Topic Subtopic

Learn how to be both confident and competent in your public speaking. Professional & Communications
Personal Development Skills

How to Speak Effectively

How to Speak Effectively in Any Setting

“Pure intellectual stimulation that can be popped into
the [audio or video player] anytime.”
—Harvard Magazine

“Passionate, erudite, living legend lecturers. Academia’s

in Any Setting
best lecturers are being captured on tape.”
—The Los Angeles Times
Course Workbook
“A serious force in American education.” Molly Bishop Shadel, JD
—The Wall Street Journal Professor, University of Virginia School of Law

Molly Bishop Shadel is a Professor of Law at the University of

Virginia School of Law, where she teaches negotiations and
advocacy classes. She earned her JD from Columbia University.
Professor Shadel clerked for Judge Eugene H. Nickerson of
the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
She spent four years as a litigation associate with the firm
Covington & Burling and then joined the US Department of
Justice’s Office of Intelligence Policy and Review. Her books
include Finding Your Voice in Law School and Tongue-Tied
America: Reviving the Art of Verbal Persuasion.

THE GREAT COURSES ®

Corporate Headquarters
4840 Westfields Boulevard, Suite 500
Chantilly, VA 20151-2299
USA
Workbook

Phone: 1-800-832-2412
www.thegreatcourses.com

Cover Image: © Jacobs Stock Photography Ltd/Getty Images.

Course No. 2068 © 2021 The Teaching Company. PB2068A

 4840 Westfields Boulevard | Suite 500 | Chantilly, Virginia | 20151‑2299
[phone] 1.800.832.2412 | [fax] 703.378.3819 | [web] www.thegreatcourses.com

LEADERSHIP
PAUL SUIJK President & CEO
BRUCE G. WILLIS Chief Financial Officer 
JOSEPH PECKL SVP, Marketing
JASON SMIGEL VP, Product Development
CALE PRITCHETT VP, Marketing
MARK LEONARD VP, Technology Services
DEBRA STORMS VP, General Counsel
KEVIN MANZEL Sr. Director, Content Development
ANDREAS BURGSTALLER Sr. Director, Brand Marketing & Innovation
KEVIN BARNHILL Director of Creative
GAIL GLEESON Director, Business Operations & Planning

PRODUCTION TEAM
OCTAVIA VANNALL Producer
WALTER JACOB Content Developer
MASHA STOYANOVA Associate Producer
PETER DW YER Graphic Artist
OWEN YOUNG Managing Editor
STEVE BITTLE Sr. Editor
CORY SIVAKOFF Editor
CHARLES GRAHAM Assistant Editor
CHRIS HOOTH Audio Engineer
ROBERTO DE MORAES Director
GEORGE BOLDEN Camera Operators
MATTHEW CALLAHAN
RICK FLOWE
PAUL SHEEHAN
VALERIE WELCH
JIM M. ALLEN Production Assistants
MATTHEW CALLAHAN

PUBLICATIONS TEAM
FARHAD HOSSAIN Publications Manager
BLAKELY SWAIN Sr. Copywriter
RHOCHELLE MUNSAYAC Graphic Designer
JESSICA MULLINS Proofreader
ERIK A ROBERTS Publications Assistant
JENNIFER ROSENBERG Fact-Checkers
RENEE TREACY
WILLIAM DOMANSKI Transcript Editor

Copyright © The Teaching Company, 2021

Printed in the United States of America
This book is in copyright. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved
above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of The Teaching Company.
MOLLY BISHOP SHADEL, JD
PROFESSOR OF LAW
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA SCHOOL OF LAW

M olly Bishop Shadel is a Professor of Law at the University of Virginia

School of Law, where she teaches negotiations and advocacy classes
and is a senior fellow at the Center for National Security Law. She graduated
magna cum laude from Harvard University with an AB in English and
American Literature and Language. She earned her JD from Columbia
University, where she served as a note editor for the Columbia Law Review
and was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar.

Professor Shadel clerked for Judge Eugene H. Nickerson of the US District

Court for the Eastern District of New York. She then spent four years as a
litigation associate with the firm Covington & Burling. In 2002, she joined
the US Department of Justice’s Office of Intelligence Policy and Review.

Professor Shadel is the author of Finding Your Voice in Law School: Mastering
Classroom Cold Calls, Job Interviews, and Other Verbal Challenges and coauthor
(with Robert N. Sayler) of Tongue-Tied America: Reviving the Art of Verbal
Persuasion. She is also a core planning faculty member of the Leadership in
Academic Matters program, a biannual, semester-long leadership course for
University of Virginia professors and administrators.

i
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
Professor Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
Course Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

GUIDES
1 Establishing Your Credibility as a Speaker . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 How to Engage an Audience’s Emotions . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3 Speaking with Clear Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4 Logical Fallacies and How to Disarm Them . . . . . . . . . 29
5 Avoiding the Pitfalls of Propaganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6 How to Write for Public Speaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
7 Analyzing and Rehearsing Your Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
8 Using Body Language in Public Speaking . . . . . . . . . . 65
9 Eye Contact and Pacing in Performance . . . . . . . . . . . 75
10 Finding Your Best Voice for Public Speaking . . . . . . . . . 84
11 Managing Stage Fright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
12 Speaking with Props or Visual Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
13 Making a Celebratory Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
14 Giving a Eulogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
15 Speaking Skills for Social Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
16 Communicating Successfully at Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
17 Making a Powerful Business Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . 144
18 How to Handle a Media Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

ii
 19 Negotiating without Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
20 Giving Helpful Verbal Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
21 Speaking Effectively in the Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
22 Making a Persuasive Political Argument . . . . . . . . . . . 190
23 How to Argue in Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
24 Assembling the Elements of a Winning Speech . . . . . . . . 207

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Image Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

iii
iv
 HOW TO SPEAK
EFFECTIVELY IN
ANY SETTING

W ouldn’t it be a great feeling to speak in public and know that you’ve

made the impact you wanted to make—that you’ve moved your
audience, reached them with your message, convinced them to take your
point of view?

Being able to speak well is an empowering and valuable skill in any walk of
life. It can help you land a job; it can help you impress and persuade people; it
can help you help others.

For many people, the prospect of speaking to an audience can be daunting.

But it doesn’t have to be. With a little practice, some dedication, and a
strategic plan, you can learn to speak persuasively and well.

In this series of 24 lessons, you will learn how to speak effectively in a

variety of settings. The course begins with an examination of how to write a
persuasive speech, including lessons from classical rhetoric, psychology, and
literature about establishing credibility, engaging the emotions, and using
persuasive logic. You will also examine how to avoid rhetorical pitfalls, such as
logical fallacies and propaganda.

The course then turns to the topic of how to deliver a powerful presentation,
offering exercises designed to make you a stronger performer. You will
consider practical and effective ways to rehearse, project physical and vocal
confidence, manage nerves, and design and deploy effective visual aids.

1
Finally, you will apply the lessons of writing and performing a powerful
presentation to a variety of specific settings: wedding toasts, graduation
speeches, eulogies, cocktail party conversations, storytelling, workplace
presentations, sales pitches, presentations to boards of directors, media
interviews, negotiations, feedback-giving conversations, classroom speeches,
political arguments, courtroom speeches—and all sorts of other occasions
that require you to think on your feet.

To master these skills, you will examine many famous speeches, such as John
F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, Ronald Reagan’s remarks about the tragedy
of the space shuttle Challenger, and Barbara Jordan’s statement on the articles
of impeachment. This course also includes helpful worksheets to use when
preparing for and practicing your presentation.

2
 1
ESTABLISHING
YOUR
CREDIBILITY
AS A SPEAKER

Lesson 1 Establishing Your Credibility as a Speaker 3

O ne of the secrets of effective speechmaking and effective leadership
is if you can make the people you are talking to feel good, they
are more likely to listen to you. If you, the speaker, can project calm and
trustworthiness, for example, then your audience will start to feel calm—and
maybe even hopeful. And if the audience feels calm and hopeful, they are
likely to keep listening and believe what you have to say.

ON MARCH 12, 1933, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

BECAME THE FIRST PRESIDENT TO USE THE
RADIO TO COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY WITH THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE. THIS WAS THE FIRST OF A
SERIES OF APPROXIMATELY 30 RADIO ADDRESSES
THAT BECAME KNOWN AS THE FIRESIDE CHATS.

THE ELEMENTS OF ETHOS

● Throughout this course, you’re going to learn about the things you need to
keep in mind in order to be a more effective speaker. Mastering skills like
the following can enable you to address any audience effectively:

† taking a dry topic and making people care about it

† taking a complicated idea and explaining it so that it’s comprehensible

† crafting a message that will reach your audience

† managing your emotions—fear, defensiveness, anger—so they don’t

overwhelm your ability to communicate

● Aristotle’s book Rhetoric provides a helpful way to think about what you’re
trying to do when you speak to an audience.

● More than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle was one of the first people to think
about how verbal persuasion works. His teachings have stood the test
of time.

4
 “
● Here’s Aristotle’s first piece of advice:

Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character.

We believe good men more fully and more readily than
others. There are three things which inspire confidence
in the orator’s own character … good sense, good moral
character, and good will.

● This concept is known as ethos, from which we derive the word ethical.
You probably know the underlying ideas of ethos from your own
experience: If you believe someone to be trustworthy, honorable, sensible,
and just generally good, you are much more likely to believe what that
person tells you.

● Let’s explore the elements of ethos that Aristotle listed: good sense, good
moral character, and good will.

GOOD SENSE
● Good sense requires that you know what you are talking about. If you
haven’t mastered the material, it’s pretty difficult to be able to exhibit any
good judgment about it. You can’t give good advice about a topic if you
haven’t thought about it.

● And your level of knowledge needs to be deep. It can’t be surface-level.

This is because, when you’re explaining an idea out loud to another person,
you have to make choices. You have to choose where to start, what to
emphasize, what to include, and what to leave out. You have to do this to
make the ideas comprehensible to the people listening to you.

● If you only understand your topic superficially, you may find yourself
sorting through it for yourself as you are speaking about it, and you may
wind up tangled up in your own explanation.

Lesson 1 Establishing Your Credibility as a Speaker 5

● When you speak in public, you need to anticipate your audience’s
questions and reactions and to think through your ideas before you present
them. A prepared speech gives you more of an opportunity to do that, but
it still requires careful thought—both about what you want to say and how
you want to present it in order to persuade your audience.

THE COLUMNIST AND ENTERTAINER WILL

ROGERS SAID OF ROOSEVELT THAT HE TOOK
UP THE SUBJECT OF BANKING AND “MADE
EVERYONE UNDERSTAND IT, EVEN THE BANKERS.”

HOW DID ROOSEVELT DO IT? HE USED SIMPLE

WORDS THAT WERE FAMILIAR TO HIS LISTENERS,
AND HE EXPLAINED THINGS BY EVOKING
IMAGES HIS LISTENERS WOULD UNDERSTAND.

● So how can you exhibit good sense in your next speech? First, you have
to give yourself time to really master the material. You have to feel
comfortable that you understand what you’re talking about, because if you
don’t, then your audience won’t either.

● A good way to find the gaps in your understanding is to try explaining

the material out loud as early on as possible. If you don’t try practicing out
loud—if instead you simply jot down some notes for yourself and think,
“Sure, I understand that” without actually trying it out—you are likely to
skim over the complicated thoughts that can trip you up. Practicing out
loud lets you find those gaps in your knowledge, and then you can do the
extra research that’s required to fill those gaps.

6
● Once you’ve gotten through the material out loud in a way that seems
logical to you—and jotted down some notes about how you did it—then
give some thought to your audience. What do they know about the subject,
and what might they want to know? Why are they going to bother to listen
to you? What do you hope they will get out of this talk?

● Go through your talk again, this time focusing on making sure you’ve put
in any explanations that your audience will need and that you’re leaving
out anything extraneous that will just confuse people. In particular, tell
your audience in your first paragraph what you are hoping to give them in
your speech. That will keep them listening.

● Once you feel confident that you’ve mastered the material and smoothed
out any gaps in your own understanding—and also have thought about
why your audience will care—you’ve probably found something interesting
to say about your topic. Now you’ll want to think about the value that
you’re adding to the audience’s understanding. If you don’t think you are
offering anything of value, then think some more. Go someplace quiet,
close the door, shut out distractions, and think.

● “Good sense” means that you’ve formed an opinion that is worth

considering, and that requires some work from you. If you take time to
really think deeply about your topic, then you’re giving your audience a
real gift—the benefit of your wisdom.

GOOD MORAL CHARACTER

● What does the “good moral character” part of Aristotle’s definition of
ethos require?

● Aristotle would say it’s simple: Tell the truth. Don’t cheat.

● That means that you mustn’t pretend to know something you don’t
actually know or make up facts. You may give yourself away if you do—
your body language may show discomfort, or your audience may notice a
change in your voice or tension in your face. If an audience senses that you
are lying, it won’t trust you again. This is particularly something to think
about if you are likely to encounter that audience more than once.

Lesson 1 Establishing Your Credibility as a Speaker 7

● You may find yourself speaking to the same audience again and again, and
that audience’s opinion of you will be colored by whether you tell the truth
and whether you’re dealing fairly with the best arguments on the other
side, rather than dodging them.

● Plus, Aristotle would say that it’s a lot easier to persuade if you tell the

“
truth. Lies take a lot of work. He wrote:

Things that are true and things that are better are, by their
nature, practically always easier to prove and easier to
believe in.

● Keep in mind that how you convey the truth is also important. You need
to persuade your listeners that you are trustworthy. Make your audience
feel like you really want them to understand you—even like they know
you personally. If they trust you, they are likely to find what you tell them
credible. That’s ethos.

GOOD WILL

“
● Aristotle wrote:

Men either form a false opinion through want of good

sense;1 or they form a true opinion, but because of their
moral badness do not say what they really think;2 or
finally, they are both sensible and upright, but not well
disposed to their hearers, and may fail in consequence to
recommend what they know to be the best course. 3

● In order to exhibit good will, you have to want the best for your audience
and believe the best of them. If you assume your audience is stupid or
incapable in some way, or if you simply don’t care about them, then you’re

1 This is the “good sense” part of ethos.

2 This is the “good moral character” part of ethos.
3 This is the “good will” part of ethos.

8
 more likely to patronize them or try to manipulate them, and that’s not
ethos. You have to approach them with positive intent if you want to be
really effective.

● The best speakers make meaning out of the things they’re saying for the
people they’re speaking to. That’s part of your job—to have thought deeply
enough about your topic that you can offer something to your listeners
over and above a dry recitation of facts. You have to tell your audience
what your material means. That’s how you make the material stick. And
it’s also how you persuade your listeners—because in finding the meaning
in your material for them, you are helping them, which demonstrates to
them your good will.

● Within certain limits, you get to choose the meaning that you make, and
that choice will drive the emotions that you create in your audience and
in yourself.

● Note that you can interpret objective circumstances differently. The

meaning that you make for yourself out of objective circumstances will
change how you feel about those circumstances and will cause you to
describe them differently, which in turn will change how your audience
feels about them.

● When you’re trying to make meaning out of the material for your
audience, look for meaning that is positive. Sure, you could get a reaction
from the audience if you use anger or fear. But usually, negative messages
aren’t the ones that people study when they’re looking at great speeches.
The great leaders throughout history have been hopeful—even when
talking about frightening things.

● If you frighten or anger your audience, you’re triggering strong emotions,

but they are emotions that cause people to lash out or panic. They’re
emotions that are triggering the amygdala, that most primitive part of the
brain that governs the fight-or-flight instinct.

● When you experience these negative emotions yourself, they might feel
satisfying in the moment, but over time they don’t feel great—they are
exhausting. And they make it a lot harder to think rationally.

Lesson 1 Establishing Your Credibility as a Speaker 9

 AMYGDALA

● In contrast, positive emotions calm the amygdala and give you access
to your prefrontal cortex, which is where you make logical choices. And
positive emotions help you relax. They let you see the good in other people.
They help you be more inventive and resourceful. They open you up to
new ideas.

READING
1 Aristotle, Rhetoric.
2 Roosevelt, “The Banking Crisis.”

QUESTIONS
1 Aristotle says, “Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character.
We believe good men more fully and more readily than others. There are
three things which inspire confidence in the orator’s own character: Good
sense, good moral character, and good will.” Do you agree with Aristotle?

2 Think of a speaker who you thought exhibited good character. What did
he or she do that made you think so?

10
 2
HOW TO ENGAGE
AN AUDIENCE’S
EMOTIONS

Lesson 2 How to Engage an Audience’s Emotions 11

T he next thing you’ll want to consider on your journey to becoming
a great public speaker is the role of emotions in verbal persuasion. If
you want your speech to be memorable, you need to get your audience to
feel something. As you learned in the previous lesson, Aristotle’s idea that
persuasion comes from the speaker’s own character is the concept of ethos.
Aristotle also wrote, “Persuasion may come through the hearers, when the
speech stirs their emotions.” This concept in rhetoric is called pathos.

THE PATH TO PATHOS

● Speechmaking isn’t just about you standing up on a stage, shouting out
your ideas. That’s only half of it. The other half is about the audience.
Persuasion comes when the audience hears those ideas and feels something
about them.

● That’s been a focus of contemporary scholars of rhetoric. The rise of new

rhetoric in the 1960s incorporated the teachings of psychology and other
behavioral sciences into our understanding of how verbal persuasion works
and concluded that the connection between the speaker and audience is
really important.

● New rhetoric says that a good speaker adapts the speech to the needs of the
specific audience by identifying with that audience, such as by structuring
an argument with the audience’s needs in mind or by using language that’s
familiar to that audience. Think about what’s going on from the audience’s
point of view.

● Sometimes speakers write a first draft that considers things solely from
their own point of view—what do I know about, what do I think is
important, what do I like saying? It’s okay to start there, but then you need
a follow-up draft that looks at all this from the audience’s perspective.
What do you know about them? Why are they coming to hear you talk?
What are they hoping to get out of your speech? What do they already
know, and what do they want to know? And how are you going to keep
them engaged?

12
  EXERCISE
Think of your favorite speech from a movie or TV show or play
and try to act it out yourself.
Whatever speech you choose—whatever genre it’s from—it
almost certainly makes you feel something. Maybe it’s a speech
that inspires, or makes you laugh, or makes you cheer. You like it
because it resonates with you somehow.

● In John W. Davis’s 1940 speech to the New York City Bar Association,
called “The Argument of an Appeal,” he says that you have to change
places in your imagination with your audience. And this is a helpful
approach for any speech.

● Imagine that you’re speaking as the PTA president at a meeting at your

child’s school. You know that the people in your audience showed up
in the evening, after work, to take part in a meeting about a school—so
that means they probably care about the school, and about the kids in
the school, and maybe some particular issue that’s on the agenda for the
meeting that night.

Lesson 2 How to Engage an Audience’s Emotions 13

● Some of the people in the audience might be parents, some might be
teachers or administrators, but they’ve all got in common some interest in
the school. And perhaps you also know that you have particular expertise
or information about an issue affecting the school. So you could start by
letting them know that you share their interest in the functioning of the
school and that you’re there to offer information that’s going to help them
with that. That connection helps you start to build that relationship with
the audience. That’s pathos.

● This also helps you orient the audience. If you tell them up front what they
are going to get out of listening to you, you make them interested, and it’s
more likely that they’ll keep listening to you.

● You also have to think about whether the audience has any negative
emotions that you need to soothe first so that they’re able to listen to you.
So maybe you know that this PTA meeting is in the evening, and people
are tired, and these meetings tend to run long. You could anticipate that
your audience has some concern that this is going to drag on or that they’re
going to be bored.

● You can get them to listen by addressing that worry explicitly, by saying
something like this: “I know your time is valuable, so I am going to keep the
trains running on time here. That means that I’m going to explain things
succinctly, and in your remarks, I’m going to ask you to do the same.”

LAWYERS KNOW THIS TRICK: IF YOU’VE GOT A

POTENTIALLY CONTENTIOUS CONVERSATION
IN STORE, YOU CAN MAKE IT GO MORE EASILY
IF YOU’RE SHARING FOOD WITH THE PERSON
YOU’RE TALKING TO. IT CHANGES THE WHOLE
TONE OF THE CONVERSATION AND PUTS PEOPLE
INTO A MORE AGREEABLE FRAME OF MIND.

14
● As the speaker, it’s your job to get the audience into a receptive frame
of mind. That means you need to take care of anything that might be
getting in the way of that, if you can. Sometimes it’s a negative emotion,
sometimes it’s a question the audience might have that you need to answer
at the top, or sometimes it’s something physical. If you notice that the
room is too hot for people to pay attention, then adjust the air. Or perhaps
you want to make sure that there’s water or coffee available, or even snacks.

THE SEARCH FOR MEANING

● When you’re speaking, even the smartest, most well-intentioned audience
member is going to get tired. People just can’t pay attention forever. Most
people can pay attention for three to four minutes at a time, and then the
mind wanders. How can you keep your audience engaged so that your
points sink in?

● If you can find the meaning in your talk and bring it to life, then you will
be a more successful speaker.

● As you learned in the previous lesson, finding the meaning of the material
is an important part of ethos, or credibility. If you can say why the material
is significant—why it is meaningful—then you are making sense of it for
your audience. That is a gift to them, because you are offering insight and
wisdom, and that makes you credible.

● Meaning is also an important part of achieving pathos. People want to

know the meaning of a subject because it is satisfying. It gives them an

“
emotional reaction. It makes them care.

In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl1 says, “Striving

to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational
force in man.”

1 Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl was a prisoner in the Nazi death camps during World War II. He
spent his time in Auschwitz thinking about why some people lived and others died. By asking
himself why some people were surviving in the face of such unimaginable suffering, he triggered
his own curiosity and possibly saved himself. His suffering took on a different meaning—it gave
him a reason to live.

Lesson 2 How to Engage an Audience’s Emotions 15

 ● The search for meaning may explain why human beings are so interested
in stories. Across cultures and throughout time, people have told stories to
one another to explain the things they’re seeing—the sun traveling across
the sky is a golden wheel of a chariot driven by a god, for example. Stories
are a way of making meaning out of events.

● If you can find the story in the speech that you’re writing—the story that
will make the meaning clear—that can help you tremendously in your
quest to achieve pathos.

● When you’re looking for the story, think about the primary message of
the speech. What is the thing you most want your audience to remember?
They’re going to remember the story, so you want that story to point their
attention to the take-home point of the speech.

● So what does your story need to have in it?

● Your story needs to involve people. People care about other people much
more than they do about dry facts or dates or data. You keep your audience
engaged by describing the people in your story with enough vivid details
that your audience can imagine them.

● You also want to give other details so your audience can imagine the
scene. This makes the scene more real and gives the audience more time to
imagine the setting, which lets the point sink in.

● You’ll also want to think about setting a tone with your speech. What’s
the tone you want to set? What’s the feeling you want to evoke right from
the very beginning? There are some surefire ways to start a speech that
can help with this. Here are some engaging beginnings that will make the
audience interested to hear what comes next:

† “I want to tell you a story.”

† “Let me take you back in time.”

† “Imagine ….”

† “Let me ask you a question. Raise your hand if ….”

16
● You also want your story to be easy to follow. This means you’ll want to
simplify the action to make it orderly and linear.

● When people tell stories from their lives, they often include lots of details
that get jumbled. The speakers want to put all the detail in because that’s
the way it actually happened. But that’s just the first draft—the story from
your point of view. Now you need to write a second draft—the story that
takes the audience’s point of view into account. What do they need to
know? Having too many details muddies the story and gets in the way of
the audience’s emotional reaction.

● A good story offers conflict, a dramatic build of some kind, and a

satisfying ending. This is related to Aristotle’s idea of what’s required for
a good Greek tragedy: You need epiphany and catharsis. Epiphany means
that you have a realization, some jolt of wisdom or insight, which leads to
catharsis—a release of feelings. A good story lets the audience have that
catharsis, that emotional reaction.

● Stories help engage the emotions, and they get people’s attention back if
their minds have wandered. They make important ideas pop. And they
can also help you with making your speech. Giving a speech might sound
scary; telling a story is a lot more fun.

● Pathos is about engaging the emotions of the audience, which means that
you’re going to need to consider your emotions, too—because the emotions
that you are feeling will affect the way the audience experiences the speech.

● If you are talking to someone and that person is exhibiting an emotion,

you might find yourself picking up that same emotion. For example, if a
person is yelling at you, that might make you feel like yelling back. This
process takes place in the mirror neurons, a type of brain cell that responds
when we feel empathy for other people. It’s how we sense what other people
are feeling, and it causes changes in how we’re feeling, too.

● So when you are speaking, you need to care about what you are talking
about if you want to get your audience to care about it. If you don’t care
about what you’re saying, it will be really difficult to get the audience
to care.

Lesson 2 How to Engage an Audience’s Emotions 17

 ● You want to find something that you’re excited to share, because that’s
going to help you want to tell other people about it. When you’re creating a
speech, write something that you like! A story can help with that—as can a
perfect analogy or a great piece of wisdom about your topic.

DANGER ZONES IN PATHOS

● So you need to be emotionally connected to your topic to get your
audience engaged, but there are two danger zones in pathos to be aware of:

† Be careful about overdoing the emotions. If the audience begins to

suspect that you’re trying to horrify them, or make them angry, or get
them upset, then they’ll regard you with distrust. They’ll think that
you’re manipulating them, that you’re trying to get them emotionally
overwrought so that they can’t think clearly. And if the audience begins
to suspect that you are playing with their emotions, then your ethos
takes a hit. You won’t seem credible anymore. Similarly, if you seem
inauthentic—if you reach for emotions but it sounds fake—then the
audience may not trust you. That’s a pathos problem that becomes an
ethos problem.

† You have to control your own emotions. If you are speaking to an audience
and you start crying or shaking with rage, you may not seem credible. You
might appear to be in the grip of an uncontrolled emotion yourself, which
makes it more difficult to believe that you are thinking clearly.

● Of course, sometimes emotions can come upon you so quickly that they’re
not filtered by the thinking part of your brain; instead, they’re coming
from that more primitive part of your brain, the amygdala, and they can be
really strong. But while you may not be able to control the circumstances
you’re in—or even your initial gut reaction to them—you can control your
thinking. And what you are thinking is going to affect the emotions you

“
are having.

In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl wrote,

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the
last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in
any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

18
● When you face an audience, you may feel anxiety. Maybe the emotion you
feel is fear. It can be really helpful in that situation to notice what you are
thinking. What’s the story you’re telling yourself? Maybe it’s something
like “I am going to fail. They are going to laugh at me.” So notice that
story. Question it. Is it true? Have you ever actually met an audience at a
speech that was just dying to laugh at a speaker?

● You get to choose the stories you tell yourself. You need to find one that
feels true to you, so you’ll have to test them out. But here’s one that could
help. The next time you feel nervous at the thought of giving a speech,
think to yourself, “I feel nervous because I’m about to take a risk—I’m
about to do something really brave!”

● Then, notice your emotion. It will likely change a little. Just noticing
the emotion of fear can make you a little less fearful, and if you take the
time to think positive thoughts, that fear may be replaced by courage, or
optimism, or maybe even excitement. And your audience will most likely
share that positive feeling. That’s the power of pathos.

READING
Davis, The Argument of an Appeal.

Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning.

Goleman, et al., Primal Leadership.

QUESTIONS
1 Think of a speech that you might be asked to give in the future. Why will
your audience care about this topic? Why do you care about the topic?

2 If you find yourself feeling nervous before giving a speech, what are you
feeling nervous about? What story are you telling yourself? What story
could you tell yourself instead that would make you feel more confident?

Lesson 2 How to Engage an Audience’s Emotions 19

3
SPEAKING WITH
CLEAR LOGIC

20
R ecall that Aristotle’s formula—which is the gold standard in rhetoric—
says that in order to be a persuasive speaker, you need three things:
ethos, or credibility; pathos, or emotional engagement; and logos, or clear
logic. You learned about ethos and pathos in the first two lessons, and this
lesson teaches you about the concept of logos.

FROM LOGIC TO LOGOS

● Logos means that you’re persuading by offering up clear, substantive
arguments. You’re appealing to the mind in a satisfying way. And having
good logos also means that when you’re done speaking, people remember
your message—your ideas sink in so that people will be able to mull over
your ideas long after the speech is over.

● So how do you go about achieving logos? You have to have something

meaningful to say, and you have to say it clearly.

● First, to figure out how to find something meaningful to say, it can be

helpful to understand the two basic ways people make arguments. Aristotle
talked about this, and it’s still taught in law school in legal writing classes.

● The first basic way to make an argument is to use deductive logic. In

deductive logic, you arrive at the right outcome if you figure out the
correct rule and apply it to the facts at hand. This is the foundation of
basic legal reasoning.

● Aristotle explained this in the form of a syllogism, in which a major

premise and a minor premise point the way to a conclusion (if A and B are
true, then C must also be true). Here’s a famous example:

† All men are mortal beings.

† Socrates is a man.

† Therefore, Socrates is a mortal being.

● It’s crucial to make sure that your major premise, or rule, is true. If it isn’t,
then your conclusion will be flawed.

Lesson 3 Speaking with Clear Logic 21

 ● Aristotle also wrote about the power of inductive reasoning. In inductive
reasoning, you use certain specific observations to reach a conclusion
instead of starting with a particular rule. You’ll also want to think about
how your population sample could be criticized and whether there are
other variables that could be causing the correlation you are observing.

● So, reach for deductive reasoning if you are making an argument in which
you have a general rule or principal that you can apply to a specific set
of circumstances, and use inductive reasoning if you have a bunch of
specific instances from which you are generalizing to reach a conclusion.
Understanding the kind of argument you are making can help you make
your point as persuasively as possible.

● Another tip for achieving logos is you want to know, very clearly, what
your main message is. You need to know the take-home point that you
hope your audience will hear.

● You encountered this when learning about ethos and pathos, but it’s
important for logos as well. You need to have a have a central message, or
theme, and that theme has to be something that you care about and that
the audience will care about.

● You could think of this main message as the conclusion to whatever

kind of argument you are making. But you don’t have to save it for the
concluding paragraph of the speech; you can weave that central message
throughout the speech. But first you have to find it.

 EXERCISE
To help you find your message, ask yourself to state the central
message of your speech in a single sentence. What would that
sentence be?

● Your central message has to satisfy the requirements of ethos and pathos. It
has to make meaning out of the data. It has to tell your audience why they
should listen to you and why what you are saying matters. It has to engage
them, too.

22
● The central message is also key to making your logos clear. If you know
your central message, then you know where to start: with that message.
You know what to emphasize: that message. And you know where to end:
with that message.

CRAFTING AND TESTING YOUR STRUCTURE

● Once you’ve figured out your central message—your theme—and
the most logical way to make a case in support of it, now you need to
pay attention to structure. The more logical and straightforward your
structure, the more likely it is that your audience will hear and process
your message.

● As you craft your structure, it can be helpful to think about your

audience’s experience of the speech. What do they have to do in order to
take something away from your speech—to understand you? They have to
listen and pay attention. All that information is coming to them primarily
through their ears, and they have to be able to make sense of it. It has to be
straightforward enough that they can process it. Clear structure is key to
making your logos clear.

● If your structure is convoluted, it makes it a lot harder for the audience to

follow. You don’t have to dumb things down; a really good lecture can and
should have meaningful content. But one of your jobs as a speaker is to
make sure that content is offered in the most straightforward, logical way
possible so that one thought follows another. That’s again because of your
audience’s experience.

● Unlike communicating in writing, with a speech, your audience has to

take things in the order in which you offer it and at the speed at which you
deliver it. So you’ll want to make sure you’re using the right order and the
right speed.

● Here are two great ways to test your structure to make sure it is as clear as
possible. You can think of this as yet another draft of the speech. As you
learned previously, the first draft usually starts from the speaker’s point of
view, and in your second draft, you’re going to look at the material again

Lesson 3 Speaking with Clear Logic 23

 but think about it from the audience’s point of view. In your third draft,
you’re going to focus on your structure. You could start by jotting down an
outline of the speech.

● Another way you can test the strength of your structure is to write down
your speech and then try delivering it out loud without looking at your
notes. Don’t worry about whether you’re getting the words exactly right,
but try to get the order of the paragraphs right.

● Notice the places where you can’t remember what comes next. When
you hit a spot like that, think about what would be the next thing that
you naturally would say there. Then, pick up your script again and see
what would happen if you were to rearrange the text so that what you just
thought of comes next.

● The structure of your speech needs to be completely clear and logical to

you. You need to know it in your bones. If you don’t—if there’s some point
that you just keep forgetting—it’s a good sign that’s the wrong structure.

● Another way to approach structure is to try to figure out how to make your
speech have three main points. That’s because it’s pretty easy to remember
three points. If instead you have a speech that has 10 points, it’s likely
you’re going to get jumbled and the audience is going to get bored.

● So in this part of the drafting process, look for ways to group together your
ideas under three headings. Look for what these ideas have in common so
that you can give the material some shape.

HOW AUDIENCES THINK

● You can also use the teachings of modern-day psychologists to make your
logos clearer. We know some things about how audiences’ minds work.
For example, we know that people tend to be single-path thinkers. It’s
hard to process two ideas at once; it’s much easier if you can take one idea
at a time. So you’ll want to make sure that when you take up an idea, you
explore it fully and finish it before going on to the next idea.

24
● We also know that people have limited attention spans. In fact, many
people can only listen for about three to four minutes at a time, and then
the mind wanders. So it’s smart to think about getting the audience’s
attention back. You can do this by telling a story, or introducing an
interesting visual aid, or even using simple transitional language (“We’ve
finished with the first point, and now I’m moving on to the second”).

● Even with a tired audience, though, you know there are two moments
when they are definitely paying attention: when you first start to talk and
when it sounds like you are winding down.

