VIII. Language Series: Speaking Effectively
The next time you hear someone making a presentation at a conference or even
in a meeting at the office, listen carefully to the people you who are
interesting when they speak. You’ll discover that they use metaphors in
illustrating what they are trying to convey.
Is the marketing-style of your company way out of step with the competition
(a metaphor in itself)? An effective way to make the point that you want your
team to pull together better and be more adaptive to the changing business
environment might be to liken company culture to a boat. Are your people in a
galley rowing with their backs to the destination? Or is your team in a
shell, fleetly sculling over the waves of change with your goal clearly in
view?
Metaphors like these give your audience a concrete image that helps them to
understand what you are saying and leaves them with a holistic picture that
captures the essence of a complex concept.
Images from the natural world are especially effective: river systems from
their source to the ocean could represent the process of developing a new
product; the growth of a tree could illustrate the way your company has
changed with the years, building layer upon layer of knowledge like rings; a
hawk flying over the landscape could illustrate the bird-eye’s-view marketing
research project you’d like to convince your boss to fund.
Using metaphors can make your speaking style come alive. Try it.
