Making pauses

You can use pauses to slow your pace down and make your sentences easier to understand. Group words into phrases according to their meaning and make pauses between the phrases.

In my opinion we should go into other markets.

In my opinion // we should go // into other markets.

On the other hand, the figures prove that we are on the right track.

On the other hand, // the figures prove // that we are on the right track.

Dealing with questions

Asking for clarification. If you do not understand the question, politely ask the person to repeat or explain it.

I’m sorry. Could you repeat your question, please?

I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch that.

I’m afraid I don’t quite understand your question.

Avoiding giving an answer. Sometimes you may not want to answer a question, perhaps because it’s the wrong time for it or the question is irrelevant. When avoiding giving an answer, make sure that your tone of voice is friendly and your reply is polite.

If you don’t mind, I’d prefer not to discuss that today.

Perhaps we could deal with this after the presentation/at some other time.

I’m afraid that’s not really what we’re here to discuss today.

Admitting you don’t know the answer. If you don’t know the answer to a question, be honest and say so. Offer to find out or name a person who can answer the question.

Sorry, that’s not my field. But I’m sure Peter Bott from Sales could answer your question.

I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to your question, but I’ll try to find out for you.

I’m afraid I’m not in a position to answer that. Perhaps Maria could help.

Conclusion

Indicating the end of your talk

I’m now approaching/nearing the end of my presentation.

Well, this brings me to the end of my presentation.

That covers just about everything I wanted to say about…

OK, I think that’s everything I wanted to say about…

As a final point, I’d like to…

Finally, I’d like to highlight one key issue.

Summarizing points

Before I stop, let me go over the key issues again.

Just to summarize the main points of my talk…

I’d like to run through my main points again…

To conclude / In conclusion, I’d like to…

To sum up (then), we…

Making recommendations

We’d suggest…

We therefore (strongly) recommend that…

In my opinion, we should…

Based on the figures we have, I’m quite certain that…

Inviting questions

Are there any questions?

We just have time for a few questions.

And now I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Practice Drills

1. What is an easy way to organize any presentation, oral or written?

2. Give an example of how you could open an oral presentation.

3. How might you close a presentation?

4. Give an expression of contrast.

5. Give a short presentation related to your own business, using the guidelines in this chapter.

6. Give two connectors used for comparison.

7. What expression could you use to emphasize something?

8. In the narrative «The Power of Language», does the author conclude with a summary an opinion, or a new idea?

9. In «Culture Shock», describe the organization of ideas.