Posted on October 2, 2017 by topcorrect
For many people, creating and holding a presentation involves a great deal of effort. It even leads to buck fever. To make matters worse, if the presentation has to be given in English, it often entails double the effort for native German speakers. We want to make your next presentation a bit more effortless by introducing the most useful phrases and expressions for an English-language performance.
Presentations have the advantage that many standard phrases can be used at various points. Perhaps you wish to welcome the audience, introduce the speaker and the topic, outline the structure, offer a summary, or deal with questions. In all these situations, you can apply a number of useful expressions that will make your presentation a linguistic success.
At the beginning of each presentation, you should welcome your audience. Depending on who you are addressing, you should extend a more or less formal welcome.
Good morning/afternoon/evening, ladies and gentlemen/everyone.
On behalf of “Company X”, allow me to extend a warm welcome to you.
Hi, everyone. Welcome to “Name of the event”.
The level of formality of your welcome address will also apply to how you introduce yourself. Customize it to match your audience.
Let me briefly introduce myself. My name is “John Miller” and I am delighted to be here today to talk to you about…
First, let me introduce myself. My name is “John Miller” and I am the “Position” of “Company X”.
I’m “John” from “Company Y” and today I’d like to talk to you about…
After the welcome address and the introduction of the speaker comes the presentation of the topic. Here are some useful introductory phrases.
Today I am here to talk to you about…
What I am going to talk about today is…
I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you about…
I am delighted to be here today to tell you about…
I want to make you a short presentation about…
I’d like to give you a brief breakdown of…
It is always recommended to present the goals of your presentation at the beginning. This will help the audience to understand your objectives.
The purpose of this presentation is…
My objective today is…
After presenting the topic and your objectives, give your listeners an overview of the presentation’s structure. Your audience will then know what to expect in detail.
My talk/presentation is divided into “x” parts.
I’ll start with…/First, I will talk about…/I’ll begin with…
…then I will look at…
…next…
and finally…
After all this preparation, you can finally get started with the main part of the presentation. The following phrases will help you with that.
Let me start with some general information on…
Let me begin by explaining why/how…
I’d like to give you some background information about…
Before I start, does anyone know…
As you are all aware…
I think everybody has heard about…, but hardly anyone knows a lot about it.
If you have completed a chapter or section of your presentation, inform your audience, so that they do not lose their train of thought.
That’s all I have to say about…
We’ve looked at…
So much for…
Drawing interim conclusions is of utmost importance in a presentation, particularly at the end of a chapter or section. Without interim conclusions, your audience will quickly forget everything you may have said earlier.
To sum up…
Let’s summarize briefly what we have looked at.
Here is a quick recap of the main points of this section.
I’d like to recap the main points.
Well, that’s about it for this part. We’ve covered…
Use one of the following phrases to move on from one chapter to the next.
I’d now like to move on to the next part…
This leads me to my next point, which is…
Turning our attention now to…
Let’s now turn to…
Frequently, you have to give examples in a presentation. The following phrases are useful in that respect.
For example,…
A good example of this is…
As an illustration,…
To give you an example,…
To illustrate this point…
In a presentation, you may often need to provide more details regarding a certain issue. These expressions will help you to do so.
I’d like to expand on this aspect/problem/point.
Let me elaborate further on…
If you want to link to another point in your presentation, the following phrases may come in handy.
As I said at the beginning,…
This relates to what I was saying earlier…
Let me go back to what I said earlier about…
This ties in with…
In longer presentations, you run the risk that after a while the audience may forget your original topic and objective. Therefore, it makes sense to refer to the starting point from time to time.
I hope that you are a little clearer on how we can…
To return to the original question, we can…
Just to round the talk off, I want to go back to the beginning when I…
I hope that my presentation today will help with what I said at the beginning…
In a presentation, you frequently have to refer to external sources, such as studies and surveys. Here are some useful phrases for marking these references.
Based on our findings,…
According to our study,…
Our data shows/indicates…
Presentations are usually full of graphs and images. Use the following phrases to give your audience an understanding of your visuals.
Let me use a graphic to explain this.
I’d like to illustrate this point by showing you…
Let the pictures speak for themselves.
I think the graph perfectly shows how/that…
If you look at this table/bar chart/flow chart/line chart/graph, you can see that…
To ensure that your presentation does not sound monotonous, from time to time you should emphasize certain points. Here are some suggestions.
