Have you prepped properly?

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Every industry has its own jargon, all the catch phrases, short forms and technical terms that are clear as crystal to the insiders but could very well seem like double-dutch to those not in the know!

Overburdening any presentation with industry-specific jargon can be a risky proposition.

At the same time, not knowing the protocols of how to lead your audience though segments of your presentation can also be a handicap.

The crux is knowing how to keep it clean, clear and to the point, so that your presentation glides smoothly and reaches its target effectively.

We found this excellent list of 63 must-know business presentation phrases on Preply – which we thought we’d share, for those still finding their feet and looking to get a grip on the correct jargon – without which no business can be conducted with the due degree of formality and professionalism.

Save this list. We did!

63 must-know business presentation phrases

Here is a list of natural-sounding phrases which you might like to use in your next business presentation. They won’t all be useful to everyone, but they will give you some building blocks to structure your presentation around. 

Welcoming your audience

Open with a greeting and thank people for coming. Here are some opening statements, ranging from formal to informal:

  1. Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone. Thanks for coming. On behalf of Lego, I’d like to welcome you all to our offices. 
  2. Hello everyone. I’d like to welcome you to Lego head office, I trust that you all found us okay.
  3. Hello everyone, I’m delighted to be speaking with you today. 
  4. Hi everyone, I think we might still be missing a few people but I’m going to kick things off now so we have time to get through everything.
  5. Hello and thank you all for coming. I appreciate you being here on such a rainy Monday morning / last thing on a Friday afternoon.

Give the topic of the presentation 

Your audience knows why they are there, but it is helpful to re-state it briefly. 

  1. As you all know, I am going to be talking to you about CPC advertising best practices.
  2. In this presentation, I am going to walk you through some of the best practices in CPC advertising. 
  3. For the next forty-five minutes, I am going to be speaking to you about the best practices in CPC advertising. 
  4. By the end of this session, you will all know a little more about the best practices in CPC advertising. 

Introducing yourself

Briefly tell the audience who you are: give your name, company, and position. You can touch on any other information which explains why you’re well-placed to give this presentation. 

  • 10. My name is Kenny Jones, and I am The Head of Marketing here. 
  • 11. First of all, a little bit about my background. I am the Head of Marketing at Lego, and I have been with the company for seven years. Before that, I used to work for Booking.com where I…
  • 12. To introduce myself, my name is Kenny and I am the Head of Marketing at Lego. 
  • 13. By way of an introduction, my name is Kenny and I head up the Marketing department at Lego. 

Give a roadmap for the presentation 

Even if your presentation is short, it’s helpful for the audience to know what you plan to discuss. It’ll keep you focussed, and ensure that they hear facts, rather than an endless stream of information.  

  • 14. My presentation will take about 45 minutes and is divided into four sections. Section 1 is going to discuss…
  • 15. Since we only have 45 minutes to discuss this huge topic, I’m going to keep things brief. This talk will be divided into four sections. To start off…
  • 16. I thought it would be helpful to share a road map of what I’m planning to cover. This talk will be divided into four sections. 
  • 17. I’m going to look at four different aspects of CPC advertising in today’s presentation. Number one…

Question policy and any rules

What do you want from your audience? Do you mind being interrupted, or will it distract you? State your expectations and you won’t have any surprises. Consider whether you need to announce any other rules about audience behavior. 

  • 18. If you have questions about anything, please kindly wait until the end of the presentation to ask them. We’ll have ten minutes for an open discussion at the end. 
  • 19. Feel free to interrupt if you have any questions.
  • 20. If anything isn’t clear, put your hand up and I’ll do my best to answer your question. 
  • 21. I’d be happy to answer any questions at the end of my talk.
  • 22. Unfortunately, photography isn’t allowed during this presentation.  
  • 23. I would appreciate it if you could all put your phones on silent, or turn them off for the duration of this talk. 

Beginning the main body of your presentation

Your audience now has a good idea of who you are and what to expect. Now there’s a roomful of eyes waiting to hear your expertise. It can help to start by turning the topic into a question. 

  1. So, what is CPC advertising?
  • 25. Let’s start at the very beginning. Many people ask…

If that’s not suitable for you, then try any of the following phrases to show that your introduction is over, and the main body will shortly begin.  

