50 ways to improve your Presentation Skills in English ... without too much effort!
Bob Dignen
Summertown Publishing 2007
ISBN 978-1-902741-86-4
All right. I admit it. I just never can resist self-help manuals. Especially if their subtitle reads "... without too much effort!". So I approached 50 ways to improve your Presentation Skills... with great anticipation.
This Summertown publication is one of a series of 50 ways to improve... books. It is aimed primarily, but by no means exclusively, at business people wanting to work on their presentation skills in English as a second language, so the exercises will help your students to improve their presentation skills generally, and to practise the most appropri ate language for presentations.
The book contains 10 chapters or modules, each module consisting of a number of short units (which, together, make up the 50 ways). You can either work through the book from cover to cover, or dip in and out at will. There is no index, but there is a detailed table of contents at the beginning, and some suggestions for further reading at the back, as well as a number of useful websites.
The 10 modules are logically sequenced. Module 1 offers tips from the planning stages of preparing a presentation to how to make a good start. Succeeding modules cover non-verbal communication (including the cultural aspects of public speaking and the implications thereof); how to handle questions and, finally, the language of presentations.
For many learners, the most intimidating part of any presentation is how to handle questions. Generally, this is because it is not something you can prepare for beforehand - or is it? In module 8 the author recommends that you prepare answers to the questions you think might be asked, and strategies for questions you might not have anticipated, for example, "That's an interesting question. I don't have the details here at the moment but let me check that and get back to you ..."
At the end of each module there is a 'learning diary' for learners to track their progress. In addition, there is a useful feedback form which serves a dual purpose: first, it sets out the steps the presenter will need to take from the planning stages to the denouement; and secondly, in the hands of the listeners it can provide a useful record of feedback, for as the author points out, "Only by being open to feedback and then acting upon it can you really develop your skills."
An important aspect of the book is that the reader is not passive. Each module comes with practice exercises for students to test themselves, quizzes, and thought-provoking questions such as "How effectively can you build rapport with your audience?"
Suggestions for improvement?
Within the main body of the book, it would have been advantageous for the modules to have been more clearly delineated - as one moves through the book it is not clear where one module ends and the next begins (at the moment that is only possible by reference and re-reference to the contents' page numbers). The book would have been easier to work through had the modules been numbered. But that is but a small cause for complaint.
To conclude: according to tip no. 37, the end of any presentation provides the last opportunity to make an impact, so on that note I'd like to ask whether you can guess what useful closing language tip no. 50 suggests.
"Any more questions? ... No ? Then thank you for your attention and ... good luck!"
Alison Wiebalck