Presentations

Question 1

Introducing institute/department

Answer 1

• Hi. Thanks for coming…
• I am a PhD student/researcher/technician at…
• I am doing a PhD/a Masters/some research at…
• I am part of a team of 20 researchers and most of our funding comes from…
• The work that I am going to present to you today was carried out with the collaboration of the University of…

Question 2

Telling the audience what point your research has reached and in what context it is

Answer 2

• What I am going to present is actually still only in its early stages, but I really think that our findings so far are worth telling you.
• We are already at a quite advanced stage of the research, but I was hoping to get some feedback from you on certain aspects relating to…
• Our research, which we have just finished, is actually part of a wider project involving…

Question 3

Giving a general outline (formal)

Answer 3

In this presentation I am going to/I would like to/I will

• discuss some findings of an international project
• examine/analyze/bring to your attention
• introduce the notion of/a new model of
• review/discuss/describe/argue that
• address a particular issue, which in my opinion, ..
• give an analysis of/explore the meaning of
• cite research by Wallwork and Southern

Question 4

Giving your agenda (traditional)

Answer 4

1. I will begin with an introduction to…
2. I will begin by giving you an overview of…
3. Then I will move on to…
4. After that I will deal with…
5. And I will conclude with…

Question 5

Giving your agenda (less formal)

Answer 5

1. First, I’d like to do x/I’m going to do/First, I’ll be looking at X.
2. Then we’ll be looking at Y/Then, we’ll focus on Y.
3. And finally we’ll have a look at Z/Finally, I’m going to take you through Z.
4. So, let’s begin by looking at X.

Question 6

Giving your agenda (informal)

Answer 6

• So this is what I am going to talk about…
• …and the main focus will be on…
• …and what I think, well what I hope, you will find interesting is…
• I’m NOT going to cover P and Q, I’m just going to…

Question 7

Giving your agenda (more dynamic)

Answer 7

• This is what I’m planning to cover.
• I’ve chosen to focus on X because I think
  
  • it has massive implications for…
  • it is an area that has been really neglected…
  • I’m hoping to get some ideas from you on how to…
  • that what we’ve found is really interesting
• I think we have found a
  
  • radically new solution for…
  • truly innovative approach to…
  • novel way to ..
• We are excited about our results because this is the first time research has shown that…
• Why is X is so important? Well, in this presentation I am going to give you three good reasons…
• What do we know about Y? Well, actually a lot more/less than you might think. Today I hope to prove to you that…

Question 8

Referring to handout

Answer 8

• I’ve prepared a handout on this, which I will give you at the end - so there’s no need to take notes.
• Details can also be found on our website. The URL is on the handout.

Question 9

Moving on to the main body of the presentation

Answer 9

• Okay, so let me start by looking at…
• So first I’d like to give you a bit of background.
• So why did we undertake this research? Well,…
• So what were our main objectives? Well,…

Question 10

Introducing a new element or topic

Answer 10

• With regard to x…
• As far as x is concerned…
• Regarding x…

Question 11

Signaling that the topic is about to change

Answer 11

• Before I give you some more detailed statistics and my overall conclusions, I am just going to show you how our results can be generalized to a wider scenario.
• In a few minutes I am going to tell you about X and Y, which I hope should explain why we did this research in the first place. But first I want to talk to you about…

Question 12

Showing where you are in the original agenda

Answer 12

• Okay so this is where we are ..
• This is what we’ve looked at so far.
• So, we’re now on page 10 of the handout.

Question 13

Referring to previous topic to introduce next topic

Answer 13

• Before moving on to Z, I’d just like to reiterate what I said about Y.
• Okay, so that’s all I wanted to say about X and Y. Now let’s look at Z.
• Having considered X, let’s go on and look at Y.
• Not only have we experienced success with X, but also with Y.
• We’ve focused on X, equally important is Y.
• You remember that I said X was used for Y [go back to relevant slide], well now we’re going to see how it can be used for Z.

