How to Boost your Confidence and Start Making Successful Business Presentations in English

Making a successful and impactful business presentation in English is a true skill. Expectations are usually very high, so you need to do your best every time and deliver 100%.

Furthermore, you need to deal with all sorts of technicalities and even personal matters: from preparing what to say or show and how to anxiety, fear of the crowds, and low self-confidence.

Add the fact that it’s taking place in a language other than your native one, like English, and you realise how much of a challenge a business presentation is.

I can hardly think of any other business occasion where so much is at stake, like proving your worth, showing your competence, letting your talent shine and performing over expectations.

I have heard stories where otherwise highly skilled professionals underperformed during their business presentations in English and that had really dire (and unfair I’d say) consequences: being flagged as incompetent, lost a promotion or even their job.

This is why it is absolutely imperative to work on your business presentation skills in English. Not only will this get you far at work but it will also boost your confidence and open new doors and opportunities for you.

Now, let me tell you this and you thank me later for that: delivering impeccable business presentations in English is not a matter of personality or character (introverted or extroverted, it doesn’t matter). What matters is that you adhere to these two golden rules

• Preparation and practice
• Mindfulness

The former will help you excel your technical skills whilst the latter will help you cope with all sorts of personal issues that create blockages.

3 Essential Rules to Guide you

Remember that whenever you have an important business presentation in English you need to kick back, relax and let mindfulness guide your efforts.

A mindful mindset will help you set realistic goals, make your presentations in a meaningful way so that everybody benefits, and take a kind non-judgemental approach to yourself and what you are capable of.

Here are the 3 most important rules to keep in mind at any given point

1. Goal & meaning. In order for your presentation to be meaningful for everybody involved you need to clearly define two things. The first is what your personal goal is. You need to give answers to these questions: What do I want to achieve with this presentation? What action do I have to trigger? The second thing you need to define is the reason why your audience should care. This is crucial because otherwise they will get quickly bored, disinterested, frustrated (because they waste their time) and the list goes on. Mindfulness will help you know where you stand and what exactly you want to achieve. Give it a chance.

2. Your audience. What most professionals often forget is that a business presentation is primarily about their audience, not themselves. This doesn’t mean that they won’t reap the benefits if it is successful. But how can you define success? To my experience (own and through my clients), a presentation can be considered successful if the audience is engaged, finds what you say relevant and helpful and it triggers specific positive action. The better you know your audience, the more successful the outcome. Before the presentation, ask and find out who is attending and why, so you prepare a presentation that fits their needs.

3. Roadmap. A presentation is like a book. Literally! A good book (that usually sells well) always has a nice title, a startling front cover and an interesting summary at the back cover to draw people in for more. Then, inside, it must have a beginning, a middle and an end, all tied together in a harmonious way. The same goes with a presentation (both what you show with a Powerpoint for example and what you say as the speaker). Make a similar roadmap and structure before the presentation and stick to it at any given point.

7 Practical Tips to Help you Nail your Business Presentations

A business presentation is very complex because it’s not only about what you say. It’s also about how you say it, what other resources you use to make your point, how you present yourself, how you sound / look / stand / move and the list goes on.

Below, I gathered the 7 most practical tips to help you nail it. Let’s get down to it!

1. No slang and less is more. Even if you want to make it informal and friendly, still you should not use any slang, because people may misunderstand it or (even worse) not understand it at all. Also, keep in mind that using fewer words to say the same thing is a surefire way to nail your presentation. Less is more, I can’t stress this enough. Your audience will thank you for that.

2. Spice up your presentation. It’s not enough to just prepare your speech. You need to have a visually pleasant and engaging presentation file to show. For this, use images and videos, if you can, to make your point. Don’t convert documents or your speech into slides, it’s a no-go! Use storytelling to make it easier for you to express in English as it always feels more natural to narrate stories. Also, your audience will be able to follow your stories more easily and engage.

3. Work on your voice. Especially if you do it in English as a non-native speaker, it is essential to talk at a steady pace. Not too fast, not too slow. Watch out your pronunciation and intonation and if you have to choose between sounding insecure and exaggerating your sounds a little bit, opt for the latter. Don’t forget to warm up vocally before the presentation starts. Here is a simple yet effective routine.

4. Make pauses. If you speak non-stop for 20, 30 or more minutes, your audience will get lost and tired. Make regular pauses. Not only will this help you regain energy and prepare which words and phrases to use next (especially if things get tough during the presentation) but it will also help your audience pay more attention to what you say and give a quick thought about it before you move on to the next point. Pauses also help with your breathing which in turn helps with performing at full capacity.

