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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Public Speaking: Pleonasms

A pleonasm is the bringing together of two concepts or words that are
redundant. A pleonasm is the bringing together of two concepts or words that
are redundant. How many times do I have to tell you? I stole that from Dr.
Blumenfeld, but I've already credited him a couple times and Art Buchwald says
that's enough.

Combinations like frozen ice, sharp point, killed dead, sandy beach, young
child, positive praise, and angry rage are pleonasms. Here are some ways you
can use comical juxtaposition in business world presentations:

Use a large copy of your company logo or company name on a slide or
overhead, or in a drawing on your flipchart. Next to it, place extremely small
logos or company names of your competitors. Use this as a greeting slide to
a meeting or let it pop up as a slide or overhead at a strategic point in your
presentation. You could draw an outline of a large duck around your
company logo and little duckling outlines around the competition. You could
say: Our company was born to lead and the others were meant to follow.

Use an oxymoron in conjunction with a simile to drive home the point that
something is a little out of kilter.
You could say, Acme Co. claims that its market share is increasing, yet
their sales are down while everyone elses' are up. It's just like a Jumbo
Shrimp. It just doesn't make sense.

Invite a tall person and a short person on stage when you call for audience
participation. If you are considerably shorter than the tall person say, I don't
want you to talk down to me. If you are considerably taller than the short
person say, I don't want you to feel like I'm talking down to you.

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