第一篇：英语演讲教程

presentations and public speaking in english

a presentation is a formal talk to one or more people that "presents" ideas or information in a clear, structured way. people are sometimes afraid of speaking in public, but if you follow a few simple rules, giving a presentation is actually very easy. this tutorial guides you through each stage of giving a presentation in english, from the initial preparation to the conclusion and questions and answers. this tutorial is itself set out like a mini-presentation.

preparation

can you name the 3 most important things when giving any presentation?

number 1 is . . . preparation

number 2 is . . . preparation!

number 3 is . . . preparation!!

preparation is everything!

with good preparation and planning you will be totally confident and less nervous. and your audience will feel your confidence. your audience, too, will be confident. they will be confident in you. and this will give you control. control of your audience and of your presentation. with control, you will be 'in charge' and your audience will listen positively to your message.

objective

before you start to prepare a presentation, you should ask yourself: "why am i making this presentation?" do you need to inform, to persuade, to train or to sell? your objective should be clear in your mind. if it is not clear in your mind, it cannot possibly be clear to your audience.

audience

"who am i making this presentation to?" sometimes this will be obvious, but not always. you should try to inform yourself. how many people? who are they? business people? professional people? political people? experts or non-experts? will it be a small, intimate group of 4 colleagues or a large gathering of 400 competitors? how much do they know already and what will they expect from you?

venue

"where am i making this presentation?" in a small hotel meeting-room or a large conference hall? what facilities and equipment are available? what are the seating arrangements?

time and length

"when am i making this presentation and how long will it be?" will it be 5 minutes or 1 hour? just before lunch, when your audience will be hungry, or just after lunch, when your audience will be sleepy?

method

how should i make this presentation?" what approach should you use? formal or informal? lots of visual aids or only a few? will you include some anecdotes and humour for variety?

content

"what should i say?" now you must decide exactly what you want to say. first, you should brainstorm your ideas. you will no doubt discover many ideas that you want to include in your presentation. but you must be selective. you should include only information that is relevant to your audience and your objective. you should exclude all other ideas. you also need to create a title for your presentation (if you have not already been given a title). the title will help you to focus on the subject. and you will prepare your visual aids, if you have decided to use them. but remember, in general, less is better than more (a little is better than a lot). you can always give additional information during the questions after the presentation.

structure

a well organised presentation with a clear structure is easier for the audience to follow. it is therefore more effective. you should organise the points you wish to make in a logical order. most presentations are organised in three parts, followed by questions:

beginning short introduction welcome your audience

introduce your subject

explain the structure of your presentation

explain rules for questions

middle body of presentation present the subject itself

end short conclusion summarise your presentation

thank your audience

invite questions

questions and answers

notes

when you give your presentation, you should be - or appear to be - as spontaneous as possible. you should not read your presentation! you should be so familiar with your subject and with the information that you want to deliver that you do not need to read a text. reading a text is boring! reading a text will make your audience go to sleep! so if you don't have a text to read, how can you remember to say everything you need to say? with notes. you can create your own system of notes. some people make notes on small, a6 cards. some people write down just the title of each section of their talk. some people write down keywords to remind them. the notes will give you confidence, but because you will have prepared your presentation fully, you may not even need them!

rehearsal

rehearsal is a vital part of preparation. you should leave time to practise your presentation two or three times. this will have the following benefits:

you will become more familiar with what you want to say

you will identify weaknesses in your presentation

you will be able to practise difficult pronunciations

you will be able to check the time that your presentation takes and make any necessary modifications

so prepare, prepare, prepare! prepare everything: words, visual aids, timing, equipment. rehearse your presentation several times and time it. is it the right length? are you completely familiar with all your illustrations? are they in the right order? do you know who the audience is? how many people? how will you answer difficult questions? do you know the room? are you confident about the equipment? when you have answered all these questions, you will be a confident, enthusiastic presenter ready to communicate the subject of your presentation to an eager audience.

