Using Language Efficiently I

Using Language

-Choosing the right words is crucial to creating a dynamic connection with your audience and helping listeners understand, believe in, and retain your message.

-Style is the specific word choices and rhetorical devices (techniques of language) speakers use to express their ideas.

1. Prepare your speeches for the ear.

Unlike readers, listeners have only 1 chance to understand a spoken message.

2. Strive For Simplicity

Translate jargon into commonly understood terms.

For example:

"Good hard simple words with good hard clear meanings are good things to use when you speak. They are like pickets in a fence, slim and unimpressive on their own but sturdy and effective when strung together." - speechwriter Peggy Noonan notes in Simply Speaking.

3. Be Concise (To The point!)

-Try to use fewer rather than more words to express your thoughts.

-Use shorter rather than longer sentences.

-Compare these two sentences. Which would you rather hear?

"It is difficult to believe that the United States government is attempting to tax us at every level of our personal and professional lives, whether it be capital gains taxes, value-added taxes, or, of course, your favorite and mine: income taxes."

"It's hard to believe but true. The U.S. government is taxing us to death. It's got its hands in every conceivable pocket. Capital gains tax. Value-added taxes. And, of course, your favorite and mine: income taxes."

4. Make Frequent Use Of Repetition

-Repetition adds emphasis to important ideas, helps listeners follow your logic, and imbues language with rhythm and drama.

-To make your speech come alive, experiment with phrases and sentence fragments in place of full sentences.

For example:

"I'm just a simple bone-and-joint guy. I can set your broken bones. Take away your bunions. Even give you a new hip. But I don't mess around with the stuff between your ears...That's another specialty." - physician

5. Use Personal Pronouns

The direct form of address (we, us, I, you) draws audience into message.

:)ChelseyLeilaniNatividad