Speech Drill

Please get ready to make a product presentation in class. 

随着世界经济一体化的进程逐渐加快，职场人士越来越需要用英语进行沟通和演讲。在现代世界，掌握一定的演讲技巧不再是可有可无的附加品，它已成为商场竞争的必需品。演讲者越是成功，其职业上升空间就越大。英语商业演讲能力对于在跨国公司、外资公司、以及外向型企业中的职业经理人来说至关重要，是他们走向成功的必备素质之一。

商业演讲包括产品推介演讲、公司介绍演讲、商业计划介绍演讲、会议演讲，以及其他在各种商务情境中的演讲。纵观世界名企中，不乏演讲能力超群的领导者，如微软公司创始人比尔·盖茨（Bill Gates），苹果公司的创始人史蒂夫·乔布斯（Steve Jobs），Facebook运营官雪莉·桑德伯格（Sheryl Sandburg），谷歌公司创始人拉里·佩奇（Larry Page）以及世界银行行长金墉（Jim Yong Kim）等。

产品推介是商业演讲中最重要的演讲类型之一，它同属于信息性演讲和说服性演讲，不仅要求演讲者提供关于产品的功能、价格等信息，还要让听众喜欢产品，产生购买产品的欲望。1984年，苹果公司推出Macintosh微型计算机，年轻的乔布斯身着礼服，打着领结，向全世界介绍这一划时代的产品时，全场响起了长达1分钟的掌声。这不仅是对产品的肯定，也是对乔布斯演讲能力的赞许。正如有听众描述的那样，乔布斯的演讲目的不是单单卖一份牛排，还要让牛排滋滋的热气“勾引”听众（He sells the steak andthe sizzle at the same time.）。

总的来说，产品推介必须要牢牢把握听众的兴趣点和情绪。能够吸引听众、勾起听众聆听和购买欲的产品推介才是成功的演讲。它们有如下共同点：

1.      内容新颖Fresh

举办产品推介首先要有一件或一系列令人耳目一新的产品。如果带着强烈期待的听众兴致勃勃地来听讲演，却发现产品毫无新意，那么演讲者再怎么费尽口舌也无法挽回听众失望的情绪。

在拥有一件好产品后，演讲者的信息提取、语言提炼、内容设计同样也十分关键。演讲者需要对自己的产品了如指掌，甚至要对同类的其他品牌产品也全面把握，才能准确地提炼出产品的特点和优势，告知听众。

2.      逻辑性强Logical

产品推介需要有一条清晰的主线，即演讲思路，一步一步深入浅出地让听众了解你的产品。若演讲者天马行空，一团乱麻，一方面会让听众一头雾水；另一方面，也反应了演讲者马虎的工作态度。这样的作风很快就会被竞争激烈的商业社会所淘汰。

让我们来看一看乔布斯众多经典讲演的逻辑思路。一般来说，演讲的开头都有提纲挈领式的引入，演讲的主体部分用衔接语连接，在演讲的过程中，衔接语便会像路标一样引领听众按照演讲者设计好的线路行走。

(1) I am honored to be with youtoday at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth to be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories frommy life. (Commencement Address atStanford University, 2005)

(2) Well today, we’re introducing THREE revolutionary new products. The first one is a wide-screen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary new mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough internet communications device.（Apple 2007 Keynote）

(3)We’re introducing iPhone 4. Now, this is really hot. There are over 100 new features, but I’m going to cover 8.

The first one? An all new design

Second one, this is a biggie.Something we call the Retina Display.

Third— the iPhone 4 is powered by the A4 chip.

Number four, we have another new piece of hardware. We’re adding a gyroscope.

So that’s number four. Number five: this is a great one, a whole new camera system.

So number six— iPhone OS 4. The most advanced mobile operating system in the world.

Number seven— iBooks.

Number eight... iAds.

