8-2 Verbal Communication: Presenting

Getting to Know your Audience

Regardless of the types of presentations you are delivering (e.g., on-the-spot update, sales pitch, quarterly results), it is extremely important to consider your audience members (even more so in culturally diverse or unfamiliar settings). Even with solid content and delivery, your presentation will succeed only if it appeals to, engages, and positively influences your audience.

Before beginning a presentation, it is important to first get to know a little bit about your audience members. Create the opportunity to engage in small talk and build rapport with individual members to explore their backgrounds, knowledge about your presentation topic, needs, and interests (both work and non-work related). Building on this opportunity within culturally diverse settings will also help you uncover values and preferences, gain insights into communication styles (and language levels), and gauge the potential for individual or group participation during your presentation.

Starters related to the presentation/work:

• “How long have you been working with ______?”
• “What do you do at ______?”
• “What type of projects are you doing in this [topic] area?”
• “What is your interest in this topic?”
• “What were you particularly interested in when previewing the slides?”
• “What kind of information would help you as I go through my presentation?”

Non-work-related starters:

• “What do you think of the [city, venue, food]?”
• “What is the weather like in [city, country]?”
• “Do you know of any good restaurants in the area?”

Verbal and Nonverbal Considerations

• Regardless of your audience, when presenting you should always strive to:
  • Reduce the amount of jargon (technical terms).
  • Avoid slang, idioms, and overly casual language.
  • Keep your language professional but simple.
  • Maintain a consistent structure and flow.
• Gauge the amount and quality of input you are receiving (e.g., questions, comments, ideas) to determine their level of interest, understanding, and engagement. 
• Pay attention to nonverbal cues - body language, facial expressions, and emotional responses of your audience members.
  • Interpreting body language can be tricky. Meaning can change across cultures, and unique behaviors in some settings (e.g., nodding of the head in India) may have multiple meanings. If you are unsure of what a gesture or expression means, or concerned that your body language is sending different messages than intended, check-in with someone who has knowledge of the local culture – this small gesture will be appreciated by your hosts.

Utilizing Cultural Value Orientations

We will now use the cultural value orientation sets from Module 4 to help you adapt your delivery and language to connect with audiences. The tips and language below provide a few guiding suggestions for delivery, and reflection. They are not exhaustive, and only touch upon a few audience preferences and perspectives.

View of Self

Audiences with a more individualist orientation:

Use “I” and “you” (singular) and names (if more casual) to appeal to individuals.

• “I found some key cost saving areas.”
• “I have come up with the next steps.”
• “Each of you here today has a chance to develop your skills.”
• “Ted asks a very interesting question.”

Point out individual benefits or risks

• “If you don’t follow this plan, each of you will face possible risks.”
• “Each person in this room can benefit from advanced management training.”

Ask for individual input throughout the presentations.

• “If anyone has a question, please feel free to ask at any time.”

If you think there may be a lot of input, frame expectations.

• “I’d like to hear from as many people as possible, so I’d like to request that questions or comments are kept short.”
• “I am eager to hear from each of you, but in the interest of time, I’d like to request holding questions until the end.”

Create activity points throughout the presentation to encourage two-way communication.

• “At this point, I’d like to ask audience members for input.”
• “I’d like to keep things open throughout the session to encourage discussion.”

Audiences with a more collectivist orientation:

Use “we/you”, and “our/your” to appeal to the group.

• “Next are some key cost-saving areas that we can review together.”
• “Our team has come up with the next steps.”

Point out group benefits or risks.

• “If we don’t follow this plan, we will face possible risks.”
• “We can all benefit from advanced management training.”

Let the group know that you welcome any input (but that there’s no pressure).

• “I welcome any input you may have during the presentation.”

Ask rhetorical questions, and keep questions ‘safe’ so people aren’t put on-the-spot.

• “Consider this question: What can we do to be a more productive team?”
• “Here’s a question for the group….”

If you want to include activities during the presentation, make them group focused, and ask each group to designate a speaker – this will make the entire group accountable for the input.

• “The following activity will be a group process. Work together, and please designate a person to speak on behalf of the group during the debrief.”

View of Power

Audiences with a lower-power distance orientation:

Use a more informal presentation style.