equipment

easily your most important piece of equipment is...you

! make sure you're in full working order, and check your personal presentation carefully - if you don't, your audience will! the overhead projector (ohp) displays overhead transparencies (ohts or ohpts). it has several advantages over the 35mm slide projector:

it can be used in daylight

the user can face the audience

the user can write or draw directly on the transparency while in use

the whiteboard (more rarely blackboard or greenboard) is a useful device for spontaneous writing - as in brainstorming, for example. for prepared material, the ohp might be more suitable. the duster is used for cleaning the whiteboard. it is essential that the duster be clean to start with. you may consider carrying your own duster just in case. markers are used for writing on the whiteboard (delible - you can remove the ink) or flipchart (indelible - you cannot remove the ink). they are usually available in blue, red, black and green. again, it's a good idea to carry a spare set of markers in case you are given some used ones which do not write well. "a good workman never blames his tools." the flipchart consists of several leaves of paper that you 'flip' or turn over. some people prefer the flipchart to the whiteboard, but its use is limited to smaller presentations. the slide projector - which must be used in a darkened room - adds a certain drama. some slide projectors can be synchronised with audio for audio-visual (av) presentations. these projectors are typically used for larger presentations. the majority take 35mm slides or transparencies (as seen here), but projectors for 6x6cm slides are also available. transparencies are projected by an overhead projector or a slide projector onto a screen - in this case a folding screen which can be packed up and transported. the notebook computer is increasingly being used to display graphics during presentations. it is often used in conjunction with an overhead projector, which actually projects the image from the computer screen onto the wall screen. handouts are any documents or samples that you 'hand out' or distribute to your audience. note that it is not usually a good idea to distribute handouts before your presentation. the audience will read the handouts instead of listening to you.

delivery

'delivery' refers to the way in which you actually deliver or perform or give your presentation. delivery is a vital aspect of all presentations. delivery is at least as important as content, especially in a multi-cultural context.

nerves

most speakers are a little nervous at the beginning of a presentation. so it is normal if you are nervous. the answer is to pay special attention to the beginning of your presentation. first impressions count. this is the time when you establish a rapport with your audience. during this time, try to speak slowly and calmly. you should perhaps learn your introduction by heart. after a few moments, you will relax and gain confidence.

audience rapport

you need to build a warm and friendly relationship with your audience. enthusiasm is contagious. if you are enthusiastic your audience will be enthusiastic too. and be careful to establish eye contact with each member of your audience. each person should feel that you are speaking directly to him or her. this means that you must look at each person in turn - in as natural a way as possible. this will also give you the opportunity to detect signs of boredom, disinterest or even disagreement, allowing you to modify your presentation as appropriate.

your objective is to communicate!

body language

what you do not say is at least as important as what you do say. your body is speaking to your audience even before you open your mouth. your clothes, your walk, your glasses, your haircut, your expression - it is from these that your audience forms its first impression as you enter the room. generally speaking, it is better to stand rather than sit when making a presentation. be aware of and avoid any repetitive and irritating gestures. be aware, too, that the movement of your body is one of your methods of control. when you move to or from the whiteboard, for example, you can move fast or slowly, raising or reducing the dynamism within the audience. you can stand very still while talking or you can stroll from side to side. what effect do you think these two different approaches would have on an audience?

cultural considerations

because english is so widely used around the world, it is quite possible that many members of your audience will not be native english-speakers. in other words, they will not have an anglo-saxon culture. even within the anglo-saxon world, there are many differences in culture. if we hypothetically imagine a german working for an israeli company making a presentation in english to a japanese audience in korea, we can see that there are even more possibilities for cultural misunderstanding. you should try to learn about any particular cultural matters that may affect your audience. this is one reason why preparation for your presentation is so important. cultural differences can also be seen in body language, which we have just discussed. to a latin from southern france or italy, a presenter who uses his hands and arms when speaking may seem dynamic and friendly. to an englishman, the same presenter may seem unsure of his words and lacking in self-confidence.

