Category Archives: Transition

How to Transition? No Problem!

Especially Powerful Personal Competitive Advantage
Passing the baton should be a regular part of your presentation practice

A big surprise for me is that the most-searched term that leads people to this site is this one . . .

“How to transition between speakers.”

It turns out that this is one of the most perplexing and yet easily fixed problems in group presentations.

Let’s fix it now!

How you pass the baton – the transition between speakers – is one of the least-practiced aspects of the group business presentation.

Yet these baton-passing linkages within your presentation are incredibly important.

They connect the conclusion of one segment and the introduction of the next.

Shouldn’t this connecting link be as strong as possible, so that your audience receives the intended message?  So the message isn’t lost in a flurry of scurrying presenters moving about the stage in unpracticed, chaotic fashion?

You forfeit tremendous personal competitive advantage if you ignore this seemingly small aspect of your presentation.

Don’t Lose Your Message!

It sounds absurd, but group members often develop their individual presentation segments on their own.  Then, the group tries to knit them together on the day of the group show.

A formula for disaster.

The result is a bumbling game of musical chairs and hot-baton-passing.

Imagine a sports team that prepared for its games this way, with each player practicing his role individually and the players coming together as a team only on the day of the game and expecting the team to work together seamlessly.

Sports teams don’t practice this way.  Serious people don’t practice this way.

Don’t you practice this way.

Don’t yield to the tendency on the part of a team of three or four people to treat the presentation as a game of musical chairs.

How to Transition Between Speakers?

This happens when each member presents a small chunk of material, and the presenters take turns presenting.

Lots of turns.

This ungainly dance disconcerts your audience and can upend your show.

Minimize the passing of the baton and transitions, particularly when each person has only three or four minutes to present.

How to Transition between Speakers for Especially Powerful Personal Competitive Advantage
Smooth transitions can bequeath personal competitive advantage to you and your teammates

I have also noticed a tendency to rush the transition between speakers.

Often, a presenter will do fine until the transition to the next topic.  At that point, before finishing, the speaker turns while continuing to talk, and the last sentence or two of the presentation segment is lost.

The speaker walks away while still citing a point.  Perhaps an incredibly important point.

Don’t rush from the stage.

Stay planted in one spot until you finish.

Savor your conclusion, the last sentence of your portion.  It should reiterate your Most Important Point.

Introduce your next segment.  Then transition.  Then pass the baton with authority.

That’s how to transition.

Harmonize your Messages

Your message itself must mesh well with the other segments of your show.

Each presenter must harmonize  the message with the others of a business presentation.  These individual parts should make sense as a whole, just as parts of a story all contribute to the overall message.

“On the same page” . . .  “Speaking with one voice” . . .

These are the metaphors that urge us to message harmony.  This means that one member does not contradict the other when answering questions.

It means telling the same story and contributing crucial parts of that story so that it makes sense.

So that each of you acquires, incrementally, personal competitive advantage as you progress through your show.

This is not the forum to demonstrate that team members are independent thinkers or that diversity of opinion is a good thing.

Moreover, everyone should be prepared to deliver a serviceable version of the entire presentation, not just their own part.  This is against the chance that one or more of the team can’t present at the appointed time.

Cross-train in at least one other portion of the presentation.

Remember:  Harmonize your messages . . . Speak with one voice . . . Pass the baton smoothly.  Transition between speakers with authority and confidence for an especially powerful business presentation.

You can find more discussion on how to transition between speakers in The Complete Guide to Business School Presenting, your key to personal competitive advantage in business school and beyond.

Transition Between Speakers

transition between speakers
Transition Between Speakers, Smooth and Confident

The second-most-searched term to lead folks here to Business School Presentations is “How to transition between speakers.”

As a result, I offer this classic post on how you pass the baton – the transition between speakers.

Baton-passing linkages within your presentation are incredibly important – they serve as the sinews of your presentation, binding muscles and bone of your show.

They connect the conclusion of one segment and the introduction of the next.

Shouldn’t this connecting link be as strong as possible, so that your audience receives the intended message?  So the message isn’t lost amongst a flurry of presenters scurrying about the stage in chaotic fashion?

Don’t Lose Your Message!

It sounds absurd, but group members often develop their individual presentation segments on their own.  The group tries to knit them together on the day of the group show.

This is a formula for disaster.

The result is a bumbling game of musical chairs and hot-baton-passing.  Imagine a sports team that prepared for its games this way, with each player practicing his role individually and the players coming together as a team only on the day of the game and expecting the team to work together seamlessly.

Sports teams don’t practice this way.  Serious people don’t practice this way.

Don’t you practice this way.

Don’t yield to the tendency on the part of a team of three or four people to treat the presentation as a game of musical chairs.

Pass the Baton without Musical Chairs

This happens when each member presents a small chunk of material, and the presenters take turns presenting.

Lots of turns.

This “pass the baton” can disconcert your audience and can upend your show.

Minimize the transitions between speakers, particularly when each person has only three or four minutes to present.

To pass the baton in a presentation is no easy task . . . it takes preparation and the right kind of practice

Don’t rush.

Again, don’t rush the transition between speakers.

Often, a presenter will do fine until the transition to the next topic.  At that point, while still speaking, the speaker turns, and the last sentence or two of the presentation segment is lost.

The speaker walks away while still talking.  While still citing a point.  Perhaps an incredibly important point.

Don’t rush from the stage.  Stay planted in one spot until you finish for an especially powerful conclusion of your segment.

Savor your conclusion, the last sentence of your portion.  Your conclusion should reiterate your Most Important Point.

Introduce your next segment.  Then transition.  Then pass the baton with authority.

Transition Between Speakers – Harmonize

Your message itself must mesh well with the other segments of your show.

