Kristin Magruder, Lundbeck Korea Presenting in English Part 2: Transitions After making a strong introduction, the key to giving an organized, easily understandable presentation is your transitions. These can be a word, a phrase, a sentence, or sometimes even a couple sentences. Kristin Magruder, Lundbeck Korea 1

Transitions When How Style Introduction to Body Topic to Topic Topic to Subtopic Subtopic to Subtopic Body to Conclusion How Time Similarity Contrast Elaboration Cause-Effect Style For this second part of my 4 part presentation, I will talk about when to use transitions, and how to choose and use different types of transitions. Finally, I’ll show you how the style in which you present information can be a transition in itself. Presenting in English: Transitions 2

Topics and Subtopics Topic 1 Topic 2 Topic 3 3 Main Parts Subtopic A Subtopic B Subtopic C Topic 2 Topic 3 3 Main Parts 3 Main Points Each First of all, let me explain some terms. We break the body (introduction -> body -> conclusion) into topics, usually 3 of them. Then we support each topic with research, stories, opinions, etc. This support is called a subtopic. Presenting in English: Transitions - When 3

Intro → Topic 1 Topic 1 Already covered in introduction Make it clear that the information starts now Use words like “start”, “first”, “begin” The first place you need a transition is between the introduction and Topic 1. You talked about your main points in your introduction, so you don’t need to remind the audience what Topic 1 is. You can just start talking about it with a word or phrase using words like “start”, “first”, or “begin”. For more suggestions, look at the Presentation Phrasebook that can be found on the same page as this presentation on medsooda.wordpress.com. Presenting in English: Transitions - When 4

Topic 1 → Subtopic A Subtopic A New but related Research, opinion, etc. Mark transition from topic to subtopics Now that you’re into Topic 1, you want to go deeper with Subtopic A. Actually “sub-” means below, so you can imagine a submarine (below water) going down as you move from topic to subtopic. You can’t see as far in deeper water, but you can see more detail. You subtopic should focus on one aspect of your topic in detail. Mark the transition from topic to subtopics so people know you’re going deeper. I’ll tell you more about how to do that in the “how” section. Presenting in English: Transitions - When 5

Subtopic A → Subtopic B Subtopic B Related to Topic 1 and Subtopic A Stay on point with short transitions Use words like “another”, “also”, “on the other hand” When going from Subtopic A to Subtopic B, you don’t need really elaborate transitions, because the information is related. Just make it clear that you’re driving the submarine to a different spot at the same depth to look at a different set of related details. Using similarity or contrast single-word transitions is best, and again I’ll cover that in the “how” section. Presenting in English: Transitions - When 6

Topic 1 → Topic 2 Topic 1 Topic 2 Summarize Show how it relates to Topic 1 When going from Topic 1 to Topic 2, you’re actually going from Subtopic C up to Topic 1 and over to Topic 2. So, first you’ll want to summarize the most important points from your subtopics in one sentence, then choose a transition between Topic 1 and Topic 2 that shows their relationship. Again, this is in the “how” section. Then follow the same pattern as going from Topic 1 to Subtopic A and so on until you get to the… Presenting in English: Transitions - When 7

Topic 3 → Conclusion Topic 3 Conclusion Summarize Summarize all main points briefly One sentence is perfect Use a phrase like “In conclusion…”, “That covers everything I wanted to talk to you about today” … conclusion. Just like when moving between Topic 1 and Topic 2 (and also Topic 2 and Topic 3), summarize the things you want your audience to remember in one sentence. Then, go back up to the surface in your submarine and summarize all your main points from Topics 1, 2, and 3 as briefly as possible, tying them all together. The transition to the conclusion and the conclusion itself cross I na kind of gray area, so if you feel like this is not enough information, check out part 3: Conclusion. To mark the beginning of your conclusion, you can use one of those famous phrases like “in conclusion…”, or to mark the end of the body you can say something like “that covers everything I wanted to talk to you about today.” Presenting in English: Transitions - When 8

Transitions When How Style Introduction to Body Topic to Topic Topic to Subtopic Subtopic to Subtopic Body to Conclusion How Time Similarity Contrast Elaboration Cause-Effect Style Now that you know when to use transitions, we can move on to how to choose and use transitions. Hang on because this gets a little bit complicated. But don’t worry, I have examples for you. Presenting in English: Transitions - How 9

