Mentoring Chair Sharing 02: Speaking Sapiosexually like an Ancient Greek Orator

 When we mention the word "Greek", the first image that comes to our mind is city of Athens. It is the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilization and empire. It is also the birth place of of democracy: the political system, government of the people, by the people and for the people. 

We also may thought of the elite warriors of Greece, who are discipline, fearsome military force and incredibly sexy gentlemen. It was popularized by historical action film 300. 

"Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty! For tonight, we dine in hell!" - King Leonidas

The Sparta women enjoyed status, power and respect that was unequaled in the rest of classical world, even in comparison with modern world today. 

The Ancient Greek is also the birthplace of contemporary public speaking. The skills and techniques of today's oratory discipline is deeply rooted in Ancient Greek culture. The orator was a celebrated figure in their society. The art of spoken words, rhetoric, was a strongly valued element of the classical education.  The most highly educated receiving particularly strong rhetoric training. This is in stark contrast with Asian culture, where silence is considered as virtue and respect, thanks to Confucianism. 

Let's get started by defining the word "Rhetoric". Aristotle defined it as "The faculty of discovering in any particular case all of available means of persuasions." In short, rhetoric is speech designed to persuade. 

Having high intelligence and good looking does not automatically turned you into a sapiosexually attractive. Your intelligence need to be expressed, displayed and communicated in an attractive manner. So, understanding the elements of rhetorical speech can help you to achieve that. 

Tonight, we will explore The Rhetorical Triangle (Three Rhetorical Triangle).

The Rhetorical Triangle consists of 3 components: 

• Ethos
• Logos
• Pathos

Three components are connected and interrelated, hence the triangle. 

The English translation of the word "Ethos" means ethics. In the case of oral persuasion, the word ethos have broader sense of "what makes the speaker credible".  Ethos is established through a variety of factors including status, awareness, professionalism, celebrity endorsement, research even title and family background amongst others. Your tone of voice need to be appropriate to environment, as it plays an importance role in establishing ethos. 

The key to establish strong ethos is intention. Quintilian, a Roman rhetorician and educator, wrote that a speaker should be "the good man speaking well." He emphasized on good character of speaker, assuming best intentions and the most truthful search about an issue for the audience.  

In short, a man of good character is a sexy man. 

Logos is the Greek term for "logic". In rhetoric context, logos isn't like logic in math, philosophy or computer science. It is consistency and clarity of an argument, as well as logic of argument and reasons. Appeal your audience with logos by: 

• Making audience can follow progression of your ideas - have a clear structure of organization and logical flow
• Offer clear, reasonable point of views with proof, supported by facts and evidence
• Develop your key ideas with appropriate details, enrich with analysis and explanation

In a nutshell, a man who speaks clearly and easily understood is a sexy man. 

"Let's not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives. We obey them without us realizing it." - Vincent Van Gogh 

Pathos means emotions in modern English. When we talk about pathos in rhetorical appeals, it is about how audience will react to your message. The idea behind pathos is you, the speaker, want your audience to feel a certain way when you communicate to them. 

Pathos is the most powerful, immediate rhetorical device to connect with your audience. Telling a story is the most effective way to draw on emotions of audience, attract and maintain their interest on your speech. You maybe able to  persuade them to act based on what you say.  Other ways to keep people engaged: 

• Use humor to keep them engaged
• Show images that evoke strong emotions
• Use figurative languages, words that describe different spectrum of emotions to connect with the audience

In essence, a sexy man is an emotionally empathetic man. 

We come to the end of our sharing. We were introduced with the Rhetorical Triangle of effective speech.  Build ethos - the credibility to make your audience trust and listen to you. Prepare your speech with strong logos - substantiate your points with evidence and examples, so that your audience are convinced with your work. Connect to your audience with pathos. Appeal to them with emotional empathy. 

As you can see, to be sexy isn't always about hard muscles, boobs, butts, barely there lingerie. It is the way you talk and the way you think in an easily relatable manner. It is understanding and application of Rhetorical Triangle that makes you, sapiosexually attractive. 

With the basic understanding of rhetoric from Aristotle, we will explore the 5 Canons of Rhetoric developed by Marcus Tullius Cicero, father of modern oratory persuasion. It is the step-by-step formula how to prepare a powerful, persuasion speech. Whatever that I shared with you is available in our resource database. 

Mentoring Chair Sharing 01: Preparing for Table Topics - Art of Wittiness

 Good evening ladies and gentlemen, 

Table Topics is often one of the most "dreaded" section in any Toastmasters meeting. You will be given a topic that you are totally not aware and "unprepared" for, and speak for 2 and a half minutes. 

Quoting Mark Twain, the father of American literature: 

"It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech."

I find his statement is quite true. But we are only given 10 seconds to prepare for impromptu speech. The answer: Preparation is done BEFORE the impromptu speech. 

How can we prepare for impromptu speech? We don't even know the topic before hand? 

It is possible, by having some handy "tools" in your hand. The secret sauce to great impromptu speech is SPEECH STRUCTURE. 

There are 5 types of commonly used speech structure, termed by yours sincerely:

• The "Lawyer" (Position - Reason - Example/Evidence - Point)
• The "Marketer" (Awareness - Interest - Desire - Action)
• The "Leader" (Past - Present - Future)
• The "Storyteller"(As is - Conflict - Resolution - Lesson)
• The "Advisor"  (Compare and Contrast - Advantages vs Disadvantages)

The "Lawyer"

 (Position - Reason - Example/Evidence - Point)

Do you have great idea and you want to persuade others to accept it? The "Lawyer" structure may help you. Explain or state your main point or point of view (i.e position), elaborate on reasons you hold it, give examples/evidence to build credibility and finish it by repeating your key point. 

