Paint Pictures with Words
Make your speeches more memorable
The Power of Pictures
You draw back the curtains and look out on the grey winter’s morning. Drizzle hangs in the air like mist.
Can you visualize it? Does it have a certain familiarity?
Word pictures can create images in the minds of your audience which helps them to understand what the speaker is describing. And, importantly, images can help the information you are presenting to be recalled later.
Picture A Door
In front of you is a dark, forbidding looking door. You are nervous. Do you open the door and go in?
There’s a welcome sign on the door, so you pluck up courage and enter. In front of you are a few steps up to a larger room where you can hear voices. You step up into the room and are greeted by friendly faces. They were expecting you and make you feel welcome.
If you are a member of Bromsgrove Speakers Club or have visited us, that picture will be familiar to you. It’s likely that you will recall the first time you saw the door, and the first time you ventured through it.
If you haven’t visited, you’ll probably be able to imagine the scene even if your version is slightly different.
Painting Pictures With Words
It’s images not words that come to mind. In an hour or so it’s unlikely you’ll recall much about the words above. They are hardly memorable. But you’ll be able to visualise the door.
Note the words ‘memorable’ and ‘visualise’. They go together naturally.
If you want your speeches and presentations to be memorable, it’s essential to help the audience to visualise the key elements.
Visual Science
Scientific studies show that the brain encodes images much more effectively than mere words alone.
Put another way, our brains are better image processors than word processors. So, in an ideal world, you’d use pictures instead of words to get your message across.
That’s why PowerPoint presentation slides should use images rather than words. But even if you aren’t using visual aids, the power of imagery can still be used.
In our post on Persuasive Presentations we refer to the need to engage with the audience. Adding colour to a speech by using powerful word pictures will help to increase engagement.
In his book It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be, Paul Arden, a former executive creative director at advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, advises:
“Instead of giving people the benefit of your wit and wisdom (words), try painting them a picture. The more strikingly visual your presentation is, the more people will remember it. And more importantly, they will remember you.”
By the way, when you read the word ‘science’ above, did you visualise people in white coats in a lab?
Business Speaking
If it’s a business presentation, you’re unlikely to employ flowery language. But everyday words can be used to describe something in a way that helps the listener to create an image in their mind.
You want them to experience the words, not just hear them.
You want to help them translate the words into a familiar situation, but a memorable one.
Let’s look at an example of using word pictures.
Imagine you are a website designer and you are giving a presentation to business owners.
You’ve done your research and think one or two need to update their websites.
What if you painted a picture in which you contrasted two imaginary shops, as a metaphor for revitalising their tired website?
Your presentation might go something like this:
Imagine a shop. It’s not on the High Street. It’s on a quiet side street, with few people passing by.
The shop front is faded and tired looking. The window display is jumbled and dated. You’re not tempted to go in, are you?
If your online business is disappointing, could the problem be that your website is like that shop?
Do you need a smarter shopfront and a more modern, brighter window display? And would it help if the shop was on the High Street?
We could give you that smart shop on the High Street.
The simple story is easy to understand and visualise compared with a technical explanation of a website.
Got The Picture?
Images are more memorable than words alone.
Overloading the audience with information, fact and figures will lose them.
But if you illustrate the key points with word pictures, you can keep them engaged.
Your message will be so much more compelling if you illustrate it with images.
And it will make it much more likely that your listeners will remember the important aspects of your presentation.
Make sure you paint pictures in your next speech or presentation!
Last updated 21st January 2025
Why not subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when we post a new blog article?