Presenting For Success PDF

Presenting for Success
A complete study program in the language and skills of presenting in English.
Written by
James Moss, Clayton Lee & Peter Atkinson
Audio produced & recorded by
Paul Meredith
Online activities by
James Moss
Copyright 2007 Business English Pod Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written
permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Published 2007
2007 All rights reserved: businessenglishpod.com

Table of Contents
(Click a unit title to jump to the start of that unit)
1. Introduction pg 4-6
2. Unit 1 Making your Introduction pg 7-14
3. Unit 2 Signposting your Presentation pg 15-22
4. Unit 3 Describing Charts and Trends (Part 1) pg 23-32
7. Unit 6 Voice Technique and Emphasis pg 56-65
8. Unit 7 Closing Down and Summarizing pg 66-74
9. Unit 8 Question and Answer (Part 1) pg 75-84
10. Unit 9 Question and Answer (Part 2) pg 85-94
11. Example Phrases by Function pg 95-102
12. Audio & Online Activities (Click here to go to the webpage)

Introduction
This is an e-book brought to you by Business English Pod, the leading provider of
on-demand audio and study tools for business English communication skills at
www.businessenglishpod.com. My name is Clayton and Ill be your host for this
series.
Is giving presentations important to you career? For most of us, the answer is
yes. Presenting our products, success stories, challenges and solutions this is
the heart of business communication, where money is often made or lost. And,
in todays globalizing business environment, we are increasingly called to give
presentations in English.
In this nine-chapter series, we will be looking in detail at the fundamentals of

giving presentations in English. The goal is for you to create a basic repertoire or
toolbox of phrases, structures and strategies so that you can give presentations
in English more fluently, more confidently and more successfully.
In the first chapter, titled, Introducing your Presentation, well look at how to
make a good start as well as at the overall structure of a presentation.
Then, in Signposting and Signaling, well be learning strategies for making the
organization of your talk strong and clear.
In the next three chapters on

Charts and Graphs, well be
studying in more detail language
you can use to organize your
thoughts, highlight key points, and
relate your ideas to each other.
Well also focus on a key area of
presentations, how to deal with
visuals, charts and graphs and how
to describe trends and change.
Next, in chapter 6, Voice and

emphasis, well take a look at how
to deliver your presentations more
fluently and clearly so that your
words have greater impact.
Finally, in the last three chapters of

the bookClosing Down and
Q&A 1 and 2well study how to
finish presentations effectively in
order to leave the audience with a
strong impression. In addition to
summarizing your talk, well be
practicing a series of specific
strategies for successfully dealing
with questions.

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In all, this e-book has over two hours of information-packed audio lessons.
Together with our phrasecasts recordings of key phrases and expressions for
study on the go theres over 180 minutes of skills development and listening
practice. In addition, the accompanying study notes contain a complete
transcript of each chapter, vocabulary definitions, extra practice questions and
study strategies. And by upgrading to the online version of this e-book, you can
get access to a variety of additional language development exercises on the
Web.
In each chapter, I introduce the topic, then play a listening that demonstrates
the key concepts. Afterwards, in the debrief section, I take you through the
main points and explain important vocabulary and idioms. For each skill, we
practice a variety of example phrases that you can use. Finally, in the practice
section of each debrief, you have an opportunity to use some of the language
you just learned.
Learners often ask me how to study more

efficiently and effectively. I have some
suggestions. Listen to each chapter multiple
times. Rewind and practice the example
phrases many times. Make a note of anything
you dont understand. First listen to the
chapter without the transcript; then, when
you have time, go back and listen again with
the transcript. Underline and look up words
you dont understand. Its important to study
words in context, paying attention to
collocations, or word partnerships, and words
in whole sentences, with their accompanying
prepositions and other grammatical
characteristics. For example, its not enough
to know the word presentation; to use this
word, you also have to know the verbs,
adjectives and prepositions that go with it
for example, to deliver or to give an
effective presentation to someone.
Another important study strategy is to do the practice section of each debrief

where you actually get to practice what youve learned by speaking out loud. Try
rewinding and substituting different language the second time your practice.
Substitution helps you increase your fluency, that is, your ability to say the same
thing in many ways. Also, after youre finished, you can write out examples
using your own presentations and record yourself speaking. Work together with
a learning partner so that you can get feedback from a friend. These and many
more study strategies are covered in the study notes for each chapter.
Last dont forget to review the vocabulary and do the practice exercises in the
study notes.

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And you can check the website for additional online activities to give you extra
targeted practice of key language and strategies. If you have not already
upgraded to the online version of the e-book, the online exercises are available
for purchase at www.businessenglishpod.com.
Presenting for Success is targeted for learners at or above Common European

Framework (CEF) level B2, upper-intermediate. This corresponds to a BULATS
score higher than 3 or IELTS higher than 5. The materials are designed to be
useful to students at a variety of levels: Intermediate learners will focus initially
on language development whereas advanced learners can zoom in on skills
development, high-level vocabulary, fluency, confidence and enhancement of
overall professionalism.
All right, now its on with the show! That means, lets get started. I am confident
that the skills and language you will learn over the next nine chapters will help
you greatly improve your fluency, confidence and effectiveness in the delivery of
presentations. On behalf of all of us here at www.businessenglishpod.com, I
wish you great success with your studies!
Presenting for Success is an official publication of Business English Pod Ltd.,

copyright 2007, all rights reserved.

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Unit 1 (BEP 101) Introducing Your Presentation
Today we look at some of the language used during internal presentations.
To start off this episode, Ive asked some of my colleagues what tips they might
have for making a good introduction. Following that, we have the main dialog
and then the debrief. So heres me putting me colleagues right on the spot
Clayton: Okay, were talking about presentations, and in particular introductions

to presentations. Jeff, do you have any guidelines you use when youre writing,
preparing or actually doing an introduction. Is there something you always keep
in mind, and say, Well this is what I always do and must do?
Jeff: Well, in English we talk about something called an elevator pitch which
is like a summary of a proposal or idea, which takes maybe no more than 10 to
15 seconds to explain. The idea is that its something short enough that you can
actually give it to someone in an elevator, just in that very brief period of time
when you actually have their attention.
Now I think when youre beginning a presentation, in some ways youre in the
same situation: You may be planning to give a very long speech it could last
30 to 45 minutes but youve only got that first minute or so to convince people
that they should be listening to what youre going to say. So youve got to give
them some good reasons to listen to everything else that is coming up give
them an idea of what youre going to say and why they should be listening.
Clayton: Do you have a formula Peter? I do.
Peter: Er, well, please tell me! Let me get my pen!
Clayton: Well I got this formula from a certain school a long time ago. Its
pretty good. Its has all the elements I think should be in every presentation
whether its formal or informal.
Peter: Well tell us!
Clayton: Your name - well first of all a greeting you have to say
Peter: I think you should always start with a Thank you!
Clayton: Or Welcome or Hello.
Peter: I think Thank you.
Jeff: Or Hello.
Peter: Thank you and welcome.
Clayton: Well why dont we put them all together, Hello, thank you and
welcome to what-do-you-call-it.
Jeff: You can put them all together.

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Clayton: Put them all together one package. And then a name I think its
kind of rude not to tell people exactly who you are and your title or what your
job is and why you are qualified to speak on the subject.
Peter: And thats a good point you know a lot of internal presentations these
days are done over telephone conference or video conference and youve got
people from different international locations. They might of heard your name but
they might not know your face. And so when you get up to speak, even within
your company and even maybe your division or your department it is, as you
say good manners, but it is also important (to identify yourself).
Clayton: Yeah, I think a lot of listeners to these podcasts they themselves are
very accomplished speakers in their own language and so Im sure they know
how to make a speech, or presentation, but hopefully though, this podcast will
give these speakers, and others, the ideas of the types of language we use in
presentations, and in particular introductions in this particular podcast.
Vocabulary
elevator pitch: In this context, a pitch means a short speech used to sell
something. An elevator pitch is a pitch so short that you could give it to
someone, for example a senior manager, just in that 10 to 15 seconds you have
his or her attention in an elevator ride. Last week I saw our marketing VP in the
coffee room and I gave him an elevator pitch about my new sales strategy.
accomplished speakers: Accomplished is an adjective that means skilled or

expert. So accomplished speakers are people who are very good at giving talks,
presentations, etc. Even if youre not an accomplished speaker, there are a few
tips you can follow to give a professional presentation.
signposting: Signposting (or a signpost) is language that helps us follow the

structure of a talk, such as First, second, third, or Now Im going to talk
about Theyre called signposts because they show the way, just like a rode
sign. Also can be used as a verb. Its important to signpost your talk well so
people can follow what youre saying.
videoconference: A conference held through a video connection so that people at

distant locations can see each other on the monitor. We had a videoconference
with Shanghai last week.
consumer products: Products whose end customer are normal people instead of
companies. Consumer products include food, soap, clothing, etc. anything that
people use. We have been looking for ways to expand from purely consumer
product oriented approaches to more B2B or business to business oriented
approaches.
kickoff meeting: Kickoff (from sports) means to start; so a kickoff meeting is the
first in a series of meetings or the first event at a conference, etc. At our annual
sales meeting, Jenny chaired the kickoff meeting this year.
visual aids: Visual aids are anything people can look at to understand your
presentation better, such as charts, graphs, pictures, models, handouts, etc.

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Dialog
Perry: Okay, everybody, lets all

take a seat and get things started.
We have a long day ahead of us,
and we need to keep to the
schedule So lets see how our
videoconference line is working.
Hello Sydney and New York! Can
both of you all hear and see us ok?
Sydney: Yes, Perry, we have our

whole sales group here.
Everything is working ok, and
were ready when you are.
New York: Loud and clear here in

New York too, Perry.
Perry: OK then..leading off this morning is Claude Dautry from the consumer
products division, who will be presenting some of the latest sales figures and
trends for our product lines in this very key sector. Claudeif youre
readyplease take it away.
Claude: Thank you, Perry. And Good morning everybody. A warm welcome
from our Paris office, whether you are here in person or here via video from
Sydney or New York. For those of you who dont know me, Im Claude Dautry,
senior sales analyst from our Consumer Products Division, and Ill be presenting
our analysis of recent sales data. We will then examine some important trends
and conclusions we can make about the growth of our product lines. After that,
we plan to look at some forecasts and proposed sales strategies to adjust to the
trends we see developing.
During this kickoff meeting, we hope to arrive at some recommendations to

forward to senior management, before their next shareholder meeting. (pause)
And finally, we will open it up to any questions you might have about sales in
general, whether it concerns the EU, the Americas or the Asia-Pacific region. I
estimate my prepared remarks will cover about 30 minutes, and the next 30
minutes will be dedicated to answering your questions. Hopefully, youve all
received the handout material I sent, but Ill also be showing the charts in
PowerPoint, in case you dont have your handouts with you. So, lets take a look
at our first topic, which uh yes, you have a question?
Questioner: Yes, sorry to interruptbut I was wondering if you planned to talk

about global marketing efforts and how they tie in to regional sales promotions.
(fade out)

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Debrief
Building up a spirit of teamwork in an internal meeting is very important,

especially during the introduction stage of a presentation. Personality plays a
part, but some simple language patterns help. Use pronouns such as: we, all,
us, our, ours, and everybody as much as possible. For example, when starting a
meeting, we can say:
Well, why dont we all get started.

Lets all take our seats, if we could.
Is everybody ready to start?
Ok, lets kick this meeting off.
The introduction phase sets the tone and expectations of a meeting or

presentation. Although very often the presenter will introduce him or herself to
the audience, sometimes another person may introduce the speaker, as in our
example where the presenter was introduced by the chairperson of the
teleconference. A complete introduction for a presentation includes the following
parts:
A greeting

your name and position

the title and subject

the objective of the presentation

the main parts of your talk

a mention of the visual aids that you will use

the time you will take

when you would like questions

a reference to the audience

and a link to the first section of your presentation
Not all presentation introductions will have every one of these elements, and not
all will follow this sequence. However, most proper introductions will use a
majority of these elements in some form, and in this general sequence.

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Lets start with some greetings:
Good morning, everybody.

Good afternoon, and welcome to the North American division.
Welcome, all of you, to the Smith Center.
I thank you all for coming this evening, to our first employee benefits review.
The name and position of the presenter usually follows. If the presenter is well
known amongst the audience, he may not even mention his own name. If most
of the people know the presenter, then he may precede his self-introduction with
For those of you who dont know me. However, when presenting in front of
large or widely separated departments, it is customary to introduce oneself with
not only ones full name, but with a title and area of responsibility. This tells
audience members who you are, what your position is, and what sort of
knowledge or duties you have concerning the presentation subject. Lets try
some names and titles:
My name is _______, and Im the HR manager for our UK operation.

Im ___________, and Im a test engineer for the QC Department.
(Repeated with example names)

My name is Alison Wright, and Im the HR manager for our UK operation.
Im Chuck Yeager, and Im a test engineer for the Quality Department.
When introducing ones duties, or areas of knowledge, we usually use the words
I am responsible for. Or, I am in charge of. Lets try some of these:
Im responsible for new employee training

Im in charge of test data collection
Im responsible for designing new electrical switches
I manage regional sales promotions in South America
Now, try combining the previous phrases into complete introductory statements
that include name, title and area of responsibility: After the beep, introduce
yourself and state your responsibilities at your company. Then listen to an
example answer to compare. Of course, the details of everyones answer will be
a little different:
Learner:

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Example answer: Good morning everybody, my name is Alison Wright. Im an

HR manager at our London division, and Im responsible for new employee
training.
After the presenter introduces himself and his position, the subject of the
presentation is then usually stated, along with the purpose of the presentation.
A well-designed presentation will then include a guide to the rest of the talk.
The presenter will tell the audience what is to come, and what parts of the
presentation will be presented in which order. This is called signposting, like the
signs on street corners that tell a traveler where he is, and where he is going.
Signposting helps to focus the audiences attention.
Well cover signposting in the next podcast.

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Language Review
A. Put the parts of the introduction of a presentation into a likely order. Note
that in some cases, more than one order is possible.
1) the objective of the presentation
2) your name and position

and a link to the first section of your
3) presentation
4) A greeting
5) the title and subject
6) the main parts of your talk
7) when you would like questions

a mention of the visual aids that you
8) will use
9) the time you will take
10) a reference to the audience
B. Match the following phrases with the language functions above. The first one
has been done for you.
a. Hello, my name is Ravi Chatterjee and I am in charge of the IT team here in

Chicago. 2. Name and position
b. The main purpose of my talk today is to outline the implementation of our
new security policies over the last quarter.
c. My presentation is entitled Titanium Bridge: Sharing Information Securely
with our Customers.
d. Ive divided my talk up into three parts. First, Ill give you some background
on the new policy. Second, Ill tell you about the implementation. And finally,
well look at the performance of the new system.
e. I know you are all busy, so I want to respect your time. The whole
presentation should take about 15 minutes.
f. Okay? Are you with me? Many of you look like youve heard this all before;
dont worry, Ill be focusing more on the results end, which should be new to
you.
g. All right, that covers the introduction to my presentation. Now, lets start with
the first topic, background on the new policy.
h. Because Id like to keep this short, please hold your questions until the end.
Then we can discuss whatever aspects of the project are of particular interest
to you.
i. And Ill be using PowerPoint.
j. Good morning. Is everybody here? Can we get started?

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Study Strategy
Using the structure and the phrases highlighted above, build an introduction to
your own presentation, either one you have actually given or one that you head
someone else give. Make some notes about what you want to say, but dont
write everything down. Then, record yourself speaking. Afterwards, play it back
to see if you missed anything. How do you sound? Get some feedback from a
friend. Then try it again. Practice makes perfect.
Language Review Answers
Language Review A and B

Note that especially for numbers 6 through 10, the order may vary from
presentation to presentation.
1) A greeting j.
2) your name and position a.
3) the title and subject c.
4) the objective of the presentation b.
5) the main parts of your talk d.
6) a mention of the visual aids that you will use i.
7) the time you will take e.
8) when you would like questions h.
9) a reference to the audience f.
10) and a link to the first section of your presentation g.
Links (click a link to open the exercise)
BEP 101e Making your Introduction - Quiz
BEP 101e Making your Introduction - Gap-fill
BEP 101e Making your Introduction - Dialog & Vocabulary Definitions
BEP 101e Making your Introduction - Language Review 1
BEP 101e Making your Introduction Language Review 2
BEP 101e Making your Introduction Vocabulary Flashcards

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Unit 2 (BEP 102) Signposting Your Presentation
Today we are looking at signposting during presentations. Signposting is

language such as, My presentation is divided into three parts, or Thats all for
point 1, lets move on to point 2, or, Moving back to what I was saying earlier,
or even, That concludes the main part of my presentation.
These phrases help your audience keep engaged and interested by showing
them the structure of your presentation. Because they show the way, we call
them signposting or signaling phrases: They are the signs along the road of
your talk that signal to the audience where we are, what we are doing, and why
this is important. They can also help you remind yourself of the structure of your
presentation so that you dont get lost.
Lets listen to a short excerpt or part from the middle of a presentation about
sales performance. As you listen focus, on the phrases the presenter uses to
signpost the structure of his talk.
Vocabulary
To wrap something up: To conclude
something. We wrapped up the
presentation in time for lunch.
Market sector: This term describes a set of

businesses that are buying and selling such
similar goods and services that they are in
direct competition with each other. There is
a lot of competition in the sports car market
sector.
Market niche: A small market with highly specialized products. In order to

survive in the steel business, we were forced to focus on a niche market where
the competition wasnt so extreme.
To come of age: To grow up, reach maturity. Our business really came of age in
the 1990s during the period of fast growth in the high-tech sector.
Theme: The subject, topic or general feeling of your presentation. The theme of
my talk was that we have to increase sales to survive.
Handy: Useful. Let me give you a few handy tips for finding a job.
Overburdened: A burden is a weight that you carry. It is usually something

heavy that slows you down. To be overburdened is to have too much weight to
carry. During the project launch, staff were overburdened they had to work
overtime every day, and morale decreased.
Absorb: To take in or suck in fluid, as a towel takes in water. To absorb

information is to learn. There was too much information to absorb in my
presentation, so I think the audience started to fall asleep.