voice quality

it is, of course, important that your audience be able to hear you clearly throughout your presentation. remember that if you turn away from your audience, for example towards the whiteboard, you need to speak a little more loudly. in general, you should try to vary your voice. your voice will then be more interesting for your audience. you can vary your voice in at least three ways:

speed: you can speak at normal speed, you can speak faster, you can speak more slowly - and you can stop completely! you can pause. this is a very good technique for gaining your audience's attention.

intonation: you can change the pitch of your voice. you can speak in a high tone. you can speak in a low tone.

volume: you can speak at normal volume, you can speak loudly and you can speak quietly. lowering your voice and speaking quietly can again attract your audience's interest.

the important point is not to speak in the same, flat, monotonous voice throughout your presentation - this is the voice that hypnotists use to put their patients' into trance!

visual aids

of all the information that enters our brains, the vast majority of it enters through the eyes. 80% of what your audience learn during your presentation is learned visually (what they see) and only 20% is learned aurally (what they hear). the significance of this is obvious:

visual aids are an extremely effective means of communication

non-native english speakers need not worry so much about spoken english - they can rely more heavily on visual aids

it is well worth spending time in the creation of good visual aids. but it is equally important not to overload your audience's brains. keep the information on each visual aid to a minimum - and give your audience time to look at and absorb this information. remember, your audience have never seen these visual aids before. they need time to study and to understand them. without understanding there is no communication.

audience reaction

remain calm and polite if you receive difficult or even hostile questions during your presentation. if you receive particularly awkward questions, you might suggest that the questioners ask their questions after your presentation.

language

say what you are going to say,

simplicity and clarity

if you want your audience to understand your message, your language must be simple and clear.

use short words and short sentences.

do not use jargon, unless you are certain that your audience understands it.

in general, talk about concrete facts rather than abstract ideas.

use active verbs instead of passive verbs. active verbs are much easier to understand. they are much more powerful. consider these two sentences, which say the same thing:

toyota sold two million cars last year.

two million cars were sold by toyota last year.

which is easier to understand? which is more immediate? which is more powerful? n°1 is active and n°2 is passive.

signposting

when you drive on the roads, you know where you are on those roads. each road has a name or number. each town has a name. and each house has a number. if you are at house n° 100, you can go back to n° 50 or forward to n° 150. you can look at the signposts for directions. and you can look at your atlas for the structure of the roads in detail. in other words, it is easy to navigate the roads. you cannot get lost. but when you give a presentation, how can your audience know where they are? how can they know the structure of your presentation? how can they know what is coming next? they know because you tell them. because you put up signposts for them, at the beginning and all along the route. this technique is called 'signposting' (or 'signalling').

during your introduction, you should tell your audience what the structure of your presentation will be. you might say something like this:

"i'll start by describing the current position in europe. then i'll move on to some of the achievements we've made in asia. after that i'll consider the opportunities we see for further expansion in africa. lastly, i'll quickly recap before concluding with some recommendations."

a member of the audience can now visualize your presentation like this:

introduction

welcome

explanation of structure (now)

body

europe

asia

africa

conclusion

summing up

recommendations

he will keep this image in his head during the presentation. he may even write it down. and throughout your presentation, you will put up signposts telling him which point you have reached and where you are going now. when you finish europe and want to start asia, you might say:

"that's all i have to say about europe. let's turn now to asia."

when you have finished africa and want to sum up, you might say:

"well, we've looked at the three continents europe, asia and africa. i'd like to sum up now."

and when you finish summing up and want to give your recommendations, you might say:

"what does all this mean for us? well, firstly i recommend..."

the table below lists useful expressions that you can use to signpost the various parts of your presentation.

signposting

function language introducing the subject

i'd like to start by...

let's begin by...

first of all, i'll...

starting with...

i'll begin by...

finishing one subject...

well, i've told you about...

that's all i have to say about...

we've looked at...

so much for...

