If you've arrived here from the BBC website, a very warm welcome to the Blog. If you haven't, you might like to see the article that's been sending quite a lot of people here since earlier today.
One important rhetorical technique that wasn't mentioned in Denise Waterman's piece on the BBC website, is what I refer to in my books and courses as the Puzzle-Solution format. It's based on the very simple principle that, if you say something that gets the audience wondering what's coming next, they'll listen more attentively and, if it's a good 'solution', they'll applaud it.
An example I often use when teaching is from a speech that Ronald Reagan made when declaring his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980. What's puzzling is why this should be a moment of 'mixed emotions' for him:
PUZZLE: This is a moment for quite some mixed emotions for me.
SOLUTION: I haven't been on prime-time television for quite a while.
Another of my favorite examples comes from a speech by William Hague when he was leader of the Conservative Party.
This one poses as big a puzzle as anyone who knows anything about the recent history of British politics could ever pose, namely the suggestion that former Tory prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and Edward Heath could actually agree on something in a debate about Europe.
To appreciate the solution, it also helps to know that, on the previous day, the conference stage had been furnished with some chairs supplied by the Swedish furniture company IKEA:
PUZZLE: Ted and Margaret came on to the platform for the debate on Europe yesterday and they were both in instant agreement.
SOLUTION: They both hated those chairs.
COMBINING RHETORICAL TECHNIQUES
Something else not mentioned in the post on the BBC website is the way in which you can combine rhetorical techniques to achieve greater impact.
In this clip, from the 1987 UK general election, Mrs Thatcher poses a metaphorical puzzle (why is the Labour party's manifesto going to be like an iceberg), the solution to which comes in the form of a simple contrast:
PUZZLE: From the Labour Party expect the iceberg manifesto.
SOLUTION:
[A] One tenth of its socialism visible.
[B] Nine tenths beneath the surface.
BBC rediscovers the 'Lost Art of Oratory' (again)
An interesting feature of today's post about oratory on the BBC website is that it doesn't say anything about why it should be appearing today, or any other day for that matter.
I say this because, as I've noted before, the BBC, like other media outlets, has systematically reduced the numbers of speeches they show on television over the past twenty years, which I regard as a worrying trend. You can see more on this in earlier postings on this blog, including Obama’s rhetoric renews UK media in the ‘lost art’ of oratory.
And the title of that is what I would bet inspired Denise Waterman, and/or whoever it was at the BBC who commissioned the piece, to write about a subject that they'd probably never have bothered with in the pre-Obama era.
So a few months ago Alan Yentob, who in his former job at the BBC played a part in taking speeches off the air, suddenly became interested in the subject, probably to justify the expense of sending so many staff to Washington for Obama's inauguration - on which, see ‘The Lost Art of Oratory’ by a BBC executive who helped to lose it in the first place.
If you'd like to learn more about Obama's techniqes, the following posts include line-by-line analyses:
Rhetoric and imagery in Obama’s victory speech
Rhetoric and imagery in President Obama’s inauguration speech
There are quite a lot of other posts about him on the blog, and the easiest way to access them is either to type his name (or that of any other politician you might be interested in) into the search box on the left, or to go to my business website where there's a complete list of posts (and direct links to them) since the blog began.
I say this because, as I've noted before, the BBC, like other media outlets, has systematically reduced the numbers of speeches they show on television over the past twenty years, which I regard as a worrying trend. You can see more on this in earlier postings on this blog, including Obama’s rhetoric renews UK media in the ‘lost art’ of oratory.
And the title of that is what I would bet inspired Denise Waterman, and/or whoever it was at the BBC who commissioned the piece, to write about a subject that they'd probably never have bothered with in the pre-Obama era.
So a few months ago Alan Yentob, who in his former job at the BBC played a part in taking speeches off the air, suddenly became interested in the subject, probably to justify the expense of sending so many staff to Washington for Obama's inauguration - on which, see ‘The Lost Art of Oratory’ by a BBC executive who helped to lose it in the first place.
If you'd like to learn more about Obama's techniqes, the following posts include line-by-line analyses:
Rhetoric and imagery in Obama’s victory speech
Rhetoric and imagery in President Obama’s inauguration speech
There are quite a lot of other posts about him on the blog, and the easiest way to access them is either to type his name (or that of any other politician you might be interested in) into the search box on the left, or to go to my business website where there's a complete list of posts (and direct links to them) since the blog began.
Welcome to visitors from the BBC website
Other bloggers, authors and anyone else interested in the impact of different links on the number of hits you get and/or how many books you sell may like to know that I'll be monitoring these things quite closely today.
This is because I was interviewed last week for an article that's just appeared on the BBC website.
As with all such contacts, you never quite know what they'll make of whatever it was you managed to splutter out from wherever you happened to be when they called - in this case from my mobile phone somewhere in the depths of Wiltshire. But one thing I do know from previous mentions by the BBC is that they usually generate a sudden and dramatic surge in traffic.
Regular readers can watch this space for a periodic updates on progress (if any).
