Presentation skills


Getting started: introduction and greeting the audience


  * Good morning everyone/Thank you for coming/being here.... Today I´d like to talk to
you/discuss/present.../Let´s get started...)


  * I´ll start off by...   (filling you in on the background to/ giving an overview
of/outlining...)


  * And then I´ll go on to ...(discuss in more depth.../make detailed recommendations.../focus your
attention to...)


Singposting: helps you keep a clear structure. When you want to move on to your next point or
change direction, tell your audience. The following signposts should make it easier:


  * To move on to the next point... to expand on... to digress...to go back... to conclude... to
summarize...to turn on...to elaborate on...



Exploiting visuals: visual information is highly memorable and reduces the amount of talking you
have to do. Good visuals speak for you.


  * Have a look at...As you can see here... Let´s take a closer look at... The graph we are looking
at... I´d like to draw your attention to ...


Emhpasis: You can change the significance of what you say in a presentation by stressing what you
want to make sound important. You can make your presentation more persuasive by using intensifiers
to emphasize your point (such, really, extremely, absolutely, much better/faster...)


Rhetorical questions: involve your audience and make presentations sound more conversational and
make audience anticipate what comes next.


  * So,  what sort of obstacles is the company facing?
  * How big is the threat?
  * So, how competitive are we?...


Concluding your presentation: Summarize the main points at the end to make the audience remember
what has been said. Thank your audience for their attention and invite questions.


Dealing with questions: Make sure you understand the question. If not, ask the person to rephrase
it. Be willing to answer. If you cannot, suggest to find out later and let the person know.