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.
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
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.
Useful phrases in English:
“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.
Useful phrases in English:
“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…”
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.
Useful phrases in English:
“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.
Useful phrases in English:
“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.
Useful phrases in English:
“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!
