Business English / Деловой английский язык
Making a product presentation
Mikan Electronics is one of the companies attending the one-day conference organised by the Department of Trading. It has selected two representatives to attend the conference, and one of them is giving a presentation on the company's electronic postal weighing machine. This lesson looks at how to prepare for and give an effective presentation, and how to deal with follow-up questions from an audience.
|Tetsuo Endo||is a technician at Mikan Electronics. He is Japanese.|
|Jenny Price||works for Mikan Electronics. She is British.|
|Vocabulary||Simple machines and their operation; public speaking; visual aids.|
|Skills||Reassuring someone; giving help and advice; making a presentation to a small audience; asking and answering questions in a small group; making notes.|
|Structures||Parallel structures; imaginary time, suppose and would.|
|Documents||Notes; a series of slide pictures to compare.|
Preparing the presentation - advice
10.1 Listen and read
Tetsuo Endo and Jenny Price are driving along the motorway from South Wales to get to the conference at Hunter's Hotel. Listen to what they say. Why is Tetsuo anxious?
|TETSUO||How are we doing for time?There's such a lot of traffic.|
|JENNY||There's plenty of time, no problem. When we get over the bridge, we just follow the signs for the M5, then another hour and we're there.|
|TETSUO||What are those warning lights, why are they flashing?|
|JENNY||Oh-oh - twenty miles an hour speed limit. There must be a hold-up on the bridge.|
|TETSUO||A hold-up? You mean a robbery?|
|JENNY||No, much worse! Either there's been an accident, or they're repairing the road.|
|TETSUO||You think that's worse than a robbery?|
|JENNY||It is from our point of view.|
|TETSUO||You're right. Look at this queue!|
|JENNY||Oh, it's not really so bad. Relax. We're less than a mile from the bridge.|
10.2 Reading for key words
In what words does Tetsuo express:
|1||anxiety about the traffic?
|2||great surprise at what Jenny has just said?
|3||alarm at what he sees in front of them?
In what words does Jenny:
|4||assure Tetsuo that they won't be late?
|5||suggest that finding the way will be easy?
|6||express alarm at the 20 m.p.h. speed limit?
10.3 Listen and read
Tetsuo and Jenny continue their journey. Listen to what they say. Why does Tetsuo really feel anxious? What does he have to do at the conference?
|JENNY||You're not your usual happy self this morning, are you?|
|TETSUO||To tell you the truth, I'm a little bit anxious about this presentation I'm doing at the conference. Mr Takahama only briefed me last night, after he got that message calling him back to Tokyo. I've never done a presentation before.|
|JENNY||You don't need to worry, your English is excellent! You'll be a big hit.|
|TETSUO||Oh I can handle the language all right. But I've never done a sales presentation, even in Japanese! I'm a technician, not a communicator.|
|JENNY||Tetsuo, everyone in the company is a communicator!|
|TETSUO||Yeah, that's what Mr Takahama said. But I've listened to lots of presentations by sales reps - I've seen how many things can go wrong.|
|JENNY||Look, don't be nervous. I tell you what - I've got my notes from the marketing course. Perhaps we could take some time and go through them together.|
|TETSUO||That would be great!|
10.4 Reading for key words
How does Jenny:
|1||express concern about Tetsuo's state of mind?
|2||show that she has misunderstood the reason for Tetsuo's nervousness?
In what words does Tetsuo:
|3||show that he doesn't like to admit to a lack of confidence?
|4||express confidence in his English?
|5||say that he's seen some very bad sales presentations?
Jenny says something which probably expresses Mikan's company policy.
|6||What does she say?
