Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here.
Today I'm going to talk about public speaking.
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So, uh, first of all, I think public speaking, uh, in
your own language is an art.
Something that the ancient Greeks and Romans were
particularly good at, or at least it was a very important
part of their, of their lives.
Whether as lawyers defending a client or debating in the
Senate or whatever it might be.
And so they developed a certain set of rules.
I think public speaking is a wonderful discipline if you
are learning another language.
So if you are learning English and I know many people who listen to me here, they
listen in order to improve their English.
Uh, and I think that's a good idea.
And of course you can study any of these videos at LingQ, uh, and learn the words
and phrases and expressions and so forth.
But, uh, there are public speaking clubs, uh, Toastmaster clubs, this kind of thing
in all kinds of places around the world.
Sometimes even in English, even in those places where English
isn't the native language.
And preparing to give, uh, you know, to talk in front of people
is a wonderful way to build up your capability in the language.
Now I, um, was learning swedish.
It was quite interesting.
I was just thinking about this subject, public speaking, the importance of
public speaking, and I remembered that
I didn't know when, but quite a long time ago, when I was really into learning
Swedish and I was traveling to Sweden for business, for my lumber business.
And I would always go to bookstores and I would buy, you know, books in Swedish and
books where I could find the audio book.
Uh, this was a long time ago where we didn't have the ability to like right now
to, uh, go to YouTube and import things to LingQ or Netflix, or, uh, you know, even
to find audio books and eBooks that, uh, are matching and where we can import them
into, I think as I have done for Polish and for Ukrainian and, and for other
languages, these things didn't exist.
I had to buy an e-book.
Uh, excuse me, I had to buy an audio book and then I had to buy the book and
read the book and, uh, look things up.
So in Sweden, I bought this thing called Praktisk Retorik, and I was able to buy the matching CD.
So this was tremendous fun for me.
The only problem was
that there were words I can see now, as I look through the book that
there were words that I underlined that I didn't understand, but,
um, or I wanted to remember like..
. In other words, this means I wanted to get some of this phrasing.
Uh...
so, you know I'm underlying some of these things.
So it was part of my swedish learning, uh, experience, but it
also taught me about public speaking.
And in fact, I had to give a speech to the Swedish.
Mm. I can't remember what it was.
I think it was, they have 'em in, in Carlstead every year.
The Swedish timber trade has an international conference where, uh,
suppliers and customers and people involved in the timber business
from all around the world come.
And they asked me to give a talk.
So I said, fine, I'd give a talk.
And so then I referred to what I had learned here.
And then I thought to myself, well, you know, I can, you know, not many people are
listening to me speak Swedish, and there's not much point in quoting this in Swedish.
And I was curious to see if by any chance, this book had
been translated into English.
So I Googled Praktisk Retorik and lo and behold, I found an article that I had submitted
to a self-help website in 2007.
And the website was called Pick the Brain.
And there it is, it says.
Uh, nail your next presentation with these classic principles of public
speaking, November the fifth, 2007.
So that is 13 years ago.
And at that time I was obviously, we were starting LingQ and we
wanted to generate some traffic.
And I was up there trying to get guest posts on people's blogs and stuff
like that, but I'm going to post a link to this in the description box.
Uh, but I pointed out many of the things...
this is a very good book.
I'm just disappointed that it's not available in English.
Uh, I should have actually checked to see if it's available in, uh, in
the ebook format so that it can be imported into LingQ along with the
audio, but he references the Greeks.
He ... and Romans..
He represents, you know, Churchill or, or, uh, modern people who
are good at public speaking.
And he does sort of hit on the highlights, which I'm going to do for you now.
And I got to cheat by, uh, you know, going back to what I
wrote back then 13 years ago.
So, you know, you've been, and they had terms in the ancient world for the
different parts of your presentation.
So it begins with the exordium , which is sort of the introduction.
And as he points out in his book, like many people are concerned about...
how do you start the speech?
And he says, it's really not very important.
The start of the speech is all about just getting people to like you.
And so therefore if you spill your water and your, you know, a glass or, or
you notice some people in the audience that, you know, Um, you know, especially
if you're visiting, like if, if I was up in Carlstadt, then I might say,
Oh, it's nice to be here with ... and with, uh, ... and all these friends in
the Swedish timber industry to create some connection, that's really all you
want to achieve, get them to like you, and also establish that you have some
authority in the field.
So, you know, in my example, I would have said, you know, that I am happy to
be here amongst these friends and that, you know, I have been in the timber
trade for whatever, you know, 30 years.
And I can't remember if I was talking about Japan or what I was
talking about, but I would like to establish the fact that not only am
a nice guy, cause I spilled my water
uh, and I know some people in the audience.
But also I know something, I know what I'm talking about.
So I'm somebody you should be listening to, and that's all you do in this
exordium, which is the first part of it.
So I then as having earned the listener sympathy and convinced them
that you are someone that they might believe or trust, now you tell them
what you're going to talk about.
So this is the narratio, the narration.
Here is what I'm going to be talking about.
Okay.
And there's a little more detail here in this article.
And you, so you, you spell out the details of what your, your presentation is.
Now where I was watching earlier.
They, uh, the, uh, discussions in the, in the US Senate.
And of course the speakers are trying to make their case and stuff like that.
And so you present the facts, the story, the narration.
And so that's the second thing after you've gained their sympathy.
That's probably number one.
Then part number two, you sort of tell the story that you've got to the details,
the story, then the next is supposed to be what they call the refutatio, where you
come and point out the counter-arguments.
So you present all of this is we think this, that, and the other and stuff, but
then what about the counter-arguments?
What about this?
So you present these counter-arguments.
And of course you're destroy them.
You know, these counter-arguments can all be easily refuted.
So you refute, you put these counter arguments up there and
then you just bang, you bomb them.
And then the last part of the presentation is what they call the peroratio, which is
where you make a final emotional appeal.
Okay.
So basically that's it.
You begin by making people like you and establish the fact that you are
someone they should trust and believe.
The second part you explain or sort of you, you provide the narration.
Here are the facts.
Here's a story.
Here's what I think is important.
Here's the cause that I'm trying to persuade you off.
Then in the third part, you'll put up potentials , counter
arguments, and destroy them.
And then you end up with an emotional appeal.
And I found that when I have a, uh, talk to give, if I have some kind of format
like that, that I can slot my ideas into, it's easier to prepare the speech.
And I know where I am leading the audience.
They don't know what's coming.
I do.
And I find that gives me a sense of control over my audience.
I know where I'm leading them at every step of the way.
Now, each one of these sections can have parts to them.
You might have, for example, I had my experience in Sciences Po in Paris at
the, uh, political science Institute, we were taught to have these balanced
expose, you know, first part, second part.
So in presenting your ideas, you could have part one and then you can have,
you know, can expand on it a bit.
And then of course you have the counter argument, so there's
different ways you can refine it.
But the idea that you have an approach that says here I am, I'm a nice guy.
You should believe me.
Here's a story that I have to tell you.
Here are the counter-arguments and they hold no water.
And here's my final emotional appeal is a format that I have found to be very
effective and it gives you confidence.
If you know what it is you're going to say and how you're going to say it.
It helps you organize your ideas and it gives you confidence.
So, um, with that, you can find a reference here to the article
that I submitted back in 2007.
If you want to explore this in greater detail.