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Presentation Skills 1

This highly practical workshop develops your skills in planning, structuring and delivering successful presentations for everyday work situations.

Can your teams deliver clear and engaging presentations that are relevant to your stakeholders’ needs? Do their presentations contain the information and level of detail? Can they effectively apply different presentation techniques to appeal to various audiences?

Through this essential course, your teams will develop a strong foundation in planning, structuring and delivering highly-effective presentations. They will be able to craft key messages that capture stakeholders’ attention. Your organisation will strengthen its professional image through memorable presentations that make a strong impression and inspire stakeholder action.

• Craft relevant, complete presentations that achieve desired outcomes based on detailed understanding of audience needs and expectations 
• Give clear, concise, coherent presentations that encourage and enable the audience to take appropriate, timely action
• Engage presentation audiences from the start through targeted verbal, vocal and visual techniques.
• Participants will be more adept at creating and delivering engaging presentations that make a strong impression on stakeholders
• Audiences will quickly understand presentations, be more engaged by the speaker and be able to take appropriate and timely action
• Your organisation will project a professional image, through targeted, interactive presentations that result in stakeholder action.

Workshop outline

Presentations essentials

• Incorporating the 4Ps presentation process
• Evaluating your presentation performance and setting personal goals

Planning presentations that meet audience needs

• Identifying purpose and outcome
• Analysing audience profile & needs

Creating a logical presentation structure

• Structuring your presentation
• Using the power of three and transition signals

Making your presentation memorable

• Capturing your audience’s attention
• Creating a structured opening and closing

Enhancing your presentation with visual aids

• Storyboarding to design slides
• Avoid problems with slides

Polishing your presentations with non-verbal communication

• Projecting a confident image
• Aligning body language with your words

Handling interruptions and questions when presenting

• Handling interruptions
• Managing Q&A sessions

Presentations mini-clinic

• Evaluating your presentation performance 
• Setting goals and action planning to improve your presentations

Course levels

CEFR Intermediate (B1) and above.

Why choose us?

Find out  why you should choose us  and  how we teach .

Full-day workshop schedule

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English & Enterprise: Presentation Skills

In this week's Premier Skills English Podcast , Jack and Rich continue with a mini-series of podcasts called English & Enterprise . The topic in this episode is presentation skills and the language focus is on phrases we use to structure presentations. Your task is to talk about a presentation that you have given at school, work or university. Don't forget to listen to the end of the podcast because we have a new football phrase for you to guess, too. Enjoy!

Welcome - English & Enterprise  - Presentation Skills 

Jack : Hello my name’s Jack

Rich : and I’m Rich and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast

Jack : Where we talk about football and help you with your English.

Rich : We recommend that you listen to this podcast on the Premier Skills English website because that is where we have the transcript, language examples, activities, quizzes and a discussion page to help you understand everything we talk about.

Jack : However, if you’re listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, you can leave answers to our questions in the review section. We do read all the reviews and would love to hear from you. 

Rich : In this week’s podcast, we’re continuing with our mini-series of podcasts that focus on enterprise skills. These are skills that will help you with your English at work or in the workplace.

Jack : In our last podcast, we spoke about the language you need when trying to solve a problem - problem-solving skills.  We looked at phrases we might use to suggest and discuss solutions to problems such as ‘We’d be better off trying something totally different’, ‘Our best bet would be to try this’ and ‘I’m not sure that would be a smart move’. 

Rich : We also looked at lots of phrases with the word ‘chance’ that focused on the likelihood or possibility of something happening. These were phrases such as ‘It’s a million to one chance’, ‘You don’t stand a chance’ and ‘the chances of that happening are somewhere between slim and none’.

Jack : If you want to go back and do this lesson you can find it on the Premier Skills English website by clicking skills > listen >podcasts. If you are on Spotify or Apple Podcasts you’ll find it in the playlist, it’s called ‘English & Enterprise: Problem Solving’.

Rich : In this podcast, we are going to focus on presentation skills. In the workplace or at work, we often have to give presentations to our boss, our work colleagues or external customers.

Jack : We will focus on some of the words and phrases you need to give a successful presentation and we will give you our top presentation tips.

Rich : Later in the podcast, we will have a roleplay for you that continues from the previous roleplays in our English and Enterprise podcasts.

Jack : If you remember, we have a new idea for a football product - hair moulds in the shape of footballers.

