Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod.
My name is Marco.
My name is Katherine and today we have the beginning of a very long series on giving a presentation.
So this series is at the intermediate level, right Marco?
That's right.
It's part of our business series.
We previously took a look at how to go upon an interview.
Now we're going to talk about presentation.
So everything about a presentation.
How to give a presentation, language you can use in a presentation, and a lot of other things like this.
That's right.
So today we're going to talk about the very beginning of a presentation.
Let's take a listen to this dialogue and we'll be back in a moment.
Thank you Jonathan.
It really is a pleasure to be here today.
It has been three years since I visited Beijing and it's clear to me that operations here are obviously going from strength to strength.
The Alpha brand continues to grow in leaps and bounds in China and that is certainly down to the hard work of all of you here.
So congratulations to all of you.
I'd like to start by outlining the key points of my presentation this afternoon and giving you an idea of the topics that will be discussed.
The presentation today is divided into five main parts.
First of all I'd like to briefly touch on the background of the new X420 line.
How the whole concept has come about and how the new product fits into our existing brand line.
Secondly I'd like to present data on projected sales for the X420.
We will then go on to discuss our key rivals in this sector.
Then I'd like to go on to outline the campaign concept for the X420.
Finally I'm happy to open up the discussion for any questions or points you may have for me.
Alright we're back so as you can see it's the very beginning of a presentation.
We're kind of starting to give people an idea of what we're going to talk about.
So let's take a look at some of the language Mr.
Ford used on Language Takeaway.
So the reason Mr.
Ford is giving a presentation is because he wants to talk about the company's new line of computers.
So he says that they're going to launch a new line of desktop and laptop computers.
That's right so they want to launch a new line of laptops.
So this verb to launch means to bring out to the market.
That's right so instead of the word to start which you could use in many different ways like to start eating or to start swimming.
In this case to launch means you're going to introduce a new product to the market like you said Marco.
That's right we are going to start selling to the market a new product.
We're going to launch a new line of laptop and desktop computers.
For example this spring Steve Jobs launched the iPad which is a new product.
That's right so he launched the iPad and the iPhone 4.
They're always launching new things at Apple.
That's right.
Alright so since they're launching this new line of laptop and desktop computers Mr.
Ford first wanted to give a brief overview of the marketing campaign.
Okay so first of all we're going to talk about how this product is being marketed.
So you want to give a general picture or a very simple picture of what's going to happen.
So at the beginning this will happen then this will happen at the end this will happen and that's what we call an overview.
That's right so it's a it's a brief or general idea of what we're talking about an overview nothing too specific.
We just want to give you a general idea.
That's right.
After that Mr.
Ford starts talking and he he's talking about the presentation which has many parts and he wants to talk about what each part will contain so he says I'd like to briefly touch on the background of the new X420 line.
So this verb to touch on.
What does this mean?
Okay so when he says he wants to touch on the background of this new computer he's basically saying I want to talk about.
Alright so this is this is potentially very confusing because we know the word to touch means to put your hand on something but to touch on this is a phrasal verb this means to talk about or to address.
That's right so for example a teacher at a university will touch on many topics during his lecture.
That's right or I'd like to touch on where we're going to dinner tonight because I'm very hungry.
Okay so basically it's a nice way of saying I want to talk about this topic.
Okay and then apart from touching on the background of the new computer he said he also wants to talk about projected sales for this new computer.
Okay so projected sales this phrase includes two words sales means how much of something you sell obviously but projected means what you expect to sell.
So the projected sales have not happened yet.
They will happen in the future and so they're basically my guess about sales.
That's right so basically we are giving an estimate of what we think we will sell those are projected sales we think we will sell a thousand computers those are our projected sales.
Right and after that we have one more key word this word comes to the very end of the speech.
Mr.
Ford says we will then go on to discuss our key rivals.
Now who is a rival Marco?
Okay so a rival is basically your competitor or maybe kind of your enemy.
Alright so in computers who is Apple's rival?
Maybe HP or IBM or Dell.
Very good so a rival is someone you compete with.
Mm-hmm that's right so he's going to talk about his key rivals so basically the word key is your most important rivals.
Alright so for example who is one of Batman's key rivals because we have rivals not just in business but also in life.
That's right so for example I think maybe Batman's key rival might be the Joker or the penguin.
Alright so let's take another listen to today's dialogue and we'll be back in a moment with some very important phrases.
Hi everyone can everyone hear me?
Can you guys at the back hear everything?
I think all of you know why we are here this afternoon.
As most of you are aware 2010 marks an important moment for alpha computers.
We have bounced back from the recession and now we are set to launch our new line of laptop and desktop computers.
I'm really pleased to welcome Michael Ford the global marketing manager for alpha computers who has flown in from California to give all of you an overview of the marketing campaign and to answer any questions you may have.
So please give a warm welcome to Mr.
