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BEP 304 – Business English Collocations for Emphasizing (1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, Presentation in English /

BEP 304 - Business English Collocations for Emphasizing 1

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on business English collocations used to emphasize a point.

If you want to make an impact when you speak, you need to learn the importance of emphasis. I mean, if sales increased, that’s great. But what if they increased a lot? Or you might be concerned about something, but what if you’re very concerned? “A lot” and “very” are used for emphasis. But you don’t want to only use “a lot” and “very.” If you use any word or expression too much, it will lose its impact.

In this lesson, we’ll listen to the end of a presentation about the financial performance of an airline. The speaker is talking about what the company can expect to see in the coming year. And during the presentation, as well as during the question and answer session, the speakers give emphasis to their ideas using “collocations.”

A collocation is just a pair or group of words that go together naturally. For example, instead of saying something “increased a lot,” you can say it “increased sharply.” The words “increase” and “sharply” often go together. And if you want to say you are “very concerned,” you can say “deeply concerned.” That’s a natural way of emphasizing the idea of being “concerned.”

Native speakers use these word combinations naturally. And if you want to sound natural, it’s a good idea to learn these collocations. As you listen to the dialog, try to pick out some of these collocations, and we’ll talk about them later in the debrief.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Leo, the presenter, talking about some of the key financial indicators the airline uses to track its performance. We’ll also hear two managers, Rita and Mike, ask questions at the end of the presentation.

Listening Questions

1. What does Leo say the company has achieved in terms of costs?
2. How does Rita feel about the positive attitude concerning profits?
3. What does Leo say about non-fuel cost growth in their company, compared to other companies?

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Skills 360 – Presentations: Connecting with your Audience (2)

Business English, Business Skills 360, Presentation in English /

Business English Presentations - Connecting to Your Audience (2)

Welcome back to the Skills 360 for today’s lesson on how to connect with your audience while you’re actually delivering your presentation.

It’s easy to leave your connection with the audience to chance. I mean, you might think that giving a presentation should be about conveying a message rather than “connecting” with your audience. But I assure you, whatever your message is, you’ll get it across with much greater success if you have a good connection with your audience. And that connection isn’t a chance occurrence. You have to work on it.

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Skills 360 – Presentations: Connecting with your Audience (1)

Business English, Business Skills 360, Presentation in English /

Business English for Connecting your Presentation to your Audience 1

Welcome back to the Skills 360 for today’s lesson on how to connect with your audience during a presentation.

You’ve probably heard all sorts of advice about delivering a good presentation. But at the end of the day, every single presentation strategy is designed for one thing: connecting with the audience. In fact, if you don’t connect with your audience, you might as well pack up your PowerPoint and head home. You need to build a bridge to send your message across. No bridge, no message. And don’t think you need to be an easy-going extrovert to connect with an audience. This is something that you can learn to do well.

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BEP 276 – English Presentation Skills 3: Wrapping Up

Advanced, Business English, Presentation in English /

BEP 276 - English Presentation Skills 3

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on wrapping up a presentation in English.

Some people say that the start of a presentation is the most important part. That’s where you grab people’s attention and give them a reason to listen. But the end of your presentation is just as important. If you do a great job of engaging your audience but then have a weak finish, they’ll walk away with a bad last impression. And you want to avoid that at all costs.

So what exactly is involved in a good conclusion to a presentation? What do you need to do to make sure people walk away feeling that they learned something, they want to buy something, or they agree with you?

Today, we’ll learn some great ways to do just that. We’ll look at a variety of English presentation techniques such as summarizing key ideas, closing inspirationally, and opening up for questions. We’ll also learn how to connect your ideas with the big picture and wrap up at the end of the presentation.

In this lesson, we’ll hear how two different speakers finish their presentations. The first speaker is Nick, a recruiter for a medical supplies company. He’s been trying to convince potential recruits that his company is great to work for. In the second dialog we’ll hear Diane, who’s finishing up a report about her company’s third quarter financial statements.

Listening Questions

1. In his summary, Nick mentions several topics that he covered. What are they?
2. To inspire his listeners, what does Nick ask them to think about?
3. What does Diane say is the company’s larger vision?

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BEP 275 – English Presentation Skills 2: Engaging your Audience

Advanced, Business English, Presentation in English /

BEP 275 - English Presentation Skills 2

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on delivering an engaging and organized presentation.

Getting up in front of a room full of people to give a presentation in English can be a difficult task. Whether you’re reporting information or trying to convince people to buy something, you need to catch their attention. Then you need to keep it. And at the end of it all, you want them to walk away feeling like they learned something, or they agree with you, or they want to buy what you’re trying to sell them.

Sure, it might seem difficult, but there are skills you can learn to make it much easier. Several techniques in both presentation and delivery can help ensure an engaging English presentation that will wow your listeners.

In today’s lesson, we’ll take a closer look at some of these techniques, including asking people to imagine a situation in order to persuade them, and focusing on the “why” behind your ideas rather than the “what.” We’ll also learn how you can use a single thread throughout your presentation and how you can transition between ideas. And finally we’ll cover how to check in with your listeners and add emphasis.

Today we’ll hear two short dialogs from different presentations. In the first, we’ll rejoin a recruiter called Nick who is presenting to some potential recruits for a medical supplies company. In the second, we’ll hear finance manager Diane continue with a report about her company’s quarterly financial results.

Listening Questions

1. What does Nick ask his listeners to imagine?
2. What is the key idea that Nick keeps coming back to?
3. After talking about fuel savings, what does Diane do before moving on to her next idea?

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