Speech Transitions: Magical Words and Phrases (Flashback Friday #27)

On Fridays, we dip into the Six Minutes article archive in search of one of the most memorable articles. We’ll dust it off, shine a light on it, and consider it from a new perspective.

This week, we also spotlight recent releases that may help you enrich your public speaking library.

Resources for Speakers – Public Speaking Books

Check out these recently released public speaking, communications, and training books:

• The Bullseye Principle: Mastering Intention-Based Communication to Collaborate, Execute, and Succeed by David Lewis and G. Riley Mills
• Turn Knowledge to Profit: The Six Secrets of Successful Speakers, Coaches and Authors by Michael McCauley and Johnell McCauley
• When They Go Low, We Go High: Speeches That Shape the World and Why We Need Them by Philip Collins
• Learning While Working: Structuring Your On-the-Job Training by Paul Smith
• Training Reinforcement: The 7 Principles to Create Measurable Behavior Change and Make Learning Stick by Anthonie Wurth and Kees Wurth

Today’s Flashback Article

This week, we’re reaching back to August 2013 to learn how to use speech transitions effectively.

Let’s be honest: speech transitions aren’t exciting. Nobody will quote your speech transitions after you have finished speaking. If you execute them properly, it’s likely that nobody will even be conscious of them.

However, despite filling a minor role, speech transitions are critical to your speaking success. Speech transitions smooth over the boundary between two ideas, and reveal the relationship between the words just spoken and those about to be spoken. In this way, speech transitions help your audience understand your message.

Read the full article, and share your stories about how speech transitions can make or break a speech:

• Speech Transitions: Magical Words and Phrases