● That moment when you first start to talk is called the moment of primacy.
It’s when you are making your first impression. The audience is getting
oriented and deciding whether this speech is worth listening to. And
they’re not tired yet; they’re all listening to the first few sentences.

● So take advantage of that moment! You’ll want to spend some time

thinking about a catchy way to start so that you are excited to deliver that
opening. That can help with nerves so that you are projecting confidence,
which helps with your ethos.

Lesson 3 Speaking with Clear Logic 25

 ● If your opening is catchy and tells the audience how they’re going to
benefit from listening to your speech, then you’re giving them a reason to
care and starting to create that relationship with them, engaging them—
that’s pathos.

● And you will also want to begin the process of making your logical
argument in the first paragraph of the speech by introducing the
conclusion you plan to reach. Hit that theme from the very beginning!
It’s the first time they will hear it, and since they’re listening, they will
remember it. That’s logos.

● We also know that audiences listen to the end of the speech. It’s the very
last thing you say to them, so whatever you say then is also likely to stick
with them. This is called the moment of recency—another place to hit your
theme. We remember best the last thing that we hear, so you’ll want to circle
back to the central message you introduced in your moment of primacy.

● Audiences are also likely to remember things if you say them more than
once. This is the concept of frequency. Hearing something more than once
helps people process it. So that’s why you’re going to hit your theme in

“
your opening, in your conclusion, and a few times in the middle, too.

There’s an old adage of public speaking that says, “Tell

them what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, and
then tell them that you told them.”

● It also helps the audience if you take the time to explain your ideas,
especially if they’re complicated ones. So you’ll want to be sure you’re not
racing through the thought. Slow it down so people can get it. A great way
to do this is to tell a story that illustrates what you’re talking about.

● Audiences are also likely to remember anything that’s really vivid—anything

that pops. You can make things vivid by using props or visual aids,1 telling a
story, describing a scene with lots of detail, or using catchy language.

1 Think of when O. J. Simpson tried on the bloody gloves during his murder trial and they didn’t
fit. It was a vivid moment that would stick in the minds of the jury, and Johnnie Cochran turned it
into one of the themes of his closing argument: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

26
 A RHETORICAL DEVICE CALLED CHIASMUS IS
WHERE YOU PRESENT A CONCEPT TOGETHER
WITH ITS MIRROR IMAGE. IN JOHN F. KENNEDY’S
INAUGURAL ADDRESS IN 1961, HE TURNS THE
WHINE “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME
LATELY?” ON ITS HEAD, AND THAT MIRROR
IMAGE IS MEMORABLE AND INSPIRING: “ASK NOT
WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU—ASK
WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY.”
HE’S SUCCEEDING IN GETTING HIS MAIN IDEA
TO STICK WITH YOU. GETTING THAT THOUGHT
INTO YOUR HEAD MAKES THE LOGOS CLEARER.

● Here are a few rules for legal argument that can help make your logic clear
in any speech:

† The rule of restraint says that in order to persuade, you should figure
out the narrowest set of propositions that must be established to prove
a point, argue the heck out of those propositions, and then stop. Focus
only on what you want to prove.

† The rule of preemption says that you must deal fairly with the best
arguments against your positions. If you are trying to persuade your
audience about something but there are good arguments on the other
side, then you are better off acknowledging those arguments and
dealing with them, rather than ignoring them.

Lesson 3 Speaking with Clear Logic 27

● Finally, it is really important to get the facts right. Audiences instinctively
can tell when you haven’t mastered the facts or when you’re lying, and if
there’s anyone in the audience who knows enough about the topic to know
for sure that you’re uninformed or exaggerating or lying, then he or she will

“
distrust your entire argument.

Aristotle said, “Men have a sufficient natural instinct for

what is true. … Things that are true and things that are
better are, by their nature, practically always easier to
prove and easier to believe in.”

READING
Kennedy, Inaugural Address.

Russell, The Problems of Philosophy.

QUESTIONS
1 Think of a speech you plan to give in the future. What is your central
message? Can you use either deductive or inductive reasoning to make
that point?

2 Create an outline of the speech. Is the structure of the speech as it is

revealed in your outline as straightforward and convincing as you can
make it?

28
 4
LOGICAL
FALLACIES
AND HOW TO
DISARM THEM

Lesson 4 Logical Fallacies and How to Disarm Them 29

 I n the previous lesson, you learned about the importance of clear logic,
or logos, in a speech. In this lesson, you’ll learn about logical fallacies
in order to help you make your logos even stronger—by showing you what
not to do.

SIDESTEPPING THE ISSUE AT HAND

● Generally, a logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning that leads to a faulty
conclusion. In a logical fallacy called a straw man argument, a speaker
unfairly represents or exaggerates his or her opponent’s position and then
attacks that, rather than dealing with the opponent’s position fairly.

● A famous speech called the Checkers speech was delivered on September 23,
1952, by vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon. He had come under fire
for using money given by donors to help with his Senate campaign costs, and
some suspected that Nixon might be giving these donors special favors in

“
exchange. So Nixon gave a speech to address the controversy1 :

We did get something, a gift, after the election. A man

down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention that our
two youngsters would like to have a dog, and … [he sent]
a little cocker spaniel dog, in a crate … black and white,
spotted, and our little girl Tricia, the six-year-old, named it
Checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, loved the
dog, and … regardless of what they say about it, we are
going to keep it.”

● Nixon’s opponents were concerned about unfair political influence. But in

that passage, Nixon frames the argument as his opponents coming after
the family dog, and that’s what he argues about.

● To avoid a straw man argument, you want to make sure that you’re
describing the best arguments on the other side fairly and then address
them head-on.

1 This speech is one of the first examples of a politician using television to speak to the public.

30
● This is the rule of preemption that was discussed in the previous lesson.
Don’t address only exaggerated versions of your opponent’s arguments. If
you do, you might please your base, but you won’t persuade people who
weren’t already on your side. Instead, you’re going to alienate those people,
who will feel frustrated that you seem to be willfully misunderstanding
where they are coming from.

LOGICAL FALLACIES OFTEN APPEAR

REASONABLE ON THE SURFACE. SOMETIMES
THEY’RE TRUE ERRORS IN THINKING, BUT
WHEN USED IN A PREPARED SPEECH, THEY’RE
USUALLY DELIBERATE ATTEMPTS TO MISLEAD
OR MANIPULATE THE AUDIENCE. IN THAT
SITUATION, THEY’RE DESIGNED TO MAKE
THE AUDIENCE THINK THAT THE SPEAKER’S
LOGIC IS SOUND, BUT IN FACT THE SPEAKER IS
MUDDYING THE LOGIC OR MISUSING PATHOS
THROUGH BASELESS EMOTIONAL APPEALS.

● Another way that speakers sometimes sidestep the issue at hand is to

engage in ad hominem attacks, in which one attacks the speaker rather
than the argument.

● Ad hominem attacks quickly became a signature rhetorical move of

Donald Trump during his 2015 presidential campaign. He coined derisive
nicknames for his political opponents; for example, he referred to Hillary
Clinton as “Crooked Hillary.”

Lesson 4 Logical Fallacies and How to Disarm Them 31

● Trump’s use of ad hominem attacks was highly effective; it could be argued
that they played a key role in getting him elected president. But if you’re
thinking of using them, keep in mind that ad hominem attacks flunk the
ethos/pathos/logos test,1 which means that you may actually harm your
own image in the eyes of your listeners.

LEADING TO A MISTAKEN CONCLUSION

● While both straw man arguments and ad hominem attacks duck the
question at hand, other logical fallacies operate by leading to a mistaken
conclusion.

● For example, a non sequitur reaches a conclusion that is not the logical
result of the premise. In other words, one thought doesn’t follow the other.

● The tea party scene in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is filled with non
sequiturs. At one point, the Mad Hatter tells Alice, “Your hair wants
cutting.” Alice replies, “You should learn not to make personal remarks. It’s
very rude.” And the Hatter responds, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?”
That’s a non sequitur.

● In another variation on the non sequitur, a speaker makes a claim and then
provides evidence that is irrelevant or doesn’t really support the claim.

● A non sequitur can also imply that because one event follows another, the
first event caused the second event. This type of fallacy is called post hoc,
ergo propter hoc—a Latin phrase that means “after this, therefore because
of this.” Here’s a classic example: When air conditioner sales rise, so do
ice cream sales. The erroneous conclusion could be that air conditioning
makes you hungry for ice cream! (Actually, the causal element here would
be summer; in summer, people crave both air conditioning and ice cream.)

1 If you engage in an ad hominem attack, you are unlikely to connect with listeners who do not
already agree with you, which is a pathos problem. You’re not fairly addressing the real issue at
hand, which is a logos problem. And you are not demonstrating the “good common sense, good
moral sense, and goodwill” required to exude ethos.

32
● The fact is that correlation does not necessarily show causation. You
learned in the previous lesson about inductive reasoning, in which you
attempt to prove something by using a bunch of specific observations—
you show a trend to prove a point. When you are testing a claim based on
inductive logic, you will want to think about whether there are any other
factors that might be the true cause of the link that you see.

● Two more logical fallacies in which the conclusion does not follow logically
are circular arguments and genetic fallacies. A circular argument restates
a proposition rather than proving it, while a genetic fallacy claims that
something is good based on its origin, even if that origin is irrelevant.

● Try to pick these two logical fallacies out of this part of Nixon’s speech.

“
He said:

I know that you wonder whether or not I am going to stay

on the Republican ticket or resign. … I don’t believe that I
ought to quit, because I am not a quitter. And, incidentally,
Pat is not a quitter. After all, her name is Patricia Ryan and
she was born on St. Patrick’s Day, and you know the Irish
never quit.

● The circular argument is “I don’t believe that I ought to quit, because I

am not a quitter.” He’s restating the proposition rather than proving it. It’s
sort of like saying, “Vote for me, because I am a winner!” when in fact the
candidate only becomes a winner if enough people vote for him or her.

● The claim that Pat is not a quitter because she is Irish is a genetic fallacy.2
In a genetic fallacy, the speaker draws a conclusion based on something’s
origin, even if that fact is irrelevant. Pat Nixon’s heritage does not
necessarily predict whether she will quit something or not.

2 Actually, he never explicitly says that she is Irish, but assuming that she was in fact Irish, the
claim that therefore one can conclude she also is not a quitter is a genetic fallacy.

Lesson 4 Logical Fallacies and How to Disarm Them 33

● A genetic fallacy is an example of using a shortcut to evaluate a
proposition. Another example of this sort of shortcut is a false analogy, in
which the speaker implies that because two things are alike in some ways,
they must be alike in other ways.

● This shows up in advertising a fair amount: A beautiful movie star tells

you about the kind of makeup she wears, and you hope that if you wear
that makeup, you will be as beautiful as that movie star. If only it were
that simple.1

● Nixon’s certainly not the only politician to reach for loaded imagery in
order to spur listeners to action. Lyndon Johnson did something similar
in the 1960s in the famous “Daisy” ad, which illustrates a logical fallacy
called a false dilemma, which suggests that a complex situation has only
two possible outcomes, one of which is clearly preferable.

● At the end of the ad, after seeing a nuclear bomb explosion reflected in the
eyes of a little girl, you hear Johnson say, “These are the stakes: to make a
world in which all of God’s children can live, or to go into the dark. We
must either love each other or we must die.” And then a narrator says,
“Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high
for you to stay home.” So there’s your false dilemma: Vote for President
Johnson or die.

● This is also an example of a slippery slope argument, which goes like

this: If you do this thing, the floodgates will open, and bad things will
follow. In the ad, Johnson’s making the argument that if you vote for
Barry Goldwater, you open the floodgates to nuclear war. The situation is
certainly more complex than that, and if you recognize that, then you have
recognized the false dilemma and the slippery slope argument.

1 That’s a fairly benign example, but you can also see this technique used in propaganda, where
it’s called transfer. Transfer involves using terms that have special, powerful meaning—positive
or negative—within a culture in order to stir up the audience’s emotions.

34
GIVING UNDUE WEIGHT TO YOUR OWN IDEAS
● Which do you think is more likely to kill you: your dog or your couch?

● Instinct tells most people that the dog is more dangerous. But data shows
that you’re 30 times more likely to die from falling off furniture in your
own house than you are to be killed by a dog.

● The point is, though, that most people are going to answer this question
based on how quickly examples spring into their minds. For most humans,
it feels right that an event is more probable if examples come to mind
quickly and easily.

● That’s a logical fallacy called the availability heuristic, and it operates on

the notion that if something springs to mind easily, it must be important,
or at least more important than alternatives that are not as readily recalled.

● Another logical fallacy that operates similarly to the availability heuristic

is confirmation bias, which is the tendency to look for things that confirm
what you already believe and to disregard everything else.

● Confirmation bias is similar to the availability heuristic in that it’s making

your own preexisting beliefs paramount. You want your belief to be true,
so you look for evidence that confirms that idea and either ignore other
evidence or stop gathering additional evidence.

EVERYDAY FALLACIES
● In addition to the three categories of logical fallacies that have already been
addressed, there are some other fallacies you might encounter frequently in
your day-to-day life.

● For example, imagine you have a child who wants a later bedtime and
makes this argument: “All the other kids get to stay up late!” That’s a
logical fallacy called an appeal to popularity, or the bandwagon fallacy.

● The argument is essentially that something’s right because a lot of other

people are doing it. It could be a valid argument if you think of it as a form
of inductive logic: If you believe your child’s implied claim that he or she
has polled all the other children and that this sample size is wide enough

Lesson 4 Logical Fallacies and How to Disarm Them 35

 (that all the other children are, in fact, included), then one might conclude
that there is some evidence that many families have concluded that a later
bedtime won’t hurt their kids.

● You can attack the argument by questioning the sample—because do you

really believe that all the other kids get to stay up late?—or by reframing
this as a deductive argument. As a piece of deductive reasoning, one could
say that studies show that children who are 10 years old need 9 to 11 hours
of sleep, your child is 10, and therefore your child needs to be in bed early,
regardless of what other parents believe.

● But perhaps your response is, “9 o’clock is the right bedtime for you
because I say so!” This is an appeal to false authority, in which you
say something is true because an authority said it, without any other
supporting evidence.

● Or perhaps this is a fallacy of power, which claims that if the person in

charge wants it, it must be good. Now, is that really a logical fallacy?
Clearly you are a good parent who has thought about what is best for your
kid, so perhaps you really are an authority. But you can see why your child
might question that sort of argument as he or she ages.

● A better way to respond to your child’s claim that everyone’s doing

something might be to reach for a technique called reductio ad absurdum,
which allows you to show that an argument leads to an absurd conclusion.
This works if there is faulty logic in the argument to begin with.

YOU MIGHT FIND YOURSELF TEMPTED TO

TAKE THE SHORTCUT OF A LOGICAL FALLACY.
BUT IF THE AUDIENCE CATCHES YOU, YOUR
CREDIBILITY SUFFERS—ETHOS REQUIRES THAT
YOU DEAL FAIRLY WITH THE FACTS AND
WITH YOUR LISTENERS. THAT’S HOW YOU’LL
PERSUADE IN THE LONG RUN.

36
● If you apply reductio ad absurdum to your child’s claim that all the other
kids get to stay up late, you might say something like, “Well, if all the
other kids were going to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you do
that, too?”

READING
Gula, Nonsense.

Nixon, “Address of Senator Nixon to the American People.”

QUESTIONS
1 Watch or read a political debate or an argument on social media. How
many logical fallacies can you identify?

2 Do you think it is permissible to persuade using logical fallacies? Why or

why not?

Lesson 4 Logical Fallacies and How to Disarm Them 37

 5
AVOIDING THE
PITFALLS OF
PROPAGANDA

38
W hile Aristotle believed that rhetoric could reveal truth and lead to
justice, his teacher Plato worried that a malicious man who learned
how to speak well would be able to flatter and then hoodwink an audience,
leading to discord and riots. It is certainly possible to use rhetoric for evil, and
propaganda—deliberately false or misleading information—offers some great
examples of the perversion of rhetoric.

HOW PROPAGANDA OPERATES

● You may think of propaganda in the context of a political speaker trying to
sway an audience. But it doesn’t have to be limited to the world of politics.
In fact, one of the first books about propaganda was published in 1928 by
Edward Bernays,1 who worked in advertising and became known as the
father of public relations.

● In his book Propaganda, Bernays explained how propaganda can be used

to change the habits and opinions of a society. For example, he described
a contest created by Procter & Gamble, which made Ivory soap. In the
contest, schoolchildren carved sculptures out of the soap and were awarded
prizes for their efforts.

● As Bernays described it, “the work itself was clean”—it involved positive
things like children and art, and even if a child’s sculpture was not good,
the family could still use the soap.

● Thousands entered the contest. And they bought the soap—probably more
bars than they might have otherwise, because the kids needed extra bars to
practice their sculptures. The contest was a great idea that caused people to
think about and love and buy Ivory soap. It changed people’s actions
and habits.

● This is really just a story of creative advertising. This is not the kind of
propaganda that’s problematic because it isn’t false or misleading. In fact,
Bernays didn’t advocate lying in public relations, for purely practical
reasons. He believed that propaganda could be good or bad, depending

1 Bernays was the nephew of psychologist Sigmund Freud.

Lesson 5 Avoiding the Pitfalls of Propaganda 39

 on “the merit of the cause urged, and the correctness of the information
published.” He argued that successful propaganda rests not on lies but on
an understanding of where your audience is coming from.

● You can hear some of Aristotle’s concepts in Bernays’s ideas. Bernays was
saying that you’ll persuade if you understand which story is going to appeal
to your audience (which is pathos) and if you have a good reputation
(which is ethos).

● But there is a red flag here. Bernays is different from Aristotle in that
Bernays also writes about consciously manipulating audiences for your
own purposes. That’s different from Aristotle’s concept of rhetoric as an
art that reveals truth and leads to justice; it’s more akin to Plato’s vision of
rhetoric as a tool that can be used to control people.

● Bernays believed that people who understand how to influence thoughts

and feelings were the “invisible governors” who held true power in our
democracy. He believed that “intelligent minorities … need to make use
of propaganda continuously and systematically” in order to manipulate

“
everyone else, at least in the world of advertising.

Bernays wrote, “We are governed, our minds are molded,

our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we
have never heard of.”

● Bernays was dismayed to learn that Joseph Goebbels, who headed the
National Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda for the
Nazis, read and used his book. But perhaps he should have seen it coming.
After all, if deliberate manipulation is acceptable, that means anyone can
use it—including the unscrupulous.

● Unlike Bernays, Goebbels and Adolph Hitler had no problem lying. Hitler

“
justified the deliberate use of lies in his manifesto, Mein Kampf. He wrote:

The function of propaganda … is not to make an objective

study of the truth, in so far as it favors the enemy, and
then set it before the masses with academic fairness; its
task is to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly.

40
 THERE’S A GREAT DEAL OF MISINFORMATION
ON THE INTERNET, AND WHILE SOME OF IT IS
SIMPLY POSTED OUT OF IGNORANCE, SOME
OF IT CONSISTS OF DELIBERATE FALSEHOODS.
IF YOU SEE A STORY ONLINE THAT TRIGGERS
FEELINGS OF OUTRAGE, ANGER, OR FEAR
IN YOU, YOUR FIRST REACTION SHOULD
BE TO FACT-CHECK IT. YOU MAY HAVE JUST
ENCOUNTERED PROPAGANDA.

● The Nazi Party believed that if lies were intentionally and regularly
repeated, the public would come to believe them. They operated in two
ways: by repeating and promoting the lie and by suppressing any speech
that might reveal the lie to be false. That’s why the Nazis censored
speech; burned books; controlled literature, films, music, radio, art, and
newspapers; and ultimately imprisoned and killed those who objected.

Lesson 5 Avoiding the Pitfalls of Propaganda 41

● Hitler also understood the power of triggering emotions in his listeners.
Nazi rhetoric was characterized by deliberate and constant attempts to
incite excitement, hatred, and fear.

● As you can see, propaganda is a volatile tool, potentially even a lethal

one. The speaker has an agenda of his or her own—perhaps it’s merely to
sell a product, like Edward Bernays, but perhaps his or her ends are more
deplorable, as in the case of a demagogue or a dictator.

● Either way, the truth isn’t the number one issue to the propagandist.
What’s important is getting people to do what he or she wants. And the
propagandist does this by repeating the lie loudly and often, shutting down
dissenting voices, and triggering negative emotions (such as hatred and
fear) to cause people to react rather than to think.

THE ANTIDOTE TO PROPAGANDA

● Plato would say that the antidote to propaganda is to just not use rhetoric
at all. But Aristotle contended that anything can be used unjustly, and
that’s not a good reason to run away from it.

● If we agree with Aristotle that we can’t just stop using rhetoric, what else
can we do?

● Some countries ban propaganda. For example, because of its history,

Germany has outlawed speech that incites hatred against groups based on
their national, racial, religious, or ethnic origins.

● While much of the world outlaws hate speech, the United States does not.
America has a system that balances the desire for a healthy democracy with
the desire for liberty, which includes the freedom to say things that not
everyone might agree with.

● The framers of the US Constitution believed that free speech and

robust debate were indispensable to the health of democracy. American
democracy has been called a marketplace of ideas, in which an exchange of
thoughts through free speech leads to the “ultimate good.” The idea is that
society benefits when citizens are able to express opinions.

42
● That’s why the First Amendment exists. It says, “Congress shall make no
law … abridging the freedom of speech.”1 In other words, the government
is not allowed to choose who can speak—or to prohibit propaganda.2

● So that’s the first part of the answer: America is not going to suppress bad
speech but instead will confront it with better speech.

● What is “better speech”? Aristotle described it in terms of truth, believing

that truth will win out in the long run. He wrote, “Things that are true
and things that are just have a natural tendency to prevail over their
opposites.” Truth prevails when lies eventually get debunked, Aristotle
believed. It takes a lot of work to cover up the truth, which will eventually
shine through in the end.

● Just as we are more likely to believe things that are true, we are also more
likely to believe speakers who tell the truth. “We believe good men more
fully and more readily than others,” said Aristotle.

● Under an Aristotelean framework, telling the truth makes sense because

it is easier, since lies are likely to be revealed, but also because it is “good,”
leading to “true opinions” rather than false ones, and thereby increasing
utility for the benefit of society.

● Notice that a system that does not shut down unpopular speech—believing
instead that truth will arise through a clash of ideas—presumes an audience
that is able to think and understand. That’s consistent with Aristotle’s
formulation of ethical speech from a speaker with ethos, who approaches his
or her audience with good will, not as people to be lied to or manipulated.

1 Notice that the First Amendment is concerned with the government’s control over the right of
the people to speak. It doesn’t address actions by private citizens.
2 The courts have determined that some speech advocating or inciting violence isn’t protected
under the First Amendment, but that bar is pretty high. The incitement must be explicit and
must generate an actual likelihood of violence. Even if your message is hateful, it’s permitted in
the United States so long as you are not violating other laws.

Lesson 5 Avoiding the Pitfalls of Propaganda 43

● It’s different from Bernays’s concept of “intelligent minorities” who do the
thinking for everyone else or Hitler’s formulation of an audience of “limited
intelligence,” unable to engage in “sober reasoning.” If you assume the best of
your audience, you are less likely to engage in disseminating propaganda.

DEFENDING YOURSELF
AGAINST PROPAGANDA
● You can defend yourself against propaganda if you pay attention to the
emotions the speaker is trying to trigger in you.

● Studies by social scientists have shown that negative emotions can impede
rational thought. Speech that seeks to churn up the audience by playing on
their baser instincts—appealing perhaps to racism, sexism, homophobia, or
xenophobia—trigger the emotional part of the brain, the amygdala, which
perceives threats and causes us to fight or take flight. When the amygdala
is triggered, the body releases stress hormones, and it is difficult to think
logically. Your brain is hijacked by anxiety or anger.

● Speakers who can stay calm under intense pressure and deliver optimistic
messages create an environment of trust and fairness and open up space
for rational thought. Resonant messages work on your prefrontal cortex,
where rational thinking takes place. Dissonant messages—racism, sexism,
xenophobia, fearmongering—can lead to thoughtless reaction and violence.

● You can protect yourself by noticing your reaction and thinking about
what is happening. That moves the activity to your prefrontal cortex and
might help you identify propaganda when you hear it.

● If you are in a discussion and you think a speaker is fighting unfairly

by reaching for deliberately divisive language, take a step back and
really listen. When you are talking to someone who is experiencing
overwhelming emotions, that person is unlikely to be persuaded by purely
rational arguments.

● Furthermore, try to see things from the other person’s point of view to
get a sense of his or her fears and worries. If you can empathize with what
the other person is feeling, you will gain a better understanding of that
person’s interests and viewpoint.

44
● You can then use your own emotions and thinking to help calm the
situation, offer resonant and hopeful messages, and help the other person
move from chaotic emotion to manageable thought.

● If you can listen, connect emotionally, and remain calm yourself, you will
spread that calm and good feeling to others around you. You will change the
tone of the debate, and it will be easier for other people to listen to you in turn.

AVOIDING THE TEMPTATION

TO USE PROPAGANDA
● Ginning up an audience with anger or fear can win elections, so why
not do it?

● Speaking with passion and conviction can be exactly what the occasion
demands. But speech that aims at manipulating emotions in order to cloud
judgment, or speech that is undertaken purely because you are triggered
and have not taken the time to think things through, does as much
damage to the marketplace of ideas as lying does.

● If a speaker preys on the fears of an audience, foments hatred of others,

or deliberately incites a mob, that speaker does nothing to promote a fair
exchange of ideas. Consequently, this sort of manipulative speech hinders
the progress of democracy and the ultimate purpose of rhetoric as defined
by Aristotle: a search for truth.

● The abuse of pathos can also backfire in the long run. Pandering to people
who already agree with you doesn’t really get you anywhere. If you speak
uncivilly, you may delight and entertain your followers, but you will also
trigger the resistance that might be your undoing. Beliefs are important
to those who hold them. If you jeer or denigrate their opinions, you will
rarely be able to persuade those people that your cause is just.

READING
Bernays, Propaganda.

Brandeis, Whitney v. California.

Lesson 5 Avoiding the Pitfalls of Propaganda 45

QUESTIONS
1 Do you think the use of propaganda is wise? Why or why not?
2 Do you think there should be laws outlawing propaganda? Why or
why not?

46
 6
HOW TO WRITE
FOR PUBLIC
SPEAKING

Lesson 6 How to Write for Public Speaking 47

 Y ou’ve been thinking about what you want to say in order to be
persuasive. But now it’s time to focus on the actual wordsmithing you
will be doing to achieve the big-picture goals of ethos, pathos, and logos.

WRITING YOUR SPEECH WITH YOUR

AUDIENCE IN MIND
● Writing for speaking—writing something you intend to communicate out
loud—is not the same craft as writing for reading. A speech is not just an
essay you read aloud. It is a different sort of animal. And the differences
are dictated by the experience of your audience.

● Readers of an essay control the environment in which they absorb the ideas
as well as the pace at which they absorb them. With a speech, the speaker
is in charge of the timing. An audience at a speech typically has to get the
information entirely by listening to the speaker. They don’t have the luxury
of looking up unfamiliar words, as a reader does.

● So, as the speaker, you have to spend the right amount of time on each
point so that your listeners are able to process each in turn. You have to
make it simple and straightforward enough so people can get it just by
listening to you. And you have to keep them engaged the whole time.

● With a speech before a live audience, though, you have some advantages.
If you write an essay, you have no way of knowing whether the reader will
fall asleep during the most important part. But with a speech before a live
audience, you can see your audience. You can notice if they’re bored or
confused, and you can do something to make your point clearer or get them
interested again. And you can use your delivery to keep people interested.

● So you want to write your speech with that audience experience in mind.
You want to think about the challenges for the audience—about what’s
required to get and keep their attention.

48
 WHEN WRITING A SPEECH, YOU DON’T HAVE
TO WRITE OUT EVERY SINGLE WORD. FOR SOME
SPEECHES, THAT MIGHT BE APPROPRIATE, BUT
FOR OTHERS, YOU WANT TO EXPLAIN SOME OF
THE IDEAS EXTEMPORANEOUSLY BECAUSE THAT
LETS YOU SOUND MORE CONVERSATIONAL
AND GIVES YOU ROOM TO INTERACT WITH
YOUR AUDIENCE.

● Any speech has a beginning, a middle, and an end. A speech has to start
somewhere and end somewhere. It needs a progression in order to feel
satisfying, which is required by pathos, and in order for your logos to
be clear.

THE BEGINNING
● The first section of your speech is really important. It’s the first time the
audience is hearing from you. You’re making your first impression. You
want that impression to be a good one. You want them to think you’ve got
something to say and that you’re worth listening to—right away, you need
to be establishing ethos.

● That’s why even if you don’t write out every word of your speech, you
should write out and memorize your opening. That’s because you want to
appear as confident and credible as possible. You want to know what you’re
going to say so you’re not fumbling around.
● In the opening of any speech, you also want to grab the audience’s
attention and let them know that the speech is going to be worth their
time. This is all part of pathos, or emotional engagement. If you start off
with a boring first paragraph, the audience may decide to tune you out. So
you want to give them a reason to care.

Lesson 6 How to Write for Public Speaking 49

 ● Every good speech has a theme—a central message. And you want to hone
it well enough so that you can say what it is in a single sentence if someone
asked you to. So ask yourself this question: If my audience remembers only
one thing, what should it be? That’s your theme.

● Since you have to do a lot with your first paragraph, try not to write your
first paragraph first. Instead, start with the guts of your speech, because it
can take a little while to really figure out a good theme and a good hook—
that is, an attention-grabbing statement that will make the audience eager
to hear what you have to say next. Work on the substance of the speech
first and the hook will come to you. If you’ve got an opening that you like,
that can help a ton with nerves because you’ll be excited to say it.

THE MIDDLE
● The middle of the speech is where you make your case, or prove your
point, or really dig into the idea that you’re trying to explain. But here’s
what you have to keep in mind: You have to make that middle section
really clear or your audience will stop listening to you. The best speeches
have a very clean, simple structure.

50
● When writing a speech, you should typically start by brainstorming. Turn
on your computer and start typing a list of everything you might want to
cover in the speech. That gives you material to work with, but then the
next step is to give that material a shape. It has to be a shape the audience
can hear.

● The next important step for making your logos clear is to delete what
you don’t need. That step is pretty hard for some speakers. Maybe you’re
talking about something in your field that you just love, and you think the
minutiae are endlessly fascinating. But if you add in all those little details
and digressions, you’ll end up with an audience looking at you blankly
because they’re lost.

● It’s important to remember that the goal of a speech isn’t to display the
breadth of your knowledge; it’s to get the most important ideas into your
audience’s heads. And just because you say something, that doesn’t mean
that the audience heard it. If you have too many extraneous points, then
the audience may not retain any of them.

● This is why it’s important to craft a speech in advance, even if you don’t
write out every word. If you speak on the fly, you’re likely to end up lost in
the weeds rather than making a clear point.

● You also want your structure to be as obvious as possible—not just to your

audience, but to you. If you really understand the bones of your speech,
you’ll be able to get through it without losing your place. Here are two
techniques to test your structure:

† Create an old-fashioned outline with main points and subpoints. That

lets you look at the shape of your speech to make sure that your ideas
are well ordered and each one is covered properly. If you’re weaving
between points, then you’re asking your audience to keep a bunch of
things in their heads at once, and that’s pretty tough.

† “Write” your speech aloud. Start by brainstorming, then take your

first pass at putting that material into a shape, and then try speaking
it aloud without looking at your notes. You’re just trying to get the
rough outline down at this point. And if you hit a spot where you can’t
remember what comes next, that tells you there’s something about the

Lesson 6 How to Write for Public Speaking 51

 logic of that point that you need to smooth out for yourself. Think
about what would naturally flow from that idea and then move things
around until you have a structure that makes intuitive sense to you—
which is then more likely to make sense to your audience, too.

● As you consider your structure, you’ll also want to think about how much
time you’ll need to spend on each point. It takes an audience a certain
amount of time to really digest an idea. If you fly through an idea, your
audience may miss it. And if the audience doesn’t hear it, and doesn’t
process it, then it’s like you didn’t say it.

● There needs to be proportionality in a speech. Spend the most time on the

most important points and take enough time with them so that people can
get them.

● You also need to take an appropriate amount of time to transition from one
idea to another. The audience needs to hear those transitions. One way you
can make sure that happens is by explicitly saying something like, “That
was the first point. Now let’s look at the second.” Or you can use that
theme of yours to help.

● Once you’ve refined your structure, you’ll want to focus on your language.

● Short, pithy statements are your friend. It is a lot easier to speak the text if
you have short sentences and smaller-than-normal paragraph breaks. Those
breaks let you take a breath, tell you where to pause, and help remind you
to transition ideas. Besides, long sentences are harder for the audience to
follow and can lull people to sleep.

● Also, choose words that are easy to understand. If you use an unfamiliar
word, you may lose your listeners because they don’t know what the word
means. And even if it’s a word that they do know, if it’s not a word that’s
commonly used in conversation, you might lose them for a second as they

“
translate your sentence in their heads.

Aristotle said, “Strange words should be avoided at all

costs.”

52
● You’ll also want to choose words that are easy to pronounce. If you use the
technique of writing your speech by speaking it aloud, you’ll find those
tongue twisters. Get rid of them.

● Here’s another suggestion: Use your language to make your points

memorable. You could do it through sounds. Any of those figures of speech
that are actually figures of sound—such as alliteration,1 consonance,2 or
assonance3 —will help you.

● You can also use your words to paint a picture. Language that appeals to
the senses can really make ideas pop. If you can turn your point into a
story or describe the details of a scene, the audience will listen.

