VV064 Week 11
Adapted from Williams, Erica J. Presentations in English. Honkong: MacMillan, 2008
PRACTISING PRESENTATIONS
Convincing language
A) Read the two proposals below. Highlight the words and phrases that make Proposal A
tentative and Proposal B more positive and convincing.
Proposal A) Let me then turn to the third and final option which is to move to new offices near
the airport. There are some drawbacks to this option as the process of finding a location, building
to our specifications and moving will be costly and time-consuming. We shouldn’t worry too much
about these drawbacks though as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I suggest that we
find a location where we can build to our specifications in a way that reflects our corporate
image. Clients could get to our offices more easily from the airport and we should be able to build
an underground garage so that there’ll be more visitor parking. In addition, you find good
accommodation around the airport. Hopefully, we could restructure the offices so that we maybe
can improve internal communication and leave room for new departments as we perhaps grow.
We should stick to our corporate values and many of our staff will probably stay with us.
Proposal B) Let me then turn to the third, final and best option which is to move to new offices
near the airport. There could be some minor drawbacks to this option as the process of finding a
location, building to our specifications and moving might be costly and time-consuming. We
should not worry about these drawbacks though as the advantages far outweigh the
disadvantages. I strongly recommend that we find a location where we can build to our
specifications in a way that reflects our corporate image. Clients will get to our offices more easily
from the airport and we are going to build an underground garage so that there will be more
visitor parking. In addition, you do find good accommodation around the airport. What we’ll do is
restructure the offices so that we’ll certainly improve internal communication and leave room for
new departments as we grow. We plan to stick to our corporate values and to keep most of our
staff.
Body Language
a) eye contact – focus on individual listeners for a few seconds
b) facial expressions – related to the emotion/information you want to convey (smile often!)
c) small (but noticeable) and stiff gestures – head, shoulders, hands
d) point at visuals/important information
e) make it natural
VV064 Week 11
Adapted from Williams, Erica J. Presentations in English. Honkong: MacMillan, 2008
Presentation practice. Read one of the two stories below. Then choose on the following
presentation subjects (or create your own): research, understanding investment opportunities,
attaining goals, corporate culture – motivating employees, risks and rewards. Finally, try to prepare
a two-minute introduction section to your presentation. Introduce the topic of your presentation
and then incorporate the story into the presentation.
Music History
Decca Records auditioned two groups at their London studios on New Year’s Day in 1962. After the
audition Decca decided to take on the local band, The Tremeloes. Dick Rowe, head of Decca’s pop
division, rejected the second group saying, “We don’t like their sound and guitar music is on the way
out.” This second group was a Liverpool band called The Beatles. They went on to sign with
Parlophone Records and from there to become the biggest success in pop history. Dick Rowe went
down in music history as the man who rejected The Beatles.
The Fox and the Grapes
One hot summer’s day a fox was strolling through an orchard when he came to a bunch of grapes
just ripening on a vine on a very high branch. “That’s just what I need for my thirds,” the fox though.
Going back a few steps, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the grapes. Turning round again,
he jumped up with a “one, two, three,” but with no success. He tried to get the grapes again and
again but in the end gave up. The fox walked away with his nose in the air, saying, “I am sure they’re
sour.”