Question 14

Getting the audience interested in the next topic

Answer 14

• Did you know that you can do X with Y? You didn’t, well in the next section of this presentation I’ll be telling you how.

Question 15

Direct transition

Answer 15

• Let me now move onto the question of…
• This brings me to my next point…
• Next I would like to examine…
• Now we’re going to look at Z. // Now I’d like to show you Z. // Now I’d like to talk about Z.
• Okay, let’s move on to Z.
• Now we are going to do X. X will help you to do Y.

Question 16

Emphasizing a point

Answer 16

• I must emphasize that ..
• What I want to highlight is…
• At this point I would like to stress that…
• What I would really like you to focus on here is…
• These are the main points to remember:
• The main argument in favor of/against this is ..
• The fact is that…
• This is a particularly important point.
• This is worth remembering because…
• You may not be aware of this but…

Question 17

Communicating value and benefits

Answer 17

• So, the key benefit is…
• One of the main advantages is…
• What this means is that…
• We are sure that this will lead to increased…
• What I would like you to notice here is…
• What I like about this is…
• The great thing about this is…

Question 18

Expressing surprise in order to gain interest

Answer 18

• To our surprise, we found that…
• We were surprised to find that…
• An unexpected result was…
• Interestingly, we discovered that…

Question 19

Qualifying what you are saying

Answer 19

• Broadly speaking, we can say that…
• In most cases/In general this is true.
• In very general terms…
• With certain exceptions, this can be seen as…
• For the most part, people are inclined to think that…
• Here is a broad outline of…

Question 20

Qualifying what you have just said

Answer 20

• Having said that…
• Nevertheless, despite this…
• But in reality…
• Actually…
• In fact…

Question 21

Giving explanations

Answer 21

• As a result of…Due to the fact that…Thanks to…
• This problem goes back to…
• The thing is that…
• On the grounds that…

Question 22

Giving examples

Answer 22

• Let’s say I have…and I just want to…
• Imagine that you…
• You’ll see that this is very similar to…
• I’ve got an example of this here…show slide
• I’ve brought an example of this with me…show object
• There are many ways to do this, for example/for instance you can…
• There are several examples of this, such as…

Question 23

Making initial reference to the diagram

Answer 23

• Here you can see…
• I have included this chart because…
• This is a detail from the previous figure…
• This should give you a clearer picture of…
• This diagram illustrates…

Question 24

Explaining what you have done to simplify a diagram

Answer 24

• For ease of presentation, I have only included essential information.
• For the sake of simplicity, I have reduced all the numbers to whole numbers.
• This is an extremely simplified view of the situation, but it is enough to illustrate that…
• In reality this table should also include other factors, but for the sake of simplicity I have just chosen these two key points.
• This is obviously not an exact/accurate picture of the real situation, but it should give you an idea of…
• I have left a lot of detail out, but in any case this should help you to…
• if you are interested you can find more information on this in my paper.

Question 25

Indicating what part of the diagram you want them to focus on

Answer 25

• Basically what I want to highlight is…
• I really just want you to focus on…
• You can ignore/Don’t worry about this part here.
• This diagram is rather complex, but the only thing I want you to notice is…

Question 26

Explaining the lines, curves, arrows

Answer 26

• On the x axis is…On the y axis we have…
• I chose these values for the axes because…
• In this diagram, double circles mean that…whereas black circles mean… dashed lines mean…continuous lines mean…
• Time is represented by a dotted line.
• Dashed lines correspond to…whereas zig-zag lines mean…
• The thin dashed gray line indicates that…
• These dotted curves are supposed to represent…
• The solid curve is…
• These horizontal arrows indicate…
• There is a slight/gradual/sharp decrease in…
• The curve rises rapidly, then reaches a peak, and then forms a plateau.
• As you can see, this wavy curve has a series of peaks and troughs.

