Lend Me Your Ears - Prof. Max Atkinson
study those speakers who most inspire you. Enthusiasm is key.
simplicity, brevity and clairty -
- a speakers job is to summarise and give life to main points
- key to effective speaking is an objective understanding of the needs of your listeners. - having a sense of sequence and structure plays an important role in helping us to make sense of what we're hearing.
- win 'minor victories' by interacting more directly with the audience - best forms being laughter and audience participation.
- look out and make strong eye contact with the audience
- pause with purpose - allow audience to take things in one chunk at a time --> sometimes pausing at counter-intuitive places like between an adverb and a verb can be very effective
With a little advanced planning, it's easy enough to produce dynamic effects with chalk and talk - writing on a flip chart helps audiences follow an argument. It not only constrains speakers to develop their arguments at a comfortable pace for the audience, but can also convey an impression of authority, spontaneity and liveliness.
Rhetorical techniques
1. contrasts - contradictions (not this but that), comparisons (more this than that), opposites (black or white), phrase reversals and repetition, balance and anticipation
2. puzzles and questions - puzzle-solution formats, rhetorical questions
3. lists of three - give the impression of completeness
4. combined formats <-- obviously have an even greater impact. (see pages 198 - 210)
Painting words with pictures
1. imagery, poetics and the oral tradition
2. everyday imagery
3. similies, metaphors, analogies
4. anecdotes <-- importance of stories. People with reputations as effective speakers invariably excel at using illustrative anecdotes to get their points across - hardly ever take more than a minute to deliver.
Being an effective speaker goes beyond deciding what to say to working out how to say it in a way that's most likely to appeal to your audience.
Using 'for example...' people's heads and eyes move upwards in anticipation of what is to come. Following it up with an illustrative anecdote shows a degree of sensitivity and responsiveness to the audience's problem of understanding. Focus is on making them truly remember 1 key message.
Checklist
1. analysing the audience
2. brainstorming the topic
3. creating the structure
4. saying it creatively
5. creating the visual aids
6. rehearsal
7. preparing for question time
