Repetitio
n, repetition, repetition. An old bromide among public speaking teachers. Something I always drilled into my students' heads when I was teaching. The importance of repetition in public speaking came to my attention recently when I was perusing video tutorials for Paint Shop Pro--trying to find some that I could actually use and understand. On so many, the presenter whips through the lesson so quickly that the only thing the viewer learns is that the presenter really understands the function well.
n, repetition, repetition. An old bromide among public speaking teachers. Something I always drilled into my students' heads when I was teaching. The importance of repetition in public speaking came to my attention recently when I was perusing video tutorials for Paint Shop Pro--trying to find some that I could actually use and understand. On so many, the presenter whips through the lesson so quickly that the only thing the viewer learns is that the presenter really understands the function well.What these video tutorial makers don't seem to understand is that listening and reading are vastly different. When you read a lesson, you can go back and re-read sections you don't understand. When you listen to a lesson, you can't do that. It's up to the speaker to repeat the difficult parts (and some of these digital programs are quite difficult).
In the effective video tutorials I found, the speakers would say things such as, "Let's look at that again," or "Did you see how that works? Watch again." Then they would show you again--they would repeat. In a speech, repetition is absolutely necessary, particularly in informative speeches or demonstrations. It helps the listener understand and retain the information.
As a former speech teacher of mine often said (and I often said to my students), "First, you tell them what you're going to tell them. Then you tell them. Then you tell them what you told them."
What have you listened to that would be improved with repetition? Do you use repetition effectively when you're trying to teach or demonstrate something?
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3 comments:
That's what I learned in school as well. Especially in marketing and advertising courses. Repetition, repetition, repetition.
By the way, thanks for two things: 1) for playing trivia on my site, and 2) for reading the blog so frequently and leaving comments.
I think you might have misread today's post, though. It wasn't about PUBLIC Health. :)
The key is what to repeat, what is really the point??
For instance, the main idea should be clear, but not repeated until people disconnect, the points that support the main idea could be builded up cleverly in the speech, comming up always to the same end: the idea we would like them to know...
There are many ways to repeat, and not just always with the same words.
Acoording to that, I definitely agree the best technic is "First, you tell them what you're going to tell them. Then you tell them. Then you tell them what you told them."
congratulations, nice blog!
Excellent post. I've tried to watch some of these home-made "help" videos online and the inability of some of these people to enunciate clearly and their disturbing habit of speaking too rapidly or not making eye contact with the camera is off-putting and definitely reduces the effectiveness of their presentation. I'm not sure I'd want some of them to "repeat! repeat! repeat!" LOL But I agree in principle :)
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