Transitions are words, phrases, or sentences that tie the speech ideas together and enable the listener to follow the speaker as he or she moves from one point to the next. Considered the “neurosystem” of speeches, transitions (also called connectives) are especially important in speeches because listeners cannot go back and re-read what they might have missed. As you develop your speech, think about creating transitions to move listeners from one main point to the next, from main points to supporting points, and from one supporting point to another supporting point. Transitions are also used to move from the introduction to the body of the speech, and from the body to the conclusion. Transitions can take the form of full sentences, phrases, or single words (see Table 11.3).

Use Transitions between Speech Points

Use transitions to move between speech points: from one main point to the next, and from one subpoint to another.

Use Transitions between Supporting Points

Transitions between supporting points can be handled using single words, phrases, or full sentences as in the following:

Next, . . .

First, . . . (second, third, and so forth)

Similarly, . . .

We now turn . . .

Finally, let’s consider . . .

If you think that’s shocking, consider this . . .

Using a full-sentence transition to move from supporting point A (“Sales personnel will be motivated by competition”) to supporting point B (“Contests are relatively inexpensive”), the speaker might state the following:

Another way that sales competitions will benefit us is by their relative cost effectiveness.

Use Transitions between Main Points

When moving from one main point to another, full-sentence transitions are especially effective. For example, to move from main point I in a speech about sales contests (“Top management should sponsor sales contests to halt the decline in sales over the past two years”) to main point II (“Sales contests will lead to better sales presentations”), the speaker might use the following transition:

Next, let’s look at exactly what sales contests can do for us.

Another full-sentence transition is the rhetorical question. Rather than inviting actual responses, rhetorical questions make the audience think (see also Chapter 14):

Could there really be a way to use radiation without side effects, and to treat more types of cancer with it?

How do the costs of contests stack up against the expense of training new people?

Don’t be afraid to get creative with your use of transitions. In a speech on mountain biking, student Zachary Dominique used metaphoric language in this transition to lend color to the speech:

Now, let’s do a hopturn—a turn in reverse—and learn about the sport’s colorful history.

Very frequently speakers will use internal previews and internal summaries as transitions, described next.

Use Previews and Summaries as Transitions

Previews briefly introduce audience members to the ideas that the speaker will address. As described in Chapter 14, in a speech introduction, the preview briefly describes what will be covered in the body of the speech. Within the body itself, an internal preview briefly introduces listeners to the ensuing discussion. Speakers use internal previews at various points throughout a speech both to introduce audience members to ideas the speaker will develop and to signal a shift from one main point or idea to another:

Victoria Woodhull was a pioneer in many respects. Not only was she the first woman to run her own brokerage firm, but she was also the first to run for the presidency of the United States, though few people know this. Let’s see how she accomplished these feats. . . .

Similar to the internal preview, the internal summary draws together ideas before the speaker proceeds to another speech point. Internal summaries help listeners review and evaluate the thread of the theme thus far:

It should be clear that the kind of violence we’ve witnessed in the schools and in our communities has a deeper root cause than the availability of handguns. Our young children are crying out for a sense of community, of relatedness and meaning, that they just aren’t finding in the institutions that are meant to serve them.

Often, a speaker will transition from one major idea or main point to the next by using an internal summary and internal preview together:

We’ve seen that mountain bikes differ from road bikes in the design of the tires, the seat, the gears, the suspension systems, and the handlebars. Now let’s take a look at the different types of mountain bikes themselves. As you will see, mountain bikes vary according to the type of riding they’re designed to handle—downhill, trails, and cross-country. Let’s begin with cross-country.