Course Information

Business Communication. Sharpen your communication skills.

If you want your words to leap off the page, The Secrets of Eloquence is the course for you. Language can be immensely powerful – but only if you know how to use it to maximum effect. This course teaches you time-honoured ways to supercharge your words, to move beyond the pedestrian level of most writing to reach true eloquence. We show you how to harness the explosive power of rhetoric, make vivid word choices, tap into the hypnotic music of words, enchant with anecdotes, convince with quotations and even use the seductive power of humour to drive home a point. This is a high-level course for people who write well – and want to be excellent. If you work in the world of business or dream of being a creative fiction or non-fiction writer, if you want to write a blog, a novel, a memoir or an exceptional piece of journalism, The Secrets of Eloquence will help you to reach your full writing potential.

Aims

The aim of this course is to teach you the writing methods used by the most powerful writers throughout history to persuade and inspire others. We want you to leave this course confident that you can wield words with greater skill. We want to give you the blessing of eloquence. The Secrets of Eloquence is for anyone who writes well but seeks to write with a new intensity and authority.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• write with clarity and economy
• harness the extraordinary power of rhetoric
• make your writing sing with the lyrical devices that turn your words into music
• burst out of the mundane with figurative language
• break free of cliches and stale word choices
• convey information in ways that creates aha moments of understanding for your audience
• use the spellbinding power of narrative to draw the reader in
• give your writing greater depth through the skilful use of quotations
• engage and convince your readers with the seductive power of humour.

Content

Summary

• Make yourself clear
• Rhetoric unleashed
• Words that sing
• Beyond the literal
• Get fresh
• Telling detail
• Entrancing narratives
• Well said!
• Seducing with humour

Topic 1: Make yourself clear

You can get as fancy as you want with writing, but if the reader can’t understand you, you’re wasting time. In this course we look at crafting elegant, powerful sentences that slip effortlessly into the minds of readers.

Topic 2: Rhetoric unleashed

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. Over thousands of years, students of rhetoric have come up with numerous ways to make your writing more striking simply by phrasing what you say in special ways. This course teaches you some of the best of these time-honoured rhetorical devices.

Topic 3: Words that sing

Words are full of meaning and emotion, but they are also sounds. And those sounds exist in our minds whether we hear the words spoken aloud or not. This course shows you how to use the sounds, rhyme and rhythm of language to hold your readers spellbound.

Topic 4: Beyond the literal

If you want to tell someone how to hammer home a nail, you need to use literal language or they’re liable to hit their thumb. But if someone says to you “you’ve hit the nail on the head”, they’re saying something quite different. The creative leap is into figurative language, the world of simile and metaphor and hyperbole, where the mundane becomes transformed into the rich and exciting. 

Topic 5: Get fresh

One of the most important qualities of great writing is choosing words that are fresh and surprising. The Secrets of Eloquence will show you examples of brilliant word usage to inspire you to new verbal heights.

Topic 6: Telling detail

Nobody likes to be buried knee deep in facts and figures. This course will show you how to select telling details from the mass of information, and present it in ways the reader can easily grasp.

Topic 7: Entrancing narratives

Storytelling is in our blood, because long before we could write we told stories. We will show you how to use the magic of narrative, whether in anecdotes or by presenting your material with a strong narrative thread.

Topic 8: Well said!

We will learn from the masters how to make points eloquently, and examine how you can add depth and authority to your writing by using great quotes. 

Topic 9: Seducing with humour

Many writers are afraid to be funny, but they are missing out on a highly versatile tool. It can do so many things to enhance eloquence that Matt Abrahams, a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, calls it the Swiss army knife of communications. The Secrets of Eloquence will show you how to use humour to build trust with your readers and drive your points home; think for instance of the power of satire to cut through foolish behaviour and ideas. 

Intended audience

This course is for anyone who writes well and wants to write even better. 

Prerequisites

None

Delivery style

The Secrets of Eloquence is a highly interactive workshop that includes lectures, exercises and discussions.

Delivery modes

• Face-to-face, presenter-taught training
• Online training via the platform Zoom

Materials

All course materials are provided electronically (via Dropbox). Printing services are not provided.

Blog

Read the article Make your words leap off the page by Tony Spencer-Smith.