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Dialog
(fade in) and that about
wraps it up for the detailed
sales figures. Now, lets
see what we can conclude from
the sales data. Ive divided
this section of the presentation
into three parts. First, were
going to review historical sales
in this market sector. Next,
we will discuss developing
sales trends, and finally we will
compare our performance with
our chief competitors. So, lets
talk about some of the history
of our particular market niche.
Our whole industry came of
age in ... (fade out)
(fade in) ok, that covers the history of sales in the marketplace. Now, lets
move on to some of the trends in recent sales that we have observed. First, Ill
give a detailed analysis of industry sales trends by region. Then, were going to
examine our own sales in these same regions. And well finish this section by
going over our sales trends for new products. Everybody with me? Well, then
lets turn our attention to this first chart, which shows overall sales trends
(fade out)
Debrief
Any presentation requires a clear strategy or plan to help you reach your
objectives. The aim is not to pass away twenty minutes talking non-stop and
showing a lot of nice pictures. It is to convey a message that is worth hearing to
an audience who want to hear it.
However, how many speakers really hold an audience's attention? What is the
secret for those who do?
First, find out about the audience and what they need to know.
Plan what you're going to say.
Say it clearly and concisely.
And make sure to signpost throughout the presentation.
Well, what is signposting? The term signposting comes from signs posted on
street corners, which tell travelers where they are and where they are going. In
presentations, Signposting is informing the listener as to what things are going
to be talked about, and when sections have been completed and new sections
are opened.
This helps to focus the audiences attention. Once the audience knows what
subjects and sections are to come, they can listen to the information from the

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right perspective, and know how to file this information away in the proper
places in their minds. One does not want the audience wondering what subjects
you are talking about, or how the information currently being presented fits into
the larger theme of the presentation. Make it simple for the listener. Lead the
listener through the presentation with signposting.
How does one signpost? A good speaker uses various signposting signals to help
hold the audience's attention and make the parts of the presentation very clear
he does this as he introduces them, and as he moves through them.
One type of signal is to introduce a list.
This could begin with a phrase like
Ive divided this section of the presentation into three parts.
The speaker then says what the three things are and talks about each one at the
required level of detail. For example:
'There are three types of price that we have to think about - economic price,
market price and psychological price. Let's look at each of these in more detail.
First, economic price. This is based on production costs and the need to make a
profit ... (and the speaker goes on to describe this type of price in more detail.)
After that, he goes on to talk about the market price and so on.
Another signaling technique is to give a link between parts of the presentation.
Tell the listeners where one part of the talk finishes and another starts. For
example, a well-organized presentation usually contains different parts and
progression from one part to the next part, with clear phrases like:
That's all I want to say about the development of the product.

Now let's turn to the actual marketing plan.
Lets now take a look at sales results
This technique is very helpful to the audience, including those who are mainly
interested in one part only.
Another type of signaling is sequencing of information.
This usually follows a logical order, usually based on time. So a project may be
described in terms of the past, the present and the future.
Key words in sequencing information are:
first, then, next, after that, later, at the end, finally, etc.
Still another technique, which helps to emphasize key points, is careful repetition
of what has been talked about.

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Examples are:
As I've already said, there is no alternative but to increase production by 100

per cent.
or
I'd like to re-emphasize the main benefit of the new design it achieves twice as
much power with half as much fuel.
Here are some other examples of emphasizing points which have already been
talked about:
As we saw in part 2
As we covered during our discussion of weight savings
Recalling our look at sales projections for the next decade
Here are some useful signposting phrases that should be used to guide listeners.
To move on (to go to the next subject):

Lets move on to the situation in our overseas markets.
To expand on (to give more information on a point):
Could you expand on the issue of pricing?
To digress (to change to another subject):
If I can digress for just a moment, what about the plans for our new office?
To go back (to go to a point earlier in the presentations):
Lets go back to the first item on the agenda.
To recap (to repeat/summarize a previous part of the presentation):
So, to recap, our sales for the third quarter have been strong in all regions.
To conclude (to bring to an end):
Id like to conclude by discussing the future of our company.
To summarize (to give the main points):
Next, Peter is going to summarize our marketing strategy.
To turn to (to move on):
Id like to turn to the question of hiring new staff.
To elaborate on (to give detailed information on):
The next presentation will elaborate on our sales plans for next year.
Although many phrases can be used to indicate the end of a section and the
beginning of another, there is one single word that can be used in almost all
cases to signal ends and beginnings. This word is so, most often followed by a
pause. We encourage our podcast listeners to use other phrases to make your
presentations more interesting, but when one cannot think of a signposting
phrase quick enough, the word so is a very handy replacement.

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Listen and practice these examples, and pay special attention to the pauses:
So, what can we conclude from this data?

So, lets move on for our market for air conditioners.
So, lets take a look at this chart.
So, what can we expect from the future?
So, what can the past teach us?
Great, now its your turn to practice some of the phrases and skills weve learned
today. Imagine you are giving a presentation about your company to a group of
visitors. What would you like to include in your introduction? Think of three
points: Perhaps you want to mention the history, the products and the people.
Or perhaps there are other points you want to make. Then, after you hear the
beep, begin by signposting your three main points: You can say, There are
three main points Id like to introduce or Ive divided my introduction into
three points. First.; second.; third. Afterwards, signal that youre starting
the first part by saying something like, Great, lets first take a look at the
history or Lets turn to the history. Are you ready? First take a few seconds
to think.
Example Points:
1. Company history
2. Products
3. People
Learner:
How did you do? Now, lets listen to an example answer. But remember, there
are many possible correct answers.
Example answer: Ive divided my introduction into three points. First Ill say
something about the 100-year history of our company. Second, Ill talk about
what makes our products so special. And finally, Ill tell you a little bit about the
people that make it all possible. Okay? Lets start on the first point, the history.
Its always a good idea to rewind and try the practice again. Try substituting
different language this time. Remember that this language can be used inside
your presentation to signpost points within points, as well as during the overall
introduction.

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Also, there are a lot of phrases covered in this episode today that we didnt get
to practice. Remember to listen to the phrasecast of this and other episodes for
focused practice of all the expressions that we look at.
Now, a final point concerning signposting and structuring of information.
Psychologists have suggested that concentration is reduced after about thirty

minutes without a break or a change in activity. Furthermore, audiences should
not be overburdened with technical details or given too many facts to remember.
It is claimed that to ask people to remember more than three things in a five-
minute talk is way too much. Some say that seven points is the maximum
number of things anybody can remember in any presentation. Any such
calculations are probably not very reliable, but every speaker needs to think
about exactly how much information of a particular type a specific audience is
likely to absorb and to plan accordingly.
And, in keeping with our own advice, we are going to conclude this Podcast well
inside of thirty minutes, just to make sure you absorb all of what weve just
covered. And our final signpost is Thanks for listening!

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Language Review
A. Useful language
Match the language functions on the left with the language on the right. The first
one has been done for you.
to give detailed Id like to turn to the question of hiring new

1)
information on G A.
staff.
So, to recap, our sales for the third quarter

2) to move on B.
have been strong in all regions.
Id like to conclude by discussing the future

3) to review the main points C.
of our company.
4) to go to the next subject D. Lets go back to the first part of the agenda.
to change to another
5) E. Could you expand on the issue of pricing?
subject
Next, Peter is going to summarize our
6) to bring to an end F.
marketing strategy.
to repeat/summarize an
The next presentation will elaborate on our
7) previous part of the G.
sales plans for next year.
presentation
to go to a point earlier in If I can digress for just a moment, what
8) H.
the presentation about the plans for our new office?
to give more information Lets move on to the situation in our
9) I.
on a point overseas markets.
B. Signposting strategies
To review some key signposting language, match the first half of each phrase on
the left with the second half on the right. The first one has been done for you.
1) Ive divided this section of B A. our discussion of weight savings
2) Let's look at B. the presentation into three parts.
3) That's all I want to say C. about sales projections for next year
4) As we covered during D. each of these in more detail.
5) Recalling our look E. at the development of the product.

I 21
A.
2)A. 3)F. 4)I. 5)H. 6)C. 7)F. 8)D. 9)E.
B.
2)D. 3)C. 4)A. 5)E.

BEP 102e Making your Introduction - Vocabulary Review

I 22
i
Unit 3 (BEP 103) Describing Charts and Trends 1
Clayton: This is the first of three episodes on charts and trends. Over these
three shows, well be learning language for dealing with visuals, describing
trends, analyzing and comparing data, and making predictions. Visuals refers
to any visual element of your presentation charts, graphs, pictures and so on.
A trend is the general directionupward or downwardof some metric, that is
measurement, such as price or revenue. For example, when we say, The price
of oil has risen 30% in the last three months, thats a trend.
Peter: Clayton, just before we get going, can you tell us why dealing with charts
and trends is so important for presentations?
Clayton: Well, every presentation contains a visual element, whether it is a few

words written with a marker on the board or a high-tech PowerPoint
presentation with movies and animations. As the old saying goes, A picture is
worth a thousand words. So pictures charts and graphs they can do the
talking for you. But you need to be able to highlight the main points clearly,
effectively and logically. That way, your carefully prepared visuals are going to
have the maximum impact on your audience.
Now, in todays episode were focusing on the basics of how to deal with visuals
in your presentation: That is, how to attract attention to them, how to
emphasize the key parts, and how to relate points about different visuals as you
move through your slides. A slide is just one picture in your PowerPoint
presentation.
By the way, youll see that a lot of the language we cover continues on our
discussion of signposting during the last episode.
Peter: Great, now tell us about the listening today.
Clayton: Okay, the listening comes from a presentation at the Central European
head office of Ambient, an American mobile phone manufacturer. Ambient has
regained market share after a couple of bad years and has now taken over the
number two place behind market leader Sirus and just ahead of the third player,
CallTell.
Youll hear Pat, the new finance director in the Central Europe region, in the
middle of a presentation to the sales team. As we join them, he is bringing up a
slide on revenue trends among the top three players in the business.
As you listen, pay attention to the language that Pat uses to call attention to his
points and to relate them to each other.

I 23
Vocabulary
Visual Any visual element --

such as a picture, chart, graph
(see below), movie, etc. that is
used to communicate information
in your presentation.
Graphic An image or a picture,

usually part of a visual.
Distinguish from graph below.
Chart This is any visual that

contains information: There are
pie charts (charts that are round
and represent numbers in terms
of slices of the pie,
organizational charts (the family
tree of your organization), flow
charts (show a process, such as a production process) and so on. Graphs (see
below) may also be counted as a kind of chart, but chart usually refers to the
above basic types.
Metric This refers to any number such as customer satisfaction, productivity,

revenue per unit, etc. that a company uses to measure success.
Trend The general direction of some metric upward or downward. For

example Oil prices have risen steadily over the last year is a trend.
Graph A chart with a x and y or horizontal and vertical axes that shows one or
more trend lines, usually a metric changing over time. Bar graphs are a specific
kind of chart where each data point each number is represented by bar, that
is a long rectangle. (Bar graphs look like a row of buildings.)
Quarter Refers to a period of three months. There are four quarters in a year.
You can also call them by number: Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4.
to make a play for An idiom that means to try to acquire or to control.

3G Short for third generation, this refers to the newest mobile phone
networks that support much higher rates of data transfer, measured in
megabytes per second (mbps), for applications other than voice, i.e., video
telephony, download of movies and so on.
Roll out Similar to product launch, this usually refers to the bringing on to
market of manufactured items. It can also be used as a verb, such as, We
rolled out our new 3G (see above) phones in 2005. Also, sometimes processes
or policies can be rolled out, in which case this word means something like
implement or implementation. For example, We rolled out the new customer
data management system in March.

I 24
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Dialog
Pat:
Everybody ready? Okay, Ill lead into our discussion today with a quick look at
sales over the last five quarters. Im going to bring up our competitors one by
one so we can have a look at how theyve been doing in contrast to our own
performance.
Okay, well first theres CallTell. As Im sure you all know, theyve been making a
play for the low-end market since they sold off their network division. We can
see the boost in sales they reaped in Q4 of 2006 when they brought out their
new budget price points. But, thats only part of the story, as well see a little
later.
Next we have everyones favorite - Sirus [crowd boos] - okay, no love lost there
but let me just draw your attention to the plateau in sales theyre facing at the
moment with their disastrous 3G rollout. As you can see, its really put pressure
on their revenue in the last two quarters.
And that brings us to Ambient. As I said at the beginning, its been a great
couple of quarters and Im sure youll be pleased to hear Central Europe now
accounts for over 25% of our European sales thats a 34% year-on-year
increase. But were actually projecting a fairly flat second half as we focus on
the higher value product lines something well look at in more detail later.

I 25
Debrief
Pat has clearly signposted all of his points and used some very effective
language for highlighting key trends. Lets take a closer look at how he does
that.
Listen again to the beginning.
Im going to bring up our competitors one by one so we can have a look at how
theyve been doing in contrast to our own performance.
This is Pats introduction to his slide. He is giving us the background on what he

plans to say so that we can follow him and keep everything in context: He says,
Ill lead into our discussion today with. From this, we can tell this is the first,
or lead, slide in his discussion.
Now, lets look at some of the vocabulary. A quarter refers to a period of three
months. There are four quarters in a year. You can also refer to them by
number: Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4. When Pat says he is going to bring up their
competitors one by one, he doesnt just mean mention them: He means he is
going to shows us a graph where each competitors revenue figures are brought
up onto the picture one at time, building up until we have three trend lines to
compare. You can refer to the study notes for this episode to see the actual
graph Pat is using. This is called a bar graph because it is composed of a series
of bars or thick vertical lines that look like chocolate bars standing on end.
Okay, lets practice some more language we can use to introduce a point.
Well kick off the discussion today with an analysis of our revenue figures
over the past three years.
First, well be focusing on return on investment in the real estate area.
Id like to begin by going over some of the key concerns that the marketing
department has voiced on this plan.
Lets start off with a quick look at our sales.
Now, what does Pat do next?
He calls attention to the first trend he brings up on his graph: Okay, well first
heres CallTell. What is some other language he could use to call attention to a
visual?
Have a look at this. As you can see

Take a look at this,
Okay, well first here are our total profits in 2006.
All right, what happens next? Remember, Pat is talking about one of Ambients
competitors, CallTell.
As Im sure you all know theyve been making a play for the low-end market
since they sold off their network division.

I 26
i
As well see again and again, competition between companies is often described
in terms of war or sports metaphors. To make a play for is an idiom that
means to try to acquire or to control. Pats sentence literally means that CallTell
is trying to improve their sales in the low-end, that is low-price, market.
Now heres an important point: Remember that Pat is what we call the new kid
on the block. That means he has not been working for Ambient very long,
whereas many people in his audience will have been with the company for years.
At this stage in his presentation, Pat is making some fairly simple points because
they provide important background for his later analysis, but everyone already
knows what he is talking about. So, especially as a newcomer to Ambient, its
important for him to show respect for his audience. As Im sure you all know
is a great way to do this. Lets learn some other ways to respect your
audiences knowledge.
As you are all aware, we are facing some difficult choices over the next six
months.
The past year has obviously seen some tough challenges from our
competitors.
Most of you are familiar with our productivity figures, but for the benefit of
those who arent, let me briefly bring them up on screen.
All right, now lets take a look at how Pat highlights a key point. He is still talking
about CallTell.
We can see the boost in sales they reaped in Q4 of 2006 when they brought out
their new budget price points.
Budget price points refers to inexpensive, low-end products, in this case mobile
phones. We can see is a way of drawing attention to the point you want to
make. Pat probably has a laser pointer, and he is pointing out the part of the
graph he wants everyone to focus on. Later, he highlights another point by
saying, Let me just draw your attention to"
What other kinds of phrases can we use for this?
One thing youll immediately notice is a marked increase in Q4.

Id particularly like to draw your attention to the sharp fall in investment here
in Q2 of 2007.
Id also like to point out the strong growth in the luxury sector.
And perhaps I should mention the slight drop in customer satisfaction
reported in Western Europe.
Since highlighting is such an important part of getting your message across, why
dont we practice this skill. Are you ready? Its your turn to give it a try. In a
moment, youll hear a series of points, such as fall in sales, Q1. After each
point, youll hear a beep. That means its your turn to start talking: Use the
phrases we just practiced to draw attention to each point. For example, if you
hear fall in sales, Q1, you can say something like, One thing youll
immediately notice is that sales fell dramatically in Q1. Are you ready? Lets
begin.

I 27
Prompt: sharp increase in revenue, 2006
Learner:
Prompt: Strong profit performance, Q1 2007
Learner:
How did that go? Listen to some example answers.
Example answers
Id particularly like to draw your attention to the sharp increase in revenue in

2006.
One thing youll immediately notice is the strong profit performance in Q1 of
2007.
After telling us that CallTell has improved revenue by selling more low-end
phones, Pat does something very interesting: He foreshadows a point to come.
Foreshadow means anticipate or give a hint about something.
But thats only part of the story, as well see a little later.
Pat is essentially giving us a hint about a key point he is going to make later in
his presentation, which we will see in the third episode of this series.
Foreshadowing is a great way of keeping the audience interested, and also of
relating the structure of your presentation internally, so that audience members
will be able to think back clearly to a point that you made earlier when it
becomes important for your analysis later. Are there any other examples of
foreshadowing in todays listening? Yes, this is something Pat does again at the
end when he says But were actually projecting a fairly flat second half as we
focus on the higher value product lines something well look at in more detail
later.
By the way, project means to predict and flat refers to little growth a flat trend
line.
All right, how else can you foreshadow a point?
And that indicates reasonable growth in this sector, which well come back
to in a moment.
As Ill point out later, weve only seen limited success with this strategy. For
now, lets keep talking about marketing channels.
This is a key issue, which well be dealing with a little later in the presentation
when I go over departmental structure.
What happens next? Pat brings up the trend for the second competitor on to the
chart. Lets listen:

I 28
i
Next we have everyones favorite Sirus [crowd boos] okay, no love lost there
but let me just draw your attention to the plateau in sales theyre facing at the
moment with their disastrous 3G rollout.
It doesnt sound like Sirus is very popular, does it. As the idiom goes, its the
company that everyone loves to hate. Thats what Pat means by theres no
love lost there, which is another great idiom to add to your vocabulary.
As we looked at earlier when we reviewed highlighting, Pat says Let me just

draw your attention to in order to draw attention to a point: That is, after the
disastrous rollout (or launch) of their 3G technology (which means third
generation advanced cell phone technology) Sirus is facing a plateau in sales. A
plateau is simply a mountain with a flat top. So to face a plateau means to
remain level no movement, a flat trend line. This kind of language for actually
describing trends well be looking at in greater detail in the next episode in this
series, Charts and Trends 2.
Now, before Pat is able to highlight this point about Sirus, he has to signpost
that he is moving on to another part of his slide. He says, next we have
everyones favorite Sirus, then he puts the trend line for Sirus on the screen
so that his audience can compare it to CallTells. And then again after he finishes
talking about Sirus, Pat has to signpost the last point as he brings Ambients
figures up on to the screen: He says And that brings us to Ambient.
What is some more language we can use to signpost the next graphic or next
slide? Well, you can use some of the ways we learned earlier for introducing a
point. In addition, here are some phrases that are specifically designed for
moving between points:
Thats all for sales growth, now lets have a look at profit margins.
And that brings us to the next point Id like to make.
Great, thats all for 2006. Lets now turn to the figures for 2007.
That concludes the first slide. Lets bring up the next. Now here we see the
current state of the market.
Okay, theres just one more point to cover in todays episode. Weve practiced
introducing a point, moving between points, highlighting a point, foreshadowing
or anticipating a future point. And the only thing left is how to refer to a previous
point. Listen to Pat talking about Ambient during the last section of todays
listening.
As I said at the beginning, its been a great couple of quarters and Im sure
youll be pleased to hear Central Europe now accounts for over 25% of our
European sales thats a 34% year-on-year increase.
As I said at the beginning is a way of calling back to mind a previous point,

perhaps something that you foreshadowed earlier. In this case, Pat is giving
more evidence to one of his main comments, which is that the Central Europe
region is doing quite well: By a 34% year-on-year increase, Pat means a 34%
rise compared with last year.

