In case you’re feeling guilty as you steal away to watch the latest release of Star Wars I suggest you instead treat it as an important part of your continuing education in fundraising.

In fact, while munching popcorn you’ll actually be mastering more powerful and effective communications skills. So, ditch the guilt.

Let me explain.

Yoda, one of the most powerful Jedi Masters in galactic history, is also a master of one of the most powerful communications tools on Planet Earth — rhetoric. If you want your message to be heard, to stand out then you’ll want to learn more about the ancient art of rhetoric.

According to Cicero, one of Rome’s great orators and communicators, a message needs to have ‘brilliant lights’. Lights to capture the eyes and imagination of an audience. To win you must wow.

There’s no better skill-builder for wowing an audience than understanding the tool-kit called ‘rhetoric’ developed by the ancients and to this day still taught as part of the liberal arts curriculum.

Now, two very ingenious and innovative marketers and communicators by the names of Peter Watt Paskale and Gavin McMahon have distilled and transformed that ancient wisdom into a helpful and contemporary teaching game called Dirty Rhetoric — a selection of 53 rhetorical techniques designed to light up your messages.

If you’re interested in improving your writing, your speaking and your presentation skills you’ll want to check out Dirty Rhetoric Cards and also Peter Watt Paskale’s The Presenters blog.

Which brings us back to Star Wars.

According to Peter “almost everything Yoda says is an example of effective rhetoric.” In fact Yoda uses not one but a variety of different rhetorical techniques.

Some of Yoda’s — and classical rhetoric’s  — techniques as described by Peter:

• Hyperbaton.  This technique involves the re-ordering of the normal sequence of words to make them more memorable. As in “ With this ring I thee wed” or Churchill’s famous “This is the nonsense up with which I will not put.”

Sounds like Yoda doesn’t it? This is because Yoda frequently reverses word order.

However, assuming you don’t want to sound like Yoda and his reverse order phrases in your next presentation (unless as Peter points out your boss is a real Star Wars junkie — or a 14 year old) the Jedi Master has some quite sophisticated rhetorical techniques — rhetoric wrapped in rhetoric.

• Last Word, First Word. Famous words that Yoda gave to Jedi trainee Luke are expressed the rhetorical structure called. “last word, first word”:

           “Fear leads to Anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. “ — Yoda

In this structure the last word of one phrase become first word on next phrase. Links key points together in a kind of stepping stone that demonstrates logic. Logic leads to credibility and credibility leads to belief. says Peter.

“Actions the organization take creates donor attitude. Donor Attitude creates Donor Behavior. Donor Behavior creates Donor Contributions.” — The Agitator

• Counterbalance or Opposites. The technique of Opposites is expressed by Yoda when Luke expresses doubts about his mortal frame and wonders if it can work with the Force. Yoda says:  “Luminous beings are we. Not this crude matter.” Opposites between ‘luminous’ and ‘crude.’

• Opposites and Logic. Take Yoda’s most famous quotation:

                                                              “Do. Or not do. There is no ‘try’.”

This is a three-part structure based on opposites. Good writing lives by building tension and tension is built by using Opposites. Finally with a logic structure called ‘sum total’ it makes clear that only two states of being are possible –“do” or “not do” — with the conclusion that “Try” can not logically exist.

So, grab some popcorn, enjoy Star Wars: The Force Awakens and listen carefully to Yoda as he guides you toward improving your fundraising.

And may the force be with you! [How else did you expect me to end this post?]

Roger