THE END
● Your final paragraph is just as important as your first paragraph. Typically,
in your final paragraph, you’ll want to return once again to your theme.
But you don’t want to just repeat the first paragraph verbatim, because that
would be boring. Instead, think about linking that theme directly to
your audience.

STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT AUDIENCES

ARE MOST LIKELY TO REMEMBER THESE FOUR
THINGS: THE FIRST THING THEY HEAR, THE
THING THEY HEAR MORE THAN ONCE, THE
THING THAT’S THE MOST VIVID, AND THE LAST
THING THEY HEAR.

1 the repetition of words that start with the same sound, such as black-browed
2 a repeating sound that falls in the middle or at the end of a word, such as pitter-patter
3 a repeating vowel, such as high-rise

Lesson 6 How to Write for Public Speaking 53

● It can help to think of it this way: Your speech isn’t over when you stop
talking. It’s over when the audience goes out into the world and takes some
action that you want them to take or when they understand and appreciate
the feelings you’re sharing with them.

WRITING YOUR OWN SPEECH

● Now it’s time for you to try your hand at writing a speech. You could
choose to write out every word, which you might want to do if this is
your first time trying this, or you could choose instead to write out only
your first and last paragraphs, making the middle section a series of bullet
points that you flesh out as you speak. Here’s a checklist of what you want:

‡ Pick a topic—something you care about. Brainstorm all the things you
might say about that topic

‡ Think about who you’re going to be speaking to. Why might they care
about this topic? Look at your brainstormed list, highlight the things
your audience will really care about, and delete the things that they
don’t need to know.

‡ Start to give that material some shape. See if you can put the
information into three buckets—three things you might say about
the topic.

‡ Is there a story you can tell that helps you make your point? It could be
a single story that connects those three buckets, or it could be a story
that helps you zero in on the most important thing.

‡ Look the material over again. What’s the most important thing you are
saying? If you had to give the speech in just one sentence, what would
that sentence be? That’s your theme.

‡ Work a little more on your central message. Make it jazzy. Make it a

theme that people will care about. (Hint: People care about other people
or good, strong, memorable ideas.)

‡ Take a look at your first paragraph. You need a hook to get the audience
interested in the speech. That theme can provide you the hook.

54
 ‡ Look at your last paragraph. Think of it as your theme plus an action
item for the audience. What do you want them to do or remember?

‡ Start practicing the speech out loud. This is the part of the writing
process where you are looking for parts you like and keeping those.
Look for places where you get confused and figure out what’s wrong
with the structure or logic of those places. Make sure your sentences are
short. Use words you can actually pronounce.

‡ Try the speech out loud a bunch of times. Do you like the start? Do you
like the central message? Do you have a few well-chosen points that you
are making? Is the final paragraph satisfying? Then voilà—you have a
well-written speech!

READING
Gehrig, Farewell to Baseball.

Sayler and Shadel, Tongue-Tied America, chap. 5.

QUESTIONS
Take this opportunity to try your hand at writing a speech. As you do so,
answer the following questions:

1 What is your topic?

2 Who is your audience? Why will they care about the topic? What do they
need to know about it, and what can you eliminate as extraneous?

3 What are three things you want to say about your topic?
4 Is there a story you can tell that helps you make your point?
5 If you had to give the speech in just one sentence, what would that
sentence be?

Lesson 6 How to Write for Public Speaking 55

6 How can you make people care about your central message?
7 Are your sentences short and pronounceable?
8 When practicing out loud, what parts of your speech do you like? Where
do you get confused?

9 What will you say in your first paragraph? How will you hook the
audience so it is interested?

10 How will you finish your speech? What do you want your audience to do
or remember?

56
 7
ANALYZING AND
REHEARSING
YOUR SPEECH

Lesson 7 Analyzing and Rehearsing Your Speech 57

 W hen giving a speech, you might feel like clinging tightly to your
script if you’re nervous. But that’s a mistake, as your audience is
likely to get bored. You’ll sound like a robot instead of a real person talking.
And if your audience is bored, they’re going to stop listening to you. So
it won’t matter how brilliant the writing of your speech was. If they stop
listening, then it’s like you didn’t even speak in the first place.

ACTING TECHNIQUES
● What you want to do is put down your script and bring your words to life.
It can be helpful to approach this in the way an actor would. Actors would
tell you that there are some simple and accessible techniques that you can
use to improve your public speaking skills.

● First, when you are delivering a speech, you’re not trying to be someone else.
You do not have to sound like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in order to be a
successful speaker. You should sound like you—you as your confident and
relaxed self. That’s how you will sound authentic, which is important to your
credibility, or ethos. You’re going to be you, but you with a purpose.
● If you were to go to acting school, you would spend a lot of time
thinking about purpose—in particular, what your character’s purpose, or
motivation, is in any scene. Actors ask themselves why their character is
doing a particular thing or saying a particular line in a scene. If an actor
knows his or her character’s motivation, then it’s going to help the actor
figure out how to say the line or do the action to communicate what’s
going on with the character.

● This is the basis of an acting technique that’s known as method acting,1

which helps a performer seem more natural and believable. Essentially, the
actor studies the text and figures out what’s happening with the character
in each moment in a scene. The actor is figuring out the character’s
purpose. Then, the actor thinks about what in his or her own personal
experience would help him or her relate to that purpose.

1 Also known as the Stanislavski method, this technique was developed in Russia in the early
20th century by Konstantin Stanislavski.

58
● When you let yourself recall a memory from your past, it can create a
physical sensation in you. Tapping into that experience would help you see
what happens to you physically and vocally in real life when you’re in that
type of situation. And then you could use that emotion and experience in
your performance to convey what’s happening to your character at
that moment.

● The part of this that’s really helpful for public speakers is the discipline of
thinking about what your purpose is at any moment of the speech. You
have to know your motivation.

● You’ve actually been thinking about your purpose all along as you were
writing your speech: You know what your message is, why it’s important,
and why the audience will want to hear about it.

● When you are delivering your speech, your purpose is what should be
foremost in your mind. You are focused entirely on the great message you
are delivering. You thought about the material, chose it carefully to serve
your audience, and gave it meaning. And now that meaning is foremost in
your mind. If you focus on that, many of the other things about delivery
will take care of themselves. The audience won’t care if your delivery isn’t
flawless, so long as your message comes through and you’re connected to
that message.

● Your delivery will be better the more specific you are about your purpose.
And your purpose may be different in different parts of your speech. So
here’s a useful acting technique that you can try to make sure you are clear
about your purpose throughout the speech.

● Actors spend a lot of time studying the text of a scene to figure out what’s
going on from moment to moment. So that’s what you’re going to do, too:
Take a look at your script and really understand the structure.

● You should already have some sense of that because you’re the one who
wrote the script, and you were thinking about structure when you wrote
it. But now you’ll take a pen and draw lines separating your script into
separate beats.

Lesson 7 Analyzing and Rehearsing Your Speech 59

 ● A beat is the smallest unit of action in a play. It’s the amount of time it
takes a character to play out a single intention.

● As an actor studying your script, you might use a pen to draw lines to show
yourself where the beats are so that you know when things change for your
character.

● As an example, here’s a section of a closing argument from the Triangle

shirtwaist fire trial of 1911. This trial involved a terrible fire at a factory
in which 146 employees, many of whom were teenage girls, died because
there wasn’t a way to get out of the building. The doors were locked. In his
closing, the prosecutor said this:

“
BEAT 1: Your purpose is
Just before the fire, the bell had to set the scene for what a
sounded for shutting off the normal workday would feel
power. Then came the start of like.
the fire on Greene Street near
BEAT 2: There’s new
the cutters’ table, right near the action—the start of the fire.
Greene Street windows. The Your purpose is to show
fire came there, [and] it came how fast the fire came and
with great force. The first alarm how many lives were lost in
such a short amount of time.
of fire was sent in at 4:45 p.m.,
and in eight minutes over one BEAT 3: The text shifts
hundred lives had been snuffed from telling the story of
the force of the fire to
out. Gentlemen, no bodies were
talking about the dead. Your
found on the tenth floor, no purpose has shifted to trying
bodies were found on the eighth to build a sense of dread for
floor, no bodies were found on what’s to come.
the roof, nor the fire escape, BEAT 4: Your purpose is to
nor the stairway. Oh, that we connect the deaths with the
could say the same of the ninth locked doors, which were
floor! There were the heaps of locked by the owners of the
building. If the doors were
bodies and they had been held unlocked, there wouldn’t
in there by these locked doors. have been heaps of bodies.

60
● You can try this yourself with the script you wrote at the end of the
previous lesson. Grab a pen and draw lines on the text to show yourself
where the beats are. If you followed the structure suggested in the previous
lesson, then your speech has five beats: your first paragraph, the three
points you are making, and your final paragraph. Draw lines separating
those five sections. And in the margin next to each beat, write a word or
phrase to summarize your purpose.

● The great thing about this exercise is that it helps you really see the bones
of your speech. It’s yet another pass through that structure, and it’s helping
make it clear to you why you’ve put the material in this particular order.
And if you don’t like the way your beats flow, change the order of them
until you can feel the arc of your action.

REHEARSAL TECHNIQUES
● Once you have your beats figured out, you are going to start practicing.

● Rehearsal is so important. You have to make time for it. Get the text nailed
down at least a week before you speak, if you can, so that you have lots of
time to practice.

● Practice out loud. Reading the speech silently to yourself is not practicing.
You have to say it so that you get used to the words and the rhythms. It
can also be helpful to record yourself and listen to the speech while you’re
exercising or doing the dishes, for example. And listen to it right before you
go to bed so that your brain can process it while you sleep.

YOU START TO REALLY UNDERSTAND THE

RHYTHMS OF THE SPEECH WHEN YOU ARE
SAYING AND HEARING IT OUT LOUD.

● If you can, practice in a space that is similar to where you’ll actually be

giving the speech. It feels very different to practice a speech in a small
room and then deliver it in a large lecture hall. The size and setup of the

Lesson 7 Analyzing and Rehearsing Your Speech 61

 room change how you might stand and move around. So if it’s possible to
get into the room where you will be speaking, that’s the best. If you can’t,
then try to replicate the space as best you can.

● Practice often. Do your speech several times without your notes and see if
you can remember the structure. If you can’t, then see if you can make the
structure simpler so that it sticks in your brain.

● Practice while walking. Actors sometimes will go walk in the woods and
practice their lines out loud; it helps get it into your bones to speak the
lines and move at the same time.

● It can be helpful to practice the speech beat by beat. This means you
might practice your first paragraph several times, then the first argument
you make, then the second, etc. Practicing this way helps you notice the
structure of the speech—where one thought ends and the next begins.
Then, you will also need some rehearsals to put all those beats together in
order to figure out the moments of transition.

● If you’ve practiced beat by beat, then the skeleton of the speech will be
obvious to you, which can really help with stage fright. Even if you forget a
line, you’ll have a good feeling for the flow of the speech, and you’ll know
the point of the particular beat you’re in and what comes next. You’ll be
able to get through it, even if it’s not word-perfect.

● And it’s OK if you’re not word-perfect. Sometimes things go wrong when

you are speaking publicly. If you forget a line, realize that the audience
really won’t know—unless you tell them. For example, don’t apologize
or go back and say a line again with the “right” words. Stay calm and
don’t get rattled. This will not only keep you and the audience more
comfortable, but it’s also good for your credibility. However, correcting
yourself makes it clear that you’re working from a script. Drawing
attention to the artifice makes you less credible.

● It’s OK to let the script go a little bit so you don’t sound like you are
reciting, and don’t worry if things don’t come out exactly the same way as
you practiced. If you’ve given yourself enough time to practice, you’ll know
what you need to say next to fix the mistake or whether you can just ignore
it and keep going.

62
 “ As one experienced actor advises, “Nine times out of ten,
the audience will not perceive that you’ve dropped a line.
So the key is to pause, breathe, and don’t freak out.”

 EXERCISE
To make sure you know the central message of your speech and
can really connect with the emotional purpose of what you’re
saying, try reducing your speech to a 60-second version—the
amount of time it would take you to explain your speech to
someone if you only got one elevator ride with that person. If
you can do your speech as a so-called elevator pitch without
looking at any notes, then you know the essence of your talk and
will be able to get through it.

● Another good rehearsal technique is to practice your speech out loud while
imagining different audiences. For example, imagine you are giving your
speech to a group of sixth graders—who are old enough to follow something
reasonably complicated but young enough that you need to work a little
to keep their attention. See how that imaginary audience changes your
language and your energy. This can be a useful exercise if you think your
speech is flat and want to work on connecting with your audience.

● Spend extra time practicing the opening and closing of your speech. Your
first paragraph is particularly important, because it’s when the audience
is deciding whether to listen to you and it’s when you’re probably the
most nervous. But hopefully you’ve figured out a great hook to start the
speech, such as a compelling story. Practice it so you start off well. It’ll help
everything else go more smoothly.

● Rehearsal is also where you’ll start making some choices about what you
are doing physically and vocally to serve your speech. And it’s where
you can start to work on building good physical and vocal habits that
eventually will become second nature to you.

Lesson 7 Analyzing and Rehearsing Your Speech 63

● So get a video camera and do a run-through of the speech you wrote at the
end of the previous lesson.1 Make sure that you’ve marked where the beats
are and jotted down what the purpose of each beat is. Try performing that
speech, just doing a run-through. Then, watch the video of it and pay close
attention to your physical and vocal habits. You’re now watching yourself
from the point of view of your audience. Did you find your delivery
effective in conveying your message?

READING
Stanislavski, An Actor Prepares.

Von Drehle, Triangle.

QUESTIONS
1 Break your speech into beats. What is the purpose of each beat? How are
the beats different from one another? Do you like how they flow? (If you
don’t, rewrite your script.)

2 Practice your speech aloud, beat by beat. If you don’t have a speech, then
use the Triangle shirtwaist fire excerpt from this lesson.

1 If you didn’t take the time to write a speech, then you can use the text of the Triangle
shirtwaist fire closing from this lesson.

64
 8
USING BODY
LANGUAGE IN
PUBLIC SPEAKING

Lesson 8 Using Body Language in Public Speaking 65

U ltimately, your goal as a speaker is to strike your audience as being
authentic, comfortable, and credible. But paradoxically, in order to
seem as authentic as possible, you have to work to master physical and vocal
techniques that help you appear more natural. Rehearsal is an essential part of
that work. It gives you an opportunity to play around with physical and vocal
choices that can help make your message clear. It’s also a great time to notice
the things you naturally do well and to assess any physical and vocal habits
you have that might be getting in your way.

REHEARSALS ARE FOR MAKING PHYSICAL AND

VOCAL CHOICES AND WORKING OUT THE
KINKS. WITH ENOUGH REHEARSAL, STRONG
PHYSICAL AND VOCAL HABITS BECOME SECOND
NATURE. BUT DURING THE PERFORMANCE
ITSELF, YOUR MIND STAYS FOCUSED ON YOUR
MAIN MESSAGE AND SHARING THAT WISDOM
WITH YOUR AUDIENCE.

COMMUNICATING CONFIDENCE
● Social scientists have long known that humans, like other animals,1 express
power through open, expansive postures.

● Psychologist Amy Cuddy has studied the impact of body language in

public speaking and has found that audiences make snap judgments about
a speaker within the first two minutes of a speech—based on what that
speaker is doing physically.

1 In nature, animals that want to express power stalk around and take up space. A peacock
unfurls its feathers. A lion shakes its mane and roars.

66
 “ Maya Angelou once wrote, “Stand up straight, and realize
who you are, that you tower over your circumstances.”

● If the speaker is using open, expansive postures, which she calls power
poses, then the audience is more likely to assess the speaker as credible. If
instead the speaker is using closed, protective, submissive postures, then
the audience is going to think that the speaker isn’t credible.

● Those closed, submissive postures that undercut your credibility are the
postures we retreat to when we are feeling scared and need to soothe
ourselves. Think about the small child curled up in a ball, or the speaker
with his or her arms and legs crossed, protecting his or her core. If you’re
shielding your core, it indicates that you feel under attack.

● Or sometimes people soothe themselves through repetitive motion—think

of that small child rocking back and forth, sucking his or her thumb, or
the speaker who rocks or fidgets. All of those habits can get in the way of
your credibility.

● In contrast, power posing means you take up room. You don’t need to
protect your core because you are the most powerful person in the room—
the one with the microphone! And when you move, it is done cleanly and
with purpose.

 EXERCISE
Watch the video recording you made of yourself after the
previous lesson2 and assess your body language.

2 If you didn’t record a video of yourself after the previous lesson, do a run-through of your
speech now. Don’t think about your body language at all; do what comes naturally, thinking
only about the words you are saying.

Lesson 8 Using Body Language in Public Speaking 67

 WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR FEET
● The way you stand will affect everything else about your body language.
It’s your foundation. In acting school, students spend a lot of time working
on learning how to have a neutral body, which means body language that
communicates nothing. Then, on top of that, you layer the things you
want to add to build a particular character.

● To master a neutral stance, stand with your feet hip-width apart,1 don’t
lock your knees,2 and point your toes toward the audience.3

● The great thing about the neutral stance is that it’s blank. It’s not
communicating anything except that you are comfortable standing
there—which is powerful.

● Stances that aren’t neutral communicate something. For example, crossing

your legs and arms can convey that you’re lacking in confidence. Swaying
and rocking can communicate the same thing, and crossing your legs and
arms makes you more likely to sway and rock.

● If you know that you tend to rock or sway and want to hold still, you
might find yourself standing with your feet wider than hip-width apart.
But this stance isn’t neutral. And it looks weird. So you’ll want to practice
that neutral stance so that it becomes second nature.

● Try to practice your speech wearing the shoes you intend to wear during
the actual performance. Different heel heights change how you are holding
your weight and can affect your stance. If you are having trouble standing
in a neutral way, try a different pair of shoes, paying particular attention to
whether your shoes are causing you to lock your knees.

1 Hip-width is about the width of your two fists side by side.

2 Locking your knees affects your blood pressure and can make you feel light-headed.
3 You always want to point your toes toward the people you’re speaking to. If instead you are
angled away, then your stance isn’t neutral. It’s communicating something: It makes it look like
you are ready to run out the door.

68
● Also, if you are having problems with rocking or rising up on your toes, as
many people do when they are nervous, then practice your speech a few
times with some weights on your feet. Try laying Velcro ankle weights across
the tops of your feet to give you the physical feeling that you are connected
to the ground. Heavy books, opened and facedown, can do the trick, too.

PRACTICING WITH WEIGHT ON YOUR FEET

CAN HELP MAKE YOU MORE MINDFUL OF HOW
YOU ARE STANDING AND HELP YOU CULTIVATE
THE HABIT OF STANDING STILL WITHOUT
SHIFTING OR SWAYING.

● You’ll want to use this neutral stance even if you are behind a lectern.
People sometimes feel like a lectern is this safe thing that’s shielding them
from the audience, so they get behind there and do all sorts of crazy
things, such as cross their feet or kick off their shoes. But the audience can
still see your upper body, and your stance affects that. In fact, having a still
thing like a lectern in front of you often makes the movement of your feet
more noticeable.

● For some speeches, you don’t have to stand in one place the whole time. It
is appropriate to move. That’s certainly the case for lawyers when making
an opening statement or a closing argument to a jury.

● Walking can be a great way to keep an audience engaged, but you want to
make sure it’s not distracting. If you’re walking all the time when you speak,
like a lion pacing in its cage, then your audience will be distracted. So if you
want to incorporate walking, use it to punctuate important points.

● In the previous lesson, you learned how to divide your speech into beats.
The beats, which represent the important points you are conveying to the
audience, can serve as guideposts as you decide when to walk and when
to stop. You can make it clear that you are transitioning to a new topic by
walking, and when you stop, the line you’re saying will pop.

Lesson 8 Using Body Language in Public Speaking 69

● If you decide to incorporate walking, be mindful of where you are standing
vis-à-vis the audience. You don’t want to get too close. Audiences have a
sense of personal space, just like any person would. If you get too close,
then the audience will feel uncomfortable. And a gesture that might seem
perfectly fine if you are standing farther away suddenly seems a little too
aggressive. This is why it’s a good idea to practice in a space similar to the
one you’ll be using the day of the speech and perhaps plan out when you
will walk and where.

WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR HANDS

● Hands in public speaking are funny things. In normal life, you use your
hands all the time without thinking about it much. You probably move
your hands around when you talk and gesture to make a point, and it’s all
perfectly natural.

● But as soon as you are facing an audience, then your hands start to feel
enormous and you don’t know what to do with them. That’s why people
end up fidgeting or doing other mannerisms that indicate they’re nervous.

● To seem like your most natural, relaxed, but confident self, you’ll need to
move sometimes. You need some gestures. If you stand perfectly still while
you speak, like a deer in the headlights, you don’t look relaxed. But you
also need some moments of stillness, because if you move your hands the
whole time you’re speaking, that’s pretty distracting, too, and undercuts
your credibility.

● Just as you want to have a neutral stance with your feet, you also want to
have a neutral resting place with your hands. You want a resting place that
doesn’t communicate nervousness and that allows you to use powerful
gestures—those power poses.

● To find this, return to the neutral stance but add in your arms and hands:
Your arms are just hanging by your sides, and your hands are gently
cupped. This is called actor’s neutral, and it’s the posture you should
use whenever you’re not moving your hands—whenever you need a
resting place.

70
 NOW THAT YOU KNOW ABOUT ACTOR’S
NEUTRAL, YOU CAN START TO LOOK FOR
ACTORS USING IT. GO SEE A MUSICAL ON
BROADWAY. WHEN IT GETS TO THE POWER
BALLAD THAT’S OFTEN NEAR THE END OF
THE SHOW, YOU’LL LIKELY SEE THE SINGER USE
ACTOR’S NEUTRAL.

● The great thing about actor’s neutral is that it sets you up to use powerful
gestures. When you move from actor’s neutral to a gesture and then back
to actor’s neutral, you’re taking up a lot of space. That’s power posing.

● If your resting place is one where your hands are clasped in front of you,
you’re protecting your core and indicating nervousness. If you unzipper your
arms from your torso and move to actor’s neutral, the result is more power.

● If you just can’t get away from holding hands with yourself, try painting
your fingernails and practice with wet nail polish. You won’t want to hold
your own hand if your nails are wet! You can also try practicing after
putting Vaseline on your fingers. The Vaseline will make you notice every
time you try to go back to holding your own hand and help you get out of
that habit.

● At first, actor’s neutral can feel really weird. It feels artificial. Yet you’re
supposed to be as natural and authentic as possible. This is where the
acting comes in. Actors will tell you that it’s their job to look natural
and authentic even when they feel terrified. Part of how you do this is by
creating physical habits for yourself so that in your muscle memory you
know the body language you want to use.

Lesson 8 Using Body Language in Public Speaking 71

 TO MASTER ACTOR’S NEUTRAL, YOU HAVE TO
SPEND ENOUGH TIME ON IT TO CREATE A NEW
PHYSICAL HABIT FOR YOURSELF. BUT IT CAN
BE VERY POWERFUL, SO TAKE THE TIME TO
PRACTICE IT.

● When you watch your video of yourself doing your speech, look at your
resting place and at the frequency and strength of your hand gestures. See if
you can find some places to take up some space—to do a little power posing.

● If you’re someone who moves a lot, intentionally plan a few places where
you really want to land a point and try holding still at those places. If
you’re someone who doesn’t gesture naturally, try speaking while making
yourself hold completely still and notice the places where it drove you crazy
to do that. Those are the places where you will want to gesture.

● Also, notice what your gestures may be communicating. For example,

some people use gestures that unconsciously indicate aggression—
gesturing with a fist, for example, instead of an open hand. Pointing is also
an aggressive posture, as is standing too close to your audience or rapidly
moving toward them. It can be helpful to watch a video of your speech
with the sound turned off. Watch only your body language and see what
it’s communicating.

● If you’re using a lectern, you’ll still want to have some hand movement
from time to time. Don’t just go up to the lectern and hold on! You’ll look
like you’re clutching the railing on the Titanic, waiting for the ship to sink.
And you’ll probably end up swaying back and forth, because you can do
that if you hold on.

● Some people can rest their hands on the lectern and look relaxed, but the
danger is that you’ll end up thumping the lectern for emphasis or knocking
the microphone.

72
● Instead, try actor’s neutral, even behind a lectern. And then, when you
gesture, make sure that you’re raising your arms a little more than you
might otherwise so that the audience can see what you’re doing. If you
gesture at your normal height, the audience might not be able to see it with
lectern in front of you.

READING
Nicholls, Body, Breath & Being.

Vineyard, How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live.

Lesson 8 Using Body Language in Public Speaking 73

QUESTIONS
1 Make a video recording of yourself giving your speech.
2 How is your stance? Are your feet about hip-width apart? Are you able to
stand still without distracting swaying or locking/unlocking your knees?
Are your toes pointed toward the audience?

3 If you want to walk during your speech, are you doing it in a way that isn’t
distracting, but instead helps you punctuate important points?

4 What resting place are you using for your hands? Does it project
confidence?

5 Are you using some gestures? When you do, are they strong?

74
 9
EYE CONTACT
AND PACING IN
PERFORMANCE

Lesson 9 Eye Contact and Pacing in Performance 75

A s you discovered in the previous lesson, body language is all about
displaying confidence and competence, which is ethos. In this lesson,
you’ll consider more elements of performance—such as eye contact, tone,
cadence, and voice—that can help you achieve pathos.

EYE CONTACT
● You’ve been learning performance techniques you can use to make your
speech soar. You’ve learned that your stance and your gestures can help
you exude ethos, or credibility. Another important marker of ethos is being
able to look people in the eye.

● It’s part of American culture to believe that trustworthy people look you
in the eye. If you can’t meet someone’s gaze, or if your eyes are shifting
around a lot, you look like you are lying. This is another reason why it’s
important to free yourself from the tether of the script. If you are reading
your script, you can’t look people in the eye, and your ethos takes a hit.

● If you’ve made a list of bullet points instead of writing out every word,
it’s easier to memorize the points so you don’t need to use notes while you
speak. Or if you do end up using notes, if your notes are a simple one-page
bulleted list, you’ll be able to glance down to see where you are and then
quickly make eye contact again.

● When you look at the audience, you want to do it for an appropriate

amount of time. If you’re staring fixedly at one person, that person is
going to feel deeply uncomfortable. But you also don’t want to go too fast,
scanning the room and not actually looking at anyone. You also want to
avoid that trick of only pretending to look at people; sometimes speakers
stare over the heads of the audience instead of looking at them for real, and
audiences can feel that.

● Instead, look at each person in the room for the amount of time it would
take to give them a thought. That’s about the right amount of time to seem
authentic and relaxed.

76
● If you have trouble with eye contact, ask a few supportive people to come
listen to your speech. Start with the first beat, and as you deliver it, reach
out and take the hand of the first audience member. Deliver that beat
while shaking hands with that person, looking him or her in the eye.
When you finish the beat, let go of that person’s hand. Move to the next
audience member for the next beat, again shaking hands—and so on.

● This is a way to make you feel physically that connection you are trying to
form with your audience and to practice trying to give a thought to each
person who is listening to you. Once you’ve made it through your speech,
then do it again, this time without shaking hands but keeping that same
specific eye contact.

● Looking at the audience is actually helpful to you, because it gives you

information about how they’re doing. Don’t do any of those funny things
coaches sometimes suggest, such as imagining the audience in their
underwear so they seem less intimidating—that is making the audience
the object of ridicule, which is the opposite of the good will that ethos
requires. Instead, imagine an audience that’s eager to hear what you have
to say. And then as you talk to them, watch their body language. It will let
you see if anyone’s bored or confused, and then you can adjust your talk
accordingly to get those people back.

RHYTHM, CADENCE, AND TONE

● When you are practicing, you should also play around with rhythm,
cadence, and tone.

† Rhythm is the pace you use while you are speaking—speeding up,
slowing down, etc.

† Cadence is the variation in pitch that you’re using.

† Tone is the attitude you are taking toward what you are saying.

● All of these things help signal to the audience your intention, emotion, and
motivation for what you’re saying.

Lesson 9 Eye Contact and Pacing in Performance 77

● Play around with these things in rehearsal. If you shift your pace, your
pitch, and your tone, it is going to shift the meaning of what you
are saying.

● For example, you might be very excited about what you’re saying. Your
intention would be to get your listener to be excited, too, so you can spread
that joy. So your tone would be enthusiastic, or excited, or happy. Think
about the rhythm and pitch you naturally use when you are excited: You
might speak a little more quickly, and your voice probably goes up. So try a
faster pace and a higher pitch to communicate your happiness to
your audience.

● Notice how your delivery changes if you pick a different intention. Maybe
you don’t care about what you’re saying. It is tedious. If you are bored, you
might choose a slower pace and a lower pitch.

● Playing with these ideas in rehearsal can be a lot of fun. This is where you
definitely want to know where your beats are, though. You’ll want to look
at your script and draw lines to separate your beats so that you can see
where things shift for you.

● And as you play with this during rehearsal, you could jot down notes in
the margin about what your intention for each beat is—for example, that
you’re trying to inspire or you’re slowing down to make a point. You want
to have variety in your delivery, and the beats will tell you where to find
that variety.

IF YOU DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR

BEATS—IF YOU RUSH FROM ONE THING TO THE
NEXT WITHOUT MAKING THEM DISTINCT FROM
ONE ANOTHER—THEN YOUR PERFORMANCE
WILL BE FLAT. YOU WILL SOUND LIKE YOU ARE
READING OR RECITING.

78
● The easiest way to make your beats clear and land your point is to pause.
Silence in a speech can be more effective than you might think. If you
put in a pause, it lets people process what you’ve just said. It makes your
structure clearer because your audience can hear where one thought ends
and the next begins. And it helps you catch your breath.1

BLOCKING
● Another thing you’ll want to practice is blocking, which means staging. It’s
where the actors and director together figure out where people are going to
be at various points of the play, where they’re standing or sitting, and when
they’re moving or using props.

● Good blocking can benefit your speech by helping you tell your story more
clearly. Perhaps you’re planning to stand in one spot but know there’s a
place where you want to reveal a visual aid or a prop. Practice with that
prop so you know exactly how you’re introducing it, how you’re using it,
and where you’re going to put it down when you are done with it. Don’t
just imagine you’ll be able to wing it. Even if it’s something you’ve used a
hundred times, you should practice with it.

● If you’ve decided that you want to try some walking during your speech,
as discussed in the previous lesson, this would be a smart thing to block.
Think about where you want to stand when you start, when you are going
to walk and how far, etc. While you’re working this out, you could try
putting a mark on the floor with masking tape to let you know exactly
where to stand during the various sections of your speech. Record your
practice to see how it looks on video and make adjustments if you need to.

● When you walk, pay attention to how close to the audience you are. You
want to be close enough to connect with them but not so close that it
feels like you’re invading their space. Sometimes it works best to find that
perfect distance and then stay on that same horizontal line so that you’re
never getting too far or too close.

1 In poetry, the cesura is that pause where you’re supposed to take a breath. It also shows up in
music; it’s a pause that lets a player catch his or her breath. And it’s helpful in public speaking.

Lesson 9 Eye Contact and Pacing in Performance 79

  EXERCISE
If you’re someone who likes to wander around while speaking,
put two or three marks on the floor and tell yourself that you
can only move when you are changing topics—and only to one of
those prechosen marks. This helps make your movement crisper,
clearer, and less distracting.

● Walking toward the audience can be pretty dramatic, but if you’re going to
do it, save it for the end so you don’t get stuck too close to them. You don’t
want to turn your back to the audience to get away, as this breaks your eye
contact and your connection, and you don’t want to walk backward, which
is really awkward. If you do find yourself too close and need to move back,
moving back on a diagonal lets you move away from the audience without
turning your back toward them.

● And as you learned in the previous lesson, you always want to end up with
your toes pointing toward the audience. If instead you are standing at an
angle, you are telegraphing a message that you are halfway out the door
already and intend to flee as soon as the speech is done.

● What about gestures? You don’t need to plan out all of these in advance. If
you’re thinking about raising your hand at a certain point in your speech
instead of thinking about what you are saying, it can come across as artificial.

● But there might be a few places in your speech where you want to plan a
particular gesture in order to make sure you use it. If you are using a visual
aid, it’s a good idea to practice exactly how you will manipulate it. Usually,
though, the right gestures will come to you if the intention of the beat is
really clear in your mind.

80
 YOU CAN CHANGE THE MEANING OF A LINE BY
SHIFTING YOUR INTENTION AND THE WORD
YOU ARE EMPHASIZING, AND THE APPROPRIATE
GESTURE FOLLOWS NATURALLY FROM HAVING
THAT INTENTION CLEARLY IN YOUR MIND.

● When you are thinking about blocking, practice in the space you’ll be
using, if you can. If you can’t, then try to simulate that space. You want to
practice where you want to stand and get used to what the room feels like
before you have to speak publicly.

Lesson 9 Eye Contact and Pacing in Performance 81

● You might also think about what you want that space to look like—
essentially, designing your own set. When you’re going to speak
somewhere, try to visit the space in advance if you can. Sit in the audience
and look at it from the audience’s perspective. Look at what’s going to be in
the space with you and whether you need to remove any of it.

● If you’re speaking sitting down, look at how that is going to look, too. It’s a
very different feel to be seated at a table with a tablecloth that hides your legs
versus being perched on a stool with no cover in front of you. You’ll want to
know the setup so you can make any necessary changes beforehand.

● Also notice the temperature of the room. You want your audience to be
comfortable, and you should be, too. If the room is too hot, your audience
may fall asleep and you may break into a sweat. So arrive early enough on the
day of your speech so you can request temperature changes if you need to.

