Signposting

When we are giving a presentation, there are certain key words we use to ’signpost’ different stages in our presentation. These words are not difficult to learn but it is absolutely essential that you memorize them and can use them when you are under pressure giving a presentation.

When you want to make your next point, you ‘move on’.

• Moving on to the next point.
• I’d like to move on to the next point if there are no further questions

When you want to change to a completely different topic, you ‘turn to’.

• I’d like to turn to something completely different.
• Let’s turn now to our plans for next year.

When you want to give more details about a topic you ‘expand’ or ‘elaborate’.

• I’d like to expand more on this problem we have had in Chicago.
• Would you like me to expand a little more on that or have you understood enough?
• I don’t want to elaborate any more on that as I’m short of time.

When you want to talk about something which is off the topic of your presentation, you ‘digress’.

• I’d like to digress here for a moment and just say a word of thanks to Bob for organizing this meeting.
• Digressing for a moment, I’d like to say a few words about our problems in Chicago.

When you want to refer back to an earlier point, you ‘go back’.

• Going back to something I said earlier, the situation in Chicago is serious.
• I’d like to go back to something Jenny said in her presentation.

To just give the outline of a point, you ’summarize’.

• If I could just summarize a few points from John’s report.
• I don’t have a lot of time left so I’m going to summarize the next few points.

To repeat the main points of what you have said, you ‘recap’.

• I’d like to quickly recap the main points of my presentation.
• Recapping quickly on what was said before lunch,……

For your final remarks, you ‘conclude’.

• I’d like to conclude by leaving you with this thought ……
• If I may conclude by quoting Karl Marx …….