English for Presentations: Ending

You have made it to the end.  You have explained all your talking points. Now, the only thing left to do is bring the presentation to an official close. There are 4 basic functions here:  Signal the end, summarise, thank, and answer questions.

English for Presentations: Ending

1. Signalling the End
2. Summarising
3. Thanking your audience
4. Question Period
5. Sample Presentation
6. English for Presentations: Menu

Signalling the End

It’s obvious to you, but your audience needs to be aware. Tell them clearly that the presentation is over. They need time to pack, unpack, organise, analyse, and prepare feedback and questions for you.

• Well, I’ve covered the points that I needed to present today.
• That concludes my talk for today
• That brings me to the end of the presentation

Summarising

It is customary to review the main content of the presentation at this point. A summary will help the audience to retain the information.

• In conclusion,…
• To conclude,…
• Right, let’s sum up / recap / summarise, shall we?
• I’d like to recap / sum up / summarise …
• Let’s sum up / recap / summarise briefly what we’ve looked at…
• To sum up / recap / summarise…
• If I can just sum up / recap / summarise up the main points…
• I’d like to end by emphasizing the main points.
• I’d like to end with a summary of the main points.

Thanking your audience

• Thanks for your attention.
• Thank you all for being such a great audience.

Question Period

If you started your presentation by announcing a closing question and answer period, now would be the best time to start the session.  Here are some simple introductory phrases:

• Now we have (15 minutes) for questions and discussion
• So, now I’d be very interested to hear your comments and questions
• Now, I’d like to open the floor to any questions you have
• Now I’ll try to answer any questions you may have
• Can I answer any questions?
• Are there any questions?
• Do you have any questions?

Sample Presentation

That brings me to the end of the presentation.  I’d like to recap the main ideas for you now.  The current market offers a unique opportunity for market penetration.  Customers have a real demand here. Competition is ignoring the opportunity.  My proposed strategy promises to yield a 50 % return every year for the next 5 years. The opportunity is there, but we have to take it. Thank you all for being such a great audience. Now we have 15 minutes for questions.

English for Presentations: Menu