In this unit: • understanding your audience • theABCD model presentation *ySQ Talking points 1 Before you watch the video, think about an audience at a presentation. What do they want to know at the start of the presentation? What can a presenter do to get their attention at the start? 2 While you watch other people talking about the questions above, compare their experience with yours. •0 The presentation 3 Sabine Kolbeck is giving a presentation to a group of people at Quartz Power Group (QPG). As you watch her introduction, answer these questions about her presentation. 1 Why is it a busy period for Sabine's audience? 2 Who does Sabine work for? 3 What does her company do for QPG? 4 Where is the company based? 5 What is her company able to do from their offices? 6 Her first point is about mobile technology. What does mobile technology allow you to do? 7 What is her second point about? 8 What does she ask her audience? 9 When can the audience ask questions? Sabine Kolbeck SAVEIT supporting companies around the world 0 3 Introducing your presentation 17 \HI The expert view 4 Andrew is describing how the ABCD model can help you to introduce your presentation and make a good first impression with the audience. As you watch, make notes about each part of ABCD by answering the questions next to the ABCD model. A Get the audience's ATTENTION Explain the BENEFITS Establish your CREDIBILITY D Provide DIRECTION 1 What techniques can a presenter use to seem relaxed and confident? 2 What are other ways to get the audience's attention? 3 What do the audience need to know about the presentation? 4 What question must you answerin the audience's mind? 5 Why must you establish your credibility? 6 Why is it helpful to show understanding 6 of your audience's world? 7 What do you need to tell the audience about the content and structure? 8 Why is it important to give the audience direction in the introduction? For a summary of the ABCD model, read the article on pages 53-54. ; Analysis 5 How well did Sabine use the ABCD model? Tick (/) if she used each part of the ABCD model and comment on the techniques she uses. Gets ATTENTION □ Explains BENEFITS □ Establishes CREDIBILITY □ Provides DIRECTION □ The expert feedback 6 How does Andrew's analysis of the presentation compare with yours? 3 Introducing your presentation Language focus \E3 Introducing your presentation 1 Watch some extracts from the introduction to Sabine's presentation and tick the expressions (A or B) that she uses to introduce her talk. 1 A Good morning and thank B Right, everyone's here so let's you all for coming. start. 2 A My presentation will last B I'll keep this as brief as I can. about twenty minutes. 3 A I represent the IT B I work for the IT consultancy consultancy Save IT. Save IT. 4 A The purpose of my B Why am I here? Well, the presentation today is to ... reason is that... 5 A These are the areas I'm B I'll cover three areas. going to focus on today. 6 A My first point will be about... B In a minute I'll explain in more detail... 7 A Please feel free to interrupt B Feel free to ask me any me. guestions as we go along. introducing yourself and establishing credibility 2 As we have seen, in the introduction a presenter must establish their credibility. Complete the sentences below that are used to introduce yourself. charge involves based responsible work deal 1 Hello, my name's Elena Howarth and I___for Rothmar Enterprises. 2 Rothmar is_in San Francisco but we have over one hundred branches worldwide. 3 I work in the UK office and am___for the sales team in Western Europe. 4 My job___liaising with regional sales representatives on a regular basis. 5 I also__with publicity and help to devise our sales plan. 6 Later on, I'll be handing you over to Michael Watkins who is in______of production. Stating your aims and intentions 3 It is important to establish benefits and provide direction to the audience. You can do this by clearly stating what you plan to achieve in the presentation. Read this introduction and underline the phrases in which the speaker states their aims and intentions or provides direction to the audience. Today, I am going to cover three main areas. Firstly, I plan to give you an overview of our new security software.Then, I will explain how it differs from the old one. And lastly, I intend to demonstrate how it will operate on your IT network. My aim is to show you that our new software has a number of improvements. I hope that by the end of the presentation you will see that the new software will bring considerable advantages to your company in terms of increased security and ease of use. I'll be showing you some examples of the software in action throughout the talk, so please make sure you can see the screen.The presentation will last about thirty minutes and I'll be taking guestions at the end. What benefits are mentioned in this introduction? 