  • 26. Without further ado. 
  • 27. Let’s get started. 
  • 28. I’d like to start by talking about…
  • 29. Let’s kick things off. 

Beginning a new section of the main body

Once you’ve made your first point, try to sum it up in one sentence. Then you are ready to start a new phrase. Here are some options for that:

  • 30. Okay so that’s Facebook ads. But what about Google ads? Well…
  • 31. Now let’s turn to Google ads. 
  • 32. There’s a lot more to learn about that but since we’re pushed for time, let’s move on to Google ads.
  • 33. Next up: Google ads.
  • 34. Part two: Google ads.

Useful words for listing

In Ancient Greece, rhetoricians (professional public speakers) developed tricks to hold an audience’s attention. One of them was to number their ideas on their fingers, so that the audience had a visual aid to follow along with. Luckily, this works even better when showing bullet points on a PowerPoint! Here are some ideas for how to list your points: 

  • 35. There are five main advantages to this approach… firstly, … secondly, … thirdly, …
  • 36. There are three main reasons why people choose Google ads. It’s primarily because…but another key factor is…some people choose them because…
  • 37. There are five stages of the process. You start by… then, you should…after that,

Introduce your visual aids

It’s best to give your audience something to look at to reinforce your points. Here are some phrases to show people what you want them to notice. 

  • 38. If you look at this graph, you will see…
  • 39. From this chart, we can understand how …
  • 40. As you can see from this infographic, our research indicates that…
  • 41. This chart shows our findings of a recent experiment we undertook. The y-axis represents… while the x-axis stands for…

Ending the presentation

Business presentations usually end with a summary. You can use this to reinforce your main points (in case anyone dozed off!) or to return to the question you discussed. 

  • 42. That’s it on CPC advertising for today. In brief, we’ve covered …
  • 43. Well, that’s just about all we’ve got time for today, unfortunately. I hope you have learned something about CPC advertising. 
  • 44. Well, that concludes my presentation today. To refresh your memory, the main takeaways are the following. Number one…
  • 45. That brings me to the end of my presentation. I hope you’re a little clearer on what CPC advertising is and when to use it. 
  • 46. So to draw all that together, next time you think about CPC advertising, consider the following factors…. That’s all from me! 

Involving the audience in the discussion

You’ve said your piece, and the audience is full of new information. Thank them for their attention and, if you feel able to, invite them to ask you for clarifications. 

  • 47. Thank you for listening. We have five minutes left over. Are there any questions? 
  • 48. Thank you for your attention, I hope you’ve found this session useful. I’d be happy to answer any questions. 
  • 49. Thank you for listening. I’d now like to open up the floor to questions, so just raise your hand if there’s anything else you want to know. 

When you receive questions, don’t feel you have to leap into the answer straight away. You can buy yourself an extra few seconds with one of the following phrases.

  • 50. Thank you for your question, Mike. 
  • 51. That’s an interesting question.
  • 52. I’m glad you asked me that. 

If you aren’t sure how best to answer a question, don’t be afraid to ask for clarification as to exactly what information the asker is looking for. It’s also perfectly professional to admit when you don’t know something. 

  • 53. Could you clarify what exactly you mean by that, please? 
  • 54. Are you asking about my experience or data from the industry in general? 
  • 55. I’m afraid I don’t have those figures off the top of my head, but if you give me your email address at the end, I can follow up with you later. 
  • 56. Unfortunately, that’s slightly outside of my area of expertise. However, I think you could almost certainly find more information on that by…
  • 57. That’s a great question and I have to say, I don’t know for sure, but my best guess would be that…

Check in with the question asker

To really demonstrate your expertise, check that your question has impressed the audience member who raised it.

  • 58. I hope that makes sense. Is that the kind of answer you were looking for? 
  • 59. Does that answer your question?
  • 60. Feel free to come and grab me afterward if you want to discuss this further. 

Thank your audience

  • 61. Thank you very much for your attention.
  • 62. Thank you all for coming, I really enjoyed speaking to you today and hope this session has been useful. 
  • 63. Thanks for listening, do feel free to contact me via my website or email if you think of any further questions. 

Source: https://preply.com/en/blog/business-presentation-phrases/