The structure of a presentation


A presentation has an overall structure. Most presentations follow this sequence:

Introduction
  * Greetings and introduction
  * State your purpose
  * Give a brief outline

Main body
  * Main content
  * (When planning your presentation, remember that the introduction, summary and conclusion should
be brief. The main content should take the longest amount of time)

Conclusion
  * Summary
  * Conclusion
  * Question time
  * Farewell




Presentation phrases


Beginning the presentation


Good morning, everyone. Thank you all for coming. Let me introduce myself. My name is …… and I am
from…

Before I carry on, let me tell you something about myself. I’ve been working/studying …

Good morning. I’m delighted to be here today. Ma name’s …


Stating the purpose, giving an outline


As you know, I’m here today to talk about ….

The purpose of my talk is to present ….

I have divided my talk into three main parts: firstly, ……   , secondly, ……., and, finally, ..

I’ll begin with (some general comments about …) and then I’ll deal with …. After that, we’ll look
at …

I’ll be talking about three main areas: first of all, (I’ll describe …). Then, I’ll go on to (talk
about …), and finally, (I’ll tell you about..)


The main content


How would you deal with this?

What was the reason for this?

How can we explain this?

Did you know that ….. ?

You will all know what I mean.

Let’s move to (the advantages and disadvantages ..)

I’d like you to have a look at (this bar chart ..)

If you look at (this graph…)



Summarising and concluding


To sum up then, (we must reduce …)

I’d like to conclude by (reminding you of something ..)

That brings me to the end of my presentation, ladies and gentlemen.



Notes


Try to appear as spontaneous as possible.

Do not read your presentation. Reading a text is boring and will send your audience to sleep!

Use notes to remember everything you need to say. Some people make notes on small, A6 cards. Some
people write down just the title of each section of their talk. Some people write down keywords to
remind them.


Rehearsal


Practise your presentation two or three times so that you
  * become more familiar with what you want to say
  * identify weakness in your presentation
  * can practise difficult pronunciations
  * can check the time that your presentation takes and make any necessary modifications



Useful Tips


Be prepared: don’t forget pens (if using visuals), or anything else that you have prepared to use
in your presentation (especially your guide cards!). Keep your visuals in order to save time.


Speak clearly and project your voice to the back of the room. If using visual aids, make sure that
they are visible to the whole audience. Avoid turning your back on the audience when writing on the
visual aids. If this isn’t possible, be sure that you don’t continue speaking when doing so.


There may be information/diagrams/charts on the visual that you don’t want the audience to see
until later. If so, cover that part with a piece of paper and remove when appropriate. This will
stop the audience from reading ahead while you are talking about the current part.


Keep an eye on the time. Time management is important if you have a time limit. When presenting,
address the audience individually. Make eye contact with different people for about 2-3 seconds as
if you are talking to them personally. This will keep them all involved.

Finally, everyone gets nervous when doing a presentation, so you’re not alone. Don’t let this get
to you and do whatever you feel necessary to make you more at ease. This, again, can be done by
involving the audience.



Adapted from

http://www.bizhelp24.com/employment-and-personal-development/how-to-give-a-presentation-2.html