Carnegie Language Breakthroughs and the Art of Communication

Chapter 23 The Art of Effective Communication (2)
Numerous Mr. Nan Guo have written many absurd and clumsy comments on the expressive skills of speeches, making this issue shrouded in various rules, rituals and artificial mysteries.That old-fashioned "oratory" has always been hated by people, and it often makes the matter of speech extremely absurd.When some businessmen who want to learn speech skills go to libraries or bookstores to find relevant "secret books", the librarian will immediately bring him a large set of long tomes dubbed "speech skills".Unfortunately, I have to tell you that these things are of little use to you.Students who excel in many subjects are forced to practice and recite the "oratory" of Webster and Ingersoll - an oratory that is rather outdated and contrary to the spirit of our age , as much as the hats worn by Mrs. Ingersoll and Mrs. Webster are still considered fashionable today.

Since the end of the Civil War a whole new theory of oratory has emerged.In keeping with the zeitgeist, this new style of speech was as straightforward as a telegraph.The flamboyant speeches that were once popular are no longer acceptable to modern audiences.

What are the hobbies of modern listeners?Whether it's a business gathering of 15 people or a gathering of thousands, they expect the speaker to say what he wants to express as straightforwardly as he would in a private chat.Correspondingly, in terms of speech attitude, they also expect the speaker to be as cordial as if he is having a private conversation with the audience.

Of course, your attitude in public speaking can be as cordial as when you chat with your friends in private, but you can't express your tone as strongly as you are whispering in this situation, otherwise, most of the audience will not hear your voice .In order to appear natural, you have to use more energy when you are speaking to 40 people than you are when you are talking to one person, just as a statue on the roof of a building must be chosen so large that people can see it from the ground floor. When I went up, I felt that the statue was life-sized.

Once, Mark Twain gave a speech at a mine in Nevada.After the speech, an old prospector came up to him and asked him, "Is this your usual tone of voice?"

This is exactly what the audience expects at a toastmaster: your voice is a little higher than your usual speaking pitch.

How can one learn the natural speaking technique of raising one's voice?The only way is to practice.During the practice, if you find that your expression is a bit reserved and awkward, please stop and say to yourself mercilessly in your heart: "Ah! What's wrong? Quickly wake up! Be humane and be natural." Then imagine You pick someone out of the audience—maybe the person in the back seat, maybe the least attentive person in the audience—and start making small talk with that person, imagining that he asks you a question, and you're doing it right now. Answer him, and you are the only one who can answer his questions.He stands up and talks to you, and you echo his words.Through this practice process, it is bound to immediately make your speech more peaceful, more and more like your usual conversation with people, more natural and more straightforward.So when you're doing this exercise, just pretend it's actually happening.

With this constant practice, your progress may be smooth.By the end, you'll feel like you're actually asking questions and answering them one by one.For example, during your conversation, you may ask: "Do you guys have this question: Do I have any evidence for what I say? Of course, I do have sufficient evidence. I will now explain it as follows..." You then go on to answer the imaginary question you posed yourself.Doing so will come across as natural, breaking up the monotony of a one-man show and making your presentation seem more direct, enjoyable, and more like gossip with friends.

When you're speaking to the community board, it should be the same as when you're talking to your old friend John.What's so special about community boards?Isn't it just a large group of people like John getting together?What works for you against these people individually will work equally well for you against them as a group.

A few pages earlier in this chapter we described a novelist's unsuccessful way of speaking.A few evenings later, in the same great ballroom where she had spoken, we had the pleasure of hearing Sir Oliver Rocky speak.The title of his lecture was "The Atom and the World".This topic is familiar to Oliver, because he has dedicated half a century of thinking, research, experimentation and exploration in this field.Some aspects of it had become fundamentally a part of his own heart, mind, and life, and he felt he had something to say on the subject.On the podium, he has long forgotten that he is giving a speech, and he can say that he has no scruples about it.His only concern was to tell his audience about the atom, and he tried to tell them in a correct, clear, and emotional way.You see, he's full of enthusiasm from the podium, trying so hard to get us to share with him what he's seeing, what he's feeling.

What was the outcome?He gave a terrific speech, he was utterly magical and intimidating.His speech left a deep impression on the audience.His speeches are simply superb.I am sure, however, that he never thought of himself as a public speaker; and I am sure that no one who heard him speak thought of him as a "public speaker" at all.

