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Hello and welcome back to Business English Pod for today's lesson on video conferences and presenting online.
Today, we're going to look at how to wrap up your presentation and transition to the Q&A.
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Great presenters always make time and space for questions at the end of their presentation, and if you've done a good job of engaging your listeners, they may have lots to say or ask.
Before you open it up for questions, however, you need to summarize.
One thing you can do to emphasize key points near the end is to ask a question yourself, then answer it, and an effective way to answer it is with a visual or some kind of illustration.
That will help your ideas stick, not just at the end, but throughout your presentation.
Near the end of a presentation, there may be people who have to leave early, so it's important to acknowledge these people and let them know how you'll follow up.
Finally, it's a good idea at the end to summarize your key points.
Once you've done these things, you can make the transition to the Q&A section of your presentation.
In today's dialogue, we'll rejoin a presentation by a business consultant named Adam.
He's wrapping up a talk about how the company can increase sales.
We'll hear how Adam finishes up and transitions to the Q&A.
As you listen to the dialogue, try to answer the following questions.
1.
What question does Adam ask his listeners, which he then answers by showing a visual?
2.
What does Adam offer to do for people who have to leave early?
3.
What's the first big opportunity Adam mentions as he summarizes his presentation?
Alright, here's a question for you before we get into the Q&A.
I talked about how we should target future growth industries and I said that healthcare, tech and forestry were 1, 2 and 3 right.
Anyone want to venture a guess about number 4?
What's the fourth biggest growth industry, according to the Department of Commerce?
Anyone?
Well, can everyone hear me?
Yeah?
Okay, so I'm going to say construction.
Given all the federal spending there, aging infrastructure and all that, yeah, so construction.
Construction is big, but it's not number four.
Have a look at this.
Everyone see that?
Turns out it's business consulting.
That's us.
Demand for our services has never been higher.
Adam, can I interrupt for one sec?
This is really, really great, and I know we're going to get to QA soon, but I know Chris and maybe one or two others have to leave at 11, so you'll pass on these slides later, right?
Yes, definitely.
I'll send them out this afternoon.
And if you need to head out, please do.
If you want to follow up with questions or whatever, I'll be happy to.
Okay, so let's do a recap.
As I've tried to show, there are three big opportunities here.
One, we can increase sales significantly by improving our follow-up.
Two, we'd be smart to focus our biz dev on the medium-sized to large companies.
And three, there are a few key growth industries where our expertise is needed and wanted.
Sorry, Adam, I'll need to jump off now.
But just wanted to say thanks.
Great presentation.
Maybe we can follow up on some of this later in the week?
See you guys.
Thanks, Chris.
Catch you later.
Okay, then.
Let me just nix the shared screen here so we can all see each other, and Now I'd just like to open it up.
See if you have any questions or comments.
Anyone?
Yes, Nancy.
I see your hand raised there.
Yeah, thanks, Adam.
So, just a little question about company size...
Now let's go through the dialogue again and look at the language and techniques Adam used as he wrapped up his presentation.
We rejoin the presentation as Adam poses a question to his audience.
All right.
Here's a question for you before we get into the Q&A.
I talked about how we should target future growth industries and I said that healthcare, tech and forestry were one, two and three right.
Anyone want to venture a guess about number four?
What's the fourth biggest growth industry according to the Department of Commerce?
Anyone?
Notice how Adam mentions that he's going to get into the Q&A, or questions and answers, soon.
It's helpful for people to know that you're almost finished.
But before they get to questions from the audience, Adam needs to wrap up or summarize.
The first thing he does in his summary is to ask a question of his own.
He's been talking about industries and areas of the economy that are growing and he wants people to venture a guess, or just make a guess, about the fourth biggest growth industry.
He could just tell them what it is.
But sometimes, when you have a point you want to emphasize, you can make it more dramatic by asking a question, then answering it.
Let's try some more ways of posing a question to your audience to set up an important point.
So, how many other companies do you think are offering the same service?
Can anyone tell me how many different suppliers we have?
Take a guess how much money we saved during the pandemic.
Let's hear Nancy venture a guess at the fourth biggest growth industry.
Well, Can everyone hear me?
Yeah?
Okay, so I'm going to say construction.
Given all the federal spending there, aging infrastructure and all that, yeah, so construction.
Construction is big, but it's not number four.
Have a look at this.
Everyone see that?
Turns out it's business consulting.
That's us.
Demand for our services has never been higher.
In answering his own question, Adam presents a visual.
That's another way of emphasizing key points or showing key information in a compelling, memorable way.
He informs the group that Nancy's guess is incorrect, before saying have a look at this and then showing a graph that provides the answer to his question.
As you can hear, the fourth biggest industry is the industry that Adam and his colleagues work in consulting.
So his point is that they're in a good position to increase sales.
It's an effective way to finish his presentation and highlight the opportunity they face as a company.
What are some other ways we can answer our own questions by presenting a visual?
Let's run through some more examples.
This map will show you just how broad our national reach is.
So, on this chart, you can see exactly how much sales dropped last quarter.
As you can see, we saved approximately 400,000.
Have a look here, and you'll see just how crowded our market is.
Now, if you tuned in to the last lesson and the first part of Adam's presentation, you'll know that some listeners have to leave early.
Let's hear how Adam deals with this.
Adam, can I interrupt for one sec?
This is really, really great, and I know we're going to get to QA soon, but I know Chris and maybe one or two others have to leave at 11, so you'll pass on these slides later, right?
Yes, definitely.
I'll send them out this afternoon.
And if you need to head out, please do.
If you want to follow up with questions or whatever, I'll be happy to.
