Читать книгу What She Said - Monica Lunin - Страница 13

Often a speech is aided by the use of structure. This can help keep the speaker and the audience on track. In this case, Nora Ephron uses a comedic hook, referring to her own time at the college back in the early sixties. Again in the full version, Ephron repeatedly poses the rhetorical question, ‘How long ago was it?', using this to set up a series of vignettes, sharing her memories of how life was in the college for her generation (touching on subjects as diverse as lesbianism, curfews and tuition fees). She returns to this device repeatedly throughout the first part of the speech, and her chosen organising structure is part of what makes this address so easy to listen to.

Ephron lulls us along with the familiar arrangement of, ‘How long ago was it?' and then, ‘It was so long ago …', setting up a few funny tidbits to follow. She then rather jarringly but purposefully changes the antecedent — and we are jolted into not so funny reminiscences about illegal abortions.

The lesson is to use familiar language techniques to invite your audiences in. Get them laughing with you and merrily following along before you shift to more serious matters. You can judge where to start and the right notes to hit at the outset by reflecting on the context and expectations in the room. Try channelling Nora Ephron's use of structure and variation of expected speech patterns to make an impact.