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Guiding the audience

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In your presentation, you need to indicate to your audience the purpose of each part of your presentation, and how they relate to the overall topic.

As a presenter, you need to use signalling words and phrases in the course of your presentation to guide the audience and to let your audience know what is happening in each section of your talk. You also need to lead into these smoothly so that your audience can understand how the ideas are connected.

See these examples of signalling words and phrases.

Signalling words and phrases

  1. Introducing the talk
    2.
    • "I want to start by..."
    • "The topic I intend to discuss is..."


  2. Introduction of main point
    3.
    • "The crux of the matter..."
    • "The next point is crucial..."
    • "Fundamentally..."


  3. Rephrasing the main point
    4.
    • "That is to say..."
    • "So now what we have is..."
    • "The point I am making..."
    • "Let me put that another way..."
    • "In other words..."
    • "As I have been saying..."


  4. Introducing an example
    5.
    • "Let me illustrate this by referring to..."
    • "A case in point is..."
    • "Take the case of..."
    • "A good example of this is..."
    • "I'd like to give an example to illustrate my point."


  5. A digression
    6.
    • "I might just mention..."
    • "Incidentally..."
    • "That reminds me of..."


  6. Moving on to another main point
    7.
    • "Let's now consider..."
    • "I'd like to move on to..."
    • "Now let's have a look at..."
    • "The next aspect of the topic I wish to consider is..."


  7. Handing over to another speaker (e.g., in a group presentation)
    8.
    • "I will now invite [NAME] to "
    • "I will now hand over to [NAME] who will..."
    • "The next section relates to _______, and this will be presented by [NAME]."


  8. Summing up main points
    9.
    • "To recapitulate..."
    • "To sum up..."
    • "Therefore..."
    • "As a result..."
    • "If I can just sum up..."
    • "Thus we can see..."


  9. Inviting questions
    10.
    • "That concludes our presentation. However, I am / we are happy to answer any questions."
    • "Are there any questions?"
    • "Please feel free to ask questions."
    • "I am / We are happy to take questions."


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