc.

* Let me introduce myself first. I'm Robert Vincent.

* I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Pierre Dupont from Dazzi Engineering.

* Before I begin, let me tell you a little about myself. I'm ...

* I'm with the CNRS—the French National Center for Scientific Research—

in the Department of Solid State Physics.

* I work for Schneider Electric in the xxx department. Schneider is a

world leader in the development and manufacture of ...

* Dazzi Engineering is a small but fast-growing company in Grenoble, in the

heart of the French Alps. Our main activities are in the field of waste

management. You may be familiar with some of the techniques we've

developed for plastics recycling.

* I'm a research engineer with Electricité de France or EDF. EDF is the

leading company for the production and distribution of electricity in

France and throughout Europe.

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to be here with you today.

First, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Pierre Dupont from Dazzi Engineering.

Dazzi Engineering is a small but growing company in Grenoble, in the heart of

the French Alps. Our main activities are in the field of waste management. You

may be familiar with some of the techniques we've developed for plastics

recycling.

➤ Abbreviations from the French, like EDF or CNRS, must be pronounced in

English. The same goes for abbreviations like the UN (United Nations) or GDP

(Gross Domestic Product). Before using any abbreviations or acronyms that may

not be familiar to a nonFrench audience, explain them in full.

1.3 Stating the purpose of a talk - giving a short introduction

➤ Begin by telling the audience why you are there.

* My purpose today is to .....

* What I want to do this afternoon is to .....

* My objective today is to .....

* I'm here today to .....

*

...