Presentations that people remember: Spoken English: Zero to Fluent (Expert)

A reader can go back and read a line again. A listener cannot. So a speaker must use signposts (रास्ता बताने वाले वाक्य): short phrases that tell people where they are in the talk. Good signposts make even a simple talk easy to follow.

Stage	What to do	Phrase
Open	Greet, say who you are, give a reason to listen	Good morning, everyone. I'm Kiran from the sales team.
Agenda	Say what you will cover	Today I'll talk about three things.
Main points	Two or three points, one at a time	Let's start with... / Let's move on to...
Summary	Repeat the key message	To sum up...
Questions	Invite questions and thank people	I'm happy to take any questions.

Today I'll talk about three things: our results, our problems and our plan.

Say it: to-DAY ail TAWK a-BOWT THREE THINGZ: our ri-ZULTS, our PROB-lumz and our PLAN

आज मैं तीन चीज़ों के बारे में बात करूँगा: हमारे नतीजे, हमारी दिक़्क़तें और हमारी योजना।

Three points are easy to remember. Count them on your fingers if it helps.

Let's move on to the next point.

Say it: lets MOOV on to the NEKST POYNT

चलिए, अगले मुद्दे पर चलते हैं।

As you can see on this slide, sales rose by twenty percent.

Say it: az yoo kan SEE on this SLYD, SAYLZ ROHZ by TWEN-tee per-SENT

जैसा आप इस स्लाइड पर देख सकते हैं, बिक्री बीस प्रतिशत बढ़ी।

To sum up, we need two more people and one more month.

Say it: to SUM UP, wee need TOO MOR PEE-pul and WUN MOR MUNTH

संक्षेप में, हमें दो और लोग और एक महीना और चाहिए।

Describing charts

Words	Meaning	Example
rose / went up / increased	बढ़ा	Sales rose from ten lakh to twelve lakh.
fell / went down / dropped	घटा, गिरा	Costs fell in March.
peaked	सबसे ऊपर पहुँचा	Website visits peaked in October, during Diwali.
doubled	दोगुना हुआ	Our users doubled in one year.
stayed the same / remained stable	वैसा ही रहा	Prices stayed the same all year.
slightly / sharply	थोड़ा / तेज़ी से	Fuel costs rose sharply; salaries rose slightly.

Handling questions

That's a great question. Thank you.

Say it: thats a GRAYT KWES-chun. THANK yoo

बहुत अच्छा सवाल है। धन्यवाद।

It gives you two seconds to think. Use it once or twice, not for every question, or it starts to sound automatic.

I'm not sure, but I'll check and get back to you by tomorrow.

Say it: aim NOT SHOOR, but ail CHEK and get BAK to yoo by to-MOR-oh

मुझे पक्का नहीं पता, लेकिन मैं देखकर कल तक आपको बताऊँगा।

An honest "I'll check" builds more trust than a confident wrong guess.

Your voice matters as much as your slides. Nervous speakers rush, so slow down on purpose. Pause for a second after each key point. Stress (ज़ोर दें) the important words: "Sales ROSE by TWENTY percent." Look at people's faces, not at the screen behind you.

Think of it like this: A presentation is like a train journey. The agenda is the route announced at the start. Signposts like "Let's move on to..." are the station announcements. The summary is "We have reached our destination". Passengers relax when they know where they are, and so do listeners.

Careful: Common mistakes: reading the slides word by word; slides full of long sentences; starting with "Myself Kiran" (say "I'm Kiran"); "Any doubts?" (fine in India, but "Any questions?" is clearer everywhere); and "Sales rised" (the past of rise is rose).

Tip: Nerves are normal, even for experts. Learn your first thirty seconds by heart, take one slow breath before you start, and practise aloud three times. Today, give a two-minute talk to your phone camera about your favourite app, then watch it once.

Presentations that people remember

Explanation

Describing charts

Handling questions

Watch the lesson

In real life: A team presentation at a company in Pune

Practice (0/4 done)

Quick quiz