...and starting another

now we'll move on to...

let me turn now to...

next...

turning to...

i'd like now to discuss...

let's look now at...

analysing a point and giving recommendations

where does that lead us?

let's consider this in more detail...

what does this mean for abc?

translated into real terms...

giving an example

for example,...

a good example of this is...

as an illustration,...

to give you an example,...

to illustrate this point...

dealing with questions

we'll be examining this point in more detail later on...

i'd like to deal with this question later, if i may...

i'll come back to this question later in my talk...

perhaps you'd like to raise this point at the end...

i won't comment on this now...

summarising and concluding

in conclusion,...

right, let's sum up, shall we?

i'd like now to recap...

let's summarise briefly what we've looked at...

finally, let me remind you of some of the issues we've covered...

if i can just sum up the main points...

ordering

firstly...secondly...thirdly...lastly...

first of all...then...next...after that...finally...

to start with...later...to finish up...

第二篇：英语演讲教程:引入话题

ii. introducing the subject and the outline of the presentation引入话题

background information

i would like to start by briefly reviewing the history of open heart surgery.

let us start with the theoretical basis of this new technique.

to begin with, we have to consider the principle.

i think it would be best to start out by looking at a few slides.

i should like to preface my remarks with a descript(更多内容请访问好范 文网：Www.hAowoRd.coM)ion of the basic idea.

may i begin with a general outline of this project?

the first thing i would like to talk about is the definition of the terms i shall use in my lecture.

the first point i'd like to make is the historical background of the invention.

first, i shall explain to you why this new program is correct and feasible.

topic

i would like to concentrate on theproblem of antibiotic abuse in hospitals.

i shall devote my talk to the surgical treatment of coronary disease.

i want to confine my talk to the latest developments in civil engineering.

today, i am going to give a talk on the application of computers in medicine.

my topic today will deal with the observation of supernova.

in today's talk, i' 11 restrict myself to the etiology of 15-epa~i;s.

in my presentation this morning, i' 11 limit myself to three major points only.

i take the liberty of restricting my discussion mainly to highway bridge construction.

now, i would like to address myself to the most important aspect of this problem.

among the many languages, i shall mention only basic.

what i am going to present today is the methodology and the data analysis.

i'm not going to say much about that except to discuss the literature on that topic.

outlining

my talk today consists of two parts. one is... and the other is...

i've divided my presentation into four parts.

i shall first talk about ... and then touch on... and finally discuss ...

the subject can be looked at under the following headings: ... (pointing to the powerpoint display)

i would like to divide my talk into two parts. the first part deals with…, the second part concerns ...

my presentation will be given in four parts. the first part deals with ... the second part relates to... the third part concerns ... and the last part discusses…

purpose/objective

the purpose of this presentation is to...

this talk is designed to…

comprehensive samples

sample 1

thank you, mr. chairperson, mr. director-general, distinguished members of the ilo's governing body and friends. i welcome this opportunity to be here today, with an organization which in many ways belongs to all of us workers. i can think of, in fact, no other international body that one can claim as one's own so unambiguously.

i have also had a longstanding formal association with the ilo. many of my early pieces on women and technological change and on land rights were published by the ilo, as well as was the work of many other scholars. it is therefore a pleasure for me to be here on this important symposium.

the canvas of the symposium is very large. i will focus on two aspects of gender inequality that centrally effect millions of women as workers but perhaps have failed to receive the attention they deserve. first, the gender gap in command over property and productive assets and, second, gender biased social perceptions and social norms.

sample 2

i learned last may that you have to be careful in speaking to a group of professional communicators. after i conducted a writer' s workshop at the toronto conference of the international association of business communicators, janine lichaczwrote asked me to speak here tonight and used the communication techniques i had recommended. she even included a footnote citing my lecture. i am susceptible to good communication and to flattery so i am pleased to be with you to discuss your topic for the evening, the use of language in the art of speech writing.

