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PUBLIC SPEAKING resources for you
Public Speaking: Transitions
Most public speaking books will tell you to be a polished speaker you have to tie all your information together so it flows smoothly. You must lead your audience and alert them that slightly different, but related information is coming. This is called transition or segue (pronounced seg-way).
LET ME STATE RIGHT
NOW THAT I FULLY BELIEVE SMOOTH TRANSITIONS ARE A NECESSITY FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING
IF YOU WANT TO HAVE YOUR AUDIENCE MEMBERS SO BORED THEY FALL RIGHT OUT OF THEIR
SEATS AND SMASH THEIR HEADS ON THE FLOOR.
Come with me to the amusement park. Look around a little bit and tell me where
the excitement is. Of course, it's over on the roller coaster where transitions
are sharp. They are sharp and exciting even though you can see them coming.
The excitement isn't over at the kiddie choo-choo train (notwithstanding, the
excitement you might feel watching your little munchkin on there for the very
first time) where turns and motion are mild so the little ones (and
their parents) don't get too upset. The excitement is also at the bumper
cars where you can get blind-sided because cars are coming at you from all directions.
The excitement isn't at the baby boat ride where a 2cm wave
wouldn't flip your little bundle of joy out of the boat.
OK. When public speaking, I'll admit, some thought should be given to transition,
especially with older, more traditional audiences, and when you have a very
high content presentation. But you don't have to be trite or a snoozer, in your
public speaking, by saying things like, . . . speaking of bananas. I'm now
going to talk about bananas. You could, however, do a segue like that and
then make fun of yourself for doing it by saying something like, Don't you
think that transition was really smooth? Transitions are one of the places
where you could plan to use some humor. This works well with technical audiences
because they won't feel you are wasting their time. Since, in their minds, you
are REQUIRED to do a transition anyway, it's OK if it's funny.
Segues aren't important at all for 85 percent or higher humor content presenters
or stand-up comics. You can just continue with your public speaking as long
as they are laughing, no one much cares about transitions. If you are not in
this category, then you can begin paying a little attention to bridging the
gaps between your points and topics. Just don't be trite and don't think you
have to say something to make the transition in your public speaking.
You can make transitions in your public speaking by changing stage position,
pausing, using visual aids, giving out a handout, picking up a prop or sharply
varying the sound you make come out of the public address system. Do anything
that breaks the pattern of what you were doing in the previous segment and introduces
what you plan to do.
For verbal transitions in public speaking, one-liners, anecdotes, and questions
work well. Also, people seem to like and need recaps, so I am in favor of saying
things like, To recap this section . . . Or, To
review and summarize this section ...
While public speaking, whatever you do, think in terms of roller coasters and
bumper cars so you keep your audience excited and alert all the time.
