Hi, I'm Anne Marie with Speak Confident English and welcome to this week's
Confident English lesson where we are focused on how to prepare for a
presentation in English and I'm going to share with you seven simple strategies
that will remove some of the stress, the fear or the anxiety that you have about
giving a presentation in English. Of course a presentation is when you have
to speak in front of a group of people to present your research, your expertise
or some important information. That might be in front of a hundred people, 500
people or a thousand at a huge international conference. It might be in
front of your colleagues at a business meeting. Those different kinds of
presentations have two things in common -- number one the fears that we have are
the same, whether it's a small group or a huge audience
we might be afraid of what will other people think, will they understand us and
how will they judge us in our second language? What happens if you make a
mistake or even worse if you forget a word or the grammar that you want to use
while you're speaking? And number three what if someone asks you a question and
you're not really sure if you understand the question correctly? Those fears are
the first thing that both small and large presentations have in common. The
second thing they have in common are the strategies that help us overcome
those challenges, overcome those worries so we can focus on communicating clearly
being confident and prepared when you give your presentation.
So let's get started on those seven strategies that you can use to be
successfully prepared for a presentation in English. Step number one planning.
Planning is essential but I want to give you a different way to think about this
I want you to ask yourself two questions number one where is your audience right
now and I don't mean the location or the place but I mean what do they understand
about the topic that you need to focus on? If you're talking about marketing
strategy and a proposal to a client what do they understand now or if you're
presenting scientific research what level of understanding does your
audience have on that topic or if you're trying to convince an audience of
something you want to change their mind or you want them to act on something
what is their current position now? The second question is after you speak where
do you want your audience to be? What do you want them to understand or know?What
action do you want them to take? When you know those two questions
it's like figuring out a map you have your starting point for your audience
and the end point and your job in the presentation is to get them from point A
to point B and when you think about those two questions
it helps you to consider what are the important things you need to discuss in
your presentation what do you need to highlight how can you help your audience
go from here point A to point B where you want them. That is your first step in
the planning process. Strategy number two is to know who and what. What I mean by
that is after you've figured out your map you know
where your audience is starting and where you want them to be after your
presentation it's really important to know who you're speaking to and what
should you say to them. If you are a software developer and you are going to
speak at a conference with other software developers they speak the same
language as you they use the same jargon, the same vocabulary, they understand the
same concepts but what if you're a software developer and you've created a
new application and you're going to present this application to a group of
new moms? Suddenly what you say is probably going to change, you're going to
need different language, different vocabulary because that new group of
moms probably doesn't know all the jargon and technical language that you
use in your everyday job. This is such an important step in communicating clearly.
When you understand what you should say and how you should say it to your
audience they can follow you more easily and feel connected to what you're saying.
Strategy 3 is to get organized. This is where you take all that information you
want to share, the key points, the details that you need to include. Maybe there are
some data, statistics, information that is essential and you need to start to
organize it. Typically in English we have three sections in a presentation, we have
the introduction or the opening and this is where you present your idea you give
a quick overview of the primary focus. The second section is what we call the
body and in this body you have your key points and your supporting details and
then finally section three is the closing. Now I'm not going to talk too
much about that because I actually have other lessons specifically
for each of those different sections -- what you should include, how to be better
prepared for each part of your presentation. Strategy number four is
show don't tell. What I mean by that is people love stories they remember
stories and they remember things that are visual. If you're giving a
presentation that has a lot of data, statistics, numbers, dates, times and
important little pieces of information consider some other ways that you can
help your audience understand those important details. Perhaps there is a
story or a graph, a chart, some visual cue a picture that you can share that will
help your audience visualize and more easily remember the things that you
really want to share with them. Now if you want more information about what I
mean when I say show don't tell I do have an example of this in the
online lesson so after you watch this video make sure to check that out to get
my example of showing and not telling. Strategy number five talk don't read.
Talk to your audience, look at them, communicate with them. I'm sure that
you've been in a business meeting or at a presentation where someone just read
the information to you and it might have sounded like this -- Strategy number five
talk don't read it's important to connect to your audience and to look at
them regularly so they feel engaged in your topic. Now did that look and sound
like I was connecting to you, like I was talking to you? Probably not.
Number one my eyes were focused on what I was reading not on you
or not on the audience and my voice changed, my intonation, the way I
expressed myself changed so as much as possible when you prepare for your
presentation you want to be sure that you're ready to
talk and communicate with your audience, that you know your presentation and you
can talk about it without reading everything. Of course having notes is a
great strategy. I always recommend having a few key points written down, maybe a
mind map or something that helps you stay focused and organized and makes
sure that you don't forget anything but you want to know your material and that
will help your audience be focused on you, listening to what you're saying and
help you to be a much more effective speaker in English. Strategy number six
is to think ahead. One of those fears that we talked about is the fear of
someone asking a question and you don't understand it which is a terrible
feeling. After you've started to plan your presentation and you know where
your audience is starting, where you want them to be and the best way for you to
communicate with them, if you think about what words and language to use and
you've started to organize your key points, all of the details you need to
include, you can begin to anticipate, think ahead about what are some of the
missing pieces, what are some potential questions that
someone in the audience might ask you? When you are able to anticipate those
questions you can also be prepared to answer them. Another great way to be
prepared for this is to practice your presentation in front of your colleagues
your friends or family and then see what questions they have at the end of your
presentation. Again that will help you either put the missing pieces into your
presentation -- maybe there's something you forgot about or didn't think about -- or it
can help you be prepared for those potential questions at the end.
And finally strategy number seven is practice. Practice
practice, practice. The more you practice the more you will really know your
presentation. You will know the language you want to use, you'll be able to
remember the vocabulary and the grammar that you need, you'll be able to talk and
connect to your audience instead of reading. And most importantly it will
help your confidence. Now many people encourage you to
practice for example in front of a mirror and that's a great strategy
absolutely, but I want to ask you to do one more thing. I want you to practice
your presentation while you record yourself and here's why -- when you
practice in front of a mirror it's very difficult to notice any mistakes or
challenges that you have in your speaking. You're too busy in the moment
practicing but when you record yourself when you're finished you can go back and
listen to it. And at this moment you have time to analyze what you've said. Is that
how you wanted to communicate? Are you happy with what you said or do you want
to change something? It's essential to have this time to think about what
you've said and it gives you the opportunity to make those changes. The
best news is no one else needs to hear your recording. When you're finished with
it you can delete it and no one else needs to know but it will give you the
opportunity to perfect what you say, make different grammar choices, different
vocabulary choices and feel much more confident in how you plan to
communicate in your presentation. As always I do have a challenge question
for you, I want you to visit the online lesson and in the comment section I want
you to tell me have you ever given a presentation in English and, if you have,
what is one piece of advice that you would share with someone else? In this
video today I shared my advice with these seven strategies but I'm sure that
you also have some fantastic advice from your experience.
I'd love for you to share that with me and with others in the Confident English
Community and you can do that by sharing in the comment section at the bottom of
the lesson. With that thank you so much for joining me. If you found this lesson
useful to you be sure to share it on Facebook and give it a thumbs up on
YouTube and I look forward to seeing you next week for your Confident English
lesson.