Give a short presentation

Beth, can I practise on you? My presentation is tomorrow at nine, and I'm really worried. The topic is "Why cats are better than dogs". Yes, I know, you've got a dog.

I wrote my notes on little cards. I can't memorise everything, so I'll look at them sometimes. I rehearsed three times in front of the mirror and once in front of the cat. She slept through the whole thing, which isn't a good sign.

Teacher says I must make eye contact with the audience. Look at me. Is this okay? Too much? You look scared. Good, that means it's working. Right, from the top. Please don't laugh.

Morning, I'm Rob, the first speaker. Can I try the microphone? Testing, one, two. Is that too loud? Hello at the back! Okay.

The projector is showing everything in blue. Is that normal? And this clicker doesn't work. I press the button and nothing happens. I really hope my laptop won't freeze. It does that when it's nervous. Like me.

I've got fifty handouts. Where do I put them? On the chairs? Great. Oh, the clicker works now. You turned it round? It was upside down? Okay. Don't tell anyone, please. I'll buy you a coffee, and a biscuit, a big one.

Good morning, everyone. First of all, thank you for coming. I'd like to talk about our sales this year. It's good news, I promise.

Let's go through the numbers. This chart shows January to June. As you can see, the blue line goes up and up and up. Then it goes down a bit. Then, er, up again. Wait a second. That isn't the sales chart.

Sorry, that's my cat's weight chart. Mr Whiskers is on a diet. He started in March. Doesn't he look proud? Okay, never mind. The real chart is on the next slide. Sales are up twelve per cent, and Whiskers is down two kilos.

Right, let's move on to the last slide. Sorry, I always lose my place when I'm nervous. Hold on. Here it is.

Let me pause for a moment. Can I have some water? Thank you. Now, to sum up: our sales are up, our costs are down, and next year we'll open two new shops. Thank you for listening.

Thank you for the applause. That's very kind. Any questions? Yes, the lady in the green jumper. Oh. You want to know where I bought my tie? A market in Leeds, three pounds. Anything about the sales? No? Okay. Lunch is at one.

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