[Quick Tip] Talk Flow Tips: Create Seamless Transitions Like a Pro - 326

Think of these quick tip episodes like a cold water swim. In just a few minutes, you can get some amazing benefits to support you on your speaking journey. And bonus, the only thing that's getting wet here is your appetite to try this stuff out. And if you have a question you want me to answer about anything related to speaking, storytelling, pitching, performance, or humour, then DM me on Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter @SarahArcher. Sarah Archer 15. You've just told a cracking story about falling into a pond in front of your boss. The audience has laughed, you smiled, and then you say, anyway, moving on. No! Talk about undermine everything. We don't want to do that. And that's why on this episode of the Speaking Club podcast, I am talking to you about segues. And how to create seamless transitions. I learned about segues first when I did stand-up comedy. I had to find a way to shift between one comedy bit to another in a way that, that made the audience feel like they were on a journey with me, that it, whole set sort of glued together, felt natural and so on. But segues are just as important in the world of speaking. When they're done well, your talk flows like an expertly edited Netflix documentary. When it's done badly, sounds like a school assembly hosted by Mr Bean. We don't want that. So, I run a weekly skills lab for my clients and we've been working on, on this, doing a bunch of exercises so that they can stitch their talk together without sounding like a kindergarten nativity show. And today I want to share some of the best bits with you so that your segues can stop killing the vibe and start selling your message and your credibility. Let's take a look at some of the problems that I see with segues and speakers, and there's a number of own goals that you can make in this area, and I want to give you a heads up on those so that you don't do them, because bad segues can undermine your credibility, lose the the audience and so on. So first one is the awkward handoff. So you, you're given a bit of insight, a bit of opinion, and then you go, so yeah, next slide please. Then there's the story on a cliff edge. Basically, you've told a good story, it's fab, and then you go into something that's completely unrelated, a topic that is not connected to the one you've just told, a story or insight or whatsoever. Then we've got the conference cliché. Here it is. This leads nicely into my next point. Does it really? Nah. Then we've got the stealth pitch pivot. You're mid-insight or mid-story, suddenly the audience is in your sales funnel. No warning. They have got whiplash. And we don't want that. So all of these sort of clunky shifts interrupt the momentum of your talk. They confuse your audience and they make you sound like you're reading a list instead of leading a journey. They undermine your credibility as a professional speaker, and we don't want that. So what happens if we get this right? If we nail our segues? Here's some of the possibilities. First of all, your talk will feel like it's written by someone like Aaron Sorkin. It's fast, it's fluid, it's compelling. You'll get more nods, more laughs, more, oh, that was clever. Your audience is more likely to actually remember your message because it feels like a story, not a slideshow, and you get to land your call to action so smoothly That the audience actually thanks you for making them the offer. Yes, honestly, it can happen. So, in order to get there, here's some of the principles that you need to have in mind around segues. First of all, we want it to sound like you're with your mates down the pub. We want it to sound natural, not stilted, not awkward. Then we want it to also have things link smoothly. So that they feel like they're part of the story, so they're relatable. It, you know, one topic naturally flows into the next one. We also want to use variety. We don't want to keep using the same thing over and over again. Otherwise, that again will make it sound scripted and unnatural. And then you want to have some tools in your back pocket that you can rely on, some sort of phrases that you can pull out that aren't cliché, that feel like you and your personality to bridge to the next segue. Okay, so how do we do that? Well, here's some tips for you to use so that you can avoid what I call the Frankenstein talk, like it's been stitched together with a load of different body parts and doesn't look very or sound very nice. Okay, so first tip is something called bridge words. These are the things you keep in your back pocket. Things like speaking of, going to the next thing, that reminds me, and the same is true for, which is a lot like. Those are sorts of phrases you can have in your back pockets. I'm not saying take those ones verbatim, they're just a starter for 10 to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Next, we have emotion links. Okay? So, often when you tell a story, there's like a feeling or emotion that comes up. Maybe it's embarrassment, maybe it's frustration, what, you know, maybe it's confusion. Whatever it is, you can use that emotion to link into the next part of your talk. I felt embarrassed, which is exactly how clients feel when... Okay? So tap into that emotion. And these are things like, it's important that you, once you have your sort of talk content, that you look at the segues and joining it together ahead of time. Obviously, you know, this is part of putting a great talk together, that you look at these opportunities for