• How many professional speaker associations exist?
• Where are they?
• How long have they been around?
• How many members do they have?

Do you know the answers? Read on!

Global Speakers Federation

The Global Speakers Federation (GSF) is a loosely affiliated network of professional speaker associations around the world.

It launched in 1998 with member federations from four countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. The GSF now counts 10 full member federations, one candidate federation, and one more federation which is forming. The countries represented are shown in the map below in red.

The GSF leadership team includes an executive council, as well as representatives from the member federations.

Most of the member federations are relatively young, with 8 having formed in the last decade, and the oldest going back just 37 years. The total individual membership is just 5780 speakers. I suspect (but have no evidence) that this is just a small fraction of the number of professional speakers worldwide. Nonetheless, there appears to be rapid growth, and we may see these numbers rise considerably in the next few years.

Other Professional Speaker Associations

Outside the GSF:

• Professional Speakers Association of the Philippines
  Philippines – 15 members – formed 2010

Others? Please let me know.

Is Your Country Represented?

Is there a professional speaker association in your country?

If so, have you ever investigated the resources that are available to you in growing your speaking skills and business opportunities?

Similar Articles You May Like... Interview with Kristin Arnold, National Speakers Association President Book Review: Boring to Bravo (Kristin Arnold) Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) What Does Your Personal Brand Say About You as a Speaker? Book Review: The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson 6 Key Steps to Dip Your Toe into the Professional Speaking Pool

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

When I found out that Ms. Arnold is also the President of the National Speakers Association (NSA) for 2010-2011, I approached her to see if she would answer a few questions about the NSA.

I’m delighted to be able to share her interview with you here.

Question: How did you come to be a member of the NSA?

I had already been in business as a professional meeting facilitator and was drawn to “speaking” as a way to get the message out to people who might hire me – and I realized I could make money at it as well.

Question: Why did you eventually seek to become the NSA President?

Not sure I went looking for it, but as a strategic thinker, I was drawn to serve our members as I truly believe NSA (and many other associations) are at a strategic crossroads – where relevancy and value are of utmost importance.

Question: Can anyone become a member of the NSA? What are the qualifications? Do you have to be a United States citizen?

No, you don’t have to be a US Citizen, but you have to reside or have a business in the United States (BTW, the same holds true for CAPS, but make that Canadian – I know this to be a fact as I am married to a past CAPS President, Joe Sherren!)  You need to have made a minimum of 20 paid speeches, OR earned at least $25,000 in speaking fees in a twelve month period, OR  as a part of your salaried position, presented at least 20 times to audiences of 15 or more – all of which needs to be accomplished in the past 12 months.

[Ed: CAPS is the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers.]

Question: Membership dues ($175 initiation fee + $425 first year annual membership dues) are significant. What are the specific, tangible benefits which justify these dues?

In comparison to other professional societies, our annual membership dues are quite reasonable and we are quite averse to raising dues.  We work very hard at keeping additional expenses as low as possible so our members can participate in the three things NSA delivers:  [1] Education and professional development, [2] connecting with like-minded individuals in the professional speaking community, and [3] tapping in to the research and the commitment to the profession that supports our livelihood.  All of which support our members to be able to speak more, speak better, and speak with confidence that they are the leading edge of this profession.

Some examples include:

• Attend Meetings (Convention, conferences, labs) for exceptional education and community.
• Read Speaker magazine and search Online Publications for more information about how to speak more and speak better as a professional speaker
• Listen to our audio magazine, Voices of Experience®, Log on to a webcast or webinar, Download Audio Recordings and Watch Video Recordings to learn more about the art and business of speaking
• Join Professional Emphasis Groups and Get Involved in a Special Interest Group so you can get connect with other like-minded professionals
• Explore the Global Speakers Federation so you can speak more and speak better beyond the US borders
• Update Your Online Directory Profile so meeting planners can “find a speaker”

We also have a new strategic initiative around “Commitment to the Profession” which is centered around research and pushing the latest trends and information about the speaking profession and meetings industry out to our members.
We are currently reviewing our products/services mix to ensure we are providing exceptional value to the working level professional speaker.

Question: There are 39 NSA Regional Chapters across the United States, with separate dues, services, and mandates. What do (most) regional chapters provide that the national organization does not, and vice versa?

Actually, the mandate is the same; however, each chapter is an independent entity and currently carries out their mandate as they see fit.  We are currently engaged in a robust dialogue with the chapters about strengthening our relationship to ensure a more consistent experience for our members and those new to NSA both at the National and local levels.

As the front door for people new to NSA, Chapters are best at offering local community support and mentoring.  National is best at leveraging the talent and resources within the organization so that all may benefit.

Question: I have heard that NSA members are not allowed to disclose their speaking fees publicly. Is this true? If so, why is this a forbidden practice? If not, why do you think this myth perpetuates?

NSA members can disclose their speaking fees to anyone they care to; however, in a NSA meeting, we refrain from discussing actual fees so there isn’t a perception of marketplace collusion.  So what most presenters at NSA do is to make a hypothetical allusions to a fee as an example.

Question: One statement I’ve heard many times is this: “You go to Toastmasters to learn how to speak. You go to the NSA to learn the business of speaking.” How would you assess this comparison?

True, but pretty general.  We assume you have the ability to speak in front of an audience about a topic that you are passionate about.  NSA leverages that talent and passion to extend the eloquence of your message, establish your expertise, enhance the business enterprise, while embracing our standard of ethics.  These are the four Es – our four competencies which are the cornerstone of our mission.

Question: Suppose there is a Six Minutes reader who is very curious about joining NSA, but isn’t sure she’s “ready”. What advice would you give her to know when she is ready?

Call us and we’d be delighted to chat with you.  For those who aren’t ready to take the plunge yet, we have a robust Academy program at the National level and many of our local chapters have “fast track” programs to jump start your professional speaking career.

