Presentation Skills Booklet

Environmental English
Presentation skills
How to improve your English and your presentations
Presentation skills
Presentation skills
1
Page 2 Pre-course preparation
Page 3 Audience expectation
Page 4 Preparing a presentation
Page 5 Introducing a presentation
Page 6 Visuals
Page 8 Questions
Page 9 Scientific and academic presentation
Appendix 1 Exercise answers
Appendix 2 On-line help
Appendix 3 PowerPoint tips
Appendix 4 Two-minute presentation sheet
Appendix 5 Ten-minute presentation sheet
Appendix 6 Presentation preparation sheet
Appendix 7 Presentation feedback sheet
Appendix 8 Language for presentations
Appendix 9 Presentations skills test
Produced by Environmental English Ltd., 2018
EnvironmentalEnglish.co.uk
envenglish.blogspot.com
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Presentation skills
Pre-course preparation
2
(For students attending a presentation skills course)
Presentation 1
Please prepare a brief (maximum two minutes) presentation about yourself, your organisation and
your job. This is a way of introducing yourself to the rest of the students at the beginning of the
course. Please note that PowerPoint, flip-charts, etc. cannot be used for this presentation.
Please see the Two-Minute presentation sheet in Appendix 4.
Presentation 2
Please prepare a seven to eight-minute presentation on any aspect of your work, organisation or any
topic that you wish to tell us about. There will also be chance for two to three minutes of questions
afterwards. This makes a total of ten minutes (maximum!) for your presentation. We will be very
strict on time keeping and will stop you if you talk for too long! For this second presentation,
PowerPoint, flipcharts, etc. may be used.
Please see the Ten-minute presentation sheet in Appendix 5.
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Presentation skills
Audience expectation
3
What does an audience expect from a presentation?
1) to get new information
2)
3)
4)
5)
What does an audience not want?
1) to be bored
2)
3)
4)
5)
What do you think are the most annoying things in a presentation?
1) speaker reads the slides
2)
3)
4)
5)
See Appendix 1 for possible answers
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Presentation skills
Preparing a presentation
4
Many presentations fail because of inadequate preparation. Don’t jump straight to PowerPoint!
Think about your audience and your objectives, then…
Set objectives
Collect
Identify
Plan
Produce
Rehearse
Test
Anticipate
presentation
information
equipment
questions/problems objectives
content
key points
materials/visuals
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Presentation skills
Introducing a presentation
5
If you only have 15-20 minutes for a presentation, you shouldn’t spend too long with an
introduction. But sometimes it can be useful. What could be in an introduction?
1) Get audience attention
2) Welcome /
3) Your
4)
5)
6)
7)
8) Questions
See Appendix 1 for answers
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Presentation skills
Visuals
6
a) General
1) Do not over use (hiding behind them)
2) Allow audience time to
3) Use key words/bullets, not
4) Check screen is
5) Talk to audience, not the
6) Don’t distribute handouts until
b) PowerPoint
1) Know how to use it!
2) Maximum of words per slide
3) Maximum of bullet points per slide
4) Use to control flow
5) Use remote
6) Learn some shortcuts or quick keys:

