Speech Transitions Need TLC

By Dave Lieber

NSA/North Texas

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Columnist

www.YankeeCowboy.com

The most edited parts of my newspaper column, aside from obvious mistakes, are my transition paragraphs linking major sections or scenes.  Mine are rough, but my editor is a transition expert.

Speech transitions are even more important.  A reader may skip through a badly written paragraph to get to the meat.  An audience member listening to a bad transition in an uncomfortable hotel chair will, in a second, lose interest and check his watch.

Transitions are like “establishing shots” in a movie.  They also act like a propeller, launching you from one scene to the next.

I spent a long time tinkering with the key transition in my new keynote - Agonized over each word for the perfect tone.  It’s only 15 words.

First comes my opening story, sort of like the overture in an opera.  The orchestra is playing, but the curtain is down.  This playful warm-up lets the audience know I have a pulse … and a sense of humor. ‘Tis transition time.

I pause, think about the meaning behind the words, and then say with conviction the following:

Just like you, I was brought up to believe the world was a good place.

Sometimes, my voice cracks.  I feel the sentence come from within.

Let’s look at how each word was chosen:

Just – My least favorite word.  Usually, it can be struck from any sentence without harm.  But here, it works.  Better than saying “Like you …”  This word serves as an opening drumbeat to set the rhythm of the rest of the sentence.  Lets you know something is about to happen;

Like – One of the most underrated words … one beat short of love, the very best word;

You – The money word in our biz;

I – This combination of you and I, separated by a comma/pause, establishes an immediate connection between the audience and speaker.  We are now together;

Was – By not using ‘is’ and not putting the audience in the moment, which is also a very good word/technique to use, ‘was’ means you are about to tell a story from the past.  The brain likes to hear that;

Brought up – Raised or brought up?  Brought up wins because it evokes the idea that your parents nurtured you in a safer bygone world;

To Believe – The word ‘believe’ strikes a universal cord with everyone because we all believe in things both true and untrue;

The World – This isn’t about neighborhood or even state, but global, even universal; and

Was A Good Place – An expression of purity, evoking in the simplest phrasing everyone’s personal image of his or her own highest ideal.

This transition does its job, helping the audience cross the bridge from overture to Act 1, by using connection-building words to evoke personal ideals and creating curiosity for what comes next.

It doesn’t take a lot of words, JUST the right ones.

Check out the bizarro world Dave created at

http://www.watchdognation.com