● Also check the lighting. If you’re going to be using a visual aid, such as
a PowerPoint, look at it and make sure it is visible. That might mean
dimming the lights a little, but not so dim that you can’t be seen. And
check to make sure all your props are set where you need them to be and
that you’ll be able to pull them out and put them away gracefully.

SMALL ADJUSTMENTS—SUCH AS LIGHTING,

CLEARING AWAY CLUTTER, MAKING SURE THE
ROOM IS COMFORTABLE—CAN GO A LONG
WAY IN CREATING EXACTLY THE KIND OF
AMBIANCE YOU WANT.

COSTUMING
● You’ll also want to give some thought to costuming. What would be
appropriate to wear for the occasion, and what message do you want to
send? Try on the outfit and record yourself on video so you can see how it
looks in action. Sometimes an outfit that looks fine when you are standing
still in front of a mirror doesn’t work at all when you are in motion.

82
● You’ll also want to practice with anything else you plan to wear, such as
jewelry. Be sure to empty your pockets of items that might make noise
when you move or might tempt you to fidget with them, such as keys or
coins. And always practice wearing the shoes you plan to wear for the
speech. Different shoes can affect your stance and your ability to walk.

● It’s also a great idea to have an emergency bag with you for any costuming
problems. This might include a spare pair of panty hose or socks, some
antistatic spray, Band-Aids, aspirin, a hairbrush, and a mirror.

IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG DURING YOUR

SPEECH, JUST LAUGH, ADJUST IF YOU NEED
TO, AND KEEP YOUR EYE ON YOUR GOAL OF
COMMUNICATING YOUR MESSAGE. SOMETIMES
WHEN THINGS GO WRONG, THE ERROR JUST
MAKES YOUR AUDIENCE LOVE YOU A LITTLE
BIT MORE.

READING
Nicholls, Body, Breath & Being.

Vineyard, How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live.

QUESTIONS
1 Continue to analyze the video recording of your speech.
2 How is your eye contact? Do you avoid staring at your notes or looking up
at the ceiling?

3 How is your use of rhythms? Do you use pauses effectively?

Lesson 9 Eye Contact and Pacing in Performance 83

 10
FINDING YOUR
BEST VOICE FOR
PUBLIC SPEAKING

84
A lmost anyone can improve his or her ability to perform a speech with a
few simple but effective practices. In this lesson, you’ll focus on how to
find your best voice.

VOICE EXERCISES
● Your voice can be a really powerful tool if you use it well. And it can be
trained. If there are things you don’t like about your voice, don’t worry—
there are exercises you can do to improve it.

● Also, when you’re speaking, you’re not just engaging in an intellectual

activity. It’s also a physical activity. That’s why actors and singers wouldn’t
dream of taking the stage without doing voice exercises first—to warm up
the instrument.

● You can use the voice exercises that follow as a warm-up any time you
are going to give a speech. You will get more out of this if you do these
exercises along with the presenter of the course.

● As you do these exercises, take it easy on yourself. It is possible to strain

your voice if you push yourself too hard, so if at any time you feel
discomfort, stop.

● The first thing to remember is that there are some things about your voice
that you’re born with, but there are lots of other things that are just habit,
such as the volume and pitch you use, or your vocal patterns, or using filler
sounds like “um.” And you can learn different habits if you want to make
improvements to your voice.

● That’s what voice exercises teach you—good vocal habits. But you have to
actually carve out the time to do them, and you have to do them regularly.
If you do, then you’ll learn new habits, and after a while you won’t even
have to think about them anymore.

Lesson 10 Finding Your Best Voice for Public Speaking 85

● Before you work on your voice, you should understand how the voice
actually works. There are four important components that work together
to make up your voice:

† Your breath is the foundation of speech: Your diaphragm and lungs

work together to pull air into your body, and when you exhale that air,
that’s the start of your voice. That warm exhalation travels across your
vocal cords, which sit in your throat on top of your windpipe. If you
forget to breathe, your voice won’t last very long!

† The vocal cords are the bands that vibrate as you exhale, and that
creates the sound of your voice.

† That sound is amplified by your resonators, which are those pieces of

you that vibrate when you speak or sing—your chest, your nose, your
throat, and the mask of your face. The vibration of the resonators adds
color and richness to your voice.

† Finally, you shape the sound into actual words with your articulators:
your tongue, your teeth, and the roof of your mouth.

BODY WARM-UP
● The first thing you’ll want to do to get your voice and body ready to work
is to stretch a little. This is also helpful for some of the things you learned
about in previous lessons, such as finding a neutral body and paying
attention to your stance and your hands.

● Try this physical warm-up. For all of the following exercises, stand with
your feet hip-width apart and your knees unlocked.

† Let your right ear drop toward your right shoulder, stretching the left
side of your neck, and hold.

† Bring your chin to your chest, stretching the back of the neck, and hold.

† Bring your left ear toward your left shoulder, stretching the right side of
the neck.

† Roll your shoulders back five times to get them to loosen up.

86
 † Pull your shoulders up to your ears and then let them drop.

† Reach behind you and grab your wrists or your elbows, depending on
your flexibility, and stretch.

† Stretch all the way up to the ceiling, feeling your spine stretch
lengthwise. Then, bend forward as much as your flexibility allows. And
then slowly roll up, one vertebra at a time, thinking about stacking
those vertebrae one on top of the other so that you are standing up tall.
Your head is the last thing to come up. And as you are standing tall,
imagine a string running through your spine, pulling you up toward the
ceiling, so that you are practicing good posture.

† Relax your jaw. Put your hands on the sides of your head and place your
thumbs in front of your ears at the spot where your jaw hinges. Massage
the joint to loosen your jaw as you gently open and close your mouth.

● Now get some energy into your body.

† Shake out your hands.

† Stretch out your fingers.

† Roll your wrists around.

† Clasp your hands together, shake your arms, and say “ahhhh.” Do you
feel how that loosens you up?

† Stretch your mouth wide in a big yawn.

† Widen your eyes.

† Stick out your tongue.

BREATHING EXERCISES
● The key to having good, solid breath support is understanding how to
breathe from your diaphragm. The diaphragm is a band of muscles that’s
just below your lungs. When you inhale, the diaphragm pulls down to let
your lungs fill with air.

Lesson 10 Finding Your Best Voice for Public Speaking 87

 ● If you constrict your diaphragm by slouching or wearing overly tight
clothes—or if you are panicked so that you’re breathing shallowly or not
breathing at all—then your lungs won’t inflate properly, and your voice
won’t sound very good. But if you stand up straight and use the power of
your diaphragm, your voice will sound fuller and richer.

● There are some exercises that can help get you in the habit of breathing
from your diaphragm. But to breathe from your diaphragm, you need
to know where your diaphragm is. So put your hands on your torso, just
under your ribcage. Then, exhale all the air from your body. Now take a
deep breath in and feel your hands move. That place where you can feel
your torso expand is where your diaphragm is.

● While you are doing these exercises, visualize in your mind engaging that
diaphragm—using that muscle. In fact, you could do the exercises with
your hands on your torso to remind you to keep your diaphragm engaged.

† Inhale, letting your arms float out to the sides. Then, as you exhale, let
the arms drift back down. Do this again, this time trying to extend the
inhalation and exhalation. And do this one final time, again growing
the inhalation and exhalation.

† Read the following sentence aloud, adding each phrase (demarcated by

the / symbol), slowly building up to delivery all on one breath:

I am now working/ on an important exercise/ for breath support and

breath control/ and my aim is to control the breath easily/ and still have
enough breath left/ to sigh out like this:/ ha!

THE BREATH IS THE KEY TO HAVING GOOD

VOLUME, AND VOLUME IS CRITICAL TO YOUR
SUCCESS AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER.

● But it’s very important not to speak if you don’t have any breath left. The
breath provides a lovely cushion of air that protects your vocal cords. They
rub together to make sound, and if you are exhaling while you speak or sing,

88
 you won’t be damaging them. But if you force a sound without exhaling, it’s
like a foot rubbing against a new shoe: You can make blisters on your vocal
cords, called vocal nodules, which can make you lose your voice.

 PROTECTING YOUR VOCAL CORDS

In addition to exhaling, there are other things you can do to
protect your vocal cords:
• Drink a lot of water. Keeping yourself hydrated keeps your
vocal cords healthy.
• You can also use a humidifier to hydrate your vocal cords.
This is helpful if you feel like you have a cold or are speaking
someplace with a dry climate.
• Stay away from things that will irritate your vocal cords, such
as cigarette smoke and screaming.

RESONATOR EXERCISES
● Now turn to your resonators, which are the pieces of you that vibrate when
you speak or sing. You’ve already done a little work on your resonators with
the warm-up where you shook your hands and said “ahhhh.”

● Humming can also be a great resonator warm-up. Hum the following sounds:

† “N” (feel this on your nose)

† “M” (feel this on your lips)

† “Brrrr” (blow raspberries)

● Humming and singing are great resonator exercises. Turn on that steamy
shower and belt out your favorite show tune. It’s a great way to get your
voice ready to go.

Lesson 10 Finding Your Best Voice for Public Speaking 89

ARTICULATOR EXERCISES
● You also need to warm up your articulators, which are your lips, your
teeth, your tongue, and the roof of your mouth—the things you are using
to shape the sounds into words.

● Tongue twisters can be a fun way to warm up your articulators. Try saying
the following over and over as quickly as you can:

† unique New York

† red leather, yellow leather

† To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,

In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock,

Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,

From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!1

PITCH EXERCISES
● Now focus on getting some different pitches into your voice. If you stick
to just one or two notes, that monotone delivery is going to bore your
audience, and there goes pathos. But if you use a variety of notes, you’re
going to be more engaging.

● Singing is a great way to work on this. You can also try this read-aloud exercise.
You’re going to read a sentence, going up one note with each section like you’re
going up the scale, and then coming back down again. Here’s the sentence:

† She took a deep breath

† Closed her eyes

† Held her nose

† Bent her knees

1 This rhyme was popularized in Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera The Mikado.

90
 † Jumped

† And fell

† And fell

† And fell

† Until she hit the water with a splash

● Now try it with variations in pitch. Start with a low note for “she took a
deep breath,” climbing up until you get to “jumped,” and then going back
to the low note when you reach “until she hit the water with a splash.”
Read the words aloud, focusing on those notes.

● Doing a simple exercise like this helps you notice that you have lots of
pitches available to you that you can use when you speak. Using a variety
of notes makes you a more interesting speaker.

YOU’VE NOW DONE A COMPLETE VOCAL WARM-

UP. IT SHOULD TAKE YOU 5 TO 10 MINUTES TO
DO THIS ROUTINE. TRY USING THIS WARM-UP
ROUTINE THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE GIVING A
SPEECH—OR, IF YOU WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR
VOICE, MAKE IT A HABIT TO DO THIS ROUTINE A
FEW TIMES A WEEK. YOU WILL SEE MEASURABLE
IMPROVEMENTS IF YOU TAKE THE TIME TO DO IT.

READING
Love, Set Your Voice Free.

Rodenburg, The Actor Speaks.

Lesson 10 Finding Your Best Voice for Public Speaking 91

QUESTIONS
1 Try the vocal exercises from the lesson.
2 What do you like about your voice? What would you like to improve?

92
 11
MANAGING
STAGE FRIGHT

Lesson 11 Managing Stage Fright 93

P retty much everybody feels anxiety about public speaking at some
point. It’s perfectly natural, and if you’ve ever struggled with stage
fright, then you are in good company. In this lesson, you’ll learn about what

“
you can do to manage it.

Jerry Seinfeld once said, “At a funeral, most people would

rather be the guy in the coffin than have to stand up and
give a eulogy.”

STRESS AND THE BRAIN

● Stage fright is a pretty primitive stress response. When humans feel
stress, it’s happening in the amygdala, which is the part of our brains that
responds to emergencies. It’s not the thinking part of our brains. The
thinking is done in the prefrontal cortex.

● The amygdala is the part that helps you perceive a threat. Your amygdala
will have you running away from that tiger in the jungle before the
prefrontal cortex even registers what happened. It’s the fight-or-flight
piece of your brain, and it’s kept humans alive through millions of years of
evolution. If we didn’t have our amygdalae, we wouldn’t have survived.

● So when your amygdala is triggered—when you see that tiger, or when

you think about public speaking—if you don’t pay attention to what’s
happening, it can hijack the rest of your body, causing panic.

● If you did a brain scan of someone who’s feeling that panic, you’d see
a lot of activity in the amygdala. You might also be able to see a surge
in adrenaline and cortisol, the stress hormones. You might see that the
person’s heart rate speeds up and that he or she is breathing more shallowly.
And if you were to ask the person how he or she is feeling, the response
would not be that he or she is feeling good. Those are physical symptoms
that stress is causing, which trigger negative emotions as well.

94
● But the good news is we aren’t just our amygdalae. We also have our
prefrontal cortexes, the thinking parts of our brains. This is a big part of
what separates us from the animals. You use your amygdala to feel, and
you use your prefrontal cortex to think. And you can train your prefrontal
cortex to help you in situations of panic, such as stage fright.

● To do this, you pay attention to what you’re feeling. You notice it. If
you don’t know what you’re feeling, then your emotions control you,
and you can’t manage them. But if you take the time to observe what
you are feeling, then you have a choice. The emotion won’t feel quite so
overwhelming and inevitable. If you can notice strong emotion, then you
can get a handle on it and decide whether to act on it.

YOU SHOULDN’T IGNORE YOUR EMOTIONS—

OR WORSE, FEAR THEM. WHEN YOU FEEL AN
EMOTION, YOU SHOULD THINK ABOUT IT.

CHANGING NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

AND EMOTIONS
● Let’s say that you are terrified of public speaking. The whole thought of it
makes you sick. If you feel that terror, then you’re likely to just run away
from speaking altogether—you’ll avoid doing it. Or, if you are forced to do
it, you’ll spend all of your time tweaking the script, which feels safe, rather
than actually practicing, which simulates the speech itself and therefore
does not feel safe.

● But if you don’t practice, you may well give a bad speech, which will just
confirm your original fear—that you’re no good at this. That’s an example
of what happens if you fear the feeling you have, and it doesn’t get you
where you want to go.

● Let’s say that you ignore your emotions instead. You tell yourself that you
shouldn’t be afraid of this, so you’re just going to squelch that feeling. But
if you ignore an emotion, it’s just going to get bigger and bigger. That
doesn’t get you where you want to go, either.

Lesson 11 Managing Stage Fright 95

 ● So instead, think about your emotions and examine them. If you’re feeling
anxious, take out a piece of paper and a pen and write down what you are
afraid of. Just do a big brain download of all the things that are scaring
you about public speaking. Don’t censor yourself—write them all down
in whatever order they come out. You could also do this on a computer if
you’d rather write that way. But the idea is to get it all out where you can
take a look at it.

● Once you’ve put your thoughts into words, take a minute to read over what
you’ve written. This practice is called reflective writing, and it’s a way of
helping you get ahold of your thoughts.

● You’ve turned this emotion—which feels so big and overwhelming and like
something you can’t control—into writing. Now it’s not this amorphous
thing controlling you; it’s something you can look at and question. You
have taken the emotion that was located in your amygdala and, by writing
about it, have changed its location. You are now processing it through your
prefrontal cortex. That starts to make it a lot less overwhelming.

● You could look at this writing and question some of the thoughts you have,
and if the thoughts aren’t serving you, then you could deliberately choose a
different way to think about things.

YOU GET TO CHOOSE WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT

THINGS. AND THE THOUGHTS YOU CHOOSE
WILL CAUSE YOU TO FEEL NEW EMOTIONS.

● So you could stay with the same negative thought—that you’re going to
bomb this speech—and you’ll keep triggering that same negative emotion:
panic. Or you could notice that this is what you have been thinking and
then think to yourself, “Nope, that’s a brain error. I’m not telling myself
that story anymore. I’m going to choose a different thought. And here’s
what I’m going to think instead: I am prepared and have something
interesting to say.”

96
● Then, practice thinking your new positive thought over and over so that
you lay down a new neural pathway, a new connection between neurons in
the brain. Neurologists will tell you that this is possible—that you can lay
down new neural pathways by choosing new thoughts to think and then
practicing reaching for those thoughts when you notice your old negative
thoughts arising again.

● What could you think instead of your negative thought? You’re going to
need to find a thought that feels true. If you’re lying to yourself, you will
know it. Here are some thoughts you could choose that’ll make you feel
hopeful or confident:

† Instead of thinking, “Someone in the audience is going to know more

about my topic than I do,” you could choose to think, “I’ve taken the
time to think deeply about the topic of my speech. I’ve chosen material
that is worthwhile and valuable, and people will want to hear it.”

† Instead of “the audience is going to laugh at me,” choose, “How great

that these people are taking time out of their days to come hear me.
I want to give them some terrific ideas to thank them for taking
that time.”

† Instead of “I am going to bomb,” choose, “I have taken a lot of time to

think deeply about this. That preparation is valuable to this audience. No
matter what happens, I am going to be able to give them something useful.”

† Instead of “I wish I didn’t have to do this,” choose, “Wow, when I was

a kid, would I ever have imagined that I would be important enough
that people would want to hear me speak? My younger self would be so
proud of me!”

† If you find yourself thinking, “This has to be perfect! But I’m going to
mess it up!” try instead, “This is really just like a conversation in which
I’m doing most of the talking. I’ve had a thousand conversations in my
life, and this is just one more.”

Lesson 11 Managing Stage Fright 97

● If you find yourself frozen with anxiety, just take a deep breath, think
about what the audience needs to know, and tell them that. This makes
you think—in effect, it gets you to use your prefrontal cortex so that you
don’t stay caught in the panic caused by your amygdala.

BREATHING EXERCISE FOR STAGE FRIGHT

● When you panic, you sometimes forget to breathe, and if you do that, you
cause the vocal problems you learned about in the previous lesson. You’re
making the effects of adrenalin and cortisol much worse. But if you can
stop to breathe, it can help a lot.

● The voice warm-up routine from the previous lesson can help you steady
your nerves and includes some breath work. But if you’re really feeling the
panic, here’s a breathing exercise you should add to your repertoire:

† Find a comfortable seated position in a chair, with your feet flat on the
floor. Sit up, but don’t sit stiffly—you’re upright but relaxed. Rest your
hands on your lap, with your palms facedown or faceup, whichever is
the most comfortable for you. Now close your eyes.

98
 † Let your attention focus on your breathing. Try inhaling through your
nose and out through your mouth. Feel your breath as you inhale, and
notice the air filling up your lungs and traveling all the way down to
your belly. Then, as you exhale, think about exhaling from the belly
and up through the lungs and out. Take another breath, thinking about
filling up your body all the way to your belly with air—let your belly
stick out as you inhale. Then, when you exhale, think about pulling
your stomach muscles in to push the air out.

† As you continue to slowly inhale and exhale, notice what’s happening

in the rest of your body. Bring your attention to your head. Are you
holding any tension here? Is there tension in your forehead between
your eyebrows? If there is, let it go. How about in your jaw? If you
notice that your jaw is clenched, then relax it. Now let your attention
travel down to your neck and shoulders. Relax your shoulders and your
neck muscles, letting any tension you are holding there melt away.
Continuing to scan down the body, notice your spine, making any
adjustments you need to feel comfortable and relaxed. Now bring your
attention to your stomach, noticing that you are still doing those deep
belly breaths. Now notice your legs, the weight of your legs as you sit on
the chair, or the weight of your hands as they lay in your lap. Now bring
your attention to your feet, feeling how your feet feel in your shoes and
the solidness of the ground below.

† Take five deep, slow breaths; as you do, try to keep your focus simply
on breathing. If your mind wanders, that’s OK, because that’s just what
minds do. But if you notice that has happened, gently detach from that
fleeting thought and return your attention to the breath.

† Wriggle your fingers and toes, slowly returning your attention to the
room, and open your eyes.

† Notice how you feel.

● This is a mindfulness exercise, and data shows that it helps relieve stress.
Mindfulness helps you notice and observe the thoughts you are having,
and it also helps connect you with your body—with what’s happening to
you physically.

Lesson 11 Managing Stage Fright 99

 ● You could try doing this exercise when you are feeling anxious because it
will help you calm down some of the adrenaline and cortisol. Or you could
do it every day. You could also try any of the many mindfulness programs
that are out there if you want variety.

THE GREAT COURSES HAS SEVERAL POPULAR

MINDFULNESS COURSES YOU COULD TRY.

● Mindfulness doesn’t cost anything, and it reduces anxiety and increases

happiness in people who do it. And you could do it for just five minutes a
day and see results. It’s like a miracle drug that doesn’t have any negative
side effects. And it can help a lot with stage fright.

READING
Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are.

Stossel, My Age of Anxiety.

QUESTIONS
1 If you feel anxious about public speaking, write out all the things you are
afraid of. Don’t censor yourself—write all those fears down in whatever
order they come out. Then, look over what you’ve written and question it.
Is what you have written really true? Is there another way to think about
public speaking that would serve you better?

2 Try the breathing exercise from the lesson. How do you feel after doing it?

100
 12
SPEAKING
WITH PROPS OR
VISUAL AIDS

Lesson 12 Speaking with Props or Visual Aids 101

 A good visual aid can be very powerful. Visual aids can make your
logic clear, hold people’s attention or get it back if the attention has
wandered, and give you that wow factor that makes the difference between a
good speech and a great one.

DESIGNING EFFECTIVE VISUAL AIDS

● Think about the main message of your talk. You need to identify it
in order to choose a visual aid. What do you want your audience to
remember? And does your visual aid make that point?

WHEN YOU’RE DESIGNING A VISUAL AID, THINK

ABOUT WHAT THE MAIN MESSAGE IS THAT
YOU ARE TRYING TO SEND. WHATEVER THAT
CENTRAL MESSAGE IS, THAT’S WHAT YOU’LL
WANT TO EMPHASIZE WITH YOUR VISUAL AID—
AND NOT OTHER, LESS IMPORTANT THINGS.

● Sometimes you have to focus on text, because the language is important to

the situation. But if instead it’s possible to use a picture—such as a diagram
or photograph—you should consider it. Your picture could help bring a story
to life or offer a memorable metaphor for the point you’re trying to make.

● So let’s imagine that you’re going to use an image as your visual aid.
Maybe you are going to explain a car accident by showing a diagram of the
intersection where the accident took place. There are several options for
how you could do this.

● If you want to go low-tech, you could preprint the diagram on a piece of

poster board or foam board. Foam board might be preferable to poster
board because it’s sturdier, so it’s less likely to fall over while you are
speaking. You’d either draw this by hand, or you could use illustrating
software to create something on your computer that you’d take to a copy
shop to have printed.

102
● You will want to make sure that the diagram is big enough for the
audience to see it. In an ideal world, you will go to the place where you
will be speaking, set up the diagram, and then go sit in the back row of the
audience to see if it is visible. If it isn’t, then it’s not doing you any good. So
make it big enough. And if you can’t, then you should reject this idea and
go with another option instead.

● You will want to practice how you are introducing your diagram and how you
are getting it onto the stage. You could preset it if you don’t mind the audience
seeing it from the start of the speech. But it’s even better if you could get an
easel and have it preset with its back to the audience. Then, you reveal it with a
flourish when you want to use it. Practice that motion of revealing it over and
over again so that you can do it without knocking anything over.

● Once you have introduced the visual aid, use it. Don’t put it on the stage
and then ignore it for the next five minutes. The audience wants to know
about it!

Lesson 12 Speaking with Props or Visual Aids 103

 ● To use a visual aid like a diagram, you will want to pay attention to where
you are standing. Remember that you don’t ever want to turn your back
to the audience, because if you do, you’re breaking eye contact—and also
turning down your volume. Instead, stand to the side of the visual aid and
keep your toes pointed toward the audience.

● Then, use the hand closest to the visual aid to show the thing you want to
show. Don’t use the other hand, because if you do, you’ll turn away from
the audience, closing yourself off from them. Using the hand closest to the
visual aid lets you strike a power pose.1

● Once you are done with the visual aid, you need to figure out how to get
rid of it. Where are you going to put it? You could just leave it up, but
maybe you’d rather take it down or turn it away from the audience again.
Either way, make a decision and practice with that prop so that you can
move it gracefully.

INTERACTIVE VISUAL AIDS

● Now imagine that you want to show people this diagram of the
intersection, but you want your use of it to be a little more interactive.
Maybe you’re a lawyer and you’re using it to question a witness, Mr. Jones,
to get him to tell a jury about what he saw during the accident. So you
want to incorporate the witness’s testimony into the visual aid before
the audience’s very eyes. If you’re looking for a more interactive kind of
visual aid, you might consider a chalkboard, a whiteboard, an overhead
transparency machine or ELMO projector, or a flip chart.

● With a chalkboard, you’d simply write on the board with chalk. But the
danger with a chalkboard is it takes a while to write on it. And if you’re
doing it in front of an audience, you could start to feel anxious as you’re
doing it, which will increase your adrenaline—which isn’t good. So
you’ll want to think about whether you could prewrite anything on the
chalkboard before the speech begins. In the car accident example, you
would want to predraw that intersection and then reveal it when it is time

1 See lesson 8 for more information.

104
 to use it. Then, your witness could come add things to the chalkboard, but
you’re not having to take the time to write everything from scratch. Plus,
you would be able to check your drawing before the speech to make sure it
is visible from the back row.

● A whiteboard is like a chalkboard, except that you write on it with erasable

magic markers. It’s a little easier to write on than a chalkboard because
there is less friction between the marker and the board, and you can use
different-colored markers to make your point. In the car accident example,
maybe your client’s car is in green because you want to present him as the
good guy and the other person’s car is in red because you’re saying she
caused the accident.

● An overhead transparency machine is that old-fashioned device math

teachers sometimes still use to show students how to do math problems.
You put a piece of transparent film on the projector base and write on
it with magic markers, light shines through the film, and the image is
projected on a screen. You can preprint things on the film, so in the car
accident example, you’d preprint the accident scene and then add to it.

● An ELMO projector looks sort of similar but is based on digital

technology, letting you project an image of a document or object onto a
screen. It’s sometimes used in court to make sure everyone can see a small
exhibit, for example.

● These two options wouldn’t be ideal for the car accident scenario because
you’d end up making really small gestures as you used them, and that
would take away some of your power, but they could be useful for other
kinds of presentations. If you are using one of these devices, make sure you
know how to operate it, and leave yourself time to practice, looking at it
from the audience’s point of view to see what they will be seeing.

● A flip chart is another option for a more interactive presentation. A flip

chart is simply a giant tablet of paper that you write on. It would be helpful
for a meeting where you want to add notes to a visual presentation so that
everyone else can see them, for example. In the example scenario, you
could draw the accident scene on the flip chart and then have the witness

Lesson 12 Speaking with Props or Visual Aids 105

 come make marks on it to show where he was standing, and so forth. The
advantage to it is that it’s not going to be erased, like your diagram on the
chalkboard might be.

● You could also consider using a handout. The great thing about a handout
is that the audience members can definitely see it, and they get to take
it home with them after the speech is done. The terrible thing about
a handout is that sometimes audiences will start reading it and ignore
you altogether. So if you use a handout, think about when you want to
distribute it. It doesn’t have to be at the start of the talk. You could choose
to distribute it when you actually want the audience to look at something
in it. Or you could give it out at the end, after having opened with
something like, “No need to take notes—there’s a handout you’ll be able to
pick up when the talk is over.”

● Once you’ve distributed the handout, use it. Tell the audience where to
look. You could even tell them to keep it facedown until you’re ready to use
it and then tell them to turn it over. You might use boldface or italics or
highlighting to bring their attention to different pieces of the text. When
you’re designing a handout, you’re always keeping the audience’s experience
in mind: What do you want to show them, and how can you make it as
easy as possible for them to look where you want them to look?

● A three-dimensional prop can also be a terrific visual aid. There are many
great examples of this from the O. J. Simpson trial, but perhaps the most
memorable moment was when the prosecution made O. J. try on the
bloody gloves that had apparently been used in the murders of which he
was accused, and the gloves didn’t fit. It was a great use of a prop as a
visual aid and made the point memorable.

● You can also use your own body as a visual aid. In the car accident
example, you could say something like, “See that exit sign on the wall?
The distance between me and that sign is how far Mr. Jones was from the
intersection when he saw the defendant’s car run that red light and cause
this accident.” If you use your own body or the room you are in, it can help
people visualize what you are talking about.

106
PRESENTATION SOFTWARE
● You can do a lot with presentation software like PowerPoint1 and it’s really
easy to use. The most basic way to use PowerPoint would be to display text
on the screen to help you remember what you want to say. If you’re using
slides so you can get away from relying on notes, here’s how to do it.

● Start by writing your speech, paying particular attention to your beats,2

which become the words on the PowerPoint slide. Put each beat on a separate
slide. Don’t write complete sentences on those slides. Instead, reach for
headlines. Keep the slides sparse—one beat per slide, maybe four or five lines
per beat. When there’s lots of blank space on the slides, the audience knows
exactly where to look, and they can glance at the slide and pay attention to
you at the same time. Putting full sentences into a PowerPoint slide is a poor
idea that is likely to make your audience tune out.

● It can be especially helpful to master PowerPoint’s animation feature,

which lets you bring in pictures or text when you want them to appear.
Each bullet can arrive on screen separately, and you can control the timing
by which the audience reads your words with the click of a remote.

● You could do this with pictures, too. For example, a slide relating to the
car accident might start with a picture of the intersection. Then, you’d
introduce the two cars. And then you’d use the animation feature to show
them moving. With PowerPoint, you can also add audio or video clips.3

● When you use PowerPoint, you have to ask yourself the same questions you
would need to ask with any visual aid. Can the audience see it? You have
to go into the room where the speech is being given and look at the slides
from the back of the room to answer that question.4

1 You don’t have to use PowerPoint specifically; you could use any presentation software that
you like.
2 See lesson 7 for more information.
3 To learn how to embed this stuff, you can just play around with the software or watch
educational videos online.
4 If your PowerPoint slides don’t look clear, either redesign them or use handouts in addition to
the presentation to make sure everyone can see.

Lesson 12 Speaking with Props or Visual Aids 107

 ● You also have to think about how you are introducing the visual aid, how
you are interacting with it, and how you are getting rid of it. Again, it’s
easy with PowerPoint. You can get a clicker and introduce each slide with
the push of a button. However, you need to practice both the timing of
when you are clicking the button and where you will be standing. Some
slides are like wallpaper—a picture setting a tone—so you can stand
right in front of them. But some have detail that you want to show, so for
those, you stand to the side, always facing the audience and with your toes
pointed forward.

● Just like with your low-tech diagram, you can use the hand closest to the
slide to gesture to it if you want some power poses. Or you could animate the
slide to direct the audience’s attention to what you want them to see. If you
are playing a video clip, that’s the one time it’s recommended that you turn
away from the audience. You turn at an angle and direct your attention to
the screen so that you are using your body to show them where to look.

● And how do you get rid of your PowerPoint slide or video? With the click
of a button!

IF YOU’RE USING A VISUAL AID IN YOUR SPEECH,

FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU WILL DO IN CASE OF
A MALFUNCTION. FOR EXAMPLE, YOU MIGHT
PRINT OUT YOUR POWERPOINT SLIDES SO
THAT IF THE COMPUTER CRASHES, THE SHOW
CAN STILL GO ON!

READING
Gore, An Inconvenient Truth.

Tufte, Visual Explanations.

108
QUESTIONS
1 What point in your speech would benefit from a visual aid?
2 What would be the best kind of visual aid to use? To answer this question,
consider what you are trying to do. Are you trying to illustrate correlation
or causation? Are you trying to slow down the audience’s thinking so it
can process a complicated point? Are you trying to add some interest or
drama? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you design a
good visual aid.

Lesson 12 Speaking with Props or Visual Aids 109

 13
MAKING A
CELEBRATORY
SPEECH

110
I n the first half of this course, you explored the basics of public speaking—
the various elements you can use to give a really good speech. In the
second half of this course, you’ll apply those general principles to specific
kinds of speeches in particular contexts. This lesson starts with speeches you
might be called upon to deliver in your personal life, such as a wedding toast
or a graduation speech.

EPIDEICTIC SPEECHES
● Aristotle wrote that there are three types of speeches one can give. Two of
the three types, which will be discussed in later lessons, focus primarily on
persuading the audience of something. But the third type, which will be
discussed in this lesson, is called an epideictic speech. It’s a speech that is
fit for display and is often intended to praise or blame. This kind of speech
includes graduation speeches, toasts, and funeral orations.

● The famous Roman orator Cicero described epideictic speeches as “show-

pieces … for the pleasure they will give.” He said that the goal of this type
of speech is to remind listeners of why the person is being celebrated or, if
they don’t know the person well, to try to make them desire to “know a
man of such excellence.” If the point of the epideictic speech is to blame
the person, Cicero wrote, “We shall try to make them know him, in order
that they may avoid his wickedness.” The goal of these speeches is to unify
the listeners through a shared value or idea.1

A SHORT TOAST
● Let’s imagine that you are going to give a toast at a wedding. Remember that
your goals are to unify your audience through a shared value or idea and
to describe the person you are celebrating so that the audience knows that
person a little better and can see how he or she embodies that shared value.

● To find that shared value or idea, which will lead you to the theme of your
speech, it can be helpful to think about what the occasion represents.

1 A famous example of an epideictic speech is Marc Antony’s funeral oration from

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, which starts like this: “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your
ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.”

Lesson 13 Making a Celebratory Speech 111

 ● What does a wedding represent? That answer could depend on your
particular community or context. Perhaps you would answer that question
in religious terms, or perhaps you’d rather focus on the blending of two
families or two cultures. An easy answer that applies in almost every case is
that a wedding is a celebration of love—so that’s your theme.