seamless transitions ahead of time and obviously practice and rehearse them. Next one is a pattern link. So maybe there's something that is the same over here and you're going to link to it over here. This is something that I see very much the same in XYZ. So call out the pattern, then link it to the next thing. Then we've got contrast. Here's an example of contrast. That was an absolute disaster, but what happened next changed everything. Oh, that's a good one, isn't it? That's got a hook in it as well. Love that one. Um, if you can get hooks, curiosity hooks into your segues, so much the better because it keeps your audience leaning in and hanging on your every word to find out what's coming next. Then you've got humour. If you think that was awkward, wait until you hear this one. Again, the way that you deliver that line, you, you know, if you tap into facial expressions, body language, you can get a line off the delivery of the first part of that, and that also has a curiosity hook in it leading into the next part. So, that's another, another option. Okay, then we've got your CTAs, your call to actions. Now, as you know, I advocate doing strategic free gigs. If you have an offer and you're in front of your target audience, you can often make as much money or more money from people converting into your offer than you can with a fee-paying gig. Not to say one is better than the other, but it's great to have these options to create that speaking-driven income. So it has to be the right context that you can make an offer to the audience. And, you know, I've seen it even with paid gigs. I was on stage and other speakers, not me, other speakers were linking into their paid offers straight away. But we want to do it in the right way so that we don't feel awkward, our audience doesn't feel awkward. It's not like some sort of switch into like a robot clicking a lever. One minute they're deep in your story, next minute, if you'd like to work with me, Scan the QR code, it will take you straight to my product. We don't want that. We want to find a great audience-led way to segue into our offer. Here's an example. So if you're sitting there thinking, that is me, I've been winging it with my talk, I don't want to do that anymore. That's exactly why I created the Profitable Talk Map, for example, just one way. So it's, it's audience problem-focused, and then shifting into your offer. And if you do it that way, it'll feel like you're doing, you're thinking of them, you're putting them first. Okay. Okay. So those are your talk tips. So, let's have a look at the takeaways for this episode. First of all, stop saying things like anyway, unless you want to sound like a bored geography teacher. Find the emotional or conceptual link between parts of your talk. Do it, you know, this is part of putting your talk together, and then rehearse them, practise linking the stories and insights out loud, So that you can hear where it sounds clunky. Okay? Have those bridge phrases in your back pocket, but use them so that they feel like a story, natural, not like a seminar. And for the love of segues, please make your CTAs sound like a favour, not like a sales funnel. So here's your homework. Go and watch your last talk. Every time you wince at a transition, Write a new one, you may be using one of today's tools, and see if you can make it better. Because when your segues flow, your audience doesn't just follow, they buy in. Okay, excellent. Well, all that's left for me to say is thank you, first of all, for watching or listening to the podcast. I do appreciate your attention and your time. As I say, there's so many you can choose from. I love that you chose the Speaking Club. If you're watching on YouTube, then it would be amazing if you would subscribe to the channel if you like what you see, if you got value from this episode, and if you've got any comments or questions, pop them below. I will respond. If you're listening to the podcast on Spotify, Amazon, Apple Podcasts, wherever, be brilliant if you could leave a rating or a review if you enjoyed it. You can also go to ratethispodcast.com/tsc. To do that. And yeah, looking forward to being with you again next time. In the meantime, you know what I'm gonna say. Go out, grab your life by the nuts, and get cracking. Bye-bye. It's a nightmare. You're an expert with so much to say, but now that you've been booked to speak, you're struggling to know exactly what to talk about. You want a talk that engages the audience and wins you new clients without you losing your personality or anyone feeling pitched to. But what happens when you sit down to create that talk is that you end up staring at a blank page for ages, or worse, surrounded by hundreds of sticky notes with content that you could include. With so much material, you just don't know where to start or finish. Don't worry, because many experts like you face exactly the same challenge, and that's why I created the Blank Page to Stage Guide. In just 50 minutes, this breakthrough resource is going to help you identify the big idea of your message, make it relatable for the audience that you're speaking to, and convey it all in a way that gets the audience inspired and and on board with your idea. And it works even if you have tons of material or your subject feels less than exciting. If you want to cut through swathes of content and get a talk that you're excited to share, your audience loves, and wins you new clients, then grab your Blank Page to Stage guide from saraharcher.co.uk/newguide-tt. Oh, I forgot to say, it's completely free. Enjoy!