For More Information

You can find more information here:

• National Speakers Association
• Canadian Association of Professional Speakers

Stay tuned to a future Six Minutes article for more information on speaker associations elsewhere in the world.

Similar Articles You May Like... Professional Speaker Associations Book Review: Boring to Bravo (Kristin Arnold) Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) What Does Your Personal Brand Say About You as a Speaker? Book Review: The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson 6 Key Steps to Dip Your Toe into the Professional Speaking Pool

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

You know your content. Success is in view.

But now, your time slot has been chopped in two.

Oh my! Oh my! What will you do?

ACK!

If you’ve been speaking for a while, this has probably happened to you. If it hasn’t yet, it’s only a matter of time.

Can you still salvage the presentation and provide value for your audience?

Ask Six Minutes

Josh H. from Montana writes:

I’ve been witness to at least two presentations in the last two weeks wherein, the originally allotted time was hugely condensed by outside forces.

For example, an expert researcher came to talk to my colleagues about how to facilitate focus groups. She had scheduled 5 hours to present an overview, lead activities, and inspire lots of conversation. She lived 2 hours away, and was an hour away from us when her car broke down, she had to get back to her home city, secure a rental, and drive back. The 5-hour workshop turned into a barely-2-hour rapid fire lecture. This was something she couldn’t have prevented.

How do other speakers/presenters/educators design flexibility into their talks for unexpected limitations?

Okay, let’s start with what NOT to do…

Your natural response is probably to do one of three things:

1. Quit.
2. Rush through your entire planned presentation.
3. Use all of your original time, going way, way over.

First, don’t quit. Real speakers don’t quit, even when disaster strikes. If you quit, you will probably never be invited to speak to that group again. Your credibility will suffer. Even worse, the company or organization you represent will be tarnished.

Second, don’t rush through the entire presentation. I’ve seen this approach, and it never works. You will be so intent on flying through your content that you’ll lose all chance to connect meaningfully with your audience. They won’t be able to absorb anything at all. In short, this option takes a bad situation and makes it worse.

Third, check your ego. The people in your audience have other meetings to attend, meals to eat, and loved ones to hug. They don’t want to be stuck listening to you for a lot longer than they planned. (Okay, I concede that there are very special circumstances where they may want you to go overtime, but I have never seen such an audience.)

Okay, then what DO you do?

Alright, if you are still reading, then you understand that whatever you deliver must be delivered at a reasonable pace, and end when your original time slot was expected to end. How?

1. Chop big chunks out.

When you lose half of your time slot (or more), you can’t make it up solely by cutting small bits of content here and there. You’ve got to chop big chunks of your presentation out.

Be merciless. Now is not the time to think about how the presentation would be better with the longer time slot. Now is the time to focus on providing value for your audience with whatever time you have left.

2. Plan for it.

It will be difficult to know how much to cut unless you have prepared a lesson plan — a division of your presentation into modules of (approximately) known length.

For example, suppose your presentation is planned for 5 hours in length. Your lesson plan might include modules such as:

• 10 minutes: Introductory story and session overview
• 20 minutes: Examining the status quo
• 40 minutes: 10 principles for improving the process
• 10 minutes: Break
• 30 minutes: Partners exercise
• 20 minutes: Exercise debrief
• 30 minutes: Case studies
• 10 minutes: Break
• 40 minutes: Group exercise
• etc.

If you have this lesson plan with you, it will be straightforward to prioritize modules and select those which add up to the time you have available.

In the example above, perhaps you decide to cut the “partners exercise” and the “exercise debrief”. That’s 50 minutes right there. Then, you decide to chop…

3. Poll your audience.

Suppose you have alternatives for material which you can cover within the remaining time. Maybe you have time to review case studies, or time to do some hands-on exercises, but not both. From your point of view, both would be more or less of equal value.

In this situation, you can poll your audience. You might say something like this: “I have two different modules planned for today, but we’ll only be able to cover one effectively in the time remaining. Which would you find most valuable?”

The audience may not be happy about your truncated presentation overall, but they will be happy that you are seeking their input. Maybe you’ll get invited back to deliver the other alternative module.

4. Plan two endings.

We’ve already said that you shouldn’t charge arrogantly ahead and go overtime, but in certain circumstances, there is one acceptable way to go past your original time boundary if some of your audience is able to stay longer. It involves asking for consent.

Here’s how it works. Make a plan to chop modules which allows you to end on time. Consult your audience with something like: “I understand many of you have to leave at 5:00PM to make your flight, and so I’ve redesigned my presentation to end on time. For those of you who are able to stay longer, I would be happy to stay and lead an optional exercise that I have prepared.”

It’s not perfect, but it does show that you are being flexible and trying to meet the needs of as many people as possible. Those who are able to stay late (if anyone does) may really appreciate it.

5. Deliver chopped content in another form.

Even though you can’t deliver the full content as planned, there are other ways to deliver it.

• You could create a handout with the chopped content, and send it out to participants via email. (No, a copy of PowerPoint slides which you eliminated doesn’t cut it.)
• You could capture the eliminated modules on video, and make it available to participants.
• You could offer copies of your book as “compensation”. (This only works if that is fair value on the same topic.)
• You could even offer to deliver the other modules at another time. I recall a multi-day conference where a presenter in this situation offered to deliver “part two” of their presentation during breakfast the next morning.

6. Make yourself available for follow up.

Making yourself available to your audience after the presentation is always a good idea, but especially so when, for whatever reason, you couldn’t deliver 100% of what was promised to them. Maybe you could stay behind for more Q&A, or perhaps you agree to take their questions via email/phone and answer them promptly.

