SPICE UP YOUR SPEECHES

Presentation to Toastmasters District 72 Rotorua Convention

May 2008 by

Rob Julian DTM

The power of three

He was tall, dark, and handsome.She was a luscious, long-legged, blonde.It was a hot, bright, summer’s day.The room was dank, cold, and gloomy.I have nothing to offer but blood, sweat, and tears.

I shall discuss this topic from the point of view of• The government• Society; and• The individualNote – Winston Churchill actually said ‘I have nothing to

offer but blood, toil, sweat and tears’. Everyone thinks he said ‘Blood, sweat, and tears’. We cut it down to three.

POWER OF THREE AND HUMOUR

Darren LaCroix – World Champion 2001 Professional Stand Up Comedian

Raise the audience expectations one way and then change with the punchline

I went to a Toastmasters meeting and they were a great audience. They were supportive, encouraging, and sober.

• I gave a well prepared speech at Toastmasters last week. It was stimulating, thought provoking, and a disaster.

Exercise – Complete this statement – My dentist took one look in my mouth and said “ ---, ---, and ----”

RepetitionRepetition

We shall fight on the beachesWe shall fight on the beachesWe shall fight on the landing fieldsWe shall fight on the landing fieldsWe shall fight with ever increasing confidence in the We shall fight with ever increasing confidence in the

air.air.We shall never surrenderWe shall never surrender

America needs a President it can trustAmerica needs a President it can trustAmerica needs a President who can unite the countyAmerica needs a President who can unite the countyAmerica needs a President that can make this country America needs a President that can make this country

great again.great again.

RHETORICAL QUESTIONSRHETORICAL QUESTIONS

Does he really take us for such fools?Does he really take us for such fools?Are we really expected to take him at his word?Are we really expected to take him at his word?Is he seriously asking us to believe that somehow he Is he seriously asking us to believe that somehow he

isisable to persuade the National Party to abandon every able to persuade the National Party to abandon every one of its core principles?one of its core principles?Chris Trotter DomPost April 18Chris Trotter DomPost April 18

Are we going to behave like sheep?Are we going to behave like sheep?Are we gullible fools?Are we gullible fools?Are we mindless cretins?Are we mindless cretins?Or are we going to determine our own destinies?Or are we going to determine our own destinies?

AlliterationAlliterationCombine with the power of Combine with the power of

threethreeIt was a hot humid heavy day.It was a hot humid heavy day.After the marathon I was exhausted, After the marathon I was exhausted,

elated and exhilarated.elated and exhilarated.Millie Holmes – Dad, Drugs, and Detox Millie Holmes – Dad, Drugs, and Detox

((Sunday Times)Sunday Times)In 1972 I was a ninky nonky nincompoop In 1972 I was a ninky nonky nincompoop

living in a North Shore haze.living in a North Shore haze. Elizabth Hawthorne – playing Germaine Elizabth Hawthorne – playing Germaine

Greer in ‘The Female of the Species’.Greer in ‘The Female of the Species’.

Word pictures/Imagery

The sun set with magnificent crimson blaze of splendour over the Tinakori Hills.

The bar was dingy, damp and dirty.

She had a voice that could drill troops at 100 metres

The fractured notes of a piano floated on the evening air like sad memories.

Metaphors

Swallowing dead rats.

She had all the presence of a mutated ball bearing.

Mary came softly in, for the blue-gray colour of his gloom had seeped out under the door and through the keyhole”. John Steinbeck. Cannery Row p.25

She threw me a look that would have stopped a Green party canvasser in his tracks.

He was a lusty young lion, hauling the horizon toward him with his claws - Joe Bennett

I took long languid lazy strokes with my arms snaking out in front of me – Grant Smith Turbine Talkers

AND

• I aced the test• We galloped down the hill• He wolfed his food• She cried crocodile tears• It’s a pig of a day

• One hundred years later the negro is still crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. Martin Luther King 1963

SimiliesLike --------As --------------- than ----

Guilt hung around him like stale cigarette smoke

The fractured notes of the piano floated like sad memories

The moon was peering down on the harbour as though searching for something it had lost.

Butch Junior sucked on his bottle looking wiser than a tree full of owls – Daymon Runyon

I KNEW I WAS IN TROUBLE I KNEW I WAS IN TROUBLE WHEN---------1 – 1.5 MINWHEN---------1 – 1.5 MIN

TO INCLUDETO INCLUDE

THE POWER OF THREETHE POWER OF THREE REPETITIONREPETITION RHETORICAL QUESTIONSRHETORICAL QUESTIONS ALLITERATIONALLITERATION WORD PICTURESWORD PICTURES METAPHORSMETAPHORS SIMILIESSIMILIES