Each presenter must harmonize  the message with the others of a business presentation.  These individual parts should make sense as a whole, just as parts of a story all contribute to the overall message.

“On the same page” . . .  “Speaking with one voice” . . .    These are the metaphors that urge us to message harmony.

This means that one member does not contradict the other when answering questions.

It means telling the same story and contributing crucial parts of that story so that it makes sense.

This is not the forum to demonstrate that team members are independent thinkers or that diversity of opinion is a good thing.

Moreover, everyone should be prepared to deliver a serviceable version of the entire presentation, not just their own part.  This is against the chance that one or more of the team can’t present at the appointed time.

Cross-train in at least one other portion of the presentation.

Remember:  Harmonize your messages . . . Speak with one voice . . . Pass the baton smoothly.

You can find more discussion on how to pass the baton in The Complete Guide to Business School Presenting, your key to personal competitive advantage in business school and beyond.

Learn to give an especially powerful presentation every time.

Presentation Transition

presentation transition
Business Presentation Transition . . . no one does it well . . . except you . . . now

In writing this business presentations blog for more than five years, I can now generalize a bit about what people truly want and need in their presentation tool box – particularly about the presentation transition.

Most folks understand that they don’t know what they need, exactly, and so they come here.

But others have specific questions.  They query Google . . . or even Yahoo.

And their query takes them to one of my most-read posts.

I would never have guessed that this was the most serious problem that folks in group presentations face.

The most-searched term or phrase that brings folks here?

It’s this . . .

“How to transition between speakers”

Transitioning Need Not be Tough

I was surprised, too.

But when you think about it, it’s one of the least addressed issues in delivering group presentations.  No one practices it, because no one really knows how to do it.

Or what principle should guide the handoff.

Where it should take place.

What to say that knits the parts together.

At its worst, the transition is simply a clean break.  One speaker stops . . . walks off . . . the other speaker arrives and begins talking.

No continuity.  No connection.

Business presentation transition
Transition with Aplomb . . . for Personal Competitive Advantage

At best, it’s an uncomfortable 15 seconds of shuffling, stuttering, and muttering as the speakers awkwardly do something on-stage that they’ve never done before.

So think about this.

What if your group delivered crisp, professional hand-offs in your presentation?  You transitioned smoothly and in a way that added value to your show.  In a way that cried out to the audience:  “This team knows its stuff!”

What would that be worth in terms of personal competitive advantage?

You can find out here, in my most-read post on the proverbial passing of the baton:  How to Transition Between Speakers

For more than you ever thought could be written about business presentation transition, you can go here.

How to Transition Between Speakers

Personal competitive advantage
Befuddled! How to transition between speakers is the most-searched term on this site.

One of the least-practiced aspects of the group presentation is how you pass the baton – the transition between speakers.

Yet these baton-passing linkages within your presentation are incredibly important.

They connect the conclusion of one segment and the introduction of the next.

Shouldn’t this connecting link be as strong as possible, so that your audience receives the intended message?  So the message isn’t lost in a flurry of scurrying presenters moving about the stage in unpracticed, chaotic fashion?

You forfeit tremendous personal competitive advantage if you ignore this seemingly small aspect of your presentation.

Don’t Lose Your Message!

It sounds absurd, but group members often develop their individual presentation segments on their own.  Then, the group tries to knit them together on the day of the group show.

A formula for disaster.

The result is a bumbling game of musical chairs and hot-baton-passing.

Imagine a sports team that prepared for its games this way, with each player practicing his role individually and the players coming together as a team only on the day of the game and expecting the team to work together seamlessly.

Sports teams don’t practice this way.  Serious people don’t practice this way.

Don’t you practice this way.

Don’t yield to the tendency on the part of a team of three or four people to treat the presentation as a game of musical chairs.

How to Transition Between Speakers?

This happens when each member presents a small chunk of material, and the presenters take turns presenting.

Lots of turns.

This ungainly dance disconcerts your audience and can upend your show.

Minimize the passing of the baton and transitions, particularly when each person has only three or four minutes to present.

How to Transition between Speakers!
Smooth transitions can bequeath personal competitive advantage to you and your teammates

I have also noticed a tendency to rush the transition between speakers.

Often, a presenter will do fine until the transition to the next topic.  At that point, before finishing, the speaker turns while continuing to talk, and the last sentence or two of the presentation segment is lost.

The speaker walks away while still citing a point.  Perhaps an incredibly important point.

Don’t rush from the stage.

Stay planted in one spot until you finish.

Savor your conclusion, the last sentence of your portion.  It should reiterate your Most Important Point.

Introduce your next segment.  Then transition.  Then pass the baton with authority.

Harmonize your Messages

Your message itself must mesh well with the other segments of your show.

Each presenter must harmonize  the message with the others of a business presentation.  These individual parts should make sense as a whole, just as parts of a story all contribute to the overall message.

“On the same page” . . .  “Speaking with one voice” . . .

These are the metaphors that urge us to message harmony.  This means that one member does not contradict the other when answering questions.

It means telling the same story and contributing crucial parts of that story so that it makes sense.  So that each of you acquires, incrementally, personal competitive advantage as you progress through your show.

This is not the forum to demonstrate that team members are independent thinkers or that diversity of opinion is a good thing.

Moreover, everyone should be prepared to deliver a serviceable version of the entire presentation, not just their own part.  This is against the chance that one or more of the team can’t present at the appointed time.

Cross-train in at least one other portion of the presentation.

Remember:  Harmonize your messages . . . Speak with one voice . . . Pass the baton smoothly.  Transition between speakers with authority and confidence for an especially powerful business presentation.

You can find more discussion on how to transition between speakers in The Complete Guide to Business School Presenting, your key to personal competitive advantage in business school and beyond.