English Listening Tips: How to Effectively Interpret and Explain Charts in Presentations

When you show a chart or graph, introduce it and explain its relevance. Basically, what are you showing and why is it important? Here are two examples from a presentation to travel agents at a conference. By the way, do you know the word impact? It means effect and it's very common in business. How have changes in the travel industry impacted travel agents? Let me show you. I'm going to show you some data to illustrate how serious this is. Sometimes an overview is necessary. Here are some examples.

This graph shows the change in the number of travel agents in the United States. This graph shows the downward trend in the number of travel agents in the US over a 15-year period. Here are structures in vocabulary that are common when you describe a visual. This graph shows the relationship. This chart explains how, why, when, sales fail. This diagram illustrates the process. You can also use the verb illustrate in these expressions. This illustrates the point. Illustrates the problem or maybe illustrates the need. This table provides data for 2016. This table lists the names of countries with the top tourist destinations. This table gives information about travel in the last five years.

Remember that you don't have to point out every detail. Direct people's attention to the most important information. Here are some of the expressions we might use for this. I'll give you some additional ways to explain specific information in a few minutes. As you can see, the biggest change was from 2000 to 2004 when the industry lost more than 100,000 travel agents. Let me point out that in year 2000 we had over 120,000 agents. Now we only have 64,000. It's important to notice that this change began in 2000. When you point out specific information, you may decide to use a pointer on the remote slide changer. You know the little red laser pointer that shows on the screen? This can be helpful, but be careful when you use it. Sometimes people get carried away, just keep making circles on the screen. This can be very distracting.

Here are ways that we explain the importance of the information in a visual and its relevance to your talk. Notice how often we use the word this to refer to the slide, the data, or the point that we just made. This means that we need to increase our online presence. This clearly shows that we need to find a way to reach millennials. This is important because we are losing market share to mobile apps. What this shows is that mobile apps are gaining market share. As I mentioned last week, always cite your sources of data on your slides. You don't necessarily have to say in your talk where you got the information, but if you do, here are some possibilities. This graph from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that, this information data comes from travel weekly.

Some people also include a list of all their sources as a final slide in case anyone asks about them in the question and answer part of the presentation. If you give some information that's not in a chart, but in you included in your speech, you can use phrases like this to introduce the information. Where did you find the information? Who stated it? Use according to before a source, or use a specific noun to say who provided the information you're using. According to travel weekly, there are about half as many agents now. A study by WTTC, that is, the World Travel and Tourism Council, states that our industry contributes to 9.8% of world GDP. The WTTC reports that the travel and tourism industry employs 284 million people worldwide. The WTTC looked at the data and found that one in 11 jobs in the world is related to travel and tourism.

Now, listen to the speaker describe the chart and be prepared to answer some simple questions about it. This chart, from Focus Right, a travel research group, shows the growth in mobile devices in this travel sector. The green represents revenues from mobile devices over a five-year period compared to desktop bookings, the blue bars. The red line indicates how fast the mobile market has grown as a percentage of the overall market. In 2015, 25% of bookings were made on mobile devices. So you can see that attracting travelers through a traditional website is not enough. Mobile apps that are easy and fast should be a top priority.