7. Be decisive.

Make your new plan as soon as possible. (In the scenario of the broken-down car, you could be making a mental plan while driving, and be ready to implement it as soon as you arrive.) The time constraints are bound to be an elephant in the room, so deal with it by assuring your audience that you have revised the agenda. It will ease tensions, and allow everyone to focus on having a productive session.

Whatever you do, decide quickly. The clock is ticking.

What’s Your Opinion?

What other strategies have you used in these situations? What have you seen other speakers do? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Similar Articles You May Like... The 10-20-30 Rule: Guy Kawasaki on PowerPoint The 7 Deadly Sins of Public Speaking

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Six Minutes weekend reviews bring the best public speaking articles to you.

This review features topics including:

• convention speech flashbacks;
• persuasive speaking;
• speech critiques;
• being charismatic;
• PowerPoint and Star Wars;
• making money from speaking;
• speaker gifts;
• and more!

From the Six Minutes Archives

Two Years Ago…

• Speech Critiques – Obama, Democratic Convention 2008 and
  Speech Critiques – McCain, Palin, Republican Convention 2008
  Flashback to the 2008 party conventions, with speech videos and critiques of the headliners.

Recently on Six Minutes…

• What is Logos and Why is it Critical for Speakers? and
  17 Easy Ways to Be a More Persuasive Speaker
  Two articles which complete (at least for now) our series on ethos, pathos, and logos and how every speaker can improve their skills.
• Ready, Set, Go! Nail Your Pre-Speech Ritual
  Guest author Stephanie Scotti shares tips you can apply before you begin speaking.

Speechwriting

• John Zimmer critiques a thought-provoking TED talk by Elif Shafak, shown below.
  [Ed. I'm listing it this week, not only for John's probing critique, but also for the lessons in storytelling that all speakers can gain from Elif's presentation.]

Click here to view the embedded video.

Delivery Techniques

• John Kinde suggests that laughter is contagious.

In my opinion, a common comedy myth is that humor plays best in a dark room.  I definitely feel that you’ll get more laughs if the room is lit.  People need to see each other to maximize the laughter. [...]

The contagious nature of laughter requires that you master the pause.   An audience response will never be instantaneous.  You’ll need to be patient for the contagious element of your audience response to kick in.  In fact, with a really large audience, you may notice the wave-effect as laughter rolls over the audience.

• Nick Morgan gives a video explanation of 4 steps to being a more charismatic speaker.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Visual Aids

• Garr Reynolds provides a humorous look at PowerPoint in Star Wars.

A long time ago — before PowerPoint was invented — in a galaxy far, far away, leaders gave presentations backed by large electronic wall displays. [...] Notice how he uses the entire wide screen to display only visual information [...] Notice too how he has gathered the [audience] close to the front, how he himself stands close to the back-lit screen (even slightly in front of it at times), and maintains eye-contact with the audience, occasionally pointing to key areas of the animation on screen.

• Brent Dykes provides a tutorial on using shadow effects in PowerPoint 2007.

PowerPoint ninjas ensure their shadows are consistent. Approach shadow effects as though the imaginary light source casting the shadow is always in the same position on the slide (e.g., top left corner). In other words, find a favorite style and use it consistently across your slides — same intensity, same angle.

Speaker Habits

• Denise Graveline explains why you should greet your audience at the door.

It’s a great grace note that will make you memorable.

You’re adding value to their experience.

You’ll hear more from the introverts.

It works for introvert and extrovert speakers.

You’re warming them up better than any bad joke can.

You have a better chance of sharing your business cards.

You can assess the mood of the room.

It’s the best introduction you can get.

Professional Speaking

• Barbara Haislip writes that speaking can be a lucrative path to more business.

Give a speech. Win a client.

As simple—or even scary—as that formula sounds, a host of entrepreneurs have found that conquering public speaking can be the route to more contacts and customers. Impressing people with your expertise at a conference, in a classroom or over the radio can sometimes win more business than making sales calls or manning a booth at a trade show. Not to mention that the most successful speakers can take home thousands of dollars in fees for an appearance.

• John Watkis questions the heavy costs associated with poor speaking skills.

How much money are you losing because of poor public speaking skills and lack of preparation? How much credibility are you losing because your speeches are boring? How badly is the reputation of your organization suffering because the executives are simply horrible when they give a speech? [...]

There was  $750,000 on the table, but the speaker gave a $10 speech. He wasn’t prepared and he wasn’t interesting. [...] Poor public speaking and lack of preparation cost him … big time!

• Laura Bergells delights with an unusual story with a great lesson about giving meaningful speaker gifts.
  [Ed. One of the best workplace gifts I ever received was a box of Smarties from a co-worker, months after I mentioned that I liked them. I still have the empty box on my office wall.]

However, you’ve really got a challenge when you give a speaker gift. [...]

[...] One of the keys of giving a truly thoughtful gift is to listen to your speaker. If you’re hiring someone to speak at your event or for your organization, read their blog. Follow them on FaceBook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Watch for that offhand comment — it may be about a mackerel, a passion for falconry, adventures in beekeeping — who knows? Once you know a little bit more about your speaker, you can find something more personal that the leftover SWAG that’s been gathering dust in your office.

Not the Way to End Your Speech…

Similar Articles You May Like... Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-08-14] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-07-31] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-07-10] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-06-26] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-06-12] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-06-05]

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

The previous article in the Ethos, Pathos, and Logos series defined logos and described why logical arguments are so important for your presentations.

Okay, that’s all very good in theory, but do we need to be logical masters to build high logos?

No, not at all.

In this article, we examine simple techniques you can use in your presentations to be more persuasive by improving your logos.

General Strategies for Improving Your Logos

In the last article, we identified, three general principles that you can adopt to improve your logos:

1. Make it Understandable
   Can your audience understand you? Or have they only absorbed half of your points?
2. Make it Logical
   Do your arguments make sense? Or do you require your audience to make an extreme leap of faith? How easy is it for your audience to connect the dots?
3. Make it Real
   Concrete and specific tends to win over abstract and general.