I 29
Now, what are some more ways to refer to a previous point?
As I mentioned earlier, we really need to keep coming back to our defect rate
as a key quality indicator.
Returning to what I said earlier, this is definitely an area of concern for us in
the future.
To go back to what I was saying about our overall growth, I dont really think
we have much reason to be worried.
Well, that does it for todays episode. Youve practiced a variety of signposting
language for emphasizing or highlighting important messages and relating the
points of your presentation to each other. These are very important skills to
have. Practicing this language will help you prove the old saying true by making
each of your pictures truly worth a thousand words.
Now, just a little foreshadowing here in the next episode, well be dealing in
detail with describing trends: Well be learning a variety of lively and vivid
language and structures for concisely describing the main trend lines in your
charts and graphs.
In the meantime, be sure to carefully go through the study notes for this
episode. There youll fine vocabulary definitions, a full transcript, practice
questions and some study suggestions. Also, if you havent done so already,
check out the online exercises, which will give you further focused practice in
key language and structures. These are available for purchase at
www.businessenglishpod.com.

I 30
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Language Review
A) Fill in the gaps in the following phrases with the words in the box.
dealing bring up benefit look

mention kick off earlier attention
1. Id particularly like to draw your __________ to the sharp fall in

investment here in Q2 of 2007.
2. Well ________ the analysis today with an analysis of our revenue figures
3. This is a key issue, which well be ________ with a little later in the
presentation when I go over departmental structure.
4. Returning to what I said _______, this is definitely a key area of concern
for us in the future.
5. Most of you are familiar with our productivity figures, but for the _______
of those who arent, let me briefly bring them up on screen.
6. Take a _______ at this.
7. That concludes the first slide. Lets ________ the next. Now here we see
the current state of the market.
8. And perhaps I should ________ the slight drop in customer satisfaction
B) Now, match each of the phrases above with its function. Choose from the box
below. The first one has been done for you.
Highlighting a point 1 Foreshadowing
Returning to a previous point Calling attention to a slide/graphic
Introducing a point Respecting your audience
Moving to the next slide/ graphic Highlighting a point
Study Strategy
A great way to practice the language we learned in this episode is to work with
some charts, graphs or visuals from your own company or one of your own
presentations. Practice introducing each visual, and using the phrases we
learned in this show to highlight key points and relate them to each other.
Remember to clearly signpost each main message because that helps your
audience (and also you!) follow and understand exactly where you are in your
series of ideas. Heres a great tip: Record yourself speaking with video if its
available or with a MP3 or tape recorder. Then go back and listen to how you
sound. What kind of impression do you make? How fluent is your language?
What are the strong points? Can you catch any mistakes or areas for
improvement? With regular practice such as this, youll be fast on your way to
an English presentation expert.

I 31
A)
1. attention; 2. kick off; 3. dealing; 4. earlier; 5. benefit; 6. look; 7. bring up
B)
1. Highlighting a point 2. Introducing a point; 3. Foreshadowing; 4. Returning to
a previous point; 5. Respecting your audience; 6. Calling attention to a
slide/graphic; 7. 8. Highlighting a point.


I 32
i
In the last episode, we learned how to present your visuals clearly and logically
by signposting your points and highlighting key areas. Now that youve gotten
these basics, you need to get into the details and deal with the numbers. So in
this episode, well be focusing on describing trends. Remember a trend is a the
general direction or tendency of a metric or measurement upward, downward,
flat, fluctuating, peaking, bottoming out, and so on.
So, youll be learning how to use these and many more terms for describing your
charts and graphs in fluent, vivid sentences so that you can present your data
with maximum impact.
Todays listening continues on from last time. Pat, Ambients new Central
European finance director, has just finished talking about sales revenue and is
now moving on to discuss market share, which he often just refers to as share.
The visual he will be talking about is a line graph that compares the trends in
market share over the last six quarters from Q1 2006 to Q2 2007. His discussion
centers on the top three players in the mobile phone business his own
company, Ambient, and their two top competitors, CallTell and Sirus. Youll find
the graph that Pat is actually referring to in the study notes for this episode.
As you listen, pay attention to the trend language that Pat uses to describe the
recent changes in the market.

I 33
Vocabulary
Vertical axis The vertical or Y-axis on a graph.
Horizontal axis The horizontal or X-axis on a graph, which often shows time.
Slice of the pie The idiom slice of the pie comes from pie charts, round
graphs that are traditionally used to represent market share as slices of the
circle or pie. Capacity is also conveniently represented by pie graphs. When a
companys share of the pie is large, you can say, They have a big slice of the
pie.
Fluctuation This refers to up and down movement, like a wave. The verb is to
fluctuate.
That said At the beginning of a sentence in oral English, this means Despite
this fact. For example, I like sweets a lot. That said, I eat a lot of them
because I care a lot about my health.
At someones expense If a trend goes up at someones expense, it means

the increase corresponds to subtraction in their share of the pie (see above.) For
example, Our market share increased 5% at Company Bs expense, means
that our share went up 5% while Company Bs went down by the same amount.
To hold ones ground This is a idiom that is based on a war metaphor: In

competition, opposing companies are like enemies on the battleground. To hold
ones ground means you do not retreat. So we can say, We held our ground in
market share despite repeated attacks from Company B.
To fend off competition This is another idiom based on an underlying war

metaphor (see above). To fend off means to fight off.
To bring something online This is similar to to roll something out (see the
vocabulary explanations for Charts and Graphs 1). It can refer to products, but
often also it refers to production capacity or policies: Last month we brought
two more assembly machines online, boosting our capacity by 25%.

I 34
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Dialog
Pat: All right, lets leave sales there and move on to market share. Now this
graph shows us the trend in market share starting in the first quarter of 2006
moving up to the present. The vertical axis represents billions of U.S. dollars.
Looking at the figures for 2006, Sirus had the biggest slice of the pie. After
remaining unchanged at around 30% for the first half, their share started
fluctuating in Q3 and 4.
Meanwhile, we were struggling to catch CallTell as their budget models came

online. That said, we were still we able to hold our ground thanks to some hard
work on your part.
Things get interesting when we compare the latest IDG figures for Spring 2007.
Recently, as you know, Sirus has taken a hit on the release of their problematic
G3 rollout. Actually, their share has slipped back a couple of points to about
27%. Meanwhile, CallTell has grown largely at their expense.
Our own position has been further consolidated this year as we successfully
fended off competition from CallTell on the bottom end and gained on Sirus in
the prime multimedia segment.
And let me just draw your attention to the effects of new Asian players entering
our market, as we see their growth reflected in the 5% increase of the combined
others group, which now accounts for over a quarter of the entire European
market.
All things considered, the Exec team is fairly pleased with the overall picture on
market share and the underlying trends for 2007

I 35
Debrief
In very few words, Pat has called attention to all the key trends in his visual. He
hasnt gone into great detail after all, the graphs are right there in front of his
audience for everyone to see rather, he has used some strong, vivid language
to briefly draw attention to the main points in his analysis.
The first thing he does, which youll recognize from last time, is signpost the
change from his first slide, revenue, to his second slide, market share.
All right, lets leave sales there and move on to market share.
Next, he needs to tell us what were looking at. This is introducing the theme or
main idea of a chart.
Now this graph shows us the trend in market share starting in first quarter of
2006 moving up to the present. The vertical axis represents billions of U.S. $.
Vertical axis of course means the Y axis in the graph. Pat doesnt say so,
because it is so obvious, but the X axis is called horizontal and shows time, in
this case starting in Q1 of 2006 and moving up to the present, which is Q2 of
2007. Starting in and moving up to are useful for talking about a range of
time.
Now, lets study some more ways we can introduce the basic theme of a chart.
This graph presents a general picture of recent developments in the high-
strength steel market during the last five years.
This chart gives you a general overview of the organizational structure in our
department.
Here we see a chart analyzing the relationship between investment and
profitability.
Great. Now that youve practiced those, lets move on to how Pat next focuses in
on a specific part of the graph everyone is looking at.
Looking at the figures for 2006 Sirus had the biggest slice of the pie.
The idiom slice of the pie comes from pie charts, round graphs that are
traditionally used to represent market share as slices of the circle or pie. In
this case, however, Pat is using a line graph because he is looking at change in
market share over time, but he still can refer idiomatically to Sirus have the
biggest slice of the pie.
Looking at the figures for 2006, draws our attention specifically to one part of
the graph. What are some other ways that we can use to do this?
Examining the developments at the beginning of the year, we can see an
interesting trend.
Lets focus in on Q2.
As we break down the numbers in the automobile sector, a startling trend
emerges.
Notice the strong relationship between price per unit and revenue.

I 36
i
So after Pat focuses our attention in on one part of the graph Sirus share in
2006 what is the first trend he describes? Lets listen again.
After remaining unchanged at around 30% for the first half, their share started
seeing some fluctuations in Q3 and 4.
There are actually two trends here, arent there? First, Sirus share remains
unchanged for the first half the first two quarters of 2006. What are some
other ways to say remain unchanged?
Our growth essentially remained steady throughout 2003.

You can see that the stock price really flattened out in April and May.
The price of oil has stayed level for the past two weeks.
Trading volume stagnated near the end of the day.
To stagnate means to show no movement. The adjective, stagnant describes

water that has been still for too long.
Youll also remember from last time we learned two other ways to describe
remaining unchanged flat, as in a fairly flat second half of the year and
plateau, as in facing a plateau in sales.
Around remain unchanged, three more trend verbs are important: Level off,
drop off, and pick up. The first, level off means a trend goes flat after
rising. The second, drop off (or sometimes fall off) means a trend goes down
after being flat. The third, pick up, means a trend increases again after a
period of falling or being stagnate.
Lets listen to an example of some of this language:
After a steady increase throughout 2003 and 2004, demand for new houses
leveled off in 2005, plateaued for a while, then dropped off in 2006 before
picking up again in 2007.
Did you catch all that? Lets review. Think of a kind of N shape (N as in
Nancy): First the trend increased, next it leveled off (the top of the N is flat),
then it dropped off or fell, and finally it picked up again or rose. Note how
plateau is actually used as a verb here.
All right, after remaining unchanged at around 30%, Pat says that Sirus share
started seeing some fluctuations in Q3 and 4. This is another trend, in effect
kind of opposite to remaining unchanged: To fluctuate means to move up and
down, like a wave. The noun is fluctuation. Listen to some more ways to
describe fluctuation.
The year 2000 was a period of intense fluctuation.

This is a period of flux.
Hits on our webpage have fluctuated a lot in March.
Over the last few weeks, our share price has being going up and down.
New orders have experienced serious fluctuations in the last few months,
with the results ranging from a low of 15 in February to a high of 27 in June.

I 37
What happens next? Pat talks about Ambients performance in 2006.
Meanwhile, we were struggling to catch CallTell as their budget models came

online. That said, we were still we able to hold our ground thanks to some hard
work on your part.
Bring online is similar to roll out, which we covered last time: It is another
way to say launch or release on to the market. Budget models refers to
those new budget price points Pat mentioned last time: Low-end, inexpensive
products.
Now, lets take a look for a moment at the language Pat uses here. As is very
common in business, he describes competition between companies with sports
and war metaphors: We were struggling, or fighting, to catch CallTell, as in a
race. That said, or despite this fact, we were able to hold our ground, as in
a war.
We should study these war and sports metaphors to make our description of
trends more vivid: Note that Pat doesnt mention a single number here, but he
manages to paint a very colorful picture and tell an interesting story in just a
couple sentences thanks to these great metaphors.
Okay, lets move on to the next trend in Pats description of this slide.
Things get interesting when we compare the latest IDG figures for Spring 2007.
Recently, though, as you know, Sirus has taken a hit on the release of their
problematic G3 rollout. Actually, their share has slipped back a couple of points
to about 27%.
Things get interesting, is another way to highlight a point, which is something

we looked at in the first episode of this series.
To take a hit continues the war metaphor: Sirus is like a ship that got hit by a
rocket or a missile, which causes their share to sink or slip back a couple of
points. To slip literally means to fall down when you step on something slick or
wet. So to slip back vividly describes the trend of falling or going down. Now,
lets study more phrases we can use to describe a downward trend.
Turnover went down slightly in August.

Overall, prices have decreased sharply over the last year.
Activity fell off dramatically in May from 3000 hits per day to 1900 hits by the
end of the month.
After 2000, stock prices plummeted by 30%.
Calls per day have plunged recently.
Production capacity has contracted by 30%, hitting a low of one million units
in March.
Share has shrunk 5.5% in the last six months, bottoming out in May at
18.5%

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Pay attention to how you can use the prepositions from and to to describe a
range, for example in Activity fell off dramatically in May from 3000 hits per day
to 1900 hits. Plunge and plummet mean to fall rapidly. A low just
describes one low point, whereas bottom out refers to the lowest point.
Also, take note the following structure: Production capacity has contracted,
(that means shrunk) hitting a low of one million units in March. Hitting a low,
is a participial phrase. This use of participial phrases is a great way to liven up
and add variety to your trend descriptions.
By the way, shrink and contract are used specifically to describe capacity or
share, anything that you would use a pie chart for.
Now that weve dealt with shrinkage or falling, we need to talk study growth or
rising. Listen to Pat again. Remember, he has just talked about how Sirus share
slipped back a couple points in the second half of 2006.
Meanwhile CallTell has grown largely at their expense.
At their expense means in a way that Sirus has paid for CallTells growth. In
other words, the couple points that Sirus has slipped CallTell has picked up.
What are some other ways to talk about increase or growth? Lets go through
several examples.
Then turnover went up a little in September.

Activity has increased dramatically in the last 30 days.
Sales posted strong growth throughout 2005, rising from 30 million in Q1 to
45 million in Q4.
Stock prices soared to a new high of $157 per share on news of the merger.
Customer satisfaction is on the increase.
Consumer confidence took off in 2005 on the news that lending rates would
be lowered, reaching a peak of 69% in June.
Lets take a quick look at some of the vocabulary that was just used: Stock
prices soared means that they flew high, like a bird. Continuing the flying
metaphor, Consumer confidence took off means that they launched like an
airplane.
Before we go on, lets also take a moment to review some of the common
adverbs we can use in trend descriptions: Sharply or dramatically are often
used to show rapid change, whereas slightly or moderately are used for slow
change.
Now its your turn to practice describing trends. In a moment, youll hear a
series of hints or cues. Based on these hints, make sentences. For example, if
you hear, Price of oil, go up, 2002 to 2005, you can say, Starting in 2002 and
moving on to 2005, the price of oil soared, or The price of oil rose dramatically
from 2002 to 2005. Make up any details you like, but remember to put the verb
into the correct tense. Do your best to use a variety of language and structures.
Are you ready? Lets give it a try.

I 39
Cue 1: Revenue / remain unchanged / in Q1 and Q2 of 2006
Learner:
Cue 2: Our competitors stock price / go up and down / recently
Learner:
Cue 3: Customer satisfaction / go up 15% / May to June this year
Learner:
Cue 4: Costs / go down 4% in 2006 / rise 3% so far in 2007
Learner:
Now listen to some example phrases. Remember, there are many possible
correct answers for each question.
Answer 1:
Revenue essentially remained steady through Q1 and Q2 of 2006.
Answer 2:
Recently our competitors stock price has been fluctuating
Answer 3:
Starting in May and going to June, customer satisfaction really took off, rising by
15% in just two months.
Answer 4:
After dropping 7% in 2006, costs have picked up again. So far in 2007 they have
risen 3%.
So, how did you do? Its a good idea to go back and try the practice again,
substituting different language and structures each time to exercise your
fluency. Also, you can listen to the phrasecast for this and the other episodes for
focused practice on all the new phrases and expressions weve learned.
All right. Weve covered all the basic types of trends flat and fluctuating,
upward and downward. Now lets turn to something Pat does at the end of
todays listening.
Moving on to talk about his own company, Ambient, Pat says that their position
has consolidated, that is stabilized, after fending off, or fighting away,
competition from CallTell on the bottom end and Sirus on the prime or high
end. Then he goes on to make a final point about this slide:

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And let me just draw your attention to the effects of new Asian players entering
our market as we see their growth reflected in the 5% increase of the combined
others group, which now accounts for over a quarter of the entire European
market.
The combined others group Pat is talking about refers to all other players in
the market outside the three main competitors, CallTell, Sirus and Ambient. Pat
makes the point that this group now accounts for over a quarter of the entire
European market. Over a quarter is a way of using vague or unspecific
language to maximize a point: Pat chooses to emphasize that large size of the
others group, but he could also have minimized its significance by saying
something like, only just over a third, or well under a half. Lets study more
ways to use vague language in order to maximize or minimize a point.
This could mean as much as a 20% drop in sales.

Layoffs will result in no more than about a 20% drop in productivity.
Im afraid that the new policy could result in employee turnover of as high as
12% if we dont act now.
Were probably only looking at a 2 or 3% drop at most, if not a lot less.
Id expect at least a 20% increase in price or something in that
neighborhood.
Great, well, that about covers todays show. Weve studied introducing the main
point of a graph and weve learned all the basic language for describing trends
flat and fluctuating, upward and downward. In addition, weve seen how using
vivid metaphors borrowed from sports and war gives your trend descriptions
impact. Finally, weve practiced a variety of language for maximizing or
minimizing the significance of the data you using so you can skillfully control its
impact on the audience.
During the last episode in this three-part series on charts and trends, well turn
to another important aspect of describing change, that is talking about future
trend lines and predicting change.
After youve finished looking at the study notes for this episode, another way to
further sharpen your skills is by doing the online exercises for this and the other
episodes. All these are available at www.businessenglishpod.com.

I 41
Language Review
A) Under each mini graph, write several expressions that can be used to
describe the trend. Where appropriate, add adverbs such as dramatically,
sharply, or steadily.
1. 2. 3.
1
1 1
1
4. 5. 6.
1 1 1
7. 8. 9.
1 1

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B) For each of the cues below, write a sentence describing a trend. The first one
has been done for you. Practice using a variety of structures and vocabulary.
1. Consumer confidence, go up by 5%, 1998 to 2000

From 1998 to 2000, consumer confidence increased by 5%.
2. Price of wheat, go down $3, Q2 and Q3 2006; go up $2, Q4 2006.
3. BioClones stock price, remain unchanged, Q1 2007; go up by 50%, Q2

2007.
4. Employee turnover, go down by 3%, 2004; go up by 5% 2005; go up by

10% in 2007, reach peak in 2007.
5. Revenue, go up 3m, Q4 2005; level off, Q1 2006; fluctuate, the rest of

the year.
Study Strategy
What kind of trends do you use or come across in your work? Taking a few
examples, sketch out some trend graphs on a piece of paper or on your
computer. Then, make some cues for yourself like the ones above in Review
Exercise B that outline the key points you want to make. Practice using the
language we learned in last episode for calling attention to and highlighting your
points, then, based on your cues, briefly describe the key points you want to get
across with each graph. After youve practiced a couple times, you can make the
presentation into a small PowerPoint presentation. Try giving it to a friend or
recording it, then ask your friend for feedback.

