Giving a Presentation in English: Structure and Signposting (B2)
🎙 From the classroom: I’ve given dozens of training briefings to hotel teams in Sydney — shift handovers, product launches, standards updates. The teams who remembered information were the ones who could anticipate the structure. Signposting tells your audience: here is where we’re going, here is where we are, here is where we’ve been.
💡 The Idea
Signposting language guides your audience through a presentation. It creates structure, reduces cognitive load, and makes you sound professional. Every presentation has three moments: the opening (hook + agenda), the body (clear sections with transitions), the close (summary + call to action).
🗣 Example
🎤 Opening: ‘Good morning. Today I’m going to talk about three ways to improve team communication.’
🔗 Transition: ‘That’s the first point. Now let’s move on to…’ / ‘Turning to my second point…’
📊 Referencing a slide: ‘As you can see here…’ / ‘This graph shows…’
🏁 Closing: ‘To summarise…’ / ‘Before I finish…’ / ‘Any questions?’
🎯 Try It Now!
Give a 90-second mini-presentation on ONE of these topics:
- Why I am learning English
- One thing that is important to me
- A place I would like to visit
Structure: Opening (15 sec) + 2 main points (30 sec each) + Close (15 sec). Use at least THREE signposting phrases.
✅ Check Your Answers
✅ Signposting phrases to use: Opening: ‘Today I’d like to talk about…’ Body: ‘Firstly… / Secondly… / Moving on to…’ Close: ‘In conclusion… / To sum up… / Thank you for listening.’ Peer feedback: Did the speaker use signposting? Was the structure clear?
Independent project — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Confers no qualification.