Vocabulary for beginning a presentation exercise

Opening or starting a presentation is along with ending one the most important parts of a presentation. And fortunately, they are also the easiest to master and learn (because most presentations begin and end the same way). You just need to learn what you have to say in them and how to say it.

When you start, you need to make the audience interested in what you're going to say, and also be clear and concise about the presentation's content. There is also a simple structure to starting or beginning a presentation and this is the same in English as it is in other languages.

In this online exercise on presentations, you'll see an example of a good beginning to business presentation and learn the English vocabulary and phrases which are used when doing it.

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Exercise: Starting a presentation

In the following text, a man begins a business presentation on improving staff performance.

From the context, try to guess what the meaning of the words/phrases in bold are and why they are being said. Then do the quiz at the end to check if you are right.

Speaker:'Good Morning ladies and gentlemen. First of all, let me start by thanking you for attending this presentation. I understand that everybody is very busy. So your attendance is very much appreciated.

My name is Russel Grants and I work as the European human resources manager for LPS. Which I have done for the past 5 years. I have worked in the field of human resources in various companies since I left university, nearly 20 years ago.

In this presentation, I am going to talk to you about why your staff are lazy and unproductive, or to put it another way, how employers and managers mismanage their staff.

Today's presentation is divided into three parts, which I will tell you about now. To begin with, I will give an overview of how current employee under-performance is costing companies millions in lost revenue, every minute of every day. Then I will explain the causes of this under-performance. And finally, I will outline an easy method to rectify this problem, which will keep your staff motivated and more productive.

If you have any questions, I would be pleased to answer them at the end of the presentation.

But before we start the first part, ask yourselves, what you would do if you could reduce the relative labour cost of each product you manufacture or sell, or each service you provide? As you all well know, labour normally accounts for about 40% of total costs in most businesses. A lot of money! Money which could be spent in other areas like Research and Development(R&D) or by reducing the price of your product.'

Quiz:

Below is a definition/description of each of the words/phrases in bold from the above text. Now choose the word/phrase from the question's selection box which you believe answers each question. Only use one word/phrase once. Click on the "Check Answers" button at the bottom of the quiz to check your answers.

When the answer is correct, two icons will appear next to the question. The first is an Additional Information Icon "". Click on this for extra information on the word/phrase and for a translation. The second is a Pronunciation Icon "". Click on this to listen to the pronunciation of the word/phrase.

1. To tell the audience what you will be talking about in the first part of the actual presentation, you start by saying

To begin with:
(verbial phrase) At the beginning of a presentation you need to do a short introduction for the audience to tell them what they are going to be hearing. This phrase is used to introduce what the subject/focus of the first part of the presentation will be. Instead of 'to begin with', you can also use 'firstly' as well. In Spanish: "en primer lugar".

To begin with:

2. A phrase used to make people in the audience 'think about' a particular situation or dilemma that you discuss in your presentation, is

Ask yourselves:
(phrase) This is used to get people thinking about a particular situation or issue which you are talking about in the presentation. It is not only used to do this, but to also get them more engaged in the presentation and make what you say to them more convincing. When you use "ask yourselves", you would follow it up with a question, e.g. 'Ask yourselves what you would be if you had to make such a decision?'. You would follow this up by telling them the answer. Hopefully, the answer you give will be the same or very similar to what they would have thought of. In Spanish: "pregúntate a ti mismo".

Ask yourselves:

3. A very polite phrase used at the beginning to welcome people to the presentation and show your appreciation for them coming to it, is

First of all, let me start by thanking you:
(phrase) Thanking the people attending the presentation for coming is used out of politeness and convention. You would say this at the beginning of your presentation, directly after greeting them. It is generally followed by 'for' + 'gerund', e.g. 'First of all, let me start by thanking you for coming tonight'. In Spanish: "Permítanme antes de nada agradecerles ".

First of all, let me start by thanking you:

4. A polite way to ask people not to interrupt you with questions during the presentation, is

I would be pleased to answer them at the end of the presentation:
(phrase) The phrase is basically a less direct way of telling people to not interrupt you. It is good to establish the rules at the beginning of the presentation. One of these is when the people in the audience can ask you questions. And this is used to tell them in a polite way when they should ask them. Normally, this phrase follows 'If you have any questions,'. In Spanish: "tendré mucho gusto en responder cualquier pregunta al final de la presentación.".

I would be pleased to answer them at the end of the presentation:

5. The opposite of 'discuss something in depth', is

Give an overview:
(phrase) This means that you are going to focus on the main and most relevant points of a subject, process, problem etc..., so that you can talk about it quickly in the presentation. You would 'give an overview' of things if either they are not really what the presentation is about, or you expect the members of the audience to be fully aware about them. In Spanish: "da una visión general".

Give an overview:

6. When you want to say something (e.g. a fact) which you believe that everyone in the audience is already knowledgeable about, you start by saying

As you all well know:
(phrase) You use this before telling the audience about a specific fact (e.g. when something is going to happen, why something happens etc...) which you believe they already know about. In addition, it is also used to compliment the audience on their knowledge, which helps in getting them to listen to and believe what you are telling them. In Spanish: "Como ya saben".

As you all well know:

7. To tell the audience what you will be talking about in the last part of the actual presentation, you start by saying

And finally:
(adverb)At the beginning of a presentation you need to do a short introduction for the audience to tell them what they are going to be hearing. This phrase is used to introduce what the subject/focus of the last part of a section of a presentation will be. Instead of 'and finally', you can also use 'and lastly' as well. In Spanish: "por último".

And finally:

8. A formal phrase used to introduce what the subject of the presentation is, is

In this presentation, I am going to talk to you about:
(phrase) After greeting and thanking the people for attending, you tell them what the presentation you are giving is about. This is a formal way of doing it. A less formal way to do the same thing is 'Today, I going to talk to you about...'. In Spanish: "En esta presentación, les hablaré de".

In this presentation, I am going to talk to you about:

9. A way to tell the audience how many distinct/separate sections there are in the presentation, is

Is divided into three parts:
(phrase) At the beginning of a presentation you need to do a short introduction for the audience to tell them what they are going to be hearing. This phrase (which follows 'this presentation') is used to tell them how many distinct parts/sections there are in the presentation. After saying it, you then say what each is. In Spanish: "Se divide en tres partes".

Is divided into three parts:

10. A phrase used when you want to clarify (make sure people understand) something you have just said by saying the same thing using more direct and different words, is

Or to put it another way:
(phrase) In order to make sure that people fully understand a point you are making, it is both very common and very effective to say it again but using different words (normally more direct and simple) to say the same thing. The phrase 'or to put it another way' is used directly before you say the more direct and simple version. For example, 'the company will struggle financially in the year to come, or to put it another way, we will make a loss!'. In Spanish: "dicho en otras palabras".

Or to put it another way:

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Practice

Now that you understand the starting a presentation vocabulary, practise it by writing your own beginning of a presentation in English with the new words/phrases.

This is me, Chris Clayton, the owner and main writer for Blair English. I'm also a part-time English teacher in sunny Spain. I have a love of history and the web. I hope you find the website useful.