BEP 101e – Presentations: Introducing your Presentation

This lesson has been updated – view the improved lesson here.

Making your Introduction is a preview of our upcoming audio / ebook on presentations skills and language. In this first chapter we take a look at how to make a good start as well as at the overall structure of a presentation. This recording is a re-edited and extended version of one of our earliest podcasts – BEP 101. The ebook will have nine units, including four never released lessons on describing charts and trends, using your voice and emphasizing your message.

Is giving presentations important to you career? For most of us, the answer is yes. Presenting our products, success stories, challenges and solutions – this is the heart of business communication, where money is often made or lost. And, in today’s globalizing business environment, we are increasingly called to give presentations in English.

Presenting for Success is a comprehensive study guide to the language and skills you need to give presentations in English more fluently, more confidently and more successfully. Learn on the go with over 3-hours of audio lessons, review key language with the detailed 120-page study guide, including full transcripts of each lesson, and practice useful phrases with the over 100 online quizzes.

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BEP 142 – Presentations: SWOT Analysis 2

This is the second in a 2-part Business English Pod series on presenting a SWOT analysis.

A SWOT analysis is a tool that helps companies understand their strengths and weaknesses, while keeping in mind the opportunities and threats they face. In this way, companies can take a look at both the internal and external factors that can impact their success. This information can be used in a variety of ways, such as project planning, crisis management, and competitive analysis.

In the last episode, Terry, who works at a growing accountancy firm, began a presentation for Susan, the newly hired marketing manager. Terry presented his SWOT Analysis quite casually, as a one-to-one discussion with Susan. He introduced some of the company’s strengths and weaknesses, internal factors that affect the firm’s growth.

In this episode, Terry will introduce the opportunities and threats faced by the firm. These are external forces that need to be considered before developing a new marketing strategy. As the dialog starts, Susan responds to Terry’s presentation of the company’s strengths and weaknesses, as Terry moves on to begin discussing opportunities.

Listening Questions:

1) What has the local government done in response to the current economic situation?
2) Who is in charge of the tax advisory division of the firm?
3) What does Terry think is important for Susan’s marketing campaign?

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BEP 141 – Presentations: SWOT Analysis 1

In this Business English Pod lesson, we start the first in a 2-part series on presenting a SWOT analysis.

A SWOT analysis is a simple but powerful framework for analyzing your company’s strengths and weaknesses – these are internal to the company – as well as the opportunities and threats you face outside the company. This analysis helps you focus on your strengths, minimize threats, and take the greatest possible advantage of opportunities available to you.

In today’s lesson, we’ll focus on the first two stages of a SWOT: strengths and weaknesses. We’ll practice language for providing an overview, introducing your main strength, maximizing positive aspects, and acknowledging and introducing a weakness.

We’ll be listening to Terry, a partner at a growing firm of accountants, talking to Susan, the company’s newly hired marketing manager. Terry needs to brief Susan about the company and SWOT is a quick and easy-to-understand framework for giving a quick overview of a company and its position.

Listening Questions

1) What is the main source of business for the company?
2) What is the main strength identified by Terry?
3) What weaknesses does Terry mention?

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BEP 133 – Sales and Interviews: Elevator Pitch in English

In this Business English Podcast, we’re going to look at delivering an elevator pitch.

A sales pitch is a presentation designed to introduce a product or service in order to convince people to buy it. An elevator pitch is a very short presentation designed to do the same thing in 60-seconds or less and often the “product” being presented is you. An elevator pitch should be short enough that you could complete it during an elevator ride. A key point being that you’re not asking the person to do something for you, you’re telling them what you can do for them.

In today’s lesson, we’ll be listening to two pitches. First up is Jonathan, a university student visiting a job fair in search of his first job. Then we’ll hear Dominic, a manager for a logistics company, make his pitch to a potential customer while attending a local Chamber of Commerce meeting.

Listening Questions

1) What does Jonathan highlight as his key strengths in the first dialog?
2) In the second dialog, how does Dominic get Graham’s attention?
3) What’s the key advantage of Dominic’s company?

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