6. Failure to appeal to common interests.

7. Failure to speak loudly and distinctly.

Here are some definite rules that you should follow when you give a lecture:

1. Speak loudly and distinctly.

A peculiar characteristic of human nature makes people listen to a speaker whom they can hear. A person who has almost nothing to say can hold an audience by speaking loudly. A very learned and ordinarily interesting speaker may lose his hearers' attention by speaking in a low voice.

2. Speak on one definite topic.

Wandering is fatal to almost any lecture. Follow a definite line of thought from the moment you begin until you close.

3. Speak briefly.

No lecturer should speak more than one full hour.

Some famous lecturers speak two hours, but they tire their audiences unduly.

4. In your first words establish unity between yourself and your audience.

When you first appear you and your audience are strangers. Say something that will break the barrier and make you one of the community.

"It is a peculiar pleasure to me to speak in this town, for it was in a town exactly like this that I was born and brought up. It seems as though I were speaking before my own people."

5. Then announce your topic, giving it in the form of a definite thesis, or statement.

"I am to speak to you this evening on the general subject of astronomy, but my main purpose is to show that astronomy is intensely practical, altogether fascinating, and wholly uplifting."

You have now given your main thesis, and you have also suggested the three divisions into which you will divide your speech. Follow these divisions faithfully, and your audience will not "be at sea."

6. Now make a definite point of contact between your audience and your subject.

"You may think that you have little to do with the study of the stars. On the contrary, you are all astronomers. You watch sunrise and sunset, you study the sky every day for weather indications, you wonder at eclipses, you look at the stars, you believe your almanac, you accept predictions of tides, of seasons and of eclipses. (Add further details as you please.)

If you fail to show your audience how it is connected with your subject, you will fail to hold attention.

Continue to show this connection throughout your lec

ture.

7. Speak in detail on the three (or more) headings that you announced in your opening sentences.

8. Draw all your illustrations from simple, familiar objects.

"The surface of the moon is wrinkled like the skin of a dried-up apple and for the same reason—shrinkage of the interior."

Build all that you say on the familiar, and you will be quite clear and interesting.

9. Show the practical side of your subject.

That is, show your hearers how they can put your lecture to advantage at once.

By following these directions you will, at all times, be heard, be comprehended, and be considered interesting.

PROBLEM.

Think out the steps of a lecture on a subject in which you have unusual knowledge.

LESSON 154.

How to Give an Illustrated Lecture

KEY WORDS: IN GIVING AN ILLUSTRATED LECTURE GIVE A COHERENT TALK INSTEAD OF PLAYING THE PART OF AN EXHIBITOR.

It is more difficult to give a good illustrated lecture than it is to give an ordinary lecture. In an illustrated lecture you make use of pictures or diagrams, stereopticon views, or moving pictures.

You are likely to make the following faults:

1. You give a disconnected talk, treating every illustration as a separate topic.

2. You fail to speak on the subjects illustrated, thus dividing your hearers' attention.

3. You turn toward the illustrations, thus throwing your voice in the wrong direction.

4. You say "er-r-r," "ah-h-h," and similar sounds while the illustrations are being changed.

5. You fail to present one important thought.

6. You fail to make your lecture develop in strength.

7. You speak at too great length.

8. You speak in a low voice.

9. You ask to have illustrations repeated.

10. You stand in one position.

In order to give a satisfactory illustrated lecture follow these directions:

1. Arrange your illustrations in the order in which you wish to use them.

2. Arrange a quiet code of signals between yourself and the lantern operator.

Usually the lantern is provided with a small electric light signal, or a muffled buzzer. You should never use a snapper, tap on the floor, clap your hands, or use any audible signal, for all such signals create a tendency to imitation.

Hold your pointer parallel with the floor as a signal, or raise your hand with a folded handkerchief if necessary..

3. Give your talk almost as though there were no illustrations. Do not say: "This picture shows a tree," "The next picture," "Now you are looking," "Here is a," or any similar words. Speak on your subject, allowing the pictures to illustrate it without calling special attention to them.

4. Make your talk connect definitely with your illustrations. While you must not say "This picture," and the like, you must speak on the very subject illustrated by the pictures. If you speak on one theme, and your