|
COMPETENCIES
|
PUBLIC
SPEAKING resources for you
Public Speaking: Alliteration
When you are speaking in public, humor need not be knee slapping funny to be effective. Here is a mild form of humor to add to your public speaking engagements. Alliteration is the repetition of the same first sound or the same first letter in a group of words or line of poetry.
You find alliteration used in advertisements and titles all the time because it tends to catch your eye and ear. One of my humorous public speaking topics is titled Pranks for Profit: Confessions of a Paid Practical Joker It has four "p" sounds.
Here is an example of a positive message delivered with alliteration:
"We Bagged the Baldridge award Because our Brainy, Beautiful Businesspeople are the Best."
In a negative message you can soften the blow of the message without appearing frivolous or uncaring. Example:
"The strike by one of our suppliers has put a Crunch on our division. Even though we are Crunched, we are still Committed and Creative. We are still Credible. And we will Conquer this problem."