If after you give a public speech, the audience suspects that you have been trained in public speaking, it is not a compliment, and you must not try to save face for your teacher.As your teacher, what I ask of you is that you speak with such a natural ease that the audience has no time to consider your "formal" training.A good window itself does not attract people's attention, it just silently lets in light.The same goes for good speakers.He is so natural and does not set up any barriers, and the audience never pays attention to the demeanor of his speech, they only focus on chewing on the points he discusses.

4. Put your heart and soul into your presentation
Sincerity, enthusiasm, and a high level of enthusiasm can also help you deliver a successful presentation.When a man is governed by his feelings, his true self comes to the surface; his passion sweeps away all obstructions; It can naturally achieve its true colors.

So, in the final analysis, if there is any expressive skill in speech, it is to go back to what this book emphasizes again and again: devotion to the speech.

Dean Brown said in a sermon to Yale Divinity School students: "A friend of mine once described to me a church service he attended in London, which I will never forget. This friend Tell me that the keynote speaker of the sermon that day was the famous evangelist George MacDonald. In the morning, he first read the scriptures from Chapter 11 of "New Testament Hebrews". When he came to the sermon, he said the following A meaningful passage: 'You all have heard the stories of these men who were sincere in their faith. I don't have to tell you what faith is, because the professor of theology can explain it far better than I can. I'm here Just to help you build your faith.' Then, in a concise, sincere and dignified way, he explained his personal belief in the invisible eternals, hoping to help his church members to build confidence in the mind and heart .He was totally absorbed in his work, and it is self-evident that his preaching produced a remarkable effect, for his speeches flowed entirely from his own inner life, and had a real beauty."

The above-mentioned "his wholehearted focus on his work" is the secret of his success, but it can also be applied to anyone.But as far as I know, this advice has not received widespread attention.It fell short of what it should have been, probably because it seemed a little vague and not clear enough.Most people hope that the advice they get is simple and clear, and it must be something he can touch with his hands. This kind of advice is best as precise as a car driving manual.

This is what most people expect, and of course it is what I hope I can provide them.Hopefully it's easier for them and easier for me to do.But I regret to tell you that there is no such advice or rule in this world, but there is only one thing wrong with them: they have no effect.They can make your speech completely lifeless, lifeless, and extremely uninteresting.I have experienced this myself, because I wasted a lot of energy in my youth practicing these so-called rules.Of course they don't appear in this book, as Josh Billis said in his usual relaxed tone: "Knowing so many useless things is still useless!"

5. Practice making your voice powerful and elastic

When we use our thoughts to communicate with our audience, we make full use of our many vocal organs and parts of our body.We can shrug, wave our arms and shoulders, frown, increase the volume, change pitch and pitch, and sometimes speak faster or slower, depending on the situation and subject matter.However, it is best to remember that these are only the results of your practice, not their inherent variables.In fact, our pitch is directly influenced by our mental and emotional state as it shifts and adjusts.This is why when we speak in front of an audience, we must choose topics that we are familiar with and have a strong interest in, and why we should communicate eagerly with the audience about the topics we are speaking about.

As we grow older, most of us lose the innocence and spontaneity of our childhood, and we fall into certain fixed patterns of physical and vocal communication without knowing it.Our speech will become less and less lifeless, and we will become less and less willing to use gestures, and we will become less and less good at raising and lowering our voices in rhythm.In short, we have lost the liveliness and spontaneity of real conversation.Perhaps in the course of time we get into the habit of speaking too quickly or too slowly, and our words, if we are not careful, become scattered and careless.

I have repeatedly emphasized the need to be natural, and you may mistakenly think that I can forgive you for using some poorly worded sentences, or using monotonous and boring expressions. Quite the opposite!The naturalness I am talking about here means that one should fully express one's ideas with all one's energy.And don't forget that a good speaker never thinks that his vocabulary is exhausted, that he can't expand it, that he can't make it richer in imagination, can't find a more perfect form of expression, and can't make it expressive. The effectiveness has been enhanced a little bit.As a good speaker, these are exactly what you should strive for and improve yourself.How to improve rhetoric will be explained in detail in the next chapter.

