WHAT MAKES A GOOD PRESENTATION?

"Like them, and they'll like you. Help them, and they'll help
you. Enjoy yourself, and they'll enjoy themselves. Be
relaxed, and they'll be relaxed. Lead … they'll follow".
(Charles Osgood)

Preparing speeches and oral presentations is much like preparing any other
message: You define your purpose, analyse your audience, and develop a plan
for presenting your points.

OVERALL:

¾ WHY: Clear objectives. You must identify your purpose (to inform
or analyse, to persuade, to motivate or entertain, to welcome....)
¾ WHO: Analyse the audience (Size and composition of the audience:
Who are they, what do they expect from you? how many will be
there? Why are they coming? What do they know about the subject?
Why are they interested in the subject?). Consider how to adapt
your message to your audience's knowledge and needs.

PLANNING:

¾ Establishing a main idea.

¾ Organising an outline.
¾ Estimating length or sense of timing.
¾ Deciding on the style.

DEVELOPING PRESENTATIONS:

¾ Have a clear structure (the introduction, the body and the conclusion)

¾ Organising the introduction:

ƒ Get the audience involved. Capture the audience’s attention with a
promise, an anecdote, a figure, a story, a startling fact, a question, a
quote.

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 ƒ Establish yourself. Demonstrate your credibility by identifying your
position, expertise, knowledge, or qualifications.
ƒ Preview your main points. Introduce your topic and summarise its
principal parts.

¾ Organising the body:

ƒ Develop two to four main points.

ƒ Arrange the points logically. Sequence your points chronologically,
from most important to least important, by comparison and contrast.
ƒ Prepare transitions. Between each major part write "bridge"
statements that connect the previous item to the next one. Use
transitional expressions (first, second, then, however, consequently,
on the contrary, etc).
ƒ Have extra material ready. Be prepared with more information and
visuals in case you have additional time to fill.

¾ Organising the conclusion: the close should leave a strong and lasting
impression.

ƒ Review your main points.

ƒ Try to develop your ending on a positive note.
ƒ Open the question -and -answer period

¾ Designing visual aids1:

ƒ Select your medium carefully
ƒ Use flip charts, boards, or transparencies for small, informal groups
ƒ Use slides or films for major occasions and large groups
ƒ Use visual aids to highlight main ideas and create interest.

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 ƒ Use aids skilfully. Talk to the audience, not to the visuals.

¾ Developing electronic presentations:

ƒ Learn to use your software program.
ƒ Select a pleasing colour palette.
ƒ Use bulleted points for major headings.
ƒ Make speaker’s notes to support the slides.
ƒ Maintain control. Use a pointer to connect you to the slides and your
audience.

DELIVERY TECHNIQUES:

Nearly everyone experiences some degree of stage fright when speaking

before a group. You can learn to control and reduce stage fright, as well as
to incorporate techniques for effective speaking, by using the following
strategies and techniques before, during and after your presentation.

¾ Before your presentation

ƒ Prepare thoroughly. Rehearse repeatedly.
ƒ Time yourself. Limit your time.
ƒ Check the room before the talk
ƒ Practice stress reduction

¾ During your presentation

ƒ Begin with a pause
ƒ Present your first sentence from memory
ƒ Maintain eye contact.
ƒ Control your voice and vocabulary. Eliminate verbal static, such as ah,
er, you know, um …
ƒ Put the breaks on. Slow down and listen to what you are saying.
ƒ Move naturally
ƒ Use visual aids effectively

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¾ After your presentation
ƒ Distribute handouts
ƒ Encourage questions
ƒ Repeat questions
ƒ Reinforce your main points
ƒ Keep control
ƒ End with a summary

BODY LANGUAGE:

ƒ Establish eye contact with all the audience, and mainly with the
opinion leaders.
ƒ Speak clearly and distinctively
ƒ Do not go too fast
ƒ Be sure everyone can hear
ƒ Speak in your natural style. Move slowly around if you feel
comfortable
ƒ Be careful not to block the projection screen
ƒ Use gestures in a natural, appropriate way. Don’ t use distracting
gestures
ƒ Maintain control of your feelings in spite of criticism

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 THE BEGINNING

MAKING A START: GREETING

ƒ Good morning / afternoon (ladies and gentlemen)

ƒ Thank you very much for the effort of being here with us today /
your time and interest.
ƒ We would specially thank Mr. Fernandez from Germart S.A. and Ms…
for their support during the development of this project
ƒ It is an honour / a pleasure to have you with us /to have the
opportunity to address such a professional audience like you.

