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How to Introduce Group Members in a Presentation Script

In a presentation script, introduce group members by briefly stating their names and roles. In this introduction, we will discuss the best ways to introduce group members in a presentation script, ensuring clarity and engagement with the audience.

A well-crafted introduction can set the tone for a successful presentation. When introducing group members, it is essential to provide concise information about their names and roles, allowing the audience to understand the expertise each member brings to the table.

By effectively introducing group members, you create a connection between the audience and the presenters, fostering trust and interest in the presentation content. We will explore various strategies and tips for introducing group members in a presentation script while adhering to SEO-friendly writing principles. Let’s dive in and discover how to make impactful introductions for group members in your next presentation script.

Table of Contents

The Importance Of Introducing Group Members In A Presentation Script

Introducing group members in a presentation script holds great importance. It helps establish credibility and build trust. By introducing the team, you create a personal connection with the audience. This allows them to understand the expertise and diversity within the group.

Moreover, it gives each team member a chance to showcase their strengths and contributions. By highlighting individual roles, the audience gains a comprehensive understanding of the presentation’s content. Furthermore, introducing group members fosters a collaborative and professional environment. It shows that the team is well-prepared and unified in their goals.

Overall, introducing group members in a presentation is essential for effective communication and successful outcomes.

Elements Of A Successful Group Member Introduction

Elements of a Successful Group Member Introduction include creating a powerful opening statement, providing background information, and highlighting key skills. Starting with a captivating statement grabs the audience’s attention. Sharing relevant background information about each team member builds credibility. Highlighting key skills and expertise establishes their qualifications.

A concise and engaging introduction sets the tone for the presentation, making it more memorable and impactful. By following these guidelines, you can ensure that your group member introductions are effective and leave a lasting impression on your audience. So, be strategic in your approach and craft introductions that truly showcase the talent and capabilities of your team members.

Crafting An Engaging Presentation Script

Crafting an engaging presentation script involves setting the tone and capturing the audience’s attention from the start. To achieve this, structuring the script for smooth transitions is essential. Rather than simply listing the group members, incorporate storytelling techniques to make the introductions memorable.

By crafting a narrative around each member, you create a connection with the audience, allowing them to relate and engage with the individuals. Use anecdotes, interesting facts, or unique qualities to highlight each person’s contribution. This not only adds a personal touch but also keeps the audience engaged throughout the presentation.

Remember, an effective presentation script is not just about delivering information but also creating a compelling and memorable experience for the listeners. So, take the opportunity to make your introductions stand out and leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Begin With A Captivating Hook

Begin your presentation script with a captivating hook to engage your audience. Capture their attention with a powerful quote or statistic, highlighting the importance of group members in presentations. Share an intriguing anecdote that relates to the topic, sparking curiosity and stimulating their interest.

To provoke thoughtful reflection, ask a question that encourages the audience to consider the significance of working as a team in a presentation setting. By starting strong, you create a compelling opening that sets the tone for an impactful and engaging presentation.

Introducing Each Group Member

Introducing each group member is essential for establishing credibility and expertise. By sharing relevant accomplishments and experiences, you highlight their value to the team. Highlighting their areas of expertise can boost their credibility and gain the audience’s trust. Use concise sentences to mention their key achievements and qualifications.

It is crucial to showcase how each member’s unique skills contribute to the team’s success. By doing so, you ensure that the presentation is informative and engaging. Introducing each group member allows the audience to connect with them on a personal level, making the presentation more relatable and memorable.

Ultimately, effective introductions help establish a strong foundation for a successful presentation.

Credit: fellow.app

Connecting Group Members To The Presentation Topic

Introducing group members in a presentation script involves connecting them to the topic at hand. By demonstrating how each team member’s expertise aligns with the subject matter, the audience gains insight into their contributions. Additionally, showcasing the unique perspectives of each member enhances the overall presentation, enriching it with diverse viewpoints.

Moreover, emphasizing the collective knowledge and capabilities of the team highlights their collaborative efforts. This approach creates a cohesive and well-rounded presentation, capturing the audience’s attention. It is important to avoid generic and overused phrases while introducing group members in order to maintain the reader’s interest.

By following these guidelines, you can effectively introduce group members in your presentation script while keeping your audience engaged and informed.

Tips For A Fluent And Natural Delivery

Introducing group members in a presentation script can greatly enhance the effectiveness of your delivery. To ensure a fluent and natural delivery, it is important to practice the script beforehand. By using conversational language and tone, you can engage the audience and make them feel more connected to your presentation.

Eye contact and body language also play a crucial role in keeping the audience engaged and interested. Make sure to maintain eye contact with individuals throughout your presentation and use gestures and movements to emphasize key points. This will create a positive and interactive atmosphere, increasing the impact of your presentation.

So remember, practice your script, use conversational language, and engage your audience through eye contact and body language for a successful presentation.

Avoiding Common Mistakes In Group Member Introductions

Group member introductions in a presentation script should be concise and balanced, ensuring that no member is neglected. When introducing each member, avoid using jargon or technical terms that may confuse the audience. It is important not to overwhelm the listeners with excessive information.

Keep it simple and straightforward, providing only relevant details about each member’s role and expertise. By doing so, you can engage the audience and maintain their interest throughout the presentation. Clear and concise introductions create a positive impression and help establish credibility among the group members.

So, remember to be mindful of these common mistakes and deliver effective introductions that leave a lasting impact on your audience.

Frequently Asked Questions On How To Introduce Group Members In A Presentation Script

How do you start a group presentation introduction script.

To start a group presentation introduction, follow these simple steps. Begin with a catchy opening line to grab the audience’s attention. Introduce yourself and your group members briefly, sharing relevant qualifications or expertise. Next, outline the purpose of your presentation and how it will benefit the audience.

Transition into providing an overview of the main topics you will cover, using succinct and engaging language. Lastly, conclude the introduction by highlighting the key takeaways or outcomes your audience can expect. Remember to speak confidently and maintain eye contact with the audience to enhance your delivery.

By following these steps, you can set a strong foundation for a successful group presentation.

How To Introduce Myself And My Group Members In A Presentation Script?

In a presentation script, introducing yourself and your group members can be done in a concise and engaging manner. Begin by stating your name and role within the group. Then, briefly mention the expertise or qualifications that make you suitable for the presentation.

Transition smoothly to introducing each group member by mentioning their names and roles, along with a key attribute or achievement. This will highlight their credibility and relevance to the topic. Remember to focus on the value they bring to the presentation.

By keeping your introductions short and informative, the audience will quickly grasp who you are and why you are qualified to speak on the topic. This establishes credibility and sets the stage for an impactful presentation.

How Do You Introduce Team Members In A Script?

To introduce team members in a script, use concise sentences to keep the information clear and engaging. Start by stating each team member’s name and their role or position within the team. For example, “John Smith is our creative director,” or “Sarah Jones is our marketing specialist.

” Highlight each team member’s expertise and relevant experience, showcasing their unique contributions to the team’s success. Use positive and descriptive language to make their introductions more captivating. Consider adding a personal touch by mentioning their hobbies or interests related to their work.

This will help create a connection between the team members and the audience. Remember to keep the introductions brief to maintain the script’s flow and overall impact.

How Do You Introduce A Team Member In Powerpoint?

To introduce a team member in PowerPoint, follow these simple steps. First, open PowerPoint and navigate to the slide where you want to introduce the team member. Then, click on the “Insert” tab in the top menu and select “Text Box” from the options.

In the text box, type the name and position of the team member. Next, click on the “Design” tab and choose a suitable layout or design for the slide. You can also add a photo of the team member by clicking on the “Insert” tab again and selecting “Picture”.

Once you have entered the necessary information and customized the slide, you can present it by clicking on the “Slide Show” tab and selecting “From Beginning”. This will allow you to introduce your team member to your audience effectively and visually.

Introducing group members in a presentation script is a crucial aspect of delivering a successful presentation. By following a structured approach, you can effectively introduce your team members, create a positive impression, and engage your audience. Start by explaining the purpose and relevance of introducing the group members to establish their credibility.

Be sure to provide essential details like names, roles, and expertise, highlighting their qualifications and achievements. Utilize storytelling techniques and incorporate personal anecdotes to make the introductions more relatable and captivating. Remember to maintain a consistent flow and pace throughout the script, ensuring that each team member’s introduction seamlessly transitions into the next.

By following these guidelines, you can effectively introduce group members in your presentation script, creating a dynamic and engaging experience for your audience.

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How To Present With A Group: 14 Expert Tips

Hrideep barot.

• Presentation

If we consider the research and writing part of a presentation, then a group presentation doesn’t seem that different from a single-person presentation. 

If you wish to deliver a successful presentation, you still need to put in a fair deal of individual research, writing, and practice. Even for the presenting bit: when you speak, the onus of delivering a great speech, as well as the audience’s attention, is going to be on you. 

However, a group presentation is significantly different from a normal presentation. 

While you’ll still have to do your own research, the amount of research you’ll have to do will probably be decreased, as the research material will be divided amongst all the members. Practice and delivery of the speech will not be merely an individual thing: you’ll have to work and synch it with the rest of the group.

Moreover, while it might seem that the individual responsibility is going to reduce if you’re delivering a presentation with more than one person, often the case is quite the opposite. This is because if a single person messes up–or simply doesn’t wish to put in as much effort as the others–the repercussions are going to be faced by the entire group. 

However, group presentations don’t necessarily have to be a difficult thing. Think of your most favorite sports team: what makes the team the best? What makes them stand out from other teams? How are they successful?

The answer for what makes a sports team the best isn’t much different from what makes a group presentation the best: 

Advance planning and division of work, having a strong leader, fostering a sense of comariderie between group members, as well as staying vigilant and supportive on the big day are the key to delivering an awesome group presentation.  

And the goal isn’t as tough to achieve as you might think. 

Stick till the end of this article to find out! 

What Is A Group Presentation?

A group presentation is a collaborative exercise in which a team of speakers works together to create and deliver a presentation on a given topic. The number of members in a group presentation can range from anything between two to over ten! Group presentations are used in a variety of settings like school, workplace, colleges, seminars, etc. 

While the task of presenting with a group of people might feel daunting, especially if you identify as a lone wolf, group presentations can be a great learning experience and teach you how to better navigate the task of dealing with a multitude of people with a multitude of opinions and experiences. 

By keeping in mind a few things, group presentations can be delivered just as efficiently as single-speaker presentations.

Is A Group Presentation For You? 

To decide whether you should deliver a group presentation or not, you need to decide whether the pros of a group presentation outweigh the cons for you. 

Group presentations are great because they decrease workload, increase efficiency, improve the quantity and quality of ideas, and also provide you with experience to work in a group setting. 

However, there are a few fall-backs to group presentation as well. 

Sometimes, a few group members might not work as hard as the other ones, thus increasing the workload on the other members. Also, group members might have different ideas and opinions, which can cause clashes within the group. Coordinating between the group members might be a problem. And if you’re a shy person, you might find it difficult to speak out and voice your opinion in front of other group members. 

So, there is no single answer to whether you should do a group presentation or not. Weigh in the pros and cons of doing one before making your decision. 

Tips For Delivering A Group Presentation: The Preparation Stage 

1. Decide On The Purpose Of Your Presentation

First and foremost, you must determine what is the purpose of your presentation. It might seem like a redundant step, but trust me: it’s not. You’ll be surprised by how different people perceive and understand the same topic.

So, say you’re delivering a research paper on the topic “The Effect Of The Coronavirus Pandemic On Street Animals”, sit down together and ask your group members what each individual person thinks the topic is about and the points they feel we need to include in it.

If possible, one member can jot down all the points that the other speakers make, and once all the members are done talking, you can come to a consensus about what to and what not to include in the presentation. 

2. Choose A Presentation Moderator 

In the simplest terms, the presentation moderator is the designated “leader” of a group. That is, they’re the one responsible for the effective functioning of the group, and to make sure that the group achieves their shared purpose i.e giving the presentation.

They sort out any potential conflicts in the group, help out other members when they ask for guidance, and also have the final say on important decisions that the group makes. The best and the simplest way to select the presentation moderator is by vote. This will ensure that every member has a say, and avoid any potential conflicts in the future. 

3. Divide The Work Fairly  

The next step is to divide the work. The best way to do this is to break your presentation into equal parts, and then to assign them to group members. While doing so, you can keep in mind individuals’ preferences, experience, and expertise. For example, if there are three people, you can divide your presentation into three sections: the beginning, the middle, and the end.

Then you can ask which member would feel more comfortable with a particular section, and assign the sections accordingly. In case of any overlap, the individual members can be asked to decide themselves who’s the better fit for the part. Alternatively, if the situation doesn’t seem to resolve, the presentation moderator can step in and assign parts randomly to the members; the members can do this themselves, too. 

4 . Do A Member Analysis 

To know the individual strengths and weaknesses of group members, it’s important to carry out a member analysis. Not everyone feels comfortable in front of a crowd. Or, someone could be great at building presentations, but not so good with speaking into a mic. On the contrary, a member might be an excellent orator but terrible with technology.

So, in order to efficiently divide the work and to have a seamless presentation, carry out a member analysis beforehand. 

5. Individual And Group Practice Are Equally Important 

Individual practice is important as it helps you prepare the presentation in solitude, as you would if you were the only speaker. Practicing alone is generally more comfortable, as you do not have to worry about other people watching or judging you.

It also allows you to prepare at your own convenience and time, while for group practice you’ll have to adjust to when it’s convenient for the other members to practice, as well.

Besides, the individual practice also saves the group’s time as each member can simultaneously but separately prep their own part, while group practice sessions are often longer as the other members generally have to pay attention to the speaking member instead of their own bit.

However, it’s essential to do group practice at least three to four times before delivering your presentation. This is important not just for the smooth delivery of the presentation, but also for the group members to grow comfortable with each other.

Group practice sessions also help you time out the total duration of the presentation, have smooth transitions between speakers, avoid repetitions, and also sort out any potential hiccups or fallbacks in the presentation. 

6. Perfect The Transitions 

A common fallback of group presentations is having awkward transitions between members. Not only will this be an unpleasant experience for the audience, but it might also make you waste precious time.

So, make sure you practice and perfect the transitions before the big day. It doesn’t have to be too long–even a single line will do. What matters is how well you execute it. 

7. Bond With The Group Members 

Bonding with the group is a great way to enhance the overall presentation experience; both, for yourself as well as the audience. This is because a better bond between the group members will make for the smoother functioning of the group, reduce potential conflicts, make decisions quickly and more easily, and also make the presentation fun!

The audience will also be able to sense, maybe even witness, this camaraderie between the members. They will thus have a better viewing experience.

There are many ways to improve the bonding between group members. Before the presentation, you could go out for dinner, a movie, or even meet up at one location–like somebody’s house–to get to know each other better. Group calls are another option. You could also play an ice-breaker if you’re up for some fun games!

8. Watch Other Group Presentations Together 

This is another great way of bonding with the team and also improving your presentation skills as you do so. By listening to other group presentations, you will be able to glean a better idea of how you can better strategize your own presentation. As you watch the presentation, make note of things like the time division, the way the topics are divided, the transition between speakers, etc. 

A few presentations you could watch are: 

Delivering A Successful Team Presentation 

Takeaway: This is a great video to learn how to deliver a  great group presentation. As you watch the video, make note of all the different tips that each speaker gives, and also how they incorporate  them in their own presentation, which goes on simulatenously with the tips. 

Sample Group Presentation: Non-Verbal Communication

Takeaway: This is another great video that depicts how you can deliver a presentation with a group. Notice how the topics are divided, the transition between different speakers, and also the use of visuals in the presentation. 

AthleteTranx Team Presentation- 2012 Business Plan Competition

Takeaway: Another great example of a group presentation that you can watch with your own group. In this video, keep a lookout for how the different speakers smoothly transition, their body language, and the way the presentation itself is organized to make it an amazing audience experience. 

Tips For Delivering A Group Presentation: The Presentation Stage  

1.Introduce All Members 

A good idea to keep in mind while delivering a group presentation is to introduce all members at the onset of the presentation. This will familiarize the audience with them, and also work to ease the member’s nerves.

Besides, an introduction will make the members feel more included, and if done correctly, can also give a more shy member a confidence boost. The simplest way of introducing members is to have the person beginning the speech do it. Alternatively, the presentation moderator could do it. 

Need some tips on how to introduce people? Check out our article on How To Introduce A Speaker In Any Setting (And Amaze Your Audience).

2. Coordinate Your Dressing 

What better way to make people believe that you’re a team than dressing up as one? 

Coordinated dressing not only makes the group stand out from the audience, but it can also make the group members feel more like one team. 

A general rule of thumb is to dress one level more formally than your audience. Don’t wear your casual clothes: remember that it’s a formal event and your clothing must reflect that. Also, keep in mind individual preferences and beliefs while choosing the clothing.

This is important as if a person is uncomfortably dressed, it can have a negative impact on their performance, which will eventually be detrimental to the group performance. 

Confused about what to wear on the presentation day? Check out our article on Guide: Colors To Wear During A Presentation.

3. Make Sure To Incorporate Visual & Audio Aids

Visual elements like photographs, videos, graphs, etc. Are a must in all presentations, group or otherwise. This is because visual aids help the audience better understand the topic, besides making the presentation a better experience overall. Same goes with audio elements, which include things like audio clips, music, background sounds etc. 

So, if you wish to have your audience’s attention, make sure to incorporate tons of visual and audio elements in your presentation. You could also divide the kind of visual elements you use between different members: for example, one person could show a short documentary to expand on their point, and the other could make use of memes and animation to add a dose of fun to their part. 

4. Pay Attention To What Others Are Saying 

Another thing to keep in mind while delivering your speech is to pay attention to what the other speakers are saying. While it might be tempting to tune out others and use the extra time to rehearse your own presentation, it’s not a good idea to do so.

Remember that the audience can see each speaker on the stage. If you don’t look interested, then why should they pay attention? Besides, your lack of attention can make the speaker feel bad: if their own team members aren’t listening to them speaking, does that mean they’re doing a bad job? So, make sure to keep your eyes and ears on your teammate as they deliver their speech.

5. Remember All Speech Parts By Heart 

This is a great way to ensure that you have a seamless presentation. One of the primary benefits of having a team to work with is knowing that you can turn to them for help if something goes wrong.

So, it’s important to not just practice and work together but to also be well-versed in what other group members are going to be saying. This will make it easier for you to cue or help someone if they forget their part. Also, if there’s an emergency or if a member is not able to make it to the speech, the other members can easily take their place.

6. Work Together For A Question And Answer Session 

Q & A sessions are a common element in most presentations. They might seem daunting to an individual speaker, however, a group setting makes the session much easier. This is because an individual speaker doesn’t have to know everything about the topic.

The presentation moderator can simply refer to the speaker who is the most well-versed about the topic or is best able to answer the question from the group, and they can answer it. 

Creative Ideas To Make Use Of Multiple Presenters! 

There are many ways by which you can use the fact that there’s not just one single presentator but many to your advantage. A few of them are: 

1. Add A Dose Of Fun With Skits! 

Adding a dose of creativity to your presentation will greatly enhance its appeal to the audience, and make it more likely that they will remember your presentation in the future! 

One way of doing this is by having a short skirt in the opening. This is another great way of introducing the members, and of warming up the audience to them.

A fun skit can not only expand on the topic you’re about to present but will also elevate the audience’s mood, which will improve their attention span as well as their opinion of you! What else could you ask for?

2. Make Them Engage With Cosplay! 

Cosplay is another great way of making your presentation stand apart! This can make the presentation more interactive for the audience, as well, and earn you that sought-after dose of chuckling.

It’s not necessary to buy the most expensive costumes or be perfect in your cosplay, either. You can pick an outfit that’s easy to drape over your other outfit, and pick props that are easy to carry as well as versatile so that you can use them in other parts of your presentation as well. 

3. Write & Sing A Song Together!

Listen, you don’t have to be a professional singer or composer to do this. You’re not trying to sell a studio album. All you need is a little dose of creativity and some brainstorming, and you can write a song that helps you explain a component of your speech better.

You could even summarize the entire topic in that song, and sing it in the end as a sort of post-credits scene (thank you, Marvel). Alternatively, the song doesn’t necessarily have to explain your speech, but can simply be a surprise element after you’re done with the main part of your speech! 

4. Record A Short Film!

If you don’t want to have a live skit, another creative way to add fun to your skit is by recording a short film beforehand and playing it during your presentation. The film doesn’t have to be very long–even a few minutes work.

What matters is the content of the film, and how well-made it is. If not all members wish to act or record themselves, the ones that are not up for it can do the editing and compilation, or even write the script! After all, it’s not just actors that make a film successful: a strong director and writer are just as important! 

5. Have A Continuous Story 

Another great way to make the presentation seem more connected and seamless is by incorporating a continuous story. You can pick a story–or even make one up–related to your topic and break it up in sections.

Then, assign a section to each speaker. This will not only make the presentation more intriguing but if done right will also hook your audience’s attention and make them anticipate what comes next. Awesome, right? 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q. how do i begin a group presentation.

To begin a group presentation, have the moderator or any other group member introduce all other members and the topic that they’ll be speaking on. This might seem like a redundancy, however it is anything but useless.

This gives the chance to the audience to become familiar with the speakers, which is necessary if you want them to grow comfortable with you. Also, prior introduction of members saves the audience’s time, as each speaker will not have to re-introduce themself before driving into their topic. 

If each member wishes to individually introduce themselves, then that can be done too. However, make sure that you’ve practiced transitioning between members smoothly, so as to avoid making the switch look awkward.

Next, share a brief summary of what you’re going to be talking about. Like the introduction, you could even split the summary among yourselves, with each speaker describing briefly what they’re going to be talking about. Tell the audience why it’s relevant, and how you’re planning to go about giving the speech. Incorporating attention-grabbing statements is another good idea.

This could be a sneak peek into what’s going to be coming in your presentation, or simply a relevant statement, fact or statistic. Make sure the introduction doesn’t last too long, as you want to keep the audience fresh and primed for the main content of your speech. 

For some awesome opening lines, check out our article on 15 Powerful Speech Opening Lines (And How To Create Your Own).

Q. HOW DO I TRANSITION BETWEEN DIFFERENT SPEAKERS?

As mentioned before, having a smooth transition between speakers in the group is imperative to provide the audience with a seamless experience. The abrupt way of doing this would be to simply have the first speaker stop and for the other speaker to begin speaking.

However, a better way to transition would be by using transitional phrases. Pass the baton to the next speaker by introducing them. You could do this by saying something like, “To talk about the next topic we have…” Or something like, “Now I would like to invite…” 

After verbally introducing them, it’s also a good idea to motion towards or look towards the new speaker. Also, if you’re the next speaker, it’s always good manners to thank the previous one. 

Transitioning is one place where many presentations go wrong. Practicing the transition might seem redundant, but it’s anything but that. In fact, it’s as necessary as the practice of the other elements of your speech. Also, make sure to incorporate both, verbal and non-verbal cues while moving to the next speaker. That is, don’t just say that ‘A’ is going to be speaking now and then walk away.

Make eye contact with the speaker, motion for them towards the podium, or smile at them. That is, both speakers should acknowledge the presence of each other.

Make sure to practice this beforehand too. If you want, you could also have the moderator do the transitioning and introduce all speakers. However, make sure that your transitions are brief, as you don’t want to take up too much time from the main presentation.

Q. HOW DO I END A GROUP PRESENTATION? 

For the ending of the presentation, have the moderator or any other group member step forward again. They can provide a quick summary of the presentation, before thanking the audience and asking them if they have any questions.

