Ancient Secrets for Better Public Speaking: Tell Them What You’re Gonna Say

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In last week’s post I discussed how to open a presentation. This is where you gain your audience’s sympathy and convinced them that you know what you’re talking about. The next step, or narratio, is to tell them what you are going to tell them in your presentation.

In the narratio, you give the audience a brief outline of what you’re going to be telling them in the rest of the speech. To continue the dog-training analogy, you might say this next:

Dogs are pack animals, that is they live in packs or groups. There is a certain psychology that goes along with this way of living — a psychology that you can use to train your dog to behave in ways that promote peace and harmony in your relationship with him or her.

So to sum up what I’ve discussed so far, a good presentation that uses the classical rhetoric techniques of the classical Greeks and Romans is:

1. Introduce yourself as a likable authority on your topic.

2. Tell the audience what you’re going to talk about.

Together, these steps establish you as the right person to be giving this presentation. Your audience is now ready to hear the body of the presentation, which we’ll discuss next week.