dragons den & rhetoric

WelcomeDragon’s Den

Your Speaking & Listening TaskIn groups, you are

going to design an innovative product that you think will make money. You are going to pitch your product to the Dragons. You will use persuasive techniques so that they will invest in you and your product.

For your Sales Pitch you need:

a poster containing information and a drawing about your product

a written sales pitch

First, get the Facts for your Pitch

Download the Word document called ‘Plan your Pitch’ and fill in the worksheet.

Once you have all the facts to hand, you can work on your poster and written pitch.

Your Pitch Must Use 5 Rhetorical Techniques

1.Rhetorical Questions2.Hyperbole3.Parallelism4.Alliteration5.Simile and Metaphor

Rhetorical Questions

Rhetorical questions are asked for effect and do not require an answer. Let’s say you are selling car paint.

Do you want your car to look like a rust heap?

Create a Rhetorical Question

You are selling bug spray.

Now Create a Rhetorical Question for Your Product

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is over exaggeration.

It’s the deadliest gun in the world.

Create a Hyperbolic Statement

Create Hyperbolic Statements for your Product

Parallellism

Parallelism is the repetition of words or phrases that have similar structures.

The biggest, the best and the

brightest.

The repetition of the same first letter is called ‘alliteration’ and it is often used with parallelism.

Use Parallelism and Alliteration

Best Boxer World Beating Brutal Bang Better Blow Beat Brute force Burly Beefy Bright

You are selling boxing gloves

Create Statements for your Product using Parallelism and Alliteration

Simile

Similes compare two dissimilar objects, in order to suggest an unexpected likeness between the two.

Similes can often be distinguished by the presence of one of two code words: “like” and “as.”

For Example…

Dissimilar Subjects

Blanket/Snow

Are linked together by ‘like’: The snow lay like a blanket over the ground.

Create a Simile

Create a Simile for your Product

Think of all the great things it could do for the consumer. Is it like:

A helping hand Having a bodyguard to keep you safe Something that will crush any

opposition A powerful animal A terrific weapon

Metaphor

Metaphors are easy: they work in exactly the same way as similes, but they don’t use the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. You say that X is Y.

The snow is a blanket on the earth. His punch is a lightening bolt.

Create a Metaphor for Your Product

A petrol company wanted to say their petrol was so powerful that your car would be as strong, fast and powerful as a tiger if you bought their product. Their slogan is a metaphor.

You can now use 5 Rhetorical Devices

1.Rhetorical Questions2.Hyperbole3.Parallelism4.Alliteration5.Simile and Metaphor

Next Steps

Ready to Write the Best Sales Pitch in the World?

Great! Get Cracking.

Not Ready to Write your Sales Pitch?

Check out the link to ‘Looking at Advertising’ on your Moodle page.

Before you Present...

Click on the BBC Presentation Skill activity on Moodle for tips on a professional delivery.