PUBLIC SPEAKING

1. Imagine that you are starting a presentation. What phrases might you use? Write down five of them.

Some ideas are given below for you. Read and translate them.

· Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming along here today.

· The purpose of today’s presentation is to discuss how we can …

· I’ve invited you here today to have a look at my findings.

· Now let me begin by …

· Secondly …

· … and finally …

· I’d be very happy to invite you to ask questions at the end of the session.

· At the end I’d be very happy to answer any of your questions.

2. Listen to two people and hear two ways of opening presentations. While listening, see if you can hear some of the phrases above.

3. Check your understanding by reading the scripts below:

Clip 1

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming along here today. I hope my presentation isn’t going to take too long and that you will find it interesting. The purpose of today’s presentation is to discuss how we can improve internal communications within our company.

Now let me begin by explaining that I’d like to talk about the business case for better communication; secondly, I want to cover different styles and methods; and finally I would like to finish off by talking about some of the basics we need to have in place to deliver good quality, consistent communications across the company. I’d be very happy to invite you to ask questions at the end of the session and I’m sure there’ll be plenty of time for us to discuss some of the points that have been raised.”

Clip 2

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for finding the time to come and join me for this presentation this afternoon. My name is Tim Mason, I‘m a retail consultant, and many of you will have seen me shadowing you in your jobs and looking through the accounts and so on in the company over the last week. I’ve invited you here today to have a look at my findings. First, I’d like to have a look at the performance of the company, the sales of the company over the last three years; then I’d like to have a look at our market share in the womenswear market and look at our competitors; and thirdly, I’d like to suggest some improvements in our range of womenswear. At the end I’d be happy to answer any of your questions.”

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 959