Presentation Nerves Speaking in public can be a pretty nerve-wracking experience, and the bad news is that though you

will improve with practice, the nerves never really go away. Taking time to prepare and rehearse your presentation will ease the anxiety, and the following notes are provided as guidelines to help you.

Planning the Presentation

1. Prepare The first step in making a really effective presentation is to prepare. As the saying goes, "failing to prepare is preparing to fail." You will need to spend some time thinking about the material you want to cover, brainstorming all the things it might be possible to include, and then ranking them according to which topics you must include, which topics it might be nice to include if time allows, and which things it is worth knowing about in case anybody asks you a question on it. Remember to think about the audience. Who will be there? What will their expectations be? What level of knowledge do they possess at the moment, and so on.

2. Structure Once you know what you want to include in your presentation, you will need to put it into a structure so that you can speak coherently and develop themes without losing people along the way.

Most presentations are divided into 3 main parts (+ questions):

1 INTRODUCTION 2 3 BODY CONCLUSION Questions Questions

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As a general rule in communication, repetition is valuable. In presentations, there is a golden rule about

Repetition:
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say what you are going to say say it then say what you have just said

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In other words, use the three parts of your presentation to reinforce your message. In the introduction, you tell your audience what your message is going to be. In the body, you tell your audience your real message. In the conclusion, you summarize what your message was.
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1. 2. 3. 4. welcome your audience introduce your subject outline the structure of your presentation give instructions about questions

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The following table shows examples of language for each of these functions. You may need to modify the language as appropriate.
Function 1 Welcoming your audience Possible language

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen Good morning, gentlemen Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman

Good afternoon, everybody I am going to talk today about... The purpose of my presentation is to ... I would like to tell you . The main points I will be discussing are To start with I'll describe . Then I'll mention .. After that I'll .. Finally, I'll summarize my presentation (before concluding with some recommendations). Do feel free to interrupt me if you have any questions. I'll try to answer all of your questions after the presentation. I plan to keep some time for questions after the presentation.

2 Introducing your subject

3 Outlining your structure

4 Giving instructions about questions

BODY

The body is the 'real' presentation. If the introduction was well prepared and delivered, you will now be 'in control'. You will be relaxed and confident. The body should be well structured, divided up logically, with plenty of carefully spaced visuals.
Remember these key points while delivering the body of your presentation:

Do not hurry Be enthusiastic Try to smile Maintain eye contact Remember to speak slowly and clearly Modulate your voice Pause regularly Keep to your structure Give time on visuals

Use your notes. - These should be prompts/keywords only Put any lengthy detail into a handout - given at the end of the presentation.

Use the CONCLUSION to: 1. Sum up 2. (Give recommendations if appropriate) 3. Thank your audience 4. Invite questions
1 Summing up

To conclude,... In conclusion,... Now, to sum up... So let me summarise/recap what I've said. Finally, may I remind you of some of the main points we've considered. In conclusion, my recommendations are... I therefore suggest/propose/recommend the following strategy. Many thanks for your attention. May I thank you all for being such an attentive audience. Now I'll try to answer any questions you may have. Can I answer any questions? Are there any questions? Do you have any questions? Are there any final questions?

2 Giving recommendations

3 Thanking your audience

4 Inviting questions

QUESTIONS Questions are a good opportunity for you to interact with your audience. It may be helpful for you to try to predict what questions will be asked so that you can prepare your response in

advance. You may wish to accept questions at any time during your presentation, or to keep a time for questions after your presentation. Normally, it's your decision, and you should make it clear during the introduction. Be polite with all questioners, even if they ask difficult questions. They are showing interest in what you have to say and they deserve attention. Sometimes you can reformulate a question. Or answer the question with another question. Or even ask for comment from the rest of the audience.

Presentations useful expressions

Function Introducing the subject

Language

I'd like to start by... Let's begin by... First of all, I'll... Starting with... I'll begin by... Well, I've told you about... That's all I have to say about... We've looked at... So much for... Now we'll move on to... Let me turn now to... Next... Turning to... I'd like now to discuss... Let's look now at...

Finishing one subject...

...and starting another

Analysing a point and giving recommendations

Where does that lead us? Let's consider this in more detail... What does this mean for ABC? Translated into real terms... For example,... A good example of this is... As an illustration,... To give you an example,... To illustrate this point... We'll be examining this point in more detail later on... I'd like to deal with this question later, if I may... I'll come back to this question later in my talk... Perhaps you'd like to raise this point at the end... I won't comment on this now... In conclusion,... Right, let's sum up, shall we? I'd like now to recap... Let's summarise briefly what we've looked at... Finally, let me remind you of some of the issues we've covered... If I can just sum up the main points... Firstly...secondly...thirdly...lastly... First of all...then...next...after

Giving an example

Dealing with questions

Summarising and concluding

Ordering

that...finally...

To start with...later...to finish up...