Business English

business (noun): 1 commercial activity; a commercial organization. 2 somebody’s regular occupation; work to be done or things to be attended to. 3 somebody’s concern. OTHER WORDS: businessman or businesswoman noun businesslike adjective busy adjective


Business Presentations & Public Speaking in English

Introduction.1
Preparation.2
Equipment.3
Delivery.4
Language.5
The Presentation.6
Review.7
Test.8

Negotiations in English
1.Vocabulary
2.Preparing to Negotiate
3.The Negotiation Process
4.Coming to a Close or Settlement


Meetings in English
1.Vocabulary
2.Preparing for a meeting
3.Opening a Meeting
4.Following the Agenda
5.Closing a Meeting


Business English Vocabulary
1.Advertising
2.Banking
3.Company Structure
4.Contracts
5.Employment
6.Import-Export
7.Insurance
8.Law
9.Marketing
10.Meetings
11.Money
12.Presentations
13.Selling
14.Financial Terms (British/American)

A presentation is a formal talk to one or more people that "presents" ideas or information in a clear, structured way. People are sometimes afraid of speaking in public, but if you follow a few simple rules, giving a presentation is actually very easy

Introduction

All presentations have a common objective. People give presentations because they want to communicate in order to:

inform
train
persuade
sell

A successful presentation is one of the most effective ways of communicating your message. And because English is so widely used in international business, a working knowledge of the vocabulary and techniques used in an English language presentation is a valuable asset.

We will start by exploring

the importance of preparation.
After that, we will consider

what equipment to use.
Then we will look at


how to "deliver" a presentation.
After delivery, we will examine


the language of presentations,
before moving on to


the presentation itself.
Finally, we will conclude with


a review of what we have covered.
Afterwards, you will be invited to

take a test and ask questions.

Can you name the 3 most important things when giving any presentation?

Number 1 is . . . Preparation

Number 2 is . . . Preparation!

Number 3 is . . . Preparation!!

Preparation is everything!

With good preparation and planning you will be totally confident and less nervous. And your audience will feel your confidence. Your audience, too, will be confident. They will be confident in you. And this will give you control. Control of your audience and of your presentation. With control, you will be 'in charge' and your audience will listen positively to your message.


Objective

Before you start to prepare a presentation, you should ask yourself: "Why am I making this presentation?" Do you need to inform, to persuade, to train or to sell? Your objective should be clear in your mind. If it is not clear in your mind, it cannot possibly be clear to your audience.


Audience
"Who am I making this presentation to?" Sometimes this will be obvious, but not always. You should try to inform yourself. How many people? Who are they? Business people? Professional people? Political people? Experts or non-experts? Will it be a small, intimate group of 4 colleagues or a large gathering of 400 competitors? How much do they know already and what will they expect from you?


Venue
"Where am I making this presentation?" In a small hotel meeting-room or a large conference hall? What facilities and equipment are available? What are the seating arrangements?


Time and length
"When am I making this presentation and how long will it be?" Will it be 5 minutes or 1 hour? Just before lunch, when your audience will be hungry, or just after lunch, when your audience will be sleepy?


Method
How should I make this presentation?" What approach should you use? Formal or informal? Lots of visual aids or only a few? Will you include some anecdotes and humour for variety?


Content

"What should I say?" Now you must decide exactly what you want to say. First, you should brainstorm your ideas. You will no doubt discover many ideas that you want to include in your presentation. But you must be selective. You should include only information that is relevant to your audience and your objective. You should exclude all other ideas. You also need to create a title for your presentation (if you have not already been given a title). The title will help you to focus on the subject. And you will prepare your visual aids, if you have decided to use them. But remember, in general, less is better than more (a little is better than a lot). You can always give additional information during the questions after the presentation.


Structure
A well organised presentation with a clear structure is easier for the audience to follow. It is therefore more effective. You should organise the points you wish to make in a logical order. Most presentations are organised in three parts, followed by questions:

Beginning Short............. introduction......... welcome your audience
introduce your subject
explain the structure of your presentation
explain rules for questions

Middle .............Body of presentation......... present the subject itself

End................. Short conclusion....... summarise your presentation
thank your audience
invite questions

Questions and Answers


Notes
When you give your presentation, you should be - or appear to be - as spontaneous as possible. You should not read your presentation! You should be so familiar with your subject and with the information that you want to deliver that you do not need to read a text. Reading a text is boring! Reading a text will make your audience go to sleep! So if you don't have a text to read, how can you remember to say everything you need to say? With notes. You can create your own system of notes. Some people make notes on small, A6 cards. Some people write down just the title of each section of their talk. Some people write down keywords to remind them. The notes will give you confidence, but because you will have prepared your presentation fully, you may not even need them!



Rehearsal

Rehearsal is a vital part of preparation. You should leave time to practise your presentation two or three times. This will have the following benefits:

you will become more familiar with what you want to say
you will identify weaknesses in your presentation
you will be able to practise difficult pronunciations
you will be able to check the time that your presentation takes and make any necessary modifications
So prepare, prepare, prepare! Prepare everything: words, visual aids, timing, equipment. Rehearse your presentation several times and time it. Is it the right length? Are you completely familiar with all your illustrations? Are they in the right order? Do you know who the audience is? How many people? How will you answer difficult questions? Do you know the room? Are you confident about the equipment? When you have answered all these questions, you will be a confident, enthusiastic presenter ready to communicate the subject of your presentation to an eager audience.

Easily your most important piece of equipment is...YOU! Make sure you're in full working order, and check your personal presentation carefully - if you don't, your audience will!



The overhead projector (OHP) displays overhead transparencies (OHTs or OHPTs). It has several advantages over the 35mm slide projector:
it can be used in daylight
the user can face the audience
the user can write or draw directly on the transparency while in use


The whiteboard (more rarely blackboard or greenboard) is a useful device for spontaneous writing - as in brainstorming, for example. For prepared material, the OHP might be more suitable.


The duster is used for cleaning the whiteboard. It is essential that the duster be clean to start with. You may consider carrying your own duster just in case.



Markers are used for writing on the whiteboard (delible - you can remove the ink) or flipchart (indelible - you cannot remove the ink). They are usually available in blue, red, black and green. Again, it's a good idea to carry a spare set of markers in case you are given some used ones which do not write well.
"A good workman never blames his tools."


The flipchart consists of several leaves of paper that you 'flip' or turn over. Some people prefer the flipchart to the whiteboard, but its use is limited to smaller presentations.


The Slide projector - which must be used in a darkened room - adds a certain drama. Some slide projectors can be synchronised with audio for audio-visual (AV) presentations. These projectors are typically used for larger presentations. The majority take 35mm slides or transparencies (as seen here), but projectors for 6x6cm slides are also available


Transparencies are projected by an overhead projector or a slide projector onto a screen - in this case a folding screen which can be packed up and transported.


The notebook computer is increasingly being used to display graphics during presentations. It is often used in conjunction with an overhead projector, which actually projects the image from the computer screen onto the wall screen.


Handouts are any documents or samples that you 'hand out' or distribute to your audience. Note that it is not usually a good idea to distribute handouts before your presentation. The audience will read the handouts instead of listening to you.