We’ll now look at 17 specific techniques derived from these three general strategies.

You may wish to compare to techniques in previous articles:

• 15 ways to improve ethos
• 18 ways to improve pathos

Make it Understandable

If your audience doesn’t understand you, they can’t be persuaded by you. To be an effective communicator, you’ve first got to be a clear communicator. To be a clear communicator, you must use words, phrases, examples, and visuals that are understandable, and you’ve got to deliver them at a pace that the audience can absorb.

How can you do this? Let us count some ways…

#1: Use plain language.

Use words that your audience uses. Avoid technical jargon that your audience (or a portion of your audience) isn’t familiar with.

Favor short words and phrases over long and convoluted counterparts. Don’t imitate the language you might find in a legal transcript or an academic paper. Technical language is necessary for those contexts, but it isn’t helpful in a conversation or presentation.

Note that “plain” language doesn’t mean “boring” language. Use vivid and descriptive language where appropriate.

#2: Be explicit.

Your audience should not need a decoder ring to figure out your message. It should be obvious. Spell it out if necessary. Make sure you are not misinterpreted.

It is particularly important to make the connection between premises and conclusions explicit. Because is a magic word for this purpose:  “Because premise A and premise B, we can see that conclusion must be true.”

If your arguments involve more than a couple premises, be sure your audience sees the relationship between them. “And these five advantages — capital costs, scheduling, inventory control, marketing, and employee satisfaction — together make this a winning proposal.”

#3: Trace sequences or processes in order.

To help your audience understand a sequence or process, march through the steps or phases in a meaningful order, usually sequential. If you jump around the steps out of order, your audience will be confused.

As the number of steps increases, so does the need to use a diagram for clarity.

#4: Use diagrams.

Carefully crafted and focused diagrams almost always enhance the understandability of your arguments. It doesn’t matter if you draw in PowerPoint, on a white board, or on the back of a napkin — it only matters that you clarify concepts for your audience.

But, be careful not to introduce an unnecessarily complex diagram. In the worst case, a busy diagram or one with lots of irrelevant details will frustrate your audience and diminish your understandability.

#5: Use charts.

Like diagrams, a carefully crafted chart or graph will speak volumes and clarify a previously fuzzy relationship.

Remember the warning about unnecessary complexity applies to charts too.

#6: Use progressive disclosure.

Suppose the diagram (or chart) which best explains the concepts is a complex one. What then?

In nearly all cases, it should be possible to use progressive disclosure. This means that you build up the entire diagram (or chart) progressively as a series of chunks, revealing only a part of the overall diagram at a time. If you are drawing the diagram as you speak, you are inherently using progressive disclosure. (You draw a few lines, explain what you’ve drawn, draw a few more, explain again, and repeat.) This is easy to do with PowerPoint too.

#7: Use comparisons, analogies, and metaphors.

Whenever you introduce new concepts, search for an appropriate analogy which helps the audience understand the new concept in terms of how they already understand the old one.

Make it Logical

Okay, your audience understands what you are saying, but does what you are saying make sense?

Does it pass the logical tests which your audience will be applying subconsciously?

#8: Leverage audience commonplaces.

Commonplaces often provide the most stable foundation for your argument. It’s a good ideas to start with these — because your audience already believes them — and build the remainder of your argument outward.

In a similar manner, framing the issue from your audience’s perspective is a great way to be more persuasive.

#9: Ask questions, and get your audience thinking.

Questions engage your audience and make them active participants in the conversation. Rather than passively waiting for you to provide answers, they’ll be contributing to the answers as you go. As a result, they will collectively feel ownership when you move toward conclusions. In the best case, they will feel that they came to the conclusions themselves — a sure way to guarantee your persuasiveness.

#10: Address the opposing point of view, and refute it.

On the surface, it seems foolish to bring up the opposing arguments. What if your audience didn’t think of that? Now you’ve just planted a seed of doubt!

On the contrary, bringing up opposing arguments makes you seem unbiased and boosts your ethos. (“You must be trustworthy; you are pointing out your opposition!“) Further, and more importantly, it allows you to directly refute the opposing arguments with logical arguments of your own.

#11: Emphasize the points of most value to audience

Unless you are using only perfect, irrefutable facts as premises, and making a purely deductive argument (where the conclusions follow immediately from premises), there are going to be holes in your inductive argument. (This doesn’t mean you’ve done a poor job. Inductive arguments have uncertainties by definition.)

Since your presentation has a finite length, you must make choices how to best spend your time. You will be most effective if you devote the majority of your presentation to discuss the issues of primary interest to your audience.

Make it Real

Concrete and specific details improve the strength of your arguments, and thus make your overall message more persuasive.

Explaining the theory behind why your new solution will raise profits is a good start; sharing a story about a company which raised profits 17% by adopting your solution is much stronger.

#12. Use props or photographs.

Talking about something in abstract terms is good, but using real objects or photographs carries more logos. Visual evidence is very hard to refute.

#13: Use vivid details.

In lieu of photographs, you can make your claims more real by supplying vivid details.

#14: Use facts and statistics.

Assigning numbers adds to the impact.

Compare the following statements:

• Every year, many people die of cancer.
• Every year, 3000 people in our community die of cancer.

Which one of these statements is more likely to persuade your audience to contribute money to cancer research?

#15: Cite your sources.

A statistic may be accurate, but without citing a source, your audience may dismiss it. By citing a source, you tip the scale towards believability.

(The credibility of your source is also important, but that is more closely related to ethos.)

#16: Use real examples and case studies.

You can construct convincing arguments about theories and ideas, but your audience will be left to wonder whether the theory holds in reality. Real examples and case studies show that the theory works in the real world.

#17: Use personal stories and anecdotes.