The moderator doesn’t have to answer all the questions by themselves: the members can pitch in to answer the question that relates to their individual part. If there’s another group presenting after you, the moderator can conclude by verbally introducing them or saying that the next group will take over now. 

During the end, you could have all the presenters on the stage together, as this will provide a united front to your audience. If you don’t wish to finish the presentation with a Q & A, you could also end it by a call to action.

Or, you could loop back and make a reference to the opening of your presentation, or the main part of your speech. If you’d set up a question at the beginning, now would be a good time to answer it. This will increase the impact of your speech.

Make sure that the closing words aren’t vague. The audience should know it’s the end of the presentation, and not like you’re keeping them hanging for something more. Make sure to thank and acknowledge your audience, and any other speakers or dignitaries present. Lastly, just like the opening and the transitioning, practice the ending before you step onto the stage!  

Want some inspiration for closing lines? Check out our article on 15 Powerful Speech Ending Lines (And Tips To Create Your Own).

Q. HOW DO I INTRODUCE THE NEXT SPEAKER IN A GROUP PRESENTATION? 

There are many ways by which you can introduce the next speaker in the presentation. For starters, you could wrap up your presentation by simply summarizing what you said (make sure it’s a brief summary) and then saying the other speaker will take over from this point.

Or, you could finish with your topic and then give a brief introduction of the next speaker and what they’re going to be talking about. The introduction can be simply the name of the speaker, or you could also provide a brief description of them and their achievements if any.

To lighten the mood, you could even add a fun fact about the speaker in your introduction–this is, of course, provided that you’re both comfortable with it. You could also ask for a round of applause to welcome them onto the stage.

However you choose to approach the transition, make sure that your introduction is short, and not more than two minutes at the maximum. Remember that it’s the next speaker’s turn to speak–not yours. If you’re the incoming speaker, make sure to thank the speaker who introduced you. You could also respond to their description or fun fact about you. A smile doesn’t hurt, either!

Conclusion 

To sum up, while group presentations might seem daunting at first, if planned and executed properly, they don’t have to be difficult at all! On the contrary, they can make the presentation a more seamless and fun experience overall. By doing thorough preparation in advance, dividing the work properly, as well as staying vigilant and supportive during the presentation, you can execute your next group presentation as easily as an individual project! 

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How To Start a Presentation: 15 Ways to Set the Stage

By Krystle Wong , Jul 25, 2023

The opening moments of your presentation hold immense power – it’s your opportunity to make a lasting impression and captivate your audience. 

A strong presentation start acts as a beacon, cutting through the noise and instantly capturing the attention of your listeners. With so much content vying for their focus, a captivating opening ensures that your message stands out and resonates with your audience.

Whether you’re a startup business owner pitching a brilliant idea, a seasoned presenter delivering a persuasive talk or an expert sharing your experience, the start of your presentation can make all the difference. But don’t fret — I’ve got you covered with 15 electrifying ways to kickstart your presentation. 

The presentation introduction examples in this article cover everything from self-introduction to how to start a group presentation, building anticipation that leaves the audience eager to delve into the depths of your topic.

Click to jump ahead:

How to start a presentation introduction

15 ways to start a presentation and captivate your audience, common mistakes to avoid in the opening of a presentation, faqs on how to start a presentation, captivate the audience from the get-go.

Presentations can be scary, I know. But even if stage fright hits, you can always fall back on a simple strategy.

Just take a deep breath, introduce yourself and briefly explain the topic of your presentation.

To grab attention at the start, try this opening line: Hello everyone. I am so glad you could join me today. I’m very excited about today’s topic. I’m [Your Name] and I’ll be talking about [Presentation Topic]. Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by [Challenge related to your topic]. Many of us might have faced challenges with [Challenge related to your topic]. Today, we’ll explore some strategies that’ll help us [Solution that you’re presenting].

Regardless of your mode of presentation , crafting an engaging introduction sets the stage for a memorable presentation.

Let’s dive into some key tips for how to start a presentation speech to help you nail the art of starting with a bang:

Understand your audience

The key to an engaging introduction is to know your audience inside out and give your audience what they want. Tailor your opening to resonate with their specific interests, needs and expectations. Consider what will captivate them and how you can make your presentation relevant to their lives or work.

Use a compelling hook

Grab the audience’s attention from the get-go with a compelling hook. Whether it’s a thought-provoking question, a surprising fact or a gripping story, a powerful opening will immediately pique their curiosity and keep them invested in what you have to say.

State your purpose

Be crystal clear about your subject matter and the purpose of your presentation. In just a few sentences, communicate the main objectives and the value your audience will gain from listening to you. Let them know upfront what to expect and they’ll be more likely to stay engaged throughout.

Introduce yourself and your team

Give a self introduction about who you are such as your job title to establish credibility and rapport with the audience.

Some creative ways to introduce yourself in a presentation would be by sharing a brief and engaging personal story that connects to your topic or the theme of your presentation. This approach instantly makes you relatable and captures the audience’s attention.

Now, let’s talk about — how to introduce team members in a presentation. Before introducing each team member, briefly explain their role or contribution to the project or presentation. This gives the audience an understanding of their relevance and expertise.

Group presentations are also a breeze with the help of Venngage. Our in-editor collaboration tools allow you to edit presentations side by side in real-time. That way, you can seamlessly hare your design with the team for input and make sure everyone is on track. 

Maintain enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is contagious! Keep the energy levels up throughout your introduction, conveying a positive and upbeat tone. A vibrant and welcoming atmosphere sets the stage for an exciting presentation and keeps the audience eager to hear more.

Before you think about how to present a topic, think about how to design impactful slides that can leave a lasting impression on the audience. Here are 120+ presentation ideas , design tips, and examples to help you create an awesome slide deck for your next presentation.

Captivating your audience from the get-go is the key to a successful presentation. Whether you’re a seasoned speaker or a novice taking the stage for the first time, the opening of your presentation sets the tone for the entire talk. 

So, let’s get ready to dive into the 15 most creative ways to start a presentation. I promise you these presentation introduction ideas will captivate your audience, leaving them hanging on your every word.

Grab-attention immediately

Ask a thought-provoking question.

Get the audience’s wheels turning by throwing them a thought-provoking question right out of the gate. Make them ponder, wonder and engage their critical thinking muscles from the very start.

Share a surprising statistic or fact

Brace yourself for some wide eyes and dropped jaws! Open your presentation with a jaw-dropping statistic or a mind-blowing fact that’s directly related to your topic. Nothing captures attention like a good ol’ dose of shock and awe.

State a bold statement or challenge

Ready to shake things up? Kick off with a bold and daring statement that sets the stage for your presentation’s epic journey. Boldness has a way of making ears perk up and eyes widen in anticipation!

Engage with a poll or interactive activity

Turn the audience from passive listeners to active participants by kicking off with a fun poll or interactive activity. Get them on their feet, or rather — their fingertips, right from the start!

Venngage’s user-friendly drag-and-drop editor allows you to easily transform your slides into an interactive presentation . Create clickable buttons or navigation elements within your presentation to guide your audience to different sections or external resources. 

Enhance engagement by incorporating videos or audio clips directly into your presentation. Venngage supports video and audio embedding, which can add depth to your content.

Begin with an opening phrase that captures attention

Use opening phrases that can help you create a strong connection with your audience and make them eager to hear more about what you have to say. Remember to be confident, enthusiastic and authentic in your delivery to maximize the impact of your presentation.

Here are some effective presentation starting words and phrases that can help you grab your audience’s attention and set the stage for a captivating presentation:

• “Imagine…”
• “Picture this…”
• “Did you know that…”
• “Have you ever wondered…”
• “In this presentation, we’ll explore…”
• “Let’s dive right in and discover…”
• “I’m excited to share with you…”
• “I have a confession to make…”
• “I want to start by telling you a story…”
• “Before we begin, let’s consider…”
• “Have you ever faced the challenge of…”
• “We all know that…”
• “This is a topic close to my heart because…”
• “Over the next [minutes/hours], we’ll cover…”
• “I invite you to journey with me through…”

Build connection and credibility

Begin with a personal connection .

Share a real-life experience or a special connection to the topic at hand. This simple act of opening up creates an instant bond with the audience, turning them into your biggest cheerleaders.

Having the team share their personal experiences is also a good group presentation introduction approach. Team members can share their own stories that are related to the topic to create an emotional connection with your audience. 

Tell a relevant story

Start your presentation with a riveting story that hooks your audience and relates to your main message. Stories have a magical way of captivating hearts and minds. Organize your slides in a clear and sequential manner and use visuals that complement your narrative and evoke emotions to engage the audience.

With Venngage, you have access to a vast library of high-quality and captivating stock photography, offering thousands of options to enrich your presentations. The best part? It’s entirely free! Elevate your visual storytelling with stunning images that complement your content, captivate your audience and add a professional touch to your presentation. 

Use a powerful quote

Sometimes, all you need is some wise words to work wonders. Begin with a powerful quote from a legendary figure that perfectly fits your presentation’s theme — a dose of inspiration sets the stage for an epic journey.

Build anticipation

Provide a brief outline.

Here’s a good introduction for presentation example if you’re giving a speech at a conference. For longer presentations or conferences with multiple speakers especially, providing an outline helps the audience stay focused on the key takeaways. That way, you can better manage your time and ensure that you cover all the key points without rushing or running out of time.

Pose a problem and offer a solution

A great idea on how to start a business presentation is to start by presenting a problem and offering a well-thought-out solution. By addressing their pain points and showcasing your solution, you’ll capture their interest and set the stage for a compelling and successful presentation.

Back up your solution with data, research, or case studies that demonstrate its effectiveness. This can also be a good reporting introduction example that adds credibility to your proposal.

Preparing a pitch deck can be a daunting task but fret not. This guide on the 30+ best pitch deck tips and examples has everything you need to bring on new business partners and win new client contracts. Alternatively, you can also get started by customizing one of our professional pitch deck templates for free. 

Incite curiosity in the audience

Utilize visuals or props.

Capture your audience’s gaze by whipping out captivating visuals or props that add an exciting touch to your subject. A well-placed prop or a stunning visual can make your presentation pop like a fireworks show!

That said, you maybe wondering — how can I make my presentation more attractive.  A well-designed presentation background instantly captures the audience’s attention and creates a positive first impression. Here are 15 presentation background examples to keep the audience awake to help you get inspired. 

Use humor or wit

Sprinkle some humor and wit to spice things up. Cracking a clever joke or throwing in a witty remark can break the ice and create a positively charged atmosphere. If you’re cracking your head on how to start a group presentation, humor is a great way to start a presentation speech. 

Get your team members involved in the fun to create a collaborative and enjoyable experience for everyone. Laughter is the perfect way to break the ice and set a positive tone for your presentation!

Invoke emotion

Get those heartstrings tugging! Start with a heartfelt story or example that stirs up emotions and connects with your audience on a personal level. Emotion is the secret sauce to a memorable presentation.

Aside from getting creative with your introduction, a well-crafted and creative presentation can boost your confidence as a presenter. Browse our catalog of creative presentation templates and get started right away!

Use a dramatic pause

A great group presentation example is to start with a powerful moment of silence, like a magician about to reveal their greatest trick. After introducing your team, allow a brief moment of silence. Hold the pause for a few seconds, making it feel deliberate and purposeful. This builds anticipation and curiosity among the audience.

Pique their interest

Share a fun fact or anecdote.

Time for a little fun and games! Kick-off with a lighthearted or fascinating fact that’ll make the audience go, “Wow, really? Tell me more!” A sprinkle of amusement sets the stage for an entertaining ride.

While an introduction for a presentation sets the tone for your speech, a good slide complements your spoken words, helping the audience better understand and remember your message. Check out these 12 best presentation software for 2023 that can aid your next presentation. 

The opening moments of a presentation can make or break your entire talk. It’s your chance to grab your audience’s attention, set the tone, and lay the foundation for a successful presentation. However, there are some common pitfalls that speakers often fall into when starting their presentations. 

Starting with Apologies

It might be tempting to start with a preemptive apology, especially if you’re feeling nervous or unsure about your presentation. However, beginning with unnecessary apologies or self-deprecating remarks sets a negative tone right from the start. Instead of exuding confidence and credibility, you’re unintentionally undermining yourself and your message. 

Reading from Slides

One of the most common blunders in the opening of a PowerPoint presentation is reading directly from your slides or script. While it’s crucial to have a well-structured outline, reciting word-for-word can lead to disengagement and boredom among your audience. Maintain eye contact and connect with your listeners as you speak. Your slides should complement your words, not replace them.

Overwhelming with Information

In the excitement to impress, some presenters bombard their audience with too much information right at the beginning.

Instead of overloading the audience with a sea of data, statistics or technical details that can quickly lead to confusion and disinterest, visualize your data with the help of Venngage. Choose an infographic template that best suits the type of data you want to visualize. Venngage offers a variety of pre-designed templates for charts, graphs, infographics and more.

Ignoring the Audience

It’s easy to get caught up in the content and forget about the people in front of you. Don’t overlook the importance of acknowledging the audience and building a connection with them. Greet them warmly, make eye contact and maintain body language to show genuine interest in their presence. Engage the audience early on by asking a show of hands question or encourage audience participation. 

Lack of Clarity

Your audience should know exactly what to expect from your presentation. Starting with a vague or unclear opening leaves them guessing about the purpose and direction of your talk. Clearly communicate the topic and objectives of your presentation right from the beginning. This sets the stage for a focused and coherent message that resonates with your audience.

Simplicity makes it easier for the audience to understand and retain the information presented. Check out our gallery of simple presentation templates to keep your opening concise and relevant. 

Skipping the Hook

The opening of your presentation is the perfect opportunity to hook your audience’s attention and keep them engaged. However, some presenters overlook this crucial aspect and dive straight into the content without any intrigue. Craft an attention-grabbing hook that sparks curiosity, poses a thought-provoking question or shares an interesting fact. A compelling opening is like the key that unlocks your audience’s receptivity to the rest of your presentation.

Now that you’ve got the gist of how to introduce a presentation, further brush up your speech with these tips on how to make a persuasive presentation and how to improve your presentation skills to create an engaging presentation . 

How can I overcome nervousness at the beginning of a presentation?

To overcome nervousness at the beginning of a presentation, take deep breaths, practice beforehand, and focus on connecting with your audience rather than worrying about yourself.

How long should the opening of a presentation be?

The opening of a presentation should typically be brief, lasting around 1 to 3 minutes, to grab the audience’s attention and set the tone for the rest of the talk.

Should I memorize my presentation’s opening lines?

While it’s helpful to know your opening lines, it’s better to understand the key points and flow naturally to maintain authenticity and flexibility during the presentation.

Should I use slides during the opening of my presentation?

Using slides sparingly during the opening can enhance the message, but avoid overwhelming the audience with too much information early on.

How do I transition smoothly from the opening to the main content of my presentation?

Transition smoothly from the opening to the main content by providing a clear and concise outline of what’s to come, signaling the shift and maintaining a logical flow between topics.

Just as a captivating opening draws your audience in, creating a well-crafted presentation closing has the power to leave a lasting impression. Wrap up in style with these 10 ways to end a presentation .

Presenting virtually? Check out these tips on how to ace your next online presentation . 

Captivating your audience from the very beginning is crucial for a successful presentation. The first few moments of your talk can set the tone and determine whether your audience remains engaged throughout or loses interest. 

Start with a compelling opening that grabs their attention. You can use a thought-provoking question, a surprising statistic or a powerful quote to pique their curiosity. Alternatively, storytelling can be a potent tool to draw them into your narrative. It’s essential to establish a personal connection early on, whether by sharing a relatable experience or expressing empathy towards their needs and interests.

Lastly, be mindful of your body language and vocal delivery. A confident and engaging speaker can captivate an audience, so make eye contact, use appropriate gestures and vary your tone to convey passion and sincerity.

In conclusion, captivating your audience from the very beginning requires thoughtful preparation, engaging content and a confident delivery. With Venngage’s customizable templates, you can adapt your presentation to suit the preferences and interests of your specific audience, ensuring maximum engagement. Go on and get started today!

5 Powerful Group Presentation Examples + Guide to Nail Your Next Talk

Leah Nguyen • 04 Apr 2024 • 5 min read

A group presentation is a chance to combine your superpowers, brainstorm like mad geniuses, and deliver a presentation that’ll have your audience begging for an encore.

That’s the gist of it.

It can also be a disaster if it’s not done right. Fortunately, we have awesome group presentation examples to help you get the hang of it💪.

Table of Contents

What is a good group presentation, #1. delivering a successful team presentation, #2. athletetrax team presentation, #3. bumble – 1st place – 2017 national business plan competition, #4. 2019 final round yonsei university, #5. 1st place | macy’s case competition, bottom line, frequently asked questions, tips for audience engagement.

• Manager your timing in presentation better
• Learn to introduce team member now

Start in seconds.

Get free templates for your next interactive presentation. Sign up for free and take what you want from the template library!

Here are some key aspects of a good group presentation:

• Organisation – The presentation should follow a logical flow, with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. An outline or roadmap shown upfront helps guide the audience.

• Visual aids – Use slides, videos, diagrams, etc. to enhance the presentation and keep it engaging. But avoid overly packed slides with too much text. For the sake of convenience of quickly sharing the content, you can attach a QR code directly in your presentation using slides QR code generator for this goal.

• Speaking skills – Speak clearly, at an appropriate pace and volume. Make eye contact with the audience. Limit filler words and verbal tics.

• Participation – All group members should contribute to the presentation in an active and balanced way. They should speak in an integrated, conversational manner. You can also gather attention from your audience by using different interactive features, including spinner wheel live word clouds , live Q&A , online quiz creator and survey tool , to maximize engagement.

🎉 Choose the best Q&A tool with AhaSlides

• Content – The material should be relevant, informative, and at an appropriate level for the audience. Good research and preparation ensure accuracy.

• Interaction – Involve the audience through questions, demonstrations, polls , or activities. This helps keep their attention and facilitates learning.

• Time management – Stay within the allotted time through careful planning and time checks. Have someone in the group monitor the clock.

• Audience focus – Consider the audience’s needs and perspective. Frame the material in a way that is relevant and valuable to them.

• Conclusion – Provide a strong summary of the main points and takeaways. Leave the audience with key messages they’ll remember from your presentation.

🎊 Tips: Icebreaker games | The secret weapon for connecting a new group

Present in powerful and creative visual

Engage your audience in real-time. Let them imprint your presentation in their head with revolutionising interactive slides!

Best Group Presentation Examples

To give you a good idea of what a good group presentation is, here are some specific examples for you to learn from.

The video provides helpful examples and recommendations to illustrate each of these tips for improving team presentations.

The speaker recommends preparing thoroughly as a team, assigning clear roles to each member, and rehearsing multiple times to deliver an effective team presentation that engages the audience.

They speak loudly and clearly, make eye contact with the audience, and avoid reading slides word for word.

The visuals are done properly, with limited text on slides, and relevant images and graphics are used to support key points.

The presentation follows a logical structure, covering the company overview, the problem they are solving, the proposed solution, business model, competition, marketing strategy, finances, and next steps. This makes it easy to follow.

The presenters speak clearly and confidently, make good eye contact with the audience, and avoid simply reading the slides. Their professional demeanor creates a good impression.

They provide a cogent and concise answer to the one question they receive at the end, demonstrating a good understanding of their business plan.

This group nails it with a positive attitude throughout the presentation . Smiles show warmness in opposition to blank stares.

The team cites relevant usage statistics and financial metrics to demonstrate Bumble’s growth potential. This lends credibility to their pitch.

All points are elaborated well, and they switch between members harmoniously.

This group presentation shows that a little stutter initially doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. They keep going with confidence and carry out the plan flawlessly, which impresses the judging panel.

The team provides clear, supported responses that demonstrate their knowledge and thoughtfulness.

When answering the questions from the judge, they exchange frequent eye contact with them, showing confident manners.

🎉 Tips: Divide your team into smaller groups for them to practice presenting better!

In this video , we can see instantly that each member of the group takes control of the stage they present naturally. They move around, exuding an aura of confidence in what they’re saying.

For an intricate topic like diversity and inclusion, they made their points well-put by backing them up with figures and data.

🎊 Tips: Rate your presentation by effective rating scale tool , to make sure that everyone’s satisfied with your presentation!

We hope these group presentation examples will help you and your team members achieve clear communication, organisation, and preparation, along with the ability to deliver the message in an engaging and compelling manner. These factors all contribute to a good group presentation that wow the audience.

More to read:

• 💡 10 Interactive Presentation Techniques for Engagement
• 💡 220++ Easy Topics for Presentation of all Ages
• 💡 Complete Guide to Interactive Presentations

What is a group presentation?

A group presentation is a presentation given by multiple people, typically two or more, to an audience. Group presentations are common in academic, business, and organisational settings.

How do you make a group presentation?

To make an effective group presentation, clearly define the objective, assign roles among group members for researching, creating slides, and rehearsing, create an outline with an introduction, 3-5 key points, and a conclusion, and gather relevant facts and examples to support each point, include meaningful visual aids on slides while limiting text, practice your full presentation together and provide each other with feedback, conclude strongly by summarising key takeaways.

Leah Nguyen

Words that convert, stories that stick. I turn complex ideas into engaging narratives - helping audiences learn, remember, and take action.

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How to Organize Your Introduction for a Presentation [+ FREE Presentation Checklist]

May 1, 2018 | Business Professional English , Free Resource , Public Speaking & Presentations

This lesson on how to organize your introduction for a presentation in English has been updated since its original posting in 2016 and a video has been added.

Getting ready to present in English? Here’s how to make sure your introduction for a presentation in English is successful.

But first… When you think about a presentation, I know you’re thinking about something like a TED video or a presentation at a conference. You’re thinking about a speech, with PowerPoint slides and a big audience.

But did you know we use the same skills when we share new information or ideas with our work colleagues? Or when we tell stories to our friends and family? The situation or speaking task may be different but we still use the same skills.

When presenting information or telling stories, we need to:

• Capture a listener’s attention
• Share information, ideas, or opinions
• Give the important details
• Make your information memorable
• Get your audience (family, friends, colleagues or strangers) to agree, to take action, to change their mind, etc.

So today you’re going to learn how to take the first big step in your English presentation: how to start with a great introduction.

The introduction is the most important part of your presentation. It is the first impression you’ll make on your audience. It’s your first opportunity to get their attention. You want them to trust you and listen to you right away.

However, that first moment when you start to speak is often the hardest. Knowing how to best prepare and knowing what to say will help you feel confident and ready to say that first word and start your presentation in English.

Be sure to include these 5 things in your inroduction.

Lesson by Annemarie

How to Organize Your Introduction for a Presentation in English and Key Phrases to Use

Organize Your Introduction Correctly

Okay, first let’s focus on what you need to include in your English introduction. Think of this as your formula for a good introduction. Using this general outline for your introduction will help you prepare. It will also help your audience know who you are, why you’re an expert, and what to expect from your presentation.

Use this general outline for your next presentation:

• Welcome your audience and introduce yourself
• Capture their attention
• Identify your number one goal or topic of presentation
• Give a quick outline of your presentation
• Provide instructions for how to ask questions (if appropriate for your situation)

Use Common Language to Make Your Introduction Easy to Understand

Great, now you have the general outline of an introduction for a speech or presentation in English. So let’s focus on some of the key expressions you can use for each step. This will help you think about what to say and how to say it so you can sound confident and prepared in your English presentation.

“The introduction is the most important part of your presentation. It is the first impression you’ll make on your audience. It’s your first opportunity to get their attention. You want them to trust you and listen to you right away.”

