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10 Tips for Giving a Great Presentation in English
- September 15, 2014
Giving the perfect oral presentation in English requires practice. Remember that even great orators like Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King became excellent public speakers through years of dedicated practice.
When preparing your presentation in English, we recommend you watching and listening to the recordings of their public speeches as an example. Check out our video lesson and some other useful tips for giving a great presentation below.
1. Think About the Details in Advance
Giving a presentation in front of an audience is always stressful. Thinking about such details as the location of the presentation, equipment, materials, timing, your appearance and outfit will help you avoid nervousness.
2. Do Your Homework
Effective preparation requires consideration of the following things:
- Ask yourself what the presentation is all about, its title and its goal
- Think about who your audience is
- Figure out what your main message is
- Think about the structure of the presentation: the opening, the main part and the summary
- Make it easier for the audience and yourself: use simple language
- Prepare yourself for questions. Think about what questions the audience might ask
- Usually an orator has a maximum of 15 minutes to present. So, make the presentation simple, have no more than 20 slides using a font that is legible from a distance
- Don’t put large blocks of text in your presentation. No one will be interested in reading it; people prefer visual material. So think about images, graphs and videos that support your idea, but don’t overwhelm the audience with too many visual aids
3. Introduce Yourself and Set the Theme
At the beginning of the presentation, it’s important to introduce yourself, giving your full name, position and company you represent. Some people also include their contact information on the first slide. That’s in case you want someone from the audience to contact you after your presentation. After the introduction, don’t forget to state the topic of your presentation.
Useful phrases in English:
“Hello, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming…” “The topic of today’s meeting is…” “Let’s get the ball rolling” “Shall we get started?”
4. Provide an Outline or Agenda of Your Presentation
Providing an outline of the presentation is a must, as people want to know why they should listen to you. That’s why the opening part is very important. It should be cheerful, interesting and catchy. You should know it by heart, so you don’t lose track of your thoughts even if you are nervous.
“I’d like to give you a brief outline of my presentation…” “Here is the agenda for the meeting…” “My presentation consists of the following parts…” “The presentation is divided into four main sections…” 5. Explain When the Listeners Can Ask Questions
A Question & Answer period (Q&A) usually takes place at the end of the presentation, so you have enough time to deliver the main message of your speech without being interrupted by multiple questions. If you want the audience to ask questions during or after the presentation, say so.
“There will be a Q&A session after the presentation” “Please feel free to interrupt me if you have any questions” “I will be happy to answer your questions at any time during the presentation”
6. Make a Clear Transition in Between the Parts of the Presentation
Using transition words and phrases in English makes your presentation look smooth and easy to follow.
“I’d like to move on to another part of the presentation…” “Now I’d like to look at…” “For instance…” “In addition…” “Moreover…” “This leads me to the next point…”
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7. Wow Your Audience
If you are not excited by your presentation, your audience will not be excited either. When presenting, you should plan to wow your audience. Use adjectives and descriptive words as they will help to attract the audience’s attention and make your speech more vivid and memorable.
“The product I present is extraordinary.” “It’s a really cool device” “This video is awesome” “This is an outstanding example”
8. Make Your Data Meaningful
If you need to present numbers or some comparative analysis of algorithms for integration, use some visuals to present it. You can use charts, graphs or diagrams to make your data meaningful and visually attractive. Remember that pie charts are good for representing proportions, line charts to represent trends, column and bar charts for ranking.
“Here are some facts and figures” “The pie chart is divided into several parts” “The numbers here have increased or gone up” “The numbers change and go down (decrease)” “The numbers have remained stable”
9. Summarize
At the end of the presentation, briefly summarize the main points and ideas. Provide the audience with your opinion and give them a call to action, let them know what you want them to do with the information you’ve shared. End of the presentation by thanking all the listeners and inviting them to the Q&A.
“Let’s summarize briefly what we’ve looked at…” “In conclusion…” “I’d like to recap…” “I’d like to sum up the main points…”
10. Practice
Try rehearsing your presentation using the above tips. Practice in front of a mirror or with your friends, parents or spouse. The more you practice, the better. While practicing, try not to use crutch words (examples: uhhhhh, ahhhh, so on, you know, like etc.)
Good luck with your presentation!
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15 presentation tips for captivating your audience and commanding the room.
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Public speaking can be a daunting task, especially when addressing a large audience. Whether you're giving a presentation in the boardroom or delivering a keynote speech at a conference, holding your audience's attention and maintaining command of the room is paramount. The ability to captivate your audience and leave a lasting impression not only enhances your message's impact but also builds your reputation as a confident and effective speaker.
