Table Of ContentEnglish for Presentations at International
Conferences
Adrian Wallwork
English for Presentations
at International Conferences
123
AdrianWallwork
ViaCarducci9
56127Pisa
Italy
[email protected]
ISBN978-1-4419-6590-5 e-ISBN978-1-4419-6591-2
DOI10.1007/978-1-4419-6591-2
SpringerNewYorkDordrechtHeidelbergLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2010930012
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Preface
WhoIsThisBookfor?
This book is a guide to writing and giving presentations. It is mainly intended for
non-nativespeakersofEnglishofalldisciplineswhowanttopresenttheresultsof
their research at international conferences. Problems with language (both written
and oral) are dealt with extensively, whereas the technical/graphical elements of
creatingslidesaregivenlessspace.
The book is designed to help both those who have never done presentations
beforeandresearcherswhoseEnglishisalreadygood(orwhoarenativespeakers)
but who want to improve their presentation skills. Some chapters have “Advanced
Tips”formoreexperiencedpresenters.
IhopethatothertrainerslikemyselfinEnglishforAcademicPurposeswillalso
findthebookasourceofusefulideastopassontostudents.
Note:Mostoftheexamplesgivenarefromrealpresentations,butinsomecases
theyarefictitiousandmaycontaininventedstatistics.
WhatWillILearnfromThisBook?
Thisbookwillhelpyouto
• overcomeproblemswithnervesandembarrassment
• prepareandpracticeawell-organized,interestingpresentation
• highlighttheessentialpointsyouwanttheaudiencetoremember
• avoidproblemsinEnglishbyusingshorteasy-to-saysentences
• attractandretainaudienceattention
• decidewhattosayateachstageofthepresentation
• improveyourpronunciation
• learnusefulphrases
• dealwithquestionsfromtheaudience
• gainconfidenceandgiveamemorablepresentation
v
vi Preface
HowShouldIReadThisBook?
Thisbookisdesignedtobelikeamanualorauserguide—youdon’tneedtoread
itstartingfrompage1.Likeamanualithaslotsofshortsubsectionsandisdivided
into short paragraphs with many bullet points. This is to help you find what you
wantquicklyandalsotoassimilatetheinformationasrapidlyandaseffectivelyas
possible.
YoucanusetheTableofContentsasachecklistofthingstoremember.
Ifyouhaveneverdoneapresentationbefore,thenyoushouldstartbyreadingthe
restofthischapter.Ifyouhavedonepresentationsbefore,buthaveproblemswith
pronunciationorstillsufferfromnerves,thenyoucouldstartatChapters3and4,
respectively.Areyounotsogoodatplanningandpracticing?ThenreadallofPartI.
Ifyoutendtowritetoomuchtextinyourslidesorhavedifficultyexplainingthem,
then read Part II. Finally, if you want to know what to say at each stage of a
presentationthengodirectlytoPartIII.
Youmayfindthatoccasionallythesameconceptisexplainedmorethanoncebut
indifferentsections.Thisisbecausethebookisnotdesignedtobereadfromcover
tocover,andsomeconceptsapplytomorethanoneareaofpreparinganddelivering
apresentation.
OtherBooksinThisSeries
This book is a part of a series of books to help non-native English-speaking
researcherstocommunicateinEnglish.Theothertitlesare
EnglishforWritingResearchPapers
EnglishforAcademicCorrespondenceandSocializing
EnglishforResearch:Usage,Style,andGrammar
WhyDoaPresentationataConference?
Bygivingapresentationataconference,youcangainvisibilityandinformothers
oftheresultsyouhaveachieved.Thismayenableyoutoincreaseyourchancesof
gettingfeedbackonyourwork,establishingnewcontacts,collaboratingwithother
research groups, and maybe of even getting more funds so that you can carry out
betterresearch.
Apresentationisanopportunitytotalkaboutfactorsthatyouprobablywouldn’t
mention in your paper, e.g., ideas and conjectures, negative results, unfinished
work—allofthesemightstimulateusefulquestionsandfeedbackfromtheaudience.
Preface vii
You will also be able to exploit the review process that takes place before the
conference,andofcourseyoucanincludethepresentationyouhavemadeinyour
CV,inapplicationsforgrants,andingrantprogressreports.
Isn’tJustAttendingaConferenceEnough,WhyIsItaGood
ThingtoGiveaPresentation?