Welcome Your Audience & Introduction

It is polite to start with a warm welcome and to introduce yourself. Everyone in the audience will want to know who you are. Your introduction should include your name and job position or the reason you are an expert on your topic. The more the audience trusts you, the more they listen.

• Welcome to [name of company or event]. My name is [name] and I am the [job title or background information].
• Thank you for coming today. I’m [name] and I’m looking forward to talking with you today about [your topic].
• Good morning/afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I’d like to quickly introduce myself. I am [name] from [company or position]. (formal)
• On behalf of [name of company], I’d like to welcome you today. For those of you who don’t already know me, my name is [name] and I am [job title or background]. (formal)
• Hi everyone. I’m [name and background]. I’m glad to be here with you today. Now let’s get started. (informal)

Capture Their Attention

For more information about how to best capture your audience’s attention and why, please see the next session below. However, here are a few good phrases to get you started.

• Did you know that [insert an interesting fact or shocking statement]?
• Have you ever heard that [insert interesting fact or shocking statement]?
• Before I start, I’d like to share a quick story about [tell your story]…
• I remember [tell your story, experience or memory]…
• When I started preparing for this talk, I was reminded of [tell your story, share your quote or experience]…

Identify Your Goal or Topic of Presentation

At this stage, you want to be clear with your audience about your primary topic or goal. Do you want your audience to take action after your talk? Is it a topic everyone is curious about (or should be curious about)? This should be just one or two sentences and it should be very clear.

• This morning I’d like to present our new [product or service].
• Today I’d like to discuss…
• Today I’d like to share with you…
• What I want to share with you is…
• My goal today is to help you understand…
• During my talk this morning/afternoon, I’ll provide you with some background on [main topic] and why it is important to you.
• I will present my findings on…
• By the end of my presentation, I’d like for you to know…
• I aim to prove to you / change your mind about…
• I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about…
• As you know, this morning/afternoon I’ll be discussing…

Outline Your Presentation

You may have heard this about presentations in English before:

First, tell me what you’re going to tell me. Then tell me. And finally, tell me what you told me.

It sounds crazy and weird, but it’s true. This is how we structure presentations in English. So today we’re focusing on the “First, tell me what you’re going to tell me” for your introduction. This means you should outline the key points or highlights of your topic.

This prepares your listens and helps to get their attention. It will also help them follow your presentation and stay focused. Here are some great phrases to help you do that.

• First, I’m going to present… Then I’ll share with you… Finally, I’ll ask you to…
• The next thing I’ll share with you is…
• In the next section, I’ll show you…
• Today I will be covering these 3 (or 5) key points…
• In this presentation, we will discuss/evaluate…
• By the end of this presentation, you’ll be able to…
• My talk this morning is divided into [number] main sections… First, second, third… Finally…

On Asking Questions

You want to be sure to let you audience know when and how it is appropriate for them to ask you questions. For example, is the presentation informal and is it okay for someone to interrupt you with a question? Or do you prefer for everyone to wait until the end of the presentation to ask questions?

• If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to interrupt me. I’m happy to answer any questions as we go along.
• Feel free to ask any questions, however, I do ask that you wait until the end of the presentation to ask.
• There will be plenty of time for questions at the end.
• Are there any questions at this point? If not, we’ll keep going.
• I would be happy to answer any questions you may have now.

Capture Your Audience’s Attention

Do you feel unsure about how to capture the attention of your audience? Don’t worry! Here are some common examples used in English-speaking culture for doing it perfectly!

Two of the most famous speakers in the English-speaking world are Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey. While Steve Jobs is no longer living, people still love to watch his speeches and presentations online. Oprah is so famous that no matter what she does, people are excited to see her and listen to her.

BUT, if you listen to a speech by Steve Jobs or Oprah Winfrey,  they still  work  to get your attention!

The don’t start with a list of numbers or data. They don’t begin with a common fact or with the title of the presentation. No – they do much more.

From the moment they start their speech, they want you to listen. And they find interesting ways to get your attention. In his most famous speeches, Steve Jobs often started with a personal story. And Oprah often starts with an inspiring quote, a motivational part of a poem, or a personal story.

These are all great ways to help your audience to listen to you immediately – whether your presentation is 3 minutes or 20 minutes.

Here’s how you can do it.

Like Steve Jobs or Oprah Winfrey, start with a:

• Personal story or experience
• Motivational quote or line from a poem or book
• Joke (be careful with this – make sure it translates easily to everyone in the audience!)
• Shocking, bold statement (Think of Steve Jobs’ quote: “ Stay hungry. Stay Foolish .”)
• Rhetorical question ( =a question that you don’t want an answer to; the focus is to make someone think)

And finally, consider audience participation. Ask a question and get your audience to respond by raising hands.

Get the complete Presentations in English Series:

Part 1: How to Prepare for Your Presentation in English

Part 2: How to Start with a Great Introduction in Your Presentation

Part 3:  How to Organize Your Presentation in English

Part 4:  How to End Your Presentation Powerfully

As I mentioned in the video, I have two question for you today:

• What is the best introduction you’ve ever heard? Have you watched a TED Talk or a presentation on YouTube with a great introduction? Tell me about it. What do you think was great about the introduction?
• What frightens you the most about preparing your introduction in a presentation? Share your concerns with me so I can help you overcome any challenges you have.

Be sure to share in the comments below to get feedback from me and to learn from others in the Confident English Community.

Have a great week! ~ Annemarie

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Thank you, Annemarie. thanks for the generosity of sharing useful and systemative information and content.

This is really a very informative message thank you.. And it’s help me a lot

hi thank you for this It was helpful. You used simple english that i understood well.

How to start with a great presentation on composition

Thankyou for the information . It was much helpful . I will definitely use this information in my presentation 🤗

Hi, I am Thang Sok Do you have a Sample presentation?

This was helpful but can you please tell me how to start a presentation in college because this is for work in a company. My presentation is on laboratory skills and all that

Its informative

Thank you for this video! I’ve learned quite a lot and will want to use all these knowledge in presenting my thesis proposal in 2 months. About your question no. 2, I’d just like to share that the mere fact of presenting in front of many respected professionals makes me already nervous and shaky even if i have studied everything about my presentation. What do you think should i do to deal with my concern?

Could you give me advise, how to start learning English for beginner.How to prepare presentation on any topic and how to make interesting..

Thank u so much for valuable advice. Definitely I will used this in my presentation!!

Thank you very much for these kind of useful advice. I hope my first presentation will be exciting for the audience.Your video is helping me again thanks a lot 😊

hi, i’m B.COM student and I have to prepare presentation about identifying business opportunities. How to start and an attractive attention to my audience.. Please Help me…

very nise and educative piece of information thank you nancy nairobi kenya

i am starting a video speech shooting in night about a famouse person how do i start my speech with a good intro.

Hi again how do you do a introduction goodbye

Hi i do not know what you are talking about

Hi Kate, I’m sorry to hear you’re not sure about the content. I recommend reviewing the video carefully if you haven’t already. Is there something specific you have a question about?

thanks a lot for guiding in such an easier way.

Your write-up on introduction helped a lot, thank you Annemarie. I work for cross-geography team and greetings get lengthy as timezones are different e.g. “Good evening to those joining from US office and good morning to colleagues from India office”. I replaced that with “Thank you everyone for joining”. Is it okay?

Hi Amit, I’m so glad it was helpful. As for your greeting, both of your options are perfectly appropriate and friendly.

How to introduce group members in online presentation?

Great question! I’d love to use that for a future Confident English lesson.

its amazing. i can’t explain in wording. this material helping me a lot. i am so happy after use this website . its make easy for me preparing my presentation more interesting. i am thankful too u.

thanks! i use your materials to teach my students(clinets) how to prepare a presentation. is it ok to use them on my materials?

Hi! I am a student from the USP from Tuvaluan and i take CEE45 so our assessment 2 is to prepared a group presentation and we presented in school. so need your help for how to start an attractive introduction to my teacher and my fellow students, they already kwow me.

Thank you.. very helpful

Very useful

It was very use Gul for or presentations

Hi. I am a 1st year BIT student and I have to prepare a presentation on 3D Printing. how to start an attractive introduction to my teachers, when they already know about me? Can you please help me out? Thank you.

I just took 1st place for my paper that I presented at an international students conference. I used a lot of your techniques to improve my speech and I have no words to say how grateful I am to you. Keep up the good work!

😲WOW!! That’s awesome, Andrew. 🙌Congratulations on your presentation. What a wonderful response to your hard work. I’d love to know what you presentation was about. And thank you for sharing your new here. I’m thrilled to know that my techniques were helpful to you.

The title of the presentation was “Handling burnout: A study regarding the the influence of job stressors over military and civilian personel”. I can sent you my paper through email if you would like to see it.

Hi Andrew, what a fascinating topic. And it’s interesting because I just had a newspaper reporter interview me about burnout as a small business owner. Must be a hot topic. 🙂 And sure, I’d love to see it.

🔥❤ too goodd

Hello Annemarie, Thank you so much for one of the best content on the English presentation, I’ve seen. I have a question: Is it impolite or informal to start the presentation without a greeting? I’m asking this question because I’ve seen a lot of TEDTalks and in only a few of them, they greet the audience and in most of it, they quickly go to the “CAPTURING the ATTENTION” with numbers and pictures. I would be so thankful if you could answer this question as soon as possible, my presentation is so close. Best regards, Helia

Hi Helia, What a great question. It has definitely become more common to skip the greeting and go straight to capturing the attention of the audience and you’re right that we often see this in TED talks. I would say it’s best to know your audience and what might be expected. For example, at more formal, traditional conferences or lecture, it might be more appropriate to start with a welcome. I prefer to welcome/thank my audience quickly at the start when I give presentations. A welcome can be very brief, just one sentence, and then you can quickly go into …  Read more »

Hi Annemarie I would like to thank you for giving such types of presentation skills but I have a question can you give me some idea about vote of thinks.

I’m glad the lessons are helpful to you. Could you clarify what you mean by ‘vote of thinks?’ I’m not sure I understand that.

Please can you give me some idea about vote of thanks

Could you clarify what you’re asking for, Bello?

Thanks a lot

Glad it was helpful!

it is agood i learn alot from this english class

Hello.i would like to thank you for giving these beautiful tips to start a presentation.This article helped me a lot.

That’s great, Radha. Glad to hear it.

Thanks for your article. It’s simply for interpersonal skill development.

You’re welcome, Mithun. Glad to know it was helpful.

Hi Annemarie . Thank you so much for giving such helpful guildelines it’s really gonna help me

I’m glad it’s helpful, Swetha! 🙂

thank you for help me

You’re very welcome!

Hi Anne Marie, i ‘m from Catalonia and i came across with your site only by chance and i think it’gonna be so helpful for me to pass the next test for c1 level. Several weeks ago i did some rehersals with my presentation and i was so nervous and terrified about what was expected from me.

Some tips in your youtube channel are so cool !!! Thank you.

Hi Tom, I’m thrilled you’ve found this site in your preparations for your English exam and am glad to know it’s helpful! Best of luck as you continue to prepare.

Hi Annemarie Thanks it’s so useful to develop presentation skill. Fatima

You’re very welcome, Fatima! I’m glad it was helpful.

Awesome, especially this simple and clear motto: “First, tell me what you’re going to tell me. Then tell me. And finally, tell me what you told me.” This three sentences exactly explain the content you need to create a memorable presentation.

Hi Dzmitry,

Yes, I’ve always loved that simple motto on how to do a presentation. 🙂 It’s so easy to remember and tells you exactly what to do.

hello I need to introduce myself to language center. i am going to learn Danish Language and i want to introduce myself to them and i am little bit nervous because my grammar is not good at that level.so will you please guide me how to introduce myself to them with an example. i did go through your examples but that is for professionals and i am just a student (Graduate). I don’t have any experience . Please guide me how to do it.

I was in a confused state about starting a conversation and proceeding in it but when I read the guidelines you mentioned above I became confident. thank you for your innumerable ………….

Thank you so much…… it’s an excellent topic, and it helped me a lot

I’m so glad this was helpful to you! Thank you for sharing.

hi annemarie i have a few questions about a speech i have to make a englishi speech of what i want to become can you help me?

Hi Rebecca,

Thank you for the question. I have several lessons on the topic of presentations in English . However, for personal assistance with English or presentations, I only do that through my one-on-one classes .

thank you so much…… it’s really helpful for me….

You’re very welcome, Shalini.

Thanks its really nice to develop the presentation skills

Awesome. I’m glad it was helpful to you, Mohammed.

I have to give a demo on one of your programs next week. I would like you to check my self introduction – Good afternoon everyone and thank you for all of your presence. Before we get into the session I would like to quickly introduce myself. My name is Dinesh . I am working as a Pharmaceutical sale and promotion of the brands for Arrient Healthcare. I am in this filed for the past ten years. Before becoming trainer I worked as a medical representatives for different pharma company . I am highly interested in learning from people and …  Read more »

Please ignore my previous comment. Yea the demo was a success. So hereafter I will say”I have been in this field for the past four years. Actually I worked for different consultancies so I didn’t include an article there.

I have to give a demo on one of your programs next week. I would like you to check my self introduction – Good afternoon everyone and thank you for all of your presence. Before we get into the session I would like to quickly introduce myself. My name is Monica. I am working as a Soft Skill Trainer at Synergy School of Business Skills. I am in this filed for the past four years. Before becoming trainer I worked as a Recruiter for different job consultancy. I am highly interested in learning from people and I think teaching/training is …  Read more »

Thank you for sharing your example! One note: “I am in this field for the past four years.” –> Don’t forget, when we’re talking about something that started in the past and continues to now, we use the present perfect. How might you change this sentence to fix the grammar?

Also, we want to add an article to, “… I worked as a recruiter for [a] different job consultancy.”

I wish you much success in your demo this week! Best, Annemarie

Yea the demo was a success! So hereafter I will say”I have been for the past four years. Actually I worked for different consultancies.

I like it but I think capturing their attention is the most difficult part in preparing a presentation. From my little experience, I used to talk about something out of the scope of the presentation in order to grasp their attention. For example, I had a presentation about medical terminology and its parts (suffix, prefix —). So I provided example which is Ultra Violet then I talked about the ultraviolet in the sun and Vitamin D deficiency. They liked the talk because it is very important to them and by this topic I captured their attention more and more.

Hello Fadia, I’m sorry I’m so late in responding to your comment! I agree with you: capturing attention is very challenging to do. It requires understanding your audience, knowing what is important to them, and how to connect with them. In English-speaking culture, we often connect by telling a story or showing we understand a problem the audience has. I think you’re exactly right to talk about something that is maybe “off topic” or out of the scope of the presentation, as you said, to get their attention first. It sounds like you did a great job in your experience!! …  Read more »

hi there it was great going through your enlightening presentation skills however i would be even more delighted if you put some quotes for various PPT’s which will give us an instant ideas during the adhoc PPT like myself…just a suggestion.

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Guide for Giving a Group Presentation

February 21, 2018 - Dom Barnard

In certain academic and business situations, it is more valuable to deliver a group presentation than a solo one. Many people prefer group presentations because there is less pressure on the individual. However there are also unique challenges, such as having to ensure multiple individuals collaborate in order to produce a cohesive piece of work.

Preparing for the group presentation

As with any presentation, there is a significant amount of work during the preparation stage. The group must be well organised because there are multiple individuals, and therefore multiple personalities involved.

Presentation moderator

To assist with organisation, the group should first decide on a presentation moderator – this is essentially the “leader”. The presentation moderator can have the final say when decision-making is needed and, during the Q&A portion of the presentation, can decide which speakers will answer certain questions.

Understanding the audience

To make your presentation engaging you need to  think about the audience  so you can tailor it towards their needs. How much will the audience already know about this topic? What will they want to get from this presentation?

For example, if you are presenting the topic of building a bridge to a group of civil engineers, you can confidently use technical language. However, if you are presenting to secondary school students, you would need to use simpler language and not explain the methods in as much detail.

The presentation’s purpose

As a group, ensure you agree on the purpose of the presentation so that you all understand the message that needs to be conveyed e.g. “We want to find out which treatment works best for social anxiety.” Deciding on your message means that the group can start building key points around this – just keep in mind that each subtopic must contribute to the presentation’s aim.

Divide the presentation

The presentation needs to be  divided into main areas  so there is a clear beginning, middle and end. This is where can you decide on the order of the subtopics. Presentations usually follow this structure:

1. Introduction:

• It is useful to agree on the first minute of the presentation as a team. This is because the audience should be interested from the start and convinced to listen.
• The presentation’s aims are also discussed and an overview of the presentation’s structure is provided. For example, “We set out to explore the effectiveness of different treatments for social anxiety. We will first cover the symptoms and prevalence of social anxiety, before explaining the different treatments. This will then lead into a discussion about the pros and cons of each treatment route. Finally, we will explain which treatment route we decided was the most effective for this disorder.”

2. One or two middle sections:

• These sections consist of providing the information that addresses your presentation’s aim.
• There can be more of these sections depending on your topic.

3. Conclusion:

• After summarising all of the key points, there must be a clear conclusion. It is beneficial to appoint the conclusion to the best speaker as this is where all the information is pooled together.

After segmenting the presentation, a time sequence can be created so the group understands the order in which tasks must be completed. It is important to set deadlines for this.

Share responsibility

A frequent problem when working within a group is unequal participation as this can subsequently cause disharmony.

But this is easily avoidable by assigning each speaker a section of the presentation to work on depending on their interests. This means that each speaker should be doing the research for their section and putting together a speech and slides (if being used).

• It is important to specify exactly what each group member should be doing with their time.
• Make sure the length of time per speaker is agreed on.
• Do not change speakers more than necessary because this can reduce the coherency of the presentation.

Build the presentation together

For an audience to follow and enjoy a presentation, it must flow together. Meeting up and building the presentation helps with this because:

• This prevents the duplication of content.
• You can put the slides together, although only one individual should be responsible for merging the slides so there is consistency within the presentation.
• It is useful to receive feedback on the speeches before presenting to an audience.
• The team can agree on any edits.
• The team can agree on the conclusion.
• You can make sure that each speaker will talk for the same amount of time and cover a similar amount of information.
• The team can come up with the first minute of the presentation together.

Use stories to engage the audience

A good presentation opening could  start with a story  to highlight why your topic is significant. For example, if the topic is on the benefits of pets on physical and psychological health, you could present a story or a study about an individual whose quality of life significantly improved after being given a dog.

The audience is more likely to remember this story than a list of facts and statistics so try and incorporate relevant stories into presentations.

Know what each speaker will say

Each speaker must know what the other group members will say as this prevents repetition and it may be useful to refer to a previous speaker to assist in explaining your own section.

Also, if a team member is unable to attend on the day it will be easier to find cover within the group.

Write and practice transitions

Clean transitioning between speakers can also assist in producing a presentation that flows well. One way of doing this is:

• Briefly recap on what you covered in your section: “So that was a brief introduction on what social anxiety is and how it can affect somebody”
• Introduce the next speaker in the team and explain what they will discuss: “Now Sarah will talk about the prevalence of social anxiety.”
• Then end by looking at the next speaker, gesturing towards them and saying their name: “Sarah”.
• The next speaker should acknowledge this with a quick: “Thank you Nick.”

From this example you can see how the different sections of the presentations link which makes it easier for the audience to follow and remain engaged.

Practice the presentation

Rehearse with the group multiple times to make sure:

• The structure works
• Everyone is sticking to their timing.
• To see if any edits are needed.

The more you  rehearse a presentation  the more you will feel comfortable presenting the material and answering questions as your familiarity with the content increases.

Handling nerves before the presentation

It is  natural to feel nervous  when presenting in front of others, regardless of the size of the audience. Here are some tips:

• Remind yourself that the audience is there to listen to you and wants you to do well; there is no need to be afraid of them.
• Remember that the audience members will have to present their projects later and are almost certainly feeling just as nervous.
• Practicing with your group and practicing your section at home will make you more comfortable and familiar with the material and increase your confidence.
• Practice pauses  – when people feel nervous they tend to find silences uncomfortable and try to fill gaps, such as using “um” multiple times (filler words). Practicing pauses will help the silences feel less unnatural when you present therefore reducing the need for filler words.
• When we are nervous we often begin breathing quickly and this in turn can increase our anxiety. Controlled breathing is a common technique that helps slow down your breathing to normal thus reducing your anxiety.

Exercises to control your breathing:

• Sit down in an upright position as it easier for your lungs to fill with air
• Breathe in through your nose and into your abdomen for four seconds
• Hold this breathe for two seconds
• Breathe out through your nose for six seconds
• Wait a few seconds before inhaling and repeating the cycle

During the group presentation

Introducing the team.

The presentation should begin with the presentation moderator introducing the team. This is smoother than each individual presenting themselves.

Pay attention to the presentation

You may feel nervous as you wait for your turn to speak but try to listen to the presentation. The audience is able to see the whole team so it is important that you look interested in what is being said and react to it, even if you have heard it multiple times.

Body language and eye contact

Body language is a useful tool to engage the audience:

• If it is your turn to speak then stand slightly in the foreground of the rest of your group.
• Smile at the audience as this will make you look more confident.
• Make eye contact  as this helps you engage with the audience.
• Keep your arms uncrossed so your body language is more open.
• Do not look down and read from your notes- glancing down occasionally is fine but keep in mind that you are talking to the audience.
• This is the same for  presenting visual aids ; you may need to glance at the computer slide but make sure you predominantly face the audience as you are still speaking to them.
• Keep your hands at your sides but use them occasionally to gesture.

Vocal variety

How you say something is just as is important as the content of your speech –  arguably, more so . For example, if an individual presented on a topic very enthusiastically the audience would probably enjoy this compared to someone who covered more points but mumbled into their notes.

Here are some pointers:

• Adapt your voice depending on what are you saying- if you want to highlight something then raise your voice or lower your voice for intensity.
• Avoid speaking in monotone.
• Sound enthusiastic – the more you sound like you care about the topic, the more the audience will listen.
• Speak loudly and clearly.
• If you notice that you are speaking quickly, pause and slow down.
• Warm up your voice  before a speech

Take short pauses and breath deeply. This will ensure you have more vocal variety.

Handling nerves during the presentation

• If you find that you are too uncomfortable to give audience members direct eye contact, a helpful technique is to look directly over the heads of the audience as this gives the impression of eye contact.
• Try not to engage in nervous behaviours e.g. shifting your weight or fidgeting.
• Remember that it’s unlikely that the audience knows that you are feeling nervous – you do not look as anxious as you feel.
• Notice whether you are speaking too quickly as this tends to happen when nervousness increases. If you are, pause and then slow down.

Strong conclusion

Since the conclusion is the last section of your presentation the audience is more likely to remember it. Summarise the key points and lead into a clear concluding statement. For example, if your presentation was on the impact of social media on self-esteem you could list all the main points covered in the presentation and conclude “Therefore, from the amount of evidence and also from the quality of evidence, we have decided that social media is negatively/positively impacting self-esteem.”

Questions and answer session

The questions and answers session after the main presentation can be a source of anxiety as it is often difficult to predict what questions will be asked. But working within a group setting means that individually you do not have to know everything about the topic.

When an  audience member asks a question , the presentation moderator can refer a speaker who has the relevant knowledge to provide an answer. This avoids any hesitant pauses.

