Presentation tips for non native speakers

Editor's Notes

1. https://womenleadtm.com/meetings/workshop-presentation-tips-for-non-native-speakers/
2. Six categories
3. That was one of the first best speaker award I got from Cupertino morning toastmasters. I started with a lot of 20+ hmms ahs, and off talent in Table Topic, and forgot my speeches half way through, and froze when the red light shows up to tell me that I ran out of time.
4. Little by Little. A little becomes a lot. Six years in TM later, I'm on film being interviewed as a partner, customer, on stage with silico valley CXO to talk about WIT, articulating value props on live TV. Every thing I learned in TM added trenmously value
5. Hopefully by the end of today, you will walk away with 30 tips that can help you with
6. Think differently – nonnative sometimes is a big negative. Instead think multilingual. You are a master in your first language and you are taking on more than many others to master your second, third or fourth language. “I need to get rid of my accent.” I think this is the wrong way to look at your voice. You should be proud of your voice and where you come from. You should’t get rid of your accent, you should embrace your accent. Keep the accent but make it so others can understand what you are saying. When you are proud, others will listen. This also will help you build confidence in what you are saying Refer to the book, Communicate with Mastery Be Open to feedback Listen. Listen. Listen. Ask around for feedback. When you are giving a speech or presenting a proposal at work, ask three or four of your colleagues to take notes and give you feedback on specifics you can improve on. Listen to what they say. Be open to asking for feedback anytime you are speaking to get better at communicating. Toastmasters – if you go to a guest club, share your email in the chat and ask people to send it to you. Ask the VPE or present of the club to share it with you.
7. Find the right words to describe your feelings and story is important. My grandma who is now 70 years old, she still has a small notebook of words she tries to memorize every day. I thought it was silly that she does that because it reminded me of my SAT days, but she shared that it’s a life long enjoyable journey to learn. Little by Little, a little becomes a lot. Find the speakers you like or don’t like Watch great presenters in action
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI6XjGK3bmI&t=1s Break out room
9. Find synonyms for words you can’t pronounce: prerequisite and familiarity. Use other words like requirements or similarity These words make it easier for your listeners to follow your argument. Examples are: On the contrary, similarly, nevertheless, therefore, and in addition. Avoid Overly Polite Langue. Don’t say, “To be honest, we were a little upset with the 1st quarter results”; instead, say “The 1st quarter results were disappointing” or “We were disappointed by the 1st quarter results”. Although many English learners enjoy using idioms, don’t do so unless you have mastered the use of the idiom. An idiom used incorrectly sounds hilarious or ridiculous and will surely detract from the seriousness of your talk. For example: hold your horses (Be patient) vs. hold your horse Colloquialism: a word or phrase that is not formal or literary and is used in ordinary or familiar conversation. For example, don’t say, “we need to up our game”; instead, say “we need to improve”. Jargon - special words or expressions used by a profession or group that are difficult for others to understand. The jargon from one country is often unintelligible to people from another cultural background. Use plain English to explain what you mean. Special words or expressions used by a profession or group that are difficult for others to understand. GPU – GPU computing platform Slang - a type of language consisting of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people. In a professional environment, slang is out of place. Do not use street language in the boardroom, even if you hear native English speakers doing so. Use the best English you can and you will make a better impression. Slang used incorrectly just sounds fake, while your goal is to project a professional image, even if English is not your native language. Lit - When something is very good, enjoyable, or exciting, you can say it’s “lit”. Dude, the party last night was lit! Where were you? Crutch words – filer words – hmm ahh you know. For me, I like to use “for example” out of no where Acronyms – NVAIE – NVIDIA AI Enterprise Phrasal Verbs which are verbs that are combined with prepositions or other words. Different words result in completely different meanings. English has thousands of phrasal verbs. Take the word “run” which means to move quickly. If you add different prepositions, you get different meanings: “run down” (in bad condition; exhausted); “run into” (to collide with something; to unexpectedly meet someone; to unexpectedly encounter a situation); “run through” (to stab someone through their body; to rehearse). Verbs vs. noun - Spoken English, which is quite conversational, is quite different from written English, which is more formal. While academic and business writing may use a lot of nouns, spoken English sounds more natural when you use more verbs. Nouns – less effective:The delivery of the package took place on Sunday afternoon by the post office.Verbs – more effective:The post office delivered the package on Sunday afternoon. Active Verbs They are much easier to understand. Just look at the example below:Passive – less effective:Five thousand apartments were rented by ABC Housing last year.Active – more effective:ABC Housing rented 5,000 apartments last year. 
