Exercise 5. Say whether the following statements are true or false. Correct the false ones

1. It’s not necessary to clarify with the organizers what facilities you will require.

2. You should highlight the key message in a word or a slide.

3. You must have copies of your slides either at the beginning of your presentation or at the end.

4. The audience can’t see in advance the slides the presenter is going to use.

5. Listeners at the back wouldn’t rather have copies of the slides.

6. The slides don’t have to look flashy.

7. The slides look good if they use a consistent format, typeface and readable colours and especially if they have the logo of the organization and a chronological number.

8. Underlined words are easy to read.

9. You have the interest of your audience if you both make the title catchy and ask a challenging question.

10. A good working assumption is that five slides for each theme is about right.

11. You should answer the question in the body of the slide.

12. A picture is worth a few words.

Exercise 6. Speak about a PowerPoint Presentation following the mentioned information from the text above.

II. THE STRUCTURE OF PRESENTATIONS

THE INTRODUCTION

In any presentation the beginning is crucial. Certainly some things are essential in an introduction and others are useful.

Exercise 1.a) Read the beginning of a presentation on the marketing plans for a new telecommunications system produced by Telco and answer two questions.

· Is it a good introduction?

· Why? Why not?

Thank you for coming today. As you know, I want to talk about the marketing plans. Brand identity is a key issue and what it means is how we are seen by our customers and how our products are recognised and what our consumers think of us as a company. And I should also say, what they think of our products and the name... what Telco means for them. And advertising is part of it of course, though not something I am going to talk about now except to say that as for brand image, it’s important in that area too.

b) Read the introduction to a presentation about plans to develop a new production plant in India. Think about these points:

· Is it a good introduction?

· Why? Why not?

Okay, thanks. I’m here to talk about the design proposals for the production plant in Mumbai. My talk will be in three parts followed by a 30-minute discussion. I’m going to start with the background to each proposal – something about our negotiations with the Indian government – then in the second part I’ll go over the main characteristics of each proposal, Proposal One and Proposal Two. Then in the third part I’ll highlight some key considerations we have to bear in mind. Finally, I’ll end with an invitation to ask questions or make any comments you like. We’ll discuss matters arising from the talk... Okay? So to begin with, a few words on the history.

Exercise 2. Presenters use different techniques to get their audience’s attention at the start of a presentation. Match the techniques below to the examples.

a) tell a personal story c) ask a question

b) offer an amazing fact d) state a problem

1. I wonder if any of you here know the answer to the question: What’s the most popular holiday destination in Europe for people under the age of 25? 2. When I was on holiday a few years ago in Greece, the owner of a taverna told me that in 20 years’ time, the little village where he lived would be a popular tourist resort. 3. Let me give you a statistic: 92% of Americans do not own a passport. Consider the opportunity this presents to the travel industry. 4. We’re facing a crisis with our market share. What are we going to do about it?