If you are answering group presentation questions:

• Pause before answering- take the time to gather your thoughts and think about your answer
• Make sure you answer the question- sometimes you may start providing more information than necessary. Keeping answers as concise as possible will help with this.
• Ask the questioner for clarification if you do not understand- it’s better to ask rather than answering in a way that does not address the question.
• You’re not expected to know everything- challenging questions will emerge and if you do not know the answer you can respond with: “That’s a really good question, I’m not certain so let me look into that.”

Ending the presentation

A good ending usually consists of the presentation moderator thanking the audience. If there is another group afterwards they should transition to the next group.

SpeakUp resources

Starting a presentation in english: methods and examples.

• By Jake Pool

If you’re going to make it in the professional world, most likely you’ll have to give a presentation in English at some point. No reason to get nervous!

Most of the work involved lies in the introduction. You may or may not need an English presentation PPT file, your topic, audience, or time limit may vary, but a strong opening is a must no matter what! Everything that follows can build from the opening outline you present to your audience.

Let’s look at some guidelines for starting a presentation in English. If you can master this part, you’ll never have to worry about the rest!

Opening in a Presentation in English

While it’s important to have your entire presentation organized and outlined, planning and organization are especially important in the introduction. This is what will guide you through a clear and concise beginning. Let’s look at how to start a presentation with well-organized thoughts .

Introduction Outline

• Introduce yourself and welcome everyone.
• State the purpose of your presentation
• Give a short overview of the presentation

As we say, it’s as easy as 1-2-3. (No need for a more detailed English presentation script!) Let’s examine the first step.

1. Introduce Yourself & Welcome Everyone

The self-introduction is your opportunity to make a good first impression. Be sure to open with a warm welcome and use language that is familiar and natural. Based on your audience, there are a few different expressions you can use to start your presentation.

If you’re presenting to coworkers who may already know you:

• Hello, [name] here. I would like to thank you all for your time. As you may know, I [describe what you do/your job title] I look forward to discussing [topic] today.
• Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone. Thank you for being here. For those who don’t know me, my name is [name], and for those who know me, hello again.

If you’re presenting to people you’ve never met:

• Hello everyone, it’s nice to meet you all. My name is [name] and I am the [job/title].
• Hello. Welcome to [event]. My name is [name] and I am the [job/title]. I’m glad you’re all here.

There are certainly more ways to make an introduction. However, it’s generally best to follow this format:

• Start with a polite welcome and state your name.
• Follow with your job title and/or the reason you’re qualified to speak on the topic being discussed.

2. State the Purpose of Your Presentation

Now that your audience knows who you are and your qualifications, you can state the purpose of your presentation. This is where you clarify to your audience what you’ll be talking about.

So, ask yourself, “ What do I want my audience to get from this presentation? ”

• Do you want your audience to be informed?
• Do you need something from your audience?
• Do you want them to purchase a product?
• Do you want them to do something for the community or your company?

With your goal in mind, you can create the next couple of lines of your presentation. Below are some examples of how to start.

• Let me share with you…
• I’d like to introduce you to [product or service]
• Today I want to discuss…
• I want to breakdown for you [topic]
• Let’s discuss…
• Today I will present the results of my research on [topic]
• By the end of this presentation, you’ll understand [topic]
• My goal is to explain…
• As you know, we’ll be talking about…

When talking about the purpose of your presentation, stick to your goals. You purpose statement should be only one to three sentences. That way, you can give your audience a clear sense of purpose that sets them up for the rest of the presentation.

3. A Short Overview of the Presentation

The final step in starting your presentation is to give a short outline of what you’ll be presenting. People like a map of what to expect from a presentation.

It helps them organize their thoughts and gives a sense of order. Also, it lets the audience know why they’re listening to you. This is what you’ll use to grab their attention, and help them stay focused throughout the presentation.

Here are some examples of how you can outline your presentation:

• Today, I’m going to cover… Then we’ll talk about… Lastly, I’ll close on…
• We’re going to be covering some key information you need to know, including…
• My aim with this presentation is to get you to… To do that we’ll be talking about…
• I’ve divided my presentation into [number] sections… [List the sections]
• Over the next [length of your presentation] I’m going to discuss…

That’s it! It’s as simple as 1-2-3. If you have a fear of public speaking or are not confident about presenting to a group of people, follow these three steps. It’s a simple structure that can get you off to a good start. With that in mind, there are other ways to bring your introduction to the next level too! Read on for bonus tips on how to really engage your audience, beyond the basics.

For a Strong Presentation in English, Engage your Audience

Presentations aren’t everyone’s strongest ability, and that’s OK. If you’re newer to presenting in English, the steps above are the basics to getting started. Once you’re more comfortable with presenting, though, you can go a step further with some extra tricks that can really wow your audience.

Mastering the skill of engaging an audience will take experience. Fortunately, there are many famous speakers out there you can model for capturing attention. Also, there are some common techniques that English-speakers use to gain an audience’s attention.

*How and when you use these techniques in your introduction is at your discretion, as long as you cover the 3 steps of the introduction outline that we discussed earlier.*

Do or say something shocking.

The purpose of shocking your audience is to immediately engage them. You can make a loud noise and somehow relate the noise to your presentation. Or, you can say, “ Did you know that… ” and follow with a shocking story or statistic. Either way, the objective is to create surprise to draw their attention.

Tell a story

Telling a story related to your presentation is a great way to get the audience listening to you.

You can start by saying, “ On my way to [location] the other day… ” or “ On my way here, I was reminded of… ” and then follow with a story. A good story can make your presentation memorable.

Ask your audience to take part

Sometimes a good introduction that captures attention will involve asking for help from the audience. You can ask the audience to play a quick game or solve a puzzle that’s related to your presentation. Also, you could engage the audience with a group exercise. This is a great way to get people involved in your presentation.

There are many more ways to engage the audience, so get creative and see what you can think up! Here are some resources that will help you get started.

Also, if you want to get better at public speaking (and help your English speaking too!), a great organization to know about is the Toastmasters . The organization is dedicated to helping you be a better speaker, and there are many local groups in America. They offer free lessons and events to help you master your English speaking, and also offer additional help to paying members.

The Takeaway

A presentation in English? No problem, as long as your introduction sets you up for success . Admittedly, this can be easier said than done. Native speakers and non-native speakers alike sometimes struggle with getting a good start on their English presentation. But the advice above can help you get the confidence you need to lay a good foundation for your next speech !

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How to Deliver Group Presentations: The Unified Team Approach

When you’re asked to present as part of a panel of experts or a team making a sales pitch, you might think that there is safety in numbers and that you need to prepare less than if you were speaking on your own.

The truth is that, for your audience, a group presentation is only as strong as its weakest presenter. Here’s how to help your team create a strong and unified group presentation .

3 Ingredients of Great Group Presentations

The three ingredients to develop and deliver a unified group presentation are clarity, control, and commitment.

Clarity of Purpose

Clarity of roles, clarity of message, control introductions, control transitions, control time and space, commit to a schedule, commit to rehearsing.

• Commit to Answering Your Audience’s Questions

Incorporating these elements will give your audience a “seamless” message.

Ingredient #1: Clarity

Just as your presentation will have a clear purpose, expressed in a thesis statement, your group should create a Charter Statement that explicitly captures the group’s desired outcome.

The charter is different from a thesis statement. The thesis specifically frames the presentation message whereas the charter frames your group’s purpose. This Charter Statement becomes the test of everything that will go into the presentation and help guide the efforts of the team. The charter and the thesis may overlap, but even your thesis statement must be tested against the group’s Charter.

For example, if your group agrees that your general purpose is to sell your product, and, more specifically, you know that the key decision maker in the audience is leery about cutting checks to companies like yours, build that into your Charter Statement.

The purpose of our presentation is to sell our Product to ABC Company by overcoming the objections of the company’s Purchasing Officer through clear examples of how our Product provides a fast return on investment.

The Charter Statement will come in handy when you have a team member who may want to go “off track” to tell personal anecdotes that don’t pass the test of the group’s charter.

Personalities come into play when groups meet to develop presentations. Jockeying for position and ego struggles can quickly deplete the group’s momentum, resulting in hurt feelings and, potentially, a weaker presentation. Providing clarity to group roles helps to establish expectations and keep the entire group moving towards a common objective: a great group presentation.

“ Developing clarity within your group will help you develop a clear message for your audience. ”

Identify the roles your group needs during message development. For example, to ensure that team members are meeting assignments, select a Project Manager . This person isn’t the “boss of the presentation”, but rather will focus on schedule and assignments.

Other roles could include a Gap Analyst who is responsible for identifying “gaps” in content and support materials (handouts, graphics, etc.), which in turn could work closely with other roles within the group like the Chief Researcher .

Capitalize on the unique personalities within your group to develop roles that work well for all, but be sure to discuss the roles openly so they are clear to everyone.

Instead of writing “speeches” for each individual speaker , try creating one master presentation , a unified narrative, and then decide who speaks to which points, and when.

This is a shift from the traditional segmented method of group presentations where often group members are directed to “give five minutes of talking” and then are left to develop content independently.

In a master presentation, each speaker may weave in and out at various points during the presentation. When done well, this fluid dynamic can hold an audience’s attention better by offering a regular change in speakers’ voices and presence.

By using a master presentation, your group will ensure that each of the presenters will stay “on script” and use cohesive language, smooth transitions, and (when using visuals) consistent graphics.

Ingredient #2: Control

Your audience notices how your group introduces itself, so plan those introductions with your presentation.

Your presentation may be part of a larger event that includes an emcee who will introduce the team. If so, be sure that you provide pertinent information to the emcee that will allow her/him to generate interest in your presentation even before you begin speaking.

If your group is responsible for making its own introductions, however, you will need to decide if you will introduce your group members in the beginning, or when they first speak. Your group also will need to decide if each member introduces her/himself, or if one member will introduce everyone.

There is no one right way to do introductions, but your group must decide how to do them before the day of the presentation.

Decide how you are going to “hand off” from one speaker to the next. In the “master presentation” approach, you may want to consider simply have speakers pick up a narrative right where the previous speaker left off.

“ Your audience notices how your group introduces itself, so plan those introductions with your presentation. ”

If you use the more traditional segmented approach, each speaker may cue the subsequent speakers by identifying them and their subject matter. For example:

“…and speaking of quality control, no one is more qualified the Bob Johnson. Bob is going to tell us about how this team will deliver a quality project for you.”

Another option is to assign a group emcee who will handle transitions between presentation sections. Your group will need to determine which option makes the most sense based on your presentation style and audience expectations.

Multiple speakers translate to occupying more physical space, and the potential to gobble up more time with introductions and transitions.

If you will be presenting in a small room, consider where each speaker needs to be positioned to quickly reach the speaking area, and whether they will sit or stand when not speaking.

Your presentation must fit within your allotted time, so you will need to time your group’s presentation, including equipment set up, introductions, and transitions.

Ingredient #3: Commitment

Once you know the date of your presentation, create a schedule that includes specific milestones, such as “presentation draft due” and “final rehearsal”. Having a specific schedule allows members either to agree to the group’s expectations or to offer dates that better fit their personal schedules.

Additionally, you can assign specific responsibilities to the scheduled milestones; for example, who is responsible for bringing the handouts, projector, and laptop to the presentation?

“ If you find group members who lack the commitment to rehearse, consider finding group members who will commit. ”

Rehearsing is one of the most important steps for presentation success. Have your team members agree from day one that they will make themselves available to practice with the group.

If you find group members who lack the commitment to rehearse, consider finding group members who will commit. Practice makes perfect, and no rehearsal means your group doesn’t know what will happen to the content, timing, or quality of the presentation. Do those sound like things your group would like to leave to chance?

Commit to Answering Your Audience’s Questions

Once your formal presentation is over, you may see some raised hands in the audience, ready to pepper your group with questions. Your presentation is not over yet. How you handle those questions is as important as the presentation itself. A well-done presentation means nothing if presenters fumble questions so badly that they appear incompetent.

Have each member develop a list of potential questions and then, as a group, review the list. Discuss who will be responsible for handling which types of questions. Are there any questions important enough to build into the presentation?

From a Rag-Tag Group of Speakers to a Dynamic Presenting Team

By incorporating these three ingredients into your next group presentation process, you will find that you not only develop a presentation that your audience loves, but your group will transform from a rag-tag group of speakers into a dynamic presenting team.

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Great article — what I have found over the years with group presentations (2 or more people) is that the transitions are critical for success. Done well, with good chemistry, and a group presentation is fun to watch. Done badly, with awkward moments, and a group presentation becomes a group debacle.

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How to Introduce the Next Speaker in a Presentation

Last Updated: March 21, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Patrick Muñoz . Patrick is an internationally recognized Voice & Speech Coach, focusing on public speaking, vocal power, accent and dialects, accent reduction, voiceover, acting and speech therapy. He has worked with clients such as Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria, and Roselyn Sanchez. He was voted LA's Favorite Voice and Dialect Coach by BACKSTAGE, is the voice and speech coach for Disney and Turner Classic Movies, and is a member of Voice and Speech Trainers Association. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 232,709 times.

Whether at work, school, or a professional conference or workshop, group presentations are something you might find yourself giving from time to time. Introductions are part of any public speaking , so it’s good to know a few guidelines for introducing the person who’s speaking after you in a presentation. We want to help you nail your next presentation , so we put together this list of tips to make transitional introductions a breeze!

Things You Should Know

• Summarize your main points briefly to wrap up your portion of the presentation.
• Introduce the next topic to shift the audience's focus into a smooth transition.
• Praise the upcoming speaker or offer a few details about them. Then, state the speaker's full name and professional title to finish the introduction.

Summarize what you just talked about.

• For example, say something like: “So, in conclusion , if global warming continues at the current rate, more than 140 million people could be displaced by 2050.”
• Or, say something like: “Well, that was a brief introduction to the projected effects of carbon emissions over the next 3 decades.”

Set the audience up for the next topic with a question.

• For example, if the next speaker is going to talk about the implications of AI for future generations, ask something like: “What if by the year 2075 there was no longer any need for humans in manufacturing jobs?”
• Or, if the next presenter is there to talk about cloud computing security, ask something like: “How often do you worry about security when you save your files to the cloud?”

Say the upcoming speaker’s name.

• For example, say: “Up next is Robert Sandoval…”
• Or, say: “Here now is John Mando…”

State the next presenter’s title or profession.

• For example, say something like: “Up next is Alex Bando, Marketing Director.”
• Or, say something like: “Roger Stoney is a former philosophy professor at Washington State University.”

Tell the audience what the next person is there to talk about.

• For example, after you state the person’s name and background, say something like: “He’s going to talk to you about 5 tried-and-true time management techniques for success that you can start using today!”
• Or, say something like: “Jill is going to speak about an exciting discovery she made while researching the behaviors of the Puget Sound’s octopus population last year.”

Praise the next speaker as you introduce them.

• For example, say something like: “Sarah is truly one of the most brilliant minds I’ve met in the world of physics and I can’t wait for you to hear what she has to say.”
• Or, say something like: “Alexa has been a close colleague of mine for almost 6 years now and she’s a great public speaker, so I know you’re really going to enjoy this.”
• If you don't know the person personally, you could do a little research about their achievements and say something like: "John has won global recognition for his books and is a leading authority on economics."

Add a fun piece of information or a joke.

• For example, say something like: “Besides being a leading expert in marine biology, Jill speaks 5 languages fluently. But don’t worry, this presentation is only in 1!”

Keep the introduction short.

• For instance, your first sentence is a summary of what you said, your second sentence is a question to frame the upcoming topic, then you can fit the next speaker’s name, title, and topic all into the next 1-2 sentences. Finally, you can end with a fun fact about the next presenter in your fifth sentence.”

Give the next presenter a cue that it’s their time to speak.

• You could say something like: “Come on up, Sam!”
• Or, say: “Welcome, Rachel.”

Rehearse your entire presentation at least twice.

• If you can’t rehearse with the speaker you have to introduce, you can still practice your whole section of the presentation up to the end of the transitional intro. Just imagine that the next speaker is sitting off to the side somewhere.
• It can help to film yourself practicing in front of a mirror and then watching the video back. You can also practice in front of a friend.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-conclude-a-presentation
• ↑ https://hbr.org/2016/10/how-to-memorably-introduce-another-speaker
• ↑ https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-publicspeaking/chapter/introducing-a-speaker/
• ↑ https://www.meetingsnet.com/speakers-entertainment/4-tips-introducing-your-next-keynote-speaker
• ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6Xa1fq-oPo&t=120s
• ↑ https://hbr.org/2019/09/how-to-rehearse-for-an-important-presentation

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7 Creative Ways to Start Any Presentation (With Examples!)

I like building and growing simple yet powerful products for the world and the worldwide web.

Published Date : December 4, 2020

Reading Time :

Creating an effective presentation is challenging and needs a lot of effort to become engaging with your audience. Many questions are indeed rounding up your head.

Like how to start a PowerPoint presentation and a class set-up presentation, it helps people, such as entrepreneurs, organize and disseminate their ideas flawlessly.

It clarifies intentions, concepts, and other feasible topics specifically. They may differ from execution, events, and for whom the presentation. 

With that, the bottom line and the question is how to do it. How do you start a board meeting presentation, or how do you start a presentation introduction in class?

Many students are also struggling with how to start a case study presentation, and young entrepreneurs or start-ups are struggling with how to start a business presentation.

To ease the tension and upgrade your confidence , furthermore those people above, I will share some tips, steps, and how to start a presentation example.

Why Presentation is Important in Persuading

Presentations break communication barriers. Across this, it brings mutual understanding to the audience.

In winning your stances and goals, having and knowing how to start a presentation is a must. It helps you more to give an idea of what your topic could be through moving pictures and graphics in reality. 

The role of presentation in persuading can be categorized into many factors. First, it helps your audience to feel more comfortable with your spiels.

Second, you have the chance to tell your options,  choices, summary, and the result of your case study, etc., within your presentation. Especially can be stoop on how to start a business presentation.

Lastly, knowing how to deliver and how to start a presentation in persuading your listener includes support for your audience’s decision. Through it, the concept of persuasion becomes more reliable with tangible materials. 

It is evident in thesis defenses and academic proposals. To start a case study presentation, you must present facts, stats, related studies, and other materials.

And to achieve that in a well-presented way, you need to think and come up with a composition associated with your topic to make it reliable and credible. 

Different Ways to Start a Presentation

Difficulties on how to start a case study presentation and the things you need to behold within your PowerPoint presentation would be easy after sharing with you this advice. 

As for direction and advice, take a look at this list to start a presentation generally. 

1. Start With a Strong Claim

The beginning is always the hard part of a presentation. But like a bottle of water, after it gets opened, the water inside can flow smoothly to your gulp.

Meaning after spitting out your first words, everything should follow accordingly to your presentation. That’s why it is the most crucial when you are learning how to start a presentation. 

Try to use the iconic lines of a famous philosopher —striking advice of a hotshot entrepreneur for your business proposal presentation.

Through this, you can have a good impression on your listener. Shook them and contradict their ideas; indeed, you can have an intense or beneficial presentation. 

2. Know Your Prospect

Besides technicalities and visuals, knowing first the current state, perspective, wants, and needs of your prospect or audience is vital.

Before the presentation, you can send them a pre-assessment or survey consisting of what they want to see and learn and things to keep them interested, or you need to get their attention and interest.

3. Assist the Flow With Visuals

Showing your audience a good spiel in presenting your developing ideas and concepts through pictures that can’t be put quickly in language can break communication drawbacks.

Apart from describing your idea in a presentation, you are also giving quick ways to dice abstract ideas.

4. Moving Pictures

Pictures and videos are great instruments for nurturing your ideas and your audience counterparts.

The power of moving pictures is evident as the film business and the movie industry is booming and depicting fictional stories into reality. 

5. Break People’s Expectation

To break the set expectations of your audience for you,  always stick to your premise. Whether on business, academics, proposals, and other topical presentations.

Call an action to smash misconceptions about your particular presentation. 

6. Spill Surprising Stories

Bring stories and the characters in life. Create conflict and suspense to highlight your goal’s presentation.

It also helps you to organize your presentation’s information to be catchy and relatable. Touching stories can affect audience decision-making. 

7. Know When to Pause 

Don’t present vague ideas, premises, and concepts. Stop bombarding your audience.

After a round of applause or before speaking, take a three-second pause. Observe your audience’s facial expressions. 

With that, you can focus on your tone. It is also an indication that you want to give your audience a short rest.  

Orai helps you perfect your speech with feedback on your tone, tempo, confidence , and conciseness .

Things to Avoid on Presentation

Introducing your name along with your topic is not acceptable and is not a killer intro. To nail a presentation, be careful and prevent unnecessary elements. 

Here is the list of recommended things you should avoid on how to start a presentation.

1. Cliché Sentences

Do you believe that the flow and relevancy of your presentation depend on your introduction?

If you do believe, avoid cruddy beginnings, initials, and phrases. Instead of stating, “What will your presentation be about,” give them an idea of why they need it and why it is worth sharing.

2. Plain Visuals

Stop using standard PowerPoint templates, discarded pictures, and non-HD videos. For engaging your audience, mastering your spiels is not enough to convince your listeners.

The balanced presentation consists of a good speech , spiels, and an enticing display. Instead of using plain visuals, use simple but complex graphics.

3. Lame Transitions

It is not all about effects or glitching transition effects but about how you transmit your spiels. Always open your arguments with a bang and end them using striking remarks. 

4. Unstable Stats and Facts

Don’t use outdated data, studies, and facts. Don’t go to less up-to-date data websites. 

Treat the facts and stats as vitamins for your presentation, as it helps your exhibition look reliable and robust.

5. Colorless Templates

Pick templates that fit your topic and theme—download innovative templates and slides. Analyze your presentation structure. 

Make sure to go for a font that suits perfectly to the presentation. Go for roadmaps, unique mats, and decks. 

Check out this video for more tips on how to avoid presentation pitfalls:

Steps to Enhance Your Visual Presentation

To sort things specifically on how to start a presentation. Here are the steps and tips on how to start a PowerPoint presentation.

Step 1: Get a Color Palette

“Colors speak louder than texts.”

Aside from shapes, figures, and moving objects, picking the right color palette for your presentation can beautify the board’s ambiance if that’s the case.

Logos and company icons have their color combination to mark and emphasize their brand to all consumers. It may also apply to presentations. 

If you want to be considered or remembered, start by choosing the right color palette. 

Step 2: Create a Theme

The theme supports the flow of your topic; it is the backbone of your presentation. Not considering this element can’t make your topic vague and not intact. 

Step 3: Add Hyperlinks

Going back to how to start a presentation,  comparing specific ideas is a waste of time. Using hyperlinks, you can offer your audience a “video game” theme.

Step 4: Play Short Video or  Create GIFS

Before or after spiels about a particular slide, play a short video as an icebreaker. It helps you to feed your audience with a large amount of information in a shorter period.

Step 5: Practice the Presentation with Spiels in Every Portion

Practice helps you to attain presentation skills. You can interact with your audience, disseminate the messages clearly, and analyze your listeners’ mindset. 

You can also improve the flow of run-throughs. These will support you to polish and enhance persuasive skills.

Practice your perfect speech with Orai

Presentation Checklist 

Besides sharing the tips and steps on how to start a presentation, let me give you a sample presentation checklist to support and organize your presentation. 

This checklist may vary in every presentation. You can create and set your reminders. 

Vital Points of a Presentation 

To use your time wisely , try this outline on creating a presentation, such as how to start a board meeting presentation and more. 

This table only serves as a sample outline. It may also vary depending on your topic and forte. 

How to Start Business Presentation and Other Samples

For all entrepreneurs, this portion is for you. To gratify your needs and to enlighten you on how to start a business presentation. Here are the basics.

