Express Your Ideas in English—Clearly and Confidently

Hey,

it's Annemarie with Speak Confident English and to start this lesson off today,

I've got a situation for you.

Imagine you've got a meeting at work and last night you were awake all night...

You couldn't sleep because you finally thought of the solution.

You have some great idea that everybody's been trying to find and you finally

found it.

You're so excited to share it,

but there is a problem.

This meeting that you have to have is going to be in English.

So you think there's no way you could share your idea in English,

you're not sure you could express yourself.

You don't know if you've got the right words and when you try to speak in

English,

you forget everything you want to say.

Your stomach starts getting all those nervous feelings.

Your heart is pounding and you decide in the end you're not going to share your

idea at the meeting.

How does that feel?

It probably feels really crappy.

It feels disappointing,

but you are a professional and an expert and you had this amazing idea,

so not being able to share it would be a really frustrating situation.

And today I want to help you solve that.

In today's lesson,

I'm going to share with you four steps that will help you clearly and

confidently express your ideas in English.

So whether you need to share an idea with your colleagues at work,

at a team meeting,

or maybe it's a one on one conversation with your boss or maybe you're

volunteering where your child goes to school and you're helping other parents

organize an event and again,

you want to share an idea that you have these four steps will help you do that,

and they will help you overcome the most difficult part of sharing your idea.

Usually it's that very first word.

It's the first step of opening our mouth.

We have all the information here,

the ideas,

the words there in your mind,

but sometimes when you're nervous and you try to express them,

they don't come out the right way or suddenly you forget those words.

So here are four things that you can do to be prepared and express your idea

successfully.

Step number one is to prepare.

Now,

that shouldn't surprise you,

especially if you've been following me for awhile.

I believe preparation helps us in so many ways.

It can reduce nervousness,

it can reduce anxiety,

and it gives us the opportunity to practice in advance and get more comfortable

with what we want to say.

Now,

I know that you cannot be prepared for everything in life,

but we can prepare for many things and expressing our ideas is one of those also

some of the strategies that you can use to prepare in advance.

You can actually learn to do really quickly in your mind even if you just have

20 or 30 seconds,

so here are a couple of ways that you can prepare.

If you know that you've got a business meeting coming up or a brainstorming

session with your colleagues,

take some time,

a few days in advance and write down some key words connected to your idea,

maybe some important sentences that you really want to say and then practice

saying them out loud.

I don't recommend writing down everything that you want to say and trying to

memorize it.

Number one,

it takes too much time.

Number two,

it takes a lot of work and number three,

when we say something that's memorized,

it sounds unnatural.

It sounds a little bit robotic and what happens if you forget all of it,

then you're totally stuck,

but if you take time to write down a few ideas,

write down the key words and phrases in a few sentences that are really

important to you and then practice those.

They will definitely help you be prepared and have the language that you need in

the moment to express your idea.

A second strategy that I love is to use a mind map.

Now,

I'm sure that you know a mind map is,

and I love using this strategy with my students.

Once again,

if you've got time before the meeting to prepare a few days in advance,

a mind map can help you activate all of the language that you have in your mind,

even the words that you usually forget.

Step number two is to keep it simple.

In fact,

in English we have an acronym K.I.S.S.,

keep it short and simple,

and we use this strategy anytime we have to explain something complex or when

we're nervous...

When we keep it simple,

it's easier to remember what we want to say,

so when you're going to express your idea or share something,

don't worry about complex grammar.

Don't worry about long sentences,

don't worry about using the most advanced vocabulary.

Just keep it simple so it's easier for other people to understand it and for you

to say what you want.

Step number three,

when you need to express an idea is use visuals.

If you're an accountant and you have to explain some complicated numbers,

use a chart or a graph.

When you use a visual,

it helps other people understand what you're saying,

but it can also help your mind connect the words that you need to explain it.

When we see something,

our brain automatically creates ideas and words connected to it,

so using a visual not only helps your audience,

but it can help you remember the words that you want to say.

Other great visuals that you could use in a meeting or if you're one on one with

somebody is to use a photo or an image.

If you're a good drawer,

you could definitely sketch something out.

As my students,

unfortunately no,

I'm not an artist,

so I usually try to avoid drawing something.

And finally you can also just write out keywords or create a mind map that

everybody can see.

Once again,

using those visuals,

whether it's a chart,

a graph,

an image or keywords will help your audience understand what you're saying and

stay focused on you and it can help you keep the words that you need in your

mind so you can use them as you express your ideas.

And step number four is actually the hardest step.

Bite the bullet.

This is a fantastic idiom in English to bite the bullet means to finally do

something that you've been putting off or avoiding because you think it's going

to be really unpleasant or terrible,

or you just really don't want to do it.

And what that means is when the moment comes,

when you know this is your chance to share your idea and say what you want,

bite the bullet and use steps one,

two,

and three to help you be ready to do that.

And don't forget this one really important thing,

you might be the only person in the room who has that idea or who has the

solution and your idea might change the situation or the problem for the better.

So in those moments,

don't let English stop you.

I know you might still be nervous and it's okay to feel nervous and I know that

first moment,

that first word is really hard,

but don't let English stop you from sharing your expertise,

your professionalism,

your ideas.

Now that you have four steps to help you prepare so that you can clearly and

confidently share your idea in English.

Let's look at some ways that we can take that first step,

say that first word and let everyone know you've got an idea to share in more

professional or formal situations when you need to ask to have some time to say

something.

Here's some great ways to do that.

Can I jump in here?

I'd like to share something.

I'd love to run an idea by all of you to see what you think or perhaps another

option might be.

Then after you've let everyone know that you've got something you want to share,

it's time to introduce your idea so you could use something like,

as I was thinking about this problem last night,

I realized that,

or based on my own experience,

the best way I think we can handle this situation is,

and finally I definitely think it would be helpful if and with that you have the

four steps that will help you be prepared and some great language you can use to

let others know that you've got an idea to share and take that first step in

doing it.

But before I share those challenge situations with you,

if you liked this video,

I'd love to know and you can tell me in three ways.

Number one,

give this video a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to this channel so you

never miss a future.

Lesson number two,

if you love Facebook,

like I do,

share it with your friends and colleagues on facebook.

And finally,

if you know someone who could really use this advice,

share it with them by email.

So let's take a look at two challenges that I have for you.

This is your chance to put what you've learned to practice and start using that

language and get comfortable with it.

In situation number one,

you and some of your colleagues are having lunch and you're chatting about some

things happening in the city where you live in the environment where you live

and you're brainstorming different ways to make some improvements to your

community.

Use the language that you've learned in this lesson to politely jump into the

conversation and offer one of your ideas.

Situation number two,

there's a discussion going on about some of the best ways that you can improve

English fluency.

Your job is to jump into the discussion and share your ideas,

your advice for how to best do that.

As always,

you can share with me in the comments below.

It's the best place to get feedback and learn from others in the Confident

English Community.

With that,

thank you so much for joining me and I look forward to seeing you next time for

your Confident English lesson.