Presentation Skills
Articles for Speakers

This article is an excerpt from Wake 'em Up Business Presentations by Tom Antion. To order Click Here
For details of book Click Here

Direct comments or questions about these articles to
Tom Antion,
orders@antion.com

To order Books, CDs and DVDs on these topics
http://www.antion.com/speakershop.htm 

Transitions

Tom Antion
Washington, D.C.

Most presentation skills books will tell you to be a polished
presenter 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
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 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 would flip your little bundle of joy out of
the boat.

OK. 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 a
trite, snoozer 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 bang away and
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.

You can make transitions by changing stage position, pausing,
using visual aids, giving out a handout, or picking up a prop. 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, 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 . . .

Whatever you do, think in terms of roller coasters and bumper
cars so you keep your audience excited and alert all the time.

"Wake em Up is a great book for the novice and old pro alike.
I've been on the circuit for over 20 years and gleaned a number
of valuable tips. More importantly, the book leaves "nothing to
chance" for a presenter or speaker wishing to enhance their
skills and deliver humor like it should be done. This book is a
must."

Floyd Wickman, CSP, CPAE
Speaker and author of Mentoring: A Guide for Mentors and Proteges, Owner of the
world-famous Sweathog Real Estate Seminars

Note: This article is part of an eleven part series excerpted from
Tom Antion's new book, Wake em Up: How to Use Humor and Other
Professional Techniques to Create Alarmingly Good Business
Presentations. Anchor Publishing, 336 page softcover, $24.95 +
$4.00 S&H, (800) 448-6280 x 1 or FAX to (757) 431-2050 To Order Click Here