Repeat after me

Belter or not - don’t refrain from refrains.

“Tell the audience what you're going to say, say it; then tell them what you've said.” Dale Carnegie has a point but we can do better. Robotic repetition can backfire as Ed Miliband, former leader of the UK labour party learned, after giving this interview. In rhetoric, you can repeat words (epizeuxis) or phrases (epimone). Adding words between each repetition is called a conduplicatio. Use these three techniques when you have to emphasise, expand or explain a point.

How to create conduplicationes

• Write down key words that the audience should remember. Make sure that they have fewer than four syllables and that you can utter them at least three times during your presentation.
  (e.g. Romeo, yes)

• Pick up to three key words and include them in a concise, chantable phrase.
  (e.g. Yes, we can.)

• If you do not want to repeat phrases, stick to the key words but add phrases in between instead of consecutive parroting.
  (e.g. “In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope? John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope. I'm not talking about blind optimism here - the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don't think about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about something more substantial. It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs. The hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores. The hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta. The hope of a mill worker's son who dares to defy the odds. The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him too.

  Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope. In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.“)

Exercise

Listen to the highlights of Ed Miliband’s speech in 2014 and find one epizeuxis, epinome and conduplicatio.

Learn the techniques. Boost your confidence. Make your point.
Click here for training opportunities.