Time Events Ordered Lists Use words like “then”, “next”, “after” Organize in chronological order Ordered Lists Use similar words as time Organize in order of importance The simplest and perhaps most used type of transition are time words. You can use them when talking about time, of course, but did you know you can also use them when talking about ordered lists? If you organize a list of things in order of importance or some other clear order, you can use the same words you use for time. But, for experienced speakers, I suggest trying to use time words only as much as you use other types of transitions. This is because if you use too many time words it can sound elementary. Of course, that’s not a problem if your English isn’t excellent or if you’re not comfortable presenting. This is just a note to improve presentation quality for more advanced speakers. Presenting in English: Transitions - How 10

Similarity Similarity to previous point (backward) e.g. “Like Topic 1, Topic 2 focused on patients between the ages of 35 and 45.” Similarity to new information (forward) e.g. “The results we found in Subtopic B are similar to those that Fogle et al. found in their study, Subtopic C.” Another common and very useful type of transition is showing similarity. You can do this with just one or two words. What I mean in this and the coming slides by forward and backward is if you imagine sitting in your submarine as you move from one point to the next through the sentence, imagine moving your head to look at the location of information. If you look back, I call that backward, and if you look ahead, I call it forward. I made this up, so if it doesn’t make any sense to you, don’t worry. Just ignore it. Presenting in English: Transitions - How 11

Contrast Contrast with previous point (backward) e.g. “Unlike Topic 1, Topic 2 focused on patients between the ages of 35 and 45.” Contrast with new information (forward) e.g. “The results we found in Subtopic B are much different from those that Fogle et al. found in their study, Subtopic C.” Similarly simple to similarity, contrast shows a relationship where something is different and that difference is important. Presenting in English: Transitions - How 12

Elaboration Broader than previous point (backward) e.g. “Topic 3 has implications for doctors and patients alike, so action is needed. That’s why I have concluded from the results of my study that Conclusion.” More detailed new information (forward) e.g. “Topic 1 can be seen as the total of three different parts, Subtopic A, B, and C. Let me talk about Subtopic A a little.” Now we’re on to the more difficult ones that can’t be done with one word. You can shape a whole sentence to elaborate on a subject. You can elaborate by going broader, like stepping back from a painting to see the whole picture. Or you can go deeper, like stepping close to a painting to see the brushstrokes. These are good for moving between Topics and Subtopics as you imaginary submarine dives deeper and comes back up. I hope you like the submarine metaphor; otherwise, you probably want to punch me right now. Anyway, let’s move on. Presenting in English: Transitions - How 13

Cause-Effect Cause of previous point (backward) e.g. “We decided to structure the study Topic 1 because of some unanswered questions in an earlier study, Topic 2.” Cause of new information (forward) e.g. “The results of the Fogle et al. study, Subtopic B, raised some unanswered questions which we sought to answer with our own study, Subtopic C.” The final, and slightly easier to spot, transition is cause-effect. The difficult thing about showing cause and effect relationships is that the grammar can be difficult for people using English as a second language instead of a first. If you use the correct grammar but switch the things you want to talk about in the sentence, the audience can be very confused. If you’re not confident in your English, I suggest using simple phrases like “Because A, B.” or “A was caused by B.” For advanced speakers, this is a type of transition you can use to make your presentation sound more organized and well-informed, as well as varying the way your audience thinks, which keeps them awake a little longer. Presenting in English: Transitions - How 14

Presenting in English: Style When Introduction to Body Topic to Topic Topic to Subtopic Subtopic to Subtopic Body to Conclusion How Time Similarity Contrast Elaboration Cause-Effect Style Now that the boring part and the tough part are done, let’s move on to my favorite part, style. This will be hard to explain because I usually use my voice and body language to explain voice and body language, but I’ll do my best to make it understandable to readers. Presenting in English: Transitions - Style 15

