How to give a presentation in English - Session 4
By Viv Quarry (www.vivquarry.com)
Describing and analysing performance.
D3.3
Listen to the tape and take note of the expressions the presenter uses to involve his audience by:
1. Using a real-life event to illustrate the point of his presentation.
2. Creating a personal and informal style.
When describing performance you must be careful of the tense that you use.
If the situation is current now, you can use the Present Simple or Continuous.
If you are talking about a situation which started in the past and continues into the present, use the Present Perfect.
If the situation occurred wholly in the past and there is no connection with the present or if a definite time is mentioned, use the Simple Past.
********************************USEFUL EXPRESSIONS*************************
Describing performance.
are up
Sales are down by 14% on the last year.
have dropped
good growth.
The sector has shown considerable improvement.
the most solid performance.
well
The brand performed ahead of the market last year.
poorly
Analysing performance - one main reason.
The main explanation for this is (that)....
A particular reason is (that)....
A key problem is (that)....
More than one main reason.
There are two reasons/explanations for this. First, .... Second, ....
This can be explained by two factors. Firstly, .... Secondly, ....
This is due to .... and also to ....
One reason for this is (that).... Another reason is (that).....
********************************************************************************
EXERCISES
CONSUMER PURCHASES FOR SOFT DRINKS.
|
Germany |
Japan |
UK |
USA |
|
|
Variance |
10 |
15 |
4 |
2 |
|
% of market |
28 |
20 |
16 |
40 |
Describe the sales performance in these areas.
E.g. Germany (good growth, sales up ten per cent) =
The German market has shown good growth with sales up by ten per cent on last year.
a) Japan (ahead of the market)
b) UK (disappointing, four per cent increase)
c) US (poorly, slight increase of two per cent)
Listen to tape B1 and fill in the missing words.
1. (Presenter describes the trend, gives an explanation and then expands the explanation).
A key area of concern is the southern region where purchases ________ ________ ________
14%. ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ decline ________ reduced disposable income in this area ________ ________ very high interest rates, ________ ________ ________ high commitments on mortgages and other types of loans. (Listen)
2. (Presenter describes the trend, gives an explanation and adds a comment).
First, the National Grocers. This sector ________ ________ the ________ ________ ________ with a ________ ________ ________ last year. A ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ the one-pack promotional campaign within National Grocers, which is clearly having the desired effect on sales. (Listen)
3. (Presenter describes the trend and comments on it, then gives and expands the explanation).
In the second sector, Independent Grocers, the brand ________ ________ . As you can see, the rate of sales ________ ________ ________ ________ last year, and several customers have actually de-listed Aqua Sparkle, which is obviously a very worrying trend. ________ ________ ________ here ________ price. Competitors have been discounting heavily with a ________ ________ in retail shelf-price. This means that now, in this sector, Aqua Sparkle is priced much higher than the competition. (Listen)
4. (Presenter gives first explanation, expands it, then gives second explanation).
.... gross profit ________ ________ ________ ________ with the profit per litre up 2.7p on last year. ________ ________ two ________ for ________ ________ , a better control of discounts. As I said, we're deliberately not discounting in order to maintain the premium positioning of the brand. ________ , we've managed to achieve a reduction in packaging costs. (Listen)
Give a presentation on your country's economic indicators taken from the newspaper. Record it and evaluate it with the check list from your last session on giving presentations.