It should be emphasized that…
I would like to draw your attention to this point…
Another significant point is that…
The significance of this is…
This is important because…
We have to remember that…
At times it might happen that you expressed yourself unclearly and your audience did not understand your point. In such a case, you should paraphrase your argument using simpler language.
In other words,…
To put it more simply,…
What I mean to say is…
So, what I’m saying is….
To put it in another way….
Questions are an integral part of a presentation. These phrases allow you to respond to questions during a presentation.
Does anyone have any questions or comments?
I am happy to answer your questions now.
Please feel free to interrupt me if you have questions.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Please stop me if you have any questions.
Do you have any questions before I move on?
If there are no further questions at this point, I’d like to…
To ensure that a presentation is not disrupted by questions, it is advisable to answer questions at the very end. Inform your audience about this by using these phrases.
There will be time for questions at the end of the presentation.
I’ll gladly answer any of your questions at the end.
I’d be grateful if you could ask your questions after the presentation.
After answering a question from the audience, check that the addressee has understood your answer and is satisfied with it.
Does this answer your question?
Did I make myself clear?
I hope this explains the situation for you.
Occasionally, it may happen that you do not have an answer to a question. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Simply use one of the following phrases to address the fact.
That’s an interesting question. I don’t actually know off the top of my head, but I’ll try to get back to you later with an answer.
I’m afraid I’m unable to answer that at the moment. Perhaps, I can get back to you later.
Good question. I really don’t know! What do you think?
That’s a very good question. However, I don’t have any figures on that, so I can’t give you an accurate answer.
Unfortunately, I’m not the best person to answer that.
At the end of the presentation, you should summarize the important facts once again.
I’d like to conclude by…
In conclusion, let me sum up my main points.
Weighing the pros and cons, I come to the conclusion that…
That brings me to the end of my presentation. Thank you for listening/your attention.
Thank you all for listening. It was a pleasure being here today.
Well, that’s it from me. Thanks very much.
That brings me to the end of my presentation. Thanks for your attention.
If you are not the only speaker, you can hand over to somebody else by using one of these phrases.
Now I will pass you over to my colleague ‘Jerry’.
‘Jerry’, the floor is yours.
We hope that our article will help you in preparing and holding your next presentation. It goes without saying that our list is just a small extract from the huge world of expressions and phrases. As always, the Internet is an inexhaustible source of further information. Here are the links to two websites that we would recommend to you in this context.
Signposting
|
Section of presentation |
Signpost language |
|
Introducing the topic |
The
subject/topic of my talk is ... |
|
Overview (outline of presentation) |
I’m
going to divide this talk into four parts. |
|
Finishing a section |
That's
all I have to say about... |
|
Starting a new section |
Moving
on now to … |
|
Analysing a point and giving recommendations |
Where
does that lead us? |
|
Giving examples |
For
example,... |
|
Summarising and concluding |
To
sum up ... |
|
Paraphrasing and clarifying |
Simply
put... |
|
Invitation to discuss / ask questions |
I’m
happy to answer any queries/ questions. |
Does giving a presentation make you feel a little nervous?
Well, you’re not alone.
According to Forbes, giving a presentation makes 80% of us feel nervous!
The good news is that feeling nervous might be a good thing. This feeling pushes us to prepare ourselves better, and as long as you’re well prepared, you’ll do just fine.
So then, let’s take a look at how we can prepare ourselves to give amazing presentations in English. Today, we’re going to focus on the business English phrases you can count on (depend on) to make your presentation go more smoothly from start to finish.
But first, here are some tips to use when preparing for your presentation.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Always have a plan. Spend some time thinking about not only what you’re going to say but how you’re going to say it.
If English isn’t your native language, it’s very important that you think about what language you’re going to be using. Think about all the vocabulary, phrases and grammar that will make your message clear and easy to understand.
What are the big ideas you want to explain for your presentation? Which words will express these ideas best?
As part of your planning, be sure to write down your ideas and points and rehearse (practice saying) them well. If you do write out your whole speech, avoid memorizing or reading it as it’ll make you sound like a robot: stiff and boring.
Instead, use your notes as a guide and speak naturally.
Keep your presentation short and to the point. Use your notes to keep you on track and within the time limit. Your notes will also keep you from repeating yourself and going off topic.
So now that you have these tips in hand, let’s look at the top 25 business English phrases that you can trust to help you transition smoothly from the beginning to the end of your presentation.
You’re now standing in front of your audience. Before you begin your presentation, start by greeting your audience, welcoming them to the event and introducing yourself.
