The Presenter's Edge
What is it that makes a speaker captivating? What is it that compels you to to listen further, to be enthralled by the speaker, the words, the meaning and the message?
What is it that elevates public speaking from a level of skill to a level of art? And how can you develop that artistry- the presenter’s edge?
To stimulate the audience to action, to enchant, inform, persuade and transport the listener to new unchartered realms, learn to use spoken language and stylistic devices.
Think about the memorable quotes that remain embedded in your mind. Was it Steve Jobs’, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”? Was it Churchill’s, “I have nothing to offer but blood , toil, tears and sweat.”? Or Pierre Trudeau’s, “There is no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.”? Many can recite J.F.Kennedy’s , “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” Martin Luther King was a master of the use of stylistic devices. His phrases , “I have a dream” and “I have been to the mountain top,” forever resonate with us.
A well-turned phrase remains embedded in our minds.
S.I. Hayakawa in “Language in Thought and Action” says, “Like snakes under the influence of a snake charmer’s flute, we are swayed by the musical phrases of the verbal hypnotist”.
You, too, can capture and retain the attention of your audience by becoming a verbal hypnotist. Here’s how:
Plan your talk, revisit your content and find spots where you can enhance your message and use stylistic devices. The stylistic devices we will discuss include onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, metaphors, simile, analogy, repetition and antithesis.
1. Device number one is my all time favourite - onomatopoeia. Why? Perhaps it’s because it contains so many vowels. (Perhaps it’s because the meaning of the word defies accurate explanation.)Onomatopoeia is the use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning. Say this aloud, “ The plane flew in the sky.” Now say, “The plane zoomed through the darkening sky.” The second phrase engages the listener’s auditory sense through the use of the word ‘zoomed.” (The use of the word ‘darkening’ appeals to our visual sense.)
“Klunk! Klick! Every trip!” This onomatopoeic phrase was used effectively in a U.K commercial to encourage the use of seatbelts.
Even the word “Twitter”, an onomatopoeic word, reflects the short, sharp energy it embodies when one speaks it. No wonder Twitter is confined to 140 characters.
Hear the words of Churchill when he reflected upon the Battle of Somme where nearly 20,000 British soldiers were killed. He spoke about the young army, “Struggling forward through the mire and filth of the trenches, across the corps-strewn crater fields, amid the flaring, crashing, blasting barrages and murderous machine-gun fire,…”
When a speaker uses onomatopoeia, he/she writes for the listener’s ear.
2. Many famous addresses include examples of alliteration, which is the repetition of the same consonant sound in words or syllables succeeding each other at close intervals.
Pierre Trudeau, a dynamic speaker, used the power of alliteration in Montreal in 1969 when he said, “Don’t drop out, drop in. Don’t cop out complete.”
Hilary Clinton spoke of a “ fairer and freer world.”
When Princess Diana died, her brother Charles Spencer delivered a tribute to his sister at her funeral and stated, “I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.”
3. Whereas alliteration is the repetition of the consonant sounds, assonance is the repetition of the vowel sounds. Vowel laden words can evoke a mood, a place or a memory, as in, “ On the battlefield, the low moans and groans were heard over and over.” Spoken aloud, you hear how effective the use of the o sound is in creating a mood.
4. The fourth device is analogy which is a comparison between two things that are normally unlike each other. Martin Sheen used analogy while pondering the casualties of war in the film, Apocalypse Now. He stated, “ Charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.”
5. Metaphors are implied comparisons. When Pierre Trudeau spoke at the National Press Club in Washington in 1969, he referred to the United States in this way, “ Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant: no matter how friendly and even tempered is the beast- if I may call it that- one is affected by every twitch and grunt. Even a friendly nuzzling can sometimes lead to frightening consequences.” This metaphor paints a picture of our powerful neighbour in a way that a simple description would not. Note how Trudeau also used the onomatopoeic words, twitch and grunt.
6. Churchill, the brilliant orator and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953,used reptiles as his favourite simile when he referred to the Nazis, “The Nazis are like boa constrictors that first befoul their victim with their filthy spray of their propaganda before they engorge it.”
How can you surpass his use of stylistic devices when you identify his use of personification when he writes,“.. anxiety will make its abode in our brain..” ?
Other examples of stylistic devices Churchill used are too numerous to quote, yet here are some noteworthy ones: , his use of alliteration in, “ The voice has been swiftly stilled.” ;and“ victory after all the hazards and hearbreaks .”; his use of short, sharp sentences in, “ Repair the waste. Rebuild the ruins. Heal the wounds. Crown the victors. Comfort the broken and broken hearted. There is the battle we have now to fight.” There is the victory we have now to win. Let us go forward together.”
You, too can become a captivating speaker by creating and using stylistic devices.Be creative. Write them. Insert them into the initial draft of your presentation. Then listen back to hear how much impact they add to your message. You will have developed the Presenter’s Edge.
by Melanie Novis
