Are you one of those people who has to give presentations as part of your job? Do you sometimes struggle to get your message across and keep your audience engaged? If so, this post might be just what you need. It will give you useful language for organizing your presentation and smoothly transitioning from one key part to another. Next time you’re facing a presentation challenge, use these helpful phrases and follow the plan outlined here.
What Makes a Presentation Effective
The main purpose of a presentation is to communicate a message to an audience, and depending on the context, that message might be to inform, persuade, motivate and/or teach. Regardless of the goal, a good presentation helps the audience understand, remember, and often act on the information you share, and the clearer and more structured your presentation is, the more likely you are to achieve that goal.
Clarity of a presentation means that the message is easy to follow and the speaker avoids jargon (unless appropriate) and uses simple, precise language. Structure refers to a logical flow: beginning → middle → end, with smooth, clearly marked transitions between sections. In addition to clarity and structure, an effective presentation is also defined by:
- Engagement – the speaker grabs the audience’s attention early and maintains it throughout;
- A purpose-driven approach – every part of the presentation supports the main message, with a clear takeaway for the audience;
- Confident delivery – strong voice, natural body language, good eye contact, and pacing and tone that suit the content and audience.
Key Parts
To achieve clarity and impact, a good presentation typically consists of::
| Part | Purpose |
| 1. Introduction | Grabs attention (e.g., question, stat, story) States the purpose Gives a roadmap (what will be covered) |
| 2. Main body | 2–4 main points or sections Evidence or examples for each point Visual aids or data (if relevant) Smooth transitions |
| 3. Conclusion | Recaps the key message(s) Offers a final takeaway, insight, or call to action Ends clearly and confidently |
| 4. Q&A (optional) | Encourages interaction and clears up confusion |
| 5. Closing slide (optional) | Thank you message + contact info |
Useful Phrases
As mentioned earlier, a well-structured presentation includes clearly marked transitions between sections. Here are some useful phrases to help you achieve that.
Introduction
- Getting attention/starting strong: 1) Good morning/afternoon everyone, and thank you for being here today. 2) Let me start by asking you a question… 3) Have you ever wondered why…? 4) Before we begin, I’d like to tell you a quick story… 5) I’d like to start with a surprising statistic… 6) Here’s a quick demo to show you why this matters… 7) Raise your hand—or drop a 👍 in the chat—if you’ve ever struggled with … 8) Before we dive into …, let me show you the result we’re aiming for. 9) This is something I wish I had known when I first started working on … 10) You might be thinking this topic is too technical/boring/complex—but I promise, by the end, you’ll see why it matters.
- Stating the purpose: 1) The purpose/main goal of today’s presentation is to… 2) What I’d like to do today is… 3) In this presentation, I’m going to talk about/walk you through… 4) By the end of this session, you’ll have a better understanding of… 5) This session is designed to help you understand… 6) My aim today is to provide insight into… 7) We’re here today to explore… 8) This presentation focuses on three key things: … 9) The purpose of this talk is to break down/explain… 10) I’m here to give you an overview of…
- Outlining the structure: 1) I’ve divided the presentation into three main parts… 2) First, I’ll…, then we’ll…, and finally I’ll… 3) We’ll begin by looking at…, then move on to…, and finish with… 4) Here’s a quick overview of what we’ll cover today. 5) I’ll break this presentation down into three main sections. 6) The presentation is structured around these key themes/topics. 7) Let me give you a roadmap for today’s session. 8) I want to guide you through these steps… 9) The agenda for today includes… 10) Here’s the plan for our time together…
- Managing time/expectations: 1) This presentation will take about 30 minutes. 2) Feel free to ask questions at the end / as we go along. 3) There will be time for questions after the presentation. 4) I’ll keep this brief and to the point. 5) If time runs short, I’ll prioritize the most important topics. 6) Let me know if you need me to slow down or clarify anything. 7) I’ll try to stick to the schedule, but please bear with me if we go over a bit. 8) I’ll be mindful of time so we can finish on schedule. 9) At the end, I’ll share additional resources if you want to learn more. 10) Please hold your questions until the end.
