9 Devices to Prop Up Your Presentation

By James A. Baker 
Founder
Baker Communications

One of the most effective presentation techniques is illustrating your content with a rhetorical device. Rhetorical devices are verbal enhancers that capture a listener’s attention.

Studies demonstrate that people are more influenced by interesting stories than by pure data. Presenters are more successful when they supplement impersonal facts and statistics with examples or anecdotes to which audiences can relate personally.

Types of Rhetorical Devices

Rhetorical devices can be thought of as verbal pictures. They help the audience quickly and easily capture a concept, and help the presenter to illustrate a point.

Rhetorical devices include:

• Examples
• Comparisons or contrasts
• Analogies
• Quotations
• Rhetorical questions
• Testimonials
• Statistics
• Jokes
• Stories

9 Rhetorical Devices to Use in Presentations

• Examples are references to specific situations similar to the one you are discussing or proposing. Cite examples as evidence to support your data or conclusions.

• Comparisons describe similarities between two sets of circumstances. Contrasts describe the differences between two sets of circumstances.

• An analogy compares partial similarities of two different things. A heart, for example, can be likened to a pump, or a computer system to an office manager.

• Quotations: Use quotes from well-known sources to articulate a thought, gain audience interest, and increase your credibility.

• Rhetorical Question: Ask something with an answer so obvious it need not be expressed.

• A testimonial is a specific, firsthand account or experience that can be used to support or clarify your point.

• Use statistics to provide precise, quantitative data that supports your solution. Note that some people are more impressed by statistics than others.

• Jokes: Use jokes with extreme caution, because while nothing livens up a presentation like a good joke, nothing falls flatter than a bad or poorly delivered one.

• Stories: This can be either a story about someone else or a personal anecdote. Make sure that it has a point, and some relevance to your presentation - otherwise a story becomes simply a rambling distraction.

Effectively Using Rhetorical Devices

Rhetorical devices can be very effective in the opening of your presentation as an attention-grabber. Tempt the audience to listen by startling them with a statistic or engaging them with an interesting anecdote. (Only open with a joke if you are sure you can pull it off!)

The best rhetorical devices drive the point home clearly and simply. For technical presentations, remember the “up/down” rule: for every up, or high-concept, complex piece of information, go back down to relate the information to simple, everyday situations.

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