Sample sentence: Welcome to our 3rd Annual Sales Leadership Conference.
After you have given an introduction, you are ready to begin speaking about your topic. Use these phrases to get started.
Use this phrase to give your audience a brief overview of the topic you’ll be discussing. This is a good way to give them an idea of what’s going on and to bring them up to date.
If you’re bringing up a topic that your audience already knows about or is aware of, then you can use this phrase to introduce this known topic.
Sample sentence: As you’re aware, the CEO of DHL Express has often said that globalization is here to stay.
Before you move on to your next point, be sure to make it clear to your audience that you’re now starting a new topic. Let them know exactly what that new topic will be. The two phrases below are very similar in meaning, and they can both be used for transitions.
Sample sentence: Let’s move on to our second sales strategy.
Sample sentence: Turning our attention now to the results of our 2016 customer survey.
Use these phrases to tell your audience that you’ll be giving them a more detailed explanation of the topic. Both the words ‘expand’ and ‘elaborate’ mean to explain more fully.
Sample sentence: Now I’d like to expand on my point about increasing our market share.
When making reference to a point you made earlier, or to remind your audience about something you said before, use these phrases to that link.
This phrase lets you remind your audience about a point you made earlier. It can also be used to emphasize a point or theme.
Sample sentence: As I said in the beginning, we’ll see an increase in profit if we follow these five steps.
This phrase will help you make connections between ideas in your presentation. It shows that two different ideas are connected.
Sample sentence: This relates to what I was saying earlier about increasing production to meet the year-end demand.
Sample sentence: This ties in with the way we’ve been doing business for the past 20 years.
Use these phrases to draw attention to an important point that you want your audience to note.
The word “significance'” is similar in meaning to “importance.”
Sample sentence: The significance of this is, if we complete this project on schedule, we’ll have more people available to work on the next project.
Sample sentence: This is important because any marketing effort we put in now will help to boost demand for our products in the long run.
Sample sentence: We have to remember that people are our most important resource.
Very often, you may need to support your discussion points by drawing attention and making reference to information and data from studies, reports and other sources.
Sample sentence: Based on our findings, 74% of our market is made up of teenagers who find our clothing line stylish and upbeat.
Sample sentence: According to our study, 63% of working people in this city go directly to the gym after work.
Sample sentence: Our data shows that more than 23% of men in this town who used to drive to work now prefer to save money and the environment by cycling instead.
To present a clearer picture of your point, you may show your data, information or examples in the form of visuals such as charts, tables and graphs.
The word “illustrate” means “show,” usually with examples, data or visuals.
Sample sentence: I’d like to illustrate this point by showing you a chart of the number of people in each age group who prefer to shop online.
A “breakdown” refers to the detailed parts or figures that make up the total picture. A breakdown is often used in a presentation to show all the smaller parts behind something bigger.
Sample sentence: This chart shows a breakdown of the ingredients we use in our gluten-free products.
Sometimes in order to emphasize your point, you have to state it in a way that’s easier for your audience to understand and remember. This often involves rephrasing, simplifying or clarifying your point.
Use this phrase to rephrase or reword your point in another way.
Sample sentence: In other words, we need to change our current design to make it more attractive to older children.
Use this phrase to simplify points that are complex or difficult to understand.
Sample sentence: To put it simply, we’ll need you to work harder at making this launch a success.
Use this phrase to explain your point in a way that’s easier for your audience to understand.
Sample sentence: What I mean to say is that we need to change the way we market our products.
This is the very end of the presentation. You have said everything you need to say, and now you need to finish it nicely. You may also have some time for questions. If there is time for questions, invite your audience to ask any questions they have.
As part of your closing statement, “sum up” (summarize, state briefly) your speech by mentioning the main points of your speech.
End your presentation by thanking your audience and offering to answer their questions. So with this, you’ve mastered the 25 most commonly used phrases used in presentations. Once you learn them, you’ll find them very useful to you in anypresentation. Become familiar with them and I promise you’ll feel much less nervous in your next presentation.
Good luck!
Giving Presentations
Thank people for coming – Expressions and introductory phrases
Good morning afternoon etc.
I’d like to take the opportunity to thank you for coming here today…
Beginning and stating objectives
Right, let’s make a start.
