Political Rhetoric as Predictable as an Episode of 'Law & Order'
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=78&aid=149447
Political oratory in America has become as predictable as an episode of "Law & Order."
The writer at Poynter who penned the above observation is being more than a little critical of the formulaic convention speeches. My guess is the criticism is well deserved. At the same time, if you take a perspective of the need for getting your message out, for meeting the needs of the audience for both style and content and you accept that generally Americans find rhetoric or speeches or speechifying boring, maybe the speech creators and makers could do a lot worse than follow the Law and Order formula. Law and Order has been running on American television a lot of years. Maybe it is the predictability of the story line that keeps the viewers coming back. And, one thing most of our politicians require is that potential voters keep coming back so they will ultimately make take the major action -- pressing the button in the voting booth. Remember, voting is something that far too many Americans also find aggravating, annoying and ..................................
So, I am thinking that if the audience finds the formula working for their understanding I may continue to point out to public speaking students because they ultimate goal is to get and keep the voting audience involved.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
One other time I have mentioned the blog, Presentation Zen, and tonight I was reading over the latest post and thought it would be good to recommend again. He is discussing a documentary called "Comedian" and there are thoughts this documentary demonstrates the creative process, the artistic process and, in so doing, the speaking process. If you are thinking about getting some out-of-th-box thoughts about public speaking, I am going to suggest you watch the Comedian and tell if you thought it was useful in demonstrating some of the key areas of preparing for a presentation.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Fun Toastmaster Meeting
The Hartsville Toastmasters had a fun and interesting meeting this past Monday. There was a ceremony for the installation of officers and then the new president, getting into the next level of communication challenges, presented a roast of Dr.Andrew Jackson, the club's first president.
Toastmasters is a fantastic opportunity for members to help each become better at public speaking very quickly and to become more effective small-group leaders. Anyone wanting to improve their speaking, listening and leading can find no better value than Toastmasters. The fun and fellowship is free.
Toastmasters is a fantastic opportunity for members to help each become better at public speaking very quickly and to become more effective small-group leaders. Anyone wanting to improve their speaking, listening and leading can find no better value than Toastmasters. The fun and fellowship is free.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Public Speaking, a real-world skill
One of my former students, Whitney Watts, forwarded the following link to me about the worst things to say in a job interview. We try to discuss the job interview process and the job hunt process in several classes I teach in the communication major. One place we spend a lot of time on the subject of finding a job being one of the hardest jobs you will ever have is the Senior Seminar. Whitney just graduate and remembers some of those discussion. This CNN link is pretty on target:
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Saturday, June 21, 2008
Persuasion is something we do all the time
We get into public speaking courses (and I team a lot of them) and people begin to think that the assignments required are complicated classroom things when in reality they are assignments aimed at helping us become more effective communications in the real world.
Persuasion is one case in point. There are all kinds of courses that teach about persuasion from persuasion in public speaking to persuasion in psychology to advertising. And the thing all have in common are courses to help the student become either more fluent with the skill or more able to resist the persuasion aimed in her/his direction.
Persuasion is taking a point of view and trying to either get others to share that view and often take action on that view or, at a minimum, become more open to the idea that this different point of view exists and may even have some merit. In practical terms, you want to see "Get Smart" your friend wants to city "Sex in the City". The negotiation that results in the movie that you see involves persuasion. For many of us, persuasion is a skill we want to be even better at. For those who are already good, becoming better might allow those persuasion skills to reach more people, maybe to donate to the education of displaced children in Uganda money for some important cause in your community. www.displacedcommunities.org
Persuasion is one case in point. There are all kinds of courses that teach about persuasion from persuasion in public speaking to persuasion in psychology to advertising. And the thing all have in common are courses to help the student become either more fluent with the skill or more able to resist the persuasion aimed in her/his direction.
Persuasion is taking a point of view and trying to either get others to share that view and often take action on that view or, at a minimum, become more open to the idea that this different point of view exists and may even have some merit. In practical terms, you want to see "Get Smart" your friend wants to city "Sex in the City". The negotiation that results in the movie that you see involves persuasion. For many of us, persuasion is a skill we want to be even better at. For those who are already good, becoming better might allow those persuasion skills to reach more people, maybe to donate to the education of displaced children in Uganda money for some important cause in your community. www.displacedcommunities.org
Friday, June 13, 2008
Almost everything you would want to read
A friend of mine provided this link, which aggregates a great deal of discussion about public speaking. You will find it useful!
They have a new Speaking page (http://speaking.alltop.com/). I was reading somewhere else that Guy Kawasuki(sp) is the person responsible for the Alltop aggregate sites. And, another one that I like is http://www. presentationzen.com
They have a new Speaking page (http://speaking.alltop.com/). I was reading somewhere else that Guy Kawasuki(sp) is the person responsible for the Alltop aggregate sites. And, another one that I like is http://www. presentationzen.com
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Importance of research skills in real world
When I teach the public speaking classes at Coker College, I nearly always start out with telling the students the class will be one of the most important they will take in their college career. I make immediate connection to their personal bottom line and how it will be enhanced if they will allow themselves to become comfortable speakers and then work themselves to become competent speakers.
A major element of speaking is your message. A good message comes in several layers and generally those layers are not accessible to the speaker without some pretty in-depth research. It was Cicero who gave us the five arts that compose the great art of Rhetoric and we hear a lot about the layers of speaking in those five arts. A more recent writer and business guru writes a lot about how people develop and use influence. I just read a short article by Mr. Dilenschneider in the quarterly publication of the Public Relations Society of America – THE STRATEGIST. His observation, I think, adds some weight to the argument for developing good public speaking skills, which include excellent message-development skills. If felt like a good idea to share his thoughts.
Here are some words from a man named Robert Dilenschneider, a major figure in the public relations business. He wrote a book recently called "Power and Influence: The Rules Have Changed." In an article in THE STRATEGIST, a public relations publication, he says:
"Specifically, anyone who wishes to be a power player must build certain strengths. One of them is the ability to do exhaustive research. Thanks to search engines, the tools are there to do what used to take days in minutes. It's truly remarkable. But, one should always remember that information, however massive and deep, does not necessarily equate to knowledge. You need to know what to do with the data you glean." Page 25, The Strategist, Spring 2008I shared this with my current public speaking class so they can see that the classroom skills are really life-journey skills. Dilenshcneider’s corporate sited is http://www.dilenschneider.com/ .
A major element of speaking is your message. A good message comes in several layers and generally those layers are not accessible to the speaker without some pretty in-depth research. It was Cicero who gave us the five arts that compose the great art of Rhetoric and we hear a lot about the layers of speaking in those five arts. A more recent writer and business guru writes a lot about how people develop and use influence. I just read a short article by Mr. Dilenschneider in the quarterly publication of the Public Relations Society of America – THE STRATEGIST. His observation, I think, adds some weight to the argument for developing good public speaking skills, which include excellent message-development skills. If felt like a good idea to share his thoughts.
Here are some words from a man named Robert Dilenschneider, a major figure in the public relations business. He wrote a book recently called "Power and Influence: The Rules Have Changed." In an article in THE STRATEGIST, a public relations publication, he says:
"Specifically, anyone who wishes to be a power player must build certain strengths. One of them is the ability to do exhaustive research. Thanks to search engines, the tools are there to do what used to take days in minutes. It's truly remarkable. But, one should always remember that information, however massive and deep, does not necessarily equate to knowledge. You need to know what to do with the data you glean." Page 25, The Strategist, Spring 2008I shared this with my current public speaking class so they can see that the classroom skills are really life-journey skills. Dilenshcneider’s corporate sited is http://www.dilenschneider.com/ .
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