How to Prepare a Presentation in English Successfully

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.