Survival Language

In modern English, Presentations tend to be much less formal than they were even twenty years ago. Most audience these days prefer a relatively informal approach. However, there is a certain structure to the opening of a Presentation that you should observe.

If you get your facts wrong.

I am terribly sorry. What I meant to say was this…

Sorry. What I meant is this…

If you have been going too fast and your audience is having trouble keeping up with you.

Let me just recap on that.

I want to recap briefly on what I have been saying.

If you have forgotten to make a point.

Sorry, I should just mention one other thing.

If I can just go back to the previous point, there is something else that I forgot to mention.

If you have been too complicated and want to simplify what you said.

So, basically, what I am saying is this.

So, basically, the point I am trying to get across is this.

If you realize that what you are saying makes no sense.

Sorry, perhaps I did not make that quite clear.

Let me rephrase that to make it quite clear.

If you cannot remember the term in English.

Sorry, what is the word I am looking for?

Sorry, my mind has gone blank. How do you say 'escargot' in English?

If you are short of time.

So just to give you the main points….

As we are short of time, this is just a quick summary of the main points…

Of course, these are only suggestions and other language is possible. Even within this limited group of phrases, just choose a few you feel comfortable with and learn and use those

(Mark Powell "Presenting in English ")

Text 3. Summarise in 10 sentences.

Speaking to Students: From Boring to Soaring

Yesterday I was invited to speak to 200 students at Monroe College in New Rochelle New York. I was invited by the Associate Dean, Karen Carty. She told the students that part of Monroe’s mission is to bring in successful business owners who can teach them skills for success and also serve as role models.

My one hour talk was How to Give a Knockout Presentation. Students learned the top public speaking mistakes to avoid and what confidence looks like, sounds like, and how to speak the language of confidence. Administrators selected a number of classes that are usually held at this time, and made my presentation their class for the afternoon.

In order to give them real world experience, I pulled up a few volunteers. They learned how to use PowerPoint without reading the slides, and they learned how to make a confident entrance. One female student asked how she could get rid of her ums and ahs. She was surprised when I pulled her up in front of 200 students to practice pausing, but she did it in spite of her self-consciousness. What I’ve learned over the years in working with audiences – especially students – is that you must keep them engaged. Especially when attendance is mandatory! Out of 200 students, I only saw one sleeping – but not for long.

The students learned that gifted speakers are born, but effective speakers are made – and that every one of them could be an effective public speaker. The presentation was a success. The students walked away with skills they could use immediately, and a couple professors are even considering using my book, Knockout Presentations, as a text. I’d say that was a knockout day.

Ex. 2. Power words. A Yale University study identified the following words as the twelve most powererful words in the English language: discover(y), guarantee(d), love, new, results, save, easy, health, money, prove(n), safety, you. Put these words into the gaps in the presentation extract below.

... are going to … the … features we have incorporated into our updated software packages. As you will …, the software is very … to use and … from extensive testing have … its success. Its enhanced parental controls offer increased online … for children and also monitor the length of time spent online. You can compare these times with the World … Organisation’s (WHO) maxitimum recommended times. In fact, we’re so confident that we … that our software will … you both time and ….

Text 4. Discuss the text below.

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