Tips for a Successful Presentation in English

by: Kristen M. Gagné, Founder of Webtawks

This post is delivered by Will B., a very talented English language teacher for Webtawks. He is from the U.S. but now lives and teaches in Brazil. He has his Master’s degree in TESL. He has taught English for over 20 years in countries such as Japan, Taiwan and Brazil.

Take it away Will!

Presenting Successfully in English

Over the last 25 years, I’ve seen thousands of presentations by English learners. I’ve also seen many of these learners show dramatic improvement in a short time—in some cases, with only 16 hours of training!

One key to this improvement is the ability of learners to see their presentations as a series of steps, or skills, which can be separately practiced or rehearsed, like actors preparing for a theater performance, or singers preparing for a concert.

I´m an English language teacher and part of that is also being a Presentation Skills Coach.

I use a system of training steps, from basic to more advanced, to practice presentation skills, such as: Eye Contact, Vocal Variation, and Body Language.

Then, I help learners rehearse more complex areas, such as: Audience Analysis, Humor, and Advanced Language Techniques (additional examples such as: Emphasis, Presenting Points in Threes, Build-Ups, and Knock-Downs, introduced by ESL writer, Mark Powell in his book, “Presenting in English”).

The first name I gave this system of practicing presentations was:

Present Up the Stairway to Heaven
The P.U.S.H. Modules are:
1. Make Better Eye Contact
2. Improve Vocal Variation
3. Harness Body Language
4. Use Message-Based/Fact-Based Formats
5. Analyze Your Audience
6. Design Outline & Visuals
7. Deal With Difficult Questions
8. Try Advanced Language Techniques
9. Train To Handle Humor
10. Manage Anxiety

Initially, I played Led Zeppelin´s rock song, “Stairway to Heaven”, to get the learners excited. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this song in the last 25 years!

Here is some beginner information to help you get started for your next presentation.

Before your next presentation in English, divide your presentation into clear component parts:

1. Introduction
2. Agenda
3. Comments for individual visual slides that you may use
4. Summary of your presentation agenda items
5. Conclusion
6. Lastly, a call to action where you ask the audience directly to take action on an issue

By dividing your presentation you can rehearse it more easily. Of course, when you rehearse, practice it the same way as you would your real presentation. That means:

Stand up, speak out loud, use body language, and invite your friends and teacher to watch.

Here are some suggestions for the first component of your presentation:
The Introduction
• Start with a greeting to your audience (the people listening to you)
• Then, give them a strong, clear message about the topic for your presentation
• After that, mention your name, company, and position
• Tell them how long you plan to speak
• Finally, inform the audience when you would like them to ask you questions (in other words: Would you prefer that they ask you questions at any time, or hold their questions until the end of your presentation? Make it clear to them).

This first minute of your presentation is a nice short unit of language that you can practice. Then, do it again! Remember that the idea of rehearsing is to practice something many times so that it becomes easier and more comfortable. After you rehearse many times (in the beginning, use notes to help you remember) you won’t need your notes anymore as the sentences will become second nature, or more natural.

It has been said that, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” Therefore, by having a well-rehearsed introduction to your presentation, you will make a great first impression on your audience. The rest of the presentation will be smoother and better as a result.

All the best on your next presentation in English! I’m confident that you will succeed, and the more you rehearse, and follow P.U.S.H., the more confident you’ll be as well.

Thank you, Will! If you found that helpful, please recommend it to others.

If you are interested in learning English with Will, sign up for Webtawks and get started.

Contact Webtawks should you have any questions, would like additional information about our teaching methodology, or to set up a live demo to see how Webtawks could benefit your company.