Rich : It was our idea but the boss’ daughter has stolen it and taken the credit for it.

Jack : In this week’s roleplay, we will present the product to the boss who will realise that it was our idea, not his daughter’s.

Rich : After the roleplay, we will have a task for you to do, which is when we ask you to use your English. This week we’re going to ask you to tell us about a presentation at work, school or university that you have given in English.

Jack : And, don’t forget to listen to the end of the podcast because we have another football phrase for you to guess.

Football Phrase 1 

Jack : But, before we look at all that, let’s look at last week’s football phrase. If you didn’t hear it last week we’ll give you one more chance to guess and give you the correct answer at the end of the show when we give you a new football phrase.

Rich : The phrase was _______. This phrase is used when a referee or more recently VAR decides that a goal should not be given because of a foul or offside.

Jack :  Well done if you got the right answer last week. A special well done to Lakerwang from China,  Liubomyr from Ukraine, Coreuser from Saudi Arabia, Elghoul from Algeria, and Idzingirai from Zimbabwe. All of you got the right answer and wrote the correct answer on the Premier Skills English website

Rich : We’ll tell you the answer to this football phrase and we’ll have a new one at the end of the show. Introduction to Roleplay

Rich : You are now going to listen to a roleplay. 

Jack : In the last podcast, you heard that the boss’s daughter had stolen the idea for a new product from two employees of a tech company (me and Rich).

Rich : If you remember, this fantastic new product are hair moulds in the shape of famous footballers that fans can wear in their hair. The boss thinks it’s going to be a big hit.

Jack : In this roleplay, we are going to give a presentation about the product and after the roleplay, we will look at some of the important language to use when giving presentations.

Rich : While you listen, try to answer these two questions: question one: What happens to Maria? And question two: Why does Jack think the product will be successful? 

Boss : A big welcome to everyone who has come today. We are very happy to see so many familiar faces in the audience. After the presentation of our exciting new football product, I will hope to have conversations with all potential partners and customers. I’m sure you will all be very interested. 

Boss : I’d like to welcome to the stage the brains behind the product my daughter Maria and two of our employees Jack and Rich.

Jack : Hello everybody. We’re very happy that you could join us here today. The main focus of this presentation is to give you more details about our product. Maria - Maybe you could give a brief overview of the product and its USP?

Maria : No, I can’t.

Jack : Maybe Maria hasn’t got her notes with her.

Jack : Not to worry everyone, I’d like to hand over to Rich, who has been working on the development of the product and will be happy to give you an overview.

Rich : Thank you, Jack, and everybody here today. First of all, I’m going to tell you a little bit about the product. Secondly,  I will hand over to Jack who is going to tell you why this product will be a success and finally we will hand back over to Maria who will present a cost-benefit analysis.

Jack : Psst. I think Maria’s gone.

Rich : Sorry, and last of all we will take a look at the kinds of profits you could be making.

Jack : We have both been hard at work crunching the numbers to show you how profitable this product will be. Rich - over to you.

Rich : As you’re aware, the football tech industry is booming. The sector was worth 45 billion dollars last year alone. And based on our findings we believe our new product can add a further 10% to the sector in the coming year. Our product is Premier League hair moulds. Let me elaborate further. This product would allow anybody with hair - our data shows this is 98% of the global population - to have the shape of their favourite footballer cut into their hair. Production costs would be minimal so, to put it simply, if we got major football leagues involved, profits could be astronomical.  Let me hand back to my colleague, Jack, who will expand on this a little.

Jack : Thanks, Rich. Let’s move on to why the hair mould idea will be a success. The reasons are threefold. Firstly, affordability. As Rich said earlier, hair moulds are cheap to make. Production costs are low which also means a low final sale price. Everybody will be able to buy one. Secondly, simplicity, hair moulds are easy to make and easy to use. And, thirdly, popularity, football is a world game - anything and everything connected to football sells.

Rich : Thanks for that, Jack. Before we sum up, we’d like to talk numbers. As you can see in the chart, the profit on a small number of units is quite small, however, if you look at the numbers we hope to sell, as illustrated in this second chart, you can see the kind of figures we are aiming for. The handout on your desk gives a further breakdown of all the costs.

Jack : So, in conclusion, we believe that this product could be the next global craze and will be very profitable for all involved. Thank you all for your attention and we’re now very happy to take any questions you may have.

