Clear presentations in English rely on signposting: tell the audience where you are and what comes next. Open with a hook and a roadmap (“First the problem, then two options, then my recommendation”), use transitions (“This brings me to…”, “Moving on to costs…”), summarize (“To sum up…”) and end with a call to action before you “open the floor” to questions.
When you present in English, the audience can’t scroll back. If they lose the thread, they’re gone. That’s why the most useful presentation language isn’t fancy vocabulary: it’s signposting, the short phrases that tell people where you are and what comes next.
Opening: hook, purpose, roadmap
The first 30 seconds decide whether people listen. Skip “Today I’m going to talk about…” and use three moves instead:
- Hook: a surprising number, a question or a short story. “Last quarter, one in five new customers left in their first week.”
- Purpose: “I’ll show you why, and what we can do about it.”
- Roadmap: “First the problem, then two options, then my recommendation.”
Other openers: “To start off, I’ll share where we were six months ago.” · “Let me set the scene with a quick look at the market.” · “We have a lot to cover, so let’s dive in.”
If you need practical notes first: “Some quick housekeeping: we’re recording, and slides will be shared afterwards.”
Signposting: moving between sections
signpost
To tell the audience where you are in the talk and what comes next.
“Good speakers signpost: first the problem, then two options, then my recommendation.”
How to use it: Signposting helps everyone follow, especially people listening in a second language. It also helps you remember your own structure.
| Purpose | Phrase |
|---|---|
| Next section | “Moving on to costs, we’re three percent under budget.” |
| Connecting ideas | “This brings me to my next point: hiring.” |
| Zooming in | “Let’s zoom in on the Brazil numbers for a moment.” |
| Going back | “As I mentioned earlier…” |
| Comparing | “On the one hand, the price is high; on the other hand, setup is free.” |
| Contrasting data | “Mobile sales grew 40%. By contrast, desktop stayed flat.” |
Explaining slides and data
- “As you can see, most of the growth came from Latin America.” Only when it really is visible.
- “This slide shows our three regions at a glance.”
- “To put it simply, we spend more than we earn on each new customer.” Great after a complex chart.
- “I want to highlight the drop in support tickets.”
- “I’d like to emphasize that these numbers are still preliminary.”
- “Let me illustrate this with a real customer story.”
Write slide titles as headlines: “Sales grew 12% in Q2” tells the story; “Sales” is only a label.
Handing over in a team presentation
- “Now I’ll hand over to Leila, who’ll cover the technical side.”
- “Thanks, Leila. Building on that, let’s look at the rollout plan.”
Smooth handovers make a team look prepared. Agree on the talk track (who says what) before the meeting.
Closing with a call to action
Audiences pay attention again when they hear the end coming. Use that moment.
- “To sum up, we need more budget, one more engineer and a clear launch date.”
- “In a nutshell, the new pricing is simpler and slightly cheaper.”
- “The key takeaway is that retention improved after we simplified onboarding.”
- “What we need from you is approval for the pilot by June.” The call to action.
- “With that, I’d like to open the floor to questions.”
“In conclusion” is correct but formal. In internal meetings, “So, to wrap up…” sounds more natural.
Handling Q&A, including hard questions
| Situation | Phrase |
|---|---|
| You need a second to think | “That’s a good question.” (Not for every question, or it sounds automatic.) |
| You’ll cover it later | “I’ll come back to that when we get to the pricing slide.” |
| You didn’t understand | “Just to make sure I understood, you’re asking about…?” |
| You don’t know | “I don’t have that number with me, but I’ll check and send it by tomorrow.” |
| It’s off topic | “That’s a bigger discussion. Can we take it offline after the session?” |
| You want more detail | “Could you elaborate on how you measured that?” |
“I don’t know, but I’ll find out” is a strong answer. Improvising a number is not.
Online presentations
- “Let me share my screen. Can everyone see it?”
- “Bear with me for a second while I find the right file.”
- “Quick show of hands, or use the reactions: who has used the new dashboard?”
- “We’ll split into breakout rooms for fifteen minutes.”
- “Sorry, we’re running over time. I’ll send the last slides by email.”
Practise out loud
Reading slides silently is not rehearsal. Do a dry run out loud, record yourself once to catch filler words, and slow down on the key numbers. A short silent pause sounds more confident than “um”. The Presentations deck in WorkWords has 75 phrases like these with audio and usage notes. If a negotiation follows your pitch, keep our negotiation phrases ready.
Frequently asked questions
How do I start a presentation in English?
Greet, hook and give a roadmap: “Thanks for having me. Last quarter we lost one in five new customers in the first week. I’ll show you why, then two options, then my recommendation.”
What are signposting phrases?
Phrases that show the structure of your talk: “To start off…”, “Moving on to…”, “This brings me to my next point…”, “To sum up…”. They help everyone follow, especially people listening in a second language.
What do I say if I don’t know the answer to a question?
Be honest and commit to a follow-up: “That’s a good question. I don’t have that number with me, but I’ll check and send it to you by tomorrow.”
How do I end a presentation?
Summarize the key message, give a clear call to action (“We’d like your approval for the pilot by June”), thank the audience and open the floor to questions.
The team behind WorkWords, the vocabulary app for English at work. Every phrase is checked against real workplace use and written with a usage note.
