“Stars can be trillions of light years distant<\/em>
\n from each other, but maybe nothing is so<\/em>
\n distant from anything else in this universe as<\/em>
\n the expressed thought of person A from the<\/em>
\n understanding of person B.”
\n<\/em>-Reid Buckley<\/p>\n

Reid Buckley is a renowned speaker and teacher of public speaking. \u00a0He is also the author of two wonderful books on the subject: \u00a0Sex, Power, and Pericles<\/em><\/a>; and Strictly Speaking<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you’re interested in highly effective presenting, you should have his books. \u00a0He’s a nimble writer with a distinct voice: \u00a0he transfers his personality to the page.<\/p>\n

He’s also a great storyteller and metaphorian. \u00a0In the quote above, he has compared the psychological distance between people to the light years between stars. \u00a0He’s comparing inner space to outer space, and underlining in bold metaphorical terms the enormity of the work needed to get others to listen, understand, remember, and believe what we say.<\/p>\n

To increase the clarity and impact of your speech, use metaphors: \u00a0compare your point to something else to make your point more striking.<\/p>\n

For instance, a financial services firm selling a risk parity fund could compare their fund to the standard 60\/40 stock and bond allocation by saying, “The standard 60\/40 allocation is like a motorcycle: it has two wheels. It’s tippy. \u00a0A risk parity fund is like a Hummer: \u00a0it’s got four wheels, and not only is it steady, it’s resilient in all economic cycles.”<\/p>\n

I have a friend who was selling a super-computer that was less expensive to cool than previous models. \u00a0The prospects, serious academic engineers, would ask how the cooling system worked. \u00a0When he first started selling the computer, my friend explained the technology, but could see their eyes glaze over. \u00a0So he changed his approach. \u00a0He said, “Instead of using 4 oxen to remove the heat, this computer deploys 72 huskies.” \u00a0The geeks loved it. \u00a0In fact, it was all they remembered about his presentation.<\/p>\n

These kinds of verbal surprises delight the mind, stick in the memory, \u00a0and help close the gap between speaker and listener.<\/p>\n