ENG101ALesson 12

Oral Communication Skills

Your experience in giving presentations

Make notes on your answers to these questions. Then form a group of 4, and present the main points of your ideas to your group.

Language of Introductions

Greeting

Hi. Hello. Good morning. Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Chuhai College of Higher

Education. It’s an honour to have the opportunity to address such a distinguished audience.

Language of Introductions

Name

My name’s Cecilia Li. I know I’ve met some of you, but just for the

benefit of those I haven’t, my name’s …

Language of Introductions

Position

I’m a Year 2 Journalism student. I’m the Finance Manager. Let me start by saying just a few words about

my own background. I got into the College in 2014, and started my degree programme on Chinese language and literature…

Language of Introductions

Title/topic

I’m going to …

I’d like to …

I want to …

I intend to …

talk about …

present …

explain …

describe …

discuss …

brief you on …

inform you about …

Language of Introductions

Title/topic

The subject/focus/topic of my talk presentation paper (academic) speech (usually to public audience)

Language of Introductions

Purpose

We’re here to: decide … agree … learn about …

Language of Introductions

Purpose

The purpose of this talk is to: update you on … put you in the picture about … give you the background to …

Language of Introductions

Purpose

This talk is designed to: prepare you for ... provide you basic information on …

Language of Introductions

Length

I shall only take 20 minutes of your time. I plan to be brief. This should only last 20 minutes.

Language of Introductions

Outline

I’ve divided my presentation into four parts/sections. They are …

The subject can be looked at under the following headings: …

Language of Introductions

Outline

We can break this area down into the following fields: Firstly/first of all … Secondly/then/next … Thirdly/and then we come to … Finally/lastly/last of all …

Language of Introductions

Questions

I’d be glad to answer any questions at the end of my talk.

If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt.

Please interrupt me if there’s something which needs clarifying. Otherwise, there’ll be time for discussion at the end.

Attention-getters

The attention-getter is designed to: intrigue the audience motivate them to listen attentively

While there are infinite possibilities for attention-getting devices, it is important for you to spend time creating and practising the attention-getter.

Most importantly, an attention-getter should create curiosity in the minds of your listeners and convince them that the speech will be interesting and useful.

Conventional wisdom on structure

1. Tell people what you are going to say

2. Say it

3. Tel them what you have said

Linking words/transitional phrases

1. May I begin

2. at such short notice

3. As you know

4. purpose

5. up to date

6. First of all

7. Next

8. Finally

Linking words/transitional phrases

9. Priorities

10. draw your attention

11. As far as

12. as a whole

13. On the contrary

14. On the other hand

15. In other words

16. to sum up

Conclusions

Signalling the end Summarising Concluding Recommending Closing Inviting questions

Conclusions

Signalling the end

That brings me to the end of my presentation. That completes my presentation. Before I stop/finish, let me just say … That covers all I wanted to say today.

Conclusions

Summarising

Let me just run over the key points again. I’ll briefly summarise the main issues. To sum up, … Briefly, I have talked about …

Conclusions

Concluding

As you can see, there are some very good reasons for us to …

In conclusion, … I’d like to leave you with the following

thought/idea.

Conclusions

Recommending

So, I’d suggest that we … I’d like to propose … (formal) In my opinion, the only way forward is …

Conclusions

Closing

Thank you for your attention. Thank you for listening. I hope you will have gained an insight into …

Conclusions

Inviting questions

I’d be glad to try and answer any questions. So, let’s throw it open to questions. I think I’ll stop there to leave time for questions. That covers the main points. If you have any

comments or questions, I’ll be happy to hear them.

Time is getting short so I’d better take questions now.

Any questions? (informal)

Non-verbal communication

1.What does body language include?

Movement Don’t stand completely still – a little

movement between table and board, or between notes and audience, is more interesting

Don’t move around too much, or the audience may watch you instead of listening to you

Non-verbal communication

1.What does body language include?

Posture Try to keep your posture upright but relaxed Look straight ahead, not down at the floor or

up at the ceiling

Non-verbal communication

1.What does body language include?

Hands Use your hands to emphasise what you say It is safer to keep hands out of pockets – in

some cultures this shows disrespect Hold a pen or pointer if you feel more

comfortable – but don’t play with it.

Non-verbal communication

1.What does body language include?

Eye contact Maintain good eye contact with different

people in the audience Don’t just look at one person

Non-verbal communication

1.What does body language include?

Facial expression Use facial expressions (e.g. smiles) to

emphasise your feelings

Non-verbal communication

2.Think of some situations where you have only used body language to communicate.

a) What was the situation?

b) Where were you?

c) How successful were you in communicating?

Non-verbal communication

Version 1 Version 2

Appearance Scruffy Smart

Movement Static, several nervous gestures

Dynamic

Posture Hunched Upright

Hands – position

Hands -- gestures

In pockets

No helpful gestures

Visible and active

Clear helpful gestures

Eye contact None A lot

Facial expression Depressed Concerned, enthusiastic