HOW TO REPORT ORALLY
The situations where we are often requested to make
an oral report are:
 Reporting the contents of a letter, a fax or an e-mail.
Reporting the contents of a phone call.
Reporting and commenting on the contents of graphs
and flow charts.
Reporting the contents of a specific topic.
Case study – discussing the main points.
Reporting details related to documents.
Preparing an oral report
When reporting information try to follow these guidelines:
Don’t report every
word
BECAUSE
When reading what you
need to report try to
They are
answer a few basic
questions
Organise your thoughts
before giving an oral
report
Write notes detailing
what you are going to
say
BECAUSE
it’s neither effective nor
relevant to do it as the result
is an oral summary of the
main details.
What?, who?, when?, what
to do, why?
this gives you a chance to
understand what the
important information is and
to decide how to report it in
a concise and clear way.
The main points you are
going to develop and the
order in which you will
present them
Preparing an oral report
Include a few headings
In this way
You can immediately see
whether the material you
are going to present is
clear or not. It is useful to
refer to these notes whiel
you present your oral
report
Organise your report into
three parts
That is
An introduction, a body
and a conclusion
Remember useful
expressions and phrases
So that
Your report will be as clear
as possible
A few basic questions
• When reporting on a letter or other forms of
correspondence, answer a few questions:
• WHAT?
• WHO?
• WHEN?
• WHY?
• WHAT TO DO?
A few basic questions
• WHAT? Is the message about a delivery, a
problem, an order, a delay, a deadline, etc.?
• WHO? Who sends the message
• WHEN? Is the date relevant?
• WHY? What is the reason why the writer
sends us the message?
WHY? What is the reason why
the writer sends us the message?
• At this point, if the message is long or complex
you should highlight elements and classify
them in order of importance or in a
chronological order if necessary. Writing
headings can be useful.
What to do?
• Is it necessary to reply to the message? What
elements/information do you need before
writing your answer?
Telephone calls
• Telephone calls often involve a lot of
conversation that is not related to the key
question or problem to be reported. Yet, it is
necessary to select the main points or the
reason for the telephone call in order to
report them quickly and accurately.
• You may need to take notes during the phone
conversation or immediately afterwards in
order to remember the key points.
Telephone calls
Useful language box
• Beginning
I got a call from
You remember XXXXXLtd?
Well, they called today about…
We have received another call from
Telephone calls
Useful language box
• Middle
-They want to know…
-They also want information about
-They say
-They ask
-They wanted to inform us
-They are complaining about
-They are dissatisfied with
Telephone calls
Useful language box
• End
What shall we tell them…?
Do you want to say that…?
Will you phone them back…?
The language of trends
• When giving a presentation, a speaker may use graphs and
charts to explain movements and changes in, for example,
economic statistics, markets, company performance, share
prices, profits, costs, staff turnover, sales figures, and R&D
(research and development) spending. To do this effectively, it
is important to use the appropriate language,
• The words below are commonly used to describe trends, they
are grouped according to similarity of meaning.
The language of trends
Upward movement 1
• go up (verb]
• General upward movement
Profits have gone up by 2% in the past year.
• raise (verb)
• raise (noun)
The Government has raised taxes for married couples.
He was unhappy with his salary and asked for
a raise.
• rise (verb)
• rise (noun)
Unemployment rose steadily in the first quarter of the year.
There's been a steady rise in new business over the last six
months.
• climb (verb)
• climb (noun)
Domestic sales climbed rapidly during the first quarter.
A climb in production costs is expected in the next quarter.
Upward movement 2
• increase (verb)
• increase (noun)
The number of short-term contracts will
increase due to a change in policy.
The management will probably increase
staff numbers during peak periods.
Economists predict an increase in
inflation.
Rapid upward movement
• jump (verb) Share prices have jumped to a record high.
• jump (noun) We can expect to see a jump in retail prices.
• surge (verb) Stock markets surged on news of interest rate
cuts in the USA.
