Avoid being an imitator and beware of cliches

Imitators-Copy-Cats

Let’s try to avoid being an imitator of a popular speaker or copy-catting his style. These tactics can result in an embarrassing boomerang. Even in a cafe, imitators and copy cats are common. One diner sees something served that another has ordered, and wants the same thing. Keenly aware of this human frailty, a clinic waiting room cautions: “Ladies, please refrain from exchanging symptoms; they confuse the doctor.”

One day a copy-cat on the lookout for something unusual in a knitting pattern, found herself intrigued by the characters on a Chinese menu. She took the menu home, devoted days to her needlework, and finished a handsome black slipover with white characters from shoulder to waist. She ran into a friend who was familiar with the Chinese language and he roared with laughter because she’d skillfully worked in wool, “This dish is cheap but most delicious!”

Cull Cliches

Don’t clutter your speech with cliches.

Why say “hotter than a depot stove” when a great many people today have never seen a depot stove? Explaining something as “sizzling hot” expresses the same thing and uses fewer words. Don’t establish guilt by association with that old one about “Birds that flock together” .. . when you must turn to the birds, put a new wrapper on that banal bromide, something for instance like “Birds vot haf de zame kind ob fedders fly in bunches togedder by demselves sometimes.” Cliches give the audience an impression that you lack originality; substitute instead some clear-cut colloquial saying or an addled adage.

Keywords: Public Speaking, Public Speakers, Public Speaking Tips, Public Seminar Speaking

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