Coffee, Projectors, and the First Time My Slide Deck Spoke Spanish
The first time I presented in Spanish, I stood before a dozen executives in Santiago, pointer trembling. My title slide boldly read “Reporte de Crecimiento Q2 20XX”, but the moment I said “reporté” instead of reporté**, the finance director cocked an eyebrow. I recovered, offered a silent apology to Cervantes, and learned—on-the-spot—that mastering presentation Spanish is equal parts vocabulary and performance.
Six years later, I switch between English and Spanish decks every week. Below, I walk you through the language of slides, metrics, and Q &A in a Dominican or wider Latin-American boardroom, weaving real dialogues and tables of key terms so you can avoid my early stumbles.
Setting Up: Tech Talk Before the Audience Arrives
You plug in the HDMI cable, open your PowerPoint or Google Slides, and the IT technician hovers.
You (Spanish): «¿Podrías poner la presentación en modo de pantalla completa?»
English: “Could you put the presentation in full-screen mode?”
Technician: «Claro. También voy a silenciar las notificaciones emergentes para que no interrumpan.»
English: “Sure. I’ll also mute pop-up notifications so they don’t interrupt.”
Key interface vocabulary
| Spanish | English | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Diapositiva | Slide | «La diapositiva dos tiene un gráfico.» |
| Animación | Animation | «Quité las animaciones para que fluya.» |
| Modo presentador | Presenter view | «Uso el modo presentador para mis notas.» |
| Clic remoto / puntero | Clicker / pointer | «¿Dónde está el clic remoto?» |
Tip: Dominicans often shorten diapositiva to “slide” (Spanglish) in tech teams, so don’t be surprised.
Opening Lines: Hooking Your Audience in Spanish
I like to start with a quick greeting and agenda.
Spanish: «Buenos días a todos. Soy Marcos Coonce, gerente de producto. Hoy vamos a revisar el desempeño del segundo trimestre y los objetivos del próximo semestre.»
English: “Good morning, everyone. I’m Marcos Coonce, product manager. Today we’ll review second-quarter performance and next semester’s goals.”
Notice the phrases:
- Desempeño – performance
- Próximo semestre – next semester / half-year
They set a professional tone without jargon overload.
Slide by Slide: Core Business-Metric Vocabulary
Revenue & Profit Metrics
| English Metric | Spanish Term | Example Sentence (Spanish → English) |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | Ingresos | «Nuestros ingresos crecieron 12 %.» — “Our revenue grew 12 %.” |
| Gross profit | Utilidad bruta / Ganancia bruta | «La utilidad bruta subió gracias a menores costos.» — “Gross profit rose due to lower costs.” |
| Operating expenses | Gastos operativos | «Reducimos gastos operativos un 8 %.» — “We cut operating expenses by 8 %.” |
| Net margin | Margen neto | «El margen neto se mantuvo estable en 15 %.» — “Net margin held steady at 15 %.” |
Growth & Market Metrics
| English | Spanish | Sample Use |
|---|---|---|
| Market share | Participación de mercado | «Aumentamos nuestra participación de mercado al 22 %.» |
| Year-over-year | Interanual | «Crecimiento interanual del 10 %.» |
| Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) | Tasa de crecimiento anual compuesta (TCAC) | «La TCAC de tres años es 7 %.» |
| Customer acquisition cost | Costo de adquisición de clientes (CAC) | «Bajamos el CAC de $40 a $32.» |
By embedding these in slides, you instantly sound data-savvy.
Narrative Example: Explaining a Revenue Spike
Spanish Presenter: «Como pueden ver en esta gráfica, los ingresos netos pasaron de 5 millones a 5.6 millones de dólares.
Esto se debe, sobre todo, a dos factores:
- Incremento del ticket promedio — el gasto por cliente subió de RD$1,800 a RD$2,200.
- Campaña de fidelización, que redujo la tasa de cancelación.
En resumen, ganamos más por cliente y perdimos menos clientes.»
English paraphrase: “As you can see, net revenue rose from $5 M to $5.6 M.
Two drivers: higher average spend per client and a loyalty campaign that cut churn. In short, more money per client, fewer lost clients.”
Even without bullet points (remember, no listicle style), a clear storyline carries every metric.
Transition Phrases That Keep Spanish Flowing
Presentations live or die on transitions. Some smooth connectors:
| Spanish Connector | English Sense | Sample Use |
|---|---|---|
| En cuanto a… | Regarding… | «En cuanto a costos, vemos otra tendencia.» |
| Pasemos ahora a… | Let’s move on to… | «Pasemos ahora a la proyección Q3.» |
| Por otro lado… | On the other hand… | «Por otro lado, el CAC bajó.» |
| A diferencia de… | Unlike… / In contrast to… | «A diferencia de 2023, la demanda interna creció.» |
Sprinkle them to avoid staccato slide-reading.
Stories Behind the Numbers: A Dominican Boardroom Moment
My first time citing “crecimiento interanual”, I clicked too quickly and a bar chart popped before I finished speaking, startling the room. Our CFO, Don Miguel, chuckled:
Don Miguel (Spanish): «Tranquilo, licenciado. Dale un chin de cariño a la data antes de soltarla.»
English: “Relax, sir. Give the data a little love before you unleash it.”
The room laughed, tension melted, and I took a beat. Dale un chin (“give it a bit”) is a Dominican hug of a phrase. Since then I breathe, preview, then reveal.