• surge (noun) Recent data shows a surge of interest in business
courses.
• soar (verb) Unemployment in Britain soared to over 3 million
in the 1980s.
Downward movement
•
•
•
•
•
• General downward movement
go down (noun) The $US went down 3 cents against the Yen
yesterday.
fall (verb) Unemployment fell last month from 1.7million
to just below 1.6 million.
fall (noun)
International Paper Mills reported a fall in
profits from $235 million to $188 million.
drop (verb) Consumer spending drops dramatically as
interest rates go up.
drop (noun) Arcon Inc. reports a severe drop in profits.
Downward movement 1
• decline (verb)
Traditional industries such as coal
and textiles have declined in Europe
• decline (noun) Oil prices have seen a decline in
recent weeks due to overproduction.
• reduce (verb)
The company is planning to reduce
the size of the workforce.
• reduction (noun) A reduction in the staffing budget
has led to redundancies.
Downward movement 2
• decrease (verb)
• decrease (noun)
• worsen (verb)
-The price of computers is expected to
decrease further as semiconductors
become cheaper. -Insurance companies
hope to decrease the number of pay-outs.
Angry workers are protesting against a
decrease in working hours.
The state of the environment is expected
to worsen in the next century.
• downturn (noun) Asian economies have experienced a
significant downturn in recent years.
Rapid downward movement
• Plummet (verb)
Technotron shares
plummeted yesterday on
news of product failures.
• Plunge (verb)
The Nikkei Index plunged below XXXXX
yesterday for the first time since 1984.
• Collapse (verb)
Coffee prices collapsed on news of a
record crop in Brazil.
Highs and lows
• Peak (verb)
•
•
•
•
Unemployment peaked at nineteen
per cent.
Reach a peak Sales reached a peak of 14 million
(verb)
units in November last year.
Hit a low (verb) AMC shares hit a record low of 229
yesterday.
Bottom out (verb) Exports bottomed out at $206,000
in February, before rising again to $340,000 in April.
fluctuate (verb) The share price fluctuated between
234p because of instability in the market.
No change
• Remain stable
The level of profits has remained stable in
spite of the unfavourable economic
climate.
• Remain unchanged The company’s approach to
modernization has remained unchanged
for many years.
• Stay the same
Staff number are likely to stay the same
for the next year.
Degree of change
• Degree of change
To describe the degree of change, think about what is
being described, and the period covered. For example, a
1% increase in inflation in one month is generally seen as
a sharp rise, while a 1% increase in profits over one year
would be described as a slight rise.
Degree of change
Adverbs
to rise or fall
slightly
moderately
significantly
sharply
dramatically
Degree of change
• Adjectives
• A slight
moderate
significant
sharp
dramatic
rise or fall
Degree of change
Example
Comment
• We started the year at 10,000 units. This was
followed by a slight drop in February. Sales
rose moderately in March to 12,000 and
continued to go up sharply until June when
they reached a peak of 19,000. In July sales fell
dramatically to 8000 units. The situation
continued to worsen in August and bottomed
out at 6000 in September. Fortunately, October
saw a significant increase, and by the end of
the year sales had risen to 16,000.
Graphs and Figures
• When discussing or reporting information
contained in graphs, on tables and figures in
general, it is often necessary not only to
report on the information contained on paper
or on screen, but also to interpret this
information.
Graphs and Figures
• When preparing an oral report in this context,
you should first look at the information in
front of you and try to understand it.
• Only then you will be able to report it and
interpret it for your listeners.
Useful language box
• Beginning
-These figures show…
-As we can see, these figures
illustrate…
-Here, we have information about
trends in the last three years…
Useful language box
• Middle
-There was an increase/decrease in sales in 19XX.
-Sales increased rapidly/gradually…
-In 2000, the figure was much lower/higher…
-External factors influenced the performance in
2005. Here, in the figures, we can see…
Useful language box
• End
-This means (that)…
-We can conclude that…
-Therefore, the situation is…
These figures have demonstrated/proved …
Speaking about a technical topic
• You will often be asked to speak about a
topic related to your working field,
• You will often be given a text or some
material to examine.