Allthenetworkingbenefitsareconsiderablyimprovedifyouhavegivenapresen-
tation. You will find that people will come up to you after the presentation and
ask for more details or even suggest collaborations—this means that the effort to
makeface-to-facecontactisprincipallymadebythemnotyou.Inanycase,ifyou
have gained visibility through a presentation, then you will find it much easier to
introduceyourselftootherpeopleandbeginaconversation.
WhatKindofPresentationsDoAudiencesLiketoSee?
Wetendtolikepresentationsthat
• areprofessionalandaredeliveredbysomeonewhoiscredibleandconfident
• look like they were prepared specifically for us and make it immediately clear
whyweshouldbeinterested
• haveclearslides,withminimaldetailandhelpfuland/orentertainingimages
• tellusinteresting,curious,andcounterintuitivethings
• don’t make us work too hard to follow what is being said—two or three main
points,lotsofexamples,andnottoomuchtheory
• aredeliveredinafriendly,enthusiastic,andrelativelyinformalway
• entertainusandinteractwithus
WhatConstitutesaProfessionalPresentation?
A “professional” presentation is one where you put the audience first. You think
abouthowtheaudiencewouldmostliketoreceivetheinformationyouaregiving.
The key to an effective presentation is that you have a few main points that
youwanttheaudiencetorememberandthatyouhighlightthesepointsduringthe
presentationinaninteresting,andifpossible,enthusiasticway.
The important thing is to be relaxed. To become more relaxed, the key is to
preparewellandconcentrateonthecontent,notonyourEnglish.Yourpresentation
isnotanEnglishexamination—yourEnglishdoesnothavetobeperfect.Berealistic
and don’t aim for 100% accuracy, otherwise you will be more worried about your
Englishthanaboutcommunicatingthevalueofyourresearch.
viii Preface
WhatKindofPresentationsDoAudiencesNOTLiketoSee?
WetendNOTtolikepresentationswherethespeaker
• hasclearlynotpracticedthepresentation
• hasnoclearintroduction,aconfusedstructure,andnoconclusions
• appearstobetalkingtohimself/herselfratherthanengagingwiththeaudience
• readstheslides
• hasaseriesofsimilarslidesfulloftextanddiagrams
• reliesonanimations
• fails to address the audience’s interest and only sees things from his/her point
ofview
• istootechnical,toodetailed
• speakstoofast,speakswithamonotone,speaksfortoolong
• showslittleinterestinhis/hertopic
WhatAboutPosters?
A poster is a good alternative to a presentation, particularly if you feel worried
aboutstandingupinfrontofalargeaudienceorifyourEnglishisverylowlevel.
Thisbookdoesnotcoverpostersspecifically.Howeveryouwillfindusefulwriting
rulesinChapter2,pronunciationrulesinChapter3,suggestionsonhowtoanswer
questionsinChapter16,andusefulphrasesinChapter17.Linkstowebsitesonthe
designandlayoutofposterscanbefoundin“LinksandReferences.”
For suggestions on how to write in a concise and readable way see the
companionvolume:EnglishforWritingResearchPapers
Pisa,Italy AdrianWallwork
Contents
PartI PreparationandPractice
1 TenStagesinPreparingYourSlides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 Findoutaboutthepotentialaudience . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 Identifyyourkeypoints/messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Prepareatwo-minutetalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Recordandtranscribeyourtwominutes . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 Expandintoalongerpresentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.6 Practicewithcolleagues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.7 Giveyourpresentationastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.8 Createtheslides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.9 Modifyyourscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.10 Cutredundantslides,simplifycomplicatedslides . . . . . . 9
2 WritingOutYourSpeechinEnglish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 WhyshouldIwriteaspeech?I’mgivinganoral
presentation,notawrittenone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.2 Use your script to write notes to accompany
yourslides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3 Useyourspeechforfuturepresentations . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.4 Onlyhaveoneideapersentenceandrepeatkeywords . . . 14
2.5 Simplifysentencesthataredifficulttosay . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.6 Donotusesynonymsfortechnical/keywords . . . . . . . . 15
2.7 Avoiddetails/exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.8 Avoidquasi-technicalterms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.9 Explainorparaphrasewordsthatmaybeunfamiliar
totheaudience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.10 Onlyusesynonymsfornontechnicalwords . . . . . . . . . 17
2.11 Beconcise—onlysaythingsthataddvalue . . . . . . . . . 17
2.12 Useverbsratherthannouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.13 Avoidabstractnouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.14 Avoidgenericquantitiesandunspecificadjectives . . . . . . 18
2.15 Occasionallyuseemotiveadjectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
ix
x Contents
2.16 Choosetherightlevelofformality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.17 Summary:Anexampleofhowtomakeatexteasier
tosay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.18 Tensetips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.18.1 Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.18.2 Referringtofuturepointsinthepresentation . . . 23
