Structure

Overall Structure

overview / introduction

introduce yourself and the general topic: "Good afternoon, my name is Lou and today I am going to explore the factors affecting listening comprehension"
say what the main topics are: "First I will define key terms, then look at vocabulary level. This will be followed by problems caused by background noise and finally the importantance working memory will be considered"
at this stage, avoid asking the audience questions - the response is very unpredictable

body

you give all the important information
start with any background information needed: explain any general concepts and define key terms needed to understand the rest of the presentation
the body should have sub-sections for each of the main topics - similar to paragraphs in written work. In the example above, there is a background section (define key terms) and three sub-sections for the main points (vocabulary level | problems caused by background noise | the importantance working memory).
help the audience follow the structure by using signposting phrases to show you are moving between sub-sections, for example: "Moving on to...", "The next point to consider is...", "Another important factor is..."

closing

mention the general topic again: "In summary, this presentation looked at the factors affecting listening comprehension"
summarise the key points of the presentation: "Vocabulary level is the most important factor which determines how well listeners understand, but background noise and the listener's working memory also have an influence"
introduce the final slide with your reference list: "These are the sources referenced in this presentation"
thank the audience for listening: "Thank you very much for your attention today"

Signposting language

Signposting language is essential for a good presentation. These phrases:

help the audience understand the structure of the presentation
mark transitions between sections and points (so signposting language is also called transition language sometimes)
show the audience if they need to look at a particular picture or diagram
help you sound professional

Good news! Signposting language is easy to use - when you have planned the structure of your presentation, choose signposting phrases from this list:

overview / introduction section

introduce yourself and the general topic

Introduce yourself:

Good morning/afternoon, my name is ________ .
Hello, I'm ________ .

Introduce the topic:

This presentation will consider ________ .
I am going to explore __________.
In this presentation, I will talk about __________.

give an overview of the main points

Adapt depending on the number of main points in your presentation:

This presentation has three parts: _________ , _________ and _________.
Firstly, we will consider _________ followed by _________ .
Today I will cover _________ , then _________ and finally _________.
I will start by discussing _________ , before moving on to _________.

main body

introduce your first sub-section

Let's begin with _________ .
I'd like to start by looking at _________ .
To start, let's consider _________ .

e.g., "let's begin with vocabulary level"

move to a new sub-section

Now let's move on to _________ .
Moving on to the next section, I'd like to discuss _________ .
Another important point / factor in this area is _________ .
Now we have looked at _________ , let's go on to consider _________ .

e.g., "Another important factor is whether background noise is present".

give examples

An example of this is _________ .
To illustrate, _________ .
For example, _________ .

e.g., "An example of this type of task is the Stroop test, which ..."

give additional information

This means that _________ .
One cause/effect of this is _________ .
The/another reason for this is _________ .

e.g., "The reason for this is that noise can be distracting".

refer to slides /pictures / figures

Moving onto the next slide, _________ .
This slide / picture / figure / diagram shows _________ .
As this picture / figure / diagram shows, _________ .
As you can see here, _________ .

e.g., "This figure shows the percentage of words that listeners recognised accurately"

closing

summarise / make a conclusion

This will depend a lot on your presentation - choose carefully!

To summarise / conclude, _________ .
To sum up, the most important factor / point is _________ .
In summary, there is a strong/weak relationship between _________ and _________ .

e.g., "To sum up, there is a strong relationship between vocabulary level and listening comprehension"

closing statements

Here are the sources referenced in this presentation.
This slide shows the sources used in this presentation.
Thank you for your attention.
Thank you for listening.

Tasks

Think about a presentation you have to give (or have given) - use this page to show the structure clearly and add signposting language
Want to know more? Check out the sources referenced below for more details
Watch these YouTube videos by the University of Groeningen:

References

Information was used from these sources:

University of Leicester Learning Development. (2009). Structuring a presentation. [Online]. Available at: https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/study-guides-pdfs/presentation-skills-pdfs/structuring-presentation-v1%200.pdf [Accessed: 26 November 2018].

RMIT University. (2014). Oral presentations: signalling and transition words. [Online]. Available at: https://emedia.rmit.edu.au/learninglab/sites/default/files/Oral_presentations_signalling_2014_Accessible.pdf [Accessed: 26 November 2018].

Speakspeak. (2018). Making a presentation: language and phrases. [Online]. Available at: http://speakspeak.com/resources/general-english-vocabulary/presentation-language-phrases [Accessed: 26 November 2018].

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