Roleplay Questions 

Jack : Before we take a look at the language we used in the roleplay, let’s give you the answers to those questions we asked.

Rich : The first question was: What happens to Maria? Well, she disappeared! She refused to speak because she didn’t know what to say. Remember, she had stolen the product idea from us so didn’t have any of the information. 

Jack : That’s right. And the second question was: Why do I think the product will be successful?

Rich : He gave three reasons: affordability, simplicity and popularity. 

Jack : Now, let’s look at some of the language we used in the roleplay. Language Focus

Jack : In the roleplay, you heard me and Rich give a presentation. We are now going to look at some language that will help you give better presentations. When we’ve done that we’ll give you our top tips for giving presentations.

Rich : Let’s start with introducing a presentation. You might want to start by saying something like ‘hello everybody’ or ‘thanks for coming today’ but then you need to state the purpose of your presentation.

Jack : In the roleplay, Rich said ‘The main focus of this presentation is to give you more details about our product.’

Rich : The useful bit of language here is ‘the main focus of this presentation is ...’ You could use some other phrases to introduce the purpose of your presentation.

Jack : These include simple phrases such as ‘Today, I’m going to talk about ...’ or ‘This afternoon, I’d like to talk about …’ or more complex phrases such as ‘Let me start this presentation by …’ or ‘As you may be aware …’.

Rich : We used this last phrase in the roleplay. I said ‘As you’re aware, the football tech industry is booming’. This phrase is used to introduce a topic that your audience already knows about.

Jack : It’s important to give a presentation order and structure. At the beginning of a presentation, you should tell your audience what you are going to speak about and when.

Rich : In the roleplay, I used the phrases ‘first of all’, ‘secondly’ and ‘finally’ to tell my audience what I was going to speak about and when.

Jack : I did something similar when I gave three reasons why the product would be a success. I used the words ‘firstly’, ‘secondly and ‘thirdly’.

Rich : There are also some phrases you can use at the end of your presentation or when you are saying what you re going to speak about at the end. As I mentioned ‘finally’ is a useful word here but we can also say things like ‘in conclusion ...’, ‘last of all …’ and ‘summing up ...’ or ‘to sum up ...’.

Jack : At the very end of a presentation it can be useful to thank the audience for listening and answer questions. In the roleplay, I said ‘Thank you all for your attention and we’re now very happy to take any questions you may have’. 

Rich : So those are probably the most useful phrases for giving your presentation a basic structure but there are lots of other phrases we use in presentations.

Jack : In the roleplay, you heard ‘let’s move on to …’ which is a common phrase to change the topic in a presentation, you heard ‘our data shows’ and ‘based on our findings’ which are phrases that are used to make reference to other information.

Rich : You also heard ‘let me elaborate further’ and ‘let me expand on this a little’ which are phrases used to give more details about something. The phrases ‘as you can see in this chart’ and ‘as illustrated in this chart’ and ‘in the handout you will see a breakdown of all the costs’ are all used to explain visual information.

Jack : We will look at these phrases in a little bit more detail on the Premier Skills English website. There will be more explanations and activities for you to do on the website page for this podcast.

Rich : It’s totally free to use and you will find this lesson on the homepage or under skills > listen > podcasts.

Presentation Tips

Jack : Many of you may have to give a presentation at work, school or university so we thought we would share with you five of our top tips for giving presentations in English.

Rich : We hope you find them useful.

Jack : Tip Number one.

Rich : Plan your presentation and use notes.

Jack : Prepare what you are going to say by making some notes. This doesn’t mean writing down everything you are going to say. Maybe have a few keywords on five or six small pieces of card to help you remember what to say.

Rich : Tip number two.

Jack : Don’t hold a piece of paper.

Rich : Write your notes on card. If you use paper and you’re nervous, your hand and paper will shake and everyone will see.

Jack : Tip number three.

Rich : Don’t read your visuals. 

Jack : If you use a powerpoint presentation or something similar, don’t read exactly what is written on it. Give your audience a minute to read it and then make the points you want to make.

Rich : Tip number four.

Jack : Practise your presentation.

Rich : This might seem obvious but practise as much as possible. Practise with friends and get them to ask questions. This will give you confidence when you do it for real.

Rich : Tip number five.

Jack : Smile and make eye contact.

