Presentations in English

Essential Business English Series

Don’t get tongue-tied when you have to give a presentation in English!

A quick guide

Professional English Center www.profenglish.center

Table of contents

01 How to start a presentation 02 How to link ideas 03 How to talk about charts 04 How to talk about numbers 05 How to give an update 06 How to conclude your talk

www.profenglish.center

Unit 1. How to start a presentation A good introduction is very important in order to give a good impression and to make your audience engaged. Effective introductions have several parts. The order below shows the most common and most logical order. It is possible to leave out some parts, or to change the order of the part slightly, but always bear in mind that it has to be logical for your audience.

Welcoming the audience Perhaps we should begin.

Ok, let’s get started.

I suggest that we begin now.

Good morning / afternoon / evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to ….

Hi / Hello everyone.

Thank you for coming here today.

I’m happy / delighted that so many of you could make it today.

It’s good to see so many of you here today.

I’m extremely happy to be here.

It’s a pleasure to welcome you today.

Introducing yourself Let me start by introducing myself. My name is … / I am ….

Just a few words about myself.

For those of you who don’t know me (already), …. / As you probably know, I’m …

I work for (company name).

I am responsible for …. / I am in charge of …. / I’m head of …

I work with (colleague’s name) / I work on (project’s name).

Title / subject of the presentation The title The subjects The topic The focus

of my talk of my presentation of today’s talk of today’s speech of today’s presentation

Today This morning In this presentation What

I will I’m going to I’d like to I want to

is to

fill you in on the background to … bring you up to date on … give you an overview of .. outline …. make a few observations about …

talk about … / speak about … show you …. / report on …. examine… take a look at …. inform you about... describe / explain…

www.profenglish.center

Objective of the presentation The objective of this presentation is to present / discuss …

The aim today is to give some background information about ….

The main parts of the presentation I’ve divided my presentation into three parts: x, y, and z.

I’ve split my talk into four main parts / sections.

My talk is divided into 3 main parts.

In my presentation I’ll focus on three major aspects/issues.

There are a number of points I’d like to make.

First / firstly / first of all, Second, Third, And then, Then, Next / after that, Finally / lastly / last of all,

I’ll I’m going to

start off by go on to move on to talk about look at give you

examine…. discuss…. speak about…. explain… an overview….

The length of the presentation The presentation will take about …… minutes.

My speech will last about …. minutes.

It should take about … minutes to cover / go through these points / issues.

It won’t take more than …. minutes.

I plan to be brief.

I will take only … minutes. / I will speak for about …. minutes.

Referring to visuals I will be using the whiteboard / flipchart / overhead projector / power point slides.

I will be giving out handouts during the presentation.

I will be handing out copies of the PowerPoint slides at the end of the talk.

I will email my presentation to you later today.

Questions There will be time for questions at the end of my presentation / after my presentation.

If you have any questions, feel free to interrupt me at any time.

Feel free to ask questions at any time during the presentation.

Please interrupt as we go along if you have any questions.

I’ll be glad / happy to take any questions at the end of my presentation.

Hints

There are several ways you can tell your audience what you are going to say. These are interchangeable.: 1. to be going to + verb 2. will + verb 3. will be + verb + ing 4. would like to + verb

www.profenglish.center

Unit 2. How to link ideas There are different ways to link ideas within a presentation. Sometimes we have to connect or order points. Other times, we have to move between the points. Below, you can find the most common expressions used in presentations.

Moving between slides or points

Let’s start with …

Let’s move on to …

Let’s go to ….

Let’s now look at …

Now we come to ….

Moving on to ….

Starting with …

Turning to ….

This brings me to the final point.

This leads directly to the next part.

Now I want to turn to I’d like to turn to ….

The next issue I’d like to focus on is…

Ending a section Right / so /well / ok ….

That brings us to the end of the second part.

That covers ….

Let’s leave that ….

I think that covers everything on …

That’s all I wanted to say about….

That’s all I have to say about …

I think that deals with ….

To summarise, ….

So much for ….

We’ve looked a…..

Giving examples for example for instance such as A good example of this is ...

As an illustration, ….

To give you an example, …

To illustrate this point,….

Ordering points Firstly, secondly, thirdly, Then, next, finally, lastly, The next / final point is

Referring to other points In connection with Concerning Regarding With respect to According to

Comparing

Similarly In the same way

Highlighting in particular especially

Generalising Usually Generally As a rule

Adding ideas

In addition to this ….

Moreover …

As well as Apart from Also

Contrasting but however although nevertheless

Referring back

Let’s go back to ….

Let me go back to …

Let me now come back to ….

I’d like to go back to ..

As I have mentioned before, ….

As I’ve explained earlier, ….

www.profenglish.center

Unit 3. How to talk about charts Using visual aids, for example, charts, table, pictures, is a very effective way to convey information. It is common for presenters to explain what can be seen in the chart.

