This lesson examines the different stages of a presentation. It looks at how to open the presentation effectively, develop it logically and close it memorably. It also considers how the audience might be asked to play a more active role in a presentation.
There are several different ways of structuring your presentation depending on the purpose, the context and your audience’s expectations.

Match each structure type with its definition. Choose from the definitions below.

 

Structure type

Definition

1.00

Timeline

 

1.01

Climax

 

1.02

Problem/Solution

 

1.03

News story

 

1.04

Simple/Complex

 
Start with the overall story in a way that will grab the audience’s attention then repeat each point in more detail throughout the presentation.
Ideas are listed from the most basic to the most complicated. Can also be done in reverse order.
Ideas are listed from the most basic to the most complicated. Can also be done in reverse order.
A problem is presented, a solution is suggested, and benefits are then given. Summarise the possible solutions in terms of their advantages and disadvantages.
The main points are delivered in order of increasing importance.
In most presentation situations you need to briefly introduce yourself and the theme of your presentation. You might decide on a slightly different approach depending on how formal you think you need to be in a particular situation.

In this activity there are two possible introductions – one formal, one less formal. Can you identify which examples go with each introduction and organise them into a logical sequence?

/Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen./                          /My name is Jenny Redgrave./     
              
/I’m here to talk about.../                 /The subject of my presentation this afternoon is.../

/Thanks for coming this afternoon./             /I’d like to welcome you all to.../

/I’m happy to answer any questions./                     /I’m Jenny Redgrave./                      /Hello./

/I’d be more than happy to answer any questions you may have at the end of the presentation./

/OK, why don’t we get started?/                  /Right, I think it’s probably time to begin./ 
Put each expression into the correct column below.

[2.01]              Formal introduction

[2.02]              Informal introduction

 

 

 

 

 

 
One of the most important areas of your presentation to get right is the beginning. Opening confidently and clearly and in a way that allows you to connect with your audience will help you to get into a rhythm and will also help your audience to settle, to understand what they are going to hear and to prepare to listen to what you have to say.

Take time to prepare your introduction and opening statement. It is probably not a good idea to try to learn your whole presentation word for word , but it is a good idea to plan, practise and memorise your introduction.

“Open with a bang!” is common advice given to presenters. It is important that your presentation gets off to a positive start. You need to grab your audience’s attention and make them believe from the start that you have something to offer them.

Look at each example opening and choose the best answer a, b or c.
3.01 (A) Multitasking is the latest buzzword. We are constantly being told that we have to be able to multitask to be effective in the professional world.

But is this really true? Does multitasking actually make you more effective in the workplace? I’m not convinced that it does.

 The speaker probably believes:

a Multitasking is an essential skill
b Multitasking is not as important as people seem to think
c Multitasking is a waste of time and energy.
3.02 B) Everyone’s talking about the importance of time management these days. Well, I’ve got news for you. You can’t manage time – time won’t let you! But you can manage yourself. The speaker probably believes:

a Time management is nonsense
b Time management is important but you need to focus on you not time.
c Time management is an essential management strategy
3.03 (C) Did you know that people will forget 38% of what they hear in 2 days; 65% of what they hear in a week and 75% of what they hear in only one month? The speaker probably believes that the audience:

a knows these statistics
b will remember these statistics
c will be surprised at these statistics
In the examples above, the speakers have opened their presentations in an interesting way. They are looking to provoke a reaction or at least stimulate interest in the subject. They have done this by asking a question or presenting a surprising fact.

[3.04] How do you think each presenter continued their presentations?

(A)      

 

(B)

 

(C)

 
Once you have got your audience’s attention it is important that you keep it. A simple but effective way of doing this is to give your audience signals about what comes next. If you remind your audience about what they have just heard and let them know what’s coming next, they are more likely to be able to follow you. Once again, both you and your audience will gain something from the presentation.

This is much easier to do if you have given a brief outline of your presentation at the beginning.

Look at these examples . Complete each text with one of the signalling expressions below.

4.01

Right, we’ve looked at the latest figures and talked about the possible causes.
Now,      I’d like to move on      to what this means for us.