Anticipating Q &A: Phrases to Buy Time and Clarify
When the final slide fades, hands shoot up. Two rules: thank the questioner, restate the question, then answer.
Colleague: «¿Cómo calculan exactamente el margen neto en esta presentación?»
Colleague: “How exactly do you calculate net margin here?”
You: «Gracias por la pregunta. Si le entiendo bien, quiere saber la fórmula del margen neto.
Usamos utilidad neta dividida entre ingresos totales.»
You (English): “Thanks for the question. If I understand you correctly, you want the net-margin formula: net profit over total revenue.”
Key verbs for Q &A
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Aclarar | To clarify | «Permítame aclarar ese punto.» |
| Profundizar | To go deeper | «¿Desea que profundicemos en el dato?» |
| Precisar | To specify | «Es importante precisar el período analizado.» |
| Comparar | To compare | «Si comparamos con 2022, la tendencia…» |
If stumped, buy a moment:
Spanish: «Déjame verificar ese dato y te lo comparto por correo.»
English: “Let me check that data and share it with you by email.”
Handling Tough Questions with Diplomacy
Imagine a skeptical director probes cost overruns.
Director: «Veo que los gastos operativos subieron 15 %. ¿A qué se debe?»
Director: “I see operating costs rose 15 %. Why?”
You: «Es cierto que crecieron, principalmente por la subida del costo energético y un ajuste salarial aprobado en enero. Sin embargo, proyectamos que la inversión en paneles solares reducirá la factura eléctrica un 20 % el próximo año.»
English: “They did rise, mainly due to higher energy costs and a wage adjustment in January. However, we project that investing in solar panels will shave 20 % off next year’s power bill.”
You acknowledge the concern, offer causes, and share a forward-looking solution.
Paper Trail: Vocabulary on Slide Footnotes and Handouts
Second half of our lesson: formal terms you’ll read in reports, contracts, or footnotes.
| Spanish Term (formal) | English Equivalent | Where It Appears |
|---|---|---|
| Estados financieros consolidados | Consolidated financial statements | Footer of revenue slide |
| Proyección de flujo de caja | Cash-flow projection | Forecast handout |
| Criterios contables aplicados | Accounting criteria applied | Methodology appendix |
| Desglose | Breakdown | Chart label (“Desglose de ingresos”) |
| Ajuste inflacionario | Inflation adjustment | Footnote near 3-year graph |
| Indicadores clave de rendimiento (KPI) | Key performance indicators | Slide title: “KPIs 2024” |
Keep a glossary in the notes section of your deck; refer if a term trips you mid-speech.
Mini-Dialogue: Explaining a KPI Slide to a Visiting Investor
Investor (Spanish-speaking): «¿Podría explicarme qué significa EBITDA ajustado?»
Investor: “Could you explain what adjusted EBITDA means?”
You: «Con gusto. El EBITDA ajustado excluye gastos no recurrentes, como la remodelación de la oficina central. Así comparamos la eficiencia operativa pura, sin eventos extraordinarios.»
You (English): “Certainly. Adjusted EBITDA excludes non-recurring expenses like our headquarters remodel. That way we compare pure operational efficiency without extraordinary items.”
Slide-Design Language: Guiding Your Audience Visually in Spanish
A few phrases help you verbalize what the audience sees:
- “Como se aprecia en este gráfico de líneas…” – “As you can see in this line chart…”
- “En la parte inferior derecha pueden ver la fuente de los datos.” – “In the bottom right you can see the data source.”
- “Si enfocamos la columna azul, notamos el mayor crecimiento.” – “If we focus on the blue column, we notice the highest growth.”
Use “notar” (notice) and “apreciar” (appreciate) to direct attention gracefully.
Cultural Note: Warmth Before Data
Dominican and many Colombian teams appreciate a brief nod to the human side before statistics. I open quarterly reviews with 30 seconds of patting the team:
Spanish: «Antes de mostrar los números, quiero agradecer el esfuerzo del equipo de ventas y atención al cliente. Sin su trabajo, este crecimiento no sería posible.»
English: “Before we look at numbers, I want to thank the sales and customer-service teams. Without your work, this growth wouldn’t be possible.”
That warmth keeps listeners engaged during the heavier data.
Practicing Your Talk: DIY Rehearsal Routine
- Record yourself summarizing each slide in Spanish.
- Shadow native podcasts (business news) for cadence.
- Translate line graphs aloud: “La línea naranja supera la azul en marzo.”
- Simulate Q &A with a colleague: ask “¿Podrías detallar el CAC?”—answer in Spanish.
Repeated cycles build muscle memory and confidence.
Final Thought: Slides Fade, Rapport Remains
The projector switches off, lights rise, and colleagues gather by the exit. Small final exchanges seal the rapport you built with clear Spanish:
You: «Gracias por su tiempo y por las preguntas tan atinadas.»
English: “Thank you for your time and such insightful questions.”
A marketing manager replies:
Spanish: «Excelente presentación, Marcos. Me encantó cómo resumiste los KPIs.»
English: “Great presentation, Marcos. I loved how you summarized the KPIs.”
Language fluency is not just vocabulary; it’s tone, pacing, and humility. Each presentation refines that interplay. So next time the meeting invite pops up, open PowerPoint, set your modo de pantalla completa, and remember you’re not just showing data—you’re weaving a story in Spanish.
Que cada diapositiva hable claro y cada pregunta abra puentes, no brechas. ¡Éxitos en tu próxima presentación!