● Now you need to think about the audience. At a wedding, the audience
is probably not homogenous. It probably includes people of different
generations, with different relationships to the people who are getting
married. An audience member might know one person in the couple but
not the other. The wedding guest might be a college friend, a grandparent,
or a work colleague. You’ll want to say something that includes all of these
people in the celebration.

● So, even if you think they’re hilarious, it’s a good idea to steer clear of
off-color stories that might offend some parts of your audience. Anything
private that you know about the couple that they would not want you to

112
 share is better left unsaid. You also won’t want to deliver a speech that’s full
of inside jokes, because most of your audience won’t be able to follow and
will feel left out, or maybe even bored.

● So what do you say? The lessons of pathos—the emotional connection of

the audience to the speech—from previous lessons are very helpful here.
What will this audience want to hear about?

● First, the audience will want to hear stories that make the couple look
good. If you’re following Cicero’s advice, you’ll want to choose a story
that will remind the audience of why they already love the bride or groom
and that will cause anyone who doesn’t already know that person well to
want to get to know him or her better. You’ve also chosen a theme of a
celebration of love, so you’ll want some evidence that this is a union of love
in which all present are participating.

● You will also want to think about ethos, or your own credibility. You’ll
need to introduce yourself and explain briefly how you know the bride
or groom. But remember, this is not a speech about you. You’re not there
to impart wisdom to the couple or to share your own feelings about
weddings. And as much as you might want to tell a story about your very
special relationship to the bride or groom, this occasion isn’t about that,
either. It’s about the happy couple. You want to find a story about the
couple and how they’re great individually and even better together—a
story that shows that you are celebrating their union, not grudgingly giving
up your loved one to an interloper.

ETHOS MEANS CREDIBILITY, AND

DEMONSTRATING IT—WHICH IS ABOUT
CONVEYING YOUR GOOD SENSE, GOOD
MORAL CHARACTER, AND GOODWILL—MAKES
A SPEAKER MORE PERSUASIVE.

Lesson 13 Making a Celebratory Speech 113

 ● Once you think of the right story to tell, you will need to structure it. In
terms of logos, or logic, the secret to a successful wedding toast is to keep
the structure simple and the speech short. Don’t tell the wedding guests
everything you know about the bride or groom, and don’t include every
extraneous detail in the story just because that was the way it actually
happened. The audience doesn’t need to know all the details. If you leave
them all in, the point of the story will get muddled, and the speech will be
too long. Instead, think about the reason you’ve chosen that story and leave
in only the pieces that help make that reason clear. And keep the speech
short—no more than three minutes. If it goes longer than that, it won’t be
as crisp or memorable.

● Here’s a structure you could use: Start with an explanation of how you
came to know and love the bride or groom. Then tell the wedding guests
how you knew the bride or groom was the one for your friend. And then
tell the audience how the lovebirds bring out the best in each other. Finally,
end with asking the group to raise a glass to the happy couple, so that they
know the toast is done.

● Rehearse your toast aloud 10 times, and each time, ask yourself if you need
to refine anything to make it even sharper and clearer. That will help keep
your logos strong. Rehearsal is also important in terms of pathos because
both you and the audience may be feeling strong emotions. You probably
feel a strong connection to the person you’re toasting, and while you want
to express that love, you don’t want it to become so overwhelming that you
can’t get through the toast. Rehearsal can help a lot with keeping those
emotions manageable.

● You can apply these lessons to any occasion where you’re celebrating
something and your remarks should be reasonably short, such as toasts at an
anniversary dinner or a retirement party. But what about a longer address?

A LONGER ADDRESS
● Let’s imagine now that you’ve been asked to be the commencement speaker
at your alma mater on graduation day. How should you approach that kind
of epideictic speech?

114
● Some of the principles are the same as if you were doing a wedding
toast. Your goal is to unify listeners through a shared value or idea and
to celebrate someone—but in this case, it’s a group, made up of all the
students who are graduating.

● You will want to start with a clear, simple structure, which should probably
include at least one story to keep the audience engaged. You will want
to think about establishing your own ethos while keeping the focus on
the graduates, so pick a story that isn’t about you showing off but that
will make them feel positive or inspired. And you will want to give that
story a shape, so that you’re leaving out extraneous details and keeping in
anything that will drive your point home. You also want to refrain from
running on too long, though with a commencement address, you have a
little more time to play with. Aim for 15 minutes.

● Most importantly, you will need a theme. To find it, think about what a
graduation ceremony represents and who your audience is. Your audience
is comprised of the students who are graduating and their families and
friends. The ceremony recognizes the accomplishment of earning their
university degrees, which took a lot of hard work.

● But it’s also a moment of transition. The graduates are going to be

moving from one world to another—from college to the real world. It’s an
exciting moment, but it’s also a moment that might be tinged with a bit of
anxiety about what’s coming next and even some sorrow about what they
are leaving behind. Your job is to make them feel good—to help them
celebrate and also to help them manage or make sense of any anxiety or
loss they might be feeling.

● Here’s how Oprah Winfrey, the television personality, tackled those

challenges in her 1997 commencement address at Wellesley College, a
private women’s liberal arts college. She starts her speech with that feeling
of celebration. She tells her audience, “My hat’s off to you! My hat’s off to
you!” And the crowd cheers, “Go, Girl!”—to which she responds, “You all
have gone, girls!”

● She then gives them a little look into her life, which of course they want
because she is famous. She tells them that Stedman Graham, whom she
describes as “my beau, my fiancé, don’t ask me when we’re going to get

Lesson 13 Making a Celebratory Speech 115

 married,” is the father of one of their classmates, Wendy. She then goes
on to describe Wendy’s experience with lots of details that make Oprah
and Stedman and Wendy feel like people you actually know, which helps
engage pathos, because it connects the audience to the speaker. But she’s
also choosing details that are universally applicable to all the graduates and
that won’t embarrass Wendy—details that show how all the graduates grew
up in college to become powerful women.

● That theme of being a powerful woman really resonated with this audience
and helped with some of the anxiety they might have been feeling. Oprah
shares a bunch of stories about times when she felt powerless, such as when
her hair was burned off at a beauty salon in an attempt to make it look
like a white woman’s hair, and times when she experienced setbacks or

“
humiliations in her professional life. She tells her audience:

Turn your wounds into wisdom. You will be wounded many

times in your life. You'll make mistakes. Some people will
call them failures but I have learned that failure is really
God's way of saying, “Excuse me, you're moving in the
wrong direction.” It's just an experience, just an experience.

● Oprah closes with a poem by Maya Angelou called “Phenomenal Woman,”

telling the audience, “That’s you! That’s you, Wellesley!” That’s a great
example of how to combine the feeling of celebration with encouragement
about the challenges to come.

READING
Jobs, Commencement Address at Stanford University.

Rowling, Commencement Address at Harvard University.

Winfrey, Commencement Address at Wellesley College.

116
QUESTIONS
1 Imagine that you have been asked to deliver a wedding toast or a
graduation speech. Remember that your goal is to unite your audience
through shared values or ideas and to celebrate the person or group
of people being honored by telling the audience about their excellent
qualities. Think about who your audience is, what they might be feeling,
and what they would be interested in hearing. Think about the purpose
of the celebration and about what the event symbolizes. Based on that
analysis, select a theme. What theme do you choose?

2 What story or series of stories would support that theme?

Lesson 13 Making a Celebratory Speech 117

 14
GIVING A
EULOGY

118
A mong the speeches that you might be called upon to give in your
private life is a funeral address, or eulogy. This is another example of
an epideictic speech, which is most often a speech of celebration or praise.
Your goal when giving an epideictic speech is to bring your audience together
in this celebration through shared values or ideas.

CICERO EXPLAINED THAT THE PURPOSE OF AN

EPIDEICTIC SPEECH IS TO REMIND THE AUDIENCE
WHY THE PERSON IS BEING CELEBRATED OR, IF
THEY DIDN’T KNOW THE PERSON WELL, TO TRY
TO MAKE THEM WISH THEY DID.

WRITING THE FIRST DRAFT

● The lessons of pathos—or emotional engagement—are helpful when you’re
thinking about what you want to say in a eulogy. You have to meet the
emotional needs of an audience if you want them to get something out of
your speech.

● So you can think about who the audience at a eulogy is likely to be and
what they might need from you. They have come to this funeral because
they have lost someone. For some of them, this loss is devastating. They
might be looking for comfort. They may be struggling for a way to make
sense of the loss. Or they may just need the space to grieve a little.

● It’s helpful to keep those needs in mind when you are writing a eulogy. You
have a very important purpose here: You are helping the audience process
their grief. You are helping them to make sense of this loss and to feel
whatever they need to feel right now. And if the deceased was someone you
loved, this process is going to help you, too.

● So how do you help the audience make sense of their loss?

Lesson 14 Giving a Eulogy 119

 ● First, give yourself time to write this thing. Start working on it as soon as
you know you are going to be doing it so that you can have lots of drafts
and lots of time to learn it. You are going to want that time particularly
if you are processing your own grief, because in the face of a great loss, it
often takes extra time to find that meaning you are looking for.

● As you write the eulogy, you are searching for a theme. You need a central
message that helps the audience know the deceased a little better or that
reminds them of what they loved about him or her. And what you say has to
feel real. If you’re painting a picture of the deceased that bears no resemblance
to what he or she was like in real life, for example, then the audience is going to
feel the discrepancy, and you won’t be serving your purpose.

● To find the right theme, you could start by thinking about what you
know about this loved one. Make notes about his or her biography—where
he or she was from, who his or her family was, how he or she spent his
or her time. You might talk to other family members to get more ideas
about what was important to him or her, or you could rely on your own
memories, perhaps looking through photo albums or old letters to remind
yourself of helpful details.

● In doing all of this, you’re starting to brainstorm about the eulogy, but
you’re also starting the process of managing your own grief and helping
others to do the same. You will want to work through some of your own
feelings and emotions before speaking at a funeral so that you won’t be too
overwhelmed and can be of service to your audience. Drafting the eulogy
can be a way to begin that work.

● What you’re looking for as you draft the eulogy is what made that person
special. That could be your theme.

● For example, the poet and activist Maya Angelou gave a eulogy at the
funeral of Coretta Scott King, who was the wife of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. and was herself an important figure in the civil rights movement.
Angelou spoke of King’s calm strength as she fought for peace and justice.
That theme—Coretta Scott King’s calm strength—was a great one. It was
something to celebrate in her and conjured up an image of her that would
be both familiar and comforting to her loved ones.

120
● Or perhaps your theme will come to you as you think about what your
audience needs. For example, the eulogy you write might trigger emotion,
providing the catharsis the audience seeks.

THINK ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE’S NEEDS, AND

THE EULOGY YOU ARE PREPARING MAY START TO
TAKE SHAPE IN YOUR MIND.

● Once you have settled on a theme for your eulogy, you’re going to want
a story or two about your loved one that helps you illustrate that theme.
That’s how you’ll show your audience who your loved one really was.

● Many people approach a eulogy as a time to provide a comprehensive

biography of the deceased, but that misses the point. The funeral attendees
are not looking for a list of all the details of a person’s life. That can be
tedious, and it won’t give the audience the emotional connection they
want. It won’t help them make sense of the loss, and it won’t help them
know the person being celebrated better.

● So instead, you are picking and choosing. You have a theme—like the
theme that Coretta Scott King had a quiet strength and sought justice—
and then you choose a story that demonstrates that theme.

● For example, Maya Angelou told a story about how she and Coretta Scott
King would talk and laugh late into the night. That small story captured
King’s voice in a private conversation, letting you see her as she was.

● You’ll want to make sure the story doesn’t reveal something the deceased
or their families wouldn’t want revealed—this isn’t the time for something
embarrassing or questionable. The story can be funny if the humor is
gentle, but not if there’s any chance it will be offensive. It can be wise to
run the story past someone else to make sure it will land properly.

● Once you have an idea of your theme and the story or stories you might
want to include, start to structure your remarks. Typically, you will start
with a quick word about who you are. Introduce yourself and state your
relationship to the deceased. But this is not a hard-and-fast rule. You could

Lesson 14 Giving a Eulogy 121

 choose to start in a way that will set the tone for what you want to do.
Maya Angelou started her eulogy of Coretta Scott King in a surprising

“
way, by belting out the first lines of an old hymn:

I open my mouth to the Lord.

And I won’t turn back, no.
I will go! I shall go!
I’ll see what the end is gonna be.

● It took the audience by surprise. It caused them to cheer. That eulogy

felt like a real celebration of Coretta Scott King because of that terrific
beginning. And it worked with the theme that King had strength and
sought justice—she wasn’t going to give up and turn her back to the Lord.
In fact, that hymn implies that death isn’t a cause for sorrow at all; it is a
cause for celebration, because you’re going to the Lord, to “see what the
end is gonna be.”

● After your opening, you will say something about the life of the person
whom you are eulogizing—not a complete biography, but something that
establishes your theme. To help with this, remember the example that
Coretta Scott King exhibited calm strength. And then you tell that story
you’ve chosen that will help you make the point of your theme.

● Finally, you close with some words of comfort. You’re looking for
something that will help you drive your theme home and provide the
audience with the emotional closure they need. That final paragraph could
simply be a quote from a passage of scripture or a poem. But it could also
be something you write yourself that helps your audience make sense of the
loss, giving it some meaning that offers comfort and hope.

PRACTICING OUT LOUD

● Now that you have your first draft, you’ll want to start practicing it—out
loud, at the pace at which you plan to deliver it. And as you do, you are
going to rewrite.

122
● The best thing you can do for yourself is to shorten, shorten, shorten,
honing your story and refining your theme. Notice those places where it
sounds like you are wandering or where you feel yourself getting bored or
where you’ve left in things you don’t need to say—and take those things
out. You are aiming for something that is between three and five minutes
long. Time how long you are speaking. It really helps.

A SHORT EULOGY—ESPECIALLY ONE THAT IS

SHORT BECAUSE YOU’VE TAKEN THE TIME TO
CRAFT IT WELL—IS USUALLY BETTER AND MORE
IMPACTFUL THAN A LONG ONE.

● As you are practicing, look for edits that will make the speech easier to
deliver. Listen for sentences that are too long and cut them in half. Listen
for places where you trip over the words and replace them with words that
are easier to say. And listen for places to catch your breath. Practice where
you are going to pause so that you can collect yourself. At the end of a
paragraph is usually a good place to do that.

● As you are practicing, you’re not just making the text better; you’re also
making your delivery better. And this is important because you might
find yourself struggling with your own emotions as you speak. Saying the
eulogy out loud 10 times in the days leading up to the funeral can really
help you work through things. And the process of thinking about what
your theme is, what your audience needs, and how to hone the text to
really craft it well can help you here, too. You’ll be processing your own
loss so that during the speech you can help others process their losses.

● Sometimes people deliver eulogies by simply writing out every word and
reading them out loud because then they know they won’t miss anything,
and also because they’re worried about getting through it. And if that is all
you can manage—if you are truly struggling because of your loss—then
it’s perfectly OK to read your remarks. You should still practice out loud
before you deliver the eulogy so that you can refine the text and have some
sense of how it’s going to sound.

Lesson 14 Giving a Eulogy 123

 ● But if you can’t let go of your script, it’s OK. If you’ve taken the time
to find that theme and that way for your audience to process the loss,
then you are providing a great service. You don’t have to put on a perfect
performance. That’s not the point of this at all.

● If you can manage to coax yourself to look up from your well-written

eulogy, though, you will do even better. Because then you will be able to
look at your audience, which lets you make a human connection. Making
eye contact will help you seem more genuine and authentic. Your listeners
will take a lot of comfort from that, if you are able to actually connect with
them by looking at them.

● So perhaps you will want to practice again, but this time, instead of having
the text written out, see if you can do the eulogy with just a list of bullet
points in front of you. Maybe it’s just three or four bullet points: who
you are, the theme, the story you’re going to tell, and your final words of
comfort. Make the font really big so that you’ll be able to see it, and just
use a few trigger words to remind you of your points, rather than complete
sentences. Then try delivering the eulogy with just those notes in front of
you. And if you end up paraphrasing some of the sentences, that’s OK. In
fact, it might even be better. The work that you did finding the theme,
honing your story, and choosing a comforting ending will still be there.
But if you just talk, rather than reading every word, you’re going to sound
more real.

● The other advantage to using bullet points—or even to practicing so much

that you know the speech by heart—is that you’ll be OK if you find that
the room where you are speaking is dimly lit. Sometimes funerals take
place in rooms lit primarily by candles. If that happens, you will be glad if
you have taken the time to really learn your text. Plan to get to the location
early to see where you will be speaking and to check on the lighting.

● And while you’re at it, check on the acoustics, too. If you are going to
be using a microphone, have someone show you how it works before the
ceremony begins so that you don’t have to fumble with it. If you don’t
have a microphone, then make sure that you are speaking loudly enough.
Sometimes people will speak softly and too quickly if they are struggling
with strong emotions. It can be helpful to anticipate this possibility and to

124
 intentionally speak to the people in the back row, because that will keep
your voice loud enough so that everyone can hear. And make yourself take
a deep breath at the end of each section of the speech so that you don’t go
too quickly.

● It’s also a good idea to do some voice warm-ups before you speak. There
are a whole bunch of these in lesson 10 , but the most important ones to
focus on are the ones that involve the breath.

☛ EXERCISE
You might also try a mindfulness exercise to help prepare. Find
a place to be quiet, if you can, in the moment before you speak,
and just focus on your breathing. You can even do this during the
funeral itself if you need to, while others are speaking.
• Find a comfortable seated posture, with your feet flat on
the floor. Then, put your hand on your diaphragm and take
several slow, mindful breaths, noticing the rise and fall of the
belly and of your chest.
• As you do this, think about someone in your audience whom
you love. If you don’t know anyone in the audience, then
imagine someone in the world you love and imagine that
person in the audience. Hold that person’s image in your
mind and think about how you wish that person well. Think
about the comfort that you would love to give him or her.
• When you are finished with your breaths, go give that eulogy
with that feeling of love in your heart and extend that love
and comfort to everyone listening to you.

● Your practice sessions and warm-ups will help you manage your
emotions, but if the emotions do well up during the speech, that’s OK.
Strong emotions will not be ignored, and you don’t have to ignore them.
Remember, you don’t have to be perfect. This isn’t a show. This is about
creating space for the audience to process emotions. If you feel emotions,
too, that might be just what they need.

Lesson 14 Giving a Eulogy 125

 READING
Angelou, Eulogy for Coretta Scott King.

Charles, Eulogy for Princess Diana.

Magee, “High Flight.”

Obama, Remarks by the President at a Memorial Service for the Victims of

the Shooting in Tucson, Arizona.

QUESTIONS
1 Which of the eulogies from the video lesson did you like the best? Why?
2 Imagine that you have been asked to write and deliver a eulogy. Recall
that the typical structure is introduction, theme (perhaps the thing that
made the person special or the thing the audience needs to hear), story to
illustrate the theme, and words of comfort to close. What story will you
tell, and how will it illustrate your theme?

126
 15
SPEAKING SKILLS
FOR SOCIAL
SETTINGS

Lesson 15 Speaking Skills for Social Settings 127

 I magine that you’re going to a party where you’ll have to talk to people
you don’t know well. To make a good impression, there are two public
speaking skills you’ll want to be able to deploy at this party: how to introduce
yourself and how to tell a good story.

INTRODUCING YOURSELF
● An introduction is a kind of elevator speech, which means a one- or two-
sentence summary of an idea. You might have heard of this in a business
context. The idea is that you could ride on an elevator with someone and
pitch a business idea in 30 seconds—and do it so clearly and persuasively
that the person would want to continue the conversation with you after the
elevator ride is done.

● You can apply this idea to how you introduce yourself. Imagine you’re at a
party and meet someone new who asks, “So, what do you do?” How will
you answer that question in a way that doesn’t run on too long and will
keep the person wanting to stay in that conversation with you?

128
● To figure this out, you can think about some of the things you’ve learned
in earlier lessons. You’ve learned about how a good theme can help
you communicate your ideas so that they stick with people. A theme
is essentially a take-home message—the thing you want your audience
to remember. So you could apply this idea to yourself: When you are
introducing yourself, what do you want people to remember about you?

● To find that theme, consider ethos (credibility) and pathos (emotional

engagement). You want to project that you are a person who, as Aristotle
put it, possesses “good sense, good moral character, and goodwill”—or at
least you do if you want people to like you and trust you.

✍ EXERCISE
Here’s an exercise that can help you figure that out. Either on
paper or electronically, write down the things you do in your
daily or professional life that make the world a better place—
without censoring yourself. You could think of this as your
mission statement. If you were to craft a statement of purpose
for yourself, what would it say? Why are you here? How are you
serving the world around you? Write down that answer so you
can see it.

● This exercise might help you figure out how to introduce yourself. It also
might help you see the meaning in the work you do or the way you spend
your time, if that’s something you are struggling with. Knowing your
purpose makes life more meaningful. And if you can’t figure out a positive
purpose, that’s a good sign that maybe you need to make a change so that
you can feel proud of how you are spending your time.

● You’ll also want to think about the lessons of pathos. You want to figure
out how to connect with the person you’re talking to so that he or she
wants to continue to engage with you. If you give an answer that is
showing off or intimidating or boring, then you are not engaging that
other person. So you could think about what the other person might
be interested in. Look at your mission statement again. What in that
statement would another person want to hear about? And from that, you
start to figure out the answer to the question “What do you do?”

Lesson 15 Speaking Skills for Social Settings 129

 ● Here’s a really important tip. The next thing you say in this conversation
is this: “And now tell me about you. How do you spend your time?” And
then you listen to the answer.

● If you really want to engage another person, you have to let him or her
talk. If you’re doing all the talking, then you are a bore. And this is good
news for introverts: You don’t have to be the life of the party! Many people
love to talk about themselves, and if you open up space for them to do it,
then they will like you for it.

● When the other person is talking, practice really listening. Don’t spend the
time thinking up the next thing you are going to say. Instead, focus on the
other person and stay curious about him or her. You will learn amazing
things if you assume the other person has something worthwhile to tell you
and if you stay open to it.

● You’ll also want to pay attention to your body language. You’ve learned in
previous lessons about how you can communicate things unconsciously by
what your body is doing. Here are two things you can check when you are
in conversation at a party: Notice what your feet are doing and check your
eye contact.

● Specifically, you should point your toes toward the person you are talking
to.1 This signals that you are really interested and listening. In addition,
you should keep your focus on the person who is speaking. This signals
that you care about what the other person is saying.

TELLING A STORY
● Now imagine you’re telling a story at a party. Actually, what you’re about
to learn applies anytime you are telling a story; it could be a story that
you’re telling at bedtime to a child, or as part of a graduation speech, or in
a TED Talk.

1 If instead your toes are pointed away from the person you’re talking to, then you’re
signaling that you’re already out the door—you’re on the lookout for a different
conversation.

130
● For some people, taking the spotlight to tell a story might be as natural as
breathing. But even expert storytellers can be even better at it if they have a
sense of what makes for a good story. For others, telling a story and taking
the spotlight might seem like an intimidating idea, so breaking down how
to do it can make it more achievable.

● You can think of this as another example of an epideictic speech, or a

showpiece. Whether you are praising, condemning, or inspiring with it,
this kind of speech is for display—which means you want to hold the
audience’s attention.

● To figure out how to do that, start by thinking about who is listening. You
need to figure out why your audience might care about this story. What
makes it worthwhile for them to hear? A story that is just for you (a show-
off story) won’t do the trick. The best stories connect the speaker to the
listeners. What is valuable and interesting to them?

● You’ll also want to consider the context. You want to make sure that your
story is appropriate and that you aren’t making people uncomfortable. A
story that might be fine at a comedy club is not necessarily going to be OK
at a business dinner, for example.

● A good story has a satisfying structure. Aristotle talked about this in a

work called Poetics. His definition of poetry encompassed storytelling, and
in Poetics he discussed key elements of the storytelling art.

● For Aristotle, storytelling is satisfying to people because stories imitate real

life and teach us things, and also because people take natural pleasure in
“harmony and rhythm,” by which he meant a well-structured story.

● Aristotle advises that if you string together a series of events, even if

the events are well told, you won’t achieve the satisfying effect you are
looking for unless you give the story a shape—a plot. He describes this as
“artistically constructed incidents.” He says that a story has a beginning, a
middle, and an end, and the beginning needs to point toward the middle,
which needs to point toward the end. He says:

Lesson 15 Speaking Skills for Social Settings 131

 “ A well constructed plot … must neither begin nor end
haphazardly. … [To be] beautiful, [it must] have an orderly
arrangement of parts.

● The ending is an especially important section. Aristotle talked about the

importance of epiphany and catharsis. He was describing tragedies, but
they’re not bad things to think about in any story. The idea is that by the
ending, the audience needs to have learned something and been moved in
some way.

● Epiphany means that you’ve received some insight or wisdom. Catharsis

means that you felt some sort of emotion, and by taking that emotional
journey, you’ve now had a release of emotion. You feel better.

● Aristotle might tell you, for instance, that the tragedy of Oedipus Rex
lets you feel fear and pity for Oedipus, who’s going to find out that he
has unintentionally killed his father and married his mother. Through
watching Oedipus’s story, you gain some wisdom and have an emotional
reaction—probably a feeling of “Glad that wasn’t me!”

● Aristotle wrote about how satisfying it is for an audience to experience

feelings of pity and fear in particular when enjoying a story. It’s a way to
engage with the material and to learn important lessons, which he says
satisfies a desire deep within human nature.

● Another emotion you might offer in your story is humor. Laughter makes
people feel good, so if you can tell a funny story, that’s terrific. This is
something that you can get better at if you think about how to shape your
story and practice it.

● In general, you can apply the following guidelines to the kind of story you
might tell at a party:

† Identify your audience, what will entertain them, and what is

appropriate for them.

† Determine your theme—your central message.

132
 † Put in some characters that your audience is going to care about. You
need a protagonist.

FOR A STORY TO BE ENGAGING, YOU HAVE

TO PUT PEOPLE IN IT. AND THE PEOPLE DON’T
NEED TO BE PERFECT; IN FACT, ARISTOTLE SAID
THAT IT’S BETTER IF THEY AREN’T. IT’S MORE
INTERESTING IF THEY’RE FLAWED, BECAUSE
THAT MAKES THEM HUMAN.

† Give the protagonist a goal.

† Give the story a shape.1 You need a beginning, middle, and end, and the
beginning should point toward the ending.

† Within that shape, build some dramatic tension. There should be some
action here, and it should rise and then fall.

† Hone that shape until it’s sharp. You don’t want your story to become a
monologue that runs on too long. Leave out the unimportant stuff.2 Think
short, pithy, and memorable; set up the punch line or payoff and get to it.

● The next time something happens that you think might make a good
story, try shaping it and then telling the story out loud. Maybe try it on
a few different people. Then, think about how it went. Refine it with

1 To give your story a good shape, you have to make choices about what to put in and what
to leave out. This is particularly important if you are telling a story about yourself, about
something that actually happened to you. If you launch into every detail as it happened, simply
because that’s the way it happened, the story will be tedious. But if you can keep an eye on the
punch line—the reason you are telling the story—then it helps you figure out which details to
keep in to point the way to your ultimate conclusion.
2 The famous Russian playwright Anton Chekhov gave advice about how to write well, and his
most famous piece of advice was that every element in a story must be necessary. He said, “If
in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired.
Otherwise don’t put it there.” This rule is referred to as Chekov’s gun.

Lesson 15 Speaking Skills for Social Settings 133

 each retelling to make it better. This process will help you develop your
understanding of how to tell a good story. And when you’re done, you’ll
have a story that you can keep in your pocket for when you need one.

READING
Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment.

Strunk and White, The Elements of Style.

QUESTIONS
1 When you are next called on to introduce yourself, what will you say?
What do you want people to remember about you?

2 Write down the things you do in your daily or professional life that make
the world a better place: your personal mission statement. What does it
say? Why are you here? How are you serving the world around you?

134
 16
COMMUNICATING
SUCCESSFULLY
AT WORK

Lesson 16 Communicating Successfully at Work 135

 T he next several lessons will address public speaking in your professional
life. How do you speak effectively in the workplace? In particular, this
lesson offers general advice that applies whether you are speaking to your
supervisor, speaking up in a team meeting, and communicating electronically.

DELIBERATIVE SPEECHES
● As opposed to epideictic speeches, which are often intended to celebrate
or inspire, the kind of speech you’re most likely to give in a workplace is
called a deliberative speech.

● According to Aristotle, deliberative speeches are principally designed to

explore policy issues in order to guide future action. Whereas an epideictic
speech is meant to inspire, a deliberative speech is meant to persuade—
using facts and logic.

● A deliberative speech is concerned with what people should choose and

what they should avoid. It typically works in one of two ways: You might
argue that a course of action is worthy of being pursued for its own sake,
because of its inherent goodness; or that a course of action will be good for
the people considering it because it will give them an advantage—a kind of
utilitarian argument. A course of action can be inherently good, or it can
be good for your audience, or both!

● To figure out which kind of deliberative argument to make, you need to

know your audience and what will persuade them. Typically, an audience
will be persuaded if you can show that a choice will lead to happiness or
that rejecting that choice will lead to unhappiness—so you need to define
what happiness and unhappiness are for your specific audience.

● How do you know which definition of happiness to choose? You need to

decide based on what you believe and whom you’re going to address.

136
PRESENTING TO YOUR BOSS
● When you’re making a deliberative presentation to your boss, he or she is
your audience. You’re trying to give information about what to do or avoid
and explain why your advice will either be good to take for its own sake or
lead to an outcome that achieves happiness or avoids unhappiness.

● As soon as you get an assignment from your boss, you want to make sure
that you know exactly what is being asked of you and why. Repeat the
assignment back to your supervisor to make sure you’ve gotten it right.
You don’t want to run off and answer a question that isn’t the one you’ve
actually been asked.

● And get some background information about why the question has come
up. If you have an understanding of the context of why you’re doing this
work, then you might realize that there’s actually a related question that’ll
need to be considered as well that your boss hasn’t noticed, and you can
bring that to your boss’s attention.

● At the same time, you don’t necessarily want to take the time to research
the related question if you weren’t asked to. You’re just going to flag it for
your boss and ask if he or she wants you to look into it. But right now,

Lesson 16 Communicating Successfully at Work 137

 you’re going to focus on the question your boss asked of you. If you go
down a rabbit hole with a tangentially related question, it might turn out
that your boss already asked someone else to look into that one and now he
or she is annoyed because you wasted time and duplicated work, therefore
leading to unhappiness.

● You also need to know what the deadline is. And you need to meet that
deadline. Your ethos—that good reputation for being someone who can
exhibit good sense—will be called into question if you can’t be relied on to
make a deadline, or to at least communicate with your supervisor as soon
as you know that you will need more time. Don’t make your boss chase
you down.

● Once you’ve done the research, perhaps you write it up in a memo.

You might be tempted to simply send that memo to your supervisor
and consider it done. But if you do that, you are missing out on a great
opportunity to impress your boss and create a personal connection that can
help you professionally.

● Instead, go see your boss in person. You might make an appointment to do

this, or if your workplace is more casual, then knock on your supervisor’s
door and ask if this would be a good time for you to tell him or her the
answer to the question he or she asked you to research.

● Even though this meeting might sound like an impromptu conversation,

you are going to prepare before you go in there so that it goes well. You
have plenty of solid information to share, but you won’t want to simply
read your memo to your boss—who’s perfectly capable of reading it
him- or herself. Instead, think of a few key points to make and practice
saying them.

● You’re adding value here because you are pointing your boss to the
highlights. If your boss only reads the memo, he or she might do it too fast
and miss something important. So you’re taking the time to distill those
most important points for your boss and presenting them aloud.

138
● Think of this from your boss’s point of view. What does your boss want
to know? He or she probably doesn’t want to know exactly the steps you
took to do the research. Instead, your boss wants to know the answer. So
remind your boss of the question he or she asked, give a quick overview of
the answer, and then make a few key points your boss might need to know.

● Once you’ve oriented your supervisor, give him or her a short version of the
answer and offer to go through a more detailed version of the answer.

● It can be helpful to a supervisor if you bring a visual aid with you to a

meeting like this. For this meeting, that visual aid could be a printout of
the memo you wrote, perhaps plus a one-page outline that summarizes
your memo that you can look at together as you take your supervisor
through your research.

● A visual aid can help keep the conversation on track because your
supervisor can see where you are going, and it can help you remember the
points you wanted to make. Remember that a deliberative presentation like
this one is all about persuading through facts and logic. Visual aids can
help audience members keep those facts straight.

● You’ll also want to have thought holistically about your assignment. As

part of this, flag any issues you discover that your supervisor might not
be aware of. This shows that you’re taking ownership of your work. You
haven’t just done the assignment as it was given to you; you’ve thought
about other value that you could add, and you’re adding that value.

● It’s also helpful to think about the kind of person your supervisor is so
that you can speak his or her language. Perhaps he or she is no-nonsense
and cuts to the chase; in that case, you should get right to the point. Or
perhaps your boss is sociable; in that case, start the meeting with some
small talk.

● By taking the time to meet with your supervisor in person, you’ve started
the important work of building a relationship with him or her. That’s such
an important thing to do. Your good reputation at work—your ethos—
depends in part on the relationships that you make. If your boss sees
that you are thoughtful and that you care about your work, then you are
making a good impression.

Lesson 16 Communicating Successfully at Work 139

 SPEAKING UP IN A TEAM MEETING
● You can apply these same lessons to the context of a meeting. Imagine that
you’re attending a team meeting at your workplace. How do you make
your voice heard?