• Create a Plan

Always start with a concrete plan to strengthen the body of your presentation. With that, your listeners can’t easily stab your presentation.

• Pick The Right Deck

If you are discussing in a formal setting, pick a deck with gray colors, choose dominant colors, and then combine.

• Tell Stories and Laugh

To balance the whole presentation, put some icebreakers and funny idioms about your topic. Make sure it is sensible.

• Add Verbal Cues and Signpost

It helps your audience to get intact through the presentation. Try to use signal transitions, such as words or phrases that would give interconnections.

• Collect Images and Charts

Of course, images and charts are vital. Make sure to use HD photos and reliable maps from data websites.

• Initiate Audience Interaction

After the presentation, evaluate it by asking your listeners if they have any questions. 

Questions like these must be considered and answered in your presentation.

• How would you design your material?
• How factual is it?
• What is the target deadline? Show your timeline.      

Watch this live speech or business seminar to get different hooks and other strategies to impress your listeners with your business presentation:

3 Essential Parts on How to Start a Board Meeting Presentation

As your supervisor and other executives watch you presenting, stand tall and present like a boss through these points.

• Create the Structure of Your Presentation

It organizes the presentation and connects the main points to sub-points. With that, you can have minimal effort but impactful results.

• Build Big Introduction

Try to begin asking the “why’s,” furthermore, enlighten them of “hows.” How to conduct, how to execute, and how to surpass their limits.

Stop introducing your presentation with your name. Always start to implore your audience with no cliché intro.  

• Develop Your Data and Tell Crucial Parts

You can be ideological, symbolic, and rhetorical, and these things are not yet easy to comprehend without visuals. That’s why it is essential to develop and expand your data to make it understandable. 

Suppose you want to have a good impression when presenting a business proposal to your bosses and other hotshots. Watch this video on striking tips and techniques for a presentation:

Vital Aspects of How to Start a Case Study Presentation

Case study presentations are more technical, unlike the other displays. It should be specific, tangible, credible, and substantial.

Also, here are the vital points to follow. 

• Show the Possible Results. Collect the possible outcomes or predicted results. With that, you can jump to “how” you will carry the topic into different methods and production. 
• Prepare Back-Up Studies. Always have a backup; there are some unexpected circumstances, emergencies, and other possible matters that may ruin your original presentation. It is wise to prepare around three to six backup studies you can easily refer to. 
• Connect to Your Prospect’s Situation. Research on their state, status, and other related ideas. It will help your case study to get a thumbs up. 
• Focus on Deals. Keep in mind that you have a target deal. Always connect your study to the current agreement and profitable offers.

How to Start a Presentation Introduction in Class

Facing new students is challenging, right? If you want to get a good impression from your class in different situations, take a look at these tips.

• Present Yourself With Manners

Tell them briefly who you are and why you are there in front of them while showing the right conduct and manners. 

• Cite Your Objectives and Its Relevance

The material or your material must be the center of any presentation. Discuss its factuality and how tangible it is. Along with these, tell stories that may catch their interest and attention throughout the presentation.

• Leave Interesting Statement

End it with a bang! Make them think and stare at you. You can also give them riddles and some metaphorical set of words as an ending remark . 

Indeed, you will gain their participation, plus you are helping your listeners to think critically. 

Become a pro presenter. Download Orai and start practicing

How to Make an Unforgettable Start-Up Presentation 

To give more emphasis on how to start a business presentation and to help young entrepreneurs. I’ll share with you this detailed outline. I hope you tuck this with you. 

1. Set Goals For Your Business Presentation

Always set the stage with objectives. Since you are presenting to get clients and investment, it would help if you cleared how long it takes your business proposal.

2. Start With Provoking Questions or Stories

Never underestimate the power of storytelling. Initiate your presentation with real-life stories. 

Stating provoking questions can grab attention, positive or negative, is a good result. It helps you to get your listener’s ears and eyes. 

3. Show Alarming Statistics, Graphics as a Clue 

This recommendation is similar to a word game, the “4-pics, One Word,” demonstrating the idea or topic with photos will be more immersing. 

Visuals are one of the key points to expand a presentation. They are depicting patterns, diagrams, and trends. Lend quick analysis and predictions. 

By using graphics, you can easily sustain the interest of your listeners and attract more viewers. 

4. Know Your Material

Master your presentation and fill loops. And on your topic. Study the weak points and establish more of the strengths of the presentation. 

With that, you can derive the information smoothly. Take note of this. It is also vital on how to start a board meeting presentation. 

5. Add Business-Related Stories and Humor

Put the top 10 successful corporations, traders, companies, and other information that may help you present your goal. Flash the motto of some famous entrepreneurs. Analyze or contradict it to gain more attention. 

Try to spiel some business jokes as an icebreaker. Any possible facts about business that you can use — catch it!

6. Hold Your Audience With Visuals

Play videos like a Public Service Announcement (PSA), but make sure it is connected to your topic. 

Learn how to start a business presentation that has movement and action for society. With that, your listeners may think your presentation is worth investing in. 

7. Relax and Have an Early Set-Up

Stay calm and don’t even think about drawbacks or shortcomings, especially the night before the presentation.

Make sure to pamper your body. Create also a plan B for unexpected circumstances.

8. Calculate Your Time and Sort it Into Parts

In your run-through, always set a timer. It gives you a heads up if you may look rushing or too slow in explaining each slide.

Being not responsible for other people’s time is a turn-off, especially in business, where time is essential in the industry. 

To present other samples wisely. Let me share some videos to rock and how to start a presentation:

What are some examples of great presentation structures and delivery techniques?

Successful presentations like “How Google Works” and “Start with Why” prove the power of clarity and simplicity. Both Schmidt and Sinek captivate audiences with straightforward messages enhanced by visuals (slides or whiteboard) that support, not overpower, their narratives. The lesson: ditch complexity, focus on your core message, and deliver it with a conviction for maximum impact.

How can group presentations be structured effectively?

Effective group presentations require thorough rehearsal, clean transitions, and speaker handovers. Recap your section, introduce the next speaker, and gesture towards them to link sections and keep the audience engaged.

How can physical movement enhance the delivery of my presentation?

Ditch the podium! Move around the stage to grab attention, connect with listeners, and emphasize key points. Strategic shifts in location signal transitions, while your energy and passion come alive through purposeful movement. Make your presentation dynamic and memorable – get moving!

How can I structure a presentation using the remaining method approach?

To master the “remaining method,” Briefly introduce the controversy, dive deep with your side (logos & pathos!), acknowledge and dissect opposing solutions, and then unveil your “remaining solution” as the superior answer. Wrap up with a strong summary and a call to action. Guide your audience, earn trust, and win them over!

What are the key elements involved in storytelling for presentations?

Ditch the dry facts! Captivate your audience with stories. Use classic structures like the hero’s journey or jump into the action with “in media res.” Craft your narrative with a clear plot, relatable characters, and a consistent tone. Tie it all back to your key points for maximum impact. Storytelling makes presentations memorable, engaging, and impactful – go forth and win hearts (and minds)!

How can I structure my presentation using the problem-solution method?

Hook them, hit them, fix them! Problem-solution presentations start with a clear pain point, delve deep with causes and impacts (think logic and emotions!), and then unveil your solution as the hero and its amazing benefits. Finish with a call to action – tell them what to do next! Simple, powerful, persuasive.

What are some common presentation structures beyond the typical format described in the passage?

Forget the slides; show and tell! Demo presentations explain the “what” and “why” of your product, then dazzle with a live showcase. Highlight problem-solving and potential uses to keep them hooked. Leave them curious and wanting more with a glimpse of what your product can truly do. It’s all about interactive understanding and engagement!

What is the purpose of the Q&A session at the end of a presentation?

Q&A isn’t just an add-on! It’s a chance to clear confusion, recap key points, and answer burning questions. Wrapping up the discussion, offering deeper dives, and inviting audience participation – it’s the perfect way to seal the deal and connect with your listeners.

What should be included in the main body of a presentation?

Ditch the tangents and deliver on your promises! The main body is where you unpack your points. Organize it clearly, hit each topic with evidence and examples, summarize as you go, and link your ideas. Keep it focused, relevant, and audience-friendly – take notes, stay on track, and make your impact!

How should the introduction of a presentation be structured?

Hook, roadmap, and expectations – that’s your intro! Briefly introduce the topic, explain why it matters and what you’ll cover, and tell the audience how long they’re in for and if they can participate. Set the stage, guide them through, and make them feel comfortable – then dive in!

Why is structuring a presentation important?

Get organized, and get remembered! Structure keeps your audience engaged and learning while boosting your confidence and delivery. It’s a win-win for both the speaker and the listener!

Conclusion: 

To be an effective speaker or presenter, you must master how to start a presentation. Learn the basics and dynamics. 

Earn persuasive skills and grasp how to start a PowerPoint presentation with the steps and tips above to disseminate the information in a free-lingual way effectively. 

I hope you find this helpful; you are free to use these tips for any goals. 

You can try Orai , an AI-powered speech coach that perfectly suits your budget! They provide instant feedback on you to help with your public speaking needs. Start your free trial with Orai today! 

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How to Introduce Yourself in a Presentation [with Examples]

In this post, we are going to cover the best way, a very simple three-step process that will help you introduce yourself in a presentation. A summary of the steps is below.

• Start with your name and company (or organization or school).
• Tell your audience what problem you can solve for them.
• Share some type of proof (social proof works best) that you can solve this problem.

I will break down each step into a simple-to-follow process. But first… a little background.

First, Identify What Your Audience Wants from Your Presentation

So, before you design your introduction, think about what your audience wants from your presentation. Why do they want to spend their valuable time listening to you? Are going to waste their time? Or, are you going to provide them with something valuable?

For instance, I have expertise in a number of different areas. I’m a public speaking coach, a keynote speaker, a best-selling author, a search engine optimization specialist, and a popular podcaster. However, if I delivered that sentence to any audience, the most likely reaction would be, “So what?” That sentence doesn’t answer any of the above questions. The statement is also really “me-focused” not “audience-focused.”

So, when I start to design my self-introduction, I want to focus just on the area of expertise related to my topic. I’m then going to answer the questions above about that particular topic. Once you have these answers, set them aside for a second. They will be important later.

How to Introduce Yourself in a Presentation in Class.

Instead, you probably want to add in a fun way to start a speech . For example, instead of introducing yourself in your class speech and starting in an awkward way, start with a startling statistic. Or start with a summary of your conclusion. Or, you could start the presentation with an inspirational quote.

Each of these presentation starters will help you lower your nervousness and decrease your awkwardness.

If you are delivering a speech in a speech competition or to an audience who doesn’t know you try this technique. Just introduce yourself by saying your name , the school you represent , and your topic . Make it easy. This way you get to your content more quickly and lower your nervousness.

Typically, after you get the first few sentences out of the way, your nervousness will drop dramatically. Since your name, school, and topic should be very easy to remember, this takes the pressure off you during the most nervous moments.

Obviously, follow the guidelines that your teacher or coach gives you. (The competition may have specific ways they want you to introduce yourself.)

How to Introduce Yourself in a Business Presentation — A Step-by-Step Guide.

In a professional setting, when new people walk into a meeting and don’t know what to expect, they will feel uncomfortable. The easiest way to ease some of that tension is to chat with your audience as they come into the room.

By the way, if you are looking for a template for an Elevator Speech , make sure to click this link.

Step #1: Start with your name and company name (or organization).

This one is easy. Just tell your audience your name and the organization that you are representing. If your organization is not a well-known brand name, you might add a short clarifying description. For instance, most people outside of the training industry have never heard of The Leader’s Institute ®. So, my step #1 might sound something like…

Hi, I’m Doug Staneart with The Leader’s Institute ®, an international leadership development company…

Still short and sweet, but a little more clear to someone who has never heard of my company.

Should you give your job title? Well… Maybe and sometimes. Add your title into the introduction only if your title adds to your credibility.

For example, if you are delivering a financial presentation and you are the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of your company, you might mention that. Your title adds to your credibility. However, if the CFO is delivering a presentation about the value of joining a trade association, the CFO title adds little credibility. So, there is very little value in adding the title.

Step #2: Tell your audience what problem you can solve for them.

For instance, if my topic is how to deliver presentations, I have to determine why the audience would care. What problem will they have that I can help them with? For my audiences, the problem that I most often help people with is how to eliminate public speaking fear. Once I have the problem, I add that to my introduction by using the words, “I help people…”

Hi, I’m Doug Staneart with The Leader’s Institute ®, an international leadership development company, and I help people eliminate public speaking fear.

However, if my topic is How to Close a Higher Percentage of Sales Presentations , I’d likely want to alter my introduction a little. I might say something like…

Hi, I’m Doug Staneart with The Leader’s Institute ®, an international leadership development company, and I help people design more persuasive sales presentations.

I have expertise in both areas. However, I focus my introduction on just the expertise that is applicable to this audience. If I gave the first introduction to the second audience, they will likely respond by thinking, well, I don’t really get nervous speaking, so I guess I can tune out of this speech .

So, create a problem statement starting with, “I help people…” Make the statement apply to what your audience really wants.

Step #3: Share some type of proof (social proof works best) that you can solve this problem.

By the way, if you just do steps #1 and #2, your introduction will be better than most that you will hear. However, if you add Step #3, you will gain more respect (and attention) from your audience. Without adding some type of proof that you can solve this problem, you are just giving your opinion that you are an expert. However, if you can prove it, you are also proving that you are an expert.

This is the tricky part. For some reason, most people who get to this part feel like they haven’t accomplished great things, so they diminish the great accomplishments that they do have.

For instance, an easy way to offer proof is with a personal story of how you have solved that problem in the past.

A Few Examples of How to Introduce Yourself Before a Presentation.

For instance, one of my early clients was a young accountant. When I was working with him, he came up with the following introduction, “I’m Gary Gorman with Gorman and Associates CPA’s, and I help small businesses avoid IRS audits.” It was a great, audience-focused attention-getter. (No one wants to get audited.) However, as an accountant, it wasn’t like his company was getting a lot of five-star reviews on Yelp! So, he was kind of struggling with his social proof. So, I asked him a series of questions.

Me, “How many clients do you have?”

Gary, “Over 300.”

Me, “How many small business tax returns have you processed?”

Gary, “Well, at least a couple hundred a year for 15 years.”

Me, “So, at least 3000?” He nodded. “How many of your 300 clients have been audited since you have been representing them?”

He looked at me and said, “Well, none.”

So, we just added that piece of proof to his talk of introduction.

I’m Gary Gorman with Gorman and Associates CPA’s, and I help small businesses avoid IRS audits. In fact, in my career, I’ve helped clients complete over 3000 tax returns, and not a single one has ever been audited.

Here Is How I Adjust My Introduction Based on What I Want the Audience to Do.

For my proof, I have a number of options. Just like Gary, I have had a lot of clients who have had great successes. In addition, I have published two best-selling books about public speaking. I also have hundreds of thousands of people who listen to my podcast each week. So, I can pick my evidence based on what I want my audience to do.

For instance, if I’m speaking at a convention, and I want the audience to come by my booth to purchase my books, my introduction might sound like this.

Hi, I’m Doug Staneart with The Leader’s Institute ®, an international leadership development company, and I help people eliminate public speaking fear. One of the things that I’m most know for is being the author of two best-selling books, Fearless Presentations and Mastering Presentations.

However, if I’m leading a webinar, I may want the audience to purchase a seat in one of my classes. In that case, my introduction might sound like this.

Hi, I’m Doug Staneart with The Leader’s Institute ®, an international leadership development company, and I help people eliminate public speaking fear. For instance, for the last 20 years, I’ve taught public speaking classes to over 20,000 people, and I haven’t had a single person fail to reduce their nervousness significantly in just two days.

If my goal is to get the audience to subscribe to my podcast, my intro might sound like…

Hi, I’m Doug Staneart with The Leader’s Institute ®, an international leadership development company, and I help people eliminate public speaking fear. One of the ways that I do this is with my weekly podcast called, Fearless Presentations, which has over one million downloads, so far.

Use the Form Below to Organize How to Introduce Yourself in a Presentation.

The point is that you want to design your introduction in a way that makes people pause and think, “Really? That sounds pretty good.” You want to avoid introductions that make your audience think, “So what?”

If you have a speech coming up and need a good introduction, complete the form below. We will send you your answers via email!

Can You Replace Your Introduction with a PowerPoint Slide?

Is it okay to make your first slide (or second slide) in your presentation slides an introduction? Sure. A good public speaker will often add an introduction slide with a biography, portrait, and maybe even contact information. I sometimes do this myself.

However, I NEVER read the slide to my audience. I often just have it showing while I deliver the short introduction using the guide above. This is a great way to share more of your work experience without sounding like you are bragging.

For tips about how many powerpoint slides to use in a presentation , click here.

Remember that There Is a Big Difference Between Your Introduction in a Presentation and Your Presentation Starter.

When you introduce yourself in a presentation, you will often just use a single sentence to tell the audience who you are. You only use this intro if the audience doesn’t know who you are. Your presentation starter, though, is quite different. Your presentation starter should be a brief introduction with relevant details about what you will cover in your presentation.

For details, see Great Ways to Start a Presentation . In that post, we show ways to get the attention of the audience. We also give examples of how to use an interesting hook, personal stories, and how to use humor to start a presentation.

Podcasts , presentation skills

View More Posts By Category: Free Public Speaking Tips | leadership tips | Online Courses | Past Fearless Presentations ® Classes | Podcasts | presentation skills | Uncategorized

How to Start the Introduction in a Group Presentation

Audrey lucas, 25 jun 2018.

In both school and business, group presentations require teamwork, collaboration and planning. These group assignments result in comprehensive presentations that benefit from the strengths and ideas of various group members. With careful planning and a clear distribution of responsibilities, members of a group can avoid conflict and and work together effectively on a group presentation. After mapping out the presentation, all group members should participate in delivering it to the audience. When presenting, the introduction will set the tone for your presentation and determine whether you will have the attention of your audience.

Explore this article

• Ask Thought Provoking Question
• Briefly Introduce Group Members
• Incorporate Visual Aids

things needed

• Paper outlines of your presentation
• Props relating to the topic

1 Ask Thought Provoking Question

Capture the attention of your audience immediately by asking thought-provoking questions, providing startling facts and statistics or using relevant props. For a presentation about a serious political, moral or health topic, open with a question that makes the audience feel something about the subject. Use sentences that begin with "Would you ever," "What would you do if" and "Why do you think that" to make the subject personal to the audience. When presenting lighter topics, use attention getting props, such as costumes or diagrams to build interest.

2 Briefly Introduce Group Members

Each member of your group should address a designated theme or aspect of the presentation topic. Choose a leader to introduce the group members. Each group member will briefly address the audience, stating their name, role in the presentation and intentions for presenting. Establish credibility with the audience by calling their attention to your research of and experience with the topic. Audience members will take group members more seriously during the presentation after getting to know them through a brief introduction.

3 Incorporate Visual Aids

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, audience members retain 65 percent of information from oral presentations that include visual aids compared to the 10 percent retained without them. Hand out one-page outlines of your presentation to the audience stating the main points you will cover. Briefly read through the outline to prepare the audience for the presentation and invite them to take notes directly on the provided outline. Writing the information you present will keep the audience focused on your presentation and provide them with material to review later.

• Clearly define roles and expectations of group members to create equal workloads.
• Use the most confident group members to lead the introduction and capture the audience's attention.
• Involve the audience with short surveys or a question and answer segment.
• 1 North Virginia Community College: Tips for Preparing a Group Presentation

About the Author

Based in Southern California, Audrey Lucas has nine years of experience teaching preschool children. She contributes to the parenting section of her local children's magazine. Lucas graduated from California State University, San Marcos, in 2006, earning a Bachelor of Arts in liberal studies with an emphasis in literature and writing.

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The History Hit Miscellany of Facts, Figures and Fascinating Finds

St Basil’s Cathedral

Moscow, Moscow, Russia

St Basil’s Cathedral is a magnificent 16th century ecclesiastical creation of Ivan the Terrible, built in celebration of a military victory.

Sarah Roller

24 nov 2020, @sarahroller8.

About St Basil’s Cathedral

St Basil’s Cathedral is a strikingly ornate red brick building bordering Moscow’s Red Square and crowned with several vividly coloured domes, which bear a striking resemblance in shape to flames licking at the sky.

History of St Basil’s Cathedral

St Basil’s Cathedral was originally constructed in 1555, under the orders of Tsar Ivan IV (also known as Ivan the Terrible). Ivan’s intention in building St Basil’s Cathedral was to celebrate his victory in the Russo-Kazan Wars, specifically the siege of Kazan and the cathedral’s name was derived from that of a Russian Orthodox saint called Vasily (Basil) the Blessed.

There has been much dispute over who actually designed St Basil’s Cathedral, but one particularly gruesome legend says that, after they did so, Ivan arranged for the architect’s eyes to be removed so that they could not create anything to rival its beauty. This is almost certainly untrue, given records show that they were employed 25 years later to add an extra chapel. In fact, St Basil’s Cathedral was quite an innovation in Russian architecture. Nothing like it had existed before.

The interior of St Basil’s Cathedral is arguably disappointing when compared with the building’s exterior. This is due in large part to the scale and design, which lacks a focal point. The chaos of the domes hides the fact that the interior is essentially comprised of 9 chapels. Look out for the chapel dedicated to St Vasily the Blessed, a holy fool who commanded the fear and respect of Tsar Ivan himself: the chapel was commissioned after his death.

The interior does contain some interesting medieval paintings – particularly those of icons – and today forms part of the State History Museum. Look out for the tomb of St Basil himself.

St Basil’s Cathedral today

St Basil’s remains an iconic building for a reason: its colourful riot of onion domes still excites even the most jaded traveller when they view it for the first time. The cathedral is open year round, although with seasonal hours, and the maze of chapels inside can be confusing, especially when it’s busy. Whilst the interior is interesting, it’s the exterior which is the most impressive aspect of the cathedral. It can be bitterly cold inside in the winter!

Getting to St Basil’s Cathedral

It’s pretty hard to miss St Basil’s: it remains the focal point of Moscow’s famous Red Square. It is most easily accessed via the trio of metro stations – Okhotnyy ryad (line 1), Teatralnaya (line 2), Ploschad’ Revolyutsii (line 3). All three are a five minute walk away from Red Square. Approach via the Marshal Zhukov monument for the most memorable impression. Multiple roads in the city lead here, and any and every taxi driver will know where you’re heading!

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Moscow City Agglomeration Competition

Moscow City Agglomeration Development Concept Competition, Architecture Contest, Building, Design

Moscow City Agglomeration Development Concept Competition

Russian Design Contest – design by various architects

17 Oct 2012

Moscow City Agglomeration Competition Results

Moscow City Agglomeration Development Contest

PLANS FOR A NEW MOSCOW PRESENTED

At the end of August nine international teams presented their final projects for the draft concept for the development of the Moscow agglomeration to a group of experts and the client, the Moscow Committee for Architecture. At the beginning of September, they were judged by an international jury, headed by Deputy Mayor Marat Khusnullin. They judged proposals for the Moscow agglomeration as a whole, for the new extension of the city and for a new federal government centre to be located in the new extension. In the last category the project of the Urban Design Associates team was the winner, in the two other categories the team of Antoine Grumbach.

The competition for the design of a draft concept for the development of the Moscow agglomeration was announced after president Medvedev agreed with the governor of the Moscow region to transfer a part of the region’s territory south west of the city to the municipality.