So FaceTime... that’s numbernine. （Apple WWDC 2010 Keynote）

3.      具有感染力 Appealing

演讲者可以从演讲的语言（Language）和演讲表达（Delivery）两个层面来增强其感染力。首先，从语言层面上，我们可以选择一些极具渲染力的词语、句子和案例，来打动听众。譬如乔布斯在其演讲中就喜欢用一些相当有激情的词汇来表达对产品的喜爱和自信，如下表所示。                                                                                      

    同时，真实的故事和数据（Facts）也能打动人心，加上适当的幽默感更能提升演讲的效果。如乔布斯在介绍iPhone4之前，用一句话的小故事幽默地告诉听众iPad的受欢迎程度：“It is magical, I knowit because I got this email: I was sitting in a café with my iPad, and it got a girl interested in me!. So there’s proof.”的确，这就是证据，这正是发生在我们每个人身边的故事，既真实又不乏风趣幽默。乔布斯还用一个数据告诉大家，iPad在国际上的热销情况：“We’re selling one every 3 seconds. We’ve started shipping international... and we have a little reel of press coverage, can we roll that?”每三秒钟就售出一台iPad，这样的数据让听众更直观，为之惊叹。

此外，感染力还来自于演讲者演讲时的表现力。如果演讲者激情澎湃、抑扬顿挫、时而言辞犀利、时而风趣幽默，还不时和观众进行互动，使其充分参与到演讲中，那么这样的演讲一定可以让听众感到无比的吸引力。

4.      恰当的视觉辅助Visual aids

产品推介中的视觉辅助必不可少，如果没有表情、动作、移动，以及样品、图片、图表、视频等视觉辅助，会让发布如同纸上谈兵，空无一物，也会使演讲缺乏吸引力，听众失去兴趣。仅提供一些枯燥的产品信息是远远不够的，演讲者要给听众展示一场关于产品、服务、公司的“秀（show）”。发挥各种视觉辅助工具，才能使演讲达到最佳效果。

美国IT界商业领袖迪克·哈特（Dick Hardt）将视觉辅助的使用发挥到了极致。2005年他于世界开源大会上（OSCON）[1]介绍Identity 2.0[2]的演讲堪称经典，在短短20分钟内切换了100多张幻灯片。几乎每句话都能切换3-4张幻灯片。通过图片以及简单的文字传达信息，给听众产生了巨大的视觉冲击效果，同时也让听众通过视觉紧跟演讲思路。

当然，需要注意的是，诸如幻灯片、视频等只是演讲的辅助用具，而不是演讲的重点和核心。好的幻灯片应该激发听众兴趣，保持听众在演讲过程中的注意力，而不是分散他们的注意力。因此，切忌在演讲中使用过多无关、花哨、文字密集的幻灯片。

[1] OSCON（The O’ReillyOpen Source Convention）是由计算机科学出版行业的O’Reilly公司组织的自由和开源软件会议，每年夏天在美国举办。

[2] Identity 2.0，也被称为电子身份（Digital Identity），它是种网际网路身份认证的革命，是对一类以用户为中心、支持跨域的身份认证机制的泛称。

Useful Expressions

Beginning

ž   Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present our latest product to you.

ž   I am honored to have the opportunity to explain our recent product to you.

ž   It is my pleasure/I’m happy to be here today to discuss our new line of products.

Body: quality, function, advantage, specifications

ž   This product was just launched last month and it sells quite well at home and abroad.

ž   Compared with other products, it is relatively small in size, light in weight, easier to operate,and most important of all, it saves energy.

ž   They are fine in quality, beautiful in design, bright in color and superb in workmanship.

ž   We have a complete range of specifications for you to choose from.

ž   The quality is excellent and the prices are quite competitive.

ž   You can use the phone to receive TV programs, send E-mails to your family or friends, look up English words and go on the internet.

ž   It has all the usual features such as clock, alarm, reminders, stopwatch, countdown timer,calculator, currency converter, etc.

ž   This is our latest model. It had great success at the last exhibition in Paris.

ž   This is our newly developed product.

ž   This product has many advantages compared to other competing products.

ž   The best feature of this product is that it is very light in weight.

ž   We have a wide selection of colors and designs.

ž   Have a look at this new product. It operates at the touch of a button. It is very flexible.

ž   The product has just come out, so we don’t know the outcome yet.

ž   How do you feel about the quality of our products?

ž   You must be aware that our quality is far superior to others.

ž   The high quality ofthe products will secure their leading status in the marketplace.

ž   It has only been onthe market for a few months, but it is already very popular.

ž   We have won praise from our customers.

ž   Our product enjoyss high reputation in the international market.

Ending

ž   I hope you have a clearer picture of this new product.

ž   I hope you find it useful.

ž   If you like this product, I can give you a brochure of detailed information.

ž   Please call me if you are interested.

ž   If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

以下是更多可以用以描述产品的形容词，演讲者可以在准备演讲过程中选择使用。

以上摘自： 章莉. 《英语演讲实训教程》， 清华大学出版社，2015.11.