● First, you need to have something to contribute. So that means you should
prepare, just as you prepared for that meeting with your supervisor.

● Think about the topic of the team meeting. What is its purpose? Who is
going to be there? How does it intersect with your work, and what do you
know that others at the meeting might want to know?

● Prepare visual aids, thinking about what your team will want to know and
showing them that. Visual aids also have the added benefit of making sure
that you’ll speak up.

● It’s also important to be aware of how you are presenting yourself. Visual aids
will help a lot, as will any sort of work product that shows that you are on top
of things. You’ll also want to think about how you appear physically at the
meeting: Dress nicely and make sure that your visual aids (if printed on paper)
are organized so that you are not rummaging around looking for something.

● Certainly, you will want to show up on time. And sit at the table rather
than hiding yourself in a corner of the room. Sit up straight, look people in
the eye, and be ready to engage.

● Make one good point at the meeting—your visual aid will help with that.
And then listen to others. It’s great to ask questions if they are thoughtful
and will help move the project forward, but you’ll also want to make sure
you don’t dominate the conversation. Don’t talk just to hear yourself talk.
When others are speaking, really listen; don’t just think of what you want
to say next.

● You may find yourself sometimes having to speak in situations where you
are the only person of your kind at the meeting. Perhaps you are the only
young person, or the only person of color, or the only woman. If that’s the
case, then you are especially important. You may be the only person at the
table who can offer your particular perspective, which makes it even more
important that you speak up.

140
 MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, THE FIRST WOMAN
TO SERVE AS THE US SECRETARY OF STATE,
DESCRIBED GOING TO MEETINGS WHERE SHE
WAS THE ONLY WOMAN AND SILENCING
HERSELF OUT OF WORRY THAT WHAT SHE WAS
THINKING WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH, ONLY TO
HEAR A MAN SAY EXACTLY WHAT SHE WAS
THINKING TO GREAT ACCLAIM. SO SHE STARTED
MAKING A POINT OF LISTENING ACTIVELY,
TELLING HERSELF, “IT IS BOTH POLITE AND
USEFUL” TO INTERRUPT AT THE RIGHT MOMENT.

● Listen actively and tell yourself that is it both polite and useful for you
to interject when you have something to say. And if you notice in your
meeting someone else who is in this situation, then support that person.
Stop the conversation to say, “I think Lisa had something to add.” You’ll be
building relationships and also making sure that your team has the benefit
of considering a variety of perspectives.

COMMUNICATING ELECTRONICALLY
● In many workplaces, people connect with coworkers via email or some
form of electronic messaging system even more than they do in face-to-face
conversation.
● Email can be helpful because it creates a record of what was said and when
it was said, and you can check your email for reference if needed.

● But email can also be problematic.

Lesson 16 Communicating Successfully at Work 141

 ● For one thing, once you’ve sent an email, you can’t control what happens to
it. Email can be forwarded. The disclosure of an email that you wanted to
keep private can be embarrassing or have negative professional consequences.

● Email can also take on an unintended tone and lead to misunderstanding.

Maybe you sent an email earnestly trying to explain something and the recipient
reads it as patronizing. It is much easier to pick up the nuances of someone’s
intentions if you communicate face-to-face rather than electronically.

● Email can also be dangerous because it can be written and sent so quickly.
You might fire off a brief email to a coworker, only to realize later that it
was written sloppily or had mistakes in it, which can erode your ethos. It’s a
good idea to proofread your professional emails. Think of them like business
letters and review them before sending. Make the subject line something
that’s helpful to the reader. Make your email as succinct as possible so that
it’s easy for your coworker to read on a phone with a small screen.

WHEN ABRAHAM LINCOLN GOT UPSET, HE

WOULD SIT DOWN AND WRITE WHAT HE
CALLED A HOT LETTER—SOMETHING THAT
EXPRESSED HIS FRUSTRATION AND ANGER.
AND THEN HE WOULD PUT IT AWAY. HE
WOULD WRITE ON IT, “NEVER SIGNED; NEVER
SENT.” THE POINT OF THE LETTER WAS TO LET
HIM VENT HIS FEELINGS SO THAT HE COULD
CLEAR OUT SOME SPACE TO THINK. AND THAT
ABILITY ALLOWED HIM TO BEHAVE MUCH MORE
SKILLFULLY IN FRAUGHT SITUATIONS.

142
● It can be tempting to shoot off an email when you are upset or angry—
but don’t. It might feel good in the moment to send a zinger, but you
will regret it later. The recipient may respond in kind, ratcheting up the
emotion and just making everything worse. Small disputes become big
relationship-shattering wars. So if you are upset, put down the phone or
get away from the computer and take a deep breath. Then, when you are
calmer, go sort things out in person.

READING
Heath and Heath, Switch.

Sayler and Shadel, Tongue-Tied America, chaps. 8 and 9.

QUESTIONS
1 Think about a time that you observed someone communicating effectively
in the workplace, perhaps at a meeting. Why was that person effective?
2 What is your approach to email, tweets, or other kinds of electronic
communication? What steps do you take to ensure that they communicate
what you want to say?

Lesson 16 Communicating Successfully at Work 143

 17
MAKING A
POWERFUL
BUSINESS
PRESENTATION

144
I n this lesson, you’ll discover how to make a sales pitch or a presentation
to attract a potential client, a presentation to your company’s board of
directors, and a formal business presentation.

A BUSINESS PITCH
● A business pitch to a potential client is an example of a deliberative
speech, which you examined in the previous lesson. Deliberative speeches,
according to Aristotle, are designed to explore policy issues to guide future
action. A deliberative speech is meant to persuade by using facts and logic.
You are trying to argue that a particular course of action—in this case,
choosing your services or product—will be good for the people considering
it because it will benefit them or bring them happiness.

● Remember that in a deliberative speech, you might argue that a course of

action is worthy of being pursued because of its own inherent goodness or
because it will be good for the people considering it.

● Here’s a simple formula that you could apply to your sales pitch: Argue
that investing in your product or service is good for the investors because
it would make them money and that it is good in and of itself because it is
makes positive changes in the world.

● How do you get a meeting with a potential client or investor? It might

mean sending an email or making a phone call. But what do you say?

● Think about the foundational lessons of ethos, pathos, and logos. Start
with pathos, or emotional engagement. In the context of a sales pitch, that
means you need to put yourself in the potential client’s shoes. What might
the client want? Explain the benefits of your proposal up front to get your
client’s attention, such as “I can save you $30 per week.” Then think about
why the client might want to have a meeting with you and tell him or her
that right away in the email or conversation.

Lesson 17 Making a Powerful Business Presentation 145

 ● You’ll also want to bolster your credibility, or ethos. What can be helpful
to establish your authority is social proof—a term coined by Robert
Cialdini,1 who says that one way we determine what is correct is to see
what other people think is correct. It’s a sort of shortcut for figuring
out how to behave. So if you can say something like “We provide these
services to companies like Amazon and Google,” a potential client may
think, “Well, those clients are successful! If they like this product, it must
be good!”

● If that initial contact works, then you’ll be able to arrange a meeting with
the potential client. Keep in mind that this meeting isn’t a speech. You’re
not doing all the talking. You’ll have specific points you’ll need to make,
certainly, but if you launch right into them, you may be missing the mark
altogether. Your potential client may have completely different needs or
desires from what you imagined.

● Your goal in that face-to-face meeting with the client is to listen. Get the
client talking. Ask questions. Get as much information as you can before
you start talking so that you can pivot your presentation to meet the
potential client’s needs. That’s how you’ll know the right thing to say to
engage him or her.

● You’ll also want to establish your credibility during the conversation. You
can do this by using social proof to show that other clients use and value
your product. You can also establish credibility by knowing your product
or service well and by thinking about questions a potential client might ask
so that you will know how to answer those questions.

● You’ll want to be able to demonstrate why your product has value—

that might be done by using case studies, photos, market research, and
examples of the experience of other clients. And you’ll want to know the
market and industry well, which requires some research and advance
preparation on your part.

1 Robert Cialdini coined the term social proof in his book Influence: The Psychology of
Persuasion.

146
● But you’ll also want to be careful not to oversell. If you are pushy, selling
too hard, or acting like a slick salesperson, you won’t be effective. You are
not trying to trick or force the other person into buying your product or
service. Instead, your approach should be “I want to see if we are a good
fit.” If you’re a good fit, then both you and your customer would be better
off if you made a deal with each other.

● If you’re a good salesperson, you will take the time to ascertain the needs of
your potential client. You will exhibit ethos by knowing about what you’re
selling but also by communicating that you are offering something that is
good for the buyer.

● You’re not trying to trick the client with high-pressure sales tactics. If the
client believes this is what is happening, he or she is likely to resist and
even walk away. But if instead the client believes that you are using facts
and logic to show that this is a course of action that will lead to a beneficial
outcome for him or her, you’re more likely to succeed.

FEAR AND ANXIETY MIGHT WORK ON SOME

POTENTIAL CLIENTS, BUT ON ANYONE WHO
CAN RECOGNIZE THOSE HARDBALL TACTICS,
THEY’RE GOING TO BACKFIRE AND WRECK YOUR
ETHOS. IF WHAT YOU ARE SELLING REQUIRES
A LASTING RELATIONSHIP WITH A CLIENT OR
MIGHT GENERATE REPEAT BUSINESS, YOU’LL DO
MUCH BETTER IF YOU CAN TRIGGER POSITIVE
EMOTIONS, RATHER THAN NEGATIVE ONES.

Lesson 17 Making a Powerful Business Presentation 147

 A PRESENTATION TO A BOARD OF DIRECTORS
● A board of directors is a group of people who supervise the activities of an
organization or business. They typically help with establishing the policies
and objectives of an organization. They supervise the chief executive of the
organization, and they’re responsible to the company’s shareholders. Some
of the people on the board might be employees of the company, and others
might be people from outside the company who were chosen because they
have useful experience and perspectives.

● Imagine that you are a manager at your company and you need to run a
decision by the board of directors because you need their approval in order
to move forward. When you’re an officer of the company speaking to the
board, you’ll want to keep in mind that this is a very particular kind of
audience. The audience is interested in your business, but they may not
spend all their time on it.

● That’s certainly true of outside directors on the board, who don’t work for
the company. They have a wealth of experience, but they’re not going to
know the minutia of the company, such as acronyms and jargon of your
operations. And they are typically very busy people who have demanding
jobs. Usually, when they are meeting, it is for a purpose. So imagine that
at this meeting they are coming together to make a decision about the
direction of the business.

● Since you know these are busy people, you will want to think about
how best to use their time so that you can get the most value from their
expertise. You might consider sending out materials for them to read in
advance so that they’ll be aware of the purpose of the meeting and will
have had a chance to give some thought to the issue at hand.

● When you’re designing those reading materials, strive to keep them short.
Aim for materials that would take a board member about 30 minutes to an
hour to read. Send them the materials a few days in advance so that they
have time to read and process what you have sent.

● For the presentation itself, structure is key. Once again, this is a

deliberative speech, and it’s all about logos, or logic. The board needs to
make a decision, so members need to understand what they’re being asked

148
 to do and what factors they should consider. You don’t want to hide the
ball here, or waste time. Start with a summary up front to make the goal of
the meeting clear.

● You might want to start with a quick update about the operations of the
company. This gives the board context and establishes your credibility. You
don’t want the board to micromanage you. If they’re confident that you
have things well in hand, then they will focus only on the questions you
want them to focus on and trust you to manage everything else.

● Next, outline for the board the context of the problem and what you want
from them. The goal of the meeting needs to be specific and focused,
not vague. You don’t want the board to start brainstorming ideas that
might derail things or end up wasting time, so it’s important to give some
thought to exactly what you want them to consider.

● Limit the number of decisions the board needs to make, and don’t give them
more information than they need to make those decisions. Be as clear as you
can in your presentation. Avoid acronyms that board members might not
know and use industry standards so that you aren’t confusing them. You
might also explain briefly what you are not proposing—in order to keep your
audience on track and show that you’ve thought about the options.

● If you anticipate that a topic might be difficult—perhaps it is politically

sensitive—consider having one-on-one conversations with individual members
prior to the board meeting to get a better understanding of their concerns.

● This is a good time to practice your active listening skills; let members do
the talking and make sure you hear what they are saying. You’ll be more
persuasive when it’s your turn to talk if you know where people are coming
from. Additionally, these conversations give you the opportunity to find
allies and build consensus in advance of the formal meeting.

A FORMAL BUSINESS PRESENTATION

● Imagine a setting that is fairly formal, where you are given a set amount
of time to speak and in which the audience is not going to interrupt you,
or where their questions are posed during a question-and-answer session
at the end of your remarks. You might be asked to speak at a conference

Lesson 17 Making a Powerful Business Presentation 149

 about your particular area of expertise, or your industry may have other
settings in which you might be called on to make a presentation. The key
to your success in such settings is to keep in mind the lessons of ethos,
pathos, and logos.

● Starting with ethos, you want to be credible. That means you want to pick
a topic you know about. If you’ve been invited to speak because you are an
expert in a particular area, then you already have that advantage. Even if you
don’t feel like an expert, you’re an expert on your work. You know more than
your audience does about that work, because you’re the one who’s been doing
it. And your job is to share that expertise with your audience.

● So you pick your topic, or you are assigned your topic, based on what you
know. But now you need to ask yourself, “Why will my audience care about
this? How does it benefit them to listen to these remarks?” You are starting
to think about pathos here—the emotional engagement of the listeners.

● Your remarks should start with a hook that gives the audience a reason to
keep listening. Your hook is why anyone would be interested in your topic,
and it might even give your presentation its structure.

● Next, you also need to think about logos. Give the speech a clear and
logical structure so that the audience stays oriented. You want a structure
that is satisfying and easy to follow.

● Giving your remarks a shape makes it more likely that your audience will
remember the points you make. You’ll also want to define unfamiliar terms
and stay away from jargon if you can. Craft your remarks so that an audience
member who is reasonably intelligent will stay engaged and so that someone
who is not directly involved in your work will be able to follow.

● Finally, for delivery, you will do better if you can speak without notes. If
you have a simple structure, such as three main points, you’ll be able to do
it. Practice the remarks aloud 10 times so that you really know the speech.

150
● And don’t worry about saying every word as written. It’s going to be a
better speech if you sound conversational—which means you rely on the
good structure you have created rather than trying to recite the remarks
word for word. You can use a visual aid like a very sparse PowerPoint for a
talk like this to help you remember the points you want to make.1

● Then, take a deep breath, look at the audience, smile, and tell them what
you know. Relax. You have something useful to share. And they will want
to hear it.

READING
Cialdini, Influence.

Pink, Drive.

QUESTIONS
1 Think of the last time someone tried to sell you something. Did it work?
Why or why not?

2 Think of the best salesperson you have ever encountered. What did that
person do that made him or her successful?

1 Refer to lesson 12 for detailed tips about how to design your visual aid.

Lesson 17 Making a Powerful Business Presentation 151

 18
HOW TO
HANDLE A MEDIA
INTERVIEW

152
A t some point in your professional life, you might find yourself being
interviewed by the media. Although you might be hesitant, there are
several good reasons to give a media interview. Chief among them is that you
have expertise to share, and that knowledge can help other people. If you
do it well, you can help your company or organization. You’re also helping
yourself—you’re building your own brand by showing that you’re competent
and credible.

PREPARING FOR AN INTERVIEW

● There are things you can do to make an interview go more smoothly and
perhaps assuage some of your fears.

● Start with thinking about why this interviewer is talking to you. What is
the subject of the story, and why are you, in particular, being asked to speak
about it? That can help you figure out your central message, or theme.

● Having a central message is particularly important in a situation like this,

where you may be answering questions or speaking for just a few minutes.
You may not have much time to get your point across. You’ll want to think
before the interview about what that central message should be.

● Start by thinking about what you know. That’s a rule of ethos, or

credibility: You are persuasive if you can demonstrate that you know
what you are talking about. But you’ll also want to think about who
the audience is in order to achieve pathos, or emotional engagement.
What will they care about? Frame your message to address what they are
interested in.

● Once you’ve figured out your central message, keep honing it so that it
is clear, succinct, precise, and memorable. From the reporter’s point of
view, he or she is looking for something to quote. If you can figure out
something short and attention-grabbing, the reporter is going to quote it.

● Practice saying your central message and then pausing. That makes for a
great clip to quote. You could try thinking of this as the headline of the story.
If you were writing this story yourself, what would you want the headline to
say? That’s how you come up with a catchy, succinct central message.

Lesson 18 How to Handle a Media Interview 153

 ● Say what you mean, and then stop. Don’t fill the space with garbage words
like um and like. Practice expressing your ideas in short, pithy statements
punctuated by pauses. Those pauses make it easier for the reporter to find
a clip to use.

● A clear statistic or a good (but short) story can help make your message
memorable—as can any of those catchy figures of speech that are about
sound, such as alliteration or rhyming. Or you could put things into lists of
three, which tends to create a memorable rhythm.

● The reality is that most sound bites in interviews are about four seconds
long. That’s not much time. Very little of what you say will make it into
the story, so cut it down so that you’re only saying the most important
stuff. Choose one great statistic, not several. It’s better if you do the editing
rather than having the reporter edit you.

● Anticipate questions you might be asked and practice how you will answer
them. Take some time to scan the news. What’s going on that might relate
to what you’re talking about?

● Think about what you know about the interviewer. Is the interviewer’s style
formal or conversational? Does the interviewer work for an organization with
a particular viewpoint or agenda? That will help you anticipate what the
interview might be like and the questions the reporter might ask.

● Don’t assume that you know the focus of the interview. Before agreeing to
the interview, ask the reporter what he or she hopes to discuss to get a sense
of where the conversation might go. This will help you prepare.

● Set some ground rules before giving the interview. If the interview will run
in a newspaper or magazine, ask for the chance to read and approve your
quotes before they are published.

● Also, at the start of the conversation, make it clear to the reporter whether
you are speaking on the record, which means that your name, title, and
organization can be disclosed, or off the record, which means that you are
giving the reporter information without your identity attached to it.1

1 If you speak off the record, the reporter is bound by journalistic ethics to refrain from
revealing your identity.

154
● Here are some other ground rules to hammer out in advance. If this is a
television interview, ask where the interview will take place, how long it
will be, whether you will be standing up or sitting down, and whether
there are any guidelines about what clothes to wear.2 Choose an outfit that
is comfortable to project that you are at ease.

● Try a dress rehearsal of your interview. Put on the outfit you plan to wear and
ask someone to play the role of interviewer. Practice delivering your central
message, and practice how you will answer questions. Do it more than once.
Taking this time to prepare and practice can help you with anxiety.

THE ACTUAL INTERVIEW

● On the day of the interview, take a moment to warm up.3 In particular,
take the time to do some deep breathing, which slows down your heart rate
and helps you center yourself. Take a deep breath in for four seconds, hold
the breath for a second or two, and then exhale for six seconds.

● During the actual interview, get right to the point. Start with your central
message. Deliver that message with a tone that is friendly and honest,
not defensive. Thinking of the interview as an opportunity to share
information will help you strike the right tone.

THE PRINCIPLES OF PERSUASION—ETHOS, PATHOS,

AND LOGOS—ARE YOUR SECRET WEAPONS TO
TURN YOUR INTERVIEW INTO A SUCCESS.

● Body language is also important.4 Keep eye contact, smile when that’s
appropriate, and keep your posture open and relaxed.

2 Some colors and patterns don’t work well on television.

3 Lessons 10 and 11 take you through a voice warm-up and an exercise to help you manage
stage fright.
4 Review lesson 8 for more information about body language.

Lesson 18 How to Handle a Media Interview 155

 ● To project physical confidence in a television interview, if you are seated,
sit up straight. If you are standing, you can stand with one foot in front of
the other to keep the reporter and camera crew from crowding you. You’ll
feel and look more in control if you have some personal space.

● If this is a remote television interview, then you will be looking into your
own camera. Pretend the camera is a person and maintain eye contact with
it; if you keep looking away, you’re going to appear nervous. As you are
waiting to be introduced and while other people are speaking, keep your
expression neutral but friendly.

● If this is a phone interview, where you only have your voice to project
confidence, stand up. Your voice will sound better because your diaphragm
won’t be constricted. Standing also makes it less likely that you will
ramble. And you’ll feel a little more powerful because you are taking up
more space in the room.

● You may have seen interviews where the person being interviewed was
asked about something he or she didn’t want to talk about. Sometimes
people in this situation will duck the question or pivot back to their own
talking points. This is a tricky needle to thread.

● If you are asked a direct question and you can answer it, then answer it.
Don’t alienate listeners by pretending the question away if you have a
perfectly good answer for it. But then refocus the reporter on the thing you
want to concentrate on.

● If the interview is going off the rails, get it back on track with phrases like
these:

† “Here’s the most important thing.”

† “The bottom line is ….”

† “If you remember only one thing from this interview, remember this ….”

● These verbal flags help emphasize your important points and are a way to
get back to your central message. They also make for great sound bites.
Practice them so you can reach for them when you need them.

156
● Another great technique to practice is stating your central message in a
positive way. Sometimes a reporter might ask you a question in negative
terms. If you repeat that negative language, then that might end up being
your quote, which is the opposite of what you want. Instead, practice
making your affirmative case—something like “We are standing up for
what is right and good in our community!”

● What should you do if you are asked a question and you don’t know the
answer? First of all, take a deep breath and keep your cool. You are not
omniscient—no one is. It is OK if you don’t know everything. Don’t let
the question throw you, and don’t get defensive!

● You might ask the reporter to clarify the question to buy yourself some
time to think. Then tell the reporter what you do know. In some cases, you
might say that you don’t know something but suggest where the reporter
might find the information—or even offer to find the information yourself
if you think you can and it is in your interest to do so. But don’t guess or
make up an answer. You may erode your credibility or even get yourself
into legal trouble if you do.

● Sometimes reporters will ask you to speculate. The best rule of thumb is
to not speculate; instead, stick to what you know. You can respond with
phrases like these:

† “I hesitate to speculate.”

† “Here are the facts we actually know.”

† “Here are the assumptions in your question, and we don’t know if those
things are true.”

● If the interview gets rough, don’t take off your microphone and walk away.
If you do, that is probably the part of the interview that will show up
online or on TV. Instead, keep your cool and stay professional.

Lesson 18 How to Handle a Media Interview 157

 UNEXPECTED INTERVIEWS
● What if you find yourself ambushed for an interview? This might happen
if you’re part of a controversial story. The reporter is hoping to catch you
losing control and showing anger, embarrassment, or defensiveness.

● If this happens to you, stay calm. Don’t run, or push the reporter away,
or hide your face. Just keep walking and be polite. If you anticipate this is
going to happen, have a message ready to deliver. Think of the headline—
the story you want to tell—and say that.

● Avoid saying “no comment,” which sounds like you are guilty and have
something to hide. Instead, keep walking and say nothing. Or try one of
these phrases:

† We are still investigating and don’t have conclusions yet.

† I’m not able to say anything more at this time.

† I don’t have any information about that.

● What if you get an unexpected phone call from a reporter asking for an
interview? First, don’t give the interview on the spot. You need time to
prepare what you are going to say and to think about your central message.
Tell the reporter that you would be happy to speak and set up a time for
the interview.1

● Then, take the time to figure out your message. What’s the headline you
hope to see? What will the audience want to know? What questions can
you anticipate you will be asked, and what will you say?

● The great thing about a phone interview is that the reporter can’t see you,
so you can have your notes right in front of you. It can be comforting to
see the headline you hope for and the points you want to make.

● If you anticipate that you’ll have more than one issue you need to address,
you could fill out a form like this for each issue:

1 Remember that reporters have deadlines, so try to schedule an interview within an hour or so
of that initial phone call if you can. Otherwise, you run the risk that the reporter will move on
to another source, and you won’t have the opportunity to get your message out.

158
 ✍ PREP SHEET FOR MEDIA INTERVIEW
HEADLINE:­ ________________________________________
__________________________________________________

SUPPORTING FACTS/DATA: __________________________

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

EXAMPLE/STORY: ___________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

ANTICIPATED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: _______________

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
PHRASES TO REMEMBER: ____________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

Lesson 18 How to Handle a Media Interview 159

 ● Taking the time to fill out this form ensures that you’ve properly prepared
for any interview.

READING
Fink, Crisis Communications.

Phillips, The Media Training Bible.

QUESTIONS
1 Imagine that you will be interviewed by a reporter about some topic. What
would you want your central message to be?

2 How can you frame that message in a positive and pithy way? What do
you hope the headline of your interview would be? How can you state this
message so that it could be a sound bite that the reporter is likely to use?

160
 19
NEGOTIATING
WITHOUT FEAR

Lesson 19 Negotiating without Fear 161

 J ust as people sometimes fear public speaking, they also can fear
negotiating. Common worries are that you’ll be tricked or taken
advantage of, encounter a tough negotiator who is going to be unpleasant
to deal with—or become unpleasant yourself—or experience negative
repercussions for trying to negotiate in the first place. But negotiations are not
something to fear. A negotiation is an opportunity to make a connection and
create a solution that’s better than the solution you could have come up with
on your own.

IN THIS COURSE, YOU’VE ALREADY LEARNED

MANY OF THE SKILLS IT TAKES TO BE A
SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATOR: PREPARATION,
PUTTING YOURSELF IN SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOES,
REALLY LISTENING, AND MASTERING YOUR
EMOTIONS SO THEY DON’T CLOUD YOUR
ABILITY TO THINK.

PREPARING FOR A NEGOTIATION

● If you prepare, you’re going to feel better about your ability to do well in a
negotiation. Preparation helps you think logically during the negotiation
and enables you to know a good deal when you see one so that you know
whether or not to take it.

● To prepare, use a prep sheet like this one. Filling out this sheet is a
systematic way to help you think through the negotiation.

162
 ✍ PREP SHEET FOR NEGOTIATING
ELEMENT PREPARATION

INTERESTS What are your interests?

These are broadly defined
goals you hope to achieve
in this negotiation.

OPTIONS What options would satisfy your

These are creative ways interests? (Add to this list during
to satisfy interests. the negotiation.)
Brainstorm lots of options
to meet those interests;
you may come up with
something surprising.

YOUR NEGOTIATING What is your educated guess about what

PARTNER’S the other person wants?
INTERESTS
It is easier to reach a deal
if that deal is something
your partner wants, too.

What questions should you be sure to

ask during the negotiation to learn more?

How can the options you have

considered also satisfy your partner’s
interests, too?

Lesson 19 Negotiating without Fear 163

 ELEMENT PREPARATION

PLAN B If you can’t work through a deal with

Consider your plan B, this negotiating partner, what else could
as well as that of your you do?
negotiating partner.

What is your negotiating partner’s plan B?

How can you describe these options to

persuade your negotiating partner that
he or she would be better off making a
deal with you rather than going to plan B?

FAIRNESS How can you set up a process that

A deal that feels fair is feels fair?
more likely to last.

What external criteria can you point

to in order to show that what you are
suggesting is fair? (For example, can you
show your partner the price agreed to in
a comparable deal?)

What is your relationship like with the

person with whom you are negotiating?
Write out some things to be sure to say
during the negotiation to build trust
and respect.

● In the first section of your prep sheet, you are going to write down the
interests that are at play in this negotiation. Your interests are the motivations
that drive you.

164
● The reason it’s helpful to think about interests is that then you realize that
there are lots of options out there for satisfying these interests. If you get
fixated on only one possible way of satisfying your interests, you might
miss other creative solutions that might actually be better for you or easier
to achieve.

● Focusing just on a bottom-line position narrows your options, and

sometimes you need to get creative to strike a good deal. There may be
options out there that are even better than the bottom-line position you
got in your head before starting the negotiation. Thinking in terms of
interests rather than narrow positions can help you find those options.

● The next part of the prep sheet asks you to think creatively about options.
You’re going to brainstorm and write down a bunch of options that might
satisfy your interests. And your goal should be to add to that list during the
negotiation itself. Maybe during the conversation your negotiating partner
will suggest some options that you didn’t even realize were possible! Add
those to your list, too.

ARISTOTLE SAID THAT YOU WILL BE PERSUASIVE

IF YOU CAN GET THE OTHER PERSON
EMOTIONALLY ENGAGED WITH WHAT YOU
ARE SAYING. ONE WAY TO DO THIS IN A
NEGOTIATION IS TO PUT YOURSELF IN THE
OTHER PERSON’S SHOES TO TRY TO DETERMINE
HIS OR HER INTERESTS, OR MOTIVATIONS.

● The next part of the prep sheet asks you to think about what the other
person’s interests might be. It’s much easier to persuade people to do what
you want if it’s what they want, too. If you can suggest something that is
in your partner’s best interest, that’s a win-win. It’s easier to get a deal done
when both sides want the deal to happen.

Lesson 19 Negotiating without Fear 165

 ● What might your negotiating partner be interested in? To figure this
out, you’ll want to think about what you know and make some educated
guesses, and then you’ll write down some questions that’ll get you this
information. You’re testing your hypothesis about what the other person is
interested in, and you’re ready to adjust based on what he or she tells you.

● In the heat of the negotiation, it’s too easy to focus only on your own point
of view and not think about where the other person is coming from. It’s
hard to do the perspective-taking that’s required to be able to build trust.
But if you can do it, you will be more successful.

MOST GOOD NEGOTIATIONS START WITH SOME

SMALL TALK. THIS CAN HELP YOU START TO
CREATE A POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP, AND IT’S A
POLITE THING TO DO.

166
● Planning to ask questions—and writing out those questions in advance—
makes it likelier that you will remember to stop and inquire about the
other person’s point of view. If you know your interests and discover
the other person’s interests, you might find a place where those interests
intersect. That can help you make a strong deal. You’ll both want that deal
to happen and to last.

● And if you think in terms of interests, rather than bottom-line positions,

you’re more likely to come up with creative options.

● The next part of the form asks you to think about what your plan B will be
if you can’t make this deal happen. There are a few reasons why you will
want to think about this as you prepare.

● The first is psychological. Thinking about your plan B helps you realize
that the world will not end if you can’t make this deal go through. You
have options. If you can keep that in mind, it helps you relax so that you
can stay calm and think.

● Knowing your plan B also can help you during the negotiation. It can
help you know a good deal when you see one. During the negotiation, you
might be offered something that’s worse than your plan B. Don’t take that
deal. Only take a deal that is better than what you could do elsewhere.

● And knowing your plan B can help persuade the other side that he or she
would be better off making a deal with you rather than having your plan
B take place. In your preparation, think about how to make your plan B
sound really great and how to use it strategically.

● The next part of your prep form gets you to think about how to make the
deal feel fair for both parties—a win-win. If both parties feel like a deal is
in their interests and is fair, then that deal is strong. If instead one of the
parties walks away from the negotiation feeling tricked or cheated, then
the deal is weak. That person will start to look for ways to break the deal.

● So how do you make a deal feel fair? One thing to think about is your
process. A negotiation in which the parties treat each other with respect
and courtesy, and where you don’t feel like you were rushed or bullied,
makes the deal feel fairer. It also leaves open the possibility that you might

Lesson 19 Negotiating without Fear 167

 do business together again in the future because the relationship is intact at
the end of the negotiation. It will generally be a more pleasant negotiation
for you to experience.

● Deals will feel fair if the terms of the agreement feel fair. If you have an idea
of a dollar figure that is fair, then you can suggest it, and the negotiation may
end up somewhere in that ballpark. This effect is called anchoring.

● If you find yourself negotiating with someone who is trying to anchor

high, ask how that person arrived at the dollar figure he or she is
suggesting and ask why that offer is fair.

● If you want the negotiation to feel fair so that you leave with the
relationship intact, then in your preparation, you will want to find some
objective criteria—external standards of legitimacy against which to
measure a proposal—that would show that the price you are asking for is
the right price. Doing that research can help you persuade your negotiating
partner that you are offering a fair price and not trying to cheat him or her.

THE ACTUAL NEGOTIATION

● Based on what’s on the prep sheet, much of the thinking you do before
the negotiation is about logos, or logic. Aristotle said that you persuade
through making an argument by using logic and facts. That’s why you are
thinking about what your interests are—because that helps you see where
you are going.

● You are thinking about what the other side’s interests are so that you can
show the other person why this deal is logically in his or her best interest.
You are doing the research to improve your plan B so that you can tell when
a deal is better than the alternative and so that you can articulate to your
partner why it’s better for him or her to make a deal with you than to go
with plan B. You are looking for objective criteria to show how the proposal
should be valued and practicing articulating why your price is the right price.

● That’s the work you do before the negotiation starts. But in the negotiation itself,
ethos (credibility) and pathos (emotional engagement) become paramount.

168
● If you have ethos—that is, if your negotiating partner believes that you are
an honorable person—then he or she is more likely to trust in what you are
saying, accept your objective criteria, believe that you will keep your end of
the bargain, and want an ongoing relationship with you so that you can do
business together in the future.

● Being a person with ethos also feels a lot better than trying to outwit the
other person. Manipulation is exhausting and emotionally draining. Yes, it
takes more preparation to come up with creative options that satisfy both
parties’ interests, but if you do that work, you’re more likely to come up
with a deal that both parties want to keep. And you’ll probably have an
easier conversation.

● But how do you do that if you think the other side is playing hardball or
trying to cheat you?

● It’s essentially the same skill set you should practice whenever you’re
feeling anxiety.1

● First, you prepare. If you’ve prepared, you will feel more confident going into
the negotiation. You’ll know whether an offer is fair because you will know
the objective criteria that’s out there to compare it to. You’ll know what your
walk-away options are so that you don’t feel compelled to make a deal if
it’s not going to be a good one. And you’ll have taken the time to write out
questions, which makes it more likely that you will remember to ask them.

● Then, if you feel anger or defensiveness or stress, take a deep breath.

