We Shall Fight on the Beaches by Winston S. Churchill

The emotions of the speaker and the listeners are alike aroused.

You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.” You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. Winston Churchill’s original definition needs no updating: “An apt analogy connects or appears to connect…distant spheres.” Nor does his example, from the iconic speech William Jennings Bryan gave at the Democratic National Convention the year before Churchill wrote his paper: When you shuffle your deck (and you know you will) be sure to maintain the logic of your flow. But the deck is more often than not shuffled like a pack of cards at a gaming table in Las Vegas-which results in fragmentation and, ultimately, disruption of the story. Today’s business presentations are defined as the slide deck. Your audiences need time to absorb the valuable words of your message. Be sure to maintain a measured pace when you present.

Rhythm. Another impact of digital culture is the speed of our communication, particularly in the rate at which we speak.

Aspire to precision and clarity when you speak. This is not to say that you should use long or esoteric words. Our digital culture of text messages, tweets, and email has impacted our spoken language, often reducing it to monosyllables, idioms, and clichés.

Correctness of diction.“Diction” is often used to refer to articulation, but its primary meaning is word choice-think of dictionary.

With all due respect to Sir Winston’s estimable writing skills, I’ve taken the liberty of extending his 1897 verbiage (bolded) into modern times: When he was just 23, he wrote an unpublished paper called “The Scaffolding of Rhetoric,” in which he offered five “principal elements” to win over audiences. Sir Winston’s oratorical skills were world famous, and he started developing them at an early age.

We Shall Fight on the Beaches by Winston S. Churchill