The English Breakfast ☕
Hi there,
Welcome back to The English Breakfast — the newsletter for Italian professionals who want to feel more confident in English at work.
I hope you’re having a great weekend! I spent some time prepping a student for a board presentation this week, which inspired today’s topic.
So, let’s start with a quick challenge. Do you know these 5 essential phrasal verbs for presentations in English? Do the quiz and find out!
Essential phrases
Let’s be honest: giving a presentation in English can be scary! But you don’t need to be a perfect speaker to do a great job. The secret is to use "guide phrases." These help you explain your ideas clearly and show your audience exactly where you are in your talk.
Memorising these simple expressions will help you feel more relaxed and professional. Here is a quick guide to some of the most important phrases:
1. Directing Attention & Data
Use these when you want the audience to focus on your slides or specific statistics.
Phrase | Example | Italian Translation |
"I’d like to draw your attention to..." | "I’d like to draw your attention to the dip in Q3." | Vorrei sottoporre alla vostra attenzione... |
"If you look at [X], you’ll notice..." | "If you look at this chart, you'll notice a sharp rise." | Se guardate [X], noterete... |
"I want to highlight a key takeaway." | "I want to highlight a key takeaway from this study." | Vorrei sottolineare un punto cruciale. |
"This figure is a ballpark estimate." | "These costs are just a ballpark estimate for now." | Questa cifra è una stima approssimativa. |
"To put it into perspective..." | "To put it into perspective, that’s half our budget." | Per dare un'idea delle proporzioni... |
2. Transitions & Structure
These act as "signposts" to help your audience follow your logic.
Phrase | Example | Italian Translation |
"To give you some back story..." | "To give you some back story, we started in 2022." | Per darvi un po' di contesto... |
"Moving on to my next point..." | "Moving on to my next point: our global strategy." | Passando al prossimo punto... |
"That brings me to the end of..." | "That brings me to the end of the financial overview." | Con questo concludo la parte relativa a... |
"I’ll leave you with this final thought." | "I’ll leave you with this final thought on innovation." | Vi lascio con quest'ultima riflessione. |
3. Interaction & Q&A
Essential phrases for managing the room and ensuring everyone is on the same page.
Phrase | Example | Italian Translation |
"I’ll be happy to take questions at the end." | "Please hold your thoughts; I'll take questions at the end." | Sarò lieto di rispondere alle domande alla fine. |
"We’ve seen a steady uptick in..." | "We’ve seen a steady uptick in user engagement." | Abbiamo riscontrato un costante aumento di... |
"Despite a few outliers..." | "Despite a few outliers, the results are positive." | Nonostante alcune eccezioni… |
"Does that clarify things for everyone?" | "I know that was complex; does that clarify things?" | È tutto chiaro per tutti? |
"Let’s circle back to that..." | "Let’s circle back to that during the Q&A session." | Riprendiamo questo discorso più tardi... |
Which of these phrases is going into your 'presentation toolkit' first?
Reply to this email and let me know! 📧
Just remember: if your presentation doesn’t go perfectly, don’t worry—it can happen to anyone!
Check out this clip from the BBC TV show The Apprentice to see what I mean. It’s a great example of what not to do.
What do you think? How could he have improved his delivery? Reply to this email with your ideas—I’d love to hear your thoughts!
All right, that’s it for this week’s edition. It’s nice and sunny outside right now so I’m off to take the dog for a walk 🐶 🚶
Have a great week and I’ll see you next time!
All the best,
Dan
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