Presenting for Success, Unit 1, Making Your Introduction.
Today we look at some of the language used during internal presentations.
To start off this episode, I've asked some of my colleagues what tips they might have for making a good introduction.
Following that, we have the main dialogue and then the debrief.
So here's me putting my colleagues right on the spot.
Okay, we're talking about presentations and, in particular, introductions to presentations.
Jeff, do you have any guidelines you use when you're writing, preparing or actually doing an introduction?
Is there something that you always keep in mind and say, well, this is what I always do and must do?
Well, you know, in English we talk about something called an elevator pitch, which is like a summary of a proposal or an idea that takes maybe no more than 10 or 15 seconds to explain.
The idea is that it should be short enough that you can actually give it to somebody in an elevator just in that very brief period of time that you have their attention.
Now, I think when you're beginning a presentation, in some ways you're in the same situation.
You may be planning to give a very long speech.
It could last 30 or 45 minutes.
But you've only got that first minute of yourself to convince people that they ought to be listening to what you're going to say.
So you've got to give them some good reasons to listen to everything else that's coming up.
Give them an idea of what you're going to say and why they should be listening.
Do you have a formula, Peter?
I do.
Well, please tell me.
Let me get my pen.
Well, I got this formula from a certain school a long time ago.
It's pretty good.
It has all the elements I think should be in every presentation, whether it's formal or informal.
Okay.
Tell us.
Your name.
Well, first of all, a greeting.
You know, you have to say hi.
I think you should always start with thank you.
Or welcome.
I think thank you.
Or hello.
Thank you and welcome.
Well, why don't we put them on?
Hello, thank you, and welcome to whatchamacallit.
You can put them all together.
Okay, put them all together.
One package.
And then a name.
I think it's kind of rude not to tell people exactly who you are and your title, what your job is or why you are qualified to speak on the subject.
And that's a good point.
A lot of internal presentations these days are done over either telephone conference or video conference and you've got people from different international locations.
They they might have heard your name, but they might not know your face, and so when you get up to speak, even within your company and even maybe your division or your department, it is, as you say, good manners.
But also it's important, And I think a lot of the listeners on these podcasts they themselves are very accomplished speakers in their own language.
And so I'm sure they know how to make a speech or a presentation.
And hopefully though, this podcast will give these speakers and others the ideas of how the types of language we use in presentations and, in particular, introductions on this particular podcast.
Okay everybody, let's all take a seat and get things started.
We have a long day ahead of us and we need to keep to the schedule.
So let's see how our video conference line is working.
Hello Sydney and New York.
Can both of you hear us and see us okay?
Yes Perry, we have our whole sales group here.
Everything's working okay and we're ready when you are.
Loud and clear here in New York too Perry.
Okay then.
Leading off this morning is Claude Daughtry, from Consumer Products Division, and he'll be presenting some of the latest sales figures and trends for our product lines in this very key sector.
Claude, if you're ready, please take it away.
Thank you, Barry.
And good morning, everybody.
A warm welcome from our Paris office, whether you're here in person or here via video from Sydney or New York.
For those of you who don't know me, I'm Claude Dautry, Senior Sales Analyst from our Consumer Products Division, and I'll be presenting our analysis of recent sales data.
We will then examine some important trends and conclusions we can make about the growth of our product lines.
After that we plan to look at some forecasts and propose sales strategies to adjust to the trends we see developing.
During this kickoff meeting, we hope to arrive at some recommendations to forward to senior management before their next shareholder meeting.
And finally, we'll open it up to any questions you might have about sales in general, whether it concerns the EU, the Americas or the Asia-Pacific region.
I estimate my prepared remarks will cover about 30 minutes and the next 30 minutes will be dedicated to answering your questions.
Hopefully you've all received the handout material I sent, but I'll also be showing the charts in PowerPoint in case you don't have your handouts with you.
So let's take a look at our first topic. which, yes, you have a question?
Yes, sorry to interrupt.
I was wondering if you planned to talk about global marketing efforts and how they tie into regional sales promotions.
Building up a spirit of teamwork in an internal meeting is very important, especially during the introduction stage of a presentation.
Personality plays a part, but some simple language patterns do help.
Use pronouns such as we, all, us, are, ours, and everybody as much as possible.
For example, when starting a meeting, we can say, Well, why don't we all get started?
Let's all take our seats if we could.
Is everybody ready to start?
Okay, let's kick this meeting off.
The introduction phase sets the tone and expectations of a meeting or presentation.
Although very often the presenter will introduce him or herself to the audience, sometimes another person may introduce the speaker, as in our example, where the presenter was introduced by the chairperson of the teleconference.
A complete introduction for a presentation includes the following parts.
A greeting.
A name and position.
The title and subject.
The objective or goal of the presentation.
The main parts of the talk.
A mention of the visual aids that will be used.
The time it will take.
When questions should be asked, a reference to the audience and a link to the first section of the presentation.
Not all presentation introductions will have every one of these elements and not all will follow this sequence.
However, most proper introductions will use a majority of these elements in some form and in this general sequence.
Let's start with some greetings.
Good morning, everybody.
Good afternoon and welcome to the North American Division.
Welcome all of you to the Smith Center.
I thank you all for coming this evening to our first employee benefits review.
The name and position of the presenter usually follows.
If the presenter is well known amongst the audience, he may not even mention his own name.
If most of the people know the presenter, then they may proceed their self-introduction with.
For those of you who don't know me,
However, when presenting in front of large or widely separated departments, it is customary to introduce yourself with not only your own full name but your title and area of responsibility.
This tells audience members who you are, what your position is and what sort of knowledge or duties you have concerning the presentation subject.
Let's try some names and titles.
My name is ... and I'm the HR Manager for our UK operation.
I'm ... and I'm a Test Engineer for the QC department.
My name is Alison Wright and I'm the HR Manager for our UK operation.
I'm Chuck Yeager and I'm a Test Engineer with Quality Control.
When introducing one's duties or areas of knowledge, we usually use the words I am responsible for or I am in charge of.
Let's try some of these.
I'm responsible for new employee training.
I'm in charge of test data collection.
I'm responsible for designing new electrical switches.
I manage regional sales promotions in South America.
Try combining the above phrases into complete introductory statements that include name, title and area of responsibility.
For example, taking the first phrase of each part, we could say... Good morning, everybody.
My name is Alison Wright.
I'm the HR manager for our London division, and I'm responsible for new employee training.
After the beep, introduce yourself and state your responsibilities at your company.
Then, listen to an example answer to compare.
Of course, the details of everyone's answer will be a little different.
Good morning, everybody.
My name is Alison Wright.
I'm the HR Manager for our London division, and I'm responsible for new employee training.
After the presenter introduces himself and his position, the subject of the presentation is then usually stated, along with the purpose of the presentation.
A well-designed presentation will then include a guide to the rest of the talk.
The presenter will tell the audience what is to come and what parts of the presentation will be presented, in which order.
This is called signposting, like the signs on street corners that tell a traveler where he is and where he's going.
Signposting helps to focus the audience's attention.
We'll cover signposting in the next podcast.
