Ted Sorensen’s new book stresses the power of ideas and the importance of simplicity, clarity, and organization to a without equivocation cogent language

by Carmine Gallo

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In his new work, Counselor, Ted Sorensen, adviser and legendary speechwriter beneficial to John F. Kennedy, describes the events that shaped the Kennedy years in a line with his kindred to the President and his line of ancestors. Sorensen will for ever have being remembered for turning phrases that ignited the imagination of a generation.

In his book, Sorensen also outlines the basic rules that made JFK’s speeches powerfully persuasive. They lay upon to all types of presentations, not just formal speeches. You can make your next business display greater degree of effective by following them.

1. Less is not quite always better than more. When attempting to counsel, less is more. If it takes you five minutes to rejoin a question that you could have answered in 45 seconds, you will lose the attention of your listener. If it takes you one hour to accord. a presentation that, with better organization, could have been delivered in 20 minutes, you will lose your audience. Be in addition persuasive by speaking less.

2. Choose each word with precision. A few weeks ago, I met an executory of a software joint concern in Silicon Valley. When I asked him to describe his company’s product, he said: "Our solutions describe best-of-breed platforms that reduce duration of one’s life to market…." The rest of the description could have gone "blah, blah, blah" since it made no sagacity to me. Words like "solution," "best-of-breed," or "platforms" are empty terms that be possible to muddle business conversations and are anything but persuasive. Take a reproof from Kennedy: Don’t rely on hackneyed phrases. Be specific.

3. Organize the text to simplify, clarify, and emphasize. According to Sorensen, speeches should have a "tightly organized, coherent, and consistent theme." Setting the theme of your offering from the beginning—and providing guideposts along the way—makes it easier as being your listeners to follow. I once heard a sales manager kick off a presentation by saying: "Today we’re introducing a new software tool that will help you meet and in people cases exceed your quarterly quotas. [Sets the subject.] There are three features of this software that I would like to highlight for you today. Let’s start with the first one. [Provides verbal guideposts.]" An organized theme repeated consistently from head to foot the presentation will make it greater degree memorable.

4. Use variety and of literature devices to reinforce your message, not to confound and distract. It’s no coincidence that the Democratic Presidential solicitant, Senator Barack Obama, is a fan of Sorensen’s use of power. It’s evident in many of Obama’s speeches (BusinessWeek.com, 3/3/08) when he uses rhetorical devices like as alliteration or rich imagery. Sorensen and JFK used a device known in the same proportion that "the reversible raincoat." For example, "Let us never negotiate out of be solicitous but suffer us never be solicitous to negotiate." Use rhetorical devices to spruce up the language of your presentation to keep your listeners’ attention and to create a memorable message.

5. Employ elevated but not grandiose language. According to Sorensen, JFK believed in elevating the sights of his listeners ("We choose to go to the moon…") and simplifying his language at the same period of childbirth. Kennedy kept his sentences short and his words comprehensible. He understood the importance of avoiding terms so esoteric they could not be understood easily by the average listener.

6. Substantive ideas are the most important part of in any degree speech. Sorensen reminds us that a speech is only as good as its ideas. "A great discourse is great because of the strong ideas conveyed…grant that the accents are soaring, beautiful, eloquent, it is still not a immense speech admitting that the ideas are prosaic, empty, or mean-spirited," Sorensen writes. All over often, I watch as executives spend thousands of dollars on the venue (audio/video, presentation design, etc.) and very little time on developing ideas. Presentation concoct is carping, and we’ve covered the topic judgment, turning to the design team behind An Inconvenient Truth for pointers (BusinessWeek.com, 4/10/07). But I’ve never heard: "Great presentation. I especially liked the design on slide 14." Instead, I am more likely to hear, "Great presentation. I think our company could reduce our expenses by adopting your ideas." The effectiveness of your message will ultimately rest on the power of your ideas.

Whether you are delivering a PowerPoint presentation or a formal speech, the route you shrewdness and deliver your ideas will leave your listeners either wildly excited or bored to tears. Sorensen says: "A talk mention have existence possible to ignite a fire, change men’s minds, open their eyes, alter their votes, bring hope to their lives, and, in entirely these ways, change the world."