For example: 

• Nasi lemak is the national cuisine of Malaysia (Point)
• It represents the colorful and diverse culture we have in Malaysia. Each represents an unique flavor and ethnicity preference, yet sharing the same base - rice cooked in coconut milk (Reasons)
• There are many varieties of nasi lemak. The Malay, Chinese, Indian, Nyonya, Hakka and Jawa version to name a few (Examples/Evidence)
• Nasi lemak indeed reflects uniqueness of Malaysia and our national unity (Point)

The "Marketer"

(Awareness - Interest - Desire - Action)

If you want to inspire and spark actions, the "Marketer" structure is the one you go to. Grab  attention by projecting powerful, or even controversial images that audience can relate to. Build up interest among your listener by giving them reasons to listen, follow by telling benefits for them, that triggers their desire to meet their needs. Close it with the call to action. 

Steve Jobs speech on first iPhone is a classical example:

• Well, today we are introducing three revolutionary products of this class (Attention)
• Three things: a widescreen iPod with touch controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a breakthrough Internet communicator. These are not three separate devices, this is one device. We call it iPhone (Interest)
• Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone (implying state-of-the-art, highly Desirable)
• and here it is (Asking audience to take action by paying attention)

Steve Jobs is the grandmaster of this model. He layered his speech with multiple layers of AIDA model and created a climax at the end. The full transcript is as the link:

https://singjupost.com/steve-jobs-iphone-2007-presentation-full-transcript/

The "Leader" 

(Past-Present-Future)

This is a simple and powerful speech structure that can be nicely used when creating a vision for your audience. You can start by describing what had happened, the current state we are in and casting the vision of what future holds for us. This structure blends well with the storyteller structure. To build credibility, description of the past and current need to be based on facts, though the speaker can provide his own interpretations. 

Example: 

• Over the past 10 years, Marvel Studio had brought us timeless entertainment to the grand scene. The Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and most notable, the Avengers series. (Past)
• As we still reminiscence on these classics, Marvel have introduced Phase 4 series, to fill in the story gaps, putting closure and building momentum for the future series. We see that in WandaVision sitcom series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (both were nominated in Emmy Award) and most recently, Loki (Present)
• The future of Marvel Phase 4 and 5 are exciting. Be prepared to be awed by the Eternal series, introduction of new characters e.g.  She-Hulk and She-Thor. Marvel will attempt to challenge our comfort zone by producing the first horror movie in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Stay tune, fans of Marvel, for we will have Marvel-ous years ahead.  (Future)

The greatest masterpiece speech in the modern history, "I have a dream" by Martin Luther King, demonstrated the very essence and power of this speech structure. 

https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

The "Storyteller"

(As is - Conflict - Resolution - Lesson)

The "Storyteller" is the most versatile speech structure of all. It can be used in many occasions. It is a great pattern to use when mentoring others. Choose a story from your past, or you had heard/read of that carries the message you want to get across. End it with the point you want to make. 

"As is" is the scenario before the main character (ie hero) was in before going into quest

"Conflict" is the struggles that hero faced and what caused the hero to behave in certain manner. There are only 3 types of conflicts: Internal conflict; Interpersonal conflict (with others) and conflict with environment that hero have no control over

"Resolution" is the climax of the story, is how the hero overcome his challenges and conflicts. What was the ending scenario for the hero. There are only 3 types of resolution: Victory, defeat and make peace. 

"Lesson" is the core message that storyteller wants the audience to take back. It is moral of the story, values, interpretations and conclusion of story events by storyteller. 

All great movies regardless of genre used the similar structure. To apply in Table Topics, it can be as simple as the example below: 

• I wanted to have breakfast with my family this morning (As is)
• I wanted to have nasi lemak, but my kids wanted to have roti canai and my wife had strange craving for Indian masala tea. I do not want to have roti canai or masala tea (Conflict)
• But we decided to go mamak at SS15 who served all the dishes we wanted (Resolution)
• Find a common point to our different problems. Family harmony is more important than having my favorite breakfast (Lesson) 

The "Advisor"

(Compare and Contrast - Advantages vs Disadvantages)

The is the best structure when you are given a topic of choice. It is also very effective if you want to persuade someone to pick one of several options, or at least, consider them. 

Start of by listing down the topics of comparison. Follow by that, speak about advantages and disadvantages of each choice. Give evidence/examples on each point. Close it with conclusion or the choice you would like to make. 

The very typical topic is "Health vs Wealth"

You can start of by:

• Advantages of "Health". Health is the source of life, allow us to carry out our activities in the way we want it to be.
• Disadvantages of "Health" (consider to interpret in different context). But what's the point of health, if we can't even afford something we like, or our relationships with others are miserable?
• Advantage of "Wealth". With money, we can purchase many materials we want. 
• Disadvantages of "Wealth" But money, cannot purchase happiness or health. However, it can enhance the experience and improve quality of life
• Conclusion: Health is a priority. It will be best to have wealth to enhance life experience. Life is too short to be unhealthy and poor. 

Closing 

These are the speech structure commonly used in Table Topics. Do note that you can always layer the structure within. For example, you can use Storyteller as main arc and extensive Advisor structure when describing the conflicts. That will add more colors, depth and breath into your Table Topics. 

These speech structures can be extended to your prepared speech projects. I suggest to consciously practice these structure in your daily communication. You can even apply these into your emails, powerpoint presentation. 

"The ability to organize thoughts into a short and powerful speech is the first step towards communication mastery. "

Reference: 

• https://thegeekyleader.com/2013/09/29/how-to-organize-your-speech/
• The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell, 1949

Graphics designed using Canva

Presentation slides download available at Slideshare:

https://www.slideshare.net/drzhugeliang/preparing-for-table-topics-the-art-of-wittiness