A personal story combines the power of a real example with that of a cited source. Assuming you are a credible source, personal stories and anecdotes carry more logos than stories or anecdotes “which happened to a friend of mine.”

What do you think?

The techniques listed here are far from complete. There are other ways to improve your logical arguments and your persuasive effectiveness.

What other techniques do you use?

When you are in the audience, what qualities of the presentation make you more likely to judge it to be a sound argument?

Please share your ideas in the comments.

Similar Articles You May Like... What is Logos and Why is it Critical for Speakers? Ethos, Pathos, Logos: 3 Pillars of Public Speaking Book Review: Thank You For Arguing (Jay Heinrichs)

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Along the same lines, below are some simple yet powerful “exercises” for honing your confidence, credibility, and audience connection immediately before your next high-stakes presentation opportunity.

Ready?

Stretch your communication muscles.

Runners need to limber up before a race. Arrive early enough at your venue to walk around the presentation room and ensure that it is set up the way you want:

• Is there a platform? Where is it located?
• Are you restricted to the platform, or can you walk around?
• How will you build rapport and intimacy with listeners from your speaking position?
• Will you be lit while on stage? If so, how will that impact your ability to connect with listeners via eye contact?

Taking the time to get oriented will help you feel more in control and better prepared for the unexpected.

Set?

Warm up with a dry run.

Now that you’re familiar with your surroundings it’s time test your equipment. Check the microphone: figure out how to turn it off and on, and speak into it while a friend or colleague listens from various locations in the audience. If you’re using PowerPoint, are your slides in the proper sequence? Do they appear correctly on the venue’s display? Finally, rehearse your presentation aloud. If you don’t have time to go through the whole thing, pick out a handful of key sections — among them your opening and close — and practice until you’ve got them nailed.

Be sure that the host or organizer has a copy of the introduction you provided in advance (if not, give them the extra copy you brought with you). In Speaker’s Edge, author Martin Presse recommends formatting your intro in 18-point type, with each line a bullet point for easier reading. Finally, decide where you’ll be waiting during your introduction so you can walk briskly and enthusiastically to the stage.

Go!

Get an early lead.

Arriving early gives you the opportunity to greet attendees as they make their way into the room. Shake hands, introduce yourself, and graciously thank them for attending. Allow yourself time to make your way to your starting point, where you can listen intently to your introduction like a runner awaiting the start’s pistol. Approach the stage with relaxed self-confidence, and you’ll be ready to give a winning presentation.

Successful runners know it’s all about pace. By completing a pre-event ritual like the one described above, you’ll have the basics nailed and be able to concentrate on delivering a confident, well-paced presentation in which the audience is the ultimate winner.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Stephanie Scotti is a strategic communications advisor specializing in helping people deliver high-impact communications. With 25+ years of experience, Scotti has taught high-stakes presentation skills at Duke University and routinely works with Fortune 100 executives and top-ranking government officials (including the U.S. President’s Cabinet) to prepare for and deliver winning presentations. For out more at her SpeakerNotes blog.

Have you ever listened to a speaker and thought:

• “I’m… so… lost.”
• “How did he come to that conclusion?”
• “Interesting theory, but it wouldn’t work for me.”
• “No way! That number has to be wrong.”
• “Nice slides, but I’ll stick with my own method.”

In all of these cases, the speaker probably suffered from poor logos. As a result, it’s doubtful that you adopted their central message or followed the call-to-action.

In this article of the Ethos, Pathos, and Logos series, we examine logos and the importance of conveying your message in a way that is both understandable and convincing to your audience.

What is Logos?

Logos is the Greek root word from which the English logic is derived.

So, it isn’t surprising that, in speaking, logos is often equated with “logical reasoning” or “an argument based on reasoning”.

You might be thinking that logic is dry and boring. You might also be thinking that you want to be a dynamic and fun speaker, and so logical reasoning isn’t really that important to you.

While you may not get turned on by logical analysis, it is critical to your success. Before we can see why logos matters to you as a speaker, however, we need to define a few terms.

A (Very) Brief Tour of Logical Reasoning

Logical reasoning has two flavors:

1. Deductive reasoning, and
2. Inductive reasoning

Deductive Reasoning

Deductive reasoning consists of one or more deductive arguments. You generally start with one or more premises, and then derive a conclusion from them. Premises can be facts, claims, evidence, or a previously proven conclusion. The key is that in a deductive argument, if your premises are true, then your conclusion must be true.

For example, consider the following deductive argument:

1. Audiences hate all boring things. (premise)
2. Bullet-point slides are boring. (premise)
3. Therefore, audiences hate bullet-point slides. (conclusion)

So, if audiences hate boring things (yes!) and if bullet-point slides are boring (yes!), then audiences must hate bullet-point slides.

Inductive Reasoning

Inductive reasoning is similar in that it consists of premises which lead to a conclusion. The difference is that the conclusion is not guaranteed to be true — we can only state it with some degree of confidence.

For example, consider the following inductive argument:

1. All Six Minutes articles you have read in the past were insightful. (premise)
2. This is a Six Minutes article. (premise)
3. Therefore, this article is insightful. (conclusion)

Given these premises, it is reasonable to expect that this article will be insightful, but it cannot be stated with certainty based on those premises. It must be inferred.

Audiences and Logical Arguments

Okay, so why is this important?  It’s important because your audience is applying deductive and inductive reasoning all the time. It happens subconsciously, but they are doing it before you start speaking, while you speak, and after you’ve finished.

Let’s consider an example.

Example Scenario: You are trying to convince your audience to try a new weight-loss diet.

• You claim that the new diet reduces hunger. (premise A)
• You claim that reducing hunger will reduce caloric intake. (premise B)
• You claim that reducing caloric intake will cause weight loss. (premise C)
• You conclude that the new diet will cause weight loss.
  (This is a sound, deductive conclusion which must be true if premises A, B, and C are true.)

