From Aristotle’s definition of Rhetoric
“Alexa, shuffle Willie Nelson.” This is what I say on Saturday mornings. I get my coffee and the song “Good Mornin’ America, How Are Ya?” indefinitely plays. “Alexa, turn it up 3 notches.” I love it for a few reasons.
🟢 It transports me to an exciting journey, a train trip thru the U.S.
🟢 It takes me back. It reminds me of living in Georgia during graduate school and the country music phase I went through, living in the South.
🟢 I imagine life ‘way back when’ when train travel was new to America. I think of that exciting innovation
🟢 The music itself feels like a train because someone added instruments that sound like a train (harmonica, horns, drums)
It transports me. It puts me “into a certain frame of mind.” A frame of mind that sparks joy, adventure, and curiosity. This is what YOU must do.
In order to Master Your Message, this is what you must do when you present if you want to persuade others to action. That phrase “into a certain frame of mind” is from Aristotle. I cover his definition of persuasion in every workshop and course I teach.
He said:
“Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are 3 kinds.
The FIRST depends on the personal character of the speaker (ethos, or credibility).
The SECOND on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind (pathos, or emotion).
And the THIRD on the proof, which are the words of the speech itself (logos, or reason).”
What song or piece of music puts YOU into a certain frame of mind on a Saturday morning or other times of the day or year?
In a presentation or pitch, a lot of this has to do with
1) the order and flow of your argument,
2) the look and feel of your slides,
3) “the words of the speech itself” (your script), and
4) YOU, your personal energy, delivery, your verbal and non-verbal communication on the stage or in the zoom room.
We do this. It’s all we do. Where and how can we help you get to message mastery?
🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶
Click here to enjoy my favorite Saturday morning tune:
https://lnkd.in/eiG-CrFC