10. Don’t fill your slides with words - Native speakers find them hard enough to read; second language speakers find them even harder. But do put numbers on slides, they say. Numbers can be hard to understand in your second language and seeing the figures on a slide makes it easier.” Put important phrases on slides - Make sure to put important key messages on a slide of their own in large font.  Make sure everyone in the room can read these words. From our experience, font sizes below 14 points are not suitable for a presentation that is held. For headlines you should use at least 26 points  Visuals - Nothing is worse than professional material with grammatical and spelling errors. Such mistakes detract from your credibility and can ruin your professional reputation. Millions of dollars in lost business could result. So, take the time and effort to have your slides, brochures, and handouts edited by an English professional. Numbers – Make sure important numbers and statistics are written on your slides so the audience does not miss this critical information. Adapt the style of writing and saying the numbers to the country where you are making your presentation. Ask people how to improve the previous slide
11. Practice one letter at a time. Find the letter that is the hardest for you to say (V or R or W or P). Practice just saying those letters over and over again. Pick words that have those letters in them and get your mouth comfortable with finding out how to properly say them without being distracting. Practice one letter at a time. Rehearse with an experienced English trainer- You would be surprised how much difference it makes to receive feedback from a professional. Any important presentation deserves such serious preparation. Concept 2: Verb tense | emphasize who started it  Novelty - We use creative promotion ways, such as webpage, YouTube, blog posts, and AI-powered podcasts, to reach people from 67 countries.  VT Ways > Tactics  We use > We have begun using  I want to emphasize the fact that I started this or that it’s new  In the past, we didn’t have any promotional tactics. Now, we have started using various tactics, like ____.
12. List all the things that could go wrong. Then directly challenge them by identifying probable and alternative outcomes.  Prepare for things that could go wrong in advance. Example: Have a backup copy of your presentation in case technology fails. Technology should not form the basis of your presentation, content should. If you expect to be using technology, make sure you know what tools are available in the location where you will be presenting. Take the time to confirm what equipment you will have at your disposal, and make sure you know how to use it. If you are giving a presentation in your own building, you can just walk over to your scheduled room and check out the physical setup. Make sure that you are comfortable using any technology and equipment that is part of your presentation. . Don't fear a moment of silence. If you lose track of what you're saying or start to feel nervous and your mind goes blank, it may seem like you've been silent for an eternity. In reality, it's probably only a few seconds. Even if it's longer, it's likely your audience won't mind a pause to consider what you've been saying   Read your audience. On the day, stand tall and speak confidently.  But, look for signs that your audience doesn’t understand.  If they push their brows together in a look of confusion, don’t worry, simply ask them, “was that clear or shall I repeat?”  Audiences appreciate this kind of attention, so don’t be put off track, just repeat your last couple sentences at a slower pace, then repeat again using slightly different words. Pause:  When you pause, you give your listeners an opportunity to rest from drawing upon their cognitive resources, and to absorb what you’re saying. But your pause is also an opportunity for you — you get to remember or consider what you want to say next, check your notes, read cues from the audience, or even take a sip of water. Speak: This is for all speakers and communicators. Slow down! Most of the time you are speaking too fast and it is distracting. It slurs your words together and on top of your accent it can be hard to digest what you are saying. Remember to pause, slow down and enunciate your words.
13. Give Yourself Time – You don’t need to finish 10 speeches in a year. 5 is okay Adopt to changing expectation -- if your speech didn’t go so well, all good. Write down what you can fix and go to the next speech Don’t judge yourself harshly – think of yourself as an explorer in life, try new things. If it doesn’t work, all good! Try something else. Manage others expectation Communicate clearly - No one knows how to make you happy if they don’t know what makes you happy. If you have a mentor, ask clearly what you’d like to get out of it. If you have a few people that are going to be on the panel for you to moderate, list clearly the commitment to participate Predict Others’ Expectations - Everyone comes to a situation with biases and preconceptions. Ask clarifying questions – do you want me to be the kind of mentor weekly, monthly? Prepare for Problems – do you have a checklist for virtual game plan? > see next slide