Body Head (and face!) Arms Hands Legs Feet Throughout your presentation, and especially in transitions, your whole body speaks as loudly as your words. Let me explain this in detail from your head to your toes. Head (and face!): First of all, try to make eye contact with your audience as much as possible. If you can’t, look at their ears or the space just above their heads so it looks like you’re always looking at someone near them. You can use facial expressions and head position to indicate your opinions on the things you’re saying. For example, if I’m talking about something I’m not sure about, I can lift my eyebrows a little and tilt my head slightly to one side. You can also use your head along with your hand or laser pointer to gesture to a slide. But be careful not to talk to the slides. Your head is more noticeable when you use it the wrong way than when you use it the right way. The wrong way is looking at the floor, the slides, the ceiling, the wall, or only your notes. Another wrong way is blinking too much, twitching, or making no facial expressions at all (stone faced/poker face). Arms: Some people like to use pointers, but I prefer arms. This is because you can point things out, but the focus is still on you (not on a stick attached to you). This also goes for laser pointers. Don’t point out every word and flail lasers and sticks around. Use your arms for emphasis both by pointing out things on your presentation slides (just point in the right direction) and by moving your arms with your words when appropriate. Since I can’t show you readers, I suggest watching a TED talk or an old Steve Jobs speech for ideas of good body language. Again, arms are more obvious when wrong than right. Some wrong arms include constantly moving or never moving arms, crossed arms (looks defensive or aggressive), and arms stiff against your sides like a dead man. Hands: Of course, hands and arms work together. When you use your arm to point something out or show relationships, your hands design the emphasis or the relationship. To show a position of something on the board or screen, you can use a flat, open hand with your fingers together facing the audience, bringing your hand comfortably into place. To emphasize a point, use the same flat hand with the palm facing down, parallel to the floor, and put your hand into place quickly. See how different those are? Your hands are also great for showing relationships like elaboration, or for explaining difficult concepts in a visual way. Some wrong hands include: hands in your pockets, hands behind your back, shaking hands (hold them together in front of you and use them from time to time to hide the shaking), hands that fidget (playing with your hair, spinning rings, picking at fingernails), etc. Legs: Legs are more obvious when wrong than right, like when someone moves around too much, sways back and forth, or shakes one of their legs, making their whole body shake. But legs can also be the best transitions. If you have room to walk around, move a little every time you make an important transition. The difference is huge. If I’m using time transitions, I can start on one side of the stage and take one or two steps to the other every time I make a transition. Then I’m a human timeline and I keep moving and keeping the audience awake without being distracting. Feet: Like arms and hands, legs and feet work together. The best place for your feet is planted confidently right below your shoulders facing the audience so your back is straight and your chin up. Confidence comes from posture, and posture starts at your feet. You can be really nervous, but if your feet are planted the right way you’ll look and feel like you know what you’re doing. Wrong feet include: any feet not facing the audience unless you are walking at the moment. If your feet are facing the audience, you can’t talk to the wall or your slides. That is a good thing. You should talk to the audience. Face your feet where your voice should go. Speaking of your voice… Presenting in English: Transitions - Style 16

Voice Pause Pitch Tone Volume … the other aspect of style is voice. The two most important things to keep in mind are pause and pitch. Pause: If you speak continuously, people fall asleep and/or can’t feel any organization in your presentation. Use pauses as transitions and to highlight important information. Remember to have short pauses at the ends of your sentences, too. Make sure not to pause in awkward places. The general rule is that if it has a comma or period (full stop) in writing, you should pause in speaking. For transitions, use a longer pause to signal the end of one subject and the beginning of another. Pitch: The pitch of your voice is how high or low it sounds. Lowering the pitch at the end of a sentence, pausing, then starting the next sentence with a higher pitch can be a transition without needing any transition words. A big pitch don’t: monotone. Even if your English is not great, try to vary the pitch a little at least. If that’s not possible, use pauses a lot. Tone and volume are more obvious when they’re wrong. Use your normal speaking voice. Some people get in front of people and sound like a different, rather strange person. As for volume, always make sure everyone can hear you but nobody’s ears are in pain. That’s the basics for style. Why don’t we try to put words and style together? Presenting in English: Transitions - Style 17

Put It All Together When How Style Introduction to Topic 1 How Elaboration (forward) Style Body: gesture to .ppt slide briefly Voice: Lower pitch, pause, start with higher pitch “Let’s start by taking a look at the recorded prevalence of psychological disorders in Korea. // There are three agencies that report these statistics, so I will give you the figures from all three for each point I cover.” Why not try this? Read the transition at the bottom. Lower the pitch of your voice between “disorders” and “Korea” so that the end of “Korea” is the lowest. Pause at the “//” and gesture to an imaginary slide behind you, but don’t take more than a second to do this. Remember, talk to the audience, not your slides! Raise the pitch of your voice on the word “three” and slowly lower it all the way to “cover”. Do you feel like a good presenter? Try it a few times, and make some of your own if you like. Presenting in English: Transitions - Practice 18

Kristin Magruder, Lundbeck Korea Presenting in English Part 2: Transitions That’s all for the second part of this 4 part presentation. For more, visit medsooda.wordpress.com Kristin Magruder, Lundbeck Korea 19