I 43
A)
1. go up, rise, increase; steadily, slowly.
2. take off, soar; rise quickly, sharply, dramatically.
3. remain unchanged, remain steady, stay the same.
4. go down, fall, decrease; steadily, slowly.
5. plummet, plunge, crash; fall sharply.
6. level off.
7. hit bottom; pick up.
8. reach a peak, to peak; then fall off.
9. fluctuate, go up and down.
B)
2. After falling by $3 in the period between Q2 and Q3 of 2006, the price of
wheat rose again by 2$ in Q4.
3. Throughout the first quarter of 2007, BioClones stock price remained
basically unchanged; however, in Q2 of 2007 it saw a sharp increase,
soaring by over 50%.
4. In 2004 employee turnover dropped off by 3%, but rose again by 5% in
2005; Then, with the news of the merger, it reached an all time high,
gaining 10% in 2007.
5. In Q4 of 2006 revenue went up by $3 million, then leveled off in Q1 of
2006 before experiencing minor fluctuations until the end of the year.

BEP 104e Making your Introduction Vocabulary Flashcards A
BEP 104e Making your Introduction Vocabulary Flashcards B

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Over the last two episodes, weve studied phrases for introducing, signposting
and highlighting visuals and weve learned language for describing trends. Weve
looked at both how to present your points clearly and persuasively and how to
deliver your data with maximum impact.
In this show, well be completing our discussion of charts and graphs by studying
language for making predictions and for supporting your predictions with
analysis. Well also look at a couple of advanced ways to rhetorically emphasize
a point. Rhetorical means using words effectively to get your message across.
Todays listening continues Pats presentation of the market trends for Ambient
and its competitors. This time Pat is coming to the real story the main point
of his presentation. As you listen, see if you can catch what it is.

I 45
Vocabulary
Performance indicator An indicator is a measurement or metric. For example,

your cell phone probably has an indicator to tell you how much batter power you
have left, and in your car there is an indicator showing the speed and how much
petrol you have left. Similarly, a performance indicator is a metric that indicates
or measures the performance of a company.
Rhetoric The study of using language effectively. The adjective is rhetorical.

It often collocates with techniques. For example, in the episode, Pat uses some
rhetorical techniques, such as comparison and contrast.
Revenue per unit Total sales revenue divided by the amount of units sold. In
todays episode, this is a key performance indicator (see above) for Ambient.
WAP - Refers to Wireless Application Protocol. A protocol is a language. Wireless

means a device without wires or land lines, a cell phone or mobile phone as they
are called in the UK. WAP is basically a way for cell phones and PDAs (personal
digital assistants or small computers) to go online to websites and surf the
internet.
PDA Short for personal digital assistant (see above), a small computer that
you carry with you.
To surf the internet To go online and look around websites. To surf is

originally a sport in which you ride waves on a board.
To hit the market To enter the market.
Momentum The term momentum comes from physics, the study of energy
and matter. Momentum is technically defined as weight (or mass) multiplied by
speed (or velocity). To pick up momentum means to increase or add
momentum. In business, this is frequently used to describe a growing tendency,
such as increasing support for a proposal or a strengthening trend, either
upward or downward.
Mid range of the market In contrast to the luxury segment, the high range,
and the budget segment, the low range, mid range just refers to the middle
part of the market not too expensive and not too cheap.
To reach saturation To reach saturation means that a market cannot accept

any more new products, like when you keep adding salt to a glass of water, it
starts building up on the bottom of the glass: The water cant dissolve it any
more. This is saturation. A saturated market is one where sales drop off
because most potential consumers have already bought products.
Sales channels This just the way a product is sold to the consumer. Sales
channels include such things as department stores, internet, etc.
Profitability A measurement of a companys success, good profitability is the

ability to generate revenues in excess of the costs created in producing those
revenues.

I 46
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Dialog
Pat: But the real story I want to share with you today is not about headline
sales or market share. No, what Im here with you today for is to share our
success in meeting indeed exceeding this last quarter our targets for a key
profit indicator revenue per unit or RPU.
Now to do that Im going to compare our own unit revenue with those of Sirus
and the market average provided by IDG Statistics.
First, heres the market average as we can see, it remained fairly flat from
2002 to 2005 and then started to break out of the trend lines as the first mass
market WAP phones hit the stores in the 2005 holiday season.
The momentum that this trend picked up in 2006 looks likely to continue on in
2007 and 8. Now, as you all know, the latest research indicates that growth in
the mid-range, even in developing markets, is reaching saturation and, as Im
sure your channels are telling you, demand for high-end products is not just
limited to Western Europe any more.
Now, obviously, its been a core part of our strategy to increase RPU by 10% per
year from 2006 to 2011. We have met this target for 2006. And we are on track
to continue strong growth this year. The best news is that following Sirus
disastrous G3 launch and our hard work in Q1 and 2, we have now actually
overtaken them in this key metric. This really bodes well for our profitability in
2007 as a whole. CallTell is something for us to watch for, however, because you
know they arent going to be satisfied with the low end for very long.
So what we need to do now is to keep working closely together to exceed our

quarterly RPU increase targets. This is fundamental to our continuing success
and of course, you dont need me to tell you, that its good for your bonus.
<laughter>
Okay, now lets take a closer look at those RPU targets

I 47
Debrief
First of all, what kind of slide are they looking at? Basically, Pat is talking about
revenue per unit the average revenue created by each cell phone. He is
comparing the market average with Ambient and Sirus figures. Having already
discussed current trends in the industry during Charts and Graphs 1 and 2, Pat
spends more time in this episode analyzing data to predict future developments.
In addition, because Pat is coming to the most important part of his

presentation, he makes use of advanced rhetorical techniques to get his point
across effectively.
Lets start with Pats rhetoric. Remember, rhetoric is the study of how to use
language effectively. The adjective is rhetorical. Listen again to the beginning
of Pats presentation. He uses a couple great rhetorical techniques. What are
they?
But the real story I want to share with you today is not about headline sales or
market share. No, what Im here with you today for is to share our success in
meeting indeed exceeding this last quarter our targets for a key performance
indicator revenue per unit or RPU.
By the real story, Pat means the real point of his presentation. Headline sales
refers to great sales a story that could make the headlines of the newspapers.
But here is where the rhetoric comes in: Pat says the real story is not about
headline sales or market share, though Ambient is doing well in those areas. No,
the real story is Ambients meeting, even exceeding, a key performance
indicator. Indicator means measurement or metric something that indicates
success.
This rhetorical structure Pat is using is comparison and contrast: Not only have
we accomplished A, but, moreover, we have accomplished B. In addition to this
structure, Pat makes use of repetition of words with similar meanings to build up
positive weight: Ambient is meeting and indeed exceeding targets.
Both comparison and contrast and also repetition are great techniques for
adding impact to your ideas. Lets listen to a couple more examples of the
comparison and contrast rhetorical structure.
What Id like everyone to see here is that not only are we increasing our
sales yes, thats important, but its not everything. In addition, by following
this plan, we are reducing, even eliminating, some of our major costs.
As all of you know, success in this market is not only about who has a larger
sales force or more outlets. No, in fact, thats not even the most important
factor, far from it. Success in this market comes down to this: Who has
better information and who acts on it first.
In both examples there is strong use of repetition of such words as important

and success; in addition, in both examples the compare and contrast structure
is very effective, isnt it?

I 48
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Now, lets get back to the listening.
So Pat has said that the key message of his presentation is improvement not in
market share or revenue, but in revenue per unit or RPU. To highlight Ambients
success in this area, Pat says he is going to compare their RPU with the markets
average RPU (provided by a company called IDG statistics) and with Sirus
RPU. Lets listen to him do that.
First, heres the market average as we can see, it remained fairly flat from
2002 to 2005 and then started to break out of the trend lines as the first mass
market WAP phones hit the stores in the 2005 holiday season.
This section is basically a trend description, much as we studied last time. To

break out of the trend lines, means to change tendency: The tendency, or trend
line, is like a jail or a cage that the trend breaks out of.
WAP refers to Wireless Application Protocol. A protocol is a language. Wireless

means a device without wires, a cell phone (or mobile phone as they are often
called in the UK). So WAP is basically a way for cell phones and PDAs (personal
digital assistants or small portable computers) to go online to websites and surf
the internet, without a wire or a land line, as theyre called.
Mass means large, so mass market refers to the general market, not just
people with a lot of money but the general consumer. To hit the stores means
to enter the market. So now you should be able to understand what Pat means
by the first mass market WAP phones hit the stores in the 2005 holiday
season. This just means that the first affordable internet phones entered the
market in 2005, around Christmas and New Year, which is the holiday season
in Europe and America.
So, basically, Pat has told us the that the market average RPU started increasing
at the end of 2005 as higher and higher tech phones came out. Now he goes on
to talk about the current and future direction of this tendency:
The momentum that this trend picked up in 2006 looks likely to continue on in
2007 and 8.
The term momentum comes from physics, the study of energy and matter.
Momentum is technically defined as weight (or mass) multiplied by speed (or
velocity). To pick up momentum means to increase or add momentum. In
business, this is frequently used to describe a growing tendency, such as
increasing support for a proposal or a strengthening trend, either upward or
downward. Momentum is a really useful expression, so lets look at a couple
more examples.
After Sarah got most of the workers to agree, support for her proposal really
picked up momentum among the management team.
In the 80s, momentum gathered behind the upward trend in CEO salaries
until in 90s they reached truly spectacular levels.
After the merger we had sudden access to much better IT resources, so the
proposal to conduct a new round of IT training really lost momentum.

I 49
Remember, Pat says that the market momentum towards increased RPU looks
likely to continue in 2007 or 2008. Looks likely to is a way of referring to a
likely future trend. Later in his discussion, Pat also talks about the likelihood of
future growth in Ambients RPU: He says And now we are on track to continue
strong growth in 2007. Now, listen to some more examples of ways to talk
about likely future developments:
Share prices are almost certain to continue rising rapidly - at least to the end
of the year.
There is great likelihood of more mergers in the auto business.
As you can see, we are very probably going to see continued expansion of
production capacity as demand increases.
We can certainly expect this tendency to continue in the future.
This trend is almost sure to change.
Sometimes you want to highlight that a future trend is unlikely. How do you do
that? Well, obviously, you can just negate, that is add not to any of the
phrases you just heard, but here are a couple more examples to complete your
list.
Its quite unlikely that we will see this kind of growth continue into 2009.
The fall in the price of gold will not last long.
I dont believe we can count on any more increases in the price of real
estate.
Nine times out of 10, when we see this kind of trend, we know that it is going
to be short-lived.
In the last example, nine times out of ten is just an idiomatic way of saying
something is very likely, while short-lived means its life is short it wont last
long.
So how does Pats analysis continue? Keep listening.
As you all know the latest research indicates that growth in the mid-range, even
in developing markets, is reaching saturation.
Youll remember that as you know is a way of showing respect to the audience
that we studied in the first episode in this series. Growth in the mid-range
refers to the middle part or range of the market, not too expensive and not too
cheap. Developing markets means markets whose size is still growing places
where not everyone has cell phones or where wealth is increasing rapidly for
example, in Central Europe, where Pat is finance director, or in South America,
where cell phones are not as popular as they are in Europe.
To reach saturation means that a market cannot accept any more new
products, just as when you keep adding salt to a glass of water, it starts building
up on the bottom of the glass: The water cant dissolve it any more. This is
saturation. So Pat means that even in growing markets, the demand for mid-
range cell phones is not really growing.
What is the next point he makes?

I 50
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and, as Im sure your channels are telling you, demand for high-end products
is not just limited to Western Europe any more.
Channels means sales channels, such as department stores, cell phone shops
and so on any way you deliver the product to the customer.
So whats Pats main point here about RPU and the cell phone market? Can you
say it in your own words? To practice analyzing trends in English, why dont you
give it a try. After you hear the beep, take a few seconds to sum up what Pat
has told us about the main trends in developing markets and Western Europe.
After youre finished, compare your answer with ours. You can start your answer
by saying, Well, the main point is that
Learner:
Example answer:
Well, the main point is that even in developing markets such as central Europe
the market for mid-range phones is saturated. Meanwhile, cell phone retaileers
are telling Ambient that demand for high-end products, such as WAP phones, is
picking up, even in developing markets like Central Europe.
How did you do? A great way to practice is to rewind and try again. Try
substituting and mixing language from the example answer and Pats original
statement.
Now lets finish going through the listening. How does Pats discussion of RPU
end? Pat reminds his audience that its been a core or main part of Ambients
strategy to increase RPU by 10% per year. Having met this goal in 2006,
Ambient is already on track to do it again in 2007. (Remember, we talked
about this use of on track a little earlier when we learned ways to talk about
the likelihood of future developments.)
Now, what does Pat say the best news is?
The best news is that following Sirus disastrous 3G launch and our hard work in
Q1 and 2, we have now actually overtaken them in this key metric.
Youll remember that in previous episodes we heard a little about Sirus

disastrous, or terrible, 3G launch. We have now overtaken them in this key
metric is a way of comparing two trends: One overtakes, or passes, the other.
Lets study some more ways to compare trends:
Actually, when you compare the sales orders of these two companies, youll
see that those of Company A far exceed Company B, even though Company
B has high revenue.
Once again, ScienceTechs profit fell far short of the industry average.
Demand has not caught up with supply all year.

I 51
Really, we are neck and neck with our main competitor going into 2008.
As you can see, in addition to standard comparisons like more and most, or
better and best, you can use verbs such as exceed or overtake (which
mean to do better than) or fall short of (which means to do worse than). To be
neck and neck means to be tied or to be even. All these expressions for
comparing performance are based on the sports metaphor that is so common in
business: Competing companies are racing against each other. As we saw last
time, you can also use a war metaphor: Company A lost to Company B in
market share, for example.
All right, after comparing Sirus and Ambients RPU, Pat makes a general
prediction about the future based on Ambients strong growth in this key
performance indicator:
This really bodes well for our profitability in 2007 as a whole.
To bode well for something means to be a good sign for something: The fact
that Ambients RPU is growing means it is likely that profitability, the companys
ability to increase profits, will also grow. What are some other ways of making
general predictions? Of course you can say, will or going to, for example
profits are going to increase, but there are many other expressions you can
use. Lets listen to a few:
We predict steady increases throughout 2008.

All signs point towards a large drop in consumer confidence.
The fall in demand does not augur well for the market.
Experts forecast a healthy economic climate in the high-tech area.
Back to our listening, after making an optimistic prediction, Pat leaves us on a

note of caution:
CalTell is something for us to watch out for, however, because you know they
arent going to be satisfied with the low-end for very long.
CallTell is something to watch out for means we should observe (watch)

CallTell carefully. This is a way of reminding everybody to look out for future
developments. Lets study some more language for this.
We definitely need to keep our eyes peeled for more activity in this sector.
Raw materials are going to continue to be an area of strong growth, so
looking forward, its something that we cant afford to ignore.
I advise everyone to stay on guard against hostile takeovers.
In our price negotiations, we need to keep an eye towards other areas where
we can get more value, such as delivery time.
Whats the last thing Pat does before moving on to the next slide? He uses this
moment as an opportunity to encourage cooperation as well as to give the sales
team a friendly reminder that their bonuses the extra money they make at the
end of the year are tied to or connected with RPU:

I 52
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So what we need to do now is to keep working closely together to exceed our
quarterly RPU increase targets. This is fundamental to our continuing success
and of course you dont need me to tell you that its good for your bonus.
Note the strong collocation or word partnership here: fundamental to our

continuing success. Fundamental means basic or important, so Pat means that
meeting RPU targets is extremely important to Ambients continuing success in
Central Europe. Using strong collocations is another effective rhetorical
technique for adding impact to your presentation, so you should make the study
of words in groups and phrases a regular part of your practice. You can go back
through the transcript of this and other episodes making note of good word
partnerships. Here are some more good collocations for saying something is very
important:
Its essential to our success to reach our earnings targets.

Its absolutely fundamental to our continuing viability that we keep reducing
costs.
I cant emphasize enough how critical innovation is to our business growth.
The crux of the matter is that we have to keep expanding our search for new
markets.
All right, well, thats about all for this episode. Also, this concludes our three-
part series on charts and graphs. Over this series youve learned language for
introducing and highlighting points, describing trends, and analyzing data. In
this show we focused on rhetorical techniques for drawing attention to you main
point and emphasizing the importance of something and we learned a range of
language for talking about future trends and making predictions.
If you havent already, do come to our website to sign up for the great online
language developments that go together with this and the other episodes. There
youll find effective ways to conduct targeted practice of the language we learned
today.

I 53
Language Review
A) Using the cues below, rewrite the sentences using the rhetorical techniques
of comparison and contrast and repetition. The first one has been done for
you. Refer back to todays episode for more ideas. In number 4 below, you have
an opportunity to make your own example.
1. Increasing sales, reducing costs

What Id like everyone to see here is that not only are we increasing our sales
yes, thats important, but its not everything. In addition , by following this plan,
we are reducing, even sometimes eliminating, our major costs.
2. Greater demand, better revenue per unit
3. More employees, better training
4. Your own example
B) Using the words in the box, fill in the blanks.
neck augur eye

momentum tendency peeled
1. After Sarah got most of the workers to agree, support for her proposal
really picked up _________among the management team.
2. The fall in demand does not ________ well for the market.
3. In our price negotiations, we need to keep an ___________ towards other
areas where we can get more value, such as delivery time.
4. We need definitely need to keep our eyes ___________ for more activity
in this sector.
5. We can certainly ____________ this tendency to continue in the future.
6. Really, we are ___________ and neck with our main competitor going
into 2008.

