As presenters, we should always be searching for ways to make our presentations more memorable, more impactful, more sticky.
Word pictures are an excellent way to accomplish this.
The term 'word picture' sounds like a dichotomy or a contradiction. Is it a word? Or is it a picture?
In fact, it is using words to create an image for the listener that is as powerful as a visual or picture would be.
And what makes the image powerful is finding a descriptive example [which may be part story, part analogy] that your listeners can identify with and that expands their understanding.
Consider this example:
The average kindergarten student has watched more than 5,000 hours of TV. That's more than it takes to earn a college degree.
In this case, the comparison provides depth to the initial piece of information [the number of hours the student watches TV] and provides a provocative reference point to put the information in context.
Another example:
"Imagine seven Boeing 747s filled mostly with children crashing into Mount Kilimanjaro each day, and you begin to get an idea of malaria's horrifying toll." [Tanzanian researcher, Wen Kilama, cited in Howard W. French's book, A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa]
Here the word picture, distressing though it is, is hauntingly memorable. Anyone listening to this description can visualize the airplanes and feel the horror of the outcome.
What makes word pictures work is not so much constructing complex or poetic words, rather it is putting everyday words together to describe something in a way the listener can see and feel. It's allowing your listener to "experience" the words, not just hear them.
For your next presentation, think about the key points you want your audience to remember. Then get out your verbal paint brush and start painting.
Above Illustration:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rohdesign/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0


BANISH CLICHES
I've been blogging recently on the power of language, focusing on the elegance and impact of certain types of words and sentence construction. One hundred and eighty degrees from this elegance are hackneyed cliches that don't communicate anything meaningful. I just came across this post at Harvard Business on 10 Business Words To Ban and I had to share it. I laughed out loud at some of the commentary from David Silverman.
All our business communication...including presentations...would definitely benefit if we eliminated these words. What other corporate-speak words do you think we should banish?
Posted by Kathy Reiffenstein on April 11, 2009 in Commentary, Language | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: business communications, business presentations, corporate speak, David Silverman, Harvard Business
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