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by Logan Scisco
Transitions are an important element in an extemporaneous speech. They serve as the glue to unite the different elements of your structure. Without transitions, you cannot easily move from your introduction, between your points, or to your conclusion. You would also struggle in getting the audience to follow your internal structure. While it is possible to resort to generic transitions like “First….” and “Second…”, this topic brief will discuss ways that you can make your transitions unique and meaningful.
The Role of Transitions in Extemp
As noted above, transitions help an extemporaneous speech flow smoothly. Transitions serve to remind the audience about your message, but also to help them understand that you are moving to a different part of the speech. It is true that your walking pattern should make this apparent, since you should be moving to different parts of the room for your introduction, three points (or two if you prefer), and conclusion. However, vocalizing your structure is also important for judges that are writing comments on your ballot. A good extemporaneous speech should allow someone listening to it to follow along without seeing any of your movements. You can test this out by going to the NFL film library, playing a speech, and then listening to it like you are listening to the radio. If you cannot follow where they are going, they are doing something wrong. This is a great way for younger extempers to realize the value of being clear about where you are in a speech and where you are going.
Transitions often appear when the speaker is ready to move from one element of their structure to the next and they are often vocalized as the extempers is moving to a different part of the room. For example, if a speaker is moving from their introduction to their first point, a transition will be spoken while the speaker moves from their standing position in the introduction to where they are going to speak for their first point. The transitional statement previews the message that is coming up in the speech and provides an overview of the point of analysis in question. When transitioning into the conclusion, the speaker will use the transition to begin the conclusion instead of previewing what the conclusion is about. Since there is no new content in the conclusion, this makes sense.
Ways to Make Your Transitions Better
When I watch an extemporaneous speaking round, one of the biggest problems that I see is that speakers think transitions are something that do not matter and they rush through them to get into their analysis. Speakers typically see transitions as a stumbling block to the content that really matters and throw something generic out there instead, but they lose a valuable opportunity to connect with their audience. A generic transition would be “The first reason that the Republicans will not win the midterm elections is because they will not win control of the Senate.” This transition has one good thing going for it in that it is clear and summarizes what the argument of the upcoming point is going to be about. However, there is nothing in it that will make the speaker stand out in the round because most, if not all, of the speaker’s competitors are likely to do the same thing.
One of the ways to make your transitions less generic is to put them in conversation with each other. This can happen as you get to your second or third point. For example, if your second argument for the speech above is that the Republicans won’t win the midterm elections because the Obamacare problem will be fixed, you could say something like “Even if the Republicans manage to become competitive in enough Senate races to threaten Democratic control of the chamber, the biggest issue of the elections, Obamacare will be fixed.” This makes your speech appear more argumentative. It also establishes a more natural flow between the points than “First we need to examine…” or “The second reason…”
Another way to make your transitions less generic is to think of a humorous quotation or idea that encapsulates the point you are going to talk about and use it. For this approach, you should watch the 2000 NFL International Extemp final round. While long quotations to get into one’s points have somewhat gone out of style, a quick or humorous statement can give you some laughs and transition into an area of analysis. For example, for the hypothetical midterm speech in the previous paragraphs, your third point might be that the Republican Party is divided between moderate and Tea Party forces. Since much of the media is liberal, they do not hesitate to make fun of conservatives and that can provide ample fodder for speeches. You might discuss in that point how in the 2010 and 2012 elections, Tea Party Republicans failed to capture seats in Colorado, Indiana, Delaware, etc. In that case, an effective transition might be something like “The Republican Party has struggled to elect Tea Party candidates to the Senate, like Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, who reminded voters in one of her campaign ads in 2010 that she was not a witch.” A generic, yet funny quotation that I liked to pull out of my hat from time to time was former Vice-President Dan Quayle’s quip that “If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.”
You can also transition into your points by raising a rhetorical question. For the third point about Tea Party versus moderate Republicans discussed above, you could transition by saying something to effect of “The question that the Republican elite have to answer as they plot 2010 strategy is how do they deal with the Tea Party?” This can effectively preview point and get the audience thinking about what you are going to talk about, raising their interest.
Finally, you can use the facts of one point to segway into the next. For example, in our generic speech on the 2014 midterm elections, as you transitioned from the first point about the Republicans not being able to capture to the Senate to the second point about how Obamacare will be fixed, you could say something to the effect of “Compounding the fact that the Republicans will not be able to take enough states to control the Senate, their number one issue in the midterm elections, Obamacare, will be neutralized.” In this way, your transition becomes a conversation between you and the audience and this is less jarring a statement as “The second reason that the Republicans will not win the midterm elections is that Obamacare will be fixed.” You seem like a more natural speaker by putting your points into conversation as well.
Mistakes to Avoid in Transitions
There are several mistakes that people make, aside from being generic, in their transitions. Here is a quick list of mistakes to avoid:
*Do not start moving from one point to the next in your speech until you have completely wrapped up that area of the speech. In other words, do not start moving to your first point as you are saying the last sentence of your introduction. Wait until you have fully completed the introduction before you begin moving to the next area.
*Make sure that you do not “transition walk” from one part of the speech to the next unless you are talking. A mistake novice extempers make is that they start walking to their next point without immediately starting to talk, producing an awkward silence for a second or two as they walk without saying anything. Basic rule to remember: do not move anywhere unless your mouth is moving.
*Look at the audience at all times during your transition walk. Do not face the wall on your left or right as you move between different parts of the speech. During the seven minutes that you talk you should look at the audience at all times. It is common sense, but speakers forget this rule and they face away from the audience as they do their transition walk.
*When transitioning into your conclusion use something less generic than “So in conclusion.” If I had a quarter for every time that a speaker said this in rounds that I observed or judged I would be a millionaire and Extemp Central would be in Forbes Magazine. What I used was the statement “So when we return to today’s question.” You can come up with your own conclusion transition device, but please avoid the generic “So in conclusion” at all costs.
*Finally, make sure that you leave a pause at the end of each of your speech before transitioning to the next one. Speakers usually wrap up their points and then immediately go into the next without providing a “beat” and then starting their next point. By pausing for a second, you will let the audience take in what you just said before you move along. This can also serve as a “reset” if you tend to speed up while speaking, thereby helping you avoid speed problems. While pausing makes some extempers feel awkward, all you have to visualize is someone sitting by a drum and once they hit this theoretical drum then you can make your transition into your next point.