Useful language for making a presentation

1.    MAKING A START - Introducing yourself and your talk

Greeting, name, position:

- Good morning. My name’s (…). I’m ( the manager … ).

- Ladies and gentlemen. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to address such a distinguished audience.

- Good morning. Let me start by saying just a few words about my background. I started out  in ...

- Welcome to (…). I knew I’ve met some of you, but just for the benefit of those I haven’t, my name’s (…). 

Title / subject

- I’d like to talk (to you) today about …

- I’m going to present  the recent …

                       explain our position on …

                       brief you on …

 inform you about / describe…            

  - The subject of my talk

       focus               presentation         

       topic                paper (academic)  

                               speech (usually to public audience)

Purpose / Objective

- We are here today to decide …

                                         agree …

                                         learn about …

- The purpose of this talk is to update you on …

                                                put you in the picture about …

                                                give you the background to …

- This talk is designed to act as a springboard for 

  discussion. Start the ball rolling.

Length

- I shall only take (…) minutes of your time.

- I plan to brief.

- This should be only last (…) minutes.

Outline / Main parts

- I’ve divided my presentation/talk into four 

  parts/sections. They are (…).

- The subject can be looked at under the following 

   headings: (…).

- We can break this area down into the following fields:

            Firstly / first of all …   

            Secondly / then / next …

            Thirdly / and then we come to …

            Finally / lastly / last of all ... 

Questions

- I’d be glad to answer any questions at the end of my talk.

- If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt.

- Please interrupt me if there’s something which needs clarifying. 

  Otherwise, there’ll be time for discussion at the end.

Reference to the audience

- I can see many of you are …;           

- I know you’ve all travelled a long way.

- You all look as though you’ve heard this before.

- As I’m sure you know … ;                

- You may remember …

- We have all experienced …   

- As I’m sure we’d all agree …

2.    LINKING THE PARTS – Linking ideas

Sequencing / Ordering

- Firstly …    secondly …    thirdly … ;     

- Then …    next …   finally / lastly …

- Let’s start with …;  

- So that covers ....

- Let’s move/go on to … ; 

- Now we come to … ; That brings us to …

- Let’s leave that (there) … ; That covers …

- Let’s get back to …;     … and turn to …

Giving reasons / causes

- Therefore /    so;        

- as a result;     that’s why ;

Contrasting

- But;   

- however;

Comparing

- similarly;       

- in the same way;

Contrasting

- in fact;           

- actually;

Summarizing

- to sum up;     

- in brief / in short;

Concluding

- in conclusion;  

- to conclude;

Highlighting

- in particular;   

- especially; 

Digressing

-By the way ;  

- in passing;

Giving examples

- For example / for instance;   

- such as;         

6. FINISHING OFF - Endings

Signaling the end

- That brings me to the end of my presentation.

- That completes my presentation.

- Before I stop / finish, let me just say …

- That covers all I wanted to say today.

Summarizing

- Let me just run over the key points again.

- I’ll briefly summarize the main issues.

- To sum up …

- Briefly …

Concluding

- As you can see, there are some very good  reasons …

- In conclusion …

- I’d like to leave you with the following thought / idea.

Recommending

- So, I would suggest that we …

- I’d like to propose … (more formal).

- In my opinion, the only way forward is … 

Closing

- Thanks.

- Thank you for your attention.

- Thank you for listening.

- I hope you will have gained an insight into …

Inviting questions

- I’d be glad to try and answer any questions.

- So, let’s throw it open to questions.

- Any questions?

7. QUESTION TIME – Asking and answering questions.

Welcoming a question

- Go ahead  / Please do / Certainly.

- That’s a good question.

- That’s interesting.

Clarifying a question

- If I understand you correctly, you are saying / asking … 

- I didn’t quite catch that.

- Could you go over that again?

- I’m not sure what you’re getting at.

Avoiding giving an answer / or taking time to think before answering

- Perhaps we could deal with that later.

- Can we talk about that on another occasion?

- I’m afraid that’s not my field.

- I don’t have the figures with me.

- I’m sure Mr. (…) could answer that question.

- That’s interesting, but I’d prefer not to answer that 

   today.

Checking the questioner is satisfied

- Does that answer your question?

- Is that clear?

- May we go on?