Let’s begin I’m going to begin by…
I’m here today to…
The object/subject of today’s talk is to…
Organization
My presentation/talk is divided into three parts/sections…
I’d like to begin by…
I have four main points…
Introduce another speaker I am going to/I’d like to hand you over/pass you over to Julian who is going to talk you through/present…
Annie will be telling you about…
Paul is now going to take over…
Recap what the previous speaker has said Keith has given you an overview of…
We have just heard from Keith…
As Paul said…
Recognising knowledge You are certainly aware…
/ As you know…
You’ve probably heard some of this before…
Refer to a diagram/figures (So) Let’s look/have/take a look at…
I’d like to draw your attention to…
As you can see…
If you’d like to turn to page 6 of the handout …
I’ll…….
It’s worth noting/It’s interesting to note…
Enumerate points
To begin with/First of all/Firstly/
Next/afterwards
Finally/To conclude/In conclusion Moving to another topic
This brings me/us to the key issue …
I’d now like to turn to…
Now let’s look at/consider…
I’ll now move on to my next point which is…
Before I move on, does anyone have any questions/queries?
Describe the stages of a process Rhetorical questions
(So) what can we learn from this?
How should we interpret these figures/statistics?
You’re probably asking yourselves what this all means.
Setting guidelines for questions I’m happy to answer your questions at the end of my presentation.
Please feel free to interrupt if you have any questions.
I’ll deal with questions at the end of the talk…
I’ll come back to that at the end if you don’t mind.
Summarizing
So to recap…
In conclusion…
I’d like to finish/end/wind up by saying…
Before I finish I’d finally like to say…
Vocabulary (i) Verbs outline, inform, brief, update, clarify, highlight, stress, urge you to do X, handle Phrasal verbs talk through, run through, hand you over to, turn to, go into, take over, carry on, sum up, put forward, wind up, deal with, focus on Verbs to describe movements and trends go up, rise, soar, jump, peak fluctuate go down, fall, drop, tumble, collapse, bottom out stay steady, level, flatten out N.B. There has been a slight fall in the rate. The rate has fallen slightly.
/2 Comments/in Business English /by Matt Schmid
So you’ve spent hours preparing your slides, practicing in front of the mirror, and learning the material you are presenting inside and out. The big presentation comes and you breeze through it confidently and calmly. You are about to finish up and just quickly ask the audience if there are any questions.
“Any questions? Ok, if not then…”
The difficult questions then arrive, one after another. Questions that you are not prepared for, don’t have the answers to, are not completely clear as to what they mean, etc. It has happened to us of all in one form or another, and is perfectly normal to presenters of all experience levels. What helps separate good presenters from “not so good” presenters is the ability in handling difficult questions professionally and effectively. Here are some quick tips to help.
“Thank
you for your question.”
“That
is a really good question and I am glad you asked it.”
“So,
if I understand you correctly, you are asking me if we…….”
“Just
to make sure I give you the correct answer, are you saying that if……”
Admit that you don’t know the answer and turn it over to the audience to help.
“I’m
afraid that isn’t my area of expertise, but I am sure someone else
here may know the answer to that.”
“Can
anyone help answer that question?”
Admit that someone you work with would be better suited to answer that, and you will consult with them and get back to the person.
“Unfortunately I don’t have the answer for that now, but I have a colleague that can answer that question. Can we meet after the presentation and exchange contact details? I will then ask him and get you the answer right away.”
You need more information on the question, it is a private question, or you don’t have the time to answer it in front of the whole audience. Ask to meet later.
“I think it would be better if I got a little more information from you to help answer that question. Can we meet after the presentation at lunch? I would be happy to get you more information then.”
Question: “Do you have the latest forecast sales figures for the 3rd quarter?”
Answer: “Thanks for your question. Just to make sure I give you the correct answer, are you asking for the forecast sales figures for the German location or the total figures worldwide? (Clarification given by person who asked question) Unfortunately I don’t have the answer for that now, but I have a colleague who can answer that question. Can we meet after the presentation and exchange contact details? I will then ask him and get you the answer right away. (Person agrees) Great, thanks for the question. Any other questions?”
Keeping these things in mind when handling difficult questions in presentations will allow you to seem more prepared and make your presentation go more smoothly. Want more info on how to be a better presenter? Click here.
Getting the audience’s attention
•
Good/Right/Well.
•
Shall/
Can we start?
Saying Hello
•
Good
morning, ladies and gentlemen.
•
Good
afternoon everyone.
•
Good
afternoon fellow colleagues
Expressing purpose
•
My
purpose/objective/aim today is …..
