Chapter 17 Specific speech content

Years ago, a Doctor of Philosophy attended one of our training courses in New York, along with a bold and rude fellow who had served in the British Navy as a young man.This gentle scholar is a university professor, while his classmate who once sailed the seven seas is just a street vendor.But what is strange is that during the training process of this speech training class, the speech of the itinerant vendor was far more attractive than that of the university professor.The university professor delivered a speech with beautiful words, gentleness, orderliness and clarity, but his talk was missing an essential element—specificity.His talk was too vague, too general.And the itinerant vendor was just the opposite.After he opened his mouth, he immediately touched the core of the topic.The content of the speech is clear, and very specific and real, so that people can understand what they mean when they hear it.This, combined with his manly energy and fresh phrases, made his speech very attractive.

The reason why I use this example is not to compare the high and low between a university professor and a itinerant street vendor, but to illustrate one point: a person who speaks concretely and clearly—regardless of his education level—what he says content to arouse the interest of others. This principle is too important, so we will list a few examples below. Please engrave it deeply in your mind. I hope you will always remember this principle and never forget it.