Presentation structure

PRESENTATION STRUCTURE

 

Presentations need to be very straightforward and logical. It is important that you avoid complex structures and focus on the need to explain and discuss your work clearly. Think about how you will organize your content. Your presentation should have a clear, coherent structure and cover the points you wish to make in a logical order. An ideal structure for a presentation includes:

• a welcoming and informative introduction;
• a coherent series of main points presented in a logical sequence;
• a lucid purposeful conclusion.

The introduction

The introduction is the point at which the presenter explains the content and purpose of the presentation. This is a vitally important part of your talk as you will need to gain the audience’s interest and confidence. Key elements of an effective introduction include:

• a positive start: “Good afternoon, my name is …”
• a statement of what will be discussed: “I’m going to explore …”
• a statement of the treatment to be applied to the topic (e.g. to compare, contrast, evaluate, describe): “I’ll be comparing the four main principles of”
• a statement of the outcomes of the presentation: “I hope this will provide us with …”
• a statement of what the audience will need to do (e.g. when they can ask questions or whether or not they will need to take notes): “I’ll pass round a handout that summarises my presentation before taking questions at the end”.

You should aim to deliver your introduction confidently (wait until the audience is quiet before you start speaking) and communicate energy and enthusiasm for your topic.

Don’t read your presentation off a piece of paper.

Most presentations start with a brief introduction and end with a brief conclusion. Use the introduction to welcome your audience, introduce your topic/subject, outline the structure of your talk, and provide guidelines on questions.

 

Getting started. Some useful phrases

 

1. Welcoming visitors and saying who you are:

 

Good morning, ladies & gentlemen (formal)

On behalf of …, may/welcome you to … (formal)

Perhaps we should begin (formal)

Ok, let’s get started (informal)

Good morning, everyone. Welcome (informal)

Hello. It’s good to see you all here (informal)

Right. If everyone’s ready, let’s start (informal)

Fine. If we’re all here, I’ll begin (informal)

Ok, let’s make a start (informal)

 

Thanks for coming (informal)

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak to you today (formal)

My name’s … (formal)

I’m … name the simplest way of introducing yourself to people.

I’m the Assistant Marketing Manager – job title.

I’m … name, Senior Sales Executive – name & title.

I’m talking to you today as the manager of the team.

For those of you who don’t know me already, …

I’m responsible for …

Sometimes you won’t need to introduce yourself, because you know people already.

 

2. A statement of what the audience needs to do:

 

Please feel free to give me your feedback (informal).

Please make comments as I talk (formal).

Perhaps we can leave any questions you may have until the end of the presentation (formal)

And don’t worry there’ll be plenty of time left over for questions at the end.

If you have any other important points to raise, …

I’m happy to answer any questions as I talk (informal).

Please feel free to ask questions as we go along (informal).

Please save any questions for the end of the talk.

I have copies of the statistics and tables. I’ll give these to you later.

The figures are on a sheet which you can have later.

Don’t worry about taking notes while I talk.

I have a handout with the main points of my presentation, which I’ll give you at the end.

Here are some tables which illustrate what I’m saying.

I have copies of these and the statistics I’ve mentioned on the handout.

Here you are. Please take one each & pass them round. Would you like one of these?

Would you like to take one as I pass them around?

Did everyone get a copy?

 

3. A statement of what will be discussed /stating your purpose:

 

When you outline the points you will cover in your talk you can use the following phrases:

First-Firstly/to begin with/to start with …

After that – Next/I’d also like to …

Finally-lastly/The last point/Last of all …

 

Presentation verbs:

 

to talk to you about

to tell you

to show you how

to report on

to take a look at

to fill you in on the background to

to bring you up-to-date on

to give an overview of

to make a few observations about

to outline

to highlight what I see as the main …

to put the situation into some kind of perspective

to discuss in more depth the implications of

to talk you through

to make detailed recommendations regarding …

to focus on

to go through some important issues

 

Some useful structures to introduce the purpose of a presentation:

 

I’m going to talk (to be talking) about

I’ll be talking about

I’d like to talk about

I’ll start off  by talking about

And then I’ll go on to talk about