10.5 Speaking practice: reassuring someone
Listen to this conversation. Then listen to it again, and speak the part of the woman.
|WOMAN||Is everything all right? How are things going?|
|MAN||Fine, thanks! Actually, to be honest, I'm a bit worried about this aptitude test tomorrow.|
|WOMAN||You don't need to worry. I'm sure it'll go well. I mean, the first part is just recognising shapes.|
|MAN||Yes, I think I can handle that all right.|
|WOMAN||I'm sure you can.|
|MAN||It's the second part of the test that worries me. My problem is I'm not very good with figures.|
|WOMAN||Part two isn't really so difficult, you know. It's just applied common sense. Relax! Stop worrying.|
|MAN||Yes, perhaps you're right.|
|WOMAN||I know I am. Look - I tell you what. I've got some old test papers here. We can go through them together if you like.|
10.6 Document study
These are Jenny's notes for Tetsuo. Imagine that tomorrow you are going to talk to a group of six or eight foreign business people or students. You can only communicate with them in English. You want them either to come to your country as tourists, or to learn your language, or to buy a product from your country or your company. Make notes about what you will say to them, based on the suggestions given in part 1 (Preparation), sections a, b and c.
Making the presentation
10.7 Listen and read
Tetsuo is making his presentation at the conference. Listen to what he says here and in 10.10. As you listen, try to write Tetsuo's notes. Use the following headings: Audience, Needs, Benefits, Delivery.
10.8 Document study
Tetsuo shows a series of colour slides, showing what happens in a post office with conventional weighing machines.
Then he shows another series of pictures, demonstrating the new weighing machine:
10.9 Writing practice: describing a process
As Tetsuo shows his sequence of pictures, he describes what happens at each stage:
TETSUO First, the clerk puts the parcel on the weighing machine ...
Write the rest of his commentary for him, using the pictures from 10.8. Note that when we describe a process like this we normally use the simple present form of the verb.
10.10 Listen and read
Tetsuo continues his presentation. Listen to what he says. What benefits does he claim for the Eagle weighing machine? At the end he tells a joke. What is it? What does he mean?
10.11 Structure practice: parallel structures
Tetsuo speaks fluently, but his sentences are quite simple in construction. Even his long sentences are just simple groups of words joined together, like items in a list. Look at the example below, from 10.7. When he introduces himself, he says what his job is and then what he is going to do:
I am going to talk to you for a few minutes about my company's products - in particular, about our post office weighing machines.
He repeats the word 'about' so that his audience, and he himself, can easily see how the sentence is put together. Here is another example, a list of three word-groups, all starting with 'when'.
I discovered this was true
when I waited for a bus,
when I entered a bank to cash a cheque and
when I sent a parcel to my mother in Tokyo.
If you listen to 10.7 again, you will hear how he repeats not only the structure, but also the rhythm in these sentences. Here are two more examples from Tetsuo's presentation:
The reason that you are so good at queuing is
that you have so much practice.
We are all familiar with it
at the supermarket check-out, so why not
at the post office counter also?
Now practise writing some 'parallel structures' like Tetsuo's:
1 Introduce Tetsuo to the audience, using the words from 10.7. Say what company he represents, and what he is going to do, in general and in particular.
2 Tetsuo said 'I discovered this was true...' Continue his sentence using the examples below:
... waited in line to cross the Severn Bridge
... tried to get in to see the Wimbledon men's tennis final
... wanted to get money from a cash machine on a Saturday night
3 Write a sentence explaining why the Eagle is so quick, using the information below.
One reason that... is that... (displays postage rates);
another is that... (prints the postage label) and
a third is that... (accepts credit cards).
