The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write It * How to Deliver It

From here to there

One of the marks of a professional writer is the ability to move smoothly from one subject to another—in other words, to use transitions effectively.

Good transitions are important in any kind of writing, but especially in speeches. If you're writing an article or a book, you can use subheads, bullets, or other typographical devices to tell the reader you're changing subjects—as I have done throughout this book.

In a speech, you must find other ways to make your transitions. Sometimes a slightly exaggerated pause or emphasis of a word or phrase serves as a transition. Pauses and emphases are the punctuation of speech: A short pause is a comma, a longer pause is a period. An even longer one might be equated with a typographical ...