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Study Strategy
In the industry you work in, what predictions do you have for the tendencies and
trends over the next six months? One year? Five years? Ten years? Think of two
or three important metrics in your industry, for example, in the computer
industry, you might take processor speed. Then plot out a graph of the future
trends for these metrics based on your personal prediction. Next, use the
language we have learned in this episode to analyze the data, making
predictions and talking about the likelihood of future developments. You should
also try to use the rhetorical strategy of comparison and contrast to add impact
to your presentation. You can record your speech or present it to a friend. Listen
back and give yourself feedback.
A)
Note: These answers are only provided as examples and further study. Of course
there are many possible good answers.
2. What Id like to leave you with today is that our success is not only due to
a greater demand for our product. Of course, that helps, but our
increasing profitability rests on much more than that. What really matters
the real crucial factor is the better revenue per unit we are achieving:
We are selling each piece for more money.
3. What Id like to emphasize is that having more employees is not the only
thing that counts. No, in fact, its not even the most important thing. The
most important thing is that each trainee gets better training.
B)
1. momentum; 2. augur; 3. eye; 4. peeled; 5. expect; 6. neck


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Unit 6 (BEP 106) Using Your Voice

When I say using your voice to give a good presentation, what comes to mind?
Perhaps the first thing you think of is speaking fluently and clearly. Another
important question is how to emphasize your ideas.
In this episode well be studying these points how to speak naturally and how
to highlight ideas. In addition, well be looking at a few expressions and phrases
you can use to add extra emphasis to your presentation.
Todays listening takes place at PharmaTek, a major international

pharmaceutical manufacturer based in Switzerland. Today a group of European
journalists are taking a tour of PharmaTeks new high-potency production center
in Beijing, which is scheduled to start making PharmaTeks new blockbuster
medication, Zorax, in the fall of 2007. Blockbuster means hugely successful.
High-potency production refers to using highly potent or very strong
chemicals. This is a manufacturing technique that requires state-of-the-art or
very advanced technology.
Well be hearing PharmaTek employees introduce the new plant. Lets start with
a couple bad examples, where the voice needs a lot of work. Listen to Gunter
Schmidt, the manager of Pharmateks corporate affairs division. As you listen,
focus on his voice. What does he do wrong?
Vocabulary
To highlight: To emphasize something or draw attention to it. We dont need to

highlight our failures; instead, lets focus on what we have acpcomplished.
Blockbuster: Adjective that describes something that is hugely successful.

There werent that many blockbuster movies this year, but Rush Hour 3 was
definitely one of them it had spectacular profits!
High-potency production: This refers to using highly potent or very strong

chemicals. This is a manufacturing technique that requires very advanced
technology.
State-of-the-art: Adjective; describes the most advanced technology currently

available. The best possible protection for the environment comes from using
state-of-the-art pollution filtration technology.
To be devoted to sth or sby: To be committed. We are devoted to serving your

needs.
Sustainable development: Refers to development that can be sustained or

maintained over the long term. It usually has an environmental meaning: To
protect the environment, its important to pursue sustainable development of
business and resources.
To embody: To embody means to represent or symbolize. Our employees

willingness to donate blood embodies our companys civic spirit.

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Gunters bad version:
Here at PharmaTek not only are we devoted to improving patients quality of
lives. Simultaneously, we are committed to protecting the environment. Thats
why the high-potency production center has adopted state-of-the-art green
technology and advanced international production techniques.
What do you think? It sounds like Gunter has maybe had too much coffee or
forgotten to take out his chewing gum, doesnt it?
So what are the main problems with Gunters speech?
First of all, he doesnt clearly enunciate or pronounce his words, does he? All of
us can relate to Gunters problem: When youre speaking a foreign language,
you should actually slow your speech down and do your best to speak clearly.
But its tempting to speed up and blend words together so that you can hide any
problems you might have with your pronunciation. However, doing this makes
your speech hard to understand.

lives.
Its almost impossible to clearly make out not only are we, isnt it?
After a little coaching, Gunter does a much better job. Lets listen to his
improved version.
Here at PharmaTek, // not only are we completely devoted // to improving

patients quality of life ...
The words are much more clearly enunciated, arent they?
Now, lets go back to Gunters bad example again. What other problems were
there with his speech?

Thats why the high-potency production center has adopted state-of-the-art
green technology and advanced international production techniques.
In addition to poor enunciation, Gunter is speaking too fast, isnt he?
Contrary to popular belief, its actually quite hard to change the speed at which
you speak. The rate at which you actually produce syllables or parts of words is
called articulation rate. For most speakers it is fixed, that is, it doesnt change
very much, even if they try.
So what does it mean when it sounds like someone is speaking too fast? Well,
what it actually means is that they are making fewer pauses.
Making more pauses can be very good for your speech. When you listen to a
politician or to a trained speaker, you find that they pause more frequently. Also,
the length of the pauses is longer than normal. This gives the impression that

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the speech is much slower, and lends an air of strength or authority to the
speaker.
Lets listen to a better example, where Gunter makes more frequent and longer
pauses.

Thats why the high-potency production center // has adopted state-of-the-art
green technology // and advanced international production techniques.
In this example, Gunter sounds like he has more authority and seems more
professional, doesnt he? Speaking more slowly that is adding more frequent
and longer pauses to your speech will add power to your presentation.
Also, breaking the words down into smaller groups makes them easier to say,
which will help your speech become clear and more fluent.
Now, lets listen to another bad example. This time, well hear Tanya
Witherspoon-Chen, who is corporate communications manager for PharmaTek
China, the companys joint venture in China. She is trying to give the same
speech that Gunter just did.
Tanyas bad version:

lives. Simultaneously, we are committed to protecting the environment. Thats
why the high-potency production center has adopted state-of-the-art green
technology and advanced international production techniques.
Its painful to listen to, isnt it? Whats the problem? Well, she has enough
pauses, but they are not in the right places. This sounds not fluent or choppy.
Choppy means she stops in all the wrong places. Tanya needs a little coaching:
She needs to divide her words into grammatically logical groups. To help herself
speak more fluently, she needs to use longer and more frequent pauses.
Lets listen to Tanya giving the same presentation, but this time she has
received some coaching and she does a much better job. Also, she has added a
few words to give special emphasis to her talk.
Tanyas good version:

patients quality of life. // At the same time, // we are totally committed // to
protecting the environment. // Thats why the high-potency production center//
has adopted state-of-the-art green technology // and advanced international
production techniques. // Thus we achieve a high level of protection // for the
environment and for workers. // Also // this serves as a model of excellence for
other production lines. // And above all // it embodies PharmaTeks commitment
// to sustainable development. // So, please come this way // and Ill be glad to
show you the production line .
This time, Tanya did a much better job, didnt she? She sounds confident, fluent
and strong. Lets take a look at how she achieves these effects.

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Weve already talked about pausing. Tanya has arranged her words into
grammatically logical groups, such as adverbial phrases, subjects, predicates,
and so on. Listen again:

protecting the environment.
There are clear pauses after PharmaTek, devoted life, time, and
committed. These pauses break the speech down into logical groups. Note that
Tanya could have even added more pauses if she wanted to. For example, she
could have said, not only // are we completely devoted // to improving //
patients quality of lives. Even with more pauses, as long as Tanya divides her
speech into grammatically logical groups, she will sound fluent. To sum up, not
fluent or choppy speech comes from improper pausing, not from pausing too
much.
Now, there is another level that we need to pay attention to when we talk about
voice. That is intonation or the rise and fall in pitch. For example, in English, as
you know, most yes/no questions have a rising intonation:
Are you free for dinner?

Have you finished the report?
On the other hand, Wh-questions (where, when, who, etc.) have a falling
intonation:
What are you doing later?

How is the report coming along?
Going back to Tanyas speech, when do you hear rising intonation and when do
you hear falling intonation?

protecting the environment. //
The pitch goes up at the end of the first sentence after quality of life and down
at the end of the second sentence after protecting the environment. Why is
that? Well, in English, basically, intonation goes down at the end of an idea: Not
only A (rising intonation) but also B (falling intonation).
Listen to another example.
// Thats why the high-potency production center// has adopted state-of-the-art

green technology // and advanced international production techniques. //
The intonation rises after production center and green technology and
finishes at the end of her idea (and of her sentence) which is after techniques.

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Listen to a few more sentences with rising and falling intonations.
Our products range from high-end industrial printers // to low-end consumer

models.
Success in business requires four things: Hard work, vision, luck, and good
relationships.
This is not a matter of cutting costs, // but of increasing profit.
Good, so far weve covered two major parts of making your voice smooth and
fluent pausing and intonation. Now, were going to look at the third important
element in using your voice to give a good presentation: stress and emphasis.
Going back to Tanyas speech, did you notice anything different about the
content compared to the bad example? To emphasize her points, she has made
use of some intensifying or strengthening adverbs, such as completely or
totally.
not only are we completely devoted // to improving patients quality of life. // At

the same time, // we are totally committed // to protecting the environment.
This type of adverb is sometimes called an intensifier. Listen to some more

examples of their use.
There is absolutely no room for compromise on this issue.

This is a terribly important problem to tackle.
As far as I can see, we have completely failed in implementing this marketing
plan.
In the past six months, we have totally succeeded in meeting our targets.
We really need to reinvent our whole branding strategy.
This market is highly competitive.
One thing you might have noted from these examples is that we frequently use
our voice to add extra emphasis to intensifying adverbs. That is, instead of just
saying, We are totally committed, we can say We are totally committed. Lets
call this extra emphasis stressing a word. Using your voice to stress key words
is another important strategy that good presenters use. Lets take a look at a
couple more examples from Tanyas speech. Which words are emphasized?
// Thats why the high-potency production center// has adopted state-of-the-art

green technology // and advanced international production techniques.
Did you hear the stress on state-of-the-art and advanced.. These are key
points, things that differentiate PharmaTek from the competitors, so Tanya
wants to give them special emphasis.
// Thus we achieve a high level of protection // for the environment and for
workers.
In this case, Tanya stresses the word and to highlight the point that protection
for workers is important.

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Its important to be conscious of how stress can change meaning. Listen to these
two examples.
1. Our sales have improved in Western Europe.

Whats the difference in meaning between these two sentences? By stressing

Western, the second sentence makes it sound like our sales have improved in
Western Europe, but not elsewhere in Europe perhaps not in Central or Eastern
Europe.
So far today weve already studied pausing, intonation and stress. Now, lets
finish off by looking at a couple words and expressions that Tanya uses to add
emphasis to her speech.
// Also this serves as a model of excellence for other production lines. // And
above all // it embodies PharmaTeks commitment // to sustainable
development.
Sustainable development refers to development that can be sustained or

maintained over the long term. It usually has an environmental meaning: To
protect the environment, its important to pursue sustainable development of
business and resources.
To embody a commitment is a good collocation or word partnership that you

should learn. Embody means to represent or symbolize. So PharmaTeks high-
tech, green production lines embodythat is represent or serve as symbol of
its commitment to long-term, sustainable growth.
Now, compared to the bad example we examined at the beginning, what words
has Tanya added her to make her ideas clearer and to give emphasis to key
points? She has added And above all to the last sentence to give special weight
to PharmaTeks commitment to sustainable development. What are some other
phrases you can use to add special emphasis to your key ideas? Lets look at
some examples:
In particular, improving quality is very important.

Above all, we need to think of more ways to improve sales.
Without a doubt, opening up new markets is our greatest challenge.
Id like to emphasize our complete dedication to this project.
Whats especially important is that we consider this challenge from all angles
and take into account different perspectives.
Good, now lets practice what we have just learnt.
Imagine you are giving a speech to introduce your new factory to some
journalists. You have to make three key points: Your new production center uses
advanced technology, protects the environment and workers, and embodies your
commitment to sustainable development. In a moment, youll hear a cue or hint
reminding you of these three points. Then, youll have a few seconds to think.
After the beep, make a sentence that includes all three key ideas. Be careful to

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put your words into logical grammatical groups to sound smooth and fluent.
Also, think about intonation: For example, the pitch should fall when you at the
end of your idea. Finally, you should try using your voice or some emphasizing
words to add special stress to a key point or two. Are you ready? Lets give it a
try:
Cue: Uses advanced technology / protects the environment and workers /

embodies our commitment to sustainable development.
Learner:
How did that go? Listen to an example answer.
Example Answer:
Our new production center // uses advanced technology // completely protects
the environment // and workers // and // above all // embodies our commitment
// to sustainable development.
Keep in mind that there are many possible correct answers. Rewind and try it
again. Try stressing different words and using different intensifiers and
emphasizing expressions. What happens when you put the words in a different
order? Experiment.
Now that youve finished that, youll probably be thinking of more ways to
practice.
One good way to build fluency is to record yourself reading aloud. Work on the
strategies weve learned today: First, before you read, mark pauses on the
paper with a pencil. You can also use arrows to mark intonation, either up or
down, and you can underline words you wish to stress.
You should practice anticipating, that is reading ahead. While youre making a
pause, look at the next group of words. Focus on putting the words into
grammatically logical groups. Dont be afraid to pause frequently and to make
longer pauses. You can always practice speeding up later if you want.
And thats about all for this episode on using your voice to give a good
presentation. Weve covered pausing, intonation and stress. Weve learned how
to combine these elements to make your voice sounds confident, fluent and
strong.
Be sure to do the exercises in the study notes, where youll find vocabulary
definitions and more language practice. Also, if you havent already, sign up for
our online exercises at www.businessenglishpod.com for further targeted
practice on the skills and language youve learned in this and other episodes.
Thanks you for listening! Our next episode will focus on questions and answers.

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Study Strategy
Improving your voice takes a lot of practice. Heres a great way to do it: Choose
a text you like. It could be anything something from a novel, or from work; a
poem or the lyrics to a song; it could even be an email that you have written or,
especially, part of one of your presentations that you write down. (Normally, you
probably shouldnt write down too much of a presentation its better to speak
naturally. But a great way to get over your stage fright at the beginning of a talk
is to write down and memorize the first 2-3 minutes of your presentation.)
After you have chosen your text, use the strategies and techniques we have
learned in this episode to mark pausing, stress and intonation: First mark
pauses. Use two slashes (//) every place you think you should briefly stop. At
the same time, underline words that you wish to stress. Note that it is usual to
pause after stressed words. Finally, mark intonation with up and down arrows.
Remember that the intonation usually goes down at the end of an idea.
After youve finished marking your text, practice it a few times. Then record
yourself speaking it. Work on fluency. Try pausing and stressing in different
places to see how these differences affect the meaning.
By practicing a text this way at least once a week, you will quickly improve your
voice skills.

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Language Review
A. Review of useful language and vocabulary
To review useful language covered in this episode, fill in the blanks in the
sentences below. Review how we use intensifiers such as totally, terribly,
highly, etc. to add emphasis to a sentence. After youve finished, try saying
the sentence with different stress and intonation. Using the techniques weve
practiced, strive for fluency and impact.
1. 2.
Our products range from h___h-end industrial printers to l___-end
consumer models.
3.
Success in business requires four things: Hard work, vi___on, luck, and
good relationships.
4. 5.
This is not a matter of c________g costs, but of in______g profit.
6. 7.
There is a________ly no room for c__________se on this issue.
8.
This is a t_______bly important problem to tackle.
9. 10.
As far as I can see, we have c_________y failed in im________g this
marketing plan.
11.
In the past six months, we have t________y succeeded in meeting our
targets.
12.
We really need to rein______nt our whole branding strategy.
13. 14.
This market is h_______y c__________ve.
B. Emphasis Phrases
The following sentences have been jumbled. Put them in order. Then underline
the phrase that is used to add emphasis to each sentence.
1. improving particular is quality very in important
2. all we need to of above more improve ways to sales think
3. doubt opening greatest new markets without is our up a challenge
4. like to complete our to dedication project this emphasize Id
5. account angles important is especially we consider this that and challenge

from all into take perspectives different whats

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A.
1. high; 2. low; 3. vision; 4. cutting; 5. increasing; 6. absolutely; 7.
compromise; 8. terribly; 9. completely; 10. implementing; 11. totally; 12.
reinvent; 13. highly; 14. competitive.
B.
1. In particular, improving quality is very important.
2. Above all, we need to think of more ways to improve sales.
3. Without a doubt, opening up new markets is our greatest challenge.
4. Id like to emphasize our complete dedication to this project.
5. Whats especially important is that we consider this challenge from all angles


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Unit 7 (BEP 107) Closing Down and Summarizing

Welcome back to Business English Pod! In todays episode, well be looking at
closing down and summarizing your presentation.
As we mentioned a while back, a strong introduction is very important to giving

your audience a reason for listening. Similarly, a strong conclusion is very
important to leave your audience with a great impression and give them a clear
message about what action to take.
So what structure should you use to close down a presentation? Well, you might
have your own methods, but this simple format has always worked for me and
covers all the main points:
1. Give your audience a clear signal that your are going to finish,
2. Briefly summarize the main points of your presentation,
3. State your recommendation or give your call to actionlet your audience
know what you want them to do,
4. Finish off by thanking your listeners and inviting questions or discussion.
In this episode well be exploring this

format. The presentation takes place
at Harper-Tolland, a major global
producer of special purpose steel. Last
year Harper-Tolland launched a new
product line ColorMax which is a
kind of brightly colored steel used in
building and manufacturing.
Unfortunately, the sales results in
Europe for the first year have been
quite disappointing. Nicholas Fischer,
the new regional sales director for
Harper-Tolland, has been hired to fix
the problem. He is just finishing off a
presentation in which he has been
discussing his proposal.
As you listen, pay attention to the

language and structure Nick uses to
give his presentation a strong finish.

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Vocabulary
Crux of the matter: The most important part. There are many problems with
this marketing plan, but the crux of the matter is that we are just not getting
our message to the people who really make the decisions.
Mediocre: Just average. Not very good. We were expecting something exciting,
something different, but the product they actually delivered to us was pretty
mediocre.
Initiative: The quality of personality that enables one to do something on his or

her own, independently. To take the initiative means to do something first or
to do something without being asked to do it. To have initiative means to be
the kind of person who takes the initiative, i.e., the kind of person who does
things first without the boss asking. George has a lot of initiative he is always
out in front of the team, starting new products, taking the initiative, calling
customers, and generally performing very well.
Inconsistent: Not consistent. Irregular. Sometimes he does a good job,

sometimes he doesnt; hes a very inconsistent worker.
Follow up: The action of checking on something to make sure it has been done
well or to make sure that it has the desired effect. Can also be a verb, to follow
up. Its easy to make money once, but to keep making money is hard Thats
why follow up is the most important part of the sales process. We have to make
sure the customer is satisfied, even weeks or years after the sale.
Taskforce: A temporary team created to accomplish a specific task. To find out

how the money went missing, the CEO created a special, secret taskforce.
Deficiencies: Problems, areas that are not up to standard. The adjective is

deficient. As I see it, the reason that this department is inefficient and slow is
not the heavy workload but the many deficiencies in work planning.
Recovery plan: A plan for how to recover from (survive) a crisis or a problem.
Its important that we develop a good recovery plan for what to do if any of our
bottled water products are found to contain bacteria or poison.
Commitment: 1. A promise. He made a commitment to get the work done by

the end of the month. 2. Dedication, i.e., the quality of being very reliable. He
has a lot of a commitment, so I wouldnt worry about whether or not he will get
the work done.
To crack the champagne: To open a champagne bottle. This usually means to

celebrate. After months of hard work, it was time to crack the champagne.

