[...] Project 2 :Organize Your Speech [...]

[...] providing a benchmark for your current skill level, and standing and speaking without falling over. Speech 2: Organize Your Speech — Introduces the basic concepts of organizing a speech around a speech outline. Speech 3: Get [...]

DESCRIBE: Two to three points supporting my view

ILLUSTRATE (examples, analogies, metaphors).

cheers
CK

Another great article.

Since this article is so extensive, I will only comment on segues, since they are so important for a fluid speech.

Any time you have just finished any topic and want to move to your next topic, you must transition or segue. “Segue” comes from the Italian word for “to follow.” You want your audience to follow along with you as you transition from one topic area to another. Do you craft your segues? Are you even conscious of when you are making a segue? Most of us are entirely unconscious of our segues and it costs us dearly in trying to communicate effectively. Do you default to the standard statement segue, “The next point I want to address is … Now we will talk about …”? How do you craft more effective segues?

Here are my 9 suggestions:

1.“VISUAL METAPHOR” In many ways, a visual image can help your audience hold attention better as you go into a transition. For example, a visual image of a bridge is a metaphor for segues. Just like a bridge, the purpose of a segue is to get your audience from one point of land to another.
2.“SUMMARY REVIEW” &
3.“PREVIEW”
Reiterate what you have covered so far in your presentation or demo, especially addressing the point you have just finished covering or tell them where you are going.
Baseball announcers periodically provide a summary of what has taken place so far in the game. “We are in the top of the fifth, New York is leading 5 to 3 following Jeter’s home run to center field. (Where we’ve been.)
Pettit is going to have to face the top of the Chicago line-up, and he will be facing some pretty hot bats. (Where we are going.)
He has had some control problems in the early innings, and this next inning is no place to continue to walk batters. (Sign Posting: the importance of what is to come – see below.)
All season the Yankees have finished well in the late innings; let’s see how they fare tonight. (Combining where we’ve been and where we are going.)
4.“SIGN POSTING.” The last thing I want to do is . . . (identify where in the sequence of your points you currently are focused).
5.“SPOT LIGHTING” The most dangerous point in the body of your presentation or demo is the one where you are most likely to lose your audience’s attention. If your audience is not following, you are not supporting the sales effort, in fact you are wasting your customer’s time as well as your own. Pay attention to this segue material.
I have just provided an example of spotlighting. You tell the audience with verbal emphasis, dynamic gesture and an energetic voice, “Hey, pay attention! This is an important point that we are going to talk about here!”
6.“SHOW THE RELATIONSHIP”
Show the relationship between an earlier point and your next point. For example, “Earlier we talked about how our product will deliver a return on your investment. You may be wondering, ‘What kind of investment can I expect?’ Studies by the Gartner group show …”
7.“ASK A QUESTION” or “CONDUCT A POLL” Questions tend to garner more mindshare than statements. Turn your statements into questions. Example: The statement, “Segues are an opportunity to grab your audiences attention again,” could become, “Does anyone know the point in a presentation/demo where you could grab you customer’s attention once more?”
You might take a poll of the entire group. “How many of you feel that XX is the most important aspect of the product’s capability?”
8.“PROVIDE CONTEXT” Put the point that is about to follow in context with the overall presentation or relate it to a point you have already made. Example: “Remember in my opening/story when I talked to you about XX? Here’s where that principle really applies.”
9.“IDENTIFY BENEFITS” There are techniques to segue that can be easily mastered, they merely require a little awareness. The benefit of knowing how to segue is that you can turn these high danger points into high opportunity points. Instead of segueing in ways that cause you to lose audience attention, you can make your segues points where you actually increase the mind share you have with your audience.

Thanks for the food for thought Andrew

[...] beginning speaker focus on organization – there’s more information about this speech on the Six Minutes blog. Go check it [...]