What could your audience be thinking?

• Every diet I have tried in the past has failed miserably. (premise D)
• This new diet is like those failed diets. (premise E)
• Therefore, this new diet will fail miserably.
  (This is a reasonable inductive conclusion drawn from premises D and E.)

Because their own conclusion is based on strong, emotional experiences (i.e. a failed diet is emotional), it has high pathos and probably trumps your conclusion. Since your audience has to resolve these conflicting conclusions, they will look to your arguments for flaws. Although your deductive conclusion is sound, they will doubt your premises:

• “I’m always hungry when I am on a diet!” (counters premise A)
• “But if my caloric intake drops, I won’t have enough energy to exercise, and I’ll gain weight!” (counters premise C)

How can you be persuasive in this challenging scenario? Your success depends on your ability to simultaneously make your argument stronger and competing arguments weaker.

For example:

• You can boost your argument by providing supporting facts, diet research, or even your personal success story with the new diet.
• You also must show why this new diet is unlike all those past failed diets. If successful, you would significantly cast doubt on premise E, and their entire inductive argument.

Kill Two Birds with a Single Stone: Commonplaces

It may seem impossible to build a strong argument when you’ve got to compete against a lifetime of beliefs and premises that your audience has previously formed. You may wonder how you can persuade anyone of anything.

The answer: commonplaces.

Commonplaces are simply beliefs which are widely held. Commonplaces often represent “shared wisdom”, and come from many sources. For example:

• Family members may agree that “eating dinner together every day keeps us strong”.
  • This commonplace would make it hard for you to convince them to join a club that meets in the dinner hour.
• Organizations may have core values which include “communication is key to our success”.
  • This commonplace means that they are particularly receptive to ideas which promise to improve organizational communication.
• Society at large generally believes that “freedom of speech is a good thing”.
  • This commonplace would be a good starting point to persuade members of your school board not to ban controversial classics from the school library.

There are two keys to using commonplaces in your speeches:

1. Commonplaces can be used as (often unstated) premises in your speeches. You can use them just as you would use any other fact or claim.
2. When your commonplaces are different from your audience’s commonplaces, use theirs, not yours!

A wonderful example of this second principle is provided by Jay Heinrichs in Thank you for Arguing, page 101:

Suppose you want to encourage students graduating from an elite private liberal arts college to enlist in the military. Use the audience’s commonplaces, not the military’s. Instead of “A strong nation is a peaceful nation,” say, “Our armed forces can use independent, critical thinkers.”

When you use your audience’s commonplaces as your premises, your arguments appear much, much stronger. You don’t have to convince them to adopt a completely new viewpoint; rather, you are simply encouraging them to take what they already believe (the commonplace) and apply it to a new scenario.

Okay, I’ll Use Commonplaces. Anything Else?

Unfortunately, there’s more to it than that. Using audience commonplaces is just one particularly strong technique.

In general, you can develop strong logos by following three general principles:

1. Make it Understandable
   Whatever arguments you employ, they have to be easily understood by the audience before they can be persuasive.
2. Make it Logical
   Make sure your arguments stand up under the deductive and inductive reasoning that your audience will be using. Make sure your premises don’t have holes in them, and have a strategy for addressing competing arguments which your audience already believes.
3. Make it Real
   Premises which are based on concrete and specific facts and examples tend to be accepted quicker than premises which are abstract and general. The more easily your premises are accepted, the more easily your conclusions will be as well.

Why is Logos Critical for Speakers?

Preconceptions are not easily pushed aside. If your presentation is hard to follow, or if your arguments are fairly weak, your audience will find it easy to dismiss your ideas.

Sound, logical arguments, on the other hand, are hard for your audience to ignore. When combined with good ethos and pathos, strong logos will cause all but the most stubborn audience members to give strong consideration to your ideas.

The Circular Relationship between Logos and Ethos

By demonstrating logos with strong, logical arguments, your audience will tend to see you as knowledgeable and prepared. This, in turn, raises your ethos (because, after all, only someone with pure intentions would work so hard to prepare such a convincing argument).

Similarly, speakers with high ethos tend to receive less opposition when they present logical arguments. Their facts and claims are more easily believed.

Work on both traits, and you will be much more persuasive.

How do you Establish Logos?

There are many specific ways to establish logos throughout your speech, and we’ve hinted at some of them already in this article.  We examine some of these methods in greater detail in the next article of this series.

Similar Articles You May Like... 17 Easy Ways to Be a More Persuasive Speaker Ethos, Pathos, Logos: 3 Pillars of Public Speaking Book Review: Thank You For Arguing (Jay Heinrichs)

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Six Minutes weekend reviews bring the best public speaking articles to you.

This review features topics including:

• recently released speaking books;
• another TED talk critique;
• using video in your talk;
• overcoming youth-centric stereotypes;
• moderating a panel;
• and more!

From the Six Minutes Archives

One Year Ago from Six Minutes…

• 6 Key Steps to Dip Your Toe into the Professional Speaking Pool
  Jane Atkinson reveals what you need to do to transition to be a paid speaker.

Recently on Six Minutes…

• Book Review — Boring to Bravo
  A look at the strengths and weaknesses of Kristin Arnold’s recently published book about engaging your audience.

Resources for Speakers – Public Speaking Books

Check out these recently released public speaking and communications books:

• Visual Meetings: How Graphics, Sticky Notes and Idea Mapping Can Transform Group Productivity by David Sibbet
• How to Give a Pretty Good Presentation: A Speaking Survival Guide for the Rest of Us by T. J. Walker
• Demystifying Technical Training: Partnership, Strategy, and Execution by Wendy L. Combs and Bettina M. Davis
• It's the Way You Say It: Becoming Articulate, Well-spoken, and Clear by Carol A. Fleming
• Presenting Yourself With Impact At Work by Gill Graves

Visual Aids

• Gavin Meikle debates the merits of including video clips in your talk.

