Workshop: Bringing Language to Life: Tips and Tricks for How to Communicate Convincingly

This workshop is intended to help any staff member who wishes to focus on their rhetorical skills.

Goals

Upon completion of this workshop, you will have become better equipped to understand, identify and apply rhetorical and linguistic strategies in academic and professional contexts, allowing you to build compelling arguments and convincingly convey your message.

Content

Have you ever found yourself talking about a topic that you know is very interesting or important, but you get the feeling you cannot connect with your audience in the way you would like to? Whether it is a lecture or presentation, meeting or discussion, how you say something can make all the difference to what you say. In this workshop we will work on refining your strategies to engage with, convince and, if necessary, persuade your audience. We will focus on:

• Applying a range of rhetorical devices in different contexts
• Adapting sentence structure for emphasis and clarity
• Making appropriate language choices to best address the audience
• Improving word stress and intonation
• Tips and tricks for making the things you say more effective and engaging

Methods

The two-part interactive workshop will consist of a variety of activities, allowing us to put theory into practice, including language drills, role-plays and mini-presentations. You will have ample opportunity to try things out and gain individual feedback for further improvement.

• Applying a range of rhetorical devices in different contexts
• Adapting sentence structure for emphasis and clarity
• Making appropriate language choices to best address the audience
• Improving word stress and intonation
• Tips and tricks for making the things you say more effective and engaging