Braving a Business English Presentation

Standing up in front of a roomful of people and trying to hold their attention while delivering a monologue in a second language is never going to be the easiest of tasks. Indeed, for many people, the mere thought of giving a presentation releases a flood of anxiety.

Nevertheless, with the right attitude and ample preparation, anyone attending a business English course is more than capable of making a professional presentation.

  Required Research

Carry out adequate research and half the battle is already won. Research consists of more than just researching the content of a presentation. Also consider the expectations of your audience and tailor the content of your presentation accordingly. Bear in mind that people attending because they have to will need to be kept entertained more than those attending through choice.

 Getting It Right the First Time

The introduction sets the scene for the entire presentation. Create a bad impression now and it will be difficult to win back the audience later. Try to incorporate at least one interesting fact to capture listeners’ attention.

Avoid humour, as this rarely translates well between languages. Native speakers can successfully incorporate jokes into their presentations, but the timing, pronunciation and cultural knowledge required make them best avoided by non-native speakers.

Use the introduction to welcome the audience, introduce the subject of the presentation, outline the structure of the talk and give instructions about asking questions.

Building the Body

The main drive of the presentation should be well structured and easy to follow. Divide content logically, using plenty of well-placed visual aids between points. Keep the language as simple as possible, taking care to emphasise key words, both orally and visually. As with anything else, practice makes perfect. At learning centres such as St Georges English school London business courses are a great way to gain confidence in professional presentation skills.

During delivery, keep calm and do not hurry. Everybody finds rushed speech difficult to understand. Maintain eye contact and try to appear enthusiastic about the chosen subject. Don’t be afraid to refer to notes, as it’s important that the overall structure is maintained.

Summing Up

Use the conclusion to restate the main points of the presentation.

Give recommendations if appropriate and thank the audience for listening. Finally, invite questions:

Responding to Questions

Questions provide a good opportunity for the speaker to interact with the audience. Don’t rush answers and don’t be afraid to ask people to repeat themselves. Aim for clarity and break complex questions down into more manageable chunks.

Standard business questions

These are some standard business questions that may be asked while making general inquiries into the nature of a company.

A sample piece of conversation between a reporter and the manager of a publishing company is given below.

Reporter: Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today.
Manager: It’s my pleasure.

Reporter: Which company do you work for?
Manager: I work for a publishing company called Alpha Books.

Reporter: What sort of books do you publish?
Manager: We publish both fiction and non-fiction, academic and non-academic books.

Reporter: I see. Where is the company located?
Manager: Pioneer Books is located in Mumbai.

Reporter: How many people do you employ?
Manager: Currently, we have 250 people on our staff roll.

Reporter: Does your company have an online presence?
Manager: We have a full-fledged online store. We also have decent presence on social networking sites. Reporter: Do you also publish digital books?
Manager: Yes. Many of our titles are available in both print and digital versions.

Reporter: Do you have a presence overseas?
Manager: At the moment, we don’t have a presence overseas, but we are working on entering into a partnership with some international publishing houses.

Reporter: Is yours a public limited company?
Manager: No, it is a privately owned company.

Variations of these questions are also possible.

Question: Which company do you work for?

Possible variations

Who do you work for?
Where do you work?
Who is your employer?

Question: Where is your company based?

Possible variations

Where is your company located?
Where is your company headquartered?
Where are your headquarters?

Question: Does your company have an online presence?

Possible variations

What about your company’s online presence?
Do you have a website?
Does your company have a website?
Do you have an online store?

Question: How many people do you employ?

Possible variations

Does your company employ a lot of people?
How many people does your company employ?
How many people do you have on staff?