Tips on Writing and Speaking

Organize Your Presentation

Learn to use a Paragraph! It is the basic unit of communication for essays, papers, reports, as well as speeches. What I look for in your communications is how clearly you have expressed a Main Point within One Paragraph. In fact, I define a paragraph as a number of sentences organized around a central idea - the main point you are making. It's often wise to have one sentence that clearly expresses that main point (remember Thesis Statements from English Comp?). So what are the other sentences in the paragraph for? To provide the supporting evidence for that main point! If your work seems to ramble from one thing to the next, it's probably because the paragraphing does not organize the presentation.

Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinking

Perhaps the best way to organize your presentations is to approach the assignment as a Critical Thinking exercise. There are many definitions for critical thinking. Mine is based on Macdonald and Cooper's concept, "Claim and Evidence Thinking," where your expression begins with an assertion, belief, or proposition, and the body of the writing or speech becomes your main points that argue for the truth of this claim. Each main point is proven with evidence, which can be observations that you've made.

For example, if you walk out of a movie theatre and tell your friend that you didn't like it, then you are making a claim. But if you can't answer why you disliked it (beyond saying, "I just didn't like it"), then you have no evidence to support that claim. However, if you point out that Danny Glover seemed sluggish and quiet in his movements, then you are at least focusing on the level of acting. Or if you observed that the special effects were overdone and too often, then you would have a point to make that the story was thin, and the spectacle was too dominant. In either case, you would have reasons to support your points.

In his highly influential work, "Engaging Ideas," John C. Bean calls this type of writing "thesis-based," indicating that at the heart of a paragraph is an act of persuasion. To acquire more focused written compositions, you gain a great deal of advantage if you aim your sentences at a point you are trying to prove, even if you are simply trying to say that this playwright has powerful language, or thoughtful themes, or a great feeling for characters. Fine the "spine" of what you are saying, then your sentences will have a direction to go in, always supporting the main point.

Common Mistakes

Run-On Sentences:

When two or more independent clauses (a word group that can stand alone as a sentence) appear in one sentence, they need to be joined by one of two ways:

If two independent clauses are joined without these connectives, then we get something like this:

- The dancers are essential elements of the ritual, they provide a means of communication for the community.
or
- Most of his actors had decided to quit, Hank did not.

If you learn to use the proper connectives, you will allow your sentences to have more structure:

- The dancers are essential elements of the ritual, since they provide a means of communication for the community.

and
Most of his actors had decided to quit, but Hank did not.

Sentence Fragments

A piece of a sentence is not a sentence. You need a subject and verb for an independent clause. Even if it begins with a subordinating word and still has no verb, you still have a fragment.:

- The Mende people no longer have agoraphobia. A fear of the outside world.
or
- If the show succeeds on Broadway.

You may need to restructure your sentence to avoid having a fragment:

- The Mende people no longer have agoraphobia, a fear of the outside world.
and
- The show might succeed on Broadway.

Tips for Writing

Vary Your Sentence Structures

A variety of sentence types avoids choppiness and shows relationships between ideas:

Simple: My best friend lives two blocks away from me.

Compound: My best friend lives two blocks away from me, but her house is much nicer than mine.

- two simple sentences connected by coordinating conjunction, showing relationship and equal importance.

Complex: Although my best friend lives two blocks away from me, I don't go to her house very often.

- the two observations are not of equal importance; one is subordinating clause, and other is independent clause;

Give some thought to how a reader or audience member receives your message.
If you write or speak in sentences that all have the same, short length, then the feeling they receive is a choppy one,
and they intuitively sense that the message is monotonous. So, when you reread what you've written (writing is rewriting),
look to see that you are varying the sentence lengths. This adds a variety that makes your work seem interesting,
because it never gets stuck in one rhythm.

Using Abstract and Concrete Language

Provide concrete illustrations whenever you write about something abstract. "Success" is abstract; "Standing 6 Foot, 5 inches" is concrete.

Abstract: What we did yesterday was lots of fun.

Concrete: The trip to the mall and the ride on the roller coaster were lots of fun.

Use Parallelism

Similar structures in a series gives the reader more recognizable patterns to aid understanding;

- Hawaii is famous for its beautiful beaches, and Montana is well known for its majestic mountains.

Sharon wanted to have the party at her house on Saturday night rather than in a restaurant on Sunday afternoon.

Avoid Wordiness; Be Concise;

Don't add empty expressions like "you know what I mean" or use redundant phrases like "two in number" or "red in color."

We did not go swimming on account of the rainy weather.

We did not go swimming because it rained.

Vocabulary

Being able to express yourself has a lot to do with having some authority with the language that you use. If you are stuck in using the same small list of descriptives, then your storytelling will be monotonous. Choose twenty five new words that you like, and plan to use them in your conversation and writing.