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Dialog
Nick: Product and industry

knowledge is important. But the
crux of the matter is that we
simply arent aggressive enough
in our approach to selling. To
sell you simply have to push
and push hard.
So as we can see, a first-class

CRM strategy and a great
marketing plan arent worth the
paper theyre written on if we
dont have qualified staff to push
them through. Okay, thats all I
have to say on this topic for the
moment.
Now, Id like to recap the main points of my presentation before I open it up for
questions.
To sum up: First, I analyzed the sales results for 2006. I talked about how our
drive to increase brand recognition through a surge in advertising has failed
because of mediocre initiative and inconsistent follow up from our sales people.
Second, I explained how our special taskforce found major deficiencies in our
sales training system and in our staffs basic sales skills. Finally, I proposed a
recovery plan for 2007. I stressed that the most important thing at this stage is
not advertising or technology but the way that we train our salespeople.
Let me leave you with one thought. What Id like to stress isand I cant
emphasize this enoughthat it is absolutely essential to have an effective sales
team. And effective salespeople must have effective training. So, what Im
asking from you today is a commitment to increase the training budget by 25%
so that we can address this training shortfall. Then, by this next time year,
instead of scratching our heads, well be cracking the champagne.
Many thanks for your attention.
And now Im very interested in hearing your comments.

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Debrief
When the dialog begins, Nick is summarizing the main points in the last section
of his presentation. As we said in BEP102, it is vital that you have an easily
recognizable structure throughout your presentation. Maintaining a clear
structure helps keep your audience focused and interested. So at the end of
each section you should usually summarize your main point and signal that you
are moving on to a new section.
How does Nick summarize his last main point?
So as we can see, a first-class CRM strategy and a great marketing plan are not
worth the paper theyre written on if we dont have qualified staff to push them
through.
So as you can see is our signal that a summary is about to begin. The single
word so is often used to introduce a summary or to change the topic. What is
Nicks main point in this section? Unless we have qualified staff to push them
throughthat is, to make them worka CRM or customer relationship
management system and a marketing plan have no valuethat is, they are not
worth the paper they are written on.
Then Nick signals that the last part of his presentation is over.
Okay, thats all I have to say on this topic for the moment.
He could also say
Right, that ends the last section of my talk.

That's all I want to say for now on the third part of my presentation.
Having clearly indicated that the last section of his talk is over, Nick signals a
summary of his main points.
Now Id like to recap the main points of my presentation before I open it up for
questions.
Recap is short for recapitulate, which means to summarize briefly. There is a

lot more language that Nick could have used. For example,
To conclude,...
In conclusion,...
Now, to sum up...
So let me summarize what I've said.
Finally, may I remind you of some of the main points we've considered.
During my talk today, Ive described the results of our investigation.
During his summary, Nick uses sequencing words (first, second, finally). These
are used to give a clear and concise summary of his main points. Also, notice the
use of strong collocations. Collocation means word partnershipwords that
naturally go together. Nicks collocations include analyzed the sales results,

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find major deficiencies, and propose a recovery plan. Using such word
partnerships makes your English dynamic and fluent. So when youre learning
vocabulary, be sure to study words in groups or whole phrases.
So, Nick has finished his summary, but his presentation is not finished yet.
Actually, one of the most important parts of his presentation is yet to come. As
you know, the last thing you say is probably what your audience will remember
best. This is called the take-home messagethe idea that the audience will take
home with them. Its important to be decisive and clear. Also, try not to be too
complex.
The conclusion should consist of a simple major statement, with no more than
two or three connotations, if these are absolutely essential. (A connotation is an
associated point.) This is also where you should give recommendations or make
a call to action. Your audience wants to know what to do next. Dont forget to
tell them.
How does Nick finish up his talk? Lets listen again.
Let me leave you with one thought. What Id like to stress isand I cant
emphasize this enoughthat it is absolutely essential to have an effective sales
team. And effective salespeople must have effective training. Now, what Im
asking from you today is a commitment to increase the training budget by 25%

Nick shows that he is making his final comments by saying Let me leave you
with one thought.
Then, throughout his next few sentences, he uses a number of rhetorical

techniques to add emphasis to his main point. Rhetorical techniques are ways to
persuade your audience. He says What Id like to stress is... and I cant
emphasize this enough... Notice how he lowers his voice and slows downs.
Longer pauses and a stronger voice add additional emphasis to his final
message, which is a clear call to action: He says Now, what Im asking from you
today is a commitment....
This is a particularly strong call to action. There are many other ways, however,
to make a concluding recommendation. Lets listen to some more examples of
phrases we can use.
In conclusion, my recommendations are...

I therefore propose the following strategy.
I'd like to finish with...some observations based on what I've said.
There are two conclusions to be made from this, namely,...
I think we have to...
I think we have seen that we should...
What we need to do is...
So, let me get straight to the point. We need action and we need it now.
Returning to our listening, its worth noting that Nick ends off on a positive visual
image for the future we will have by following his plan.
Then, by this next time year, instead of scratching our heads well be cracking

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the champagne.
So instead of scratching our heads in confusion, we will be crackingthat means

openingthe champagne to celebrate.
Finally, how do you end the presentation? You should close your talk by thanking
your audience and by opening the question and answer session. (This is also
know as Q&A.)
Many thanks for your attention.
So now Im very interested in hearing your comments.
You can hear the smile in Nicks voice, cant you? Dont forget to leave your
audience with a great impression by finishing off with a smile.
There is of course plenty of other language Nick could have used to finish off his
presentation. Lets listen to a few more examples.
Thank you for your attention. And now if you have any questions, Id be glad
to answer them.
Thank you for listening. Now, Id be glad to try and answer any questions.
I thank you all for being such an attentive audience and now Im sure you
must have some questions, so Ill be happy to try and answer them. Yes,
Simon ..
So, lets throw it open to questions.
Any questions?
Now, its your turn to practice making a concluding recommendation and

opening it up for questions. Imagine that you have just given a presentation on
improving sales. Think of two recommendations you have, using your own
company as an example. Do you want to retrain the sales department? Or
perhaps increase the advertising budget by 25%? Do you want to expand your
market? Or perhaps target a different market, such as older people or younger
people, bigger or smaller companies?
After you hear the beep, practice giving your concluding recommendation.
Remember to make a clear call to action. Use the language we practiced earlier,
such as We need action and we need it now, or In conclusion, my
recommendations are or What we need to do is.
Then, remember to thank everyone for their attention and open it up to

questions, using the phrases we just learned.
Are you ready? First take a few seconds to think, then began talking after the
beep.
Learner:

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How did you do? Lets listen to an example answer.
Example answer: So, let me get straight to the point. We need action and we
need it now. What we need to do is this: First, increase the advertising budget
by 25%. Second, target a new market, mid- and small-sized companies. Thank
you for listening. Now, Id be glad to try and answer any questions.
Remember, going back and trying it again is a great way to practice. Substitute
different language. Use your pause button if necessary. Practice several times,
using different examples, until you feel comfortable with a wide variety of
phrases.
Well thats about all for todays Business English Pod episode on Closing Down
and Summarizing. Today, youve learned language for finishing off the last part
of your talk, summarizing, making a call to action, and opening up the Q&A
session.
Rememberits important not just to summarize your talk, but also to leave
your audience with a key message or a call to action.
So heres our take home message - dont forget to visit the Learning Center on
our website at www.businessenglishpod.com. There you can find detailed study
notes with a full transcript, extra vocabulary, definitions and language exercises
to help you become a better English speaker.
Take care and see you next time on www.businessenglishpod.com!

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Language Review
A. Summarizing and Calling to Action

Its important both to provide your audience with a concise summary of what
you have said and a call to action. Many inexperienced presenters especially
tend to forget the latter. To get the most out of your presentation, make sure to
tell your audience what you want them to do.
To review summarizing and calling to action, fill in the blanks with language from
the box. The first one has been done for you.
conclude recommendations therefore with

straight need remind sum
described conclusion think should summarize
1) To conclude ,...
2) In __________,...
3) Now, to _________ up...
4) So let me __________ what I've said.
5) Finally, may I ________ you of some of the main points we've
considered.
6) During my talk today, Ive ______________ the results of our
investigation.
7) In conclusion, my ______________ are...
8) I ____________ propose the following strategy:
9) I'd like to finish _________ some observations based on what I've said.
10) There are two conclusions to be made from this, namely,...
11) I ___________ we have to...
12) I think we have seen that we____________ ...
13) What we ___________ to do is...
14) So, let me get ____________ to the point. We need action and we
need it now.
B. Finishing Off
Review some common ways to finish off by filling in the blanks. The first one has
been done for you.
Thank you for your 1. attention . And now if you have any questions, Id
be glad to 2. a________ them.
Thank you for 3. l_______. Now, Id be glad to try and answer any
questions.
I thank you all for being such an attentive 4. a_________ and now Im
sure you must have some questions, so Ill be 5. h_________ to try and
answer them. Yes, Simon ..
So, lets 6. t_____w it open to questions.
Any 7. __________s?

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Study Strategy
A great way to practice closing down your presentation is with a partner. Or, if
you dont have a partner handy, use a tape recorder or a video camera. Using
the language we learned in this unit, prepare the last five minutes of a
presentation including summary and call to action. It could be for one of your
own presentations for a presentation that you have heard someone else give.
Make sure to give a strong call to action. Then either listen to how you did or
have your partner give you feedback.
A. Summarizing and Calling to Action

2) In conclusion,...
3) Now, to sum up...
4) So let me summarize what I've said.
5) Finally, may I remind you of some of the main points we've considered.
6) During my talk today, Ive described the results of our investigation.
7) In conclusion, my recommendations are...
8) I therefore propose the following strategy:
9) I'd like to finish with some observations based on what I've said.
10) There are two conclusions to be made from this, namely,...
11) I think we have to...
12) I think we have seen that we should...
13) What we need to do is...
14) So, let me get straight to the point. We need action and we need it now.
B. Finishing Off
2) answer
3) listening
4) audience
5) happy
6) throw
7) questions


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Unit 8 (BEP 108) - Question and Answer 1
Welcome back to Business English

Pod! Todays episode is the first in a
two-part series that focuses on
question and answer, popularly
referred to as Q&A.
This listening takes place during a

meeting of senior sales and
marketing staff at Harper-Tolland, a
global producer of special purpose
steel. As we begin, Nick Fisher, the
European sales director, is just
finishing his presentation.
Lets listen. Pay attention to how Nick and Nicks boss, Max, handle questions
from Bryan, the European marketing director and Cindy, the regional sales
manager for Germany.
Vocabulary
Value proposition: The basic value to the customer that differentiates

(distinguishes) ones product from the competitors products. Its very
important to have a clear value proposition, otherwise no one is going to buy
your product.
To differentiate: To distinguish. We need to differentiate our products from our
competitors products.
To make a sweeping indictment of sth: A broad accusation, usually made
without fully understanding the situation. Now, lets not start making any
sweeping indictments until we know exactly what is going on.
The proof is in the pudding: Idiom. It means that the true quality or value of
something can only be judged when its tried and tested. Enough talking lets
just see how it works; the proof is in the pudding.
To butt heads (over sth): To have a disagreement about sth. I think its
unnecessary to butt heads over such small issues; instead, lets talk about how
to solve the problem.
Market survey: A statistical analysis of the market that is used to sell products
better. We conducted an extensive survey of the market and found that young
single women actually spent the most money on travel.
The facts on the ground: The real situation. Reality, not theory. The facts on
the ground in China were different from anything we read about in the travel
guides and culture books.
To paint with figures/numbers: To use statistics or data to make the situation
look the way you want it to look. Before the merger, they did a lot of painting
with numbers to make their company look like it was worth more than it was.

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Dialog
Nick: Many thanks for your attention.
So now Im very interested in hearing

your comments.
Bryan: Well, thank you very much.

Im sure we all agree that its an
interesting proposal.
Nick: Thank you.
Bryan: Now, going back to what you were saying about our product lacking a
clear value proposition.
Nick: Uh huh.
Bryan: Youre saying that our sales people are not successfully differentiating
our product from the competitors.
Nick: Yes, thats right. Theyre not communicating to the customer the
experience of using ColorMaxnot just facts and figures, but what makes
ColorMax different, in terms the customer can relate to.
Bryan: Then why would you say that our market surveys are ranking us 30%
ahead of the competition in the key values that we are promoting?
Nick: Thats a fair question, Bryan. I know your team has worked very hard on
the launch, and Ive studied the latest survey results. But the proof is in the
pudding. We have to ask ourselves, why arent we selling more steel?
Bryan: So you just dont lend any credence to the survey?
Nick: Thats not what Im saying...
Bryan: With such positive results, has it occurred to you that it might be a just a
little bit too early to make such a sweeping indictment of our training?
Nick: Look, Bryan, I didnt say the surveys not important. But all of us can read
the numbers differentlyits a little like painting with figures sometimes. But the
facts on the ground tell a different story. Why isnt our order volume going up?
Bryan: Nonsense! I think you have to take into consideration the fact that we
have a lag time....
Max: Nick, Bryan, hold your horses. I can see were butting heads a little bit,
and its not productive. Lets use the time we have left to sound out Nicks
proposal.
Cindy: Can I come in here?
Max: Go ahead Cindy.

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Cindy: If we retrain all the sales people...
Nick: Sorry, hold on a sec Cindy, perhaps that wasnt totally clear.
Cindy: Oh?
Nick: In the first phase, Im just proposing we retrain the project engineers and
key account managers, not the whole sales force. Just the people with the
greatest customer contact.
Cindy: All right, but its still a lot of people.
Nick: Right, I can see what youre getting at. However, I expect that with proper
implementation, we can get the job done in a month.
Cindy: But how do we measure success?
Nick: You mean, how can we tell if its working?
Bryan: Yes, thats right.
Nick: Thats a very good question. I would expect to see a 5% increase..
Debrief
Lets go through the dialogue piece by piece to analyze how Nick and Nicks boss
Max deal with questions. Of course, often the presenter is also the chairperson
of the Q&A session. In this case, Nick and Max are sharing this duty, so we can
learn from both of them.
First of all, how does Nick open the Q & A session?
Nick: Many thanks for your attention. So now Im very interested in hearing
your comments.
Of course, there are other phrases to open a question and answer session. (And
you can check BEP 103 for more examples.) But lets get back to the Q & A.
Whats the first question Nick is asked? Bryan, the European marketing director,
is skeptical about Nicks proposal, but he is careful to start out gently by offering
some polite praise. This is always a good idea as it shows respect for the
presenter.
Bryan: Well, thank you very much. Im sure we all agree that its an interesting
proposal.
Nick: Thank you.
Bryan: Now, going back to what you were saying about our product lacking a
clear value proposition.
Nick: Uh huh.

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What does Bryan mean by value proposition? In marketing, a value proposition

is how one intends to differentiate one's product from the offerings of
competitors.
Do you remember how Bryan begins his question? He says, Now, going back to
what you were saying... This is a useful way to refer to an earlier point. Nick
himself could use this way to bring up something he had mentioned earlier
simply by changing you to I. For example, Going back to what I was saying
about establishing a clear value proposition.
There are more ways to refer to earlier points. Listen.
What exactly did you mean when you were talking about market forces?
I was interested in your comments about timing. Could you say a little more
about that?
Could I just go back to the point you made about branding? Well, in my
experience....
So, Bryan has just referred back to the earlier point about establishing a clear
value proposition. What happens next?
Bryan: Youre saying that our sales people are not successfully differentiating
our product from the competitors products.
Bryan clarifies Nicks earlier point to make sure he understood correctly and,
perhaps, to state the situation to his advantage. He uses Youre saying... to
paraphrase Nick. This is a useful skill in clarifyingwe often paraphrase what we
understood to check that its correct.
Then, notice how Nick paraphrases himself, partially to further clarify the point
and perhaps to further restate the situation in a way that is advantageous to
him.
Nick: Yes, thats right. Theyre not communicating to the customer the
experience of using ColorMaxnot just facts and figures, but what makes
ColorMax different, in terms the customer can relate to.
Its interesting to note that in clarifying, we are not always just checking
understanding, but also strategically restating the situation to our advantage.
Later on in the dialogue there is another example of clarifying.
Cindy asks Nick, How do we measure success. Then Nick, to make sure he
understands, says You mean, how can we tell its working?

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Youre saying and you mean are both ways to introduce a paraphrase for the
purpose of clarification. Lets listen to some other ways to clarify.
Let me check I understand. Are you asking why our market share has
increased?
Well, it all depends on what you mean by in the near future. Are you talking
about next week? Or are we talking about the next 2-4 months?
Could you be a little more specific?
Lets go back again to the earlier part of the dialogue to examine how to deal
with another kind of Q&A situation, what to do when you receive a hostile or
aggressive question.
Nick has just restated his belief that the poor sales are due to unclear
communication to customers of value proposition. How does Bryan respond?
Bryan: Then why would you say that our market surveys are ranking us 30%
ahead of the competition in the key values that we are promoting?
Nick: Thats a fair question, Bryan. I know your team has worked very hard on
the launch, and Ive studied the latest survey results.
Bryan is on the attack here. He sites a market survey that seems to contradict
Nicks belief that the value proposition is not being communicated to customers.
Nick responds by saying, Thats a good question, Bryan. I know your team has
worked very hard... This is a kind of buffersometimes also called a softener,
or cushion. He uses this language to soften the disagreement that he expresses
next. Using a buffer is one effective strategy for dealing with hostile questions.
As a buffer, Nick could also say,
Thank you for your question.

Thats a very interesting question.
Im glad you asked that.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to comment on that.
Thank you for raising this point. You know, I really appreciate all your hard
work.
Very good question.
Now that he has softened it with a buffer, how does Nick express his
disagreement with Bryan? He uses an idiom to describe his attitude to the
marketing survey.
Nick: ...But the proof is in the pudding. We have to ask ourselves, why arent
we selling more steel?
The proof is in the pudding is a shortened version of The proof of the pudding
is in the eating. Nowadays, people usually just say The proof is in the
pudding. It means that the true quality or value of something can only be
judged when its tried and tested. The meaning can be summed up as, Results
are what counts. So Nick is saying that good market survey results are useless
unless they translate into something realprofits.