Press 8 ENTER to
Press B to make or press W to make
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Presentation skills
Visuals
7
c) Flip charts
1) Keep it simple
2) Big
3) Use different
4) Prepare in
5) Start with blank
6) Use two – one , one for
d) Others
1)
2)
3)
4)
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Presentation skills
Questions
8
Dealing with questions can be even more difficult than the presentation itself!
Try to anticipate questions in advance. But there may also be difficult questions to deal with…
a) Dealing with questions:
1) Pause (give yourself a moment!)
2) Repeat the question – make sure the whole audience heard it
3) Ask for the question to be
4) Reply to the whole audience, not just the
5) Invite the to answer
6) Offer to check the answer
7) Say: ‘‘I don’t !’’
b) What NOT to do:
1) Answer too quickly
2) Be and too
3) Make up an answer (or !)
4) Answer in a voice
5) Answer before the question is
6) Make the questioner feel
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Presentation skills
Scientific and academic presentations
9
• The biggest problem with giving presentations is the time limit. Nowadays many conferences
and seminars only give you a twenty-minute slot. And that includes time for questions and for
the next presenter to come on stage.
• Don’t waste time saying things like ‘‘Thank you for inviting me’’ ‘’I’m delighted to be here’’,
etc. Get on with it!
• Don’t say things like ‘‘of course…’’, ‘‘as you can see’’, ‘‘this graph shows’’, ‘‘I will return to
this later…’’ They are all using up time, and they are unnecessary.
• Keep it simple. Let the slides do the talking, especially graphs. Don’t tell us what we can
clearly see.
• Don’t talk constantly. Pause. Let the audience take in the information. Let them read/look at the
slides.
• Don’t clutter the slides. Don’t put four images on one slide – use two slides! PowerPoint is
unlimited, so don’t be afraid of using lots of simple slides rather than a few complicated ones.
• Don’t include references, sources, names on the slides – we trust you! The audience can always
check this later if they really want to.
• Remove headers/footers/logos, etc. from slides. We know who you are! Maybe on the first and
last ones, but not on the rest – they take up valuable space.
• Avoid useless maps. Only use them if you think the audience doesn’t know where the place is.
• The most important thing is the conclusion/implications. Focus on them.
• Don’t waste too long on methods and results – we can find more detail about them later if we
want. This is especially true if you are presenting a paper – we can read the paper in detail later.
• Consider make two presentations. One short and clear one – the one you actually give at the
conference. And one much more detailed one which you can make available on-line, on a blog
etc. for people who want more detail.
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Presentation skills
Appendix 1 Exercise answers
10
Page 3 Audience expectation
What does an audience expect from a presentation?
(possible answers: information, confidence, clarity, interesting, prepared, variety, chance to ask
questions, discussion, entertainment, expert, structure, story, knowledge (scientific), contacts, new
experience, inspiration, performance (actor), new way of learning, learn from mistakes . . .)
What do they not want?

(possible answers: negative, unpleasant, boring, slow, irrelevant, too long, offended (cultural),
disorganised, arrogance, too general, not specific, overwhelming, too quiet, patronising . . .)
Some survey results of top irritants in presentations:

Speaker reads slide 60%
Text too small 51%
Full sentences instead of bullet points 49%
Slides hard to see because of colour choice 37%
Moving/flying text or graphics 25%
Annoying use of sound 22%
Overly complex diagrams or charts 22%
Page 4 Preparing a presentation

Set objectives
Collect information
Identify key points (3 - 5)
Plan content
Produce materials / visuals
Rehearse presentation (including timing)
Test equipment
Anticipate questions / problems
Page 5 Introducing a presentation
What could be in an introduction?

