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Presentations
By definition, a presentation to a multicultural audience means dealing with 
local cultural expectations, avoiding embarrassment or offence being caused, 
and otherwise being disrespectful. It is important to discover in advance the 
expectations of the audience and the presentation style to which they are 
accustomed. Such preparation is essential in order to ensure success.
In Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as the Middle East, respect for 
hierarchy and seniority is important. For example, a Westerner delivering a 
presentation with his or her sleeves rolled up and no jacket may be seen as 
disrespectful to an audience expecting more formal attire. Maintaining eye 
contact with the group may be less important than maintaining eye contact 
with the senior persons present and addressing the main points to them. 
British and American presenters are often less comfortable with the use of 
surnames and titles as they prefer greater informality. However, the correct 
use of surnames and professional titles in many cultures is necessary to show 
the minimum level of respect. The use of jokes in cultures, for example, in 
Germany, may suggest that your subject matter is lacking in gravity. In the 
UK, in contrast, humour is often used as an ‘ice-breaker’ to reduce formality 
and to relax the audience.
It is also important to be aware of the linguistic competence in English 
of your audience. Some of the participants may seem not to be paying 

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Developing Cross- Cultural Communication Skills 83
attention to the lecture in English. This may be because they are referring 
to dictionaries to identify key words. They may also appear to be talk-
ing to each other, but this is usually not because they are bored but 
because they are attempting to translate for each other. When presenting 
in English, it is essential to keep sentences shorter, to speak clearly and 
slightly more slowly than with an all- native English- speaking audience, 
avoiding jargon and explaining any acronyms and initials. A strong 
local accent may also present a problem to non- native English speakers. 
Another consideration in presentations is their actual length. Those 
presenting to a multinational group should bear in mind that the concen-
tration levels of the audience may be more limited because of their need 
to concentrate on the linguistic aspects as well as the actual information 
provided.
A common problem when using PowerPoint in presentations is the use 
of excessive detail. As a general rule, Western presenters advocate a maxi-
mum of seven- line slides with considerable white space and bold illustrative 
graphics. Many Asian presenters tend to fill their slides with a great deal of 
information and point to the parts they wish to emphasize. German audi-
ences are known to prefer much more detail in presentations than American 
audiences, and Asian audiences will often comment in feedback that they 
would have preferred more slides with more information. In Muslim 
countries, cartoons and images tend to be less well received because their 
audiences are less used to representational art.
Any presentation needs to meet the expectations of the audience. It 
may be that they require facts and figures, a product pitch, a motivational 
speech, an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages, or to know how 
what they hear may benefit them or their country. A combination of sev-
eral of these factors may of course be required. Lewis (2011) analyses these 
key needs and identifies them as part of the ‘listening’ habits of different 
cultures. One of his examples is the contrast between the needs of German 
and Scandinavian, and British and American audiences. He considers that 
German and Scandinavian audiences react adversely to a strong product 
pitch or ‘hard sell’ tactics and prefer to listen to a reasoned present ation of 
the advantages and disadvantages so that they can decide for themselves. 
British and American audiences, on the other hand, tend to respond to 
a ‘qualities, costs, and benefits’ approach and a strong ‘what’s in it for 
me?’ outcome. Latin countries tend to focus less on the content of the 
presentation and the information provided, and more on the personal-
ity of the presenter. The essential question for them is to whether they 
can trust you. Latin audiences may prefer eloquence and charisma over 
information.
When presenting to multicultural audiences, it is important to structure 
carefully your address. Tomalin (2012: 33) offers the three S’s approach to 
structuring a presentation: signposting, signalling and summarizing.

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84 Cross-Cultural Communication