Rhetoric – Speaking Effectively

Leaders speak with fluency, force and elegance.

You know from the lecture on rhetoric that speaking effectively is a skill you need as a leader.  The examples you were given for mastering rhetoric are leadership skills.  It is as a leader that you are called on to admonish, entreat, applaud and exhort.  As a leader you must be able to captivate your audience and present your ideas effectively.  The lesson on effective writing shows you how to do it in writing.  However, it is just as important for you to learn to do it orally.

An outstanding lesson on speaking effectively

You have an opportunity in this video to take part in an outstanding lesson on how to do just that. Watching it will add to your armamentarium for success. (Great word, worth looking up as he uses it throughout the lecture. It really defines an important reason for seeking light and improving ourselves through Masonry, especially when not limited to medical uses).

The professor

Patrick Henry Winston, Ph.D.  was an American computer scientist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was director of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory from 1972 to 1997. Unfortunately he passed away in 1999.  You will watch a talk he had given to MIT students over many years

What you will learn

Effective Presentations

You will learn how to begin and end a talk for maximum effectiveness (which is quite different from the conventional advice).  You will also see the proper use of slides, props and other aids.  All this makes it well worth listening to  if you make presentations to the Craft or as part of your  job.  Be sure to take notes.  Consciously try to practice these skills each time you have an opportunity to give a talk to your Lodge or fellow workers.

Effective Job Interviews

You will also have the advantage of a section devoted to job interviewing.  You will find it has eye opening valuable information, if you ever go through that process.