Ford.
Thank you Jonathan.
It really is a pleasure to be here today.
It has been three years since I visited Beijing and it's clear to me the operations here are obviously going from strength to strength.
The alpha brand continues to grow in leaps and bounds in China and that is certainly down to the hard work of all of you here.
So congratulations to all of you.
I'd like to start by outlining the key points of my presentation this afternoon and giving you an idea of the topics that will be discussed.
The presentation today is divided into five main parts.
First of all I'd like to briefly touch on the background of the new X420 line.
How the whole concept has come about and how the new product fits into our existing brand line.
Secondly I'd like to present data on projected sales for the X420.
We will then go on to discuss our key rivals in this sector.
Then I'd like to go on to outline the campaign concept for the X420.
Finally I'm happy to open up the discussion for any questions or points you may have for me.
All right so we've prepared three phrases for you let's take a look at those now on Fluency Builder.
Fluency Builder.
So this first phrase is really important because it's about the part of the speech that happens before the speech begins.
You know usually you have a person who's going to talk about something but you also have someone who introduces that person.
That's right.
This is John he's going to talk about computers he's very smart listen to everything he says.
So we usually hear the phrase let's give a warm welcome to.
Yes this is a very nice way of presenting someone.
So obviously this person is talking to a group of people and he's introducing Mr.
Ford so he says let's give a warm welcome to Mr.
Ford.
So that's saying let's clap let's let's uh let's say hello to him.
That's right so like you said this is an invitation to clap you have to clap when you hear this.
Warm welcome means let's be nice to him let's all smile and encourage him.
You know you think about it someone who's going to give a speech is probably nervous and so this helps them feel comfortable.
That's right so it's a very nice way if you're maybe presenting someone who's gonna talk you can say let's give a warm welcome to whoever you're presenting.
Okay now when Mr.
Ford was talking he mentioned this very interesting phrase about operations he said it's clear to me that operations here are obviously going from strength to strength.
Okay so that means things are going well you do one thing you do it well you move on to another thing you do that well as well.
Okay so that's what it means from strength to strength.
So we're saying that things are going from good to better.
That's right.
And getting better okay and what about our last phrase?
Our last phrase is kind of similar to the last one the alpha brand continues to grow in leaps and bounds.
Alright so you can you can have a company that grows it grows a little you can have a company that grows quite a bit then you have a company that grows in leaps and bounds that means a lot.
Okay so to leap is this a jump right?
That's right.
And so this is what we're saying we're just jumping higher and higher we're getting bigger and bigger or better and better.
That's right so this is an exaggeration it's like saying that it's not going quickly it's going the speed of light you know it's just so fast all of a sudden just really growing.
Okay a lot of interesting phrases there a lot of key vocab I think we can listen to this dialogue again and we'll be back in a bit.
Hi everyone can everyone hear me?
Can you guys at the back hear everything?
I think all of you know why we are here this afternoon.
As most of you are aware 2010 marks an important moment for alpha computers.
We have bounced back from the recession and now we are set to launch our new line of laptop and desktop computers.
I'm really pleased to welcome Michael Ford the global marketing manager for alpha computers who has flown in from California to give all of you an overview of the marketing campaign and to answer any questions you may have.
So please give a warm welcome to Mr.
Ford.
Thank you Jonathan.
It really is a pleasure to be here today.
It has been three years since I visited Beijing and it's clear to me the operations here are obviously going from strength to strength.
The alpha brand continues to grow in leaps and bounds in China and that is certainly down to the hard work of all of you here.
So congratulations to all of you.
I'd like to start by outlining the key points of my presentation this afternoon and giving you an idea of the topics that will be discussed.
The presentation today is divided into five main parts.
First of all I'd like to briefly touch on the background of the new X420 line.
How the whole concept has come about and how the new product fits into our existing brand line.
Secondly I'd like to present data on projected sales for the X420.
We will then go on to discuss our key rivals in the sector.
Then I'd like to go on to outline the campaign concept for the X420.
Finally I'm happy to open up the discussion for any questions or points you may have for me.
All right so as we mentioned this is the first part of a ten part series all about public speaking, giving a presentation.
We're gonna talk about many aspects of a presentation like charts and graphs and using PowerPoint all these really modern ways of giving a presentation.
That's right and we're gonna try and talk to you about some of the places in presentations that English learners tend to struggle with.
You know it's sometimes very hard to know what to say especially like in today's lesson.
How do you introduce someone in a presentation?
It's not very common to learn how to say that so we hope that through these podcasts you'll be able to learn some really important phrases and become more comfortable while you're giving presentations in English.
That's right and of course if you have any questions about these lessons or any of our lessons you can always find us at EnglishPod.com or you can send us also your suggestions about any lesson topics you may have.
That's right so we hope to hear from you please let us know what you're thinking and until next time everyone.
Bye.