TECHNIQUES FOR SPEAKERS the top ten

1. Tell them technique. Many presenters rate the effectiveness of the Tell them technique. It has 3 main components. The first stage involves us telling our audience what we are about to tell them, the second phase has us telling the audience and the third and final stage involves us telling the audience what we have just told them. Simple indeed. Effectively it's a repetition technique and something that has echoes in many other rhetorical devices.
   

2. Stepping stone or way marker technique. Once we have prepared the working objectives for our presentation it should be very easy to use this technique. It involves us plotting stepping stones or markers that readily identify where we are in a presentation. Our main presentation points are plotted at the beginning and the end of our presentation structure. Our two lesser points are then plotted between them – effectively bridging the two main points. By following the logical steps we reach the conclusion.
   

3. Acrostic technique. This sounds painful but is in fact very easy to prepare. It is a technique, used by many speakers, that dates back millennia – certainly to the ancient Greeks. Using what is essentially a word puzzle the speaker employs a technique for spelling out the theme of a presentation plus its major defining points. Using either the first, middle, last or consecutive letters of a word in a line allows the speaker to spell out a major theme. Here is an example from a quality management presentation:
   
   * Ethos
   
   * E -- Excellence
   
   * Th -- Thoroughness
   
   * O -- Openness
   
   * S -- Success
   
   It is a very powerful technique that has great value for subsequent audience recall.
   
4. Anecdote and story technique. Who can deny the power of New Testament parables or the fables of Aesop. Stories have been used throughout history to commend a course of action or explanation. And today is no different. Yes, they are most appropriate for presentations with a moral foundation but they are equally at home in presentations dedicated to customer service, loyalty and team work. The short management text, "Gung Ho!", by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles is a collection of such stories.
   

5. Problem, cause, solution technique. This technique could be paraphrased as the what, so what, now what technique. It enables the speaker to map out a problem that is well known to the audience, detail its causes and then expound on a solution. Exploring the underlying causes of a problem gives room for sub-points. A variant might include a set of competing solutions to the problem, an appraisal of their relative strengths and a conclusion with a best-fit proposal.
   

6. Analogy technique. With an analogy we use something that is familiar to our audience to either drape over the unfamiliar or support the evidence of the unfamiliar. For an audience of telecoms executives one might reference the business of customer service to that of a mobile handset. Where we have signal strength we need trained staff; where we have a lithium polymer battery we need motivated people and where we have clear screen technology we need staff incentives...and so on. The analogy gives us the opportunity to paint a well known familiar picture to which we hook some less known points. We leave it to our audience to make the obvious associations.
   

7. Logical technique – dilemma. Logical structures are the rhetorical devices of old. Long taught and much admired, there is a tendency to overlook them because of their familiarity – not least because of their use in courtroom drama. With the dilemma technique we supply logical, reasoned proof that an alternative viewpoint or proposition is invalid. Today it might be labelled evidence-based policy/ practice.
   

8. Logical technique – deductive logic. Here we make two proposals or statements; one is primary and the other is secondary. Each statement has a common element. We then make a third statement that can be logically implied by the other two statements. Here is an example:
   
   * All managers have hidden talents
   
   * You are a manager
   
   * Therefore you have hidden talents
   
   It is a powerful device that is easily followed by an audience.
   

9. Logical technique – inductive logic. With this technique we can arrive at a generalization – a broad conclusion. Less finite than deductive logic, it allows us to make a series of observations with shared circumstances, and then propose a conclusion. Here is an example:
   
   * This manager can present well
   
   * Steve, the HR manager, is a good presenter
   
   * My manager, John, is a good presenter
   
   * All our managers are good presenters
   
   The inductive reasoning technique is inherently less robust than deductive reasoning and is best used when we have shared circumstances or employment with our audience – the same enterprise, division or team.
   

10. Logical technique – analogy. We use this technique when we cite an example or case study with seemingly identical characteristics to the subject matter. We make the suggestion that if the case study has the same characteristics then it is logical to suggest that it shares identical causes or fundamentals with the main subject; identical characteristics equate to identical beginnings. It is a well used approach that works well – but do take care when selecting the analogy.

These top ten techniques are equally valid for the range of speaking opportunities we face – board room, conferences, seminars or hospitality events. In short they are essential tools for effective speakers.