i suppose we must begin by shaking our heads, woefully, over the sad state of language today, whether in formal speeches, casual conversation, or in writing. most of us in this room no doubt agree with the generally negative tone of time magazine's year-end assessment which claims “our language has been besieged by vulgarities”. but to preserve our sanity as professionals in communication of us would probably join time in optimistically expecting english somehow to survive and even to prosper.

expressions on other occasions

correcting the title of the presentation

first of all, i would like to mention that the title of my presentation should be ...

please allow me to correct a mistake in the title of my speech which appeared in the program. instead of... it should read...

reading. another person's paper

sometimes you are selected to read another person's paper, as he or she is absent.

i shall read a paper by dr. li from guangzhou, china, who regrets that he could not be here. the title of his paper is...

i'm going to read the paper by dr. wang. it's a great pity that, because of a health problem, he could not be here.

i was asked by the author to read his paper. he apologizes for not being able to come here.

the next speaker, prof. zhang, regrets that she could not be here and has submitted her paper to me. i am not sure if i can present it as well as she expected.

i am not sure whether i' 11 be able to be very confident in answering specific questions. however, i am somewhat familiar with his work, so i' 11 try my best.

checking the microphone

first i want to check if all of you can hear me clearly.

am i speaking clearly and loudly enough for those in the rear of the room?

i wonder if those in the rear of the room can hear me.

if those in the rear of the room can hear me, would someone please raise his hand?

can you hear me clearly?

can you hear me if i am away from the microphone?

is the microphone working?

* summary-how to prepare a good introduction

realize file great importance of the introduction of file presentation mad then do your best in delivering it.

don' t make file introduction either too wordy, or too brief. usually, it covers 10 to 15 percent of your entire speech.

select tile ways to capture the audience attention.

indicate tile topic.

outline your speech.

announce your purpose.

prepare several versions of tile introduction, compare them, and then select the best version. finally, learn it by heart so as to be able to deliver it easily mid fluently.

don't start your speech with apologies.

pay attention to your body language.

第三篇：英语演讲教程:developing the speech text

chapter ii developing the speech text

i. announcing the beginning of the speech text

to begin with, i would like to talk about a principle.

i think it would be best to start out by looking at some pictures.

the first thing i would like to talk about is the definition of the terms which i’11 use in my presentation.

ii. shifting to the next main point

well, let's move on to the next point.

we will now come to the second problem.

turning to the next question, i' 11 talk about the stages of the procedure.

as the second topic, i shall stop here. now let' s turn our attention to the third topic.

so much for the methodology of our experiment. i would now like to shift to the discussion of the results.

now, let's move away from the first part and switch over to the next part of my presentation.

that's all for the introduction and now we can go on to the literature review.

next, i would like to turn to a more difficult problem.

the next point i'd like to talk about is the feasibility of this project.

that brings me to my second point.

i am glad that we can now leave this rather boring subject of mathematic deduction and go into a more attractive one, that is the application of the formula.

iii. resuming the topic

let' s come back to what i said in the first part of my speech.

getting back to the subject of the problem of theoretical considerations we can find that...

i want to return to the first part of my presentation.

now, to get back to the effect of temperature, you may be aware that the problems have been solved.

this brings me back to the question of security.

at this point i would like to refer again to the question of methods in the first part of my lecture.

referring again to the first question, i think...

referring to the coming point

i'll deal with it later.

i' 11 touch upon that point in a moment.

i shall tell you in detail shortly.

iv. introducing the supporting materials

i think this part is the most difficult, so i'll explain it in greater detail.

i think this part of my paper is most important, so i plan to spend more time on it.

please allow me to deal with this matter more extensively.

being the most important part of my presentation, i will elaborate on it with more slides.

i' 11 expand this topic with drawings and figures.

indicating the points briefly

limited by the time available, i can only give you a very brief account of this matter.

i don't think that i should describe the methods in detail, because they are included in the handout.

