Introducing yourself

Let me introduce myself. I’m Dave Elwood from...

For those of you who don’t know me, my name’s…

As you probably know, I’m a new branch manager.

I’m head of logistics here at Air Spares.

I’m here in my function as the Head of Controlling.

Structuring a Presentation

Most formal – and many informal – presentations have three main parts and follow this simple formula:

1. Tell the audience what you are going to say! = Introduction

2. Say it! = Main part

3. Tell them what you said! = Conclusion

There are several ways you can tell the audience what you are going to say.

would + infinitive

Today I’ d like to tell you about our new plans.

This morning I’d like to bring you up to date on our department.

will + infinitive

I ’ll begin by explaining the function.

I ’ll start off by reviewing our progress.

After that, I ’ll move on to my next point.

be going to + infinitive

I ’m going to talk to you today about new developments in the P & D Department.

This afternoon I ’m going to be reporting on the new division.

will be + verb -ing

I’ ll be talking about our guidelines for Internet use.

During the next hour we’ ll be looking at the advantages of this system.

The purpose of the introduction is not only to tell the audience who you are, what the talk is about, and why it is relevant to them. you also want to tell the audience (briefly) how the talk is structured. Here are some useful phrases to talk about the structure:

I’ve divided my presentation into three (main) parts: x, y, and z.

In my presentation I’ll focus on three major issues.

First (of all), I’ll be looking at..., second..., and third …

I’ll begin / start off by explaining…

Then / Next / After that, I go on to…

Finally, I’ll offer some solutions.

Organization

The final part of the introduction deals with the organization of the talk: how long it will last, whether there will be handouts, and how questions will be handled.

Timing

My presentation will take about 20 minutes.

It should take about 30 minutes to cover these issues.

Handouts

Does everybody have a handout / report? Please take one, and pass them on.

Don’t worry about taking notes. I’ve put all the important statistics on a handout for you.

I’ll be handing out copies of the PowerPoint slides at the end of my talk.

I’ll e-mail the PowerPoint presentation to you.

Questions

There will be time for questions after my presentation.

If you have any questions, feel free to interrupt me at any time,

Feel free to ask questions at any time during my talk.

Getting the Audience’s Attention

Experts say that the first few minutes of a presentation are the most important. If you are able to get the audience’s attention quickly, they will be interested in what you have to say. Here are a few techniques you can use to start your talk.