4.02

Before I turn to the question of financing the venture, ­­­­_________________________ the main points so far.

4.03

Going back to the issue of interest rates, _________________________ at how this might affect you.

4.04

At this point _________________________  on the question of promoting the new range of herbal medicines.

4.05

OK. So, now _________________________ the local market.

4.06

____________________, I’d like to give you some background to the company, ____________________ I’ll move on to our current projects and ____________________ I’ll outline our vision for the future of the company.

then              let’s take a closer look                  I’d like to move on                let’s turn to

first              let me just recap               finally           I’d like to focus more closely on
 
 
 
You have opened with a bang to get your audience to listen to you. You have kept your audience focused and interested and able to follow your flow of ideas. Great... but how do you finish it off? You want your audience to walk away with the main points of your presentation firmly placed in their minds so you need to close your presentation in a memorable way.

Look at these statements about closing a presentation and decide if they are True or False.

 

 

T/F

5.01

The end is the part that people will remember more clearly than the rest of the presentation.

 

5.02

In the recap stage you should go over all the arguments you made during the presentation.

 

5.03

The last point you make is always the most important.

 

5.04

A summary gives the audience a final overview of your main points.

 

5.05

It is a good idea to signal the key points you want your audience to remember when they leave.

 

Complete each example with an appropriate closing expression from the list below.

5.06

I would like ____________________ by restating the importance of remaining united at this time.

5.07

And so, ­­­­­­­___________________, let me thank you all for the hard work you have done on this project.

5.08

Finally, let me ____________________   this thought ......

5.09

I’d like to ____________________ by recapping the main points.


  in conclusion              finish off                     leave you with            to conclude
Read this text which looks at an alternative to a standard presentation format and try the tasks which follow.
Most of us do not actually enjoy lectures or staring at slide after slide on yet another PowerPoint presentation. It’s difficult to remain focused for very long even on a subject that interests you. Of course some speakers are better than others when it comes to creating enthusiasm among the audience either by telling humorous stories or just by the strength of their personalities.

However, there is another way to get the audience focused – get them actively involved in the presentation! When presenting to a relatively small group, active participation of the audience can bring many benefits:

If they know they are going to be involved, they have to listen!
It gives you important feedback on what the members of your audience already know about the subject and how they feel about it.
It shifts the focus away from you and on to the subject.
It allows you to establish a productive relationship with the audience.
The presentation becomes more audience-centred and less speaker-centred.

So, how do you get the audience involved? The most obvious way is to build on a question or problem introduced in your opening statement and to personalise it by asking the audience to help you to answer the question. This can be done by splitting the audience into groups and setting a simple task as in the following example:

Imagine you have been asked to give a presentation on dealing with new and potentially divisive office policies. You have chosen to use the example of smoking in the workplace.

Organise the audience into two groups – one representing the views of the smokers in the office, the other

representing the non-smokers. Ask them simply to draw up a list of the possible issues that each group would raise to defend their point of view. Then ask for feedback.

The points each group comes up with will serve as a way in to the topic. If you have researched the topic (and your audience) well, many of the points raised will be the same as your own. Any extra ideas are a bonus. The outcome of this phase will be to give you the speaker the opportunity of highlighting the difficult issues before moving on to discuss how to deal with them. The audience, having been involved and having shared their ideas with you as the presenter, are more likely to focus on the development of your argument.
[6.01] The text lists various advantages to audience participation.
Can you add any more advantages to the list?

 

 
[6.02] As in the smoking example above, the issue of audience participation itself sometimes causes debate.

 

 
[7.01] What about you?
Take some time to reflect on your own presentation style and write some notes about how you feel about the concept of audience participation. You could also look back at Activity 5 in the previous lesson where you looked at researching your audience. What other information about your audience do you think would be important to know when considering whether to actively involve them in your presentation?

 

 

 

 

 
In this lesson you have:

looked at different ways of structuring a presentation
worked on useful ways of opening and closing your presentation
focused on the importance of the signals you give the audience during your presentation
considered how you might actively involve your audience in your presentation

The next e-m@il lesson in this series focuses on the delivery of your presentation. You work on a variety of techniques designed to make your delivery more effective.