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presentation

Definition of presentation

• fairing [ British ]
• freebee
• largess

Examples of presentation in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'presentation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing presentation

• breech presentation

Dictionary Entries Near presentation

present arms

presentation copy

Cite this Entry

“Presentation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/presentation. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of presentation, medical definition, medical definition of presentation, more from merriam-webster on presentation.

Nglish: Translation of presentation for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of presentation for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about presentation

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presentation

[ prez- uh n- tey -sh uh n , pree-zen- ]

• an act of presenting.
• the state of being presented.
• a social introduction, as of a person at court.
• an exhibition or performance, as of a play or film.
• offering, delivering, or bestowal, as of a gift.
• a demonstration, lecture, or welcoming speech.

His presentation was very poor.

• Commerce. the presentment of a bill, note, or the like.
• the position of the fetus in the uterus during labor.

a breech presentation.

• Ecclesiastical. the act or the right of presenting a member of the clergy to the bishop for institution to a benefice.

/ ˌprɛzənˈteɪʃən /

• the act of presenting or state of being presented

the presentation of the project is excellent but the content poor

his presentation of the facts was muddled

a presentation on the company results

• an offering or bestowal, as of a gift

a presentation copy of a book

• a performance or representation, as of a play
• the formal introduction of a person, as into society or at court; debut
• the act or right of nominating a clergyman to a benefice
• med the position of a baby relative to the birth canal at the time of birth
• See presentment commerce another word for presentment
• television linking material between programmes, such as announcements, trailers, or weather reports
• See gift an archaic word for gift
• philosophy a sense datum
• See Candlemas often capital another name for (feast of) Candlemas

Discover More

Derived forms.

• ˌpresenˈtational , adjective

Other Words From

• nonpres·en·tation noun
• self-presen·tation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of presentation 1

Example Sentences

Look no further than those execs who have sat through online presentations outlining a more inclusive workplace only to have to go back to working in teams where they’re made to feel different.

The day of the presentation comes, and the ecommerce team gathers around, continuously nodding along with each slide.

In the questions-and-answer presentation on Wednesday, Palantir did not address the issue of voting power.

For repurposing, you can use four different formats, which are – video series, infographics, podcasts, and presentations.

This presentation will explain the ins and outs of the process as well as the need for older children who are looking for a home as well.

We were scoring it like the Olympics: presentation, technique.

Bogucki includes the leaflet in a Powerpoint presentation he has developed.

Her biggest surprise, she said, was realizing how much presentation and technical points mattered.

That may be partially because The Big Lebowski is their most nihilistic presentation.

One of the hottest tickets at the 2014 edition of Comic-Con, the annual nerd mecca in San Diego, was the Marvel presentation.

You were obliging enough to ask me to accept a presentation copy of your verses.

Nor was ever a better presentation made of the essential program of socialism.

After the presentation of the Great Southern case our Bill was heard and all the opposition.

The presentation of the Railway case and the rebutting evidence did not begin till all the public witnesses had been heard.

Furthermore, a note is payable on demand when it is thus stated, or is payable at sight or on presentation.

Related Words

• demonstration
• introduction

[ ak -s uh -lot-l ]

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Definition of presentation noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

presentation

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Live-English.net

Learn English Online with real teachers

30 Useful Sentences for a Presentation in English

Following our successful post about 30 Useful Sentences for a Job Interview in English , we’re now reviewing the vocabulary and expressions you need if you’re giving a presentation in English.

If talking in front of a crowd, big or small, can be nerve-racking, having some useful sentences up your sleeves will help you stay focused.

It doesn’t matter if the presentation is on Zoom or in front of a live audience, preparing yourself for it is crucial.

So let’s get started!

Starting the presentation in English and welcoming the crowd

There are different ways to start a presentation in English. These sentences are very classic ways to welcome your audience.

1. Good morning/afternoon/evening

2. Welcome to [name of company/presentation/place]

3. What I’m going to talk about today is …

4. Today I’m going to discuss…

5. The topic of my presentation today is …

6. The aim of this presentation is…

7. My presentation today is about…

Introducing yourself in a presentation in English

You want to take advantage of your presentation in English to tell the audience about who you are and what you do.

9. My name is [name] and I am from [company], where I’m responsible for …

10. I’m [name]. I’m a [job position] at [company].

11. Let me introduce myself; I’m [name] and I work at [company], where I work in [name of the department].

Presenting the topic

Now we are getting to the real start of the presentation. You want to be clear on what you’re going to present and the goal of your presentation.

