english with lucy today I have got 7
tips for presenting in English these
tips are really going to help you
improve your presentation skills now the
vast majority of us at some point in our
lives are going to have to give
presentations we’re going to have to
speak in public and it was actually
voted the scariest thing above death and
spiders in a recent study so it’s quite
obvious that it’s something that a lot
of people hate I have to present a lot I
hated it at first but now I really enjoy
it because I’ve learnt how to do it
properly and I’d like to help you guys
out today quickly if you really want to
kickstart your English I cannot
recommend enough the lingo de language
marathon you can get a 90 day language
course worth 567 euros completely
refunded to you but you have to be quick
because a spaces are almost filled and
be if you want to do the English course
you’ve only got until the 19th of April
to sign up I’ve got a video explaining
all of the details which you can see up
here but basically you sign up for the
marathon you do 30 classes every month
for three months and if you complete all
of these classes lingo de will give you
a full refund
that’s 567 euros there is also a
half-marathon option which results in a
50% refund upon completion and that is
just 15 classes per month there are
options for English and German
I feel so passionately about this
campaign as a teacher myself and
somebody who’s worked independently
teaching students for many years it’s
such a generous offer I mean they’re
offering to refund it all back to you to
get the refund all you have to do is
learn loads of English ie 90 classes
with real native qualified teachers
what’s not to like and you know what
even if you don’t complete it at the
very least you’ve done 90 days
of English if you’re interested and you
feel that you are dedicated enough to do
the language marathon properly all you
have to do is click on the link in the
description box and use the code run
five this will discount your five euro
entry fee all you will pay is fifty
cents and that’s just to make sure they
have your credit card details good luck
to everyone taking part I think you’ve
done an amazing thing and I cannot wait
to hear your feedback right let’s talk
about my first tip this is especially
important for non-native speakers it is
don’t agonize over your accent forget
your accent I always say rather than
working on reducing your accent work on
improving your pronunciation accidents
are part of our culture and our heritage
pronunciation is the way we say sounds
and words and the best way to improve
your pronunciation is slow down
I’ve given lots of presentations and I
have watched lots of presentations and I
can tell you the best presentations are
the slower presentations it’s especially
important at the beginning of your
presentation because everybody has an
accent natives have accents too but we
need to give the audience time to get
used to and to adapt to our accent
another reason to embrace your accent is
covering up an accent or putting on this
fake posh voice might actually come
across as insincere to an audience you
might come across as fake they might not
trust you as much now when I’m talking
to my friends and my family
I don’t always speak like this because
I’m not presenting but I definitely
don’t put on a fake accent I’m simply
working on my pronunciation I want to
make sure I pronounce every relevant and
necessary phoneme so that you guys can
understand me when students come to me
and they say Lucy help me get rid of my
accent I tell them no I’m not going to
help you get rid of your accent I think
that’s very negative I will help you
improve your pronunciation in my opinion
the only people that should be getting
rid of their accents are actors
otherwise unless it’s something you do
for a hobby
it’s a little bit of a waste of time
number two use pauses to your advantage
pauses are great for so many reasons as
we said in the previous point about
slowing down
they give the audience time to
understand what you’re saying a very
clear example of this is when I shout a
question to my boyfriend who is normally
downstairs he will immediately reply to
that question with what I know instead
of repeating myself if I wait three or
four seconds he will then answer my
question because he’s had time to
process what I’ve said it’s the same for
your audience it will sometimes take
them a couple of seconds to understand
what you’ve said so use a pause to your
advantage
pauses also give you time to think and
also time to have a break our tongues
can get in a twist you guys only get to
see the finished cut of what I film here
but I have to repeat things again and
again and again because my tongue
doesn’t always go where I want it to
when I make a mistake I pause I have a
break and then I try again and it
normally comes out a lot better take
three or four seconds to plan what
you’re going to say next and then you
can be confident in your delivery now
the best speakers that I’ve listened to
a people that make the audience feel as
if the pauses have been included for
their advantage so the audience might
think that the pause has been used for
emphasis they’ve said something
important they want them to consider how
important this point is when actually
they just needed to think about what
they were going to say next the speaker
may make the audience feel as if they’ve
left a pause to give them time to think
when actually they’re just skimming the
audience making sure that everyone’s