i will not go into detail on it.

this point has been talked about repeatedly in this symposium, so i am not going to spend too much time on it.

let's go through the following points very rapidly.

i just want to outline for you what i experienced in using this new drug.

i shall not go over all these explanations. my time is running short. so i'’11 be brief.

it is sufficient to say that these experiments were poorly designed and without controls.

v. repairing a slip of tone

the first of such experiments began in 2014, rather than 1999.

may i have the lights, i mean the slides.

the temperature increased, i shall say decreased.

the population is 13 million, sorry, 31 million.

the exchange rate dropped from 2.5 to 1.8, i beg your pardon, 1.9.

as you can see from the first row, excuse me, the second row, that the output increased two fold.

vi. expressions concerning audio-visual aids

could we have the lights off? and the first slide, please.

lights off, first slide, please.

dim the lights, and first slide, please.

the slide is not so clear. please darken the room a little more.

could you please turn on the lights, please?

now, we can have the lights on.

please switch on the lights.

lights on, please.

i apologize that this slide is not so clear, but i hope you can still make out the general idea.

sorry for the small print.

i'm sorry we left a figure out here.

vi. explaining the contents on the slides

this slide demonstrates ...

on this slide, you can see...

this curve in this slide shows...

this figure in this slide exhibits...

this table on this slide presents...

this diagram on this slide depicts...

this chart on this slide displaces ...

the picture on this slide shows ...

the photomicrograph on this slide shows ...

the flow-chart on this slide points out...

the circuit diagram on this slide represents~...~

indicating the sources of the content in a

this figure is taken from.., by dr. li.

this diagram is after that of prof. wang with some modification

vii. demanding to show the next slide

may i proceed to the next slide, please?

i think we can move on to the next slide.

let me show you the next slide.

now, we can go on to the next slide. '

next slide, please.

next, please.

next !

viii. returning to the previous slide

to make a comparison, can we return to the first slide, please?

let's go back. no, not this one. one back. back one more. yes, that’s it. thank you.

may i go back two slides, please?

could you return to the second slide?

may we have the previous slide again?

ix. correcting a mistake

sorry, this one is in the wrong order. may i have the next one?

oh, this slide is misplaced. please skip over it. yes, this is the correct one.

i'm afraid i didn't ask for this slide. can we go back to the previous one? please.

no, not this one. next, please. yes, this is the one i need. thank you.

i'm afraid you may have lost one slide which is a flow chart of the procedure.

sorry, there seems to be one slide missing.

x. indicating the speed of running slides

let's go through the following slides rapidly.

the following three slides we will go through quickly without explanation.

wait a minute, please. i want to say more about this slide.

because of the shortage of time, i' il have to omit the following slides.

time is up, let's come to the last slide directly.

would you please skip the next slid-e and go on to the table?

next, next. go ahead... that's it.

第四篇：英语演讲教程:ending the speech text

chapter iii ending the speech text

i. signaling the beginning of the end part

let’s look at what i have talked about.

well, that brings me to the end of my presentation. this last slide is a brief summary of what i have talked about.

before i stop/finish, let me just say...

to close my speech, i' 11 show you the last slide.

now i'd like to summarize my talk.

to summarize, i have talked about three aspects of the cancer problem: ...

finally, as a summary statement, i would like to sum up the major points i have made.

ii. summarizing

let me just run over the key points again.

i'll briefly summarize the main issues.

in conclusion,…

in closing,…

in a word,…

to sum up ...

in brief,…

briefly.......

all in all,…

finally,…

iii. concluding

as you can see, there are some very good reasons ...

to sum up, my conclusion is that the present program is the best one.

in conclusion ...

let me conclude my talk with the following comments.

allow me to conclude by listing out all the factors influencing the efficacy.

in conclusion, i would like to point out the following aspects.

i'd like to leave you with the following conclusion.

iv. quoting

let me close by quoting dr. einstein, the famous physicist, who said that…

i would like to come to a close by quoting what sir newton once said...