Here, Forbes Coaches Council members share invaluable tips and strategies to help you conquer your fear of public speaking and ensure that your next presentation or speech is a resounding success.
1. Be Confident
Be grounded and confident to be yourself and then tell great stories. Use your voice and the stage to bring the stories alive. Your audience will connect to the emotion of the story but make sure that it is relevant for your audience and related to the topic. - Cath Daley , Cath Daley Ltd
2. Find A Way To Actively Engage The Audience
Be prepared with ways to get your audience engaged and keep their focus. Whether that's relating to your audience, telling a joke or asking questions, actively driving engagement will make for a more effective presentation or speech. - Luke Feldmeier , Online Leadership Training - Career and Leadership Accelerator for Engineers
3. Create An Emotional Connection
Creating an emotional connection with the audience and involving them in your session fosters active participation, and ensures your audience stays engaged throughout. This also serves to enhance your presence and to create memories that stay with them long after your presentation ends. - Kristin Andree , Andree Group
4. Put Your Unique Take Front And Center
Do you have something unexpected to say about your topic? Something that goes against the mainstream opinion in your industry or is maybe even slightly provocative? If so, putting your unique take front and center in the title and the beginning of your talk and explaining or resolving it later keeps your audience engaged and interested. - Micha Goebig , Go Big Coaching & Communications, LLC
5. Remember That The Audience Doesn't Know Your Planned Speech
No one wants to see you fail as a speaker. Remember that the focus shouldn't be on whether or not you can recall verbatim every word of your planned speech. The focus should be on how to connect to your audience with a few key points using a combination of storytelling and facts. - Sheri Nasim , Center for Executive Excellence
6. Adapt Your Language To The Audience
Talk about something they are interested in or include elements that will keep them interested. Start by asking why your topic matters to each and every one of them. Use language adapted to the audience. Keep the key messages to two or three maximum. Show them what you think and why you care about the topic. - Isabelle Claus Teixeira , Business and Human Development Consulting Pte Ltd
7. Try To Incorporate An Element Of Surprise
Engagement is the key to keeping the audience's attention. Invite participation, tell stories, walk around, have visuals, include humor, raise your voice and ask questions. Think of a comedian who points at someone in the audience: "Hey, you with the red shirt?" Everyone pays attention. What element of surprise can you present? - Susan Jordan, MBA, MSODL, PCC , Sphereshift Coaching and Consulting
8. Know Your Audience
Doing research ahead of time to ensure you're providing the subject matter in a personalized manner will keep their attention. The topic will dictate the necessary vibe. Based on that, providing opportunities for the group to engage, such as shouting out a word, raising a hand, etc., will also help maintain their interest. - Lindsay Miller , Reverie Organizational Development Specialists
9. Use The Problem-Agitation-Solution Approach
Don't just give a presentation — share a story. It must be a story-audience fit though. Use the P.A.S. — problem-agitation-solution — approach. Start with introducing a problem, follow by agitating the problem via telling a relevant anecdote and conclude by offering a solution by giving an audience a clear, direct way to avoid the pain and learn the lesson. - Alla Adam , Alla Adam Coaching
10. Tell The Audience What They Need To Hear
Instead of trying to figure out what to say, figure out what the audience wants and needs to hear. This shift in perspective allows you to tailor your speech in a way that keeps audiences actively engaged because it's good content that they want to hear. - Robin Pou , The Confident Leader
11. Go All In
To command your audience's attention you have to get into the spirit of what you're teaching and go all in without second-guessing yourself. People want to be led, but they'll be unwilling to follow someone who isn't confident in what they are communicating. - Arash Vossoughi , Voss Coaching Co.
12. Use A Compelling Opening
Start your speech/presentation with a compelling opening that grabs the audience's attention. This could be a surprising fact, a relevant story or a thought-provoking question. This initial engagement can help you establish a strong connection with the audience and set the stage for a captivating presentation. - Moza-Bella Tram , Moza-Bella LLC
Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
13. Be Authentic
Connect deeply with your essence and purpose. Radiate authenticity. When you're centered in genuine passion and truth others feel it, creating an unspoken bond. It's not about performing; it's about being present and real and offering value from the heart. That's magnetic. - Anna Yusim, MD , Yusim Psychiatry, Consulting & Executive Coaching
14. Let Your Audience Talk
There is nothing worse than stealing everyone's craving for autonomy and speaking the whole time. The person who does the talking does the learning. So, give some autonomy to the audience. Let them talk. Even if it's thinking time and talking to themselves, or to their neighbor or table group. This gains trust and they will lean into what you have to say even more. - Alex Draper , DX Learning Solutions
15. Leverage Non-Verbal Cues
My top tip is to engage your audience through storytelling. A compelling narrative captures attention, evokes emotion and makes complex ideas more relatable. Additionally, use body language and eye contact effectively. These non-verbal cues can significantly enhance your connection with the audience. - Peter Boolkah , The Transition Guy
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Personal online tutoring. EnglishScore Tutors is the British Council's one-to-one tutoring platform for 13- to 17-year-olds. Giving an oral presentation as part of a speaking exam can be quite scary, but we're here to help you. Watch two students giving presentations and then read the tips carefully.
