In this Business English Pod lesson, we continue our look at brining your visuals to life during a presentation in English.
Have you ever had to stare at a complicated chart and wished the presenter would just give you the main points? Or have you had someone try to explain a chart and tell you exactly what you can already see yourself? There are better ways to handle visual information and that’s what we’re going to look at in this lesson.
Charts and graphs are very useful for presenting information, especially numbers. But you must learn to use them carefully. If you don’t, your presentation might not have the effect you want. That might mean it’s seen as boring, but it could also mean that you fail to convince someone of your idea.
So how can we use visuals successfully? How can we bring them to life? Well, last week we looked at some ways to engage your audience using analogies and rhetorical questions. This week we’re going to introduce some more useful techniques, including using descriptive language and stating the gist of a graph. We’ll also learn how to set up a new visual, interpret a visual, and state the implications of information.
In today’s dialog, we rejoin David, a manager seeking support for his idea to consolidate logistics by building a new facility in China. In our last episode, we heard David introduce his plan to the finance department. Today, David will be presenting more information and visuals to support his plan.
Listening Questions
1. Why does David talk about the cost of warehousing and shipping?
2. What does the cost benefit analysis chart show?
3. What does Alison say about the future of the company?
Download: Podcast MP3