therefore, i would suggest that we...

i'd like to suggest...

as far as i'm concerned, the only solution to the problem is...

v. closing

that's all, thank you.

that's the end of my presentation.

so much for my speech, thank you.

thank you for your attention.

thank you for your listening.

other expressions that may be useful in the end part of the speech

sorry, i see the red light is shining so i have to skip the last part and jump to the conclusion.

mr. chairman is signaling me, i have to stop here and leave out the remaining part to spare time.

vi. samples

[ sample 1 ]

we have proposed a framework of a hierarchical planning system for robots. first of all, the system is an automatic plan system that can guide the robot intelligently in terms of the environment. secondly, it is based on hierarchical planning. the planning problem has been hierarchically decomposed into two sub-problems: global destination selection and local motion planning. and finally, the simulation and application has proved it as an effective design.

(show the last visual)

that's all for my presentation. for any question to be raised, i'm quite willing to discuss them with you at any time. thank you, every one.

[ sample 2 ] '

finally, we can draw the conclusion: edge detection and denoising are two important branches of image processing. if we combine edge detection with denoising, we can overcome the shortcomings of the commonly-used denolsing methods and without blurring the edge notably.

furthermore, there are many denoising and edge detection methods now. different methods are suitable for different types of images and noise models. we can do further research on how to combine these various denoising and edge detection methods according to the content of the images and nature of noise.

that's all for my talk. if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me. i'm quite willing to discuss them with you at any time, thank you.

[ sample 3 ]

that's all t wanted to show you about machine vision and one of its applications, agv. thank you!

[ sample 4 ]

(turn to 12th ppt) ok, that is all i'm going to talk today.

thank you !

[ sample 5 ]

that's all. thank you!

第五篇：英语演讲教程:asking and answering questions

chapter iv asking and answering questions

i. inviting questions

so, let's throw it open to questions.

now i' d like to answer any questions, if you have any.

now i am ready to answer your questions, if any.

i'd be glad to try and answer any questions.

are there any questions?

any questions?

ii. raising questions

signaling your intention to ask a question

i want to ask dr. bi a question.

i have a guest ion for dr. anderson.

mr. smith, i have a question to ask you.

there is a question i'd like to ask prof. li.

a question for mr. liu.

one question, dr. wei.

could i ask you a question, prof. li?

may i venture to ask prof. zhang a question?

expressing your attitude

before asking your question, you can express your positive attitude or make a comment on the speaker's presentation. for example,

dr. johnson, i was fascinated by your description of your study, but what will happen if...

mr. li, you did splendid work! just one question.

asking the specific question

you mentioned very briefly that you used two experiments that were the same.

would you please elaborate on that point?

would you be so kind as to give me more information about the method of your experiment?

would you tell me the reason why you set such a high temperature?

comprehensive samples

dr. wang, i'd like to raise one question. first, may i say how much i enjoyed talk. but, may i ask, do you have experience with the new method?

congratulations, dr. li. i can't help but admire your achievement. but i want to know what's your attitude toward abuse of antibiotics?

i'd like to congratulate mr. liu on a very interesting presentation.

may i ask you a question? how does subjective evaluation differ from objective evaluation?

first, i'd like to say your research is very interesting. may i ask two questions? do you see any relation between cigarette smoking and peptic ulcers? and what advantage do you expect by using this approach?

iii. response to questions

asking for repetition

pardon, i couldn't hear what you said.

i beg your pardon, i didn't catch what you said.

i'm sorry i forgot your first question. would you be so kind as to say it again?

i'm not quite surge what your question is.

i didn't quite get the last point of your question.

you mean, there may be some mistake in the calculation?

are you referring to the significance of the difference?

are you suggesting that the temperature might have affected the results?

if i understand you correctly, you are saying/asking...

i didn't quite catch that.

could you go over that again?

i'm not sure what you're getting at.