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Understandably, Bryan, as the marketing director, is not so happy about Nicks

attacking the value of his market survey.
Bryan: Nonsense! I think you have to take into consideration the fact that we
have a lag time....
Max: Nick, Bryan, hold your horses. I can see were butting heads a little bit,
and its not productive. Lets use the time we have left to sound out Nicks
proposal.
Max, who is the boss, gives us another good example of dealing with a hostile
situation. He uses a couple idiomatic expressions to calm everyone down. The
informality of these idioms probably helps relax the situation.
Hold your horses is used to ask someone to slow down. It usually implies that
someone is moving too fast, or assuming too much. Butting heads literally
refers to two or more people or animals hitting each other with their heads, like
deer. Max employs the softener a little to make the situation seem less serious
and he uses the inclusive we to remind everyone that were a teamI can see
that were butting heads here a little. The image is humorous, which probably
also works to smooth the situation.
Now, Cindy has a question, but it seems as though she might not have been
paying attention. What does she ask?
Cindy: Can I come in here?
Max: Go ahead Cindy.
Cindy: If we retrain all the sales people...
Nick: Sorry, hold on a sec Cindy, perhaps that wasnt totally clear.
Cindy: Oh?
Nick: In the first phase, Im just proposing we retrain the project engineers and
key account managers, not the whole sales force.
Nick says Sorry, hold on a sec Cindy, perhaps that wasnt totally clear" to clear
up a misunderstanding. Sec is an informal abbreviation for second. It signals
a relaxed tone.
Also, earlier when Bryan says Nick doesnt believe the market survey, do you
remember how Nick replies?
Bryan: So you just dont lend any credence to the survey?
Nick: Thats not what Im saying...
Thats not what Im saying... is another way to clear up a misunderstanding.

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Here is some other language you could use.
Actually, lets go back to that point for a second. From what your saying, Im
not sure that I made myself totally clear.
Oops, hold on a little bit. I think there might be a slight misunderstanding
about my job responsibilities.
Sorry, but thats not quite right. Instead of 70 - seven-zero, I meant
17 - one-seven.
Since clearing up misunderstandings is such an important part dealing with

questions, lets practice that. First youll hear a cue or hint telling you where the
misunderstanding is, for example, 40, not 30. Then youll hear someone
making a comment, for example, So what youre saying is our revenue has
gone up 30%? Next, after the beep, correct the misunderstanding using the
language we have just learned. In this example, you could say, Oops, hold on a
little bit. I think there might be a little misunderstanding. Instead of 30%, it
should be 40%. Note that its often a good idea to put the correct information
last because thats what will stay in the listeners mind.
All right, lets give it a try.
Cue 1: 15, not 50

Prompt 1: When youre talking about adding sales staff, dont you think 50 is an
awful lot?
Learner 1:
Cue 1: New orders, not market share.

Prompt 2: Frankly, I just dont see how were going to be able to increase
market share by 5% over six months.
Learner 2:
Cue 3: Retrain existing staff, not hire new staff.

Prompt 3: From what youre proposing, I see a major problem being finding
enough heads. How are you going to get 300 new staff?
Learner 3:
Well, how did you do? Lets listen to some example answers. But remember,
there are many possible correct ways to answer each question.

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Prompt 1: When youre talking about adding sales staff, dont you think 50 is an
awful lot?
Answer 1: Oops, hold on a little bit. I think there might be a slight

misunderstanding about the number Im proposing. Instead of 50, I said 15,
one- five.
Prompt 2: Frankly, I just dont see how were going to be able to increase
market share by 5% over six months.
Answer 2: Sorry, Im not sure that I made myself totally clear. I meant
increase new orders by five percent, not market share.
Prompt 3: From what youre proposing, I see a major problem being finding
enough heads. How are you going to get 300 new staff?
Answer 3: Actually, lets go back to that point for a second. From what your
saying, Im not sure that I made myself totally clear. Instead of hiring new staff,
Im proposing retraining existing staff.
After youve listened to the example exercises, its always a good idea to go
back and practice again for fluency. Try substituting new language for each
example.
Before we finish todays show, lets go back to the dialogue to examine one last
point. Listen to Cindy and Nick continue their discussion. Nick has just said that
he only wants to retrain project engineers and key account managers, not the
whole sales force.
Cindy: All right, but its still a lot of people.
Nick: Right, I can see what youre getting at. However, I expect that with proper
implementation, we can get the job done in a month.
Right, I can see what youre getting at... is a way to concede a point. That is,
to admit that someone may be right. Its a kind of agreement, and can also be
used as a buffer (or softener) before you disagree. There are many more ways
to concede a point. Lets look at a few.
Right, I can see what youre saying.

Mhmmm. You may have a point there.
Yes, theres something to that.
Uh huh, that makes sense.
All right. Thats all for todays episode. Today, weve looked at a lot of effective
skills and language for dealing with and asking questions. Weve looked at
opening a Q&A session, clarifying, referring back, dealing with hostility and
conceding a point. Youve also studied some great business idioms.
Thanks for listening take care. Oh, and hold your horses, well be back soon with the
second in this two-part series on dealing with questions. See you then!

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Language Review
A. Rearrange the jumbled sentences to make useful phrases for Q&A. Identify
the function of each phrase (i.e., buffer, clearing up a misunderstanding, etc.).
1. Misunderstanding slight think I might there been have a (Function)

. _________
2. Giving that comment to opportunity you me thank for the on
. _________
3. Right sorry thats but quite not
. _________
4. That to theres yes something
. _________
5. That asked glad you Im
. _________
B. Key Language
To review key language for presentations, fill in the blanks. Decide whether each
sentence is an example of opening the Q&A session, clarifying or referring to
earlier points.
1) Right, that ________ the formal part of my presentation. Now, Id like

to invite your comments.
2) And now, if you have any________, Ill be happy to answer them.
3) Now we have half an hour for questions and ___________.
4) Right, now _______questions or comments?
5) So, now Id be very _________to hear your comments.
6) Great, now Id like to open it up for_______. Does anyone have any
questions?
7) Let me check I ___________. Are you asking why our market share has
increased?
8) Well, it all __________ on what you mean by in the near future. Are
you talking about next week? Or are we talking about the next 2-4
months?
9) Could you be a little more ___________ ?
10) What exactly did you _________ when you were talking about a price
increase?
11) I was interested in your comments about timing. Could you say a little
more __________ that?
12) Could I just go __________ to the point you made about branding. Well,
in my experience....

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Study Strategy
A great way to practice Q&A sessions is by role playing with your friends. It can
be a good party game. First, each person should think of a problem that you
have been having at work or an issue of interest in current affairs. Write down
the problem on a piece of paper. Next, each person in the game should select a
piece of paper at random. He or she is now in charge of that problem and
should prepare to answer any questions that the group might have. Next, each
person gives a short presentation on his or her problem. He or she should use
the language we have covered in the episode today to open up the Q&A session.
Finally, the audience takes turns asking the presenter questions.
A.
1. I think there might have been a slight misunderstanding. Buffer
2. Sorry, but thats not quite right. Clearing up a misunderstanding
3. Yes, theres something to that. Conceding a point
4. Could you be a little more specific? Clearing up a misunderstanding
5. Im glad you asked that. Buffer
B. Opening the Q&A session (1-6), clarifying (7-9) or referring to earlier points
(10-12).
1. concludes 2. questions 3. discussion 4. any 5. interested 6. Q&A 7.
understand 8. depends 9. specific 10. mean 11. about 12. back


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Unit 9 (BEP 109) Question and Answer 2
Welcome back to Business English Pod!
Todays episode is the second in our two-
part series on question and answer, or Q&A.
The listening today starts where we left off

last time. Nick, the new European sales
director at Harper-Tolland Steel, is
answering questions after his presentation.
As you listen, pay attention to how Nick and

Nicks boss, Max, deal with questions and
manage the Q & A session.
Vocabulary
Roll out: Implementation. Can also be used as a verb. When are we going to
roll out the new product line?
New blood: New personnel or new ideas that rejuvenate a company. We need
to inject some new blood into this department to get some more creative ideas.
Potential redundancies: Potential means possible. Redundancies means lay offs.
We had a lot of redundancies last year because we had to cut costs.
To flat out contradict: To completely contradict (go against). The facts flat out
contradict your optimistic representation of the situation.
To see the writing is on the wall: The phrase to see the writing on the wall (or
sometimes handwriting on the wall) is an expression that suggests future
doom or misfortune, visible to almost anyone. He saw the handwriting on the
wall and left the company before it collapsed. The writing is on the wall
similarly means that one expects misfortune.
Criterion: Standard for judging something. Plural form is criteria. One of the
most important criteria in hiring new account managers is highly developed
interpersonal skills.
To raise a point: To bring up a point. He raised an interesting point at the meeting.
Morale: Staff spirit. The recent round of lay offs had a negative impact on staff
morale.
To be on the line: To be at risk. Because of poor sales, our bonuses are on the
line.
Fully up to speed with sth.: To be fully informed about something. Usually used
in the negative. I wasnt fully up to speed with the new project plans, so Sally
sent me an email detailing everything.
Running on a tight schedule: To have a limited amount of time. We are really
running on a tight schedule, so we need to get as much done today as possible.
Timeframe: The time during which something gets done. We have to look hard
at the timeframe for the product launch, and decide whether or not we can
commit so such a tight schedule.

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Dialog

Nick: Thats a very good question. I would expect to see a 5% increase in order
volume three months after the roll out, 10% within six months. Thats the main
criterion. Does that answer your question?
Cindy: Yes, thanks. But I guess another general point Id like to raise is about
staffing.
Nick: Uh huh.
Cindy: With so much new blood coming into the company, a lot of sales staff
feel that the writings on the wall. And I think its creating a bad atmosphere.
Nick: Let me check I understand. Are you asking about potential redundancies
and how it might affect morale?
Cindy: In a word, yes.
Nick: Well, everyones job is on the line here. The most important thing is that
we are fully committed to getting sales back on track.
Max: I think that raises a different issue. We can address staff changes and
morale in another meeting. Times running short. Lets stay focused.
Nick: Okay, well, I think we only have a few minutes left. Is there one last
question?
John: Yes, if I can just come in for a second.
Nick: Yes John.
John: Well, from what were seeing on the UK side, the sales people just dont
feel our promotional materials are getting through to our most important
customers. Im talking about the decision makersproject managers, architects,
etc. How do you think we can adjust?
Nick: Thats a very interesting issue. But Im not fully up to speed on the
marketing situation in the UK. Bryan, would you like to comment on that?
Bryan: We can go into more detail about that in this afternoons marketing
meeting. But I would just like to point out that what youre saying just flat out
contradicts the results from our market survey.
Nick: Uhm, so, right, Im afraid thats just about all we have time for.
Max: Yes, thank you Nick. We really are running on a tight schedule today, as I
think everyone can appreciate. Nicks proposal is definitely a go, and needs our
full support. Bryan, I want your team to work with Nicks on the value
proposition for the new training material, and get back to me next Tuesday with
a timeframe for roll out. Id like to have country managers retrained during next
months sales meeting. And need to work fast. Okay folks?

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Debrief
Bryan isnt going to be very happy about this, is he? Max is the boss and hes
made a decision Nicks proposal is a go. That means hes going to adopt the
proposal. You can also say, Lets go with the proposal.
Well now, lets go back through the dialogue to examine how Nick and Max deal
with questions from Cindy and Bryan. Well start with the exchange between
Cindy, Nick and Bryan at the beginning of todays listening.
Nick: Thats a very good question. I would expect to see a 5% increase in order
volume three months after the roll out, 10% within six months. Thats the main
criterion. Does that answer your question?
First, Nick uses you mean to clarify Cindys question about how to measure to
success. We covered this kind of clarifying in the first episode in this series,
BEP108.
In response to Cindys question, Nick says he expects a 5% increase in sales

volume within three months after roll out or implementation of the new
training. Then Nick checks to make sure his answer is sufficientDoes that
answer your question? This is a good way to make sure your audience is
following you and to encourage discussion.
There are other ways to check whether your answer is sufficient.
Is that okay?
Does that make sense?
Do you see what I mean?
Do you know what I mean?
Are you with me?
Does that cover what you want to know?
Have I answered your question?
In todays listening, what comes next is another good example of clarifying.

Cindy is talking about staff changes. Lets listen.
Cindy: With so much new blood coming into the company, a lot of sales staff
feel that the writings on the wall. And I think its creating a bad atmosphere
interdepartmentally.
Nick: Let me check I understand. Are you asking about potential redundancies
and how it might affect morale?
Cindy: In a word, yes.

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As we learned in BEP108, Let me check I understand. Are you asking...? is

another way to clarify someones question. The reason Cindys statement is
vague and needs clarification is because she uses two idioms here, probably to
give her tough question a casual tone in order to maintain a relaxed mood in the
meeting. New blood refers to new staff coming into the company. For example,
we can inject new blood into a company, that is, bring in new people with fresh
ideas. To see the writing on the wall suggests future doom or misfortune. You
can refer to the study notes for a complete explanation of these idioms.
So With so much new blood coming into the company, a lot of sales staff feel
that the writings on the wall.... This means with so many new people coming
into the company, a lot of staff are worried about their jobs.
Now, lets go back to the dialogue. Remember, Cindy is asking about how staff
changes are affecting morale. What does Nick say?
Nick: Well, everyones job is on the line here. The most important thing is that
we are fully committed to getting sales back on track.
Nick doesnt really answer Cindys question, does he? This is a great example of
tactfully (or skillfully) avoiding an answer by making a general statement: Nick
says everyones job is on the line. This means everyones job is in danger.
Lets get back to the listening. Max, their boss, jumps into the discussion,
remember?
Max: I think that raises a different issue. We can address staff changes and
morale in another meeting. Times running short. Lets stay focused.
Max is giving us examples of two useful skills here. The first is how to deal with
an irrelevant question. The second is managing the time. Lets take them one by
one.
First, dealing with an irrelevant question. I think that raises a different issue is
another way to avoid answering a question. Its particularly suitable for
irrelevant questions when your goal is to keep the discussion on track, that is, to
keep the conversation focused.
Listen to some other ways to deal with an irrelevant question:
Im afraid I dont see the connection.

To be honest, I think that brings up another point, and Id rather not cover
that for now.
Im afraid thats outside the scope of my discussion.
If the point is relevant, but you simply cant or dont wish to answer, you may
also consider saying something like:
Im afraid Im not in a position to comment on that.

I dont know that off the top of my head.

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Can I get back to you on that?
If the question is something you think you already covered earlier, you can say:
I think I answered that earlier

Well, as I said...
Well, as I mentioned earlier...
I think I addressed that point earlier on, but Id be happy to discuss this with
you after the meeting. Perhaps by email?
What do you do if the question is relevant, but you want to answer it later?
Listen to what Bryan says later on when Nick asks him about the marketing
situation in the UK.
Nick: ...Bryan, would you like to comment on that?
Bryan: We can go into more detail about that in this afternoons marketing
meeting.
You could also say:
Ill be happy to answer that later when we talk about product awareness.
Can we come back to that issue in a bit when we go through the targets for
2007?
Lets put off that topic for now. Id like to deal with that in more detail during
the sales meeting tomorrow when the whole team is present.
So, weve covered how to avoid answering questions. Now, lets study how Max
controls the timing. He says, Times running short. Lets stay focused. When
time is running short, that means time is running out, just like when your car is
running out of fuel, the fuel in the tank gets lower and lower.
There are several more great examples of controlling the timing in todays
listening. Nick says:
Nick: Okay, well, I think we only have a few minutes left. Is there one last
question?
And near the end of the session, Nick and Max both use useful expressions for
controlling the timing. Nick says, Im afraid thats just about all we have time
for. Is there one last question? Max says, We really are running on a tight
schedule today, as I think everyone can appreciate. These are both great
expressions. There are also other phrases you can use to control the timing:
Lets try to keep the discussion on track. Can we get back to the main point?
As were short of time, Ill have to come to that later, perhaps during the
break
Im afraid thats all we have time for. Thank you very much for your
attention.
So, now we have just one more skill to cover todayredirecting a question. This
means giving a question to someone else to answer. Nick does this with Johns

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question about whether Harper-Tollands promotional materials are getting

through to the key customers in their UK market. He says:
Nick: Thats a very interesting issue. But Im not fully up to speed on the
marketing situation in the UK. Bryan, would you like to comment on that?
To be not fully up to speed on something means not to be fully informed about

it. Marketing is Bryans are of expertise, and because Nick is not fully informed
about it (or perhaps wants to put some pressure on Bryan), he redirects the
question to Bryan by saying, Bryan, would you like to comment on that. This is
redirecting the question to another person. Lets listen to some more examples.
Thats a good question, but Im afraid its not really my field. Ms. Smith, can
you help to answer that?
George, I think you know more about this. What do you think?
Great question. Its a little outside of my job scope, though. Maybe Simon
do you want to answer that?
In addition to redirecting to another person, there are also other ways to redirect
a question. You can redirect to the whole group. This is a great way to
encourage discussion. Here are some examples:
Anyone like to comment on that?

Has anyone else had a similar problem?
Great question. What do others think?
Thats a good question. Lets go around the table and get some other views
on this.
Finally, theres one last way to redirect a question. You can turn back the
question to the questioner and let him answer it. This is called redirecting to the
questioner. Its particularly useful when its obvious that someone doesnt really
want to ask a question, but rather wants to express an opinion. To redirect to
the questioner, you can say:
I think thats a very interesting question. Id be really interested to hear what

you have to say on that issue.
You must have thought quite a lot about this. What do you think?
Thats a very interesting question. Could I ask you what your own view is?
You might try that one next time in a job interview when someone asks you a
tough question. Just kidding. Actually, that would probably not be a good idea.
Lets look at a situation where redirecting to the questioner is useful.
A: Ive been thinking a lot about this market survey. Dont you think we have a
great chance to boost our sales in Vietnam?
B: Thats an interesting question. You must have thought quite a lot about this.
Whats your view?
A: Well, there is a quickly growing middle class segment with elderly parents
that have strong purchasing power. That means...

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Now, lets practice. Youll hear a series of questions. After each beep, respond to
the question appropriately by redirecting, either to the questioner, the group or
someone else on your team. Bryan is in charge of marketing, so he can answer
questions about that. After you ready? Lets give it a try.
Question 1: Well, Ive been thinking a lot about your proposal. Dont you think
this is a good opportunity for us to move into new markets?
Learner 1:
Question 2: Dont you think there is some way we can get the training done
faster? Surely someone must have some ideas.
Learner 2:
Question 3: What Id really like to know more about is the marketing situation
in Central Europe.
Learner 3:
How did do it go? Lets listen to some example answers so you can compare.
Question 1: Well, Ive been thinking a lot about your proposal. Dont you think
this is a good opportunity for us to move into new markets?
Learner 1: Thats an interesting question. You must have thought quite a lot
about this. Whats your own view on that?
Question 2: Dont you think there is some way we can get the training done
faster? Surely someone must have some ideas.
Learner 2: Thats a good question. Lets go around the table and get some
other views on this.
Question 3: What Id really like to know more about is the marketing situation
in Central Europe.
Learner 3: Thats a good question, but Im afraid its not really my field. Bryan,
can you help to answer that?
For further practice, its always a good idea to go back and try again. Substitute
different expressions to build fluency.
Great! That just about brings us to the end of todays episode. This was the
second in a two-part series on dealing with questions. Today weve covered

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several important skills for Q&Aavoiding answering, dealing with irrelevant

questions, and redirecting. Weve also learned several useful idioms.
This unit also concludes our discussion of the skills and language of
presentations. We have covered a lot of material over these nine units. Lets
briefly review what weve learned:
1) How to introduce your presentation and get your audiences attention.

