Spoken English Skills

1. Spoken English Skills #2: Structure & Transitions

2. Starting a presentation • This serves two main functions: • Grabs the audience’s attention • Allows the speaker to relax • Types of attention grabbers: • A funny story – avoid religious, sexual, sexist or racist jokes • A video clip – less than 60 seconds • Unusual information or statistics • A cartoon • Suspenseful effect – bring something strange onto the stage and ignore it until the end. • Ask a question

3. The Beginning • Introduce yourself. • Set your objective. • Lead the audience into the topic.

4. The middle • The Rule of Three: • People tend to remember only three things • The body of the presentation is comprised of explaining ,illustrating and providing evidence for the three points you want the audience to remember. • Order: • Chronological • Importance • Increasing complexity • Decreasing complexity • Cause and effect

5. The end • Recency • People remember the last thing they see or hear – make sure your close is memorable. • Techniques • A funny story that encapsulates the main themes of the presentation • A high energy video or audio clip • Relieving the suspense • A review of the main points • Ask a question

6. Transitions $ Group work • Two purposes: • Provides links between sections • Summary of what you have said and an indication of information to come • Bridging from point to point: • Words or phrases: furthermore, in addition, consequently, finally etc. • Flashback: Do you remember? , As I said before … • Pausing before a new point • Physical movement • Adding a visual aid

7. Do’s and Don'ts • Don’t forget your transitions • Don’t repeat the same transition • Remember to relate to the previous speaker • Remember to introduce the next speaker