welcoming the question

welcome the question by saying "thank you" or commenting on it saying "that’s a good question" or "that's a challenging question."

this is a very good question.

thank you for that question.

i'm glad this question has been brought up-

i appreciate that question.

this is a hard question.

this is an interesting question.

this is a big question.

i'd be delighted to answer your question.

i'll try to answer this question very briefly.

in answer to your question, i would say that...

i can only provide a partial answer to that question.

let me try to answer your questions one by one.

my answer to your first question is...

may i answer your second cjuestion first?

i have only a partial answer to your question.

thank you for that question. this is a challenging question and i'm afraid i can only provide a partial answer to it. anyway, i'll try my best to answer it.

repeating or paraphrasing the question

questioner: have you tried it on human bodies?

presenter: this gentleman would like to know whether we have tried this on human bodies.

responding to difficult or challenging question

question: so what happens if the new budget isn't approved?

answer (1): we've spent two months preparing the new budget. it's a good budget and we're confident we'll get approval to put it into practice.

answer (2): there is too much supposition in the question for me to give a sound answer.

the following are some other examples of answers to challenging questions:

perhaps in another year or so we can answer that question, because these studies are now in progress.

we are now working on this problem and, if you agree, i'll answer your question in a few weeks.

the only answer i can give at present is to wait a few more years, at which time something better might ultimately come out of all our efforts.

i think it will be possible to answer this question when more experiments are completed.

the answer to this question needs further study.

i hope i will be able to answer your question later.

responding to improper question

i appreciate your interest in my research, but i just don't want to talk about it now. let's talk about something else.

i'd rather not say.

why do you want to know?

sometimes you can relay the question back to the questioner. for example,

before i answer you that question, let me ask you: where do you think we should have the project?

in this way, sometimes you encourage the questioner to answer his or her own question, e.g. "what do you think? are people prepared to pay an extra $ 2 for faster service?"

responding to the questions you do not know

if you don't know the answer to a particular question, simply admit that you don't know. say something like this:

"i'm sorry. i don't happen to know the answer to that question, but i'll be happy to check into it for you."

here are some further examples:

i don't think i can answer your question.

i wish i could answer your question, but unfortunately i have no good answer.

i'm not sure that i can answer your question. what i'm going to say is not quite an answer to your question.

another technique to cope with the situation is to direct the attention to another expert who may know it or you can use the audience. ask if anyone could help the questioner and hence it won't be necessary for you to admit that you do not know the answer. see examples below.

i think that question could be better answered by dr. liu than by me.

i think perhaps dr. chen would be better able to answer this question.

prof. li would be a better person to answer your question since he has done a lot of work in this field.

fortunately, prof. 'ma, who is an authority in this area, is 'here. i think no one is more suitable than him to answer your question.

dr. sawyer is perhaps in a better position to tell us something about it.

perhaps my colleague dr. emery here has some better ideas.

i think it would be better if prof. wu were to make some comments on this matter.

avoid using the following expressions to embarrass the questioner:

"i've already answered that but you obviously weren't listening." instead say something like "i'm sorry i didn't explain that clearly."

avoid talking to one questioner. look towards the other, side of the conference hall or room and indicate that there is another question. suggest that as there are several more questioners,' yon could discuss his or her question in more detail after your talk.

referring back to the questioner

having finished answering questions, you should check that the questioner is satisfied or further elaboration or explanation is called for. the following expressions might be helpful.

did i answer your question?

did i answer you satisfactorily?

did your question get answered?

i don't know whether this answered your question.

i don't know if this is a satisfactory answer.

i hope this may serve as an answer to dr. li.

i hope this answers ~0ur question.:,

sometimes when question lime is over and ff time permits, you can restate, your main proposition, including any good comments from the audience and ignoring adverse questions or remarks. thus, you demonstrate that you are confident mid can cope calmly with controversy.

remember that your last words to the audience will be retained longest and you are expected to behave in a professional manner.