2) Important signposting language that will make the structure of your talk
very clear.
3) Dealing with visuals.
4) Describing charts and graphs and emphasizing key points.
5) Analyzing data and making predictions.
6) How to use your voice effectively in a presentation.
7) And great strategies for how to deal with questions.
Lets end with some general practice tips: A great way to review is by using the
skills weve studied in your own presentations you may wish to video tape or
record your practice sessions, and get feedback from a friend. In addition,
remember to go back and refresh your language knowledge by listening to the
phrasecasts and by doing the online practice exercises.
Dont forget to keep checking back at www.businessenglishpod.com for more

great eBooks and podcasts. If you havent already, think about joining as a
Premium Member so that you can get all future eBooks free as part of your
membership.
Finally, on a personal note from me, Clayton Lee, let me wish you all good luck
in your studies and your careers. Keep reviewing and practicing. Armed with the
strategies and language weve covered in these lessons, well all be presenting
for success! Thanks for listening, and take care!

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Language Review
A. Review of key language functions

Rearrange the jumbled sentences to make useful phrases for Q&A. Identify the
function of each phrase (i.e., checking your answer is sufficient, redirecting to
another person, etc.).
1. Know that want cover does to what (Function)

. _________
2. Lot a must you have thought quite this about
. _________
3. Around go lets views some the this on other table get and
. _________
4. Keep try on lets track the discussion the
. _________
5. Smith answer that you try can Ms.
. _________
B. Redirecting questions
Fill in the blanks to form useful phrases for redirecting questions during a Q&A
session. As you go, decide whether each sentence is useful for redirecting to the
questioner, to another person, or to the whole group.
1) Anyone like to c________ on that?

2) Has anyone else had a s________ problem?
3) Great question. What do o____s think?
4) Thats a good question. Lets go a_____d the table and get some other
views on this.
5) I think thats a very interesting question. Id be really interested to hear
what you have to say on that i_____e.
6) You must have t_____t quite a lot about this. What do you think?
7) Thats an interesting question. Could I ask you what your own v____ is?
8) Thats a good question, but Im afraid its not really my f___d.
Ms. Smith, can you help to answer that?
9) George, I think you know m____e about this. What do you think?
10) Great question. Its a little outside of my job s___e, though. Maybe
Simondo you want to answer that?
Study Strategy
With your friends, you can play the redirecting game. First, tear up some scrap
paper into little slips. Then everyone writes the name of a famous person whom
theyd like to interview. Afterwards, redistribute the slips randomly: Each person
gets one slip. Next, take turns role-playing. Pretend you are the person on the
slip. Take questions from the audience, but try to avoid answering questions
directly; instead, use the language we practiced in this episode to redirect the
questions as appropriate. You can redirect to the questioner, the audience, or to
imaginary people, such as your agent or your lawyer. Have fun!

I 93
A.
1. Does that cover what you want to know? Checking your answer is
sufficient
2. You must have thought quite a lot about this. Redirecting to the
questioner
3. Lets go around the table and get some other views on this. Redirecting to
the group
4. Lets try to keep the discussion on track. Control the timing
5. Im afraid Im not in a position to comment on that. Avoiding comment
6. Ms. Smith, can you help to answer that? Redirecting to another person
B.
1-4 are redirecting to the whole group; 5-7 redirecting to the questioner; and 8-
10 redirecting to another person
1) comment; 2) similar; 3) others; 4) around; 5) issue; 6) thought; 7) view; 8)

field; 9) more; 10) scope.


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Example Phrases by Function
Unit 1 (BEP 101) Making your Introduction
To starting a meeting/presentation:
Well, why dont we all get started.
Lets all take our seats, if we could.
Is everybody ready to start?
Ok, lets kick this meeting off.
Greetings:
Good morning, everybody.
Good afternoon, and welcome to the North American division.
Welcome, all of you, to the Smith Center.
I thank you all for coming this evening, to our first employee benefits review.
Names and titles:

My name is Alison Wright, and Im the HR manager for our UK operation.
Im Chuck Yeager, and Im a test engineer for the Quality Department.
Stating your responsibilities and area of knowledge:

Im responsible for new employee training
Im in charge of test data collection
Im responsible for designing new electrical switches
I manage regional sales promotions in South America
Unit 2 (BEP 102) Signposting
To move on (to go to the next subject):

Lets move on to the situation in our overseas markets.
To expand on (to give more information on a point):
Could you expand on the issue of pricing?
To digress (to change to another subject):
If I can digress for just a moment, what about the plans for our new office?
To go back (to go to a point earlier in the presentations):
Lets go back to the first part of the agenda.
To recap (to repeat/summarize an previous part of the presentation):
So, to recap, our sales for the third quarter have been strong in all regions.
To conclude (to bring to an end):
Id like to conclude by discussing the future of our company
To summarize (to give the main points):
Next, Peter is going to summarize our marketing strategy
To turn to (to move on):
Id like to turn to the question of hiring new staff
To elaborate on (to give detailed information on):
The next presentation will elaborate on our sales plans for next year.

I 95
Unit 3 (BEP 103) - Describing Charts and Trends 1
Introducing a point
Well kick off the discussion today with an analysis of our revenue figures
First, well be focusing on return on investment in the real estate area.
Id like to begin by going over some of the key concerns that the marketing
department has voiced on this plan.
Lets start off with a quick look at our sales.
Calling attention to a slide / graphic

Have a look at this. As you can see.
Take a look at this.
Okay, well first here are our total profits in 2006.
Respecting audience knowledge

As you are all aware, we are facing some difficult choices over the next six months.
The past year has obviously seen some tough challenges from our
competitors.
Most of you are familiar with our productivity figures, but for the benefit of
those who arent, let me briefly bring them up on screen.
Highlighting a point
One thing youll immediately notice is a marked increase in Q4.
Id particularly like to draw your attention to the sharp fall in investment here
in Q2 of 2007.
Id also like to point out the strong growth in the luxury sector.
And perhaps I should mention the slight drop in customer satisfaction
Foreshadowing
And that indicates reasonable growth in this sector, which well come back
to in a moment.
As Ill point out later, weve only seen limited success with this strategy. For
now, lets keep talking about marketing channels.
This is a key issue, which well be dealing with a little later in the presentation
when I go over departmental structure.
Calling attention to the next slide / graphic

Thats all for sales growth, now lets have a look at profit margins.
And that brings us to the next point Id like to make.
Great, thats all for 2006. Lets now turn to the figures for 2007.
Referring to a previous point

As I mentioned earlier, we really need to keep coming back to our defect rate
as a key quality indicator.
Returning to what I said earlier, this is definitely an area of concern for us in
the future.
To go back to what I was saying about our overall growth, I dont really think
we have much reason to be worried.

I 96
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Introducing the theme of a chart

This graph presents a general picture of recent developments in the high-
strength steel market during the last five years.
This chart gives you a general overview of the organizational structure in our
department.
Here we see a chart analyzing the relationship between investment and
profitability.
Drawing attention to one part of the graph

Examining the developments at the beginning of the year, we can see an
interesting trend.
Lets focus in on Q2.
As we break down the numbers in the automobile sector, a startling trend
emerges.
Notice the strong relationship between price per unit and revenue.
Trends: Remaining unchanged

Our growth essentially remained steady throughout 2003.
You can see that the stock price really flattened out in April and May.
The price of oil has stayed level for the past two weeks.
Trading volume stagnated near the end of the day.
Trends: Fluctuating
The year 2000 was a period of intense fluctuation.
This is a period of flux.
Hits on our webpage have fluctuated a lot in March.
Over the last few weeks, our share price has being going up and down.
New orders have experienced serious fluctuations in the last few months,
with the results ranging from a low of 15 in February to a high of 27 in June.
Trend: Go down / shrinkage

Turnover went down slightly in August.
Overall, prices have decreased sharply over the last year.
Activity fell off dramatically in May from 3000 hits per day to 1900 hits by the
end of the month.
After 2000, stock prices plummeted by 30%.
Calls per day have plunged recently.
Production capacity has contracted by 30%, hitting a low of one million units in
March.
Share has shrunk 5.5% in the last six months, bottoming out in May at 18.5%
Trends: Go up / growth.
Then turnover went up a little in September.
Activity has increased dramatically in the last 30 days.
Sales posted strong growth throughout 2005, rising from 30 million in Q1 to
45 million in Q4.
Stock prices soared to a new high of $157 per share on news of the merger.
Customer satisfaction is on the increase.
Consumer confidence took off in 2005 on the news that lending rates would
be lowered, reaching a peak of 69% in June.

I 97
Maximizing or minimizing a point with vague language.

This could mean as much as a 20% drop in sales.
Layoffs will result in no more than about a 20% drop in productivity.
Im afraid that the new policy could result in employee turnover of as high as
12% if we dont act now.
Were probably only looking at a 2 or 3% drop at most, if not a lot less.
Id expect at least a 20% increase in price or something in that neighborhood.
Emphasizing with comparison and contrast

What Id like everyone to see here is that not only are we increasing our
sales yes, thats important, but its not everything. In addition, by following
this plan, we are reducing, even eliminating, some of our major costs.
As all of you know, success in this market is not only about who has a larger
sales force or more outlets. No, in fact, thats not even the most important
factor, far from it. Success in this market comes down to this: Who has
better information and who acts on it first.
Momentum
After Sarah got most of the workers to agree, support for her proposal really
picked up momentum among the management team.
In the 80s, momentum gathered behind the upward trend in CEO salaries
until in 90s they reached truly spectacular levels.
After the merger we had sudden access to much better IT resources, so the
proposal to conduct a new round of IT training really lost momentum.
Talking about likely future developments

Share prices are almost certain to continue rising rapidly at least to the end
of the year.
There is great likelihood of more mergers in the auto business.
As you can see, we are very probably going to see continued expansion of
production capacity as demand increases.
We can certainly expect this tendency to continue in the future.
This trend is almost sure to change.
Unlikely developments
Its quite unlikely that we will see this kind of growth continue into 2009.
The fall in the price of gold will not last long.
I dont believe we can count on any more increases in the price of real estate.
Nine times out of 10, when we see this kind of trend, we know that it is going
to be short-lived.
Making a comparison
Actually, when you compare the sales orders of these two companies, youll
see that those of Company A far exceed Company B, even though Company
B has high revenue.
Once again, ScienceTechs profit fell far short of the industry average.
Demand has not caught up with supply all year.
Really, we are neck and neck with our main competitor going into 2008.

I 98
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Making a general prediction
We predict steady increases throughout 2008.
All signs point towards a large drop in consumer confidence.
The fall in demand does not augur well for the market.
Experts forecast a healthy economic climate in the high-tech area.
Looking out for future developments

We need definitely need to keep our eyes peeled for more activity in this
sector.
Raw materials are going to continue to be an area of strong growth, so
looking forward, its something that we cant afford to ignore.
I advise everyone to stay on guard against hostile takeovers.
In our price negotiations, we need to keep an eye towards other areas where
we can get more value, such as delivery time.
Collocations for saying something is very important:

Its essential to our success to reach our earnings targets.
Its absolutely fundamental to our continuing viability that we keep reducing
costs.
I cant emphasize enough how critical innovation is to our business growth.
The crux of the matter is that we have to keep expanding our search for new
markets.
Unit 6 (BEP 106) Using Your Voice
Intensifiers:
There is absolutely no room for compromise on this issue.
This is a terribly important problem to tackle.
As far as I can see, we have completely failed in implementing this marketing
plan.
In the past six months, we have totally succeeded in meeting our targets.
We really need to reinvent our whole branding strategy.
This market is highly competitive.
Using emphasis to change meaning:

Emphasizing with words and phrases:

In particular, improving quality is very important.
Above all, we need to think of more ways to improve sales.
Without a doubt, opening up new markets is our greatest challenge.
Id like to emphasize our complete dedication to this project.
Whats especially important is that we consider this challenge from all angles

I 99
Unit 7 (BEP 107) Closing Down and Summarizing
To signal the end of a topic or section of a presentation:

Okay, thats all I have to say on this topic for the moment.
Right, that ends the last section of my talk.
That's all I want to say for now on the third part of my presentation.
To introduce the summary:

So, to sum up
To conclude,...
In conclusion,...
Now, to sum up...
So let me summarize what I've said.
Finally, may I remind you of some of the main points we've considered.
During my talk today, Ive described the results of our investigation.
To make a concluding recommendation:

In conclusion, my recommendations are...
I therefore propose the following strategy.
I'd like to finish with...some observations based on what I've said.
There are two conclusions to be made from this, namely,...
I think we have to...
I think we have seen that we should...
What we need to do is...
So, let me get straight to the point. We need action and we need it now.
To finish off a presentation and invite questions:

Many thanks for your attention. So now Im very interested in hearing your
comments.
Thank you for your attention. And now if you have any questions, Id be glad
to answer them.
Thank you for listening. Now, Id be glad to try and answer any questions.
I thank you all for being such an attentive audience and now Im sure you
must have some questions, so Ill be happy to answer them. Yes, Simon ..
So, lets throw it open to questions.
Any questions?
Refer to an earlier point:

What exactly did you mean when you were talking about?
I was interested in your comments about timing. Could you say a little more
about that.
Could I just go back to the point you made about branding. Well, in my
experience....

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Clarify a question:
Let me check I understand. Are you asking why our market share has
increased?
Well, it all depends on what you mean by in the near future. Are you talking
about next week? Or are we talking about the next 2-4 months?
Could you be a little more specific?
Using a buffer for hostile questions:

Thank you for your question.
Thats a very interesting question.
Im glad you asked that.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to comment on that.
Thank you for raising this point. You know, I really appreciate all your hard
work.
Very good question.
To correct a misunderstanding:
Actually, lets go back to that point for a second. From what your saying, Im
not sure that I made myself totally clear.
Oops, hold on a moment. I think there might be a slight misunderstanding
about the scope of this project.
Sorry, but thats not quite right. Instead of 70seven-zeroI meant 1717.
To concede a point:
Right, I can see what youre saying.
Mhmmm. You may have a point there.
Yes, theres something to that.
Uh huh, that makes sense.
To check whether your answer is sufficient:

Is that okay?
Does that make sense?
Do you see what I mean?
Do you know what I mean?
Are you with me?
Does that cover what you want to know?
Have I answered your question?
To deal with an irrelevant question:

Im afraid I dont see the connection.
To be honest, I think that brings up another point, and Id rather not cover
that for now.
Im afraid thats outside the scope of my discussion.
If the point is relevant, but you simply cant or dont wish to answer:
Im afraid Im not in a position to comment on that.
I dont know that off the top of my head.
Can I get back to you on that?

I 101
If the question is something you think you already covered earlier, you
can say
I think I answered that earlier
Well, as I said...
Well, as I mentioned earlier...
I think I addressed that point earlier on, but Id be happy to discuss this with
you after the meeting.
To defer answering a question to later:

Ill be happy to answer that later when we talk about product awareness.
Can we come back to that issue in a bit when we go through the targets for
2007?
Lets put off that topic for now. Id like to deal with that in more detail during
the sales meeting tomorrow when the whole team is present.
To control the timing:

Lets try to keep the discussion on track. Can we get back to the main point?
As were short of time, Ill have to come to that later, perhaps during the
break
Im afraid thats all we have time for. Thank you very much for your
attention.
redirecting the question to another person:

Thats a good question, but Im afraid its not really my field. Ms. Smith, can
you help to answer that?
George, I think you know more about this. What do you think?
Great question. Its a little outside of my job scope, though. Maybe Simon
do you want to answer that?
Redirecting to the whole group

Would anyone like to comment on that?
Has anyone else had a similar problem?
Great question. What do others think?
Thats a good question. Lets go around the table and get some other views
on this.
To redirect to the questioner, you can say:

I think thats a very interesting question. Id be really interested to hear what
you have to say on that issue.
You must have though quite a lot about this. What do you think?
Thats a very interesting question. Could I ask you what your own view is?

I 102
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Presenting for Success

A complete study program in the language and skills of presenting in English.

James Moss, Clayton Lee & Peter Atkinson

Audio produced & recorded by

Copyright 2007 Business English Pod Ltd.

2007 All rights reserved: businessenglishpod.com

2. Unit 1 Making your Introduction pg 7-14

3. Unit 2 Signposting your Presentation pg 15-22

4. Unit 3 Describing Charts and Trends (Part 1) pg 23-32

5. Unit 4 Describing Charts and Trends (Part 2) pg 33-44

6. Unit 5 Describing Charts and Trends (Part 3) pg 45-55

7. Unit 6 Voice Technique and Emphasis pg 56-65

8. Unit 7 Closing Down and Summarizing pg 66-74

9. Unit 8 Question and Answer (Part 1) pg 75-84

10. Unit 9 Question and Answer (Part 2) pg 85-94

11. Example Phrases by Function pg 95-102

12. Audio & Online Activities (Click here to go to the webpage)

2007 All rights reserved: businessenglishpod.com

In this nine-chapter series, we will be looking in detail at the fundamentals of

In the next three chapters on

Next, in chapter 6, Voice and

Finally, in the last three chapters of

2007 All rights reserved: businessenglishpod.com

Learners often ask me how to study more

Another important study strategy is to do the practice section of each debrief

2007 All rights reserved: businessenglishpod.com

Presenting for Success is targeted for learners at or above Common European

Presenting for Success is an official publication of Business English Pod Ltd.,

2007 All rights reserved: businessenglishpod.com

Clayton: Okay, were talking about presentations, and in particular introductions

Clayton: Do you have a formula Peter? I do.

Peter: Er, well, please tell me! Let me get my pen!

Peter: Well tell us!

Peter: I think you should always start with a Thank you!

Clayton: Or Welcome or Hello.

Peter: I think Thank you.

Peter: Thank you and welcome.

Jeff: You can put them all together.

2007 All rights reserved: businessenglishpod.com

accomplished speakers: Accomplished is an adjective that means skilled or

signposting: Signposting (or a signpost) is language that helps us follow the

videoconference: A conference held through a video connection so that people at

2007 All rights reserved: businessenglishpod.com

Perry: Okay, everybody, lets all

Sydney: Yes, Perry, we have our

New York: Loud and clear here in

During this kickoff meeting, we hope to arrive at some recommendations to

Questioner: Yes, sorry to interruptbut I was wondering if you planned to talk

2007 All rights reserved: businessenglishpod.com

Building up a spirit of teamwork in an internal meeting is very important,

Well, why dont we all get started.

The introduction phase sets the tone and expectations of a meeting or

2007 All rights reserved: businessenglishpod.com

Good morning, everybody.

My name is _______, and Im the HR manager for our UK operation.

(Repeated with example names)

Im responsible for new employee training

2007 All rights reserved: businessenglishpod.com

Example answer: Good morning everybody, my name is Alison Wright. Im an

Well cover signposting in the next podcast.

2007 All rights reserved: businessenglishpod.com

1) the objective of the presentation

2) your name and position