Less is more is always my mantra. Ask yourself, do I really need a video clip here? Remember you are your own best visual aid and anything else should add value.

• John Zimmer critiques a fascinating TED talk by Roz Savage with a focus on when you should black out the slides to bring attention back to yourself.

Having an image that is incongruous with your words is never a good idea. At best, it will be mildly distracting; at worst, it could be confusing for some members of the audience. Besides, the audience’s main focus for any speech should be the speaker, not the slide presentation. So if in doubt, black it out!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Speaker Habits

• Denise Graveline ponders what to do when your youth undermines your credibility.

I am a 30 year-old executive at a life science company. The blessings of my Asian genes is that I look about 10 years younger, but professionally it is my number one curse. I teach seminars around the globe, speak at universities and give regular presentations before the senior management of companies. Usually the audience is in shock when I begin speaking because they thought I was the intern or assistant. How do I establish credibility in as a public speaker when my looks work so dramatically against me?

• Kathy Reiffenstein offers 5 suggestions to get the most from a presentation skills course.

Be generous in your feedback to others. By generous, I don’t necessarily mean nice, although you certainly do want to look for the positives in others’ presentations and comment on them. But equally important is the constructive feedback — pointing out to others where they could have done something more effectively and what impact that would have had on you, their audience.

[...] And best of all, if you’re generous with your feedback, others will return the favor.

• Ian Griffin shares 10 tips for moderating a panel.

Like any blood sport, a good panel discussion needs a referee. The moderator’s job is to be the voice of reason, the champion for the audience and, if necessary, the inquisitor who probes beneath the surface for compelling comments.

• Lisa Braithwaite reminds us that first impressions form before you speak.

You may think that the moment you walk onstage is the first impression your audience gets of you. However, you are onstage from the minute you arrive at the venue. In fact, you are onstage when someone is browsing your website to determine if they want to invite you to speak!

Similar Articles You May Like... Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-07-10] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-06-12] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-03-06] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-02-06] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-01-02] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2009-12-05]

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

On my recent vacation, I took a copy of Boring to Bravo. It’s a perfect summer read. Not only is it organized into easily digestible chunks (read a section or two while sipping lemonade on the deck), it is also packed with techniques which will energize your presentations.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

• What’s Inside?
• The Price
• What I Loved
• How could it be better?
• What Others Think
• Verdict

What’s Inside?

Boring to Bravo is the latest book from Kristin Arnold, current President of the National Speakers Association. Among the dozens of techniques in the book, you’ll find advice such as:

• Why you should move with purpose
• The value of choosing vivid words
• How to make the room more engaging
• Effectively breaking your audience into groups
• Facilitating a discussion

Every speaker is guaranteed to find new techniques here. I certainly did.

Don’t Believe Me? See For Yourself!

You can browse through the opening pages of Boring to Bravo with these PDF downloads:

• Table of Contents (pdf)
• Introduction (pdf)
• Chapter One (pdf)

The Price

At the time of writing this review, you can get this book for only $14.93 from amazon.com. This is 32% off the list price.

3 Things I Love about Boring to Bravo

The three things I liked most about Boring to Bravo are:

1. Breadth of Techniques Covered

This book casts a wide net, covering topics such as delivery techniques, visual aids, storytelling, asking engaging questions, facilitating discussion, and critiquing yourself. Gaining mastery over every technique described will help you become a very well-rounded presenter.

2. Emphasis on Techniques Beyond “Just Speaking”

This book stands out on my speaking bookshelf in large part to the tips and techniques that go beyond “just speaking.”

When delivering five, ten, or even 15 minute speeches, you can probably speak from start to finish and keep the audience engaged and entertained. But if you find yourself delivering lunch-hour seminars, or 3 to 4-hour courses, you quickly discover that your audience’s attention is not so easily sustained. It’s necessary to change the pace and introduce short (relevant!) activities.

Ideas for these short activities is where Boring to Bravo excels. For example, there’s an entire chapter on organizing effective group breakout sessions.

3. Risk Ratings

Within every chapter, each section is accompanied by a “risk rating,” which aims to distinguish between low-risk activities (score 1) and high-risk activities (score 5).

For example:

• “Choose Vivid Words” has a risk rating of 1 (low-risk)
• “Borrowed Stories” has a risk rating of 2
• “Dress the Part” (in costume) has a risk rating of 3
• “Interview a Participant” has a risk rating of 4

I could quibble about a few of the individual ratings, but the concept is useful. You may wish to master low-risk activities first, and carefully experiment with higher risk activities as your skills and confidence grows.

How could it be better?

1. More Aggressive Editing

I think the book would benefit from one last critical edit.

• On several occasions, it seemed like the same tip was being duplicated in different words, just a page or two apart. I don’t think the repetition was intentional, but…?
• There are numerous “guest tips” offered (from highlighted professional speakers) in sidebars throughout the book. These sidebars are valuable as they offer new perspectives. However, the sidebars usually weren’t introduced or placed in context by the main body text. Also, the tips were occasionally duplicates of ones offered in nearby body text.

2. Crosslink the Glossary/Index

There is a healthy 12-page glossary at the end of the book, which offers short descriptions of many of the terms discussed in the book (e.g. Audience Response System). However, there’s a wasted opportunity here to link those glossary definitions back to the location(s) in the book where that concept is discussed. For example, the book would be more useful as reference material if the Audience Response System entry told you that it is discussed on page 89 (the “Using Technology” section of the “Ask Engaging Questions” chapter).

Update: According to the author’s comment below, the glossary is cross-linked as an index in the publicly released version of the book. My review is based upon an advance copy.

3. More Practical Examples

I’d like to see practical examples added more consistently to accompany the tips. There are numerous examples throughout, but they are occasionally missing.