12. Today, I’ll be talking about/discussing [topic]

13. I’m here to illustrate how…

14. What I’m going to be talking about today is…

15. The purpose of today’s presentation is…

16. My objective is to…

17. In today’s presentation, I’d like to talk to you about/show you/demonstrate…

Outlining the content of the presentation

It is important to clarify the different steps you’re going to follow in your presentation.

18. In today’s presentation I’m going to cover [three] points:

19. Firstly, I’ll be looking at…

20. Secondly, we’ll consider…

21. Then, I’ll explain how…

22. And finally, I’ll demonstrate how …

23. My talk will be in [two, three, four] parts: First,…after that,… then,… finally,…

24. Firstly,… Secondly,… Thirdly,… Finally,…

25. I’ll begin by looking at… Then, I’ll move on to…Towards the end I …

Introducing the first point

Signposting is very important to make sure your audience understands the logic of your presentation in English and follows the different steps you draw.

26. So let’s start, shall we?

27. To begin with, …

28. To start with, …

29. First of all, I’ll …

30. Let’s start by [+ verb in -ing form] …

To go further with your presentation in English

There are many more expressions you need for a presentation in English: – explaining graphs, images, or data. – Concluding a point – Moving on to the next point – Focusing your audience’s attention – Referring backward/forwards – Concluding and summarising the presentation – Inviting questions – Dealing with questions

This is outside of our current scope for this blog post but definitely something to keep in mind for a successful work presentation in English.

You are not alone to prepare for your presentation in English

Do you need help with a presentation in English? We have a few options for you.

If you have to give a presentation in English in the coming days or weeks, rehearse with a private English teacher. They will help you fine-tune your presentation, your slides, the way you introduce the topic, and help you deal with things you can’t really prepare like questions from the audience. This is part of our Premium Courses .

If you don’t have a specific presentation to give but would like to get the skills and practice to be a better communicator, check out our Presenting in English workshop .

• ← How to improve your business English vocabulary
• 30 key phrases to use in a meeting in English →

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Privacy Overview

Definition of 'presentation'

• presentation

Video: pronunciation of presentation

presentation in American English

Presentation in british english, examples of 'presentation' in a sentence presentation, related word partners presentation, trends of presentation.

View usage over: Since Exist Last 10 years Last 50 years Last 100 years Last 300 years

Browse alphabetically presentation

• present-day
• present-day reality
• presentable
• presentation box
• presentation ceremony
• presentation copy
• All ENGLISH words that begin with 'P'

Related terms of presentation

• award presentation
• brief presentation
• medal presentation
• oral presentation
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CAUSE AN EFFECT

Blog on science communication

How to write your scientific presentation in 5 easy steps

You have been invited to a well-known international conference to give a presentation – what an honour! Your first thought may be to get started right away by copying graphs from your publications into a slide, or dragging and dropping content from your archive of premade slides and clip-art into an empty presentation…

Don’t open PowerPoint, Keynote or Prezi just yet. If you really want to make an impact with this presentation, you need to think about why you want to present. Get your goal clear first, because when nobody understands why you’re giving a presentation, none of the tips we’ll share here will save you.

This blog will help you go through the storytelling process and get to the point where you can actually start building it (and where this blog about improving your slide design will help you further).

1 Define your goal: what do you want to achieve with this talk?

More often than not, you will be asked to give a presentation without being provided with a goal for that presentation by the people who invite you. So you are free to pick your own! And unless you’re merely entertaining (and aren’t you better than that?) you will need to think about your goals and what you want to achieve with your talk. Even when your only goal is to entertain, that is your goal.

Examples of presentation goals:

Maybe you want to…

• get more grants and impress the subsidizers in the audience
• advocate for your science and show your peers that your latest research is important for the progress in this field
• change policy, and raise an alarm with the public officials about this trend you discovered
• raise an alarm with the public officials about this trend you discovered

These are good goals in themselves, but you should adapt them to the circumstances of your talk. For example, you will have to keep into account what the amount of time is that you have for your story, what the expectations of the audience may be, why you’ve been asked and what the overall theme of the symposium or conference is – if there is any.

