Ike personal Website

Leading Seminars/ Giving Talks and Lectures/Making Presentations

Self-introduction

Introduction of Topic

Describing sequences and timing

Highlighting information

Involving the audience

Giving instructions

Checking understanding

Asking questions

Clarifying questions

Evading questions

Inviting comments

Interrupting

Transitions

Reformulations

Closing

Self introduction

Good morning, I’m —- and I’ve been invited to give this talk/ presentation / lecture because—

I have done research in / I have a special interest in / my experience is in

Introduction of Topic

In my presentation/talk/lecture today I shall be dealing with—

The subject of my —- today is —-

What I’d like to do today is introduce/suggest/ analyse/ describe / explain

My topic/subject today is —

I shall be dealing with 2/3/4…. main areas/topics/subjects today

Describing Sequences and Timing

First I want to /spend a few minutes outlining —/remind you of the background to/summarise the —-/explain—/ present—

Next I shall—/after that I will take the opportunity of describing—/

Then we’ll look at—

Finally I want to—

Highlighting Information

(Rhetorical questions)

So, what does that mean?/How can we interpret this?/What’s the explanation for this?/What are the implications of these findings?

(Change of focus)

What that tells us is/What I’m suggesting is/What is clear is that

(Introducing auxiliary verb)

So clearly we do need to–/Obviously they did understand that—/ Of course you do wan to know why—

Involving the Audience

Let’s have a show of hands, how many of you agree with —-

I’m sure we all know what it’s like to—

Let me ask you spend a couple of seconds thinking about—

Well, what would you do, I wonder—

Just look around the room and take a note of /how many men are wearing a tie—/how many people are wearing jeans—/the average age of the participants

Giving Instructions

For this exercise, we are going to work in pairs: groups of 3/4/5

Make a note of these words/figures

Read the paragraph on page —

Please note that I shall be timing the exercise and you have exactly 7 minutes

Now complete the questionnaire and put your name in the top left-hand corner

Checking Understanding

Is everyone with me so far?

Are there any questions at this stage?

Would anyone like me to run through that again?

If you have any problems with the detail, don’t worry because all the information is in your handout

Asking Questions

Direct questions/open-ended:

What/why/how/where/when

Closed questions :

Do you/did you

Delicate questions:

I was wondering if/ could I ask you/ would you mind telling me/if it’s not indiscreet I’d like to know/might I ask/may I ask

Clarifying Questions

So you want to know about—/is it the figures that worry you/ when you say—do you mean—/If I’ve understood the question you want to know about—

Evading Questions

That’s not really my field—/ that’s a bit outside the scope of today’s topic/ I haven’t got the precise information with me today/ that’s not really for me to say/I’d need notice of that question to answer you in full/this is not really the place to discuss that matter/ perhaps that’s a question for another meeting

Inviting Comments

Has anyone got any questions at this point?

Would anyone like to comment on that?

Does anyone disagree with my last point?

Can anyone confirm my experience?

If nobody has any questions then I’ll move on

 

Interrupting

I’d like to discuss it further, but I think it’s time to move on

Could I just stop you there—

If I might just add—-

I’m sure we’d all agree, but perhaps we should get back to the main point

Transitions

If we could now turn to—/my next point is—/ what I want to do next is —/ let’s move on to—/that completes my analysis of—/so, now we are going to—-

 

Reformulations

If I might just go over that again—/so, in summary—/ just to remind you of the key facts/the main points/ the advantages of—/my main arguments were—

Closing

Thank you for listening to me today

I hope you have found my presentation useful

Thank you for your attention