5. Watch your body language. This is as important as what you say. Make sure you maintain a confident straight posture, keep your arms open (this signals you are open to discussion and have nothing to hide) and don’t move your hands like a robot. Excessive movement of hands signals anxiety and makes your audience stressed, too. Also, don’t forget to smile or just have relaxed facial expressions, if you can’t smile for too long or at all. A relaxed body language will help you focus on what you say and pick the best English words and phrases to use at any given point.

6. Be interactive. The more interactive you make your presentation, the more successful it becomes. Let me tell you how to do it. Have eye contact with the people you are talking to all the time. This boosts engagement and trust towards you. Ask questions to make sure everybody is engaged and aligned. Listen to your audience, if they make too much noise or talk with each other, you need to bring attention back to you or address any issues that have arisen.

7. Practice, iterate, improve. The more presentations you make, the more comfortable you will feel. Before them, make sure you are 100% prepared and rehearse. It helps to record your rehearsal so you can watch and improve any of the things I mentioned so far (voice, posture, selection of words etc). Also, use your experience to avoid the same mistakes and focus on what you do best.

BONUS TIP: the logistics for a presentation are super important, as well. Always arrive early at the room or venue, mindfully explore the space, check the equipment and make sure everything is OK. Turn off your mobile phone so you don’t get distracted and the notifications on your laptop so your audience won’t get distracted, too. Take deep breaths and greet the people coming into the room, to feel more relaxed.

Useful English Phrases to Use in Business Presentations

Preparation is key, so here are some handy English phrases to use during each part of the presentation.

Introduction
First, you need to greet your audience.

Good morning/good afternoon.
Thank you for coming today.
I’m pleased to see you all today.

Then, introduce yourself if needed. It boosts trust.

My name is [Your name]. I am the [Your position] at [Your department, division or company].

Briefly state the topic and goal of the presentation.

I will be talking about…
I will present our findings on…
The purpose of my presentation is…

Finally, summarise the main topics to cover or the agenda

Today, we will be covering…
Today, we will go over…
In this presentation, we will discuss/analyse/evaluate…

To make the structure clear, use the words “first”, “next”, “then”, “last”.

Middle of your presentation
This is where you talk about the topics in detail.

To begin,
First, let’s talk about…
I’ll start by giving some background information…

Make sure the transitions from one topic to the other are smooth, so your audience can follow you.

This leads me to my next point…
Let’s consider…
Now, let’s take a look at…

If you want to refer back to something you have already mentioned earlier, use these phrases

As mentioned…
As we saw earlier…
As we touched on earlier…

To explain numbers and graphs, make sure you mention the main point and not the numbers data itself.

To put these numbers into context…
That equals…
That is the equivalent of…
That is equivalent to…
To demonstrate this…
This shows/ proves…
To illustrate this…
This graph highlights…

To give examples, you can start with these phrases.

For instance…
Consider…
A good example of this is…

Closing your presentation
This is where you need to summarise what you have just presented and explained.

In summary/In conclusion,
To recap,
We have learned that…

Then, make your final point with a conclusion or a strong statement.

Based on this…
Due to our research…
Considering the available information…
As a conclusion…

Thank your audience and invite questions.

Thank you all for listening.
Thank you for your attention.
Does anyone have any questions or comments?
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask them now.
We have some time for questions now.

BONUS TIP: if there are no questions at the end, make sure you have prepared a question or two yourself. It makes the end of the presentation more smooth and complete.

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I could share many more phrases and tips, but these are the handiest ones you can use in almost any business presentation.

Follow the rules and tips I mentioned above but always keep this in mind: be prepared and be mindful.

These two principles can guarantee you are on the right track to continuously improve your presentation skills in English until you finally nail it.

Here at ProEnglish, this is my end goal. To empower non-native, highly- skilled professionals like you to claim what they deserve in their career by breaking down the language blockage in a safe, kind and trustful environment.

I am Vera Daskalaki, your mindful English coach. You, being here and reading this, really means a lot to me. Let me know if anything above hit a nerve, and feel free to send me any questions.

If you want to talk about your personal goals with speaking English and create a customised plan, just like we did with Marta, book a free discovery call by clicking below.

It’s a free 30-min call, during which we will get to know each other and see if and how I can help you reach your career goals as a non-native English-speaking professional.