Good transitions can make a speech more important to the audience because they feel they are being taken to a positive conclusion without having to travel a bumpy road. – Joe Griffith
Transitions
The difference between a novice speaker and an advanced speaker is in how they bridge the gap between ideas. Learning to use transitions effectively will help take your speaking to the advanced level. Transitions can be one word, a phrase, or a full sentence.
The audience is dying to know the relationship between ideas. Their brains are hard-wired for that. It’s more important when you are speaking than when you are writing because the listeners can’t go back – they have to get it when it happens. If the brain is bored, or gets tired because it’s overwhelmed, or gets confused – it can’t stay in that place, so it daydreams, creating its own interest.
Speech Coach Max Dixon, Westside Toastmasters.
So, let’s get started. I have included various transition types for you to consider. These do little good if you read them and do not use them. This list works best if you read it now and then revisit it every time you write a speech.
Beginning
Let’s begin with…
First, I’d like to share with you…
Now that you’re aware of the overview, let’s begin with…
Our first stop is…
I will first cover…
My first point covers…
To get started, let’s look at…
The Order of Things
After that…
Next…
Second thing…
Our next stop is…
Let me tell you about your next step.
Steve Jobs Commencement to Standford University
Steve Jobs clearly previews his main points, “Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.” He flows smoothly between points with clear transitions.
“The first story is about connecting the dots.”
“My second story is about love and loss.”
“My third story is about death.”
Between Similar Points
In the same way…
In addition…
Likewise…
Similarly…
Between Disagreeing Points
Conversely…
Despite this…
The flip side of the issue…
However…
On the contrary…
On the other hand…
However …
On the other side …
Yet, we cannot ignore …
The opposing argument …
If we examine the opposite side, we see …
Introduce an example
This is best illustrated by an example…
For instance…
Take the case of…
For example…
To understand this…
Let me illustrate this by…
Introduce Research
To make the point…
As illustrated by…
For instance…
Case in point…
To solidify this point…
As researched by…
Cause and effect
Therefore…
Thus…
Consequently…
As a result…
This is significant because…
Hence…
Resulting in…
For that reason …
The effect is…
Elaboration
Also…
Besides…
What’s more…
In addition/additionally…
Moreover…
Furthermore…
Transition to a Demonstration
Let me show you how this works…
Let me demonstrate this…
Now that we’ve covered the theory, let’s see it in action …
Next, I’d like to let you see this for yourselves…
Introducing Your Visual
As you can see from this chart…
I’d like you to notice that…
The table indicates…
Questions as Transitions
Now that you know the problem, what do you think will solve it?
What do you think will solve this crisis?
Vocabulary
Connective:
A word or phrase that connects the ideas of a speech and indicates the relationship between them.
Transitions:
A word or phrase that indicates when a speaker had finished one thought and it moving on to another.
Internal preview:
A statement in the body of the speech that tells the audience what the speaker is going to discuss next.
Internal summary:
A statement in the body of the speech that summarizes the speaker’s preceding point or points.
Signpost:
A very brief statement that indicates where a speaker is in the speech or that focuses attention on key ideas.
From the Art of Public Speaking by Stephen Lucas
Thoughts from a Former Student
One thing I learned in class that made me a better speechwriter was to pay attention to the transitions. In our outlines, there was space for our main points, but also our transitions between them. At the beginning of the semester, I thought this was a waste of time planning out my transition for a speech and that I would just wing it the day of, but I soon realized how important they were. Transitions are like the finishing touches that make everything fall together in a speech.
You may have some interesting points or facts to give to your audience, but without transitions, you have nothing to connect your points and create a narrative. An audience is much more interested in a talk if there is a continuing idea or theme, and transitions help create this. I found this out by watching the other students in my class as they learned to use transitions as well. I loved the speeches that were clearly organized and had a common idea with transitions.
Zoe Lawless, Honors Public Speaking, University of Arkansas
Imagine the stage as a baseball diamond. Move to each base as you move between speech points. Begin and end at home plate.
Movement as Transition
Many people don’t think about movement as a type of transition, but it can be a very powerful way to help your audience transition between ideas.
Setting out a visual or putting it away signals a change in ideas.
Some speakers will imagine a baseball diamond laid out on the floor and move to each base throughout the speech. Their opening comment is at home plate. Point one is delivered on first, point two on second, and point three on third. They stand back on their home plate to deliver the final closing statements.
One speaker that I met said he always has a special place that is his big idea place. He may move around during his speech but when he wants the audience to know it is an important point, he stands in the big idea place.
Silence as a Transition
John Chappelear, speech consultant, suggests that the use of silence can be powerful. It is powerful, but it is not easy. Being able to stand silently in front of a large audience for 15-45 seconds requires practice. Sometimes you can use silence as a way to let the audience catch up and think deeply about what you just said.
Transitioning Between Slides
As the next slide shows…
As you can see…
Next, I will show you…
Transitioning to Visuals
As you can see from this chart…
I’d like to direct your attention to…
This diagram compares…
Now, I’d like to illustrate this with…
Signaling the End is Near
In conclusion…
To sum it up…
Lastly…
In a nutshell…
To recap…
I’d like to leave you with…
Finally, I’d like to say…
The takeaway from all of this is…
In conclusion…
To summarise…
Moving to the Next Speaker
I told you about the most credible theories about climate change, now John will share with you some examples of what you can do.
I’m going to turn it over to Malachi, who will take you through the next few points.
Next, Angie will come up and talk about…
To help us understand this topic better, we have Beatrice, who will talk us through…
Look to the next speaker and motion towards them as they walk to the podium, Twila will tell you more…
Problems with Transitions
These are some of the most common problems with transitions:
Not planning out transitions and just “winging it.”
Using fancy phrases inconsistent with the rest of the speech.
Saying, “I have five points” and then having only four or miscounting the points.
Overusing the same transitional phrase.
Long pauses before transitions as the speaker tries to figure out what to say next.
Tricks on Smoothly Presenting Transitions
Now you have a list of ideas to use when you write your next speech, let’s talk about how to use transitions effectively. Speakers typically struggle as they end one point and seek to move to the next idea. This usually happens because of poor planning, not enough practice, and poor note management. Let’s talk about these one at a time. First, poor planning happens because a speaker does not put enough time and effort into writing the speech. Second, not enough practice happened because even when a speech is practiced, it is practiced with regards to getting through the main points and not about moving smoothly between points. Finally, poor note management. Let me give you some tricks.
Make your notes large-larger than you think you need.
Give ample space between main ideas so you can look down and see the gap and know another point is coming.
On your notecards, make each main idea a different color.
I usually have a “T” in a circle to remind me that this is a transition statement.
Practice your speech twice by just reading the transition statements and the next sentence.
The night before your speech, visualize how you will manage the transitions.
Key Takeaways
Remember This!
Using transitions will help your speech flow smoothly.
Practice using your transitions.
Plan transitions for impact.
Please share your feedback, suggestions, corrections, and ideas
I want to hear from you.
Do you have an activity to include?
Did you notice a typo that I should correct?
Are you planning to use this as a resource and do you want me to know about it?
Do you want to tell me something that really helped you?