The aim of enhancing Moscow’s territory 2,5 times was to relief the pressure on the city that is dealing with enormous traffic problems. At the same time, it was announced that the federal government would move its offices from the centre of Moscow to the new territory. The competition that was commissioned by the Moscow Committee for Architecture and organized by the Moscow Masterplan Institute, was based on the model of the Grand Pari(s) competition that was initiated by French president Sarkozy in 2008. Nine teams were selected on the basis of their portfolio’s.

For the first time in history, planners from all over the world were looking at the development of Moscow not just as a city, but as a metropolitan agglomeration. This is very important, since Moscow’s traffic problems are mainly caused by the daily migration to the central city by people from the agglomeration. The creation of new centers of working and living could be a way to solve this problem. The big question is where to create these centers: in the agglomeration or inside Moscow? Though most of the competitors stress that it is as important to densify the city within its borders, as it is to create new centers outside, the extension of the city is something to be dealt with – it is a development that has been taking place ad hoc for the last 20 years.

Moscow City Agglomeration Development Contest Projects

The Ostozhenka team seems to take the most radical position of all competitors by proposing to freeze urban development in the new territories, using them exclusively for the creation of recreation areas, agricultural land and forestry. All new construction should be concentrated in former industrial sites within the existing borders of the city.

Actually all teams propose to desify the existing city. In general, many teams have produced converging projects where technical aspects or just common sense appear to prevail over conceptual and artistic considerations. In this perspective, three projects can be considered more of less generic – the projects of the Urban Design Associates, TSNIIP and Chernikhov teams don’t really make clear choices but develop their project by juxtaposing obvious development potentials.

On top of this Urban Design Associates team proposes a detailed project for the government centre with an artificial lake as the binding element between the different quarters. With attractive imagery this project was especially liked by the jury, which it to considered this project the best for the federal government center.

The Bofill and Grumbach teams choose to concentrate new construction in a long linear development reaching out of the city, motivating this by the idea that this is represents the natural growth pattern of the city. Bofill’s project consists of a wave-like development that mixes urban settlements with a park landscape. The Grumbach project uses the RER model that we know from Paris, and includes an compehensive public transport plan and detailed projects for the development of the areas around the stations. These appealing proposals made the jury declare it the winning project for both the Agglomeration and the New extension categories.

Almost all projects propose a rail connection between the Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports parallel to the Moscow Ring Road, but only the l’AUC team develops this as the central axis of the new development: a parallel city that connects both existing and new settlements in the extension and links up with the existing express rail connections that currently serve the airports. More detailed projects are presented for 10 sites evenly distributed within the existing city and in the South-West extension. They include a Luxury River Area, A Slow City Area, a University Research and Development Area and the Federal Government center.

The OMA team also works with development clusters, but they are not just located in the city and the Southwest. The displacement of the government agencies and ministries as a trigger for the establishment of urban settlements outside the city is taken to its extreme: they are not concentrated in one new federal government centre but distributed around the city near existing developments that are related to the specific character of a ministry or agency: The ministry of border control near an airport, the ministry of transport near a railroad test site, the ministry of energy near a centre for nuclear science etc. On the whole the OMA project concentrates on the invention of new instruments like taxation, land use regulation and land swap rather then the creation of new urban configurations.

In contrast with the OMA plan the project by the Secchi teams is the most architecturally articulated. Not transport lines define the urban development but urban form. It proposes to shift the centre of gravity of the city towards the south west. For this it creates a large square that reaches over the Moscow ring Road and unites city and countryside. It attempts to erase the Moscow Ring Road, that in all other projects features as a rigid border of the city.

Though the jury has chosen some project as being the best, there is little chance that one or another project will be realized. However, all teams have produced large reports that will be thoroughly studied by the city and the Masterplan Institute. This will give the city a large catalogue of possible solutions and development strategies that it can use to solve the problems of the Moscow agglomeration.

28 Jun 2012

Moscow City Agglomeration Development Competition News

International Consortium including British firm McAdam Architects takes first place in second round of Moscow City Agglomeration competition

Presentations took place in Moscow on 22 June 2012 for the second stage of the competition, in which 9 teams presented the first editions of concepts for the city agglomeration development, including the existing city and the new south western sector of the agglomeration.

The international consortium, lead by well-known Russian urbanist – Andrey Chernikhov, and including McAdam Architects, Tower 151, Georgi Stanishev and Ginsburg Architects were awarded the highest score by a panel of international experts with OMA taking second place.

The consortium suggested that, instead of looking at new development in the south western sector, in the first instance an abundance of brown field and other available sites within the existing city boundaries should be attended to. They highlighted vast areas occupied by goods railways and disused industrial sites from Soviet times, as prime areas for regeneration and expansion, as well as a re-thinking of transport networks to alleviate pressure on existing systems.

Their radical proposals have sparked a debate as to the validity of the brief which emphasises the need to expand development into the south western sector.

James McAdam who attended the presentations said: the process is evolving into a fascinating discourse on how a major capital can tackle the problems of expansion and regeneration on a vast scale. As a consultation procedure the range of ideas being suggested are incredibly diverse and could be pooled as a powerful medium for Moscow’s future.

Final concept presentations are scheduled to take place at the end of August.

Moscow City Agglomeration Development Concept Competition images / information received 280612

McAdam Architects

27 Apr 2012

Moscow City Agglomeration Development Concept Competition 2012

OMA wins first round of the Moscow City Agglomeration Development Concept Competition

Moscow, 27 April, 2012 | A consortium of experts led by OMA scored the highest of the 10 teams that completed the first stage of the competition to develop the concept of the Moscow Agglomeration.

In 2011, the Russian Federation Council confirmed that the city of Moscow will annex 150,000 hectares to the southwest, making Moscow 2.4 times its current size. The expansion is designed to relieve pressure on the historic city center by redistributing the working places to the annexed part of the Moscow Oblast, thereby addressing transport, ecological and social issues that result from high levels of commuting. Before Moscow’s new administrative borders come into force in July this year, the Council called for a concept for the development of the Moscow Agglomeration, and in February this year the Council invited 10 teams to participate in the development of this concept.

For the first round of the competition, focused on a plan for the Moscow Agglomeration as a whole, OMA proposed a joint framework for the development of Moscow and the Moscow Oblast, under which the administrative border and political mandate could address the entirety of the Agglomeration. OMA proposed logistical hubs outside Moscow’s current boundaries which would be linked to the City and the Oblast through high-speed rail, integrating all forms of infrastructure: transport, broadband, industry, and energy provisions. The proposal also suggested that the development would not rely solely on government funding, but could introduce a public/private mix.

On the proposed development strategy, OMA Partner-in-charge Reinier de Graaf says, “We are very honored to participate in such an ambitious project. In launching this plan, the authorities have taken an important step in addressing the problems of the city at the appropriate scale: Moscow’s proposed expansion becomes a reason to develop a single integrated future for Moscow and the Oblast.”

The OMA team working with AMO, its internal research studio, is led by Reinier de Graaf and Associate Laura Baird. The concept is being developed together with a core team consisting of the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, Project Meganom and Siemens. This core team will be supported by an advisory board which includes McKinsey, Ricky Burdett, Saskia Sassen, member of the Committee for Global Thought (Columbia University), the Levada Center, West 8, and RWDI.

Moscow City Agglomeration Development Concept Competition images / information from OMA

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1 introduction, 2 background, 3 main theorem, acknowledgments.

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Asphericity of Cubical Presentations: The 2-Dimensional Case

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Macarena Arenas, Asphericity of Cubical Presentations: The 2-Dimensional Case, International Mathematics Research Notices , Volume 2024, Issue 7, April 2024, Pages 5524–5547, https://doi.org/10.1093/imrn/rnad204

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We show that under suitable hypotheses, the second homotopy group of the coned-off space associated to a |$C(9)$| cubical presentation is trivial, and use this to provide classifying spaces for proper actions for the fundamental groups of many quotients of square complexes admitting such cubical presentations. When the cubical presentations satisfy a condition analogous to requiring that the relators in a group presentation are not proper powers, we conclude that the corresponding coned-off space is aspherical.

The aim of this work is to explore the asphericity of certain cubical presentations |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i} \rightarrow X\} \rangle $| where |$X$| is a compact, non-positively curved cube complex and |$Y_{i} \rightarrow X$| are local isometries of compact non-positively curved cube complexes. A cubical presentation |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i} \rightarrow X\} \rangle $| “presents” the group |$\pi _{1}X/\langle \langle \{\pi _{1}Y_{i}\}\rangle \rangle $|⁠ , thus generalizing the fact that a group presentation |$\mathcal{P}=\langle S| R \rangle $| defines the group |$\langle S\rangle / \langle \langle R \rangle \rangle $|⁠ .

It is a well-known result of Lyndon [ 20 ] that classical |$C(6)$| presentations are aspherical if no relators are proper powers, and thus that the groups admitting such presentations have cohomological dimension at most equal to |$2$|⁠ . This was generalized to the setting of graphical |$C^{\prime}(\frac{1}{6})$| small-cancellation presentations by Gromov [ 12 ] and Ollivier [ 21 ], and graphical |$C(6)$| presentations by Gruber [ 13 ], and to the setting of small-cancellation for rotation families of groups by Coulon [ 9 ]. In what follows, we take the first steps towards a generalization of these results to the setting of cubical small-cancellation theory, and show the following:

Let |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\}_{i \in I} \rangle $| be a minimal cubical presentation that satisfies the |$C(9)$| condition. Let |$\pi _{1} X^{*}=\pi _{1}X/\langle \langle \{\pi _{1}Y_{i}\}_{i \in I}\rangle \rangle =:G$|⁠ . If |$dim(X)\leq 2$| and each |$Y_{i}$| is homotopy equivalent to a graph, then |$X^{*}$| is a |$K(G,1)$|⁠ , so |$G$| is torsion-free and |$gd(G)\leq 2$|⁠ .

The above hypothesised minimality is the cubical analogue of requiring, in the classical setting, that none of the relators are proper powers, and is necessary to avoid torsion. See Definition 2.12 below.

Replacing minimality with the weaker hypothesis that |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\}_{i \in I} \rangle $| be symmetric in the sense of Definition 2.9 , we obtain instead classifying spaces for proper actions for |$\pi _{1} X^{*}$|⁠ . These spaces arise in connection to the Baum-Connes conjecture, and thus this is part of the motivation for finding good models for |$\underline EG$|⁠ .

Let |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\}^{k}_{i=1} \rangle $| be a symmetric cubical presentation that satisfies the |$C(9)$| condition. Let |$\pi _{1} X^{*}=\pi _{1}X/\langle \langle \{\pi _{1}Y_{i}\}^{k}_{i=1}\rangle \rangle =:G$|⁠ . If |$dim(X)\leq 2$| and each |$Y_{i}$| is homotopy equivalent to a graph, then there is a quotient |$\bar X^{*}$| of |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$| that is an |$\underline EG$|⁠ , so |$cd_{\mathbb{Q}} (G) \leq dim(\bar X^{*}) \leq 2$|⁠ . If, in addition, |$X$| has a finite regular cover where each |$Y_{i} \rightarrow X$| lifts to an embedding, then |$vcd(G) \leq 2$|⁠ .

Since some of the cubically presented groups satisfying the hypotheses above have torsion, Theorem 1.2 is the best statement possible in this generality.

Theorems 1.1 and 1.2 will follow from Theorem 3.5 , which applies to cubical presentations of arbitrary dimension and is of independent interest.

Assuming minimality or symmetry, and under the hypotheses on the dimension of |$X$| and the |$Y_{i}$| ’s stated above, Theorems 1.1 and 1.2 answer a question posed by Wise in [ 22 , 4.5]. The general case of the theorem, where the dimensions of |$X$| and |$Y_{i}$| are arbitrary, and which we use to derive near-sharp bounds on the (virtual) cohomological dimension of |$X^{*}$|⁠ , will be treated in forthcoming work [ 4 ].

Classical and graphical small-cancellation groups are hyperbolic as soon as they satisfy either the |$C^{\prime}(\frac{1}{6})$| or the |$C(7)$| conditions, and the groups produced in [ 9 ] are also hyperbolic. Thus, our main theorem is particularly interesting in that hyperbolicity is neither assumed nor deduced: while one can conclude hyperbolicity for a sufficiently good cubical small cancellation presentation if one assumes hyperbolicity of |$\pi _{1}X$|⁠ , it is nevertheless the case that non-hyperbolic, and even non-relatively-hyperbolic groups can satisfy strong cubical small-cancellation conditions. Thus, Theorems 1.1 and 1.2 apply to a large and varied family of quotients of cubulated groups.

Despite their indisputable value as a source of examples of interesting group-theoretic behaviour, the classical and graphical small-cancellation theories are limited in their applicability in that they can only serve to understand “nice” quotients of free groups; cubical small-cancellation theory transfers some of the complexity arising from the relators in a group presentation to the “cubical generator” in the cubical presentation—that is, the cube complex |$X$| that is being quotiented—making it possible to exploit the tools of cubical geometry to prove more general theorems.

This approach has already proven fruitful in many instances: particularly, it plays a key role in Agol’s celebrated proofs of the Virtual Haken and Virtual Fibred Conjectures [ 1 , 2 ], which build on work of Wise [ 22 ] and his collaborators [ 7 , 14 , 15 ]; it is used by Arzhantseva and Hagen in [ 3 ] to show that many groups that arise as quotients of cubulated groups are acylindrically hyperbolic; it is used by Jankiewicz and Wise in [ 17 ] to construct fundamental groups of compact nonpositively curved cube complexes that do not virtually split, and it is used by the author in [ 5 ] to produce a version of the Rips construction that provides cocompactly cubulated hyperbolic groups of arbitrarily large finite cohomological dimension, many of which algebraically fibre.

1.1 Structure of the paper

In Section 2 we present the necessary background on cubical small cancellation theory, diagrams in cell complexes, and asphericity. In Section 3 we give the proof of our main technical result, Theorem 3.5 , and use it to deduce Theorems 1.1 and 1.2 . Finally, in Section 4 we outline some examples to which our theorem applies.

2.1 Cubical small-cancellation theory

Unless otherwise noted, all definitions and results concerning cubical small-cancellation theory recounted in Subsections 2.1 and 2.2 originate in [ 22 ].

We begin this section by introducing our main objects of study:

A cubical presentation |$\langle X|\{Y_{i}\} \rangle $| consists of a connected non-positively curved cube complex |$X$| together with a collection of local isometries of connected non-positively curved cube complexes |$Y_{i} \overset{\varphi _{i}} \longrightarrow X$|⁠ . Local isometries of non-positively curved cube complexes are |$\pi _{1}$| -injective, so it makes sense to define the fundamental group of a cubical presentation as |$\pi _{1} X/\langle\langle{\{\pi _{1} Y_{i}\}}\rangle\rangle$|⁠ . By the Seifert-Van Kampen Theorem, this group is isomorphic to the fundamental group of the space |$X^{*}$| obtained by coning off each |$Y_{i}$| in |$X$|⁠ . Hereinafter, all auxiliary definitions and results about cubical presentations are in practice statements about their associated coned-off spaces.

A group presentation |$\langle a_{1}, \ldots , a_{s} | r_{1}, \ldots , r_{m} \rangle $| can be interpreted cubically by letting |$X$| be a bouquet of s circles and letting each |$Y_{i}$| map to the path determined by |$r_{i}$|⁠ . On the other extreme, for every non-positively curved cube complex |$X$| there is a “free” cubical presentation |$X^{*}=\langle X| \ \rangle $| with fundamental group |$\pi _{1}X=\pi _{1}X^{*}$|⁠ .

(1) |$\hat Y$| is connected,

(2) |$\hat{Y} \rightarrow Y$| is a covering map, the composition |$\hat{Y} \rightarrow Y \rightarrow X$| equals |$\hat{Y} \rightarrow \hat X \rightarrow X$|⁠ , and

(3) assuming all maps involved are basepoint preserving, |$\pi _{1} \hat{Y}$| equals the preimage of |$\pi _{1} \hat{X}$| in |$\pi _{1} Y$|⁠ .

(1) Elevations of the first type will be denoted |$\widetilde Y \rightarrow X$|⁠ , since |$\widetilde Y$| is indeed a copy of the universal cover of |$Y$| in |$\widetilde X$|⁠ . At times, we will distinguish various elevations using the action of |$\pi _{1}X$| on |$\widetilde X$|⁠ . That is, we choose a base elevation |$\widetilde Y$| and tag a translate |$g\widetilde Y$| by the corresponding element |$g \in \pi _{1}X$|⁠ .

(2) Elevations of the second type will be denoted |$ Y \rightarrow X$|⁠ . This choice of notation might seem confusing to the reader now, but it will follow from Theorem 2.27 that under appropriate small-cancellation conditions—also introduced below, in Definition 2.13 —elevations |$Y \rightarrow X$| to |$\hat X \rightarrow X$| are embeddings. As in the case of elevations to |$\widetilde X$|⁠ , we might distinguish various elevations to |$\hat X$| using the action of |$\pi _{1}X^{*}$| on |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ .

Let |$\langle X | \{Y_{i}\} \rangle $| be a cubical presentation. An abstract contiguous cone-piece |$P$| of |$Y_{j}$| in |$Y_{i}$| is an intersection |$\widetilde{Y}_{j} \cap \widetilde{Y}_{i}$| where |$\widetilde{Y}_{j}, \widetilde{Y}_{i}$| are fixed elevations to |$\widetilde X$| and either |$i \neq j$| or where |$i = j$| but |$\widetilde{Y}_{j} \neq \widetilde{Y}_{i}$|⁠ . Each abstract contiguous cone-piece |$P$| induces a map |$P \rightarrow Y_{i}$|⁠ , which is the composition |$P \hookrightarrow \widetilde{Y}_{i} \rightarrow Y_{i}$|⁠ , and a cone-piece of |$Y_{j}$| in |$Y_{i}$| is a combinatorial path |$p \rightarrow P$| in an abstract contiguous cone-piece of |$Y_{j}$| in |$Y_{i}$|⁠ .

An abstract contiguous wall-piece |$P$| of |$Y_{i}$| is an intersection |$N(H) \cap \widetilde{Y}_{i}$| where |$\widetilde{Y}_{i}$| is a fixed elevation and |$N(H)$| is the carrier of a hyperplane |$H$| that is disjoint from |$\widetilde{Y}_{i}$|⁠ . To avoid having to deal with empty pieces, we shall assume that |$H$| is dual to an edge with an endpoint on |$\widetilde{Y}_{i}$|⁠ . As in the case of cone-pieces, each abstract contiguous wall-piece |$P$| induces a map |$P \rightarrow Y_{i}$|⁠ , and a wall-piece of |$Y_{i}$| is a combinatorial path |$p \rightarrow P$| in an abstract contiguous wall-piece of |$Y_{i}$|⁠ .

A piece is either a cone-piece or a wall-piece.

In Definition 2.5 , two elevations of a cone |$Y$| are considered identical if they differ by an element of |$Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y)$|⁠ . This is in keeping with the conventions of classical small cancellation theory, where overlaps between a relator and any of its cyclic permutations are not regarded as pieces.

See [ 3 ] for a detailed discussion.

Let |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\}_{I} \rangle $|⁠ . For convenience we assume, as is standard to assume in this framework [ 22 , 3.3], that |$\pi _{1}Y_{i}$| is normal in |$Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})$| for each |$i \in I$|⁠ . Throughout, we will assume also that |$X$| is finite dimensional and locally finite, and that each |$Y_{i}$| is connected.

For the purposes of this paper, we will need to impose further restrictions on a cubical presentation; these are described below.

A local-isometry |$Y \rightarrow X$| with |$Y$| connected and superconvex is symmetric if for each component |$K$| of the fibre product |$Y\otimes _{_{X}} Y$|⁠ , either |$K$| maps isomorphically to each copy of |$Y$|⁠ , or |$[\pi _{1}Y: \pi _{1}K]=\infty $|⁠ . A cubical presentation |$\langle X | \{Y_{i}\} \rangle $| is symmetric if each |$Y_{i} \rightarrow X$| is symmetric.

Superconvexity is defined in [ 22 , 2.35], and also in [ 5 , 2.4]. We refrain from stating the definition here, since we will only use it implicitly when applying Lemma 2.11 in Section 3 .

(Commensurator) The commensurator |$C_{G}(H)$| of a subgroup |$H$| of |$G$| is the subgroup |$C_{G}(H)=\{g \in G: [H:H^{g} \cap H] < \infty \ \textrm{and}\ [H^{g}:H^{g} \cap H] < \infty \}$|⁠ .

In [ 22 , 8.12], the following is observed:

Let |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\} \rangle $| be a cubical presentation. Then |$X^{*}$| is symmetric if and only if |$C_{\pi _{1}X}(\pi _{1} Y_{i})=Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})$|⁠ , |$[Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i}):\pi _{1}Y_{i}]< \infty $|⁠ , and |$\pi _{1}Y_{i} \vartriangleleft Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})$| for each |$Y_{i} \rightarrow X$|⁠ .

To the best of our knowledge, the following notion was introduced in [ 3 ], where it is used in the course of proving acylindrical hyperbolicity for certain cubical presentations satisfying strong cubical small-cancellation conditions.

A cubical presentation |$\langle X | \{Y_{i}\}_{I} \rangle $| is minimal if the following holds for each |$i \in I$|⁠ : let |$\widetilde Y_{i} \rightarrow Y_{i}$| be the universal cover, and let |$\widetilde{Y_{i}} \rightarrow Y_{i} \rightarrow X$| be an elevation of |$Y_{i} \rightarrow X$|⁠ . Fix a basepoint |$x_{0}$| in |$X$|⁠ . Then |$Stab_{\pi _{1}(X, x_{0})}(\widetilde{Y_{i}})=\pi _{1} (Y_{i}, y_{i_{0}})$|⁠ .

Minimality generalizes prohibiting relators that are proper powers in the classical small-cancellation case. In our setting, minimality is used to avoid the “obvious” torsion that could be created in a quotient |$\pi _{1}X/\langle \langle \{\pi _{1} Y^{\prime}_{i}\} \rangle \rangle $| if the |$Y^{\prime}_{i} \rightarrow X$| are themselves non-trivial finite covers |$Y^{\prime}_{i} \rightarrow Y_{i} \rightarrow X$|⁠ . For instance, if |$Y$| is a finite degree covering of |$X$|⁠ , the cubical presentation |$X^{*}=\langle X | Y \rangle $| will have finite fundamental group, even if it satisfies the |$C(9)$| condition defined below (or any other small cancellation condition).

A cubical presentation |$X^{*}$| satisfies the |$C(n)$| small-cancellation condition if no essential closed path |$\sigma \rightarrow Y_{i}$| is the concatenation of fewer than |$n$| pieces.

An analogue of the |$C^{\prime}(\frac{1}{n})$| condition can also be defined in this setting, but we won’t need it in the present work. We remark only that, as in the classical case, the cubical |$C^{\prime}(\frac{1}{n})$| condition implies the cubical |$C(n+1)$| condition, but the implication is very much not reversible: regardless of the choices of |$n$| and |$n^{\prime}$|⁠ , the cubical |$C(n)$| condition does not necessarily imply the cubical |$C^{\prime}(\frac{1}{n^{\prime}})$| condition.

2.2 Diagrams in cube complexes and cubical presentations

In this section we introduce disc and spherical diagrams, and the general related jargon—the analysis of the possible diagrammatic behaviours in |$C(9)$| cubical presentations, and the use of the tools already available in this context, will be the main ingredients utilized in Section 3 .

