Use signposting to guide people through content

- Have you heard of sign posting? This is one of the things that great communicators do. It's more than just knowing your subject well. It's being able to guide people through the structure of what you're saying so people can easily digest it and follow along. This is simple, but the results are pretty powerful. Let's say you're giving a presentation. One way to sign post is to repeat points that are particularly heavy or dense. If you just shared a busy graph full of data, you might say, "Let me repeat the key takeaway here. "Buyers want more X than Y." Another way to sign post is to make connections and callbacks. Here you weave in a point you made earlier to help people synthesize information. You might say, "I already pointed out X earlier in my presentation. "Now keep X in mind as we look at Y." Sign posting also helps when you're wrapping up one topic and ready to address another. You can help people transition by saying, "All right, let's move on to a different issue." Or, "Now, let's change gears and look at X." Remember, great communicators are like good tour guides. They orient us to where we are, anticipate the road ahead, and help us move from one place to the next with ease. The best communicators don't just know their topic. They guide people through the content and they bring the audience along.