Paint a Picture in your Speech.

The best speakers I have heard have a way of "painting a picture" not just sharing of information.  I believe, that most of the time, the minds eye is much more powerful than even the clearest and most brilliant photos on a screen. 

   One of my earliest speeches in Toastmasters I shared about a sunset when I was deployed in the middle east with the Air Force.  For me, it was very easy  to picture that moment in my mind,  to almost feel the heat in the air and the smell of the dusty location.   The vivid colors that were present across the landscape as the sun rose and the almost dead silence of the moment.  

Some tips for painting the picture:

1. Show, Don't Tell 

This is the golden rule of vivid speaking. 

• The "Tell": "I was very nervous before my first speech."
• The "Show": "My palms were slick with sweat, and I could feel my heart drumming a frantic rhythm against my ribs."
• The Tip: Look for "emotion words" (sad, happy, scared) and replace them with physical descriptions of how that emotion felt in your body. 

2. The Five Senses Technique 

To truly paint a picture, incorporate the other four senses: 

• Sound: The screech of tires, the rhythmic thump-thump of a tail on the floor, or the deafening silence of an empty room.
• Smell/Taste: The sharp tang of chlorine at a pool or the comforting aroma of cinnamon and toasted sugar.
• Touch: The grit of sand between toes or the biting chill of a winter wind.
• Sight: Perhaps s for most the easier of the senses to describe what you saw. 

3. Use Specific Adjectives and Verbs 

        Specific words provide high definition. 

• Generic: "He walked across the room."
• Vivid: "He shuffled across the room" (implies age or exhaustion) or "He marched across the room" (implies confidence or anger).

  In conclusion I would challenge all of us to paint a picture when we are speaking. It adds a lot to the speech!