You'd better be able to measure your volume, key changes and speed.You can use a tape recorder.Also, it can be useful to ask a friend to evaluate it.It would be better if you can get expert guidance.Remember, though, that these exercises don't yet include the audience.Paying attention to your presentation skills in front of the audience should be more important to effectively express your ideas.Once you're in front of an audience, focus yourself on your speech, focus on making a mental and emotional impact on the audience, and your presentation will be stronger than what you get from a book. more powerful.

6. Make your speech more natural

To speak naturally is to make your speech clearer and more vivid.Before telling these points, I still hesitate a bit, because someone will definitely say: "Oh, I will understand if you don't tell me, isn't it just to force me to do what you say?" No. , I will never do the same!If you force yourself to do this, you will be as rigid as wood and as expressionless as a robot.

In fact, there is nothing mysterious about these things. When you talk to people, you have actually used most of these principles, and you may not feel that you have used them at all, just as you will The food eaten for dinner is digested so naturally.But that is the only way you will use these principles.In speaking, there is really no other way to achieve this state than practice, as we have said many times before.Specific recommendations are as follows.

A. Repeat the important points and skip the unimportant parts

In everyday conversation, we should emphasize some important words and skip over others.This is also the way to deal with the entire sentence, so that some important words and sentences can be highlighted.

The treatment I have described is very common and nothing special.Just pay a little attention and you'll see that people around you are doing just that when they're talking.You yourself may have expressed it in this way yesterday, and you have done it a hundred, or even a thousand times in the past.No doubt you will continue to do so tomorrow.

Let me give you an example, read aloud the following passage from General Napoleon, the elicited words are pronounced emphatically, and the other words are pronounced quickly.How do you feel about the effect?
I can "succeed" in whatever work I decide to do because I have "made up my mind."I never "hesitated" so I was above the rest of the world.

Of course, this is not the only way to read this passage, and another speaker may pronounce it differently than you.How to emphasize the tone, and there is no definite pattern, it depends on the situation.

Read the following little poem aloud with enthusiasm, trying to make the meaning clear and persuasive.See if you are emphasizing the important words and saying the unimportant ones quickly?

If you think you're beaten, fine.

If you think you are not defeated, you will not fail.

If you want to win, but think you can't,
You can be sure that you will not be victorious.

In life it doesn't have to be the stronger or the faster who wins,
Those who win in the end must be those who think they can win.

There is perhaps nothing more important in a man's personality than firm determination.If a little boy wants to become a great person in the future, or plan to make a big difference in the future, you must make up your mind:
Not only must you overcome hundreds of obstacles, but you must still believe that you will win after thousands of setbacks and failures.

— Roosevelt
B. Change the pitch of your voice
When we are talking with people, the voice tends to go from high to low, and this state of high and low will continue to repeat, just like the surface of the sea.Why is this?I'm afraid no one knows, and no one cares.But it's a pleasant way to do it, and it's a natural way to do it.We never have to learn to express it this way.We have been able to speak in this way since childhood, we don't need to pursue it, we just learn it unconsciously.But as soon as we stand up and face the audience, our voices are as dull, flat and monotonous as the Nevada desert.If you find yourself speaking in a monotone voice - usually a high-pitched voice.When speaking, stop for a moment and say to yourself, "I'm speaking like a Indian carved out of wood. Be humane and natural to these people in the audience."

Would it be any help to say these words to myself when I was in such an embarrassing situation?Maybe a little.At least a little pause will help you.But you usually have to practice more to develop your own solution.

You can stand out any sentence or word you pick, just like that green laurel tree in your front yard.You can achieve this simply by raising or lowering your voice abruptly when speaking these prominent sentences.Dr. Cadman, a well-known Congregational Church pastor in Brooklyn, New York, often does this, as do Sir Oliver Roger, Brian, and Roosevelt.Almost every famous speaker does it—it's an immutable law of speech.

Here are three quotes from famous people, you can try to read them again, but when you read the words in quotation marks, you should lower your voice very low.See how it works?
I have only one strength, and that is "never despair".

——Marshal Fuxi

The greatest goal of education is not knowledge, but "action".

— Spencer
I have lived to be 86 years old, and I have seen people reach the top of the mountain, hundreds of them, and there are many important factors for their success, "but the most important thing is confidence".

—Bishop Gibbons
C. Vary the speed of speaking
(End of this chapter)