You could just let people leave quietly and continue with your presentation, but a good presenter will acknowledge those who have to leave early.
You want them to leave feeling a sense of completion and you want them to know that they'll have access to any information that they miss.
You'll hear too that Adam encourages those who have to leave to follow up with him later if they have any questions.
In this way, Adam is taking good care of his listeners.
Even though they don't need his permission.
He has nicely acknowledged that if they need to head out or leave, they should.
Let's practice some other ways of acknowledging that people have to leave.
I understand some of you will need to sign off at 2 today.
If you need to leave early, please just go ahead and I'll share the info later.
Ben, I know you have a hard stop at 1030.
Christina and Ian can only stay for half an hour, so let's keep that in mind.
Adam's time thinks perfectly.
He has covered all his main ideas before some of the people had to leave.
Now it's time to finish up with a recap, or summary, of his ideas.
Okay, so let's do a recap.
As I've tried to show, there are three big opportunities here.
One, we can increase sales significantly by improving our follow-up.
Two, we'd be smart to focus our biz dev on the medium-sized to large companies.
And three, there are a few key growth industries where our expertise is needed and wanted.
As Adam has organized his presentation well, it's easy for him to present a clear summary.
He's talked about three big opportunities and he gives a one-sentence summary of each opportunity.
When you give a presentation, you want your ideas to be memorable.
And one way to help your audience remember is to give them a simple, concise summary of your key points.
Let's run through some more ways of summarizing key points at the end of a presentation.
As we've seen, there are three different ways we can approach this problem.
So, to summarize, we are expecting cuts to both staffing and marketing.
Today, I've tried to show that although revenue is up, profit has been decreasing.
Okay, what have we just discussed?
Well, first we looked at our team structure.
Now that Adam has summarized his ideas, he can transition to the final part of the presentation.
But first, we'll hear how one listener kindly informs Adam he has to leave.
Sorry, Adam, I'll need to jump off now.
But just wanted to say thanks.
Great presentation.
Maybe we can follow up on some of this later in the week?
See you guys.
Thanks, Chris.
Catch you later.
Okay, then let me just nix the shared screen here so we can all see each other, and now i just like to open it up, see if you have any questions or comments anyone?
Yes nancy, i see your hand raised there.
Yeah thanks, adam.
So just a little question about company size.
If you've done a good job of building rapport with your listeners, they'll likely respond, like Chris, by showing appreciation.
At this point, it's time for Adam to transition to the Q&A part of the presentation.
First, he nixes or closes the shared screen so there are no distractions.
Then he says he'd like to open it up.
As he explains.
This means he will take any questions or comments and he then watches the screen for anyone who has their hand up, like Nancy, or indicates in another way they have a question.
What are some other ways of opening it up for questions?
Let's try some more examples.
All right.
At this point, I'd like to see if anyone has any questions.
So, I've done a lot of talking.
Now I want to give you a chance for questions.
I'd like to open it up now and see if anyone wants to ask about these changes.
Okay, let's pause there.
Does anyone have any questions or comments about all this?
As we've heard today, there are a few good ways of wrapping up and transitioning to a QA at the end of your presentation.
You might have people leaving early, which can be distracting, but rather than ignoring it, you can acknowledge it, as Adam has done.
If they can't stick around for the QA at the end, they can always follow up with questions afterward.
Now let's practice some of the language we learned in today's lesson.
Imagine you were wrapping up a presentation about your ideas for improving the company's website.
I'll give you some suggestions for what you can say as you transition to the Q&A.
We'll guide you through each step in the practice and provide an example answer for each step.
Ready?
Let's give it a go.
Start by asking if anyone can guess how much site usage has decreased in the past year.
Answer So, can anyone guess how much site usage has decreased in the past year?
If I had to guess...
I would say 5%.
Now, thank the person before saying that the next slide shows it's gone down 15%.
Answer.
Thank you for that.
But as this next slide shows, it's gone down 15%.
That's huge!
And sorry, but just looking at the time, I think some people have to leave soon.
Next, acknowledge that a couple people from marketing have to leave early.
Answer.
Yes, I understand a couple of people from marketing will have to leave early.
Thanks, and we can catch those people up later in the day.
Now say that to sum up, the website is dated, and you have three ideas to improve it.
Answer.
Great.
Now, to sum up, the website is dated, and I think there are three ways to improve it.
Yes, I would say that you've definitely shown us what needs to be done.
Finally, say you'd like to open it up now to questions and comments.
Okay, so at this point, I'd like to open it up for any questions or comments.
Now let's practice some of the vocabulary we've covered in this lesson.
In a moment, you'll hear a series of sentences with a word replaced with a beep.
Repeat each sentence, including the missing word.
For example, if you hear...
I'm sorry, but I'll have to... out in about 15 minutes.
You can say... I'm sorry, but I'll have to head out in about 15 minutes.
After each response, we'll provide the correct answer.
Let's begin.
Anyone want to venture a... How much sales increased last month?
Answer Anyone want to venture a guess how much sales increased last month?
An important part of every salesperson's job is biz...
Answer.
An important part of every salesperson's job is biz dev.
I'd just like to finish up by the main points of my presentation.
Answer.
I'd just like to finish up by recapping the main points of my presentation.
We are looking for someone with in accounting and tax law.
Answer.
We are looking for someone with expertise in accounting and tax law.
We've reached the end of this lesson, the second in our series about online presentations.
We've learned how to pose a question to your audience and answer that question with a memorable visual.
We've also learned how to acknowledge people who have to leave early, summarize key points and transition to a QA.
For more practice.
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Thanks for listening, and see you again soon.