This is what you should do
• Read the text carefully
• Try to understand the general meaning
• Select the most relevant information
• Make a list of the key points
Useful language box
• Beginning
-I would like to speak about…
-I am going to discuss…
-I would like to present the following…
-The text is about…
Useful language box
• Middle
-First of all, let us look at…
-It is also interesting to observe…
-This involves…
-And finally, I should say that…
Pros and Cons of a situation/
Case Study
• When requested to give an oral report on the
pros and cons of a situation, try to do the
following:
Contextualise the topic first, listing the key
information like:
Who are the parties involved
What is required to do
What the situation is
Pros and Cons of a situation/
Case Study
• 2) identify the advantages of the situation
• 3) provide a possible conclusion
Useful language box
• End
-To conclude…
-The result then is…
-To sum up…
Useful language box
• Beginning
-The situation is as follows…
-Let’s consider…
-What we should decide about is …
-We must /should look at the following in order
to decide…
Useful language box
• Middle
-Let us look at the pros and cons before concluding…
-On the one hand…
-On the other…
-One advantage is…
-On the contrary, a disadvantage is …
Useful language box
• End
-One possible solution could be to…
-If we try to find a solution…
-In both cases, the situation is…
Reporting on information
contained in a document
• When reporting the contents of a business
document the first thing to do is to recognise
the type of the document. This will enable you
to look for the relevant information without
problem.
• You need to ask yourself a set of standard
questions which will help you to spot the key
points from the text.
Useful language box
• Beginning
-The document is a…
-We have received a...
• Middle
-The details are as follows…
-It is about…
-It states…
Presentation skills
• An effective speaker is well prepared,
enthusiastic, and communicates easily with
the audience.
• A successful presentation needs to be well
planned.
Preparing a presentation 1
Know your subject well in order to deliver
your talk confidently.
Use brief notes or cards to refer to during your
talk, rather than reading from a long written
text. In case you need to read, try to do that
slowly, with emphasis, but without
exaggerating; now and then look at your
audience so that you can realise their
attention degree.
Preparing a presentation 2
Give your talk a clear, logical structure with an
introduction, main points which are linked and a
conclusion.
Be realistic about the amount of information you can
include in your talk, and support your main points
with examples and other relevant details.
Think about your audience and their knowledge of
the subject. Try to anticipate the kind of questions
they may ask.
Preparing a presentation 3
Check how long your talk will take by
practising beforehand.
Practise with the equipment you are going to
use, if possible.
Make your visual aids clear and easy to
understand. They should be visible from every
part of the room.
Preparing a presentation 4
Check your visual and handouts for spelling
and grammar mistakes.
Practise the pronunciation of unfamiliar words
before your talk. Check in a dictionary or ask
someone who speaks English well to help you.
Giving a presentation
Face the audience. Make as much eye contact
as possible.
Tell the audience what you are going to do.
Keep your language simple and avoid complex
sentences.
Speak slowly and remember to pause from
time to time.
Have a drink of water near you during the talk.
Enjoy yourself!
How to structure a presentation
• A good presentation has a structure that is
clear to both the speaker and the audience.
Here is a simple model to help you organise
your ideas.
A simple model
Greet your audience
Introduce yourself
Outline your talk
Move to the main body
Summarize the main points
Conclude your talk
Invite questions from the audience
Accept questions and comments
Explaining the purpose of your talk
• I’m here today to talk to you about (the
subject of your talk).
• I’ve come here today to explain…/look
at/describe…
• I’d like to talk to you about…
Outlining the structure of the talk
• I’ve divided my talk into four parts.
• My talk will focus on three main areas.
• I plan to talk about the history, the present
situation and the future development of …
• In the first part I will look at the background.
• The second part will deal with…
• In the final part I’ll show you…