2.18.3 Explainingthebackgroundandmotivations . . . . 23
2.18.4 Indicating what you did in (a) your
research(b)whilepreparingyourslides . . . . . . 24
2.18.5 Talkingabouttheprogressofyourpresentation . . 24
2.18.6 Explainingandinterpretingresults . . . . . . . . 24
2.18.7 Givingconclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.18.8 Outliningfutureresearch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3 PronunciationandIntonation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.1 Understand the critical importance of correct
pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.2 Findoutthecorrectpronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.3 Learnanyirregularpronunciations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.4 BeverycarefulofEnglishtechnicalwordsthatalso
existinyourlanguage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.5 Practicethepronunciationofkeywordsthathave
nosynonyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.6 Becarefulof-edendings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.7 Enunciatenumbersveryclearly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.8 Avoider,erm,ah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.9 Useyournormalspeakingvoice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.10 Helptheaudiencetotuneintoyouraccent . . . . . . . . . 32
3.11 Don’tspeaktoofastortoomuch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.12 Markupyourscriptandthenpracticereading
italoud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.13 Usesynonymsforwordsonyourslidesthatyou
cannotpronounce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.14 Usestresstohighlightthekeywords. . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.15 Varyyourvoiceandspeed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.16 Soundinterested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4 PracticeandLearnfromOtherPeople’sPresentations . . . . . . 37
4.1 Useyournotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.2 Varythepartsyoupractice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.3 Practiceyourpositionrelativetothescreen . . . . . . . . . 38
4.4 Don’tsit.Standandmovearound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.5 Useyourhands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.6 Haveanexpressivefaceandsmile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.7 Learnhowtobeself-critical:practicewithcolleagues. . . . 40
4.8 Analyzeotherpeople’sslides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Contents xi
4.9 WatchpresentationsontheInternet . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.10 Test yourself on what you remember
ofthepresentationsyou’vewatched . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.11 Improveyourslidesafterthepresentation . . . . . . . . . . 44
5 HandlingYourNerves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.1 Identifyyourfears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.2 Don’tfocusonyourEnglish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.3 Write in simple sentences and practice your
pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.4 IdentifypointswherepoorEnglishmightbemore
problematic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.5 Haveapositiveattitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.6 Preparegoodslidesandpractice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.7 Opttodopresentationsinlow-risksituations . . . . . . . . 50
5.8 Useshorterandshorterphrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.9 Learnrelaxationtechniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.10 Get to know your potential audience at the bar
andsocialdinners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.11 Checkouttheroomwhereyourpresentationwillbe . . . . 51
5.12 Prepareforforgettingwhatyouwanttosay . . . . . . . . . 52
5.13 Prepareforthesoftwareortheequipmentbreakingdown . . 52
5.14 Organizeyourtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
PartII WhattoWriteontheSlides
6 Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.1 Decidewhattoincludeinthetitleslide . . . . . . . . . . . 58
6.2 Removeallredundancy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
6.3 Make sure your title is not too technical
foryouraudience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
6.4 Use a two-part title to attract both a general
andatechnicalaudience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
6.5 Don’t be too concise in titles—use verbs
andprepositionsnotjustnounsandadjectives . . . . . . . . 61
6.6 Checkyourgrammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
6.7 Checkyourspelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
6.8 Useslidetitlestohelpexplainaprocess . . . . . . . . . . . 62
6.9 Thinkofalternativetitlesforyourslides . . . . . . . . . . . 63
7 WritingandEditingtheTextoftheSlides . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
7.1 BeawareofthedangersofPowerPoint . . . . . . . . . . . 66
7.2 Printashandoutthenedit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
7.3 Onlyuseaslideifitisessential,neverreadyourslides . . . 66
7.4 Onlywritewhatyouare100%sureiscorrect . . . . . . . . 67
7.5 Oneideaperslide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
