A story is told when there’s a point to make, a moral to address, a lesson to teach. But it so happens that often, we indulge ourselves with the contents these stories offer and not the mechanism through which it is being told. We forget that the story comes from within the storytellers. And the storytellers need to be adept in it, to successfully tell the story.
Since the dawn of time, homo sapiens have been trying to tell stories of their lives through cave paintings (dating back to at least 40,000 BCE), parchments (early 1500 B.C.), typewriters (1874). Judging from its looks, it explores the ‘when’ portion of the article. But that’s not enough for solving these mind riddles. Each dot has to be connected to one another, otherwise it will prove to be in vain. So, let’s explore the ‘how’.
If we do talk about the way our lifestyle has been influenced by ancient Greek cultural practices, it would be paramount to a conversation worth engaging for two whole days. A lot of things we partake in our everyday lives originated from Greek practices centuries ago. Shocking, isn’t it? Well, for what it’s worth, it has certainly made our life a little easier by breaking these practices into smaller bits so that outsiders can easily digest its prime concept.
And certainly, the way we live, think, and behave has been greatly influenced by the modern touches of automation. Even then, there is certain room for improvement, and by improvement, I meant the inclusion of ancient Greek practices.
Fast forward, nowadays, there are fierce competitions shown within a certain market, whether it’s consumer oriented or business oriented, creating an opportunity to ‘sell yourself’ has proven crucial to one’s brand reputation, and their public relations. Therein lies the chance to hone one’s public speaking skills. Presentations, speeches, even a toast, requires extreme precision and swift delivery for it to have a maximum impact. And that’s exactly what this article is about.
Aristotle’s rhetoric implores the methodical aspects in which ancient Greek practices can further enhance our company presentations. It follows three different paths altogether. Ethos (credibility), Logos (logic), and finally, Pathos (emotions). When all three of them unite, it provides your storytelling with an elixir of life, making you stand out in the room.
The ancient Greeks did not use slides, clickers, and bullet points to present their views. Presentations are all about arguments —be it changing someone’s impression of something regarding what they purchase and do or just guiding a certain number of audience members in the room who are listening to you.
Ethos, a term that originated from the ancient Greek language, refers to the morals, values and beliefs of a person or even an entire culture. Within a contemporary context, Aristotle’s rhetoric taps into these exact criteria to persuade the crowd as to why they should listen to you. It delves deeper into the intestinal segments of your topic and suggests you start with why they should listen to you– as in your credibility. This is the first hurdle you need to overcome, and as soon as you are done dealing with this, the delivery of your speech will start attracting attention in the room. To make things simpler, this is where you need to sell yourself a little to get started with the rhetorical process.
Second in the list is Logos, as in logic (originated from ancient Greek). When you’re done with the ethos, your audience will be hooked to your speech (or so one can hope), and at this point, you need to start inserting logic into your speech. It explores the “why” in the content of your speech. You connect the dots for the audience, and at this stage, your audience should grow faithful to your conversational abilities via the interactions made between you and them. Be it quoting dialogue from your favourite coming-of-age film that moved you when you first watched it alone and made you work on your flaws, or simple statistics you have found on Google while doing research for your gathering your presentation material, literature review or evidence backs up your statements and increases the credibility of your overall speech. In short, here, what you need to be doing is that you will have to describe your arrival at the central focus of your presentation. Walk your audience through the thinking process methodically so they may grasp the road ahead and enjoy the journey with you.
And finally, Pathos. The derivation of this term came from an ancient Greek origin, defining human emotions. Although it is sometimes disregarded in presentations, pathos can significantly affect the potency of your message and delivery. An interesting fact about pathos is that human brains process logic and emotions in different areas, so activating both of them at once will give birth to a biblical comprehensive ability within your audience. Not to mention, appealing to your emotions while making an argument will certainly add another layer to the delivery of your presentation.
Transparency and vulnerability establish an emotional connection. Incorporating these into our presentational mechanism will make way for a real connection with the audience when they let us in and reveal their own true emotions. Stories are the finest approach to including pathos in a presentation most of the time. Allow your audience to experience the feeling behind your message, whether it relates to the source of an idea or product, the life affected, or the personal struggles that led you to this moment.
Summing up, whatever the outcome may be, applying the theoretical aspects of rhetoric in your business presentation will make it more potent and will further make the ground your research is based on more fertile.
After all, the grass is greener when you water it on a regular basis.
