Next level communicators always tie their “shoe laces”.
Next level communicators always tie their “shoe laces”.
Every year a few people are born without certain ligaments in their bodies (2 out of 100,000). This is a condition known as agenesis, and is mainly seen in people who are missing knee ligaments. While not threatening, if untreated it will prevent a person from being able to sit or even walk. When it comes to the body, while our bones provide our structure, our ligaments are essential to us being able to function.
Today I want to talk to you about transitions. Think of them as the ligaments to our messages.
Most communicators focus their energy on the outline, or the skeletal system to their presentation. What so many neglect is to give careful thought to the ligaments or transitions to their messages. Structure without transitions will come across as awkward, out of place and robbing our presentations of clarity.
Think of it this way: A shoe without shoe laces. The shoe is the basic structure, while the shoe laces pull the structure together into one tight cohesive unit, allowing a person to walk and run in comfort. Without the shoe laces, the shoe is pretty much useless.
We’ve talked before about a basic structure to a message. In case you have forgotten, here’s the skeletal system I use for every talk I give:
Introduction
Felt Need
Body of the message:
Explanation
Illustration
Application
Conclusion
When I move from major point to major point, I always, and I mean always, use the shoe laces of transition to reach back to my previous point to tie into the next point. That’s what transitions do, they take what was just said and connect to what you are about to say. And the secret sauce of transitions- the reason why they are so effective- is when they are done well, they make the message feel more like a seamless narrative, instead of a didactic, point by point presentation.
Maybe this example will help. Recently, I was preaching on the Holy Spirit, and Paul’s command to the Ephesians to be “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). My point was that the filling of the Spirit means to allow Him to control you. Key word is control. “When you think of control,” I said, “Think of a person who brings a designated driver with them to the bar or a party. At some point the person will become drunk, and the designated driver will hold out their hands, and in so many words will say, ‘Give me the keys.’ In essence, what they are saying is, ‘Give me control’. And they are not doing this to hurt or harm or manipulate you, just the opposite, they are doing it for your good. In the same way,” I said, “The Holy Spirit is saying to each one of us, ‘Give me the keys. Give me control of your tongue. Give me control of your attitude. Give me control of your finances. Give me control of your marriage. What is in your life that you have yet to give Him control?” Notice how I moved from illustration to application seamlessly, by using the transition, “In the same way the Holy Spirit is saying to each one of us.” There was no abrupt leap from illustration to application, just a smooth shift, through the use of transitions.
Here’s a few things I’ve found helpful when thinking through transitions:
Skeletons before ligaments. Build your outline first, and then think through transitions.
Study Comedians. Comedians are masters at transitions. I watch them all the time not just for a good laugh, but to see how they use their “shoe laces”. I would actually encourage you to watch a few of them solely from the vantage point of how they use transitions. Everything they do is geared around setting the audience up for the punchline.
Think 2 + 2. After I have my outline, I then write my message out, and what I always do is I think 2 + 2. What this means is that I will always use the last two sentences of my current point to serve as a bridge or transition into the first two sentences of my next point. In other words, as I’m writing the last two lines of explanation for a point, I’m thinking of the first two lines of my next paragraph which is the illustration. These “shoe laces” help me to tighten things between one point to the next in an intentional way.
What I’m Reading:
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