• “Good morning, everyone.”
• “Thanks for coming today.”
• “It’s great to see everyone here today.”

Use informal language when you introduce yourself (you may even consider adding an interesting point from outside of work).

• “As you may know, I’m ________ from ______, and I love mornings.”
• “Hi everyone, I’m _____, and enjoy my work as a/the ______.”

Be casual and polite when you start and end the presentation.

• “What we’re going to do/gonna do today is ______.”
• “Let’s get started/the ball rolling.”
• “I’m just going to finish up by saying…”
• “Let’s end here with a final thought…”

Address audience members by their first names (or ask, if you don’t know).

• “Thanks for that question, John.”
• “There’s a question over here, sorry, could you tell us your name please?”

Let the group know that you welcome and appreciate input.

• “Please feel free to ask questions at any time.”
• “We want to get new perspectives/ideas, so please jump in with questions and comments.”

Add lighter moments such as stories or narratives to the presentation to add a personal touch.

• “That reminds me of something that our team went through recently…”
• “I have a personal experience to share…”

Audiences with a higher-power distance orientation:

Use a more formal presentation style.

• “I would like to welcome you all here today.”
• “On behalf of ______, welcome to ______”
• “I appreciate that you have taken time out of your work to be here today.”

Introduce yourself with a focus on work. 

• “Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m ______ from _______. I oversee _______.”

Use formal language as you start and end the presentation.

• “In my presentation today, I will address the following topic: _______”
• “I would like to give you an overview of...”
• “I’d like to conclude here and once again thank you for your attention.”

Address audience members by their titles or last names (in some cultures).

• “Thank you, Dr. Stein, for that question…”
• “I would greatly appreciate input from the Managing Director on this.”

Acknowledge the audience - let them know you would appreciate any input they can offer. 

• “I would welcome any input you could offer during my presentation.”
• “I’d like to acknowledge your experience, and would appreciate your input at any time.”

View of Communication

Audiences with a direct/lower-context orientation:

Use your words to convey the entire message and be concise.

• “We are here today to review our YTD earnings.”
• “My presentation will cover the following topic: _____.”

Use a structure that goes through steps, stages, or timelines.

• “In today’s presentation we will go through the following four steps…(define each step).”
• “This presentation will look at what we’ve done in the past, where we are today, and what opportunities this presents for the future.”

Provide details and recommendations, and try not to give too much background or context (unless requested).

• “We will provide you with the details of each problem and then give you three recommendations for implementation.”
• “I will go through each of the sections. If you need additional information, please ask.”

Make your descriptions, signposts, and summaries clear and concise when you walk your audience through your presentation.

• “I’d like to bring your attention to the box at the top right of the slide. Here, you will see our latest figures for…”
• “First we will ______, then we will ______.”
• “I will now go into more detail regarding _____.”
• “I’d now like to summarize the main points.”

Provide quantifiable (objective) data.

• “As you can see here, we had 4.92% growth last year.”
• “From 2023 Q1 to the present, our sales are up by USD 10.7 million.”

Use descriptors for trends (you don’t want things to sound too boring), but make certain that the audience is clear on meaning.

• “Our sales went up by 30% this quarter. We consider this a sizeable jump when comparing them to last year’s sales overall.”

Audiences with an indirect/high-context orientation:

Use subtle words and add context to build meaning for the receivers.

• “I’d like to present an overview of findings, which I hope will allow us time to review some possibilities.”
• “I have been working with my team on this project for the past year, so I hope you’ll find our presentation thorough and informative.”

Use softer language.

• “We might consider…”
• “We could move forward with…”
• “Perhaps we should move on.”

Begin with background or provide some context before moving into the presentation.

• “Before beginning the presentation, I’d like to go through some of the background.”
• “It might be a good idea at this time to provide some context.”

Walk your audience through your slides and add stories, metaphors, etc. to support your ideas.

• “As we go through this slide, one might consider the ______ metaphor, which…”
• “I’d like to share a story with you that relates to this slide.”

Use colorful descriptors for trends to make them more vivid for audience members.

• “We feel that our sales had a significant jump this quarter after the fluctuations we saw over the past year.”