We’ve looked a bit, in the past few days, at some approaches for making your case in a public speaking engagement: 1) stating your premise, your starting point, up front; 2) presenting your argument rather than merely restating, illustrating, or providing evidence of support for your case; and 3) honestly posing and frankly addressing the major critiques of your position, then using them to provide contrast to understand, and additional platforms from which to reach, your conclusion.
Many of these are effective in written arguments, as well, and often more easily employed there. But public speaking presents special limitations to your ability to make your point, and incorporating these components into your talk can help a great deal in providing the connection and contrast you need.
The point remains to be made, though, that none of this means you should soften the impact of your own argument, undermine its force, or sound an uncertain trumpet in its defense. Surely, you should show sufficient respect for the gravity of your subject as to acknowledge the value of a robust debate regarding it. Just as surely you must show due respect for your own position – indeed, for your audience – and offer a clear, unquestionable, and robust presentation and defense of it.
The explanation of your premise is intended to establish the roots of your argument – not the bounds of its applicability. The unfolding of the logic behind your case is meant to demonstrate and underscore your confidence in it, rather than a need to take shelter in purely rhetorical devices. The recitation of competing approaches is designed to offer contrast against which you can demonstrate the validity of your position – not the quasi-relative appropriateness of all approaches.
If you don’t believe – and demonstrate that belief – in your own product, you will not make an enjoyable, memorable, persuasive presentation of it – you won’t make the sale. That is not only what you want to do – but what your audience wants to see.
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Today’s tip: Speaking of audiences, please see this intriguing treatment, at PsyBlog, of another way they may affect one’s performance.
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