Dealing with questions
10.12 Listen and read
Valerie Tipstock from the Department of Trade is attending the conference. She asks Tetsuo about costs. Listen to what they say.
|TETSUO||I've told you something about our product - now does anyone have any questions?|
|VALERIE||Could you give us some indication of cost?|
|TETSUO||The unit price, for the basic machine without magnetic card reader , is £1470. The card reader costs £195 extra, plus of course the connection charge by the telephone company.|
|VALERIE||But at the Leipzig Fair we'll be getting enquiries from foreign postal services who'll be seeking to place contracts to purchase hundreds of machines - over a period of perhaps five years. What do you say to them?|
|TETSUO||Yes, I appreciate that, of course, and my company is always willing to discuss generous discount and finance terms. But I gave you the unit price because often that is the fairest basis for comparison between competing makes.|
10.13 Reading for key words
What words do the speakers use to express these ideas?
|1||Roughly, what's the price?
|2||I know that already.
|3||The cost of connecting the machine to the telephone network.
|4||The price of a single machine.
|5||[They] will want to make agreements with suppliers.
|6||[It] is the most accurate way to compare them.
10.14 Listen and read
Valerie is again questioning Tetsuo about the Eagle weighing machine. Listen to what they say. Listen to how Valerie tries to get Tetsuo to say more about the reliability of the machines, and then tries to make him be more and more specific.
|VALERIE||Mr Endo, you touched briefly on the question of reliability.I wonder if you'd like to say a bit more. The mechanical weighing machines we have in use are some of the finest in the world, and they virtually never go wrong. What happens when one of your machines goes down?|
|TETSUO||Well - that's an extremely rare event.|
|VALERIE||OK, so it never happens, but suppose it did happen, what would you do about it?|
|TETSUO||We would supply a replacement within... six hours.|
|VALERIE||You don't sound very confident. Suppose it was in Eastern Europe or somewhere?|
|TETSUO||I was going to say, six hours on the UK mainland. It could take twenty-four hours to somewhere more remote. But in most areas of the EC, we can deliver a new machine within six hours.|
10.15 Reading for key words
What words or phrases in 10.14 show these ideas?
|1||You mentioned it.
|2||Hardly ever. (two answers)
|3||[It] stops working.
|4||You didn't let me finish what I was saying.
10.16 Listen and read
Valerie's third question to Tetsuo concerns maintenance contracts. Listen to what they say. What two problems does Valerie raise?
|VALERIE||All right then, that brings me to my next point. Do I assume that your customers are obliged, or advised, to take out annual maintenance contracts?And if so, is your company in a position to honour these contracts abroad?|
|TETSUO||I would like to suggest that it would be better if my company trained post office staff in the various countries to do the servicing themselves.|
|VALERIE||Well, would it? I mean, to start with you've got the language barrier. And what about spare parts, who's going to handle that side of it?|
|TETSUO||Remember, our parent company, Mikan International, already runs a world-wide sales and maintenance network. That will take care of spare parts. And our experience is that staff from different countries are very pleased to come to one of our training courses. In this case, I think they would see that their new skills would improve their ratings in the job market.|
10.17 Structure practice: imaginary time
In English, we have many ways of talking about events which do not actually happen. This allows us to talk about and solve problems before they become real. For example, Valerie says, in 10.14:
suppose it did happen
What she means is 'imagine that it happens'. Notice that even though she is talking about the future, she uses the past tense 'did happen'. She goes on to say:
what would you do about it?
Here she uses 'would', because she is still talking about something that is not real; she is talking about something imagined. When Tetsuo answers, he also uses 'would':
We would supply a replacement within... six hours.
Valerie goes on to say:
Suppose it was in Eastern Europe or somewhere?
This time, Tetsuo answers with 'could'; he is still talking about an imaginary event:
It could take twenty-four hours...
but when he talks about the EC he uses 'can':
we can deliver a new machine within six hours
This is because now he is talking about real events. He knows he can deliver in Europe because he has already done it; he is not talking about possibility, but reality.
Now write answers to these questions for Tetsuo. You have to decide whether Tetsuo knows the answer, or whether he has to imagine a solution to the problem:
|1||Suppose I wanted to order ten machines. What would the price be?
|2||Suppose a machine broke down in Tokyo. How long would it take to supply a replacement?
|3||Suppose I wanted to buy the card reader later. Would I be able to do that?
|4||Suppose the machine broke down in a month. Who would pay for that?