¾ PERSONAL/ TEAM INTRODUCTION:

ƒ Firstly / Before we start, let me introduce the members of our team
from right to left… Patricia Sánchez, Javier López and myself, Ana
Rodriguez.

¾ EXPLAINING THE PURPOSE:

ƒ The purpose of our project is to show you…
ƒ We are here today to convince you
ƒ At the end of this presentation we hope you will agree that…

¾ OUTLINING THE MAIN POINTS:

ƒ We have divided/ structured our presentation into four parts
(sections). They are ...
ƒ This presentation will be/ made up of / split into four parts….
ƒ We have organised the presentation in four... parts.

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 ƒ Firstly, we will start with ... Secondly, ... Thirdly, ... In the fourth
place ... After that ... Next ... Later ... And finally...

¾ POSTPONING QUESTIONS:
ƒ We'd be glad to answer any questions at the end of our talk.
ƒ We would rather leave questions to the end if you don't mind.
ƒ At the end of the presentation we will be glad/happy to answer any
questions you may have.

THE MIDDLE
VISUAL AIDS

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¾ REFERRING TO VISUAL AIDS:
ƒ If you would please look at ……………….. you'll can see that …..
ƒ As you can see on the slide / video / screen
ƒ The slide / video / … shows that …
ƒ We'd like to show you a …. that explains ...

THE BODY

¾ INTRODUCING TOPICS

• With regard to ….(placement)

• With reference to ….
• Concerning…
• Regarding….
• As far as placement is concerned….
• In connection with...

¾ LINKING PARTS

• I have come to the end of my part, and now my colleague Beatriz will
inform you about…
• This is all about Placement. Now we will move to the third part which
deals with Pricing and will be presented by Elena Iglesias.
• We have covered the Distribution aspects and now I leave you with
Beatriz who will explain ….
• Let’s now turn to / move on to the next part that will be analysed
by…
• So far we have looked at the market analysis. Next we would like to
go on to…
• And this brings us / leads us to the second part, that will be
presented by my colleague…

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¾ PRESENTING YOUR COMPANY

• Our company was founded/established/set up in 1967

• We employ 230 workers / Our staff is 230 people
• We are based in Vigo / We are a Vigo-based company
• Our headquarters are in Vigo
• We specialise in production of / the sale of ….
• Our main activity is the production/sale/distribution of..
• We have subsidiaries/ production facilities/sales agents in ….
• We operate in / are present in Germany, Uk and France.
• Our main competitors are…/ competition in France is very strong.
• We are planning to / we expect to / we intend to internationalize our
activities in two years.

¾ REFERRING TO MARKET POSITION

• China is first in the list/ graph that ranks countries in terms of…..
• UK scores at the top / at the bottom of the ranking in terms of
demand prospects
• France comes/ ranks/ scores sixth in the rank
• England is among the top ten countries in terms of…

¾ EXPLAINING YOUR TARGET

• Our product aims at the up/ down market segment

• Our product is very popular among young people
• Our product sells very well in France
• We target the professional segment
• Our main target markets are France and Germany
• Our main goal / objective is to penetrate/ break into / introduce in
the Chinese market.

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¾ CLARIFYING YOUR SELLING POINTS

• The main selling points of our product are price, design and high
quality
• The main benefits we offer are../ The main features /
characteristics of our product are….
• We offer the best value for money in the market (our product is the
best value for money) = BUENA RELACION CALIDAD-PRECIO

THE END
¾ SUMMARIZING AND CONGLUDING
ƒ I would like to recap the main points of this presentation …
ƒ I’d like to sum up the main conclusions of this talk …
ƒ Let me remind you of the most important points …
ƒ Let me summarise briefly what we have said …
ƒ Before I conclude let me run over /go over/ review / outline / the
main points …