Tips for Developing Writing and Speaking Ideas

WRITING THE NATURAL WAY
G.L. Rico

CLUSTERING
Process: Write one word on the paper (e.g. "turn") and free associate other words (circle them as you write them); after 2 mintues or so, you should feel that you've completed it; stop to look at the cluster and write a vignette from it; when writing, just keep going; if stuck, just connect with another part of the cluster to write about.
After a session, evaluate whether you had many unconnected ideas or was the cluster tight? What was the word that triggered you? Were there short arms or long arms? There is no right way to cluster.
Purpose: To freeze your Left Brain which is your analytical power that worries about not having anything to say and causes writer's block; the right side is the creative, design source that sees patterns and is non-linear; in clustering, the left side doesn't want to play and it leaves the right brain free.
Other clusters: Memories work well so use "I remember ..." (do many, then choose one that draws you, cluster on it, then write vignette) Done often, it creates an INNER NARRATIVE.
"Color" - then write a piece about someone, someplace, etc. and combine with color.
"My body, my ..." - list some nouns (boat, house, angle iron, etc.)
A painting - decide the dominant feeling of the painting in a word and cluster of it (write off of the painting, not about it)
Persons you know - one of the names will have a pull for you (web shift)
Opposites (a la Henry Moore) - e.g. "Alone/Lonely"

Tips on Public Speaking

"The effectiveness of your public speaking will determine the effectiveness of your life." - Bert Decker
"It’s not enough to be good at what you do; you have to be able to tell people about it." - Laurie Richard

Planning:
- Get Prepared! - The key to controlling your fear of public speaking is Planning!
- Identify your purpose (to inform, persuade, entertain, inspire, demonstrate).
- What do I want my audience to Think, Feel or Do (as a result of my speech).
- Know the audience so that you can "tailor" your message to them; ask yourself what this group needs to hear (what is their hot button).
- Take time to create your presentation (do conclusion first, then the intro, and the main points last).

Introductions:
- Memorize the introduction (first minute) when you are the most nervous.
- Grab their attention by letting them know right away what’s in it for them
- Avoid triteness (glad to be here, etc.) & apologies (you lose credibility).
- Use a preview to let them know what you are covering, and what you are not covering!

Main Points:
- Carefully word your main points and use research to support them.
- Use the Law of Threes people can't remember more than 3 items
- Organize by chronology, topical, problem/solution, cause/effect, and let the audience know how you’re organizing it, so that they can follow easily.

Conclusions:
- Flag it - to let them know we’re at the end and use a review.
- Keep conclusions short (you said we were at the end!).
- Use a quote, but let the last words be yours, because "the last thing you say is the first thing they remember" (Laurie Richards).
- Spice up your presentations by perking up the audience periodically to prevent them from losing interest. Some common perks: appropriate jokes (that relate!), anecdotes, examples, interesting information (especially trends), tragedy, celebrities, use of props, activities, use of volunteers, love, health, sex, and fear itself all are good for getting back audience interest.

Practice:
- Practice will reduce 75% of your nervousness about speaking in front of people!
- Avoid reading from your script (the text of your speech); it will not make you seem sincere or knowledgeable. Instead, speak from an outline!
- Developing a speaking outline:
- Write the script and read it out loud (start to finish without stopping).
- Highlite or underline Key Phrases (short ones), and read it again out loud.
- Put the Key Words into an outline force yourself through using the outline as the guide; this will be rough but go from beginning to end!
- Practice rough sections and finalize the outline
- Final run throughs with everything (audio visuals, podium, clothes, etc.)

Work on your Voice:
- Yawn - Vocal tension relaxers Yawning; doing head rolls; use flutter breaths; shake outs.
- Projection - Inhale on a "K" and exhale easily with Ahhhh; vacuum the lungs; do the umbrella; read something out loud to the far wall with full voice.
- Vocal Variety - starting with a full breath, practice reading and/or talking as a "rollercoaster" using peaks and valleys to loosen up your voice; explore chest, middle, and head resonance using Ah - Ay - Ee;
- Timing - Reserve time the night before to work on the speech, but to bed early (do not work on it late into the night)

Presentation:
- Exercise in the morning (walk, gym, bike, to relax yourself)
- Dress one step above the audience (not two) this affects your credibility!
- Dark colors best, but not black; avoid brightly patterned, colored clothes, hats, or dresses that calls attention to themselves and not to you; avoid sexy;
- Walk to the podium - briskly, and with head held high.
- Connect to the audience - Use strong eye contact; make movements towards them; ask questions for them to answer; use visual aids, sparingly; use volunteers, wisely; find their interests as you speak;
- Posture - Stand tall with hands relaxing naturally by your side. Assume the "ready" position. Avoid rocking, leaning, tapping, pacing and slouching.

- Body Language and Voice - convey your enthusiasm in movement and sound (how you say it is more remembered than what you said!).
- Gesture - Awkward hand gestures make the audience uncomfortable; make gestures large - you cannot over exaggerate your gestures;
- Smile - find a more pleasant face to use (not fake) that says you like them and yourself; if you can't smile, they can't trust you.
- Eye Contact - sustain it for three to five seconds on one member of the audience, then move to another, etc.
- Unintentional Messages - Replace "ummms" and "like" and "you know" with pauses that may last 2 to 3 seconds; allow yourself and the audience to think;
- Humor - avoid telling jokes, but find humor.

Do the Work!

- Don't expect to be relaxed while speaking in public if you haven't done the work of preparing for it. With practice, you eventually develop the good habits of public speaking which will make your preparations easier and improve your effectiveness on your job.