English Presentation Skills: Complete Guide to Transitions, Questions, and Conclusions

In this lesson, we'll continue to work on presentation skills. First, we'll look at how to use signposts to transition from one point to another and from one speaker to another in presentations. Part of this will deal with ways to conclude your presentation. Then, I'll talk about best practices for dealing with questions as well as interruptions from the audience. You may remember this ABCD guideline for presentations from the last lesson. In the ABCD, D stands for direction. What direction are you going in your talk? What's your plan or your agenda? As you're speaking, you can help the audience understand where you are in your presentation with phrases that we call signposts. The first set of words to begin first, then, and next show that you're moving in a sequence or to say when something is going to happen. We always pause before and after signposts.

Next, I'm going to speak about transitions to the next topic. When you move from one part of your speech to another, you can use one of these expressions. Let's move on to talk about our options. Now, let's look at some possible reasons. Moving on to the results of our study, here is some data. Another way to move from one element to another is with the use of rhetorical questions. Basically, question, direct or indirect, you ask the audience but don't expect them to answer because you're going to answer it yourself. So, why does this happen? So, what can we do about this? You may be wondering when, why, how? Of course, you can also use statements like these. Let's look at this in a little more detail. Let's examine some reasons for this. Here are some more examples of using rhetorical questions to signposts. In this case, they signal that you're going to explain the significance or effects of something.

Sometimes, you refer back to something that you mentioned earlier. As I mentioned before, earlier, as you saw in the last slide. What happens if you forgot to say something or if you think people don't understand something? You might decide to go back to an idea or to a previous slide. Here are some ways you can do that. Go back and back up. Both have the idea of reverse. Let's go back a bit here. Let me go back a minute. Backing up a minute. Sometimes, you mention something briefly and then let people know that this is not the only thing you have to say about it. You'll come back to it later. I'll come back to this later. We'll discuss this in more detail in a few minutes.

We often introduce details by using a word that categorizes the items that follow. So in this sentence, instead of saying things, we might say factors, issues, or reasons, which are a bit more specific than things. There are two important things to consider. There are two important factors to consider. There are two important issues to consider. There are two important reasons to consider. Remember that another means one other. So if you only have two items, you can say one is red, the other is blue. You don't say the another. But if you have more than two, you can use another in a list of more than two or say the first, second, third, etc. One reason is cost, the other reason is time. There are several reasons. One is cost, another is time, and the last is...

Make it clear when you're giving an example. Let me give you an example. Here's an example. Let's look at an example. For example, let's look at fuel costs. Sometimes you can make a point clear, so you want to show that you're rephrasing. In other words, often introduces a simple or more direct rephrase. What I mean, and what I'm saying, introduce more explanation of a previous point, not necessarily a shorter rephrase. In other words, it's too expensive. What I mean is that everyone can use it, not just tech people. What I'm saying is that this plan won't work 100% of the time.

What about when you move to another speaker? Here are some ways that you can introduce another person. Let's say that your co-presenter is named Paul. Paul would respond to any of these transitions by saying thank you before starting his part. Now I'm going to turn it over to Paul. And now, Paul is going to talk about possible solutions to the problem. A conclusion usually includes a summary of your key points plus a closing sentence. It's great if you can come up with a great last statement, especially if it's something that your audience can remember. Transitioning to the conclusion usually involves a phrase something like this. So, to recap, to close, I'd like to summarize my main points. In conclusion, let me just suggest that you keep these three points in mind. I'd like to close by recommending these next steps. I'd like to close with this quote from Mark Twain. Thank you listeners. Thank you for your attention is a bit more formal. Some US people just say thank you. Do not say thank you for your listening. Thank you.