Useful phrases for presentation

The Opening

Establishing Contact

1. “Good morning, everyone”

2. “Good morning. It’s good to see you all here”

3. “Good morning. I’d like to welcome you all to …”

Stating your credentials

1. “As you know, I’ve been working on …/my job is in … “

2. “As you may know, I have been looking into …/I have responsibility for …/I am …”

3. “I’d like to begin by introducing myself”

4. “May I begin by telling you something of myself”

5. “Before we begin, let me introduce myself”

Stating the agenda

1. “It might be useful to begin with a brief outline of my agenda for this presentation”

2. “Can I propose the following agenda”

3. “I’d like to propose that we: consider three areas/cover three topics/consider three main questions”

4. “In my presentation this morning I’d like to look at the (3) following points”

5. “I want to take an hour of your time to look at three major questions”

6. “I want to spend … minutes talking about …”

7. “Today, the burning issues are …”

8. “Today, I want to run through five things …”

Using visual aids – drawing attention

1. “Have a look at this diagram”

2. “I’d like you to look at this chart”

3. “The figures here show that …”

4. “Please take a look at …”

5. “Let me show you this example by way of explanation …”

6. “As you will see if you look at these figures …”

7. “I think these figures speak for themselves”

8. “In this instance a diagram might be helpful”

The Body

Link with opening

“I said I would be looking at three things today …”

1. “The first thing I would like you to consider is …”

2. “As a starting point let us take the question of …”

3. “I want to begin by considering …”

4. “I’d like to begin with…”

5. “Let’s start by considering …/thinking about …”

6. “To start with …”

7. “First of all …”

8. “First, I’d like to draw your attention to …”

Give information – point by point

Sequencing

1. “The next point I’d like to look at is …”

2. “Next, I would like to deal with the question of …”

3. four parts – first, secondly, thirdly, finally

For final points

1. “Finally, let’s close by considering …”

2. “To end, I’d like to consider …/talk a little about …”

3. “My last point concerns …”

4. “This brings me to my final point”

5. “Last, but not least …”

Closing

1. “It’s time to round things off/up now, so …”

2. “We came here to talk about … and we have …”

3. “We were worried about the market …”

4. “Well, that’s it for today. I look forward to hearing from you”

5. “Can I bring this session/meeting to a close?”

6. “Thank you for your attention”

7. “It’s been a pleasure talking to you”

8. “Thanks for your input”

9. “Have a good trip home”