When Aristotle wrote his works on Rhetoric, he became the first person to introduce the concept of art into oratory. We ought to be grateful because he gave us quite a few useful linguistic devices we can use to add persuasive power to our speeches.
Perhaps the most commonly used of the tools of rhetoric is known as the ‘triad’ – a device where you repeat a similar sounding thing three times, as Lincoln did in his Gettysburg address when he spoke of “government of the people, by the people, and for the people”.
Then, a bit later, Winston Churchill created one of his most memorable phrases when he said, “Never before in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
But what makes this technique so powerful and so capable of moving the hearts and minds of so many people?
The answer is actually quite simple. The unconscious mind is a wonderful pattern-detection mechanism, and will spot patterns long before your conscious mind picks them up. And once it spots a pattern (because it loves playing with things like that), it will home in and give the words extra-big focus. And it’s this that can make the words, and the speeches around them, seem so momentous.
Let’s take Churchill’s sentence as an example:.
“Never before in the field of human conflict was so much owed…” (Yep, I heard that). “… by so many….” (whoa, might be a pattern coming up here, should pay attention to the next sentence). “… to so few.” (Yes, definitely a pattern. Better remember the whole three and plant them into deep and lasting memory.
So, with just a bit of word play, you’ve attracted the full attention of the whole mind, and gotten your key message into the soft underbelly of the unconscious.
Let’s play around with a few examples to see how we could work a triad into a speech or presentation.
“The current economic climate demands that we work harder – and work faster – and work smarter.”
“Don’t judge us by our price. Don’t judge us by our reputation. But judge us by our quality.”
“We were successful the year before last. We were successful last year. And now it’s up to us to make sure we’re successful this year.”
We pay keen attention to tools of rhetoric in our writing courses and our conference speaking courses because they’re such powerful tools for planting messages deep into people’s minds.
We don’t go the whole hog, of course, because there are more than 60 of them. But we pick the best and easiest, and make sure our students go away with a basketful of nice techniques.
And if you want to hear a few of these tools in action, Google JFK’s inaugural address, and notice some of the beauties – like, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country” (phrase reversal).
The fact is, these tools are available. And they’re free. So why not take a moment to thank Aristotle, and make sure you get your audience inspired.
John Cliff. www.johncliff.com