Main Body
- Introducing main points: 1) Let’s start with the first key point… 2) The first point I want to highlight is… 3) To start with,… 4) The second important aspect is… 5) Our next focus will be on… 6) Moving on to the next topic.. 7) Now, let’s take a closer look at… 8) Our third point focuses on… 9) It’s essential to understand… 10) I want to emphasize the importance of…
- Providing evidence/examples: 1) To illustrate this,… 2) Here’s a real-life case that demonstrates this… 3) The data clearly shows that… 4) One notable example is… 5) This can be seen in the following scenario… 6) To put this into perspective,… 7) Research indicates that… 8) Data from reveals… 9) To back this up,… 10) For instance,…
- Referring to visual aids/data: 1) As you can see on this chart,… 2) Let me draw your attention to this graph… 3) This diagram highlights… 4) If you look at this slide,… 5) The figures here demonstrate… 6) If you focus on this part of the chart,… 7) Notice the trend shown here… 8) The graph clearly indicates that… 9) Pay attention to the spike/drop in… 10) This visualization helps us understand…
- Smooth transitions between sections: 1) Now that we’ve covered [previous point], let’s move on to… 2) Having discussed [topic], let’s turn our attention to… 3) That brings us to the next important point… 4) Let’s shift focus to… 5) Building on that idea,… 6) This leads us to the question of… 7) Before we move on, are there any questions about…? 8) That wraps up our discussion on [previous point]; next, we’ll focus on… 9) Let’s move forward and examine… 10) With that in mind, let’s consider…
Conclusion
- Recapping key messages: 1) To summarize, we’ve seen that… 2) In conclusion, the main points are. 3) Let’s quickly recap what we’ve covered today… 4) To wrap up, remember that… 5) In brief, the key takeaways are… 6) To bring everything together… 7) In summary, the evidence points to… 8) Overall, we have demonstrated that… 9) Let me highlight once more the essential points… 10) As we’ve discussed, the core ideas are…
- Offering a final takeaway/call to action: 1) The main takeaway I want you to leave with is… 2) Moving forward, consider… 3) If you remember one thing from today, let it be… 4) Let’s take this knowledge and… 5) The bottom line is… 6) I urge you to consider… 7) Keep in mind that… 8) Let’s commit to… 9) The key lesson from today is… 10) The key lesson from today is…
- Ending clearly and confidently: 1) Thank you for your attention. 2) That concludes my presentation—thank you. 3) I appreciate your time today. 4) If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them. 5) That’s all from me—thank you for listening. 6) I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today. 7) Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. 8) I look forward to continuing the conversation. 9) Thanks again, and I’m happy to take any questions. 10) That wraps things up—thank you.
Q&A
- Inviting questions: 1) I’d now like to open it up for questions. 2) If you have any questions, feel free to ask. 3) Now’s the time for any questions or comments you might have. 4) I’d be happy to clarify anything we covered today. 5) Any questions before we wrap up? 6) Is there anything you’d like me to explain in more detail? 7) Please don’t hesitate to ask if something wasn’t clear. 8) Let’s take a few minutes for questions. 9) I’m here to help—what would you like to know more about? 10) Any thoughts, feedback, or questions?
- Encouraging participation: 1) There are no bad questions, so feel free to ask anything. 2) If you’re thinking it, someone else probably is too—go ahead and ask. 3) You can type your question in the chat, or unmute and ask directly. 4) Don’t worry if it seems basic—I’m happy to clarify. 5) I’d really value your thoughts on this. 6) I’d love to hear your perspective on this. 7) Any questions, comments, or insights? 8) Feel free to jump in at any point. 9) No pressure—but if you have something to add, now’s a great time. 10) Has anyone faced a challenge related to this?
- Handling silence gracefully: 1) Take a moment—no rush. 2) I know sometimes it takes a second to think of a question. 3) If nothing comes to mind right now, you can always reach out later. 4) I’ll hang around for a few minutes in case any questions come up. 5) While you’re thinking, here’s a question I often get asked… (then answer a common question to break the ice) 6) It’s okay, I’ve been on your side of the screen — it takes a second to unmute or hit send. 7) I’ll stay on for a few more minutes in case anyone thinks of something. 8) You can also pop your question in the chat if that’s easier. 9) No worries if you don’t have questions now — we can always continue the conversation later. 10) It’s okay if nothing comes to mind right away — feel free to reach out afterward.
Closing Slide
- Thank you messages: 1) Thank you for your time and attention. 2) Thanks for joining me today! 3) I appreciate your interest and participation. 4) Thank you for being part of this session. 5) It was a pleasure presenting to you—thank you! 6) Thanks for taking the time to be here. 7) Thank you! I hope you found this useful. 8) Many thanks for your engagement today. 9) Thank you—looking forward to hearing your thoughts. 10) That’s all from me—thank you!
- Contact info: 1) Feel free to reach out at: [email] 2) Let’s stay in touch: [contact details] 3) Questions? Email me at [your email] 4) Follow up or connect with me here: [contact info] 5) Stay connected: […] 6) Reach out if you’d like to continue the conversation. 7) I’m happy to follow up—just send me a message! 8) Let’s collaborate—drop me a line at [email] 9) Stay in touch or request the slides here: […] 10) I welcome your feedback and thoughts — drop me a message at:
[…]
Any follow-up questions, comments, or insights? Feel free to share them in the comments below! 🖊️
‼️ Before we leave you with this, here’s an important note: in our next post, we’ll continue helping you make your presentations more effective. We’ll revisit the vocabulary from this article and provide you with example presentations and exercises — so stay tuned, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing!
Refer back to the information in this article whenever you need a hand preparing a presentation, and diversify the phrases you use to keep your delivery fresh and engaging.
Enguroo Online English School 