Self presentations

Talking about yourself

When did you last have to introduce yourself to a room? How did it go?

Do you get nervous speaking in front of people? Where does it show — voice, hands, speed, face?

Who's the best presenter you've seen in person? What did they do that you don't?

Is it easier or harder to present yourself in English than in your own language? Why?

Would you rather give a ten-minute talk to twenty strangers or a thirty-second one to your CEO?

What's being depicted in the picture?

Where does it get its name from?

The thirty seconds that follow "So, what do you do?"

The lift speech — elevator pitch, if you prefer the American — is the short, spoken answer to a question nobody asks that directly: who are you and why should I keep talking to you? The name comes from the idea of sharing a lift with someone important and having until the doors open. In practice you give it at conferences, in the corridor after a meeting, at the start of an interview when someone says "tell me about yourself," and to the new senior colleague who joins your table at lunch. Job seekers need one. So does anyone who works with people outside their own team.

Dos and don'ts. Do keep it under forty seconds; people stop listening around then. Do lead with what you do for whom, not your title — "I help small logistics firms stop losing paperwork" lands; "I'm a customer success coordinator" doesn't. Do end with something that invites a reply: a question, or a reason you're interested in them. Don't recite your CV in order. Don't use the words your company uses about itself. Don't apologise for anything — your English, your nerves, the fact that your job is hard to explain. And don't memorise it word for word; memorised speech sounds memorised.

Presentation voice. This isn't conversation. In conversation, English speakers link words, swallow syllables and let the pitch flatten; that's normal and it's what you're used to hearing. A lift speech is slower, with each word given more of its full shape, deliberate pauses instead of fillers, and stress placed firmly on the words that carry the meaning. Speak as though the listener is slightly further away than they are. It will feel unnatural. It sounds confident.

Last thing. Write it down once, say it out loud fifty times, and then throw the paper away. The version you can say while walking is the real one.

discussion

The text says to lead with what you do for whom, not your job title. Try it now, for your own job. Was it easy? Does your job even have a "for whom"?

"Don't use the words your company uses about itself." Why not? What's the difference between a company's language and a person's? T

he presentation voice is described as slower and more deliberate than conversation. In your language, is there an equivalent shift when someone starts speaking formally? What changes?

"Don't apologise for your English." Is that realistic advice for a non-native speaker? Does a brief apology ever help?

The text says memorised speech sounds memorised. Is that true, or just true of bad memorising? Where's the line between prepared and rehearsed?

Now listen to Marina's elevator speech.

Is it a good one? Why (not)?

Now take a look at the transcript of Marina's speech.

"So yeah, hi, I'm Marina. Basically I do, like, marketing stuff? For a — it's a kind of e-commerce thing, we sell, um, home stuff, furniture and that. So I'm in charge of, like, all the social media and whatever, and also kind of the email side of things, newsletters and so on. Been doing it for, I dunno, four years, something like that. It's fine, it's a bit boring to be honest, ha. I'm kind of looking around at the moment 'cause the company's a bit of a mess, the management's a nightmare, so yeah. Anyway. What about you, what do you guys do?"

Work in pairs.

1. Identify the language that's too informal.

2. Make any other necessary edits.

3. Then practice delivering the speech to each other

Prepare a speech of thirty to forty seconds for one of these situations (your choice):

• The opening "tell me about yourself" in an interview for a job you'd actually want.

• A senior person from your own company, who doesn't know you, sits next to you at lunch.

• A conference in an English-speaking country; the person asking is in your field but not your company.

Write it, say it aloud until you can do it without the paper, then put the paper away.

Presentation time

Each person gives their speech to the group. Say which situation you chose before you start.

Everyone else will mark using the rubric below.

Before we get into it, let's check out the rubric.

Reflection

How easy / difficult did you find it to give your speech in front of the whole class?

Do you think you'd like to get better at doing stuff like this?

According to the rubric, who did you give the most marks to and why?

Did you find it difficult to award marks on just 40s of speech?