3 Introducing your presentation 5 In exercise 3, the speaker says that they will 'cover three main areas'and give'an overview' of the new programme. In presentations, we often use verbs that refer to speaking or explaining. Replace the verbs underlined in the introduction below with these similar verbs. address_ give you an overview_ This morning, I'd like to 'describe to you the main results of ou' survey. Hopefully, this will 2show vou the basic facts of the situation and enable you to understand the key findings of our report. I'm going to 3look at the main results one by one and, as we go along, I will 4draw -your attention to those areas of your business which are in need of improvement. Finally, I'd like to consider how these findings might help you to 5deal with a number of concerns that customers have raised during the course of our research. Directing your audience about questions 6 Towards the end of the introduction, we normally give direction by telling the audience if there will be the opportunity to ask questions during or after the presentation. Look at the sentences below. Can questions be asked during, after or not at alll 1 Feel free to stop me as we go along to ask questions__ 2 There'll be time after I've finished for questions__ 3 Please hold up your hand at anytime if you have questions__ 4 As we're short on time today, I'm afraid I won't be taking any questions__ 5 There'll be the opportunity to ask questions at the end__ \ES Getting attention with pauses 7 Pausing helps you to emphasize key information and keep the audience's attention. Watch the beginning of Sabine's presentation again and mark where she pauses with this symbol /, Good morning and thank you all for coming. /1 understand that it's a particularly busy period in the year for you all sales conferences I gather so I'll keep this as brief as I can. I know two of you here today from previous meetings but for those of you who don't know me my name's Sabine Kolbeck and I represent the IT consultancy, Save IT. 8 Now practise reading the presentation in 7 aloud with appropriate pauses. highlight take you through _J_ go through Recording yourself When you prepare a presentation, it's helpful to record yourself. Listen afterwards and check that you use pauses effectively. 3 Introducing your presentation Presentation task Prepare and give the introduction to a presentation on one of these topics: • your own company and the products or services it offers • an area of research that you have carried out • your background and what skills you can offer a potential employer Think about the following when you prepare it: • who is your audience and why are you talking to them about this? • what is the purpose of this presentation? • what three points will you make in the presentation? Use this basic structure for your introduction: • welcome the audience • introduce yourself • explain the purpose of the presentation • outline what you will cover in the presentation » mention how long you will talk for • indicate when you will take questions Alternative presentation You have been invited to give a presentation to a group of managers at a company which is interested in using your company's product or service. They currently do business with your biggest competitor who is slightly cheaper than you. You have heard, unofficially, that your potential client has had problems with the quaIity of your competitor. Prepare the introduction to a presentation about the benefits of using your company's product or service. Use the basic structure for your introduction. Remember that this is only the introduction so do not speak for longer than two to three minutes. Try to use the ABCD model and refer to the Useful phrases below. Useful phrases Introducing yourself and establishing credibility Hello ... / Good morning / afternoon / evening. Thank you all for coming. It's nice to see so many of you today. My name's ... I work for / represent ... I'm in charge of / responsible for ... Stating your aims and intentions I'm going to be talking about ... My talk is divided into three areas. In a minute I'll explain what I mean in more detail. Showing understanding of your audience I understand that you're all busy. I know that your company ... I believe that many of you ... I appreciate how important it is for your company to ... Explaining the benefits One way we feel that you may benefit is by ... This will allow you to ... We'd like to offer you ... I hope that you will see / learn / discover ... Referring to timing and giving direction Please feel free to interrupt me with questions. There will also be time at the end for questions. So over the next twenty minutes we're going to look at ... In the next ten minutes I'll tell you about ... 3 Introducing your presentation Analysis Use this analysis form as a checklist when you prepare your presentation. If you are on a course, ask someone to complete it for you while they watch your presentation. Did the presenter...? • welcome the audience • show understanding of the audience □ • introduce him / herself □ . refer to questions and timing □ • state his / her aims and intentions □ Overall, how would you rate the speaker in terms of ABCD? (1= very good 2 = satisfactory 3 = still needs a lot of work) After each answer, make notes on the reasons for your answer, or suggest ways in which the presenter could improve in this area. Get the audience's attention 1 2 3 Explain the benefits 1 2 3 Establish credibility 1 2 3 Provide direction 1 2 3 Self-assessment After your presentation, spend a few minutes thinking about your performance and make notes about the questions below. 1 What did I do well? 2 What do I need to work on for next time? 3 What have I learned from watching other people's presentations?