Speech Transitions Essay

659 Words3 Pages
SPEECH TRANSITIONS Meaning As you all know, every speech has an opening, body and conclusion. The key to a great speech is moving well between them. Speech transitions are the words and phrases that act as connecting dots between various ideas and help your speech flow smoothly. They may consist of a single transition word or a short transition phrase and sometimes they may even form an entire sentence. Importance Transitions not only allow a speaker to move between the main parts of her / his speech but also allow the speaker to move from point to point within the body. The absence of transitions can make the audience: wonder “how does this relate to that?” feel the speaker jumped randomly from one point to the next. feel totally lost. "The audience is dying to know the relationship between ideas", says professional speaker and speaking coach Max Dixon. "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." Without transitions, the audience has difficulty under-standing what you are talking about. It hears various pieces of information and doesn't understand how they fit together. It is like looking at the disjointed pieces of a puzzle. Without putting them together, you can't understand what the puzzle portrays. Types of Speech Transitions There are various types of speech transitions, a few of which are mentioned below along with a list of some possible words or phrases which can be used for such transitions: 1. Transition between similar thoughts or points Likewise,….. Similarly,… This is just like … This is analogous to… In a similar way … To draw an analogy, we could consider … 2. Transition between contrasting thoughts or points However …
Open Document