Better Presentations: A Powerful Body
Category: Business English Skills, Vocabulary | 2017-05-18
Welcome back to part 2 in our 4-part series on giving better presentations. Last week, in Better Presentations: A Strong Opening, we looked at how to capture the attention of your audience. This week we will be examining the language skills needed in the main body of your talk.
In the body of your presentation you are looking to share your message and have the audience connect with it. Effectively transitioning from point to point, highlighting research, visuals and different arguments requires a specific language set. The set of phrases we use to direct the audience’s attention is called signpost language.
Signpost language clearly indicates to the audience what phase you are entering or leaving, where they should be paying attention and the key ideas you are expressing. These signposts will help you get your message across clearly and effectively.
Below, you can find the phrases you need to give powerful presentations. Let’s get started!
Key Phrases for Powerful Presentations
Transitions
After your opening statements, it’s time to get to the bulk of your message. Most presentations will have more than one talking point. Each of these must be clearly identified and introduced. These phrases can easily be interchanged for any of the topics in your talk.
Have a look at some examples of phrases to introduce a new point in your presentation:
First, we’re going to look at …
- Let’s start by taking a look at …
- The first problem I’d like to focus on is …
- Now I’d like to focus on …
- Turning then to my next point, …
- I’d now like to say a few things about…
- OK, so now I’d like to turn to my next point, which is …
- Moving on, I’d like to take a look at ….
- Now let’s turn to the issue of …
- I’ll come back to that issue later, but first let’s look at…
- Turning now to …
- Having looked at X, let’s now think about …
- That brings me to my next point …
- My final point is in regard to…
- Finally, let’s discuss …
Research References
Throughout most presentations, you will have to refer to research or statistics. These may be your own figures, or from another source. To identify these correctly, use the following phrases:
- Researchers have identified three key issues here, they are …
- Our figures have shown quite conclusively that …
- Several recent studies, notably the ones by X and Y, have shown that …
- A study by X shows that …
- Research suggests/indicates that …
- According to …
- Figures from … show/suggest/indicate that …
- A very interesting study by X shows that…
- The study by X is on your reading list and I encourage you to take a look at it. What they found was that …
- One of the most interesting studies in this area showed that …
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Visual References
Similarly, any good presentation will have clear and intelligible visual aids. These should be easy to read and understand at a quick glance. When you want to draw your audience’s attention to a slide or graph in a handout, use these phrases:
- If you look at the table on page 3, you can see that …
- The data here shows that…
- Please take a handout and pass them on.
- There are some handouts coming around, please open them to page 4
- As you can see in the graph behind me, X is clearly …
Opinions
Another area in which you need clear signpost language is when you are presenting a point of view. These phrases are useful when referring to beliefs or opinions. These may be your thoughts, or those of someone else. Here are a few examples to use:
- Advocates of X claim that …
- Some people assert that X but others insist that …
- The evidence seems to indicate that …
- Most people/scientists/experts agree that …
- I think it’s fair to say that …
- Those in favour of X argue that …
- Personally, I think there is more than enough evidence to support …
Arguments
Much like presenting a point of view, analysing an argument is an integral part of a powerful presentation. This opens the door for debate and allows for differing opinions on a topic. Here are some approaches to use:
- Let’s take a closer look X’s argument. His main contention is that A but he fails to consider B.
- This point of view is very appealing because …
- Even if we accept the point that X, the question of Y is still open.
- The argument put forward by … doesn’t explain …
- The strength/weakness of this argument is that …
Recommendations
At the end of the body of your presentation, you will often want to offer your audience the next steps. To highlight these takeaways, use the following expressions:
- To solve these problems, we should consider the following actions: …
- Firstly, the management should …
- Now I’d like to look at some of the measures that can be taken to alleviate the problems of …
- The most important thing that we can do to improve the situation is…
- Some possible solutions would be to …
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Putting It All Together
These phrases will help your audience follow you more clearly. And this, in turn, will improve the effectiveness of your message creating a powerful presentation. Whether you are selling or informing, you will better engage your audience and be more successful.
What phrases do you use to provide powerful presentations? Did I leave something out? Let me know in the comments below. Don’t forget to join the monthly newsletter for more tips, articles and exclusive deals. Thanks for reading!
Cheers!
About the Author
Keith MacPherson
As the owner and founder of The MacPherson Language Institute, Keith is engaged in all aspects of language learning. A teacher, blogger, translator and consultant, he offers expert training and guidance for private students and businesses competing in the global market. Leave a comment, join the mailing list or follow him on Twitter @MLISolutions.