Rhetorical Questions for Public Speaking

What is one of the best ways to engage your listeners? We're going to talk about asking rhetorical questions and have six tips to help you become more effective at it. Hey there, I'm Alex Lion and all of the videos here are to help you with your professional development. And big part of this channel is public speaking. So, let's explain what rhetorical questions are, why they're so effective, and look at six tips to help you use them well. So, first, what are these? Well, rhetorical question is one that speaker asks, but they don't expect an answer to it. They're asking question for dramatic effect, to engage listeners minds, and to draw them in. Examples sound like this. What do all your favorite teachers have in common? or how can we raise children right in the age of social media? Why do we find it so hard to follow through on our New Year's resolutions? By the way, why do rhetorical questions work so well? Well, when our brain hears question, it looks for an answer and that stimulates our imaginations and draws us into dialogue in our minds. So, let's contrast that with talking at listeners. Let's say speaker is talking to us and telling us that quote the best way to invest in retirement is through our employer's 401k program. Well, let's turn that into question. Let's say the speaker asks, "So, what is far and away the number one most effective way to save for retirement?" Now, that question has the same answer, our employer's 401k program. it now instead of just jumping right to the answer and telling your audience the way it is. The question generates activity in your listener's mind. So asking question piqus our curiosity and it makes us feel like we're having back and forth with the speaker rather than just listening to monologue which can be very boring. So let's look at six tips to help you become more effective at this. First, make your questions easy to follow and easy to answer. Don't phrase questions in complex way. Keep them short. For example, have you ever wanted to go back in time? That question is easy to understand. And related issue is don't ask quiz questions. Don't say, "Sir, do you remember who the third president was?" Don't put your listeners on the spot like that or make them uncomfortable. That will turn them off. Make your questions easy to follow, easy to answer. Number two, ask questions that make your listeners curious. This will engage their minds even more. So, what do children care about most? Or what do employees really want out of job? Those questions will make listeners curious because the answers have value. The question will make them say to themselves, "Whoa, now that's an answer that I'd like to hear." And once you've done that, you've made them curious and drawn them in. Number three, ask questions that either you or your listeners can supply the answer to. So asking questions builds interest, but you don't want to leave your listeners hanging. Don't ask deadend questions. That's like telling most of the joke but not finishing with punchline. Like, what's the difference between large cheese pizza and bass player? So, if your listeners don't have an answer and you don't tell them an answer, that can be very frustrating. And by the way, I'll answer that question at the end. So, fourth, consider asking two or three brief questions in row once in while to build momentum. So, it's certainly great technique to ask killer standalone rhetorical question, but every once in while during presentation, try asking two or three related questions in row to add variety and heighten listeners interest even more and just put little pause in between them. For example, here's some questions for you. Have you ever thought about your dream job? So, what would your dream job look like daytoday? and how would it feel to have career that is really calling? Those three questions in row build listeners interest. So sometimes it takes more than one question to build to point that you're trying to make. Fifth, ask questions in variety of places in your presentation. So many speakers do begin with questions in their presentation and that can be very effective. But don't stop there. spread out some other questions in your presentation to add little spice and variety as you go. So you could go through your presentation outline once you have draft and then set goal to ask rhetorical question for each main point in the body. So let's say you have three points, ask rhetorical question for each point, wherever it fits best in that point. And this will help keep your listeners hooked throughout the entire presentation and engage their minds that way. So, sixth, it is 100% okay to have your listeners actually answer the question. So, yes, technically rhetorical question doesn't expect an answer. That's the theory. But in practice, this video is meant to help you engage your listeners more. So, asking questions to answer once in while will boost participation even further. But keep it simple. Like said, usually try to craft questions so listeners can answer with simple show of hands. So, question of the day, what's your opinion on rhetorical questions and what do you want to hear more about regarding this? would look forward to reading your comments in that section below the video. And lastly, to answer the question and finish the joke, what's the difference between large cheese pizza and bass player? large cheese pizza can actually feed family of four. So, sorry, that's means of bass players and it's not even that funny, which is why I'm teacher and not comedian. But did owe you that answer. So, until next time, God bless and will see you in the next video.