Introducing a chart Let’s have a look at …..

Let’s look at ….. which shows ….

Moving onto the next table……

Now, I’d like to turn to …..

Let me quickly explain …..

Hints

We use the same expressions to introduce a chart as to introduce a new slide or point in the presentation.

Talking about charts The data The chart The graph The table The diagram

shows illustrates displays depicts represents compares gives data for gives information about provides information

the increase in car use since the 1960s. the changes in profits in the last five years. local government expenditure in 2015.

As you can see in the next chart, there is….

Here we can see that ….

According to the graph ……

Highlighting I’d like to draw your attention to ……

One of the most important points is …..

At first glance it may seem that ….. but ….

It’s critical to understand that …

It’s essential to bear in mind that ….

What is important to remember is …….

What we should do is……..

What this means is ………

What I’d like to point out here is …..

I’d like to

emphasize ….. highlight ……. stress … repeat …. point out ……

www.profenglish.center

Unit 4. How to talk about numbers Talking about changes in numbers and explaining graphs and charts are the most important aspects of presentations. Study carefully the expressions below.

Verbs

rise increase grow go up climb boom improve recover

Increase Nouns

a rise an increase growth a boom an improvement a recovery

Verbs

fall decrease drop go down reduce slump decline deteriorate worsen

Decrease Nouns

a fall a decrease a drop a reduction a slump a decline a deterioration a worsening

Others

to remain stable to remain steady to level out to have no change to stay constant to fluctuate to reach a peak to reach a low point to hit a low to bottom out

Speed of change rapidly quickly swiftly suddenly steadily gradually slowly

Size of change

dramatically sharply / hugely considerably significantly moderately slightly minimally

Approximate numbers

Time expressions

just under / over well under / over roughly nearly approximately around / about

between 2000 and 2019 in 2016 for the first 6 months‌ during the second quarter from January to/until April over a 6 months period

www.profenglish.center

Examples There was

a sharp a substantial a rapid a dramatic

increase decrease drop rise

of

25% £300,000.

Sales. turnover

in

Examples The number The quantity The proportion The rate The level The percentage The size The amount

of

consumption unemployment production fixed costs sales

slightly. quickly. swiftly. gradually. suddenly.

increased decreased fell rose grew declined

by to

approximately just under

Examples Sales Costs

rose declined

rapidly swiftly

by

www.profenglish.center

£3 million.

15%.

45%. £400.

Unit 5. How to give an update The main purpose of presentations is to give an update on projects or plans. The language of updates is very specific. The expressions and grammar explained below can be used in both presentations and meetings.

Completed tasks

Tasks in progress

We have already completed …

I’ve already done…

Up to now, we’ve done/sorted/finished/started …

We ordered … on the 27th March.

Last week, we did/completed …

We booked the venue two weeks ago.

We’re on track with …

We’re working on …

We’re doing ….

Unfinished tasks

We’ll be doing ….

We’d like to ……

We haven’t yet (done) …. but …

We’ve hit a problem with …

We’re still working on …

Thing’s aren’t running as smoothly as we expected.

Future plans We’re going to …

We’ll ….

We’re about to……

Hints The past simple is used with concrete dates: We booked the venue on the 26th September.

The present perfect is used when the date is not important: We have (already) booked the venue.

The present perfect is used when something is not yet completed but we are still working on it: We have not booked the venue yet (but we want to do it soon).

The present continuous is used to show that something is in progress: We are still processing the job applications.

To explain plans and arrangements or things we will do in the future, we can use: • to be going to + verb • will + verb • will be + verb + ing • would like to + verb We would like to review the financial statements.

We’re going to organise transport for the office move.

www.profenglish.center

Unit 6. How to conclude your talk

A good, confident conclusion gives a professional framework to a presentation.

Closing

Useful verbs

Ok, that brings me to the end of the presentation.

That’s all I’ve had to say on ….

This is the end of my talk.

Thank you for listening.

to advise to expect to go over to recommend to discuss to focus on to illustrate to point out to make it clear to refer back to split to clarify to deal with to digress to reiterate to stress to simplify

Summary To sum up, ….

To summarize In brief, Let me just go over the main points.

Let’s summarize briefly.

Conclusion To conclude, In conclusion, …

I’d like to finish by saying ….

Any questions?

I’m happy to answer any questions.

Does anyone have any questions or comments?

Please, feel free to ask questions.

Any questions?

Handling questions That’s a good question.

That’s an interesting / complex question.

If I understand you correctly, ….

Could you repeat that for me, please?

I didn’t catch that.

In other words, you’re saying….

As I said earlier, …

As I mentioned before, ….

Does that answer your question?

www.profenglish.center

Mon

10