Rich : Look at your audience when you are speaking to them. Remember they are listening to you and they are interested in what you have to say!

Jack : This week’s task is to tell us about a presentation that you have given in English or your own language. 

Rich : We want you to answer these questions.

Jack : Question one: Where was your presentation?

Rich : Question two: Who did you give your presentation to? How many people were there?

Jack : Question three: What was the topic of your presentation?

Rich : Question four: How did you feel about giving the presentation? Did other people find it useful?

Jack : Question five: Have you given presentations in English and your own language? What are the main differences?

Rich : Write your answers in the comments section at the bottom of the page on the Premier Skills English website or in the review section on Apple Podcasts.

This week’s football phrase:

Jack : The final section this week is our football phrase. 

Rich : The football phrase this week is * ***-***** ****. In a football context, the phrase means that there are only two teams that can win a competition. The Premier League is * ***-***** **** between Manchester City and Liverpool. The phrase was originally used in a sport that involves animals.

Jack : If you can guess the animal, you should be able to get the phrase. Let’s see who can get it right! If you know the answer, write it in the comments section at the bottom of the page. We will announce your name in next week’s podcast if you get it right.

Rich : We also need to give you the answer to the football phrase we set at the beginning of the show. The answer as you may already know was a disallowed goal.

Jack : Right, that’s all we have time for this week. Bye for now and enjoy your football!

How much did you understand?

In the podcast, Rich and Jack used some words and phrases that might be new for you. Do you know the words  in bold ?

I’d like to welcome to the stage the brains behind the product , my daughter Maria and two of our employees  - Jack and Rich. Maybe you could give a brief overview of the product and its USP ? I’d like to hand over to Rich, who has been working on the development of the product. We have both been hard at work crunching the numbers to show you how profitable this product will be. The football tech industry is booming .

There were a few more tricky words and phrases in the podcast. Do you know what they all mean? Try the activity below, then, listen to the podcast again to hear how we used the words. This can really help your understanding.

Giving Presentations

In the roleplay, you heard Jack and Rich giving a presentation. We often have to give presentations at work, school or university. 

The structure of a presentation is very important. If a presentation has a good structure, you will know what you have to say and when and your audience will be able to understand your presentation much more easily. Here are some phrases we used in the podcast that you can help structure your presentations. Do you know the phrases  in bold ?

Introducing your presentation

The main focus of this presentation is to give you more details about our product. Today, I’m going to talk about ... This afternoon, I’d like to talk about … Let me start this presentation by  explaining/saying/offering ... As you’re aware , the football tech industry is booming.

The first three of the phrases above are quite simple and can be used to introduce the topic of your presentation in a direct way. The other two phrases are used less directly. ' Let me start this presentation by ...' is usually followed by the gerund form (-ing) and is often used when the speaker wants to talk about the purpose of a presentation.  The phrase ' as you are aware, ... ' is used to introduce a topic that your audience already knows about.

Signposting your presentation

At the beginning of your presentation and during the presentation it's a good idea to signpost your presentation; say what you are going to talk about and when. There are some specific words and phrases we use to do this. We used some of these in the podcast. Do you understand the words and phrases in bold ? 

First of all , I’m going to tell you a little bit about the product. Secondly ,  I will hand over to Jack who is going to tell you why this product will be a success. Finally, we will hand back over to Maria who will present a cost-benefit analysis. Sorry, and last of all we will take a look at the kinds of profits you could be making.

All of the words and phrases in bold help the speaker give their presentation and help the audience follow the presentation. You can also use ' firstly ', ' secondly ', and ' thirdly ' but beyond the third point we usually use phrases such as ' the next point ' or ' following this '.

Finishing your presentation

When we finish a presentation, we often give a conclusion, which involves giving our opinion or recommendation, or we give a summary which involves repeating the main points you have spoken about. In reality, there is not usually much difference between a conclusion or a summary. Have a look at the phrases below. Do you know the words in bold ?

So, in conclusion , we believe that this product could be the next global craze and will be very profitable for all involved.  Last of all , I would like to ... So, to sum up my main points, I ... Summing up the main ideas from the meeting, I'd like to repeat ...

Try the activity below, you need to read the dialogues and write the correct words in the gaps. All of the words were used in this podcast.