2 Define your message: what do you want people to remember from your presentation?

Now, at first your message may feel similar to your goal. But there is a distinction. The goal is about the effect that the presentation has on your audience, while your message is about the content of your talk, and what you want people to remember. In other words:

Your message is always for your audience, while you could keep the goal to yourself

When thinking about your message, don’t overdo it. Try to stick to one message, since people have a hard time remembering more than one. Of course, the longer you have, to more elaborate or well-supported your message can become, but its core should still fit in one sentence.

That one sentence will be the basis for your presentation; start and end with it! On the first slide, it will give your audience a feeling of context and direction, on the last it will serve as a reminder and summary.

3 Write the narrative or story of your presentation

When you have your message clear, you can build the story. What does your audience – this specific audience – need to know or understand before you deliver (parts of) your story? What facts do you have to support your message? This story will guide them through your main message. You probably needed some time to arrive at your conclusion, so allow your audience some time as well.

Your story should answer the following questions:

• Why is your main message so important?
• What is the evidence to support your message (why is it true)?

Think about what do you want to explain, and what evidence you have for this narrative? Do you need to make side steps?

4 Balance logos, ethos and pathos

Not every audience member is the same. Some people are very emotionally engaged, while others respond more to facts and ratio. This is exemplified by the classic Greek terms of logos, ethos, logos and pathos –logic, ethics and emotion. A good story balances the three, so as to serve all three kinds of audiences. In other words: your entire audience.

Get to know your audience

To do this successfully, you need to get to know your audience. As a scientist talking to her peers, you may be right to assume that most of your audience will be at the logic side of the triangle, but that is no excuse to neglect the other two. There will always be a few of the other kind (think policy makers), and any story becomes more compelling if you mix them up.

Examples of how to present your story:

Let’s take diabetes as an example. If your goal is to influence policy, and your message is that diabetes is on the rise, consider these three perspectives:

This is logos or reason speaking, and a rational person would say this is all you need to act.

‘ As a prominent diabetes investigator, I’ve seen that diabetes is costing society a lot of money and reduces quality of life for patients. With these policies that I planned with an expert committee, we have the means to prevent them from increasing further. ’

This is ethos; a plea for a moral solution and an ethical approach. The main arguments are believed because of the credibility of the author.

‘ Meet Barbara, she is a typical case of modern type 2 diabetes. She can’t resist the modern processed foods, which caused her to become overweight and develop diabetes. Because of complications, she now rides an electric scooter. This makes here less mobile, leading to extreme loneliness. ”

This is pathos. You evoke emotions by giving the data a face: this is what living with diabetes looks like, and more and more people experience it.

Of course these three are intertwined, because with the proposed policy to increase quality of life and reduce loneliness comes the very rational question of what that will cost, for example. But you need to use these three channels the same way as an old television uses red, green and blue to create a multicolored image. This also means your story will need more space (time and slides) than a presentation that just addresses the ‘logos’ side of things.

5 A presentation contains only useful slides

Of course, this seems gratuitous. And if you have followed step 1 to 4 securely, it’s redundant. But our experience is that more often than not, it’s good to go over your presentation one more time (or twice, no pressure) and ask at every slide: ‘is this adding value? Does this help me tell my story? Reach my goal?’ If it doesn’t, try tweaking the contents. If that doesn’t help, delete it.

Ask at every slide: ‘is this adding value? Does this help me tell my story? Reach my goal?’

And remember, because your slides are a means to an end, it’s not bad to tell part of your story without slides if they don’t help you reach that end. If you feel a slide does not convey the idea very well, or if you want the audience to focus entirely on what you’re saying, use a black slide and just talk. It’s better to leave out something than to force a slide in there.

You can use these five steps right away on your next presentation. It seems like a lot of work, but it is! Giving presentations may be common, but let’s not forget that it’s more than a filler in between the coffee breaks. With every talk, you have the opportunity to change your audience. It’s valuable to at least think about and realize that potential.

If you’re ready to learn more, why don’t you choose one of our workshops? To learn more about defining your message, we offer Basics of Science Communication . To develop your skills in making the presentation, you can take Presentation Design . If you want to get better at storytelling first, we have a workshop Storytelling for Science . And of course, don’t hesitate to contact us when you struggle or if you want more extensive advice, We’re here for you!

About the Author: Stephan van Duin

Search for more scicomm tips:, read more about science communication:.

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Definition of presentation in Essential British English Dictionary

Presentation.

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(Definition of presentation from the Cambridge Essential Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Translations of presentation

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