Notice how you are feeling. And then tell yourself something helpful. For
example, say to yourself, “Oh, a hardball tactic. I know how to handle
this!” And notice that the other person is probably playing hardball
because he or she feels worried or defensive, too.

● If you encounter a hardball tactic, such as the other side indicating that
you can either take the deal or leave it, a good general response is simply to
say, “Why?”—as in, “Why do you believe that is the right price?” or “Why
is that term nonnegotiable?” Asking the other side to explain why what he
or she is doing is right can help slow things down so you can think.

1 Revisit the tools that were presented to overcome stage fright in lesson 11.

Lesson 19 Negotiating without Fear 169

 ● Another great option is to take a short break. Say that you’re going to get
water or something, and then go to another room for a bit. Take some
more deep breaths. Look at your prep sheet again. Realize that you will
get further if you can think than you will if you are simply reacting to
something that is making you angry.

● Always staying professional and calm is a powerful tool in a negotiation.

Even if the other side is coming at you with guns blazing, you can change
the dynamic and even improve the relationship if you stay reasonable and
fair. By managing your own emotions, you can impact the emotions of the
other person.

● It works the other way, too: If your partner is upset and you respond by
being upset, then you’re going to ratchet up the tension, and it might be
hard to ever find a mutually agreeable outcome. But if instead you can
show yourself to be a person of, in Aristotle’s words, “good sense, good
moral character, and goodwill,” you may find that your negotiating partner
begins to exhibit those same qualities as well.

READING
Fisher and Shapiro, Beyond Reason.

Fisher, et al., Getting to Yes.

QUESTIONS
1 Do you like to negotiate? Why or why not?
2 If you dislike negotiating, what story are you telling yourself about it? Do
your feelings change if you think of negotiation as a chance to create a
solution you couldn’t put in place on your own?

170
 20
GIVING HELPFUL
VERBAL
FEEDBACK

Lesson 20 Giving Helpful Verbal Feedback 171

 O ne of the trickiest tasks at work that any manager faces is giving
feedback to the people who work for you. If the feedback is positive,
then it’s not so hard, because people like to hear praise. But if the feedback
is negative, then you have a tougher task before you. Fortunately, the lessons
in public speaking that you’ve been exploring throughout this course can
help you.

FEEDBACK CHALLENGES
● You are trying to persuade your employee to correct some behavior or try
an approach that is different from what he or she has been doing in the
past. Aristotle would say that you persuade through your ethos, or good
character; pathos, or emotional engagement; and logos, or logic.

● You are also attempting a bit of deliberative persuasion, which means that
you are making the case that a particular course of action is good—either
in and of itself or for the person you are persuading.

● Studies show that pretty much everyone hates to receive negative feedback.
Even people who really want to learn and do better are bothered by
criticism. It can be hard to take—particularly if you only get feedback
once a year, so you’re dreading it. And even if the feedback includes
positive information, it’s pretty human to focus primarily on the
negative information.

● Brain research shows that if you’re feeling attacked, then you’ll be

operating out of your amygdala, the fight-or-flight part of your brain.
You’re going to have an increase in hormones like cortisol, which
exacerbate that stress and make it harder for you to think.

● When you’re receiving criticism, maybe you’ve experienced the feeling that
the world is shrinking or constricting and you’re just focused on getting
through the negative interaction and getting out of there. If that’s what a
feedback session feels like to your employee, then it’s going to be hard for
him or her to process the information you are offering and use it to make
positive change.

172
● That’s a problem of both pathos and logos. If the emotions that are being
triggered are anger, fear, or anxiety, it’s much harder for the logic to get
through.

● And if the system for giving and receiving feedback is flawed, that’s going
to make it even more difficult to get through to your employee.

FEEDBACK THAT LEADS TO CHANGE

● With those challenges in mind, how can you give feedback that is going to
result in the positive changes you want?

● You might start by considering when and how you are offering the
feedback. If it’s possible to offer feedback in real time—rather than waiting
to do it once a year—you will be able to address problems as they arise. But
even more importantly, offering regular feedback gets your employees used
to the idea that they will receive regular feedback. It becomes a normal
thing. It decreases the heightened nature of the experience so that it’s less of
a big deal to receive suggestions for change.

● You’ll also want to think about the climate you are creating. You are
aiming for a climate that feels safe. If your employees fear that you are
going to say something devastating—or if the feedback is going to come
flying at them out of the blue or in a way that feels humiliating because it
is delivered publicly or in a disparaging way—then you’re going to have a
pathos and an ethos problem.

● Your pathos problem will be that the employee does not feel safe. Those
defensive emotions will get in the way of the employee’s ability to listen to
you. And the ethos problem is that the employee will not perceive you to
be someone trustworthy—who exhibits goodwill. If the employee believes
that you are cruel or unfair, he or she will reject your feedback and may
work to sabotage you if possible.

● So perhaps you announce that you plan to have a team meeting at the end
of every week in which you touch base about the triumphs of the week,
the challenges, and what you plan for the week ahead. You normalize the
feedback so that it’s just expected.

Lesson 20 Giving Helpful Verbal Feedback 173

 ● To create the feeling that you are in a safe space, you could consider
coming up with a list of norms that your team is going to agree to.

● You could start a conversation with your team by saying something like,
“Here’s how I approach things, and here’s what you can expect from me.
Here’s what I would like to expect from you. Now, what are things that we
should add to this list—things that I can do for you or that we can do for
each other?” And then write those things down. Put those norms up on the
wall somewhere and refer back to them.

● Think about what will feel safe for the employee receiving the feedback.
Do you meet in your office or the employee’s? Do you sit on opposite sides
of the desk or next to each other in a conference room? What can you do
to make the meeting free from interruptions?

● Who should be there? A meeting attended by human resources and the

company attorney is going to feel very different from a meeting with just
you and the employee.

● And does the employee know the purpose of the meeting? Might it be
better to ask the employee to prepare for the meeting by asking him or her
to reflect on his or her work rather than taking the employee by surprise?

● Here’s one of the most important things you’ll want to think about
when giving feedback: How can you phrase it so that it doesn’t feel like a
personal attack?

● If you can make the feedback about the work—rather than about the
person—then it’s much easier for the person to process.

● To keep the feedback focused on the work, you’ll want to describe what
you are observing in a neutral way.1 Focus on the action you have observed
and how you reacted to it rather than speculating about what’s going on in
the person’s head. And make those observations as specific as possible.

1 The more objective details you record, the better the feedback, because then both you and the
person receiving the feedback know what you are talking about, and it feels more like a problem
that can be solved rather than a personal attack.

174
● Also think about what the result is that you are hoping to achieve, which
can help you figure out how to frame the feedback.

IT’S VERY NATURAL AND HUMAN TO JUMP

TO CONCLUSIONS ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE
SEEING, BUT IF YOU DO THAT, YOUR FEEDBACK
MAY MISS THE MARK ENTIRELY. THAT’S WHY
A GOOD FEEDBACK SESSION INVOLVES SOME
PERSPECTIVE-TAKING. YOU’LL WANT TO FIGURE
OUT WHERE YOUR EMPLOYEE IS COMING FROM.

● You might start a feedback session by asking your employee to tell you
what he or she has been working on that he or she is proudest of and where
he or she is encountering challenges.

● You have in mind something you want to discuss, certainly; you’ve done
that work. But letting the employee start the conversation by raising things
he or she considers to be challenges may help you if the employee identifies
the same area of concern. It helps you see your employee’s work from his or
her point of view.

● And your employee probably knows the challenges of his or her work and
his or her own strengths and weaknesses better than anyone. You can tap
into that knowledge by asking your employee to self-assess and starting
your conversation there.

● Asking the employee to self-assess also gives you valuable insight into how
he or she is framing things. People’s actions are directly related to how
they are thinking about, or framing, any particular situation. You have to
understand what the frame is to understand the actions.

● To dig into your employee’s perspective, you might try some active
listening techniques. Active listening involves paying close attention to
what someone is saying and demonstrating that you are doing so by asking

Lesson 20 Giving Helpful Verbal Feedback 175

 open-ended questions, maintaining eye contact, giving the person time to
respond without interrupting, and restating the person’s response to make
sure you understand it. The answers your employee gives you might cause
you to reframe the way you are offering your feedback.

● To make sure you ask questions, you might want to write them down in
advance so you don’t forget to do it and so they come out the right way. A
good general question is, “How can I be helpful?” Or to tee up a particular
problem, use this formula: “I see what you are doing [or not doing]. Given
my view, I don’t get it. Help me understand the problem. What am I
missing here?”

● You’ll also want to be sure that you’re saying the feedback in a way that
allows your employee to hear it. Think about the needs of the person
receiving feedback. It should help, not hurt. People are motivated by
positive, constructive feedback. A feedback session needs to include some
praise and encouragement.

● Keep in mind your goal: Your job is to enable your employee to grow and
succeed. So your employee needs to know the things he or she is already
doing well, not just the things you want him or her to fix. You have to
address the weak points—but in the context of the bright future you see
for the employee.

● Notice that when you offer a compliment and then say “but,” it’s like
you erased all the nice things you just said. “I value your contributions,
but we have some challenges before us.” Instead, try “and.” “I value your
contributions, and we have some challenges before us.” “But” shuts people
down and sends them into a defensive mode. “And” keeps them listening.

● You can even use “and” when you are going to agree to disagree. If you were
to say, “I see you don’t agree. But we have to move forward,” it sounds a lot
less collaborative than “I see you don’t agree. And we have to move forward.”

● You will also want to think about how much information the employee
will be able to process. If you overload people, you overwhelm them. Sit
down before the meeting and organize your thoughts about the employee’s
performance. Look for the easily resolvable issues—perhaps you want to
start by working on those, rather than trying to fix everything at once.

176
PREPARING FOR A FEEDBACK MEETING
● You can use this worksheet to help you prepare for a feedback-giving
meeting with an employee.

✍ PREP SHEET FOR GIVING EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK

What is your intention for this meeting? ___________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

What issue(s) do you hope to address? ____________________

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
What specific behaviors have you observed? (Frame this as
observable facts; avoid including assumptions about motives.)
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

What is the impact of these behaviors? ____________________

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

Lesson 20 Giving Helpful Verbal Feedback 177

 What questions will you ask about the employee’s perspective?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

What changes do you hope to see? ______________________

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

What agreement did you reach during the meeting? __________

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

How will you follow up? What are the next steps? ___________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

● Your big-picture goal is to describe the issue so that the person receiving
the feedback understands what he or she did and the consequences of
those actions—and then changes the behavior. So you might prepare for
the meeting by thinking about what the problem is and what changes
you hope to see. But you’ll also be thinking about how to say this so your
employee can hear it.

178
● So first, write out your intention for this meeting: to enable your employee
to succeed. Then write out how to describe the problem in terms of
specific, observed behaviors. That might take a few drafts because you’re
trying to get away from making assumptions about motives or framing
things in a personal way. Instead, describe observable facts.

● Practice explaining the impact of those behaviors, acknowledging that they

are framed through your point of view. Write out questions to help you
ascertain the employee’s point of view. If the employee is not performing
well, think about questions you could ask to see if there’s anything about
the situation you could change to play to that employee’s strengths. And
write out the specific behavior change you are requesting and how you plan
to follow through after the meeting.

● During the meeting, you will want to explicitly state your positive
intentions, describe the specific behavior you’ve observed, explain the
impact of the behavior, ask questions, and request the specific change you
are looking for.

● As you are talking, check in to make sure that your employee is hearing
what you are saying. And make sure you said what needed to be said.
You want to avoid hurt feelings if possible, but if you only focus on not
hurting feelings, the message may not get through. It can be a good idea to
follow up after the meeting in writing to summarize what happened, both
to make sure the communication was clear and to have a record of what
transpired in case the employee is not able to make the necessary changes.

● You’ll also want to think about what the next steps should be. Together,
you and your employee are developing a plan to improve his or her
performance. You will want some way to measure the employee’s progress.
Make that part of the conversation and ask the employee what he or
she thinks about how to assess his or her goals. If you build in a follow-
up session, you are sending a strong message that you are taking your
employee’s success seriously and that you want to aid it.

Lesson 20 Giving Helpful Verbal Feedback 179

 ● This lesson has been focusing on the employee’s feelings, but you will
want to pay attention to your own feelings as well. If something has gone
terribly wrong at work, offer feedback quickly but not immediately. Take
a moment to process the event and calm down. Be careful about calling
people on the carpet prematurely.

● Go through the steps you’ve learned about in this lesson to prepare for the
meeting. That should help you get a handle on your emotions so that you
are thinking, not panicking or responding based on the emotions of the
moment. It reminds you to assume positive intent in your employee and
helps you offer feedback in a skillful way so that the employee can hear
what you are saying.

● Above all, keep in mind your intention. You are there to help your
employees succeed. If you act in accordance with that intention, it makes it
more likely that you will succeed, too.

READING
Heen and Stone, Thanks for the Feedback.

QUESTIONS
1 Think about a time you received valuable feedback. What about that
feedback made it valuable?

2 What did the person providing you the feedback do that made it possible
for you to hear it?

180
 21
SPEAKING
EFFECTIVELY IN
THE CLASSROOM

Lesson 21 Speaking Effectively in the Classroom 181

 S omeday, you might be invited to give a guest lecture at a high school or
college or tapped to teach at a professional conference. Or maybe you are
entering the teaching profession as your permanent job and are looking for some
pointers about how to do it well. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to teach a class,
either as a single lecture or for an entire semester or school year. You’ll also learn
how to speak up as a student if you are in a seminar or a Socratic classroom.

GIVING A SINGLE LECTURE

● Imagine you’re giving a lecture at a conference or as a guest in someone
else’s class.

● If you’ve been invited to speak in someone’s class, it’s because you have
expertise. You know something useful. That’s great news. It means that
you already have some ethos, or credibility, based on your record, and you
just need to build on that.

● But even though you know something worth sharing, you might not
feel like you do. Teaching triggers the normal fears of public speaking,
compounded by the worry that you’re supposed to be an expert. When
you’re identified as an expert, it can actually make you feel like you’re a
fraud—a phenomenon called imposter syndrome.

● This is a common reaction to your first time teaching. So if you are feeling
this way, you’re not alone.1

● But if you’re operating out of fear, you’re not going to be a very good
teacher. In his book The Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer says that teaching
can trigger fear, but a good teacher has to learn to see beyond his or her
own anxiety to identify what a student needs. It’s hard to do this if you’re
focused primarily on yourself. Palmer wrote:

1 In an essay by Jane Tompkins about teaching called “Pedagogy of the Distressed,” she
describes her fear of being shown up as “a fraud, stupid, ignorant, a clod.” So she protected
herself by “putting on a performance whose true goal was not to help the students learn but to
act in such a way that they would have a good opinion of me.”

182
 “ Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good
teaching comes from the identity and integrity of
the teacher.

● “The identity and integrity of the teacher” is ethos. That’s Aristotle’s

notion that a speaker will be persuasive through his or her personal
character—“good sense, good moral character, and goodwill.”

● Here’s how you’re going to change your experience so you can project
ethos. Notice the stories you are telling yourself. Is it helpful to imagine a
classroom of antagonistic students? No. If that’s what you imagine, then
you’ll probably approach them protecting yourself, perhaps by showing off
or cloaking your lecture in lots of jargon and minutiae to demonstrate the
breadth of your knowledge. You’ll fear the raised hand of someone who
asks a question and hear that question as further evidence of how difficult
these students are. That will affect your tone. And then you will find that
you actually are facing a classroom of antagonistic students.

● You have to choose to tell yourself a different story. You have the power to
choose what you think. If you catch yourself thinking things that cause
you to feel fearful or defensive, those thoughts are not serving you.

Lesson 21 Speaking Effectively in the Classroom 183

 ● So when you notice yourself thinking that way, intentionally try out this
thought instead: “These students are here to learn. In fact, it’s an amazing
compliment that they carved out the time to pay attention to me. They
want my wisdom, and I can be very helpful to them by telling them what
I know.”

● Maybe you are worrying that you don’t know enough to teach or that
you’re going to get questions you don’t know how to answer. That’s
another story that you’re telling yourself. First, you do know something
or you wouldn’t have been asked to teach. And second, you don’t have to
know everything. No one does.

● So instead of focusing on what you don’t know, focus on what you do

know. And if you get a question you can’t answer, relax and say that you
don’t have that information with you today, but then point the student
toward where he or she could get it. Or if it’s a really interesting question,
go look it up yourself and provide the information after your talk.1

● Even if you don’t know everything, you know more than your students
do. And if you’re being asked to teach something that’s on the edge of
your area of expertise, then take the time to shore up your knowledge. In
fact, you’re going to want to do this even if you know your topic extremely
well, because to teach it, you’re going to have to get back in touch with
explaining things that might be so second nature to you that you haven’t
thought about how to articulate them in a long time.

● Here’s a tip: “Write” your lectures by speaking them out loud so that
you can find those gaps where you need to smooth out your own
understanding of the material. That’s a way to check on where you’re
confident about your knowledge and where you might need to consult
with a colleague to make sure you’re getting the information straight
yourself so that you can pass it along to others.

1 An email with a helpful resource gives the students information they want and shows that you
took that student’s question seriously.

184
● If this is a class you’re going to teach more than once, go back to your
office afterward and take notes about how you handled the parts that went
well and about what didn’t work so that you’ll be able to fix it the next
time you do it.

● Another story you’ll want to be sure you’re telling yourself properly is why
you’re teaching what you’re teaching. That “good sense” part of ethos
requires more than just reciting dry data to your students. It requires you
to make sense of the material—to give it meaning. That’s part of your
job: to have thought deeply enough about your topic that you can offer
something to your students over and above a dry recitation of facts.

● And that meaning needs to be positive, constructive, and even

inspirational. Your students look to you and remember what you say. The
best teachers are able to impart to their students a love of learning. So
you need to remind yourself of what you love about the subject—why it
is worth knowing. If that’s foremost in your mind, it’s easier to share that
enthusiasm with your students.

● Sometimes students ask questions that you hear as challenging you.

Sometimes they may actually intend them to be challenging. But if you
find yourself in this situation, try not to get defensive or annoyed. React
to the student as if he or she is well intentioned and just trying to figure
things out. If you can keep your cool, then you’re demonstrating that
“goodwill” that ethos requires.

● Students sometimes ask things with a tone that is misguided because they
are still trying to find their way in the world. A good teacher will give the
student a second chance and the opportunity to save face. If instead you take
that student down in front of his or her classmates, then that student will
never learn from you. More than that, all of the students will learn how to
communicate like a generous, compassionate adult if you respond like one.

● Keep in mind that teachers aren’t the only people in the classroom who
might feel threatened or defensive. Students operate out of fear, too.
Remind yourself before you walk into a classroom that everyone you
encounter might be fighting battles you cannot see, and your job is to
teach them, even the tough ones.

Lesson 21 Speaking Effectively in the Classroom 185

 ● Extending that compassion to your students helps you achieve ethos and
also reminds you of the importance of pathos. To be a good teacher, you
have to figure out how your students are seeing things. Who are they?
What do they want from you? What do they already know? Also figure out
how you can benefit them: What information do you have that they need?

● Thinking through these questions helps you figure out what you’re going
to say in your lecture. If you tell your audience everything you know about
your area of expertise, you are going to bore them or overwhelm them. If
you tell them details that are fascinating to you because you love the topic
but don't consider what they might want to know about the topic, you’re
going to lose them. If you give them too much information, they might not
retain any information at all.

● So start with this question for yourself: “A week after my lecture is over,
what do I hope my students remember, and why would that be useful to
them?” That question will help you figure out what to put in and what
to leave out. That’s also going to be your first paragraph and your last
paragraph. You are going to tell them what you hope they will get out of
the class, and at the end you’re going to tell them what they learned.

● Then, in the rest of the lecture, create a structure that goes through each of
your learning objectives—but remembering what your students’ experience
is going to be. If you leave in too much material, you’re going to end up
having to race through it and the students won’t get it. You will have to be
ruthless about what to cut.

● Think also about how much time the students will need to digest the
material. You might go through important things more than once. Here’s
a pattern that could be helpful: Start by telling a story that illustrates
the thing you’re trying to teach. Then tease out the main idea the story
illustrates. Then, give your students a new story and ask them to apply the
concept they’re learning to it.

● A good lecture has to have a shape. You can’t just end it abruptly because
the class period ended. The students need to be able to hear where they are
going in this class. In fact, if this is one of a series of lectures you’re giving,
you might even write on the board where you were last class and where

186
 you’re going this time. The students need enough time to process what
you’re teaching. And they need a moment at the end to see where they’ve
been in order to put it all together.

● So make sure you have a really obvious structure, and practice out loud to
make sure you’re not racing through things that require time to absorb.
When you get more experienced, you’ll have a feel for the timing, but if
you aren’t experienced, practice out loud.

● Visual aids can be very helpful when you are teaching. You can anticipate
that students will miss some of what you say because they are taking notes.
So you might teach while writing on a blackboard or by using PowerPoint
slides, which you might even share with the students if you think they
will be helpful. That way, a student who has tuned out for a moment can
quickly look up and see where you are.

● You don’t want to just write out your lecture and paste it into PowerPoint,
though. If you do, the class will be pretty dull. Instead, think of
PowerPoint as a way to make your structure obvious.

TEACHING A COURSE
● When you first start teaching, you might consider designing your course
by asking other teachers if you can copy their syllabi or by looking at the
topics suggested in the textbook (if you’re using one). You write a lecture
for each of those topics, and you’re done.

● The problem with those approaches is that they don’t give a lot of thought
to the experience of the students. Sure, you’re covering the material, but
that’s not your only goal as a teacher. Your real goal is to make sure that your
students are absorbing the material and that they can do something with it.

YOUR GOAL ISN’T JUST TO TALK; YOUR GOAL IS

TO ENABLE YOUR STUDENTS TO LEARN.

Lesson 21 Speaking Effectively in the Classroom 187

 ● You should design your course by starting with the same sorts of questions
you consider when designing a lecture: “Who are these students? Why
are they here? What are they hoping to get out of this? Five years after the
course is over, what am I hoping they will remember?”

● Then, add a few more questions to this list. Also ask yourself, “What will
the students need to do in class to achieve the goals I’m setting out? And
how will I know when they have achieved them—how am I going to
assess this?”

● Thinking about these questions can help you figure out how to design
your course.

● You’ll also want to reassess and refine the course every semester.
Sometimes a lecture doesn’t work or an exercise falls flat, and that’s OK.
Just keep asking yourself what the students need, and you’ll hit on the
right thing to do.

HOW TO SPEAK UP AS A STUDENT

● At most law schools, many of the required first-year classes are taught
using the Socratic method,1 where a professor stands at the front of the
room before 100 students and calls out, “Mr. Black?” and then proceeds
to ask questions, which Mr. Black then has to answer in front of his peers.
For many law students, this experience is understandably quite terrifying.

● The idea is that it’s a rhetorical education. If you can explain something
out loud, then you really know it. And you’re learning to speak under
pressure. But it can be hard to think if you are panicking.

● So the way you might prepare for this is the way you should prepare for
any class where classroom participation is part of the experience.

† You have to keep up with the homework. Read the material. And as you
are reading, take notes in a way that will create a visual aid to help you
if you are called on in class.

1 If you’ve seen movies like The Paper Chase or Legally Blonde, you have some sense of what the
Socratic method looks like.

188
 † When you are in class, you have to pay attention. If you’re looking at
something on the internet, then you aren’t following the conversation.
Practice paying attention and listening.

† When you’re called on, you might feel your stomach jump. That’s
OK. Just take a deep breath. Listen to the question. Think. And then
answer. Just focus on the teacher and think of this as a conversation
with him or her.

YOU’VE HAD A MILLION CONVERSATIONS IN

YOUR LIFE; THIS IS JUST ANOTHER ONE.

† Don’t tell yourself stories that are getting in your way. Your professor
is not trying to humiliate you. Your classmates are not laughing. None
of those thoughts help you, so reject them. Just answer—and be as
pleasant and confident as you can.

● Keep in mind that it gets easier to speak in class the more you do it. You
get better at it.

READING
Palmer, The Courage to Teach.

Shadel, Finding Your Voice in Law School.

Tompkins, “Pedagogy of the Distressed.”

QUESTIONS
1 Think of the best teacher you ever had. What made that teacher effective?
2 If you are preparing to teach, the questions to ask yourself are these: “Who are
these students? Why are they here? What are they hoping to get out of this?
Five years after the class is over, what am I hoping they will remember?”

Lesson 21 Speaking Effectively in the Classroom 189

 22
MAKING A
PERSUASIVE
POLITICAL
ARGUMENT

190
W hen you think about making a political argument, what comes to
mind might be the kind of vitriolic name-calling you often see in
political ads or debates. But there are ways to approach a political argument
where the goal is not to tear anyone down but to persuade a skeptical
audience. That is a much more difficult goal to achieve than simply inflaming
the passions of people who already agree with you. So how do you do it?
Think about ethos, or credibility; pathos, or emotional engagement; and
logos, or logic.

AT TIMES WHEN OUR COUNTRY IS EXPERIENCING

DEEP POLITICAL DIVISION, POLITICAL DEBATE
CAN SOMETIMES FEEL LIKE NOTHING MORE THAN
A CHANCE TO DESTROY ONE ANOTHER.

ARGUING WITH ETHOS

● In terms of ethos, your goals are to be trustworthy and credible. If you
come in with the attitude that the people who do not agree with you are
liars or fools, then you are causing your audience to see the world through
that lens. You run the risk that you might seem to be the liar or the fool,
since that is how your audience is thinking about things. Think about the
message you are sending and how framing that message in a positive way
can help enhance your credibility.

● To be credible to people who do not already agree with you, you have to
take opposing viewpoints seriously. You won’t persuade anyone by yelling
at people or talking down to them.

● You probably know this from your own personal experiences. Think about
an experience you might have had at work with a really terrible boss. If
your supervisor yelled at you or belittled you, you might seem to comply
in the moment, but that experience likely did not cause you to believe that
your boss was right. It probably didn’t inspire you to see things from his or
her point of view.

Lesson 22 Making a Persuasive Political Argument 191

 ● Confronting people with force can backfire: Rather than bullying them
into compliance, this approach can cause them to be more entrenched in
their own positions. It can push them further away from where you want
them to go.

● That’s why Aristotle urged a tone of goodwill—which means that you take
opposing positions seriously and deal with them on their merits. You don’t
retreat to ad hominem attacks or other logical fallacies.1 It can be tempting
to mischaracterize or speak dismissively of the opinions of those who do
not already agree with you. And if you do that, you stand no chance of
changing anyone's mind.

● To be credible, you also have to speak the truth. You can’t make up your
own facts. If your audience thinks you are misleading them, that might
call into question your credibility about everything.

PATHOS IN POLITICS
● In terms of pathos, you have to think about where the people you are
trying to persuade are coming from. You have to put yourself in their
shoes. If you can speak their language, you’ll be better able to connect with
them and persuade them.

● As you think about pathos in politics, you may be thinking about some
of the nastier political ads that seem to appear every election season.
Perhaps you think of campaigns using race-baiting themes or other divisive
messaging. For example, during both of Barack Obama’s presidential
campaigns, false claims were circulated that he was a Muslim who was not
born in the United States—playing on fears of Muslims and challenging
Obama’s legitimacy as a candidate.

● Messages like this certainly get your attention. They trigger emotions, of
course. But negative emotions like fear, hatred, and anger get in the way of
rational thought. They trigger the amygdala, which perceives threats and
releases stress hormones so that you can fight or take flight. That sort of

1 Logical fallacies were explored in lesson 4.

192
 reaction in an audience is exactly what Plato feared when he argued against
the teaching of rhetoric: He warned that rhetoric can churn up an audience
and turn it into a mob.

● And that’s not great for democracy. If you’re making a political argument
designed to trick or manipulate people, then you’re mucking up the
marketplace of ideas. Democracy depends on the notion that voters are able to
sift through a bunch of ideas and choose the best one. It’s harder to do that if
people are being fed lies or messages designed to gin up discord and anger.

● Instead, Aristotle would be more likely to approve of a political ad like

Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America.” After the stresses of the Vietnam
War, Watergate, the energy crisis, and a general feeling of unease in the
country, President Reagan wanted to project calm and peace. The result
was a classic ad featuring quiet, soothing, gorgeous images. It triggered
feelings of optimism and hope. It’s an ad full of the sort of goodwill that’s
central to ethos and pathos.

PERSUADING WITH LOGOS

● Turning to logos, you’re going to be more persuasive if your argument
is not overly long and not overly complicated. A persuasive deliberative
speech is typically organized along the following lines:

† Start by explaining what the problem is and why your audience should
care about it. In other words, look for common ground. Why is
everyone all on the same team, even if at first blush it might not feel like
that’s the case?

† Explain your proposed solution to the problem, making it as

straightforward as you can.

† It is wise to provide proof that your proposal is a good one and to fairly
rebut the best arguments on the other side.

† Close with a paragraph that tells the audience what you want from
them or that inspires them to action.

Lesson 22 Making a Persuasive Political Argument 193

 ● Whether you are making a political argument in public or at the dinner table
with family or friends, attack the problem, not the person. And pick your
battles. Many a Thanksgiving is saved when people choose not to engage.

POLITICAL DEBATES
● To win a debate between candidates for a political office, you have to get a
message through to your audience. That means you have to be selective—
you have to choose a few important points to make so that your message
sinks in. If you’re all over the map, people won’t understand you.

● You also have to make sure that your logic is extremely clear, because you
are asking people to absorb your complicated ideas simply by listening to
you. That doesn’t mean that you should dumb down your ideas, but you
do have to make your points concisely and clearly.

● For example, in the first presidential debate between President Obama,

who was finishing his first term in office, and Republican nominee Mitt
Romney in 2012, Romney articulated a five-point plan for creating new
jobs. He numbered the ideas, making his plan extremely clear. This was a
big improvement over the version he’d offered during the primary season,
when he had 59 points.

● If you can figure out a way to take your ideas and group them into a few
big categories—five, not 59—then your audience is much more likely to
hear and understand you. Numbering each part of the plan is a terrific
rhetorical technique because it lets people hear each distinct piece. If you
don’t make each section distinct, the parts will blur together into mush.

● You’ll want to come into the debate with a few well-chosen points you
want to make, and you’ll want to figure out how to say them in a catchy

“
way. For example, here’s President Obama from that same debate:

When I walked into the Oval Office, I had more than a

trillion-dollar deficit greeting me. And we know where it
came from: two wars that were paid for on a credit card,
two tax cuts that were not paid for, and a whole bunch
of programs that were not paid for, and then a massive
economic crisis.

194
● That’s a memorable way to make his point. The language is
straightforward, and he’s using rhythms and repetition to good effect.

● As you try to craft your well-chosen points, short is better. Many

candidates want to talk long beyond their allotted time limits—to the
irritation of the moderator. When the moderator tries to cut you off, the
audience actually stops listening to what you are saying and starts focusing
on the power struggle instead. It is better rhetorically to say what you want
to say quickly than to continue on for an extra few minutes when people
have stopped listening.

● Sometimes the catchiest parts of a debate are those zingers that candidates
land—such as Senator Lloyd Bentsen’s zinger aimed at vice-presidential
candidate Dan Quayle, who had been comparing himself to President

“
Kennedy in his stump speech. Bentsen crafted this response:

Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy.

Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack
Kennedy.

● That quip has become famous as an example of how to take down a

political candidate who overestimates him- or herself.

● There is a danger to a zinger, though. Sometimes the tone can misfire. Senator
Bentsen’s lines were effective, but they were also an ad hominem attack. If you
lob too many petty barbs at your opponent, it affects the audience’s impression
of your goodwill and erodes your ability to sound presidential.

● It’s also important to keep your cool during a debate. It’s difficult to do
what those candidates do: answer questions in front of millions of viewers,
make complicated points comprehensible, and think three steps ahead as
you speak—while at the same time keeping your temper under control.
But it’s worth keeping your emotions in check.

● For example, in a town-hall-style presidential debate between George H.

W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot in 1992, President Bush ran into
trouble answering a question by an audience member about how a deep
recession had affected him personally. He sneaked a peek at his watch

Lesson 22 Making a Persuasive Political Argument 195

 while she was asking her question, and he later admitted that he was
thinking, “I hate these debates. I’m so glad it’s almost over.” That feeling
came through in his answer. It sounded irritated and out of touch. It felt
like he didn’t care.

● In contrast, Bill Clinton, who had an impressive ability to engage pathos,

showed the questioner that he understood her, connected with her, and
used conversational language. Most importantly, he directly answered the
question of how the recession affected him.

READING
Fisher, “A Whisper of AIDS.”

Rogers, Testimony before the US Senate Subcommittee on Communication.

QUESTIONS
1 Think of a political argument you might like to make. What is the best
argument against what you might say? How might you rebut it?

2 What do you have in common with the people whom you are trying to
persuade? How can you speak their language?

196
 23
HOW TO ARGUE
IN COURT

Lesson 23 How to Argue in Court 197

 A ristotle thought of a legal argument as a special type of speech. You’ve
already been introduced to the other two categories of speeches
Aristotle identified: epideictic speeches1 and deliberative speeches.2 The third
and final category is forensic speeches.

FORENSIC SPEECHES
● Legal arguments are forensic speeches. They analyze information to
ascertain what happened and what should be done about it. This kind of
speech was particularly important in Aristotle’s time. An ordinary citizen
in ancient Greece was expected to be his or her own lawyer before a judge
or jury.

● Today, you can hire a lawyer to make an argument in court for you.
But what if you want to represent yourself—or just want a better
understanding of how the process works?

