Dear Rhetor, I frequently find myself ill-equipped and unprepared for things like speeches, meetings, negotiations, and presentations. If you could only pick one tip or tactic to use in situations like that, what would it be?… Continue Reading
What to know, and what to do, to get good at Rhetoric
Series: Preparation
Preparation 2 — Learning to Decline When We Can’t Deliver or Delay
There are always going to be times when we’re caught with our pants down, but that doesn’t mean we have to walk out in front of a group to show off our underwear. Some of us happen to have *exquisite* underpants, but even we’re better off not approaching a podium when we’re braindead or broken. We’ll traumatize ourselves and our audience with things we both can’t unsee. In situations like those, it’s best to call the whole thing off, or at least our part in it.… Continue Reading
Preparation 3 — Delaying When We Can’t Decline or Deliver
I usually split our options of what to do when we can’t deliver into two because we won’t always have the option to decline, or it isn’t always worth taking. In those cases, *delaying* is our only other option — if we’re not willing to deliver *poorly* for having been unprepared.… Continue Reading
Preparation 4 — Preparation Defined
Having already gone over some basic strategies we can take when we’re unprepared — embodied in my phrase “When we can’t deliver, decline or delay — it’s time we considered being prepared more broadly. This will help make things clearer before going into what it means to be authentically unprepared and not needlessly nervous about a Rhetorical engagement.… Continue Reading
Preparation 5 — What Being Unprepared Looks Like
Being unprepared means believing we lack some crucial part of the circumstantial equation needed to prepare or engage with an audience. Being *genuinely* unprepared is distinct from dreading something so much that we rationalize away our believed ability to accomplish it in order to better live with ourselves and our avoidance.… Continue Reading
Preparation 6 — Being Over-Prepared
Being over-prepared is having put any time and effort into preparation that either is not worth its corresponding return-on-investment, or actively detracts from our ability to perform.… Continue Reading
Preparation 7 — We Can and Do Prepare Poorly
If over-preparing is *doing too much*, preparing poorly is *doing the wrong things*. Unfortunately, the wrong things done in the right way don’t become right along the way, making it just as bad, if not worse. … Continue Reading
Preparation 8 — Thinking Forward vs Thinking Backward
We tend to crash when not looking ahead, back behind us, or down at a map.… Continue Reading
Preparation 9 — Our Beliefs about Our Preparation Are Part of Our Preparation
Our *beliefs* about our preparedness can impact our delivery just as much as our actual efforts to prepare. Cultivating our beliefs can rightly be considered a part of our preparation for that reason, and is why I deliberately included our beliefs about our preparedness in what makes us authentically unprepared.… Continue Reading
Preparation 10 — There’s a Rhetoric to Preparation
We cannot rightly or fully prepare for anything requiring Rhetoric if we don’t understand and apply the Rhetoric of the mediums we are using — both in our final performance, and in their use in *the act of preparation itself*.… Continue Reading
About
Our Rhetorical abilities are entirely determined by what we know and what we do. All of Rhetoric is learned. This site is about what to know, and what to do, to become a Good Rhetor. Whether you use that power for fame, fortune, or fulfillment, ideally, you'll do something good with it.
In Need?
I get booked up pretty quickly, but feel free to contact me if you have a pressing Rhetorical concern you need solving, be it in Writing, Editing, Public Speaking, Art, Design, or anything else Rhetorically inclined.
Subscribe
If you're interested in receiving news about site updates, new services and classes being offered, book releases, a newsletter, and access to site content exclusive to subscribers, feel free to sign up here. It's free, can be opted out of at any time, and I dislike spam as much as anyone.