1) Get attention
2) Welcome / thanks
3) Your name and position / job
4) Topic
5) Purpose / why the audience should listen
6) Main points
7) Length (time)
8) Questions
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Presentation skills
Page 6 Visuals
b) General
11
1) Do not over use (hiding behind them)
2) Allow audience time to read - then talk
3) Use key words, not whole sentences
4) Check screen is legible
5) Talk to audience, not the wall / screen
6) Don’t distribute handouts until the end / they are needed
– they will read them rather than concentrate on you.
b) PowerPoint
1) Know how to use it!
2) Maximum of 40 words per slide
3) Maximum of 4 bullet points per slide
4) Use build slides to control flow
5) Use remote control / mouse
6) Learn some shortcuts or quick keys.
e.g., Press B to make screen black or press W to make screen white
Press 8 ENTER to go to slide 8
c) Flip charts
1) Keep it simple
2) Big letters
3) Colours
4) Prepare in advance
5) Start with blank sheet
6) Use two – one prepared, one for free writing
d) Others
1) posters
2) handouts
3) whiteboard
4) realia (objects to show and pass around)
Page 8 Questions
Difficult questions:
1) Pause (give yourself a moment!)
2) Repeat the question – make sure the whole audience heard it
3) Ask for the question to be repeated
4) Reply to the whole audience, not just the questioner
5) Invite the audience to answer
6) Offer to check the answer later
7) Say: ‘‘I don’t know’’
What NOT to do:
1) Answer too quickly
2) Be arrogant and too clever
3) Make up an answer (or lie!)
4) Answer in a low voice
5) Answer before the question is finished
6) Make the questioner feel stupid
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Presentation skills
Appendix 2 Online help
12
There are many websites and YouTube videos to help with presentations, both in preparing and
presenting. The quality and style of these are variable. One of my favourites is by Rachel Willis:
Presenting & Public Speaking Tips - How to improve skills & confidence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5WT2vweFRY
1. Audience – focus on Benefit for them? What do you want them to think, feel & do?
2. Delete all excess text Nobody reads it! Your slides are not your notes
3. Simple Less is more; use simple (pub) language, rule of threes
4. Rehearse Mirror; fail to prepare = prepare to fail
5. Make friends at venue
6. Dress to impress Debatable; dress to impress; smart casual
7. Be comfortable Be you
8. Stand still Adrenalin; ‘flight or fight’
9. Tell a story They will remember; engage in conversation
10. Enthusiasm They will ignore imperfections
Other links:
How To Hide Mouse Pointer or Cursor in Microsoft PowerPoint Presentations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjEPhxxXGec
Funny Presentation Training - how many errors can you find?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXILI9Q1jIw
Don McMillan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpvgfmEU2Ck
Present Like Steve Jobs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-ntLGOyHw4
BBC PowerPoint
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8207849.stm
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Presentation skills

During a presentation
13
Powershow
See the notes on your laptop while the audience sees the slide show - display the speaker notes on
the laptop when the slide show is running.
To get you full-screen formatted notes on your monitor and full-screen slide show on the projector
use the following steps:
• Open your presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint.
• Select Slide Show tab, clear the Use Presenter View box.
• Select Slide Show | Power Show item.
• On the Presentations tab, set up the configuration as follows:
1. Select presentation <Notes> in the first row and 1 monitor.
2. Select your presentation <Slide Show> in the second row and 1 monitor.
• Click Start Show button.
You would now see PowerShow's formatted notes view on the primary monitor and the slide show
on the second monitor. PowerShow's formatted notes view allows you to zoom in and zoom out the
notes to allow you to comfortably look at the notes from a distance. This is helpful if you are
standing at a distance from your podium/lectern and want to look at your notes for reference.
Quick keys
To start the slideshow press F5

To end the slide show press Esc
If you want to start the slideshow from a specific slide, press shift F5.
Slide No then Enter takes you straight to that slide e.g. 8 Enter takes you to slide 8 (print a list of
slide titles and numbers to remind you)
B = Blank BLACK screen

W = Blank WHITE screen
Useful when you want to take the audience’s attention away from the screen.
Ctrl + P changes the pointer to a pen (and Ctrl + A puts it back to automatic). Hitting the E will
erase any drawing you make with the pen. Ctrl + E will show an eraser on screen.
Ctrl + H hides the pointer
This is an excellent summary with ten tips for good presentations:

www.garrreynolds.com/preso-tips/design/
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Presentation skills
14
Preparing a presentation
1. Ctrl
Ctrl + C = copy
Ctrl + V = paste
Ctrl + S = save
Ctrl + O = open
Hold and Ctrl to select more than one object

If you hold down Ctrl whilst clicking you can duplicate your object (or Ctrl + d)
2. Shift
Hold down shift when you make a shape of line and it stays perfectly regular.
This also works when you resize an object.
Hold down Ctrl + shift when you drag to duplicate an object in perfect alignment.
Press Ctrl+shift+c when an object is highlighted to copy the formatting and the Ctrl+shift+v to
paste them elsewhere.
3. Alignment
Holding down Ctrl when using the arrow keys will allow you to move an object carefully.
You can also use the alignment tools.
4. Selection pane
On the right hand side of the home bar.
It is a map of different layers of your slide.
So you can hide things to look at other things without having to move anything.
Or to simply move things.
5. Quick access toolbar