understood because they’re not sure if
they said it quite right number three
now this one is a controversial one and
I’m not going to say absolutely don’t
say this but I will say reconsider
saying this at the beginning of your
presentation
if I go to another country and someone
is giving a presentation in English
which happens a lot and wow that people
are presenting in another language nine
out of ten times they will start the
presentation by saying sorry for my
English now I’m not sure that I really
like this I feel like you can take more
control over the situation why not try
saying something like English isn’t my
first language but I’m going to try my
best here instead of apologizing and
being all small and seeming a bit
unconfident
you’re taking ownership English isn’t my
first language but I’m going to try my
best
it’s unapologetic it’s confident and it
makes you seem like you’re totally in
control and the audience is going to
want to work with you so this is an
opportunity to participate here in the
comments below I’d really like to know
if you have heard any great alternatives
to sorry for my English or you can say
if you think sorry for my English is
fine I look forward to seeing what you
have to say now number four you guys
always knew I was going to mention this
one it is practice but I want to say
practice but don’t learn you can tell
when somebody has practiced a
presentation or rehearsed a presentation
and you can also tell when they’ve
learnt a presentation the difference
being that a practiced presentation is
organic it’s genuine it flows and it’s
it’s trustworthy you can trust what that
person is saying a learnt presentation
is memorized
it’s stagnant and it’s sterile it’s not
interesting which is why you need to use
number five cue cards to your advantage
this really ties in with number four if
you’re allowed to use cue cards or
speaker notes in your presentation for
goodness sake please use them use them
and they are so so useful you never know
when you’re going to be caught off guard
so it is so essential to have something
up there with you
you don’t have to have them in your hand
but have them up there I’ve seen a lot
of people
we’ll get stage fright those who have
speaker notes can quickly look back and
figure out where they are those who
don’t stand up there like a lemon cue
cards should be tiny little bullet
points that keep you on track that
remind you where you are they should not
be a hole written presentation I used to
hate it at university we’d give
presentations in class and people would
stand up there with two a4 papers of
their entire speech it doesn’t look good
it doesn’t look professional it looks
like you’ve written it the night before
you need to practice and rehearse
multiple times just using your cue cards
so if you practice it loads it will come
out a little bit differently each time
but that’s good because you’re going to
be preparing yourself for a multitude of
situations number four think about your
body everyone is different when I
present I like to have my feet apart
I definitely don’t walk around on stage
I have them planted on the floor and I
like to use my two hands and my waist is
a sort of pivot and I’ll kind of talk
like this I’ve got loads of room to move
but I’m not moving up and down that’s
the distraction and also you can trip
over which is not what you want so I
like to stay in one place I like to look
really really confident chest out great
posture and I try not to do my typical
fidget things which is touching my hair
touching my nose touching my neck so I
really try not to do that before you go
onstage you want to think am I going to
walk up and down which is fine but only
if you’re comfortable with the space
what is my sort of stance I like to call
this like a Supergirl stance
how are you going to stand think about
it so you go up there and you know
exactly what to do it’s also a really
good idea to identify the things that
you keep doing over and over again like
fluffing hair touching your eyelash
because your hair’s on your eyelash
itching fiddling doing something
think about them forehand so you can
quickly snap out of it if you’re doing
it the last one number seven is dress to
impress this one can also be
controversial especially in the
influencer industry because people like
to look really casual I would say just
go one notch above the predicted dress
code if it’s smart casual lean towards
the smart side if it’s office wear wear
a suit it’s always better to look
overdressed as opposed to underdressed
it makes you look professional it makes
you feel good about yourself and
somebody who looks groomed is the kind
of person that the audience is going to
keep their eyes on there’s nothing worse
than having the audience drift off at
the end of the day you want to engage
with your audience and if you look
scruffy and like you’re not really meant
to be there are you going to engage with
them so have a think about that one
right guys
those are my seven tips if you have any
other recommendations please comment
them down below don’t forget to check
out the lingo de language marathon
there’s additional information in the
description box along with the link and
the code which gives you a discounted
entry fee don’t forget to connect with
me on all of my social media I’ve got my
facebook I’ve got my Instagram and I’ve
got my Twitter and I really recommend
checking out my Instagram because we’ve
got another book giveaway happening very
soon and I will see you soon for another lesson