The "Scent" of Information in Speech
Imagine how you feel when you walk into someone home (hopefully your own!) and smell the comforting and warm scent of chocolate chip cookies, and apple pie, or cinnamon buns. Right away, you know what's coming. Deliciousness!
You don't have to see the cookies to know they are ready to eat. You know way ahead of time. In speech making, you'll want to do the same for audience. Provide a 'scent' that will stick with the crowd, an odor that will heighten anticipation and delight when expectations are fulfilled.
The metaphor of the scent is another way of looking at foreshadowing or the concept of 'begin with the end in mind.' As you write your speech, keep in mind what the point is that you are providing the listeners. Scent the proverbial air with puffs of ideas and concepts. For example, a leading question that you will answer later, such as "How many woodchucks can a woodchuck chuck?" — then dive into facts about woodchucks before actually answering the question (and as far as scents go, I'm not sure woodchucks are idea animals to pleasant sensations).
Keep that in mind whenever you're writing a speech. Like notes from a piano, like foreshadowing in a book, leading your audience to where you want to go will help make your talk more memorable and fun.
Links:
- Though this has nothing to do with public speaking, I was reminded of the idea after I saw this link: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/information-scent/