Use quotes like a boss! The ultimate guide to using quotations in your presentation - Part 1

Let me ask you this: If there was a way to express your entire idea, thought or concept in a short, memorable and pithy phrase, would you use it? Hint: the correct answer is yes 😊. Enter quotes!

Applying quotes is an effective technique to capture otherwise complex and lengthy concepts in a compact and concise packet of words. Quotes can also be used to support your claims and persuasive arguments. And when used correctly, they add power, polish and even some panache to your presentation. Yet with all this potential, not enough speakers use quotes. And too many who do, use them ineffectively and end up damaging their presentations in the process.

That is why in this series of articles, I have set out to produce the ultimate guide to using quotations in your presentation. I will talk about what makes quotes so powerful, the work quotes can do for you and some considerations for using quotes effectively. I also discuss common mistakes and how to avoid them.T

his is the first part of the guide and it covers the introduction to quotes as well as one important use of quotes along with common mistakes .Ready? Let us begin.

What is a quote anyway?

Dear reader, you likely know what a quote (or quotation) is. I added this section to the article not to insult your intelligence, but to clarify a common misconception and misuse of the term “quote”. So, what is a quote? Let me offer you my common-sense definition.

A quote is a set of previously spoken or written words, repeated in speech or in writing at a later time in the same order of the original.

By this, you see right away that many “quotes” especially as used by speakers are more like paraphrases or references. Why? Well, if you are going to “quote” someone, it is important to say exactly what they said, how they said it. Otherwise, it is not a quote – it is something else – a paraphrase, a restatement, or a summary or an interpretation perhaps.

This point of quotes being accurate seems easy enough but how often do you hear a speaker say :

“To quote Elmer Fudd, ‘I’ll have my revenge on that rambunctious rodent’ “?

OK, maybe not often. But I’m willing to bet you have heard a speaker announce a quotation only to give their (often less eloquent) version of it. This can hurt the speaker’s credibility because it implies they either do not know what a quote is, or they did not prepare their speech well enough to get the quote right. Either way, its egg on their face.

The point? If you will use a quote, make sure it is actually a quote. If it is not, don’t call it a quote – call it what it is so that you do not leak away your credibility. Now on to the usefulness of quotes.

Quote! Yeah! What is it good for?...

Quotes are powerful communication tools for 3 major reasons—they allow you to borrow someone else’s cleverness or credibility, they allow you to summarize key ideas or points and they help you invoke thought and reflection.This article focuses on the first use - borrowing credibility, along with some common mistakes speakers make in using them.

Can I borrow some cred and cleverness?

Like serenading a love interest with tunes from the reigning chart-topping love song, using quotes in your speech can help win your audience over using the verbal skills of a recognized authority in the field. Or, to paraphrase comedian Jon Oliver – quotations are the karaoke of ideas.

When you quote someone with established expertise in the subject you are speaking on, your audience associates their expertise with you and it serves as a mild form of endorsement. This can be very persuasive especially when you are not an expert in the field yourself. In such a case, you may need this kind of helping hand to boost your believability.

Say you are giving a motivational speech at a company and you want to add some information on the impact of mood on brain performance. You are not a neuroscientist, but you feel this information will help make your point. What do you do? Quote a credible neuroscientist! Be sure the quotation is in context though (more on context below). This will support your claim and likely persuade your audience. This bit of the speech might go something like this:

Our moods at work can have a big impact on our productivity by influencing, not just our emotions, but also our brain! Like leading neuroscientist, Dr Miso Smat says in the best-selling book Stop being a dumbass, "Our moods are levers that trigger different mechanisms in our minds and brains".

Using a quotation this way is like when a lawyer calls an expert witness to testify during a court case. In this case, you are the lawyer, the expert witness is your quotation and the audience? Well, they are judge, jury and (gulp) executioner. By the way, Dr Miso Smat is not real.

If you can choose quotes that are not just from credible experts, but also cleverly constructed, your quote will have the added power of being pithy and memorable. And that is, of course, a good thing.Now on to some mistakes in using quotes for credibility.

Common cred-quote mistakes

As with most uses of a tool, there are common misuses. As for using quotations to lend credibility, there are many possible mistakes. But for the most common, I recommend you think about the mistakes in terms of one word – context.Let’s look at this a little closer.

Questions of context

Commonly, speakers go hunting for quotes in isolation without understanding the context of the quote. This manifests as what I call content and character context problems.

Content-context problems - do you have sound-bite syndrome?

This problem arises when a speaker chooses a snippet or a sound-bite from a larger communication without considering the entire piece. What happens, in this case, is that the out-of-context quote ends up misrepresenting the meaning. This can be dangerous and end up hurting instead of helping your credibility – especially if the audience is familiar with the subject.For example, under the heading above - questions of context - if someone quoted me as advising that " speakers go hunting for quotes in isolation", that would be blatantly (and rather foolishly) out of context.Many more examples abound on social media.

Character-context problems

Another manifestation of the context mistake is one few speakers think about. This mistake happens when a speaker grabs an otherwise interesting quote but from a source that is associated with something negative. I call this a character-context problem.For example, while running for the presidency of the US in 2016, Republican candidate Donald Trump tweeted a quote from Mussolini. This caused a media uproar because Trump seemed to be associating himself, not with the quote, but the source – fascist Mussolini – a decidedly negative association. Trump was able to rebound and go on to win the general election, but that was one headache from the negative association with fascism that could have easily been avoided.To be sure, ‘negative’ is subjective and will vary from audience to audience but being aware of the audience’s sensitivities will help you.You want to stay away from any extreme or largely negative personalities (dead or alive). As a general rule, don’t quote Adolf Hitler.

To prevent these mistakes... take a few minutes to research your quotes a little deeper than a Google search for “nice quotes on ______”

Be sure you get the quotes in context – both context and character wise. And when in doubt, best to choose a different quote that makes the cut.So there it is. Part I of the ultimate guide to quotes - how to use them and mistakes to avoid. In the next article, we will look at how quotes can be used to summarize key points and make your important ideas punchy and memorable.Until then, speak with skill.