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Transitioning Speakers

Speaker transitions can be made more smooth and effective by:

1. Having the current speaker, we’ll call her Jane, introduce the upcoming speaker: “I’d now like to have Bob Jenson, your Project Superintendent come up and discuss our phasing plan.”
2. As the speakers pass each other, make sure they make eye contact, smile and acknowledge each other.  Nothing looks worse than two speakers failing to acknowledge each other particularly if you want to convey that they have a solid working relationship.
3. When Bob gets up to the front, he should say, “As Jane mentioned, I’m Bob and as your Superintendent, I will be making sure we stay on schedule by phasing the work as follows…”

This may seem redundant since Jane and Bob both state his name and title, though slightly differently.  The reason this is actually a smart thing is because your selection panel is going to meet a lot of people on interview day.  As a result, you can’t expect them to remember everyone’s name and role on the project with a single introduction.

This technique shows team chemistry but also helps your selection panel remember your team members.