The 7 Things most Professionals in Finance Learn about Presenting their Reports, too late.

Still nervous before presenting your financial insights and recommendations at meetings or with clients??

You′re looking to have the same confidence with your storytelling and presentation skills in English as you do when dealing with clients and colleagues in your native language.?

You′re tired of taking 30 minutes before your presentation to mentally prepare yourself to use English – who has the time or energy for that??

Even when you do that, you keep getting stressed and forget what you intend to say, repeat yourself constantly or, even worse, prevent yourself from speaking up.?

Here are some surefire ways to get contributing effectively to those meetings so your confidence can continue to rise, and you can feel just as satisfied with yourself (if not more) when dealing with others in English as you do in your native language.?

???? 1. Show Your Non-Verbal’s

Whether you’re in person or virtual, visual cues can help your audience interpret meaning and tone. Make sure your facial expressions and gestures match your content.?

Gestures are especially useful if they’re used in a descriptive way. Avoid non-purposeful hand movements and instead, paint a picture and highlight what you’re saying.?

For example, if you’re comparing two concepts, alternately bounce your hands up and down to convey weighing different options.?

Your facial expressions count, too. A flat affect will convey no meaning, while an expression that opposes your content might confuse listeners.?

?? Need to convey seriousness? Furrow your brow. ?

?? Excited about a new opportunity? Smile.?

If your accent makes it difficult for your audience to understand you, showing non-verbal’s will help them fill in the blanks.?

2. Over-Articulate?

Many non-native English speakers feel that slowing down their speech will convey either a lack of English proficiency or make their audience feel as if they’re “dumbing down” the content. On the contrary, your audience appreciates a slower pace if the way you speak sounds different from what they’re used to.

But rather than simply slowing down, I coach ESL clients to over-articulate – work hard to form the words. Use your lips, tongue, teeth, jaw (your articulators) to pronounce your words more sharply.?

?? Pretend your audience is hard-of-hearing. They must read your lips in order to understand what you’re saying. Visual feedback helps clients tackle this goal. Use your virtual camera or a mirror to observe the way your mouth moves. If you don’t see your mouth opening much when you talk, chances are your audience will have a difficult time understanding you.?

3. Speak in Short Sentences?

Long strings of verbose sentences leave listeners with little time to absorb your message and picture what you’re saying.?

Audiences listening to ESL speakers require short bits of information so their brains can easily interpret. Aim for sentences that average 7-10 words and avoid using conjunctions such as “and” and “so”. Those are filler words not much different from “um” and “uh” and create content clutter that can confuse your audience.?

4. Pause?

? Pausing in between sentences is a gift to your audience in the same way short sentences can be. Moments of silence give their brains time to interpret the meaning of words that may sound different from what they’re used to hearing.?

But pausing also does something extremely helpful for the speaker herself. Many ESL clients express a concern with English vocabulary proficiency. A non-native lexicon builds only through experience and time, but in a pinch, a pause can offer you a much-needed moment to consider your word choice.?

If you can’t access the word, you really want to use, a pause gives you time to think of an alternative way to describe your thoughts, and that might be equally as effective as the word itself.?

5. Share Stories and Give Specific Examples?

?? I find that storytelling does something similar for audiences of ESL speakers, especially if that content is complicated or tech heavy.?

Complicated content is difficult for native English speakers to convey. Add an accent and your audience will likely be left in the dark.?

If you see glazed-over faces or skeptical looks while presenting your idea, chances are you need a story or specific example to help your audience understand your message.?

Try a personal story, a customer story, or an analogy to help them connect the dots. ?

6. Use Simple, Helpful Visuals?

?? While stories and examples offer helpful support for ESL audiences, if you’re like me, you learn best with visual cues.?

Visuals are especially helpful in our new virtual world where audiences are distracted multi-taskers. If the audience misses what you said, but can refer back to a solid slide, that might be all they need to catch up.?

Similar to facial expressions and gestures, it’s important that your visuals match your content. Stick to the one-idea-per-slide rule and use whatever you think will help your audience understand your message: a photograph, an icon, a chart/table, or limited text.?

7. Check-In and Ask for Questions?

???? If you’re unsure whether your audience is understanding you, ask!?

As long as it’s setting appropriate, build in time during your meeting or presentation to conduct audience check-ins. ?

Ask them, ?

“What questions do you have so far?” ?

“I’d appreciate your feedback at this time.”?

When invited to do so, your audience will offer the input you need to adjust your speaking for their benefit. If they express confusion, use one or a combination of the above tips to increase their understanding.?

Audiences aren’t looking for cookie-cutter presentations with similar styles. They enjoy genuine and real vs. expected. Varied accents make speakers wonderfully unique. Don’t get rid of yours – simply work on these small adjustments to ensure your audience can understand you, even though you sound different.?

Lowenbraun, N. L. (2022). 7 Helpful Tips for English as a Second Language (ESL) Speakers. Duarte. Retrieved August 20, 2022, from https://www.duarte.com/presentation-skills-resources/esl-speakers/