You can add your favourite PowerPoint tools to a ribbon of convenience at the top of the
PowerPoint workspace.
To add an element, right click and choose ‘Add to Quick Access Toolbar’.
6. Animation
If animating text, do it simply and quickly. The best options are “Appear”, “Wipe” (from top or
left, very fast), Fade (only if very fast).
Note: animation/slide build doesn’t work if you show your presentation in pdf format, so you need
to make extra slides to show the changes.
https://blog.slideshare.net/2015/01/29/your-best-productivity-hacks/
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Presentation skills
Appendix 4 Two-minute presentation
Name
15
E.g. Hello, my name is ...
Good morning, I am...
Nationality/Home town
E.g. I am from ...
Family
E.g. I’m married ...
I have two children...
Background
E.g. My background is ....
I studied ...
I have worked...
Organisation/Company
E.g. I work for ...
They are ....
Job
E.g. My job is ...
I am responsible for...
I have been working for ... years
Hobbies and interests

E.g. I like ...
In my spare time...
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Presentation skills
Appendix 5 Ten-minute presentation
Introduce yourself
16
E.g. Hello/good morning
my name is ...
I work for...
Introduce the subject

E.g. today I am going to talk about...
I would like to describe...
The presentation:
E.g. I am going to talk about three things...
I am going to divide my talk into three sections...
First part
E.g. firstly...
Second part
E.g. secondly...
next....
Third part
E.g. thirdly...
finally...
Conclusion/summary
E.g. In conclusion...
To summarize
Invite questions
E.g. Does anyone have any questions?
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Presentation skills
Appendix 6 Presentation preparation sheet
17
Name: Date:
Title of presentation:
Target audience:
Objective:
Stage Key points Key language
Introduction
Body
Conclusion
Signposting and linking

phrases
Visuals
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Presentation skills
Appendix 7 Presentation feedback sheet
18
Name: Date:
Title of presentation:
Content
• purpose?
• interest?
• appropriateness?
Structure
• structure?
• organisation?
• signposting?
• linking?
Grammar
• accuracy?
Vocabulary
• accuracy?
• pronunciation?
Delivery
• pronunciation?
• projection?
• eye contact?
• body language?
• communication?
Other comments
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Presentation skills
Appendix 8 Language for presentations
19
Introducing yourself Good morning everyone.
Let me introduce myself. My name is…
I’m a specialist in…
Objective/purpose I’m going to talk about ...

present ...
give you an overview of ...
inform you about ...
The subject of my presentation/paper/speech is ...
Length I’ll take about ... minutes of your time.

I plan to be brief. I’ll only take ... minutes of your time.
This should only last/take ... minutes.
My presentation will take/last…
(about/roughly) ... minutes.
Outline/overview Let me give you an idea of what I’m going to talk about....
I’ll be speaking about these/the following main points ...
My presentation will focus specifically on ...
Questions during presentation I’d be glad to take your questions while I’m speaking/
at the end.
Please ask questions and comments at the end of the
presentation.
Please interrupt/stop me if something isn’t clear/you need
clarification.
Structuring the presentation I m going to divide my talk into four parts.

First I’ll give you; after that;
To start with, / then, I d like to consider…
First of all, I d like to look at…
Finally, …
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Presentation skills
Giving background information I’ll give you some background information.

Let s start with the background.
20
Referring to existing knowledge As you know, …
As you are aware, …
As you may be aware, …
Finishing a point Those are the main points on…

That’s all I have to say about…
Now we've looked at/dealt with…
Starting a new point Now let’s turn to/move on to…

I d like now to consider/examine…
Next we come to…
Turning now to…
The next point I’d like to make is…
That brings me to…
Referring to what you have said As I said at the beginning, …

I told you a few minutes ago that…
In the first part of my talk, I said…
As I mentioned earlier, …
Referring to what you will say I’ll come to that later.