Question 27

Explaining positions

Answer 27

• on the left is…on the left side here…
• in the middle…
• here, at the top…
• down in this section…
• over here is a…
• the upper/lower section…

Question 28

Referring forward

Answer 28

• I’m going to do X, Y, and Z.
• I’m not going to cover this aspect now, I’m just going to…
• I’ll go into a bit of detail for each concept.
• I’ll explain this in a moment/I’ll talk about that later.
• As we will see later…

Question 29

Referring backward

Answer 29

• As I said before…
• Remember I said that…
• The concept I mentioned earlier…
• As I mentioned a moment ago…
• To return to my earlier point…
• If we go back to this slide…(shows an earlier slide)

Question 30

Referring to current slide

Answer 30

• Here you can see…
• Notice that it has…
• As you can see…

Question 31

Very strong affirmations

Answer 31

• These results definitely prove that…
• We are convinced that our results show that…
• What these results prove is…

Question 32

Tentative affirmations

Answer 32

• Our results would seem to show that…
• What these findings seem to highlight is…
• I think that these results may indicate that…
• It seems probable from these results that…
• I think it is reasonable to assume that…
• Under the hypothesis that x=y, what these results probably mean is…
• We are assuming that the reason for this discrepancy is…
• We are presuming that this nonagreement is due to…
• This may indicate that…
• A possible explanation is…
• I believe this is due to…

Question 33

Future work

Answer 33

• So, we’ve still got quite a long way to go. What we need to do now is…
  Given these results, it seems to us that the best thing to do now is…
  A promising area for future research would probably be…
  What we are planning to do next is…

Question 34

Eliciting audience help

Answer 34

• To be honest, we are not exactly sure what these results may implicate…
• We think our results show that x=y, and we were rather hoping to find other people who may be doing similar research to confirm this for us…
• We are not really sure why the results appear to be so contradictory, and we were wondering whether someone here might be able to help us out with this.
• We are actually looking for partners in this project, so if anybody is interested, please let us know.

Question 35

Warning audience that presentation is near the end

Answer 35

• Okay, we’re very close to the end now, but there are just a couple of important things that I still want to tell you.

Question 36

Final summary

Answer 36

• Well that brings me to the end of the presentation. So, just to recap…

Question 37

Telling the audience where they can find further information

Answer 37

• I am afraid that I don’t have time to go into this in any further detail. But you can find more information about it on this website (which is on the back page of your handout).
• If you would like more information on this, then please feel free to email me. My address is on the back page of the handout./My address is in the congress notes.

Question 38

Thanking the audience

Answer 38

• Thanks very much for coming.
• Thank you for your attention.

Question 39

Beginning a Q&A session

Answer 39

• Does anyone have any questions on this?
• I’d be really interested in hearing your questions on this.
• [If no one asks as a question] One question I am often asked is…

Question 40

Referring to level of English just before Q&A session

Answer 40

If you ask any questions I would be grateful if you could ask them slowly and clearly, as

• my English is a bit rusty
• many attendees here today are not native speakers of English

Question 41

Handling the Q&A session

Answer 41

• Okay, could we start with the question from the gentleman/lady at the back. Yes, you.
• [Interrupting someone] Sorry, first could we just hear from this woman/man at the front.
• Do you mind just repeating the question because I don’t think the people at the back heard you.
• I think we have time for just one more question.
• Okay, I am afraid our time is up, but if anyone is interested in asking more questions I’ll be in the bar and at the social dinner tonight.

Question 42

What to say when you don’t understand a question from the audience

Answer 42

• Sorry, could you repeat the question more slowly please?
• Sorry, could you speak up please?
• Sorry, I didn’t hear the first/last part of your question.
• Sorry, I still don’t understand—would you mind asking me the question again in the break?
• Sorry, but to answer that question would take rather too long, however you can find the explanation on my web pages or in my paper.
• I’m not exactly clear what your question is.

Question 43

Going back to the presentation after taking questions mid presentation

Answer 43

• Okay, would you mind if I moved on now, because I’ve still got a couple of things I wanted to say?