● First, you will need to know the rules of the court in which you plan to
appear. So you’ll need to know if your case is civil or criminal; if it belongs
in a federal court, a state court, or a specialized court like landlord-tenant
court; and if it is at the trial stage or on appeal. There are different rules that
apply to each of these different types of court. You can usually find those
rules on the court’s website or obtain them from the court clerk’s office.

● Let’s imagine that your dispute is a civil one—meaning it’s a dispute

between private parties. The person who sues is called the plaintiff, and the
person who is being sued is the defendant.

● Let’s say that you are a renter and you’re having a dispute with your
landlord, Susan Jones. You haven’t paid your rent, and your landlord has
served you with a notice of eviction. You are going to landlord-tenant court
to argue that you shouldn’t be evicted.

1 speeches of celebration or praise

2 speeches that argue that a particular course of action should be followed because it is beneficial

198
● You’ll start by going to the clerk’s office to get the rules of court. You learn
that your dispute is going to be heard by a judge on a particular day at a
particular time.

● For example, in landlord-tenant court in the District of Columbia,

everyone has to be seated in the courtroom by 9:00 am on the day of their
hearing. The clerk will read the names of everyone who is scheduled to
appear, and if you’re not present at roll call, your landlord might be able to
evict you without any other court hearings. If you are the landlord and you
miss roll call, your case might be dismissed.

● After roll call, you’ll probably have some time. You might try to settle your
case by working things out with your landlord, or you might wait for your
case to be heard by the judge. If you’re lucky, the case will be called early
and you’ll be on your way, but sometimes people have to spend the whole
day in court waiting for their turn.

● You might duck into the courtroom to watch some of the proceedings
happening that day, which you typically can do because the court is open
to the public. You’ll see that people are sitting in the main part of the room
until their case is called. But when it’s their turn, they go up to the tables at
the front of the room and address the judge.

● There might be signs on the tables letting you know which side to stand
on, and since you’re the one being taken to court by your landlord, you
would want to look for the table labeled “defense.” If you can’t figure it
out, ask someone in the clerk’s office.

● You will notice that most people are formally dressed, which is a good idea.
It makes you appear more credible and shows respect for the court.

● When your case is called, you go stand up before the judge, state your
name, and tell the judge that you are the defendant. The plaintiff—that’s
the landlord—gets to go first, and the judge will ask the landlord questions
about the case. The landlord will make her argument.

Lesson 23 How to Argue in Court 199

 ● Then, the judge will ask you questions, and it will be your turn to make
your legal argument. Make sure you’re able to make your argument and
state your defenses fully. If you think the judge is not giving you a chance
to tell your side of the story, then politely ask the judge if you may speak.

BASIC FORMULA FOR MAKING

A FORENSIC ARGUMENT
● A basic legal argument follows this pattern:

† Identify the issue at hand.

† Identify the appropriate rule that governs this kind of issue.

† Apply that rule to the facts of your case.

† Draw your conclusion about what should happen.

● The attorney for the landlord might frame the case this way:

† The issue is whether the landlord can evict you.

† The rule is that in order to stay in a rental apartment, you have to abide
by the terms of your lease.

† Your lease says that you have to pay rent each month, and you haven’t
paid your rent for the past two months, so therefore you have violated
the terms of your lease.

† Your landlord can evict you.

● Then, it’s your turn to make your legal argument. You’re going to follow
that same formula that the landlord’s lawyer used, but you are going to
frame things differently.

† You agree that the issue is whether you have to pay your rent.

† But you’re going to point to a different rule, saying that under the law
in your jurisdiction, a tenant can withhold rent if the landlord is in
violation of the housing code.

200
 † The landlord has not made necessary repairs to the furnace, so you have
not had heat intermittently for the past few months. The housing code
says that this is a permissible reason to withhold rent.

† Therefore, you are permitted to withhold your rent and cannot be

evicted for doing so.

● This basic formula for making an argument is very powerful in court. It is

similar in structure to a logical argument Aristotle recommended, called
a syllogism, in which a major premise (which is similar to a legal rule) and
a minor premise (which would be the facts to which the rule is applied)
point the way to a conclusion. That’s classic legal reasoning.

● The advantage of using the formula of issue-rule-application-conclusion

for your argument is that it ensures that your logos, or logic, is strong. And
it helps you figure out the research you might need to do and what you’ll
want to put in and leave out of your argument.

● For example, in your landlord-tenant case, if you were to simply respond to

what your landlord is saying, you would be focusing the judge’s attention
only on the lease, because that’s what the landlord is relying on to make
her argument.

● But when you think about the argument from your point of view, you
know that it’s not right that you haven’t had heat. So that would cause you
to do some research about what landlords are obligated to do. And that
might lead you to the housing code, which would then let you see that
landlords are required to make buildings and apartments habitable.

● You can make a strong case that the landlord is relying on the wrong rule
in her argument. This isn’t just about the lease; it’s also about the housing
code. If you’re applying the wrong rule to the facts, then your conclusion is
faulty. So you will point the judge to the correct rule—the housing code—
which might change the judge’s conclusion.

● This formula also helps you figure out what you don’t want to put into
your argument. The judge will want to know what the dispute is about,
which law he or she is supposed to apply, and how to apply it to the facts of
your case. That’s what you want to focus on.

Lesson 23 How to Argue in Court 201

 ● The judge isn’t going to care about how much you hate the landlord.
Details like that are irrelevant to what the judge is supposed to decide, so
you leave them out. They would muddy the logos.

● Sometimes a dispute like this could be settled at a preliminary hearing.

The landlord’s attorney might hear your argument and then offer to settle
with you. But don’t be too quick to sign an agreement just to get things
over with; make sure to read the fine print.

● Let’s say, though, that this case isn’t going to be settled. In fact, you want
a trial. You want to be able to bring evidence to show the judge how bad
these housing code violations are. If that’s what you want, then you will
need to do some paperwork.1

● Then, at your first appearance at court, you tell the judge that you want
a trial—either a trial before a jury or a bench trial, which means that the
case would be decided by the judge.

REPRESENTING YOURSELF AT TRIAL

● Let’s imagine you choose a jury trial. The case would be set for trial on a
date sometime in the future.

● The trial will begin with an opening statement by the landlord, since she is the
plaintiff, and the plaintiff goes first. Then, you will have a chance to make an
opening statement: a short summary of the evidence that will be presented.

● Technically, you are not allowed to argue during an opening statement,

which means that you are not allowed to characterize the evidence or say
what the evidence means, but a judge may be forgiving about this rule if
you are not a lawyer and are representing yourself.

1 When you were sued for eviction, you were served with a complaint by the landlord. You have
the option to file an answer, which you do if you want to file a counterclaim or ask for a jury
trial instead of a trial before a judge. An answer puts in writing all the defenses you plan to raise
at trial; a counterclaim would be you suing the landlord back.

202
● In your opening statement, you want to use a theme, which is also called
the theory of the case—in this example, yours is that the landlord did
not do what she was supposed to do. You want to tell the judge or jury
what your case is about in a short, catchy way. You simply summarize the
evidence you intend to introduce and the verdict you intend to request.

● Then, the landlord’s lawyer will put on her case and introduce evidence to
support her legal claims. For example, the lawyer might introduce a copy
of your lease that shows the rent you have agreed to pay. And perhaps the
lawyer will introduce something to demonstrate that you haven’t paid.
This could be in the form of testimony. The lawyer might call the landlord
to testify that you haven’t paid your rent.

● You will have the opportunity to cross-examine any witnesses the landlord
calls. During cross-examination, you can ask questions to show that a
witness is mistaken or isn’t credible. But you don’t want to simply argue
with a witness, because the judge will probably make you stop, and you’ll
look like you lost control. And you want to stay calm and professional. If
you get impatient or seem to bully a witness, it affects your credibility.

● The best way to keep control of a cross-examination so that it doesn’t just

devolve into arguing with the witness is to ask leading questions, which are
questions that suggest their own answers. They are short statements with
“didn’t you?” or “isn’t that right?” tacked on the end. For example, a cross-
examination of the landlord might sound like this:

† Ms. Jones, on December 1, you came to the apartment to repair the

furnace, didn’t you?

† You did not return to try to fix the furnace again until December 15,
isn’t that right?

● If you think the landlord is going to argue with you about those dates,
have records that you can show her, such as printouts of her emails to you
making excuses about why she hasn’t returned to fix the furnace.

Lesson 23 How to Argue in Court 203

 ● When the landlord’s attorney is finished, then you’ll have the opportunity
to call your own witnesses. If you can get facts entered into evidence
through your own witnesses, that’s much easier than trying to get the
landlord or her witnesses to admit things on cross-examination.

● When you call a witness, first ask him or her to introduce him- or herself
to the jury, explain his or her connection to the case, and tell them what he
or she knows.

● You’ll want to think about the evidence that you are entering and how
credible it is. For example, if you want to prove that the landlord knew
the furnace was broken but didn’t fix it for weeks, you could help do that
by testifying about it yourself. It’s even more credible if you have other
neighbors take the stand to testify about it. And more credible still would
be documents like emails that show that what you are saying is true.

● If you are saying one thing and the landlord says the opposite, then you
need to think about how to persuade the jury to believe you, not her.
Having multiple sources for the information would be a good way to
accomplish that.

204
● The landlord’s attorney will have the opportunity to cross-examine your
witnesses, just as you had the opportunity to cross-examine hers. You will
want to let your witnesses know that this will happen and ask them to
think through what the landord’s lawyer might ask. It can be a good idea
to have a practice session with your witnesses in which you run through
both the direct examination and the possible cross-examination. Tell
your witnesses to tell the truth and to try to stay calm when being cross-
examined. If a witness remains calm and respectful, he or she is more likely
to be credible.

● The case ends with closing arguments. The plaintiff goes first; then the
defendant goes. This is where you put the case together, reminding the
jury of what they heard and why it means you should win. Keep in mind
the formula for making a legal argument and use it here. And this isn’t an
opening statement, so you can and should make a vigorous argument.

THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE PROCESS—FROM

THE PRELIMINARY HEARING THROUGH THE
TRIAL—STAY CALM AND PROFESSIONAL. DO NOT
LOSE YOUR TEMPER. YOU MIGHT FEEL NERVOUS,
BUT THE JUDGE AND JURY WILL FEEL SYMPATHY
ABOUT THAT BECAUSE THEY KNOW IT’S A
CHALLENGING TASK TO REPRESENT YOURSELF
IN COURT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE FACING A
LAWYER ON THE OTHER SIDE. BUT YOU CAN
DO IT. JUST KEEP IN MIND THE FORMULA FOR
MAKING A FORENSIC ARGUMENT—ISSUE, RULE,
APPLICATION, CONCLUSION—AND YOU’LL BE
ABLE TO MAKE YOUR CASE.

Lesson 23 How to Argue in Court 205

 READING
Jordan, Statement on the Articles of Impeachment.

Schauer, Thinking like a Lawyer.

QUESTIONS
1 Is classic legal reasoning different from the way you are accustomed to
thinking about things? If it is, then how is it different?

2 One aspect of thinking like a lawyer involves putting aside your own
personal reaction to a case and instead focusing on issues like precedent.
What are the pros and cons of that idea?

206
 24
ASSEMBLING THE
ELEMENTS OF A
WINNING SPEECH

Lesson 24 Assembling the Elements of a Winning Speech 207

 T hroughout this course, you have taken a deep dive into all the elements
that help make a speech or other presentation great. In this final lesson,
you’ll return to the surface to put it all together. The lesson offers an approach
you can follow the next time you make a presentation that will help you make
sure you’re engaging all the tools you’ve been working on.

WRITE YOUR SPEECH

● When you write your speech, start with the context. On what kind of
occasion will you be making your presentation? Why are you being asked
to speak, and what is your purpose? That’s going to help you think about
what your central message should be.

● Figure out what you are trying to do. What benefit can you offer the
people who are listening to you? What knowledge do you have that
can help them? And what meaning can you make out of what you’ll be
talking about?

● That inquiry—thinking about why you are here and what your
presentation is going to mean—is central to establishing ethos, or
credibility. You have a goal of demonstrating “good sense, good moral
character, and goodwill.” That means you need to be talking about
something you know about, as good sense requires; display good moral
character, which means that you are telling the truth; and exhibit goodwill,
which means that you are serving your audience in a positive way.

● Next, consider these questions: Where is your audience coming from? How
are you going to connect with them? What emotions are they likely to be
feeling? Are there emotions you need to soothe or address to get them to
listen to you? What emotions do you hope to inspire in them? These are all
questions about pathos, or emotional engagement.

● And the emotions that you’re going for ultimately need to be positive so
that people can find inspiration in them. Of course, if you’re talking about
something tough—such as making a policy argument about a situation that is
dangerous and frightening—you’ll have some negative emotions in there. But
you have to give the audience a way forward by the end. You can’t leave them
in terror or despair if you want positive change. You have to offer some hope.

208
● Once you have a sense of your purpose in giving the presentation, as well
as who the audience is and where they might be coming from, then you’ll
have a better idea of what your central message should be. This is where
you start to consider logos, or logic, as well as writing for speaking.

● Your central message should be something that your audience wants or needs
to hear. That central message is going to be the theme of your presentation.
As you start to draft, keep honing and refining that theme. Play with it
to make it better. But by the time you give your presentation, your theme
should be very clear to you so that it will be clear to your audience.

● Then, think about the structure of your presentation. And here it can be
helpful to consider the kind of presentation you are giving.

● If it’s a speech of celebration or praise—such as a wedding toast,

commencement speech, or eulogy—then you’re giving an epideictic
presentation. You’re going to be describing the person or organization
being honored, explain why that person is worthy of being honored, and
link that person to your audience through a unifying message.

The remarks of President Reagan on January 28, 1986, about the

tragedy of the space shuttle Challenger was an epideictic speech
that had a straightforward and clear structure:
• A first paragraph establishing this as a day for mourning.
• A section addressed to the families of the “Challenger Seven,”
eulogizing the astronauts as courageous pioneers.
• A section addressed to children, explaining this tragedy as
part of the process of exploration and discovery.
• A section addressed to the world, connecting the space
program to America’s desire for freedom.
• A section addressed to the men and women who work for
NASA, recognizing their dedication and professionalism.
• A final paragraph bidding goodbye to the Challenger Seven.

Lesson 24 Assembling the Elements of a Winning Speech 209

 ● If you’re giving a deliberative presentation, such as a public policy
argument or a business pitch, then you’re going to be explaining why a
particular course of action will be good for the people considering it. You’ll
be explaining why the audience should care, what your proposal is, why it
is better than the alternatives, and what the audience should do next.

● If you’re giving a forensic presentation, such as a legal argument, then

you’ll explain what the issue is, outline the rule that governs that sort of
case or situation, apply that rule to the facts, and reach a conclusion about
the proper outcome.

● You want a structure that is straightforward and clear. At each step along
the way, your audience should be able to understand where you are in your
argument and how it connects to the whole.

● And you’ll want to make choices about what you are putting in and
what you are leaving out. Be ruthless in your editing; only leave in the
good stuff.

● Once you have this skeleton draft, start to pay attention to your language.
It can be very helpful to edit your presentation by practicing it out loud at
this point because then you can hear how it is flowing.

● You want some proportionality in your presentation. Spend most of the

time on the most important stuff. And spend the right amount of time on
each part—the amount of time it will take your audience to process it.

● Make sure you’re using words that are both easy for you to say and easy
for your audience to understand. Use commonplace language, including
contractions like don’t and wouldn’t, and short sentences.

● Look for a place where you can use sensory language—which appeals to
the senses and causes your audience to really use their imagination when
listening to you. A great way to do this is to tell a story. If there’s a story
you can work in to make your point, use it.

● Repetition is also helpful. If you have something you really want to drive
home, you might need to say it more than once. You might tell your audience
what you’re going to talk about, then explore the subject, and then tell them
what you explored. That repetition can make an idea more memorable.

210
● Other ways to make your words stick in people’s minds are to use
techniques like alliteration, where a series of words starts with the same
letter; assonance or consonance, where you repeat vowel or consonant
sounds; or onomatopoeia, where you use words that sound like the thing
they are describing (e.g., buzz or cuckoo).

● Next, go back through the text again and pay special attention to your first
and last paragraphs—your moments of primacy and recency. The audience
is likely to remember the first and last things you say, so you should make
the most of them.

● In your first paragraph, set the tone and establish your theme. Get your
audience’s attention. Make it clear why they should keep listening to you.

● In the last paragraph, strike your theme again, but this time, give
something to the audience. It could be an action item that tells your
audience what to do, or it could be an emotion, such as hope.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

● Once you’ve written the text, then you’re going to practice.

● Hopefully you’ve been practicing as you’ve been writing—speaking the

text aloud and tweaking the words as you say them and writing the text
section by section so that the structure is clear to you.

● But now you’re going to try to get away from your notes, so you’ll practice
out loud, but without the notes in front of you. Generally, for an important
presentation, say it aloud 10 times before you say it to the audience.

● Do at least one run-through section by section, or beat by beat. Take a pen

and draw lines separating your presentation into sections, or beats, so you
can really see your moments of transition. Then, pay attention to them.
Make yourself pause as you move from one section to the next. That way,
you’re practicing not just the words you are saying, but also the silences in
between, to land your points. Or think about how each beat builds on the
last and how to make those changes clear through your delivery.

Lesson 24 Assembling the Elements of a Winning Speech 211

 ● Try some of these rehearsal tricks to really get the presentation into
your bones:

† Practice the presentation out loud while walking around. Practicing

while you are moving helps you learn the words.

† Practice the presentation right before you go to sleep and then again
first thing in the morning. Your brain will work on it while you are
sleeping, and you’ll know it better.

† Practice while you’re doing something else, such as washing the dishes.
That keeps you from cheating and looking at your script. It helps you
know if you really get the structure and can remember what comes
next. And if you can’t remember, then stop doing the dishes, turn to
your script, and rewrite it so that the next point is obvious to you.
Whatever follows naturally is probably the part that should come next.

● If this is a presentation that would benefit from a visual aid, then make
one. But make sure you design a visual aid that won’t distract the audience
from what you’re saying.

● If you are using PowerPoint, for example, don’t just cut and paste your
whole script onto your slides. Instead, design slides that are sparse. Maybe
some of them are simply images that help set the tone. Other slides might
have text on them, but think in terms of headlines rather than complete
sentences. It should be text that an audience can read while still continuing
to listen to you.

● Or maybe your visual aid is a handout that your audience can take home
with them. Think about what the most useful thing to them would be.
Also think about when you’re going to give it to them: at the start of the
talk so they can take notes or at the end so they aren’t tuning you out to
read it?

● If you have visual aids or props, you will need some rehearsals in which
you are figuring out how you are working with them. If your visual aid is
something that relies on technology, like PowerPoint, then get into the space
where you are speaking in advance and make sure the technology is going to
work. Have a backup plan in mind so you know what to do if it doesn’t.

212
● You might want to incorporate some blocking into your presentation,
particularly if you are using visual aids. That means thinking about where
you want to stand at different points in the presentation, when you are
going to pick up a prop or put it down, etc. Practice these movements so
they become second nature to you.

● It can be helpful to videotape a rehearsal. That will let you assess your
performance, including whether you are using your visual aids effectively.
Consider the following:

† Your feet. How is your stance? Your feet should be hip-width apart. If
your stance is narrow or your legs are crossed, you’re more likely to rock
or sway, which makes you look nervous.

† Your hands. You want to use some gestures just to be interesting and
relaxed, but you also want to be sure you aren’t fidgeting or retreating
to self-soothing postures like folding your arms or holding your own
hand. Work on using the resting place called actor’s neutral, where
you’re standing up straight with your arms by your sides, so that when
you gesture it makes an impression.

† Eye contact. You need to be able to look people in the eye. That’s why
you’re trying to get away from having to look down at your script.1

† Pace. Sometimes nerves make people speak too quickly. That can cause
you to garble your words, and it makes the audience nervous, too. So
take a deep breath and slow down.

† Pauses. These can help you slow your pace, and it’s a good idea to leave
some silence in between your ideas so they can sink in. Try pausing at
the end of each paragraph.

1 Notice if you have a habit of looking down at the floor or up at the ceiling in between
thoughts. Instead, imagine that in your presentation you are giving an idea to a particular
person in the audience. Then give the next idea to the next person, etc.

Lesson 24 Assembling the Elements of a Winning Speech 213

 † Volume. You want to be sure to speak loudly enough so that people can
hear you. That’s another danger with clinging to a script: You are more
likely to look down and speak only to that piece of paper. Instead, look
up and speak to the person sitting in the back row.1

† Tone. Your tone is the attitude you take toward the words you are
saying—the intention you are expressing as you speak. If you are just
reading prepared remarks, then your tone will be flat and dull. But if
you look up from your script and think about connecting with your
audience, then you’ll be adding life to your tone. Practice thinking
about your intention for each beat in your presentation.2 This will help
you find the right tone.

PAY ATTENTION TO THE STORY YOU ARE

TELLING YOURSELF ABOUT YOUR SPEECH.
IF YOU CATCH YOURSELF THINKING
NEGATIVE THOUGHTS (“THIS IS GOING
TO BE A DISASTER!”), STOP YOURSELF AND
TRY INTENTIONALLY THINKING ANOTHER
THOUGHT INSTEAD. CHOOSE ONE THAT IS
TRUE AND THAT YOU CAN BELIEVE (“I HAVE
SOMETHING OF VALUE TO OFFER MY AUDIENCE,
AND I’M GOING TO OFFER IT!”).

1 If you are in a setting that requires a microphone, get there early so that you can learn how
the microphone works and how far away from it you should be.
2 Go back to your script, where you’ve drawn lines to separate each beat, and write in the
margin a word to describe your intention for that section. What are you trying to project, and
to whom?

214
WARM-UP AND DELIVERY
● Take the time to warm up for five to 10 minutes before you speak. Start by
getting physically ready to speak, then paying attention to the breath, then
combining that breath with sound, and then getting your mouth ready to
work by blowing raspberries and trying some tongue twisters. A complete
warm-up is described in lesson 10.

● Next, say your first paragraph and your last paragraph. Use them as a vocal
warm-up. Picture the audience, imagine making eye contact with them,
and practice your moments of primacy and recency with the intention
you have devised for yourself clearly in mind. Think about places in those
paragraphs where you might want to use different pitches or speed up/slow
down and try using that vocal variety. All of these tips should get your
mind and body primed to deliver a great presentation.

● The day before your presentation, make sure you drink plenty of water.
It’s important to hydrate your vocal cords. Also, get a good night’s sleep.
If you’re feeling nervous and that’s making it hard to sleep, write out what
you’re feeling or listen to a short guided meditation.3

REMEMBER THAT YOUR SPEECH DOESN’T HAVE

TO BE PERFECT. IF YOU’VE TAKEN THE TIME TO
THINK ABOUT THE THINGS YOU’VE LEARNED
IN THIS COURSE, THEN YOUR PRESENTATION IS
GOING TO HAVE VALUE. AND YOUR AUDIENCE
IS GOING TO BENEFIT FROM THE EXPERIENCE
OF LISTENING TO YOU.

● On the day of the presentation, continue drinking water. Stay away from
too much caffeine, and don’t drink any alcohol.

3 You can find guided meditations on the internet or on an app like Headspace.

Lesson 24 Assembling the Elements of a Winning Speech 215

 ● Go early to the place where you are speaking. Check out the sound system
and make sure your PowerPoint is going to work. Look at the stage and
change anything you need to change to feel comfortable.

● Then, find a place to do your vocal warm-up. If that’s not an option, do

your voice warm-ups before you arrive, and before the presentation find a
place where you can just sit and focus on your breathing.

● Now go do it! And have a great time while doing it. There is nothing quite
like knowing you have something to say, saying it, and then listening to
your audience cheer.

READING
Reagan, Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Sayler and Shadel, Tongue-Tied America.

QUESTIONS
1 What is your reaction to Ronald Reagan’s remarks about the space shuttle
Challenger? Why?

2 What do you think are the most important components of speaking well?

216
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aristotle. Rhetoric. Translated by W. Rhys Roberts. Dover Thrift Editions,

2004. This is the first and most important treatise about verbal persuasion; it
lays out foundational principles of the study of rhetoric.

Bernays, Edward. Propaganda. Ig Publishing, 2004. This book, originally

published in 1928, was one of the first to examine how propaganda works to
manipulate people, both in advertising and in the political arena.

Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of

Fairy Tales. Vintage, 2010. This book explores the deeper significance of the
stories we tell.

Cialdini, Robert. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Harper Business,

2006. This book explores the psychological roots of why people say yes,
including in business contexts.

Davis, John W. “The Argument of an Appeal.” The Journal of Appellate

Practice and Process 3, no. 2 (2001): 745. http://lawrepository.ualr.edu/
appellatepracticeprocess/vol3/iss2/22. This is a reprint of a speech Judge Davis
delivered to the Association of the Bar of the City of New York on October
22, 1940. In it, he offers 10 wise rules for successful appellate advocacy.

Fink, Steven. Crisis Communications: The Definitive Guide to Managing the

Message. McGraw-Hill Education, 2013. This text uses real-world examples
of crises faced by companies such as BP and Toyota to lay out a strategy for
communicating effectively under stress.

Fisher, Roger, et al. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In.
Penguin Books, 2011. This book revolutionized the teaching of negotiations.
It is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn how to negotiate.

217
 Fisher, Roger, and Daniel Shapiro. Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You
Negotiate. Penguin Books, 2006. This can be read as a companion to Getting
to Yes. It explores the impact of emotions on negotiation, emphasizing
the importance of respecting both your own emotions and those of your
negotiating partner.

Frankl, Viktor. Man’s Search for Meaning. Beacon Press, 2006. This
remarkable book, written by a psychiatrist who was a prisoner in Auschwitz,
explores how to find meaning in your experiences.

Goleman, Daniel, et al. Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional

Intelligence. Harvard Business Review Press, 2016. This excellent book,
written by a team of psychologists, explores the importance of intelligent
emotional engagement in persuasion.

Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth. 2006. Directed by Davis Guggenheim.

Watch this documentary about the effects of global warming both for its
riveting content and to admire the effective use of visual aids.

Gula, Robert. Nonsense: A Handbook of Logical Fallacies. Axios Press, 2002.

This book compiles and explains common logical fallacies.

Heath, Chip, and Dan Heath. Switch: How to Change Things When Change
Is Hard. Crown Business, 2010. This book explores how to make effective
changes in the workplace.

Heen, Sheila, and Douglas Stone. Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art
of Receiving Feedback Well. Penguin Group, 2015. This book examines how to
accept and process feedback; understanding this will help you offer feedback
more effectively.

Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation
in Everyday Life. Hachette Books, 2010. Written by the founder of the Stress
Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, this
book explains the practice of mindfulness to reduce stress.

Love, Roger. Set Your Voice Free: How to Get the Singing or Speaking Voice
You Want. Little, Brown and Company, 2003. This book includes enjoyable
exercises to improve your singing and speaking voice.

218
Magee, John Gillespie. “High Flight.” Available at http://www.arlingtoncemetery.
net/highflig.htm. This is a lovely poem that’s often used in eulogies.

Nicholls, Carolyn. Body, Breath & Being: A New Guide to the Alexander
Technique. D&B Publishing, 2008. This book provides a good introduction
to the Alexander technique, as well as exercises to help improve posture.

Palmer, Parker. The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a

Teacher’s Life. Jossey-Bass, 2017. This book makes the case that the best
teachers are those who are able to connect with students, colleagues, and
themselves.

Phillips, Brad. The Media Training Bible: 101 Things You Absolutely, Positively
Need to Know before Your Next Interview. SpeakGoodPress, 2012. This is an
easy-to-read book about delivering an effective media interview.

Pink, Daniel H. Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us.
Riverhead Books, 2011. This book explores how to motivate the people you
work with.

Rodenburg, Patsy. The Actor Speaks: Voice and the Performer. St. Martin’s
Griffin, 2002. This book, written by the director of voice at London’s Royal
National Theater, will help you discover the power of your voice.

Russell, Bertrand. The Problems of Philosophy. Project Gutenberg ebook, 2009.

Available at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5827/5827-h/5827-h.htm. This
book, originally published in 1912, is a concise and influential introduction to
philosophy. Chapters 6 and 7 explore inductive and deductive thinking.

Sayler, Robert N., and Molly Bishop Shadel. Tongue-Tied America: Reviving
the Art of Verbal Persuasion. 3rd ed. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2019.
This text, cowritten by the presenter of this course (Shadel), explores how to
speak persuasively both in and out of the courtroom. Chapter 5 details how to
write an effective speech; chapters 8 and 9 discuss communicating effectively
in the workplace.

Schauer, Frederick. Thinking like a Lawyer: A New Introduction to Legal

Reasoning. Harvard University Press, 2009. In this text, the author examines
how lawyers and judges think, reason, and argue. It is an accessible, engaging
articulation of the kind of reasoning that characterizes legal decision-making.

Bibliography 219
 Shadel, Molly Bishop. Finding Your Voice in Law School: Mastering Classroom
Cold-Calls, Job Interviews, and Other Verbal Challenges. Carolina Academic
Press, 2013. This book, written by the presenter of this course, examines the
verbal challenges of law school, including trial exercises such as direct and
cross-examinations.

Stanislavski, Konstantin. An Actor Prepares. Routledge, 1989. This book,

originally published in 1936 and written by the great Russian teacher and
director, is a foundational work about acting techniques.

Stossel, Scott. My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread and the Search for Peace
of Mind. Knopf, 2014. Written by the editor of The Atlantic magazine, this
wonderful book offers help for anxiety.

Strunk, William, Jr., and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed.
MacMillan Publishing, 1999. This is a beautifully written book about how to
write well.

Tompkins, Jane. “Pedagogy of the Distressed.” College English 52, no. 6 (Oct.
1990): 653–660. Available at https://grad.unm.edu/resources/documents/
pedagogy-of-the-distressed.pdf. This article argues against the performance
model, in which the teacher focuses on showing how smart and well prepared
he or she is, and in favor of a coaching model, which enables students to
develop their skills.

Tufte, Edward. Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and

Narrative. Graphics Press, 1997. This beautiful book, exploring how to
display information that changes over time, is a treat simply to behold. All
of Tufte’s many books on the visual display of information are gorgeous and
inspire the imagination.

Vineyard, Missy. How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live: Learning
the Alexander Technique to Explore Your Mind-Body Connection and Achieve
Self-Mastery. Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2008. This book offers an approach to
improve posture and movement.

Von Drehle, David. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America. Grove Press,
2004. A vivid account of the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire and the lives of
garment workers in New York City in the early 1900s.

220
Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357, 372 (1927) (Brandeis, J., concurring),
available at https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/274/357/. This
Supreme Court case upheld the conviction of a person who engaged in speech
considered to be a threat to society. Justice Brandeis’s concurrence is the
most famous part of the case because of its articulation of the importance of
freedom of speech.

SPEECHES EXPLORED IN THIS COURSE

Angelou, Maya. Eulogy for Coretta Scott King. Feb. 7, 2006. https://awpc.
cattcenter.iastate.edu/2017/03/21/remarks-at-the-funeral-service-for-coretta-
scott-king-feb-7-2006/.

Fisher, Mary. 1992 Republican National Convention Address (“A Whisper

of AIDS”). Aug. 19, 1992. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/
maryfisher1992rnc.html.

Gehrig, Lou. “Farewell to Baseball.” July 4, 1939. https://www.

americanrhetoric.com/speeches/lougehrigfarewelltobaseball.htm.

Jobs, Steve. Commencement Address at Stanford University. June 14, 2005.

https://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/14/jobs-061505/.

Jordan, Barbara. Statement on the Articles of Impeachment. July 25, 1974.

https://history.house.gov/HouseRecord/Detail/15032449722.

Kennedy, John F. Inaugural Address. January 20, 1961. https://www.

jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/historic-speeches/inaugural-address.

Nixon, Richard. Address of Senator Nixon to the American People (“Checkers

Speech”). Sept. 23, 1952. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/
address-senator-nixon-the-american-people-the-checkers-speech.

Obama, Barack. Remarks by the President at a Memorial Service for

the Victims of the Shooting in Tucson, Arizona. Jan. 12, 2011. https://
obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/12/remarks-president-
barack-obama-memorial-service-victims-shooting-tucson.

Bibliography 221
 Reagan, Ronald. Address to the Nation on the Explosion of the Space Shuttle
Challenger. Jan. 28, 1986. https://history.nasa.gov/reagan12886.html.

Rogers, Fred. Testimony before the US Senate Subcommittee on

Communication. May 1, 1969. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/
fredrogerssenatetestimonypbs.htm.

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. “On the Banking Crisis.” Fireside Chat 1, March
12, 1933. http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/031233.html.

Rowling, J. K. Commencement Address at Harvard University. Jun 5, 2008.

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/06/text-of-j-k-rowling-speech/.

Spencer, Earl Charles. Eulogy for Princess Diana. Sept. 6, 1997.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/diana/spencerfull.html.

Winfrey, Oprah. Commencement Address at Wellesley College.

May 30, 1997. https://www.wellesley.edu/events/commencement/
archives/1997commencement/commencementaddress.

IMAGE CREDITS
iv: Ajwad Creative/DigitalVision Vectors; 13: FreshSplash/Getty Images;
25: LanaStock/Getty Images; 41: fizkes/Getty Images;
50: monkeybusinessimages/Getty Images; 73: Drazen Zigic/Getty Images;
81: SDI Productions/Getty Images; 98: GlobalStock/Getty Images;
103: fizkes/Getty Images; 112: AlexanderFord/Getty Images;
128: g-stockstudio/Getty Images; 137: PeopleImages/Getty Images;
166: Kerkez/Getty Images; 183: EmirMemedovski/Getty Images;
204: Image Source/Getty Images

222