Business Skills: Presentations

Elisa Moolecherry: This is Elisa Moolecherry for Business Spotlight, Europe’s leading magazine for learners of business English. Welcome to our podcast for the 13th of December 2011.

Elisa Moolecherry: When giving presentations, good preparation is the key. But when we are standing in front of an audience, many of us are so worried about remembering what we want to say, that we forget about using body language effectively. And good non-verbal communication is important for getting your message across. So let’s practise this today. By the way, to do this exercise, you’ll need to be at home or in a place where you have room to move. All set? Now, here’s Ken Taylor.

Ken Taylor: Have you ever seen a video of yourself making a business presentation? If you have, you will almost certainly have said to yourself, “Is that how I look to other people?”

Your body language can either work for you when you present your ideas — or work against you. Second language speakers presenting in English may look especially nervous. This is because they are concentrating so hard on the words that they tend to look away from the people they are talking to. In this exercise, you can practice using confident body language. I’ll give you some directions to follow. At the tone do the actions I suggest. Are you ready? OK? Let’s start.

Ken: Stand up, and stand tall. This will help you to look confident.

Ken: Smile. This may help you to relax. But you needn’t smile the entire time.

Ken: Look around. Imagine you are finding eye contact with three people.

Ken: Lift your hands in front of your body — waist-high. Make gestures from this position.

Ken: Use your fingers to signal numbers. One, two, three.

Ken: Make a sweeping movement with your arm, from your waist to shoulder.

Ken: Now with both arms. Leave your elbows slightly bent.

Ken: Nod for the audience. Now shake your head. This is useful for questions.

Ken: How was that? Use this exercise as a part of the preparation for your next presentation. Your body language will help you to emphasize the key points in your presentation. This makes it easier for the audience to understand your message — and will make you as a presenter more interesting.

Elisa Moolecherry: Thanks, Ken! We offer more on non-verbal communication in the Business Skills section of Business Spotlight 1/2012 — the magazine and Audio go on sale on the 14th of December. And come back next Tuesday for our next podcast. Thanks for listening!

• Exercise: Presenting yourself