And, if you've just arrived here from a link from the BBC web, a very warm welcome to the blog.
If you want to find out more about speech-making and communication, you'll be able to find plenty more about it here, some of it topical, some historical and much of it illustrated with suitably selected video clips.
I hope you'll find it interesting enough to become a regular visitor, and perhaps even introduce any of your friends who might also want to know more about the subject.
If you want to learn more about speechwriting, why not join the UK Speechwriters' Guild?
And, if you're interested in writing speeches and/or making speeches and presentations, my books on the subject are available from Amazon at very reasonable prices by clicking on the boxes at the top of the page.
This is because I was interviewed last week for an article that's just appeared on the BBC website.
As with all such contacts, you never quite know what they'll make of whatever it was you managed to splutter out from wherever you happened to be when they called - in this case from my mobile phone somewhere in the depths of Wiltshire. But one thing I do know from previous mentions by the BBC is that they usually generate a sudden and dramatic surge in traffic.
Regular readers can watch this space for a periodic updates on progress (if any).
And, if you've just arrived here from a link from the BBC web, a very warm welcome to the blog.
If you want to find out more about speech-making and communication, you'll be able to find plenty more about it here, some of it topical, some historical and much of it illustrated with suitably selected video clips.
I hope you'll find it interesting enough to become a regular visitor, and perhaps even introduce any of your friends who might also want to know more about the subject.
If you want to learn more about speechwriting, why not join the UK Speechwriters' Guild?
And, if you're interested in writing speeches and/or making speeches and presentations, my books on the subject are available from Amazon at very reasonable prices by clicking on the boxes at the top of the page.
D-Day memorabilia: from Normandy to Lüneburg
I've just been sorting through an old suitcase that belonged to my late father-in-law, who, by the time he landed in Normandy in 1944, had been promoted from Private to Major in the Pioneer Corps.
One of the things I'd never seen before was an official regimental Christmas card for 1944 (above). Inside, there's a map of their journey towards Lüneburg Heath, where he ended up running a refugee camp after the war ended.
But I'm not sure what the numbers on the back cover refer to. They start six months before D-Day and could perhaps be the numbers of soldiers killed during the different periods. If anyone can shed any light on this, do let me know so that I can pass on a fuller story to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
There's also a scrap of paper with his neatly written personal record of his journey to Lüneburg Heath:
Some of the entries include addresses, presumably of where they were billeted, and I was amazed to see a reference to La Hulpe, just outside Brussels - because, 45 years later, I went to the same place to give some lectures at an IBM training complex that's now become a hotel and conference centre.
More on body language & non verbal behavior
A few weeks ago, Olivia Mitchell got quite a debate going on the blogosphere about some of the more ridiculous claims that have been circulating as 'facts' about the allegedly overwhelming importance of non-verbal factors in communication.
I've found the way the debate has been going very encouraging, not least because I've been banging on about these myths for years and had a go at debunking some of them in my book Lend Me Your Ears: All You Need to Know about Making Speeches and Presentations, which included some email exchanges with the originator of the myth discussed by Olivia Mitchell and in a video that's just appeared on YouTube (see below).
Whether or not what I wrote five years ago had anything to do with inspiring others to start addressing such issues, I don't know. Nor do I really care, because what really matters is that the tide finally seems to be moving in a more sensible direction - which might help to save thousands of people from being mislead into a state of needless anxiety by so-called 'experts' in the field.
If you're interested in the subject, related postings on this blog, including various cartoons and video clips, can inspected by clicking on any of the following.
• Non-verbal communication
• How to use video to study body language, verbal and non-verbal communication
• Margaret Thatcher, body language and non-verbal communication
• Body language and non-verbal communication video
• Another body language & non-verbal communication cartoon
• Body language, non-verbal behaviour and the myth about folded arms and defensiveness
• Body language and non-verbal communication
You might also enjoy the following video that's just been posted on YouTube about one of the most preposterous myths of all.
I've found the way the debate has been going very encouraging, not least because I've been banging on about these myths for years and had a go at debunking some of them in my book Lend Me Your Ears: All You Need to Know about Making Speeches and Presentations, which included some email exchanges with the originator of the myth discussed by Olivia Mitchell and in a video that's just appeared on YouTube (see below).
Whether or not what I wrote five years ago had anything to do with inspiring others to start addressing such issues, I don't know. Nor do I really care, because what really matters is that the tide finally seems to be moving in a more sensible direction - which might help to save thousands of people from being mislead into a state of needless anxiety by so-called 'experts' in the field.
If you're interested in the subject, related postings on this blog, including various cartoons and video clips, can inspected by clicking on any of the following.
• Non-verbal communication
• How to use video to study body language, verbal and non-verbal communication
• Margaret Thatcher, body language and non-verbal communication
• Body language and non-verbal communication video
• Another body language & non-verbal communication cartoon
• Body language, non-verbal behaviour and the myth about folded arms and defensiveness
• Body language and non-verbal communication
You might also enjoy the following video that's just been posted on YouTube about one of the most preposterous myths of all.
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