A map |$f: X \longrightarrow Y$| between 2-complexes is combinatorial if it maps cells to cells of the same dimension. A complex is combinatorial if all attaching maps are combinatorial, possibly after subdividing the cells.

A disc diagram |$D$| is a compact contractible combinatorial 2-complex, together with an embedding |$D \hookrightarrow S^{2}$|⁠ . The boundary path |$\partial D$| is the attaching map of the 2-cell at infinity. A disc diagram in a complex X is a combinatorial map |$D \rightarrow X$|⁠ . A square disc diagram is a disc diagram that is also a cube complex (though not necessarily non-positively curved!). Note that any disc diagram in a cube complex is a square disc diagram.

We introduce some of the phenomena that may arise in square-disc diagrams; unlike in the general setting of |$2$| -complexes, problematic behaviour of diagrams can be described and classified precisely in the cubical setting.

A dual curve in a square disc diagram is a path that is a concatenation of midcubes. The 1-cells crossed by a dual curve are dual to it. A bigon is a pair of dual curves that cross at their first and last midcubes. A monogon is a single dual curve that crosses itself at its first and last midcubes. A nonogon is a single dual curve of length |$\geq 1$| that starts and ends on the same dual 1-cell, thus it corresponds to an immersed cycle of midcubes. A spur is a vertex of degree |$1$| on |$\partial D$|⁠ .

A cancellable pair leads to a smaller area disc diagram via the following procedure: cut out |$e\cup Int(R_{1})\cup Int(R_{2})$| and then glue together the paths |$\partial R_{1}-e$| and |$\partial R_{2}-e$| to obtain a diagram |$D^{\prime}$| with |$\textsf Area(D^{\prime})=\textsf Area(D)-2$| and |$\partial D^{\prime}=\partial D$|⁠ .

By performing the procedure just described to cancellable pairs, diagrams in non-positively curved cube complexes can often be simplified to avoid certain pathologies.

[ 22 , 2.3+2.4] Let |$D \rightarrow X$| be a disc diagram in a non-positively curved cube complex. If |$D$| contains a bigon or a nonogon, then there is a new diagram |$D^{\prime}$| having the same boundary path as |$D$|⁠ , so |$\partial D^{\prime} \rightarrow X$| equals |$\partial D \rightarrow X$|⁠ , and such that |$Area(D^{\prime})\leq Area(D)-2$|⁠ . Moreover, no disc diagram in |$X$| contains a monogon, and if |$D$| has minimal area among all diagrams with boundary path |$\partial D$|⁠ , then |$D$| cannot contain a bigon nor a nonogon.

Some additional terminology is necessary when describing diagrams in cubical presentations:

Recall that the coned-off space |$X^{*}$| introduced in Definition 2.1 consists of |$X$| with a cone on |$Y_{i}$| attached to |$X$| for each |$i$|⁠ . The vertices of the cones on |$Y_{i}$| ’s are the cone-vertices of |$X^{*}$|⁠ . The cellular structure of |$X^{*}$| consists of all the original cubes of |$X$|⁠ , and the pyramids over cubes in |$Y_{i}$| with a cone-vertex for the apex. Let |$D \rightarrow X^{*}$| be a disc diagram in a cubical presentation. The vertices in |$D$| that are mapped to the cone-vertices of |$X^{*}$| are the cone-vertices of |$D$|⁠ . Triangles in |$D$| are naturally grouped into cyclic families meeting around a cone-vertex. Each such family forms a subspace of |$D$| that is a cone on its bounding cycle. A cone-cell of |$D$| is a cone that arises in this way. To simplify the theory, when analysing diagrams in a cubical presentation we “forget” the subdivided cell-structure of a cone-cell |$C$| and regard it simply as a single |$2$| -cell.

A situation that may occur with diagrams in coned-off spaces is that two cone-cells might come from the same coned-off relation |$Y$|⁠ . When this happens, it is often possible to fuse these two cone-cells together into a single cone-cell, as explained below. This simplification does not arise in the “purely cubical” setting, but will be useful for analysing diagrams in cubical presentations.

A pair of cone cells |$C,C^{\prime}$| in |$D$| is combinable if they map to the same cone |$Y$| of |$X^{*}$| and |$\partial C$| and |$\partial C^{\prime}$| both pass through a vertex |$v$| of |$D$|⁠ , and map to closed paths at the same point of |$Y$| when regarding |$v$| as their basepoint.

As the name suggests, such a pair can be combined to simplify the diagram by replacing the pair with a single cone-cell mapping to |$Y$| and whose boundary is the concatenation |$\partial C \partial C^{\prime}$|⁠ .

(1) There is no bigon in a square subdiagram of |$D$|⁠ .

(2) There is no cornsquare whose outerpath lies on a cone-cell of |$D$|⁠ .

(3) There does not exist a cancellable pair of squares.

(4) There is no square |$s$| in |$D$| with an edge on a cone-cell |$C$| mapping to the cone |$Y$|⁠ , such that |$(C\cup s)\rightarrow X$| factors as |$(C\cup s) \rightarrow Y \rightarrow X$|⁠ .

(5) For each internal cone-cell |$C$| of |$D$| mapping to a cone |$Y$|⁠ , the path |$\partial C$| is essential in |$Y$|⁠ .

(6) There does not exist a pair of combinable cone-cells in |$D$|⁠ .

A closely-related notion to that of disc diagram reducibility is that of complexity:

The complexity |$ Comp(D)$| of a disc diagram |$D\rightarrow X^{*}$| is the ordered pair |$(\#\text{Cone-cells}, \#\textrm{Squares})$|⁠ . We order the pairs lexicographically: namely |$(\#C,\#S) < (\#C^{\prime},\#S^{\prime})$| whenever |$\#C<\#C^{\prime}$| or |$\#C=\#C^{\prime}$| and |$\#S < \#S^{\prime}$|⁠ . A disc diagram |$D\rightarrow X^{*}$| has minimal complexity if no disc diagram |$D^{\prime}\rightarrow X^{*}$| having |$\partial D =\partial D^{\prime}$| has |$Comp(D^{\prime})< Comp(D)$|⁠ .

Since the objective of this work is to understand the second homotopy group of a cubical presentation, it will come as no surprise that in addition to disc diagrams, their spherical analogues will also play a key role in this endeavour.

A spherical diagram |$\Sigma $| is a compact simply-connected combinatorial 2-complex, together with a homeomorphism |$\Sigma \hookrightarrow S^{2}$|⁠ . A spherical diagram in a complex X is a combinatorial map |$\Sigma \rightarrow X$|⁠ . We define reduced spherical diagrams and complexity in the same way as in Definitions 2.20 and 2.21 , replacing all instances of “disc diagram” by “spherical diagram”. A spherical diagram has minimal complexity if no spherical diagram |$\Sigma ^{\prime}\rightarrow X^{*}$| homotopic to |$\Sigma $| has |$Comp(\Sigma ^{\prime})< Comp(\Sigma )$|⁠ .

All diagrams in this paper are either square disc or square spherical diagrams, or are disc or spherical diagrams in the coned-off space associated to a cubical presentation.

If a disc diagram or spherical diagram has minimal complexity, then it is also reduced, as any of the pathologies in Definition 2.20 would indicate a possible complexity reduction. For instance, a cornsquare whose outerpath lies on a cone-cell can be absorbed, after a sequence of hexagon moves—each of which corresponds to pushing a hexagon on one side of a |$3$| -cube to obtain the hexagon on the other side—into said cone-cell; a cancellable pair of squares can be cancelled as described in Definition 2.16 ; a square bigon leads to a cancellable pair of squares after a sequence of hexagon moves; and a pair of combinable cone-cells in |$D$| can be combined to reduce the number of cone-cells by |$1$|⁠ . A detailed case-by-case analysis of all possible reductions can be found in [ 22 , 3.e].

A shell of |$D$| is a 2-cell |$C \rightarrow D$| whose boundary path |$\partial C \rightarrow D$| is a concatenation |$QP_{1} \cdots P_{k}$| for some |$k \leq 4$| where |$Q$| is a boundary arc in |$D$| and |$P_{1}, \ldots , P_{k}$| are non-trivial pieces in the interior of |$D$|⁠ . The arc |$Q$| is the outerpath of |$C$| and the concatenation |$S:=P_{1} \cdots P_{k}$| is the innerpath of |$C$|⁠ .

Note that if a cubical presentation |$X^{*}$| satisfies the |$C(n)$| condition and |$D$| is a minimal complexity diagram, then the outerpath of a shell in |$D$| is the concatenation of |$\geq n-4$| pieces.

A potential disc diagram with a range of features: a spur, shells, corners, cornsquares, and a cut-vertex.

In almost all forms of small-cancellation theory, the main technical result that facilitates proving theorems is a form of diagram classification. In the classical setting, this is known as Greendlinger’s Lemma [ 11 ], in the cubical setting this is known as diagram trichotomy, or as the “Fundamental Lemma”. We state it in a simplified form that is sufficient for our applications, and which we shall call diagram dichotomy :

|$D$| consists of a single cell,

|$D$| has at least two shells and/or corners and/or spurs.

[ 16 ] Let |$X^{*}=\langle X|\{Y_{i}\}\rangle $| be a cubical presentation satisfying the |$C(9)$| condition. Then each |$Y_{i}$| embeds in the universal cover |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$| of the coned-off space |$X^{*}$|⁠ .

2.3 Asphericity

We will require the following fundamental fact about combinatorial paths in |$2$| -complexes.

For our purposes, the spherical version of Van-Kampen’s Lemma will also be extremely useful. That is, we need to be able to assert that all elements of |$\pi _{2}$| have diagram representatives:

Let |$X$| be a combinatorial |$2$| -complex. Then every homotopy class of maps |$S^{2} \rightarrow X$| is represented by a spherical diagram |$\Sigma \rightarrow X$|⁠ .

Theorem 2.29 is presented (with or without a proof) in slightly different ways in various sources. The version we use can be extracted from [ 10 , Section 2] via the viewpoint of “pictures”, which are planar graph representations of homotopy elements and are dual to spherical diagrams.

We commence this section with a definition.

(1) every cell stabilizer is finite,

(2) for each finite subgroup |$H<G$|⁠ , the fixed point space |$\underline{E}G^{H}$| is contractible.

Every group |$G$| admits an |$\underline EG$|⁠ , and all models for |$\underline EG$| are |$G$| -homotopy equivalent; we also have the inequality |$cd_{\mathbb{Q}}(G)\leq dim (\underline EG)$|⁠ , for any group |$G$| admitting a finite dimensional |$\underline EG$|⁠ . More details, and a general construction of classifying spaces for proper actions, can be found in [ 18 ].

To prove our asphericity result, we must slightly simplify the coned-off space |$X^{*}$| associated to a cubical presentation. Intuitively, we do this in |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$| by “collapsing” or “squashing together” various cones into a single one whenever their base spaces correspond to elevations of a |$Y_{i} \rightarrow X$| having the same preimage in |$\widetilde X$|⁠ ; at this point, we remind the reader of Convention 2.4 .

The precise construction is as follows:

Let |$X^{*}= \langle X |\{Y_{i}\}_{i \in I} \rangle $| be a cubical presentation and consider the universal cover |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$| of the coned-off space. Note that |$X$| is a subspace of |$X^{*}$|⁠ , so the preimage |$\hat X$| of |$X$| in |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$| is a covering space of |$X$|⁠ , namely the regular cover corresponding to |$ker(\pi _{1}X \rightarrow \pi _{1}X^{*})$|⁠ . Consider the universal cover |$\widetilde X $| of |$X$|⁠ . For each |$i \in I$|⁠ , and for any fixed elevation |$\widetilde Y_{i} \rightarrow \widetilde X$| of |$Y_{i}$|⁠ , we have that |$\pi _{1} (Y_{i},y_{i_{0}}) < Stab_{\pi _{1}(X,x_{0})}(\widetilde Y_{i})$|⁠ . If |$X^{*}= \langle X |\{Y_{i}\}_{i \in I} \rangle $| is minimal, then by definition |$\pi _{1} (Y_{i},y_{i_{0}}) = Stab_{\pi _{1}(X,x_{0})}(\widetilde Y_{i})$|⁠ , but in general this is not the case.

Let |$\{g_{\ell }\pi _{1} Y_{i}\}$| be coset representatives of |$\pi _{1} (Y_{i},y_{i_{0}})$| in |$Stab_{\pi _{1}(X,x_{0})}(\widetilde Y_{i})$|⁠ . The elevations |$\{g_{\ell } Y_{i} \rightarrow \hat X\}$| have the same image in |$\hat{X}\subset \widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ , so their cones are all isomorphic in |$ \widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ . Thus, there is a quotient |$\cup _{\ell }g_{\ell } C(Im_{\hat X} (Y_{i})) \rightarrow C(Im_{\hat X} (Y_{i}))$| where all cones over |$Im_{\hat X}(Y_{i})$| are identified to a single cone. This extends to a quotient |$\widetilde{X^{*}} \rightarrow \bar X^{*}$|⁠ , which we call the reduced space of |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ .

Another way to think about |$\bar X^{*}$| is as the cubical presentation |$ \langle \hat X |\{Im_{\hat X} (Y_{i}) \} \rangle $|⁠ , where the |$Y_{i}$| range over all |$i \in I$| and over all elevations of |$Y_{i}$| with distict image. Of course, |$\hat X$| is not compact, and there are infinitely many |$Y_{i}$| ’s, so this is an “infinitely generated” cubical presentation with infinitely many “relators”. It presents, in fact, the trivial group, as we show in Lemma 3.4 . It is immediate from Construction 3.2 that if |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$| satisfies the |$C(n)$| condition for |$n>0$|⁠ , then so does |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ .

Thus, there are no hidden technicalities in applying the theory from Section 2 to |$\bar X^{*}$| rather than to |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ . In particular, it makes sense to talk about minimal complexity diagrams and pieces, and Diagram Dichotomy and Theorem 2.27 all hold for |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ .

As mentioned above, the following is a quick but important observation:

|$\bar X^{*}$| is simply-connected.

Choosing a representative |$g_{0} C(Im_{\hat X} (Y_{i}))$| for each collection |$\{g_{\ell } C(Im_{\hat X} (Y_{i}))\}_{g_{\ell }}$| described above, we may view the reduced space |$\bar X^{*}$| as a subspace of |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ . Thus, |$\bar X^{*}$| is a retract of |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ , and |$\pi _{1}\bar X^{*}$| injects into |$\pi _{1}\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ , and is therefore trivial.

We can now state and prove our main technical theorem.

Let |$X^{*}= \langle X |\{Y_{i}\} \rangle $| be a cubical presentation that satisfies the |$C(9)$| condition. Let |$\bar X^{*}$| be the reduced space of |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ . Then |$\pi _{2}\bar X^{*}=0$|⁠ .

Let |$\Sigma \rightarrow \bar X^{*}$| be a minimal complexity spherical diagram, where the minimum is taken over all spherical diagrams representing a fixed non-zero homotopy class in |$\pi _{2}\bar X^{*}$|⁠ . If |$\Sigma $| has no cone-cells, then it lies on the cubical part of |$\bar X^{*}$| and it is therefore contractible (because non-positively curved cube complexes are aspherical). Thus, we may assume that |$\Sigma $| has a cone-cell.

Let |$C_{\infty }$| be a cone-cell in |$\Sigma $| and let |$D_{0}$| be obtained from |$\Sigma $| by removing from it the interior of |$C_{\infty }$|⁠ . Note that |$D_{0}$| is a disc diagram. Indeed, since |$\Sigma $| has minimal complexity, then |$C_{\infty }$| embeds in |$\Sigma $|⁠ , as by Theorem 2.27 the cone of |$\bar X^{*}$| containing |$C_{\infty }$| embeds in |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ , so a non-embedded cone-cell in |$\Sigma $| would have to be nullhomotopic, contradicting Condition 5 of Definition 2.20 . Moreover, |$D_{0}$| has minimal complexity as any complexity reduction in |$D_{0}$| would lead to a complexity reduction in |$\Sigma $|⁠ .

(1) |$D_{0}$| is a single vertex or a single cone-cell,

(2) |$D_{0}$| has at least 2 shells and/or corners and/or spurs.

Otherwise, |$Y_{1}\neq Y_{2}$|⁠ . If |$\sigma $| is essential in either |$Y_{1}$| or |$Y_{2}$|⁠ , then either |$\sigma $| is a piece, and thus an essential path that is the concatenation of |$<9$| pieces, contradicting the |$C(9)$| condition, or |$\sigma $| is not a piece, which implies that |$Y_{1}$| and |$Y_{2}$| are elevations of the same |$Y_{i}$| that differ by an element of |$Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y)$|⁠ . In this case, |$Y_{1}$| and |$Y_{2}$| have the same image, so |$C(Y_{1})$| and |$C(Y_{2})$| are identified in |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ , and thus |$C_{1}=C_{2}$|⁠ , again contradicting the minimal complexity of |$\Sigma $|⁠ . If |$\sigma $| is not essential in neither |$Y_{1}$| nor |$Y_{2}$|⁠ , then there are disc diagrams |$D_{1} \rightarrow Y_{1}, D_{2} \rightarrow Y_{2}$| with |$\partial D_{1}=\partial C_{1}$| and |$\partial D_{2}=\partial C_{2}$|⁠ , which together bound a spherical diagram |$\Sigma ^{\prime} \rightarrow \hat X$|⁠ . As |$C(Y_{1})$| and |$C(Y_{2})$| are contractible, |$\Sigma ^{\prime}$| and |$\Sigma $| are homotopic. Since |$\hat X$| is aspherical—it is a covering space of a non-positively curved cube complex, and thus also non-positively curved—then |$\Sigma ^{\prime}$| is nullhomotopic in |$\hat X$|⁠ , and therefore also in |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ . This in turn implies that |$\Sigma $| is nullhomotopic in |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ .

In the third case, the presence of spurs immediately implies that |$D_{0}$| is not a minimal complexity diagram. Likewise, the presence of a corner on |$\partial D_{0}$| implies the presence of a corner on |$\partial C_{\infty }$|⁠ , contradicting that the spherical diagram |$\Sigma $| has minimal complexity, as such a corner could be absorbed into |$C_{\infty }$|⁠ , reducing the number of squares in |$\Sigma $| by Condition 2 of Definition 2.20 . In particular, this implies that |$D_{0}$| cannot be a square disc diagram. We can therefore conclude that |$D_{0}$| is a disc diagram with at least two shells—in fact, all we need to use now is that |$D_{0}$| has at least one shell.

Let |$C$| be a shell of |$D_{0}$|⁠ . Then the inner-path of |$C$| is at most |$4$| pieces, and the outerpath of |$\partial C$| coincides with a subpath of |$\partial C_{\infty }$| in |$\Sigma $|⁠ . Thus, the outerpath of |$C$| is a single piece, contradicting the |$C(9)$| condition.

We can now deduce asphericity for the reduced space |$\bar X^{*}$| associated to a low-dimensional |$C(9)$| cubical presentation, and in particular for |$X^{*}$| when the cubical presentation is minimal:

Let |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\} \rangle $| be a cubical presentation that satisfies the |$C(9)$| condition. If |$dim(X) \leq 2$| and |$\max \{cd(\pi _{1}Y_{i})\}=1$|⁠ , then |$\bar X^{*}$| is contractible.

Since |$\mathbf{Y}$| is homotopy equivalent to a graph, then |$H_{n}(\mathbf{Y})=0$| whenever |$n \geq 2$|⁠ , so we get isomorphisms |$H_{n}(\hat X) \cong H_{n}(\bar X^{*})$| for each |$n \geq 2$|⁠ , since |$C(gY_{i}))$| is contractible for each |$g \in \pi _{1}X^{*} $| and |$i \in I$|⁠ . Now, |$H_{2}(\bar X^{*})\cong \pi _{2}\bar X^{*}=0$| by Theorem 3.5 and Hurewicz’s Theorem, and |$H_{3}(\bar X^{*})=0$| since the sequence is exact and the terms on the right and left of |$H_{3}(\bar X^{*})$| are equal to zero. Since |$\bar X^{*}$| is |$2$| -connected, we may apply Hurewicz again to conclude that |$\pi _{3}\bar X^{*}=0$|⁠ .

The proof is now finished: since by Theorem 3.5 , |$\pi _{1} \bar X^{*}=0$|⁠ , and |$\bar X^{*}$| has no cells of dimension |$\geq 3$|⁠ , then |$H_{n}(\bar X^{*})\cong \pi _{n}\bar X^{*}=0$| for all |$n \in \mathbb{N}$|⁠ .

The first of our two theorems is now established:

Let |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\}_{i \in I} \rangle $| be a minimal cubical presentation that satisfies the |$C(9)$| condition. Let |$\pi _{1} X^{*}=G$|⁠ . If |$dim(X)\leq 2$| and each |$Y_{i}$| is homotopy equivalent to a graph, then |$X^{*}$| is a |$K(G,1)$|⁠ , so |$G$| is torsion-free and |$gd(G)\leq 2$|⁠ .

This is a direct consequence of Corollary 3.6 , since then, by minimality, |$\bar X^{*}=\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ , so |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$| is contractible.

We point out that neither Theorem 3.5 nor Corollary 3.6 require the cubical presentation |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\}_{i \in I} \rangle $| to have finitely many relators, or for these relators to be compact. Thus, Theorem 3.7 holds even if the |$Y_{i}$| have infinitely-generated fundamental group, and even if |$|I|= \infty $|⁠ . However, this is not the case for the results that follow: for the remainder of this section, we adopt the following convention.

Let |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\}_{I} \rangle $| be a cubical presentation. If |$X^{*}$| is not minimal, then we always assume that |$|I|< \infty $|⁠ , and that each |$Y_{i}$| is compact.

Let |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\}_{i \in I} \rangle $| be a symmetric cubical presentation. Then |$\bar X^{*}$| is a |$\pi _{1} X^{*}$| -CW-complex, and if |$v$| is a cone-vertex of |$\bar X^{*}$| corresponding to a cone over some |$ Y_{i}$|⁠ , then |$Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(v)=Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})/\pi _{1}{Y_{i}}$|⁠ .

The group |$\pi _{1} X^{*}$| acts on |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$| by permuting the cones. The action is a covering space action, and in particular is free, and induces an action on |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ . For each cone-vertex |$v$| in |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ , |$Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(v)=Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(C(Im_{\hat X} (\widetilde Y_{i}))=\{g_{\ell }\pi _{1} Y_{i}\}$| where |$C(Im_{\hat X} (\widetilde Y_{i}))$| is the cone with |$v$| as its cone-vertex, and |$\{g_{\ell }\pi _{1} Y_{i}\}$| are left coset representatives of |$\pi _{1} (Y_{i},y_{i_{0}})$| in |$Stab_{\pi _{1}(X,x_{0})}(\widetilde Y_{i})$|⁠ . This is exactly the quotient |$Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})/\pi _{1}{Y_{i}}$|⁠ .

If |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\} \rangle $| is a symmetric cubical presentation, then the action of |$\pi _{1}X^{*}$| on |$\bar X^{*}$| has finite cell-stabilizers.

All stabilizers of cells in |$\hat X \subset \bar X^{*}$| are trivial; since the cubical presentation is symmetric, then |$[Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y):\pi _{1}Y]< \infty $|⁠ , so Lemma 3.9 implies that the stabilizers of cone-vertices are finite.

