Monday, 11 May 2015

If I were you, I'd look at this sheet ;)


Presentations: Useful words and phrases

Welcoming

  • Good morning and welcome to [name of company, name of conference hall, hotel, etc.].
  • Thank you all very much for coming today.
  • I hope you all had a pleasant journey here today.

Introducing yourself

  • My name is Mark Watson and I am responsible for … .
  • My name is Mark Watson from [name of company], where I am responsible for … .
  • Let me introduce myself; my name is Mark Watson and I am responsible for … .

Introducing your presentation

  • The purpose of today’s presentation is to … .
  • The purpose of my presentation today is to … .
  • In today’s presentation I’d like to … show you … . / explain to you how … .
  • In today’s presentation I’m hoping to … give you an update on… / give you an overview of … .
  • In today’s presentation I’m planning to … look at … . / explain … .
You can also outline your presentation to give the audience a clear overview of what they can expect:
  • In today’s presentation I’m hoping to cover three points:
  • firstly, … , after that we will look at … , and finally I’ll … .
  • In today’s presentation I’d like to cover three points:
  • firstly, … , secondly … , and finally … .

Explaining that there will be time for questions at the end

  • If you have any questions you’d like to ask, please leave them until the end, when I’ll be happy to answer them.
  • If there are any questions you’d like to ask, please leave them until the end, when I’ll do my best to answer them.

Starting the presentation

  • To begin with … .
  • To start with … .
  • Let’s start by looking at … .
  • I’d like to start by looking at … .

Closing a section of the presentation

  • So, that concludes [title of the section] … .
  • So, that’s an overview of … .
  • I think that just about covers … .

Beginning a new section of the presentation

  • Now let’s move on to … .
  • Now let’s take a look at … .
  • Now I’d like to move on to … .
  • Next I’d like to take a look at … .
  • Moving on to the next part, I’d like to … .
  • Moving on to the next section, let’s take a look at … .

Concluding and summarising the presentation

  • Well, that brings us to the end of the final section. Now, I’d like to summarise by … .
  • That brings us to the end of the final section. Now, if I can just summarise the main points again.
  • That concludes my presentation. Now, if I can just summarise the main points.
  • That’s an overview of … . Now, just to summarise, let’s quickly look at the main points again.

Finishing and thanking

  • Thank you for your attention.
  • That brings the presentation to an end.
  • That brings us to the end of my presentation.
  • Finally, I’d like to finish by thanking you (all) for your attention.
  • Finally, I’d like to end by thanking you (all) for coming today.
  • I’d like to thank you (all) for your attention and interest.

Inviting questions

  • If anyone has any questions, I’ll be pleased to answer them.
  • If anyone has any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.
  • If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask them now.
  • If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask them and I’ll do my best to answer.

Referring to a previous point made

  • As I mentioned earlier … .
  • As we saw earlier … .
  • You may recall that we said … .
  • You may recall that I explained … .

Dealing with (difficult) questions

  • I’ll come back to that question later if I may.
  • I’ll We’ll come back to that question later in my presentation.
  • I’ll / We’ll look at that point in more detail later on.
  • Perhaps we can look at that point at the end / a little later.

Other phrases and key presentation language


word, phrasemeaning, function
briefly‘very quickly’
take a look at‘look at’
take a brief look at‘quickly look at’
return to‘go back’, ‘explain again’
I’ll outline‘I will explain’
here we can seeto draw attention to a specific point on a slide
as you can see hereto draw attention to a specific point on a slide
(let’s) move on toto start a new subject
(let’s) continue withto start a new subject
(let’s) continue by looking atto start a new subject
to illustrate this pointwhen giving an example
let’s, we can, we willusing ‘we’ and ‘us’ instead of ‘I’ connects you to your audience
source: http://speakspeak.com/resources/general-english-vocabulary/presentation-language-phrases

A good example of how you can structure a presentation



And a GAME to practice even more: http://www.businessenglishpod.com/quiz/presentations-game/presentations-game.html

An example of how to report on progress