Changing the topic

When we introduce a presentation we probably mention three or four topics or points that we will mention in our presentation. We need to make it clear when we are changing the topic or moving on to a new point. In the roleplay, Rich said:

 Let’s move on to why the hair mould idea will be a success.

Here are some other phrases you can use when moving from one point to another:

I’d now like to move on to the next part … This leads me to my next point, which is … Turning our attention now to … Let’s now turn to …

Giving more information

Before we move onto a new point we might want to give some extra information about something. In the roleplay, we used these phrases:

Our product is Premier League hair moulds. Let me elaborate further . This product would Let me hand back to my colleague, Jack, who will expand on this a little.

Here are some simple phrases you can use when moving from one point to another:

In addition, ... What’s more, ... Also, ... Added to this, ...

Referring to data

When giving a presentation, we often need to talk about data or statistics that we have collected or that is from other sources. In the podcast, we used some phrases to do this:

Based on our findings, we believe our new product can add a further 10% to the sector in the coming year. This product would allow anybody with hair - our data shows this is 98% of the global population.

Here are some other phrases you can use when referring to other sources:

According to (some recent statistics/various studies/our sources), … Our data indicates …

Referring to visual information

When we give presentations, we often use powerpoints, handouts or other visual elements to improve our presentations and make them simpler to understand. We used some specific phrases when referring to these images. Do you know the words  in bold ?

As you can see in the chart , the profit on a small number of units is quite small. If you look at the numbers we hope to sell, as illustrated in this second chart , you can see the kind of figures we are aiming for.  The handout on your desk gives a further breakdown of all the costs.

Here are some further phrases that we can use when presenting visual information:

I’d like to illustrate this point by showing you… I think the graph perfectly shows how/that… If you look at this graph/image/table, you can see that…

Try the activity below, then, listen to the podcast again to hear how we used the words. This can really help your understanding.

Please login to take this quiz.

Presentations

This week’s task is to tell us about a presentation that you have given at work, school or university. 

These questions will help you with your answer:

• Where was your presentation?
• Who did you give your presentation to? How many people were there?
• What was the topic of your presentation?
• How did you feel about giving the presentation? Did other people find it useful?
• Have you given presentations in English and your own language? What are the main differences?

Write your answers in the comments section below and don't forget to  make a guess at our football phrase.

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Task 1-At work and it was one of city of my country. 2-Businesswomen/men. About five hundred. 3-About financial facilities are provided by my company to the SMEs. 4-I was a little bit nervous but afterwards I got calm. They thanked me after presantation. 5-Only in my own language.I’ve no English presantation experience. Phrases • The smart move would be staying at home and keep off from crowded areas in the pandemic days. • Every leader /governor/manager have to know right time to leave desk. This means handover authority to the next person. • As you’re aware glass bottles should hand back to the store to get deposit. • Talkative people should first of all say what she/he will last of all say in order to save time.--:) • I've been crunching and elaborating numbers as well as analysing cost-benefit state to see how could I change my old car-:) • A brief overview of issues in the agenda before starting meeting is more beneficial. Notes • When I meet a family company's members as a financier I always try to find out the brain behind this organization.

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This week's football phrase is ( a two-horse race )

One of the most memorable presentations I have ever had was when I started working at a new big school and it was a must for every teacher to have a presentation about themselves with some points as family , background , experience and teaching motivations. I felt a bit nervous in the beginning because I am not used to giving a speech in front of that massive number as the audience were all my colleagues and managers so it was about 70 persons at the school theatre I spent the earlier 3 days practicing and I wrote some main points to talk about. I made a powerpoint with headlines and photos to make it simpler and more interesting The exciting point here that it was by English and it was recoreded by a friend of mine. When I saw it later , I think actually I did a fantastic job , speaking like a CEO of a big company , just joking , I mean it was very good regarding confidence and fluency and it lasted for about 10 minutes

One of my best presentation was at high school. I was racing against three students to became the new high school's leader as we were coursing the last year. I gave my presentation to all the students, so there were almost 700 students. The main topic was explain the students why I should became their leader by showing them a plan on which I was offering them different alternatives to enjoy our pass through the school. I offered them the chance to create and build a bigger library for investigation, buying more books of their interest, I offered them the chance to be included in different sport's team after class with an affordability cost, I was going to create a musical group by making auditions for all whose played instruments so they could have the chance to perform their talents at especial days that I chosed to release concerts. Last of all, I promised them, they could have six parties along the year; which it was the boom. I felt so nervous as I started talking to them by the microphone since it sounded rare the eco, and I subconciously thought they were not hearing me clear, but it was in the first joke I made when I felt relax and I could perform my plan as I expexted to. Of course, yes, absolutely, they found it useful since I won the race thanks to my presentation. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity of giving a real presentation in English, just once, in an English class when my teacher asked me to explain two verbs in front of my classmates but it is not compared because I just had three people staring at me. I hope that day comes soon .

