English at Work

Communication expert KEN TAYLOR answers your questions about business English. This month, he looks at good opening sentences and at the use of semicolons.

Ken Taylor answers your questions

MEDIUM AUDIO PLUS Dear Ken

I have the opportunity to give a lecture in front of international experts and diplomats at a UN organization, and I think my first sentences are crucial. Do you have any tips for a good opening? Best regards

Matthias F.

Dear Matthias

A good opening should grab the attention of your audience and motivate them to listen to you. When I start a presentation, I avoid clichés like “I’m happy to be here today”.

I never start with an apology or the word “unfortunately”. If you do have bad news, get your audience’s attention in a positive way first, then give them the bad news.

I also avoid mentioning a previous speaker too soon. I establish my own competence first and refer to previous speakers in the relevant section of my presentation.

Here are a few good ways of opening your lecture. Goals: “The aim of the next 30 minutes is to give you an overview of...”

A rhetorical question: “How can we motivate the team without increasing costs?” This should make the audience think.

Create an imaginary world: “Imagine that we have already achieved next year’s targets.” This will help the audience relate your subject to its own experiences.

Paradox: “It’s strange that the higher we rise in an organization, the more we isolate ourselves from the real work.” Paradoxes are memorable and fun.

Activate: “Hands up those of you who have experience of...” This creates a feeling of twoway communication.

Initial benefit promise: “By the end of this presentation, you should be able to decide between two strategies.” Audiences like to be promised an answer to a problem they are facing. You must simply make sure you have the answer.

Humour: humour is great if the joke is funny and relevant to the subject of the presentation.

A picture: show an interesting picture without saying anything. It should be selfexplanatory and convey a key message you want to get across.

You can mix and match these ideas to create a good opening — then learn this by heart. It allows you to make eye contact with your audience at the start, which helps build rapport.

Regards

Ken

Dear Ken

When do I use a semicolon in my writing? Help! Gunther T.

Dear Gunther

We use a semicolon to separate two sentences that would otherwise be joined with words like “and”, “since”, “because”, “while”, “unless”, etc. Think of it as a strong comma or a weak full stop! For example:

I never vote for anyone; I always vote against. (W. C. Fields) A semicolon can also be used to separate phrases in a list after a colon. For example:

We agreed on three actions: that the meeting would take place in London; that all our salespeople would be invited; and that the MD should present next year’s targets.

The semicolons in this sentence help readers recognize the major groupings and make sense of the series.

Regards

Ken