Delivering Compelling Presentations

Today, as international communication is routine, delivering business presentations in English has become a necessary part of the daily business interaction. In light of its growing professional importance, we at TriEnglish have developed a unique and focused workshop to improve the effectiveness of our clients' presentation proficiency through learning, practicing and polishing the various related communication skills.

The presentation workshop incorporates a comprehensive training approach to the subject matter, including both the theoretical and the practical aspects of preparing and delivering effective presentations. This includes how to plan, build and deliver presentations in front of an English speaking audience. In order to polish the client's overall presentation skills, the workshop centers on improving fluency, confidence, knowledge and awareness of this important business skill.

The first part of the workshop focuses on the theoretical aspects of building a presentation, including planning the outline, utilizing rhetoric techniques, learning the audience, appealing to both the emotional and logical sides of the listeners, and mastering the use of body language and visual aids. The second part of the workshop deals with applying the acquired techniques to the specific interests of the client. The third and last part of the seminar is dedicated to practicing the presentations. The objective of this part is to develop confidence and fluency in order to fully the speaker to deliver winning presentations in front of an English speaking audience.

Following are 10 tips for planning and delivering effective presentations:

• First, define your prospective listeners and their needs.
• Describe the context in which you operate: for which contract, for what purpose (discussion, development, etc).
• “Know Thy Audience”, their wishes, their expectations, their politics or hidden agenda, where they came from and where they are going.
• You need to adjust your talk to your audience, including the level of the language used, the tone, use of humor, knowledge of professional jargon, etc.
• If the audience is comprised of developers, testers, customers, marketing people, etc. – find the common ground and use a language that is understandable and interesting to them all.
• Then deliver a practical message to programmers, testers, customers, etc.
• Don’t be too technical, you don’t have time. Instead, try to use known concepts that everybody understands (such as queue management, buffers, client/server, protocol, etc.).
• Respect the timing allocated for your presentation, but also be adaptive – if there is a point which needs to be further explained, don’t hesitate to cut down on other issues.
• Remember that as a professional of any field – your role is not to sell technical knowledge but a product/service that gives a practical solution to a customer’s need.
• Practice makes perfect – practice your presentation time and time again in front of friends, family, colleagues, even the mirror, in order to come prepared, confident, fluent and effective.