- An iteresting lesson.

2- In 2016 I deliverd a presentation, and it was in the university it considered the second in my educationel career, my audience was that big there were about 5o persons including the jury, the topic was the impact of climate change on food safety, it was very important issue to discuss especialy in continet rely on foreign AIDS, the most import in the presentation is I used English language for the first time during disscussing an issue.

3- Football phrase: A two horse race.

Wasn't it a horsal-race between....?

My presentation was given when I was chief accounter in a bank.

The meeting focused on the differents ways of establishing the foreign money balance.

More than twelve people attended the event as I welcomed them and explained my aims through the day.

I speaked in French our working langage although we used often some popular idioms. The data show and the slides were very helpful.

First of all I detailed the purpose of this new method to evaluate financial assets. Secondly we began in detailing what would the effect on the taxing result. In conclusion every one gives his opinion on the delays of this operation.

football phrase, a two-horse race.

I am used to give a presentation at work twice at year and my next one will be next month. I'm going to give that to an auditor who is coming from another plant of the company I'm working for, and usually there are more than 30 people. The topics of the presentation are for the most, related to the way I used to do my activities everyday and involving subjects like safety, quality, people development, cost deployment and environment. The first few time I gave my presentation I was very nervous because I wasn't used to do that but now I'm feel safer. Sincerely I don't know if my presentation may help someone else in their work but I hope so. Unfortunatly and how you can well see my english is very bad and therefore I'm forced to speak in Italian. Anyway thanks also to you I'm learning English and I'm aware I'm making progress even if they are slow. Sorry but this week football phrase is quite difficult for me

I think that the phrase is '* ***-***** ****'.

Leaderboard

Skills : Listening

Language : Phrases to structure a presentation

Language : Phrases to reference information

Language : Phrases to explain visual information

Task : A presentation you have given

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How to Ace Your Business Presentation in English

So, you need to make a business presentation in English.

First of all, congratulations! To be in your position, you must have invested a huge amount of time and effort in your English language skills. You should be proud.

That said, we totally understand that giving a presentation in a second language can be a challenge. You may be worried that your audience won’t understand your accent. Perhaps you are wondering whether you need to use specific vocabulary. Maybe you’re not sure how best to handle questions from your audience.

If this sounds like you, don’t worry. In this post, we’re going to run through our top tips for acing your business presentation in English. Even if you’ve already made a few presentations in the language, we’re sure you’ll find these suggestions helpful.

So, read on to learn more. And before we start, let us wish you the very best of luck in delivering your next presentation.

Understand your audience

As with all forms of communication, it’s vital that you understand who your audience is. Even in the business world, you can find yourself speaking to very different groups of people.

For example, if you are giving a presentation to members of another company, you would certainly be more formal than when you give a presentation to members of your own team. In each case, you need to think about what your audience will expect from your presentation.

So, before you write a word, ask yourself these questions about your audience. Who are they? What interests them? What do they need to know? What do you want them to do as a result of your presentation?

One useful tip for writing your presentation is to imagine your audience is a single person. It’s easier to write convincingly if you have a single person in mind. Try it!

Mind your language

Most audiences will expect you to give your presentation using formal Business English . Don’t make the mistake of confusing Business English with business jargon .

Successful Business English uses language that is simple, direct, professional and easy to understand. Business jargon on the other hand, relies on obscure phrases, clichés, and acronyms. In many cases, business jargon is complex, not very precise and a barrier to good communication .

We have some useful resources on Business English on this page . However, if in doubt, keep the language of your presentation as simple and clear as possible. It’s also a good idea to use sentences with the active, rather than the passive voice. This allows you to use fewer words, which makes your sentences shorter and more engaging.

To give an example, this is a sentence in the passive voice:

The interview was failed by over one third of applicants.

Now compare this sentence, which is in the active voice.