understand your ideas. Include a short. pause after each idea. Speak at the ri. ht volume and clearly. Prac. ise your presentation. If possible record yourself and liste. to your presentation. If you can't record yourself, ask a f. iend to listen to you. Does your.
Giving an oral presentation as part of a speaking exam can be quite scary, but we're here to help you! Watch two students giving presentations then click her...
ips below. Which tips do they f. llow? Which ones don't they follow?Here ar. top tips for oral presentations.Do: Use the planning time. prepare what you're going to say. If you are allowed to have a note. ard, write short notes in poi. t form. Use more formal language. Use short, simple se.
Stress the importance of having a beginning, middle and end and keep reminding them of this. You might then like to give them a standard introduction to use for their first speech. For example, "Good evening. My name is x and today I am going to talk about y. I will talk about three main areas, x, y and z'.
While you don't want to speak too fast, it's a good idea to use a different pace for different parts of your presentation. For example, when you want to communicate a key point, speaking more slowly will help people understand that you think it is important. Equally, it's a good idea to vary the pitch of your voice.
Presentations normally have one or more of the following aims: To inform/ raise awareness of an important issue. To persuade people to do something. Form part of an exam, demonstrating public speaking/presentation skills in a first or second language. I set students a task where they answer these questions:
Voice and body language are also crucial to a successful presentation. Practice your talk plenty of times before you face your audience. The more you practice, the more confident you will feel. Speak slowly and clearly so your audience can hear as well as process the ideas you are talking about. Your body language should be relaxed and open to ...
Here are our top tips for talking about yourself in an exam. Do: Think about the types of topics and questions you may be asked before the exam. School, family, free time, daily routines and future plans are common topics. Practise answering simple questions about yourself. Work with a friend to practise or record yourself and listen to the ...
Teaching Speaking - Unit 1: Introductions. Unit 1 is an introduction to the content of the whole Teaching Speaking series and contains clips from the other 8 programmes in the series. One of the aims of this session is to help you or your trainees see the differences between accuracy and fluency and to understand why each is important.
Pause from time to time and don't speak too quickly. This allows the listener to understand your ideas. Include a short pause after each idea. Speak clearly and at the right volume. Have your notes ready in case you forget anything. Practise your presentation. If possible record yourself and listen to your presentation.
Exercise 1: Check through the body, shaking each part from the toes upwards. Shake your legs and arms. Then, stretch up to the ceiling or sky. Roll the shoulders and lift them up to the ears and then back down again, all the time making sure that they end in a relaxed position. Finally, relax your neck.
Giving an oral presentation as part of a speaking exam can be quite scary, but the sixth speaking skills video from LearnEnglish Teens can help you! Watch two students giving presentations and then...
Useful phrases in English: "I'd like to give you a brief outline of my presentation…". "Here is the agenda for the meeting…". "My presentation consists of the following parts…". "The presentation is divided into four main sections…". 5. Explain When the Listeners Can Ask Questions.
In this theme you'll learn how to present to large and small audiences. You'll also learn how to express your opinions in meetings and similar workplace situations. Show off your excellent presentation skills in English after completing this theme.
Remember that when you give your presentation, you may only be allowed to have a small note card. Try making notes on your card in the same format as above. introduction idea 1 idea 2 idea 3 details for idea 1 details for idea 2 details for idea 3 conclusion Exam speaking: Oral presentation - planning sheet
the whole presentation. If you have the whole presentation in front of you, you will be tempted to read it, which wouldn't test your speaking, it would test your reading aloud skills. It's not easy to give a good presentation but these tips will help you. Use more formal language, not informal language.
Here, Forbes Coaches Council members share invaluable tips and strategies to help you conquer your fear of public speaking and ensure that your next presentation or speech is a resounding success.
How to teach speaking is a free self-study training course, which is divided into three hour modules. It also includes: A dedicated Facebook community. (link is external) of course participants with up-to-date insight, resources and innovative ideas for you to try out. Engaging discussions taking place in the Facebook community. (link is external)
Check your language: ordering - parts of a presentation Here are some expressions from a presentation about tourism. Write a number (1 -5 ) to put these sentences