wh_lunsford_temp

17b Writing to be heard and remembered

17bWriting to be heard and remembered

Contents:

Planning your introduction and conclusion

Using signpost language

Using simple syntax and memorable language

Turning writing into a script

Speaking from notes

Video Prompt: Looking for the essential points (turning essay into media presentation)

Getting and keeping the attention of listeners may require you to use different strategies than the ones you generally employ when writing for a reading audience. To be remembered rather than simply heard, write a memorable introduction and conclusion, and use explicit structures, helpful signpost language, straightforward syntax, and concrete diction throughout the presentation.

Planning your introduction and conclusion

Remember that listeners, like readers, tend to remember beginnings and endings most readily, so work extra hard to make these elements memorable (4h). Consider, for example, using a startling statement, opinion, or question; a dramatic anecdote; a powerful quotation; or a vivid image. Shifting language, especially into a variety of language that your audience will identify with, is another effective way to catch their attention (see Chapter 29). Whenever you can link your subject to the experiences and interests of your audience, do so.

Shuqiao Song’s introduction

Shuqiao Song began her presentation this way:

Welcome, everyone. I’m Shuqiao Song and I’m here today to talk about residents of a dysFUNctional HOME.

We meet these residents in a graphic memoir called Fun Home.

(Here, Shuqiao showed a three-second video clip of author Alison Bechdel saying, “I love words, and I love pictures. But especially, I love them together—in a mystical way that I can’t even explain.”)

That was Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home. In that clip, she conveniently introduces the topics of my presentation today: Words. Pictures. And the mystical way they work together.

Note that this presentation opened with a play on words (“dysFUNctional HOME”), to which Shuqiao returned later on, and with a short, vivid video clip that perfectly summed up the main topic of the presentation. Also note the use of short sentences and fragments, special effects that act like drumbeats to get and hold the attention of the audience.

Using signpost language

Organize your presentation clearly and carefully, and give an overview of your main points toward the beginning of your presentation. (You may wish to recall these points again toward the end of the talk.) Throughout your presentation, pause between major points, and use signpost language as you move from one topic to the next. Such signposts act as explicit transitions in your talk and should be clear and concrete: The second crisis point in the breakup of the Soviet Union occurred hard on the heels of the first instead of The breakup of the Soviet Union came to another crisis point. . . . In addition to such explicit transitions (5e) as next, on the contrary, and finally, you can offer signposts to your listeners by carefully repeating key words and ideas as well as by sticking to concrete topic sentences to introduce each new idea.

Shuqiao Song’s signpost language

At the end of Shuqiao’s introduction, she set forth the structure of her presentation in a very clear, straightforward, and simple way to help her audience follow what came next:

So, to outline the rest of my presentation: first, I’ll show how text is insufficient—but also why it is necessary to Bechdel’s story. Second, I’ll show how images can’t be trusted, but again, why they are still necessary for Bechdel’s purposes. Third and finally, I’ll show how the interplay of text and image in Fun Home creates a more complex and comprehensive understanding of the story.

Using simple syntax and memorable language

Avoid long, complicated sentences, and use straightforward sentence structure (subject-verb-object) as much as possible. Listeners prefer action verbs and concrete nouns to abstractions. You may need to deal with abstract ideas, but try to provide concrete examples for them (30c). Memorable presentations often call on the power of figures of speech and other devices of language, such as careful repetition, parallelism, and climactic order.

Shuqiao Song’s example

Shuqiao Song’s presentation script included the following example:

Now, to argue my second point, I’ll begin with an image. This is a René Magritte painting. The text means, “This is not a pipe.” Is this some surrealist Jedi mind trick? Not really. Now listen to the title of the painting to grasp Magritte’s point. The painting is called The Treason of Images. Here Magritte is showing us that “this is not a pipe” because it is an image of a pipe.

Shuqiao’s short sentences, vivid word choice (“surrealist Jedi mind trick”), and straightforward subject-verb-object syntax all help to make the passage easy on listeners.

© SHUQIAO SONG

Turning writing into a script

Even though you will probably rely on some written material, you will need to adapt it for speech. Depending on the assignment, the audience, and your personal preferences, you may even speak from a full script. If so, double- or triple-space it, and use fairly large print so that it will be easy to refer to. Try to end each page with the end of a sentence so that you won’t have to pause while you turn a page. In addition, you may decide to mark spots where you want to pause and to highlight words you want to emphasize.

A paragraph from Shuqiao Song’s print essay

Finally, we can see how image and text function together. On the one hand, image and text support each other in that each highlights the subtleties of the other; but on the other hand, the more interesting interaction comes when there is some degree of distance between what is written and what is depicted. In Fun Home, there is no one-to-one closure that mentally connects text and image. Rather, Bechdel pushes the boundaries of mental closure between image and text. If the words and pictures match exactly, making the same point, the story would read like a children’s book, and that would be too simple for what Bechdel is trying to accomplish. However, text and image can’t be so mismatched that meaning completely eludes the readers. Bechdel crafts her story deliberately, leaving just enough mental space for the reader to solve the rest of the puzzle and resolve the cognitive dissonance. The reader’s mental closure, which brings coherence to the text and images and draws together loose ends, allows for a more complex and sophisticated understanding of the story.

Shuqiao Song’s paragraph revised for oral presentation

Finally, image and text can work together. They support each other: each highlights the subtleties of the other. But they are even more interesting when there’s a gap—some distance between the story the words tell and the story the pictures tell. In Fun Home, text and image are never perfectly correlated. After all, if the words and pictures matched up exactly, the story would read like a kids’ book. That would be way too simple for Bechdel’s purposes. But we wouldn’t want a complete disconnect between words and images either, since we wouldn’t be able to make sense of them.

Still, Bechdel certainly pushes the boundaries that would allow us to bring closure between image and text. So what’s the take-home point here? That in Bechdel’s Fun Home, image and text are not just supporting actors of each other. Instead, each offers a version of the story. It’s for us—the readers. We take these paired versions and weave them into a really rich understanding of the story.

Note that the revised paragraph presents the same information, but this time it is written to be heard. The revision uses helpful signpost language, some repetition, simple syntax, and informal varieties of English to help listeners follow along and keep them interested.

Speaking from notes

If you decide to speak from notes rather than from a full script, here are some tips for doing so effectively:

In general, use one note card for each point in your presentation, beginning with the introduction and ending with the conclusion.
Number the cards so that you can quickly find the next part of your presentation if your cards are out of order.
On each card, include the major point you want to make in large bold text. Include subpoints in a bulleted list below the main point, again printed large enough for you to see easily. You can use full sentences or phrases, as long as you include enough information to remind you of what you have planned to say.
Include signpost language on each note so that you will be sure to use it to guide your listeners.
Practice your presentation using the notes at least twice.
Time your presentation very carefully so that you will be sure not to go overtime. If you think you may run out of time, use color or brackets to mark material in your notes that you can skip. If your presentation is too long, move past the marked material so that you can end with your planned conclusion.

The following note card for the introduction to Shuqiao’s presentation reminds the student to emphasize her title and her three points about the origins of graphic novels. Notice how she has highlighted her signpost language as well as the card’s number.

Notecard for an oral presentation

[Card 3]

Overview of the rest of the presentation

First, text is insufficient but necessary
Second, images can’t be trusted but are necessary
Finally, interplay of text and image creates complex, comprehensive understanding

Considering Disabilities: Accessible presentations