Over one-third of applicants failed the interview.

To learn more about the active and the passive voice, check out this explainer from the British Council.

Practise, practise, practise

If English isn’t your first language, it’s more important than ever to practise your presentation before delivering it. By practising, you’ll feel more comfortable using English in a business setting. You’ll be able to work on any words or phrases you find difficult to pronounce, or you can change them to words or phrases you are more comfortable with.

Ideally, you should practise giving your presentation in front of someone else. That way you can get useful feedback on what works well, and what doesn’t. If that’s not possible, make a video of yourself giving your presentation. When you see yourself on screen, it will give you helpful insights into ways you can improve your delivery.

Don’t forget to introduce yourself

It may sound obvious, but don’t forget to introduce yourself at the very beginning of your presentation. It not only breaks the ice , but it’s an opportunity to get the audience on your side. If you are presenting to native English speakers, you may wish to tell them that English is not your first language – but don’t apologise for it! If anything, your audience will be impressed that you can give a presentation in a second language.

Have a clear structure

When people learn to teach in the UK, they are often told to structure their lessons in this simple way:

• Say what you’re going to say
• Say what you’ve said

In other words, introduce the session by explaining what you intend to talk about. This sets the audience’s expectations – they know what’s going to happen.

You then use main part of the session to make your presentation. There are many effective ways of doing this, and we’ll cover some of these soon.

Finally, finish by summarising the most important points of your presentation. This helps your audience to remember them clearly.

One other tip, if you plan to let the audience ask questions, it’s a good idea to tell them you’d prefer to answer them at the end of the presentation. This will discourage them from interrupting your presentation at the wrong moment.

Use storytelling

People love stories. If you can capture your audience’s imagination with a story, you can make a very powerful impression.

For example, imagine you are giving a presentation about how to commission new advertisements for your company. You want to make the point that good copywriting as just as important as good visual design.

You can either make your point directly, like this:

“Successful adverts rely on good writing as well as good design. If you change the wording of an advert, it can often result in extra sales – or fewer. Therefore, the words we choose are as important as the images we use.”.

Or you could begin with a story, like this:

“I want you to imagine it’s the year 1907. A man called Louis Victor Eytinge is in prison, convicted of murder. He’s a drug addict, suffering from tuberculosis. He’s unlikely to live, never mind get out of jail. Yet, by 1923 he walked free into a well-paid advertising job and a career as a Hollywood screenwriter. How? He had written his way to freedom. I want to use his story to show you why, if we want successful adverts, we need to commission powerful writing as well as good design.”

Which version of the presentation would you rather listen to?!

Remember pace and pitch

One useful tip for acing your business presentations in English is to vary the pace and pitch of your delivery.

While you don’t want to speak too fast, it’s a good idea to use a different pace for different parts of your presentation. For example, when you want to communicate a key point, speaking more slowly will help people understand that you think it is important.

Equally, it’s a good idea to vary the pitch of your voice. Try and keep this as natural as possible, but experiment with using a higher pitch when asking questions and a lower pitch when beginning your sentences. One good way to learn how to vary your pitch is to listen to UK news broadcasts – news presenters are expert at varying the tone of their voice to keep listeners interested.

Add a call to action

Most business presentations are given for a specific purpose. You may want to convince another company to work with you. Or you may want to convince your own firm to invest in a new kind of product. You may simply be explaining to colleagues how a new training scheme will work.

Whatever the purpose of your presentation, always remember to tell your audience what you want them to do. This is a ‘call to action’. Do you want your audience to email you their ideas? Or send you a funding proposal? Or arrange a meeting?

No matter what you need your audience to do, don’t forget to tell them. And at the very end, be sure to thank them for their time!

More business presentation tips

There are many other tips we could share with you on how to ace a business presentation in English. For example, it’s never a good idea to read your presentation from a piece of paper – it’s not engaging and it means you can’t easily make eye contact. It’s also tempting to rely too heavily on visual aids like PowerPoint, but if you get it wrong your audience will read your slides instead of listening to you. On the other hand, it can really engage an audience if you ask them to work together in small groups to share ideas or solve problems.

However you choose to make your presentation, if you prepare well, speak clearly and work hard to connect with your audience, you are very likely to succeed. And if you’d like to improve your presentation skills even further, why not try live online classes with English Online ? They can help you succeed in any career where using English is essential.

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