I’ll return to this point in a few minutes.
I’ll talk about this in the next part of my presentation.
Referring to visuals If you look at the graph, …

Could I draw your attention to the figures/chart/graph?
If you take a look at the figures in chart one,
you'll see…
I’d like you to look at this, …
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Presentation skills
Concluding To sum up, …

So to summarise, …
21
So now I’d just like to summarise the main points.
That concludes my talk.
I think that covers most of the points.
To conclude/wrap up/summarise, I've just described ...
I'll just recap on the highlights of this presentation.
As you can see ...
Briefly ...
Thanks for your attention.
Please pick up ... (material, samples, information) on
your way out.
Inviting questions If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

I’ll be glad to answer any questions (at the end of my talk).
Does anyone have any questions?
Any questions?
Responding to comments/questions That's an interesting comment. Let me say that ...

I'd be glad to clarify that point ...
Thanks for your query. I'll have to check on that and get back
to you.
I'll be interested in finding out more about this ...
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Presentation skills
Appendix 9 Presentation skills test
22
How much can you remember?! Test yourself and then check your answers.
a) What does an audience expect/not expect from a presentation?
1)
2)
3)
4)
b) Fill in the gaps for Preparing a Presentation:
Set objectives
Collect 5)
Identify key points
Plan 6)
Produce materials/visuals
Rehearse 7)
Test equipment
Anticipate 8)
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Presentation skills
c) Visuals - general
23
9) Allow audience time to
10)
11)
d. Visuals - PowerPoint
12) Maximum of words per slide
13)
14)
e) What other visuals could you use?
15) Posters
16)
17)
f) How can you react to difficult questions?
18) Repeat the
19)
20)
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Environmental English

Page 3 Audience expectation

Page 4 Preparing a presentation

Page 5 Introducing a presentation

Page 9 Scientific and academic presentation

Appendix 1 Exercise answers

Appendix 2 On-line help

Appendix 3 PowerPoint tips

Appendix 4 Two-minute presentation sheet

Appendix 5 Ten-minute presentation sheet

Appendix 6 Presentation preparation sheet

Appendix 7 Presentation feedback sheet

Appendix 8 Language for presentations

Appendix 9 Presentations skills test

Produced by Environmental English Ltd., 2018

Please see the Two-Minute presentation sheet in Appendix 4.

Please see the Ten-minute presentation sheet in Appendix 5.

1) to get new information

What does an audience not want?

What do you think are the most annoying things in a presentation?

1) speaker reads the slides

See Appendix 1 for possible answers

1) Get audience attention

See Appendix 1 for answers

1) Do not over use (hiding behind them)

2) Allow audience time to

3) Use key words/bullets, not

5) Talk to audience, not the

6) Don’t distribute handouts until

1) Know how to use it!

2) Maximum of words per slide

3) Maximum of bullet points per slide

4) Use to control flow

6) Learn some shortcuts or quick keys:

See Appendix 1 for answers

5) Start with blank

6) Use two – one , one for

See Appendix 1 for answers

a) Dealing with questions:

1) Pause (give yourself a moment!)

2) Repeat the question – make sure the whole audience heard it

3) Ask for the question to be

4) Reply to the whole audience, not just the

5) Invite the to answer

6) Offer to check the answer

7) Say: ‘‘I don’t !’’

b) What NOT to do:

1) Answer too quickly

3) Make up an answer (or !)

5) Answer before the question is

6) Make the questioner feel

Scientific and academic presentations

• The most important thing is the conclusion/implications. Focus on them.

Appendix 1 Exercise answers

What do they not want?

Some survey results of top irritants in presentations:

Page 4 Preparing a presentation

Page 5 Introducing a presentation

What could be in an introduction?

Appendix 2 Online help

Funny Presentation Training - how many errors can you find?

Present Like Steve Jobs

Appendix 3 PowerPoint tips

To start the slideshow press F5