•
What
I would like to do this morning is ……
•
I’m
here today to …
•
The
subject of my presentation is …
•
The
theme of my talk is …
Signposting
•
This
talk is divided into four parts: firstly, … etc.
•
Let
me begin with/To start with/Firstly, I’d like to look at ….
•
Then/Secondly,
I’ll be talking about …
•
Thirdly,
….
•
My
fourth point will be about ….
•
Finally,
I’ll be looking at ….
Inviting questions
•
If
anyone has any questions, please feel free to interrupt me at any
time.
•
If
you have any questions, please stop me at any time, and I will be
happy to answer
them.
•
Please
stop me at any time if you have any questions.
Discouraging questions
•
At
the end of my talk, there will be a question and answer session. I
would appreciate it if you could keep your questions until
then.
•
I’d
ask you to save your questions for the end.
•
I’ll
be happy to answer any questions you have at the end of my
presentation.
This present section provides you with a number of sentences that will help you succeed in the question and answer session of an oral presentation.
Paraphrasing the question
• If I’ve understood your question correctly, you are saying …
• So, what you’re asking is …
• Well, the question is… Is that right?
• Let me just check that I’ve understood your question. You’re asking …
Getting the questioner to rephrase
• Sorry, I’m not quite with you. Could you repeat that?
• Sorry, I didn’t get your question. Could you repeat it?
• I’m afraid I don’t quite see what you mean.
Postponing an answer
• I’ll be dealing with that a little later on, so if you don’t mind I’d rather answer that question then.
• I’ll be coming to that, so if you don’t mind I won’t answer your question straightaway. But I won’t forget.
Answering questions – by admitting ignorance
• I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that one. Perhaps someone here can help us out?
• I’m sorry I don’t know the answer to that question, but what I will do is find out and give you an answer before the end of the week.
Answering questions – by saying you are not the right person to ask
• I’m afraid that’s not my field, but I’m sure Mr … will be able to answer you.
• I’m afraid I don’t have that information, but I can ask our … to send you the details.
Summing up
• So, to sum up, …
• To summarise, …
• To recapitulate/recap, …
• Let me now sum up, ….
Concluding
• Let me end by saying ….
• I’d like to finish by emphasizing …
• In conclusion, I’d like to say …
Making a recommendation
• So, what I would suggest is that we …
• So, I would recommend that …
Handouts
• I’ll be distributing the handouts in a few moments.
• The handouts are over by the door.
• Copies of my transparencies/slides are on the table by the door.
Questions
• If you have any questions or comments, I’ll be happy to answer them.
• If there are any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.
• Are there any more questions?
Closing
• Thank you for your attention/time.
• Thank you for listening.
• Thank you very much.
Moving on
• Let’s now move on to/turn to …
• I now want to go on to …
• I’d like to move on to/turn to …
• So far we have looked at …. Now I’d like to …
Giving examples
• Now let’s take an example.
• Let me give you an example.
• To illustrate this …
• Such as …
• For instance …..
Summarising
• What I’m trying to say is …..
• Let me just try and sum that up before we move on to …
Using Visual Aids
• I’d like you to look at this ….
• Let me show you …
• As you can see …
• Let’s have a look at …
• Let’s look at …
• If you look at the screen, you’ll see …
• This table/diagram/chart/slide shows …
• On the right/left you can see ….
Getting the audience’s attention
•
Good/Right/Well.
•
Shall/
Can we start?
Saying Hello
•
Good
morning, ladies and gentlemen.
•
Good
afternoon everyone.
•
Good
afternoon fellow colleagues
Expressing purpose
•
My
purpose/objective/aim today is …..
•
What
I would like to do this morning is ……
•
I’m
here today to …
•
The
subject of my presentation is …
•
The
theme of my talk is …
Signposting
•
This
talk is divided into four parts: firstly, … etc.
•
Let
me begin with/To start with/Firstly, I’d like to look at ….
•
Then/Secondly,
I’ll be talking about …
•
Thirdly,
….
•
My
fourth point will be about ….
•
Finally,
I’ll be looking at ….
Inviting questions
•
If
anyone has any questions, please feel free to interrupt me at any
time.
•
If
you have any questions, please stop me at any time, and I will be
happy to answer
them.
•
Please
stop me at any time if you have any questions.
Discouraging questions
•
At
the end of my talk, there will be a question and answer session. I
would appreciate it if you could keep your questions until
then.
•
I’d
ask you to save your questions for the end.
•
I’ll
be happy to answer any questions you have at the end of my
presentation.