In today’s Business English News lesson, we look at how countries are using competitive devaluations of their currencies to stimulate economic growth.
It’s been a wild ride since the global economy welcomed in the New Year, and the scale of global easing that’s taking place has stunned investors. On average, an interest rate has been cut somewhere in the world once every 3 days, catching everyone off guard. If 25 countries cutting rates since the start of the year wasn’t proof enough, this week’s warning from Janet Yellen about the dollar’s strength confirmed that the world’s top central banks are fighting a currency war.
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on presenting numbers.
In the course of your work, you’ve probably had to sit through a dull English presentation in which the speaker reads out numbers from a chart or PowerPoint slides. And maybe you thought that your time would have been better spent just reading a report with all the data.
Sure, numbers are important. However you don’t need to give a presentation just to report the numbers. But you may need to give a presentation to explain which numbers are most important and what the numbers mean.
In today’s lesson, we’ll look at some great techniques for presenting and interpreting numbers. We’ll learn how to show causation and correlation, how to group data, and how to highlight important numbers. We’ll also look at drawing conclusions from data and making predictions.
In the dialog, we’ll rejoin Toni, who works for a large grocery chain. Toni is giving a presentation in English about recent promotional activities targeting the young singles market. We’ll also hear two company executives, Ellen and William.
Listening Questions
1. What does Toni say was the reason for increased footfall on Sundays? 2. Which key number does Toni want to highlight? 3. What does Toni feel confident will happen in the future?
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on presenting numbers in English.
In business, numbers are everywhere. Whether you work in sales, marketing, finance, or management, you deal with them all the time. You’ve got data, metrics, projections, and results, all expressed in numbers. We read about numbers, we discuss numbers, and we often have to stand up in front of our colleagues, our clients, or our bosses and present numbers.
Giving a presentation in English about anything can be challenging. Giving a presentation about numbers and data can be especially difficult. You have to describe those numbers, to interpret them, and to connect them to ideas and decisions. In today’s lesson, we’ll begin looking at some techniques for this situation. We’ll learn how to approximate and how to describe change. We’ll also learn how to talk about increases and decreases, as well as how to compare and contrast numbers.
In the dialog, we will hear Toni, who works in marketing for a large grocery chain called Foresters. Toni is giving a presentation about the outcomes of a new promotional campaign targeting the young singles market. We’ll also hear Ellen and William, two executives with Foresters.
Listening Questions
1. What does Toni say has improved as a result of the company’s national campaign? 2. What decreased as a result of the national campaign? 3. What two things does Toni say increased at the test stores?
Leading a meeting is rarely easy. You’ve got to manage time, an agenda, and – most importantly – a diverse group of people. Now, what about if the meeting happens by phone, with each person or small group calling in from a different location? Nobody can see each other, and there may be a variety of distractions that you, as the leader, can’t shut out simply by closing the door. Sure, teleconferencing is a marvel of modern technology, but it can be challenging.
With modern technology, you don’t have to be in the same room to have a meeting with other people. Teleconferencing tools allow us to connect by phone, VOIP, or video from across the country, or around the world. You can even join a meeting from home, your car or on plane at 30,000 feet in the air. Sure, it’s amazing, but teleconferencing brings special challenges, and we have to be mindful of things that real-life meetings don’t require.