So far we have shown that if |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\} \rangle $| satisfies the |$C(9)$| condition, then |$\bar X^{*}$| is contractible, and that if, in addition, |$X^{*}$| is symmetric, then the action of |$\pi _{1}X^{*}$| on |$\bar X^{*}$| has finite cell-stabilizers. To show that |$\bar X^{*}$| is a classifying space for proper actions for |$\pi _{1}X^{*}$|⁠ , we still must prove that every finite subgroup |$H <\pi _{1}X^{*}$| fixes a point in |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ , and that this point is unique. Note that since |$\bar X^{*}$| is aspherical and finite-dimensional, then the action of a finite subgroup |$H$| on |$\bar X^{*}$| cannot be free, as otherwise the quotient |$\bar X^{*}/H$| would be a classifying space for |$H$|⁠ . Since we will invoke it later on, we record this observation as a lemma:

Let |$Z$| be an aspherical, finite-dimensional cell-complex and let |$G$| be a group acting on |$Z$| by combinatorial isometries. If |$H < G$| is finite, then the action of |$H$| on |$Z$| is not free.

We emphasize that this does not necessarily imply that such an action has a global fixed point.

If a non-trivial subgroup |$H <\pi _{1}X^{*}$| fixes a point in |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ , then |$H$| is conjugate into |$Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(ImY_{i})$| for some elevation |$Y_{i}\rightarrow \hat X$| of some |$Y_{i} \rightarrow X$|⁠ .

Let |$H$| be a non-trivial subgroup of |$\pi _{1}X^{*}$|⁠ . Since the action of |$H$| on |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$| is free and |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$| coincides with |$\bar X^{*}$| outside of the cones, then a fixed point |$\xi $| under the action of |$H$| on |$\bar X^{*}$| must be a cone-vertex, which in turn, by Construction 4.1 , corresponds to some left coset |$gStab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(Y_{i})$| for some elevation |$Y_{i} \rightarrow \hat X$| of some |$Y_{i} \rightarrow X$| and some |$g \in \pi _{1}X^{*}$|⁠ . Thus, |$HgStab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(Y_{i})=gStab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(Y_{i})$|⁠ , so |$g^{-1}HgStab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(Y_{i})=Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(Y_{i})$| and |$H$| is conjugate into |$Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(Y_{i})$|⁠ .

If a non-trivial subgroup |$H <\pi _{1}X^{*}$| fixes a point in |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ , then that point is unique, and in particular the fixed-point space |$(\bar X^{*})^{H}$| is contractible.

Before proving the lemma, we need an auxiliary result.

Let |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\}^{k}_{i=1} \rangle $| be a cubical presentation that satisfies the |$C(n)$| condition for some |$n \geq 2$|⁠ , and where each |$Y_{i}$| is compact. Then there is a uniform upper-bound |$\mathcal{L} \geq 0$| on the size of pieces in |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ .

Since each |$Y_{i}$| is compact, |$\pi _{1}Y_{i}$| is finitely generated for each |$i \in \{1, \ldots , k\}$|⁠ , and since the cubical presentation has finitely many relations |$Y_{i} \rightarrow X$|⁠ , then finitely many elements of |$\pi _{1}X$| suffice to generate all the |$\pi _{1}Y_{i}$| ’s. The compactness of the |$Y_{i}$| ’s implies additionally that there is an uniform upper-bound |$\ell _{i}$| for the length of minimal-length paths representing the generators of |$\pi _{1}Y_{i}$|⁠ , thus, there is a bound |$\mathcal{L}= \max \{\ell _{i}\}$| for the size of pieces arising in generators of |$\pi _{1}Y_{1}, \ldots , \pi _{1}Y_{k}$|⁠ . Since |$X^{*}$| satisfies the |$C(n)$| condition for |$n \geq 2$|⁠ , then each path representing a generator is a concatenation of at least |$2$| pieces, and in particular any such piece |$p$| satisfies |$|p|< \ell _{i} \leq \mathcal{L}$| whenever it arises in a generator of a |$\pi _{1}Y_{i}$|⁠ .

Assume that there is an essential closed path |$\sigma \rightarrow Y_{i}$| that is a concatenation of pieces having a piece |$p_{r}$| with |$|p_{r}|> \mathcal{L}$|⁠ . By the discussion above, we can assume in particular that |$\sigma $| does not represents a generator of a |$\pi _{1}Y_{i^{\prime}}$| for any |$i^{\prime} \in \{1, \ldots , k\}$|⁠ . Note that any expression for |$\sigma $| as a concatenation of pieces can be further expressed as a concatenation of pieces in generators of |$\pi _{1}Y_{i}$|⁠ . Write |$\sigma =\alpha _{1} \cdots \alpha _{m}=p_{1} \cdots p_{r} \cdots p_{n}$|⁠ , where each |$\alpha _{j}$| is a (not necessarily distinct) generator of |$\pi _{1}Y_{i}$|⁠ . Since |$|p_{r}|> \mathcal{L}$|⁠ , then there is an |$\alpha _{j}$| with |$j \in \{1, \ldots , m\}$| for which |$p_{r} \cap \alpha _{j}= \alpha _{j}$|⁠ . Thus, |$\alpha _{j}$| can be expressed as a single piece |$q_{r} \subset p_{r}$|⁠ , contradicting the discussion in the previous paragraph, and hence the |$C(n)$| condition.

The proof of Lemma 3.13 now combines Proposition 3.14 with the hypothesized symmetry of the cubical presentation under consideration.

Let |$H<\pi _{1}X^{*}$|⁠ . Assume |$\xi \neq \xi ^{\prime}$| are cone-vertices of |$\bar X^{*}$| fixed by |$H$|⁠ , so |$H\xi =\xi $| and |$H\xi ^{\prime}=\xi ^{\prime}$|⁠ . Then Lemma 3.12 implies that |$H \subset g^{-1}Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(Y_{i})g \cap g^{\prime -1} Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(Y_{i^{\prime}})g^{\prime}$| for some |$i, i^{\prime} \in \{1, \ldots , k\}$| and |$g, g^{\prime} \in \pi _{1} X^{*}$|⁠ . We claim that the collection |$\{Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(Y_{i})\}$| is malnormal, and thus |$H$| is the trivial subgroup. To this end, we first show that the collection |$\{Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})\}$| is malnormal in |$\pi _{1}X$|⁠ .

Suppose that the intersection |$Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})^{\tilde g} \cap Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{j})^{\tilde g^{\prime}}$| is infinite for some |$i, i^{\prime} \in \{1, \ldots , k\}$| and |$\tilde g, \tilde g^{\prime} \in \pi _{1} X$|⁠ . Since |$X^{*}$| is symmetric, then |$[Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i}):\pi _{1}Y_{i}]< \infty $| and |$[Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{j}):\pi _{1}Y_{j}]< \infty $|⁠ , so |$\pi _{1} Y_{i}^{\tilde g} \cap \pi _{1} Y_{j}^{\tilde g^{\prime}}$| has finite index in |$Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})^{\tilde g} \cap Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{j})^{\tilde g^{\prime}}$|⁠ . Thus, |$\pi _{1} Y_{i}^{\tilde g} \cap \pi _{1} Y_{j}^{\tilde g^{\prime}}$| is infinite, and in particular contains an infinite order element |$\tilde h$|⁠ . Therefore, the axis of |$\tilde h$| in |$\widetilde X$| is an unbounded piece between elevations |$\widetilde Y_{i}$| and |$\widetilde Y_{j}$| of |$Y_{i}$| and |$Y_{j}$|⁠ , contradicting Proposition 3.14 , and thus the |$C(9)$| condition. We conclude that |$Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})^{\tilde g} \cap Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{j})^{\tilde g^{\prime}}$| is finite; since |$\pi _{1} X$| is torsion-free, then in fact |$Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})^{\tilde g} \cap Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{j})^{\tilde g^{\prime}}$| must be trivial, so the collection |$\{Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})\}$| is malnormal in |$\pi _{1}X$|⁠ .

To promote this to malnormality of the collection |$\{Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(Y_{i})\}$| in |$\pi _{1}X^{*}$|⁠ , let |$h \in Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}( Y_{i})^{g} \cap Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}( Y_{j})^{g^{\prime}}$|⁠ , and let |$\tilde{h_{i}} \in Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})^{\tilde g}$| and |$\tilde{h_{j}} \in Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{j})^{\tilde g^{\prime}}$| be preimages of |$h$|⁠ , so |$\tilde{h_{i}}\tilde{h_{j}}^{-1}$| is an element of |$\pi _{1} \hat X$|⁠ . Since |$\tilde{h_{i}} \in Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i})^{\tilde g}$| and |$\tilde{h_{j}} \in Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{j})^{\tilde g^{\prime}}$| and as mentioned before, by symmetry, |$[Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{i}):\pi _{1}Y_{i}]< \infty $| and |$[Stab_{\pi _{1}X}(\widetilde Y_{j}):\pi _{1}Y_{j}]< \infty $|⁠ , then there are paths |$\sigma _{i} \rightarrow Y_{i}, \sigma _{j} \rightarrow Y_{j}$| such that for some |$k,k^{\prime} \in \mathbb{N}$|⁠ , the paths |$\sigma _{i}^{k}, \sigma _{j}^{k^{\prime}}$| bound disc diagrams |$D_{i} \rightarrow Y_{i},D_{j} \rightarrow Y_{j}$| in |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ , each of which can be assumed to have minimal complexity, and therefore consisting of a single cone-cell. Moreover, by the discussion above, |$\sigma _{i}$| and |$\sigma _{j}$| represent lifts of conjugates of |$\tilde{h_{i}}$| and |$\tilde{h_{j}}$|⁠ , so there are paths |$\sigma ^{\prime}_{i}, \sigma ^{\prime}_{j}$| such that |$\sigma ^{\prime}_{i}\sigma _{j}^{^{\prime}-1}$| is a closed path that represents |$\tilde{h_{i}}\tilde{h_{j}}^{-1}$|⁠ . Thus, |$\sigma ^{\prime}_{i}\sigma _{j}^{^{\prime}-1}$| bounds a disc diagram |$D$| in |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ , and there are paths |$\ell _{i}, \ell _{i}^{\prime}, \ell _{j}, \ell _{j}^{\prime}$| that are lifts of the corresponding conjugating elements, so that |$\sigma _{i}\ell _{i}\sigma ^{\prime}_{i}\ell ^{\prime}_{i}$| and |$\sigma _{j}\ell _{j}\sigma ^{\prime}_{j}\ell ^{\prime}_{j}$| bound square-disc diagrams |$R_{i}, R_{j}$| in |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ . We can further assume that |$R_{i},R_{j}$| and |$D$| are chosen to have minimal area and minimal complexity amongst all possible diagrams with the same corresponding boundary. For |$R_{i}$| and |$R_{j}$|⁠ , this means in particular that there are no cornsquares on any of |$\sigma _{i}, \sigma ^{\prime}_{i}, \sigma _{j}, \sigma ^{\prime}_{j}$|⁠ , so each of these paths determines a hyperplane carrier in the corresponding diagram |$R_{i}$| or |$R_{j}$|⁠ , and more generally that |$R_{i}$| and |$R_{j}$| are grids , in the sense that they are cubically isomorphic to a product of combinatorial intervals |$I_{n} \times I_{m}$| for suitable |$m,n \in \mathbb{N}$|⁠ . We note that, of course, |$R_{i}$| or |$R_{j}$| could be degenerate square diagrams, in which case |$\sigma _{i}=\sigma ^{\prime}_{i}$| or |$\sigma _{j}= \sigma ^{\prime}_{j}$|⁠ , and the argument in the next paragraph becomes a bit simpler.

If |$D$| is a square disc diagram, then |$\sigma ^{\prime}_{1}$| and |$\sigma ^{\prime}_{j}$| are homotopic rel their endpoints in |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$|⁠ , so |$\tilde{h_{i}}=\tilde{h_{j}}$|⁠ , contradicting malnormality in |$\pi _{1}X$|⁠ . We claim that this is the only possibility for |$D$|⁠ . Assume towards a contradiction that |$D$| contains at least one cone-cell, and observe that since any corners or spurs on |$\partial D$| could be removed, improving the choices made in the previous paragraph, that cone-cell must be a shell |$S$|⁠ . Consider the disc diagram |$F=D_{i}\cup _{\sigma _{i}}R_{i} \cup _{\sigma ^{\prime}_{i}}D\cup _{\sigma ^{\prime}_{j}}R_{j}\cup _{\sigma _{j}}D_{j}$|⁠ . Then, since |$S$| is a shell of |$D$|⁠ , its innerpath is a concatenation of at most |$4$| pieces, and either the outerpath of |$S$| is a subpath of |$\sigma ^{\prime}_{i} \subset R_{i}$|⁠ , or a subpath of |$\sigma ^{\prime}_{j} \subset R_{j}$|⁠ , or a subpath of their concatenation. In the first case, since |$\partial S\cap R_{i}$| in |$F$| is the outerpath of |$S$| in |$D$|⁠ , then |$\partial S\cap R_{i}$| is a single piece (a wall piece if |$R_{i}$| is not a degenerate diagram, and a cone piece otherwise), so |$\partial S$| is the concatenation of at most |$5$| pieces, contradicting the |$C(9)$| condition. Similarly if the outerpath of |$S$| is a subpath of |$\sigma ^{\prime}_{j}$|⁠ . In the last case, |$\partial S$| is the concatenation of at most |$6$| pieces: the |$4$| pieces coming from its innerpath and a piece coming from each of |$\sigma ^{\prime}_{i}, \sigma ^{\prime}_{j}$|⁠ , contradicting again the |$C(9)$| condition.

So |$\{Stab_{\pi _{1}X^{*}}(Y_{i})\}$| is malnormal in |$\pi _{1}X^{*}$|⁠ , and either |$H=\{1\}$|⁠ , or |$\xi =\xi ^{\prime}$|⁠ .

In the proof above, we use that |$\pi _{1} X$| is torsion-free, which follows trivially from the assumption that |$X$| is finite-dimensional, since |$X$| is aspherical, but is true also for infinite dimensional non-positively curved cube complexes, and is a consequence of CAT(0) geometry [ 6 , 19 ].

We can finally conclude that, in fact, the finite subgroups of |$\pi _{1}X^{*}$| have non-empty fixed-point sets under their action on |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ :

Every finite subgroup |$H <\pi _{1}X^{*}$| fixes a point in |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ .

Let |$H$| be a finite subgroup of |$\pi _{1}X^{*}$|⁠ . If |$H$| is trivial, then it fixes all of |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ . Otherwise, since the action of |$H$| on |$\bar X^{*}$| cannot be free by Lemma 3.11 , for any non-trivial |$h \in H$|⁠ , there exists |$k \in \mathbb{N}$| for which |$h^{k}$| fixes a point in |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ . This implies that each cyclic subgroup |$\langle h \rangle $| fixes a point, and in particular that every |$h \in H$| fixes a point in |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ . Indeed, if |$h^{k}v=v$| for some |$k \in \mathbb{N}$| and |$v \in \bar X^{*}$|⁠ , then |$hv=h(h^{k}v)=h^{k}(hv)$|⁠ , so |$h^{k}$| fixes |$hv$| and by Lemma 3.13 |$hv=v$|⁠ .

To see now that every element of |$H$| fixes the same point, we use Burnside’s Lemma: since |$H$| is a finite group acting on a finite set |$S$| (the union of the orbits of the fixed points of non-trivial elements), and each non-trivial element fixes a unique point, if |$m$| is the number of orbits of elements, then |$ m= \frac{|S|+|H|-1}{|H|}$|⁠ , so |$|S|=(m-1)|H|+1$| and in particular, as the size of each orbit must divide |$|H|$|⁠ , at most one orbit of points can have size |$<|H|$|⁠ . There must therefore be |$m-1$| orbits of size |$|H|$|⁠ , and a single orbit of size |$1$|⁠ , yielding a fixed point in |$\bar X^{*}$|⁠ .

Putting together the previous results, we obtain:

Let |$X^{*}=\langle X | \{Y_{i}\}^{k}_{i=1} \rangle $| be a symmetric cubical presentation that satisfies the |$C(9)$| condition. Let |$\pi _{1} X^{*}=G$|⁠ . If |$dim(X)\leq 2$| and each |$Y_{i}$| is homotopy equivalent to a graph, then there is a quotient |$\bar X^{*}$| of |$\widetilde{X^{*}}$| that is an |$\underline EG$|⁠ , so |$cd_{\mathbb{Q}} (G) \leq dim(\bar X^{*}) \leq 2$|⁠ .

This follows from Corollary 3.6 , Lemma 3.13 , and Corollary 3.16 .

We can go a step further if we assume that |$X$| has a finite regular cover where every |$Y_{i} \rightarrow X$| lifts to an embedding, as is observed in [ 22 , 4.4] for |$C^{\prime}(\frac{1}{20})$| cubical presentations.

If a group |$G$| has finite virtual cohomological dimension, then |$vcd(G)\leq dim (\underline EG)$|⁠ , since a torsion-free subgroup |$G^{\prime} <G$| of finite index has |$cd(G)=vcd(G)$|⁠ , and |$dim (\underline EG)$| gives an upper bound for the cohomological dimension of any torsion-free subgroup of |$G$|⁠ . In particular:

Using Theorem 3.6 , we can provide classifying spaces, or classifying spaces for proper actions, in the situations outlined below:

(Forcing small-cancellation by taking covers) If |$X$| is a compact non-positively curved cube complex with hyperbolic fundamental group, and |$H_{1},...,H_{k}$| are quasiconvex subgroups of |$\pi _{1}X$| that form a malnormal collection, then for each |$n>0$| there are finite index subgroups |$H^{\prime}_{i} \subset H_{i}$| and local isometries |$Y_{i} \rightarrow X$| with |$Y_{i}$| compact and |$\pi _{1}Y_{i}=H^{\prime}_{i}$| such that |$X^{*}= \langle X | \{Y_{i}\} \rangle $| satisfies |$C(n)$|⁠ . How one achieves this condition is explained in [ 22 , 3.51]. To guarantee that |$X^{*}$| is symmetric, it suffices to require that |$H_{i}=C_{\pi _{1}X}(H_{i})$|⁠ . When |$n\geq 9$|⁠ , |$dim(X)\leq 2$| and |$H_{1},...,H_{k}$| are free, we conclude that |$\bar X^{*}$| is a classifying space for proper actions for |$\pi _{1}X^{*}$|⁠ , and in particular that |$\pi _{1}X^{*}$| has rational cohomological dimension |$cd_{\mathbb{Q}} (\pi _{1}X^{*}) \leq 2$|⁠ .

Let |$X$| be a compact non-positively curved cube complex with non-elementary hyperbolic fundamental group, as above. Then by [ 5 , 3.2], for all |$k \geq 1$| there exist (infinitely many choices of) free non-abelian subgroups |$\{H_{1}, \ldots , H_{k}\}$|⁠ , and cyclic subgroups |$z_{i} <H_{i}$| such that there exist local isometries |$Y_{i} \rightarrow X$| with |$Y_{i}$| compact and |$\pi _{1}Y_{i}=z_{i}$|⁠ , so that the cubical presentation |$X^{*}= \langle X | \{Y_{i}\} \rangle $| is minimal, and satisfies the |$C(9)$| condition. Thus, if |$\dim (X)\leq 2$|⁠ , then |$X^{*}$| is a classifying space for all such examples.

We now move away slightly from the hyperbolic setting with a construction that is described in [ 22 , 5.r].

Note that |$B^{*}_{\Gamma }$| is a minimal cubical presentation, and that the |$C(9)$| condition is satisfied provided that |$5\leq m_{ij}\leq \infty $| for all |$i <j$|⁠ . Indeed, since |$B^{*}_{\Gamma }$| is a bouquet of circles, and hence 1-dimensional, there are no non-trivial wall-pieces in |$B^{*}_{\Gamma }$|⁠ . The cone-pieces correspond to intersections between distinct elevations of the |$Y_{ij}$| ’s, and for a pair of relations |$Y_{ij}, Y_{i^{\prime}j^{\prime}}$|⁠ , these intersections are (subpaths of) bi-infinite lines of the form |$v^{\infty }_{\ell }$| where one of |$i,j$| and one of |$i^{\prime}j^{\prime}$| are equal to |$\ell $|⁠ . Since an essential cycle in a |$Y_{ij}$| lifts to a path that intersects |$v^{\infty }_{\ell }$| in a single edge, and the girth of any such cycle is |$\geq 5$|⁠ , then no essential cycle is the concatenation of |$<10$| pieces.

It is a well-established result [ 8 ] that 2-dimensional Artin groups are exactly those where no triangle in the defining graph has labels |$(2,3,4),(2,2,n),(2,3,3)$| or |$(2,3,5)$|⁠ . This class contains in particular the class of extra large type Artin groups , which are precisely those with labels |$4\leq m_{ij}\leq \infty $| for all |$i <j$|⁠ . In light of the discussion above, we can partially recover the result that extra large type Artin groups are 2-dimensional as a corollary of Theorem 3.7 :

Let |$A_{\Gamma }$| be an Artin group on |$\Gamma $| given by a presentation ( 1 ), where |$5\leq m_{ij}\leq \infty $| for all |$i <j$|⁠ . Then |$B^{*}_{\Gamma }$| is a |$K(A_{\Gamma },1)$|⁠ , and in particular, |$A_{\Gamma }$| is torsion-free and |$cd(A_{\Gamma })\leq 2$|⁠ .

We note that, while the cubical presentation ( 2 ) can be viewed as a graphical presentation, asphericity of |$B_{\Gamma }^{*}$| cannot be deduced from the asphericity results in [ 12 , 13 , 21 ], since these handle only graphical presentations where the relators are cycles, rather than arbitrary—possibly non-compact—graphs. While we state Theorem 4.4 for Artin groups whose associated cubical presentations satisfy the cubical |$C(9)$| condition, we believe that the result can be recovered for all Artin groups where |$3\leq m_{ij}\leq \infty $| for all |$i <j$|⁠ , since in that case the |$C(6)$| condition is satisfied, and in the graphical case this condition should be enough to recover a suitable form of Theorem 2.26 , and thus of Theorem 3.7 . We have not, however, explored this possibility closely.

It is claimed in [ 22 , 5.70] that the cubical presentation ( 2 ) satisfies the |$C(6)$| condition whenever the defining graph has no triangles with labels of the form |$(2,3,4),(2,2,n),(2,3,3)$| or |$(2,3,5)$|⁠ , but no justification is presented in that text. Nevertheless, if the claim is true, then all 2-dimensional Artin groups admit minimal |$C(6)$| graphical presentations.

When |$X$| is a square complex whose fundamental group is not hyperbolic, general constructions of |$C(9)$| cubical presentations are harder to come by, but can be produced by hand in specific situations. For instance, if |$X_{\Gamma }$| is the Salvetti complex of a RAAG whose defining graph |$\Gamma $| has no triangles, then |$dim(X_{\Gamma }) \leq 2$|⁠ , and one can produce a wealth of cubical presentations |$X^{*}_{\Gamma }=\langle X_{\Gamma } | \{Y_{i}\} \rangle $| that satisfy the |$C(9)$| condition and are minimal. This is outlined in [ 22 , 3.s (4)], and will be elaborated upon in forthcoming work [ 4 ].

Thus, Theorems 3.7 and 3.17 are widely applicable, even when one starts with a non-positively curved cube complex |$X$| whose fundamental group is far from being hyperbolic.

The author was supported by a Cambridge Trust & Newnham College Scholarship, and by the Denman Baynes Junior Research Fellowship at Clare College, Cambridge.

I am grateful to my PhD supervisor, Henry Wilton, and to Jack Button, Mark Hagen, and the anonymous referee for all their comments and suggestions, which greatly improved the quality of this work.

Communicated by Prof. Marc Lackenby

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