Vocabulary for summarizing & finishing presentations exercise

The end and the beginning of a business presentation in English are the most important parts. At the end, you need to summarize the main points and arguments of your business presentation, and often make predictions about what will happen in the future. But remember, it needs to be short!

In this online exercise on presentations, you'll see an example of a good ending to business presentation and learn English vocabulary and phrases you can use when doing it (words and phrases for summarizing, predicting and actually finishing it). Although the focus is on business presentations, these phrases can also be used in other types of presentations.

Click here to see more online exercises on presentations and presentation vocabulary


Exercise: Summarizing in a presentation

In the following text, a man is finishing 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:'Let me end by briefly recapping the main parts of my presentation. Firstly, we talked about how relative staff costs have increased for the majority of large companies over the last 10 years, if not longer. Secondly, we identified that the main cause of this rise stemmed from staff isolation, due to the expanding use of Information Technology in the workplace, reduced direct physical communication and contact between managers and their staff, and out of date management strategies and processes. And lastly, I suggested that one way to resolve this big issue is to adapt a new way of managing staff, where more direct physical communication takes places not only between managers and their staff, but between the staff themselves.

I cannot emphasize too strongly the importance that this last part is for your business. We have already seen the rise of companies in the far east, whose ways of working are different to our own and whose relative staff costs are substantially lower than here in the west. In the near future, they will not only be cheaper, but they will have the experience and products to directly compete with you! You need to keep in mind this, because without introducing these fundamental changes in managing your staff, in the long-term you will struggle to innovate and compete with your competitors from Asia without a shadow of a doubt.

Although this may all sound doom and gloom, I would like to restate that you can change this. It is in your hands. But you have to change now!

I would like to finish by thanking you for your time and I hope that this has been of some use to you.'



Quiz: Vocabulary for summarizing & finishing presentations

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. A way to identify what the cause of a problem/situation, is
         

Stemmed from:
(verb) The infinitive is 'to stem from'. It is the same as 'caused by' or 'arises from'. In Spanish: "tenía su origen en".

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Stemmed from:

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2. A phrase which is very similar to 'you should take into account', is
         

You need to keep in mind:
(phrase) This is used to advise the audience to think about/consider a cause, problem, factor before they make a decision or act, e.g. 'chocolate is bad for dogs. You need to keep in mind this, before giving it to your dog'. In Spanish: "que debe tener en cuenta".

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You need to keep in mind:

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3. A phrase at the end that expresses your hope that the presentation has been useful for them, is
         

I hope that this has been of some use to you:
(phrase) A polite phrase to finish a presentation, it is always follows 'thanking you for attending and I hope...' or 'thanking you for your time and I hope...'. In Spanish: "espero que haya tenido cierta utilidad".

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I hope that this has been of some use to you:

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4. A phrase that informs the audience that this is the last part of the presentation, is
         

Let me end:
(phrase) This is very polite, it is almost like asking for permission. Similar to 'I would like to finish by'. Normally, it is followed with 'by' and a gerund, e.g. 'let me end by speculating about...' or 'let me end by thanking you for attending'. In Spanish: "permítanme terminar".

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Let me end:

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5. A phrase that highlights/stresses the importance of something to the audience, is
         

I cannot emphasize too strongly:
(phrase) This acts like a very strong recommendation/warning. It is often followed by 'the need to' or 'the importance of', e.g. 'I can not emphasize too strongly the need to act quickly'. In Spanish: "no estaré de más insistir en el hecho de".

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I cannot emphasize too strongly:

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6. A phrase that informs people it's the end of the presentation, is
         

I would like to finish by:
(phrase) It is similar to 'let me end'. Normally, it is followed by the gerund (e.g. reminding, thanking). It is normally used before thanking people. In Spanish: "Me gustaría concluir".

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I would like to finish by:

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7. A phrase that has the same meaning as 'soon', is
         

In the near future:
(noun phrase) It is used when you are referring to, or predicting the future. In Spanish: "en un futuro próximo".

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In the near future:

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8. A very professional way of saying 'say again', is
         

Restate:
(verb) The infinitive is 'to restate'. It's similar to 'repeat', but sounds more professional and politer. In Spanish: "reiterar".

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Restate:

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9. A phrase that expresses that you are 100% confident that something will happen, is
         

Without a shadow of a doubt:
(expression) It is normally used after you have made a prediction, to emphasize that it's going happen, e.g. 'If you give your customers bad service, they won't come back, without a shadow of a doubt.' In Spanish: "sin lugar a dudas".

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Without a shadow of a doubt:

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10. A phrase that refers to both the future and a 'long period of time', is
         

In the long-term:
(noun) You can also use 'short-term' which refers more to the near future and a short period of time. Or 'medium-term', that is less common, but is used between the short and long-term. In Spanish: "a largo plazo".

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In the long-term:

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11. Another way to say 'quickly summarize' the main points of the presentation, is
         

Briefly recapping:
(phrase) It should only be used in the summary at the end of a presentation. It can also be used as a verb ('to recap') or as a noun (recap). It is used with both 'brief' or 'quick'. It is used with the gerund in this situation because of the phrase before it 'Let me end by'. In Spanish: "resumir brevemente".

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Briefly recapping:

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Practice

Now that you understand the ending a presentation vocabulary, practise it by creating your own end to a presentation in English with the new words/phrases.