For example, in Chapter 9 (Use Descriptive Words), the author encourages cadence variation (page 130) and parallel construction (page 131), but doesn’t accompany either tip with a short speech example. [Note: It does point to "the many bulleted lists in this book for examples of parallel construction", but many of the bulleted lists in the book are not, in fact, parallel construction.]

What Others Think

Ian Griffin, Professional Speaking blog:

This is not a basic presentation skills book. Arnold encourages readers to step outside the role of the speaker as an authority figure who controls the audience from the front of the room, to someone who passionately participates in an event that is enjoyed by the audience as a collaborative experience.

Stephen Forte:

I have been a public speaker for 15 years, a professional one for over 13, and found this book very useful. I learned several things while reading it, including many things I am doing wrong! [...]

[...] If you want to be a more engaging, dynamic speaker, read this book!

Verdict

Boring to Bravo will help you become a more complete speaker and will improve your ability to handle a diverse set of speaking situations. I recommend you get yourself a copy today.

Similar Articles You May Like... Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) Book Review: The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson Professional Speaker Associations Interview with Kristin Arnold, National Speakers Association President Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-08-14] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-07-10]

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Six Minutes weekend reviews bring the best public speaking articles to you.

This review features topics including:

• storytelling points;
• technical speaking challenges;
• speech editing;
• warming up your voice;
• vocal projection;
• delivery versus discussion;
• handouts;
• using the iPad while speaking;
• Dilbert on speaking fear;
• and more!

Speechwriting

• Doug Stevenson offers a two-part lesson on distilling the point of your stories. Part 1 is an introduction and reader challenge; part 2 reports on submissions and provides commentary. Challenge yourself!

Rather than giving you the point of the story, I want to ask you what you think the point could or should be. What did you take away from the story? What was the lesson for you?

Once you’ve narrowed down what you think the lesson is, challenge yourself to translate the lesson into a Phrase That Pays. Turn the lesson or the point of the story into a call to action. Start the Phrase That Pays with a verb, and use six words or less.

• Denise Graveline offers a pair of articles focused on technical speaking challenges.
  • In the first article, she discusses how scientific presentations differ from other presentation styles.
  • In the second article, she suggests how to balance technical and non-technical information for a mixed audience.
• Cynthia Starks extracts six steps for speech editing from The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write One, How to Deliver It.

First, let it rest.

Edit for content.

Edit for organization.

Edit for style.

Edit for language.

Edit for grammar.

• Mark Tamer suggests “closing the loop” — closing your speech by referring back to the opening words.

[...] the exceptional presenter stops for questions several minutes before the conclusion of her presentation. After responding to questions and inviting the thoughts of others, she delivers her strong closing (the message she wants her audience to repeat long after her presentation) [...] Closing the loop can be as easy as rephrasing your opening statement.

Delivery Techniques

• Kate Peters explains how to warm up your voice.

It takes a good thirty minutes to warm up most voices.  Set that time aside before you go on.  In addition, spend as much time off stage practicing as you are going to spend on stage presenting.  That means, if your talk is an hour long, you need to practice an hour a day for a week or two before presenting. If you regularly give presentations that are four or more hours long, as trainers do, you need to make sure you keep your voice healthy with a daily work out, but you also need to make sure you get some vocal rest in between presentations.

• Lisa Braithwaithe discusses tips for vocal projection.

Vocal projection is not so much about being louder as it is about placement. When you are not projecting your voice, it’s because you are speaking to a space right in front of your face. Projection just means that, instead of focusing at a point right in front of you, you focus on a point farther away.

Visual Aids

• Brent Dykes analyzes presentation timelines and advocates devoting ample time for discussion.

Two-way communication is generally encouraged for most presentations. However, communication between audience members can be equally or more valuable than just communication between a presenter and his/her audience. The next time you present in a smaller business setting ensure that you leave ample time for discussion, and you’ll see a difference in the action and success your presentation is able to drive. Don’t let PowerPoint slides interrupt a good discussion!

• Jonathan Thomas offers a tongue-in-cheek look at bad PowerPoint advice.

That font is too big.

I realize this graph is confusing.  How about we make it so small and have it appear and disappear so quickly that the audience only gets a glimpse of it.

I know the presentation looks better with images and less text, but I need my bullet points to remember what I’m talking about.

Don’t worry about the number of slides.  If I can’t get to them all, I’ll just skip the last few.

Make sure my logo, website, and phone number is on every slide.

Speaker Habits

• Olivia Mitchell delivers 13 tips for effective presentation handouts.

Prepare your handouts in plenty of time.

Don’t just print out your slides.

Ensure your handout reflects your presentation.

Add more information.

Include references.

Consider creating an action sheet.

Make your handout stand-alone.

Provide whitespace.

Make your handout look professional.

Consider what additional resources you can provide for your audience.

Consider creating a web page.

Distribute the handout at the beginning of your presentation.

Do tell people if it’s not in the handout.

• Phil Waknell follows up with another perspective on handouts. In particular, he advocates giving out the handouts at the end of the presentation.

Therefore if you tell the audience at the start that you will give them a full set of notes afterwards, so they can concentrate on you and your subject in a proper connected communication session, they will thank you, and they will actually learn more because they are truly listening, not just trying to transcribe.

The iPad and the Speaker

• Gavin Meikle analyzes the usefulness of an iPad while speaking.

The iPad is a fantastic tool and it’s uses are developing all the time. I love it for note taking, planning, organising and mind mapping but it’s not quite there yet as a full blown presentation tool.

• Jan Schultink reports on using an iPad for a 1-on-1 presentation.

[...] not a perfect experience, but I am learning.

Dilbert and Public Speaking Fear

Similar Articles You May Like... Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review #81 Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-08-14] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-07-10] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-06-26] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-06-12] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-06-05]

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.