Question 44

Interpreting the questions

Answer 44

• If I’m not wrong, I think what you are asking is…
• Can I just be sure that I understand? You are asking me if…
• So what you are saying is…
• So your question is…

Question 45

Avoiding difficult questions

Answer 45

• I’m not familiar with the details regarding that question.
• I can’t give you an exact answer on that, I am afraid.
• That’s a very interesting question and my answer is simply I really don’t know!
• That’s a good question and I wish I had a ready answer , but I am afraid I don’t.
• You know, I’ve never been asked that question before and to be honest I really wouldn’t know how to answer it.
• I would not like to comment on that.
• I am sorry but I am not in a position to comment on that.
• I am not sure there really is a right or wrong answer to that. What I personally believe is…

Question 46

Asking for time or deferring

Answer 46

• I think it would be best if my colleague answered that question for you.
• Can I get back to you on that one?
• Could we talk about that over a drink?
• I need to think about that question. Do you think we could discuss it in the bar?
• You’ve raised a really important point, so important that I think I would rather have a bit of time to think about the best answer. So if you give me your email address at the end, I’ll get back to you.
• At the moment I don’t have all the facts I need to answer that question, but if you email me I can get back to you.
• Offhand, I can’t answer that question but if you…

Question 47

Commenting on audience questions

Answer 47

• I know exactly what you mean but the thing is…
• I take your point but in my experience I have found that…
• You’re quite right and it is something that I am actually working on now.
• I’m glad you raised that point, in fact one of my colleagues will be able to answer that for you.
• Yes, the additional experiments you suggest would be very useful. Maybe we could talk about them over lunch.

Question 48

Suggesting that Q & A session can continue at the bar

Answer 48

• Does anyone fancy going for a drink? because it would be very helpful to have your feedback.
• Would anyone like to go for a drink? because I’d be really interested to hear your views on this.

Question 49

Equipment doesn’t work

Answer 49

• I think the bulb must have gone on the projector. Could someone please bring me a replacement? In the meantime let me write on the whiteboard what I wanted to say about…
• The microphone/mike doesn’t seem to be working. Can everyone hear me at the back?
• I don’t know what has happened to my laptop but the program seems to have crashed. Please bear with me while I reboot.
• Okay, it looks as if I will have to continue my presentation without the slides. Let me just look at my notes a second.

Question 50

You realize that a slide contains a mistake

Answer 50

• You know what, there’s a mistake here, it should be…
• Sorry this figure should be 100 not 1,000.

Question 51

Your mobile phone rings and you have to turn it off

Answer 51

• I’m really sorry about that. I thought I had switched it off.

Question 52

You forget where you are in the presentation

Answer 52

• Sorry, what was I saying?
• Where were we up to? Can anyone remind me?
• Sorry I’ve lost track of what I was saying.
• Sorry, I seem to have forgotten what I was saying.

Question 53

If you are about to go over your allocated time

Answer 53

• It looks as if we are running out of time. Would it be okay if I continued for another 10 minutes?
• If any of you have to leave straight away, I quite understand.
• I am really sorry about this. But in any case, you can find the conclusions in the handout.
• I will put a copy of the presentation on our website.

Question 54

Posters - Getting the person interested

Answer 54

• Hi, would you like some more information?
• Would you like me to take you through the process?
• I have a short demo here if you would like to look at it.
• Would you like to hear some more details on the methodology?

Question 55

Posters - Offering further help

Answer 55

• Would you like a copy of this handout/brochure/document? It basically says the same as the poster but in a lot more detail.
• Here is my paper, if you would like a copy. You can find more details on my website, which is written on my card here.

Question 56

Posters - Asking questions about the person’s research

Answer 56

• May I ask what field you are in?
• Where are you based?
• How long have you been working in this field?

Question 57

Posters - Opening up possibilities for further contact

Answer 57

• Would you like to give me your email address?
• Are you giving a presentation yourself?
• Are you going to be at the dinner tonight?
• Might you be interested in setting up a collaboration?

Question 58

Posters - Saying goodbye

Answer 58

• Thank you very much.
• It was very nice to meet you.
• Hope to see you around.
• Hope to see you again.
• I’ll email you the website/my paper/the documentation.
• Let’s keep in touch.
• Goodbye.