Good speakers share bits of their lives

One of the greatest strengths United States President Barack Obama holds as a public speaker is that he gives a piece of himself in his addresses.

The gravity or lightness of the topic in his address rarely denies him the pick of an incident in his life that is relevant to the issue in question.

When talking to university students, voters, Muslims or on race relations, Obama has plumbed his life and found anecdotes that greatly enrich his speeches and captivate his audiences.

It is no accident that he has done this. As a student of public speaking, Obama knows that three essential things matter in any speech making: who says what, how he says it and what he says.

Any speech or writing effort is intrinsically persuasive. It aims at changing attitudes, feelings, dispositions, beliefs and the frame of reference of one’s audience.

It is, however, naÔve to expect the content of the message is sufficient to change people’s perspectives, feelings, dispositions or beliefs. No. The content of the message has negligible influence on people: the source or carrier of the message is part and parcel of the message as the message itself.

The message may have the potential to address the needs, values and emotions of its audience. However, if delivered poorly or by the wrong person, it may lose it potential impact and, therefore, fail to communicate.

To appeal to an audience, a speaker must use logic and must fall back on reasoning powers to deploy what rhetoricians call ethical proofs. The speechmaker must have a reputation; the audience must see the speaker as having the competence or credibility to speak about the subject in question for them to believe in what he is saying.

He must demonstrate knowledge of the issues in question. He could do this by citing expert opinion from research or he could rely on his personal experiences.

This is what is called ethical persuasion. It refers to what audiences think the speaker’s character, reputation and integrity is; what the speaker makes known by his words, manners and action during the delivery of the speech and his perceived friendliness, good humour, sagacity, restraint from reckless statements and his moral plane.

Lastly, human beings desire reasoned and ethical discourse to be presented in an interesting and moving way so as to energise and motivate them. Logical and ethical proofs — the content of the message and the likeability of the speaker — are not enough. People want their hearts and souls to be touched. People want to be aroused. They want some excitement.

A speaker is only effective to the extent he is able to calm and raise the fears and hopes, respectively, of a people. No one can do this without appealing to their emotions, needs and values.

A combination of logical, ethical and emotional proofs is what constitutes effective public speaking. It is what constitutes effective leadership. It is what moves people.

Speakers who speak to an audience for hours — even to an audience of one — without reference to their lives have something to hide or are ashamed of their lives.

{Kennedy Buhere, via e-mail}