Communication scholar and researcher Deborah Tannen believes that everyday conversation is both magnetic and magical. And she’s been trying to figure out where that magic comes from. Much of her research involves recording regular conversations, transcribing them, and then analyzing them for patterns. What she’s uncovered in her research can help us become better presenters.
Tannen has identified three specific tools that we use to facilitate great conversation: repetition, dialogue, and details. Let’s see how we can incorporate these same conversational tools into our more formal presentations.
Repetition
Tannen says we use repetition in speech for two reasons. First, to establish rhythms. And second, to help produce meaning through patterns which show both contrasts and consistencies. But what exactly does that mean?
Let’s look at rhythms first. Repetition quite simply helps us to follow along and to show support and understanding. In conversation, it’s common for speakers to repeat each other to show that they’ve been listening or to affirm the statement that was made. They also use repetition to make sure their main ideas are understood. Repetition can help to accomplish the same things in presentations. Take for example Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. A lot of that speech’s power and beauty come from the repeated phrase, “I have a dream.” It establishes the rhythm Tannen talks about and reminds listeners of the main goal, to help usher forth the equality of which King dreams.
Repetition in conversation also points to patterns. It helps us understand what is not changing along with what is. In a presentation in which you have to deliver news about changes in company policies or procedures, repetition of what is changing and what is not changing gives the audience greater security.
Dialogue
Dialogue is all about the drama. It helps to create the scene, complete with characters and setting and emotion. My two teenage girls often demonstrate this element of conversation when telling me about their days. In just one story about a funny incident in her history class, my daughter used 3 different “voices” to help paint the picture of her friend saying something embarrassing. She dropped her pitch to mimic her teacher and raised her pitch to mimic her friend.
This type of color in conversation should be used in presentations as well. It’s part of what makes listening to a story so interesting. Tannen says to decide to use dialogue and to choose the exact right words is a “creative act” and is a big part of “constructing an effective story.” The same is true for presentations.
Details
Details play a very distinct role in engaging those who are listening to our words. Without details, any form of communication quickly turns into a colorless, tasteless, porridge of sorts. Details are what give communication it’s shape and texture and emotion and stickiness. In his article, “The 6 Principles to Make Your Ideas Stick,” James Le says details have sticking power when they are concrete, and “something becomes concrete when it can be described or detected by the human senses.” So paint a picture with your words. Not just when you are relaying the day’s events to your best friend or spouse, but also when you stand up to deliver a presentation.
Tannen says details have another function which, I’ll confess, I had never realized until reading her research. She says details are connective because they allow listeners to participate. Specifically, “In filling in a scene based on details, listeners do some of the work of making meaning in conversation. If they do this successfully, the result is a feeling of involvement in the conversation and with the person telling the details.” This works for presentations. When you use details the audience members can relate to, they participate by constructing mental images in an effort to match yours. This is a bonding experience.
Presenters can truly capture the magic and magnetic pull of everyday conversations. We just have to use repetition to establish rhythm and pattern, dialogue to create drama, and details engage and connect with our listeners.
Ready for more tips? Find out how Ethos3 can help with presentation development, design, and delivery.
